Homily: Journeying with Hopeful Watching Along the Way

By Fr Francis Gonsalves, SJ –

First Sunday of Advent – Cycle C – November 28, 2021
Readings: Jer 33:14-16; 1 Thess 3:12 – 4:2; Lk 21:25-28,34-36.

““Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down
with dissipation and drunkenness” (Lk 21:34)

Homily Hint: As we enter the season of Advent, the readings focus on the coming of Our Lord Jesus—not just his first coming in history, at Bethlehem, but also the Lord’s Second
Coming, at the end of times. The synodal Church is always a hopeful community of those faithful to Our Lord: alert, watchful, hopeful, praying and reading the ‘signs of the times’.

Jesus exhorts us to read the ‘signs of the times’:
1. During this liturgical Year C, we will mainly be reading and reflecting upon passages from the gospel according to St Luke—that portrays Jesus as a compassionate Spirit-filled saviour. Jesus exhorts his disciples to be sensitive to what we commonly call the ‘signs of the times’ and the ‘signs of places’. The apocalyptic or ‘end-time language’ used in the passage—namely, “signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth … roaring of the seas and the waves …. people will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world” (vv.25-26) and so on—are not intended to create paralysis and fear, but to inspire us to be alert, watchful and prayerful. He says: “Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength” (v.36). A synodal Church is ever on the move—looking and seeing, listening and hearing the prompting of God’s Spirit at every step of the road. One ought to ask: What is God saying to me, today, as a person, and what is God’s Spirit saying to us, today, as community-church? To those who are alert, watchful and prayerful, Jesus says, “Stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (v.28). Truly, blessed are those who journey patiently and prayerfully!

Jeremiah the prophetic ‘fore-teller’ of a hopeful future:
2. Jeremiah, the youthful prophet—called to prophesy at the early age of 22 years—predicted that the dynasty of King David would be restored after the fall of Jerusalem and after the people were taken captive to Babylon in 586 B.C. Without doubt, the Babylonian Exile had made the Israelites lose hope, abandon their religion and adopt the religion of the surrounding nations. However, in the midst of this sense of hopelessness and pessimism, Jeremiah reminds his people that God will still be faithful to the divine promises although they have been unfaithful to God. He exhorts them not to lose hope; for, “Behold, the days are coming … when I [God] will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (v.14). There is always the possibility of people losing sight of the goal and giving in to pessimism and hopelessness. Can we all be a little more like Jeremiah who, though undergoing many difficulties in his life as a prophet, never lost hope in God and continued to be a beacon of hope to his people?

Paul pointing to the second coming: Messianic prophesies fulfilled in Jesus
3. The promises made in the first reading obviously find their fulfillment in the coming of the true King and Messiah born of the Davidic lineage: The Son of God, Jesus. The last line of the first reading, “He will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’,” refers to God’s saving acts, concretely seen in Christian faith as the coming of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we know that God’s Son has, indeed, come. What the Jews of old looked forward to expectantly, we see as already fulfilled in human history. Paul bears witness to this. He pronounces a blessing upon the Thessalonian Christians and prays that they: “may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus.” Paul expected Christ’s ‘second coming’ to be imminent. Thus, he exhorted the believers to “make more and more progress” in holiness, in their spiritual life, and in their communitarian and societal endeavours.

Three Texts from Catholic Tradition:
1. Maximus of Turin (circa. 380 – 423) – “Dear brethren, may we who await the birth of the Lord cleanse ourselves of all the remnants of sin! Let us fill his treasuries with many gifts, so that upon the arrival of that holy day we may welcome the strangers, support the widows, and clothe the poor!” … In his Homily 60:3-4.
2. St. Pope John Paul II: “Advent invites us to rejoice, and at the same time, it exhorts us to wait with patience for the coming of the Lord now approaching. It exhorts us not to be discouraged, to resist every kind of adversity, with the certainty that the Lord will not delay his coming…. This vigilant patience favors the strengthening of human ties in the Christian community. The faithful realize that they are little ones who are poor and in great need of
God’s help, and they come together to receive the Messiah who is about to come. He will come in the silence, the humility, the poverty of the crib, and will bring his joy to all who welcome him with open hearts.”
3. Pope Francis: “The time of Advent that we begin returns us to the horizon of hope, a hope that does not disappoint because it is founded on the Word of God. A hope that does not disappoint, simply because the Lord never disappoints! He is faithful! … The time of Advent that the Church celebrates in preparation for Christmas is a new journey of the People of God with Jesus Christ, our Shepherd, who guides us in history towards the completion of the Kingdom of God…. Let us rediscover the beauty of being together along the way: The Church, with her vocation and mission, and the whole of humanity, the people, the civilizations, the cultures, all together on the paths of time.”

Reflection: Jesus wants his disciples “to be alert at all times” and “to pray”. It seems easier to be alert, but how does one pray at all times? Certainly, Jesus does not mean that we must be ‘saying prayers’ all the time. But he does mean that the ‘pray-er’ must be deeply united with God, always, and the prayer, totally attuned to God’s will. This entails a ‘outer alertness’ to see the signs of the times and ‘inner preparation’ for the God who “comes, comes, ever comes” to quote Tagore.

In Lighter Vein: A drunkard was staggering down the street with blisters on both his ears. “What caused those blisters on your ears?” asked a friend. “My wife left her hot iron near the phone; so, when the phone rang, I picked up the iron by mistake,” explained the drunkard. “Okay, but what
about the other ear?” continued the friend. “That fool phoned a second time!” Sin and self-indulgence often cause the dissipation and drunkenness that make us harm ourselves and others.

May this synodal advent, therefore, find us journeying with hopeful watching along the way!


Fr. Francis Gonsalves, SJ is the Executive Secretary, CCBI Comm. of Theology & Doctrine and President, Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune and former Principal of Vidyajyoti College, Delhi. He is also the Executive Secretary of the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. He has authored many books and articles and is a columnist with The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle national dailies.