First Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2008 (Cycle B)

Scripture Readings
First: Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7
Second: 1 Cor 3:1-9
Gospel: Mk 13:33-37

Prepared by: Fr. Lawrence J. Donohoo, O.P.

1. Subject Matter
 First Reading: A deep awareness of radical human sinfulness and helplessness is a divine gift that
prepares the way for grace.
 Second Reading: A spiritual maturity rooted in fidelity is both posture and preparation for future
divine promises.
 Gospel: Watching does not replace but shapes the tasks assigned by the Master. We watch by working
in obedience and love.

2. Exegetical Notes
 The first reading is really in the form of a lament psalm. A double reference at 63:16 and 64:7 to God
as Israel‟s father forms an unusual inclusio to this remarkably honest prayer.
 The second reading comprises the standard “thanksgiving” section of a typical Pauline letter. This
tends to be complimentary, and for that reason this particular praise must be read in light of Paul‟s
strong critique, which suggests that the Corinthians in fact are quite lacking in many spiritual gifts (see
chpts. 1-4). “The Corinthians tended to focus on the excitement of the present, so Paul has to remind
them that completeness is reserved to the future.” (NJBC)
 The Gospel is the second of two short parables placed at the conclusion of Jesus‟ ministry (the next
verse begins the Passion account). The first parable is the even shorter parable about the fig tree giving
signs that summer is near. “The parable about the clear signs of the end. . .is balanced by the parable
of constant vigilance.” (NJBC)
3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
 1832 The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal
glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: “charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity.”
 672 Before his Ascension Christ affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the glorious
establishment of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel which, according to the prophets, was to
bring all men the definitive order of justice, love and peace. According to the Lord, the present time is
the time of the Spirit and of witness, but also a time still marked by “distress” and the trial of evil
which does not spare the Church and ushers in the struggles of the last days. It is a time of waiting and
watching.
 2849 It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and
in the ultimate struggle of his agony. In this petition to our heavenly Father, Christ unites us to his
battle and his agony. He urges us to vigilance of the heart in communion with his own. Vigilance is
"custody of the heart," and Jesus prayed for us to the Father: “Keep them in your name.” The Holy
Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch. Finally, this petition [“Lead us not into
temptation”] takes on all its dramatic meaning in relation to the last temptation of our earthly battle; it
asks for final perseverance. “Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake.”
 524 When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient
expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior's first coming, the
faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor's birth and
martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
 1095 [T]he Church, especially during Advent and Lent and above all at the Easter Vigil, re-reads and
re-lives the great events of salvation history in the “today” of her liturgy. But this also demands that
catechesis help the faithful to open themselves to this spiritual understanding of the economy of
salvation as the Church's liturgy reveals it and enables us to live it.

4. Patristic Commentary
 St. Bede the Venerable: “The man who left his house and took a far journey is Christ, who ascending
as a conqueror to his Father after the resurrection, left his Church with respect to his bodily presence,
but has never deprived her of the safeguard of his divine presence.
 St. Gregory: “[Christ] has also ordered the porter to watch, because he commanded the order of
pastors to have a care over the Church committed to them. Not only us who rule over churches,
however, but all people are required to watch over the doors of their hearts lest the evil suggestions of
the devil enter into them and our Lord find us sleeping.”
 Theophylactus: “Let us therefore attend to his words; for the end may come at eventide when a man
dies in old age; or at midnight, when he dies in the midst of his youth; or at cockcrow, when our
reason is perfect within us.”

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars

 “Prayer as a school of hope” (Pope Benedict XVI): The late Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan was a
prisoner for thirteen years, nine of them spent in solitary confinement. In his book, Prayers of Hope,
he shows us that even in a situation of apparently utter hopelessness, he could listen and speak to God.
 This became for him an increasing power of hope, which enabled him once he secured his freedom to
become a witness to hope for people all over the world.
 St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775), while experiencing the “dark night” of God‟s apparent absence for
some 45 years of his life, waited patiently for the Lord to return—who did.

