No one Knows the Day and Hour (Matthew 24:37-44) - Please read the bible before you read on.
"The coming of the Son of Man will be like what happened in the time of Noah.... they did not realize what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away." (v.37, 39) "Watch out, then, because you do not know what day your Lord will come." (v.42) "... you also must always be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting Him." (v.44)
Gospel of the first week of Advent has a high impact on me. During the class, the lecturer asked what we would do in order to prepare for our important events? I responded, "I always pray whenever I prepare for the special events of my life. I also examine my conscience and reflect before and after the events like school, work, birthday, celebrations and so on, in order to keep track of my spirituality life. To me, spirituality life is very important. That is why I always pray to prepare for the temptations and obstrucles. Do you remember the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed before His crucifixion? He saw His disciples sleep and scolded them to get up and pray that they would not be tested. In my idea, waking up means my faith must stay awake and alive. It cannot sleep. It means that I must continue harvesting my Catholic faith like prayer, bible and catechism. In the phrase, 'we do not know when', for me, it means we do not know when we will die. Because when you die with sleeping faith, you will receive the judgment for what you have done in your life and have difficulties going to Heaven."
In the Advent Reflection booklet, I came across the question, "Have you ever had a 'sudden' experience that made you wish you have 'done things differently'? What a powerful question! At that moment, a lot of memories brought up the emotions of my heart. I could feel the rejuvenating strength of my resolve to follow Lord Jesus. I am really glad to experience the real meaning of Advent and Christmas. I hope that I will leave good impressions and examples of Christ as Catholic neophyte after Easter day. And I hope I will do something before they are gone for good.
