The Liturgical Year is the way our church celebrates, relives and makes present to us, Christ and the main events in his life. It is the way that our church keeps placing before us the story of Jesus.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: "We must continue to accomplish in ourselves the stages of Jesus' life and his mysteries... So through the ebb and flow of each liturgical year, we seek, with the guidance of our church, to live and internalize the events of Christ's life.

Two Main Seasons

Nature has four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Our church year has two main seasons the Advent-Christmas season and the Lent-Easter season. Christmas celebrates the Incarnation of Jesus, God becoming one of us. Easter celebrates the death and resurrection of Christ. Each season has a time of preparation. We prepare for the Feast of the Incarnation with four weeks of Advent. We prepare for the sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil) with 40 days of Lent. Both events ( the Incarnation and our Redemption) have an extended period of celebration. We don't just celebrate Christ's coming on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We celebrate it for twelve days culminating with the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. We do not just celebrate Christ's resurrection on Easter Sunday. We celebrate it for 50 days of Easter culminating with the Feast of Pentecost.

So, in our church year calendar, the two great seasons of the year are the Advent-Christmas season and the Lent-Easter season. The latter being the more important of the two because it celebrates Christ's death and resurrection. One-third of Mark's Gospel is given to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Wrapped around the two main seasons of the year are 34 Sundays in Ordinary Time.

Advent

The word Advent, from the Latin word, advenio meaning to come. The focus of Advent is the two comings of Christ, his coming in the flesh 2,000 years ago and his Second Coming. Today's first reading looks forward to the first coming of Christ and today's second and third reading encourages us to be prepared and ready for the Second Coming of Christ. In between these two great comings of Christ, we have his daily comings in the events and encounters of our everyday lives and of course, his coming to us every time we celebrate the Eucharist.

The First Readings of Our Advent Liturgies

During the four weeks of Advent we listen in our first readings to passages from the great prophet Isaiah, who in a time of great darkness for Israel, tried to keep their hopes alive. In this Sunday's first reading, Isaiah tells the people:

In the days to come....All nations shall come to the Lord's house.... where he will instruct them in his ways.

In a special way, during the Advent season, we are called to allow God to speak to our hearts and instruct us in his ways. One of the ways that he wants to teach us is the way of peace. Again listen to Isaiah speak to us in today's readings.

The Second Readings

During Advent we listen to various second readings from the New Testament epistles, mostly from Paul, but this year we also have a second reading from St. James.

This Sunday's Second Reading is especially powerful. It is a solemn call to wake up from spiritual drowsiness and to put aside "deeds of darkness," such as "carousing and drunkenness, lust, rivalry and jealously." These are the words God used to call the great St. Augustine out of his darkness and unbelief. As he was sitting in his garden one day, he heard a voice within say "take and read". He picked up the Bible and today's verses from Roman's are the ones his eyes fell upon. They hit him like a ton of bricks and he changed his whole life going on to be baptized. Eventually, he became a great bishop, teacher and saint in our church family.

How Do We Need to Wake Up?

St. Irenaeus, another saint from the early centuries of Christianity once said: The glory of God is man fully alive

Unfortunately, none of us are fully alive. Too often we go through our days and years half asleep, unaware of God's love for us, deaf to the promptings of the Spirit within us and deaf and blind to many other realities that God would want us to be awake to. A very good question for all of us to ponder this weekend is to what extent am I spiritually asleep? How am I allowing the thousand other voices clamoring for my attention this season, to shut out the voice of God's Spirit who wants to instruct us in his ways? Will we allow preoccupation with parties, decorations, shopping etc. to push aside the concerns of God? Hopefully not, but, it will take much discipline on our part to make Jesus truly the reason for the season.

Gospel-The Year of Matthew.

When it comes to the Sunday readings, the church speaks about a Three Year Cycle, A B & C. During Cycle A which begins today, we mainly listen to gospel passages from Matthew, hence we call this liturgical year, the Year of Matthew. During Cycle B, we listen to Mark and during Cycle C which we have just finished we listen to Luke. During the seven Sunday's of the Easter Season and on some other Sunday's, we listen to passages from John's gospel.

