First Sunday of Advent: reflecton by Sr. Ameline B. Intia
On this First Sunday of Advent and, incidentally, on the first day of December, we are invited by God’s word, to journey on the signs. Signs are crucial in our daily life, as a Christian, as a member of our religious community, as a member of the entire global community, as pilgrims.
Signs are very important in our journey. If we want to reach our destination, we have to follow or obey the road signs or the airport signs to get to our flight .
To reach heaven the Church provides us with liturgical signs as aides to reach our true home…. Life here on earth is brief, eternity is for sure.
Pope Francis, in one of his homilies, stressed that “we are not alone,” and that “we need the Lord’s help” to “understand the signs of the times.” To do this, the Pope went on to say, the Holy Spirit “gives us this present, a gift: the intelligence to understand.
In my understanding, I like to start with the book of Genesis where everything was beautiful and very good! “Let there be light, the sun, the moon, the rivers, the seas, the creeping creatures, the oceans, the mountains, and hills, the animals. They were all very good, …but the same images, now become signs of doom: typhoons, floods, landslides, hurricanes, cyclones, pollution, droughts, forest fires, name it all …all these climate crises. A recent study showed that storms in Asia -Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change (ABS-CBN News). In the Philippines, just recently with the month, six [6] typhoons (storms) had brought a lot of destructions.
In this YEAR OF HOPE, let us focus on the creation images, rather than the apocalyptic signs. Yes, it is a sad reality – the beautiful and the good things that God has created, has been ruined by the same beautiful creatures made in the same image and likeness of God; natural resources have been exploited; so much wastage and improper disposable is miserable. The famous hashtag nowadays, is the need to take seriously the so-called “ecological conversion”, on both personal and communal levels.
“We acknowledge our sins against you and the rest of creation. We have not been good stewards of nature. We have confused your command to subdue the earth. The environment is made to suffer our wrong doing and now we reap the harvest of our abuse and indifference (Oratio Imperata for Deliverance against Calamities).
Despite of all our shortcomings and failures, against God, against the environment, against our brothers and sisters, God continues to love us and pours his graces every single day. And our “Our best response to the love of Christ’s heart is to love our brothers and sisters” (Dilexit Nos #167)). In other words, God’s love should not be kept to ourselves; it has to be shared to others.
The same humanity is now with one heart, mind and hands are seriously working so hard to restore the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. As the social media bombards us with distressing signs, the same media also counteracts the individuals, communities, societies and nations’ efforts they have been doing.
One concrete example is that the nations are united (UN) in responding to the 17 sustainable goals with all its varied programs and initiatives. Like us, as one Dominican Family, we join the family of nations with our own compassionate initiatives, the International Justice and Peace has rows of events and programs exemplified by the Talanoa dialogue, the Haiti Solidarity etc.
As early as September, Fr. Master Gerard Timoner has written us that “This year’s Dominican Month of Peace is focused on Haiti, beginning on the First Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2024, through end of December 2024… For many years, the people in Haiti have been subjected to violent atrocities and human rights violation, incessant killings, kidnappings, sexual assaults, human trafficking, and forced labour.”
The Advent readings often focus on being vigilant on the themes of preparation, anticipation of Christ’s coming, inviting us to reflect on our spiritual readiness and the ways we can open our hearts to encounter the Lord.
As a season of hope, in a world filled with challenges and uncertainties, we are reminded that Christ brings light into darkness to find comfort in the promise of His coming and the hope that it brings which should inspire us to be agents of change, spreading love and kindness to those around us, steadfast in prayer, consistent in our actions to listen to the CRY OF THE EARTH AND THE CRY OF THE POOR.
