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Catholic Church / Pacoima, CA

Be Watchful, Be Alert!

First Sunday of Advent

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent which is a beautiful time in the liturgical year to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. The readings for this Sunday are a perfect example of what is Advent all about. In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, he calls upon God to come down from heaven with his might and power.

In the Second reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, St. Paul gives thanks to God for this community and exhorts them to remain firm and irreproachable until the end as they wait for the revelation of Christ. Jesus, on the other hand, in the gospel said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’ Are watching? Are you alert? Especially during this time of the year, people tends to get distracted, to get anxious running from place to another. Have you ever gone to the store on an empty stomach? I have, and what happens? We ended up buying things we don’t need. We just want to fill our empty stomach. This is also true in our spiritual lives. We are hungry. There is so much emptiness in our souls that we want to fill that with things we don’t need.

I was shocked to read in the newspaper that people will camp for days outside the stores to be the first in getting the specials of Black Friday. Camping for days?? That means being watchful and alert that nobody will get ahead of them to steal their place. It is interesting how people do crazy things like these and then being so lazy, sleepy and indifferent for the things that really matter; for things that are really important. I wish I could see people making line outside Mary Immaculate church waiting to be open; waiting to be the first in entering the church. I know, keep dreaming ha? The truth of the matter is that people is hungry for love and only God can satisfy that hunger. He wants to do that. Let us then be watchful and alert and let God to fill the emptiness of our souls.

Readings for the Week

Monday: Is 2:1-5; Ps 122:1-9; Mt 8:5-11
Tuesday: Is 11:1-10; Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17; Lk 10:21-24
Wednesday: Is 25:6-10a; Ps 23:1-6; Mt 15:29-37
Thursday: Is 26:1-6; Ps 118:1, 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a; Mt 7:21, 24-27
Friday: Gn 3:9-15, 20; Ps 98:1-4; Eph 1:3-6, 11-12; Lk 1:26-38
Saturday: Is 30:19-21, 23-26; Ps 147:1-6; Mt 9:35 — 10:1, 5a, 6-8
Sunday: Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Ps 85:9-14; 2 Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8

Saints & Special Observances

Sunday: First Sunday of Advent
Monday: St. John Damascene
Wednesday: St. Nicholas
Thursday: St. Ambrose; Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Friday: Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Saturday: St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin

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