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A Recipe for Readiness - - Homily for the First Sunday of Advent Msgr. Charles Pope • November 28, 2015 • As the Advent season begins, we are immediately drawn into its principle theme of preparation and readiness for the coming of the Lord. The first coming of the Lord has already been fulfilled at Bethlehem. And while we should prepare spiritually for the coming Christmas Feast, these first weeks of Advent bid us to focus even more on the Second Coming of the Lord in glory.Thus, as the curtains draw back on the opening scenes of Advent, we are...

In Times Like These You Need a Savior – A Homily for the First Sunday of Advent By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe Gospel today surely announces a critical Advent theme: Watch! And while I want to comment primarily on the reading from Isaiah, the Gospel admonition certainly deserves some attention as well.For it is too often the case that many today hold the unbiblical notion that most, if not all, are going to Heaven. But for many weeks now we have been reading parables in the gospels wherein the Lord Jesus warns us that some (perhaps many and possibly even most) are...

The first weeks of Advent focus more on the Lord’s second coming in glory more than his first coming at Bethlehem. The Gospel is clear enough to state that we must be prepared, for, at an hour we do not expect, The Son of Man will come! “Ready!” is the key word. But how should we be ready?The Second reading of today’s Mass (Romans 13:11-14) gives us a basic recipe for readiness. We can distinguish five fundamental ingredients in Paul’s recipe. 1. WAKE UP – The text says: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to...