First week of Advent - HOPE

Watching (for) the News

When I was a boy, I recall television programs would occasionally be interrupted by the words, “We interrupt this program for a Special News Bulletin.” The moment between those words and the actual bulletin felt like an eternity. What followed was always serious. Now, much as when we hear car alarms sound, we do not think much of “Breaking News” announcements. They have become ubiquitous. When everything becomes a crisis or cause for alarm, we become anesthetized. If everything is “Breaking News,” nothing is.

Today in the Gospel, Jesus tells us, Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life. Giving ourselves over to foolishness and a debased way of life makes us sluggish in responding to the coming of Christ. Similarly, turning everything in life into a “Special News Bulletin” makes us less prepared to receive Christ when he comes. Giving into every demand for our ­attention makes us increasingly less attentive to the One who truly ­deserves our full attention.

If we do not learn to look for him now, his arrival could indeed cause us to be dismayed, perplexed, and frightened. Advent affords us a grace-filled opportunity to rediscover the joy of watching and waiting for him. Attentive silence and prayer in Advent prepares us to joyfully receive the Good News.
    Father David Barnes


Source: Magnificat