Many homilies at this time of year could be titled “Don’t forget Advent!” Yes, in our mad rush to prepare for Christmas, this liturgical season is too often passed over and forgotten.

It’s important for us to see Advent as a preparation for us to commemorate the birth of Christ into history. That aspect is pretty clear. Advent is also the time to prepare our hearts to receive Christ spiritually. That too is apparent.

Yet, admit these two “comings” of Christ, there is a third coming that is often forgotten and that might be the most important for us to remember. It is the fact that Advent is all about the second coming in glory of Christ.

One day, when all is ready, Christ our Lord will come again. Not as a child, but as the Lord God of all creation, the Lord Jesus will come and he will be our just judge.

We need to ask ourselves some serious questions: what’s my area of ultimate concern? What’s most important for me in this life? Do I realize that this world is passing away? That the things that might concern me, things that dominate the secular press, don’t matter at all. Our main concern in this life needs to be where we will be in the life to come. What’s our true homeland?