Sunday, November 30, 2025

First Sunday of Advent: Renewing the HOPE...

 First Sunday of Advent
Renewing the HOPE

In Advent, Christians relive a dual impulse of the spirit:  on the one hand, they raise their eyes towards the final destination of their pilgrimage through history, which is the glorious return of the Lord Jesus; on the other, remembering with emotion His birth in Bethlehem, they kneel before the Crib. The hope of Christians is turned to the future but remains firmly rooted in an event of the past. In the fullness of time, the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary:  "Born of a woman, born under the law", as the Apostle Paul writes (Gal 4: 4). - Pope Benedict XVI, 27 November 2005


"Therefore, stay awake.  For you do not
 know on which day your Lord will come."
Matthew 24:42 (Jesus' words in Today's Gospel) 

Rorate Mass:  a dawn Mass said only by candlelight - to welcome the Advent season

"It is the beautiful task of Advent 
to awaken in all of us 
memories of goodness 
and thus open doors of hope."
Pope Benedict XVI

Singing Angels – Relief from the Cantoria by Luca Della Robbia (c. 1435)

"Hills of the North, rejoice: 
Rivers and mountain-spring, 
Hark to the advent voice!
Valley and lowland, sing!"
Charles Edward Oakley, Hymnist
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"Let us approach Christmas with an expectant hush, 
rather than a last-minute rush." 
Anonymous
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"We journey as if on a bridge that connects 
earth to Heaven, a bridge that the Lord has built for us.  
Let us always keep our eyes fixed on both shores, so 
that we may love God and our brothers and sisters
with all our hearts in order to journey together and find 
ourselves one day united in the house of the Father."
Pope Leo XIV
Homily, First Sunday of Advent 2025
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The Lord's Day is the lord of days...but
ALSO remembering today... 

Feast Day:  December 30
St Andrew, pray for us!

Christmas Anticipation Prayer
Beginning on St. Andrew's Feast Day, November 30, the following prayer is traditionally recited fifteen times a day until Christmas. This is a beautifully meditative prayer that helps us increase our awareness of the real focus of Christmas and helps us prepare ourselves spiritually for His coming. 
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother.  Amen. 
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Advent season resources
Click here: Fish Eaters Advent Overview
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Learn more about the saints of Advent, including 
St Edmund Campion (Dec 1), the Blessed Virgin Mary 
(Dec. 8 - IC celebrated on 9th this year; also feasts on 10 and 12), 
St. John the Baptist, St Francis Xavier (Dec 3), 
St John Damascene (Dec 4), St. Nicholas (Dec. 6), 
St Ambrose (Dec 7), St. Juan Diego (Dec. 9), 
St. Lucy (Dec. 13), St John of the Cross (Dec 14), 
St Peter Canisius (Dec 21), St Stephen (Dec 26), 
St John of Kanty (Dec 23), the Holy Innocents (28th) and
St Thomas Becket (Dec 29th).  All you holy ones, pray for us!
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