Articles
HOMILY ARCHIVES
Easter Vigil
The solemnity of this vigil and Easter day celebrated over a seven-day period and the season of Easter for another 43 days impresses upon the Christian the significance of such an event to the church and the world! Christ is the light that banish all sin and makes us holy. This vigil began in darkness outside and then led with the light of the paschal candle into this church symbolizes the Christian pilgrim from death to new life, from slavery to sin, to true freedom in Jesus Christ.
The first reading of this vigil taken from the book Genesis impresses upon us that at the very beginning “the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss…” God the Father commanded that there be light, and there was light. As we listened to all the readings tonight we should realized that the church who is our mother and teacher in choosing these readings desires us to see the hand of God forming our universe, and then a people to be his own. We, made into God’s image, are partners in that work and stewards to take care of all that makes up this planet, especially all living things.
We then heard the story of the Exodus. The great event in which God’s people are brought out of the half-life of slavery into full freedom and full life. We need no longer be slaves but God’s own people (yet many of us remain enslaved to habits and desires).
The liberation from Egypt is an event celebrated and commemorated to this day by the Jewish people at their Passover. And we can join our celebration with theirs at this time.
As the crucified Jesus breaks through the bonds of death in glorious resurrection, he opens the gates of life for us too.
“I AM the Resurrection and the Life.”
“I have come that they may have life and life in greater abundance.”
“I am the Way: I am Truth and Life.”
This evening is now the special time for catechumen to be baptized and the elect to become full members of our community in Christ. It is a time of special joy for them and for us.
It is also a time for us to reflect on the meaning and the effectiveness of our own Baptism in our lives right now.
Our Baptism and Confirmation and our sharing in the Eucharist are the signs of our participation in this outpouring of life and love which we celebrate this evening.
The going down into the water is our dying to the ways of sin and evil.
The coming out of the water is a rising to the life God wishes us to have and experience.
Our baptism and confirmation are an ongoing reality reflected in the way we live out the Gospel from day to day.
So very soon we will renew our promises, renew our allegiance to Christ and the Christian community, which is his visible presence in the world.
May this night be the beginning of our renewal to let our light shine in a darken world that the gospel of truth and love may be made known through our living the baptismal promises.
Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord
The liturgy of Good Friday like every liturgy should bring us closer to Christ and his church. Today the veil of the Temple is torn in two. The Holy of Holies is thrown open. God is no longer hidden behind a veil, inaccessible to all but the High Priest, and then only once a year. God in Jesus, battered and naked on the Cross, is made accessible to all.
Yet we still need to pray for the grace to discern this saving act of God. The mystery of the cross was not only for the followers of Christ but others as well. In Mark’s passion we see even a pagan Roman soldier was able to discern that in Jesus was the Son of God.
The sacrifice of Jesus was indeed a bloody one. Blood was associated with the life principle. In ancient cultures blood was the choice element in sacrifice, it was the most precious offering to God. And the most precious of all was human blood.
Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac is related to this practice among some Middle East peoples. Later on animals were exclusively used for sacrifice, so much so that by the time of Jesus, the Temple had become a giant butchery with priests killing animals non-stop.
When Jesus drove out the money-changers, it was estimated that 90 percent of commerce was linked to animal sacrifices.
Today the blood of Jesus is spilled for us. For so many centuries people have been spilling blood to get to God. But in the crucifixion it is reversed -God spills his own blood to reach out to us. This is to take away our old fear, that by spilling blood we try to appease an angry God.
Paul tells us that Jesus emptied himself. He emptied himself of all egoism, of all anger, fear and anxiety, of all human dignity in the sight of others. He let go of everything and because he did so, he was fully taken up in union with his Father.
For us it has to be the same. Our lives are so tied up with all kinds of concerns, desires, ambitions, fears and anxieties.
We need to remove these blocks and just let go. To break down the barriers separating us from total union with the Source and Goal of all being.
The Way is shown clearly in the Gospel and most of all in the Way of the Cross leading to resurrection, new life and ascension, union with God in Christ.
“I live, no not I, but Christ lives in me.”
Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper commemorates three principal mysteries; the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the institution of the priesthood, and the commandment of our Lord to love one another, that is we must practice fraternal charity. The first reading foreshadows the Eucharist, it describes the Jewish Passover Meal. It is a sacramental re-enactment of the meal taken by the Israelites before their flight across the Red Sea from Egypt. A flight from slavery to freedom and liberation. This, once a year commemoration, could be called the “Eucharist” of the Jews. Except that they celebrate it just once a year and not weekly or even daily, as we do. It is a sacred remembering of God’s great act to liberate them from slavery and the beginning of their long journey to the Promised Land. It is no coincidence that it was precisely during the celebration of this meal that Jesus instituted what we now call the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Here is the link between the Hebrew and the Christian Covenants.
In the Second Reading, Paul recalls what Jesus did during that Last Supper, that Passover Meal. He took the bread at the table and said it was his Body. He took the cup of wine and said it was his Blood to be poured out for us. These actions were to be repeated by his followers in memory of the liberation brought about for us through his suffering, death and resurrection.
Three events are thus united into a new mystery: the Jewish Passover and Paschal Meal; - the whole Paschal Mystery of Jesus: suffering, death and resurrection. - the linking of the bread and wine and its communal eating with the sacrificial death and the resurrection of Jesus;
There is a new liberation, not just from physical slavery, but from every kind of slavery, especially that of sin and evil. There is now a new Pasch and a new Passover. There is a new Lamb, the Lamb of God. There is a new unleavened bread, the Bread that is the Body of the Risen Lord. The blood of the lamb is now replaced with the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world.
The Evangelist John now links all of this to the concrete reality of our lives. It says nothing about the Pasch or the Passover. It says nothing about the Eucharist, or the Body and Blood of Jesus. Instead it speaks of Jesus, Lord and Master, getting down on his knees and washing the feet of his disciples. It is this spirit of love and service of brothers and sisters, which is to be the outstanding characteristic of the Christian disciple.
And this is the true living out of the Eucharistic celebration. To have one without the other is not to live the Gospel. And so the words of the Eucharist are also repeated here: “Do this in memory of me.”
Not to celebrate the Eucharist in community and not to spend our energies in love and service of each other is not to be living the Gospel. Our Christian living is a seamless robe between Gospel, liturgy and daily life and interaction. St. Augustine said it well about the love of Christ a love we must continually perfect in our lives. “He had the power of laying down his life; we by contrast cannot choose the length of our lives, and we die even if it is against our will. He, by dying, destroyed death in himself; we are freed from death only in his death. His body did not see corruption; our body will see corruption and only then be clothed through him in in corruption at the end of the world. He needed no help from us in saving us; without him we can do nothing. He gave himself to us as the vine to the branches; apart from him we cannot have life. Finally, even if brothers die for brothers, yet no martyr by shedding his blood brings forgiveness for the sins of his brothers, as Christ brought forgiveness to us. In this he gave us, not an example to imitate but a reason for rejoicing. Inasmuch, then, as they shed their blood for their brothers, the martyrs provided “the same kind of meal” as they had received at the Lord’s table. Let us then love one another as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us.” [Tract. 84, 1-2: CCL 36, 536-538]
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
The Church has given us five weeks to prepare for this day and the coming days of Holy Week. Today’s mass sums up the paschal mystery, which will be played out over the next seven days. Indeed the entire season of Lent is a journey with the Lord in his suffering, death and resurrection. In her liturgies the Church strives to teach us the deep meaning of what it is to be a follower of Christ. As we enter into Holy Week and the drama of the paschal mystery unfolds before us, we should see these events not as individual occurrences but as a whole.
Jesus came into the world to save it and now he is approaching his appointed hour. Today’s liturgy begins with his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and yet there are those in the crowds who disapprove of such a celebration, “some of the Pharisees …said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’” This is the beginning of the long shadow that will be cast upon Jesus leading up to Good Friday. Today with our palm branches, we enter Jerusalem with Christ but we must follow him to Calvary if we are to be witnesses to the empty tomb.
