Did anyone else notice that all of the Sunday readings throughout November focused on a call to action? God doesn’t want us to be passive in our relationship with Him. He wants us to be actively waiting, to live active lives doing all things for Him. He has given us the talents and he wants us to do something with them for Him.

And doing for Him also means doing for others.

In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus gave us a very simple formula for the Law of Love in the Greatest Commandment.

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,“You shall love the Lord, your God,with all your heart,with all your soul,and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

From Matthew 25:1-13 Jesus tells a parable that cautions us to be prepared and stay awake as we wait for him.  A week later we heard another parable from Matthew 25:14-30 about using talents to increase their return. Like the servants, our talents are gifts on loan from God and we have a responsibility to use these gifts, to develop them and see what they yield. Like the master in the parable, God will come without notice to claim the return and give you a new talent. 

The Sunday before Advent started, we celebrated Christ the King, the end of our Liturgical Year, with the Gospel reading from Matthew that defines Corporal Works of Mercy, outlining the very action God asks from us out of our Love for Him and one another.

Advent opened this week with another call to action when, in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! 

Jesus isn’t asking us to wait quietly, passively, but with action. Be alert. Be aware. Be prepared!

What are we waiting for? We have received an invitation to know God, to love Him. Too often, particularly during the holiday season, we are too busy. We get caught up in what we think we have to do, our duties, our responsibilities, our worries.  It’s not just about the doing, it’s about the loving. We can still do what we need to do for our jobs and our families while showing God how much love Him, by taking care to express our love for one another in our actions. Christ is God’s gift to the world and He will return. In the preparation of our own homes this Advent season, don’t forget to use your actions to also show the world and the Lord how much we love Him by loving one another.