First Sunday in Advent, cycle B

MARK 13:33-37
AS YOU KNOW, I AM A CANCER DOCTOR. AND AS SUCH, I AM PRIVILEGED TO WITNESS THINGS THAT MOST PEOPLE DON'T SEE VERY OFTEN. THIS LAST WEEK WAS NO EXCEPTION. I HAD BEEN CARING FOR HER FOR ABOUT 15 YEARS. FOR A LONG TIME I SAW HER EVERY SIX MONTHS, JUST MAKING SURE THE CANCER WAS NOT BACK. AND THEN ONE DAY I GOT A CALL FROM ANOTHER HOSPITAL THAT SHE WAS UNCONSCIOUS AND RUNNING A HIGH FEVER. WE TRANSFERRED HER TO BAYSTATE AND DIAGNOSED A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MALIGNANCY, WHICH WE MANAGED TO BRING UNDER CONTROL BUT COULD NEVER CURE. AND TWO YEARS WENT BY, AND OVER THE LAST SIX WEEKS HER CONDITION DETERIORATED, AND LAST WEEK SHE LAY IN A HOSPITAL BED RECEIVING MORPHINE BECAUSE ALL WE COULD DO WAS CONTROL HER PAIN. AND HER DAUGHTER AND HER GRANDSONS WAITED. FOR A WEEK ONE OF THEM WAS ALWAYS AT THE BEDSIDE, MAYBE DOZING BUT NEVER SLEEPING. WHEN SHE STIRRED OR CALLED OUT, THEY WERE THERE, TO HOLD HER HAND, OR OFFER REASSURANCE, MAKING SURE SHE KNEW SHE WASN'T ALONE. AND FINALLY IT WAS OVER – SHE DIED IN THEIR ARMS, PEACEFULLY.
“BE WATCHFUL. BE ALERT! YOU DON'T KNOW WHEN THE TIME WILL COME.” THAT'S WHAT JESUS TELLS US TODAY. HE TALKS TO US ABOUT THE SERVANTS WHO WAIT FOR THEIR MASTER TO RETURN, MAKING SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS IN ORDER SO THAT WHEN HE DID COME, NO MATTER WHEN THAT WOULD BE, HE WOULD FIND NOTHING MISSING, HE WOULD FIND EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE, EVERYTHING DUSTED AND READY.
IT'S BEEN 2000 YEARS SINCE JESUS TOLD US TO BE WATCHFUL, TO BE ALERT. SO FAR, THE MASTER HASN'T RETURNED. PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR EDGE. PEOPLE ARE WONDERING IF THE MASTER WILL EVER RETURN. AND MANY HAVE LOST FAITH. AND IT SEEMS THAT THE ONLY TIMES WE CAN SUMMON THAT INTENSE WATCHFULNESS, THAT ALERTNESS THAT JESUS TALKS ABOUT, IS WHEN THERE IS SOME MAJOR LIFE EVENT, LIKE THE DEATH OF A LOVED ONE, OR PERHAPS A WEDDING OR THE BIRTH OF A CHILD. AND THE REST OF THE TIME, ESPECIALLY WHEN WE ARE IN CHURCH ON SUNDAY, THAT SENSE OF ALERTNESS IS REALLY NOT THERE AT ALL, AND OUR MINDS FIGHT TO ATTEND TO THE MYSTERIES THAT ARE UNFOLDING IN FRONT OF US.
BUT WHAT IF WE LIVED THIS SENSE OF ALERTNESS, THIS SENSE OF READINESS TO WHICH JESUS CALLS US? WHAT WOULD OUR LIVES BE LIKE IF WE REALLY BELIEVED THAT OUR KING MIGHT RETURN AT ANY MOMENT?
