1st Sunday of Advent: Be a Good Sentinel, Keep Your Watch

The readings for this Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent have to do with being prepared, with being vigilant, on guard, waiting for the Lord’s return.  Advent is a penitential season, one which is supposed to be something like Lent, i.e. we pray, we fast, we give to the poor, etc.  We do this in order to make ourselves ready to see the Christ child, as did the Shepherds on that faithful night and like the three Wise men when they brought their gifts.  It is also a time of renewal, for as you know today marks the New Year in the Church and it is a time for new beginnings.  Often we wait for the secular New Year to make all kinds of resolutions, but we can do so now, for today is the day of salvation.

Often times when we make resolutions they often sound like this, “I will start tomorrow morning fresh,” or, “I will wait until New Years Day,” or some other such promise.  We make these resolutions and promises over many different things.  We promise to quit smoking, to drink less, to eat healthy, to exercise, and to avoid bad habits, weaknesses, sins, and life’s little addictions.  However, many times for us it will begin tomorrow and then tomorrow arrives and it doesn’t begin.

The weaknesses of human beings, all of us are plagued by those weaknesses, some more some less.  And yet, here stands Advent, a New Year in the Church, a day in which the Lord calls us again to start fresh, with a clean slate and to be resolved in our promises that are made to help build virtue and holiness.  With the Year of Mercy fast approaching what better means do we have then to make our dreams to be holy a full reality in our lives?  We have the opportunity to go to Confession, to humble ourselves before the Lord and ask Him to make us good servants, or better, good sentinels for sentinels keep a vigilant watch.  We are to keep a vigilant watch over ourselves in our lives of faith, not out of trying to win favor, but out of love for the Lord and all that is good.  This is done through penance and hard work, no easy way around it for old habits die hard, but it can be done with God’s grace.  Remember our weapons are eternal, prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  Let us this year bring those precious gifts to Jesus on Christmas morning, gifts worth more than gold and silver, gifts built on love.