First Sunday of Advent - November 28

November 28, 2010

First Sunday of Advent

The start of Advent falls on the Sunday closest to the Feast of Saint Andrew, November 30. This year Advent begins today November 28, it is also the beginning of the Church’s liturgical year, her “New Year’s Day,” a time when the Church asks us to prayerfully reassess where we are spiritually. It also begins the Christmas cycle, where we prepare our hearts for the arrival of Our Lord.

Each year the Advent readings focus on two events, the anniversary of Our Lord’s First Coming in Bethlehem on Christmas, and his Second Coming, Judgment Day. This Sunday all three readings point to the end of the world. They remind us to wake up, be ready, and maintain our relationship with God so that we might be ready to meet him when he comes.

Whether or not the world ends during our own lifetime, is not for us to know but these readings could just as easily be a reminder that our individual lives will come to an end. It is this period of Advent that gives us a time to reflect on how we are preparing for our own personal Judgment Day. Are we striving to live out the purpose of our existence; God’s reason for giving us life, our reason for being? Are we using the gifts God graciously bestowed on us for his glory and for his purpose?

First Reading Isaiah 2:1-5
Responsorial Psalm 122
Second Reading Romans 13:11-14
Gospel Matthew 24:37-44

“Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour or night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also much be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” (Matthew 24:41-44) We do not know the day or the hour when the Son of Man will return, but we do know what we must do in the meantime, be awake and ready.

Tonight light the first candle in your Advent Wreath.

For items related to keeping
Christ in Christmas
please visit
Lynn’s Timeless Treasures.