Each gospel has it's own particular audience and characteristics. The following are a few of the main characteristics of Matthew's Gospel. First, Matthew's Gospel is sometimes called the "Jewish Gospel" because it was written mainly for Jews who had become Christians but who were still very attached to their Jewish beliefs and heritage. In Matthew's Gospel, more than in the others we will hear these words: "this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet...." By using these words, Matthew was seeking to show his Jewish audience that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the longings and prophecies of Israel expressed in the Old Testament. Second, Matthew's Gospel is more than the others, a teaching gospel. In Matthew, Jesus gives five great discourses beginning with his famous Sermon on the Mount Chapters 5, 6 & 7, which are regarded as the heart of what Jesus came to teach us. Third , Matthew is the only gospel which speaks about the church. His famous Caesaro-Philippi passage in 16: 13-23 is often seen as Jesus instituting a church : You are Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church." In Matthew, disputes are settled by the Church.

Today's Gospel: Stay Awake, Be Vigilant.

In today's gospel passage, Jesus urges us to be ready for his Second Coming, which the early Christians believed would happen in their lifetime. Most likely none of us believe that Jesus' Second Coming will happen in our lifetime, yet it could for the gospel clearly states that it will come suddenly and like a thief in the night. Jesus' Second Coming will, most likely, catch us unaware. Hence, the supreme importance of constant readiness and vigilance. We must not become so immersed in earthly concerns that we forget about heavenly concerns. In today's gospel Jesus exhorts us to "Stay awake" live daily in readiness for his Second Coming or for our own moment of death.

Some Practical Suggestions for Advent

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to see how and where you want Jesus to come into your life this season. Is there an area of your life that you have excluded Jesus from? e.g. a particular relationship, your finances, the way you do business, a buried hurt from the past. How wonderful, if Jesus, during this Advent, could be invited into an area of your life that he has been excluded from. If this happened, we would have much to celebrate on Christmas Eve/Day.

Include the poor in your Christmas budget. In your December issue of the Parish Newsletter sent to the homes of all registered parishioners, I gave the names and addresses of 4 ministries to the poor that you could send a donation to.

Go to Confession, it's good for the soul and it gives us a fresh start.

Pray around the Advent Wreath if you have one. Light it at dinnertime. The Advent Wreath is a reminder of the four weeks of Advent. You can use the following prayer the first time you light your Advent Wreath.

Leader: Our help is in the name of the Lord:

All: Who made heaven and earth.

Leader: Come, Lord Jesus!

All: Come quickly!

Leader: All make the sign of the cross

It is wintertime. Days are short and nights are long. We need the light of Christ. We need Christ's warmth, love and joy. And so we gather around this wreath in hope. The circle of this wreath will remind us of the coming of Christ, whose love for us has no end. The light of these candles will remind us of the coming of Christ, who is the light of the world. The green color of these branches will remind us of the coming of Christ, who brings us eternal life. My friends, let us bless the Lord. (Stop; allow a minute or so of silence, and then say: ) By day and by night, and through every season, you watch over us, Lord. We praise you for this Advent wreath. It is the evergreen crown of your royal people, and it shines with the promise of victory. By the light of this wreath we shall wait in patience for your Son our Lord Jesus Christ. He will comfort our fears and bring hope to our waiting world. All glory be yours, now and forever. All: Amen

All make the sign of the cross

After the first lighting of the Advent Wreath you could pray the following prayer on other days after you light the candle. This is the beautiful opening prayer from this Sunday's Mass.

Father in heaven, our hearts desire the warmth of your love and our minds are searching for the light of your Word. Increase our longing for Christ our Savior and give us the strength to grow in love, that the dawn of his coming may find us rejoicing in his presence and welcoming the light of his truth. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen

Adults and children can add any prayers of petition that they may have.

Because the holy season of Advent has a strong note of penitence in it, it is not appropriate for us to sing Christmas carols in church during these four Sundays of preparation for Christ's coming.