1st Sunday of Advent 2.12.12 Judgment
We have these dramatic gospels in Advent, which remind us that strange and terrifying cosmic events are prophesied.
Yet people can still be complacent. They laughed at Noah, it is said, for building a boat on dry land.
It is so easy to procrastinate. I will do it tomorrow, or next year. Especially easy to put off repentance. I will get my life in order... someday.
We can hear a gospel that talks about cosmic upheaval but then look out the window and see peace and calm. We react (too much) to what we can see and not enough to what we know. Spiritual life requires the ability to see with eyes of faith.
It is hard to get people to repent unless the actual events start happening, and then it may be too late.
All this is not helped by the fact that there have been so many false predictions about the end times. Yet despite all that falseness the true prophecies remain in place and awaiting fulfilment.
There is a further problem that in these times people think they do not need to repent. In their minds either they have not sinned; or they think that God has already forgiven them.
There is huge complacency on these matters, even among Catholics. So few Catholics go to Confession; nor even talk of these things. Our whole vocabulary has been reworked; the unpleasant words have been excised. (Words like sin, hell, devil, repentance, penance) People honestly think that Vatican II removed these things. No, they are still with us.
Ironically there is a parallel call to repentance but on much less important matters. If we don't change the way we live the temperature will rise by 2 degrees by 2020 etc! Same style but different message.
The Church says, If we don't change the way we live we might go to hell. But this message is laughed at. Why laugh at hell but take climate change seriously? Because too many people are locked into a this-world only view.
Maybe their laugh is a nervous one. They don't believe in these things because deep down they know it might be true and they hope it isn’t.
It is alarming today how casual people are about the faith and how negligent of basic things, like the need to confess sins.
They mistake generally being likeable for holiness.
We must get this right. If there is sin we have to confess it, stop it, atone for it; tell each other to stop; and find what we should be doing instead.
We encourage each other to holiness.
We get on the ark instead of laughing at it.
We don't want to go to the other extreme where we put so much fear into people that they despair.
We just need to be healthily aware of the reality of sin - its presence and dangers - but also that it can be forgiven and overcome.
So we face judgment but we need not fear it. Not because we presume it will be ok, but because we can make it certain that we are saved. We do all that we have to do to be ready.
Advent is a time for this focus. Advent has been buried by Christmas in recent years. This is explainable in that Christmas is for joy and Advent is for penance. Who needs penance anymore? We do. It is good to be joyful but it must be a well-founded joy and not one prematurely claimed.
To be totally free of sin – now that would be something to be joyful about!
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