Time Looking Forward To

1st Sunday of Advent
29 November 2009


Come, let us worship the Lord, the King who is to come.

First reading Jeremiah 33:14-16

See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when I am going to fulfil the promise I made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah:
‘In those days and at that time,
I will make a virtuous Branch grow for David,
who shall practise honesty and integrity in the land.
In those days Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell in confidence.
And this is the name the city will be called:
The-Lord-our-integrity.’

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 24:4-5,8-9,10,14

Second reading 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2

May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.
Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Gospel Luke 21:25-28,34-36

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’


Reflection
By Mayzelle Atienza

I just came from a wake of the mother of one of the sisters in my Catholic group before I wrote this reflection. The parallelism of death and the anguish-ridden and terror-filled end of times described in today’s Gospel is very striking. Death always brings forth extreme sadness and a deep sense of loss in the family but as Christians, we are taught that death is an inevitable means to be with our Father in heaven. And that being with our Father in heaven is the end-all and be-all of our temporal journey here on earth. Death is a grounding, bittersweet reminder of the fleetingness of life. And I guess the same can be said about the reality of the end of times. It will be a time of anguish and terror as what is written in the Gospel but one just have to “stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” and that it is an inevitable means to be “able to stand before the Son of Man”. This is our fervent desire and hope as Christians, to be able to stand before the Son of Man.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent and the start of the new liturgical year. Advent is a season of waiting and hope for that face-to-face meeting with the Son of Man. Let this time be a season of productive and fruitful waiting, a time of concrete service and action towards those who are in need, a season of hope and love to the people around us.

Prayer

Dear Jesus our Lord and Savior, our desire is to be with you in heaven at the end of our days. May this Advent be a season of productive and fruitful waiting for each of us. May it be a time of hopeful anticipation and concrete love for the people around us. Amen.







Next week on God-speak
3D Perspective