In today's Gospel reading, the prophetess Anna saw the baby Jesus for only a few minutes, but it changed her life forever. From that day on, she spoke about the child to all who were waiting with hope for the redemption of Jerusalem. Anna is an example of the type of prophet we are all called to be. Whenever we speak, we are being prophets of something or other. Are we prophets of the Good News?
We all have opportunities to speak about Jesus to those who are awaiting their Redeemer. Is there anyone in our family who is in anguish, longing for deliverance from their troubles? Every time we open our mouths, we have a decision to make. We can either speak good news or curses; encouragement or complaints.
It is not difficult to be God's prophet. All it takes is a desire to help. We have good news to share! We don't have to be theologians to share it. By getting in touch with our own day-to-day need for the Savior, we can compassionately recognize the needs of others and respond with the gift of uplifting words that reveal Jesus' saving power. And by peeking out of the shell of our own self-enclosed worlds to notice that others have an emptiness that is similar to what Jesus has healed in us, we can figure out what to say that will make a difference in their lives. In doing so, we will be pointing them toward their Redeemer so that they, too, will find his help.
Let’s ask Prophetess Anna to help us find the Redeemer and help others find him by our proclamation as she did help others find him.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday-: Luke 2:22-35
Simeon gladly accepted the mission God called him to perform with much fervent prayer and with patient expectation. His whole life was in tune with the Holy Spirit. He was found daily in the temple in prayer and worship and in humble and faithful expectation for the day that the Lord would comfort his people. As the days and months grew into years he never lost hope. When Joseph and Mary presented the child Jesus in the temple, Simeon immediately recognized the Lord’s presence in his temple. Through eyes of faith he saw the infant Jesus as the fulfillment of all the messianic prophecies, hopes, and prayers of the people of Israel. Inspired by the Holy Spirit he prophesied that Jesus was to be "a revealing light to the Gentiles". Jesus came not only as “light and salvation” for the people of Israel, but for all nations as well.
Simeon knew there was no one who could take us out of the prison house of our bodies in hope of the life to come except he whom he held in his arms. And so he said to him: «Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace, for while I was not carrying Christ and embracing him in my arms I was held like a prisoner, unable to free myself from my bonds.» And it should be noted that this doesn't only apply to Simeon but to everyone. If anyone wants to abandon the world and gain the Kingdom, let them take Jesus in their hands, wrap their arms around him, hug him to their bosom. Then they will be able to walk joyously wherever they wish...
And who are they who leave this world in peace if not those who understand that God was in Christ reconciling the world?
Pray that we may recognize His visitation and be prepared for his action in our life today, just as Simeon and Anna were prepared and ready to respond to His visitation and action in their day."
Simeon knew there was no one who could take us out of the prison house of our bodies in hope of the life to come except he whom he held in his arms. And so he said to him: «Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace, for while I was not carrying Christ and embracing him in my arms I was held like a prisoner, unable to free myself from my bonds.» And it should be noted that this doesn't only apply to Simeon but to everyone. If anyone wants to abandon the world and gain the Kingdom, let them take Jesus in their hands, wrap their arms around him, hug him to their bosom. Then they will be able to walk joyously wherever they wish...
And who are they who leave this world in peace if not those who understand that God was in Christ reconciling the world?
Pray that we may recognize His visitation and be prepared for his action in our life today, just as Simeon and Anna were prepared and ready to respond to His visitation and action in their day."
Monday, December 28, 2009
HOLY INNOCENTS- MATTHEW 2:13-18
The killing of the infants shows the pathological state of Herod's mind. He also killed several members of his own family including his wife and a son, yet rigidly kept Jewish dietary laws, such as not eating pork. This provoked a Roman emperor to joke: "I'd rather be Herod's pig than his son."
Ancient Jewish records say that in the final days of Herod's life, he ordered leading citizens from towns in Judea to be killed. His sick mind reasoned that the sorrow at their deaths would offset the joy at his death. The order was never carried out.
