FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT - CYCLE B

Open with a prayer: God of light and love, thank you for gathering us together as we begin the holy season of waiting and watching for your coming. Rouse us from spiritual drowsiness and open our hearts to receive the Word you place before us. Increase our longing for your Son Jesus. May we be flexible clay in your hands as you seek to transform us into the likeness of your Son. Amen.

Sharing of life question: As we approach the busy Christmas season, what feelings stir within you?

Facilitator reads focus statement: During the holy season of Advent, the liturgical readings call us to "watch" and "prepare" for a fuller coming of Jesus into our lives. Our first reading takes the form of prayer for a new in- breaking of God into the history of Israel. In the gospel, Jesus calls his disciples to "watch", "stay awake", and to be "on guard" for his second coming. In the second reading, Paul tells the Corinthians that there is no better preparation for Christ's return than to produce the fruits of holiness made possible by the action of God's Spirit within them.

Now read the readings for this coming Sunday. Pause briefly at the end of each reading.

FIRST READING: Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2b-7

This reading takes the form of a communal lament in which the people express their feelings about God's abandoning of them. The people have returned from exile. Their land has been pillaged and their buildings, including the Temple, have been destroyed. The reconstruction effort is coming along very slowly. The people are frustrated and stressed out. In this reading, they share their thoughts and feelings with God. First, they wonder if God allowed them to wander from his ways and hardened their hearts. (Of course, God never hardens our hearts. Our hearts harden when we stop following God's ways.) They feel God has "hidden his face" from them (a good image for the experience of dryness in prayer). Then the people plead for a new manifestation of God's presence and might: "Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down...". The prayer also acknowledges their sinfulness: "You are angry, but we have sinned. We have become like unclean people. So please God, come and help us. Heal us. You are the potter and we are the clay." To be clay is to know we are vulnerable and breakable and entirely dependent on God to redeem us, heal us, and guide us. To be clay is to know we are a work in progress, willing to surrender ourselves to God's creation of us. The prayer in this first reading is a beautiful example of a people praying from their hearts.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM 80

These verses connect well with the first reading. The author pleads with God to come and help his hurting people.

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Commenting on our second reading, the writers of Foundations in the Faith tell us that this "reading is filled with confidence that God has and will continue to rescue us in Christ as the final judgment approaches. Paul reassures his readers that God "will strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ". The Corinthians - as all Christians thereafter - are reminded that in Christ we are "in every way enriched" and that we lack for nothing as we "wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ". The way in which a faithful Christian awaits the second coming is not fearfully and in dread, but, rather, with joyful anticipation and boundless confidence.

GOSPEL: Mark 13:33-37

A thrice repeated command to "watch" surrounds a parable that emphasizes our need to be ready at all times because we do not know when the Lord will return. The short parable in this gospel reminds believers that the time between the First and Second Coming of Christ is like the situation of servants who remain behind when the owner of the house leaves to travel abroad. Each servant is given a task to fulfill until the owner returns. One servant, the gatekeeper, is singled out to keep watch for the owner's return. The four periods of time listed - evening, midnight, before dawn and dawn - were the four night watches of the Roman military. Like soldiers standing guard, Christians are exhorted to stand watch and not be caught asleep. Christians must be ready at all times for Jesus' return. We do this by faithfully executing our given duties. As we begin a new church year, we can ask ourselves how vigilant, watchful and ready are we for the Lord's return?

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. What verse spoke to you and how does it relate to your life?

  2. The first reading tells us that God is the Potter and we are the clay. What does this image of our relationship with God mean to you?

  3. Paul states that we "lack no spiritual gift." Can you name a spiritual gift that God has given you? How do you use it to bless others?

  4. The gospel speaks about each servant being given a particular task to carry until the owner of the house returns. What task has the Lord given you at this time? How would you name it? How well are you carrying it out?

  5. Can you name one way that you have been "asleep" (unresponsive to God's call and ways) recently?

CONCLUDE WITH PRAYERS OF PETITION AND INTERCESSION

Pray for a vigilant heart and for global and local needs.