1st Sunday of Advent 2022

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
November 27, 2022

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

So today we begin the Church’s new liturgical year. And with every new year, we have a chance for a new beginning. That is why Advent is a time of joy, a time for hope: Because we know that Jesus is coming!

The first Christians spoke of his coming as a new creation, as the dawning of a new day, a bright morning star that was rising in their hearts. And I think that’s how we should feel!

Jesus said: “Behold, I make all things new!”² And he makes that promise to us. So in this holy season of Advent that we are starting, each one of us can start a new day, a new, fresh start. If we open our hearts, Jesus will make us new.

St. Paul tells us today, “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is advanced, the day is at hand.”

The season of Advent, as we prepare for Christmas, is always like a “wake up call.” It is a time for remembering who we are, the reality of our vocation as Catholics.

It is a time for us to renew our sacred identity, to remember that we are children of God, made in his image, made to glorify him by our lives. By our baptism, we have been entrusted with a mission. We are called to follow Jesus, to walk in his footsteps and continue his work on earth, to spread his love and mercy through our lives.

The prophet Isaiah tells us today in the first reading that all the nations shall come to live according to God’s teachings and to walk in his light. As we just heard: “For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” the prophet says.

That’s our mission, that’s the Church’s mission.

Jesus Christ is still coming into the world. He is still waiting to be born in every human heart. So our work is to bring others to meet him, to bring them the peace of God’s kingdom.

So my brothers and sisters, Advent is the time for waking up, for remembering our mission, remembering what Jesus is expecting from us.

That’s what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel today. He tells us: “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”

And I was thinking that it is interesting that Jesus today talks about ordinary everyday life. He uses the examples of people eating and drinking, getting married, working in the fields, working in the home.

And he tells us: “Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.”

Of course, we know that he is talking his second coming at the end of the world.

But don’t need to worry about when Jesus is coming back. Because, as we know, he never left us. He ascended into heaven, but he is with us every day. He promised: “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”³

Jesus comes to us every day in the bread and wine of the holy Eucharist. He is present with us in our tabernacles. He is also with us in the faces of our neighbors, especially in those who are suffering. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me,” Jesus told us.

So, he is with us. So the question for us, my dear brothers and sisters, is whether we are awake and aware, whether we are able to recognize and respond to his presence in our midst.

And these four weeks before Christmas, we have a perfect opportunity to awaken our hearts, to make new habits, to take our spiritual lives more seriously.

And in the second reading of today’s Mass, St. Paul gives us some good advice. Two points. He says: “Put on the armor of light,” and then, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The “armor of light” means good deeds, works of mercy, works of love. He is reminding us that we are here to serve God and to serve others. It is a simple, beautiful way to live.

And if we pay attention to that, if we make serving God and others the priority in our lives, it will be like a shield that protects us from the darkness in the world — from all the noise and distractions, all the occasions of sin.

So, during this Advent season, let us put on that armor of light!

And he also tells us, St. Paul, to “put on Christ.” That means we need to make a new effort to imitate Jesus — to think like him and act like him; and to love like he loves, to spread his mercy in the world.

So, my brothers and sisters, let us also try this Advent to grow the life of Jesus within our hearts. Let’s try to spend more time praying and reflecting on the Gospels, getting to know Jesus in a more intimate way.

Also, let us try to grow closer to him through the Eucharist. We can come to Mass more often during the week, we can spend time before Mass and after Mass praying, talking to him from the heart — asking for whatever we need, giving thanks for the good things in our lives.

It would be beautiful if really, this Advent, my brothers and sisters, we take advantage of making a new day, a new beginning.

Let us ask Our Blessed Mother Mary to accompany us on this Advent journey.

May Our Lady help us to stay awake to the presence of her Son in our lives, and to the many opportunities that we have to share his love, and to bring others to know him —those beautiful, little, simple suggestions from St. Paul “put on the armor of light,” and “put on Jesus Christ.”