1st Friday of Advent (December 6). BE ALERT

Prepare to Listen.  Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with the wrong stuff.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 21:25-36
[Jesus said,] ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.  26People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  27Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory.  28Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’  29Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.  31So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.  32Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place.  33Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.  34‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35like a trap.  For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth.  36Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What was your gut reaction to Jesus’ words in this text?  Be honest.
 
This seems an odd passage for Advent—nations in distress, people faint with fear and foreboding, the powers of heaven shaken!  But Jesus’ coming means judgment, righting wrongs, restoring order and justice to a chaotic world; the end of the world as we know and experience it.  Attempts to speculate when this will happen is a distraction from Jesus’ concluding warnings: Be on your guard.  Be alert at all times, praying.
 
First, be on your guard.  It’s easy to be led astray when we allow our heart to get “weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.”  Dissipation and drunkenness are not the problem for most of us, I suspect.  However, the worries of life get to us.  We worry over many things—the state of our nation, the economy, growing old, health, some of us even worry about worrying.  So, we get sidetracked, speculating when these disasters will happen.
 
The second warning, be alert at all times, suggests how to remain on guard and alert.  Pray!  No demands to stop worrying or ignore stuff that causes our worries.  Just pray.  Prayer, as Rohr taught, isn’t “a technique for getting things, a pious exercise that somehow makes God happy, or a requirement for entry into heaven.  It is much more like practicing heaven now by leaping into communion with what is right in front of us.”[1]  Jesus is right in front of us, ready to strengthen us and help us wait patiently for justice, God’s reordering of the world, to come for all creation.  If we just take time to commune with him.
 
What challenged you the most in this passage today?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, I pray that I may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and for now to remain on guard and alert so that I stand before you, the Son of Man.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Pray to be aware and alert at all times.
[1] Richard Rohr, Meditation for July 16, 2021.  https://cac.org/a-superior-lens-2021-07-16/