November 29, 2025
Letter from the Editor //
Dear Sister,
“Stay awake!” Jesus tells us on this First Sunday or Advent, “For you do not know on which day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42). The first part of Advent is a time of waiting for the Lord to come at the end of time. We keep our focus on Christ as our King, ruling all things, and coming again soon. The world will pressure us to jump right into the festivities of Christmas, but the Church asks us to hold back from the joys to come. When we follow the secular culture without preparing our hearts for the Lord’s coming, we are like people asleep. “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11). In the Second Reading, Saint Paul directs our focus to the ways in which we are not ready for the Lord to come, the ways we are complacent, doing the “works of darkness” (Romans 12:12)
Advent is a time to enter deeper into prayer, to go to Confession, to prepare seriously for the coming of Christ. As we reflected last week, Christ’s Kingdom is here and now, and we have the grace available to us to live in it. Sister, “Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain to the house of God” (Isaiah 2:3). Let us make Advent count this year, so that when the Lord comes, we will have allowed Him to make us holy with His grace and with joy enter into the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, our eternal home.
In Christ’s Love,
Susanna
Read the Readings for the First Sunday of Advent:
First Reading // Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm // Psalm 122: 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading // Romans 13:11-14
Gospel // Matthew 24:37-44
Live Liturgically // This Week’s Feast Days
Sunday, November 30 // First Sunday of Advent
Wednesday, December 3 // Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest
Thursday, December 4 // Optional Memorial of Saint John of Damascus, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Susanna Spencer est titulaire d'une maîtrise en théologie de l'Université franciscaine de Steubenville et est l'éditrice théologique de Blessed is She. Elle vit avec son mari philosophe et ses quatre enfants à Saint Paul, Minnesota. Elle aime lire la théologie, assister à de belles liturgies, cuisiner de délicieux plats et suivre le baseball avec désinvolture. Elle était la narratrice de Maranatha, L'histoire de notre Sauveur et de notre livre pour enfants, Rise Up . En savoir plus sur elle ici .
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