Homily for the Mass of the 1st Sunday of Advent: “I sleep but my heart is awake”

Sunday 30 November 2025
1^er Sunday of Advent – ​​Year A

Homily by Father Emmanuel Schwab

1^st reading: Isaiah 2,1-5
Psaume : 121 (122),1-2, 3-4ab,4cd-5,6-7,8-9
2^rd Reading: Romans 13:11-14a
Gospel: Matthew 24,37-44

The spiritual exercise that the Church calls us to experience during the time of Advent is the exercise of vigilance, of watchfulness. "So keep watch""The Lord says," says the Lord. Drawing on the first coming of the Word made flesh in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago, we rekindle our expectation of his coming in glory. This vigilance, this attentiveness to this coming event, the day and hour of which we do not know, should make us attentive to recognizing the signs of the Lord's third coming, an "intermediate" coming: between his coming in Bethlehem and his coming in glory at the end of time, the Lord never ceases to come to us, the Lord never ceases to make himself present in our lives. This is evident, of course, in the sacraments, where there is a kind of objectivity to the presence and action of Jesus, but also in many events of our lives. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus is a good guide for us, teaching us to see how the Lord acts, because when we read her writings, we notice that very often, where we would see only our own actions, Thérèse deciphers the Lord's action in her life. By spending time with Thérèse, we in turn learn to recognize that the Lord acts, comes to us in various ways. 

Advent is therefore a time of watchfulness, of vigilance: being attentive to what the Lord is doing, being attentive to the Lord's presence. And for this, we need to set aside time to read the Holy Scriptures… I was going to say choose what you like. We are entering a new liturgical year: this year we will read the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Why not begin by reading it continuously during this Advent season? Nourishing ourselves with Holy Scripture so that the Holy Spirit can show us how what Jesus did, he continues to do in our lives. And then setting aside time for prayer, silent prayer, this time when I make myself available to the Lord so that he may do in me what he wills. These are not moments for feeling anything: it is about offering this time of silence to the Lord so that he may act, as he wills. In the hustle and bustle of our lives, in the hustle and bustle of our world, it is important to create these moments of pause, these moments of silence where we find the Lord, not through sensation, but through faith: You are there Lord, you promised it to us.

“I am with you always, to the very end of time”… And we can think back to what Thérèse recounts of her childhood, when she evokes that episode at the abbey school, when she answers a nun who asks her what she does when she has nothing to do. Thérèse tells her that she goes behind her bed, that there, in silence, she thinks. And the nun says to her: 

- But what are you thinking about? 

Thérèse, who is about 9 years old, says to him:

– I think about God, about life… about eternity, well, I think!… 

And then she said:

– I understand now that I was already praying. (Ms A Folio 33, v°)

Thinking about life, about God, about eternity. Awaiting the coming of Christ in glory as we await beloved friends who come to visit us. We know well how we behave: we tidy up our homes a little and then we prepare a good meal. And when everything is ready, we are there, our hearts alert, listening for the sound of an approaching car, the sound of a slamming door, ready to rush to welcome them, because the love we have for them, the love of friendship, compels us to take care of them first. This is how we must await the coming of the Lord in glory, watch for his coming, watch for the signs of his presence, already heralding his coming in glory… whether it be tomorrow, whether it be in 3 million years, it doesn't matter. It is a matter of keeping our hearts watchful. And Thérèse, when she speaks of the watchful heart, speaks of it almost exclusively in relation to Jesus. At Christmas 1887, the Christmas when Thérèse had decided she would enter the Carmelite convent—but she would have to wait another three months—to console her, Céline made her a small boat, which can be seen at Les Buissonnets. Thérèse recounts:

In my room, in the middle of a charming pond, I had found a small ship carrying the sleeping baby Jesus with a small ball beside Him; on the white sail, Céline had written these words: "I sleep, but my heart is awake." and on the ship this single word: "Abandon!" (Ms A Folio 68, r°)

“I sleep, but my heart is awake”: this is a line from the Song of Songs. Often, in commentaries on this book, this line is attributed to the bride awaiting her bridegroom. And here, Thérèse, as well as Céline and undoubtedly Pauline, apply it to Jesus. It is Jesus who is the one who sleeps, yet whose heart is awake. Thérèse experiences in her prayer that Jesus does not intervene—she sees his interventions at other times in her life—but in prayer, she says: Jesus sleeps. But at the same time, she has this idea that Jesus sleeps, but his heart is awake, so that Thérèse’s vigil, awaiting the coming of Christ in glory, awaiting the day when she will finally meet him face to face, this vigil of Thérèse is like an imitation of Jesus’ vigil. It should be the same for us: that our watchful attitude, that this spiritual exercise we will undertake during Advent, be a way of imitating the Lord who sleeps, but whose heart is watchful. On several occasions, she refers to him in this way—in a letter she writes:

I know that his heart is always watching and that in the homeland of Heaven He will deign to open His divine eyes… (LT 160 of April 3, 1894, to Sister Marie-Aloysia Vallée).

Elsewhere in manuscript A she speaks of Him whose heart watches during his sleep (Ms A Folio 67, v°). And in one of the pious recreations, the Flight into Egypt, she has the Blessed Virgin speak, who, in a low voice, says:

Joseph, may God bless your sleep, rest in peace under the watchful eye of The one whose heart is always watching(The Flight into Egypt, RP6, Folio 2r°)

Reviving our prayer life. 

To revive our vigilance, our expectation of the coming of Christ in glory amidst the events of our world, the future of which we do not know well. 

Our stability lies in keeping watch while awaiting the coming of Christ. 

And that's why, reject the activities of darknesss, as Paul and we equip ourselves with weapons of lightAnd the attitudes he describes are all very simple: “Let us conduct ourselves decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in lust and debauchery, not in rivalry and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” That is, strive to imitate the Lord in your behavior toward your brothers and sisters. Strive to love as Jesus loves, to be gentle and patient as Jesus is gentle and patient, to be helpful as Jesus became a servant, and so on… 

Let us give thanks to God who comes to find us, throughout the liturgical year, to train us to revive our Christian life, that is to say our life as children of God, so that we may progress on the path of holiness.

Amen