In today's Gospel, Matthew says that the slaughter of the Innocents was in fulfillment of a saying of the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly; it is Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." The very next verse is this: "The Lord says, stop your lamenting, dry your eyes, for the Lord is creating something new on earth." And this is the Christmas message: "Stop your lamenting, dry your eyes, for the Lord is creating something new on earth." The Flight into Egypt and the massacre of the Holy Innocents foreshadows the Passion of Christ. Soldiers will come to crucify him. Mary, His mother will weep like Rachel.
We do not have to be subjected to the Herods of this world any longer. They may have power to commit atrocities but they cannot rule over us any longer. We have a new king, a legitimate king, and he will rule in our hearts. He is not a tyrant who forces his will on his subjects, but gently asks our cooperation in everything he wants to have executed in our lives. He is gentle and humble of heart and he asks us to learn from him gentleness and humility. Let’s offer our hearts to the Lord to be born in our hearts and rule in it.
Ancient Jewish records say that in the final days of Herod's life, he ordered leading citizens from towns in Judea to be killed. His sick mind reasoned that the sorrow at their deaths would offset the joy at his death. The order was never carried out.
In today's Gospel, Matthew says that the slaughter of the Innocents was in fulfillment of a saying of the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly; it is Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." The very next verse is this: "The Lord says, stop your lamenting, dry your eyes, for the Lord is creating something new on earth." And this is the Christmas message: "Stop your lamenting, dry your eyes, for the Lord is creating something new on earth." The Flight into Egypt and the massacre of the Holy Innocents foreshadows the Passion of Christ. Soldiers will come to crucify him. Mary, His mother will weep like Rachel.
We do not have to be subjected to the Herods of this world any longer. They may have power to commit atrocities but they cannot rule over us any longer. We have a new king, a legitimate king, and he will rule in our hearts. He is not a tyrant who forces his will on his subjects, but gently asks our cooperation in everything he wants to have executed in our lives. He is gentle and humble of heart and he asks us to learn from him gentleness and humility. Let’s offer our hearts to the Lord to be born in our hearts and rule in it.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
feast of St.Stephen- Dec.26
Saturday (12/26) St.Stephan. : Matthew 10:17-22
Yesterday we celebrated Christmas remembering the awesome gift of God’s coming into our world in the person of Jesus to bring peace on earth and good will to all. Yet, it is a jolting shift in gears to move in the Church’s liturgical calendar to today, when we commemorate the feast of St. Stephen the Martyr, a person violently killed for his faith in Jesus of Nazareth. It seems ‘out of sync’ with the season of anticipation and hope during Advent and the celebration of Christmas. But these readings may bring a powerful message of the season.
What is the connection between Bethlehem and Calvary – the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and his passion and death on a cross? The very reason the Son of God took on flesh and became a man for our sake was to redeem us from slavery to sin and death and to give us new life as the adopted children of God.
We could easily become sentimental about the birth of a child; but this feast of the first Christian martyr is a reminder of reality. The Word made flesh will submit himself to the worst that our world can do. In the very act of doing that he will be giving witness to the truth. All true disciples of his will be ‘martyrs’ in the original meaning of that word: marturein in Greek means ‘to bear witness’; a martyr is a witness to Christ. We are called to announce, through our day to day actions, that God is in our midst...
And that is the true spirit and call of Christmas- to discover how we can live into the presence of God in our day to day lives during this holy and joyous season witnessing to the Lord as Stephen did.
Yesterday we celebrated Christmas remembering the awesome gift of God’s coming into our world in the person of Jesus to bring peace on earth and good will to all. Yet, it is a jolting shift in gears to move in the Church’s liturgical calendar to today, when we commemorate the feast of St. Stephen the Martyr, a person violently killed for his faith in Jesus of Nazareth. It seems ‘out of sync’ with the season of anticipation and hope during Advent and the celebration of Christmas. But these readings may bring a powerful message of the season.
What is the connection between Bethlehem and Calvary – the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and his passion and death on a cross? The very reason the Son of God took on flesh and became a man for our sake was to redeem us from slavery to sin and death and to give us new life as the adopted children of God.
