FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, NOVEMBER 30, 2025

MASS READINGS

Gospel 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."

REFLECTION

"Stay awake!"

There is an ongoing joke amongst parents with school age children. We call December "Maycember". Why? Because in May we have the closing of the school year: graduations, school plays, end of school sports, etc. This play on words comes from the hecticness: end of semester, Christmas plays, extra activities of school and the busyness of getting ready for Christmas, either preparing the house for guests, travelling to visit relatives, staging the food and gifts for Christmas, clothes, entertaining, etc.

We can be so preoccupied in making this season "perfect" for our friends and family that we can easily lose focus on what we should really be thinking of: the incarnation of Jesus, not only His birth.

Advent, the adventus, the coming is here. Regarding this, Pope Benedict XVI in his homily celebrated a solemn prayer vigil for the unborn life especially when it is newly conceived and in its early stages: every human life has a very lofty and incomparable dignity. He quotes Tertullian, an ancient Christian writer: '"the one who will be a man is one already". Jesus was a person from conception.

Pope Benedict also tells us:

"The beginning of the Liturgical Year helps us live anew the expectation of God who took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, God who makes himself little, becomes a child; it speaks to us of the coming of a God who is close, who chose to experience human life from the very beginning in order to save it totally, in its fullness. And so the mystery of Lord’s Incarnation and the beginning of human life are closely and harmoniously connected and in tune with each other in the one saving plan of God, the Lord of the life of each and everyone."

Jesus was formed inside Mary's womb, just like at one point we also were inside our mothers, new human beings and not just a collection of biological materials. He shared our experience Himself, showing us the dignity of the nascent babies.

Join us in our Advent Retreat this Dec 12-14. And let us ask Mary and St. Joseph to help us focus on the Lord and not just "all the things we have to do", so we can refocus on the beauty of Jesus' Advent into the world and into our lives.

God bless y'all!

Source: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20101127_vespri-avvento.html