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This marks the beginning of a very special daily Advent retreat begin offered by Msgr. Esseff. He recommends to begin a journal and find a special time of the day to prayerfully reflect on the readings and reflections offered everyday. He would also like to encourage comments and e-mails, if you feel called to share and/or ask questions.
Reading 2 Â ROM 13:11-14
Brothers and sisters:
You know the time;
it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.
For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed;
the night is advanced, the day is at hand.
Let us then throw off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light;
let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day,
not in orgies and drunkenness,
not in promiscuity and lust,
not in rivalry and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
Gospel   MT 24:37-44
“As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.â€
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine
Tags: John Esseff, reflections, special time, United States
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 1st, 2013 at 2:33 pm
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Thank you for the podcast retreat!
Are you planning on posting every advent Sunday?
God bless you!
Monsignor, I listened to your podcast last evening before bed, and made my first entry into my prayer journal (which has been sitting idle in a drawer for months)this morning. I need this retreat at this time. God bless you.
I am happy to report that I have grown a lot in my faith by being faithful to the church teachings, that we should use and read the daily readings in the bulletins we receive every Sunday at Church. Since I have been doing this I have been able to connect the dots and close the gaps and questions I had. For instance I have heard the reading of the Centurion asking Our Lord to heal his servant but never before had I internalised the Centurion’s response and Our Lords comment so well and linked it to the mass as well as I did yesterday. Emotionally and filled by the Holy Spirit it made a lot of religious sense to me for the first time (and I was born Catholic)why we say these very words “Lord I am not worthy…and my soul shall be healed” during the most important time of the mass as I did yesterday. I now also understand that it is part of reaffirming our belief in Christ. I also understand the Lords response because the Holy Spirit has revealed it to me as I WRITE THIS EMAIL, that those who receive the blessed sacrament are indeed sharing in the feast with Abraham and Jacob as the Lord has promised. Amen.
I now realise that this is because I READ THE word myself and because I had taken time to understand it. I had consciously taken time of MY “lazynnes on the couch watching TV” and said to My Lord ‘God I want to spend time with you.
God indeed keeps on being faithful to me everytime and as a mother I AM MORE THAN HAPPY to share God’s revelations to me with my children and with others. Thank you for this opportunity and a wonderful website. God Bless.