First Reading
Jeremiah 33:14-16

The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: “The Lord our justice.”

Second Reading
1 Thessalonians 3:12—4:2

Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen. Finally, brothers and sisters, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God—and as you are conducting yourselves—you do so even more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

Gospel Cycle Cycle C
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Jesus said to his disciples: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

The end of our world! Most of us don’t stop to think that our world will end. And hardly anybody believes that it will end in our lifetime. There are two themes on this first Sunday of Advent: the first is that the world will end unexpectedly and we must be prepared and the second is that God is always faithful to His promises and wants to redeem us.

Most of us are aware that we will die some day. And we also know that we don’t know when we will die. Most of us will die ordinary deaths just as we have lived ordinary lives. The challenge is not to become extraordinary but to live our ordinary lives completely for the Lord.

So also our world is fairly ordinary. When we look at our world, we see lots of people, lots of conflict, lots of difficulties and sufferings and lots of joy. This is ordinary. Sometimes, perhaps, we hope for a world in which there is peace and contentment, in which people respect and love one another. For that to happen, there must be redemption lived in our lives.

The first reading, from the Prophet Jeremiah, is about this hope for a world in which we can live lives of peace and of faith. All the prophets longed for this. Many times ordinary people long for this. Today we must ask ourselves: do I long for peace, faith and love?

Advent is about the coming of our Savior, the King of Peace, the God-man who invites us to faith and to love. In Advent we look once more at the end of the world so that we can see the birth of the Messiah. It is so important for each of us to recognize our own limitations and the limitations of our world—so that we can long for the Savior to come into our lives. Only as we begin to see the reality that we need redemption can our hearts become more and more set on the Lord, asking for his presence.

The Gospel of Luke wants us to be prepared, both for our personal death but also for the end of the world. We can only be prepared when we recognize that we need God above all else in our lives. This is a not a matter of trying to scare us into heaven, but honestly it is a matter of seeing the truth that surrounds us each day: our lives mean nothing unless they are lived in God.

So we are invited in this time of Advent to prepare our hearts and our minds once again, being open to the divine presence that is always around us. Let us spend some time during this Advent Season listening specially to God’s loving presence in our lives. May our hearts be more open to the Savior at the end of this Advent than they ever have been before. May God help us all!