TOMORROW is the first Sunday in Advent, when Christians around the world begin their preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The next four weeks are a time of waiting in expectation. Patrick Kavanagh refers to it as a time "Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea/ Of penance will charm back the luxury /Of a child's soul".
In tomorrow's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples: "Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come" (Mark: 13:33). Some may feel those words have an ominous or threatening tone, but in reality the message is positive as well as truthful.
A wise Dominican once suggested to me that teaching was a great start to one's working life and for a priest it gives him or her a clearly defined work ethos. He went on to say that you can't bluff children, and if you want to enjoy teaching and be a good teacher you have to be prepared. His advice has stood the test of time.
In many ways teaching is a paradigm of what happens in life. So in that context it we can look on the time of Advent and tomorrow's Gospel in a light that can be refreshing and very true to life.
For students who are sitting public examinations this coming summer the term between September and Christmas is a vital time which makes all the difference between a good mark and a mediocre one. If a student has not the work done by Christmas his or her chances of doing a great examination are very remote indeed.
Miracles do not figure in the Department of Education's marking scheme.
But that's the way of the world. Even geniuses will attribute their achievements to 90 per cent hard work and 10 per cent talent.
Anything we do in life takes dedicated work and practice.
Virtue, good living, is also all about developing good habits over a long period of time.
Of course our DNA structure, our environment play important roles in who we are, but we ourselves play a vital and essential role in being the sort of person into which we develop. We don't wake up some morning a saint or a criminal.
The advice Jesus gives his disciples about being ready makes perfect sense. But the Christian perspective also adds something unique. It stresses that in all our human activities we are free to do as we wish but also that through the grace of God, which is completely unearned, we have the benefit and gifts bestowed on us freely by God. It is a central ingredient in Christian theology that we do not earn God's grace. It is a gift from God. Nevertheless, grace always works on nature and there is only one reality. Grace demands a response. It is up to us to accept the invitation, which of course calls for a commitment on our part.
Advent is an excellent time to take stock of where we are in our efforts to be a good person. There is no magic to it, no shortcuts. It is something at which we have to work.
Exactly as Jesus tells us in tomorrow's reading, we need to stay awake and be prepared. It's a great piece of advice. But our watchfulness is steeped in the belief that God calls us in love to share in the banquet of heaven.
MC