Scripture for Life: The more we embody the Holy One, who negotiates and arbitrates among all peoples and across all cultures and nations, the more we offer hope to our world that is anticipating the advent of a new time.,Scripture for Life: The more we embody the Holy One, who negotiates and arbitrates among all peoples and across all cultures and nations, the more we offer hope to our world that is anticipating the advent of a new time.
16 days ago
The First Sunday of Advent, observed on November 30, 2025, initiates the liturgical season of preparation and anticipation in the Christian calendar.1 This day invites believers to reflect on themes of hope, peace, joy, and love as they await the celebration of Christ's birth.1
Articles covering this occasion emphasize its role in fostering spiritual renewal amid daily life.1 Published just before the Sunday observance, the coverage highlights timely relevance for contemporary audiences.1
Central to the First Sunday of Advent is the question of "What are we waiting for?", prompting introspection on personal and communal hopes.1 This theme draws from biblical prophecies, such as those in Isaiah, symbolizing vigilance and readiness for divine fulfillment.1
The observance encourages shifting focus from material preparations to deeper eschatological waiting, including Christ's second coming.1 It serves as a counterpoint to secular holiday rushes, urging mindfulness in an often distracted world.1
Traditional practices for this Sunday include lighting the first purple Advent candle, representing hope.1 Church services typically feature readings from the Gospel of Mark, emphasizing watchfulness.1
In the context of the current papacy under Pope Leo XIV, elected earlier in 2025, Advent calls for unity and reflection following recent transitions in the Church.1 This period reinforces the Church's message of enduring faith amid global uncertainties.1
Advent's start fosters a sense of communal solidarity, inviting participation through prayer, fasting, and acts of charity.1 It challenges individuals to examine their lives in light of eternal promises, promoting personal transformation.1
As a season of light in darkening days, it offers hope for renewal, aligning with the Church's ongoing mission under new leadership.1 Observers are encouraged to embrace this waiting as an active journey toward spiritual depth.1
What does the Catholic Church teach about waiting in Advent?
The Catholic Church teaches that waiting during Advent is a profound spiritual exercise centered on hopeful anticipation of Christ's dual comings: his historical Incarnation at Christmas and his glorious return at the end of time. This waiting is not passive but active, involving conversion, vigilance, prayer, and joyful preparation, as it renews the ancient expectation of the Messiah while fostering a life oriented toward eschatological hope. Drawing from Scripture, the liturgy, and magisterial documents, Advent invites the faithful to embrace time as a kairos—a graced opportunity for salvation—transforming everyday existence into a pilgrimage of readiness.
The Scriptures for the First Sunday of Advent, which inaugurates the season, vividly illustrate waiting as a call to awaken and prepare for the Lord's arrival. In the prophecy of Isaiah, the vision of nations streaming to the Lord's mountain evokes a communal waiting filled with hope for peace and divine instruction: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." This passage underscores waiting as movement toward God, culminating in the rejection of violence—"they shall beat their swords into plowshares"—and an invitation to "walk in the light of the Lord," symbolizing active pursuit of holiness amid expectation.
Saint Paul's exhortation in Romans reinforces this urgency: "Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near." Here, waiting is depicted as laying aside "the works of darkness" such as reveling, debauchery, and jealousy, and instead "put[ting] on the Lord Jesus Christ," emphasizing moral readiness and the proximity of redemption. The Responsorial Psalm complements this with joyful pilgrimage: "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord!' Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem," and a plea for peace, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," which extends to the Church's expectant journey.
The Gospel from Matthew intensifies the theme with Jesus' warning: "Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." Comparing the Son of Man's arrival to the days of Noah or a thief in the night, it stresses unpredictability and the need for constant vigilance: "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." These readings collectively portray Advent waiting as eschatological alertness, bridging the historical memory of Christ's birth with anticipation of his parousia, urging believers to live honorably in the present.
The Church's liturgy and official teachings deepen this biblical call, presenting Advent as a season of "devout and expectant delight" with a "twofold character": preparation for Christmas, commemorating the Son of God's first coming, and forward-looking hope for his second coming at history's end. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that through Advent's liturgy, the faithful renew "their ardent desire for his second coming" by participating in the ancient expectancy of the Messiah, uniting with John the Baptist's cry of repentance: "He must increase, but I must decrease." This waiting is infused with hope, as the liturgical year unfolds "the whole mystery of Christ... to Pentecost and the expectation of the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord."
The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy elaborates that Advent is "a time of waiting, conversion and of hope": a "waiting-memory" of Christ's humble Incarnation and a "waiting-supplication" for his glorious return as universal Judge. It involves joyful hope in salvation's fulfillment, echoing the prophets and John the Baptist's call to repent, for "the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Popes have echoed this, with Saint John Paul II describing Advent waiting as an attitude of "attention"—tending toward God with the whole soul, countering modern distraction—and vigilance, as in "Take heed... Be careful!" from Mark's Gospel. He further urged patience: "Be patient until the coming of the Lord," linking it to strengthening community bonds and welcoming Christ in humility, as Mary did.
Pope Benedict XVI highlighted Advent's "polarity," centered on Christ's two principal comings—Incarnation and parousia—with an "intermediate" coming in believers' souls, building a bridge through faith and love. He portrayed waiting as hope-filled expectation, where time gains meaning when endowed with Christ's presence: "If he is present, there is no longer any time that lacks meaning or is empty. If he is present, we may continue to hope." This transforms waiting from burden to joy, especially through Mary's example as the Virgin who pondered the Word made flesh. Saint John Paul II reinforced that the entire Christian life should be an "advent" of vigilant expectation, recognizing Christ's presence in daily events to prepare for judgment. Even earlier, Pope Pius XII in Mediator Dei described Advent as arousing consciousness of sin, urging mortification and meditation to foster "a longing desire to return to God."
The Homiletic Directory ties these themes to preaching, noting the First Sunday's focus on Christ's final coming: "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down," calling for preparation through righteous deeds, as in the Collect: "Grant your faithful... the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming." Overall, these sources agree that Advent waiting matures grace in the world, leading to beholding Christ "as he really is."
Catholic teaching emphasizes that Advent waiting is concretely lived through prayer, penance, and action, nourishing hope via the Holy Spirit. The Catechism teaches that the Spirit instructs us "to pray in hope," using Psalms to fix hope in God: "I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry," so that believers "abound in hope" through joy and peace. This sustains the "groanings of the present age," a time of patience until Christ's return, as echoed in the Eucharist and Lord's Prayer: "until he comes." Hope itself is defined as desiring and awaiting eternal life with trust.
In practice, waiting counters passivity; as Saint John Paul II noted, it prompts energetic work for humanity's progress, confident in God's hands amid trials. The Homiletic Directory urges homilists to connect this to contemporary life, preparing for Christmas while eyeing the end times, fostering conversion and messianic expectation. Vigilance of heart, per the Catechism, involves humble watchfulness (CCC 2729-2733). Thus, Advent waiting integrates personal repentance, communal prayer—like Vespers—and anticipation of the "blessed hope," making the season a microcosm of Christian discipleship.
In summary, the Church teaches that waiting in Advent is a dynamic blend of remembrance, supplication, and joyful hope, rooted in Scripture and liturgy, calling believers to vigilant lives that hasten Christ's kingdom. By embracing this, the faithful not only prepare for Christmas but align their hearts with the eternal promise of salvation.