Edward Hicks (1780-1849), the Quaker painter, painted about 100 versions of the peaceable kingdom, based on the 11th chapter of Isaiah, read on Tuesday of our 1st week of Advent.
1st Sunday Advent B
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved. Psalm 80
Isaiah 63, 16b-17,19b; 64:2-7
God is our Father, Isaiah says, but we wander off, as if we had no father. “Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways.” But the people of his day are “like withered leaves, driven by the wind.”
1 Corinthians 1,3-9
A harmless looking selection of scripture, yet reading on you find that Paul is writing to a troubled church at Corinth, a seaport city filled with upwardly mobile people who want to get ahead in the world. There are factions in the church; people fighting for power and prestige. Some don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus and their own resurrection.
Yet, Paul still loves them like a father.
Mark 13, 33-37
We are in charge of a house, but it’s not ours. God has a claim on our life, so don’t fall asleep where you live, in your own house, your own family, your own work, your own situation or condition of life. Don’t fall asleep even if everything looks like it’s falling apart. That’s where God comes to all of us–where we are now. That’s when God comes, when things look like they’re falling apart.
Cf. Passionist homilies at www.thepassionists.org
Questions:
What kind of world is God coming to now?
How are things in your house?
The Victor's Place 
Today’s readings remind me that we need to “be ready”. There are so many things to distract us at this time of year, but Advent should be a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus, and we need to keep that thought foremost.
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Tough time of the year to focus on anything, Debbie. But the Lord provides.
Fr.Victor
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The real understanding of God’s presence, like our breathing — awake or at rest–yet while at rest, so sure that the gift of who we are is present to HIs presence is a real grace that becomes an Advent challenge. Having family here for a few days is such a gift and a comfort. Just looking at our 11 mon. old grandson and experiencing his pure delight in living is gift. These next weeks awake I need to be for the grace supplied by the readings of the Advent days. Thanks for your direction and background– a claim to holiness.
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Advent Ponderings
Advent is the still time of the year when nature slows down
and begins to settle into winter rest in spite of the hurried pace of the world-
when we begin again the journey with Jesus from the crib to the cross;
a time to reconnect with God, if only for a few moments carved out
from the busy hours of the day.
Advent is the time to think of Mary, largely pregnant with her Precious Baby,
riding on an overburdened donkey led by Joseph over rough terrain,
with the unknown awaiting them; and the time too think of the transportation
we enjoy in this day and age. Mary and Joseph’s journey took several days.
Today it would take only 90 minutes to drive from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
It’s time to think of our bright, clean hospitals where mothers deliver their
babies in cleanliness, attended by doctors, nurses and medical technicians,
while Joseph, every door shut to him, led Mary to a stable full of animals
for shelter, where they welcomed the Christ Child into the world.
Advent is a time to ponder Mary and Joseph: their courage, and their
trust in God’s promises sent through startling angelic announcements
and dreams; to pray for their kind of courage, and for their faith and trust
in God. -Gloria Ziemienski
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