St. Paul in the second reading provides us with the key to unlock the mysteries of Holy Week. The reading is a hymn, incorporated by Paul in his letter to the Christians at Philippi, in northern Greece. It expresses the "mind", the thinking of Jesus, a "mind" which Paul urges us to have also if we want to identify fully with Jesus as disciples. "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus." The key word in the passage is "emptied". This kenosis, or emptying, is at the heart of Jesus' experience during his Passion.
As Jesus empties himself we too must empty ourselves from all that prevents us from having the mind of Christ. It is important to move beyond the intellectual understanding of the suffering of Jesus and embrace the mind of Christ. The pilgrim life leads to service, to humility, it carries us to Jerusalem, to the cross and the grave. This is where life is renewed and faith restored.
As the drama of Holy Week unfolds, we watch Jesus and his response to his disciples, the crowds and his enemies. We watch not merely as observers but as followers eager to learn and live by his example. We must desire to enter into the mind of Christ, his pain and misery, for in so doing we will also enter into the joy of his Father’s kingdom.
Passion Sunday - March 13, 2016
We are fast approaching the Triduum of our Lord and the feast of Easter itself, the readings today compel us to look once again at our lives as Christians and to continue to run the race along the road, which leads to salvation. St. Benedict cautions his monks and indeed all Christians never to be “daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation.” In his wisdom this holy man predicts that such a road will be narrow at the outset, “but as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.” [RB Prologue]
Today crosses and images can be veiled until Holy Saturday. This is an ancient custom of the church. Why does the Church veil the cross in these final days of Lent, a time when she is most intent on meditating upon the Lord's sorrowful passion? Abbot Gueranger enlightens us with a mystical interpretation of the Gospel, which, in former times, was read on this Sunday: As Christ hid himself from the rage of the Jewish authorities (John 8:59), so now he is hidden from the world in preparation for the mysteries of his passion.
“The presentiment of that awful hour [of our Savior’s passion] leads the afflicted mother [the Church] to veil the image of her Jesus: the cross is hidden from the eyes of the faithful. The statues of the saints, too, are covered; for it is but just that, if the glory of the Master be eclipsed, the servant should not appear.
“The interpreters of the liturgy tell us that this ceremony of veiling the crucifix during Passiontide, expresses the humiliation to which our Savior subjected Himself, of hiding Himself when the Jews threatened to stone Him, as is related in the Gospel of Passion Sunday [John 8:46-59, They took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple (John 8:59)]. The Church begins this solemn rite with the Vespers of the Saturday before Passion Sunday.” And the passion of Jesus is a clear manifestation of Divine Love for humankind.
This is what the holy season of Lent is all about because the entire Christian pilgrimage is a journey towards love, because God is love. In his encyclical Deus Caritas Est Pope emeritus Benedict XVI quoting from the first letter of John explains that the description of God as love provides us with “remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us”.”
The love God had and still has for his chosen people Israel is expressed so elegantly through the prophet Isaiah. This God who made both the earth and the heavens promises his people redemption after their long exile in the desert. This was the same people who had put God to the test and had made God to take an oath: “They shall not enter into my rest.” And yet the love of God overcomes all wrath because he tells his people “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not, see, I am doing something new!”
The love of God transforms the failings of our lives and gives us the grace to look forward to waters in the desert and rivers in the wasteland. This love transformed the woman in today’s gospel from a public sinner to one whose sins were forgiven her in part because not one condemn her precisely because of the power of divine love. Jesus came to fulfill the Law of Moses and in fulfilling the law he made all things new as Isaiah prophesied. This newness of faith and love is the very foundation of the Church and it is what binds us together as the family of God. This is what we celebrate every Sunday and every day around the altar of the Lord. This is what we strive to live in our daily lives.
This love, which is divine, is what St Paul expresses in the second reading, “I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” This season of Lent entices us to seek what the apostle to the Gentiles sought, to stand in the presence of the Lord condemned and shamed like the woman in today’s gospel and to listen to God’s prophet who tells us of great promises. The promise of redemption through a love, which never dies.
So as we hasten towards the greatest manifestation of God’s love, let us recall the struggles of our spiritual ancestors, the imprisonment and hardships of St. Paul and the woman in today’s gospel. Let us not focus on their weakness but on the divine mercy of God who teaches us what true love is all about. In these last weeks of Lent may we focus on our appetite for the God of love, seeking him with all our hearts and so rejoicing in his kindness and his mercy.
Laetare Sunday - March 6, 2016
Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her; the beginning of the introit of today’s mass. It is the first word of this antiphon that we derive the name of this Fourth Sunday of Lent. Laetare Sunday marks the midpoint of the Lenten season. It is a day in the midst of our penitential discipline, similar to Gaudete Sunday in Advent. Today rose-colored vestments may be worn and it is a reminder that every day we live in the light of the risen Christ. Even in the midst of Lent, we the people of God rejoice in Christ who restores sight to the blind and sets prisoners free.
St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the most learned and beloved theologian and saint of the Church wrote about his life in his famous Confessions. In it he bears his soul and invites the reader into the most intimate details of his life. This great bishop and doctor of the Church is an important example of the Christian’s pilgrimage towards the Father’s house. Augustine in his early years was a man of the world; highly intelligent with a rich taste for the things of this world, but in the midst of this earthly pleasure he knew that there was something even better than all the vain things he had already tasted. Through the prayers of his mother St. Monica and his seeking the truth Augustine eventually converted to the Faith at Milan and was baptized by St. Ambrose. Many things have been said and written about this great saint, he himself has left a great patrimony to the Church in terms of his own sermons and writings. But in the final analysis his insights into the ways of God reminds us of our purpose in this life. Essentially we are made for God. St. Augustine puts it this way “our hearts are restless until they rest in thee O God”.
In a very real way St. Augustine was a prodigal son in his early life. Sometimes in our journey we are like the prodigal son. We might even spend most of our lives being the older brother, who remained faithful to his father and yet even in his faithfulness still had issues in terms of forgiveness. Weather we remain in the father’s house or take our inheritance and pursue a life of loose living. Either way God pursues us and reminds us of our need for forgiveness and to forgive.
The Father and his two sons exemplify the immense generosity of God towards his people. Like the Father in today’s gospel, God’s love for us never fades, even when we leave his house and live lives not worthy of the name Christian. The Father longs for his son’s return and watched for him everyday. His joy knew no bounds when his son who had wasted much of his property returned to the Father’s house.
Even though God is full of compassion and mercy and forgives, we like the younger son must be willing to recognize our faults and turn away from wrong in order to receive the embrace of God. Forgiveness entails reconciliation, healing of wounds that we might have created. Forgiveness is not one sided. We must not only ask God’s forgiveness but also the forgiveness of those we have offended. This sometimes can take much time and effort. We are assured that when we asked God’s forgiveness he will receive us back into the Father’s house.
Our goal in this life is to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect. True perfection does not come with the observance of rules and laws, but in loving unconditionally and seeking full reconciliation. If we live with these goals, our lives will begin to look more and more like that of Christ. This is not easy indeed it is difficult but not impossible. We can either follow this path, always turning towards the Lord or like the younger son learn the hard way. We are meant to learn from the son’s mistake in order to enter into the warm embrace of the Father.
Third Sunday of Lent - February 28, 2016
This third Sunday of Lent provides us with the rich image of water. Both the first reading and the holy gospel speak about water and the thirst for it. We are surrounded by water and many of us see the ocean perhaps every day, we have become so accustomed to it that we pay little attention to it. Certainly as living beings we need water to live and to thrive.
Just as water is essential for physical life it is also essential for spiritual growth. At the beginning of our spiritual journey water is poured over our heads and we become members of Christ’s body, the church. Water is the source of life but also of destruction.
So we have the story of the Flood, which brought salvation to Noah and his family but death to a sinful world; the crossing of the Red Sea, which meant life and liberty to the Israelites but death to the army of the Pharaoh; and the water from the rock for the Israelites in the dryness desert. We will hear more about these at the Easter Vigil during the blessing of the baptismal water.
