First Sunday of Advent Time to Wake Up:

Thanksgiving holiday is behind us, signaling the beginning of the holiday season in the world around us. Yet today’s Gospel calls us to enter into a time of watchful waiting, of preparation or keen awareness. Let us resolve to hold off the holidays for a bit, to tune in to the gospel, to prepare our hearts for the mystery of the Incarnation, the coming of the Prince of Peace.

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Advent is synonymous with hope: not the vain waiting for a faceless god, but concrete and certain trust in the return of him who has already visited us, of the "Spouse" who with his blood has sealed with humanity a pact that is an eternal covenant. It is a hope that stimulates vigilance, the characteristic virtue of this special liturgical season. Vigilance in prayer, fostered by a loving expectation; vigilance in the dynamics of concrete charity, aware that the Kingdom of God comes close whenever men learn to live as brothers.

- John Paul II (First Sunday of Advent, 2001)