Staying Awake

 1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

[ Matthew 24: 37-44 ]

   The struggle is REAL.

For many of us, waking up early in the morning is a real struggle. The alarm is ringing, but our eyelids are so heavy that we can hardly open our eyes. One good ‘turn’ deserves another, so it is said. Deep within us, there is a prevailing urge to just hit the snooze button and get back to sleep. It requires so much effort and self-discipline to push ourselves out of our comfy beds to face another new day.

More often than not, staying awake throughout the day is another struggle. When we are sitting through long speeches and arduous meetings… sometimes even when we are at Mass, or when we are praying… we find ourselves yawning away and dozing off. Indeed, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak [Mt 26: 41].

   “Stay awake!” [Mt 24: 42]

The First Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the season of Advent and the new liturgical year of the Catholic Church. Advent is a none other than a series of wake-up calls from God!

‘The time has come… our salvation is nearer than it was… the night is almost over, it will be daylight soon…’ [cf. Rm 13: 11-12], and the Son of Man is coming [cf. Mt 24: 37]: are we ready to meet Him?

   Spiritual watchfulness.

When Jesus exhorts us to ‘stay awake’ [Mt 24: 42], He is not referring to the physical sense of staying awake but the spiritual watchfulness.

And Jesus has further warned that [Mt 24: 37-41], “As it was in Noah’s day, so will it be when the Son of Man comes. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept all away. Then two men in the fields one is taken, one left; of two women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left…”

   Are we the ones who will be swept away by the torrents of trials, temptations, tribulations and turbulences?

   Or are we the ones who will stay?

   Spiritual watchfulness = stay alert + stay vigilant + stay prepared.

In the working world, companies will normally establish comprehensive Emergency Preparedness and Response procedures. All the employees and workers are trained to ‘stay awake’ in case of emergency situations. The survival of the employees and workers is highly dependent on everyone’s preparedness, readiness and watchfulness. They need to ‘stay awake’: stay alert, stay vigilant and stay prepared – at all times – because no one knows when a disaster will strike.

Likewise, using the same analogy, Christians are called to ‘stay awake’. ‘Stay awake’ – in terms of spiritual watchfulness – means to stay alert, stay vigilant and stay prepared. Yes, the very salvation of our souls is highly dependent on our spiritual watchfulness.

• To STAY ALERT, we need to be attentive to the Lord: to know our Shepherd, recognize His voice, listen to Him, and walk with Him. Our armour is our Lord Jesus Christ [Rm 13: 14], we need to be nourished by the Sacraments, formed by Scriptures, trained in Tradition, and constant in prayer.

• To STAY VIGILANT, we need to beware of pitfalls, dangers and false prophets. St Paul [Rm 13: 12-14] urges us, “Let us give up all the things we prefer to do under cover of the dark… let us live decently as people do in the daytime: no drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy…” We are in constant battle against the ‘unholy trinity’: the devil (the Father of Lies), the flesh (our corrupt inclinations and disordered passions) and the world (the worldly values and structures which oppose God’s design).

• To STAY PREPARED means to be always ready for action. Those who are spiritually slothful and lazy will not inherit the Kingdom of God. We must always read the signs of times, feel the pulse of the people, and put ourselves at the better service of Christ and His Gospel. To the margins of the world, we must go. To the peripheries of society, we must bring the light and love of Christ.

   Our armour is our Lord Jesus Christ. [Rm 13: 14]

   “With the First Sunday of Advent, a new liturgical year begins: the People of God begin again on the way to living the mystery of Christ in history. Christ is the same yesterday, today and for ever; history, instead, changes and requires constant evangelization; it needs to be renewed from within and THE ONLY TRUE NOVELTY IS CHRIST: He is the FULFILMENT, the LUMINOUS FUTURE of humanity and of the world. Risen from dead, Jesus is the Lord to whom God subjects all enemies, including death itself. Advent is therefore the propitious time to awaken in our hearts the expectation of He ‘who is and who was and who is to come’ (Rv 1: 8).”

   [Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI | The CTS New Daily Missal 2012]

Time is trickling away, all things are passing, and history too is changing; only our Lord Jesus Christ remains the same – yesterday, today and for ever. He is our ONLY armour against the assaults of our enemies, He is our ONLY anchor in the midst of changes and uncertainties, and He is the ONLY salvation we can count on.

Let our fervent prayer be:

   “Come, Lord Jesus, be my armour, my anchor and my salvation.”

Let us also pray that God’s justice, peace, truth and love may prevail in Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua.