Winter is coming, the church year is waning, and our thoughts turn to mortality. In our short dance on this Earth, what’s our purpose?

What do you plan to do while you wait for the coming of the Lord? Stay awake, listen, watch, be prepared?

Watch. That’s what Jesus has to say to his disciples today. Watch! While a single word makes for a poor homily and an inferior lesson plan, it does help to ask ourselves: Are we watching for something, or guarding against it?

In grade school, we went to Mass every day. Each grade filed in with the sister, or the rare lay teacher, sitting at the end of the last row to watch over her charges.

When I was a kid all the guys in my neighborhood played a kind of game—or was it a form of torture?—called "Think quick!"

Coming together as God’s family as we enter the Advent season, let us ask for forgiveness for sins and so prepare to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

The ordinary acts we practice every day . . . are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.

Browse our library for additional First Sunday of Advent, Cycle B material.