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December 1 »
First Sunday of Advent
Lectionary: 1
L-Ewwel Ħadd tal-Avvent – Sena A
Reading 1
Isaiah 2:1-5
This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem. In days to come, the mountain of the LORD's house shall be
established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations
shall stream toward it; many peoples shall come and say: "Come, let us
climb the LORD's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may
instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths." For from Zion
shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall
judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat
their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation
shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
Qari I
mill-Ktieb tal-Profeta Isaija Is 2, 1-5
Il-kelma li ġiet f’dehra lil Isaija bin Amos, dwar Ġuda u
Ġerusalemm. Għad jiġri fl-aħħar jiem li l-għolja tad-dar tal-Mulej togħla ’l
fuq mill-qċaċet tal-muntanji, u tintrefa’ ’l fuq mill-għoljiet, lejha għad
jiġru l-ġnus kollha. Kotra ta’ popli għad jiġu u jgħidu: “Ħalli mmorru u
nitilgħu fuq l-għolja tal-Mulej, lejn id-dar ta’ Alla ta’ Ġakobb, biex
jgħallimna triqatu, u nimxu fil-mogħdijiet tiegħu”. Għax minn Sijon joħroġ
it-tagħlim, u l-kelma tal-Mulej minn Ġerusalemm. Il-Mulej jagħmel il-ħaqq bejn
il-ġnus, u jaqta’ s-sentenza bejn ħafna popli; u huma jibdlu x-xwabel tagħhom
f’sikek tal-moħriet, u l-lanez tagħhom fi mnieġel. Ebda ġens ma jerfa’ x-xabla
kontra ġens ieħor,u s-sengħa tal-gwerra ma jitgħallmuhiex iżjed. Ejja, dar
Ġakobb,ħalli nimxu fid-dawl tal-Mulej! Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 122: 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
I rejoiced because they said to me,
"We will go up to the house of the LORD."
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
May those who love you prosper!
May peace be within your walls,
prosperity in your buildings.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Because of my brothers and friends
I will say, "Peace be within you!"
Because of the house of the LORD, our God,
I will pray for your good.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Salm Responsorjali Salm 121 (122), 1-2.4-5.6-7. 8-9
R/. (ara 1): Immorru ferħana f’dar il-Mulej!
Fraħt meta qaluli:
“Sejrin f’dar il-Mulej!”.
Diġa’ qegħdin riġlejna
fi bwiebek, Ġerusalemm! R/.
Lejha t-tribujiet jitilgħu,
it-tribujiet tal-Mulej,
biex, skond il-liġi ta’ Iżrael,
ifaħħru isem il-Mulej.
Għax hemm twaqqfu t-tronijiet tal-ħaqq,
it-tronijiet tad-dar ta’ David. R/.
Itolbu s-sliem għal Ġerusalemm:
Ħa jkollhom is-sliem dawk kollha li jħobbuk!
Ħa jkun hemm is-sliem ġewwa l-ħitan tiegħek,
u l-ġid fil-palazzi tiegħek! R/.
Minħabba ħuti u ħbiebi,
ħallini ngħidlek: “Is-sliem għalik!”.
Minħabba f’dar il-Mulej, Alla tagħna,
nixtieq illi jkollok il-ġid. R/.
Reading 2
Romans 13:11-14
Brothers and sisters: You know the time; it is the hour now for
you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first
believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the
works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly
as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not
in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
provision for the desires of the flesh.
Qari II
mill-Ittra lir-Rumani 13, 11-14a
Ħuti, waslet is-siegħa li intom tqumu min-ngħas; għax
is-salvazzjoni tagħna hi eqreb minn meta bdejna nemmnu. Il-lejl għoddu għadda,
u qorob il-jum. Inwarrbu mela l-għemil tad-dlam u nilbsu l-armi tad-dawl.
Ngħixu kif jixraq, bħal f’binhar; mhux bl-ikel iż-żejjed u s-sokor, mhux
biż-żìna u t-tbahrid, mhux bil-ġlied u l-għira. Imma ilbsu lil Sidna Ġesù
Kristu u ħallukom mill-ħsieb tal-ġisem u l-ġibdiet tiegħu. Il-Kelma
tal-Mulej
Gospel
Matthew 24:37-44
Jesus said to his disciples:
"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the
Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They
did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also
at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be
taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will
be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on
which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had
known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at
an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."
