Surprise Quiz

1st Sunday of Advent Nov 30
First reading                                      Isaiah 63: 16-17; 64:1, 3-8
You, Lord, yourself are our Father,

‘Our Redeemer’ is your ancient name.

Why, Lord, leave us to stray from your ways

and harden our hearts against fearing you?

Return, for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your inheritance.

Oh, that you would tear the heavens open and come down!

– at your Presence the mountains would melt.

No ear has heard,

no eye has seen

any god but you act like this

for those who trust him.

You guide those who act with integrity

and keep your ways in mind.

You were angry when we were sinners;

we had long been rebels against you.

We were all like men unclean,

all that integrity of ours like filthy clothing.

We have all withered like leaves

and our sins blew us away like the wind.

No one invoked your name

or roused himself to catch hold of you.

For you hid your face from us

and gave us up to the power of our sins.

And yet, Lord, you are our Father;

we the clay, you the potter,

we are all the work of your hand.

Psalm                                               Psalm 79
Second reading                               1 Corinthians 1:3-9

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ send you grace and peace.

  I never stop thanking God for all the graces you have received through Jesus Christ. I thank him that you have been enriched in so many ways, especially in your teachers and preachers; the witness to Christ has indeed been strong among you so that you will not be without any of the gifts of the Spirit while you are waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed; and he will keep you steady and without blame until the last day, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, because God by calling you has joined you to his Son, Jesus Christ; and God is faithful.

Gospel                                         Mark 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come. It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told the doorkeeper to stay awake. So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!’

Reflection

By Gary T.

After two years of hiatus, I teach in college again.

In my classes, sleeping is allowed; waking up is optional. I tell my students to be very quiet if ever some of their classmates fall asleep so as not to awaken them (and hoping that we can leave them inside the room after class.) Those who have other things to do, have a call to make, or just can’t help but make noise or check their gadgets. They are also allowed to just sign the attendance sheet and go. I would rather have five interested, prepared, and participative students than have thirty or more noisy ones who only disrupt our discussions. In fact I tell those who enrolled just because my subject is a requirement that they may just sign and leave the class every day.

Some do excuse themselves and go out once in a while. And those who are really exhausted for whatever reason do take a snooze. But all of them know that they really can’t gamble on not paying attention to my lectures as I always give surprise quizzes not based on the text books but from what we have discussed in that particular meeting.

Life is full of surprise quizzes. Trials, disappointments, sacrifices, difficult decisions, and many more things that test our abilities, our wisdom, our patience, our faith, our character. These tests are, in a way, surprises just because we do not know when we will be taking them. But we know they will surely come sooner or later. The important thing is we are always prepared to face challenges and not excuse ourselves, and that we show up and remain awake to participate in opportunities and to receive blessings when they come.

Prayer


Father, may our learning process be a fruitful one. May our on-the-job training doing Your business here on earth keep us awake to face You on graduation day and prepare us for our real jobs in heaven. Amen!

Amen.