First Sunday of Advent/B
Massimo Palombella
In the Roman Rite, the four weeks preceding the solemnity of Christmas took shape in Rome at the turn of the 6th and 7th centuries within the liturgical reform promoted by Pope Gregory the Great.
The Ambrosian Liturgy has preserved the primitive use of the six weeks of Advent (a usage testified in Gaul and Spain towards the end of the 4th century), a time that begins on the Sunday immediately following 11 November (feast of St Martin) and ends with Christmas Eve.
With Advent also begins the new liturgical year, which in this year (B) will see the reading of the Gospel of Mark.
Together with the expectation of the birth of Jesus, the Advent season has an “eschatological” dimension that invites us to necessarily reflect on the true quality of our lives, on the actual exercise of our freedom with regard to the choices we make, on how much we actually seek and let truth inspire our existence.
The ‘eschatological’ character of Advent also leads us to listen to our desires, our needs, our expectations, and to be in true contact with this whole dimension of our lives.
The Lord whom we await at Christmas, and who will one day, with infinite mercy, judge our lives, is the fulfilment of our every desire. He is the One who is ‘beyond’, and carries within Himself all our weakness, strengths and passions. He is the One who gives us and is “life in abundance”.
The Gradual of today’s celebration is taken from Psalm 24 (Ps 24:3. 4) with the following text:
“Universi qui te exspectant, non confundentur, Domine.
Vias tuas, Domine, notas fac mihi: et semitas tuas edoce me.”
(They will not be disappointed, O Lord, all those who are awaiting you.
Make your ways known unto me, O Lord, and teach me your paths).
The attached music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Antiphonale Romanum II published in Solesmes in 2009. The interpretation is by the Schola Gregoriana Pragensis conducted by David Eben. The musical track can be found on the CD ‘Liturgical Year. Gregorian Chant’ published by Supraphon in 1997.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
