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 Easter Sunday. We celebrate it for 50 days of Easter culminating with the Feast of Pentecost. Wrapped around the two main seasons of the year are 34 Sundays in Ordinary Time.

Advent Season

The word Advent, from the Latin word advenio, means to come or arrival. During the four weeks of Advent our church calls us to focus on the comings of Christ, his first coming in the flesh 2,000 years ago, his Second Coming at the end of time and his daily comings to us during this in-between time. During Advent, we remember with gratitude the first coming of Christ which led to our redemption. We await and look forward to his Second Coming and during these in-between times we are called to be constantly on the alert for comings in the events and encounters of our daily lives.

First Readings

During the Advent season, our first readings are from the prophet Isaiah with a few exceptions. Isaiah wonderfully articulated the longing of his people for God to re-enter their lives. The book of Isaiah has three parts to it: Chapters 1-39 were written prior to Israel's exile in Babylon.

Chapters 40-55 were written during the time of Israel's exile.

Chapters 56-66 were written after Israel returned from exile to a land and Temple that had been devastated by war.

This Sunday's reading is taken from the post exilic period when Israel struggled to rebuild their lives and Temple. The verses we listened to today were written in the form of a lament. Isaiah is verbalizing his peoples sadness over their past misdeeds. He also gives voice to their sense of the absence of God from their lives and the desire for him to come visit them. Let us again listen to some of what Isaiah had to say to his grieving and struggling people. Speaking for his people, Isaiah asks:

Notice the tendency to blame God for their wrongdoing just as Eve blamed the serpent. But, later on in the reading they recognize their wrongdoing:

It takes courage and humility for us to plainly admit our wrong doing and to take full responsibility for it. It is so easy for us to place the blame elsewhere. Then the lament gives expression to the peoples sense of the absence of God from their lives:

Men and women who write about the spiritual life would call the above an experience of "spiritual suffering", "spiritual desolation" or "spiritual dryness". It is a terrible thing to feel we have 'lost God', to feel abandoned by him, to experience his absence from our lives. I'm sure all of us all times may have asked: "Where is God?" "Why isn't he answering my prayers?", "Why is he allowing these terrible things to happen to me or to my family or even to total strangers?" As spiritual pilgrims it is important that we have some knowledge about the role of spiritual desolation in our lives. Its purpose is mainly to purify our relationship with God. A couple's love for each other is tested and hopefully when the honeymoon is over and they learn to deal with each other's shortcomings and with the bad stuff of life. In my book on Prayer, A Handbook for Today's Catholics- I have two chapters on dryness in prayer which you may find helpful if this is an issue in your life. Copies are available at the parish office.

Despite Israel's experience of God's absence in their present lives, they seem to possess an unshakable faith in him:

The lament finishes with these beautiful but challenging words:

While the above words are very poetic, they are also very challenging because they call us to be submissive clay in god's hands. They call us to let God do with us as he will. In a culture that calls us to be independent and self sufficient these words may not be so comforting.

In the context of our lives and this Advent season, this reading calls us to face what is sinful in our lives, to place our trust in God's mercy and if we are experiencing a sense of God's absence we are called to trust that God always comes to those who wait for him.

Second Readings

During the Advent season as during the rest of the liturgical year-we listen to readings from the epistles of the New Testament. Today's second reading is the opening verses from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.

Little did Paul ever realize that his letters to the Corinthians and to other Christian communities would ever be collected together for generations of Christians to read. Reading letters like this one to the Small Christian Community of Corinth is reading someone else's mail. We can assume that the Corinth Small Christian Community would have preferred if Paul's letters to them had not been saved since they portray them "wart's and all." Fortunately for us, these letters have been preserved for they not only give us insight into Paul's mind and heart and into the issues of a first-century Small Christian Community; but, they also continue to serve the faith journey of us who live 2,000 years later.

In today's verses, Paul, after greeting his readers, offers thanks to God for blessings bestowed on us through Jesus Christ. Paul has no doubt that the God, Isaiah and his people longed to visit them, has come to them in Christ. Paul, concludes his address by reminding the Corinthians of their call to develop a close fellowship with Christ.

Gospel-the Year of Mark

In our church and in most mainline Christian churches, there is a three year cycle when it comes to the gospels. In Cycle A, which we have just completed we listen to Matthew, in Cycle B which we start today, we listen to Mark and in Cycle C we listen to the Good News of Jesus Christ as proclaimed and seen through the eyes of Luke. We listen to readings from John throughout parts of all three cycles-especially during the Easter season.

Mark was the first gospel to be written. Because Mark is also the shortest gospel you will notice that on some Sundays we will hear gospels from John and Luke. Today's passage has a strong note of urgency to it. "Be watchful! Be alert, for we do not know the hour when Christ will come."

Advent Wreath
If we live with others or even if we live alone, we observe the traditional practice of praying around the Advent Wreath. You can use the following prayer to bless your wreath.

A final suggestion. Spend a little time asking the Holy Spirit how you wish Jesus to come into your life during this holy season of Advent. We will need to be very disciplined if we are not to allow all the secular trappings of the seasons to dominate our heart and focus.