Are we ready for Judgment Day? Do we really want Jesus to come back? Do we long until “the clouds rain down the Just One”, as the Psalm repeats to us today in the mass?

Advent is not only about the first coming of Christ in the manger, but also about the second coming of Christ on the clouds of Heaven. “Concerning that day and hour no one knows,” Jesus says (Mt 24:36). Do we want the Just One to come?

In my life I see two realms where injustices still remain. First, I see things that have happened to me such as my hearing loss, which I face daily as a struggle, and as a lack compared to others. What “lacks” do you experience in your life right now? In the Gospel, in those who came to Jesus for healing of their sufferings, we see a picture of heaven, where men and women will be restored to fullness, where “justice and peace shall kiss” (Ps 85). Do we hope and long for the coming of heaven with joyful expectation, as the season of Advent calls us to do?

The second realm where injustice still remains, is not in what has happened to me, but what I have done. Every day I do not give the Lord his due – I commit injustices. I am not completely just in the work I have been given, in how I relate and serve others, and in how I pray and offer my life to God. Each day I hope to become more just. But even amid these failures, I know I must be sustained by the sacraments to continue to find the hope and healing of Christ – through the sacrament of Reconciliation and through the Eucharist especially. Can we make ourselves ready through these sacraments for Christ’s return, for his coming justice? We must pray he may find no injustice in us when He comes, that we would be completely ready and filled with a holy longing for Him.

Prayer: O Lord…“Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above…” - Isaiah’s beautiful words speak to me. Let this be my prayer today. I know that water causes plants to grow – but let me be receptive to the Lord’s grace in this season of Advent. Let justice spring up in us, the Church! On earth as it is in heaven! Let our hearts open and salvation bud forth! Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Action: Reflect on how you can bring “justice and peace” to grow in your life today. Is it going to Confession? Is there an injustice that weighs on you that you need to talk deeply and openly to the Lord about? Give God and your neighbor their due, then wait and see what peace will come.