Advent Reflection

Jesus said, "Stay awake, for you do not know when the Master will return." (Mark 13:35) "Prepare a way for the Lord, make straight his paths." (Mark 1:3)

The Advent season has started. It's a time for each of us to examine our conscience and reflect our lives: Do I remain attentive for the voice and presence of Christ in my everyday life? WIll I truly change now to live day by day to be ready for the Lord's return? How does the light of Christ shine into the world through my action?

I met my spiritual director last week. She reminded me that Advent is not only a time for us to wait for the coming of Jesus, it is also a time in which God is waiting for us -- waitiing for our response to his love. It is not a time of passive waiting, but a time of active response.

In a mass at the Franciscan school last week, Fr. Richard Gula also told us that we have a role to play in God's grace. In his homily, he said Advent is a time for us to prepare for repentance. He saw an order among God's grace, our repentance, and our holiness. With the example of Our Lady of Mary, he said God gives grace to us first, then he helps us to become holy; not because of our holines that he chose us. Mary is not someone big so that God chose her; she is a young girl that no one aware of, but God chose her and she became holy.

With God's grace, we can become holy if we respond to his grace and love. We don't need to worry that we have too little power or strength to do anything. In another occasion, Professor Gula told us a story of an "Advent person." A computer engineer once spoke in a TV interview that he as a vision, that all children in the world can own his/her computer so that they can connect to the world and know what happens in other part of the world. He know that this dream may not come true in his life time but he starts achieving this dream through his own action. From his action, we can see that he belilves in hope and love though there are many obstacles ahead.

Each one of us may have our own vision and dream. Sometimes the dream is big and not easy to achieve, such as improving the lives of the poor, saving the planet from further deterioation, having democracy and human rights in certain parts of the world...However, as long as we have hope in God, we just need to try our best to do our parts, God would help us to complete this vision, which is also his plan.

Advent is indeed a time of hope. With the coming of Jesus Chirst, we can see the hope he brings to this earth. We can make this hope more concrete and let others see more clear through our own attitudes and actions.