Meditation: Mark 13:33-37

1st Sunday of Advent

Be watchful! Be alert! (Mark 13:33)

And so Advent begins with the call to be alert. There’s one group of people, however, who don’t need any reminding: children! They watch television ads intently, search the Internet eagerly, and pore over catalogues endlessly, looking for just the right gifts to ask for. We adults would do well to imitate their sense of wonder and enthusiasm.

Yes, Jesus urges us to be alert, but for what? For God to “rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 63:19).He wants us to look for ways that he can remove barriers between him and us.

Consider how God answered when the Israelites asked him to open heaven. He didn’t just rend the heavens; he stepped through, gathered us in his arms, and invited us to join him for all eternity. Such astounding, abundant generosity!

You know how to give gifts to the people you love. How much more should you expect from God the Father? He loves you completely. He delights in you. He enjoys giving you good things. So go ahead, and ask him for something this Advent.

Maybe you need more patience or more self-control around holiday food and drink. Ask him! Maybe you’d like to feel his presence more concretely or hear him speak to your heart more clearly. Expect it! Then be alert for it as you pray.

Don’t limit Jesus only to the small gifts. Open wide the doors of your heart, and let him give you new and unexpected gifts: joy, peace, gentleness, vision, courage. He may not answer exactly as you expect, but that’s okay. Let his creativity surprise you. You can be sure that he will give you only good gifts, even if you can’t recognize them right away. Just believe that when you ask, you will receive and when you seek, you will find.

“Father, I can’t wait to see what you do this Advent! Rend the heavens, Lord, and come down to visit us!”

Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7
Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion

(Isaiah 63:16-17,19; 64:2-7; Psalm 80:2-3,15-16,18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37)

1. The first reading contains one of the few times in the Old Testament when God is referred to as “our Father.” The reading ends with these powerful words: “Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.” What do these words mean to you?

2. Also, in the first reading, we hear these words: “All of us have become like unclean people, all our good deeds are like polluted rags” (Isaiah 64:5). Why do you think the people’s so-called “good deeds” were so offensive to God? In what ways can our own good deeds be offensive to God? How would you describe the difference between human good deeds and God-inspired deeds?

3. In the responsorial psalm, we cry out to the Lord along with the psalmist to come and save us, so that he will “give us new life and we will call upon his name.” What areas of your life do you need to cry out to the Lord for “new life”? Do you believe as you cry out, he will answer you? Why or why not?

4. In the second reading, St. Paul states that the Corinthians have been “enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge” (1 Corinthians 1:5) and that they “are not lacking in any spiritual gift” (1:7). Yet, later on in this letter, Paul is quite critical of their immaturity, tolerance of open sin, and their own sinfulness. Why do you think that in spite of the great outpouring of the Spirit upon the Corinthians, they had so much difficulty living holy and righteous lives? In what way is this also a warning to you and me as well?

5. In the Gospel reading, Jesus uses such words as “beware,” “keep alert,” “watch,” “stay awake,” and “be on guard” as he describes the events leading up to his second coming. What message was Jesus trying to convey with these words? How do they apply to each of us today during this Advent season of watching and waiting?

6. In the meditation, we hear these words: “You know how to give gifts to the people you love. How much more should you expect from God the Father? He loves you completely. He delights in you. He enjoys giving you good things. So go ahead, and ask him for something this Advent.” The meditation goes on to suggest various things we can ask our heavenly Father for this Advent? What “good things” would you like to receive from Him?

7. Take some time now to pray that Advent would be a special season of grace and expectation for you and all your loved one -- as we await the coming of our Lord. Use the prayer at the end of the meditation as the starting point.

A Christian Pilgrim

WATCH AND PRAY

(A biblical reflection on THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT [Year B], 30 November 2014)

Gospel Reading: Mark 13:33-37

First Reading: Isaiah 63:16-17,19;64:1,3-8; Psalms: Psalm 80:2-3,15-16,18-19; Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

The Scripture Text

“Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Watch therefore – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning – lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Watch.” (Mark 13:33-37 RSV)

Once upon a time, God, the infinite, eternal and all powerful One, came down to meet us on the dusty roads of human life. In the flesh of Jesus Christ, God walked with us through our light and darkness, our joys and sorrows, our solitude and relationships. Scripture writers called it the “fullness of time”. Things would never be the same again.

In Jesus Christ, God spoke to us in the human language that we can understand. His life warmly portrays God’s love and concern for us. And yet the story is not complete. The journey stretches on until we fully share in Christ’s glorification. That will be at the completion of life’s journey. For the moment we are a people on the way.

Advent is a time of waiting and watching. It is a very special time for Christians. It opens the Church’s year by picking up the theme of our journey towards Christ who is coming back to meet us. We are not like wandering nomads who have no sure purpose or definite direction. We have the pilgrim’s destiny with God. We travel forward on a road of unknown length until Christ will come again.

