Second Advent
On this final Sunday of Advent, the Church acknowledges that the Messiah is about to come into the world once again, as the Lord uses the liturgical year to remind us of the miracle of the Incarnation.Advent is also a time that we can be reminded not only of Christ's coming in the Incarnation, but that we ourselves are living in a time of the Lord's Advent. This Second Advent is the Advent that will precede the Lord's final coming and the Last Things in time. Every year, we are reminded in the readings that the Church gives us that the Lord's return is a reality, and that we need to be ready for it whenever it might happen.
Throughout the scriptures, especially in the New Testament, Jesus and the Apostles remind us that the Lord will come quickly. It is important to remember that God operates on a different time scale than humanity. He cannot be pinned down to a date or a time and that when he says he is "coming soon," that speed in God's time may seem slow to us. However, regardless of when the Lord's return actually happens, it will happen, and that when the Lord comes back, as he promised he would, there will be people here to witness it. We are living in the Last Days, even if those Last Days last hundreds of years. We are called, like John the Baptist, to prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight His paths. As we wind up Advent and prepare to welcome the Lord as a babe in a manger this Thursday, we must be mindful that we or our decendants will one day welcome the Lord as a triumphant King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 11:11 PM
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