Readings for First Sunday of Advent

First Reading: Isaiah 63: 16b-17; 19b; 64: 2-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 80: 2-3; 15-16; 18-19
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9
Gospel: Mark 13: 33-37

Notes taken from Homily at St Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church Sunday, November 30

First Reading: We were wandering about without focus. God come down from heaven and save us. We need to have the attitude to allow God to form and shape us into something beautiful and useful. We give God permission to mold us. "We are the clay and you are the potter: We are the work of your hands"

Second Reading: This talks about how God's graces work in us the community of faith. We look forward to God's graces working in us as a community.

Gospel: Be watchful and be alert. There are diversions that take us away from God that make it hard to examine our conscience and pray our conscience and pray. Be watchful and slow down. Do less and not more to be more attentive to the works of Jesus Christ. Be a person of prayer. Be watchful, alert, and centered on the Lord.

How can we be more watchful? This is the challenge for the Advent season. Let us be more watchful as we wait for the birth of Jesus Christ.