The focus of the first Sunday of Advent is on the Second Coming of Christ. The parable of the doorkeeper speaks of the master who will come back to the servants. The message for the servants is twofold: “Be on your guard and stay awake” …… watch and pray.

One task of the doorkeeper’s employment is to keep out unwanted visitors and intruders. Here the parable is a moral warning not to open up our doors to the ways of sin. Each passing day we are to watch with the vigilant eye of the sentry to prevent any intrusions of the enemy.

The unexamined life is a city with no sentries on its walls. Anybody who is serious about living a spiritual life is advised to undertake a daily reflection on our situation. This means more than counting up the number of our faults. It involves an honesty about what motivates us in the things we do.

We are sometimes surprised when we recognize that some exemplary deeds are done out of very subtle, selfish motivation. We may be doing the right things only to be praised or at least recognized as virtuous, to impress others, or as part of a self-seeking bargain with God. In daily reflection we guard against the intrusions of selfishness in our motivation.

The second task to the doorkeeper is to open up promptly to all who have the right to enter. Applied to the spiritual life, this means a spirit of prayerfulness or sensitivity to God. The sensitive soul is awake with all the longing of the lover for the approaching footsteps of the beloved. But what is He line, this God-who-comes? In today’s first reading Isaiah uses three very appealing names for God … our Father, our Redeemer and the potter.

God is the Father who has created us with the potential to share in the divine life. God is the Redeemer who continues to pay the price of liberating us from slavery to incomplete forms of life. He offers us life to the full. And God is the potter who is ever crafting our lives anew. The present clay may be messy and, in our view, without meaningful form or beauty. But the divine craftsman can mould and fashion an amazing masterpiece in the twinkling of an eye.

The God who is coming back the road to meet us wants to lift us up as His children, wants to liberate us and fashion us anew.

Do not think of the Second Coming as so distant and unknown as to be irrelevant to the hurly-burly of today’s living. If we are spiritually vigilant and alert then the future will draw us forward towards God. Our hope will energize us by supporting us when we are weak and encouraging us to persevere.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we believe that our lives are on a journey towards our heavenly Father who is reaching back to us this day and every day. So, we will be on our guard lest the ways of sin enslave our thoughts. We will also watch in prayer, be vigilant and alert to the daily visitations of the Holy Spirit to our souls. Praised be the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sunday Scripture Study

First Sunday of Advent – Cycle B

Opening prayer

Isaiah 63:16b-17,19b;64:2-7

(Ps 80:2-3,15-16.18-19)

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Mark 13:33-37

Overview of the Gospel:

• This first Sunday of Advent’s Gospel reading is taken from the end of Mark’s version of the Olivet Discourse (Mark 13:1ff; see also Matthew 24:4-14 and Luke 21:8-19), delivered on the Mount of Olives outside of Jerusalem shortly before his Passion.

• The discourse itself was precipitated by a question from his disciples about the destruction of the temple (verse 4), which Jesus had just predicted (verse 2). For the Jews, the end of the temple was akin to the end of the world; the end of life as they knew it.

• Jesus’ discourse has elements of both events, plus predictions of the persecution to come (verse 9-13; Acts 4:5ff, 6:12ff; Matthew 5:10-11; Romans 8:18), of false prophets (verse 21- 22), and of the warning signs of the time. The end of the temple and the end of time can also be related to the end of each person’s life when he or she will be judged.

• At the same time, Jesus makes it clear that the exact timing of each of these events is unknown (verse 32). This takes us to this Sundays Gospel passage.

Questions:

• In the 1st Reading, what situation does Isaiah find God’s people in? How does that compare to the God’s people today? What is he calling on God to do? For what should we be asking God to do in our day? In the world? In the Church? In our own lives?

• In the 2nd Reading, what kinds of gifts has God given to all believers by his grace? To what end are we given these gifts? How are you using the gifts God has given you?

• In the Gospel reading, what are the three levels of Jesus’ command to be watchful? • What is the most exciting thing to you about the Second Coming? The most distressing? What questions would you like to ask Jesus about it?

• Why do you think the Lord keeps secret the exact time of his Second Coming? What would be the advantages of knowing? The disadvantages? • How has the social or religious environment worsened in ways that you may have not noticed? How have you been affected by the changes? What need of watchfulness to you see?

• Specifically, how can you fulfill verses 35-37: “Be watchful! Be alert…Watch!”?

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 672, 2848—2849

Closing prayer

For a person to go straight along the road, he must have some knowledge of the end--just as an archer will not shoot an arrow straight unless he first sees the target ... This is particularly necessary if the road is hard and rough, the going heavy, and the end delightful. --St. Thomas Aquinas

When the Red Light Comes On

Pastor’s Column

First Sunday of Advent

November 30, 2014

“Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know the time when he will come… What I say to you, I say to all: watch!”

Mark 13:33–37

Christ advises us to always be on the watch because we do not know when he’s going to show up in our lives, when he is going to act in our lives or when our life is going to come to an end. Christ does promise us that we are almost certainly going to be surprised.

