The Future is uncertain but the End is always near

First Sunday of Advent Year C

What would your response be if I were to tell you that we are at the cusp of the End Times, especially in view of the escalation of conflict between Ukraine and Russia, threatening to drag Europe, the United States and the whole world into a possible nuclear war?

Firstly, many of you would respond with incredulity and scoff at my announcement, thinking that I am either kidding, overreacting or out of my mind, and then proceed to live your lives business-as-usual.

Secondly, some would take advantage of the limited time still available to fulfil your life-time’s bucket list - eat, drink and be merry. Why waste the final hours, days and months of your life in idle living or useless worrying?

Thirdly, some of you would redouble your effort in putting your life and your household in order. Time to put in more effort in prayer, Mass attendance, and seek to make peace with those who have become estranged in past years.

Before proceeding any further, I would like to assure that I am deadly serious when I say that we are living in the end times. This is no bogey-man created by the Church to scare the unchurched and the nominal Catholics to return to the pews every Sunday. Neither, is this some symbolic event and its content require some form of de-mythologising. The world really will end! As the rock star lead of the Doors, Jim Morrison, assures us: “The future is uncertain but the end is always near.” The “End” did not begin today or in recent times or even in the past century. It began two thousand years ago with the first coming of our Lord. Our Lord’s death and resurrection was the beginning of the end, the sudden unveiling of God’s final purpose for His creation. We have been living in the end times since then.

The problem which many people face is that we tend to lose the momentum and urgency when the climatic conclusion of the end times seems to have been postponed. We start believing that it’s all a hoax, that the Church got it wrong, that Christ didn’t mean this when He spoke of it to His disciples. But the greater problem is that when we lose sight of the end times, we also lose sight of our ultimate purpose and destination in life. A society who has no vision of an eschatology where God would be victorious at the end, where the wicked would be punished and the innocent vindicated, where wrongs would be made right, where present sufferings would be justified, would be a society wrapped in despair and living without hope.

An incorrect eschatology can also lead to incorrect behaviour in the present times. The early Christian community, as evidenced by the writings of St Paul had similar experiences and responses to the end times announcement which they thought to be imminent - something that would take place in their own lifetime. So, some surrendered to an unbridled hedonistic lifestyle filled with “debauchery and drunkenness”, while others pursued an ascetic style of living, abandoning spouses and families whilst quitting their jobs. Both extremes were far from the ideal of Christian living which St Paul desired to instil in them.

St Paul does not suggest that Christians head for the hills, hunker down, adopt a “fortress mentality,” and start stockpiling food and weapons. As Paul sees it, end-time Christians are called to practice holiness and do good to others wherever and whenever they can. They are supposed to work the works of God “while it is day” (John 9:4). And his instructions have not grown obsolete and we would be wise to follow.

Firstly, news of the end times should not coarsen our hearts and lead us to become some stoic loveless persons. Rather, it should motivate us to increase our love for others. “May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you.”

Secondly, our contemplation of the end times should also deepen our relationship with God as we strive to grow in holiness. St Paul prays that God may “so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.”

Thirdly, knowledge of the end times should not lead us to spiritual or intellectual idleness but actually motivate us to make progress in every aspect of our lives. We should always strive to improve ourselves and not settle for mediocrity, “to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it.”

As for our Lord, He speaks to His disciples about the need for vigilance and prayer as they wait for the coming of the Son of Man in glory. Though our Lord predicts a time of destruction and fear, and He acknowledges that many will be frightened by what they will be witnessing; His disciples are not to fear, but are to stand tall. Note that our Lord does not promise deliverance from anxiety or tribulations. He, however, encourages His disciples to pray for strength.

There are many reasons why it would be easy to feel overcome by the darkness of our present historical moment. At the threshold of global nuclear annihilation, with so many overwhelming unknowns, it is tempting for our waiting to turn to the apathy of despair, which waits because there is nothing else to do, nowhere to go—a kind of resignation that has stopped looking for new possibilities. What should we do and what can we do? Just as the early Christian communities did not find consolation in the promise of a utopia, nor escape through some other-worldly asceticism or hedonistic lifestyle, nor should we. Instead, we find in our Christian faith the means by which we witness to God's unfailing love for us in all circumstances. With His abundant grace, we should keep on loving, keep on living and keep on growing in holiness.

And so, we begin this holy season of Advent on a high note of hope, rather than despair. Our Lord’s predictions about the end times may sound dire, but in His person and in His message, we who hear Him can find strength and consolation. Like the first Christians, we may encounter events and circumstances that could lead us to despair. Through prayer, however, we find strength and consolation in the Lord’s words in today’s gospel: “Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.”

And Now the End is Near

Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

There are too many things happening simultaneously and coincidentally which may lead us to believe that we are living in the end times. We seem to be beset by one earth-shattering, history-setting crisis after another - a worldwide pandemic that brought the entire world to its knees, an economic crisis on an accelerated downward spiral, regional conflicts threatening to become another world war, hurricanes and natural calamities on an unprecedented scale and a polarised Church which seems to have as many enemies on the inside as she has on the outside. For some, the re-election of Donald Trump was the final straw – we are on the threshold of Armageddon.

Whenever some big catastrophe happens, you can be sure that someone will start talking about the “end times.” Both Catholics and Protestants do this. The difference mainly seems to be that Protestants start trying to chart out the apocalypse according to the Books of Daniel and Revelation, whereas Catholics try to chart it out based on various private revelations of the more dramatic and eschatological kind.

But what Christians today often forget is that the Church has been talking about the “end times” since the very first century, when humanity crucified the Son of God which was followed in a few decades by the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. Our Lord’s death and resurrection was the beginning of the end, the sudden unveiling of God’s final purpose for His creation. The destruction of the Temple merely confirmed their worst fears as the Temple was regarded by the Jews as the microcosm of the universe. This catastrophe coupled with civil wars fought within the Roman Empire, cataclysmic natural disasters led many to believe that this was indeed the Last Days. But the world did not disintegrate into space dust despite all signs and omens and personal speculations pointing to this.

