Mark 13, 33-37 Year B; First Sunday of Advent; You do not know when the time will come.

Reading 1
Isaiah 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.

-The Word of the Lord – Thanks be to God

Reading 2
1 Corinthians 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.

-The Word of the Lord – Thanks be to God

Gospel
Mark 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!’”

-The Gospel of the Lord -Praise to you Lord, Jesus Christ

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Today’s Reflection

During Advent, we promise to prepare ourselves for the fullness of Christian life and our final meeting with Christ. We welcome Christ at Christmas and prepare to welcome Him again at the end of the world.

The life of the people of Judah, who wandered before the coming of the Savior, is like our own lives when we wander because of sin. We cannot find true peace and salvation without Christ. We are God’s creation, but we are like clay in His hands. This makes us long even more for the coming of our Savior.

As we wait for Jesus, the spiritual attitude we need is a grateful heart.

God never abandons us. He always comes to us to save us. Because of this, we have hope and the strength to rise again and return to Him.

God gives each of us our own responsibilities and waits for us. One day, He may come suddenly. We should ask ourselves whether we are living carelessly and failing to prepare for His coming. Evil forces around us are always working to distract us and make us spiritually asleep, so that we may not be ready to welcome the Lord.

Jesus comes quietly and humbly. Just as He was born in a stable in Bethlehem, He comes to us today through the poorest and most humble people. He is present in our daily lives, at our doorstep, and in the world and history around us.

To recognize Him, we need a humble heart that accepts our sins and our weaknesses.

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Sharing:

1. Let us share a word or a phrase that touches our hearts.

2. Let us talk about what spiritually awake and spiritually unaware people look like. What do we do to stay spiritually awake?

3. “To recognize Him, we need a humble heart that accepts our sins and our weaknesses.” Besides humility, what else can we do to recognize Jesus in our daily lives?

4. Resolution: Based on today’s Gospel, how do we want to live our lives today?