I would like to begin by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. That’s what today is as far as the church’s year is concerned. Today is the First Day of Advent and the first day of the Church’s New Year. Our celebration, I suspect, is somewhat subdued when compared to other New Year’s Day’s celebrations. Our celebration is so subdued that most people don’t even realize that this is New Year’s Day in the life of the Church.

Of course, one has to wonder which is the real New Year’s Day – today, the First Sunday of Advent, or January 1. Based on secular importance today loses by a long shot. But for us as Christians, today is much more important because for us as Christians today could be the first day of the rest of our lives, a real new beginning. Could be.

In the life of the world, New Year’s Day lasts one day. We can celebrate it, enjoy it or maybe simple ignore it. It is just another day in our life. If you are like me, at the beginning of a new calendar year I often make a resolution or two about how I want to change my life, how I want to reform my life. But I usually make those decisions, those resolutions, on the spur of the moment. They are based more on emotion than anything else. They hardly ever have any serious reflection behind them. That’s probably why I never keep them or at least never keep them for very long.

New Year’s Day in the life of the Church is different. The great part of it is that the Church gives us four weeks to think about this first day of the rest of our life, to think about the rest of our life. We have four weeks to think about what we need to do to be and to become better Christians. The candles we light on the Advent Wreathe mark the passage of time as we ponder those decisions.

This is the darkest time of the year, the time when the days are getting shorter and shorter and the nights are getting longer and longer. By the time Advent is over we will have lived through the shortest day and the longest night of the year. As the days get shorter, we light more candles. Perhaps it is all symbolic this lighting of Advent Candles. But it is a way to remind ourselves that it always gets darker before it gets light. But we can’t rush it. We cannot rush time.

I don’t know about you, but there are times in my life when I go to bed at night and can’t wait for morning to come. But morning does not come any faster because I want it to. And it does not come any slower because I am waiting in anticipation. We cannot rush time. We cannot rush the morning or the night or the moment. All we can do is use each moment that is given to us to the best of our ability. That sounds so simple, I know. But it is often so difficult. It often seems that either we are in a hurry to rush time or we are anxious because time seems to be moving so fast.

It only seems that way. It is never that way. Everything happens in its own time. That was Jesus’ point in today’s Gospel reading. The destruction of Jerusalem, the end of our lives, the end of the world each will all take place each in its own time – and you and I will never know when that time will be.

No one knows, only God. But what we do know is that we must be prepared for whatever is to happen to us, prepared as best we can. To be prepared, we must take the time to do so. But if we put off our preparation, when the time comes, we will not be ready.

The disciples seemed to miss the point, as usual. They really wanted to know exactly when all this will take place. But even knowing the time something is going to happen is no guarantee that we will make the time to be prepared. What matters most of all is that we use the time we have been given to the best of our ability. What matters is that we use Advent well, that we use the Christmas season well, that we use each moment of each day well. If we do that, what do we have to worry about?

But we do worry. Like the disciples, we worry about so much that is out of our control. We worry about what other people think, what other people will do, what will happen next. But that is foolish. All we should worry about is that which we have some control over: namely, our own lives and the time of our lives. We cannot worry about that which is totally in God’s control. But sometimes we do, don’t we? Even if we are worried about the end of the world, what we must do is be committed to the present moment.

There is a story told about a meeting of state legislators in colonial New England. The meeting was plunged into total darkness by the sudden eclipse of the sun. Many of the esteemed legislators panicked and others moved to adjourn the meeting. But one of them said, "Mr. Speaker, if it is not the end of the world and we adjourn, we shall appear to be fools. If it is the end of the world, I should choose to be found doing my duty. I move, sir, that candles be lit."

We light candles during Advent to remind ourselves that we must be about the business of living out our faith no matter how dark it is outside and no matter how dark it is inside of ourselves. Saint John of the Cross wrote about the dark night of the soul in his life, when he could not see clearly what God wanted of him. He was discouraged and depressed, this saint of God. But he never gave up. He allowed his faith to light the way, to allow him to see, even if only a little, while he was in darkness.

God comes into our lives sometimes when we least expect it. Advent is a reminder that whether we see the light at three o’clock in the afternoon or three o’clock in the morning, we will see the light. We will, as John of the Cross discovered, see it in God’s good time. What we have to do is be prepared. What we have to do is light the candles.

Mother Teresa, who never worried about what other people thought about her or the people she took care of, wrote these words of advice. She said: People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, there may be jealousy; be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.