This weekend, we enter Advent, our readings focus on the return of Christ at the end age. Despite the assertion of many who suggest that we will be taking away, that is not the conclusion that could be made from this gospel passage. In the prophecy, Jesus says that the coming of the Son of man will be like in the days of Noah. It was the wicked that were 'swept' away, not the faithful. (For further 'evidence', consider the parable of the weeds in the wheat in which it is the weeds that will be first gathered and destroyed, or consider that the Beatitudes tell that the meek shall inherit the earth!) No, we must stay away and be ready, not so caught up in this world (the eating, drinking, marriage and sexuality, but be rather focused on the eternal.
With the Pope's New encyclical Spe Salvi, I would be amiss if I did not point out the whole purpose of this season is to 'recover' hope. Hope is a necessary element for the Christian, as the Pope states, it is almost synonymous with 'faith'. It is the virtue of hope that helps us to remember that as good as this life is, that there is something better coming, and also that hope helps us to remember that as sad as life can be, something better is coming, if we remain faithful.
This weekend, we ask for the full hope that we need to seek God's will for our lives, to set behind us the desire for immediate needs to be met, but to delay gratification. All vocations involve delaying our gratification.
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