Sunday November 30th: Hope Alive!

“So, stay awake, because you do not know the day when the master is coming.”

Matthew 24: 38-44

As we light our candle of hope this Sunday, we recall the reason for the Advent Season. Christ came two thousand years ago to conquer sin; he continues to come in our daily lives even as we struggle against countless odds; and he will come again at the end of time. That should keep our hope alive.

However, anxiety and despair arise when we read of so many displaced on the world scene, look at the battleships in our waters, hear drones hovering over us. O how our reality resembles the time of the Flood that came in Noah’s days and swept away the unprepared, the unsuspecting!

Jesus cautions us to live righteous lives, stay awake and stand ready. Pilgrims of Hope we are and will not be caught napping! We are determined to keep our end of the bargain, clinging to the good we already possess, and expectant of the promise that is to come.

Jesus, Light of the world, dispel all darkness, enkindle in us the fire of your love and keep our hope alive. Amen.