Stay awake! Be prepared!

As we begin Advent this Sunday, the Gospel from Matthew (24:37-44) talked about how Jesus reminded us to be prepared for the coming of the Son of Man.

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man," Jesus said. Just as most peopel were eating, drinking and marry up to the day that Noah entered the ark, it is just as likely that many of us will be caught unguarded when the day comes if we do not "stay awake" and "be prepared".

The priest took the example of a current event to illustrate how we can never tell when the day will come. A couple of days ago, in Taiwan, Lien Cheng-wen, the son of Taiwan's former Vice President Lien Chen, was shot in the face while campaigning for local elections. The bullet, which struck the left side of his face and exited from his right temple, did not kill him. Another man was struck, reportedly by the same bullet, and died.

The bullet that was meant to take the life of one person ended up killing another.

No one knows when the day will come. So Advent is the perfect opportunity to remind us to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus.