1st Sunday of Advent Year B - 3/12/2017 - Gospel: Mk13:33-37
Being more human
Every year at the beginning of Advent, the Church starts a new Liturgical year to prepare our mind and heart for the coming of our Saviour. Advent is calling for something fresh and something new and we need to look deep into our lives to welcome the freshness and the newness to make change accordingly. It is not the freshness and newness of the liturgy that brings the change but it is the coming of Jesus, the birth of Jesus that brings the freshness and newness. The Advent liturgy annually reminds us of the recurring of the birth of Jesus who is the only Son of God, who becomes a human person; who comes to live amongst us; who comes to share our earthly journey and who makes our faith journey become noteworthy to the Father. It is Jesus who shows us the new meaning of love and sacrifice, who makes us His friends and asks God the Father to consecrate our lives to his truth Jn 17,17. It is Jesus who brings the heavenly music to our world through the singing of the angels from on high and it is Jesus who makes a new the meaning of the human race through His death and resurrection.
The beginning of the Liturgical year begins with the preparation of our lives to welcome the birth of Jesus. It calls us to change our ways of life to adopt a new life, starting with the baby Jesus who was born in the middle of the winter, in the wilderness and amongst animals. The birth of Jesus warms up the frozen relationships of the human race caused by sin. It is frozen because people turned away from the God of their Ancestors to idolatry worship. It is frozen because people wandered away from God and ignored the prophets' callings to return to God's way of love and mercy. It is frozen because people relied on their own wisdom rather than humbly accepting the way of the Lord. The birth of Jesus calls to make corrections of the atrocity darkness of wilderness of a human heart. A wilderness is home for the hostile and cruel attitudes and antagonistic environments where mercy is absent and compassion is null. The birth of Jesus calls us to restrain the animals' behaviours approach and replacing it with a more human relationships, avoiding dealing with each other with claws, feasts, grunts and harsh words but compassion, love and forgiveness is the way of life. The birth of Jesus calls us to reshape our lives in accordance with the life of baby Jesus who was humbled to come into our world to be one of us and redeemed us with his life and blood on the cross. It calls us to recognize that God is amongst us and we need to see the goodness of God in each one of us. God's goodness in each one of us is life giving, infused in us as a free gift for us to enjoy life, to live in God's grace and peace given to us freely and we should learn from it to give it freely to others in the name of Jesus. It calls us in giving thanks to God for sending His only Son to live amongst us, to show us the way of love and mercy, to guide us in our pilgrimage towards God's kingdom.
The Advent calls us to 'be watchful' about our relationships to God and to others; to leave a wild life behind and to adopt a new way of life preaching by Jesus who is 'the way, truth and life' Jn 14,6.
The beginning of the Liturgical year begins with the preparation of our lives to welcome the birth of Jesus. It calls us to change our ways of life to adopt a new life, starting with the baby Jesus who was born in the middle of the winter, in the wilderness and amongst animals. The birth of Jesus warms up the frozen relationships of the human race caused by sin. It is frozen because people turned away from the God of their Ancestors to idolatry worship. It is frozen because people wandered away from God and ignored the prophets' callings to return to God's way of love and mercy. It is frozen because people relied on their own wisdom rather than humbly accepting the way of the Lord. The birth of Jesus calls to make corrections of the atrocity darkness of wilderness of a human heart. A wilderness is home for the hostile and cruel attitudes and antagonistic environments where mercy is absent and compassion is null. The birth of Jesus calls us to restrain the animals' behaviours approach and replacing it with a more human relationships, avoiding dealing with each other with claws, feasts, grunts and harsh words but compassion, love and forgiveness is the way of life. The birth of Jesus calls us to reshape our lives in accordance with the life of baby Jesus who was humbled to come into our world to be one of us and redeemed us with his life and blood on the cross. It calls us to recognize that God is amongst us and we need to see the goodness of God in each one of us. God's goodness in each one of us is life giving, infused in us as a free gift for us to enjoy life, to live in God's grace and peace given to us freely and we should learn from it to give it freely to others in the name of Jesus. It calls us in giving thanks to God for sending His only Son to live amongst us, to show us the way of love and mercy, to guide us in our pilgrimage towards God's kingdom.
The Advent calls us to 'be watchful' about our relationships to God and to others; to leave a wild life behind and to adopt a new way of life preaching by Jesus who is 'the way, truth and life' Jn 14,6.
Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia