Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast, where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the Word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: The Lord be with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord Jesus said to his disciples, as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man?
Two men will be out in the field, one will be taken and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this, if the master of the house had known the hour of the night when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect the Son of Man will come.
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: You, Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: I don't like to make broad assumptions about any of your behavior, but allow me this one day to do so.
My guess is most of you on Thursday, early evening, late afternoon, were feeling just a little bit uncomfortable.
Perhaps you were wearing your stretchy pants, perhaps you let your belt out a notch or two and you were in the recliner, laying back, going, oh, I don't feel so good.
But there were probably also some of you, even though you were feeling that way when you heard those last words around the table, keep your fork.
You did.
You were still waiting in eager anticipation, knowing that there was still something good to come.
Well, if you want to use a metaphor to explain our understanding of Advent, it's a lot like that, but it's split into two parts.
The first part is our understanding that the Lord will come again in glory and that we always need to be ready to welcome Him.
And we do so by recognizing the gifts that have been given to the world, given to each one of us, and sharing those gifts freely back with the world, compassion and mercy and love.
The other part that the Advent season does is it prepares us to celebrate the glory of the Incarnation, a reminder to us that God loved us so much that he sent his only Son into the world to dwell with us and to be like us in all things but sin.
And both of those realities that Christ already dwells with us and that he will come back in fullness to bring about the fullness of the kingdom are central to who we are as a church.
Recognizing that we have his presence, a part of who we already are, and that when we are at our best, we make Christ present to those people we meet.
We also recognize that others make Christ present to us, but we also know that there's still more to come.
Keep your fork.
That the kingdom is most definitely a process, one that may take millions of years to come into its fullness.
And we recognize that things are not perfect, but that when each of us participate and do our best, the kingdom gets a little bit closer.
And what an amazing and powerful reality and gift to know that Jesus gave us a role to play in it.
That if we're willing to share what we've been given without counting the cost, the process of the Kingdom is closer.
So this Advent, I suggest you allow both of those realities to kind of inform not just your imagination, but your hearts to recognize that Christ already dwells among us, but we also know there's something good to come.
