Preparation More Than Anticipation

   

  First Sunday of Advent 

27 November 2022 

 

First Reading: Is 2:1-5

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Second Reading: Rom 13:11-14

Gospel: Mt 24:37-44

 

Reflection

By: Bernard Borja

 

One of the most common and biggest dreams of a person is to get rich. To be able to buy all 

the things they want without worrying about the price. If we are going to ask them, one of the 

most common ways they think they can achieve it is by winning the lottery. Many people can say that they will be able to help a lot of people when they get rich in an instant. However, if there are stories of people winning the lottery and being able to grow their fortune, some have not been successful. There were reported cases of people winning the lottery only to find themselves broke after only a few years. This is because they focused more on anticipating what their life could be, but set aside the thought if they are really ready for it.  While most people look forward to a dream and do the things they want to do, anticipation can only be best built through preparation.

I remember when I started courting my ex-girlfriend. That time, I promised to myself that I will work hard for the relationship for us to end up being married. Two years on our relationship, I thought of proposing to marry her. I consulted some friends and people around us about it and most of them told me to push for it. But only one of them asked two questions that made me delay my plans. The questions were, “Are you ready for it?” I answered the first question without a flinch, “Yes!!!”. But the second question struck through me, “Is the relationship ready for marriage?” I was quiet for a time and it haunted me for days. It made me realize how 

focused I am on “happily ever after” but not thinking if I am even prepared enough for it.

Before the first Christmas, the Jews were waiting for a long time for a king to be born and shepherd them to paradise. They were anticipating a king who will rise above the nations and make their people greater than conquerors and oppressors. While the promise of making the people greater through the king is true, the Jews literally thought that this king will be sent from the skies and tremble their enemies. The people never thought that this king will be born among them and be with them. The first Christmas is not really what the people who were waiting for salvation had anticipated. They looked forward to a "grand entrance of the king” and prepared themselves for a somehow selfish way to be saved. Salvation became only an amusement for the people. Today, we similarly anticipate Christmas as a grand celebration of a newborn king but we forget the real meaning of God’s ultimate saving grace that we set aside preparing ourselves to meet Him. We look forward to receiving gifts and celebrations but we find ourselves not growing in compassion and choosing not to uphold justice for the rest of the 

year. 

My ex-girlfriend married me after five years of being together. During those five years, I can say that we did not prepare ourselves on our own. It has always been through God’s grace that we were prepared to be together. When I remember my original plan of proposing for marriage, I did not really look into my preparation to be a good husband and a good father. Fast forward to today, after witnessing how God’s saving grace worked in me and my wife, I still cannot say that I am ready for all things to come. No one is ever ready, but we receive the grace of preparation to be who God wants us to be as we anticipate and look forward to His beautiful plans for us.

As of writing, me and my wife are still in the hospital with our newborn baby. God prepared us for three years for this but we still cannot say that we are ready for these overwhelming things before us right now. We anticipated the joy of building a family but we never did expect the things that we needed to be prepared for. Just like how our physical, emotional, and mental well-being have stretched during the past days. My wife was supposed to give birth on December 1st, but our baby was born a week earlier. We were not fully prepared for that. But we were amazed on how God has been with us during labor especially when my wife had excruciating pain for three days and when she was giving birth. We are there for each other. We have our families and friends, but there are also many people we did not even meet whose  presence we felt through prayers. There were also people in the hospital whom we just met and who guided us in our struggles. It made me realize how God prepared us to receive such graces.

As we enter into Advent season, may we be reminded that in our anticipation of the birth of our Lord, He is preparing us to receive the promised salvation. That we may be free from being captivated in our own understanding of God’s grace. Where we only see within the limits of human wisdom and not be able to see beyond. And that we may be able to open ourselves to God’s will and see how He works through the people around us, for us to be able to receive His graces.

Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, as we prepare for Your birth, grant that we may find the way to prepare each other to receive You into our hearts. We ask for guidance in seeing through each other Your saving grace so that we may also share it with one another. Help us in our journey to truly  anticipate Your salvation that has always been around us. We ask these with our dear Mother Mary and Saint Joseph, whom God has also prepared to receive the fullness of His grace.

Mary Mother of God, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

AMEN.