Stay Awake, this was the message in Mass this evening (ironically my 12 yr old son’s head was bobbing through the homily as he could barely ‘stay awake’ himself!). The Gospel reading was Matthew 24:37-44:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
I thought about my grandmother once Fr. Borski was finished with his homily. I knelt and prayed during the consecration as I know she was with me at the table of our Lord and I asked her forgiveness for not praying ‘enough’ for our family. She had asked me before she died to pray for all of her family, that they would ‘wake up’ and come back to their faith. I have prayed and I do pray but I can’t imagine what she would be feeling right now if she were alive and privy to the many avenues our family has fallen victim to ‘worldly desires and lies.
You see, if I were to blog about how I ‘showed up’ for God today I’d have to be honest and admit to the struggle I endured in keeping my mouth shut against something I do not feel is ‘appropriate’ that is happening within my family (no, not within Neal and I, a bit further out but not far…). I prayed very hard about how would Christ react, or what would he ‘say’ or ‘do’? I loved. That’s all I could do, but sometimes when we love it hurts so much to be rendered defenseless to the disease or sin that wants to attack those we love. And at the same time stand by what I believe is ‘morally correct’ and make sure my children know the difference between what we uphold in our ‘immediate’ family and why other things are not appropriate (yet we love regardless).
Which takes me back to the reading. I want all those I love to ‘BE AWAKE!’ and that is all my grandmother wanted. It scares me to think that someone (or many of those) I love that have fallen victim to Satan’s greatest lies will not be ready. I’m not going to lie. My heart hurts. And I know that I have other family members reading this who’s heart is bleeding with a great desire to ‘wake them up’ and we are left defenseless. – EXCEPT FOR PRAYER.
This ADVENT season I am taking this seriously. I am preparing my heart to accept Christ fully and completely in all that His arrival on Christmas Day promises and every day as I light the advent candle I will pray for those I love who are ‘asleep’ in their faith that God will be able to be heard in their hearts.
Sunday, November 28th First Sunday of Advent:
(Advent & Christmas with Pope Benedict XVI)
Advent, this powerful liturgical season that we are beginning,
invites us to pause in silence to understand a
presence. It is an invitation to understand that the individual
events of the day are hints that God is giving us signs of the
attention he has for each one of us. How often does God give
us a glimpse of his love!
Homily in Celebration of First Vespers of Advent
Blessings
Shannon