Keep Watch

Keep Watch

 “Be Watchful. Be Alert”... That is what we heard in Sundays Gospel reading for the first Sunday in Advent. So... What are we Watching for? Why are we to be Alert? Let’s break this down. The simple answer is that we are watching and being alert to Jesus’s second coming. That is the simple answer but yet it is not so simple. We know the end time will happen, we just do not know when. We do not even know a time frame. So, why be so alert or watch? It could be centuries away. Then again it could be in our lifetime. There is no one simple sign that will say because this happened then this must be the end of time. We do not have a check list for the end of time. What we do have is ways to be watchful and alert to it. Let me explain. 

      To be watchful and alert means we know something is going to happen. With knowing this we must be prepared as well. Being alert and not prepared, does nothing. It would be as if a King knows a war may happen and he keeps watching the shoreline and all of a sudden he sees the battleships there and troops are landing on the shore and then turns to his people and says “ ok, we need an army and we need to train now”. It is to late now. He wasted all his time just being watchful and was not preparing for it to come into reality. For me being watching means we are prepared. To be alert means we are prepared. To now prepare means you will be ready when it is time.

      Advent helps us prepare for the coming of Jesus. It is a reminder of what we are to do just as the readings leading up to advent were giving us ways to prepare. Our faith is one of actions. Jesus says we need to be there for one another. We need to help others. We need to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, help them financially and spiritually. We need to extend ourselves to one another. Those are some ways we can prepare by doing for others. We also need to do things spiritually for them. Pray for them. Pray for a change of heart and a change of life for them. 

     For yourself, you also need to take internal stock on your spiritual life. Do you go to confession? When was the last time you went to confession? Do you go to mass each week? Do you pray? How often do you pray? Is there things in your life that get in the way of prayer or attending mass? Do you go to adoration? Have you asked God to come into your whole life? What is God asking of you and have you acted on it? Are you holding onto past sins? Are you holding onto anger? There are many questions to help us to see where we are spiritually. We just have to be honest and act on the answers. This is how we become spiritually ready to be watchful and alert. Each day during Advent we can ask these questions and work on being watchful.

     This advent prepare yourself both by physical and spiritual actions and keep watch. Alway keep in mind that just as the readings said, We do not know when He will return, just that He will return. Don’t be caught wishing you were prepared.

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and be Watchful. 

Monday of the First Week of Advent

Lectionary: 175

Reading 1

IS 2:1-5

This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz,

saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come,

The mountain of the LORD’s house

shall be established as the highest mountain

and raised above the hills.

All nations shall stream toward it;

many peoples shall come and say:

“Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

That he may instruct us in his ways,

and we may walk in his paths.”

For from Zion shall go forth instruction,

and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,

and impose terms on many peoples.

They shall beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks;

One nation shall not raise the sword against another,

nor shall they train for war again.

O house of Jacob, come,

let us walk in the light of the LORD!

Responsorial Psalm

PS 122:1-2, 3-4B, 4CD-5, 6-7, 8-9

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

I rejoiced because they said to me,

“We will go up to the house of the LORD."

And now we have set foot

within your gates, O Jerusalem.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Jerusalem, built as a city 

with compact unity.

To it the tribes go up, 

the tribes of the LORD.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

According to the decree for Israel, 

to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

In it are set up judgment seats, 

seats for the house of David. 

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! 

May those who love you prosper!

May peace be within your walls, 

prosperity in your buildings. 

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Because of my relatives and friends

I will say, “Peace be within you!"

Because of the house of the LORD, our God,

I will pray for your good.

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Alleluia

SEE PS 80:4

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Come and save us, LORD our God;

let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

MT 8:5-11

When Jesus entered Capernaum,

a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,

“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” 

He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” 

The centurion said in reply,

“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;

only say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man subject to authority,

with soldiers subject to me.

And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes;

and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes;

and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,

“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. 

I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,

and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.”