The Gospel which we have just heard is about the Woman at the Well and it also centres around the theme of water and life. The woman can be said to represent three oppressed groups with which Jesus and the Gospel are interested:
- women
- prostitutes and sexually immoral people generally
- all kinds of outsiders, people who are unclean, infidels, foreigners…
The story begins by Jesus showing himself as a person in need: tired, hungry and thirsty. We constantly have remind ourselves how genuinely human Jesus was, “like us in all things but sin”.
He asks help from a person he was supposed to avoid (a strange woman on her own) and also to hate (a Samaritan).
She is very surprised at his approach but her surprise allows Jesus to turn the tables and offer her “living water”. She, understanding him literally, asks how he can give it as he has no bucket. But the water that Jesus will give is different. Those who drink it will never be thirsty again and it gives eternal life. Again, literally, the woman wants this water that lasts forever. Then she will never have to trudge to the well again.
What is this water that Jesus speaks about? It is God’s Spirit, which comes to us in Baptism.
Baptism is not just a ritual producing magic effects. It is the outward, symbolic sign of a deep reality, the coming of God as a force penetrating every aspect of a person’s life.
And this happens through our exposure to Jesus and to the Gospel vision of life and our becoming totally converted to that vision. This can only happen through the agency of a Christian community into which we are called to enter. As the Second Reading says today, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit”. It is not just a question of a ritual washing or immersing and saying magic words but of a real drinking in of that Spirit. The spirit quenches our thirst, not by removing our desire for God’s presence but by continually satisfying it. [Sacred Space]
Jesus exposes this woman, not to embarrass her but to allow her to see her need for this life giving water. The water that Jesus promises is closely linked to conversion and forgiveness of sin. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But the sin must first be exposed and acknowledged. And Jesus’ goal is not just the woman’s sin but the whole town from which she comes. Sinner that she is, she will become the agent of their salvation and conversion.
This religious outsider, this public sinner is the first person to hear the revelation of God that Jesus is the messiah in John’s gospel. Precisely because it is people like her who need to hear it. People who are healthy do not need the doctor, only the sick. She returned home and spread the good news with her neighbors.
As a result, in this story many in that Samaritan village came to believe in Jesus. And they said: “It is no longer because of what you [the woman] said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the World.” For our catechumens, and for all of us, the faith that has been handed on must become our own faith. So that, even if everyone around us were to abandon Jesus, I would not. Ultimately faith is totally personal. “I live, no not I, but Christ lives in me.”
Let us pray today that all those preparing to be baptized at Easter may find that life-enriching faith for their lives.
First Sunday of Lent - February 28, 2016
The holy season of Lent affords us a great opportunity to make a fresh start in our pilgrimage towards the kingdom. Every year Christians enter these forty days with the hope of keeping the Lenten fast and abstaining from meat or whatever else they have pledge to do. These goals are surely a part of the season, but the forty days of Lent provides us with many opportunities to see the bigger picture of what we are to become. The opening prayer of today’s mass points us in the direction we are to look “Grant, almighty God, through the yearly observances of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ…” this summarizes in a beautiful way how we are to understand this season. We must reflect on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and from that reflection the joy of our salvation must be expressed in our lives.
In the first reading Moses prepares the people of Israel for a new life after forty years of wondering in the desert. The people were to settle and build a nation of their own after having put God to the test in the desert. As the Lord had cried out in psalm 95…”Forty years I endured that generation. I said. ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray and they do not know my ways.’ So I swore in my anger, ‘they shall not enter into my rest.’” Like the Israelites of old we too have wondered not hearing the voice of the Lord at times. Lent is our time of grace then to start anew.
The gospel on the first Sunday of Lent is traditionally about the temptations experienced by our Lord in the desert directly after his baptism by John and before the start of his public ministry. It is instructive to note that baptism came first for Jesus as he left his parents and family to fulfill his heavenly father’s will. After Christ’s Baptism came forty days of solitude and preparation to enter into his divine mission. This preparation consisted of numerous assaults by the devil to entice him to seek glory elsewhere. Is it not the same for each one of us? Our turning towards the Lord will not be so simple.
The three temptations in today’s gospel should be seen in a broader light. Notice that the first and third temptations are attempts to lead Jesus away from his role as the suffering servant and to take the spotlight away from his heavenly father. Our Lord is pressed to prove his worth to Satan. This would not be the last time that Jesus would be tempted in this way, in fact during his public ministry this type of temptation was common for our Lord. The Pharisees asked Jesus "to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him" in the gospel of Mark (Mark 8:11). In the gospel of Matthew at his crucifixion we hear the words "Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come down from the cross!" (Matthew 27:40). After feeding 5,000 hungry people with an abundance of food, "the people there said, 'Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!' Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force; so he went off again to the hills by himself" (John 6:14-15). The second temptation is to lead Jesus away from serving God his father to rule over an earthly kingdom that will come to an end.
Clearly these temptations enter our lives as we struggle to live according to the gospel, the temptation to replace God with ourselves by taking the spotlight or worshiping other people or things. Jesus gives us a clear example of how we are to respond in his experience in the desert and in his public ministry, Our Lord shows us the importance of prayer and fasting, of stepping aside and resting a little while so that our souls are replenish and grace is increased. The Holy Father emeritus in speaking of the temptations of Jesus said, “At the heart of all temptations is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary, if not actually unimportant and annoying, in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our lives. Constructing a world by our own lights, without reference to God, building on our own foundation; refusing to acknowledge the reality of anything beyond the political and material, while setting God aside as an illusion – that is the temptation that threatens us in many varied forms”
Yet if we heed sacred scripture and believe the words of St. Paul, that the word is near, already in our mouths and hearts, that is the word of faith… and if we proclaim it in our lives, we too like Our Lord will resist the devil and continue to serve God who is father of us all. It is God who is our refuge and fortress, who will be with us in times of distress. This is whom we should pursue, the God who gives us life that will last. This is the point of today’s gospel this is the purpose of Lent. Let us proceed in faith calling on the name of the Lord!
Fourth Sunday of Advent - December 20, 2015
Micah 5:1-4a
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45
Bethlehem was David’s birthplace and an insignificant town compared to the city of Jerusalem. The prophet Micah during his life experienced the military invasion of both parts of the then-divided kingdom established by King David. Despite impending disaster, Micah offers hope of deliverance and Bethlehem was that sign of hope. God chose the humble city of Bethlehem to show forth his glory. “You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler of Israel; whose origin is of old.” The Church believes that the prophet Micah and his prophecy were referring to the coming Messiah, Jesus the Lord. Through human eyes a king should come from a great city because a king is surrounded by greatness from his birth. We see that the way of the Lord is not our way. We must change and take on the mind of Christ if we are to move closer to salvation.
The marvelous ways of God has thrown man into confusion from the very beginning and continues to throw us into confusion. The prediction of Micah sees its fulfillment on Christmas day, which is fast approaching. Today’s gospel describing the visitation shows once again the mighty hand of God working through and beyond human nature. God shows the power of his hand by allowing Elizabeth to become pregnant, she who had been thought to be barren and beyond the age of child bearing. God goes even further by allowing his Son to take human form in the womb of a virgin. This miracle confounds human nature and shows once again the power of the Divine.
God uses the weakness and insignificance of a town like Bethlehem, the barren condition of an old woman, and a young virgin to show us in our day that although our human nature is indeed damaged we are not useless to fulfill his promises for us. As we approach the end of the Advent season and look forward to the mystery of the Incarnation; God becoming man, we must even now continue to prepare our hearts and minds for the advent of his Son Jesus Christ. We tend to think of this coming of Christ as a babe in a manger, which is correct but it is more than just the image of a baby.
Our preparation for Christmas must include an awareness of our human frailty; its weakness and confusion. But this realization is not for us to pretend to be helpless. The reason God took on human form was to remind us that all is not lost and that we are made for great things. The Baltimore Catechism had it right. We were made by God to know him and to love him; to serve him in this life so as to be with him in the next.
