First Sunday of Advent
The First Sunday 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.
You, Lord, are our father. This is the heart of the matter. Jesus became human, He allowed Himself to be gazed upon by human parents helpless in a manger so that we can allow ourselves to be gazed upon by our Heavenly Father. This Advent let us go within ourselves, let go of our humanity enough that we can encounter His divinity lying in wait.
Psalm 80 Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken,
from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Rouse your power,
and come to save us. R.
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.
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.
Then we will no more withdraw from you.
+ Lord to withdraw from you is to live outside of Your presence within. It is to lean heavily on the earthly and suppress the heavenly. Draw us to the cradle our Savior that lies within, that we may become mindful of the sacred. Amen.
Reading II 1 COR 1:3-9
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.
You are not lacking in any spiritual gift. We already have received Christmas, Easter, Pentecost. The Holy Spirit waits for you to open what is already there. What gift do you long to open?
Gospel MK 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!’”
Be watchful! Be alert! This is the spirit of expectancy! The movement of divinity within can be so subtle, so often mistaken for our own insight, intelligence, and creative genius. To encounter the divine is to first tune in and begin to discover the unique movement of the Holy Spirit.
