Today’s readings tell us that the first thing that we need to do to prepare for Christ is to expect the unexpected! We have heard this advice before. When I learned to drive, I was told to drive “defensively” or expect the unexpected.

People in law enforcement are trained to expect the unexpected. Fire fighters entering a burning building are told the same. But in each of these examples, the “unexpected” that we are told to look out for is negative, a threat to our well being.

Too often the reason we don’t do the right thing, the best thing, the required thing, the proper thing is because the results or outcomes that we expect are unpleasant. You need to see your doctor, but you don’t. You need to go to confession but you won’t. You need marriage counseling but you refuse to go. You are urged to start changing your ways but you keep saying, “No”. In these cases, your expectations work against you. God wants them to work for you!

Advent changes the focus from the negative to the positive! The unexpected that we are told to look out for is not the bad that might happen but the good that WILL happen when we put our trust in God! The message of Advent is a message of hope: If you put your trust in God expect him to exceed your expectations of forgiveness, healing, deliverance and peace!