So, are we overreacting? Have our ancestors been overreacting? Are the end times even real or have we been suffering from some eschatological post-traumatic stress disorder for decades and centuries? I wish to reassure you - Yes, the end times are real! The last things are real: death, judgment, heaven, hell. From a biblical point of view, we have been living in the end times for the last 2,000 years.

We are living in the end times but there is nothing new about this. So yes, the drama is real, but so is the salvation. We should never forget this truth: Evil is real, but so is good. In fact, the good is more real because evil is always destructive, always negative, always corrupting. Whereas the good creates, builds, grows, nurtures, comforts, enhances, heals. That is why we should never be hiding in a bunker, cowering in fear under some rock or burying our head in the sand. The good news of Jesus Christ is that evil does not triumph, cannot triumph, and so we do not have to fear. We can look in the face of evil—as so many Christian martyrs have done and do even today—and persevere in loving the good.

What our Lord tells us in today’s gospel passage is not just an ominous warning of destruction on a global and cosmic scale. Many would be so caught up with the frightening imagery that appears in the first half of our Lord’s prophecy but fail to pay attention to the second half that follows. What comes after the end of the world and the universe, is not defeat but victory. Our Lord assures us that for those who remain resilient and faithful to the end, will get to witness the “Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory; then too he will send the angels to gather his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the world to the ends of heaven.”

As Christians, we should not be paralysed and stuck in the past, the past of failures, of blunders, of sentimental memories. If there is anything the past can teach us is the lessons which we must take into the present. Remembering the past should lead us to a profound sense of gratitude, to wisdom, to humility and to repentance. We must remember that we can never change the past and therefore, can never choose to live in a time capsule, shielding us from the troubles of the present.

The same could be said of the future. We have limited influence on the future, which in any case doesn’t yet exist. Many feel crippled and immobilised by fear and the uncertainties of the future. But we have a lot of influence on the choices we make and the actions we take, here and now. “Now” matters. It matters because all the “nows” in a lifetime add up to the kind of people we become, and the kind of world we help to heal or degrade. Our power as individuals lies in what we do now; in our willingness to speak and live the truth today, now, whatever the cost. It lies in our refusal to cooperate with a culture of distortion and deceit.

Ultimately, Christians belong to the Church Militant; a Church engaged in a nonviolent struggle for the soul of the world. Our weapons are faith, hope and charity; justice, mercy, and courage. But all those virtues are useless without the men and women to live and witness them and to soldier on . . . because people, not things, are decisive. And it is how we live our lives in the present which will determine the final outcome, with “some (going) to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace.”

The Catholic approach may not be the stuff of movies or bestsellers, but it is one filled with hope instead of instilling dread in us. While we may not know exactly what the Second Coming will look like, or when it would happen or how our current world will be reshaped or changed, we have the promises of scripture: “The learned will shine as brightly as the vault of heaven, and those who have instructed many in virtue, as bright as stars for all eternity.” That is what we should hold onto as we live our earthly lives as well as we can in love with hope for the work that is being done in our lives now and for what is being prepared for us in the future.

A Descent before an Ascent

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
Lithuania Poland Pilgrimage
John Paul II Salt Chapel, Wieliczka Salt Mine

Most of you are familiar with that basic rule of gravity, “what goes up, must come down.” I guess that principle applies to us. Before taking off for the skies to fly home, we have decided to have our last Mass here in the depths of the earth, literally. But the gospel seems to have a different spin on this. In fact, it proclaims: “The One who came down, must now go up!” I guess that most of us would think of the Ascension as a “going up,” as the normal usage of the word would suggest. Few would see the Ascension as actually linked to a descent.

Salvation history takes a similar route. God, or more specifically, God in the flesh, had to touch and be touched by the rock-bottom experience of our human existence, before He can take the ascending path leading man to his redemption. St Paul lays out this paradox in the second reading. Having quoted Psalm 68 (or 67), St Paul then gives this explanation: “When it says, ‘he ascended’, what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended.” Christ is the victorious conqueror who ascends to His throne in heaven after defeating the spiritual forces. He wins this victory by descending to the very depths, even to plunge Himself into hell, to enter the fray of battle with sin, death and the devil, to accomplish this deed. Christ now shares the spoils of war with His followers. We, perennial losers because of our propensity to sin, have become winners, not by our own achievement but this was accomplished for us by the One who conquered sin and death and victoriously rose from the grave, and now sits at God’s right hand as our Champion.

In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this descend-ascend V movement describes St Luke’s two volume work - his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles - which provide us with not just one, but two accounts of the Ascension. One account ends his gospel, and a second account begins the Acts of the Apostles. In each passage, the Ascension is the essential fulcrum linking the life of Jesus (the Gospels) to the life of the Church (Acts). St Luke begins his gospel with the descent of the Son of God at the Incarnation, and then concludes with His Ascension. Our Lord descended into the human realm as He was sent by the Father, in obedience to the Father’s will to save humanity and then our Lord ascends to His rightful place at the side of His Father in heaven, after having completed His mission. Venerable Fulton Sheen explains this profound connexion between these two events: “The Incarnation or the assuming of a human nature made it possible for Him to suffer and redeem. The Ascension exalted into glory that same human nature that was humbled to the death.”

This movement, however, is not just something which is undertaken by our Lord alone, but one which should be undertaken by the Apostles and all followers of the Lord too. The Collect or Opening Prayer for this Mass has this beautiful line which speaks of our common destiny: “where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope.” We must descend with Him before we can rise with Him and follow our Lord in His ascent to glory. The Apostles accompanied our Lord on His journey to Jerusalem. Before they can ascend with the Lord to the glory which He wishes to share with them, they too must descend from their high horses and acknowledge that they are part of the human dung heap of sin, cowardice, faithlessness and infidelity. This had to happen before they can be redeemed by the Lord. Just like the Lord, they needed to experience humiliation before glorification; death before Eternal Life. After the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we see a speedy recovery. They begin to ‘ascend’ to the heights of missionary zeal, preaching the gospel of the Risen and Ascended Lord, from Judaea to Samaria and then, to the ends of the earth.

On this day, as we commemorate the Lord’s Ascension, should our gaze be directed upwards? What do we hope to see? I guess the dark cavernous ceiling of this salt mine, would be the most obvious answer. Or two feet disappearing into the clouds? Well, the two men in white (presumably angels) at the end of today’s first reading from Acts provides us with the answer, in the form of a question: “Why are you … standing here looking into the sky?”

