Year C: First Sunday of Advent

Second Reading: based on St Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians 3: 12 - 4: 2

The early Christians lived with a lively sense of anticipation for the Second Coming. They saw it as their liberation - the time when the sacrifices of being Christians would be vindicated. As time passed, the initial vigour of their Faith naturally began to wane and the apostles often wrote exhorting them not become lax or despondent that Christ had not returned but to stay true to what they had been taught and believed.

Two millennia later, we are also tempted to grow lax and wonder if the effort to stay faithful to the Gospel is worth it.

As the Gospel article reflected, the beginning of a new Church liturgical year is a good time to take stock. This is not the penitential exercise of Lent but a sort of review of what life has been like over the last year and how you might like to build on that - or make changes to that in the coming year.

In the reading, St Paul speaks of love and generosity as being corner-stones of the kind of life God wants us to lead. Take time over the coming weeks to consider how you stand in terms of that love and generosity. When have you received love - and from whom. When have you given love? Looking at your generosity - how have you spent your money over the last year - have you made due allowance for the needs of others? What about generosity with your time - have you made time for others - and for yourself - and God?

Draw the year together - what were its high points - and what were its low points? What do you have to be grateful for from this year - and what has made you unhappy? Are there things that need to be dealt with before the end of the year - quarrels to be resolved - issues of injustice to be addressed?

Then, as you look over the year and see its joys and its sorrows, try to determine how you would like to live the coming year. What do you want to leave behind? What can you build on? What would you like to accomplish in the next year?

What does it mean for me?

There are quite a few questions in the article - so only one here! What one thing would you ask of God for the year ahead?

         Text © 2006 Wellspring

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