First Sunday of Advent / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
This weekend, the Church begins Advent. It begins the use of biblical readings from Year B of its three-year cycle of Sunday Mass readings.
It also is the start of a new liturgical year. Each liturgical year is carefully planned so that the seasons and major feasts guide us through our worship into a closer relationship with Christ and the Church.
The first reading for Mass this weekend is from the third section of Isaiah, composed when the Jews were in a difficult situation. Years before, Hebrews exiled to Babylon had been allowed to return to the Holy Land. But this return brought the exiles home to no paradise. Life was miserable.
The prophet called for faith in God, not only as almighty but as unrelentingly true to the covenant, to the divine pledge that he would protect his chosen people.
The prophet appealed to God in the name of the people for relief, but without saying that the people are being treated unfairly. That was the case at least in terms of God’s care for them, although the prophet made clear that sin led the people away from God. This estrangement has produced their woes.
St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians provides the next reading. Counseling the Christians of Corinth was a challenge for Paul. Not only did temptation and vice surround them at every turn, but they were also a quarrelsome community. Paul had to call them to faithfulness. He also had to try to influence them to put aside their differences with each other.
He saw the disciples there as having enormous religious potential, despite all odds produced by their surroundings and the human inclination to sin. He knew through the help of God’s grace that he could draw them more closely to God and infuse the goodness of Christianity into the circles in which they moved.
St. Mark’s Gospel is the source of the last reading. It offers us a theme found often in the New Testament, namely that Christ will come to Earth again. In this second coming, the Lord will be the great victor and judge of all creation.
By the time the Gospels were written, even in the case of the Gospel of Mark, considered by many as the oldest of the four as they now exist, Christians were numerous and geographically distributed enough to catch the public eye. Yet they were
still too small to stand up to their enemies. The culture was an enemy. Soon, the political system would be an enemy.
Being a Christian became a capital crime, as the martyrs were horribly to know.
Understandably, the atmosphere was tense, uncertain and frightening. Thoughts of the second coming naturally were appealing. Jesus will come again, but we know not when. We in fact do not know the future.
In the meantime, we must acknowledge God, live in his law and trust in our reward.
If we are with God, we need not fear.
Reflection
The prayers of the Mass are the united statements of all believers, spoken through and by the celebrant, to proclaim our faith and our trust in Almighty God.
We speak with the priest, in our faith and worship. But are we sincere? Are we good Catholics?
Does the priest praying the prayers at Mass represent our genuinely authentic faith, our commitment to Christ?
Mark’s Gospel greatly assists us in forming solid faith. Only God is permanent and real.
Advent is an opportunity to receive the gift of union with God, to realize that his love for us is real.
If we respond to the opportunity God gives us in Advent, then Christmas becomes not a national holiday, or even a holy religious commemoration. It becomes a
moment when we encounter God, firmly believing that Jesus will come again. Here and now we can know the Lord. †