Advent is a time to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Christ, and to prepare for the second coming of Jesus.
With regard to His second coming, Jesus told His disciples, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of man be”. As the great flood came suddenly on a world unprepared, involved in the pursuit of pleasure and ordinary worldly things, so shall the coming of the Son of Man many indulging in good cheer, pleasure and worldly business.
Our Lord uses the example of Noah, who warned them of their impending danger, yet they paid no attention. Jesus used this example, because He wants us to be prepared keeping our soul in a state of grace, rather than be involved in worldly concerns. Jesus tells us to “Stay awake, for you do not know on which day the Lord will come.” “So too, you also must be prepared, for an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
The Gospel today speaks about one who will be taken, while the other is left and many Protestants refer to this as the rapture. But is their really such a thing as a rapture, when one will be taken and another left behind? Will the rapture be in secret? Will it occur before the great tribulation or at the moment of the Second Coming of Jesus?
Many Protestants believe the "taken" are the faithful who are raptured away, while those who are "left" are the unfortunate sinners "left behind". They also think the rapture will be secret and before the great persecution, so that only the elect will not undergo the tribulations and the persecution caused by the anti-Christ.
However, this is not what the Catholic Church teaches. For Catholics, we believe no one is exempt from the great persecution. No one is exempt from suffering from the anti-Christ. We believe Jesus does not come twice, but rather only once. And when He does come it will coincide with the General Judgment. When
Our Divine Lord comes on the clouds of heaven, everyone will be caught up to meet Him in the air and we will all receive our recompense whether good or bad. We will all get a new resurrected body. Even those destined for hell, and those in hell and also those in heaven will get a new resurrected body.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem suggests that the verse about one being taken and the other left refers to the Lord's rewarding of even the smallest good deed at the time of the Judgment. St. Cyril explains what one taken and one left means. In the context of the final judgment, he said, “…Those who are taken"….confess their good deeds before the Father in heaven, and their "works follow them" while those who are "left" are those who are passed over because, despite their great titles or impressive speech, "had no charity" (did no charitable deeds) and thus have no reward from God.”
So we will be judged by our deeds of mercy. The good things we have done for others.
How are we to prepare for the coming of Jesus and the celebration of His birth? Most all of us will put up Christmas trees and decorations. We will shop to purchase gifts to show our love. We will make pies, cakes, candy, and desert. Then there is the turkey or ham, and the foods for the Christmas dinner. Some of us will have the office or work Christmas party, the family Christmas. It is true all these things are ways of showing our love for others, but in the midst the cheer, pleasure and activity, we can lose our focus on the coming of the tiny babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. We can wonder, where is Jesus in the midst of all our activity? We can forget about what we can give Jesus for Christmas? We give gifts to each other at Christmas, but do we give Jesus a gift? Do you remember whose birthday it is? Here are some examples.
Accept the cross you have whether it’s an illness, or a difficult job situation, or a problem that never seems to go away. Stop expecting it to be taken away and ask the Lord for the grace to endure it. Therefore we can give Jesus the gift of accepting our suffering.
Prayer.
Daily make time to pray. You can come to the adoration chapel as a
family or make shorts visits. We can offer our Holy Hour for specific
people. The adoration chapel is for everyone. Anyone can come and be
with Jesus from Sunday 9am through Tuesday morning at 7am.
Decide to daily pray the Rosary, especially as a family. If you already pray the Rosary, pray 2 or 3 rosaries a day.
You can also pray at home together as a family, by each person mentioning one particular intention and then pray the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. We can give Jesus the gift of family prayer or spending time with Him in prayer.
Read. To read a short paragraph from the bible and meditate on it. Do some spiritual reading such as read the Catechism of the Catholic Church or read lives of the saints. We can give Jesus the gift of learning more about Our Lord and His Church.
Visit and Call. Go to visit someone in a nursing home, or someone who is home bound. Call a family member or friend whom you haven’t talked to in a long time.
Forgive. Perhaps there is someone you haven’t talked to for a long time because you are holding a grudge. Give Jesus the gift of forgiving someone who hurt you.
Attend Mass during the week. Give Jesus the gift of allowing Him to come into your heart in Holy Communion.
Stop Wasting Time on the Computer. Instead of Facebook, call people or speak to them in person.
Help a Neighbor. Rack their leaves or remove snow or do a good deed. Give someone an anonymous donation.
Give a basket of food to a needy family.
There is the Christian Soup Ministry, which our CYO will be participating. Drivers are needed and donations of outdoor weather clothing is needed. There is a box in the entrance of the church you can place your items and if you want to volunteer see the bulletin.
Confession. There are most likely some who haven’t been to confession for a long time. How beautiful will your gift be to give Jesus, the gift of a truly repentant heart. Resolve to confess monthly, by giving Jesus the gift of overcoming your fear of confession and to regularly confess our venial sins.
Give Jesus the daily practice of a particular virtue or try to avoid a particular sin. We can practice patience, or try not to gossip, or to try to practice humility. One can have a negative attitude, put others down and complain about everything. Maybe try to have a grateful heart and positive attitude and give heartfelt compliments to others.
Young husbands and wives, you can give Jesus, the gift of being open to life, by giving up contraception and making the commitment to take Natural Family Planning Classes.
Parents once a week spend time with your children, playing board games or cards.
Children, be obedient to your parents, and do your homework without being told. We can give Jesus the gift of loving our family more and spending more time with our family.
Go to the Christmas pageant or concert. You can create a group to go Christmas Caroling to the homes of the elderly. By doing these things, you will give Jesus the gift of making Him the reason for the season.
Finally, you can make Advent like a little Lent, make sacrifices and do penance. Deny yourself chocolate, or candy or your favorite food. And each time you offer a sacrifice, or a mortification, place a piece of straw in the manger, so that when Christmas comes, Jesus will have a comfortable bed to lay His head.
What will you give the baby Jesus for Christmas? How will you spend your Advent? How will you prepare for Christmas and the 2nd coming of Jesus? Do as St. Cyril said, to do deeds of charity and acts of mercy. And you will be very well prepared.
Let us ask the Virgin Mary to enter into mystery of Her preparation for the birth of Jesus and Our Lord’s second coming.
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