The first job that I had at American Airlines many years ago was as a “reservation sales agent”. This was a tough job that paid well with great benefits, but I was very anxious to get a better position with the company. At that time I was answering the phone for eight hours a day, taking airline reservations, a task I found gruesome at best. I had a little headset attached to a phone pad – the headset looks a lot like what I wear at mass now for my microphone – and on the phone pad was a very scary looking red light. It would come on if my supervisor was listening in – or rather, after she was in to let me know she was there. I never knew when the supervisor was going to be listening.

Periodically, as an employee who was on probation, they would listen to a series of my calls (we call this a “check call”, and we never knew when it was going to happen. One day after a particularly difficult series of calls, I said to myself out loud between customers, “Holy Cow, I hate this job!” At that moment the dreaded red light came on and my supervisor said to me, “Well, in that case, why don’t you just quit!” My career, of course survived this, but I learned to be more watchful in the future of what I said.

Jesus advises us to be watchful. We never know when he’s going to show up, but he promises us that it will almost certainly be in a surprising way. So many times I presided at a funeral of someone who is caught by surprise by their entrance into the eternal life. When I passed by the cemetery, I’m always reminded that many of those there had plans for the day that they died, not realizing that the red light is about to come on the phone pad of life.

Christ wishes to come to us in a surprising way this Advent. Right in the midst of our shopping and busyness, if we are watching, Christ will be present. We will see him in another shopper, or a surprising insight that comes to our mind, a funny coincidence, a remembered scripture, an urge to pray, a decision to help someone else. In a sense, Christ is always “listening in” to our conversations, but we’re often unaware of this until he makes himself known with the equivalent of a red light coming on. Christ advises us to be on our guard because we never know when that red light is going to come on in Christ to make himself known.

Father Gary

Reflections from Scott Hahn

Watch For Him: Scott Hahn Reflects on the First Sunday of Advent

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 11.25.14 |

Bethlehem Bound

Readings:
Isaiah 63:16-17, 19
Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:33-37

The new Church year begins with a plea for God’s visitation. “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,” the prophet Isaiah cries in today’s First Reading.

In today’s Psalm, too, we hear the anguished voice of Israel, imploring God to look down from His heavenly throne - to save and shepherd His people.

Today’s readings are relatively brief. Their language and “message” are deceptively simple. But we should take note of the serious mood and penitential aspect of the Liturgy today - as the people of Israel recognize their sinfulness, their failures to keep God’s covenant, their inability to save themselves.

And in this Advent season, we should see our own lives in the experience of Israel. As we examine our consciences, can’t we, too, find that we often harden our hearts, refuse His rule, wander from His ways, withhold our love from Him?

God is faithful, Paul reminds us in today’s Epistle. He is our Father. He has hearkened to the cry of His children, coming down from heaven for Israel’s sake and for ours - to redeem us from our exile from God, to restore us to His love.

In Jesus, we have seen the Father (see John 14:8-9). The Father has let His face shine upon us. He is the good shepherd (see John 10:11-15) come to guide us to the heavenly kingdom. No matter how far we have strayed, He will give us new life if we turn to Him, if we call upon His holy name, if we pledge anew never again to withdraw from Him.

As Paul says today, He has given us every spiritual gift - especially the Eucharist and penance - to strengthen us as we await Christ’s final coming. He will keep us firm to the end - if we let Him.

So, in this season of repentance, we should heed the warning - repeated three times by our Lord in today’s Gospel - to be watchful, for we know not the hour when the Lord of the house will return.

First Sunday of Advent: Patience Is a Virtue

Sunday Word: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/113014.cfm

Is 63: 16B-17;19B; 64: 2-7
1 Cor 1: 3-9
Mk 13: 33-37

We say that patience is a virtue and indeed it is. Yet, how often do we pray for an increase in patience? It’s the one prayer that God always answers because he takes his time about it and in the process teaches us to be patient.

Yet, it isn’t exactly a popular American virtue. We are not a patient people are we? Have you driven on the highway recently or found another car behind you about three inches from your rear bumper at 70 miles an hour urging you to get out of the way? Have you recently waited in line to buy something and found yourself feeling anxious because the person in front of you took another 20 seconds longer than you expected?

Or how about the American custom called “Black Friday?” Stores opened earlier this year than ever it seemed. Not only before sunrise the day after Thanksgiving but on the evening of Thanksgiving itself! Why? - Because we have no patience to wait for the best bargain. I think we have no patience because we don’t need to have it – we expect to have everything instantly and if we have to wait another 30 seconds it seems like an eternity. In some ways we have become consumed by our own consumer mentality.

