Feast of the Holy Family (Year B)

Sir 3:2-6, 12-14; Col 3:12-21; Lk 2:11-40 

An old man in his late eighties was brought by his only son to stay with him and his family after the death of his wife. Being old and frail he didn’t have the best table manners as he would often break the glass cups and plates on account of his shaky hands. The mess was always embarrassing especially when they had visitors. When his son and the wife could no longer entertain the inexorable breakages and embarrassment, they decided to buy wooden cups and plates for him and also provided a small table for him where he will be by himself separate from other members of the family.

Day after day the old man will be by himself at one end while his son and other members of his family would occupy the main dining table eating and sharing jokes. The old man’s grandson was however thinking seriously about the situation over and over again. One day his father saw him struggling with a piece of wood in an effort to carve out something. Curiously the father asked him what he was doing and he said that he is trying to fashion two wooden plates which he will give to his

Christmas Day (Year B)

Is 52:7-10; Heb 1:1-6; Jn 1:1-18 (1:1-5,9-14) 

In a certain kingdom, there was a very wealthy king. This king was known to be very generous, merciful and just. He never compromised anything for evil and always maintained his subjects were disciplined. He was comfortable but his only problem was that he had no heir to his throne. This caused him so much distress until he adopted a little boy who grew up as his son and became the heir to the throne.

He provided everything possible to make life comfortable for the heir in the palace. The king made him little less than himself and

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B

2 Samuel 7:1-11,16

Rom 16:25-27

Luke 1:26-38

In the first reading (2 Sam 7), David the great, great grandfather of Jesus, after he had fought and consolidated power in Jerusalem, had wanted to build a house for the Lord, where he could place the Ark of the Covenant, a physical divine presence in the community. David went to bed. But that night, as God would do His things mysteriously, he reverses David’s plan through Nathan, the prophet. God would rather build a house for David. He promised David, an everlasting dynasty. Note, an everlasting dynasty here, is much more than a physical house.

It is an everlasting promise of love, kindness, peace, joy, goodness, good-health of mind and body, faithfulness, acknowledged in the responsorial psalm of today; “forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord… the promise of the lord I will sing forever”!

 In the 2^nd reading, Romans 16, Saint Paul testifies to the fulfillment of this promise in the person of Christ, whose Gospel he preaches. Paul says, “to him who can strengthen you, according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of

Third Sunday of Advent, Year B

Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11

I Thes 5:16-24

John 1:6-8, 19-28.

The Christ We Do Not Know

Today’s passage from the first reading “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God….” (Isa 61:1-2a)”, often cited by Luke 4:18-21 as the inaugural address of Jesus, gives us joy. It reminds us of the sending of the prophet, the role of the prophets, in this case 3^rd Isaiah, the conscience of the people, the defender of the defenseless, protector of the poor, and precursor/source / channel/conduit of joy to the people!

Our mother Mary sings the joy that the birth of her son, Our Lord brings at Christmas, through the Magnificat (Luke 1:46–48, 49–50, 53–54). Think of what Mary had to go through from her immaculate conception, betrothed to Joseph, her mysterious encounter with the Lord, through the Angel Gabriel. Although there were moment of sorrowful mysteries in

Second Sunday of Advent, Year B

Letting God find Us

Isaiah 40: 1-11

2 Pet 3:8-15

Mark 1:1-8

Today we have the theme of preparation running prominently throughout the readings especially in the First Reading (Isaiah 40:1-5.9-11) and the Gospel Reading (Mark 1:1-8). In the First Reading, God told the prophet Isaiah to comfort His people and to assure them that the period of warfare has ended. This simply means that God is coming back to the people after a period of their separation from him. To this end, the prophet went further to tell the people to prepare for God’s coming.

The aforementioned preparation according to the oracle of the prophet is expected to take place in the form of a road construction: Every valley shall be filled in; every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain and the rough country made a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” Isaiah was speaking God’s word to Israel, His people who had been driven from their homeland and who were living in captivity in Babylon.  And Isaiah speaks to us as well, in our time.

In physical road construction, three important activities are premeditated: levelling, filling and making plain. Translated to spiritual life, similar activities are recommended. The road is our heart that is now marred by mountains and hills of sin and disobedience otherwise seen as obstacles; the road represents our hearts filled with valleys and potholes of absence of love, knowledge of God and other Christian virtues. The road presents our hearts made rough by the paths we have chosen that simply lead us away from God.

The readings today, urge us to use our religious imagination and look forward to the future with hope, faith, humility, practice of justice, righteousness, pursuit of peace, and courage no matter the challenges that we encounter daily in life. Watchfulness, alertness and some sense of eagerness and urgency for compassion are also required on every believer’s journey!