Evanġelju
Qari skond San Mattew 24, 37-44
F’dak iż-żmien, Ġesù qal lid-dixxipli tiegħu: “Bħal fi żmien Noè,
hekk tkun il-miġja ta’ Bin il-bniedem. Għax kif fiż-żmien ta’ qabel id-dilluvju
kienu jieklu u jixorbu, jiżżewġu u jżewġu sa dakinhar li Noè daħal fl-arka, u
b’xejn ma ntebħu sa ma wasal id-dilluvju u ġarr lil kulħadd, hekk tkun il-miġja
ta’ Bin il-bniedem. Imbagħad tnejn ikunu fl-għalqa: wieħed jittieħed u l-ieħor
jitħalla; żewġ nisa jkunu jitħnu flimkien: waħda tittieħed u l-oħra titħalla.
Ishru, mela, għax ma tafuhx il-jum li fih jiġi Sidkom. Kunu afu dan, li kieku
sid id-dar kellu jkun jaf f’liema sahra tal-lejl se jiġi l-ħalliel, kien jishar
u ma jħallix min jinfidlu l-ħitan ta’ daru. Mela kunu lesti intom ukoll, għax
qatt ma tistgħu tobsru s-siegħa li fiha jiġi Bin il-bniedem”. Il-Kelma
tal-Mulej
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Stay
Awake!
Gospel Commentary by Father Raniero
Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, the Pontifical Household preacher
The first year of the three year liturgical cycle, year A, begins
this coming Sunday. Matthew’s Gospel accompanies us through this year. This
Gospel is characterized by its ample reporting of Jesus’ teachings — the famous
sermons, such as the Sermon on the Mount — and its attention to the
relationship between the Law and Gospel (the Gospel is the “New Law”). It is
also considered the most “ecclesiastical” Gospel because of its account of the
primacy of Peter and because of its use of the term “Church,” which is not
encountered in the other Gospels.
The statement that stands out among all others in this Gospel of
the First Sunday of Advent is “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day
your Lord will come. […] So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you
do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” We ask ourselves why God would keep
hidden something so important as the hour of his coming, which, for each of us,
coincides with the hour of death.
The traditional answer is: “So that we will be vigilant, each one
of us supposing that it will happen in his days” (St. Ephrem the Syrian). But
the principal reason is that God knows us; he knows what terrible anxiety it
would be for us to know beforehand the exact hour and to await its slow,
inexorable coming. It is that which causes the most fear in regard to certain
illnesses.
Today there are more people that die of unforeseen heart problems
than those who die of incurable illnesses. But the latter cause more fear
because they seem to take away the uncertainty that allows us to hope.
The uncertainty of the hour should not cause us to be careless but
to be vigilant. If the liturgical year is at its start, the civil year is at
its end. This is an optimal occasion for a sapiential reflection on the meaning
of our existence. In autumn, nature itself invites us to reflect on time that
passes. That which the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti said of the soldiers in the
trenches on the Carso front in the First World War holds for all men: “They are
on the trees as leaves in autumn.” They are ready to fall at any moment. “Time
passes,” said our Dante Alighieri, “and man pays no attention.”
An ancient philosopher expressed this fundamental experience with
a celebrated phrase: “Everything is in flux.” Life is like a television screen.
The screen is a kind of palimpsest, one program follows and erases the previous
one. The screen is the same but the images change. This is how it is with us:
The world remains, but we come and go, one after the other. Of all the names,
the faces, the news that fills the papers and television today — of me, of you,
of all of us — what will remain in a few years or a decade? Nothing of nothing.
Man is nothing but “a design created by a wave on the sand, which the next wave
will wash away.”
Let us see what faith has to tell us about this fact that
everything passes. “Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But
whoever does the will of God remains forever” (1 John 2:17). There is someone
who does not pass, God, and there is also a way for us not to completely
disappear: Do God’s will, that is, believe and follow God. In this life we are
like a raft carried along by the current of a roaring river headed for the open
sea, from which there is no return.
At a certain point the raft comes near to the bank. It is now or
never and you leap onto the shore. What a relief when you feel the rock under
your feet! This is the sensation often felt by those who come to the faith. We
might recall at the end of this reflection the words left by St. Teresa of
Avila as a kind of spiritual testament: “Let nothing disturb you, nothing
frighten you. All things are passing. God alone remains.” [Translation from
the Italian by Joseph G. Trabbic]
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