We could easily become sentimental about the birth of a child; but this feast of the first Christian martyr is a reminder of reality. The Word made flesh will submit himself to the worst that our world can do. In the very act of doing that he will be giving witness to the truth. All true disciples of his will be ‘martyrs’ in the original meaning of that word: marturein in Greek means ‘to bear witness’; a martyr is a witness to Christ. We are called to announce, through our day to day actions, that God is in our midst...
And that is the true spirit and call of Christmas- to discover how we can live into the presence of God in our day to day lives during this holy and joyous season witnessing to the Lord as Stephen did.
FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY FAMILY
FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY
1Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28: 1John 3:1-2, 21-24.,Gosple: Luke 2:41-52
A kindergarten teacher was helping one of her students put his boots on. He asked for help and she could see why. With her pulling and him pushing, the boots still didn't want to go on. By the time the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered when the little boy said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet." She looked and, sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet. He then announced, "These aren't my boots." She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, "Why didn't you say so?" like she wanted to. Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off. He then said, "They're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear them." She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up the grace to wrestle the boots on his feet again. She said, "Now, where are your mittens?" He said, "I stuffed them in my boots .
Kids can drive you nuts sometimes. It is part of their growth process. Elders who are not directly involved with them or not directly responsible for their growth look at their pranks and enjoy them, but not really the parents. Each child born in this world is a mystery. Sam Levinson says “Each new born child arrives on earth with a message to deliver to mankind . Clenched in his little fist is some particle of yet unrevealed truth, some missing clue. He must be treated as top sacred”. Each child that comes into the world proclaims that God has not given up on this world.
The confessions of the church hold that Jesus is "fully human, fully God," and in today's familiar story from Luke, we can see both sides. Jesus, fully human, is growing up as all mortals must. In the process, Jesus has scared his parents half to death as all teen-agers do. Jesus is asking questions, as should we all, and he is listening to learn, as all we must. And in this story, we see the twelve-year old Jesus fully divine with everyone amazed at his understanding and his answers. We hear Jesus declaring his unique relationship with God the Father as only the Son can do.
On the last Sunday of the year, the church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family. Today’s gospel describes how the Holy Family of Nazareth lived according to the will of God, obeying all the Jewish laws and regulations, and brought up Jesus in the same way, so that He grew in wisdom as well as in the favor of God and men.
Children are integral part of the family. If any couple at the time of their wedding decides to do away with children in their marriage, their marriage is invalid before the eyes of the church. Parents and children together make the family. Not the couples alone. Children are gift from God. Couples who don’t have children in their marriage due to biological factors stand before the community as prophets proclaiming to the couples having children that Children are gift from God, you don’t deserve to get them by the fact of your marriage. See we don’t have children, though we like to. So take care of your children as responsible parents. God trusts you with a great responsibility.
Luke gives a detailed story of Jesus’ infancy, with the details of Jesus’ first visit to the Temple of Jerusalem to take on the obligations of the law when he was twelve years old. Every adult Jew (12 years and above) who lived within fifteen miles of Jerusalem had to attend the Passover feast.
Since women and children in a caravan started earlier than men, on the return leg of the trip, Joseph and Mary each thought that Jesus, newly promoted to adult status, was with the other group. But Jesus had actually lingered behind in the Temple, attending the Sanhedrin classes on religious and theological questions as an eager student of Mosaic Law. The gospel tells us that he returned with his parents to Nazareth and there grew up like any other child. Here the evangelist gives a pertinent piece of advice to all the children and youth specially. He obeyed his parents and discharged all his duties to God, to his parents and to the community, faithfully “advancing in wisdom and age and favor before God and man”.