The Second Reading (2 Peter 3:8-14) builds on the message of  Isaiah.  As a way of preparing for Christmas, it emphasizes devotion, sense of urgency, justice, righteousness and peace. Mark’s Gospel also makes a direct reference to the prophet Isaiah saying, “behold I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way, a voice of one crying out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths (Mark 1:3//Isaiah 40:3).

In the case of Mark, John the Baptist is the servant not Isaiah. But what Isaiah announced thousands of years ago is what John the Baptist proclaimed from the desert, during his time. It is the same, but renewed message of preparedness for the Lord, through repentance, baptism, conversion, humility, justice and faith in the one mightier than him!

In a pluralistic world of today, with its various socio-cultural, and political challenges, including threats of war, ISIS, Boko Haram,  terrorism, poverty, the gap between the "haves" and the have-nots," there are still many other ways we can prepare for Christmas. But what have been suggested in today's scriptures are achievable provided we place our faith and trust in God’s fidelity. Once we become fully convinced of God’s faithfulness, then our lives take on a new spirit of hope and optimism, as we prepare for Christmas!

In our world which is, unfortunately, marked by so much craving for material possession, John the Baptist herein recommends detachment from material wealth through his wardrobe and menu. We are told that he wore animal skin for clothing and for his diet he lived on locust and honey (one can observe that the things are not only unusual they are also rare). It is worthwhile to inquire why that aspect of his personality was added in the gospel as if what he wore or ate were very important to his message. In fact, they are not only important they are also part of the message. The recommendation is that we should be modest with material things with which we often get so much saturated and overwhelmed that we have no time and space to prepare the way for the Lord. That was why our Lord would ask us not to worry about food or what we are to wear considering the life of helpless birds (Matt.6:25-26).

The Second Reading (2 Pet.3:8-14) tells us to assume the attitude of waiting but that will be after making the critical spiritual road construction. This form of waiting should not be based on our human way of reckoning time. God’s timing is quite different from our own timing. Often many people fix dates for the time of the coming of the Lord but they have also failed several times. God expects us at this time to be concerned about preparing a way for Him not to come to Bethlehem but into our hearts. We are expected to devote our time and disposition to preparing our mountains of prejudice that still need to be lowered, the deep valleys of poverty that require to be filled in. 

These mountains and valleys exist in our own hearts, homes and neighborhoods.  Advent calls us to be more reliant on God’s providence than on our popular cultures, political affiliations or social status to tell us what is right.  Advent invites us to enter into the desert of our hearts, as it were, and rid our feelings and thoughts of anything that does not flow from God or lead us to God. To go into the desert is to leave behind the normal props of life on which we tend to depend.  Such life props we often find in our jobs, in our relationships and in routine religious practices.  God cannot do much with us as long as we hope and trust in these things as the first things that give meaning to our lives. When the heart is full, no one can come into it, not even God. You have first to let go of what your heart is holding onto before you can embrace God.  This letting go is symbolized by a journey into the barren desert.

In the Bible, the desert has come to be associated with a place of encounter with God.  It was in the desert that the people of Israel met God and learnt the ways of God. It was in the desert that they become God’s own people and the Lord became their God.  But first, they had to give up all the things that make them for the good life that they were enjoying in Egypt: “the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the onions and the garlic” (Num 11;5). Jesus, before, beginning his public ministry, spent forty days and nights in the desert.  It was a time of discovering and deepening his personal relationship with God.  By calling the people into the desert, John was calling them to let go of their false hopes and securities and learn to hope and trust in God alone.

John lived what he preached.  By his lifestyle, his dressing and eating habits, he showed that the meaning of life is not to be found in the abundance of material possessions but in relationship with God. To go into the desert is the first step in true repentance. It means abandoning our usual hiding places and putting ourselves in a situation where God can easily reach us. It is the leveling of those hills and the filling of those valleys that make it difficult for God to reach us and save us. In the season of Advent, the Church extends to us the call of John the Baptist to repent and confess our sins in preparation for the one who is to come.  It is an opportunity to rediscover our total dependence on God. God has made us for Himself as St Augustine discovered and our hearts are restless till, they rest in God. When we realize this and make room for God in our lives then we are on the way to true repentance after the example of John the Baptist.

