Keep Watch

The season of Advent suffers enough as it is buried by the rampant commercialism promoting Christmas, which itself suffers as an excuse for retailers to attract shoppers to buy, and buy more of their goods, and so it is not surprising that questions arise such as, "What is Advent?" or "What do I do during Advent?"
Today's succinct Gospel carries the command of Jesus, "Stay awake," or in another translation, "Keep watch." (Mt 22:42).  It is a time or preparation for the birth of Jesus, which has already taken place, but which we dramatically observe on December 25th, lest we forget as the centuries roll by. It is also a time to prepare our hearts for his longing to enter them, be truly born in us, as we have been born in him.  Finally, it is a time to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ, when he takes over all of creation and hands it back to the Father, bringing his original plan to completion.  All of these require "work" in the form of prayer, sacrifice and service.  We can begin by keeping watch over our own behaviors, as suggested by St. Paul, "Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; but us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh." (Rm 13: 13-14). St. Peter tells us, "Strip away everything deceitful; pretenses, jealousies and disparaging remarks of any kind."   These suggestions are themselves huge, but what a difference they would make in our attitudes and behaviors.
We might want to take a moment longer with the readings of the day, go on line and find some Advent Aids (just Google), and we might keep watch on the needs in the community as funds are being raised by many organizations to help the less fortunate celebrate Christmas.
Bro. Rene