Today is the New Year in the Church. Today on this First Sunday of Advent the liturgical year begins. Advent is a call to the spirit of poverty and hunger for God. Advent, Christmas preparation is a time for conversion, to follow and seek God’s presence.
It is the reflection of the great mystery of the Incarnation, of humanity expecting a Redeemer who comes to save his creation.

On the first Sunday of Advent, the invitation of the Word of God is to “to look and watch over”, to respond and to be aware of the realities of our time.

The first reading from Isaiah describes the social and religious situation of the Jewish people who returned from exile but when they reached Jerusalem they found the temple abandoned, and encountered a vacuum. What they needed was a human community that received them well and made them feel at home but they did not find it. Isaiah invites us to prepare for the Lord’s coming, with calls for repentance and to put ourselves in the “potter’s hand”.

We wait for the Christmas gift, not of the riches of the earth: we must expect our richness in the simple things in our daily life.

God who comes to fill the void that cannot fill all the Christmas presents when pride and vanity are in the heart.
The announcement of the Gospel is to be alert and watchful. So we need to be attentive to God’s voice inviting us to see the signs of the times. Today these signs are: violence, lack of peace, alcoholism and drug addiction and we can add violence within the family. Hence to enter Advent we are called to act in our daily life, in this spiritual preparation for Christmas, to be hungry for God and commit ourselves in a society where we have to be heralds of God’s Presence (Kingdom).

Written by: María Clara