PASTORAL
LETTER
on
WAKE
UP CALL
My dear People,
Advent
is a wake- up call; and wake up calls are all the more important on
dark winter mornings; and all the more difficult to respond to!
Indeed,
in the Reading from St Paul’s Letter to the Romans which we have
just heard he said:
‘You
must wake up now….the night is almost over…
it
will be daylight soon’ (Romans 13: 11-12).
The
purpose of this wake- up call is very clear. It’s not simply to get
us out of bed, but it’s a call to renew in our hearts and minds the
demands of Faith:
‘Let
us give up all the things we prefer to do under the cover of the
dark;
Let
us arm ourselves and appear in the light’ (Romans 13:12).
Advent
is the time to refresh in our lives the patterns by which we follow
Christ and are attentive to Him. Indeed, Jesus uses the same
language:
‘Stay
awake,’ he says, ‘because you do not know the hour
when
the Master is coming’ (Matthew 24:42).
Four
times in a relatively short Gospel we have this phrase ‘Stay
awake’. Vivid and immediate are the warnings. They are conveyed
through the person of a doorkeeper who must stay alert since the
Master may return unexpectedly and must not find us sleeping.
This
invites us to be in a state of readiness and yearning. It means
keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord; it means trying to live the life
he wants us to live. I find it beautifully expressed in these words
of Blessed John Henry Newman:
‘That
person watches for Christ who has a sensitive, eager, apprehensive
mind;
who
is awake, alive, quick-sighted and zealous in seeking and honouring
Him
and
who looks out for Him in all that happens and does not lose sight of
His Crucifixion and Resurrection.
That
person watches for Christ, who would not be over-agitated or
overwhelmed
If
they found He was coming, at once.’
May
this Advent be a time of profound grace and joy for you all. Let us
not be distracted by the commercialism of the season, but stay awake
to its deeper meaning and rejoice in its blessings.
+
Thomas
Bishop
of Brentwood
.JPG)
