Christ is the One, There is no other ; Vatican II—the Spirit

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the liturgical year of the Church, the beginning of our preparation for welcoming the birth of Christ at Christmas, the coming of the Lord to His people to set them free; free from error and from sin.

The theme of Advent is not only the coming of the Lord into the world at Christmas, the nativity, but the two comings-the second for which the first took place.

First Sunday of Advent

Today is the First Sunday of Advent, the three week period that prepares us for the Solemnity of the Nativity, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is also a penitential time in which we examine ourselves in readiness to receive and welcome such a great gift from God.

In the preface of the Mass we look toward the two comings of Christ. The First which we will celebrate as having already taken place and the second which we anticipate at the judgment.

Incarnation, Resurrection and Holy Trinity Secular Culture / Maccabees

Today is the thirty second Sunday in ordinary time. We are two weeks away from the solemnity of Christ the King and three weeks from the start of Advent on December 2nd. Advent like Lent is a penitential season. Lent prepares us to enter fully into the suffering and death of Christ and His Joyful resurrection on Easter Sunday. Advent prepares us for Jesus birth at Bethlehem through Mary, His Virgin Mother. The resurrection and the incarnation and nativity of the Son of God are the great mysteries of our holy religion. The Holy Trinity being a third. God sent His Son to become one of us and so to rescue us who had been lost; rescued by one like ourselves. To be lost is a frightful realization. Often we don’t know we are lost even through the feeling of abandonment is in us.