Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44
Stay awake!
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh tells us, “Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred. In this light, no boundary exists between the sacred and the profane,” and this is good to remember here at the beginning of Advent among the many voices we hear in today’s readings. Advent is about liminality and promise; something approaches us. Only by staying awake, we may discover a new place, we may put on a new awareness.
Something sacred is about to begin and we are called to be part of it.
Don’t miss this!
Stay awake!
Isaiah urges: let us walk in the light of the Lord! David sings: I rejoiced because they said to me, we will go up to the house of the Lord.
On this first day of Advent, the readings present a threshold to a new space, an entry to a new reality. Things change. Isaiah, in the first reading, tells us the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the new highest mountain and he calls to all, “O house of Jacob, come, let is walk in the light of the Lord.” King David’s Psalm 122 and the antiphon take delight and rejoice in the journey to the Lord’s house.
Stay awake!
In his Epistle, Paul writes to the Romans: “throw off works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
Sloughing off the darkness of the night and advancing into day, Paul urges that now it is the hour to awake from sleep. Our life must take on actions appropriate to light, we must step out into the light. We must put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, stay awake! says Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. The Son of Man will come.
Stay awake!
Action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred.
Edward Wesley, OSF, PhD
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