How to Prepare for the Coming of Christ
Today we begin the season of Advent.
That season when we prepare for the coming of Christ.
The word comes from the Latin terms ad venire.
Ad, meaning to, venire, to come.
So we're preparing for the one who comes to us.
Now when we think of Advent, we think of preparing for Christmas,
the coming of Christ in Bethlehem a little over 2,000 years ago.
He came in silence and humility and poverty.
But as our liturgy really strongly gives us to reflect on today,
there is a difference.
There is at least one other coming.
And actually I note here when I'm following these readings,
there's actually a third one that is spoken of here.
Of course, the one we're all aware of is the coming at the Last Judgment,
which is practically speaking what we begin reflecting on now
as we go through the first two weeks of Advent.
The final coming.
When our Lord will come in all His glory.
So it will not be something hidden.
It will be something out in the open.
And we see it represented in just that way.
With all the glory, with all of the lights, all of the everything.
And the rising of the dead back to light.
The rising of the dead.
The Last Judgment.
When as one source puts it,
Christ will come to judge the ones who judged Him.
He will judge all of us.
Or rather, we will be judged by our very actions.
All will be placed before us in the flesh.
Nothing will be hidden.
This is the final coming of our Lord at the Last Judgment.
And the first reading, similar to the Gospel, presents that.
That great coming of our Lord in the final.
The prophecy really of that final coming of our Lord on the last day.
But it's a coming that,
and we see this alluded to a little bit in the Gospels passage as well,
where the good will be separated from the evil.
And the good will be welcomed into the Kingdom of God.
Into the heavenly banquet.
Into the glory of union with God for eternity.
And the evil will be cast into the burning fires of hell.
The fires of hell.
Something we need to reflect on because we need to be,
and this is what our Lord is telling us in the Gospel passage,
we need to be prepared.
We have to watch.
And here's where we come to that second coming.
That,
our Lord, that we do see spoken of here particularly in the Gospel.
Because when He says,
You know not the day in which the Lord will come.
We certainly don't know when the last judgment will be.
But you see our eternity will already be fixed.
There's yet another coming.
That I believe is alluded to here.
When our eternity is actually fixed.
And that's at our death.
Christ will come then too.
And we'll have the first judgment.
We call that our particular judgment.
That occurs at our death.
Christ is coming then too.
That we don't know when it will come.
To a very few it has been predicted ahead of time.
They knew.
But they were also,
although they also knew they were already saved.
They were already living a saintly life.
They were prepared.
They were watching and they were waiting for that time.
But that's,
there are very few with a very special grace.
The vast majority of us simply don't know.
And so we have to be prepared.
And that's what our Lord is telling us here.
We have to watch.
We have to be vigilant of ourselves.
Because another thing we see throughout this liturgy,
the readings we've just heard,
is that those who are welcomed into the heavenly kingdom
are without sin.
What are we being told here?
What do the prophets tell over and over again to the ancient Israelites?
What did Our Lady tell us at Fatima?
And all of our other apparitions, particularly at Fatima?
We have to stop sinning.
We have to turn away from sin.
We have to turn away from anything that leads us away from God.
That's what our Lord is referring to when He says,
watch, be vigilant.
We have to turn away from.
So that we are,
in fact, Isaiah tells us in his prophecy,
our sins,
though scarlet they may be,
can become white as snow.
That is, they can be washed away.
And that's why our Lord has given us the sacraments,
the sacrament of penance,
to be able to wipe away those sins,
to purify us, to keep us,
to maintain us in the state of grace if we receive them frequently.
The sacrament of penance, the sacrament of the Eucharist.
So that we too can be pure
and spotless.
Exactly as our Most Blessed Mother,
Immaculate.
And that feast is coming up next week,
Immaculate Conception.
And we must imitate that.
We too must be pure.
We too must be immaculate.
Our Lord tells us in the Gospel,
Elzort, be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
If we expect to enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
we have to be.
And that's the reason we have purgatory
after our death,
if we're not in the state of mortal sin,
and we have not married in Hell,
then we have that time to make sure we are perfectly clean.
If that's up here to be consumed in the love of God,
made completely pure, perfect,
then we are ready for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now we might look at ourselves and say,
is it possible for us then even to be ready when we go?
Or do we,
or do we at least face purgatory immediately?
I mean, can we even avoid it?
And the answer is, well, yes, we can actually avoid purgatory.
It may be very difficult, but we can do it.
If we seek to live a life of holiness starting right now,
or continuously only to serve God,
to fulfill His will,
to prepare ourselves starting right now,
then we can.
Are we in the state of perfect grace when we die?
We can be.
It's possible.
It's difficult,
but it's possible.
Always remember, with the grace of God,
all things are possible.
Are we giving ourselves to Him?
Are we turning away from anything that keeps us from Him?
Are we making that effort?
Do we really want to serve only Him?
If we are doing that,
then we are prepared.
And that's what we are reflecting on now.
That's the preparedness.
That's what we're preparing for.
Not just His coming.
We reflect on His coming at Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago,
and a beautiful mystery to reflect on and ponder over and over,
as Our Lady did.
But we are also preparing for the final coming of the Last Judgment,
and that coming at our death.
Let us prepare ourselves now.
We are about to, in just a few moments, bless the Advent wreath,
which reminds us of that.
We light each candle each week.
The wreath, actually, you see in the green.
The circle means everlasting, eternity,
because there is no actual end.
It just goes around.
That means everlasting.
We are preparing for eternity.
And each candle reminds us,
each week we come closer to Christmas,
that much more light.
We're getting closer and closer.
Our Lord is coming closer and closer to us.
And we are coming closer to Him.
Let us let it remind us then of that light that we must be,
not only to ourselves, but also to everyone else,
that they can see that example.
That we are being prepared.
We are preparing ourselves,
with the grace of God, of course,
but we are preparing ourselves,
not only for that coming,
not only to reflect on this coming 2,000 years ago,
but at that final coming,
and even that coming at our death,
that it may be something of great joy.
Rejoice because He is coming.
And when He comes,
let it be not to see His wrath at our sins,
but His glory
at our purity,
at our preparedness,
that He not cast us into hell,
but that He welcome us
into that eternal union with Him
in paradise.
Praise be Jesus in the air.