Their question seems to be a challenge to not just be focused on one direction. In fact, we are invited to look upward, downward, and the road ahead of us. Our Lord’s Ascension invites us always to look upwards, in other words, to never lose sight of the hope of heaven, especially when navigating this world with its many pitfalls mired in disappointment and despair. We are asked to strive always for what’s higher, for what’s more noble, for what stretches us and takes us upward beyond the moral and spiritual ruts, within which we habitually find ourselves. Our Lord’s Ascension reminds us that we can be more, that we can transcend the ordinary and break through the old ceilings, that have until now constituted our horizon. His Ascension tells us that when we stretch ourselves enough, we will be able to walk on water, be great saints, be enflamed with the Spirit and experience already, the deep joys of God’s Kingdom.

But our Lord’s Ascension also invites us to look downwards. We are told to make friends with the desert, the Cross, with ashes, with self-renunciation, with humiliation, with our shadow, and with death itself. We are told that we grow not just by moving upward but also by descending downward. We grow too by letting the desert work us over, by renouncing cherished dreams and accepting the Cross, by letting the humiliations that befall us deepen our character, by having the courage to face our own deep chaos, and by making peace with our mortality. Sometimes, our task is not to raise our eyes to the heavens, but to look down upon the earth, to sit in the ashes of loneliness and humiliation, to stare down the restless desert inside us and to make peace with our human limits and our fragility.

Christians are not only asked to look upward as if our heads have disappeared in the clouds, nor should we be so focused looking downward in intense introspection to the point of despair. We must look ahead at the path which we must walk, the very same path which our Lord, fully human and fully divine, had walked before us. To look ahead, is to be reminded that we have a mission to accomplish, a gospel to be preached, a witness to give to a world that has often lost sight of looking upwards or downwards but one lost in self-absorption. At the end of every pilgrimage, this is what we must do. This may be the end of our pilgrimage to Lithuania and Poland but let us not forget that we are still on a pilgrimage of life to heaven. To look ahead to the horizon who is Christ, for “where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope.”

Rejoice! Indeed the Lord is near!

Third Sunday of Advent Year B

As that 60s Christmas song claims, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.” But is it? It is true that for most people, there are many reasons to revel in the season - the exhilaration of Christmas shopping and carolling, the excitement of receiving gifts, partaking in family reunions, enjoying year-end holidays and taking the necessary break from work and school. But it can also be the season that creates much stress, anxiety and even depression. When more is expected, there can be more reasons to fail. Add to this natural predilection for disappointment and failure would be a global inflation gone out of control, a country with an uncertain and worrying political future, two major conflicts threatening to escalate into another world war.

Against this tide, not just a tide but a tsunami of despair, today’s liturgy shouts out this refrain: “Rejoice! Exult for Joy! Be happy at all times!” Our senses seem to want to shout back: “What’s there to be joyful about?” “Is the Church blind?”

And yet on this Sunday, the Church’s liturgy demands that we rejoice: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!” These words are a paraphrase of the passage from St Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians which we heard as our second reading. Indeed, the Third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday.” “Gaudete” is the Latin word meaning ‘rejoice.’

What joy can there be in the midst of so much pain, suffering, gloom and darkness? It is certainly not the joy that emerges from some false optimism on our part that things are going to get better – too often, we can attest to this, things in fact get worse. Neither is it the joy that comes from creating an illusory world in our minds where pain and suffering is denied. So, what is this joy which the readings are speaking of? So, why should we be happy, and be happy “at all times,” albeit in good times or bad, in sickness or in health? St Paul tells us that this rejoicing is required of us simply “because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus.” And the Church adds in her liturgy, “Indeed, the Lord is near.” The answer lies in Christ. True lasting joy is found only with God in Christ.

We are called to rejoice, because the Lord is coming – He is coming to save us, to liberate us, and to give us new life. Many of us may be experiencing some form of darkness in our lives. We find ourselves in the midst of problems without any apparent solution. We see ourselves ‘captives’ of our difficult circumstances, there seems to be no way out. Our hearts may be broken because of rejection or we have been hurt by the actions and words of others. We see ourselves poor, hungering and thirsting for friendship, understanding and a sense of belonging. Some of us find ourselves trapped in the darkness of sin.

If we see ourselves in any of these situations, rejoice and be glad, because the readings promise good news. This is the promise of God, as St. Paul tells us in the second reading: “God has called you and He will not fail you.” God is always faithful. God keeps His promise. God will not fail you. And what is this promise? The prophet Isaiah announces that the coming of the Lord’s anointed messenger will mean healing and liberation to all who are poor, broken-hearted, oppressed, and captive. The Good News is that which is announced by John the Baptist in the gospel – the Anointed One has come - Jesus has come – He is the Light of the World – and He is waiting to enter into your hearts and into your lives once again.

Therefore, we Christians anticipate the End Times not with fear and trembling, but with rejoicing. St Paul reminds us in the second reading, “Be happy at all times, pray constantly, and for all things give thanks.” Like the prophet Isaiah in the first reading, the thought of the “end times,” of Christ’s coming, should be met with euphoria, “I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God!”

Sometimes we have an image of John the Baptist as an austere ascetic. In depicting the Baptist in this fashion, we tend to forget the joy that is associated with his entire life and vocation. It was him who leapt for joy in his mother Elizabeth’s womb when she encountered the Mother of the Word Incarnate. In the fourth Gospel, St John speaks of the source of the Baptist’s supernatural joy - it is the joy of the best man, who rejoices greatly at hearing the bridegroom’s voice. And thus, his humility opened a space within him for true joy, the kind which comes from the real presence of the Lord. So it can be, for each one of us.

