Never Let My Thirst For You Fade Away
Fr. Francis Nguyen, O.P.
Dear Sisters
and Brothers in Christ,
As we begin
the Advent Season today, the Church urges us to keep ourselves watchful and
well prepared for the coming of Christ.
Christ
indeed came into the world two thousand years ago. We will celebrate His Birthday in twenty five
more days. We have to make Christmas a
joyful feast for all families and all peoples, Christians and non-Christians
alike. Christmas has become an
indispensable part of social life for all of us, adults and children alike.
These
activities, meaningful and important though, are not all that the Church means
by “being watchful.” Too much focus on
merely human dimensions of Christmas of which the celebration has been
obviously secularized and commercialized sometimes turns Christians asleep and
clumsy. In these days, people even
celebrate a Christmas without Christ.
Just have a quick glimpse at greetings and wishes written on Christmas
cards and banners and you see it hard to find any reminder of Christ’s
existence on earth. This evil plan to erase Christian civilization
is disguised as respect for freedom of religion in a pluralistic society.
Instead, “being
watchful” means to us, you and me, Christians, something more profound. “Being watchful” could be understood in two
aspects: one in a sense of history and another in a sense of faith.
Christ did
promise to come back one day to put an end to all forms of evil on this earth,
and to bring justice and peace to humanity.
We believe this truth and we keep waiting for His coming in glory.
More
important is our firm conviction that we do need Christ, the true Lord and
Savior of the world, as much as people thousands of years ago needed Him and
kept themselves watchful before His first coming in history. We suffer losses of moral and religious
values. Personal and selfish interests
prevail over concerns for common good.
This happens not only in the world but also in the community of
Christians. Thirst for money and power has
destroyed honesty and charity. We get
confused about who is really ruling over the world, God or someone else?
Advent
Season, therefore, proves itself to be so timely that should we know how to
make full use of it, we may keep our thirst for Christ always alive and
creative.
On the top
of the comfort brought by power and riches we are reminded, as Saint Paul loves
to insist, of the passing away of worldly realities.
At the
bottom of misfortune and suffering caused by ingratitude and injustice, we will
not lose our hope for Christ’s final victory over forces of evil.
Let us never
let our thirst for Christ fade away.
Fr. Francis Nguyen, O.P.
