Paratos esse

A thought for the day
 Sunday, the first week of Advent
 
Mass at noon: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday - Thursday at 7p
Saturday at 5:00 - Sunday at 9:00 and 11:15am
When the people gather for prayer, all are welcome.
 
Saint of the day - Francis Xavier
 
Readings for today’s Mass​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. Today is the beginning of a new Church year. Happy New Year. There are many ways that we mark time and keep track of the seasons. We are eleven months into the calendar year and five months into the fiscal year. The next Jewish year will be 5778; and Asian cultures have all together different ways of marking time. If this tells us anything, it is that time, as we know it, is certainly relative. Maybe we don't really understand time at all.
All the more important are the words of today's gospel: Be alert. Be ready, because we really don't know what time it is. Be alert, for any time now something might happen. Will you be ready.
i have noted a few times in this blog the tag line on all my emails: Dum tempus habemus, oporemur bonum. While you have the time do something good. For this first day of Advent, of the liturgical season of expectation, i will tweak the phrase just a little: Dum tempus habemus, paratos esse. Be ready! But the same admonition applies - the only time you really have is the present moment. Are you ready?
Take time this Advent to look deep inside yourself. Find what you need to do to be ready to welcome the Lord Jesus into your heart at a whole new level. As the new year starts, have one good resolution that will help make a difference for you

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