Thus, John stands as a sign for us today on Gaudete Sunday. He points out for each one of us the path to lasting joy, not just a forgery or a fading type of joy. We should imitate his lifestyle of self-emptying – a life marked by humility – we prepare for the coming of the Lord by always holding on this basic principle that defined the Baptist’s life and mission, “He must increase and I must decrease.” Despite the difficulties he encountered, the harshness and austerity of his life, his imprisonment and execution at the hands of a local tyrant, John understood that as his own light dimmed and faded, another light was coming, the true light was coming to illuminate the darkened world and cast aside the shadows of sin. The Baptist only caught a glimpse of the first glimmer of light before the sunrise. We, on the other hand, have the privilege of knowing and witnessing that sunrise at Easter. We can, therefore, know no lasting peace and joy, unless we come to know Christ, the true Light of the World, and allow the light of His grace to transform us.

So, this Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, Rejoice Sunday, becomes another opportunity to be joyful, indeed it is a joy that is greater than it was in the days of the prophet Isaiah or in the days of John the Baptist. What they could only envision in a time of prophecy, we now experience in a time of reality. In just a matter of days we will celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. But we do not just commemorate the past. The Liturgy anticipates the future, the coming of our Saviour, our Liberator, the Christ who will bring to completion the good work He has begun in us. For this reason, Holy Mother Church commands us in the imperative – “Rejoice”! Notice that this is a command, not a suggestion. “Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete: Dominus prope est.” “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Indeed the Lord is near!”

Already but Not-Yet

Third Sunday of Advent Year A

We have a set of idioms which often express this truth that you cannot be doing two different things at the same time. For example, “He who chases two rabbits will catch neither.” But of course, some would claim, as President Joe Biden often does, that “you can walk and chew gum at the same time.” Advent has the ability to bring together two ideas which doesn’t seem to coalesce because they can be found at diametrically opposite ends of the time spectrum. One is that “Jesus is coming” and the second is that “Jesus has already come.” So which is it? Has he come or are we still waiting?

This is often described as “already-but-not-yet”. In salvation history, the past, present and the future are not like oil and water; they are organically connected like seed and tree. So, Christ’s first coming at Christmas marks the beginning of the last days. Christ is the fulfilment of the age of perfection and renewal envisioned by the prophets and yet, the complete fulfilment of those prophecies can only be experienced at a future time - when Christ returns in glory. Christ’s second coming will mark the end of the last days. So, we are living now between the beginning and the end of the End Times, between the Lord’s first and second coming.

This expectation of the Lord’s coming is a powerful theme among the prophets. This is what we hear in the first reading. To a people in exile who have lost their home, Chapter 35 of Isaiah is like a brilliant shaft of light breaking through the clouds of despair and all is bathed in splendour again. Arid wastes burst into bloom as the glory of the Lord comes down like refreshing showers, and the whole earth shouts for joy. It’s a vision to steady trembling hands, strengthen weak knees, and lift fearful hearts.

The people addressed here remember the sights of home, but they are far away, and powerless to return. They have been conquered and brutalised, and their anguished hearts cry out for vengeance, retribution, and deliverance. But they have no strength to right the wrongs they have suffered or to bring those responsible to account. They are blind, deaf, lame, and mute; they have no power to help themselves; only God can save them. And the good news of this chapter is that He will do just that. Isaiah cries, ‘Look, your God is coming, vengeance is coming, the retribution of God; he is coming to save you.’ He will raise up a highway for them and bring them home. They will enter Zion with singing…sorrow and sighing will flee away, and they will be overtaken by a joy that will never end.

What an amazing vision and yet it is clear that it reaches beyond the event of the return of the Jews from exile to something else. Even after returning from exile, the Jews continue to suffer. The everlasting joy promised in this chapter will always prove elusive, until it finds its fulfilment in Christ. This too was on the mind of St John the Baptist as he languished in prison awaiting his own execution. Having received word of our Lord Jesus and His ministry, John sends his disciples to clarify his doubts: “Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?” In other words, is Jesus the fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah?

Although no timeline is given for this to happen, Isaiah’s prophecy provides the “signs” by which this age is to be identified: “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy.” Our Lord’s answer to the Baptist’s emissary confirms that Isaiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled: “Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor.” The miracles worked by the Lord demonstrate that the moment of true redemption foreseen indistinctly by the prophets has come to pass.

If our Lord is the fulfilment of what the prophets had anticipated, then why are we still living in expectation? Yes, our Lord has already fulfilled these prophecies through His first coming at the Incarnation but its final results will only be seen when He returns in glory after His ascension to the Father’s right hand. From there He sends out the Holy Spirit on His Church. Now He is present in our midst through faith, through the preaching of the Gospel and in the sacraments. So, although we continue to wait in anticipation for that day when all His enemies will be placed under His feet, we are already now experiencing His victory over sin, the devil and death. His victory is “already-but-not-yet!” This is why the Church exhorts us to rejoice.

The call to rejoice may seem a little hollow. We are facing so many challenges on a personal and public level. There are financial stresses, health problems, deadlines at work, dysfunctional relationships with family members. On a national and global perspective, there is widespread inflation and a shrinking economy, an unstable unity government on the brink of shattering, political and religious apathy especially among the young, and perhaps a world on the brink of a third world war. So, in the midst of this, how do we rejoice? How can we rejoice?

It is good to be reminded that the Lord did not promise us a trouble-free life or world. One cannot find any such articulation in the gospels. The promise is that: ‘your God is coming, vengeance is coming, the retribution of God; He is coming to save you.’ And we see in Christ that this promise is already being fulfilled but not completely yet. We Christians must continue to live in the tension between the “already” and the “not yet”. It is the tension of knowing that God has come in the flesh, but we await His return in glory; that God has wreaked vengeance to and brought retribution to our enemies although we still have to live under their oppressive rule for a limited time; and that although God has saved us and liberated us from the prison of sin and death, we must continue to persevere and faithfully follow the path of sanctification, resisting sin and growing in virtue through the graces.

Though our future is certain because we have been redeemed by our Lord’s death and resurrection (the already), our sanctification (the not yet) can be turbulent. Sanctification is an ongoing battle. Sometimes we win; sometimes we lose. We’re constantly in flux. We have mountaintop experiences before lying defeated in dark valleys. We take three steps forward before quickly taking two steps (or four steps) back. In the midst of this distressing battle, viewing one’s sanctification through the already-not yet lens keeps you from feeling powerless. We of course, would like to have only one of these realities: victory without defeat, success without failure, perfection without sacrifice. But as for now, living in the tension of the “already” and “not yet,” we must learn to patiently endure both realities, knowing that our Lord “is coming, vengeance is coming, the retribution of God, He is coming to save you.” That is why, let us heed the advice of St James: “Be patient, brothers, until the Lord’s coming…do not lose heart, because the Lord’s coming will be soon.”

