There’s joyful anticipation in Advent, but there’s also a powerful sense of urgency. Forget the stress of shopping or completing your Christmas card list, the pressure of putting up more lights this year than last or more lights than your neighbor.
This is what I call urgency: The Lord is coming, and soon. And we are called, urged, commanded to prepare. The short reading for Morning Prayer today (Romans 13:11-12) reminds us: It is now the hour for you to wake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith. The night is far spent; the day draws near. Let us cast off deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
You're already two years a Catholic (“closer than when I first accepted the faith”). Have you fallen asleep, brother? You live in darkness, the light is coming. Are you ready for it? What do you have to do to get ready? The demand is unequivocal: Throw your dark deeds away and strap it on—the “armor of light.” That doesn’t sound like a call to pacifism or quietism, does it?
We need to get ready. The Lord is coming, and soon.
