What do you plan to do while you wait for the coming of the Lord? Stay awake, listen, watch, be prepared?

Recently I heard a preacher say, “Every gospel story comes down to the same message: We have to change.” I was struck with how truthful a statement this is.

“So keep a sharp lookout, for you don’t know the timetable. It’s like a man who takes a trip, leaving home and putting his servants in charge, each assigned a task, and commanding the gatekeeper to stand watch.

Last holiday season, the family decided that going to Midnight Mass was not too late for the girls. “It’s not late for me,” said older-sister Emma, as she made a face at her younger sister Katie.

When I was a kid all the guys in my neighborhood played a kind of game—or was it a form of torture?—called “Think quick!”

Like so many others before and after me, when I was in college I discovered the power of caffeine. I could stay up all night and prepare for an exam. With my photographic memory it was just a matter of going over the material enough times to imprint it in my brain.

As the season of Advent begins, we are watchful for the coming of the Lord and for the grace to receive him.

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharp.