First Sunday of Advent in year B

# Advent is the period covering a few weeks before Christmas. Since the establishment of this liturgical time, Advent represents the period of preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ among humans, i.e. his bodily birth. In churches using the Gregorian calendar, Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and marks the beginning of the liturgical year. Advent therefore begins at the earliest on 27 November and at the latest on 3 December and ends on 24 December. The Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches observe a period of fasting and penance equivalent to Advent, but the term has only recently come into use: this liturgical time of preparation for Christmas is traditionally called the Nativity Fasting. This fast lasts 40 days, whereas in the Latin rite it is four weeks, and six weeks in the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites. In the Catholic Church and most Protestant churches, the liturgical colour of this period is purple. However, some Episcopalians and Lutherans use blue, and some Byzantines use red or white.Watch out, because you do not know when the master of the house comes.

MAY THE LORD FILL US WITH HIS BLESSINGS AND GRACES THAT WHAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR US IN THE LITURGICAL YEAR A IS REALISED IN OUR LIVES AS CHRISTIANS IN THIS NEW YEAR B WHAT I WILL ASK THE HOLY TRINITY TO GRANT YOU IN MY PRAYERS PEACE AND BLESSING AMEN
From the Gospel according to Saint Mark
Jesus spoke to his disciples about his coming: « Take heed, take heed: for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man who went on a journey: leaving his house, he gave all authority to his servants, set each one to his work, and commanded the porter to keep watch. Keep watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house will return in the evening or at midnight, at the crowing of the cock or in the morning. He may arrive unexpectedly and find you asleep. What I’m saying to you now, I’m saying to all of you: stay awake ». « Beware, watch: for you don’t know when the time will come »  (Mk 13, 33, 37).

Author +FATHER MARIE LANDRY C+MPS

Watch and pray !

Jesus, I want to live a holy time of Advent, I want to make room for you, to give you time. Dispose of me as you wish, so that I can be fully what I am, what you ask of me, out of love for you. Today, on this first Sunday of Advent, the Church begins a new liturgical year. So we are entering a period of waiting, renewal and preparation, and we are now on the first Sunday of the beautiful Advent season that the Church offers us. In twenty-five days time, our Lord will be lying there, asleep so poorly in the straw, under the contemplative gaze of his holy parents.

Let us stop for a few minutes to think about that unique night, to contemplate in silence our God who became a little child lying in a manger. Jesus warns us: « Beware, watch: for you do not know when the time will come » (Mk 13:33). Indeed, in life there is a decisive moment. When will it come? We do not know. The Lord did not even want to reveal the moment when the end of the world would come.

Finally, all of this leads us to an attitude of expectation and awareness: « He can arrive unexpectedly and find you asleep » (Mk 13:36). The time of our life is a time of giving of oneself, in order to reach maturity in our capacity to love, it is not a time for entertainment. It is a time of « engagement »; like a preparation for the « wedding » in communion with God and his saints in the afterlife.

But life is constantly starting and starting again. The fact is that we are confronted with decisive moments: every day, every hour, or every minute can perhaps turn into a decisive moment. Many or few, but whether they are days, hours or minutes: it is there, in that concrete moment, that the Lord is waiting for us. « In our life, in the life of Christians, the first conversion is important, that unique moment, which everyone remembers, when we clearly discover everything that our Lord asks of us, but even more important and more difficult are the subsequent conversions » (St Josemaria).

In this liturgical time we are preparing to celebrate the great « Advent »: the coming of Our Lord. Christmas: may every day of our existence be a birth to the life of love! Perhaps the best way to keep watch is to make our life a permanent Christmas. Our Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary watches over us!
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Jesus, I thank you for inviting me to be close to you, in this permanent vigil, I don’t want to waste a minute to love and be in joy in what you are asking me to live. I trust in you. Please, may I desire only you alone !

More information

◊ Deacon Michel Houyoux : click here to read thr paper → First Sunday of Advent of year B

♥ St Johns Northriding  :  » First Sunday of Advent »