BE VIGILANT: STAY AWAKE
Isaiah 2:1-5/Psalm 121(122)/Romans 13:11-14/Matthew 24:37-44
Today is the first Sunday of Advent – a new liturgical year in the Church. It is my prayer that this liturgical year will bring about revival in the Church. The Advent season includes the four Sundays that precede Christmas. In this season, we recall two central elements of our faith: the final coming of the Lord in glory and the incarnation of the Lord – the birth of Jesus Christ. Key themes of the Advent season are watchful waiting, preparation, justice and charity.
Today’s first reading says: “Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob” (Isaiah 2:3). Our calling as Christians is to go up to the mountain of the Lord. Mountain stands for divine presence, power and might. Those who want to climb mountains must be in their kits to enable them climb with ease. Ps. 24:3 asks “who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his Holy place?” Verse 4 answered, “the man with clean hands and pure hearts who don’t desire worthless things and who has not sworn so as to deceive his neighbour.” Therefore, during this advent season we must clean our hands and hearts. The sacrament of confession offers us this opportunity, it makes us clean and pure in heart so that we can truly come to his presence.
In the second reading, Rom.13:11 Paul says “wake from sleep”. In this sense sleep is synonymous to a vice. Anytime we exhibit negative addictions we are asleep and our souls cannot perform virtuous act. We can only dream of it, wish it and the likes. Therefore, we have to wake up from vice and live in virtue. Many Christians are sleeping in the faith. Some even sleep off not just spiritually but also physically, may be due to fatigue or a symptom of an ailment . However, some just come to the Church to sleep out of spiritual laziness and disinterestedness. Active participation is a requirement for fruitful worship. There will be no physical sleep where there is spiritual enthusiasm but when the reverse is the case, sleep comes.
St paul continues, he says in Rom.13:12 let us lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Works of darkness are violence, lust, drunkenness, jealousy, gossips, lies, fornication, immoralities, etc. We must lay these things aside so that we don’t fall aside. Paul says put on the armour of light. We must be clothed in virtue, we have to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desire(Rom.13:14).
Similarly, the gospel continues with the above theme. We must be awake; we must be vigilant. Oftentimes, lack of vigilance leads to sinfulness. An army with his riffle that is not vigilant would likely be defeated. If Christians carry the Bible and are not vigilant their house will be broken into. Today, people are so vigilant about their health, weight, wealth, and ambition and they preserve it, also we have around us the Vigilante group to assist us in security; we do these for earthly preservation yet we lack eternal vigilance. Beloved, in your race to eternity, be a vigilante.
To be vigilant is to be watchful, to be awake, to be alert, to be ready. Today’s gospel says watch therefore for you do not know on what day the Lord is coming.
FOURS WAYS TO BE SPIRITUALLY VIGILANT:
1. Avoid reckless sleep: Sleeping is not bad. But avoid reckless sleeping. Don’t sleep like the two women in 1 Kings 3:16-17 one did not know that she has slept over her baby and the other did not know her baby has been taken away. Such recklessn sleep exhibit in faith and can lead to eternal damnation. Therefore we should be awake spiritually and guide our Christian vocation jealously.
2. Struggle against worldly passions: 1Pet.2:11 says guard against the desires of the flesh that waged war against our souls. Some persons are in the habit of lustful passions. 1Thess4:4-5 each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.
3. Active waiting. We can’t say we are waiting for the second coming of Christ and so we sit down and do nothing. ‘Why should I labour when I know everything will be destroyed, why should I labour when I know life on earth is a journey.’ In Luke 19:13 The master said to the servant “do business with these until I come.” We are all to go about our businesses as witness until he comes, we are to invest our time and energy in building the kingdom.
4. Absolute Vigilance; this involves waiting in prayer and good works. To pray is a partial act of vigilance while good works makes it absolute. We cannot say we have prayed for security therefore we can now leave our gates open, when we pray for security we should also close our doors, when we pray for holiness we must also guard against vices.
LET US PRAY
Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
