We have now entered the Season of Advent! The 4 weeks of preparing for the Birth of Jesus! This year Christmas falls on a Sunday, so we get a full 4 weeks to prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus!
The 1st Reading and Gospel for today:
Reading 1IS 2:1-5
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!
GospelMT 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.”