Like Elizabeth and our blessed mother we must stand in the presence of the Almighty our hearts open and willing to do his will even if it seems too incredible to believe. Christmas makes sense for Christians if their hearts remain open to receive Christ daily, through word and sacrament. We must be open to the mighty works of God each and every day of our lives and not just during this season. The Church in her wisdom gives us these few weeks to make a special effort to prepare our hearts and minds, to study and to pray, to contemplate this great mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery on which our salvation is based.
In our flesh we must be aware of our need for God. In contemplating today’s readings we are reminded once again that in our insignificance, the wonderful works of the Lord has the potential to work and bear much fruit, only if we allow it to be planted in our hearts and grow to maturity. Like Bethlehem-Ephrathah, we too in the sight of man appear to be small yet the greatness of the Lord can shine forth in our lives and bear witness to all we meet.
As we make haste towards Christmas let us with hope and joy in our hearts remain open to Christ because we too must bear him in our lives and strive to be of the same mind as Christ. Let us then turn to the Lord, so as to see his face and be saved. May we always fulfill our calling by doing the will of God.
Gaudete Sunday
Third Sunday of Advent - December 13, 2015
Zephaniah 3: 14-18a
Philippians 4: 4-7
Luke 3: 10-18
We rejoice today because it is Gaudete Sunday, the name taken from the first word of the antiphon at the Introit of today’s mass. Today’s mass sets a tone of joyful expectation for the Lord’s birth and Second Coming. The wearing of rose vestments also indicate a heighten expectation, because the season of Advent is at its midpoint and Christmas is drawing ever closer.
As we continue to prepare for the advent of our Lord there is so much to be thankful for in our lives. Indeed to rejoice at this time is to make way for the Son of God in our lives. Why should we rejoice?
In the first place, this season of Advent is a time of preparation, a time of waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ. Advent is a time of active watching and waiting. In a very real way this season of waiting on the Lord describes three advents.
The First Advent
The first advent spoken of by the prophets refers to the coming of our Lord that most people think of during this time of the year. The Son of Man coming into the world as a human being. The prophecy of Zephaniah looks forward with anticipation of this coming; “On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem: fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The Lord, your God, is in your midst.” The prophet gives the impression that the long dreary wait is almost at an end. Israelites have for centuries meditated upon the words of Zephaniah and sang his hymn of hope. Our prayer this advent is for the Lord to renew us, to mold us and heal us for greater service in the church and the world. We look for this answer in the stable at Bethlehem.
The Second Advent
St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians provides us with the second advent of our Lord. Far away from the stable at Bethlehem, a historical event that we celebrate annually, Our Lord is present among us even now! “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.” This Second Advent is often forgotten, Jesus comes to us every day of our lives! Jesus comes to us in every person, in every experience in every place. The challenge for us is that we not become so distracted by the peripheral events of this time of year that we forget the graces that are bestowed upon us and we bestow upon others because of this advent of Christ in our lives. Part of renewing our commitment to Christ and being molded and healed is to give thanks each day for the blessings we receive.
The Third Advent
This brings us to the third advent, which will take place at the end of time, when Christ will take unto himself his own chosen ones. We don’t know the day or the hour when this will occur, we need the Lord’s help to prepare our hearts and minds. St. Luke in his gospel reminds us through the words of John the Baptist that we should be ready and watching for the Lord’s return. “His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn…” Jesus is like a householder on a journey, and we are the servants left behind with our own individual tasks. How do we stay awake and complete our tasks? By always recognizing that the master will return and going about doing the things we must do. We must feed the hungry, cloth the naked; visit the sick and those in prison. We must heal and mold and serve, just as we allow ourselves to be molded and healed by Christ. The season of advent calls us to move quickly towards the realization of the kingdom of heaven as we prepare to commemorate the birth of the messiah, as we recognized his presence among us in word and sacrament, and indeed in the tasks we undertake of healing, molding and service as we await his return in glory!
On this Sunday we reflect on the past two weeks, and what Advent has meant for us so far. Today we rejoice as we continue to anticipate the coming of our Lord. The true meaning of Christmas can only be had if we diligently prepare our hearts and minds to receive the baby in the manger at Bethlehem into our lives and this reception makes a difference by recognizing him in all we meet in our daily lives, for it is he whom we must preach. Like John the Baptist we must be the voice of one crying in the wilderness, preparing ourselves and indeed our families and nation for Christ’s advent. John had to remind those sent by the Jews that he was not the Christ but merely a voice. True rejoicing must always be in Christ, for if it is not, it so easily can replace Christ! St. Augustine had this to say about John the Baptist:
“John is the voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning. John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives forever. Where is John’s baptism today? It served its purpose, and it went away.”
Our rejoicing today is that voice, but the words we must speak is Christ, the eternal word. Knowing this, believing this, living this our joy is complete and we look forward to Christmas day with eager longing and great expectation.
Second Sunday of Advent (December 6, 2015)
Baruch 5:1-9
Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11
Luke 3:1-6
The advent of Jesus Christ into this world was no mere fable or myth. It was a real story with real consequences. The evangelist Luke makes this point in his gospel when he presents us with the historical backdrop of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. This unfolding story took place at a Specific time: in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. The political situation: Palestine was a colony of the Roman Empire. The religious situation: Annas and Caiaphas were high priests. The place: a small province in the eastern part of the Empire. The Son of God came into this world in human flesh as a man, his life was based in a specific context of culture and religion and yet his message was for all peoples and for all time.
Why does Luke start the adult life (of John and) of Jesus with this lengthy historical framework? The explanation lies in the fact that Luke is writing at a time when the story of Galilee has long passed (some 50 years) and Christianity, through people like St. Paul, have entered and challenged the great world of the Mediterranean. Christianity is no longer just a group of followers in little Galilee, but a religion that fits into Roman and Greek life. In this vein, scholars think that Luke, while chronicling Jesus’ time in Galilee (with a trip to Jerusalem to end in his death), wants Christianity to be known as a Mediterranean religion equal to others. Luke always in his story has an eye to the world of his audience. [John Kilgallen, SJ]
In preparing for the advent of Jesus we hear about John the Baptist in the gospel today and will also hear his words in next week’s gospel. John the Baptist is the Precursor of the Lord: he prepares for his coming, his first coming. John has but one love: God, the Word of God who revealed himself to him! John was sanctified before his birth by the grace of God, that grace borne by the very word of the Mother of God, She in whom the Word had just been incarnated: "[Elizabeth] exclaimed with a loud cry: «When the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. (Luke. 1:42, 44)" This grace that John received in the womb of his mother Elizabeth had already made him into another man, another creature, no longer living for himself, but for God alone. John does not yet know this clearly. But the Spirit leads him into the desert, and there, he receives the light, which reveals to him his mission: to prepare the way of the Lord!
Anyone else would have been overwhelmed, terrified by such a mission. But John does not have any ties to this world, and he had little concern for the riches, honors, and glories that a purely human life could bring him. Grace is there in him; powerful, loving, provident, always ready to help those who accept it without reservation. Day after day, as the human dispositions of John developed with age and according to circumstances, John did not cease to accept this grace, up until the day when he allowed himself to be led by the Spirit and went into the desert to receive the decisive light, that which would dictate to him the details of his mission. As always, burning with love for God, John answered the call of God and began to preach, in accordance with what the Spirit had dictated to him...
" He went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. "
All of the other personalities mentioned in today’s gospel were more important than John in the eyes of the world and religion. John was seen by many as a wild man in the desert, a fearful sight to behold or to approach. Yet the final preparation of introducing the Good News was through him. He is considered the last and the greatest of the prophets.
It was John who identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The baptism that John performed was a little different than our understanding of baptism, his listeners did not become members of a particular community but in receiving John’s baptism they testified to the fact that they desired to repent, to turn their lives around. They sought conversion of heart, which would lead to a new life. Is this not what we are called to on our pilgrimage?
We are called to seek a change of heart, to turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel. We need to open ourselves to further conversion, to an ever deeper change of heart, to a deeper listening to what Jesus is asking of us, “Lord, what do you want me to do, to be?” And we need, because of our commitment to the Body of Christ, to find total reconciliation with God and with all those people who come into our lives.
