A Homily - The First Sunday of Advent (Year A)

 A Homily

 

2022.11.27

 

First Reading – Isaiah 2:1-5 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 121(122):1-2, 4-5, 6-9 ©

Second Reading – Romans 13:11-14 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Palms 84:8

The Gospel According to Matthew 24:37 - 44 ©

 

(NJB)

 

The First Sunday of Advent

A Holy Day of Obligation (Year A)

 

Listen to the prophet who says that the law of God, the creator of the universe, that God’s law is one for all people, and that the purpose of the law is to lead people to peace.

 

Here is the law:

 

Love God with all your strength, and all your heart, and all your mind; love your neighbor as yourself.

 

Remember this:

 

When the law makes reference to Zion it is not referencing a place. Zion is a metaphor, it stands for the center of our being, Zion represents our heart, each of us individually and the whole of us collectively.

 

Zion is the heart of hearts; in its deepest chamber is the holy of holies, the place where we encounter the divine, it is there that the creator of the universe has written the immutable law: to love your neighbor even as you love yourself.

 

It is there in there, in the temple of the living God that the invisible hand has inscribed the indelible command, to love one another as God loves us, and that we return God’s love through the service we give to our neighbors, our friends and family, and to the stranger in our midst.

 

Remember this:

 

It is in the other that God is presents God’s self to us.

 

Insofar as we uphold rule our salvation is complete and the savior’s work is done, the fear of death gone, it is then that pain and suffering lose their power in this world, having been met by love and compassion …and faith (which means trust).

 

When the rule has been fulfilled, we will have no need for anyone to come with power and authority to adjudicate between us. When the rule is followed there is peace among the people of God, both in the here and now and in the eternity…for all people in all places at all times, we shall be as one.

 

Consider the wisdom of the psalmist who says to each of us, to each and every one of us:

 

You were conceived in the womb of salvation

 

Listen! You do not have to seek that which has already found you.

 

Consider again the words of the psalmist and forget all the talk of securing cities, and ramparts and thrones. God has nothing to do with these things; they are stuff human beings dream of. Know that God, the creator of the universe, that the living God who dwells in each of us, that God is not a tribal deity.

 

The eternal God does not belong to one people, one nation, one world or one galaxy, God’s being is co-extensive with the universe, and there is no place where God is not.

 

God is infinite and eternal and beyond our comprehension, and yet God is with us and within us; God is the being through whom and in whom each and every one of us comes to existence.

 

Stay awake!

 

Listen to the apostle and remember that it is always dark somewhere in the world, and somewhere in the world it is always light.

 

It is easy to hide in plain sight, while it is difficult to work for the good and keep it private. Whether in private or in public, endeavor to live up to the expectations you have set for yourself regarding your relationship with the divine and know that God loves you

 

Act as if everything you do will be known by all, because it will in the end, in that place beyond time, when God is all in all; then there will be nothing hidden and all secrets will have been revealed.

 

Forget all about glory of God, the creator of the universe is not a nationalist, and promoting that image of God is to promote a god of fear, it is a false image of a lesser being. Rather, promote the God of love, beyond all tribalism, all national borders and all boundaries.

 

Reject the image of God as king, dread lord, and tyrant. Promote a God of humility, as Jesus was humble and taught us to be; live decently and free from the addiction of our desires…which only lead to suffering.

 

God is the creator of the entire universe, it is from God that everything flows; all seas, all planets, all stars, all galaxies; along with everything and everyone in them.

 

Consider these truths when you read the scriptures so that you may understand that God did not end the captivity of Jacob, they Israelites did; be mindful, this is not hubris, it is truth. It is far greater hubris to think that God loves a special people, a single tribe above all others, than to think that the Israelites escaped bondage under their own power…put away such hubris.

 

Know this!

 

God is never angry or indignant with the people, and yet God will not rescue anyone from the misery of this world; that is for us to do for ourselves, but more importantly it is for us to do for each other.

 

Consider the Gospel for today, and know that the future history of the world has not been written.

 

Any suppositions about our future on Earth is merely guesswork. Some guesses are more informed than others, we can speak in terms of possibility and probability, of patterns and trends but we cannot know anything about the days and nights to come; nothing is fixed, change is the only constant, and everything is uncertain.

 

There are thousands of ways in which the plans we have laid, or the hopes that we cherish can come undone: lightning will strike, a tornado will blow, a meteor fall, a volcano explode. A person in the fullness of life may trip and fall, hit their head and die, leaving all their deeds and all their hopes and dreams behind them, it can happen without warning…it happens everyday

 

God has promised to bring an end to suffering, injustice, hunger, illness. We can believe in this promise, but those promises are not of this world. These promises concern the world to come, a world in which human beings are not subject to the vicissitudes of the material condition, or the hungers of the flesh…they express a hope that does not belong to the worlds of time and space.

 

I cannot speak of that world, I will not pretend to because I have never seen it…no one has.

 

Our belief in a loving God, our hope in the words of the prophets, our trust in the Gospel, these allow us to believe that the world of God’s promise is real, but anyone who pretends to know for certain is overstating their case, or simply lying…they are either con-men or the conned and they are not to be trusted with anything.

 

This is what we have been taught, and we should stick to it:

 

We can live our present lives as if the actuality of God’s promises were real, we can believe it even though we cannot see it; this is the secret of the way.

 

If we care for one another we do not have to wait for the end of time; we can experience something of the promise in the here and now.

 

In those moments, which may be transitory God is with us…God is always with us, but in those moments when we are working with God to bring about that better world, then God is with us in a special way, it is then through the synchronicity of our beating hearts that we experience the mystery of sacramental union.

 

 

First Reading – Isaiah 2:1-5 ©

 

The Lord Gathers All Nations Together Into the Eternal Peace of God's Kingdom

 

The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

 

In the days to come the mountain of the Temple of the Lord shall tower above the mountains and be lifted higher than the hills.

 

All the nations will stream to it, peoples without number will come to it; and they will say:

 

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths; since the Law will go out from Zion, and the oracle of the Lord from Jerusalem.’

 

He will wield authority over the nations and adjudicate between many peoples; these will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles.

 

Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for war.

 

O House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

 

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 121(122):1-2, 4-5, 6-9 ©

 

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

 

I rejoiced when I heard them say:

  ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

And now our feet are standing

  within your gates, O Jerusalem.

 

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

 

It is there that the tribes go up,

  the tribes of the Lord.

For Israel’s law it is,

  there to praise the Lord’s name.

There were set the thrones of judgement

  of the house of David.

 

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

 

For the peace of Jerusalem pray:

  ‘Peace be to your homes!

May peace reign in your walls,

  in your palaces, peace!’

 

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

 

For love of my brethren and friends

  I say: ‘Peace upon you!’

For love of the house of the Lord

  I will ask for your good.

 

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

 

 

Second Reading – Romans 13:11-14 ©

 

Our Salvation is Near

 

You know ‘the time’ has come: you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted. The night is almost over, it will be daylight soon – let us give up all the things we prefer to do under cover of the dark; let us arm ourselves and appear in the light. Let us live decently as people do in the daytime: no drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

Gospel Acclamation – Palms 84:8

 

Alleluia, alleluia!

 

Let us see, O Lord, your mercy

and give us your saving help.

 

Alleluia!

 

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 24:37 - 44 ©

 

The Son of Man is Coming at an Hour You Do Not Expect

 

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘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. It will be like this when the Son of Man comes. Then of two men in the fields one is taken, one left; of two women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left.

 

‘So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

 

 

The First Sunday of Advent, A Holy Day of Obligation (Year A)