L-1 Ħadd ta' l-Avvent
Messalin C
pp 75
The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill
the promise I made to the house of Israel
and Judah Judah
shall be safe and Jerusalem
L-Ewwel Qari - mill-Ktieb
tal-Profeta Ġeremija 33, 14-16
Ara, għad jiġu
jiem – oraklu tal-Mulej – meta nġib fuq dar Iżrael u dar Ġuda l-ġid li wegħedthom.
F'dawk il-jiem u f'dak iż-żmien intalla' min-nisel ta' David rimja tas-sewwa, bniedem
li jagħmel il-ġustizzja u s-sewwa
fil-pajjiż. F'dawk il-jiem Ġuda jinħeles u Ġerusalemm tgħammar b'moħħha mistrieħ,
u għalhekk isjeħulha: Il-Mulej is-sewwa tagħna. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Responsorial Psalm PSALM 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
R.
(1b) To you, O Lord, I lift my
soul.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior,
and for you I wait all the day. R/
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior,
and for you I wait all the day. R/
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way. R/
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way. R/
All the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy
toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him,
and his covenant, for their instruction. R/
toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him,
and his covenant, for their instruction. R/
Salm Responsorjali Salm 24(25)
R/ Lejk jien nerfa'
ruħi, Mulej.
Triqatek, Mulej, għarrafni,
il-mogħdijiet tiegħek għallimni.
Mexxini fis-sewwa tiegħek u għallimni,
għax int Alla tas-salvazzjoni
tiegħi. R/
Tajjeb u sewwa l-Mulej;
għalhekk juri triqtu lill-ħatja.
Imexxi l-imsejknna fis-sewwa,
jgħallem lill-fqajrin it-triq
tiegħu. R/
Il-mogħdijiet tal-Mulej
kollhom tjieba u fedelta'
għal min iħares il-patt u
l-liġijiet tiegħu.
Midħla l-Mulej ta' dawk li
jibżgħu minnu,
lilhom jgħarraf il-patt tiegħu. R/
Reading 2 1
Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Brothers and sisters:
May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and
for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be
blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus
with all his holy ones. Amen. Finally, brothers and sisters, we earnestly ask
and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should
conduct yourselves to please God and as you are conducting yourselves you do so
even more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. This is the Word of The Lord.
It-Tieni Qari mill-Ewwel Ittra ta' San Pawl Appostlu
lit-Tessalonkin 3, 12 -4,2
Ħuti: jalla l-Mulej ikattrilkom u jfawwarkom bl-imħabba
għal xulxin u lejn kulħadd, l-istess bħalma
aħna nħobbu lilkom, ħalli jqawwilkom qalbkom
u jkollkom qdusija bla għajb quddiem Alla,
Missierna, għal meta jiġi Sidna Ġesu'
mdawwar bil-qaddisin tiegħu. Fl-aħħar, ħuti, intom tgħallimtu mingħandna kif għandkom timxu biex togħġbu lil Alla, kif tabilħaqq qegħdin iġġibu ruħkom; aħna f'Sidna Ġesu' nitolbnukom u nħeġġukom biex tagħmlu xi ħaġa iżjed. Tafu
x'tagħlim tajniekom permezz ta' Sidna Ġesu'. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Gospel Luke
21:25-28, 34-36
Jesus said to his disciples: "There will be signs in
the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed
by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in
anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens
will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and
raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. "Beware that your
hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of
daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will
assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and
pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and
to stand before the Son of Man." This is the Word of The Lord.
L-Evanġelju
- skond San Luqa 21, 25-28;34-36
F'dak iż-żmien, Ġesu'
qal lid-dixxipli tiegħu: "Ikun hemm sinjali fix-xemx u l-qamar u
l-kwiekeb. Il-ġnus fuq l-art, b'qalbhom ittaqtaq, ma jafux x'jaqdbu jagħmlu minħabba l-ħsejjes tal-baħar u tal-imwieġ; in-nies ruħhom ħerġa bil-biża' billi jobsru x'ikun ġej fuq id-dinja, għax
il-qawwiet tas-smewwiet jitqallbu. Imbagħad jaraw lil Bin il-bniedem ġej fi sħaba Meta jibda jseħħ dan kollu,
qawwu qalbkom u erfgħu raskom, għax il-fidwa tagħkom hi fil-qrib. Oqogħdu
attenti, u qisu li l-ikel u x-xorb żejjed u s-sokor ma jmewtulkomx qalbkom, u tħallux li l-ħafna tħassib għall-ħtiġiet tal-ħajja jeħdilkom
raskom, li ma ssibuhx dak il-Jum fuqkom
għal għarrieda Għax hu Jum li għad jaqa' bħal nassa fuq kull min jgħammar fuq wiċċ l-art kollha. Ishru,
mela, u itolbu l-ħin kollu, biex tkunu tifilħu
tgħaddu minn
////////////////////////////////////
Father Cantalamessa on
First Sunday of Advent
"Life is Expectation!"
