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Institute for Homiletics

A Collaboration of The Catholic Foundation and the University of Dallas

Rev. James A. Wallace, C.Ss.R.

Something’s Coming

The musical West Side Story was revived in New York City recently. The first  song is “Something’s Coming.” Tony, a young man, senses something wonderful approaching but he does not know what. That very night he will meet Maria and fall in love. On the cusp of this new world opening up before him, he sings about his heightened sense of anticipation that something miraculous is about to happen, and it’s just out of his reach. 

It is that kind of excitement that today’s readings are meant to evoke in us.  There is something wonderful coming in our future—something no eye has seen or ear heard, something that God has ready for those who love God. But have we stopped looking forward to “something coming”? Have we given up on the hope that something new is coming, that a miracle is due, and at any moment,  possible? 

Jesus calls to us across the centuries in Matthew’s Gospel, at a moment when he is about to enter Jerusalem to die. He calls on us to live in hope that at any moment God’s rule can be experienced, that the peace that only God can give will touch our lives and suddenly settle on our hearts and minds.  

How can we prepare for this sudden coming of God’s presence? Try to live consciously aware of what we proclaim every week in the liturgy: Christ has died,  Christ has risen, Christ will come again. 

Consider/Discuss

  • When was the last time you looked forward to something in a way that made you feel fully alive, alert, and awake? 
  • Do you believe that the day is coming when God will reign, bringing all nations to live in peace and harmony? 

Responding to the Word

We pray every week: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is  in heaven.” Pray it daily as if for the first time. Ask God to allow the kingdom to  come to your family, to your workplace, in your neighborhood, among the people  of your city, country, and world.

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God of Promise

In Thornton Wilder’s play The Skin of our Teeth, Mrs. Antrobus tells her husband, George, that she didn’t marry him because he was perfect, that she didn’t even marry him because she loved him; she married him because he gave her a promise. And she gave one to him. And over the years, as their children were growing up, that mutual promise protected all of them, moving them into the future together.

A promise can open up into an unexpected future, marked by new life. God’s promises spoken in today’s first reading offered hope to a people who had little reason to hope. The hope of a restored Jerusalem, of a descendent of David who would do what is right and just—such promises began to be fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

With Jesus a new age began that promised to bring the old order of chaos and destruction to an end. With his birth a new power entered the world, making it possible to live in love, and allowing men and women to “increase and abound in love for each other and for all,” as Paul writes to the Thessalonians. Total fulfillment of God’s promises remains in the future.

But beginnings offer hope. A new church year calls on us to live as a people of hope in what God can do in our own day. Advent invites us to renew our relationship with the promises of God made visible in the person of Jesus Christ.

Consider/Discuss

  • Do you think of God as a promise keeper?
  • Do you see Jesus as beginning the fulfillment of God’s promises?
  • What hopes do you have for this new year of grace?

Responding to the Word

Lord, awaken us to your love and grant us your salvation, so we might bring new life to our world by what we say and do. Bless this new year of grace, and may our call to holiness alert the world to your transforming power.

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