Advent does not only recall the coming of Jesus 2000 years ago, but more importantly reminds us that Jesus will come again. Will it be this Year? Will it be today? We do not know. While waiting, we must live by faith and do all we can to prepare ourselves and our world for Jesus when he returns to us as promised. Advent is calling us to look to ourselves. Perhaps someone has mistreated us. We were innocent and that person attacked us.  May be it was a parent who constantly belittled us.  May be it was someone at work or at school who really enjoyed making our life difficult. Perhaps it was someone who we barely know who took it upon himself or herself to criticize us. How have we responded? Sadly, many times you and I have responded by matching nastiness with nastiness. How can we expect there to be peace in the world when we respond to hate with hate? If we want the world to change we need to change.

John the Baptist knew that he was striking a chord with people as he saw them responding to his preaching, The Gospel of Luke says that the crowds asked him “what shall we do?” He said, “if you have two cloaks give one to someone who has none.  Share your food with the Hungry.” When the dregs of the Jewish society, the tax collectors sincerely asked him, what shall we do?” He told them to stop cheating people.  Even soldiers asked John what they should do? He responded that they stop bullying people and acting unjustly. John wants to make one thing clear though, that people should not be changing just because they were drawn to his words.  He was merely preparing them for the one whose words would be the words of God. “One mightier that me is coming after me.” “I am not worthy to even take off his shoes. What I do is earth bound.  I am baptizing with water.  What he will do is infinitely beyond the earth. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit.”  Our examination to reform ourselves, to change ourselves so that we can change the world is not merely based on humanitarian needs, but on the spiritual.  We belong to Jesus Christ.  We are His people.  He has called us to make his presence real throughout the world.  For us, love is not merely the opposite of hate. Love is the presence of Jesus Christ within us and among us.  For us, charity is not just the opposite of greed.  Charity is the Lord working through us to care for others.

First Sunday of Advent, Year B

Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37.

Keep Awake

Today marks our entrance into the season of Advent and the second cycle of readings. The word Advent means “coming”. In this context it actually depicts the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ seen in two ways: his coming as a new born child (at Christmas), not in the historic Bethlehem but into our hearts and his Second Coming for the final judgement at the recession of the world. They are both future events and that is why we have the WAITING clause attached to Advent. In all, we are meant to wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of the aforementioned ways. Furthermore, the vehicle for the “waiting,” for the “coming,” is “watching”.

Some years ago there was some breaking news on TV that to me seemed to be a wonderful example of being prepared. The news was about a man who accidentally walked into a store during a robbery. The gunman pointed his pistol at him and ordered him to hand over his money. The man responded calmly, "Go ahead and shoot. I just had my daily Bible passage and said my prayers." The robber was confused by that reaction, and the man walked away. I have to admit that I probably would have handed over my money, but I do admire that man's courage - and above all his apparent readiness to meet the Lord. That is what Jesus tells us today. Be prepared, be alert and watchful. Mark's portrait of the doorman, watching out to open for the Lord whenever he "suddenly" appears is an image of what we are expected to be doing all year long but especially during the season of Advent. The doorman keeps awake in order to recognize and welcome the Lord at his coming. Faith, likewise, transforms us into people who are able to recognize the Lord and willing to receive him. Recognition is crucial because the Lord does not always come in easily recognizable ways. At Bethlehem he came in the form of a baby and people did not recognize him.

Watchfulness is a great virtue. It could also be rendered as vigilance, circumspection, awareness, or attentiveness. When someone is waiting for something, there will be every need for the individual to be watchful or vigilant. This is important because one needs to see or observe what one is waiting for so that when it finally arrives one will not be taken by surprise. There is a tendency to wait and not to watch or be vigilant. There is also the tendency to wait and be watchful on the wrong side or to be distracted from what one is waiting for and attending to some other thing. Generally waiting is not enough, one needs to be watchful, vigilant, aware, circumspect and attentive.

The three readings for this First Sunday of Advent all agree that we should wait for God. In the First Reading (Is. 40:1-5.9-11) the prophet could simply not wait for the coming of God to happen. With heightened anticipation he decried: “O that you would tear the heavens and come down”. This is like saying in our common slang “I can’t wait”. 

The readings, each, redefines this time for us in context. For all Israel’s prophets, including 3^rd Isaiah (Isa 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7) this time was known as the “Day of the Lord.” That time, when the Lord accompanied them throughout their journeys and exiles, when they were in trouble of slavery, dryness, starvation,  sin or faced challenges in rebuilding the new community. They placed their hope and trust in God, who comes down, and renders the heavens to save Israel! Israel's dependence in this God is as a child to a father, or a clay in the potter’s hand.

 In psalm 80, Israel is also prayerful, watchful, and hopeful for that time, that day, in that God who will continue to shepherd Israel, smiles divinely at them, protect them, irrigate and prune the vine he had planted, no matter what! Each of us, the Christian community, is that vine the Lord had planted.

