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Our Lady of Victory
490 Charles Street
Gatineau, Québec
J8L 2K5
(819)986-3763
olv@videotron.ca
Mass: Sunday 9:00 AM
Thursday 10:00 AM |
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St. Malachy
3889 Route 315
Mayo, Québec
J8L 3Z8
(819)986-3763
olv@videotron.ca
Mass: Saturday 7:00 PM
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Fr. Albanus’ Reflections on the Sunday Liturgy |
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Today, we begin our annual pilgrimage through the events of our history of salvation. We usually start with Advent, the preparation for the birthday celebration of Jesus and ending with the reflection on His glorious “second coming” as judge at the end of the world. Advent refers to the coming of our God in the world, in Jesus Christ. It is a time Christians set aside to prepare for this coming. We see in our churches the traditional signs of Advent: violet vestments and hangings, dried flowers on the altar, and Advent wreath. These signs remind us that we have to prepare for the rebirth of Jesus in our hearts and lives, enabling Him to radiate His love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness around us. Today’s readings as well as all the readings of Advent invite us to be vigilant, to keep our eyes wide open in order to discover and prepare the ways that Jesus has chosen to come and free us from the evil in which we seek happiness, while it only causes a lot of sorrow. We are all called to be alert and ready! But, ready for what?
At this time of the year people are trying to get ready for Christmas, for winter, for cars that won’t start and for heating bills that won’t stop. There are different things being prepared by different people. Life goes on in the midst of all this. In the day of Noah as referenced in today’s Gospel, everyone is busy about the normal: eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. But in the midst of all this there is Noah who is busy with his family building an ark. Noah is the one who is ready because he is alert to what others are doing nothing about: the catastrophe, the flood. He had an ark ready to ride out the disaster of the flood.
This story of Noah and the ark advises us not to run out and build a boat. We are rather asked to listen to the Lord so that, as Isaiah says in the first reading “He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths.” With a seeming cold war and the drumbeat of wars across the globe, probably none of us will be here to see that blessed day that Isaiah describes when he says; “...nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” War, in all its ramifications, seems to be a permanent feature of the human landscape as history testifies. There is therefore a great need for us to pay attention to the word of the Lord. As St. Paul says in the second reading, “you know what time it is, now is the moment for you to wake up from sleep.” Paul advises the Roman Christians to avoid drunken orgies and wrangling and jealousies. None of this makes them alert to the kind of time they are in; it just deadens their spiritual sensitivity to the world beyond their own flesh. When people are engaged full-time in satisfying their own craving they are not disposed to face reality and take responsibility for their own world.
Hence, Jesus speaks about the future coming of the Son of Man to encourage people to take responsibility for the present time. The only way to be ready for an unpredictable event is to make the present a time of fidelity: then there is nothing to fear. The only way to secure the future is to care about the present. We are all responsible for the world we live in; we are not passive victims of the inevitable. If we do nothing, we can hardly accuse the world of conspiring against us (Unknown Author). We all need to be alert and watchful while spiritually preparing for Christmas by offering our daily work to God for His glory, by practicing more self-control in resisting our evil habits and inclinations, by seeking reconciliation daily with God and our fellow humans and by asking God’s pardon and forgiveness as we extend our unconditional forgiveness to those who have hurt us.
Happy Sunday!
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