Time to Wake Up
(Isa.2:1-5; Rom.13:11-14; Mt.24:37-44)
Today marks the start of a brand-new Liturgical Year A, and a fresh season of Advent.
For many people, Advent is simply about preparing for Christmas. It’s about buying gifts, putting up pretty lights and organising a Christmas tree.
Today’s Gospel, however, gives us something very different to consider: an alarm clock. Jesus is saying, ‘Stay awake, for you don’t know the hour when your Lord is coming.’
This isn’t a threat; Jesus is being merciful. He’s gently shaking our arm, saying: ‘Don’t sleepwalk through life. Don’t drift along, unaware that I am near.’
Advent is not just about preparing for Christmas; it’s also about waking up to God’s presence, right here and right now.
Charles Dickens understood this. His classic story A Christmas Carol isn’t only about greed and suffering; it’s also about waking up. At the beginning, Ebenezer Scrooge is spiritually asleep. He has plenty of money, but no mercy; loads of comfort, but no compassion. He lives closed in on himself, oblivious to the plight of people around him.
Then one night, heaven steps in. He’s visited by three spirits who show him his past, present, and future. This shakes him up. He gets to see the truth of his life – the harm he’s done, the love he’s lost, and the future that awaits him if he does not change.
And when he wakes up on Christmas morning, the first thing he says is, ‘I’m as light as a feather! I’m as happy as an angel! I’m as merry as a schoolboy!’
Scrooge’s joy isn’t about gifts; it’s the joy of a man who has finally woken up to what’s really going on in the world.
This is the Advent invitation for us all: to let the Holy Spirit wake us up from our sleep of selfishness, distraction and routine – to see life anew in the light of Jesus Christ.
There’s a similar message in a very different story – The Matrix. At the start of this movie, Neo lives in a comfortable illusion. Everything seems normal, but it’s all a lie. Everyone is living in a simulated reality created by intelligent machines. Then a message arrives on his computer screen: ‘Wake up, Neo.’ He’s intrigued and starts following the clues to find out what’s really going on.
When Neo does finally wake up, he discovers that the world he thought was real was just an elaborate dream. And he’s forced to choose between comfort and truth, between staying asleep or waking up to reality.
Advent poses the same question for us: will we stay comfortable in illusion, or will we wake up to the real world of God’s grace?
The real world is not what we see in the fashion ads or typical Hollywood films. Rather, the real world is where God comes quietly in love; where hope, repentance, and mercy are far more real and much more important than any possessions.
Centuries before Neo and Ebenezer Scrooge, another man experienced this same awakening: St Augustine. He too, had drifted through life, chasing pleasure, comfort, and ambition. In his book, Confessions, he describes the moment he woke up: ‘You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness.’
And then he utters that famous line: ‘Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new.’
St Augustine discovered that God’s love had been there all along, but his heart was too sleepy to notice. And when he woke up, he found not guilt or condemnation, but delicious joy.
This is what Jesus means by ‘Stay awake.’ To be awake is to live in a constant readiness for wonder, to be alert to the movement of God’s grace in our lives.
So how might we live wakefully this Advent?
Firstly, by opening our eyes. Look around with wonder. Take the time to notice the small signs of God’s presence in beauty, kindness and forgiveness.
Secondly, keep things simple and slow down. Don’t let the noise of this busy season numb you to its meaning.
And thirdly, prepare your heart. Make space for prayer, confession and silence. Make space for Jesus.
This is how we ‘stay awake.’
Advent wakefulness isn’t about fear. It’s about awareness. When Scrooge, Neo and St Augustine woke up, they found that everything was the same, and yet everything was different, because they had changed. The world had become brighter, not darker, and everything started to make sense.
Right now, Jesus is waiting for us. He’s quietly waiting for us to notice him.
(Many thanks to Fr Don of thewordthisweek.net for this infographic)