READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Book of Isaiah IS 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7
You, LORD, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever. Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you, while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for, such as they had not heard of from of old. No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him. Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean people, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; for you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt. Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 1 COR 1:3-9
Brothers and sisters: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Mark MK 13:33-37
Jesus 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!’”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER Today Advent begins, the liturgical time which prepares us for Christmas, inviting us to lift our gaze and open our hearts to welcome Jesus. During Advent we do not just live in anticipation of Christmas; we are also called to rekindle the anticipation of the glorious return of Christ — when He will return at the end of time — preparing ourselves, with consistent and courageous choices, for the final encounter with Him. We remember Christmas, we await the glorious return of Christ, and also our personal encounter: the day in which the Lord will call. During these four weeks we are called to leave behind a resigned and routine way of life and to go forth, nourishing hope, nourishing dreams for a new future. This is a favourable time to open our hearts, to ask ourselves concrete questions about how and for whom we expend our lives. (Angelus, 2 December 2018)
. FAUSTI - "I SAY TO EVERYONE, BE AWAKE!" It is in this way that Jesus concludes his last speech. The passage is all a variation on the theme of vigilance. He begins with the words "be attentive, be vigilant," recommending vigilance, twice in between, and once again at the end He exhorts everyone to look: Christianity is not the opium that anesthetizes us before the harshness of reality. It urges us not to behave like the ostrich, but like the wise owl that has its eyes open to peer into the night to see what is there and what is hidden until the sun. Staying awake is necessary, but not enough. The Lord, when He departed, gave us His own "power". We we are therefore responsible to do and say what he said and did, until his return. "Be careful" Those who watch the wishes or are afraid of the arrival of those who are absent. In the great darkness of the world, the disciple is placed like a sentinel. This is his prophetic function (Ez 3:16). He does not sleep like the others, but remains awake and sober. He knows that it is time to wake from sleep (Rom 13:11). If before it was dark, now it is light in the Lord, and he behaves like a child of light, bearing the fruit of light (Eph 5:8) because he is preparing for the desired encounter. Vigilance must be constant because the time of His final coming is unknown. Trying to find out which day and which hour is useless; we just need to know that every day and every hour is the right time to experience the encounter with Him, while we wait for the last one. Jesus has gone away from us. The journey that He made when He was with us is the same one that keeps us away from Him, to be with Him we must make the same journey. We are slaves because we are of the Lord. In this way, we are like Him who became our Servant to be everything for us. The power that He has given us is His power as the Son who loves the Father and His brothers. He comes to us from His Spirit; it is the power of the Word that forgives sins, drives out demons, leads to conversion and recognition of the Lord (2:10). To each one is given a particular manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Cor 12:7).He has not given everything to anyone, so as not to shut us up in self-sufficiency. He has given each one of us something, so that each one serves his brothers with what he has and can be served in what he does not have, and so we live in mutual service. The goalkeeper has a special responsibility for vigilance. His specific task is to wake everyone up, because those who do not wake up, do not wait, and those who do not wait, do not welcome the one who comes. We are urged not to speculate on the exact dates of His return. The point is: to live as children of light and day (1 Thess 5:5), to wrap ourselves in the Lord, every hour of the night. And then every hour will be an encounter with Him and a step towards the final encounter. His coming is that of the bridegroom for those who are waiting for him, who have rendered his life to Him. For those who have put their treasure elsewhere, His coming is that of the thief (1 Th 5:2)
Certainly the Lord wants everyone to be warned, "What I say to you, I say to all: watch out!" because God loves His people and He wants no one to be taken by surprise and unexpectedly by His Return, be it the definitive one, or the one to meet everyone at the end of the journey. Watch so that you do not fall into the situation of those who "In the time of Noah: they ate, drank, married , until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and made them all perish" "As it also happened in the time of Lot: they ate, drank, bought, sold, planted, built, but on the day when Lot came out of Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from the sky and made them all perish". "Watch" how? The Lord desires hearts that see in Him, He does not take away sleep, but He desires hearts that await Him with trust and abandonment, with intense affection and hope.There can be no indifference, or worse, fear, before the Lord who comes to open the doors of His Kingdom, the House forever. It is therefore important to live with an eye to the definitive, with the heart turned to the Creator and Savior of our souls. Even though we live a daily life that is laborious and open to relationships, it is necessary to turn our attention to Him who "Behold, He comes upon the clouds and everyone will see Him.Even those who pierce Him and all the nations of the earth will fight for Him the chest. Yes, Amen!I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, He who is, who was and who comes, the Almighty! (Rev. 1:7-8). Therefore, give yourself up so as not to let your gaze go numb to Heaven, and go to meet the Lord in the New Jerusalem, Our Fatherland forever! And as the Prophet Isaiah reports the poignant desire for the encounter with the God "If Thou shalt cleave the heavens and come down" made little Child in Mary, now also the Church with the Spirit says: "Come! Maranà.thà" in the expectation of His Day!
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Book of Isaiah
IS 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7
You, LORD, are our father,
our redeemer you are named forever.
Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
with the mountains quaking before you,
while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,
such as they had not heard of from of old.
No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him.
