Sunday Mass for the 1st Sunday Advent - Year B 2020

Welcome to St. Ignatius Chapel. Today we celebrate the 1st Sunday of Advent. Our celebrant today is Jesuit Fr. Anthony Egan SJ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. [Amen.] The Lord be with you. [And with your spirit.] Today we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent as we prepare ourselves for Christ’s birth. To prepare ourselves to celebrate this Eucharist, let’s call to mind our sins, and ask God for mercy and forgiveness. You were sent to heal the contrite of heart: Lord, have mercy. [Lord, have mercy.

] 01:02 - You came to call sinners: Christ, have mercy. [Christ, have mercy.] You intercede for us at the right hand of the Father: Lord, have mercy. [Lord, have mercy.] May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us life everlasting. [Amen.] Let us pray: Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. [Amen.] A reading from the Book of Isaiah.

01:57 - You, O LORD are our Father, our Redeemer from old is your name. O LORD, why do you make us err from your ways and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. O that you would tear the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence. You came down, the mountains quaked at your presence! From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet him that joyfully works righteousness, those that remember you in your ways.

02:48 - Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one that calls upon your name, that bestirs himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquities. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. The word of the Lord. [Thanks be to God.] O God, bring us back; let your face shine on us, and we shall be saved.

03:50 - [O God, bring us back; let your face shine on us, and we shall be saved.] O shepherd of Israel, hear us, enthroned on the cherubim, shine forth. Rouse up your might and come to save us. [O God, bring us back; let your face shine on us, and we shall be saved.] God of hosts, turn again, we implore; look down from heaven and see. Visit this vine and protect it, the vine your right hand has planted. [O God, bring us back; let your face shine on us, and we shall be saved.] May your hand be on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have confirmed as your own. And we shall never forsake you again; give us life that we may call upon your name. [O God, bring us back; let your face shine on us, and we shall be saved.] A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians.

05:13 - Brethren: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The word of the Lord. [Thanks be to God.] Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Let us see O LORD your mercy, and grant us your salvation. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! My brothers and sisters, the Lord be with you.

06:54 - [And with your spirit] A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark. [Glory to you, O Lord.] At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Watch therefore—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning—lest he should come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Watch.

” 07:47 - Brothers and sisters, the Gospel of the Lord. [Praise to you, Lord, Jesus Christ.] We are called to watch and be on our guard. To wait. How are we to watch? We look forwards by looking backwards. Today we begin the season of Advent when we look forwards to an event that has already happened, the birth of Christ. And in doing this we are watchful, we are alert! To the signs of the times, to their challenges and to the way in which we too must be alert.

08:32 - Read, as we did, out of context, the power of today’s Gospel is a bit diminished. Why is Jesus having one of these ‘ominous moments’ of his? In many Protestant churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary, today’s Gospel begins a bit earlier in Mark chapter 13, starting at verse 24. In this section Jesus calls on readers to see the signs of the times – conflict, crisis, even weather and the changing seasons. I think it’s a pity we don’t read the full text. (I recommend you take a bit of time after Mass and read the whole thing). Stay with me for a bit.

09:14 - It gives us a deeper sense of context, this passage that we haven’t read. It sets the scene for what we have read. It asks the question: Why does Jesus say all this stuff about being alert? Now in order to explain it I’m going to have to do a bit of history, so please bear with me! Most scholars conclude that the Gospel of Mark was written around the time of the Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire in around the years of 66-70 CE. They suggest that many of the words of Jesus in this chapter Mark 13 – which is sometimes called the ‘little apocalypse’ – are probably words put into Jesus’ mouth by the author, based perhaps on warnings he may have made about what might come. In Jesus’ time after all there had been at least one major revolt (in the year 6 CE, when he was between about ten and thirteen years old). And that revolt had been crushed, rather violently.

