WALKING IN THE LIGHT WHILE WAITING IN HOPE.

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Year A

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Bible Texts: Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44

Today, we begin the Season of Advent. Advent marks the beginning of a new liturgical year. It is a sacred reset in which the Church invites us to reorder our lives toward God. The word Adventus means “coming,” and during these four weeks the Church holds before us three dimensions of Christ’s coming: his coming in history (birth at Jerusalem), his coming in majesty (the second coming), and his coming in mystery (daily in our hearts especially in the Word of God and Sacraments). These three converging moments make Advent a season of hope-filled vigilance.

Our first reading (Isaiah 2:1-5) takes us back nearly 2,700 years, to a time when Judah lived under the shadow of political instability, social corruption, and looming military threats. The people trembled between superpower nations - Assyria and Babylon - much like how many nations today struggle under the weight of insecurity, economic uncertainty, and moral confusion. Into this darkness, Isaiah announces a stunning vision: a future where God’s mountain becomes the spiritual center of the world and all nations stream toward it seeking divine light and peace.

The prophet imagines swords hammered into ploughshares and spears turned into pruning hooks. Tools of death become instruments of life. Isaiah’s message is clear: God’s future is a future of peace, but only for those willing to walk in His light. And so he concludes with an invitation that echoes to us at the start of every Advent: “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”

St. Paul, in the second reading makes the same point but with an urgency that befits Advent: “It is now the moment to wake from sleep.” For Paul, salvation is not merely chronological - it is existential. Every day brings us closer to the full revelation of Christ. Paul contrasts the works of darkness - drunkenness, lust, rivalry, jealousy - with the deliberate choice to “put on the armor of light” and “put on Christ.” Advent, therefore, is not passive waiting but active preparation, a time to reorder our habits, renounce spiritual mediocrity, and embrace holiness with fresh determination.

Jesus deepens this call in today’s Gospel (Matthew 24:37-44). He reminds us that the people of Noah’s time were not destroyed because they were eating, drinking, marrying, or working - these activities are normal parts of human life. Their sin was living without reference to God, being engulfed in routine, distracted by the ordinary, spiritually asleep. Advent confronts us with this uncomfortable question: Are we living as if God is real, present, and coming? Or have we settled into a spiritual slumber?

Just like the household owner who would have stayed awake if he knew the thief’s hour, Jesus urges us to cultivate a lifestyle of watchfulness. Not fear, but attentiveness. Not paralysis, but readiness. The Christian who lives in expectation of Christ’s coming lives differently - more intentionally, more lovingly, more prayerfully.

Dear friend, Advent challenges us to examine our priorities, to seek reconciliation where there is division, to cut back on the noise that suffocates our spiritual sensitivity, and to rekindle practices of prayer, charity, and silence. In a world overwhelmed by conflict and violence, Isaiah calls us to be instruments of peace. In a society drowning in distractions, Paul urges us to wake up. And in a culture that often forgets God, Jesus invites us to vigilant hope.

As we begin this new liturgical year, may we walk into it not sleepy or disoriented, but awake, hopeful, and clothed in the light of Christ, who comes to renew us, save us, and lead us to the fullness of His peace.