Readings
Year A
- Isaiah 2:1-5
- Romans 13:11-14
- Matthew 24:36-44
- Psalm 122
Year B
- Isaiah 64:1-9
- 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
- Mark 13:24-37
- Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
Year C
- Jeremiah 33:14-16
- 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
- Luke 21:25-36
- Psalm 25:1-9
Commentary
On the Collect of the Day
The collect is based on verse 12 of the Epistle (Rom. 13:8-14) presently retained in the eucharistic lectionary for Year A. … The striking antitheses are remarkable: cast away darkness, put on light; mortal life, life immortal; great humility, glorious majesty. The word “now” is crucial: remembering the first advent and looking toward the second, we are now, in this time, to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Hatchett, Marion J. Commentary on the American Prayer Book. Seabury Press, 1981, pp. 165-6.
Homiletic Directory
The Gospel of the first Sunday of Advent in all three years is one of the synoptic accounts announcing the sudden coming of the Son of Man in glory on a day and at an hour unknown to us. We are urged to be vigilant and alert, to expect fearful signs in the heavens and on earth, not to be caught unawares. It is always striking to begin Advent in this way, for inevitably Advent puts Christmas in mind, and in many places the wider culture is already conjuring up the gentle images of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. But the liturgy takes us to such images by means of others that remind us that the same Lord born in Bethlehem “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,” as the Creed puts it. On this Sunday it is the preacher’s responsibility to remind the Christian people that they need always prepare themselves for this coming and judgment. Indeed, Advent itself is that preparation: his coming at Christmas is intimately connected with his coming on the last day.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
- CCC 668-677, 769: the final tribulation and Christ’s return in glory
- CCC 451, 671, 1130, 1403, 2817: “Come, Lord Jesus!”
- CCC 2729-2733: humble vigilance of heart
- CCC 35: God gives humanity grace to accept Revelation, welcome the Messiah
- CCC 827, 1431, 2677, 2839: acknowledging that we are sinners
- CCC 439, 496, 559, 2616: Jesus is the Son of David
- CCC 207, 210-214, 270, 1062-1063: God is faithful and merciful