First Sunday of Advent, Year A

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

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Transcript

THE PRESENCE OF HOPE
This is a new liturgical year. This is the Season of Advent. We have walked into this new year with joy and expectation of the coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We are standing at the dawn of this new year, and at the same time approaching the threshold when the night of waiting will be over. There, we are bearing our candles shining bright. On this first Sunday of Advent, we are carrying the Candle of Hope.

Our readings today invite us to reflect deeply on the word "Presence." In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah issues a stirring summons to ascend the mountain of the Lord. He invites us to make ourselves present before God. Isaiah gazes into the hope the Lord has promised—a future of peace and instruction—and he is determined not to miss it. "Present yourself," he implies, so that you may walk in the light of the Lord.

In the Gospel, Christ uses sobering, even frightening words to describe the days when the Son of Man becomes present at the end of time. He encourages a spirit of radical vigilance, warning us that the presence of the Son of Man will arrive unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. Furthermore, in the second reading, St Paul declares that the hour has come. He contrasts night with day, and darkness with light. Yet, while he calls us to wake from sleep and put on the "armour of light," he explicitly exhorts us to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." For Paul, the armour is the person of Christ. As the presence of the final hour becomes imminent, our primary defence is to clothe ourselves in Him, the true hope of salvation.

Reflecting on this liturgy of the word, I urge you to ‘live in Hope.’ However, by ‘live in Hope,’ I do not merely mean living in our present time while looking wistfully into the future. Rather, we must ‘live in Hope’ because Christ is our Hope. He is here with us, and we must dwell in Him. In the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy, Christ has come to lighten our path, and our candle of hope burns brilliantly to attest to this reality. To alleviate our fears that the apocalyptic tone of the Gospel may provoke, remember that Christ is with us for eternity. He teaches us to cherish His presence now as He walks us through life toward His final coming.

Our Carmelite father, St John of the Cross, appeals to us to "live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul." Though we may sense the darkness of this age—a night of despair, sin, depression, or conflict—the candle we lit today reassures us of Christ’s abiding love. Let us cast off our gloomy looks and heed Paul’s words to cast off the works of darkness. St John of the Cross reminds us that "the endurance of darkness is the preparation for great light." As we traverse our various nights, let us trust that they will give way to the Dawn. Do not resign yourself to fate; brace yourself and prepare for the Light, so it does not catch you unprepared.

Carry your candle of hope with care. Walk with Christ through the darkness. He is present to you; are you present to Him? Do you feel He is absent? As St John teaches, He is always present; often, we fail to see Him only because of the absence of our own hearts. We are journeying while living in a ‘realised Hope’—a Hope that is present to us now in the Eucharist and the Word, yet is also a glory still to be attained.

Rejoice, for Christ our Hope is present!