First Sunday of Advent..
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First Sundy of Advent: Solicitude for Eternal Salvation
by Bishop Ehrler, 1891


 "But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; because your redemption is at hand" (Luke 21 : 28).


Our Lord, in the Gospel of this day, directs our attention to the end of the world and the Last Judgment. He speaks of the terrible signs which shall then appear in the heavens, when the light of the sun shall grow dim, the moon shall no longer give her light, the stars shall fall from the firmament, and the world shall be covered with more than Egyptian darkness; and of those other signs which shall then appear upon the earth--of the violent disturbance of the sea, of the distress of nations, and the withering away of men through fear. All these things warn us to enter upon the new Ecclesiastical Year with serious thoughts, and to profit by this season of grace for the advancement of our eternal interests. "When these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand." "Brethren, now is the hour for us to rise from sleep: for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light (Rom. 13: 11-12)".

In the natural year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter follow each other in visible and endless succession; so, also, the ecclesiastical year revolves in a mysterious orbit, elevating and consecrating the various seasons by its graces and blessings. We are thus doubly warned and invited to sanctify ourselves and to travel onward to our heavenly goal. Yet, for vast numbers, these merciful dispensations of Providence are profitless. Time passes, the years, months, and days rush swiftly by, and there is no growth in virtue, no progress in holiness, to be discerned in their souls. How many years have you, my brethren, already spent without gaining any thing for eternal life! Far from increasing in merit, your sins and vices, perhaps, have rendered you utterly bankrupt in divine grace. Most justly, then, does the Apostle exhort us, today, "to cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light;" and, to the end that you profit by his warnings, and those of the present Gospel, I will explain to you that the care for your salvation is:



 I. The most necessary;
 II. The most sublime; and
 III. The sweetest duty of our life.