Watch

First Sunday of Advent Year A

Advent is here! As the world winds down to the close of another year, we Christians are already ahead in beginning a new one. As people around us get ready for the holidays, make preparations for their annual break, we Christians are renewing our vigilance and recommitting ourselves to the work of mission.

We begin our season of Advent, the start of a new liturgical year, with a reminder that the end times are real - it is not make belief designed to scare Christians into docile submission. We should not treat this news, however, with an alarmist state of panic nor with apathy. We should not ignore our Lord’s warning and be caught off guard, as were the people during the time of the Great Flood or the two contemporary examples He cited. The tragedy of their error is an important lesson for us in this day and age. The necessary response is wakefulness or watchfulness. “So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming.”

Before you grab a strong cup of coffee with a double shot, you need to remember that what our Lord is referring to is a different kind of wakefulness. The wakefulness that the Lord describes is a state—a practice, a way of being—that bears little resemblance to the ways we usually try to keep ourselves (or unwittingly find ourselves) awake, methods that usually leave us less than fully functional.

Another verb could be used to describe the wakefulness which our Lord is asking from us: “watch”! This is what we hear in the First Advent Preface: “Now we watch for the day, hoping that the salvation promised us will be ours, when Christ our Lord will come again in his glory.” Advent can thus be summarised in this simple imperative: “Watch.”

Christ will come again. That Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead is an article of our faith. But He will come unexpectedly and suddenly. The fact that we do not know the time of His return means that we are to live in a state of constant wakefulness or watchfulness. Therefore watching should be our permanent disposition. “Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

What does it mean to be ready and watchful? It means, we look beyond the present to the future coming of Christ and His kingdom. It means, the present should be understood in the light of the coming Kingdom. It means, that all aspects of the Church’s life, our personal life, should be oriented towards the coming of Christ and the coming of His Kingdom. Too often, we are too myopic in our projections and planning. We fuss over short term goals and get distressed when our targets are not met, when our projects yield results which fall below our expectations. When we have closed our vision to the coming of Christ and His Kingdom at the end of this age, it is so easy for us to become disillusioned and give up. But constantly keeping our eye on the ball – which is the Lord’s coming, will fuel our resilience and strengthen our perseverance. It’s not the end until He comes again in glory, victorious and with His enemies under His feet.

We live not only in expectation of the Kingdom, not only in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah, but our whole life at present should be oriented towards the Kingdom of Christ. The second coming is not simply a future event but an event which controls, shapes and directs our life at the present. It is an event which transforms our view of life. To be oriented towards the coming Kingdom means that we live today as if we were already in the Kingdom of God. This is what St Paul tells us in the second reading, reminding us that as people who live in the daytime and not like those who live under the cover of night, we must live virtuous lives, free from vice, because “the time has come,” and that “our salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted.”

If watchfulness is a permanent attitude and disposition of every Christian as we sojourn this earthly life on our way to the heavenly Kingdom, how can we make it a “way of life”? St Hesychios sets out different levels of watchfulness:

1. We must watch our thoughts. This is a watchfulness that guards against enticing mental images and thoughts, for these are the precursors to temptations and sin.

2. We must watch the desires and movements of the heart. This kind of watchfulness “frees the heart from all thoughts, keeping the heart profoundly silent and still in prayer.”

3. We must acknowledge our neediness and vulnerability. This is a watchfulness that “continually and humbly calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ for help.”

4. We must watch and prepare for death. Death is the universal equaliser which humbles the proud, reminds us of the fragility of our projects and impermanence of our possessions. Therefore, an attitude of watchfulness should always keep the remembrance of death in mind.

5. Lastly, watchfulness should fix our gaze on heaven rather than on the world.

As catechumens today take their first step to become full members of the Church, the liturgy exhorts you to watch your thoughts, watch your desires and the movements of your heart, discern what your heart is really longing for, prepare to die to yourself and finally fix your gaze on heaven rather than on the world.

We never know what each day will bring, just as no one knows when the Lord will return. That is why we are to be faithful at whatever duty that has been entrusted to us and making preparation to meet the Lord must be a lifelong commitment. Whether in our business, personal, or spiritual life, this should be how we think, live, preach and pray. Advent is, therefore, a reminder that there is no room for complacency in the Christian life. Let’s heed the Lord’s wake-up call. “So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming.” “Watch!”

Vigilance and Stewardship

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Today’s Gospel has two parts - the first is a set of prescriptions concerning material wealth and the second, is a set of short parables about vigilance and stewardship. The first part makes a good transition from last week’s reading where our Lord told the parable of the Rich Fool, emphasising the futility of hoarding earthly treasures. In contrast to the Rich Fool who hoarded his wealth and refused to share it with others, we are told in today’s passage to share it with others through almsgiving. Instead of accumulating earthly wealth, almsgiving is storing up “treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth destroy it.” Here’s the irony of true worth, the more we give away, the more enriched we become. The Lord then sums up His teaching on trusting God’s providence rather than earthly wealth with this saying: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

The topic abruptly changes as the Lord now instructs His disciples with parables based on eschatological themes concerning the master’s coming: the vigilance required of servants awaiting their master; a household owner not knowing what time the thief comes and finally a steward’s duties during his master’s absence. Is our Lord referring to His passion, death and resurrection or is He referring to His second coming at the end of this age? The text is deliberately ambivalent and could very well be taken to refer to both events.

