DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
DECEMBER 3, 2023
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
MEMORIAL OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER, PRIEST
FIRST READING
ISAIAH 63:16-17, 19, 64: 2-7 OR (1 CORINTHIANS 9:16-19, 22-23)
63 16 For thou art our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; thou, O LORD, art our Father, our Redeemer from of old is thy name. 17 O LORD, why dost thou make us err from thy ways and harden our heart, so that we fear thee not? Return for the sake of thy servants, the tribes of thy heritage. 19 We have become like those over whom thou hast never ruled, like those who are not called by thy name. 64 2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil -- to make thy name known to thy adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at thy presence! 3 When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence. 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him. 5 Thou meetest him that joyfully works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways. Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? 6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7 There is no one that calls upon thy name, that bestirs himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 79(80):2-3, 15-16, 18-19 OR (PSALMS 117:1-2)
Response: Lord, make us turn to thee; let us see thy face and we shall be saved.
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
thou who leadest Joseph like a flock!
Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
before E′phraim and Benjamin and Manas′seh!
Stir up thy might,
and come to save us!
R. Lord, make us turn to thee; let us see thy face and we shall be saved.
Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
the stock which thy right hand planted.
R. Lord, make us turn to thee; let us see thy face and we shall be saved.
But let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,
the son of man whom thou hast made strong for thyself!
Then we will never turn back from thee;
give us life, and we will call on thy name!
R. Lord, make us turn to thee; let us see thy face and we shall be saved.
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SECOND READING
1 CORINTHIANS 1:3-9
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge 6 even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Word of the Lord
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GOSPEL
Watch expectantly today - your Master is coming!
MARK 13:33-37 OR (MARK 16:15-20)
33 Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Watch therefore for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Watch."
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Christ's second and final coming, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Who are the 'all' to whom he says this if not his elect and his beloved, the members of his body which is the church (Colossians 1:18,24)? Therefore, he said this not only to those who then heard him speaking, but also to those who came after them and before us, as well as to us and to those who will come after us until his final coming. Is that day going to encounter only those currently living, or is anyone likely to say that these words are also addressed to the dead, when he says: 'Watch, lest he comes suddenly and finds you asleep' (Mark 13:35-36)? Why, then, does he say to all what concerns only those who will then be living? For that day will come to every single one, when the day comes for him to leave this life, such as it is, to be judged on the last day (John 12:48). For this reason, every Christian ought to watch lest the coming of the Lord find him unprepared. But the last day will find unprepared anyone whom this day will find unprepared (Matthew 25:1-13). This at least was certainly clear to the apostles. Even if the Lord did not come in their times, while they were still living here in the flesh, yet who would doubt that they watched most carefully and observed what he said to all, lest coming suddenly he might find them unprepared?"
(excerpt from LETTER 199, TO HESYCHIUS 3)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.