So what are we to do about Advent which is all about patiently waiting for the coming of the Lord. Our Jewish brothers and sisters kept the hope of the coming Messiah alive for hundreds of years and passed that hope down generation to generation. We hear of their Biblical patience in our first reading from Isaiah this Sunday: “Oh that you might rend (tear open) the heavens and come down . . . would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! . . . for you have hidden your face from us . . . Yet O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay . . . the work of your hands.”

Writing about 600 years before the coming of Jesus that hope was already expressed among the people; that God would one day “rend” the heavens and come down to save them. That would mean, to bring it home somewhat, that in the year 1414 we would have an expressed hope that we still speak of in the year 2014. Now that’s patience par excel lance!

Advent, in my estimation, is the Church’s gift to us in this hectic and impatient modern world which encourages instant gratification to step back and take our time. It offers us the opportunity to let go of expectations about instant everything and to re-order our priorities both about our Christian life and how we live it. God does not look at time the way we humans do so if we assume that God thinks as we do we would be short sighted indeed.

Yet, the words of the Gospel from Mark this Sunday offer us a wakeup call: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come . . . whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.” What time are we waiting for? I can’t wait – I don’t have the time to wait. Let’s move it along.

We must put aside such an attitude this Advent if we are going to appreciate the richness of this somewhat short season. We have about three and a half weeks of grace offered to us this year to reflect on the profound implications of God’s entry into human history, which is the meaning of the Christmas season. We are offered the grace to live in trust before a God who invites us to slow down and ponder for a moment what this means for me personally and for humanity in general.

That’s a tall task however. It seems the world either hasn’t heard the good news yet or if they did, they forgot and busied themselves with creating war, poverty, self-satisfaction, and the attitude that religion is somehow an enemy to the more progressive values of secular society. Sadly, that which we enjoy so much in our daily lives, technology, has also contributed to this challenging perception that what is new today is old tomorrow.

So, Advent is upon us but you will likely not see any signs of it outside our Churches. What can we do? What should we do about it?

Let’s try living in the present moment rather than anticipating the future. “Be watchful” the Gospel reminds us as we begin this season. Be watchful for God’s presence in our daily life. If we live in anticipation of what our next thing is, we miss the God who speaks to us NOW.

Practice patience. That’s easier said than done many times but live a day simply in deliberate attention. Intentionally carve out some time to pray with the scriptures or the Sunday readings, slowly and prayerfully. How is God present to you in prayer? We are rarely deliberately mindful of our precious time.

If you haven’t done so already, delay sending Christmas cards until at least the middle of December. Pray for the people on your list of family and friends who will receive those cards.

Dress your home somewhere in the violet color of Advent. Christmas tree up already? Don’t turn on the lights for two weeks and just wait. Instead, light a candle each week in anticipation of the Lord’s coming.

Spend some time with a frail loved one who moves slowly and who’s daily life is far less “exciting” than yours.

As we prepare to remember Christ’s coming 2,000 years ago, take some time to find him today.

Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,
the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ
with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,
they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.

Collect of Mass - Roman Missal

Insight Scoop

Advent: Expectation, Exhortation, Eucharist, Eternal Life

"Preaching of Christ on the Mount of Olives about the second coming" (1840) by Alexander Ivanov (WikiArt.org)

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, Nov. 30, 2014 | First Sunday of Advent | Carl E. Olson

Readings:

• Isa 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7
• Psa 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
• 1 Cor 1:3-9
• Mk 13:33-37

When the Son of God came the first time, St. Augustine stated in a sermon, “he came in obscurity, it was to be judged. When he comes openly it will be to judge.” This observation is a helpful (and challenging!) bridge between last week’s Gospel reading—the parable of the sheep and the goats—and today’s Gospel reading, proclaimed on this, the first day of the liturgical year.

“Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, which in turn is a translation of the Greek word, parousia. Both words indicate a coming or arrival and a presence. Advent focuses simultaneously on the first and second comings of Christ, and his presence with us now, especially in the blessed sacrament of the Eucharist. The parousia—sometimes called the second coming of Christ—will be realized fully at the end of time, but has already been initiated by the Incarnation, which revealed the glory of God among men (cf., Jn 1:14).

While some Christians fixate upon the return of Christ to the point that little else matters, Catholics should—especially during Advent—gaze upon and receive the Eucharist, knowing that it is why anything matters at all. In doing so, we proclaim his coming, anticipating the culmination of time and history.

“By gazing on the risen Christ,” wrote Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in Eschatology, his book on death and eternal life, “Christianity knew that a most significant coming had already taken place. It no longer proclaimed a pure theology of hope, living from mere expectation of the future, but pointed to a ‘now’ in which the promise had already become present. Such a present was, of course, itself hope, for it bears the future within itself.” (Eschatology, 44-45).

The Son of God transcends past, present, and future. Yet he became man, entering into time and history in the most stunning and unexpected way: in the darkness of a cave. Nearing the end of his earthly ministry, facing death, he exhorted his disciples, “Be watchful! Be alert!” Thus he emphasized that the second coming would also be unexpected and sudden.

