The liturgical season of Advent is a time that the Church especially dedicates to our preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ. There are two “comings of Christ”—the first one was the first Christmas almost more than 2,000 years ago. The second one will be on the last day, when the world ends. Christ will come again “to judge the living and the dead,” as we say in the Creed.
The season of Advent is also divided according to these two “comings of Christ”—the first part of the season, from which today’s Gospel is taken, concentrates on the final coming of Christ. The last part, close to Christmas, refers to Christ’s first coming into our world.
In our life, we can also speak of two comings of Christ. The first one is when He came into our hearts, and He has remained there provided we have maintained the state of grace. And Christ will come again in a very short time, when we have to face Him as our judge, at the moment of death.
In order to receive Christ well, the gospel of today has a piece of advice that will certainly be helpful for us. Christ told His listeners, “Watch then and pray at all times” (Luke 19:36).
Yes, we shall certainly be ready to receive Christ when He enters our life or when He comes to ask an accounting from us, if we have been vigilant and prayerful. He tells us to pray, at all times. Is this possible?
It certainly is! We pray not only with our lips. We pray, above all, with our hearts. And the value of the prayers that comes to our lips resides in our heart. The scripture says, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
We also pray with our actions. If we do what God wants (for example, all the duties of our state in life) and we do them for God, then we are also praying with our actions.
And if we do things raising our intentions to God and wanting to please God, then we also pray with our thoughts. It is therefore very possible to pray at all times.
Christ is somehow telling us that we should never remove God from our life. We should not put God in a compartment or drawer in our life, and refer to Him only every once in a while. We cannot forget about God or stash the thought of Him away.
But in order to achieve this wonderful state of soul that the spiritual writers refer to as “living in the presence of God,” we need to devote some time periodically each day, exclusively in conversation with God. It will be possible to pray at all times with our thoughts, words and actions, and then be prepared to receive Christ moments of the day.
Let us resolve to find those moments everyday, in intimate conversation with Jesus Christ.