Advent - To meet the Lord, we must be prepared for life, not just for death!

Travellers wait for buses and planes, students wait for their exam results. Waiting is part of life. Life is not like instant coffee, there is always more to life than we can grasp its fullness at any one time.

Advent invites us to wait for the Lord and surely we must wait for the Lord who will come at the moment of our death. Hence Advent calls us always to be ready to meet the Lord at our death. But as Christians, we should be ready not just for the final coming of Christ but for His constant coming every day of our lives.

If we are alert, we can find the Lord popping up in the ordinary activities and possibilities of life. If I am watchful, He may be tapping me on my shoulder when I meet my 'sisters and brothers'. If only we have 'those eyes that see, those ears that hear' (Is. 64:4), we can meet Him in His supreme visit, which He makes in a thousand ways. To meet the Lord, we must be prepared for life, not just for death!

As a community waiting in prayer, we pray...