Father Thomas Welbers' Homily	Jump back to Homily Index
First Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2003 Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 Luke 21:25-28, 34-36	Listen to Audio

Advent is given to us not to tell us something new, but to remind us of what we already know – maybe what we know so well that we take it for granted, and don’t even bother to pay attention to it anymore.

I remember a good number of years ago, when I was in the seminary – in fact I was in the minor seminary, in high school -- a retreat master ended every talk that he gave us on that retreat with these words (interesting, he was speaking to high school students!): “Life is short. Eternity is long. Death is certain. Think it over.”

Well, it’s now about forty-five years later. I look around me and I see death seems be even more certain. And the brevity of life is certainly far more impressed on me now than it was back then. But the question is, do I still – or yet – long for eternity? Do I really believe yet that eternity is what this life is all about?

What if the Lord had plans to call you – or me – to himself even before we were to get back home after Mass today? The question not just, “Am I ready?” The real question is, “Would I greet that as good news?” It’s the answer to that question that shows us where our heart really is!

There are some interesting words that tend to slip right by us in the gospel today. Jesus says: “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. ”

Well, carousing and drunkenness we can deal with – largely because for most of us those are sins we can look at others and say, “That’s their problem.” Or if we do have to look at ourselves and say, “That’s my problem,” at least we know what the problem is, and we know that those things do stand in the way of God’s working in our lives.

But then Jesus adds another phrase to that source of drowsiness – the anxieties of daily life. Now, that’s something we can’t escape from. That does apply to all of us, doesn’t it. Even those parts of our lives that we think are virtuous. The Lord is saying be careful of anything in this world that makes you focus on this world in a way that excludes or distracts from what he really has in store for us, and what he wants for us so passionately.

Can even the anxieties of our lives, and each one of us has them, can they serve to block the fulfillment of God’s work. Do we get so caught up in them, that they seem to captivate our whole attention, and God and his goodness and his plan for us gets lost somewhere.

So our question is, how can we live advent so we can best prepare ourselves anew for Jesus coming and welcome his as good news.

St. Paul gives answer in the brief segment we just heard from Thessalonians. He was writing to newly minted Christians – their faith was only a few months, maybe a few years old. He had planted the church in their midst, and then moved on. And he wrote back to remind them of what had told them because they were finding it difficult to keep this faith alive in their hearts as a source of joy, they were being overcome by all kinds of anxieties, just like us. And so St. Paul has to remind them: “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. ”

So love is the answer. And the kind of love that is the answer is one that is always vigilant to place the good of the other over one’s own. That’s not easy to do. And yet, when you have said love, what else is there?

The story is told of John the Apostle in his dying days. He had been the leader of the church at Ephesus, but near the end of his life he could no longer get around by himself. And so they would carry him into the church when they celebrated the sacred mysteries. And they wanted to hear his words because he was the last surviving eyewitness of Jesus.

And they would always ask him, “Before you go, tell us something more about Jesus.” And he would simply say, “Little children, love one another.” And they would say, “Can’t you tell us more? Certainly you have more memories, more wisdom to share with us.” And he would simply say, “When you love one another, that’s all that you need. There is nothing more. ”

© Thomas Welbers 2003