And so it is we start a new liturgical year the first Sunday of Advent. We light the candle on our Advent wreath. It is a candle which is a sign of hope. This is a season that is simply filled with hope and prayerful anticipation for the coming of the Lord. Recently I took a friend of mine who was having his first surgery in a hospital. In fact, he had prolonged the surgery for more than three years, and finally they told him at work you can’t come back to work until you have the surgery taken care of. He was filled with fear and there was nothing you could say or do to help dissipate the fear. We got to the hospital, they put you in that little room as you know and they’re doing all the testing and they ask your name about 1,400 times and the date of your birth all that, and he just was a wreck. And the nurse kept saying just pay attention, look around, you’re being cared for, nothing to fear. She was trying to offer hope and promise. Well, the nurse came in and she said the doctor is, your surgery is going to be two hours later, because he’s having a little bit difficulty with the patient he’s working on now. Now that didn’t help at all, at all, as you can imagine. The fear escalated, and so they finally called the doctor out of surgery, brought him in the room to talk to my friend, and basically he said the same thing. Fear nothing, live in hope, pay attention, be alert, look around, you’re in great hands. And as the doctor was giving his little talk of encouragement and hope to my friend, the anesthesiologist hit him with a needle and knocked him out right in the room. Perfect. This is a season of hope. Those first two readings if we heard them were filled with hope, and with joy, and with anticipation. The gospel talks about end times a little bit, but the real point of the gospel though, is to say be prepared, stay awake, be alert. Look at all the hope that surrounds us, be ready to celebrate this wonderful season of Advent. With prayer, with anticipation, and with joy.