The first parable has our Lord telling His disciples to be “dressed for action and have your lamps lit.” The phrase can be literally translated as “gird your loins,” which means to gather up one’s ankle length robe (need to remember that they did not wear trousers) and tuck it at the waist with a belt so that one can be ready for hard menial work. It is not only a practical set of instructions but also alludes to the command given to Israel regarding the Passover meal before the Exodus: “this is how you are to eat it: with your loins girded” (Exod 12:11). Our Lord’s accompanying instruction to have their “lamps lit” also fits this connexion, since the Passover meal and flight took place at night. The Passover imagery used serves two purposes - first, the Master’s return would not be a frightening event, unless you are unprepared, but one in which He will bring liberation to His people. Second, this is consistent with Jewish expectation that the Messiah would come during the meal on Passover night. This would be fulfilled by the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection which will take place over the Jewish Passover.

This subtle allusion to the Paschal Triduum appears again in the next line when the context of the Master’s return is at a wedding feast. At one level, this could refer to the messianic banquet (Isa 25:6-8; 55:1-3). At another level it could be pointing to the scene of the Last Supper where the Lord after having instituted the Eucharist, does what He has predicted in this passage, that “he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them.” The Eucharist becomes the foretaste and anticipation of the messianic banquet of the Kingdom at our Lord’s second coming. The end times theme effortlessly slips back into the flow of this story when our Lord tells them that the coming of the Son of Man will be at an unknown hour - it could even be at the second or third watch, which means the hours when people are usually asleep. So, the disciples must always be prepared. As they were called to remain awake during the Lord’s agony in the garden, so must they remain vigilant while awaiting the Lord’s return.

This constant vigilance required is illustrated by another parable. The strange metaphor used is that of a burglar who comes at an unexpected hour. Although it may seem strange to equate the messianic figure of the Son of Man with a burglar, the point is clear. Just as a burglar, if he wishes to be successful in his mission, would not announce the hour of his coming to the houseowner, the Lord’s coming too will be sudden, in order to achieve His mission. He will break into history not when it seems to be finished, nor indeed when all seems hopeless, but at a time that makes sense to Him. And when He does come, He expects to find us working for that Kingdom which He alone can bring to completion.

Until this stage of our passage, our Lord’s teachings were meant for everyone, but the last segment seems to be specifically targeted at the apostles or Christian leaders in general, the stewards of God’s graces. The transition into this last part is occasioned by St Peter’s question: “Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?” To Peter’s credit, he addresses Jesus as “Lord” (Kyrios), which is the title used by Jews to address God and can also be translated as “master,” perhaps showing that Peter understood that the “master” in the Lord’s parables, is referencing Jesus. It would have taken some time for Peter to understand the full extent of what he had asked, but by the time he wrote his first epistle, he seemed to have grasp it: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).

Our Lord’s answer seems to be especially addressed to Peter and the Twelve, which He had chosen to be His leaders or stewards: “What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their allowance of food at the proper time?” The distribution of food, according to the Acts of the Apostles, was part of the job description of the Apostles until the task was delegated to the deacons. But this could also mean that their duty was to feed the faithful with both the Word and the Sacrament.

Our Lord answers His own rhetorical question by providing us with two examples - one of the faithful and wise servant who is rewarded with a blessing because he is found to be at his job upon his master’s arrival, and another, of the presumptuous servant who abuses his underlings and indulges himself in self-pleasure. The latter will be duly punished for his failings.

Our Lord then sets out a rule, that the punishment meted out would be proportionate to the amount of knowledge or level of authority the person possessed. Hence, more is entrusted, more is demanded. In a corrupt world, where the weak are often scapegoated and punished with the harshest of penalties, and the powerful are let off with a minor drubbing or escape accountability altogether, we know that no one can escape the justice of God that awaits us at the end. There will be an accounting and our actions have consequences which we must bear.

Thus, our Lord sets before us some practical guidance for this present life in which we live and also how we should live in anticipation of the future. We should not be so blind and myopic as to be so utterly focused with the present, without realising that our actions have consequences, eternal consequences for our souls. We never know what each day will bring, just as no one knows when the Son of Man will return. That is why we are to be faithful at whatever duty that has been entrusted to us, and preparation to meet the Lord must be a lifelong commitment. Whether in our business, personal or spiritual life, this should be how we think, live, and pray. We never know when an important event will occur. Each day is a day of possibility. Each day, a sharp turn can occur. The only thing we need to know is that our Lord has asked us to be prepared. So, with our lamps lit, let’s get working, let’s be dressed for action, so that we can indeed face the future, and the present, with courage and joy.

Stay awake, Pray always and Stand confidently

First Sunday of Advent Year C

I know it’s Advent and you would be expecting me to say something about the spirit of this season, but the terse three-part command issued by the Lord at the end of the gospel draws us back to the evening of Holy Thursday, to the scene of our Lord and His disciples gathered together in the Garden of Gethsemane. This threefold command almost seems reminiscent of what the Lord had expected from His disciples.

In that Garden, our Lord asked His disciples to “stay here and watch with Me”, but when He returned, He found them asleep and caution them “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).  Earlier, He had taught them: “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” And yet at the end, one of His disciples would betray Him, another deny Him while others fled instead of choosing to “stand with confidence before the Son of Man.”

On all three accounts, the disciples had failed. Nothing we do can change that. No one can re-write history. There is no turning back the clock. What is more important is that we should know where we are going and that will affect the choices we make. The disciples eventually redeemed themselves or to be exact, they were redeemed by the Lord.

Likewise, the season of Advent provides us with a similar opportunity to redeem ourselves by preparing ourselves for the Lord’s coming - will we succeed where the disciples failed? Will we be able to stay awake, praying at all times for our survival and salvation and finally, stand confidently with Christ if we find ourselves on the hot seat?

If you are nervous and uncertain as to whether you are able to withstand the test and pass where the disciples had failed, you have every reason to do so. Listening to our Lord’s ominous warning, it would appear that there is plenty to be anxious about. “There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.” When you begin to examine each of the items on this list, however, you would soon realise that this is not just something that will happen in the future; these things are happening to people right now. Instead of just being crippled by fear, our Lord tells us that the true object of our focus should be Him: “Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Troubles coming our way is certain. But our Saviour’s coming “with power and great glory”, that too is most certain.

This is what Advent should mean for us. It is a time for us to be filled with new hope, new courage without putting on blinders and pretending that the mess we see in the world is not real. We are not asked to ignore or deny the reality of suffering, evil or death. In fact, we are asked to affirm these things while also recognising that there is something here far greater than suffering, evil and death. Therefore, Advent is a time for us to be reassured that the darkness that overshadows the present moment, whether from sin, sickness, poverty, sorrow, weakness or failure, will be dissipated and driven away by the Sun of Justice, the Word-Made-Flesh.

