Vol. 36 No. 1                                         (Cycle B)   1st SUNDAY OF ADVENT Watch and Pray   ENTRANCE ANTIPHON To you, my God, I lift my soul, I trust in you; let me never come to shame. Do not let my enemies laugh at me. No one who waits for you is ever put to shame. PENITENTIAL RITE Advent begins by reassuring us that the transformation of the world has begun in Jesus Christ. In our first reading Isaiah proclaims, “O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” It is time now to get moving, time to entrust our lives with our sins to the Father so that He may cleanse us and fashion us into his own image. (Pause) I confess... (Gloria is omitted) OPENING PRAYER Let us pray. All-powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven, where he lives and reigns... FIRST READING   (The prophet recalls God’s past goodness to his people and pleads with him to save them from their present sinfulness.) A reading from the Book of Isaiah (63:16b-17,64:1,3b-8) You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. Why, O Lord, do you make us stray from your ways and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you? Turn back for the sake of your servants, for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage. O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. This is the Word of the Lord PSALM (79) Response: God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved. O shepherd of Israel, hear us, shine forth from your cherubim throne. O Lord, rouse up your might, O Lord, come to our help. R/. God of hosts, turn again, we implore, look down from heaven and see. Visit this vine and protect it, the vine your right hand has planted. R/. May your hand be on the man you have chosen, the man you have given your strength. And we shall never forsake you again: give us life that we may call upon your name. R/. SECOND READING (St Paul assures us that as we await the coming of Christ in glory, the Holy Spirit keeps us steadfast in bearing witness to him.) A reading from the First Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians (1:3-9) Brethren: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge – even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION (Ps 84:8) Alleluia, alleluia! Let us see, O Lord, your mercy and give us your saving help. Alleluia! GOSPEL (We need to stay alert at our appointed tasks, because we do not know the hour when Jesus, our Master, will return.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Mark (13:33-37) Jesus said to his disciples: “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the door keeper to be on the watch. Watch therefore – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cock-crow, or in the morning – lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Watch.” This is the Gospel of the Lord (Homily) I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Cel: As we enter into the holy season of Advent, let us pray to our heavenly Father that we may avail ourselves of the opportunity for a new beginning in grace. Response: Lord, listen to your people praying. 1. We pray for all who exercise authority in the Church, especially our Pope Benedict XVI, our bishops and priests that they may make alive the presence of Jesus in our midst. R/. 2. We pray for all Christians that in the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas, they may not fail to notice the presence of Jesus in their midst and the gifts he offers. R/. 3. We pray for our country that we may have selfless and honest political leaders who will alleviate the sufferings of the poor and the oppressed. R/. 4. We pray for the victims of social injustice, violence, poverty and sick-ness that they may experience God’s love and comfort by the support and the care we show them. R/. Cel: Heavenly Father, as we begin this new season of grace, help us to see you more clearly in our brothers and sisters and love them genuinely. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Father, from all you give us we present this bread and wine. As we serve you now, accept our offering and sustain us with your promise of eternal life. Grant this... PREFACE (1) Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. When he humbled himself to come among us as a man, he fulfilled the plan you formed long ago and opened for us the way to salvation. Now we watch for the day, hoping that the salvation promised us will be ours when Christ our Lord will come again in his glory. And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven we proclaim your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise: All: Holy, holy, holy.... COMMUNION ANTIPHON The Lord will shower his gifts, and our land will yield its fruit. PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Father, may our communion teach us to love heaven. May its promise and hope guide our way on earth. We ask this...   Liturgy & Life Christmas, the birth of the Lord, is the beginning of the transformation of the world into God’s Kingdom. The four weeks of Advent are given to us to help to effect a real Christmas, a true transformation in our lives. The Gospel of the First Sunday of Advent gives us the theme of the Season, “Watch and Stay Awake.” The transformation will be completed only when Jesus returns. Watch and stay awake, the Gospel tells us, and be ready for Jesus comes suddenly to call His own to Himself. Are we his own? Of course, we belong to the Church. But as individuals do we truly belong to him? Am I the Lord’s? That is a question we need to ask ourselves during Advent. We say, rather loosely, that we are members of a religion, the Catholic religion. That word religion comes from the word “legere” which means tying or binding. During Advent we ask ourselves: Am I bound to the Lord to such an extent that He will recognize me as one of his own when he comes again? The “watching” and “staying awake” that Jesus demands in this Advent is far deeper than watching and staying awake like children who wait for their Christmas gifts or birthday gifts. The watching of Advent demands introspection as well as awareness of the surroundings. We look for the coming of the Lord within us as he calls us closer to him. At the same time we watch for the signs of his presence around us. We take a step of humility and recognize God’s presence working in those around us, particularly members of our family. It is easy to see the Lord’s presence in a stranger. It is more difficult to see his presence in someone whose human limitations and whose idiosyncrasies are part of our daily lives. It is easy to see the Lord in the priest who speaks from the pulpit but may not be easy to see the Lord in him when we meet him in the parish council. It is harder to see the Lord in the person who finds fault with us, spreads false rumours about us and who hampers our growth. Husbands and wives, parents and children can make God’s presence real in their families. The other members of the family need to have humility to see God working through them. In this Advent, we should consider the gifts of our lives and have a greater awareness of God’s hand in our own personal histories. Why did God lead us here? How did we get to this stage of our lives? Do we really have any regrets when we realize that God continues to write a straight line using the crooked paths of our lives? God is continually present in each of us, guiding us.  We need to be aware of this presence. The staying awake that Advent demands is the readiness we must have to respond to God’s presence. For example, if a child were to ask us, “Why was Jesus born in a stable?” we have to stop what we are doing and realize that God is calling us to provide a deeper knowledge of his love to our children. God provides us with many opportunities to grow in his love and presence during Advent. We have to stay awake so we don’t miss any of these. Of course, if we are so busy with the fringes of Christmas, the things we do because that’s what we do every Christmas, we’ll be caught napping when the Lord reveals his presence to us. Advent is the season of hope. The promise of the prophets will be fulfilled. So we wait. We watch. We prepare. Yes, here we go again, with another opportunity to draw nearer to the Lord. That is the real celebration of Christmas. Happy & Fruitful Advent! December 2008 READINGS OF THE WEEK Psalter Week 1 01 Mon (V) Is 2:1-5/ Ps 121(122):1-2.3-4b.4cd-5.6-7.8-9/ Mt 8:5-11 02 Tue (V) Is 11:1-10/ Ps 71(72):1-2.7-8.12-13.17/ Lk 10:21-24 03 Wed (W) St Francis Xavier (Sol), Acts17:22-28/Ps 70(71):1-2,3-4,5-6,15&17/ Eph 3:1-13/Lk10:1-16 04 Thu (V/W) St John of Damascus, Is 26:1-6/ Ps117(118):1 & 8-9.19-21.25-27/ Mt 7:21.24-27 05 Fri (V) Is 29:17-24/ Ps 27:1.4.13-14/ Mt 9:27-31 06 Sat (V/W) St Nicholas Is 30:19-21.23-26/ Ps 147:1-2.3-4.5-6/ Mt 9:35–10:1.5.6-8