Worship and Waiting

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today guide us into the season of Advent and our preparation to being open to accept the “New Birth” that we seek to experience on our journey to fullness of life.

Advent First Sunday

In the Reading from the Prophet Isaiah, the nations acknowledge God as sovereign.

* [2:4] Once the nations acknowledge God as sovereign, they go up to Jerusalem to settle their disputes, rather than having recourse to war.

* [2:5] This verse is added as a conclusion to vv. 2–4; cf. Mi 4:4–5, where a quite different conclusion is provided for the parallel version of this oracle. (Isaiah, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 122 is sung by pilgrims obeying the law to visit Jerusalem.

* [Psalm 122] A song of Zion, sung by pilgrims obeying the law to visit Jerusalem three times on a journey. The singer anticipates joining the procession into the city (Ps 122:1–3). Jerusalem is a place of encounter, where the people praise God (Ps 122:4) and hear the divine justice mediated by the king (Ps 122:5). The very buildings bespeak God’s power (cf. Ps 48:13–15). May the grace of this place transform the people’s lives (Ps 122:6–9)! (Psalms, PSALM 122 | USCCB, n.d.)

The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans exhorts us to conduct that is consonant with avowed interest in the Lord’s return.

* [13:11–14] These verses provide the motivation for the love that is encouraged in Rom 13:8–10.

* [13:13] Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day: the behavior described in Rom 1:29–30 is now to be reversed. Secular moralists were fond of making references to people who could not wait for nightfall to do their carousing. Paul says that Christians claim to be people of the new day that will dawn with the return of Christ. Instead of planning for nighttime behavior they should be concentrating on conduct that is consonant with avowed interest in the Lord’s return. (Romans, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Matthew proclaims The Unknown Day and Hour.

* [24:37–39] Cf. Lk 17:26–27. In the days of Noah: the Old Testament account of the flood lays no emphasis upon what is central for Matthew, i.e., the unexpected coming of the flood upon those who were unprepared for it.

* [24:40–41] Cf. Lk 17:34–35. Taken…left: the former probably means taken into the kingdom; the latter, left for destruction. People in the same situation will be dealt with in opposite ways. In this context, the discrimination between them will be based on their readiness for the coming of the Son of Man.

* [24:42–44] Cf. Lk 12:39–40. The theme of vigilance and readiness is continued with the bold comparison of the Son of Man to a thief who comes to break into a house. (Matthew, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB, n.d.)

Maureen McCann Waldron suggests that paying attention five minutes a day could change us and our Advent.  We could read the daily scriptures and the message of the season.

We can sit in silence and speak to Jesus about our upcoming busy, chaotic and confusing day.  We bring our worries and joys to Jesus and ask that our hearts be opened in new ways. We can close by asking for the grace to carry that peace with us to all those we encounter that day.  We can end our simple meditation by saying, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

Loving God, I am so aware of my imperfections and flaws, and my instinct is to come to you later – when I have cleaned up my act.  But when I quiet myself and sense your presence, I can feel that you come to meet me exactly as I am right now.   I recognize your love in my heart - beyond anything I can understand with my head.  Thank you for loving me exactly as I am.  Help me to pay attention in these weeks of Advent.  Come, Lord Jesus! (McCann Waldron, 2025)

Don Schwager quotes “Finding the pearl of great price,” by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD).

"All who listen to the depths of the gospel and live it so completely that none of it remains veiled from them care very little about whether the end of the world will come suddenly and all at once or gradually and little by little. Instead, they bear in mind only that each individual's end or death will arrive on a day and hour unknown to him and that upon each one of us 'the day of the Lord will come like a thief' (1 Thessalonians 5:2). It is important therefore to be vigilant, whether in the evening (that is, in one's youth) or in the middle of the night (that is, at human life's darkest hour) or when the cock crows (at full maturity) or in the morning (when one is well advanced in old age).

"When God the Word comes and brings an end to the progress of this life, he will gather up the one who gave 'no sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids' (Psalm 132:4) and kept the commandment of the One who said, 'Be vigilant at all times' (Luke 21:36). ...But I know another kind of end for the righteous person who is able to say along with the apostle, 'Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world' (Galatians 6:14). In a certain sense, the end of the world has already come for the person to whom the world is crucified. And to one who is dead to worldly things the day of the Lord has already arrived, for the Son of man comes to the soul of the one who no longer lives for sin or for the world." (excerpt Commentary on Matthew56) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 24:37-44 asks what can we expect as we look for Jesus’ coming each day? He might come in the whisper of an urge to pray as we run errands. He might come in an anxious child who draws us to care for them. He might come during a candlelit liturgy as he gives us the comfort and conviction that he will take care of us.

So this Advent, of course, prepares to celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas. And of course be ready for his final coming, whenever that will be. But also be on the lookout for the ways that Jesus will come into your life every day this Advent. Because the Son of Man will indeed come! 

