Scripture Reading for the First Sunday of Advent

From About.com: Catholicism:

On the first Sunday of Advent, we read the beginning of the book of Isaiah, where the prophet speaks in the voice of God and calls the people of Israel to repentance, to prepare them for the coming of His Son.

We need to "cease doing evil, and learn to do good," and Isaiah mentions specific acts of charity that we might take to heart this Advent season: help those who are oppressed, by poverty or injustice; relieve the orphaned; care for widows. Our works flow from our faith, and are a sign of that faith. But, as the Apostle James declared, "Faith without works is dead."

Isaiah 1:1-18

Soutenus posts:
The Feast of Saint Andrew (November 30) defines when Advent starts each year. The first Sunday of Advent is the Sunday closest to the Feast of Saint Andrew.

His feast is also one of the great ecumenical feasts for Catholics and Orthodox, because Saint Andrew is considered the founder of the church at Constantinople. Every year, the Pope sends a delegation to celebrate the feast with the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch.

The Saint Andrew Christmas Novena:

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother Amen.