Advent is not a season of false hope. We are not getting ready for some improbable, imagined event that exists only in fantasy. Our hope is based on the assurance that our God is coming. He has, in fact, already come among us in our own flesh. He has already loved us beyond death, has overcome sin and evil, and has seeded us with the hope of Eternal Life. And that is why our Lord can say this to us with such confidence: “When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.”

Advent days are not to be wasted in spiritual idleness, in distracting ourselves with busy activity nor in fruitless worrying. We should use these advent days to stir up this hope in a fearful world, to cultivate that seed of hope to full bloom. We know that the Lord has come... we are certain that the Lord will come. And for us, that does not mean waiting in fear and dread for doomsday. We do believe in the Second Coming of Jesus and that is why we should stand erect, hold our heads high, because our liberation is near at hand.

We are not spending four weeks just to welcome again the "baby Jesus". We are trying to drive away the shadows of sin and despair, so that we can open our hearts and minds and lives to the overpowering light of the incarnate Son of God made man. We want to use this sacred time to deepen our understanding of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We need to realise again how fully He has entered into the very fabric of our lives. We want to allow Him to transform every facet of our human existence, so that in all things we think, speak, choose and act, as redeemed children of God. Our coming Christmas celebration has to include all of this. So, if you’ve drawn up a bucket list of things-to-do before Christmas, don’t forget the following, place it at the top of your list:

“Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.”

Death will be replaced with life

Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

Apocalyptic texts, such as what we’ve just heard in the gospel and the first reading, can be fodder for much fanciful speculation regarding the end times. Even though apocalyptic writings often end in an assuring promise of hope, the triumph of God and the vindication of the righteous who remain faithful in spite of tribulations, it is more common to find people focusing on the frightening cataclysmic images associated with the end times, whilst ignoring the second part.

And then there is the issue of interpretation of these mysteriously cryptic texts. Our Lord seems to contradict Himself in the second half of the gospel passage. On the one hand, He seems to argue that the end times would be discernible from the cataclysmic signs and He likens this to how one can discern the seasons by looking at the life cycle of a fig tree. On the other hand, He is telling His disciples that any speculation on when the end times is going to take place would be futile: “But as for that day or hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son; no one but the Father.” How do we reconcile both these sayings? Well, it depends on what the Lord meant by end times.

On the one level, the end times which our Lord is speaking about will take place in the first generation of the Church. Our Lord is referring to the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem. For the Jews, the Temple was a microcosm of the universe as seen in the constellations and heavenly bodies embroidered on the Temple veil and the light of the sun, the moon and the five known planets are symbolised by the seven lights of the menorah candle stand. The words of our Lord are fulfilled, both at His death when the sun was darkened and the Temple veil was torn into two, and also in the year 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans who invaded Judea to quell a local rebellion. If we take this understanding of the end times, then our Lord was speaking the truth when He said, “I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away all these things will have taken place.”

But the intentional ambivalence of the words of our Lord could be pointing to another time - to a distant unknown future - to the end of the world. The chaos described here is an undoing of God’s work of creation. Whether His words were pointing to the past or to a future event, the various levels of meaning are not meant to be contradictory but closely interconnected. The end-time tribulations begin in our Lord’s own passion and the subsequent destruction of the Temple, which signal the end of the age of the old covenant and ultimately, the end of the universe that will follow the final upheavals at the close of history. So, the end times does not solely refer to some indeterminate event in the future but to an event that has already occurred and which is in the process of reaching its final conclusion. If you are looking to uncover the secrets of the end times, look no further - We are living in the end times! We have been living the end times for the past 2000 years!

It is one thing to know that our Lord’s prophecy had been fulfilled in events of the past - His passion and the Temple’s destruction - but what about the future? How would we know that the final outcome of all the turbulence and chaos will end in our Lord’s victory and the salvation of His followers? We can. The veracity of our Lord’s prediction is supported both by what we have witnessed in the past as a fulfilment of His prophetic words but it is also backed up by this claim: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Accepting that the Lord’s words, His promises is eternally true, that He will never renege on them, is no great issue here. But what does He mean by saying that “heaven and earth will pass away”? What could He mean that “heaven,” which everyone knows is supposed to be eternal, will also pass away? If we want to get an answer, we must certainly look to the last book of the Bible – the Apocalypse.

But before we look at how things will end, we would have to look at how it began. The Book of Genesis paints a picture of how heaven is wedded to earth in the earthly Paradise of Eden, where man dwelt in harmony with God and the whole of creation. This is the old “heaven and earth.” But because of man’s sin, this earthly paradise has passed away, the earth is cut off from the full life of heaven. Throughout history, man has attempted to restore this earthly paradise but have repeatedly failed because only God alone can heal the rift. And He has done so through His only begotten Son, “for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross” (Col 1:19-20)

And the new creation is here, taking a form which we least expect, Jesus Christ. He is both the author and the fulfilment of the new earth and new heaven. In the last book of the Bible, the Apocalypse, we are granted a vision of how the story of salvation ends - with the emergence of a “new heaven and a new earth.” St John using symbolic language, speaks of how a river which flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb, will water and nourish this new garden-like paradise. It's an all-new Garden of Eden, where the tree of life (and not just a fig tree) is made accessible to man again. It is not a 'return back' to the garden; it's a step forward into a new Jerusalem, a great city representing the marriage of heaven and earth. In this city, there is no need for a Temple because God dwells among His people and the Lamb will be the Temple.

Although, we struggle with our present trials and endure the suffering that comes with a chaotic world caused by our sinfulness, we must always hold firm to the hope of the story of the Bible: God’s domain and our domain will one day be completely united. All things will be made new. “The learned will shine as brightly as the vault of heaven, and those who have instructed many in virtue, as bright as stars for all eternity.” Death will be replaced with life. The whole earth will be a recreation of the garden, and the glory of the temple will cover the whole earth. Every nation will be blessed through the power of the resurrected Jesus, and God’s own personal presence will permeate every square inch of the new creation. We can be certain of this promise because though the old heaven and earth may pass away, but our Lord’s words will never pass away because He always keeps His promises.