In responding to John the Baptist’s call to conversion we must become like him. We too by our own baptism must be the heralds of good news. Like him, each one of us has a mission to communicate the Spirit of Christ and his message of hope, love, freedom and peace to others. To help people fill their valleys and make their rough paths smoother. Like St. Paul in the second reading our prayers for one another must be his: “that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ…”
As we look forward to Christmas may we be the voice of one crying in the wilderness making the good news of Jesus known. May our hearts be ready to receive him when he returns in glory by recognizing his grace and mercy in our lives that our joy may be complete.
First Sunday of Advent (November 29, 2015)
Jer 33:14-16
1Thes 3:12-4:2
Lk 21:25-28, 34-36
The season of Advent begins today and the church through today’s readings compels us to look forward to the coming of Christ. The first coming of Christ was long foretold by many prophets through the ages, even the hearts of pagans were awaken to this good news if not but dimly. (CCC 522) St. John the Baptist was the last of the prophets and the precursor to Jesus; his role was to prepare the way for the Messiah. John, who was called “Prophet of the Most High”, was the greatest of all the prophets. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that John inaugurates the Gospel; already from his mother’s womb from where he welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being “the friend of the bridegroom,” whom he points out as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Going before Jesus “in the spirit and power of Elijah,” St. John bears witness to Christ in his preaching, by his Baptism of conversion and through his death. (CC523)
The prophet Jeremiah who unlike John did not have the privilege of seeing Jesus in the flesh nonetheless is fervent in his proclamation of Jesus in today’s first reading. It would be from David’s line that the savior would come to redeem Israel. This promise was not new for the people of Israel, they had heard of this coming savior many times before. The problem was that many misinterpreted Jeremiah’s words about the nature of this seed of David. Who is “The Lord our justice”?
This seed of David whom we see in today’s gospel teaching his disciples about his second coming, cautions them about the pitfalls of faithfulness. Jesus teaches them about the signs that will appear in the skies. He cautions them to always be on guard to remain faithful by praying constantly. The point of the messiah’s teaching was that their redemption is near at hand.
What is the meaning of Advent for us? It is just anticipation for Christmas? God in his infinite wisdom prepared the people of Israel over the centuries for the coming of his Son. The Church in turn has prepared her children over the centuries for his second coming. Advent can only have a genuine meaning in our lives if we recognize he who is to come by rightly interpreting the signs that points to Jesus.
Our world loves signs; our particular culture can’t do without them! People are seeing signs wherever they look. According to our human nature we are always in need for explanation about our lives and the actions and events that fill them. So often even if we see a genuine sign, we fall prey to misinterpretation. As a people we must remain vigilant about how we live our Christian faith.
The catholic faith is at the same time personal and communal. One does not genuinely exist without the other. Our preparation for Advent is best realized by continual personal conversion in and with the support and confirmation of the church. In the midst of our preparation for Christ, he asked each one of us “Who do you say that I am?” This is the important question in every Christian’s life. This question must not only be asked, but it must be answered! Not merely in an academic form, but in a deeply personal way within the context of the church.
In our day the terms “religious or religion” and “spiritual or spirituality” have been separated. Such a separation has promoted the idea that they are incompatible. The results have been a promotion of personal religion and beliefs at times detach from any formal structure. Some have found this quite enlightened, but any separation of faith and reason does not lead to a full realization of Christ! Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. He encourages this teacher of the law to pursue a deeper relation with the God of Israel. Jesus preached and encouraged his listeners to a deeper relationship to the Father through the Son. Jesus encouraged a deep spirituality, but at the same time remained a religious leader in his own right.
The prophet Jeremiah was very conscious of a personal relationship with God, which guaranteed his mission. He never confused his own thoughts and desires with the voice of God. What made him speak as he did was an almost irresistible divine power (Jer 20:9), but one with which he had to cooperate, the prophet Jeremiah accepted his mission freely but reluctantly (Jer 1:4-8) and could have lost it through infidelity (Jer 15:18-19).
At the same time we most realized that Jeremiah was not a mechanical, mindless, impersonal soothsayer; he was a person whose mind and heart had be seized by the word of God; the word of God does not merely come through his lips, it is in him first before it comes through him to others. This gives evidence that religion too is not merely a matter of impersonal law on the one hand and mechanical observance on the other. Religion is also a matter of personal relationship between man and God. For Jeremiah the covenant is the formulation of this personal relationship and the covenant law is its expression. For us the new covenant is expressed through our baptism where we died with Christ and rose to new life in him. It is love that which led God to take the first step in this relationship with man; and that love is such that he will not be satisfied with anything less in return.
Our catholic faith is both religious and spiritual, they cannot be separated, and in fact such separation would be foreign to our concept of faith. We must always remember that it is out of the sacred scriptures that the Church finds her roots and was born, namely in the Old Testament and in that relationship, the New Testament was formed out of the early Church’s experiences, thus the Church is proclaimed by St. Paul as the foundation and bulwark of truth.
Advent is a time for us to reexamine the truth of our relationship with the Lord and his Church. It is a season to renew our commitment to the Lord through our personal behavior and our love of neighbor. This holy season is a time to discover who Jesus is for us and to answer the pivotal question that Jesus posed to his disciples many years again, “who do you say that I am?” This question must be answered by us on a daily basis least we are distracted from the goal.
Jesus is indeed coming again, the question for us is not when, but will we be prepared to recognize him and he us as his sons and daughters. May our prayers be constant and pure and may we long for Christ’s advent by believing and living the great wisdom found in the gospels through the recognition that we are called to be true prophets simply by the way we live.
Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (November 22, 2015)
Daniel 7: 13-14
Revelation 1:5-8
John 18: 33b-37
We have reached the end of the Church year. Today is the 34th and final Sunday of the year. And, as usual, we celebrate today the Solemnity of Christ the Universal King. What is the significance or meaning of Jesus' kingship for us? Kingship today seems antiquated, especially in democratic societies where everyone is supposed to be treated equal and free. And we in the Bahamas have not had a King since George VI who died in 1952, perhaps before most of us were even born.
God at first did not want to give his people Israel a king. Why? Because God alone was their King and they needed no other. Nonetheless, God relented and promised his people that through David's line he would establish a Ruler and a Kingdom that would last for eternity (Psalm 89:29). The Jews understood that the Messiah ("Anointed One") would come as God's anointed King to restore paradise and establish God's reign of everlasting peace for them. They wanted a Messianic King who would free them from strife and division and from foreign oppression. Many had high hopes that Jesus would be the Messiah and Ruler for Israel. Little did they understand what kind of kingship Jesus claimed to possess.
We see in the first reading from the Book of Daniel the prediction of Jesus, "I saw one like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven." Christians, of course, see in the "son of man" Jesus their Lord who often referred to himself as the "Son of Man". He was presented before the "Ancient One", God the Father, from whom he received "dominion, glory – and kingship". And this kingdom, unlike all those, which have gone before, "is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed". As Jesus himself was to say, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." This kingdom is indestructible and everlasting.
The kingdom of God finds its greatness in humility, because the kingdom of God is born first within our hearts. Christ must reign in our hearts first before we can ever dream of being with him in paradise. Christ’s kingship begins now here on this earth, in the midst of all the issues of daily living, it is only the beginning, and its completeness comes later. As the Church teaches: “Though already present in his Church, Christ’s reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled ‘with power and great glory’ by the King’s return to earth. This reign is still under attack by the evil powers, even though they have been defeated definitively by Christ’s Passover. Until everything is subject to him, ‘until there be realized new heavens and a new earth in which justice dwells, the pilgrim Church, in her sacraments and institutions, which belong to this present age, carries the mark of this world which will pass, and she herself takes her place among the creatures which groan and travail yet and await the revelation of the sons of God.’ [CCC 671]
In every mass we pray for the coming of the kingdom of God. A kingdom planted initially in our hearts at baptism and that is meant to flourish in our lives preparing for its completeness at Christ’s advent.
