INCREASING OUR DESIRE FOR THE BRIDEGROOM

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Jer 33:14-16; Ps 25:4-5,8-9,10,14; 1 Thess 3:12-4:2; Lk 21:25-28,34-36

Making Progress in Holiness of Life

It is the first week of Advent. In the season of Advent, the Church leads her children again through the prophecies of the first coming of the Messiah to Israel and the world in general. The purpose of this holy season is to awaken our faith anew and re-ignite our desire for the second coming of Jesus Christ. This desire for the coming of the Messiah in glory and power is what makes the Bride of Christ. The Church will not be the Bride of Jesus Christ if she is not aflame with this desire for her heavenly Groom. Just as in the olden days, the desire for the Messiah was what characterised the people of Israel as the People of God, for they longed and waited for God’s fulfilment of the promise of the Messiah to save the House of Israel and the House of Judah, just as he did when he sent Moses to rescue them from their bondage in the land of Egypt. The Lord promised through his prophets that he would rescue his people from the enemies surrounding them. The people saw the promised salvation of Yahweh partially fulfilled in the faithful rule of David, who rescued Israel from enemies and made the kingdom secure by doing the will of God. As a reward for his faithfulness, God promised David to set up his dynasty forever by making one of his sons an everlasting king who would establish the kingdom of God in righteousness in Israel.

The remembrance of the promise made to David by God is what we read in the Book of Jeremiah. The prophet Jeremiah understood well that the insecurity of the people and the kingdom stems from the unfaithfulness of the kings and the people. Because the people follow the life and dictate of the king, he must be faithful to God. “See, the days are coming—it is the Lord who speaks—when I am going to fulfil the promise I made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah: ‘In those days and at that time, I will make a virtuous Branch grow for David, who shall practise honesty and integrity in the land.’” The life of virtue establishes peace and safety in our lives individually and as a people. The Psalmist understood this and prayed to God to teach him the truth. “Lord, make me know your ways. Lord, teach me your paths. Make me walk in your truth, and teach me: for you are God, my saviour.” Without God teaching us what is right, we cannot gain salvation. For the way of righteousness and holiness is beyond our human mind to understand unaided by divine light. God commanded this in the Garden of Eden, for man not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God created us to follow his word or revelation to attain a blessed life. This lesson is what God teaches man in the whole history of salvation.

The whole history of salvation is about God teaching man to desire God’s revelation of eternal truth through his word to save us from error, sin, and damnation. God gave us the fullness of truth and salvation in Jesus Christ. Hence, the desire for Jesus Christ is what characterise the people of God. The desire defines those who are on the way to salvation. Based on this truth, Paul prayed that God increase the love of the Thessalonian community of Christians for one another. Our love for each other comes from our love for Jesus Christ and the desire to see him manifest among us. He urged us to make progress in this desire for Christ. “Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it.” God calls us to know the truth and live in his Son, Jesus Christ. The virtuous life of Christians originates from their daily spiritual communion with the Eternal Truth and the desire to become one with him.

The lessening of the desire for Jesus Christ is a sign of the coming of the close of the age. When the desire for the heavenly Bridegroom grows less, the presence of the Bride also grows less. The two dwell together. Just as the Lord warned us in his prophecy of the end time, when God let loose the powers of heaven on earth, we must stand erect and be watchful in prayer because the Master is about to return in power and glory. The forces of evil will overrun the earth when more and more people desire falsehood and evil instead of truth and goodness. God would give the world the power to deceive them when they reject the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ. To forestall this happening in our time, the Lord warns us to keep our desire for truth aflame. “Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth.” The main purpose of our prayer is to desire and ask for our daily bread, which is the One who comes down from heaven to give life to the world. The Advent season is a time of grace to re-enkindle our desire for our salvation and the salvation of our brothers and sisters.

Let us pray: Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.