Saint Paul  too believes this. In the second reading, while preaching to the despairing Corinthian-Christian community in the early stages of their faith development, affirms,  that hopeful time is the time of our Lord Jesus Christ. The grateful Paul, says to the community:

 I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:3-9).

In the Gospel, Mark uses Kairos to describe this time of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, to his eager disciples. It is an important time, an appointed time; a quality time (Mark 1:15); a time of fulfilment; the day of the Lord, a time nobody knows (Mark 13:33).  This time can only be handled by faith, watchfulness, being alert, loving our neighbors, forgiving those who have offended us and asking those we have offended for forgiveness, as well as offering services of charity to the poor, and the needy! 

The danger is that, Advent Season and Christmas can come and go without our realizing that “God’s time is the best,” and that God is hidden in every event of our life’s journeys. Like the gatekeeper in the Gospel passage  (Mark 13:34), the Church invites us during this Advent not to remain chronologically static, or be carried away by the media, the politics of the day, the noise, the violence on our streets, the wars and the threats of war. Or even by our own weaknesses and sins, thinking that they are beyond repairs. Our relationship with God can always be repaired, so also the broken relationship with our neighbors.

Sometimes Christians also despair because of the social, political and religious situations in which they find themselves. Some are poor, some are sick, some have lost their loved ones, while some are affected by the HIV epidemics, with health issues while some others are  plagued with  religious fundamentalism/ extremism, injustices, discrimination, racism, and terrible natural disasters.

To the virtue of watchfulness, our Lord added the quality of prayerfulness. Hence he said: “take heed, watch and pray for you do not know when the time will come”. Note that it is not all about watching while waiting but also praying while waiting and watching.  Here we discover that prayer qualifies as an indispensable spiritual component of waiting and watching and also as a very needful phenomenon for our Advent journey. Prayer is a very important key we need to adopt.

It is indeed very pathetic and regrettable that the world has a very unspiritual approach to this period that precedes Christmas. People are already erecting Christmas trees, yuletide jingles are already renting the air but we have to pass through the advent before getting into the Christmas. People simply cannot wait but they have the wrong reasons. Advent is not just the period that leads us to Christmas, it is also a time we are encouraged to prepare for the Second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is need for us to step into the advent attitude of watchful waiting, of giving God priority in all our plans and aspirations. The Advent attitude is that of prayer-fullness, yes. We have to be prayer-full not prayer-less as we watchfully await the coming of the Saviour of the world.

In the Parable of the Last Judgment, which we heard last Sunday, Jesus said He came to people in the form of the most needy and disadvantaged of this world and many did not recognize him. But true people of faith did recognize him and serve him in these people who live in the blind-spot of society. Faith is first a way of seeing, and then a way of living. The "wicked" who were consigned to hell in the Last Judgment were probably waiting for the final coming of the Lord but failed to recognize him in his day-to-day coming. The shocker in that parable is that Christ comes into our lives in the form of the ordinary people and events of our everyday lives. We need to be awake in faith to recognize and serve Him in these commonplace and routine encounters since it will do us no good to recognize Him on the Last Day if we have not recognized and served him day by day.

The implication for us is to put an end to idle speculations regarding the date of the Last Day. Open your eyes in faith to see God present and active in your life and in your world. Open your heart and your house to the Lord who comes to you daily in the form of the needy man or woman. This is the best way to prepare to welcome the Lord when he comes on the Last Day. John F. Kennedy is said to be very fond of a particular story. During his 1960 presidential campaign he often used it to close his speeches. It is the story of Colonel Davenport, Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives back in 1789. One day, while the House was in session, the sky of Hartford suddenly grew dark and gloomy. Some of the representatives looked out the windows and thought this was a sign that the end of the world had come. An uproar ensued with the representatives calling for immediate adjournment. But Davenport rose and said, "Gentlemen, the Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought." Candles were brought and the session continued.

In our world today, there are two big mistakes people make with regard to the coming of the Lord. One is to prepare for it with paranoid anxiety. The other is to dismiss it with nonchalant abandon and do nothing about it. What does the gospel tell us about the end of the world and how to prepare for it? The gospel uses two images to make the point that "you do not know on what day your Lord is coming" (Matthew 24:42b). One is the flood which overtook the unprepared people of Noah's time. The other is the analogy of a thief in the night, who always comes unannounced. The Lord's coming and the end of the world as we know it will occur suddenly and unexpectedly. It will come unannounced, springing a surprise on an unsuspecting world. Like a wise householder, therefore, we are urged to be watchful and ready.  In all these, Advent invites us to hope and trust in God’s time, that moment of divine intervention, symbolized in the joys of Christmas!