When I was a child, I could never understand my mother’s ability to doze off while watching TV, even while watching something in which she was really interested. I have now become my mother. . In St. Mark’s gospel we are repeatedly given two commands.
Γρηγορείτε and βλέπετε
The first of these words refers precisely to not letting ourselves doze off, to staying wake. The older we are, the harder this becomes, the more effort required. We sit still and we doze off, not just physically but spiritually.
When we are younger we are filled with hopes and ambitions that drive us forward. We have a sense of becoming. We are occupied with questions like “who will I become?” and “what will I do with my life?”
As we turn the corner of middle age those questions fall away and we can, unfortunately, start to settle into who we are. We lose interest in changing. We doze off into spiritual complacency. We stop striving to be better. We drift on the current of our lives.
Today’s gospel demands that we wake up. Until the last day of our earthly lives, we are called to be active, to choose, to strive toward holiness.
The second command is “to watch”, “to look at”. It is not simply about having something passively in front of our eyes. We are called to really look, to examine, to study. What are we looking for? — the signs of the Kingdom of God.
As we begin this Advent Season, can we open our eyes to see the signs of the presence of God? Can we see them in our brothers and sisters? Can we see them in the beauty and majesty of God’s creation? Can we see the presence of Christ offered to us in the Eucharist?
Wake up and look! And if we look we will see Emmanuel, God with us.