Would that you might meet us doing right,
that we were mindful of you in our ways!
Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful;
all of us have become like unclean people,
all our good deeds are like polluted rags;
we have all withered like leaves,
and our guilt carries us away like the wind.
There is none who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to cling to you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered us up to our guilt.
Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians
1 COR 1:3-9
Brothers and sisters:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Mark
MK 13:33-37
Jesus 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!’”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaToday Advent begins, the liturgical time which prepares us for Christmas, inviting us to lift our gaze and open our hearts to welcome Jesus. During Advent we do not just live in anticipation of Christmas; we are also called to rekindle the anticipation of the glorious return of Christ — when He will return at the end of time — preparing ourselves, with consistent and courageous choices, for the final encounter with Him. We remember Christmas, we await the glorious return of Christ, and also our personal encounter: the day in which the Lord will call. During these four weeks we are called to leave behind a resigned and routine way of life and to go forth, nourishing hope, nourishing dreams for a new future. This is a favourable time to open our hearts, to ask ourselves concrete questions about how and for whom we expend our lives. (Angelus, 2 December 2018)
. FAUSTI - "I SAY TO EVERYONE, BE AWAKE!" It is in this way that Jesus concludes his last speech. The passage is all a variation on the theme of vigilance. He begins with the words "be attentive, be vigilant," recommending vigilance, twice in between, and once again at the end He exhorts everyone to look: Christianity is not the opium that anesthetizes us before the harshness of reality. It urges us not to behave like the ostrich, but like the wise owl that has its eyes open to peer into the night to see what is there and what is hidden until the sun.
RispondiEliminaStaying awake is necessary, but not enough.
The Lord, when He departed, gave us His own "power". We
we are therefore responsible to do and say what he said and did, until his return.
"Be careful" Those who watch the wishes or are afraid of the arrival of those who are absent.
In the great darkness of the world, the disciple is placed like a sentinel. This is his prophetic function (Ez 3:16). He does not sleep like the others, but remains awake and sober. He knows that it is time to wake from sleep (Rom 13:11). If before it was dark, now it is light in the Lord, and he behaves like a child of light, bearing the fruit of light (Eph 5:8) because he is preparing for the desired encounter. Vigilance must be constant because the time of His final coming is unknown.
Trying to find out which day and which hour is useless; we just need to know that every day and every hour is the right time to experience the encounter with Him, while we wait for the last one. Jesus has gone away from us. The journey that He made when He was with us is the same one that keeps us away from Him, to be with Him we must make the same journey.
We are slaves because we are of the Lord. In this way, we are like Him who became our Servant to be everything for us. The power that He has given us is His power as the Son who loves the Father and His brothers. He comes to us from His Spirit; it is the power of the Word that forgives sins, drives out demons, leads to conversion and recognition of the Lord (2:10).
To each one is given a particular manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Cor 12:7).He has not given everything to anyone, so as not to shut us up in self-sufficiency. He has given each one of us something, so that each one serves his brothers with what he has and can be served in what he does not have, and so we live in mutual service.
The goalkeeper has a special responsibility for vigilance. His specific task is to wake everyone up, because those who do not wake up, do not wait, and those who do not wait, do not welcome the one who comes.
We are urged not to speculate on the exact dates of His return. The point is: to live as children of light and day (1 Thess 5:5), to wrap ourselves in the Lord, every hour of the night. And then every hour will be an encounter with Him and a step towards the final encounter.
His coming is that of the bridegroom for those who are waiting for him, who have rendered his life to Him. For those who have put their treasure elsewhere, His coming is that of the thief (1 Th 5:2)
Certainly the Lord wants everyone to be warned, "What I say to you, I say to all: watch out!" because God loves His people and He wants no one to be taken by surprise and unexpectedly by His Return, be it the definitive one, or the one to meet everyone at the end of the journey. Watch so that you do not fall into the situation of those who "In the time of Noah: they ate, drank, married , until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and made them all perish" "As it also happened in the time of Lot: they ate, drank, bought, sold, planted, built, but on the day when Lot came out of Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from the sky and made them all perish".
RispondiElimina"Watch" how? The Lord desires hearts that see in Him, He does not take away sleep, but He desires hearts that await Him with trust and abandonment, with intense affection and hope.There can be no indifference, or worse, fear, before the Lord who comes to open the doors of His Kingdom, the House forever. It is therefore important to live with an eye to the definitive, with the heart turned to the Creator and Savior of our souls.
Even though we live a daily life that is laborious and open to relationships, it is necessary to turn our attention to Him who "Behold, He comes upon the clouds and everyone will see Him.Even those who pierce Him and all the nations of the earth will fight for Him the chest. Yes, Amen!I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, He who is, who was and who comes, the Almighty! (Rev. 1:7-8).
Therefore, give yourself up so as not to let your gaze go numb to Heaven, and go to meet the Lord in the New Jerusalem, Our Fatherland forever! And as the Prophet Isaiah reports the poignant desire for the encounter with the God "If Thou shalt cleave the heavens and come down" made little Child in Mary, now also the Church with the Spirit says: "Come! Maranà.thà" in the expectation of His Day!