Joseph and Mary were a model family in which both parents worked hard, helped each other, understood and accepted each other, and took good care of their Child so that He might grow up not only in human knowledge but also as a Child of God. To find answer to what makes a family holy we don’t need to go anywhere, just look at the life of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. For example consider the life of Joseph. No Husband ever went through struggles and pain more than what Joseph had to go through. He found his wife pregnant even before he had any relations with her. He experienced humiliation because he could not find a place for her wife to give birth to her son. He had to flee to Egypt at midnight. But he did all this faithfully. In all these things, what he did consistently was that he obeyed God. He knew precisely whom to obey. He subordinated every thing to the will and purpose of God. That made him holy and his family holy. When Mary asked Jesus, “Why did you do this to us?” Jesus replied, “Didn’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business?” For Jesus, Joseph and Mary, the Father’s business was the number one priority. That made them Holy.
A senior Judge of the Supreme Court recently congratulated the bride and groom in a marriage with a pertinent piece of advice: “See that you never convert your family into a court room; instead let it be a confessional. If the husband and wife start arguing like attorneys, in an attempt to justify their behavior, their family becomes a court of law and nobody wins. On the other hand, if the husband and the wife -- as in a confessional -- are ready to admit their faults and try to correct them, the family becomes a heavenly one.” Mary and Joseph did not turn their accusing fingers on each other when they found that the boy Jesus was not with each of them. Natural reaction of any husband or wife would be to accuse each other on finding that their dear child is lost. They serve as great model to families to face any challenge in their life.
The families in today’s society are facing disintegration. The devil upgraded and modernized his tactics to destroy the families. First of all, he makes our lives busy with too many attractive activities and programs. They present these things as vitally important and unavoidable. He convincingly presents religion as a private enterprise and makes us believe that God and religion can wait. So people push God away from the center of their life and make it one among many. When God is pushed away from the center of our life, then I become the center of my life. My primary concern becomes the glorification of my self and not of God .Devil is successfully using the tactics of taking God away from the family by keeping us and our children busy.
The second step to the disintegration of families is Redefining the divine institution of Marriage. Marriage is and marriage can be only between a man and a woman. This is natural law. Even the animal kingdom follows this natural precept. There are concerted attempts from certain corners to destroy this sacred reality of marriage. If their intention is to procure the same economic right and privileges of the married couple to them, they could do it very well through other means. It is time to wake up. As we celebrate the Feast of The Family, let us be aware of it and take bold steps to form our families after the image of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Theodore Hesburg says “ the best thing a father can do to his children is to love their mother”. And I would add to that- the best thing a mother can do to their children is to love their father. Joseph and Mary loved their son by loving each other. Let the families we live be blessed by the presence and assistance of the Most Holy Family.
1Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28: 1John 3:1-2, 21-24.,Gosple: Luke 2:41-52
A kindergarten teacher was helping one of her students put his boots on. He asked for help and she could see why. With her pulling and him pushing, the boots still didn't want to go on. By the time the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered when the little boy said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet." She looked and, sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet. He then announced, "These aren't my boots." She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, "Why didn't you say so?" like she wanted to. Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off. He then said, "They're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear them." She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up the grace to wrestle the boots on his feet again. She said, "Now, where are your mittens?" He said, "I stuffed them in my boots .
Kids can drive you nuts sometimes. It is part of their growth process. Elders who are not directly involved with them or not directly responsible for their growth look at their pranks and enjoy them, but not really the parents. Each child born in this world is a mystery. Sam Levinson says “Each new born child arrives on earth with a message to deliver to mankind . Clenched in his little fist is some particle of yet unrevealed truth, some missing clue. He must be treated as top sacred”. Each child that comes into the world proclaims that God has not given up on this world.
The confessions of the church hold that Jesus is "fully human, fully God," and in today's familiar story from Luke, we can see both sides. Jesus, fully human, is growing up as all mortals must. In the process, Jesus has scared his parents half to death as all teen-agers do. Jesus is asking questions, as should we all, and he is listening to learn, as all we must. And in this story, we see the twelve-year old Jesus fully divine with everyone amazed at his understanding and his answers. We hear Jesus declaring his unique relationship with God the Father as only the Son can do.
On the last Sunday of the year, the church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family. Today’s gospel describes how the Holy Family of Nazareth lived according to the will of God, obeying all the Jewish laws and regulations, and brought up Jesus in the same way, so that He grew in wisdom as well as in the favor of God and men.