6. Quotations from Pope Benedict XVI

 “Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still totally absent: it gives
us something. It gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality
constitutes for us a „proof‟ of the things that are still unseen. Faith draws the future into the present, so
that it is no longer simply a „not yet.‟ The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is
touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and
those of the present into those of the future.”
 “All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action. This is so first of all in the sense that we
thereby strive to realize our lesser and greater hopes, to complete this or that task which is important
for our onward journey, or we work towards a brighter and more humane world so as to open doors
into the future. Yet our daily efforts in pursuing our own lives and in working for the world's future
either tire us or turn into fanaticism, unless we are enlightened by the radiance of the great hope that
cannot be destroyed even by small-scale failures or by a breakdown in matters of historic importance.
Only the great certitude of hope that my own life and history in general, despite all failures, are held
firm by the indestructible power of Love, and that this gives them their meaning and importance, only
this kind of hope can then give the courage to act and to persevere.”
 “Certainly we cannot „build‟ the Kingdom of God by our own efforts—what we build will always be
the kingdom of man with all the limitations proper to our human nature. The Kingdom of God is a gift,
and precisely because of this, it is great and beautiful, and constitutes the response to our hope. And
we cannot—to use the classical expression—„merit‟ Heaven through our works. Heaven is always
more than we could merit, just as being loved is never something „merited,‟ but always a gift.”
 “From the earliest times, the prospect of the Judgment has influenced Christians in their daily living as
a criterion by which to order their present life, as a summons to their conscience, and at the same time
as hope in God's justice. Faith in Christ has never looked merely backwards or merely upwards, but
always also forwards to the hour of justice that the Lord repeatedly proclaimed. This looking ahead
has given Christianity its importance for the present moment.”
 “At the moment of judgment we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over
all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy.”
 “The judgment of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely
grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question
about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the
end it could bring only fear to us all. The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two
together—judgment and grace—that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation „with
fear and trembling.‟ Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge
whom we know as our „advocate.‟”
7. Other Considerations
 Isaiah represents his people in the act of blaming God for abandoning them to the nations—and to
themselves. In a reversal of the more familiar attitude of the Chosen People in Numbers and the
prodigal son who simply wish to be left alone, we hear in this passage a desperate plea for
intervention—a desire for God to show up even at the risk of his bringing along divine demands and
rendering judgment. In this way Isaiah reports the fulfillment of Amos‟ prophecy of a famine of
hearing God‟s word (8:11).
 The first reading presages the Advent themes of asking the Lord to come back and the correlative
posture of (almost impatiently) waiting for him.
 Isaiah also helps us to understand, in his recollection of God‟s mighty deeds, that the past can only be
the past for us by its assumption into the present through remembrance. Hope must be rooted in a
convincing past in order to prepare the present for a redeeming future. It is especially when this
remembrance underscores a troubled present that the believer can complain to the Lord who is present
to offer a divine remedy in a redeeming future.
 “While you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for, such as they had not heard of from of old”
(Is. 63: 19b): Isaiah “implores God‟s personal intervention, pleading for a theophany more wondrous
than Sinai.” (NJBC)
 Christ‟s return may be understood in a macro sense, a meso sense, and a micro sense: at the end of
time, at the hour of our death, and in the personal divine-human encounter that is just around the
corner.
 Both Isaiah and Christ instruct us that the divine promise not to abandon us to ourselves is to live more
deeply in the present by “remembering the future.” Watching is less an activity than an attitude that
gives meaning to the tasks at hand by interpreting the present in light of the future. We watch by
working in obedience and love; we work by knowing that we will be watched.
 “[T]he Master has left us his servants „in charge.‟ He has blessed us with the grace, the desire, and the
ability to seek him, to wait for him, to find him, and to respond to him in a way that exceeds our
natural capacities. And that supernatural capacity to welcome and to embrace the Master in the way
that he deserves is the great grace and privilege of this holy season of Advent.” (P. J. Cameron)
 Why should we watch? Because the master can return at any time. What is our attitude toward the
Lord‟s return? That depends on our attitude toward the Lord.. Watchfulness can be prompted by an
alternating nonchalance and fear, on the one hand, or by a hopeful expectation, on the other. The
Gospel thus invites a consideration of fear. We frolic when the consequences of our irresponsibility
are distant; we fear when the consequences of our irresponsibility are upon us. The greatest
irresponsibility is to deny Christ‟s return. But it is also possible to believe he‟ll return and fear this
outcome because one has much to be fearful about. Yet such fear can help keep us on the straight and
narrow and inspire a correct judgment of the present world and its offerings. However, such fear, like
the law, is only there for those who need it. So do we fear for ourselves—that upon his return we may
be disappointed should he find us wanting? Or do we fear for the Lord—that he might be disappointed
should he find us wanting? That Christ will come depends on him; how Christ will come depends on
us.
Recommended Resources
Benedict XVI. Spe Salvi.
Raymond A. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical
Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1990.
Cameron, Peter John. To Praise, To Bless, To Preach - Cycle B. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, 2000.
Thomas Aquinas, St. Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels. Works of the Fathers. Vol. 3, Pt.
2. London, 1843. Reprinted by The St. Austin Press, 1997.