And so one liturgical year neatly dovetails into the next and we move from our celebration of Christ the King to the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is, as its name suggests, a season in which we think of the Lord’s coming. But look closely at the readings for this Sunday. Here is no story of shepherds and cribs, babies and mothers. Rather the gospel speaks about the coming of Christ at the end of time. In so doing it sets the context for the later focus on first coming – we celebrate that coming at Christmas because we are looking forward to his second coming.
Both the feast of Christ the King and this first Sunday of Advent speak of the sovereignty of Christ. He is the Lord of creation and he is the one who will come to judge the living and the dead. The Second Coming should not be something that frightens us but rather something that consoles us. It means that this flawed, painful and corrupt world will be swept away and that God’s kingdom of justice and peace will be established. The child who lies in the manger will come again on the clouds of heaven. On Sunday we renew our hope for that future consummation.