Today’s Mass Readings, with a reflection below.
First Sunday of Advent
Lectionary: 2
Reading 1 Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7
You, LORD, are our father,
our redeemer you are named forever.
Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
with the mountains quaking before you,
while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,
such as they had not heard of from of old.
No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him.
Would that you might meet us doing right,
that we were mindful of you in our ways!
Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful;
all of us have become like unclean people,
all our good deeds are like polluted rags;
we have all withered like leaves,
and our guilt carries us away like the wind.
There is none who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to cling to you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered us up to our guilt.
Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
R. (4) Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken,
from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Rouse your power,
and come to save us.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
May your help be with the man of your right hand,
with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Reading 2 1 Cor 1:3-9
Brothers and sisters:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gospel Mk 13:33-37
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!'”
Reflection:
Happy Advent!! Today begins the Christmas season! As Catholics, we spend a solid four weeks (this year five!) in preparation for the celebration of the birth of Christ. We hold off on the Christmas carols like “Away in a Manger” and stick with reflective advent pieces like “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (it’s stuck in your head now, isn’t it? No? Listen to the video above while you read and it will be ;)). Some may hold off on decorating the Christmas tree, while others decorate Jesse trees for advent. There are lots of great traditions!
Speaking of traditions, today marked the end of a (“little t”) tradition in the Catholic Church as we said goodbye to the only translation of the Roman Missal that many of us have ever known. We had to “Be alert!” and “Watch!” as we used guides to properly participate in the new translation of the Mass.
So, how’d it go?
Which materials have you been reading to prepare you for the changes?
Which guide did you use to help you today? Did you like it?
What did the kids think?
What are the thoughts on the new translation from those who celebrated the Mass in pre-Vatican II days? How does this translation “measure up”?
From the Holy Father
In these days, the Church in the United States is implementing the revised translation of the Roman Missal. I am grateful for your efforts to ensure that this new translation will inspire an ongoing catechesis which emphasizes the true nature of the liturgy and, above all, the unique value of Christ’s saving sacrifice for the redemption of the world. A weakened sense of the meaning and importance of Christian worship can only lead to a weakened sense of the specific and essential vocation of the laity to imbue the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel.
Video: Great explanation of the new missal by Fr. Jonathan Raia of St. Williams in Round Rock TX
Disclaimer: This post was finished early and scheduled to automatically post on Sunday. The third commandment was not broken in the creation of this edition of Splendid Sundays =D.
I felt our parish, St. William was prepared for new changes. In the spring I attended some of the first workshops this past March on the new Roman Missal w/staff at St. William. I know since this time we (especially Fr. Jonathan, Dr. Ramos (music), and Debbie George our Liturgist have been working extra hard to prepare the parish. We are using pew cards (4 fold 8X10) from ‘Magnificat’ there are plenty of cards in the pews for everyone. We have been doing the new Gloria and Mystery of Faith and other sung parts since October. Even though we did have the pew cards then, we were able to pick up some of the words and many of us printed ‘pew’ cards from the internet to be able to follow in song. I am old enough to remember the Mass in Latin and in the early 60’s we used the ‘Dialogue Mass’ – where the priest spoke in Latin and we responded in English. The words are almost exactly what we have now. I still have my ‘missal’ from my First Communion and when I saw(heard) some of the new wording, found my missal and the words ‘and with your spirit’, the Gloria, ‘Lord, I am not worthy’. I feel like I am returning home as some of these responses I have missed. Thank you Adrienne for your reflection today.
The changes were implemented smoothly at the parish we went to today. There were cue cards in the pews, and the cantor stayed at the mic to “lead” the congregation in the responses (not the entire Mass, just for the responses).
I’m sure there were some people who don’t attend regularly blindsided by the changes, but it seemed like most took to the cards and changes fine.
Hopefully it gets people to Mass on the basis that things are changing. 🙂
I loved it! I only “messed up” a little, once, during the new Confiteor. We very very rarely say the Confiteor at our parish, so I wasn’t expecting to this morning, but we did (probably just to use the new version). I was also wrestling with kids, who weren’t behaving very well, so it took me by surprise. In reciting the Creed, I was too busy reading the new words and forgot to bow when we said “by the power of the Holy Spirit He was incarnate in the Virgin Mary and became man.” But that was it. I rocked the “and with your Spirits!” And I love the new translation of the Eucharistic prayer!
I stumbled with “And with your spirit.” every. single. time. It was funny how the first test of the new missal was responded by a loud, overwhelming majority, “And also with you.” I wondered if everyone else knew something I didn’t, like for some reason we weren’t using the new missal today! LOL, Fr. Dennis joked a little about our struggles in the homily and noted that even the clergy might mess up here and there, but that the best thing to do was to rely on the pew card for a long while.
I was excited to see the addition of the six altar candles and two ambo candles at our parish! I’m loving the small changes are parish has been making over the years to bring back old traditions that have been lost.
Adrienne, me too!!! Even with the card in my hand. Drove me nuts. I am determined I am going to get it right next Sunday 🙂
Loved it!!!! We had a VERY elderly priest (well into his eighties) saying the Mass at 6am Sunday and he really struggled with it, God love him, but he asked us all to bear with him. I loved the dignity and reverence of the new translation, especially of the Eucharistic Prayer. I was born in 63, so did not grow up with the Tridentine Mass….but have longed for it as a weekly Mass here since seeing my first one back in 88……