These exhortations to vigilance, although mysterious, helped the early Christian to comprehend the deeper meaning of the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70. They could see that the Church is the new temple, for the Church is the mystical body of Christ. “When he announces its destruction,” the Catechism explains, “it is as a manifestation of his own execution and of the entry into a new age in the history of salvation, when his Body would be the definitive Temple” (par. 593).

Our Lord first came as a humble babe, hidden in a manger, surrounded by family and the shepherds who responded to the glorious news given by angels. He now comes to us in humility, hidden under the form of bread and wine, within the household of God, giving himself to his sheep—those who have responded to the saving message of the Gospel. This gift of the Son is why we can call God our Father. It is also why we acknowledge, as did the prophet Isaiah, our desperate need to be molded and shaped by the loving hands of the Creator: “Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.”

Jesus Christ will one day come in again in power and glory, to judge the living and the dead. Every man will face judgment; every deed will be revealed. “Even now,” St. Augustine told his flock, the Savior “does not keep silent, if there is anyone to listen. But it says he will not keep silent then”—at the final judgment—“because his voice will be acknowledged even by those who despise it.”

Those who despise and ignore the words of Christ are asleep, cocooned in spiritual slumber and sloth. Those who are alert and watch are aware of the Lord’s presence. They long for his coming. They place their hope in the Lord. Such is the essence of Advent.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the November 30, 2008, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Regnum Christi

Always on the Watch

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

November 30, 2014. First Sunday of Advent

Mark 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I all too easily forget that you deserve the first spot in my life. In this moment, though, I recognize you as my King and Master. I know you are present with me now and that you wish to fill me with your grace. Thank you for your friendship; I offer my weak love in return. I love you, Lord, and wish you to reign in my life.

Petition: Lord Jesus, help me to stay vigilant and attentive to your holy inspirations.

1. “You Do Not Know When the Master of the House Will Come.” Lord Jesus, I am not the master of my life; you are. I therefore ought not to fritter away my time simply doing as I please. I will need to render to you an account of my stewardship over my life, which really belongs to you, my Creator and Redeemer. What will you ask of me when you come for my soul? Do my daily actions demonstrate your ownership of my life?

2. Keep Alert Lord Jesus, this Gospel may sound a bit harsh, but I thank you for its message. You’re reminding me how important it is to live my Christian life in a state of healthy tension – a tension that doesn’t imply frustration or anxiety of any sort, but rather is a constant desire to draw closer to you and be more like you. Just as a lover is exquisitely attentive to fulfill the every desire of the beloved, I should be watchful for the least occasion to please you.

3. When He Comes Will I Be Asleep? This Gospel makes me reflect on my need to receive pardon in the sacrament of reconciliation. The definitive moment of my death, that very special face-to-face encounter with you, Lord, might come when I am not expecting it. I must be ready for that moment. I want to be able to look you fully in the eye. I have sought to please you in my actions, and when I have failed, I have turned to you through confession to be washed of my sins. I want to hear you say to me: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come share my joy” (Matthew 25:23).

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, help me to “stay awake” in my daily life, keeping heaven as my true goal in all that I do. Help me to be ready in every moment of my life to be called into your presence.

Resolution: I will set a regular time to receive the sacrament of reconciliation frequently.

Calling For God’s Help in the Midst of Sin

Dr. Mark Giszczak

shutterstock_150012 (1)

November 30, 2014
First Sunday of Advent
First Reading: Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7

The trouble with following God is usually us, but we like to blame him. In this Sunday’s first reading Isaiah grapples with the annoyance of trying to be faithful to a perfectly faithful God. He is a God of powerful wrath and yet a loving father. He causes mountain earthquakes, yet patiently forms us like a potter shaping a vessel. The prophet can only make his petition for help on the basis of his relationship with God, yet as we’ll see, that relationship has some problems.

Context

This reading comes toward the end of Isaiah in the so-called Book of Consolation (chap 40-66). Here the immediately preceding passages relate the Lord’s punishment of Edom and recall his mighty works of deliverance done through Moses. The prophet hopes for a new Moses-era, where the Lord will rescue his people, freeing them from oppressors. Our reading, then, is part of this longer plea (63:7–64:11) for God to act in the way he did at the time of the Exodus.

Finding a Basis for Asking

Let’s say you’re moving and need help to pack up your belongings into a moving van, who would you call? Your friends, of course. You wouldn’t ask that pesky neighbor with the mean dog whom you have never actually made eye-contact with. You would ask people with whom you already have a good relationship. The same principle applies in Isaiah’s asking God for help. He can only ask God because God is his father.

Father or ATM?

Notably, this is one of the only times in the Old Testament that God is prayed to as father (others: Jer 3:4; Sir 23:1, 4; 51:10). Jesus will emphasize the fatherhood of God in the New Testament era, so Isaiah’s father-directed prayer is an important precedent. At the beginning and end of our reading, Isaiah reminds the Lord, “you are our father” (see 63:16, 64:7). He starts and ends with the relationship that gives the rationale for asking for help. This can serve as a reminder for us: We shouldn’t view God as an ATM which dispenses cash and blessings. We must remember to begin with a relationship with him, a relationship of fatherhood and friendship, in which our asking for help comes as a natural part.

