December 3 – First Sunday of Advent : Be Prepared

 

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

Isaiah prays for the Lord's forgiveness of the people.

 

Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 80:2-3,15-16,18-19

A prayer for the Lord's protection

 

Second Reading  1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Paul gives thanks to God for the faith of the Corinthians.

 

Gospel Reading Mark 13:33-37

 

Today we enter the season of Advent: a time of special preparation for the coming of the Lord. Mark's portrait of the doorman watching out to open for the Lord whenever he suddenly appears is an image of what we are expected to be doing all year long but especially during the season of Advent. The doorman keeps awake in order to recognize and welcome the Lord at his coming. Faith, likewise, transforms us into people who are able to recognize the Lord and willing to receive him. Recognition is crucial because the Lord does not always come in easily recognizable ways. At Bethlehem he came in the form of a baby and people did not recognize him. In the Parable of the Last Judgment, which we heard last Sunday, he said he came to people in the form of the most needy and disadvantaged of this world and many did not recognize him. But true people of faith did recognize him and serve him in these people who live in the blind-spot of society. Faith is first a way of seeing, and then a way of living.