IT IS NOW THE HOUR! 1st Sunday of Advent (Year A) | 27th November 2016 (English)

1st Sunday of Advent - Year A
November 27, 2016

IT IS NOW THE HOUR!

The second and third readings' insistence, not without a tone of urgency, to "rise and shine" and "conduct ourselves properly as in the day," is striking. There is no mistaking it. It is urgent. It is important. And it is imperative that one gets to realize that, while waiting for something imminent and sure, one really has no time to lose, no moment to spare, no opportunity to waste and let go.

The insistence can be summarized simply thus: it is now the hour!

It is now the hour! Whilst it is true and obvious that in our days, people are hard pressed for time, and are quite incapable of waiting, it is also true that for many people in a mad rush towards something undefined, the sense of urgency can often be more a sign of neurotic attachment to being occupied and busy with something. People rush out of their work places, only to kill time in front of the TV screen, watching and getting involved in telenovelas, or let time fritter away in some entertainment place, while nursing a drink or two in the hand. People everywhere try to cut through snarled or stalled traffic, only to get home and spend more time in front of the ubiquitous computer.

People are in a perpetual rush. And people in rush are people who cannot wait.

Henri Nouwen makes an insightful comment that in the gospel according to Luke, the first personages mentioned are all described as people in waiting ... Zechariah, Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna ... and, of course, Mary! I would like to suggest my own tentative insight, for whatever it is worth to you my readers. I would like to suggest that for at least two of them, their waiting was crowned with a satisfied and fulfilled sigh of more than just relief. They acclaimed and extolled God who made known His glory at the appointed time. Zechariah waxed prayerful and grateful as he acknowledged the "hour of visitation" from the Lord God: "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, he has come to his people and set them free." Zechariah acknowledged that the Lord's appointed hour of salvation has come. His profuse praise is made as if to say: "It is now the hour ... it is now the hour to thank and praise God who has made good his promises of old.

Simeon, too, was a man conscious and cognizant of the "hour" of God's epiphany. Happy and fulfilled that the Lord has, indeed, chosen to favor him with his timely self-manifestation, Simeon poured forth his thanks and praise for his "hour" had already come, and that it was now his "hour" to take leave with overflowing joy and a deep sense of gratitude and fulfillment. "Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled." It is now the hour for me to go. It is now the hour for me to take leave quietly, for "my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people."

But Mary herself was a woman of the hour. She knew how to appreciate and acknowledge the overwhelming truth, not only of the hour, but for all time: "From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty had done great things for me, and holy is his name." Her prayer is made as if to say, "it is now the hour to give God utmost glory and praise, for he has mercy on those who fear him in every generation" ... now ... then ... and thereafter.

We are a people tired of waiting. We cannot wait a minute longer to get our favorite fast-food meal. Many of us get violent while sitting it out in snarled traffic everywhere. In the Philippines, some people can even get so worked up waiting that, in their anger, they pump bullets into other people who happen to also get very impatient and cranky while struggling for limited driving space in our hopelessly inadequate roads. Road rage is nothing more than impatient waiting turned violent. In crowded restaurants, everyone has a sense of entitlement making unreasonable demands on the oftentimes hapless waiters and waitresses who get the ire of pretentious and unsatisfied customers who all want to be served first. Again, in the Philippines, predictably, ambitious wannabes are already positioning themselves as they drool over the most coveted office in the land as we approach once more the year of national elections.

It is indeed the hour for everyone who has his or her personal agenda to take care of. It is the hour to strut one's stuff in the ramp of life. When it comes to ambition, it is always the right time. When it comes to personal dreams and desires, it is always the hour. And there is precious little time to waste when it comes to fulfilling one's overriding desires and dreams. Already, in every Senate investigation and high profile discussions done under the glare of lights and whirring TV cameras, people who drool over national positions of leadership consider it their opportunity "to strut and fret their hour on the stage" of life.

Advent has once more set in for us believers. Today, we begin that very short period of no more than four Sundays when all we do is focus on the main issue of waiting. But today's opening salvo would have us acknowledge like Zechariah, Simeon, and Mary did, that the time has come. What we are waiting for has come already and has irrupted into our present hour.

The personages in waiting as reported by Luke are individuals who wait, not impatiently, but imbued with the spirit of hope. Zechariah, Simeon, and Anna had all the time to be waiting. Luke's report tells us they were old, very old, but ever youthful in their active and hopeful waiting. Their beard and hair may have been grey, but their hope never grew grey hairs. For patient and hopeful people who know how to wait never grouse and become grouchy when the "hour" finally comes their way. Impatient people complain when the object of their waiting comes around. "Why only now?" would be their exasperated statement, most likely. But hopeful people burst forth in praise and proclamation when the much-awaited "hour" comes around.

We postmodern people just cannot wait. There was a time people said, "wait a minute" if they had to have people on hold for any reason. Nowadays, people don't even want to wait a minute. Most people would now say, "hold on a second." Just a second, never a minute ... In a world that communicates instantly "in real time," a minute of waiting is simply unimaginable and unforgivable.

But important things can stand being waited for, more than just a second, and definitely more than just a minute. Today's liturgy, the first Sunday of Advent, reminds us that it is now, not the second, it is now, not the minute, but "it is now the hour" of our salvation.

With salvation and redemption so important, a second less, a second more; a minute less, a minute more would not count as important. What really counts and matters in the long run is what that "hour" ultimately is all about - everything that our hope and patient waiting stand for - our salvation in Christ, "for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed."