The word Advent, means coming or approach or arrival. And I think if I ask you the simple question, "What's coming?" Most would say, "Christmas." But really, that is not what Advent is intended to do. It's not a preparation for the coming of Christmas, exclusively. It's a preparation for the coming of Christ again, the second coming. So, Advent is a 4 week season of a penitential nature; a time of penance, and fasting and almsgiving and prayer, to prepare for Jesus' coming at the Judgment. And either the world will end before you and I die, or when I die and when you die, the Judgment will occur. I think that's probably considered the most likely course of action. And so, in the first two weeks of Advent, you'll hear the readings talking, and they don't sound "Christmasy." They talk about the Judgment. I love that first reading from Isaiah. It is very Jewish. "We're no good. We've made messes. But, look, you made us." Beautiful. And that's their technique. When you read the Jewish scripture, Hebrew scripture, they kind of schmooze God. He loves it, you know, he's Jewish, too. The third week of Advent, the focus is a little bit off of the final coming and the Judgment, and its on the Kingdom that exists among us, and that's a very joyful thing. So the color for that third week is rose, the rose vestments. (Rose, by the way, not pink. I ain't wearing no pink vestments.) And then finally, the fourth week of Advent focuses on the incarnation. We will hear the story in the Gospel of the Annunciation. So Advent is really a time to prepare us for the final Judgment.

You know the Gospel is really all about that. If you read the Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, (of course, the word Gospel means the life of Christ, the story of His life), it's a constant warning to get ready because the Judgment is coming. Every once in a while, someone will tell me, "You talk about sins too much." Well, that's because Jesus spoke about sin. The Gospel speaks about sin, Judgment and accountability. And so that's why we meet, to consider those things, as we prepare for the Judgment that awaits all of us.

So, Advent is about a goal, ultimately. Our ultimate goal in life: to get to heaven. Goals are important. A lot of times I ask high school kids, "What are you going to do next year?" And most, of course, are going to college. It's not necessary to go to college for God to love you. Some of you read an editorial in yesterday's paper, about the young man who became a Marine. It was in the Journal, the OpEd piece. It was a story about a young man who lived in a wealthy community where most kids went to college, and he said, "I'm going to become a Marine." And his father had a major conversion about it. People said things like, "Oh, I'm so sorry. He was such a good student." As if being a Marine was some kind of disgrace. In any case, "What are you going to do after high school? What are you going to do in college?" And even after graduate school. You goal. You have to have goals. And even when a person begins a career, you're probably thinking about your next step in your career, the next goal. And then finally when your hair turns gray and your kids are grown, you think about retirement. And then, hopefully, eventually, you will think about the Judgment. And we will think about the Judgment though all these stages of life. Some people never think about the Judgment. I was in Scottsdale, Arizona, several years ago at spring training, (Scottsdale is the home of the San Francisco Giants). It was about an hour before the game, I was eating a hot dog, and reading the program. And these two couples came over and said, "Can we use this bench with you?" I said, "Of course," and I continued to eat my hot dog and read my program, but I was really listening to their conversation. (Nosy, you know.) And I learned a lot about them in about a half hour. They were two couples who were friends. They were all retired, and they spent their life traveling in their RV. They went from place to place to place to place to place. And I was thinking, this was the denial of death journey. As long as we have gas in the RV and have food, we aren't going to die. And that is just what they did, and I thought "How sad is this?" And you could tell they were kind of grouchy, and they were getting sick of each other any way. Like your kids who have been home now for four days and you can't wait for them to go back, you know? One of them said, "We need to see the Grand Canyon again. I'd love to see it before I ...(change the subject... before I die)." I felt like saying, "If you do the right thing now, you'll get a better view of it when you die." Denial of the reality of life and death.

