Reading 1- focus on this one!!!
Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7

You, LORD, are our father,
our redeemer you are named forever.
Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
with the mountains quaking before you,
while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,
such as they had not heard of from of old.
No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him.
Would that you might meet us doing right,
that we were mindful of you in our ways!
Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful;
all of us have become like unclean people,
all our good deeds are like polluted rags;
we have all withered like leaves,
and our guilt carries us away like the wind.
There is none who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to cling to you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered us up to our guilt.
Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19

R. (4) Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken,
from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Rouse your power,
and come to save us.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
May your help be with the man of your right hand,
with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

Reading II
1 Cor 1:3-9

Brothers and sisters:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Gospel
Mk 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

(Taken from: http://www.usccb.org/nab/113008.shtml)

The reading that really struck me, and why I have pasted them here to share was Isaiah. Fr. Thomas as Incarnation Monastery, among the Camaldolese Benedictine monks, gave the homily today, but it was the words of the scripture that really struck me. His mentioning of the mystics, and the knowledge of God as all-present in the 3rd person, but the very real need for Him in the first person especially drew me in. I often, while knowing God is fully with me long for the very personal presence of Jesus. I think the manifold mystery of the Trinity itself makes plenty of space for human fulfillment through the Trinity. The Father being Spirit and all present, we can be constantly comforted and secure in knowing He is always with us even when He feels farthest away and we question His presence. I have a special devotion to Jesus, because Jesus convinces me that God is and that He came to redeem my flesh and blood. I miss Jesus deeply, that 2nd person aspect of God ( I think) because I am human… and the Kingdom is present but not at the same time. God is here and God is absent. Maybe because I am not fully one with God? A hard question to probe. Something about my existential being and putting my hands into those of Jesus misses Him. Then the Spirit. The Holy Ghost confirms in me, by dwelling in my spirit that God is enthroned now and will be moreso. While Jesus is my hope, Abba is my faith, the Ghost is with me in present tying all into a very real now.

More thoughts later…