Be Alert

 

 Mark 13:33-37

 Be Watchful

³³ Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴ It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

³⁵ “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. ³⁶ If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. ³⁷ What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

As we begin Advent, (only three weeks this year) the advice to be alert, watchful and ready is more poignant than usual. We are preparing for Christmas, the celebration of the first coming of Jesus, but we are also preparing for this second coming, the end of time as we know it and the establishment of his complete reign  over all. As we look at our empty churches, the growing greed for wealth and power, and the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, we see a world that is in no way ready for the Kingdom of God.  It's more like  having to start from scratch again. So, let's do it in our own lives and in our own families.  The daily readings from Isaiah and Matthew  will.help us, especially if we take time to reflect on them and make the part of our daily outlook and actions, a long, slow but effective process.  Let us begin today to be on guard, to watch, to be ready.

Bro Rene

Dear God, help me to be attentive and watchful for your overtures to me and your guidance of my prayers and actions during this holy season of Advent. Amen.