A couple of weeks ago, a woman called me from my former parish, with the name Judy. I had no idea who she was. And she said, "Father, this is Judy. Remember me?" "Judy, Judy, Judy!" No idea. She said, "I need you to call my father, William. You remember my father, he was at Joey's first holy communion." "Oh!" The highlight of my life, you know. Well, anyway, dad, William, is 81 years of age and he's dieing and he will not get a priest. She says, "Call my father." And so I did. He was in the hospital, I think in Michigan. So I called him. And after a bunch of small talk, I asked him, "Well, what are you doing in the hospital?" And he said, "Well, I've got congestive heart failure and the doctor told me I'm going to die. And I don't understand it, because I ate right and exercised." Well, that's the American thought, if you eat right and exercise, you'll never die. He actually thought that. So I said, "William, you're 81. You're worn out. It's time to go. You're getting close. Get a priest." That's why the daughter told me to call. And I told him, "A priest will hear your confession, lay hands on you, give you the sacrament of the sick." And he says, "OK father. I guess I'm a gonner. I'll get the priest." But he's typical American. Its this thought, "I'm not going to die." But you are going to die, and so am I. And you know something? That's good news. If there was a pill we could take tomorrow to live to be 500, we'd all celebrate tomorrow. The next day we'd wake up with a hang over and say, "Oh, no! Not another 400 and some years of this!" I asked some people. I asked Tony Porto, he's 85. Boy, doesn't he look great? Exercises right and eats well. I asked Tony, "Would you like to be 30 years younger, Tony?" I asked him this yesterday. He said, "No." I asked him, "Would you like one more year? Would you like to be a year younger?" And he said, "No. I don't want to back one second. I'm happy where I am." Mary was in there too. I sat with Mary, and she gets mad at me when I talk about her, so don't mention that I mentioned her name. Mary said, "I don't want to go back either." That's Christian faith. They both want to go forward because they know they're going to see Jesus Christ. They're going to see him face to face. And so, Advent helps us to prepare to do that.

And you know, it's not only the 81 year olds. I've never realized .... Since I've been a priest, I've done so many funerals for children and young people. I had a 17-year-old boy who was murdered, shot. Another, a 19-year-old boy who spoke to the wrong girl at a party and was murdered. A 12-year-old boy I knew so well, his name was Brian, who died of leukemia. I knew a young mother with three children, who was on her way to work with the 3 kids in the SUV, went to grab a bottle, a kid dropped a bottle, and the SUV flipped. She died and the kids were OK. So we don't know. And the logical person, the person with any brains at all, says, "Well, I'd better be ready. I'd better be prepared, because I don't know when that day will come." The scriptures warn us, and warn us, and warn us of that.

So what do you have to do to get ready? You've got to read the manual, read the Bible. Catholic instruction. So go home and get your Bible. (Catholic home, the first thing we do when we pick up our Bible? Blow the dust off of it, you know?) My first parish, in Rio Rancho, there was this couple who came to mass every Sunday, and sat in front. She had a big Bible. And after about three months, she said, "You know, I'm not Catholic." I said, "I know that." She said, "How'd you know that?" I said, "You always have a Bible." This is the instruction manual. Read it, especially the Gospels. And then do what Jesus did. Jesus had a limited time on earth to accomplish what he needed to do, and we have a limited time as well. So do what Jesus did. Jesus had a strong spiritual life, he prayed every day. I don't know how people can survive without praying every day. I mean. Are we that busy? Pray every day, in the morning and at night. Jesus shared his goals with others, too. Tell everyone you know, you work with, your friends, your family, you love Jesus Christ and you want to get to heaven. Share your goals. It's especially true with college kids. When you get to college, tell every one you're a Christian. That will help you with the boys and girls. I hope. Share your goals, then it's easier to accomplish them. I tried to quit smoking for many years. I quit about 25 years ago. And I couldn't quit. I was so addicted to tobacco. And I figured out how I quit. I told everyone, "On January 1^st, I'm quitting." I told everyone, especially people I didn't like. And I had to quit, because my pride was greater than my addiction. So share your goals. Let people know who you are and who Christ is to you. And Jesus spent time with his friends. If he needed friends, close intimate friends, so do we. And that's especially true for young people. Spend time with them. Choose your friends well. Sir Walter Raleigh said, "Choose your friends well, for you will become like them." Think about that. You become what your friends are. You choose them, and you'll become like them. And our goals are more easily achieved when we are with people who love us, who share our goals with us. And Jesus was an evangelist, and as Christians we need to be. And this is not private revelation just to think about. It's to be shared. If I had a cure for cancer and I went to the hospital and didn't share it, what a fool I'd be. Well, we know the secret to eternal life. How selfish are we when we don't share that knowledge with others. And lastly, Jesus was more influenced by God than by the opinions of others.

So, how are you doing? Like that Budweiser commercial, "How ya' doin?" Now's a good time to ask that question. Are you ready for the Judgment, if you die tonight? Imagine if we knew we were all going to die 168 hours from now. Next Saturday night, we're all dieing. We'd be very good this week. Could happen. Who knows? Advent says, "Wake up. Pay attention to what really, really matters. That's eternity, and where you're going to spend it."

Finally, Mother Theresa said this, "Each one has a mission to fulfill, a mission of love. At the hour of death, when we come face to face with God, we're going to be judged on love. Not how much we have done, but how much love we have put into the doing."