A slightly irreverent confession: whenever I hear today’s Gospel passage, I cannot help but think of a scene from Mr. Bean. The one which comes to mind is where Bean is trying to stay awake in Church while listening to a long, boring sermon. With Rowan Atkinson’s typical comedic flair, try as Bean might to stay awake, he simply can’t help dozing off. We’ve all felt like that, haven’t we? Some of you may even be presently experiencing something of that same somniferous feeling, in fact.
Well, it’s one thing falling asleep in church — especially in mitigating circumstances — but it’s quite another thing falling asleep in life, more generally. By which I mean to say that there’s a way of merely sleepwalking through the short time we have on this planet, of inattentively riding the ups and downs that come our way, of cruising through on a kind of autopilot, and all the while remaining disengaged from God’s grace in our lives. Most of us are prone to this kind of spiritual stupor, if we’re honest.

To the sleeper lurking in each of us, Jesus now speaks in rousing terms, on the First Sunday of Advent: “stay awake… if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep…Stay awake!”

Do you remember the movie Awakening? Robert De Niro plays the part of a patient who, for thirty years, does not move or speak. A particularly sensitive and enterprising doctor tries out some new theories and, lo, and behold, the patient begins to move around, talk, and feel. For a brief period, he returns to this world and announces to those amazed folks around him that he is back: “I have been away for quite some time…. now I am back.” He becomes gradually aware of the love and concern that surrounds him and what is really alive inside of his heart and soul

It is never too late to wake up. Morning is when you wake up. Advent is a nice time to wake up. Wake up to give an account of your stewardship. Wake up to a time for giving and sharing, a time that we are called to be thankful and prepare our hearts for the Christ child. Wake up and open your eyes in Faith to see God present and active in your life and in your world.  

SOURCE: John Pichappilly in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho

Today’s readings remind me of the highly cryptic and absurdist play written by Irish Nobel laureate and novelist, Samuel Beckett, “Waiting for Godot.” It is a tale that involves two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, who wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. They distract themselves while they wait expectantly and in vain for the play’s namesake to arrive. To occupy themselves, they eat, sleep, converse, argue, sing, play games, exercise, swap hats, and contemplate suicide – anything “to hold the terrible silence at bay.” At the end of the story, Godot does not appear, thus reinforcing the futility of the waiting. In fact, one may be led to think that Godot may actually not exist. 

It doesn’t take an Einstein to note that the name ‘Godot’ sounds too oddly familiar and similar to ‘God.’ Thus, the play can be read as a post-modernist critique of Christian hope, a parody of humanity who waits in vain for the coming of God, who chooses not to reveal Himself at the end. It seems to reinforce what many atheists are saying to us – there is no point waiting for Christ coming, he isn’t coming, no one’s coming to deliver you, don’t waste your time, God may not even exist, there is no HOPE! It is interesting that such a play, brilliant as it may be, with an equally bleak setting, should be voted the most significant English play of the 20^th century. Is this an indication of how far we have descended into a state of hopelessness or does it reveal a society that has grown cynical with waiting for deliverance?

Today, we begin the season of Advent not with a bleak message that we will be experiencing darker and more depressing times. Prophecies of doom abound from both economists and political analysts. The Advent message is not one which mirrors the storyline of the abovementioned play that we are waiting in vain for a person who will eventually not show up. No, the message of Advent is one of expectant joy, a message of true Christian hope that our waiting will not be vain. The person, whom mankind is waiting for as its saviour will come, in fact He has already come. Why? Because St Paul tells us, “God is faithful.”

SOURCE: Your Grace is Sufficient