Feastof St Andrew (transferred to 1st Dec)
He was born in Bethsaida, in Galilee, and worked as a fisherman. He may have been a disciple of St John the Baptist. He became one of the first to follow Jesus and introduced his brother, Simon Peter, to him. As one of the twelve Apostles he was widely venerated in ancient times, and became patron saint of Scotland because according to legend some of his bones were brought there and buried at the place where the town of St Andrew’s now stands.
From universalis

________

Collect

We humbly implore your majesty, O Lord,
that, just as the blessed Apostle Andrew
was for your Church a preacher and pastor,
so he may be for us a constant intercessor before you.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Stained glass from Pont Scots College Rome

Celebrating At Home - 1st Sunday of Advent

Stay awake!
(Matthew 24:37-44)

The great Advent journey begins. The Advent readings are a rich tapestry of images centered on the truth that God has come among us. We do not pretend that we are waiting for Jesus to be born in a stable. That happened once, a long time ago, and it will not happen again. We remember that birth as we remember our own birthdays.
The God who came among us is still among us. Advent’s invitation is to become aware of the all-pervading presence of the risen Jesus as Emmanuel – God among us.
In the first reading this Sunday Isaiah captures the sense of God’s presence among his people through the images of the high mountain and the Temple – the dwelling place of God among his people. The people’s response in the reading is to be drawn into God’s presence ‘that he may teach us his ways’ and ‘we may walk in his paths’, and be utterly transformed into a new way of living (making swords into ploughshares, etc). In the second reading St Paul reminds the Romans that they are already living in ‘the time’. They should ‘wake up now’ and ‘live decently as people do in the daytime’.
The early Christians believed that Jesus would return very soon as the Lord of Glory. As time passed, they had to re-think this belief and work out how to live in the meantime, the time in between the first and final comings of Christ. That’s our challenge, too.
This week’s Gospel calls us to “Stay awake”, to be vigilant and attentive to the signs of the times so that we do not miss the moment when God breaks into human history once again. The God who came among us is still among us. In Advent we train our eyes to see the reign of God more clearly so that we may be totally caught up in God’s action in the world as we wait for the final manifestation of God’s glory.

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Pray for Pope Leo as he begins his first Apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon this morning.

📸 Vatican Meda