To some, today’s celebration of the First Sunday of Advent is a reminder that there is less than one month before the arrival of Christmas. To others, it means that the rush is on to put colorful lights and decorations around the house, to buy what is needed for the Christmas dinner, celebrations and parties, to shop for presents, start sending Xmas cards and Xmas messages. And to others, it means an extra time to make external peace with relatives so all may have a family Christmas dinner.
However the real meaning of Advent is far from all that. The season of Advent is a time for Christians, for each one of us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord. As simple as that. The time of advent is not just related to something that will take place in the future. Advent is a time which involves the past the present and the future. And we are call to prepare ourselves to celebrate first something that happened in the past, that is to say, the birth of the Messiah into the world, which took place more than 2000 years ago. Secondly, to prepare ourselves for something that will happen in the future, the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time. And thirdly, to prepare and celebrate something that happens in the present, or what is the same, the many moments of grace which are occasions for the Lord to come into our lives as individual and in our midst as a community of the people consecrated of God.
How good are you at reading and interpreting everyday signs? I believe we all think to have some gifts to foresee what is going to happen. However, how good are we at interpreting signs, which God sends our way? The people of Jesus’ time expected that the coming of the Messiah would be accompanied by extraordinary signs and wonders. However Jesus’ first coming was in obscurity in a cave at Bethlehem. Jesus, during his public ministry performed numerous signs: turning water into wine, calming the storm at sea and walking on water, multiplying seven loaves of bread in the wilderness to feed 5000 people, healing the blind and the lame, expelling demons, and raising the dead. While many believed in Jesus because of the signs, many others questioned his signs and refused to believe his claim to be the Messiah.
Jesus is not encouraging us to spend time interpreting the signs around us concerning the end of time, or calculating the time when the end of the world will take place.  We are encouraged to experience the signs that Jesus is sending each and every single one of us everyday. We have to watch for the times when God extends His Love to us. We must watch for the times when we can serve Him by serving others. We need to watch for the opportunities to come closer to His Love through prayer and sacrifice. We have to watch and be alert for the opportunities Jesus is sending us to grow. Advent, the time of watching reminds us that our entire lives must be a watching for ways that we can grow more spiritual, grow closer to Christ and to the people we live with. Advent is a time for us to watch and read the signs taking place in other people, we have to prepare ourselves and be ready to meet him when he calls us. We have to be alert, watch and read the signs that Jesus is sending us to forgive those who have hurt us, to make peace with any member of our family so that we can have hot just a Christmas dinner but a Christmas celebration
This is Advent and to the extent that we do this well, to the extent that our lives are a celebration of the presence of Christ in ourselves, in our community and in the world, to that extent, our entire lives will be a real celebration of Christmas.
May Advent be a true moment of preparation for each and everyone of us in the expectation of the coming of Jesus at Christmas, in our everyday, at death, or at the last coming of the Lord, which ever may come first.

 May the Lord Jesus be with each and everyone of you as we strive to be alert to recognize his signs.
Fr. Alejandro Salcedo Garcia, O.P.