The kingship of Christ is one of service, redemption and love its glory cannot be gain without first going through the cross. Like the good criminal who recognized his sins and in so doing recognized the kingship of Christ, we must follow his example and desire the kingdom that is to come in its fullness. He did not request relief from his cross, nor did Christ seek his own relief. As Jesus told the Pharisees earlier in Luke’s gospel when they questioned him about the advent of the Kingdom of God, Our Lord replied that “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, look, here it is, or there it is. For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” Christ then predicted that he first must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation. For true power comes through redemptive suffering. In his suffering Christ showed that his reign is to bring life, life that will last forever.
The kingdom we should look for and what the church prays for is beautifully described in today’s preface:
An eternal and universal Kingdom:
- a kingdom of truth and life,
- a kingdom of holiness and grace,
- a kingdom of justice, love and peace.
May God’s kingdom come on earth and may we be found waiting and watching ready for his advent.
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary time (November 15, 2015)
Daniel 12: 1-3
Hebrews 10: 11-14, 18
Mark 13:24-32
Both the First reading and the Gospel point towards the end times. After all we are nearing the end of the liturgical year and the Church is preparing us to reflect and open our hearts for the coming of Christ at Christmas. Today Jesus speaks of the appearance of the Son of Man in glory and the final establishment of the Reign of God. Many people will come under that Reign, probably many more than we may expect. There will be those people who reject the Reign of God and choose the outer darkness. The Son of Man here is understood as Jesus, the man on earth that the disciples knew and loved, but now appearing in all the unparalleled glory of God’s own majesty.
Today’s Gospel speaking about the Son of Man "coming in clouds with great power and glory" echoes a passage in the Book of Daniel but here the Son of Man is even more victorious. His appearance is described in terms usually used in the Old Testament for the appearances of God himself. He sends out angels or messengers and gathers all God’s people together: acts of God in the language of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament prophecies where God manifests his glory in the final days, the scattered people are gathered to Jerusalem and to God himself. Here they are gathered to the Son of Man, who commands the angels as if they were his own. Thus we have an affirmation of the central place Jesus, the Son of Man, has in the expectations of the Christians and a reflection of the divine role he is understood to exercise.
From the beginning of the Church, Christians had expected the return of the Jesus in glory to happen sooner rather than later, but no time frame was given. In the Jewish context the destruction of the Temple could only result in the end of the world. This notion of an imminent end is reflected in today’s Gospel; “Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” Generation after generation has predicted the end of the world especially after some catastrophic event and yet the forecast in today’s readings does not point to an imminent end, as we understand it.
Jesus uses the image of the fig tree to explain to his disciples and us about how we are to approach the end of times. Fig trees were a prominent and well-known feature on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus was speaking. This tree only sprouts its leaves in late spring. When they appear you know that summer is near. So Jesus, in effect, is saying that although the end of the world is being described in terrifying terms, his disciples are to respond with faith, with hope, with anticipation. The end of the world means good times, summer for them. They are not signs that God has lost control of history but that he is bringing things to a triumphant end. It is indeed the victory of God and the twilight of all the lesser gods, which men have created for themselves over the centuries. Heaven and earth, the sun, moon, stars, galaxies and our own earth may all disappear but God’s Truth, Love and Justice will prevail forever. The sun, moon and stars were seen by ancient generations as being controlled by lesser gods. In today’s gospel we are assured that the God of Abraham is indeed the God of the Universe.
Those who remain faithful have nothing to fear about the end times but much to look forward to, because the God of Abraham remains in ultimate control. Let us then come to understand the end of times not through calendars, websites and movies but through the words of our Lord reflected in our lives and the life of the Church. No one knows the end of the world, it is not for us to predict. Our concern is not to worry about it. On the other hand we should not live lives that are fast and loose. Let us continue to prepare our hearts and lives for Christ’s eventual advent as we are called to do through word and sacrament. May we shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament and lead others towards Christ who is our Light!
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary time (November 8, 2015)
1 King 17:10-16
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
Widows and orphans were some of the most vulnerable people in society during the time of Jesus. They were the poorest people Jesus and his disciples would have encountered as they traveled throughout Israel. In a society with no social welfare, these were people often without family support. The orphan, by definition, had no family and no means of support and was not wanted. The widow, in a society where husbands could often die young of disease or death in war, most often was relatively young herself. In a world of arranged marriages she would never be chosen again as a bride. With her husband dead, she was of no interest either to her husband’s family or even her own. If she had no children, she was alone and uncared for and possibly reduced to poverty.
There is a striking contrast between the poor widow described in the second part of today’s Gospel and the Scribes and Pharisees in the first part. The simple piety of this woman of no social standing is contrasted with the arrogance and social ambitions of some so-called religious leaders. She is also contrasted with the rich donors ostentatiously offering money they can easily afford. It is doubtful that what they gave involved even the slightest decrease in their standard of living. The widow of Zarephath was also poor; she and her son were resigned to die after their final meal. Yet sharing the little she had with Elijah brought her the promise of the end of hunger and hope for continuation of life.
These two widows have much to teach us about trusting in the Lord at all times. Here were two women weighed down in poverty, and yet they gave what little they had in service to the Lord. The poor woman in the temple, in a daring act of trust in God’s providence, put into the treasury everything she had — and it was next to nothing. She had two small coins. She put in both. She could have kept one for herself. But the service of God can never be in half measures. As we have seen, the First Reading from the First Book of Kings has a similar story. It also features a poor widow and her son. Reduced to absolute poverty she is on her way to get firewood to cook for the last time for them both from a little meal and oil, all that she has left. She sees nothing but death before them. Then Elijah, the prophet, himself hungry, comes and asks her for water and bread. When she tells him her situation, he still asks her to make a small scone for him. In a generous act of sharing, she does so and she is rewarded by there being enough for all three of them and the jar of meal and the jug of oil does not empty until the drought is over. The message is clear: when everyone gives, everyone receives. It may seem a foolish thing to do but there are countless examples of people doing this in the service of the Gospel. The Gospel today is saying it is only when we realize that God and the Way of Jesus is the only real source of security that we will find the happiness, peace and security we all long for. It is not money, or property, or university degrees, or professional status, or health that really matter. These can all disappear without warning. What really matters is that we look out for each other.
These two women also teach us that although we might think we have little to contribute because of our lack of resources especially during stressful times, the glory of the Lord is shown forth and we are rewarded in the end if we trust. All of us have something to contribute not only to this temple, but the temple of our souls. In sharing a common sacrifice we are obliged to sustain each other in our prayer and work “Trust in the Lord at all times” proclaims the psalmist, “hope in the Lord, be firm and steadfast”.
The opening prayer for today’s mass calls us to trust and to serve. The Church prayers that we be protected in the burdens and challenges of life, that our minds be shielded from the distortion of pride and our desires may be enfold with the beauty of truth. Let us pray that we become more aware of God’s loving design, so that we may more willingly give our lives in service to all.
All Saints, Solemnity(November 1, 2015)
Rev 7: 2-4, 9 -14
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
Matthew’s account of the Beatitudes gives Christians a framework of action and right living. As part of the Sermon on the Mount, we hear Jesus telling his mostly Jewish audience that the kingdom of God was opened to all, Gentiles included. All who acknowledge that Jesus was the Son of God and that the kingdom was at hand could have a share in eternal life. In these beatitudes the kingdom of God is a future reality and at the same time present among us now. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven…. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” It is to the poor of spirit and those who are persecuted that the kingdom of God is already a reality.
The origin of this feast of All Saints specifically celebrated on November 1st is somewhat obscure but we do know in the West it was Pope Gregory III in the 8th century who dedicated a chapel at old St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on November 1 in honor of all the saints. Even earlier the first customs of keeping festival in honor of all the saints in both East and West was to honor the martyrs. Indeed the poor of spirit and those who are persecuted were seen from the very beginning as great witnesses of the faith. The Church recognized that the blood of the martyrs would serve as an inspiration and warning to all, of the great price of remaining faithful to the gospel.
