We have come to the end of the liturgical year (church year) which always ends in the Catholic calendar with the feast of Christ the universal king.  We are now beginning a new liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent year B.

Advent means coming or arrival.  It is a preparatory season in which we get ready to engage with two central aspects of the divine encounter with humanity.  The first coming of Christ his, birth of the blessed virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit and his second coming in glory to judge the living and the dead.  

These two events are living stories of God’s acts of solidarity with the suffering of creation, and the call to look ahead to the end when the kingdom of God and the Lordship of Christ which at present seem partially obscured from our sight will finally be visibly vindicated and fulfilled.  Because it is a season of joyful expectation, our scripture reading this Sunday exhorts us to stay awake. 

In the gospel of Mark 13:33-37 the evangelist tells us to be on our guard and stay awake because we never know then the time will come.  The end of the world is only known by God. It is his secret.  I am very sure God has not told us for some very good reason.  Because we know that the end of the world for each one of us is at the moment of death.  When we breath our last we end our stay in this world. 

However, the knowledge of that moment is also hidden from us.  The message of advent is a message to be vigilant and open ourselves to the manifestations of God in our lives by our love and willingness to do his will. The incarnation of Christ-the message even though was expected by the people of God it was not easy for them to recognise the Emmanuel.  This can happen to us if we allow the material preparation for Christmas to distract us.  The Gospel wants us to be alert and watchful for the second coming of Christ. 

We should remember that Christ has given us the Holy Spirit as our constant help to stay awake.  However the best preparation for the second coming of Christ is a good life lived in the knowledge that God is our Father and we are the work of his hands. Stay awake is Christ advice and command to us.  This holy season of Advent is an opportunity for each one of us to look into his life and see how he/she stands with God.  Let us ask today: how would I fare if I were called from this world today.  Could I expect reward or damnation.

 Would I meet Christ as a loving brother and saviour or as a stern judge who would be forced to condemn me?  If in all honesty, most of us would find much lacking in our preparedness, we have still time to put things right.  While we are in this world, God is for us a merciful Father not a stern judge.  He is ever ready to welcome his prodigal sons and daughters who are ready to return home.  Let is remember the words of St. Paul Rom.13:11-12, “You know the time has come you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted. 

The night is almost over, it will be day light soon – let us give up all the things we prefer to do under the cover of Darkness; let us arm ourselves and appear in the light”.




Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17

1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28

Matthew 25:31-46

What you do can speak so loudly that people may not care what you believe.

I am surprise that in the parable of the Last Judgment which is our gospel today no mention whatsoever is made of peoples church beliefs but only of the practical help they gave or did not give to the needy and the disadvantaged of this world.  We may find people who do not believe in baptism, in the Eucharist nor in the priesthood.

Yet you never hear anybody criticizing them. Why? Because what they do speaks so loudly that no one cares what they believe. They provide soup kitchens for the starving. They clothe the naked on our streets. They rehabilitate those addicted to drug and alcohol. They are there wherever disaster strikes. As far as people are concerned these are the things that count.
 
Today, the last Sunday in the liturgical year, we celebrate the solemnity of  Christ our king. The readings invite us to reflect on the kind of king Christ is and what it means for us to truly say that we belong to his kingdom. The first reading from Ezekiel talks about God as the shepherd of Israel.

The kings of Israel were regarded as God's visible representatives and were given the divine title of shepherd. But many of them did not live up to this responsibility. Their leadership style differed from God's style. God's style was that of giving priority of attention to the needs of the disadvantaged, especially their need for justice and empowerment. The prophet reminds of the kinds of shepherd we should be when he said:


I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice (Ezekiel 34:16).

God promised that He is going to look after the sheep himself and keeps all in view. As Christians we see that this promise is fulfilled in the person of our Lord, Jesus Christ whose kingship we celebrate today. Jesus has begun his reign as king, but he will come on Judgment Day to bring it to completion. On that day he will sit on his throne and sort out from all nations those men and women, boys and girls who really belong to his kingdom.

Notice that both the righteous and the accursed address Jesus as "Lord." It is not what we call him that matters but whether or not we have come to the help of the needy and the disadvantaged in our midst.

The specific actions mentioned are (i) feeding the hungry, (ii) giving drink to the thirsty, (iii) clothing the naked, (iv) sheltering the homeless, (v) visiting those in prison, and (vi) taking care of the sick. Add (vii) burying the dead, and you have the traditional Seven Corporal Works of Mercy.

The Final Judgment on whether we are true Christians or not, whether we belong to the kingdom of Christ or not, will be based on whether or not we have done the corporal works of mercy. This is our number one moral obligation both as individual men and women and as a family of believers.

The good news we celebrate today is that we have a King who, unlike the kings of this world, pays attention to us and helps when we are needy and disadvantaged. The challenge for us today is to forget our own needs for love and happiness and to reach out in love to make someone happy who may be in greater need. For whatever we do to the least of these needy children of God, theses brothers and sisters of Jesus, we do to Jesus Himself.