10:15 - So Jesus was no stranger to difficult times, times I suggest not unlike our own. During Jesus’ ministry there may have been many incidents of low level resistance, mostly in the form of banditry – after all remember old Barabbas and the two thieves at the Crucifixion. Assassinations – of Roman soldiers and collaborators – also certainly happened, the works of so-called sicarii or ‘daggermen’. (Now some scholars even suggest that Judas Iscariot may have had ties to this group – his surname Iscariot could be a play on the word sicarius). There folks were also members of an ultra-nationalist religious movement called the Fourth Philosophy (after the ideas of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes), that would in fact lead the revolt of the 60s at which time this gospel would be written – and at the point they were called ‘Zealots’.

11:12 - And if you remember the Gospel at least one disciple is called Simon the Zealot. And there are the two brothers, the sons of Thunder, Boanerges, who could also have been connected to this movement. The fact that Jesus had such followers could indicate that he did not actually exclude this group, rather his was an all-inclusive movement in which all strands of Jewish thought were welcome – plus anyone else who cared to join, including the social outcasts, religious heretics, and God-help-us, even the Romans. So Jesus’ vision was not narrowly nationalist but universal. His vision included everyone, and particularly as he’s the Second Person of the Trinity, this vision spans the whole of human history.

12:05 - His mission was not a narrowly national liberation but a universal liberation. In religious language we call it God’s kingdom or the reign of God. “So what has this to do with Advent?” you might say? Well, each year we celebrate Jesus’ birth, not as we do a normal birthday – after all, we have actually no idea of what day he was born, indeed we have no record of birth certificate or anything; so we assign a day to remind us of his birth, Christmas Day. It’s a bit like the British Monarchy, they have an actual birthday and then they have an official birthday. Above all, we celebrate a season of preparation at this time, we look forward by looking backwards – because of who Jesus was, who Jesus became.

12:56 - After all, Christmas would be meaningless without the Resurrection. And we can think of neither without looking back over the whole of Salvation history, from creation onwards. Onwards, indeed, to our present day, and to our future that is, for all of us, pretty much unclear. We after all are a part of that history, often a very difficult part since we often make a mess of things, as Isaiah reminds us and the historical background against which Mark was writing reminds us. As the highest part of creation – at least on this little planet – we are all too often the ones who fail the most.

13:40 - Many of us I suspect see in our present times a multitude of terrible and depressing features: pandemic, war, conflict, factionalism, ecological crisis, the tendency even to attack those unlike ourselves – made even more vicious by toxic social media and a mentality of excluding people because of race, nationality, social class, sexuality or gender. And faced with all this, I do not know about you but I think we need a Saviour now! In the first reading, Isaiah begs God to help his people to move beyond their failures. Jesus’ ministry of inclusion is similarly a call to put aside our factionalism embracing a new, universal sense of community. (Clearly the author of Mark saw it as all too necessary at a time when things were, in his time, falling apart). We look at a present, faced with its challenges we ask: where is our salvation? Paul in 1 Corinthians offers us a challenging answer: in the Risen Christ it is there, within you. You just have to access it. Embrace it. Act on it.

15:05 - And how do we access this Risen Christ? Well we access it in the story of an obscure 1st century Jewish peasant, whose actual birthday is unknown, so much so that we have assigned him a birthday. Whose vision is so expansive that it transcends even today our own self-made divisions. We from our present situation must look backwards to look forwards. We look backwards to Jesus while we look forward to Christmas. We look to the complexity of the past to see in it models for a more human future. For us, as Christians, Jesus is that model, that useful past, that hopeful future. And as we look backwards to Jesus, and forwards to the hopeful future that he has offered us, let us share together the faith of that Christian community he created by saying together the Apostles Creed. I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. [Amen.] As Christians have done at all times we bring before the Lord our prayers and petitions.

17:40 - We pray that Christians everywhere may enter this season of Advent open to receiving anew the message of Christ. Lord, hear us. [Lord, graciously hear us.] We pray that the Church in looking back at how it has, in the past, presented and lived the message of Christ, may look forward by embracing an even greater spirit of inclusivity for all God’s people. Lord, hear us. [Lord, graciously hear us.] We pray that those who lead and govern, in business and in the state, may similarly recommit themselves and move forwards in greater justice and transparency. Lord, hear us. [Lord, graciously hear us.] We pray for all the sick, especially those with COVID-19, for all those in healthcare, for all those who keep essential services going, that they may be given strength. Lord, hear us. [Lord, graciously hear us.] For our own personal needs, Lord, hear us. [Lord, graciously hear us.

