advent
Scripture Reflection 1 “Be watchful! Be alert! You do no know when the time will come.” - Mark 13:33
11/28/2011 09:25:00 AM
In the reading, the prophet Isaiah
reminds us that we are sinners, we fail to keep God’s promises and at most, our
inability to save ourselves. We often allow our hearts to harden for the Lord.
We, at times, withhold our love for Jesus. Sometimes, it is even more
comforting for us to call upon others, our friends, for help and comfort. But
after all the things that may happen to us, the Lord has always welcomed us
with open arms whenever we call upon Him. We are God’s beautiful creations. We
are even made in His own image and likeness. What an honor it is for us to have
our God in us. However, the Lord never closes us to do things He wants us to do.
Even though we know what His will is, we have been given our freedom to choose
what we would want to do with the lives given to us. And the things that we do
that are against God’s will hurts Him. Sinners as we are, we have became
unclean.
And so the Gospel of Mark tells
us, “Be watchful!” Yes, we all understand this statement in the Gospel. And as
we try to live our daily lives, we must come to fully understand what is it
that we should be watchful about.
Tomorrow, the season of Advent
begins. It is the season of the liturgical year that we, Christians, prepare
for the coming of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We usually say “everything happens
for a reason”. Moreover, we also say “accidents happen”. Don’t you find it
ironic?
Nevertheless, the Lord tells us to
be watchful because no one knows what will happen next. Yes, all the things
that happen in our lives is because of a very certain reason through which the
happenings in our lives could also be considered accidents. And so, accidents
have reasons as well.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus warns
us. He could have chose to just surprise us but he did not. He chose to tell us
that, “Hey! I am going be back one of these days, so watch out” The Lord will
be back so be mindful of what you are doing.
My mom usually tells me that the
judgment day is almost near. And I admit it frightens me. But I suddenly
realized that that day is not even meant to be afraid of. It’s the day of
salvation! It’s the day that the Lord will come and save us from the wrath of hell.
But you know why we are so scared of that day? It’s because we are not yet
ready to be judged.
Human as we are, we sin. Yes, it’s
human nature. But the Lord has always reminded us that we should always follow
His word and avoid sin. It is indeed very easy to say and to share but very
hard to follow. Every day, we try to live so normally that we forget to do
things in the way Christ wants us to.
We are like the servants left at
home by our master. The earth is our given home yet this is our temporary home.
Our master was crucified for our sins yet our master will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead. Will our master be satisfied with what we
have done while he’s away?
Like what Kris Allen says in his
song: “We got to start looking
at the hands of the time we've been given.
If this is all we got and we got to start thinking.
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking.
We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to turn it all around or to throw it all away. We got to tell them that we love them while we got the chance to say. Live like we're
dying”
No one knows what tomorrow will be
like. Every day has its own significance and so we must always see the blessing
in every single day. The Lord then tells us to live every day as if it were our
last. Be happy, laugh hard, cry a little, spend time with your friends, forgive
your enemies, bond with your family, take care of yourself, love every moment
and love the people you share the moments with.
So be watchful.
I leave you with these thoughts to
think about then: What if the Lord comes tomorrow? Will you be ready enough to
face Him? Will you be worthy enough to be saved?
The answers are to be left in your
hearts. We need not be threatened by the coming of our Lord. We just have to
prepare for His coming.
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