Get Busy Living, Or Get Busy Dying.

First Sunday of Advent

The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. Jeremiah 33:14

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 with all his holy ones. Amen.  Thessalonians 3:12-13

“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...Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34, 36

Piety

Study

Maybe there is a court jester among the Magisterium who wanted to see if we would notice that the Good News for the last day of the liturgical year was the same selection as for the First Sunday of Advent?

Today and every day is about change.  Yes, the green liturgical garments are hung up while the purple ones are put to use.  But this season, this year, this faith is about more than just a change of clothes.  It is about a change in outlook, a change in “inlook,” and a change in action. 

If we are not changing, we are dying. I guess, as Andy Dufresne says in the Shawshank Redemption, it comes down to a simple choice: either you get busy living or get busy dying.   https://youtu.be/7tkzc983aE0

Action

Advent is about how we get busy living.  Sure there is the busy-ness of the holiday.  Decorating. Travelling. Celebrating.  Giving.  More than that is the business of loving, the business of making the Lord increase in your life.  In your piety.  In your study.  In your action. 

Like the paragraph with the You Tube clips says, many people get “institutionalized” in the routines of their jobs or circumstances. Some feel a false sense of security but they are not truly free. Andy Dufresne would not allow a life sentence for two murders that he did not commit to keep him from the freedom of hope, from the freedom of following his dreams to live on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The Shawshank Redemption is a wonderful lesson on reaching your full potential by casting your vision and overcoming life's obstacles. Focus on your vision, don't give up hope. Get busy living or get busy dying.

The Jerusalem Redemption also is a wonderful life lesson.  We cannot expect to redeem our sadness and sorrow and pain for something better if we are not willing to change as well. What is your Zinhuatanejo?  How will you get busy living and changing this new liturgical year? This new day? This Advent which promises us paradise everyday?