The Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Recalling God's promise of salvation

Terrance Callan

First Sunday of Advent, Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke
21:25-28, 34-36

This is the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year
in which we will again celebrate the main events of salvation history.
During Advent we recall God's promise of salvation to the people of Israel
and the beginning of its fulfillment with the birth of Jesus, which we
celebrate at Christmas. However, Advent is not simply a celebration of the
coming of Jesus in the past. Advent also looks forward to a second coming of
Jesus in the future. At his first coming Jesus did not completely fulfill
God's promise of salvation. We still await the fullness of salvation at his
second coming.

And Jesus is not absent between his first and second coming, but comes into
our lives every day as we await the consummation of history.
The reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah is one expression of
God's promise of salvation. Through the prophet, God promised to "raise up
for David a just shoot." Using the image of bringing forth new growth on a
plant, God promised to bring forth a descendent of David who would do what is
right and bring security to Judah and Jerusalem. We Christians believe that
Jesus is the descendent of David promised by God.

The other readings make it clear that the first coming of Jesus did not
completely fulfill the promise but that Jesus will come again to complete our
salvation. In the reading from his First Letter to the Thessalonians,
St. Paul prays that they will be ready for "the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ with all His holy ones." At the time St. Paul wrote this, the life,
death and resurrection of Jesus were already in the past, and the
Thessalonians had entered into the salvation Jesus accomplished by believing
that He was the messiah. In other words, their situation was very much like
ours. And they were looking forward to the return of Jesus to complete what
He had begun.

Similarly, in the reading from the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus looks
forward to the coming of the Son of Man, i.e., the second coming of Jesus
himself. Jesus says that the coming of the Son of Man will be accompanied by
tribulations so terrible that "People will die of fright in anticipation of
what is coming upon the world. "However, the followers of Jesus should react
differently. When they see these things begin to happen, they should 'stand
erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand."

Both of these readings focus not only on the future coming of Jesus but
also on the necessity of preparing for it in the present. In the Gospel
reading Jesus warns us not to "become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life. "In the reading from First Thessalonians,
St. Paul exhorts his readers to conduct themselves in a way pleasing to God
and prays that they will be blameless at the second coming of Jesus.
St. Paul makes it clear that being prepared for the return of Jesus is itself
the work of Jesus within us. In the reading, he prays that the Lord will make
the Thessalonians increase and abound in love so they will be blameless at
the coming of Jesus. Being ready for the coming of Jesus is something that
Jesus, who is with us now, accomplishes in us. We need to be attentive to the
presence of Jesus with us every day as we await His second coming.

(Callan is a member of the faculty at the Athenaeum of Ohio in Cincinnati.)