Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert!…
These words begin our Gospel passage for this First Sunday of Advent. This is the first day of our new Church year. We’ve actually been hearing this theme of being awake, of being alert, in some of the readings we’ve heard the past couple weeks or so as our Church year was winding down.
The season of Advent is about getting ready, about getting our hearts, minds and souls prepared for the birth of Jesus on Christmas. Advent gives us an opportunity to think about our lives and see where it is that we might need to make some changes – to see things with the eyes of Faith. In order to do this, we can’t just be sleepwalking through our days. We need to be engaged in what is going on in our lives and all around us. We need to be awake, or as Jesus said in our Gospel today to be watchful and alert.
Let’s use these weeks of Advent to awake from our sleep and truly have our hearts ready to receive the great gift of Jesus at Christmas.