Autumn is the
ideal time to meditate on human things. We have before us the annual spectacle
of leaves that fall from the trees. This has always been seen as an image of
human destiny. "Here we are as leaves on the trees in autumn," says
the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti. A generation comes, a generation goes … But is this
truly our ultimate destiny? Is it worse than the fate of these trees? After it
is stripped, the tree regains its leaves in spring. But man, once he passes,
never again returns. At least he does not return to this world. … Sunday's
readings help us to give an answer to this most anxious of human questions.
There was a
particular scene that I remember seeing in a film or reading about it in an
adventure story as a child, a scene that left a deep impression. A railroad
bridge had collapsed during the night. An unsuspecting train is coming at full
speed. A railroad worker standing on the tracks calls out: "Stop!
Stop!" and waves a lantern to signal the danger. But the distracted
engineer does not see him and plunges the train into the river. … It seems to
me something of an image of contemporary society, careening frenetically to the
rhythm of rock 'n' roll, ignoring all the warnings that come not only from the
Church but from many people who feel a responsibility for the future …
With the First
Sunday of Advent, a new liturgical year begins. The Gospel that will accompany
us in the course of this year, Cycle C, is the Gospel of St. Luke. The Church
takes the occasion of these important moments of passage -- from one year to
another, from one season to another -- to invite us to stop for a moment and
reflect and ask ourselves some essential questions: "Who are we? From
whence do we come? And, above all, where are we going?"
These are
apocalyptic, catastrophic tones and images. But what we have is a message of
consolation and hope. They tell us that we are not heading for an eternal void
and an eternal silence but we are on our way to an encounter, an encounter with
him who created us and loves us more than mother and father.
Elsewhere the
Book of Revelation describes this final event of history as an entering into a
wedding feast. Just recall the parable of the ten virgins who enter with the
bridegroom into the banquet hall, or the image of God who, at the threshold of
the life to come, waits for us to wipe away the last tear from our eyes.
From the
Christian point of view, the whole of human history is one long wait. Before
Christ, his coming was awaited; after him, we await his glorious return at the
end of time. For just this reason the season of Advent has something very
important to say to us about our lives. A great Spanish author, Calderón de la
Barca, wrote a celebrated play called "Life is a Dream." With just as
much truth it must be said that life is expectation! It is interesting that
this is exactly the theme of one of the most famous plays of our times: Samuel
Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" …
Of a woman who
is with child it is said that she is "expecting"; the offices of
important persons have "waiting rooms." But if we reflect on it, life
itself is a waiting room. We get impatient when we have to wait, for a visit,
for a practice. But woe to him who is no longer waiting for something. A person
who no longer expects anything from life is dead. Life is expectation, but the
converse is also true: Expectation is life!
What
distinguishes the waiting of the believer from every other waiting; from, for
example, that of the two characters who are waiting for Godot? In that play a
mysterious person is awaited (who, according to some, would be God, hence,
"God-ot"), without any certainty that he will really come. He was
supposed to come in the morning; he sends word to say that he will come in the
afternoon. In the afternoon he does not come, but surely he will come in the
evening, and in the evening, perhaps tomorrow morning. … The two tramps are
condemned to wait for him, they have no other alternative.
This is not how
it is for the Christian. He awaits one who has already come and who walks by
his side. For this reason after the First Sunday of Advent in which the final
return of Christ is looked for, on the following Sundays we will hear John the
Baptist who speaks of his presence among us: "In your midst," he
says, "there is one whom you do not know!" Jesus is present among us
not only in the Eucharist, in the word, in the poor, in the Church … but, by
grace, he lives in our hearts and the believer experiences this.
The Christian's
waiting is not empty, a letting the time pass. In Sunday's Gospel Jesus also talks
about the way that the disciples must wait, how they must conduct themselves in
the meantime to not be taken by surprise: "Beware that your hearts do not
become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life. …
Be vigilant at all times."
Of these moral
duties we will speak another time. Let us conclude with a memory from a film.
There are two big stories about icebergs in the movies. The one is that of the
Titanic, which we know well. … The other is narrated in a Kevin Kostner film of
several years back, "Rapa Nui ." A
legend of Easter Island, which is in the Pacific Ocean, tells of an iceberg
that, in reality, is a ship and that passes close to the island every century
or so. The king or hero can climb aboard and ride toward the kingdom of
immortality.
There is an
iceberg that runs across the course which each of us travel; it is sister
death. We can pretend to not see her or to be heedless of her like the people
who were enjoying themselves on that tragic night aboard the Titanic. Or we can
make ourselves ready and climb onto her and let ourselves be taken to the
Kingdom of the blessed. The season of Advent should also serve this purpose …
[Translation by ZENIT] © Innovative Media Inc.
[Translation by ZENIT] © Innovative Media Inc.
