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“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand” (Luke 21:27-28). The key word is “COMING”. Yes, Jesus is coming. The word “advent” means just that. It does suggest the end of time and the time of last judgment. Sounds terrifying? If you are caught unprepared, you have all the reasons to get terrified. So how do you feel about it right now? Your feeling can be a good indicator of how you would stand in front of the judgment seat.
But the Gospel says more: “stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” It gives us a reason to rejoice and to hope. The one who will come is Jesus. He is love. He is mercy and compassion. He is a kind God. He says: “Be not afraid.” Isn’t that consoling and assuring? But of course we have to reform our lives. We still have time. It’s never too late to change. “Habang may buhay, may pag-asa,” as our old adage says.
The Gospel tells us what to do: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap” (Ll 21:34). It is good to enjoy life but it is another thing to overdo it. We often hear the dictum, “anumang sobra ay masama.” To live like hedonists means to worship pleasure. Plesure becomes your Lord and when this happens, you become more miserable. Such form of worship becomes counterproductive, for it only results to more miseries like destruction of families, lack of direction in life, and deeper addiction to substances that can only promise fleeting pleasures. After that, what happens to you?
Life is too short to squander. It is too short to be spent for vices. We are searchers for meanings. Let us not allow each day to pass without filling our life with something worth living for. We are just stewards of this precious gift called life. We will have to be accountable and responsible to the Lord for it.
Religious Trivia
This Sunday marks the beginning of a new calendar in the Catholic worship. It is called the first Sunday of Advent. The word “advent” is from the Latin “adventus”. It means coming. It may signal the coming of Christmas. Yes. But it goes further than that. Christmas happened long long ago. We just recall it. Jesus has come already. But He is coming AGAIN. In the end He will come to judge us and to rule over the entire universe. This is the reason why thebiblical readings speak to us about such apocalptic occurance. We are reminded to be prepared so as not to be caught off-guard.