Questioning God

The prophet repeatedly juxtaposes God’s awesome acts of deliverance with our problematic moral weaknesses. He almost blames God for the people’s unfaithfulness: “why dost thou make us err from thy ways and harden our heart, so that we fear thee not?” (Isa 63:17 RSV) He connects the Lord’s anger with the people’s sinfulness, toying with a cause and effect relation, “Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?” (Isa 64:5 RSV) Rather than answering these difficult questions himself, the prophet lets them hang in the air, oozing with implications, hoping that the Lord will pick up the hint.

God’s Deeds vs. Our Deeds

While he gets close to blaming God, Isaiah steps back and acknowledges that the people for whom he pleads are sinful. He even says “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (Isa 64:6 RSV) He uses the language of ritual impurity which in the Old Covenant would prevent someone from approaching God, entering the Temple and coming near to worship. To emphasize exactly how unclean the people are, he uses the shocking and unsual term, beged ‘idim, which literally means “garment of menstruation,” bringing to mind all of the Levitical laws regarding ritual impurity (esp. Lev 15:19-30).

Prayer in the Midst of Sin

Sin makes a person impure, unclean, in both a moral and a ritual sense. Ritual impurity bars one from making offerings in the Temple, from official worship. Yet here, the prophet makes his petition in the midst of a state of uncleanness (recalling Isaiah 6:5 – “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips”). He acknowledges his unworthiness, his state of broken relationship with God. He even describes “our iniquities” as the wind carrying off our dried-up souls to who knows where (64:6). Yet in the midst of sinfulness and impurity, Isaiah makes his prayer to God. Despite his deeds, and the deeds of the whole people, he trusts. How could God deliver him from the oppression of sin if he could not pray while oppressed by it?

Double Trouble

This is where our relationship with God always feels like double trouble. We repent and turn to him and try to live a holy life, yet find ourselves in the Confession line, but that is right where he wants us. We find ourselves in a constant life-and-death battle with sin and temptation, praying to God for deliverance in the midst of our impurity. It is a puzzling and perpetual problem. We want to be fully on “God’s side,” fully given over to him, fully surrendered, yet we find that on earth, sin always still has an irritating foothold in us. We can’t seem to completely shake it off no matter how we try. It would be tempting to face the situation in despair and give up. Many do. But Isaiah shows us that no matter how tight the tension gets between who we are and who God is, his power and our weakness, our desire and our action, we need have hearts big enough to take the tension and humbly recognize our need for rescue.

Isaiah calls to mind that God delivers the weak and oppressed: the slaves in Egypt, the exiles in Babylon. Even those who are “unclean” can call on him as “father” and can look at themselves as “thy servants, the tribes of thy heritage” (63:17). He knows that we are weak and he is a God who loves to rescue the oppressed from the oppressor. In Advent, we can take the time to recall his awesome deeds of mountain shaking law-giving at Sinai and look forward to his heaven-rending deliverance.

Scripture Speaks: Be Watchful

Gayle Somers

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The Gospel reading sounds the call of Advent: Be watchful! How?

Gospel (Read Mk 13:33-37)

Our very first Gospel in this new season of Advent puts into our ears Jesus’ own words to prepare us for it: “Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Be watchful! Be alert!’” He then tells them how to do this. He uses the example of a household in which “the lord of the house” has gone away and left his servants “in charge, each with his own work.” The servants are warned against being asleep on the job. Since they “do not know when the lord of the house is coming,” they must not make the mistake of thinking they can be lazy or indifferent toward their work. The best way for them to “watch” for their master is to be conscientious and active in the work he has given them to do.

What a wonderful way for us to start this season of waiting! Through all its Scripture readings, liturgies, and celebrations, we will be roused up out of whatever laziness, doldrums, or distractions might have gotten a foothold in us this past year, helping us now to heed Jesus’ call to “watch.” When we remember the work He has left for us and decide to give fresh attention and energy to it, we will not be caught sleeping at His return, whenever it may be. As surely as Jesus came the first time, in a manger, He will come again, in power and glory. In the meantime, He “comes” to us in every Mass, in the bread and wine, as we acclaim, “Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the LORD.”

During this penitential season, let us check ourselves for drowsiness and heavy-lidded eyes; let us have ears to hear what the Church is saying: “Be alert!”

Possible response: Lord Jesus, I want to be awake to You this year. Help me prepare well for that during Advent.

