Reflection for the First Sunday of Advent

Tonight’s Gospel begins with a reference to everyday normal activities. People eating, drinking, working, and marrying – Everyday life events. Then we hear about the importance of being ready, not only for what we know is coming but also for the unknown. When I think about my own life, I think about how often I was asked if I was ready and all the different things being ready meant.  When I was younger, I was asked: Was I ready for dinner? (was the table set and my hands washed) Was I ready for school? (My packed, homework complete and lunch or lunch money inside) Was I ready for church? (Hair combed, appropriate dress, money for the collection) Was I ready for the test? (studied all the information and knew the material). This kind of ready was simply having specific tasks completed before an event. 

As I grew older, being ready became more complicated. It was not just about simple tasks but started moving to using more of my heart and mind. Was I ready to pick which college I would go to? (looking at majors, locations, and identifying my wants and talents) Was I ready to move across the country alone? (did I realize what this would mean taking a year off school) Was I ready to graduate? (choosing a profession, finding a job and possibly moving) Was I ready to switch jobs? (moving, starting a new program, leaving the familiar) This type of being ready was a bit more complicated and required more preparation, more reflection and more time to be sure the decision was the best one.  

But then I encountered other types of being ready. Was I ready to stand up for what I believed in through attending protests or civil disobedience? Was I ready to speak out against unjust systems even when it was uncomfortable? Was I ready to stand up with and for those who had no voice even when it was dangerous? Was I ready to choose a life that was different from the lives of those around me? Was I ready to forgive profound hurts that wounded my soul? Was I ready to speak when told to be silent by those in power? This type of being ready was much more comprehensive. It moved me into spending time with my heart and my soul and into trying to discern what I felt God was calling me to. It was a deeper kind of being ready, A type of ready that involved all of me and not just the simple act of completing tasks. This is the type of ready I think we are hearing about in the second part of the Gospel.  The kind of ready that calls us to take a deeper look into our hearts and souls and to truly look at what we need to do in order to be ready for what God may call us to, not only this Advent but on any given day. 

So how am I getting ready? Am I making myself aware of what is going on in various countries and cultures across the world and truly reflecting on how I can react? Am I aware of what is going on in our country and locally and have I spent time with how I am responding to those situations? Have I reflected on what is happening here at the Mount and in Atchison with those whom I daily come in contact with? Do I know what I am willing to do or not do when I am called upon to respond? Am I looking at how my thoughts, words and actions line up with my reflections about these things? Am I ready at a minute’s notice to respond to Christs call on these and other issues? 

As the Gospel states – we do not know on what day the Lord will come – so the best way to be ready is to live in that daily reflection, that daily conversatio of truly listening with our hearts to what is going on around us and being clear about how we are choosing to respond. Pope Leo encourages us by suggesting that every gesture of willingness, every gratuitous act, every forgiveness given in advance, every effort patiently accepted, every demand renounced, when we stop waiting for others to change, when we take the first step, listen more, let go of expectations, take initiative, learn how to trust– these things help us to be ready. So when Christ comes and we are surprisingly called upon, we too will be ready to respond.