St. Joseph of the Lakes

We ended the church’s year last week with Jesus’ words: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Today, this first Sunday of Advent; which is the beginning of the new year for the Church; We hear Jesus say: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.  (For liturgical nerds we now begin using Year B of the Sunday lectionary and year II of the weekday lectionary. We begin using volume 1 of the Liturgy of the Hours) 

In this Sunday of Advent, before we focus on the historical coming of Jesus we are directed to His ultimate coming when time will end, and the Son of Man arrives for the final judgement. As I have said before, in reading mystery novels I have always found it helpful to read the last chapter first, so then as I begin the book I have an idea of where things are going. It focuses my reading and gives me a greater understanding of what the author is aiming toward. In the same way that is what the Church is doing for us today. The Son of Man is coming: Be alert! With that entry into the new year she brings us to a better understanding of the story of our salvation.  Why did Jesus come?  What purpose does this story give to His short stay on earth? The end of the story is that He will come again and all of the action between His first coming and His second is directed toward our final meeting with Him.