First Reading (Read Isa 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7)

Isaiah was sent by God to the people of Judah (about 700 B.C.), because having wandered so far from covenant faithfulness, they had “become like unclean people.” Here, however, he calls out to God on their behalf: “Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from Your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear You not?” The sin of the people had become so bad that Isaiah pleaded to God: “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down.” He remembered that God physically visited His people on Mt. Sinai, centuries earlier, when Moses delivered them from bondage in Egypt. Isaiah longs for another visit from God, but he knows the people of Israel are not ready for that yet, because even their “good deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.” Sadly, Isaiah knew that fellowship with God had been radically broken: “There is none who calls upon Your Name, who rouses himself to cling to You.” See that sloth had infected these people, the very thing Jesus warned us about in the Gospel.

However, the prophet knows that no matter how broken the relationship between God and His people, He is still their “father.” The people, for all their faults, are still “clay” in the hands of the “potter.” This is always the hope of God’s people. The first Advent of Jesus answered Isaiah’s longing for God to appear beyond what any “ear has ever heard” or “eye ever seen.” He did that “for those who wait for Him.” The second Advent of Jesus, for which we are now preparing, will do the same. Jesus repeats Isaiah’s desire to help us form our Advent resolve this year: “Would that You might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of You in our ways!”

Possible response: Lord Jesus, I know that being ready for You means being serious about resisting sin. Please strengthen me against it during this Advent.

Psalm (Read Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19)

The expectation of seeing God’s face, described in different ways in the Gospel and our first reading, finds expression yet again in our psalm. The fact is, ever since the Garden of Eden, man has longed to see the face of God. When Adam and Eve were exiled from Paradise, they took with them this sense of longing. Jesus fulfilled man’s deepest desire by revealing to us “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6). This event was in direct answer to the psalmist’s prayer: “O shepherd of Israel, hearken, from Your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth. Rouse Your power, and come to save us.”

Now, we find ourselves, as God’s people, still longing to see His face, because we know that the work of salvation, although begun with the first Advent, will only be truly fulfilled with the Second Advent. So, we find the words of our responsorial appropriately powerful today: “LORD, make us turn to You; let us see Your face and we shall be saved.”

Possible response: The psalm is, itself, a response to our other readings. Read it again prayerfully to make it your own.

Second Reading (Read 1 Cor 1:3-9)

The wonderful help we get from St. Paul’s reading today is the knowledge that we can begin this Advent season with confidence that what we need to be ready for the Lord’s return has already been given to us. In his letter to the Church in Corinth, a group of converts made up largely of former pagans, St. Paul assures them that, because of their conversion, they were “not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We should note that if we were to read all of this epistle, we would discover that the Corinthian church was actually plagued by many problems, including immorality, liturgical chaos, and doctrinal confusion. However, we can see at the outset St. Paul’s confidence that Jesus “will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Why could he be so sure about this? St. Paul knew that God was working out His plan in these people, and as long as they did not fall asleep on the job, “God is faithful, and by Him you were called to fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This is exactly the perspective we need as we begin Advent in 2014: God wants us to see His face again, as much as we do. He has done everything necessary for that to happen, as we could not do it for ourselves. What is our part? It is to do the work He has given us to do, with all the spiritual gifts granted to us in our baptism and confirmation. If we embrace today for the glory of God, we will see the Glory of God when He returns; we will be responsive to the call to be “watchful” and “alert.”

Possible response: Father, I thank You that I have all I need to enable me to be ready to see the face of Jesus. Help me remember to use Your gifts well in my Advent waiting.

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 30, Issue 6

<< Sunday, November 30, 2014 >>

First Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
View Readings

Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
Mark 13:33-37
Similar Reflections

AN ADVENTAGEOUS ADVENTURE

"No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but You doing such deeds for those who wait for Him." —Isaiah 64:3

We should take Advent as seriously as a new mother takes her pregnancy. The Christmas season is not merely a memory, celebration, or blessing, but a new, extremely important encounter with the incarnate Jesus. St. Charles Borromeo taught: "This holy season (Advent) teaches us that Christ's coming was not only for the benefit of His contemporaries; His power has still to be communicated to us" (from Office of Readings, Monday of the first week of Advent). Christmas will be an exceptional grace or an opportunity sadly missed.

Therefore, our Advent preparation for Christmas is very important for God's kingdom, the Church, the world, the future, our families, and ourselves. "Our hearts should be as much prepared for this coming of Christ (Christmas) as if He were still to come into this world" (St. Charles Borromeo). Moreover, if we are not prepared for Christ's unique Christmas coming this year, we are not prepared for His coming at the end of the world.

Consequently, "be constantly on the watch! Stay awake! You do not know when the appointed time will come" (Mk 13:33). "Wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 1:7). Make this the best Advent ever, preparing for Christ's greatest Christmas coming of your life.

Prayer: Father, make this Advent more than we can ever ask for or imagine (Eph 3:20).

Promise: "Would that You might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of You in our ways!" —Is 64:4

Praise: Praise You, risen Jesus, Emmanuel, "God with us!" You became flesh and dwelt among us. Praise You for letting us see Your glory (Jn 1:14).