“Jesus, I want to be ready for you!” (Meditation on Matthew 24:37-44, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the Texts for the First Sunday of Advent. From Isaiah 2 and also in Micah the Lord’s House is portrayed as the highest mountain in honor rather than elevation. The faithful will be able to grow crops and reform swords into ploughshares. Paul, in Romans, calls us to realize that the end is coming and we should live a virtuous life maybe by working on one gift of patience, fidelity, or charity in Advent. Matthew speaks that we don’t know the end and some Protestant believer understand this passage to refer to  the "rapture. Friar Jude suggests that the Greek word used indicates being killed. Whenever it comes we should be prepared like the fabled monk, who would die in two hours, yet continued to do what he was doing?

Fr. Mike Schmitz highlights the importance of prayer and fasting, instructing us how to fast and empty ourselves to feel our spiritual need for Christ. He also discusses faithfulness in vocations and living out the life God has called you to. Today’s readings are from Acts 13, 1 Corinthians 7-8, and Proverbs 28:4-6.

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, describes Mary as a model of faith. We see the Spirit descending upon Jesus after his baptism in the Jordan River, and we see the Spirit again filling the apostles with power on the day of Pentecost. But the very first person who incarnates this new faith was Mary of Nazareth, who said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let what you have said be done to me” (Luke 1:38). It was Mary who responded with an unconditional yes to the angel’s announcement that she was to give birth to the Messiah. Mary is the model of the faith to which God calls all of us: a total and unreserved yes to God’s request to be present in and to the world through us. 

Mary’s kind of yes doesn’t come easily to us. It always requires that we let down some of our ego boundaries, and none of us likes to do that. Mary’s kind of yes, as it is presented in the Gospel, is an assent utterly unprepared for, with no preconditions of worthiness required, that is calmly, wonderfully trustful that someone else is in charge. All she asks is one, simple, clarifying question (Luke 1:34). It’s a yes that is pure in motivation, open-ended in intent, and calm in confidence. Only grace can achieve such freedom in the soul, heart, or mind. [2] (Rohr, n.d.)

We invite the Holy Spirit to kindle in our hearts the love and surrender of Mary as we prepare for celebration of the Nativity.

References

Isaiah, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 30, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/2?1 

Matthew, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 30, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/24?37 

McCann Waldron, M. (2025, November 30). Daily Reflection November 30, 2025 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved November 30, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-november-30-2025 

Meditation on Matthew 24:37-44. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved November 30, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/11/30/1437414/ 

Psalms, PSALM 122 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 30, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/122?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 30, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-grace-filled-yes/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 30, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/13?11 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Watch and Be Ready - the Day of the Lord's Coming Draws Near. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 30, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/

Vigilance and Virtue

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, today, invite us to have faith that our efforts to live a virtuous life will prepare us to be open to love, compassion, and mercy on our journey.

Vigilant in Love

The First Reading continues the Book of Daniel Visions of defeat for the Seleucid empire.

* [7:1–27] This vision continues the motif of the four kingdoms from chap. 2; see note on 2:36–45. To the four succeeding world kingdoms, Babylonian, Median, Persian, and Greek, is opposed the heavenly kingdom of God and the kingdom of God’s people on earth. The beast imagery of this chapter has been used extensively in the Book of Revelation, where it is applied to the Roman empire, the persecutor of the Church.

* [7:18] “Holy ones” in Hebrew and Aramaic literature are nearly always members of the heavenly court or angels (cf. 4:10, 14, 20; 8:13), though here the term is commonly taken to refer to Israel.

* [7:25] The reference is to the persecution of Antiochus IV and specifically to the disruption of the Temple cult (1 Mc 1:41–64). A time, two times, and half a time: an indefinite, evil period of time. Probably here, three and a half years, which becomes the standard period of tribulation in apocalyptic literature (Rev 11:2; 13:5 [in months]; 11:3 [in days]; and cf. 12:14). As seven is the Jewish “perfect” number, half of it signifies great imperfection. Actually, the Temple was desecrated for three years (1 Mc 4:52–54). The duration of the persecution was a little longer, since it was already under way before the Temple was desecrated. (Daniel, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)

Daniel 3:82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87 are part of additions to the Aramaic text of Daniel.

* [3:24–90] These verses are additions to the Aramaic text of Daniel, translated from the Greek form of the book. They were probably first composed in Hebrew or Aramaic, but are no longer extant in the original language. The Roman Catholic Church has always regarded them as part of the canonical Scriptures. (Daniel, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke is an Exhortation to Be Vigilant.

* [21:24] The times of the Gentiles: a period of indeterminate length separating the destruction of Jerusalem from the cosmic signs accompanying the coming of the Son of Man.

* [21:26] The powers of the heavens: the heavenly bodies mentioned in Lk 21:25 and thought of as cosmic armies. (Luke, CHAPTER 21 | USCCB, n.d.)

