1st Sunday of Advent Introit

The Introit for the First Sunday of Advent ~

Ad te levávi ánimam méam: Déus méus in te confído, non erubéscam: neque irrídeant me inimíci méi: étenim univérsi qui te exspéctant, non confundéntur. Psalm ~ Vias tuas, Dómine, demónstra mihi: et sémitas túas édoce me.

To You I lift up my soul: in You, O my God, I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. No one who waits for You shall be put to shame. (Psalm 24:1-3) Psalm ~ Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me Your paths. (Psalm 24: 4)

Let us imagine a companion this Sunday at Mass, a fellow parishioner. Man or woman, whatever you prefer (I will use the masculine pronoun as I learned my grammar many years ago) young or old. He is certainly not the greatest of sinners but far from being a saint. He tries and sometimes succeeds in being both a good person and a good Catholic. In short, he is a person very much like you and me. What thoughts do these Sundays in Advent provoke in him?

“I had completely forgotten that today is the beginning of Advent. Funny how the Church is beginning a new year while the rest of the world hurtles madly towards the end of the old one. How out of step the Church is. I already feel the year end and holiday stress. I’ll never get it all done and I can’t afford the half of it anyway.”

“Yet the Church tells me that Advent is a quiet meditative season, a time of gentle patience and expectation. This Introit they are singing, why do they sing that instead of a hymn? Anyway, the music is in turn both dramatic and plaintive. What does it say? It is both a plea and a promise. Ah, I certainly could stand to be rid of a few enemies!”

“What if it is real and what I left outside is false? God was certainly no abstraction to King David. He was a very real and present and personal God! Hum, maybe this Advent season will lead me somewhere.”

Come Lord Jesus!! Enter our hearts this Advent!