The Beatitudes provide the Church with both the vision and the program for spiritual progress and saintly living. Each Beatitudes is an attribute of the saints. All the holy men and women who have gone before us were very different in style and personality but what they all had in common was holiness. Holiness comes in every shape and color, in every language and culture. We are children of God not because of our looks or intelligence but because the Father has bestowed his love on us, that we may be called the children of God. The saints are from a great multitude, “which no one could count, from every nation, race, people and tongue” as we heard from the book of Revelation.
The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ’s disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints. [CCC 1717]
How should we approach this great feast? In the spirit of the Beatitudes for they are our goals in this life to one day be united with the saints in glory. The saints are our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, neighbors and friends, as members of the mystical body of Christ we struggle still here on earth as we strive to follow their example. Tomorrow’s commemoration of All Souls brings us full circle, for today we celebrate with the saints in glory, in the morning we remember all the dead who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. A reminder to us that we are never alone on our pilgrimage of faith and hope, Christ and his saints are with us. As the saints faced death we too must face death someday, but with hope of glory before us. Tomorrow’s commemoration draws it’s meaning from today’s feast. We certainly have memories of our beloved dead, and we certainly have known saintly people in our lives. All of these men and women should serve as a source of inspiration to us.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux reminds us in one of his sermons that we should always take to heart today’s feast and tomorrow’s commemoration. “Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself. We long to share in the citizenship of heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of patriarchs, the ranks of the prophets, the councils of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins. In short to be united in happiness with all the saints… The Church of all the first followers of Christ awaits us, but we do nothing about it. The saints want us to be with them, and we are indifferent. The souls of the just await us, and we ignore them.” [Sermo 2: Opera omia]
May we listen to the words of St. Bernard and desire to be in their company. His sermon should always motivate us, to remain steadfast in faith and firm in our hope. A few years ago the Holy Father emiritus reminded us of this point…. On this day let us revive in ourselves an attraction toward Heaven that calls us to carry on in our earthly pilgrimage. Let us lift in our hearts the desire to always unite ourselves to the family of the saints, of which we already have the grace to be a part. May this beautiful aspiration burn in all Christians and help them to surpass every difficulty, every fear, every tribulation! Let us place, our hand in the maternal one of Mary, Queen of All Saints, and let ourselves be led by her toward our heavenly homeland, in the company of the blessed spirits "of every nation, people and language." And let us unite ourselves in prayer already recalling our dear departed ones who we'll commemorate tomorrow. [Benedict XVI homily for All Saints 2008]
Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary time(October 11, 2015)
Wisdom 7:7-11
Hebrews 4:12-13
Mark 10:17-30
Jesus and his disciples continue to make their way towards Jerusalem; a man, who was seeking perfection because he desired to enter the kingdom of God, confronts them. From this encounter the man is clearly a good person, striving to obey the laws of God, which govern those who seek perfection. Jesus points to 6 of the commandments as a guide to inherit eternal life, but this man had already perfected them, even since his youth! And yet this was not enough to gain eternal life. Jesus adds another requirement to the shock of the man and his disciples. “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
What was Jesus point? Our Lord seemingly threw every one into a state of confusion. He was well aware of the man’s observance of the law, for Jesus loved him. But the man assumed because he had observed the law and had great possessions he was on his way to the kingdom of God. Great wealth was seen as a sign of God’s blessing and a confirmation of one’s faithfulness. Jesus insistence of the man to dispossess himself of wealth seemed to go against the prevailing wisdom of the time. What this man lacked was a communal spirit! Although the commandments assumed interaction with others it was still possible to observe them and at the same time have minimal contact and relationship with others, especially strangers and the poor. This man was too self centered that he seemingly forgot that perfection included deep and abiding relationships with others. He did not realized that his personal pursuit of holiness and his accumulated wealth could be in conflict. Fr. Raymond Doyle makes an excellent point about this story when he said; “Jesus was making it clear that personal moral perfection is not enough to follow the Gospel and be a member of the Kingdom. To be a follower of Christ one must become a partner with God in the creative work of building the Kingdom, a complex of mutual relationships based on truth, love, respect, and justice.”
Right relationship with Christ demands right relationship with others. When our Lord spoke of wealth as a hindrance to the kingdom we should not be caught up in quantifying wealth, for the relationship between wealth and poverty is relative to time and space. What does it mean to give to the poor? To share with the poor means more than alleviating hunger for a day. We can sell all we have and give to the poor and still many will remain poor. To share is to give beyond our surplus and to stand with the other in solidarity. In this way we become one with each other. This is what the Eucharist signifies, for we all share from the same sacrifice upon the same altar. We all receive the same Christ! In partaking we commit to a common life of sharing in faith and love. The early Church sought to live this truth out in their everyday lives but so often failed. This was one of the reasons religious orders were founded, to live a radical gospel of poverty and service. Yet even religious life must be continuously purified and brought back to its original ideals. Indeed the pursuit of eternal life is complex and when Jesus speaks of the rich it dose not simply mean having a lot, it means having more than others! In this light we are confronted with our own wealth that has the potential of working against our pursuit for eternal life.
The pursuit of the early Christians to a common life ended in failure for the most part. Even so, we are still called to this pursuit in terms of being of one heart and mind. Many have attempted this radical gospel message and failed. Even atheistic Marxism attempted to live out this gospel value with its slogan “To each according to their need; from each according to their ability”. But this ideology was wrong because of the way it attempted to implement such ideals. And so when Jesus tells his disciples that when one gives up father and mother, brothers and sisters, house, children and land for his sake they will receive a hundred times more in this life, he did not wish them to look to a future golden age where such ideals were to be found, but right now. For the kingdom of God must begin with us living out in this time and this space the complexities of sharing and receiving of living as one the perfection that is demanded of us. In this sense Marx had it wrong, for Christianity is not the opium of the people, it is not a drug to get us pass present sufferings by longing for future happiness. For the Christian, happiness is here right here and now precisely because of the incarnation. Our goal is to enter more fully into this wisdom!
The wealth that is needed is the wisdom that is spoken of in the first reading. Wisdom, that is beyond richness, priceless gems, gold and silver, for this account as nothing in the sight of wisdom. We must seek the wisdom that will guide us along the path of truth and lead us to unity…. A unity, which makes us of one heart and mind, within our families, our parish and our community. We must allow the words of Jesus to penetrate our souls and spirits as the second reading instructs us today. And so this coming week let us reflect on the gospel and the riches we must give up in order to follow our Lord more faithfully. Those riches that must be surrendered are things and people that are more important to us than Christ is. These things will be different for all of us, yet in the end the call to be a faithful follower of Jesus by giving up everything is the same. So let us support each outer and walk together in the path that leads to eternal life.
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time(September 27, 2015)
Genesis 2:18-24
Hebrews 2:9-11
Mark 10:2-16
This Sunday’s gospel is very hard to hear at times, because it speaks of divorce, a breaking of the marriage bond, separation of families and pain that seemingly never goes away. We have all been touched by it and yet we seemingly at times have difficulty in dealing with its fallout. Both the Pharisees and his disciples questioned Jesus about this issue, their intentions were different but nonetheless the question of divorce was an issue that affected every generation and class of peoples. As one commentator putting the phenomenon of divorce in perspective said:
1) God declared what He had in mind when he conceived or created marriage in Genesis -- before The Fall. “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two become one flesh.”
2) 1350 years before the incarnation of Jesus, but after The Fall, Moses had to wrestle with the fact that what God envisioned and what he, at times, was observing around him were two different things.
3) 2000 years ago the Pharisees noted that what God had in mind and what they observed, at times, were two different things -- and they were going to use this fact to entrap Jesus.
4) For 2000 years now, what God had in mind and what occurs about 50% of the time are two different things.
The fact of the matter is that we have been missing the mark ever since our parents were expelled from the Garden of Eden. This failure of right relationship is systemic and can only be overcome by realizing and then living out the divine plan marked out for us by God. The grace given us to live out our commitments steams from that love God has for us that his Son, as the Letter to the Hebrews puts it ‘for a little while was made lower than the angels…[so that] he who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin.” This was to encourage the early Christians and us today, so that we never forget the fact that although Jesus is unique in his perfect humanity and divinity we all share through Baptism the same divine origin, that is God the Father, and the same human nature.
