Advent

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