{"id":2981,"date":"2018-12-02T06:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-02T04:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/?p=2981"},"modified":"2021-11-27T16:32:09","modified_gmt":"2021-11-27T21:32:09","slug":"1st-sunday-of-advent-cycle-c-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/2018\/12\/02\/1st-sunday-of-advent-cycle-c-2\/","title":{"rendered":"1st Sunday of Advent, Cycle C (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new liturgical year begins today, and we inaugurate it with the season of Advent, a time of joyful expectation and spiritual conversion to prepare for the birth of Our Lord at Christmas. Today\u2019s readings remind us that Advent is a time for preparing our hearts for the coming of Our Savior.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s First Reading the Lord announces through Jeremiah that the promises made throughout salvation history are about to be fulfilled, masterfully evoking the sense of anticipation we\u2019re called to live in Advent. Jesus is that shoot that springs up from the line of King David, destined to be a just king who brings safety, security, and justice: in a word, the long-awaited Messiah. Humanity will no longer be left alone in the dark of sin and menaced by the shadow of death. At the time of Jesus\u2019 birth, the people of Israel, who\u2019d received so many promises, including this one, were scattered throughout the known world and under the dominion of a foreign power. Hope was the only thing they had left. Advent is a time when we start to see the light at the end of tunnel: the birth of Our Savior.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Second Reading St. Paul reminds us of the most important thing brought by the Messiah: the love of God in Person. Paul reminds us that we need to get ready for Our Lord\u2019s arrival, which is the purpose of Advent, and how. The Lord wants to increase the love we have in our hearts, not only for him, but for each other. It takes strength of heart to welcome Our Lord as he deserves at Christmas. Advent is a time of conversion: a time for turning out hearts back to him if they\u2019ve strayed. It\u2019s also a time for turning out hearts back to each other. It\u2019s no coincidence that during this season we turn back to our families and think more about those in need. Our Lord came for both those reasons: we need salvation and help coming in from the cold solitude of sin that separates us from him and from each other.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel Our Lord teaches us, describing his Second Coming, that the heart cannot rely on feelings alone, which change like the wind, if it wants to endure trials. The heart must rely on something deeper. The Lord foretells the calamities that will fall, but he tells us to be steadfast in those moments, because he as Our Redeemer is coming. Everyone endures trials in life, and, strangely, during Advent the preparations for Christmas are a trial for some: shopping, preparing for family visits, juggling work, study, and family time, etc. The \u201ctrials\u201d of Advent are actually opportunities. We can make them a Christmas gift for Our Lord by putting love into everything we do during Advent: giving out of love, serving visiting family and friends because we love them, not just out of obligation. It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t love at all in doing those things; rather, it\u2019s an opportunity to increase our love as St. Paul suggests in today\u2019s Second Reading. Perseverance\u2019s worth is measured by what it endures, and whether Advent is a time of joyful expectation for us or something we \u201csurvive\u201d Our Lord will show us how to live it in a spiritually fruitful way.<\/p>\n

There are two Advent traditions that are great for fostering joyful expectation: lighting a candle of the Advent wreath each Sunday or using a special Advent calendar. Don\u2019t just foster that expectation; put it into action. Whether you celebrate every Sunday or every day, put a little spiritual gift for Our Lord (an extra prayer, an act of charity, a sacrifice) by the wreath or calendar every time you recall Christmas getting closer. Our holiness is best gift to offer Our Lord at Christmas.<\/p>\n

Readings:\u00a0Jeremiah 33:14\u201316;\u00a0Psalm 25:4\u20135, 8\u201310, 14;\u00a01 Thessalonians 3:12\u20134:2;\u00a0Luke 21:25\u201328, 34\u201336.\u00a0<\/em>See also 1st Sunday of Advent, Cycle C<\/a>, 34th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a034th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A new liturgical year begins today, and we inaugurate it with the season of Advent, a time of joyful expectation and spiritual conversion to prepare for the birth of Our Lord at Christmas. Today\u2019s readings remind us that Advent is a time for preparing our hearts for the coming of Our Savior. In today\u2019s First … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[119,121,120,15],"class_list":["post-2981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advent","tag-cycle-c","tag-first-week","tag-sunday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p65qtw-M5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2981"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2984,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions\/2984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}