Reflection for Sunday – November 30, 2025

November 26, 2025Brigit HurleySunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Isaiah 2: 1-5; Romans 13: 11-14; Matthew 24: 37-44
Preacher: Brigit Hurley

This weekend we mark the beginning of the liturgical year and the first Sunday of Advent. When I read the Gospel to prepare this reflection, I was surprised. In my 60+ years of church-going, I never remember kicking off the season of Advent with stories of robberies and sudden disappearances.

Then I realized that the Gospel story is more complex than it appears at first. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.” Sounds terrifying, but I’m not sure what’s more frightening—is it to be taken or to be left behind? Who’s the one in trouble in this scenario? What should I be afraid of?

That’s when I noticed that Jesus is not telling his disciples to be afraid of being taken or being left behind. He is saying “Stay awake, for you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” Stay awake, be prepared — not “Be afraid.”

We so often expect judgment from God, despite the fact that Jesus assures us over and over, “Don’t be afraid.” Apparently if you add up all the verses where Jesus encourages us to not be fearful, it totals over 500 times! Yet this Gospel story has been used many times throughout history to instill anxiety about the Rapture. The coming of the Lord is akin to being robbed.

I tend to agree with other interpretations of this scripture. “Stay awake” can mean many different things. It’s easy to miss moments of beauty and connection when we are not present. After all, Jesus came to us as a poor refugee, an infant born into a foreign land. What a joy for the shepherds who were awake when he was born!

How are we to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord today? Well, Jesus tells us on Pentecost that the Holy Spirit will be with us forever. St. Ignatius teaches in his spiritual exercises that if we stay alert, we will discern the Spirit moving in our lives continuously. In his book Universal Christ, Fr. Richard Rohr writes that the “Universal Christ” has been with us since the beginning of time and still is today. He asserts, “The first incarnation was the moment described in Genesis 1, when God joined in unity with the physical universe and became the light inside of everything.” He speaks of the postmodern world creating a mistaken view of God— ” . . . in Christianity, we have made the mistake of limiting the Creator’s presence to just one human manifestation, Jesus.”

May our eyes be open this Advent to the continual arrival of Jesus. We meet God in our families and friends, in our neighbors detained by ICE, in the orphans of Gaza and Ukraine, and in others in whom we see the divine light of God. Let’s stay awake and work fearlessly to create a world more welcoming of God’s presence.

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Brigit Hurley

Brigit Hurley is a Policy Analyst with The Children's Agenda, an independent children’s advocacy organization in Rochester, NY.She serves as staff to The Children’s Agenda’s Interfaith Collaborative. Previously, Brigit worked at Catholic Family Center in Rochester, where she spent ten years in the Office of Social Policy working on issue advocacy and faith-based education and outreach on topics such as poverty, children's mental health, and immigration reform.Previous to that she served as Coordinator of the Rochester Toy Library.Brigit earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.She lives outside Rochester with her husband and 4 children, and worships at St. Monica’s parish on Genesee St.