Unravel, Understand and Urge!
First
Sunday of Advent – 30 November, 2025
Isaiah 2: 1-5; Romans 13: 11-14; Matthew 24: 37-44
Pilgrims of Hope
HOPE OF THE
PILGRIMS – THE REIGN
We have been celebrating the
Jubilee year for the past one year…and we are stepping into the closing phase
of it. With the Advent and the Christmas, we shall be drawing to its close on
the feast of the Epiphany. Pilgrims of Hope – that was the watch-word guiding
us all along and now this advent comes to bring the reflection to its
culmination posing a corollary – yes, we are called to be pilgrims of hope, but
what is the hope of the pilgrims? The hope that keeps the pilgrim going is –
the Reign!
The Reign is the hope of the
pilgrims… Advent brings to our attention this promise of the Reign. Especially the
first Sunday of Advent declares this as the opening message of this season
which reminds us of the kind of faith we are called to live and testify today.
The faith of the eschatological times; the faith that focuses on the Risen Lord
and his imminent promise; the faith that looks to affirm the fact that Jesus
established: that the Reign of God is in our midst (Lk 17:21)! We are people of
the Reign, children of the Reign, pilgrims of the Reign.
One important fact that we
are reminded about strongly today, is that the promise of the Reign did not
begin with the coming of Christ Jesus in the Incarnation event. It comes from
the prophets who planted in us the yearning to await the Christ. Isaiah today speaks
about it: that the Lord shall gather every one in the eternal peace of the Reign.
St. Paul refers to the same gathering, but in terms of salvation that come from
the Lord, the salvation which is all set to be shared with each of us, children
of God. Finally, Jesus himself concludes the discourse with simple but profound
call: to stay awake.
Speaking of the Reign, more
than fatiguing to construct it from ground zero, what comes closer to the revelation
in Christ is this: that the Reign is here…our challenge is to recognise it.
This is in short, the message of the first Sunday of Advent: Stay awake for the Reign.
Unravel the Reign –
Staying awake for the Reign, means to unravel the Reign which is already here
in our midst. There are those who will see the Reign and those who will fail to;
there are those who will live the Reign and those who will remain far from it;
there are those who will unravel the manifestations of the Reign and those who
will be busy with their own affairs missing every thing at large. The hope of
the pilgrims is the Reign that surrounds, and we as pilgrims we are called to recognise
it and unravel it in our daily experiences. In the feeble voices that arise
against the vociferous injustices that are in the world, in the faint scenes that
manifest the mercy of God amidst the insensitive mob that is running behind power,
possession and pleasure, in the silent protests that refuse to conform to the
madness of the mainstream and stand by the truth of the “littles ones”, the
Reign survives – for us to unravel its presence every day.
Understand the Reign –
Staying awake for the Reign, would involve the efforts to understand the Reign
in the changing contexts. There is a danger that we could stereotype even the
Reign of God – and make it our own petty creation. Eulogising it, epitomising
it and euphemising it, we could make of the Reign a surreal imagination, a utopian
expectation, a wishful thinking that would remain far from the present. But a
pilgrim of hope cannot do that. St. Paul underscores this fact with the phrase,
“the times has come”, calling our attention to be awake to the reality around,
the salvation that is at hand, the Reign that is amidst us. This involves
understanding, that is born out of a committed personal reflection, sincere interpersonal
dialogue and a dedicated synodal search. It is only from these can that the
Church become truly what it is called to be – the sign and sacrament of the Reign.
Urge each other to behold – Staying
awake for the Reign is a communitarian effort, that we urge each other to
behold the Reign. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord – reminds Isaiah
today; and come let us go to the house of the Lord, invites the responsorial
psalm. We are called to remind each other of our identity of being pilgrims of
hope, and of our hope as pilgrims which is the Reign. Encouraging each other,
supporting each other, empathising with each other and hand-holding each other,
we can grow into the Reign that we are called to behold. In our daily choices
and priorities, we can behold the Reign and be the signs of the Reign.
May the Advent that we begin today, remind us of our hope as pilgrims – the Reign, that we may stay awake for the Reign: to unravel it, to understand it and to urge each other to behold it.