First Sunday of Advent - Year A Sunday, 01 December 2013 Saint(s) of the day : Bl. brother Charles of Jesus, Priest (1858-1916), St. Eligius, Bishop († 665) See commentary below or click here Saint Bernard : At an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come Book of Isaiah 2:1-5. This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come, The mountain of the LORDS house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it; many peoples shall come and say: Come, let us climb the LORDS mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths. For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD! Psalms 122(121):1-2.3-4.5.6-7.8-9. I rejoiced because they said to me, We will go up to the house of the LORD. And now we have set foot Within your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, built as a city With compact unity. To it the tribes go up, The tribes of the LORD. According to the decree for Israel, To give thanks to the name of the LORD. In it are set up judgment seats, Seats for the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May those who love you prosper! May peace be within your walls, Prosperity in your buildings. Because of my relatives and friends I will say, Peace be within you! Because of the house of the LORD, our God, I will pray for your good. Letter to the Romans 13:11-14a. Brothers and sisters: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness (and) put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 24:37-44. Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In (those) days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be (also) at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB Commentary of the day : Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and doctor of the Church Sermons 4 et 5 for Advent At an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come It is only right, my brothers, to celebrate our Lords coming with all possible devotion, so greatly does his comfort gladden us... and his love burn within us. But do not just think about his first coming when he came “to seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19,10); think, too, of that other coming when he will come to take us with him. I should like to see you constantly occupied in meditating on these two comings..., “resting among the sheepfolds” (Ps 68[67],14), for they are the two arms of the Bridegroom in which the Bride of the Song of Songs took her rest: “His left arm is under my head and his right arm surrounds me” (2,6)... But there is a third coming between the two to which I have referred and those who know of it can rest in it for their greater happiness. The other two are visible but this one is not. In the first, “ the Lord has appeared on earth and has spoken to us” (Bar 3,38)...; in the last, “all mankind shall see the salvation of God” (Lk 3,6; Is 40,5)... But the one that comes between them is secret; it is that in which the elect alone see the Savior within themselves and their souls find salvation. In his first coming, Christ came in our flesh and in our weakness; in his coming in the midst of time, he comes in Spirit and power; in his final coming, he will come in his glory and majesty. But it is by the strength of the virtues that we attain to glory, as it is written: “The Lord, the king of armies, he is the king of glory” (Ps 24[23],10), and in the same book: “That I may see your power and your glory” (Ps 63[62],3). And so the second coming is like a road leading from the first to the last. In the first, Christ has been our redemption; in the last, he will appear as our life; in his coming between, he is our rest and our consolation.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 01:08:07 +0000