Hopeful Expectation
First Sunday of Advent
Our liturgical year begins with the season of Advent—a time of hopeful expectation of the coming of the Lord. On the First Sunday of Advent we look forward to the end of time when we will awaken to the dawn of Christ’s new day. Today we hear Isaiah speak of a day when God’s power will have brought universal peace and God’s Word will have instructed all people, radiating God’s “light” (teachings) into all of human society. Only when humanity walks “in the light of the LORD” (Isaiah 2:5), when all people desire to be instructed “in [God’s] ways” (Isaiah 2:3), will the world be set aright and our deepest longings fulfilled. The reading from Romans calls us to “awake from sleep” for this final “day is at hand” (Romans 13:11, 12). Together this Sunday’s scriptures proclaim our Christian faith that Jesus is the One who will finally come to fulfill God’s plan of salvation.
Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.
Readings for the Week
Monday: Is 4:2-6; 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: Is 29:17-24; Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14; Mt 9:27-31
Saturday: Is 30:19-21, 23-26; Ps 147:1-6; Mt 9:35 — 10:1
Sunday: Is 11:1-10; Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17; Rom 15:4-9; Mt 3:1-12
Saints & Special Observances
Sunday: First Sunday of Advent; World AIDS Awareness Day
Tuesday: St. Francis Xavier
Wednesday: St. John Damascene
Friday: St. Nicholas; First Friday
Saturday: St. Ambrose; First Saturday; Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day