This Advent, we pause to reflect on its meaning and significance, with weekly insights from members of the Diocesan Council for Consecrated Life.
Sr Elizabeth Murray SGS. Image: Supplied
“Wake up! C’mon! Wake up!” Do we not all remember that call from our parents when we were sluggish about getting out of bed for school back in ‘those’ days? I certainly do.
There was urgency in the voice, a loving urgency, because they did not want us to be late for the bus/school. And Jesus’ message in today’s gospel to ‘stay awake’ also comes to us with urgency, loving urgency, “because you do not know the day when your master is coming”.
On this First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of another liturgical year, the Church has us focus on the end-times: the end of this world, the cosmos, as we know it, and by association, our own personal end-time (our death), when we will meet Christ. The gospel raises questions about our readiness for these unknown, yet definitive, events, especially the fulfilment of the whole of creation at Christ’s Second Coming. For what God has set in motion, God will bring to fulfilment – when God so desires.
Good preparation is crucial for those meetings, and Advent invites us to consider how we might do this. Some good practices would be to set aside a few minutes daily to ponder the Scriptures (of the day or of the Sunday), to keep firmly in mind throughout these weeks who it is we are preparing to welcome liturgically at Christmas, and, as far as possible, not to allow ourselves to get too caught up in frenetic shopping in the weeks before.
St Paul in his Letter to the Romans also bids us to ‘wake up’ because our salvation is even nearer than when we first believed. It is a message of invitation, but also one of hope for Christ’s coming again. Paul’s words bid us to let our armour be the Lord Jesus Christ! Therein lies our true hope!
In the first reading from Isaiah, the prophet shares his dream of a time when all nations and peoples will come together in answer to God’s call, willingly being taught God’s ways and walking in God’s paths. Isaiah imagines, moreover, that people will be so converted that they will “hammer their swords into ploughshares” and their “spears into pruning hooks”; that “nations will not lift swords against another nation, nor train for war anymore”. When nations respect one another, peace is possible!
Let these words fill us with hope that current wars being fought around the world will come to an end, and that the dream of Isaiah will be realised in our time.
Today, the strong Advent message to ‘stay awake’ also calls us to be alert to the signs of destruction of our environment – the creation that God has given us to steward and care for. Let us not be blind to the signs of our times as the people in Noah’s time were so immersed in their daily lives were they that they were totally unaware of the danger that was creeping up on them, and to which they succumbed.
If Isaiah were alive in our da,y maybe his dream would include the sound of the axe not being heard; guns being hammered into farming equipment; poor countries being helped by the rich to “get on their feet”, and all nations caring for one another.
So, with hope in our hearts, “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1) this Advent.
Sr Elizabeth Murray is a Sister of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict (SGS). Following some years teaching in schools, Elizabeth pursued studies in liturgy, then worked with adults in liturgy and music, both in Brisbane and Perth. She is a member of the Diocesan Council for Consecrated Life, and is currently serving on the National Liturgical Music Council. Elizabeth is happily a member of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Greystanes.
This reflection underpins our commitment to Formation under the Diocesan Pastoral Plan. Visit Synodality to learn more.
