{"id":886,"date":"2012-12-06T15:24:40","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T20:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=886"},"modified":"2012-12-06T15:24:40","modified_gmt":"2012-12-06T20:24:40","slug":"homily-1st-sunday-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/homily-1st-sunday-of-advent\/","title":{"rendered":"Homily – 1st Sunday of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"

1st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C <\/a>
\nJeremiah 33:14-16 1
\nThessalonians 3:12-4:2
\nLuke 21:25-28, 34-36
\nDecember 2, 2012<\/p>\n

We hear Jeremiah speak the prophecy of God\u2019s promise to raise up a \u201cjust shoot\u201d for David.\u00a0 This is the prophecy of a new messiah, a great king for Israel.\u00a0 It is fulfilled in the First Coming of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah delivered this prophecy about six hundred years before Jesus was born.\u00a0 It was the time of the Babylonian Exile.\u00a0 Thus it was a time of sadness.\u00a0 God offered the promise of the Messiah to assure the people that there was something better coming. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But Jeremiah delivered this prophecy around six hundred years before the First Coming of Jesus.<\/p>\n

But God\u2019s Word and Promise are always good.\u00a0 God fulfills his prophecy at the appointed time.<\/p>\n

In four weeks, we will celebrate Christmas, reminding us of the First Coming of Jesus and how important it is for us.\u00a0 But it is four weeks away.<\/p>\n

You might not know it.\u00a0 The Christmas shopping season has already begun.\u00a0 Radio stations are already playing Christmas music.\u00a0 People are rushing to Christmas.<\/p>\n

But we should not\u00a0rush to Christmas.\u00a0 We have a whole season before then.\u00a0 It\u2019s called Advent, which means coming or arrival.\u00a0 During Advent we are called to reflect on the coming of Jesus but not just the First Coming but the Second Coming.<\/p>\n

We wait for the Second Coming.\u00a0 I mentioned before that Jeremiah delivered his prophecy about 600 years before Jesus.\u00a0 In fact, the prophecies of a new messiah were not new then.\u00a0 They started from the time of David a couple of centuries before.<\/p>\n

So the people had waited almost a 1,000 years.<\/p>\n

Now we wait for the Second Coming.\u00a0 It has been almost 2,000 years since Jesus last walked on Earth.\u00a0 When did the prophecies about the Second Coming begin?<\/p>\n

It was Jesus himself that spoke of his Second Coming in today\u2019s reading.\u00a0 He describes how bad things will be at the end but he also speaks of how the Son of Man will come in a cloud with power and glory.<\/p>\n

A lot of people \u201cmissed\u201d the First Coming of Jesus, not realizing that it ever happened.\u00a0 With all that will happen before it and the Second Coming being one of power and glory, nobody will miss it.\u00a0 Everyone will know when it happens.<\/p>\n

But not everyone will be ready.<\/p>\n

We just have to wait.<\/p>\n

And that waiting isn\u2019t all that easy.\u00a0 Jesus warns against becoming drowsy and calls us to be vigilant.<\/p>\n

The early disciples thought the Second Coming was going to happen in their earthly life time.\u00a0 They keep vigilant.<\/p>\n

Now 2,000 years later, we have let our guard down.\u00a0 Sometimes we just think if it hasn\u2019t happened yet, it probably isn\u2019t going to happen today.\u00a0 So, we go about our earthly business.<\/p>\n

Do we ever think about the Second Coming? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The images that Jesus speaks of leading up to the Second Coming are fearful.\u00a0 So much so that Jesus says people will die of fright.\u00a0 With that in mind, we don\u2019t like to think about those kinds of images.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Second Coming also means Judgment Day has arrived.\u00a0 We might not feel ready for that.\u00a0 Maybe we haven\u2019t gotten our act together.\u00a0 So we fear the Second Coming because we know we are not ready. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Advent is a season to remind us of what we are waiting for.\u00a0 It is not a time of dread but joyful anticipation.<\/p>\n

We do not need to fear the Second Coming.\u00a0 God does not want us to dread the Second Coming.\u00a0 When it does happen, all who believe in Jesus will be taken up to Heaven.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good thing.\u00a0 Heaven is the ultimate gift. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But we have to wait for the gift.\u00a0 Often, we don\u2019t like to wait, especially when a gift is involved.\u00a0 But waiting can be a good thing.<\/p>\n

During our waiting, we can take time to reflect on what Christmas really means to us as our celebration of the First Coming of Jesus and what we need to do to become ready for the Second Coming.<\/p>\n

We need to strive to do God\u2019s Will but we can fall short.\u00a0 When we fall short, then we turn to Jesus who makes Heaven possible for us by dying on the Cross.<\/p>\n

Be vigilant.\u00a0 Seek God in this season of Advent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 December 2, 2012 We hear Jeremiah speak the prophecy of God\u2019s promise to raise up a \u201cjust shoot\u201d for David.\u00a0 This is the prophecy of a new messiah, a great king for Israel.\u00a0 It is fulfilled in the First Coming …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Homily – 1st Sunday of Advent’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-ei","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":888,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions\/888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}