Second Week of Advent – Prepare!
First Reading
Reading 1
Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
Responsorial Psalm
Responsorial Psalm
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD—for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Second Reading
Reading 2
Do not ignore this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years
and a thousand years like one day.
The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,”
but he is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,
and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar
and the elements will be dissolved by fire,
and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.
Since everything is to be dissolved in this way,
what sort of persons ought you to be,
conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames
and the elements melted by fire.
But according to his promise
we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,
be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.
Gospel Reading
Alleluia
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
All flesh shall see the salvation of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
People of the whole Judean countryside
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.
John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.
And this is what he proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Catechesis At Home – “Prepare!”
Second Week of Advent – Year B
The voice in the desert cries out, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” (Isaiah 40:3, Mark 1:3)
How do you prepare for big events? How do you prepare for a regular day or week?
Most likely, you have certain things you do for various occasions. You may have a daily work or school routine that includes making your lunch or choosing your clothes the night before. Your Sunday morning or Saturday evening routine is probably a bit different from your weekday routine, making preparations for Mass. And then you have those occasions when you are preparing for a big event like hosting a birthday or Christmas party. There are lots of things to do for those!
Consider the following lists:
Preparing for Christmas
- Put up decorations
- Write Santa a letter
- Shop for presents
- Wrap presents
- Bake or cook special foods
- Listen to and sing Christmas carols
- Read or watch Christmas stories
- Send Christmas cards
- Get ready to entertain guests or travel to see family or friends
Preparing my heart for Christmas
- Light the Advent candles
- Follow an Advent calendar
- Pray special prayers
- Go to Confession
- Put up a nativity set/scene
- Sing “O come, o come Emmanuel”
- Read the weekly and/or daily Scriptures
- Reflect on Mary and Joseph’s journey
- Give to others
Activity
Look at these lists together and circle the ones the family does. How many things on each list are a regular part of your preparations for Christmas? What are your favorites? Which ones sometimes can be a drag?
Are there other preparations that you do that are not on these lists? You may have family traditions that make the season of Advent a true preparation for the birth of our Lord.
Discussion
As a family, talk about which preparations help you become closer to Christ and which preparations might take you away or distract you from Him. Help each other recognize those things and see if there are changes that can be made to eliminate or mitigate the distractions from Jesus. Everything on both lists is good and can be a blessing to you and your family as you…
To Think About
Remember, Advent is a time for preparation. Anticipation this time of year can drive us crazy, especially if we see a tree in the house and imagine all the toys under it! No matter how old we get, we desire what we cannot see – all wrapped up and waiting for us to open.
Discussion
Discuss with the family what it is like to anticipate Christmas morning. Do you get crazy, maybe shake a few presents? What other things drive us crazy in anticipation?
Kids will talk about birthday parties, the season for their sport they play in, school letting out, going to grandparents’ homes, and more. That’s exciting stuff, so hype it up with them and let them know how exciting it is for you!
Parents get the last word:
When everyone is excited and smiling, tell them how agonizing it was, preparing and anticipating their birth. Talk about the preparation – getting a room or corner of your bedroom ready for their arrival; seeing the signs in body changes; the discomfort still emotionally overwhelmed by the anticipation; everything you can think of to show them ho excited you were – just like they are now – for their birth.
Then tell them that’s why we prepare for Jesus. We are making room for Him, preparing the way of The Lord, and getting the unnecessary stuff out of our lives so that He can fill as much of our life as possible. That’s why we put up decorations, and the presents are just reminders of the gifts He was given and, most importantly… The Gift He is to us, and the Gift He gives to us!
To finish the week, get a small box, and have everyone write on a small piece of paper what they are doing to prepare for Jesus and make more room in their lives and hearts for Him. Nobody gets to peek at anybody else’s paper! Then, put them in the small box, wrap the box, and put it under the tree. Never unwrap it – bring it out every year as the first present under the tree, and put it in a bigger box with new slips of paper from everyone, with that box wrapped and placed under the tree first. Repeat every year!
Don’t forget to check out:
- Advent Resources to help you prepare your heart and home for the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!
- A short teaching about the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary coming up on December 8 – a Holy Day of Obligation and the United States’ Patroness Feast Day!
- Hail Mary Infographic you can print and hang up in your home!
- Nicholas’s Story and a prayer card to print and share for his feast day – December 6!
Click here for the printable PDF version of This Week’s Free Thing! (With bonus content!)
How does your family prepare for Jesus during Advent?
Other Things on HOO
Being On The Road To Perfection – Episode 166
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:32 — 22.6MB)
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We are called to be perfect, as we discussed last week.
So, what does being on the road to perfection look like?
If Jesus was “finished” and his ministry was “completed,” as it means when He said, “It is done,” by saying, “It is perfected” just before He died on the Cross, He must have walked a road to perfection.
And so must we.
In this episode we discuss that concept, in terms of what we are doing and how we respond to the call for our life.
It’s a simple concept, and a difficult task, but we have the example of Our Lord which, from the proper perspective, is not an impossible example to follow and exemplify.
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