I'M SURE MOST OF US WOULD GET TO CONFESSION. PERHAPS WE WOULD BE PAYING A LITTLE MORE ATTENTION TO OUR PRAYER LIFE – WE MIGHT TAKE UP THE ROSARY, FOR EXAMPLE, BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY PROMISES ASSOCIATED WITH THAT PRAYER, PROMISES GUARANTEED BY THE GREAT SAINTS WHO TRANSMITTED THEM. PERHAPS WE WOULD TAKE SOME STEPS TOWARDS HEALING THE BROKEN AND INJURED RELATIONSHIPS WE HAVE WITH SO MANY PEOPLE, EVEN THOSE CLOSE TO US. MAYBE WE WOULD REALLY PAY ATTENTION TO THE LORD'S WORDS, “WHATEVER YOU DO FOR THE LEAST OF MY BROTHERS, YOU DO FOR ME.” AND WE WOULD LOOK AT OUR LIVES AND TRY TO IDENTIFY WHAT WE NEED TO DO MORE OF AND WHAT WE NEED TO DO LESS OF. HOW MUCH TIME DO WE WASTE? HOW MANY THINGS HAVE WE PUT OFF WHICH WE SHOULD HAVE DONE? ARE THERE HABITS WE WOULD BREAK, ONCE AND FOR ALL, BECAUSE WE WOULD RATHER NOT HAVE OUR KING LOOK AT US WITH SORROW BECAUSE WE HAVE MADE OURSELVES UNHEALTHY, WE HAVE DAMAGED OUR BODY OR OUR MIND, GIVEN TO US BY HIM.
THINGS WOULD STILL BE THE SAME OUT THERE IN OUR WORLD. THE BIG CHANGES WOULD BE IN HERE, IN OUR HEARTS.
ADVENT REMINDS US THAT OUR GREAT KING COULD RETURN AT ANY MOMENT. BUT IT ALSO REMINDS US THAT WE DON'T HAVE AN ENDLESS SEQUENCE OF TOMORROWS. WHEN YOU WAKE UP TOMORROW MORNING, YOU WILL HAVE ONE LESS DAY TO LIVE. NEXT SUNDAY, A WEEK WILL HAVE PASSED THAT YOU CAN'T RELIVE, THAT YOU CAN'T GO BACK TO AND DO IT RIGHT. AND THE CHURCH GIVES US ADVENT IN THE HOPE THAT NEXT YEAR WE WILL BE ABLE TO LOOK BACK AND SEE THAT WE HAVE MADE PROGRESS, THAT WE ARE MORE PREPARED FOR OUR GREAT KING.
AND MAYBE WE SHOULD CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY THAT JESUS IS NOT TALKING ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD. PERHAPS HE IS TALKING ABOUT THE END OF YOUR WORLD, AND MY WORLD.
MY PATIENT, OVER THE FIFTEEN YEARS I KNEW HER, OCCASIONALLY TALKED ABOUT HER DESIRE TO GO BACK TO THE COUNTRY IN WHICH SHE WAS BORN. SHE HAD NOT BEEN THERE SINCE SHE HAD BEEN MARRIED TO A SOLDIER DURING WORLD WAR II. SHE HAD THE MEANS, SHE HAD THE TIME. SHE EVEN HAD A SISTER OVER THERE WHO HAD VISITED HER ON A FEW OCCASIONS. BUT A DAY CAME WHEN THIS DREAM COULD NO LONGER BE REALIZED. THE KING HAD COME, AND SHE WAS NOT READY.
SOME OF YOU PROBABLY SAW THE MOVIE, “BUCKET LIST”, ABOUT A PAIR OF MIDDLE AGED MEN WITH CANCER WHO DECIDE TO DO ALL THE THINGS THEY HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO DO, BUT NEVER GOT AROUND TO DOING. PERHAPS YOU'VE SEEN THOSE BOOKS THAT KEEP APPEARING, 500 PLACES TO VISIT BEFORE YOU DIE, OR 100 GREAT COMPOSITIONS TO LISTEN TO BEFORE YOU DIE. I HAVEN'T SEEN 500 THINGS TO EAT BEFORE YOU DIE, BUT I'M SURE IT WILL BE COMING SOON. ADVENT IS A TIME FOR US TO MAKE AN INVENTORY OF THE WHAT WE NEED TO DO BEFORE WE DIE, THOSE THINGS THAT PREPARE US FOR THE COMING OF OUR GREAT KING. AND THEN WE MUST MAKE OUR OWN LIST, AND GET TO IT. IT MAY BE ANOTHER TWO THOUSAND OR EVEN TWO MILLION YEARS BEFORE HE COMES IN ALL HIS GLORY TO BRING TO AN END OUR WORLD AND CREATE A NEW WORLD. BUT IT MAY BE NEXT WEEK, OR NEXT MONTH, OR NEXT YEAR WHEN HE COMES TO BRING AN END TO OUR BRIEF TOUR ON THIS WONDERFUL WORLD HE GAVE US. AND TODAY WE PRAY, “MAY HE NOT COME SUDDENLY, AND FIND US SLEEPING.”