Word to the Wise
Sunday, November 30, 2025 - 1st Sunday of Advent - A
[Isa 2:1-5; Rom 13:11-14; Matt 24:37-44]You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light....[Romans]
Preparation implies expectation! The season of Advent is one of spiritual/liturgical "preparation" for the celebration of the liturgical feast of Christmas - the birth of our Savior! Yet, the scriptures assigned for today seem focused on a time beyond the historical event of Jesus' birth - almost a continuation of the "end of time" scriptures of the past week. It would seem that we are being given a much larger context for meditation, and not just the stable in Bethlehem. One way to deal with this might be to go to the Prologue to the Gospel According to John which places our faith and hope in a Lord who has been our Lord from before the dawn of creation, and not just from the moment of his human conception in Mary! The celebration of Advent is like a screen with many figures in it that are all pointing to a very small figure in the center toward which the camera slowly moves until that small figure fills the whole screen and gives meaning to all the other figures pointing toward it. He is the "reason for the season."
It takes something bigger than the cultural, liturgical and devotional customs of Advent (purple vestments, Advent wreaths, Jesse trees, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," etc.) to overcome all the distractions of the season. Keeping our eyes focused on that small figure in the center of the screen can help us to remember that He is the reason we have this season! AMEN
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