1st Sunday of Advent - Roaring of the Seas

 

Today begins Advent a time for preparation for Christmas, but also a time in preparation for Our Lord’s Second Coming.

The second coming Jesus will come glory and majesty on the clouds of heaven for all to see. He will be escorted by an army of angels, and come as judge - the Lord our Justice.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about what will happen prior to His judgment. He said, “there will be signs in the sun, moon and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves”.

In other places in scripture, Jesus also mentions earthquakes, wars, famines and stars falling from the sky?

Are all of these literal events or not?

Scott Hahn in his St. Ignatius New Testament Bible commentary states the words: the sun being darkened, the moon not shedding it light etc.. are not to be taken as literal events, but rather events causing great shock in the world.

However, what are we to think about 1917 when the sun a zig zaged and then appeared to fall from the sky at Fatima? Or the comet that struck Jupiter in July 0f 1994. Or people who saw the sun dance in Medjugorje? And what about the tidal wave in Asia in 2004 that killed over a hundred thousand people or hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans in 2005? Or the earthquake that killed 10,000 in Iran in 2003? Are these signs that Jesus is coming to judge the world soon? And what about future prophecies?

Are these events indicating the Second Coming is near and in our life time?

Some saints take the words of Jesus as literal. For example, St. Patrick said 7 years before the day of judgment Ireland will be destroyed in the sea, because he said the people of Ireland will never be under the dominion of the Antichrist.

And Our Lady told Sister Sasagawa in 1973, at Akita Japan, “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”

A small booklet called the Antichrist written by a priest who taught in the seminary in France in the late 1800’s is at odds with Scott Hahn. He describes these events prior to the second coming as both literal and symbolic. With regard to symbolism, he said, The earth represents the kingdom of Satan. The sun represents the Catholic Church the vehicle of God’s supernatural light. The moon symbolizes lawful civil government, which has as its light a reflection of the sun (the Church). Stars represent bishops of the Church. The fallen stars represent the apostasy of bishops. A diminution of the sun and moon would mean the Church would lose Her influence over the mankind. The government would become agents of the Antichrist and therefore not reflect the truth.” pg. 39 Antichrist. Fr. P. Huchede

Has not the Church lost her influence over mankind? For example, the body of US bishops failed to confront Catholic government leaders, who receive Holy Communion sacrilegiously due to their public support of abortion, embryonic stem research and same sex unions?

And throughout the world, is not apostasy (the loss of faith) spreading everywhere especially in Germany? Is not the moon, representing the civil government no longer reflecting the sun (the teachings of the Church), when government leaders are unwilling to live by and proclaim their faith publicly.

In another words, one source says we are to take these events as literal and symbolic and another source says we should take these events as only literal. The Church does not have a definitive statement one way or the other, so we can believe which ever we want. As symbolic only or both symbolic and literal.

But what matters is Our Lord wants us to be prepared when He will come on the clouds of heaven because no one knows the day nor the hour. Jesus said what we are to do, He said, “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man?” “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.”

Even worse then fire falling from the sky or earthquakes, tidal waves, famines and war, is the state of our soul, if we are not prepared to die. We don’t want to have a mortal sin on our soul when we die or when Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead.

It would be horrible to hear of thousands of people dying by natural calamities, but not be afraid of what kills the body only what can kill the soul. We should be afraid of the state of our soul when we die or when at the Second Coming of Jesus.

Its natural to be afraid to die or afraid of pain that comes with dying, and especially the anguish of leaving loved ones behind. Most people would be afraid. But we are called to a supernatural way of viewing death.

The saints show us the way. The young girl, St. Agnes, was a Christian condemned to death for merely being Christian. When she was about to die, she guided the executioner’s hand to help him to cut her head off, which caused him to tremble at her faith in Jesus.

When St. Lawrence was being burned to death on a grid iron, he joked to the killers they could turn him over on the other side.

St Perpetua was ready and willing to be thrown to the wild beasts even though she was nursing her son, because she valued being with Jesus more than her child, her family and her life. The saints knew by their martyrdom, they had a straight shot to heaven and God is more important than everything else.

How many good deeds have we done for the poor? Have we given our time, talent and treasure for others? Have we read the bible to learn about who God is and what He has done for us? How often have we gone to confession? Do we pray the Rosary everyday? How many times did we receive Jesus in Holy Communion? How often do we pray? Did we pray for those who depend upon our prayers? Have we forgiven every one who has hurt us?

Many of you do very well with regard to prayer as you come to adore Jesus during your weekly Holy Hour. You pray the Rosary, read scripture and pray to Jesus for others.

But during Advent we reflect upon how we could do things even better such as not just going to confession twice a year, but rather monthly. Not to just pray the Rosary once a week, but to pray it daily. To use our time, talent and gifts for others especially our family and community and also the Church.

In a nutshell, we should do everything we can-- to be holy and to live a life of virtue and love? Even though we all fall short, God is merciful. Let us keep our heart and mind on heaven and not worry or be afraid of the signs preceding the 2^nd Coming. What do we have to fear if we have Jesus in this life and long to be with Him forever in heaven?

As St. Paul said, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His holy ones. Amen.”