1st Sunday of Advent (B – Violet)
ANTIPHON (Cf. Psalm 25(24):1-3):
To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame. Nor let my enemies exult over me; and let none who hope in you be put to shame.
INTRODUCTION:
The first Sunday of Advent begins a new liturgical year. Advent means “coming”–the coming of the Lord Jesus. Advent looks back to the past and prepares us for the feast of Christmas which commemorates Jesus’ first coming as man among us. Advent highlights the present and reminds us of the varied ways by which Jesus comes into our lives. Advent finally points to the future: the glorious coming of Christ at the end of the age.
May we stand ready so that when the Lord comes, our hearts are wide open to receive him.
FIRST READING (Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7)
Isaiah expresses the great longing of the people for the Lord: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!” We share these sentiments during this season of Advent.
YOU, LORD, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever. Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you, while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for, such as they had not heard of from of old. No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him. Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean people, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; for you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt. Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM (Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; Response: 4)
R — Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
1 . O shepherd of Israel, hearken, from your throne
upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Rouse your power,
and come to save us. (R)
2. Once again, O Lord of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted,
the son of man whom you yourself made strong. (R)
3. May your help be with the man of your right hand,
with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name. (R)
SECOND READING (1 Corinthians 1:3-9)
The words of the apostle Paul are an excellent reminder during this season as we reflect on the Lord’s coming into our lives.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
ALLELUIA (Psalm 85:8)
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Show us, Lord, Your love; and grant us your salvation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL: (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!’”
REFLECTION:
Advent comes from the Latin noun, adventus, which means ”arrival” or ”coming.” The season of Advent is a four-Sunday preparation for the arrival of the Lord Jesus on Christmas Day. The candles of the Advent wreath express this intensive preparation. The Advent season reminds us of the threefold arrival of the Lord Jesus. Fittingly the very first Sunday of Advent expresses this: the arrival of Jesus at Christmas as our Savior, the daily arrival of Jesus in our hearts, and the arrival of Jesus as Judge at the end of time. It is a season of doing penance for our sinfulness and of preparing our hearts for the coming of Jesus. It is a season of joyful expectation of the Lord Jesus.
Thus the First Reading, from the Book of Isaiah, speaks of the righteous anger of Yahweh at the sinfulness of his chosen people. He wants to punish them. The people plead for his mercy and compassion and call upon God: ”You, Lord, are our Father, our redeemer…return for the sake of your servants.”
We, as God’s new chosen people, have also often strayed from the ways of God. We have sinned. We need to cry out, ”Lord, in your loving compassion, have mercy on us.” Let the words of Psalm 80 resound in our hearts: ”Lord of hosts…let your face shine upon us that we may be saved.”
Our sinfulness and our plea for mercy are the reasons for penance during Advent. We prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. He comes to us daily, knocking on the doors of our hearts. We need only to open our hearts and welcome him with hearts that are penitent, humble, joyful, and grateful.
The Gospel reading tells us of the Lord’s prediction of the destruction of both the Temple in Jerusalem and of the city itself. Jesus speaks in apocalyptic language, the language of the end of time. He is clear that no one except the Father knows the hour or day when the end will come.
For us the living, the coming of the Son of Man effectively takes place at our death. We do not know the hour or day when death will happen. Death will surely come. It is the ”certain uncertainty.” We always have to be ready to meet the Lord, when he calls. Watch,” says the Lord. Be ready.
In affirming the virtues of the Corinthian Christians in our Second Reading, St. Paul advises us on how to be ready when the Lord comes. We need to be in the state of grace and not of sin, enriched by the love of God and by his ”spiritual gifts.” We need to be united to him, contrite and sinless, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus.”
To call upon the Lord for his loving mercy, to have a penitent and blameless heart, to be always ready for the Lord’s coming, to wait for him with joyful hope–this is the reason for the season of Advent.
COMMUNION ANTIPHON (Psalm 85(84):13)
The Lord will bestow his bounty, and our earth shall yield its increase.
The Mass Readings are taken from www.usccb.org and Reflections by +Orlando B. Cardinal Quevedo, OMI (Archbishop of Cotabato) is taken from the December 3, 2017 edition of Sambuhay Missalette, printed in the Philippines by St. Paul’s Media Pastoral Ministry. The voews and opinions in this post are those of the authors and does not necessarily reflect those of the blog site.
The Catholic Gospel Digest 