Rev. Elvin Cardoso, SJ, comments that the scriptures during these days turn our attention to what ultimately matters: our final destiny and the kind of life we are choosing to live.

In today’s gospel, Jesus speaks directly to this. He asks us not to drift through life unprepared, but to stay awake, to live with intention, to allow his teachings to take root in our choices. His invitation is not meant to frighten us but to awaken us. We often know what we should do to deepen our relationship with God, but we put it off, consciously or unconsciously. We tell ourselves that we are too busy or that we will get serious later. But “later” has a way of slipping through our fingers. Jesus’ words call us to live differently. He exhorts us to be vigilant and pray for strength during our trials and tribulations. (Cardoso, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Drunkenness weakens both soul and body,” by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD).

"'But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare.' You heard the proclamation of the eternal King. You learned the deplorable end of 'drunkenness' or 'intoxication'. Imagine a skilled and wise physician who would say, 'Beware, no one should drink too much from this or that herb. If he does, he will suddenly be destroyed.' I do not doubt that everyone would keep the prescriptions of the physician's warning concerning his own health. Now the Lord, who is both the physician of souls and bodies, orders them to avoid as a deadly drink the herb 'of drunkenness' and the vice 'of intoxication' and also the care of worldly matters. I do not know if any one can say that he is not wounded, because these things consume him.

"Drunkenness is therefore destructive in all things. It is the only thing that weakens the soul together with the body. According to the apostle, it can happen that when the body 'is weak,' then the spirit is 'much stronger' (2 Corinthians 12:10), and when 'the exterior person is destroyed, the interior person is renewed' (2 Corinthians 4:16). In the illness of drunkenness, the body and the soul are destroyed at the same time. The spirit is corrupted equally with the flesh. All the members are weakened: the feet and the hands. The tongue is loosened. Darkness covers the eyes. Forgetfulness covers the mind so that one does not know himself nor does he perceive he is a person. Drunkenness of the body has that shamefulness." (excerpt from HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 7.5-6) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 21:34-36 comments that an openhearted approach to life doesn’t come easily, and it doesn’t happen overnight. But it can grow as we try to live every day in the peace of Christ and as we immerse ourselves in his presence in prayer. Staying connected to Jesus, the Prince of Peace, we will gradually become more peaceful ourselves.

Try it today. Close your eyes, and take three long, deep breaths. With each inhale and exhale, slowly repeat the key verse in today’s responsorial psalm: “Bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever” (Daniel 3:82). Let his peace wash over you and calm your fears and anxieties. You belong to Christ, and he has you in the palm of his hand!

“Jesus, help me to face today with an open heart, filled with trust in you.” (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that the passage from Daniel 7 is a continuation of the vision of the Son of Man receiving power. The people were persecuted by the Seleucid empire. Even though terrible things would happen, nevertheless  the kingship of God will reign. They will win. The Gospel of Luke declares that we should be ready and not be caught unawares. Friar Jude urges that when the end comes, there is nothing left unsaid, and nothing left undone in our lives. We should live, now, as if the end is at hand.

Fr. Mike Schmitz begins with Acts 12 and the miraculous rescue of Peter from prison by an angel. Reflecting on this story, Fr. Mike helps us grapple with the mysterious reality that we are each called to say "Yes" to God’s destination for us, even when we might not know the way. Lastly, Fr. Mike delves into St. Paul's hard teachings to the Corinthians on sexuality morality and excommunication. Today's readings are Acts 12, 1 Corinthians 5-6, and Proverbs 28:1-3.

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Episcopal priest Laurie Brock who invites us to reflect on our relationship with the things we use every day and how our gratitude might help us discover the sacred significance they hold.

What are the ordinary things in your daily life that you often overlook? Sitting in a quiet place in your home, office, or even outside, let your gaze wander, noticing a few items. Slowly allow your attention to rest on one. What task or chore does it help you accomplish? How does it help you in your daily life? What challenges would appear without this item?  

Turning your thoughts toward your faith, what parts of your faith are easy to overlook? Perhaps it’s a prayer you’ve said over and over or a hymn you’ve heard so many times you don’t pay attention to the words anymore. Maybe it’s a routine like seeing the candles lit before worship. How might the object you’re seeing now remind you of the value of the ordinary and routine in your faith? How does ordinariness help you experience God? How might you offer gratitude for this object? [2] (Rohr, n.d.)

We seek the help of the Spirit, at this time of year, to remind us to stop, take a breath, observe love, and proceed to our Advent anticipation of Christmas.

References

Cardoso, E. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved November 29, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-november-29-2025 

Daniel, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 29, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/3?82 

Daniel, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 29, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/7?15 

Luke, CHAPTER 21 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 29, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/21?34 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Practicing Gratitude: Weekly Summary. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 29, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/practicing-gratitude-weekly-summary/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Lest Your Hearts Be Weighed Down. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 29, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Word Among Us. (n.d.). Meditation on Luke 21:34-36. Retrieved November 29, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/11/29/1436986/