The season of Advent is upon us.  As with a change in season, our mind shifts and so do our actions.  Leading up to Christmas, Advent is a season most associated with the anticipation and preparation for the coming of Christ, more precisely, the first coming.  Dominated by this, Advent is less known for the other coming, the second coming of Christ.

Depending how we look at it, the Gospel for the first Sunday of Advent is no surprise.  There’s been a lead up, even before the season formally began.  Two Sundays ago, the Gospel of Mark, gave us a similar account of Jesus’ instruction on the future, focusing upon the second coming, marked by meteorological signs.  However, if we have been following the daily readings, there has been hints, rather than a complete surprise as expressed by Luke, reaching a climax this First Sunday of Advent.

The two comings, each is to shed light on the other.  The second coming brings to completion and the fulfillment of God’s divine plan, without which Christians have no reason to persevere.  “Your endurance will win you your lives” (Lk 21:19).

In its proper historical context, the first coming is to give hope to the people longing and expecting a Messiah for liberation from occupiers, one after the other.  Hope with a Messiah, was then realised and personified in the person of Jesus Christ.  God became one of us.  It is an event that has happened.  The anticipation has reached its climax.  The effects of it, however, are still ongoing.  Christ continues to liberate us with the gift of mercy.  Christ continues to liberate us with the gift of hope.

May this Advent be a time for hope to be realised, rediscovered and a search of the one on the horizon.

By Fr Hoang Dinh

Published: 29 November 2024