In consecrating our lives to the divine plan we seek the mind of Christ in all things and even in the midst of failure we are assured of faithful love from him who became lower than the angels in order to taste death for everyone. This knowledge however, does not negate the difficult circumstance that many find themselves in, binding to another human being. The Church encourages this commitment; “This makes it all the more important to proclaim the Good News that God loves us with a definitive and irrevocable love, that married couples share in this love, that it supports and sustains them, and that by their own faithfulness they can be witnesses to God’s faithful love.” [CCC1648]
The church also supports those who have divorced and obliges priests and laypeople, indeed the entire people of God to support them. She recognizes that they too desire to keep the faith and to raise their children according to the law of God. We must then strengthen each other in our resolve to live faithful lives. The question of divorce will always be with us, because the family is the basic unit of society and is called the domestic church. As Christ lowered himself to share in our suffering, we too must see this as a grace for us at the very least to show concern to our families and friends, even to the stranger who suffers through a divorce. For when one suffers the whole body does.
Even in the midst of difficult circumstances may we grow to accept the kingdom of God like a child so as to enter it. May we never refrain from embracing and blessing each other so that we might be strengthen for the journey that lies ahead and with God’s grace may always remain faithful to our calling.
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary time (September 20, 2015)
Numbers 11: 25-29
James 5: 1-6
Mark 9: 38-43,45,47-48
The disciples are not at all happy because they saw a man — who was not a disciple — cast out evil spirits. They are quite jealous obviously. They realize that they are in quite a privileged position in being closely associated with Jesus. They have even been given the privilege of sharing Jesus’ powers of healing and driving out evil spirits. Now they see a complete stranger, one who has nothing to do with their Master, doing the same thing. He may even be using the name of Jesus to exorcise. They are indignant. They are angry. They even try to stop the man — from doing a good thing. But Jesus tells them: "You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us." It is very easy for a chosen group to become elitist, to claim for itself a monopoly of doing good. We see that that Spirit of God cannot be limited. Eldad and Medad proved this in that they received a portion of God’s spirit even though they had not gone to the meeting tent.
Like the disciples in the Gospel, Joshua wanted Moses to stop them from prophesying. He probably felt that his master’s authority would be jeopardized. But Moses in his wisdom knew the mind of God. Such words betrayed a practical understanding of God’s freedom, of the nature and finality of his gifts. We must always remember that God’s gifts are ways and means of being of service to the community and nor personal gifts to be protected. God does not deprive anyone by spreading his gifts among many. We must always heed the words of Moses: “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!”
As Christians we must always be aware that the power of God is greater than what we can ever imagine or desire. God’s spirit is not confined to our own personal experiences but is present and active in people and places we less expect. We have to learn to recognize that God can do his work through all kinds of people. St John, in his First Letter, says very bluntly: "Wherever there is a caring love (agape) there is God." Christians clearly have no monopoly on loving others. And we can add that wherever there is true justice being practiced, there is God; wherever there is true freedom being promoted or defended, there is God; wherever there is a person, perhaps a total stranger from another race or culture, who acts as a true brother or sister to me, there is God.
Gregory of Nyssa, an early church father (330-395 AD), comments on this gospel passage: “God never asks his servants to do what is impossible. The love and goodness of his Godhead is revealed as richly available. It is poured out like water upon all. God furnished to each person according to his will the ability to do something good. None of those seeking to be saved will be lacking in this ability, given by the one who said: ‘whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.’” Ask the Lord to increase your generosity in doing good for others.
Today’s gospel also warns us not to prevent people from coming closer to God. It is regarded by Jesus as a most serious form of sinfulness. The word "scandal" means originally a stumbling block, like a large stone in a person’s way that causes him to trip and fall. Am I a stumbling block to those who might be in search of Jesus or his Church? For instance, would any person want to be a Christian because they know me? What kind of impression of Christian life or of the Church do I present to others?
As Christians, through baptism, we have been called; it is my vocation, to be for others another Christ. Far from being jealous of the good that others do, we need to be reminded again of the words of Moses today: "If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets, and the Lord gave his Spirit to them all." We may get some indication of where we stand if we listen carefully to the scathing words of James in the Second Reading. What are our attitudes to wealth and poverty? To luxury side by side with indulgence? To the glaring inequities between countries’ standards of living? I am called not only to be for myself a good person. I am called to reach out, to love, to be just to others, to be fully free with and for others, to be truly brother or sister. I am also called to be a prophet, to proclaim in words and actions that the Source of all love, justice, freedom and solidarity with others is a God who loves, who forgives and who wants all to share in a life that is enriched on every level.
Twenty-Fourth Sunday of the Year (September 13, 2015)
James 2:14-18
Mark 8: 27-35
Isaiah 50:4c-9a
Jesus poses the ultimate question to his disciples in the gospel today. In fact throughout the first half of Mark’s gospel this most important question is posed time and time again. Many people had their own answers about who Jesus was: for some Jesus was a man under suspicion, a blasphemer [Mark 2:7], whose disciples observe neither the Sabbath [2:24] nor the traditions of the elders [7:1-23], a man possessed by the devil [3:22]. Jesus already knew these answers whether they were said aloud or whispered in the silence of people’s hearts. The disciples were also aware of the mixed verdict about the character of Jesus. Our Lord was not interested in these particular answers but only in the views of the multitudes that sought to seek his face and live. They were troubled by the negative attitude of the scribes and Pharisees and were also confused because they assumed he was a great prophet, perhaps John the Baptist? Elijah?
Today’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah gives us a glimpse of Jesus. This passage is one of four poems called “Songs of the Suffering Servant”. The person described in these poems is rather mysterious, he undergoes torments, yet his attachment to God’s will in the midst of suffering is unwavering. He is convinced that he will see his righteousness recognized and rewarded. Because of this the Christian tradition has always viewed this ‘just one’, persecuted and then exalted by God, as one of the most striking figures of Christ. [Days of the Lord vol.5]
The intimate friends of Christ struggled with his identity even after the resurrection. And yet we know from history that they all came to believe who Jesus was for many of them gave their lives for the sake of Christ. Like Peter we so often acknowledge the Lord with our lips and our faith is held hostage by our perceived notion of how Christ should act in and through us. For Peter, the Messiah should not have been a suffering servant but a triumphant king who conquers all in his way.
Peter’s challenge is still our challenge today. So often we may be disappointed in Jesus precisely because of our preconceived notion of what Jesus should be for us. What I have found helpful is to view Jesus as he appeared in the Emmaus story, walking with me and enlightening my faith, sharing with me the scriptures and breaking the bread before me so that I might become convinced of who Jesus really is. Certainly the Christian life is one of pilgrimage, a journey, which takes, soo many turns, filled with missed opportunities and disappointments but also hope and joy. Our hopes and joy can only be realized when we allow Christ to walk with us and invite him under our roof so that in the breaking of bread we become firm believers of his person.
We must all in our lives become more and more convinced of whom Jesus is, and we all have the benefit of the liturgy to teach us, to mold us and to assure us on our pilgrimage of faith. When we follow Jesus we certainly will win the crown but let us remember the first crown he wore was a crown of thorns as he took up his cross to lead us to salvation. On Monday the Church will celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Church prayers in the preface of the feast: “For you placed the salvation of the human race on the wood of the Cross, so that, where death arose, life might again spring forth and the evil one, who conquered on a tree, might likewise on a tree be conquered…” This prayer is beautifully illustrated in a stain glass window, where in the lower panel the tree of life is depicted with Adam and Eve and the serpent. In the upper panel the same tree stretches into the cross of Christ, defeating Satan at last. Here then is another image of who Christ should be for us, the answer to the great tragedy of sin and death.
Jesus must be for us someone who is real, for when the question is posed, ‘its is no longer a question of reporting what others think, we must make a personal choice, a personal commitment, we must move beyond opinion to a faith decision, say what we really believe instead of relying solely on what we have heard or read in a book. For us Jesus is word and sacrament, real food and real drink. May we become more convinced of this not only in receiving but allowing the Eucharist to transform us day after day.