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for:November 30, 2014
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o Plum Pudding with Coffee-Brandy Ice Cream Sauce

o Rich Fruit Cake

ACTIVITIES

o Advent and the Year of the Eucharist

o Advent Calendar II

o Advent or Mary Candle I

o Advent or Mary Candle II

o Advent Wreath: Background and How To Make Your Own Wreath

o Advent Wreath: Making Your Own

o Gifts for Jesus, the Advent Manger

o Jesse Tree Instructions

o Jesse Tree Symbols

o Posters for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany

o Religion in the Home for Elementary School: December

o Religion in the Home for Preschool: December

o Stir-Up Sunday

o Stir-Up Sunday - First Sunday in Advent

PRAYERS

o Blessing of the Advent Wreath

o Hungarian wheat

o Advent Prayers

o Jesse Tree Prayer Service

o Advent Table Blessing 1

o Book of Blessings: Blessing of an Advent Wreath (First Sunday of Advent)

o Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Advent (1st Plan)

LIBRARY

o Caryll Houselander and the Flowering of Christ | Janet Golden

· Advent: November 30th

· First Sunday of Advent

Old Calendar: First Sunday of Advent

For Catholics, the new Liturgical Year commences with the first Sunday of Advent. In this new liturgical year, the Church not only wishes to indicate the beginning of a period, but the beginning of a renewed commitment to the faith by all those who follow Christ, the Lord. This time of prayer and path of penance that is so powerful, rich and intense, endeavors to give us a renewed impetus to truly welcome the message of the One who was incarnated for us. In fact, the entire Liturgy of the Advent Season, will spur us to an awakening in our Christian life and will put us in a ‘vigilant’ disposition, to wait for Our Lord Jesus who is coming:

‘Awaken! Remember that God comes! Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today, now! The one true God, "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob", is not a God who is there in Heaven, unconcerned with us and our history, but he is the-God-who-comes.’¹

The Season of Advent is therefore a season of vigilant waiting, that prepares us to welcome the mystery of the Word Incarnate, who will give the ‘Light’ to the womb of the Virgin Mary, but essentially this time prepares us not only to welcome this great event but to incarnate it in our lives. We could say that the true light enters the world through the immaculate womb of Mary but it does not stay there. On the contrary, this light flows out into our dark, obscure, sinful lives to illuminate them, so that we can become the light that illuminates the world. For this reason, let us live this time of waiting not only to celebrate a historical memory but to repeat this memory in our lives and in the service of others. To wait for the Lord who comes, means to wait and to watch so that the Word of Love enters inside us and focuses us every day of our lives.

As Blessed John Henry Newman reminded us in a homily for the Advent Season: “Advent is a time of waiting, it is a time of joy because the coming of Christ is not only a gift of grace and salvation but it is also a time of commitment because it motivates us to live the present as a time of responsibility and vigilance. This ‘vigilance’ means the necessity, the urgency of an industrious, living ‘wait’. To make all this happen, then we need to wake up, as we are warned by the apostle to the Gentiles, in today's reading to the Romans: ‘Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed” (Rm 13:11).

We must start our journey to ascend to the mountain of the Lord, to be illuminated by His Words of peace and to allow Him to indicate the path to tread. (cf. Is 2:1-5). Moreover, we must change our conduct abandoning the works of darkness and put on the ‘armor of light’ and so seek only to do God’s work and to abandon the deeds of the flesh. (cf. Rm 13:12-14). Jesus, through the story in the parable, outlines the Christian life style that must not be distracted and indifferent but must be vigilant and recognize even the smallest sign of the Lord’s coming because we don’t know the hour in which He will arrive. (cf. Mt 24:39-44)

1 Pope Benedict XVI, Celebration of First Vespers of Advent, Vatican Basilica, December 2006

Excerpted from the website of Congregation for the Clergy

The feast of St.Andrew, which is ordinarily celebrated today, is superseded by the Sunday liturgy.

The Apostolic Penitentiary has issued a Decree for the Year of Consecrated Life which begins today. Pope Francis has allowed the faithful to receive plenary indulgences, under the normal conditions. “The Holy Father, on the occasion of the Year of Consecrated Life, will concede plenary indulgences, with the customary conditions, to all members of the institutes of consecrated life and other truly repentant faithful moved by a spirit of charity.” The opportunity to receive plenary indulgences will run through the close of the year, Feb. 2, 2016. The indulgence may also be offered for souls in Purgatory.

On the First Sunday of Advent, the traditional opening prayer (or Collect) prayed: "Stir up Thy might, we beg Thee, and come." With this request to God to "stir up" His might, this day was traditionally called Stir-Up Sunday. Many families create a traditional plum pudding or fruit cake or some other recipe that all the family and guests can "stir-up." This activity of stirring-up the ingredients symbolizes our hearts that must be stirred in preparation for Christ's birth.

Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Jesse Tree ~ Creation

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