] 19:25 - Loving God, we bring before you all the prayers we make, spoken and unspoken. We ask you to receive them and answer them according to your will, and we make all these prayers in the name of Christ the Lord. [Amen.] Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have this bread to offer: fruit of the earth, work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life. [Blessed be God for ever.] Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have this wine to offer: fruit of the vine, work of human hands, it will become our spiritual drink. [Blessed be God for ever.] Pray, my brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice, may be acceptable to God, our almighty Father.

20:52 - [May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of God’s name, for our good and the good of all God’s holy Church.] Accept, we pray, O Lord, these offerings we make, gathered from among your gifts to us, and may what you grant us to celebrate devoutly here below gain for us the prize of eternal redemption. Through Christ our Lord. [Amen] The Lord be with you [And with your spirit.] Lift up your hearts. [We lift them up to the Lord.] Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. [It is right and just.] It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord. For he assumed at his first coming the lowliness of human flesh, and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago, and opened for us the way to eternal salvation, that, when he comes again in glory and majesty and all is at last made manifest, we who watch for that day may inherit the great promise in which now we dare to hope.

22:10 - And so, with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominions, and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven, we sing the hymn of your glory, as without end we acclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. You are indeed Holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name. Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration, that they may become the Body and Blood of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate these mysteries. For on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread, and, giving you thanks, he said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to the disciples, saying: TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU.

23:44 - In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice, and, giving you thanks, he said the blessing, and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying: TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT, FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. The mystery of faith. We proclaim your death O LORD, and profess Your resurrection until you come again. Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the saving Passion of your Son, his wondrous Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to his second coming, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice. Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ. May he make of us an eternal offering to you, so that we may obtain an inheritance with your elect, especially with the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with St Joseph, her Spouse, with your blessed Apostles and glorious Martyrs and with all the Saints, on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help.

25:25 - May this Sacrifice of our reconciliation, we pray, O Lord, advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth, with your servant Francis our Pope, with Buti our Archbishop, Duncan his auxiliary, the Order of Bishops, all the clergy, and the entire people you have gained for your own. Listen graciously to the prayers of this family, whom you have summoned before you: in your compassion, O merciful Father, gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world. To our departed brothers and sisters and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your kingdom. There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.

26:23 - Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, for ever and ever. [Amen.] At the Saviour’s command, and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say: Our Father, [who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.] Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. [For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and for ever.

] 27:38 - Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your Apostles: Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will, who live and reign for ever and ever. [Amen.] The peace of the Lord be with you. [And with your spirit.] Lamb of God, [you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.] Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. How blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb. [Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.] May the Body and the Blood of Christ bring us life everlasting. [Amen.] Although you cannot receive physical communion with us now, we invite you into a moment of spiritual communion. The great medieval theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas, defined spiritual communion as: “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy Sacrament”, and “a loving embrace as though we had already received him.

” 29:23 - His words are echoed by the great mystic, and fellow doctor of the church, St. Teresa of Avila, who wrote: “When you do not receive Communion, and do not attend Mass, you can make a spiritual communion which is a most beneficial practice. By it, the love of God will be greatly impressed on you.” At this moment we invite you to focus on Christ, and your longing for union with him. Express your desire to feel his grace coursing through you, giving you strength and courage, particularly in these difficult times.

30:02 - In your desiring union you are united with us, and to Christ. In this moment we experience the reality that is already here. Let us pray: May these mysteries, O Lord, in which we have participated, profit us, we pray, for even now, as we walk amid passing things, you teach us by them to love the things of heaven and hold fast to what endures. Through Christ our Lord. [Amen.] The Lord be with you. [And with your Spirit.] Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [Amen.] Mass is ended, remain in the peace of Christ. [Thanks be to God.] .