Hope in the Advent season
November 30, 2025 – First Sunday of Advent
Readings: Isaiah 2: 1-6; Psalm 122, R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” Romans 13: 11 -14; Gospel – Matthew 24; 37-44
Today, we begin a new liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent. It reminds us that we now enter a time of preparation; the annual reminder of preparing for the coming of Jesus at Christmas and the promised second coming.
Each Sunday of Advent has a theme, from first to fourth we have: hope, peace, joy and love. This Sunday, we will reflect on hope.
And finally, from the Gospel, we will reflect on preparedness, with the story of Noah as the age-old, classic example of the virtue of preparedness or vigilance.
A time of preparation
Advent as a time of preparation is always a good reminder as we approach Christmas. Especially in the Philippines where the holiday spirit, the Christmas season begins as early as September, the First Sunday of Advent becomes a very good transition point.
From the gaiety of Christmas decorations, carols and shopping, we take pause and are reminded of the spiritual character of the season. It is a reminder that the Advent season prepares us for the coming of Jesus, as God-with-us on Christmastide and the promise of his coming again in glory.
But what I also wish to highlight is the nature of Advent as a new beginning; a new time and opportunity to prepare to welcome Jesus.
When I was working in the high school ministry, we always emphasized the importance of giving our students, all of us for that matter, periodic new beginnings. This is why school years are divided into quarters, trimesters or semesters.
Part of the psychology behind it is that a fresh start is always healthy. We can put closure to the past period, celebrate successes and, more importantly, learn from mistakes and failures. This becomes our starting capital in the next round.
Such too is the grace of Advent. We put behind us the past year after celebrating and learning from it, and we are given a fresh start.
The framework of the Advent season
Liturgically, the season is framed in four graces: hope, peace, joy and love. We always open the season with the grace of hope.
This has a special meaning this year, as we still celebrate the Jubilee Year of Hope. We opened the year by emphasizing that “hope does not disappoint.”
And as we come closer to the end of the Jubilee Year and enter the holiday season still carrying the burden of the corruption scandal and the political turmoil we are experiencing, “hope does not disappoint” assumes an even deeper meaning.
The beginning of Advent with hope in inject new life to our spirit to address the challenges and trials we are facing. In fact, now is the time—not just to experience hope as the grace that has sustained us and helped us cope, but as the grace that will inspire us to recast the narrative.
Always be ready
We are a people of hope. Advent both reminds us of this and renews this grace in us.
It is not the problems, the challenges and the trials that define us, but hope —hope in the time-tested grace that we shall overcome. Hope is the assurance of our victory, the victory of all men and women of goodwill. It is hope in the promise of God that He is always present and His presence blesses us with loving providence.
“If God is with us, who can be against us?” This is part of God’s promise that we put our hope in.
Hope also inspires us to always be vigilant, to live and work in our day to day life always as a preparation for the coming of Jesus in Christmas and his second coming, and also in the day-to-day. It is to live our day-to-day finding God’s presence in all things, lovingly guiding us.
Such was the story of Noah. The moment he found out God’s plan and will for him, he simply lived out his days following God plan and doing God’s will. His vigilance was one of active preparation. Noah, like St. Ignatius of Loyola, lived his life “with one foot raised.” Always preparing, always ready to go and do where God was leading him.
There is a story that Lucifer told his demons that the best strategy to trap people is to make them believe is always more than enough time and there is no need to hurry. It is the trap of procrastinating, the deceptive tool of the devil. “No rush. It’s fine,” he’d say.
But Advent’s grace is to be ready. To always be ready. Be ready with hopeful expectation that inspires us and moves us to action. That is the gift of the season.
