Keep awake, Waiting for Jesus' coming

Stone Soup for God's Children

Once upon a time, there was a famine in the land. People hoarded their food and hid it from neighbours and friends. One day, a stranger arrived in the village, all hungry and dishevelled. He went from door to door looking for someone to receive him and for something to eat. One after the other, the villagers told him they too were starving and so could not help him.

It was not until he reached the last house in the village that the poor woman who lived there told him that all she had left was water but he was welcome to share the water. He said that was more than enough. Then he told her that he had a magic stone with which he could make enough soup to feed the whole village. The starving old woman was excited and went to alert her neighbours. The stranger filled a large pot with the water and threw a round shiny stone into it. Villagers supplied the firewood and surrounded the large cooking pot to see the miracle of the Stone Soup.

The Stone Soup cooked and the hungry villages waited. Then the stranger tasted the cooking soup and said loudly, "Ahhh!, I love this Stone Soup. Of course, Stone Soup with a little cabbage is hard to beat."
Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a cabbage he had retrieved from its hiding place. He gave it to the stranger to add to the pot. "Wonderful!" cried the stranger, "I once had some Stone Soup with cabbage which had some onions in it that made it fit for a king!" Soon a second villager appeared with some onions and garlic for the soup. On and on he went, through "If only we had a few potatoes...How wonderful it might be with a couple of carrots" and so on. At last, there was a delicious meal for all.

The villagers offered the stranger a great deal of money for the magic stone, but he refused to sell it and travelled on the next day. He probably made Stone Soup at the next village, too. Soon the famine ended
but the people of the village never forgot about the finest soup they ever had. When each of us contributes a little, we can feed the whole world village.
Keep Awake
Isaiah 63:16-17; 63:1, 3-6 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:31-37
Here is a quiz for you. You are sleeping. You are dreaming. A big lion is chasing you. You try to run away and you see a tiger coming in front of you. You turn sideways, but every side you turn to, you find a ferocious animal coming after you. How can you escape? The answer is: Wake up.
By waking up one enters a whole new world of reality, different from that of the dream world. What was a huge problem in the dream state becomes a non-issue in the waking state. Dream state concerns and priorities lose their importance and new concerns and priorities take their place. For example, you discover that your problem is no longer how to escape from wild beasts but how to beat the morning rush and arrive early for work. We can relate to the change that occurs between a dream consciousness and a wake consciousness. A similar and even more significant change occurs when we move from a state of being spiritually asleep to that of being spiritually awake, when the soul is awake and alert to spiritual reality.
In today’s gospel Jesus admonishes and encourages his followers to remain alert in the spirit. He was about to leave them for an uncertain length of time. By their faith and commitment to Jesus, his followers are like people who have roused themselves from spiritual slumber. But the time of his absence would be a time of trial for their faith life when they would be tempted to doze off. He enjoins them to remain awake and watchful so that whenever he comes to them he would find them not sleeping but watching in faith, ready to welcome him.
Today we enter the season of Advent: a time of special preparation for the coming of the Lord. Mark’s portrait of the doorman watching out to open for the Lord whenever he “suddenly” appears is an image of what we are expected to be doing all year long but especially during the season of Advent. The doorman keeps awake in order to recognize and welcome the Lord at his coming. Faith, likewise, transforms us into people who are able to recognize the Lord and willing to receive him. Recognition is crucial because the Lord does not always come in easily recognizable ways. At Bethlehem he came in the form of a baby and people did not recognize him. In the Parable of the Last Judgment, which we heard last Sunday, he said he came to people in the form of the most needy and disadvantaged of this world and many did not recognize him. But true people of faith did recognize him and serve him in these people who live in the blind-spot of society. Faith is first a way of seeing, and then a way of living.
The “wicked” who were consigned to hell in the Last Judgment were probably waiting for the final coming of the Lord and failed to recognize him in his day-to-day coming. The shocker in that parable is that Christ comes into our lives in the form of the ordinary people and events of our everyday lives. We need to be awake in faith to recognize and serve Christ in these commonplace and routine encounters since it will do us no good to recognize him on the Last Day if we have not recognized and served him day by day.
Before we conclude, let us say a word about Jesus’ saying “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32). This saying can be understood literally to mean that Jesus did not know the date of the end of the world. It can also be understood as a strategy meant to discourage the disciples from further inquiry into the matter. In either case the implication for us is the same: Put an end to idle speculations regarding the date of the Last Day. Open your eyes in faith to see God present and active in your life and in your world. Open your heart and your house to the Lord who comes to you daily in the form of the needy man or woman. This is the best way to prepare to welcome the Lord when he comes on the Last Day.
Waiting for the Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Isaiah 63:16-17; 63:1, 3-6 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:31-37
Before performing a baptism, the priest approaches the young father and said solemnly, "Baptism is a serious step. Are you prepared for it?"
"I think so," the man replied. "My wife has made appetizers and we have a caterer coming to provide plenty of cookies and cakes for all of our guests."
"I don't mean that," the priest responded. "I mean, are you prepared spiritually?"
"Oh, sure," came the reply. "I've got a keg of beer and a case of whiskey."
We may laugh at the young man, but the way many of us today prepare for the coming of the Lord at Christmas is not much different from the way the man prepared for baptism.
The season of Advent is a time for Christians to prepare for the coming of the Lord. Actually we remember three of comings of the Lord. First, we celebrate something that happened in the past, namely, the birth of the Messiah into the world which took place more than 2000 years ago. Secondly, we prepare for something that will happen in the future, namely, the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. And thirdly, we celebrate something that happens in the present, namely, the many moments of grace which are occasions for the Lord to come into the lives of Christians, into our souls as individual believers and in our midst as the community of the people of God.
Unfortunately, our preparation for Christmas is often a very material affair. For too many of us, Advent is the ultimate shopping season. We shop for gifts, for toys, for special food and drinks. Advent has become a time for overly material concerns, as we make sure we are not lacking in any gift item or toy, or food or drink for the celebration of Christmas. How sharply our attitude contrasts with that of the early Christians to whom Paul writes in the 2nd reading, "so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:7).
While we hurry to stack up on material gifts, Paul advises his congregation to stack up on spiritual gifts. Later on in the same epistle (1 Corinthians 12), Paul enumerates the spiritual gifts, which include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, workings of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. He, however, advises them to positively cultivate the higher gifts or faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 12:31). How are we stacking up on the gifts of faith, hope and love? At the coming of the Lord, it is the gifts of faith, hope and love that matter before any other. Giving and receiving material gifts is definitely important, but this should be a token of true love and not a casual act of civility or a show of affluence.
In the same vein, Paul gives thanks to God that the Christians of Corinth have been enriched in every way in Christ. When we hear that today, the first thing that comes to our minds is material wealth. But that is not what Paul has in mind. What Paul has in mind is that the Corinthians have been enriched in their knowledge and eloquence in bearing witness to Christ: "for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind - just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you" (1 Corinthians 1:5-6).
As today we enter the season of Advent and countdown to Christmas, the Church reminds us that the celebration of Christmas is essentially a spiritual affair. Let us not forget this as we run about in the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping and preparation, "so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:8).