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Advent Season · Year A

First Sunday of Advent

November 30, 2025

The Deluge, Michelangelo
The Deluge, Michelangelo, c. 1508–1509Sistine Chapel ceiling, Vatican
On the ceiling, the first panel Michelangelo painted and the most crowded. People carry what they can up a shrinking rock while the ark sits closed in the distance.They knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away: the reading uses this for how ordinary the last ordinary day looks.MichelangeloSculptor first and painter under protest, who spent four years on his back on the Sistine ceiling and produced the most consequential painting in Europe.Sistine Chapel ceiling, VaticanThe pope's chapel, where conclaves are held, decorated by Perugino, Botticelli and Ghirlandaio before Michelangelo was ever asked.Sistine Chapel ceiling, Vatican
Roman Lectionary
GospelMatt. 24:37-44Mt 24:37-44
Second ReadingRom. 13:11-14Rom 13:11-14
First ReadingIsa. 2:1-5Is 2:1-5
Responsorial PsalmPs. 122:1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5, 6-7, 8-9Ps 122:1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5, 6-7, 8-9

Overview & Insights

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42)

The passage sits inside the last of Matthew’s five discourses (chapters 24 and 25), after the saying that no one knows the day or hour (v. 36) and before the parables of the servants, the bridesmaids and the talents. The comparison with Noah’s generation (vv. 37 to 39, cf. Genesis 7:7) does not accuse them of unusual wickedness but of ordinariness: they ate, drank and married, and knew nothing until the flood came. The two pairs in verses 40 and 41, one taken and one left, follow from that, and Matthew leaves deliberately open which of the two is the enviable one. A second image, the householder and the thief (vv. 43 and 44), makes the point in reverse, since a burglary is precisely what cannot be scheduled. Luke preserves much the same material in a different setting at 17:26-35.

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Take it further: Matthew 24:37-44

Commentary

1st Sunday of Advent (Year A) Catholic Productions

Brant Pitre walks through all three readings including the Son of Man coming at an unknown hour in Matthew 24.

1st Sunday of Advent (Cycle A) Agape Bible Study

Verse-by-verse Catholic study of Matthew 24:37-44 alongside the day's other readings.

First Sunday of Advent, Cycle A Loyola Press Sunday Connection

Catechetical connection between the Noah's-days warning and the call to be watchful in Advent.

Matthew 24 Bible CommentaryMt 24 Bible Commentary Enduring Word

Covers the days-of-Noah comparison and the two-in-the-field warning that make up this Gospel.

Matthew 24Mt 24 Word on Fire

Word on Fire's running scripture commentary feed on the Matthew 24 discourse read this Sunday.

Background & Word Study

Matthew 24:37 InterlinearMt 24:37 Interlinear Bible Hub

Greek interlinear for the 'days of Noah' comparison that opens this Gospel passage.

The Church Fathers

Matthew 24Mt 24 Catena Bible

Patristic catena on the eschatological warning of Matthew 24, including the days-of-Noah image.

Sermons & Reflections

Matthew 24:37-44 NRSVueMt 24:37-44 NRSVue Sacred Space

Irish Jesuits' scripture-with-reflection page for this exact passage.

Isaiah 2, Matthew 24: Steady and ReadyIs 2, Mt 24: Steady and Ready Center for Excellence in Preaching

Written sermon pairing Isaiah 2 and Matthew 24 around staying alert for the Lord's coming.

Worship & Prayers

Sunday of Week 1 of Advent (Year A) Sacred Space

Sacred Space's Sunday prayer commentary built around this Gospel's call to stay awake.

Podcast

An Advent Challenge Word on Fire

Video sermon on the challenge to watchfulness that opens the Advent season with this Gospel.

Art & Music

Noah's Ark Cycle: 3. The Flood Web Gallery of Art

Memberger's painting of the Flood illustrates the 'days of Noah' image Jesus uses in this Gospel.

Study Hub

Matthew 24:36-44Mt 24:36-44 Text Week

Aggregated study links and preaching resources for this Advent 1 Gospel passage.

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