READINGS: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44
Today is the first day of Advent. I remember as a child thinking that Advent was an interminably long time before Christmas. Now many years later, Advent seems to fly by. We begin with the first blue (or purple) candle on our Advent wreath and in a blink we are staring at Christmas Eve. The question is “How can we slow down that process?”
Perhaps we can share in the anticipation of the coming of Christ from two different perspectives: we can share in the ancient longing for the Messiah, whom we know has come, yet we can also stay alert for his second coming.
For me, it is this “second coming” that needs attention.
Today we are called by Isaiah to the mountain of God, to the house of the God of Jacob. There the peoples come beating their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and no longer train for war. Would that we would do that again in our time, in our day. We would no longer train for war! Then God will come again and find us worthy, and his kingdom will have no end. Can we understand all that those words mean? Certainly we can try. Our time is now!
–Peggy B Cekoric, SCNY Associate
Peggy B Cekoric is a wife, mother, and grandmother who formerly served as the first lay Director of Associates for the Sisters of Charity of New York.