Bare Minimum Checklist for Heaven

An excellent homily for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year A, from Father John Reutemann of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, titles “Bare Minimum Checklist for Heaven.”  Do these things, and you will go to heaven!  

http://www.reutepriest.com/2013/12/08/bare-minimum-checklist-for-heaven/

Year A – Second Sunday of Advent – December 8, 2013 – Gospel Reflection

Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17 (R/. cf. 7); Romans 15:4-9; Luke 3:4, 6; Matthew 3:1-12

Advent is a season that set before us visionaries like the poet-prophet Isaiah, the preacher-missionary Paul, and the herald-prophet John the Baptist.  Each offers us a vision of God’s good creation coming together in unity.  For Isaiah, it is all creation – human and animal; for Paul, it is the church in Rome “thinking in harmony with one another;” for John it is the Promised One coming to gather the good wheat into his barn, God’s harvest, which is the children of the kingdom.

We are brought together each Sunday to think, live, pray, and sing in harmony to the gracious God who continues to come to us in Jesus Christ, the One who came in the power of the Holy Spirit, an who continues to come in God’s Word and in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  The risen Lord draws us more deeply into communion with the Father and with one another.

How can you help bring about God’s dream for a renewed and unified creation?

Year A – First Sunday of Advent – December 1, 2013 – Gospel Reflection

Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; Romans 13:11-14; cf. Psalm 85:8; Matthew 24:37-44

Having something to look forward to brings hope into our lives.  Having something good coming in our future helps us to move through difficult times and to bear suffering more peacefully.  Advent begins by holding up what believers have to look forward to at the end of time, and at the end of one’s own time on earth.  The prophet Isaiah expresses it as people gathering on God’s holy mountain to be instructed by God and to live in peace.

In the second reading, Paul instructs us that “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” so we should “conduct ourselves properly as in the day.”

In the Gospel, Jesus also calls us to live in a way expectant of the Second Coming of the Son of Man.  He warns that it will come “at an hour you do not expect.”  This notion brings fear to some, but for those who conduct themselves properly and live as God has commanded, the Second Coming brings something to look forward to with great hope, life in peace with God for eternity.

Do you live trusting that something; rather, Someone good is coming?  If you are fearful, take this time of Advent to reflect on how you can change your outlook to a feeling of hope and anticipation for the Second Coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ, for none of us know when he will return, and none of us know when our time on earth will come to an end.  Let us all come into the right relationship with Him so that we may trust in His coming peace.