First Sunday of Advent - Fr. Leo

 “Be watchful! Be alert!  You do not know when the time will come.”

To be watchful, is to be awake in anticipation of what is coming.  For us, it is the coming of Christ present and future and we look to the past to remember his coming and his promises.

How do we make this watchfulness a reality in our lives?  First, we may reflect on the gift of life and the reality of our own death.  If we knew we only had a short time to live, would we live differently than we would today?

My hunch, is we would take stock of our lives and concentrate on what is most important and meaningful in our lives.  Recently, there was a man I know who received a rather serious prognosis, one that could have been deadly.  It evoked muchconcern in his family.  They rallied around him to hang on to what they had, a marvelous father.  Prayers were said continually and later, it was learned the cancer was contained.  Things would more than likely be ok.  Then they gathered again to celebrate the gift they had and were given.  More time to be a family, together with dad.

The truth is, none of us know what lies ahead.  So being awake, is living life to its fullest, which is the Holy Spirit’s goal in our lives.  As the spirit overshadowed Mary to birth the Son of God into the world, what we embrace in this Advent/Christmas season, we are called to be watchful, to be ready for when the same spirit comes to overshadow us and bring the birth of new life in our souls.

Advent is a time to remember what is most important in our lives.  A time to let the Holy Spirit make us holy, drawing us deeper into the mystery of God’s love revealed in the mystery of the Trinity of who’s life we share.

Let us be watchful, let us take the time needed to be still and know that the Lord is our God!  Maybe our mantra can be what the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemane has etched in stone over the entrance into their cloister: “God Alone.”