First Advent Sunday (Year B)

Advent is the beginning of the Liturgical Year. The Season consists of four weeks in preparation for the birth of Jesus. Incarnation is a Christian mystery in which the immortal God took on our mortal nature. It could be a risky business for God. If Jesus had not met a violent death, would he have aged? If Jesus had died, would he have been able to come back to life? Of course, we know that Jesus has indeed come back to life. But then we will never be able to know the answer to the first question. Will the divinity of Jesus prevents his humanity from aging? I do not have enough theological training. I am not able to speculate the answer, if such answer ever exists.
In Year B, we will read the gospel of Mark. Christ has already come and has made his dwelling in the hearts of many Christians. Therefore, Advent takes on a second meaning. It is a season in preparation for the second coming of Jesus, the Parousia. So, after warning the believers that nobody knows the day or the hour and only God knows (Mark 13:32), Jesus advised us to be watchful. We do not know when the Master will return.
Watch therefore -- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning -- (Mark 13:35).
Jews began a day in the evening at sunset. Therefore, Mark started counting in the evening and proceeded to midnight etc. This may also signifiy the different stages of a man: as a baby, a child, an adolescence, a young adult, an adult, a middle-aged man and an aging man etc. We may die at any stage/age. But this reality has been blurred by advances in medical technology so much so that infant mortality is practically unheard of nowadays. For people in ancient times, infant mortality was a stark reality.
Back to another theme in this verse. Are we watchful enough?
Fr. Martin told us not to be complacent, do not just follow the book. He told us a train accident in the age of coaches drawn by horses. One night, a carriage crashed into an approaching train at a crossing. The police interrogated the crossing keeper. He answered that he had followed the book. Firstly, he lowered the barrier. Then he waved the signal lamp. Still the accident happened. The next evening, when another crossing keeper was on duty, he discovered that the signal lamp had no more oil! The crossing keeper on duty the previous night was not watchful enough. He had not checked if the signal lamp was working properly or not.
So, Fr. Martin felt sorry that many people were not awake even when their eyes were open. Many look yet not see. Their hearts lie elsewhere. Therefore it is terribly hazardous to drivers as well as pedestrians. We should be watchful as well as prepared. Indeed, opportunity is given only to those who are prepared. This is especially meaningful in Advent. Imagine the head of the state visits HKSAR. What preparations the SAR government must have done! When the president steps out of the airplane cabin, would he not expect people to queue up, properly attired, to welcome him? Should we, as well, not be spiritually prepared for the Second Coming of Christ?

Dear Lord, let us not be lazy, complacent servants. Let us contemplate more deeply Your second coming. We pray that we may benefit from such contemplation and attain heaven. Amen.