Vigils reading – 2nd Sun of Advent

THE TIME FOR FAITH

From a commentary by St Augustine

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The gospel tells us that some people were rebuked by the Lord because,

clever as they were at reading the face of the sky, they could not recognize the

time for faith when the kingdom of heaven was at hand. It was the Jews who

received this reprimand, but it has also come down to us. The Lord Jesus began

his preaching of the gospel with the admonition: Repent, for the kingdom of

heaven is at hand. His forerunner, John the Baptist, began in the same way:

Repent, he said, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Today, for those who will

not repent at the approach of the kingdom of heaven, the reproof of the Lord is

the same. As he points out himself, You cannot expect to see the kingdom of

heaven coming. The kingdom of heaven, he says elsewhere, is within you.

Each of us would be wise therefore to take to heart the advice of his

teacher, and not waste this present time. It is now that the Savior offers us his

mercy; now, while he still spares the human race. Understand that it is in hope

of our conversion that he spares us, for he desires no one’s damnation. As for

when the end of the world will be, that is God’s concern.

Now is the time for faith. Whether any of us here present will see the end

of the world I know not; very likely none of us will. Even so, the time is very near

for each of us, for we are mortal. There are hazards all around us. We should be

in less danger from them were we made of glass. What is more fragile than a

vessel of glass? And yet it can be kept safe and last indefinitely. Of course it is

exposed to accident, but it is not liable to old age and the suffering it brings.

We therefore are the more frail and infirm. In our weakness we are

haunted by fears of all the calamities that regularly befall the human race, and if

no such calamity overtakes us, still, time marches on. We may evade the blows

of fortune, but shall we evade death? We may escape perils from without, but

shall we escape what comes from within us? Now, suddenly, we may be attacked

by any malady. And if we are spared? Even so, old age comes at last, and nothing

will delay it.