Turning to Christ in Repentance

Second Sunday of Advent Year A

Advent is upon us again and for many Catholics, it’s time to go for confessions. Just a little reminder; you don’t need to confine your confessions to the Advent and Lenten Penitential services only, where loads of priests visit our parish just to hear confessions. In fact, confessions are available before every weekend masses. See those two doors at the back of the church – well, they are confessionals, if you didn’t know. One of the amusing things that we encounter only during Penitential services, because it’s the only time when many Catholics who usually don’t go for confession, actually do make an attempt to do so, is to meet a penitent who has no sin. He’s there for confession because it’s “time” to make a confession but claims to have no sin. So then, we have a “sinless penitent” – an oxymoron, right?

I think people like this actually end up committing, albeit unknowingly, four additional sins. I’m going to list them out for you:

The first sin is boasting and pride. Instead of confessing their sins, many start “confessing” their virtues. It would sound something like the Pharisee in our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: “I don’t lie, I don’t steal, I come to church every Sunday, I read the Bible every day.” Now all that is quite nice, but you need to remember that in a confession, you are here to tell me your sins and not tell me how good you’ve been. You won’t get brownie points for this.

The second sin is self-righteousness. Again this springs from pride. Pride blinds us to our own faults. And in a way, this can truly be described as the “sin against the Holy Spirit,” the “unforgivable sin,” because sins can never be forgiven if we are unrepentant.

Thirdly, we end up complaining and blaming others. If I’m not at fault, then someone else must be. So, confessions like these will end up in a rant to the priest about the sins of others. I often remind the penitent, “You are here to confess YOUR sins. Don’t do other’s job for them.”

Fourthly, when a penitent says that he has no sin, he ends up lying. Only our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, are sinless. There you have it!

Why all this talk about confessions and repentance? Well, the first word uttered by the Baptist in today’s gospel sets the stage, the context and the content of his ministry and message, “Repent.” It’s an explosive word.  A word that will make us blush and squirm in our seats. A word that pulls us in the direction of the confession. And yet it is a word which you would hardly hear in a politically correct world that would buy more into the gospel of inclusion, a gospel that demands nothing from its hearers; neither does it deliver anything new. But John’s primary message was a call to repentance. In fact, ‘repent’ will also be the first spoken word of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. 

The Baptist, or popularly known by Eastern Christians as the Forerunner of the Lord, is preparing the way for the Coming One, the one described by the Prophet Isaiah as “a shoot (that) springs from the stock of Jesse,” by hearing the confessions of sinners who are being converted and by baptising them with the baptism of repentance. John’s baptism is actually a pre-Christian form of confession rather than our modern rite of baptism.

Some people think that repentance is mostly about feelings, especially feeling sorry for your sin. It is wonderful to feel sorry about your sin, but repent isn’t a “feeling” word (neither is ‘joy’ for that matter). True repentance is something far deeper than simple sentimentality. It is an “action” word. The word "repent," which signifies God's desire and demand of men, is from the Greek word "metanoeo" which means "to think differently, or afterwards." The word signifies a changing of the mind and heart. The Baptist made it clear that preparation for the coming of the Messiah demanded conversion of heart and transformation, a change of direction. The reorientation would require the person to turn away from sin and turn towards Christ. The gospel thus proposes three steps to achieve this new direction: Acknowledge your sins, do not presume your relationship and bear fruits that show repentance and conversion.

Acknowledging our sinfulness is the first step to repentance. It seems easy enough to understand the need for this but we still witness the reluctance of many to go for confession. It is not just the shame of baring one’s soul, but also the denial of responsibility for the sins we have committed that obstructs our path to repentance. We suffer from the illusion that we are fine and not too far off the beaten track, that salvation is guaranteed. But that’s what it is – an illusion, it is not real. What is real is that we are sinners in need of redemption!

On the other hand, many Catholics also suffer from a presumed relationship that comes with guaranteed entitlements – e.g. a Catholic wedding or a Catholic funeral. Most feel that baptism earns them certain privileges, but no responsibilities ensue there from. It doesn’t matter if a person has not stepped into Church for years, he or the family still believes that they are entitled to a Church wedding or funeral. Many of the Jews did the same thing – they thought that by coming from the lineage of Abraham, they would be justified by that alone.  They relied upon their heritage to save them, it was a false assumption that lulled them into spiritual complacency.

Simply acknowledging our sins and presuming that we are now made children of God through baptism is not enough. It’s a first step, but just not enough. What is more important for repentance is to “produce the appropriate fruit”; we have to produce evidence that we have honestly repented. Just by producing your Baptism Certificate would be insufficient proof of your conversion. Or as CS Lewis puts it, “going to Church does not make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car!” Conversion must be apparent in our lifestyle. That is why absolution should not be given when someone stubbornly holds on to a sinful habitual way of life, e.g. adultery. But, it is still not enough to stop sinning.  One can turn away from one sin and yet turn to another object, person or way of life that becomes our new idol. Ultimately, the fruits must show that we have orientated our whole life to Christ. We see this in John’s humility and genuine readiness to step off centre stage as his final witness to Jesus. In the gospel of John, he declares that Christ “must increase, while (he) must decrease" (3:30).

So, what is the first thing we must do to prepare for the coming of the Lord at Christmas and His Second Coming at the End of the Ages? Repentance! Repentance means turning to Christ. It means putting God in the first place in our lives and making sure that everything else finds its rightful place in our lives under God. Repentance means letting go of our own will, in order to follow the things that God wills for us. It means turning away from sin and all rebellion against God, in order to be obedient to God and to follow Him in all that He wants from us. Repentance means owning up to our sins, our human frailties, our fears, our inner hurts and entrusting all these to God’s mercy and compassion. Repentance means knowing our need of God. In turning our lives around, we come to recognise that our self-sufficiency is inadequate and that we need to cooperate with God in our own salvation. Repentance therefore is not a one-time thing. It is a process that goes on for a lifetime. Little by little we orientate ourselves ever more perfectly in God’s love.