First Sunday of Advent - Wait, Wait, Wait

He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.God is faithful, and by him, you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is really hard to believe that the first Sunday of Advent is already here.  It wasn't too long ago that I was welcoming in the new year with all of its hopes and dreams.  

There is nothing so hard as waiting.  Life seems to be the period where we go from the back of the line to the front of the line.  Did you ever get into a line at the supermarket where everything was it seemed to be moving nicely and then you hear the dreaded "price check on seven."  The person in front of you has four ounces of cumquats and is insisting that they were on sale but the register rang them up at two cents more a pound than the sale price. You want to reach into your pocket and give the person a quarter so that she will get the heck out of your way!  Waiting is hard.  Can you imagine how hard it was for the Hebrew people?  

The Hebrews in the first century had been waiting for the Messiah for a long time. While they were waiting, countries were having their way with them and they wanted to be free of foreign interference with their government.  So, imagine having to wait centuries for something to happen and you think that your wait in the supermarket line with that screaming little brat that wants one of every candy bar that he has seen was long!  In the next four weeks, we will wait as we pray and reflect on the place of Jesus in our life.  Each week we will get closer and closer to that great time when our Savior will appear.   

There will be a lot of preparing to be done over the next four weeks. The house will need to be made ready to receive guests, there will be presents to buy and wrap and meals to plan, people to pick up and drop off.  It will be a mad scramble for some of us. All the while we are exhausting ourselves with the needs of the body will we be considering the needs of our soul?  There is no reason why even one of us cannot take fifteen minutes a day in prayer especially if you make time when all of the work of the day is complete.  You need this time of prayer.  Here is the painless way of doing it.  

Wait for a time just before bed.  Turn off the TV, radio, stereo and most of all the smartphone.  Breathe in and out deeply a few times and sink back into your chair.  Clear your mind of everything and just think of one word, "Jesus."  Breathe in and out as you slowly say the name. Then imagine that Jesus is there with you.  He is sitting just opposite of you and He is ready to listen to you.  Pour out your heart, let Him know how you feel.  Let Him hear of your joys and sorrows, laugh with Him and cry with Him. After fifteen minutes (longer if you like) take your leave of Him and thank Him for the blessings He has given you in your life.  

There is no secret to prayer that you need to know except this.  Prayer is simply talking to your friend.  He wants this relationship with you!  He loves you with all of His Heart.  

Advent is a great time to help your relatives and friends who might this very day be in Purgatory.  He or she is not there you say, well, then pray for the people who need it most.  Your prayers will not go unheard nor will they be wasted. 

Waiting,Watching, Keeping Time and Eternity

"Therefore, stay awake,  
for you know neither the day nor the hour."

Eternity is a long time.  Just when you think you've been there for a long time, it dawns on you that you've only just begun.  This reality is the reality for all of us, Christian, non-Christian, Buddhist, Atheist, or whatever.  Each of us bears within us a never-ending supply of life.  This, even more than the speed of light, is the one law that will affect all of us.  In a week, or in a year, or maybe tomorrow we will cast off this temporary housing and find ourselves standing before the judgment seat of God and there we will see in His awesome beauty, Jesus Christ,  The Son of God.  We will render an account of our life to Him and the location we will choose where we will spend our eternity in, either heaven with God, or if we choose, hell, without Him.

Thomas A' Kempis in the Imitation of Christ tells us that we should not put off doing a good deed until later because we do not know if we will even draw one more breath.  That is what the story of the virgins waiting for the bridegroom means. Be ready at any moment because we do not know the time that Jesus will call us.  This lesson, for me, is easier to understand now as I am older than it was when I was very young.  The youth feel the seed of immortality more keenly than the old because it is so close to the surface and it has not taken root as it has in the more mature.  The young in the spring of life interpret this feeling as being applicable to their lives here on earth and the door to eternity is so far away that it bears no consideration. 

Be watchful, young and old, men and women, for the chances to do good that come your way. Do the good not out of fear of losing heaven if you do not do them, for heaven is a free gift. Do the good deeds in celebration of the life that you have been given with the knowledge that what you do for others will please our Father in heaven. 

The poor souls in purgatory cannot pray themselves out of there and into heaven.  They depend on us to help them. I believe that praying for the poor souls is the ultimate good deed - remember to pray for them today and dedicate your weekly Mass to them.  You will be glad that you did.