People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. (Luke 21:26)
With these words, Jesus describes the mortal fear that we will face before experiencing His glorious return. In response, if we are going to survive the ordeals that will precede it, we must cultivate courage as we wait for His Second Coming. Thankfully, this season of Advent helps us prepare through the practice of waiting, a practice which itself requires courage. So, unless we learn how to be courageous, we cannot rightly experience the glorious coming of the Lord at His Nativity or at the end of time, for the preceding trials and distresses demand courage.
They will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Jesus has given us a way to cultivate a courageous heart this Advent. He calls us to be vigilant and prayerful, commanding, “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you may have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”
So, what does it really mean to be vigilant? What are the things we should be vigilant about?
To be vigilant is to be attentive to the many things that dissipate our courage and spiritual strength. Because our hearts are made to love God above and beyond all things, we lose courage when we are indulging in worldly pleasures to the detriment of our spiritual health. Scripture tells us to “beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap” (Lk 21:34). We need to be moderate in our enjoyment of all pleasures and taper down our anxieties in life.
To be vigilant is to guard our hearts from all things that would destroy our peace, hinder our freedom, or diminish our love and desire for Jesus. We guard our hearts against sin and the lies that enslave us. These things make us so attached to the pleasures of this world that we lack that desire for heaven and also lose courage to strive for full communion with God for eternity.
Being vigilant also means responding to the many ways that God invites us to mature in our love for Him and for others. Because “perfect love casts out fear” (1 Jn 4:18), we cultivate courage when we give and receive God’s love. Because of this, St. Paul invites the Thessalonians to cultivate their love in preparation for Christ’s return, writing, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His holy ones” (1 Thes 3:12-13).
To be vigilant is also to be attentive to the many ways in which Christ comes to us in our daily lives, the graces that He brings to us at those moments, and the way that He invites us to respond to these graces. The Jesus whom we prepare for at Christmas is always coming to us to prepare us for His glorious return. He comes to us even as we are experiencing the frightening things that precede His coming. When we are attentive to the continuous coming of Christ to us, even amid the things that can make us “die of fright,” we can still “stand erect and raise our heads because our redemption is at hand.” We know that He comes to save us all the time.
To be vigilant is also to be aware of the motive behind all that we do and speak. It is easy for us to say and do things for our own glory and benefit. However, one can quickly succumb to fear when this is the only motivation. We will lack courage because we will be so concerned about our performance, how people see us, and what they think about us.
True vigilance allows us to do all things for God’s greater glory as St. Paul exhorted the Thessalonians, “Brothers, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God—and as you are conducting yourselves—you do so even more” (1 Thes 4:1). Doing good is not enough; we must also be vigilant enough to do good in order to please God and glorify Him. We find inner courage when we are focused on pleasing God above all others.
Lastly, vigilance allows us to pray as we should. We will pray better when we are vigilant because we will grasp more easily the will of God and the true needs of our neighbors at each moment. Vigilance allows us to reject the lies of the enemy who seeks to discourage us from praying by persistently reminding us of our past failures and sins. Vigilance will also allow us to pray with the boldness of God’s children that will obtain abundant graces for ourselves and others because our prayers will be empowered by the Spirit of Jesus Himself.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we witness so many terrifying events in our world as we enter into this Advent Season. The possibility of full-scale global wars is growing. The many natural disasters of our times remind us of the scary things that Jesus warned will precede His return in glory: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves” (Lk 21:25).
Jesus knows very well the distress to come and how easily we give in to fear of what may happen. But He does not want us to be so focused on these distressing signs that we lose the courage and strength to wait on Him. On the contrary, He wants us to be truly courageous as we face them and wait for His return.
So, He continues to repeat to us the same exhortation He gave to His scared disciples at Gethsemane: “Watch and pray that you may not be put to the test” (Mt 26:41). They did not heed His call to vigilance and prayer then; they abandoned Him and fled in fear. Only the Blessed Virgin Mary and a handful of His followers had enough courage to face Calvary with Him and wait for His glorious resurrection.
May Mary, the Virgin most faithful, help us to be those courageous souls formed through vigilant prayer so that we can also endure the frightening trials that come before the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
Image from WikiArt
