Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wiseman who built his house on rock (Mt. 7:24)
How are we to prepare for Lord’s coming? How can we become ‘Advent
Christians’? Jesus tells a way in today’s gospel, ‘listen to his words and put them into practice’ i.e. “devotion to God’s Will”.
As an advent Christians we are invited to listen to the Word of God
(Jesus) and receive Him into our hearts, and thus give Him to the world when
we put them into practice. Mary is the greatest advent model in this scenario
because she awaited, received and brought forth Lord to the world.
An advent Christian is like a wiseman who built his house on solid rock,
building his Christian life on the Rock of Christ and his life-giving words. A
Christian who builds his Christian life on sands of his own beliefs, strengths,
knowledge and others promises cannot be an ‘advent Christian’.
Pope Paul VI gives a reminder in his encyclical “Evangeli Nuntiandi”
that “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers; even if
they listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses”. The life of an advent
Christian is a life of integrity against dichotomy and authenticity against
hypocrisy. In the process of integrating prayer and action, an advent Christian
translates knowledge into action, theory into practice and theology into
theophany (God-experience). Amen.
Fr. Jerry Vallomkunnel MCBS