Children are integral part of the family. If any couple at the time of their wedding decides to do away with children in their marriage, their marriage is invalid before the eyes of the church. Parents and children together make the family. Not the couples alone. Children are gift from God. Couples who don’t have children in their marriage due to biological factors stand before the community as prophets proclaiming to the couples having children that Children are gift from God, you don’t deserve to get them by the fact of your marriage. See we don’t have children, though we like to. So take care of your children as responsible parents. God trusts you with a great responsibility.
Luke gives a detailed story of Jesus’ infancy, with the details of Jesus’ first visit to the Temple of Jerusalem to take on the obligations of the law when he was twelve years old. Every adult Jew (12 years and above) who lived within fifteen miles of Jerusalem had to attend the Passover feast.
Since women and children in a caravan started earlier than men, on the return leg of the trip, Joseph and Mary each thought that Jesus, newly promoted to adult status, was with the other group. But Jesus had actually lingered behind in the Temple, attending the Sanhedrin classes on religious and theological questions as an eager student of Mosaic Law. The gospel tells us that he returned with his parents to Nazareth and there grew up like any other child. Here the evangelist gives a pertinent piece of advice to all the children and youth specially. He obeyed his parents and discharged all his duties to God, to his parents and to the community, faithfully “advancing in wisdom and age and favor before God and man”.
Joseph and Mary were a model family in which both parents worked hard, helped each other, understood and accepted each other, and took good care of their Child so that He might grow up not only in human knowledge but also as a Child of God. To find answer to what makes a family holy we don’t need to go anywhere, just look at the life of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. For example consider the life of Joseph. No Husband ever went through struggles and pain more than what Joseph had to go through. He found his wife pregnant even before he had any relations with her. He experienced humiliation because he could not find a place for her wife to give birth to her son. He had to flee to Egypt at midnight. But he did all this faithfully. In all these things, what he did consistently was that he obeyed God. He knew precisely whom to obey. He subordinated every thing to the will and purpose of God. That made him holy and his family holy. When Mary asked Jesus, “Why did you do this to us?” Jesus replied, “Didn’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business?” For Jesus, Joseph and Mary, the Father’s business was the number one priority. That made them Holy.
A senior Judge of the Supreme Court recently congratulated the bride and groom in a marriage with a pertinent piece of advice: “See that you never convert your family into a court room; instead let it be a confessional. If the husband and wife start arguing like attorneys, in an attempt to justify their behavior, their family becomes a court of law and nobody wins. On the other hand, if the husband and the wife -- as in a confessional -- are ready to admit their faults and try to correct them, the family becomes a heavenly one.” Mary and Joseph did not turn their accusing fingers on each other when they found that the boy Jesus was not with each of them. Natural reaction of any husband or wife would be to accuse each other on finding that their dear child is lost. They serve as great model to families to face any challenge in their life.
The families in today’s society are facing disintegration. The devil upgraded and modernized his tactics to destroy the families. First of all, he makes our lives busy with too many attractive activities and programs. They present these things as vitally important and unavoidable. He convincingly presents religion as a private enterprise and makes us believe that God and religion can wait. So people push God away from the center of their life and make it one among many. When God is pushed away from the center of our life, then I become the center of my life. My primary concern becomes the glorification of my self and not of God .Devil is successfully using the tactics of taking God away from the family by keeping us and our children busy.
The second step to the disintegration of families is Redefining the divine institution of Marriage. Marriage is and marriage can be only between a man and a woman. This is natural law. Even the animal kingdom follows this natural precept. There are concerted attempts from certain corners to destroy this sacred reality of marriage. If their intention is to procure the same economic right and privileges of the married couple to them, they could do it very well through other means. It is time to wake up. As we celebrate the Feast of The Family, let us be aware of it and take bold steps to form our families after the image of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Theodore Hesburg says “ the best thing a father can do to his children is to love their mother”. And I would add to that- the best thing a mother can do to their children is to love their father. Joseph and Mary loved their son by loving each other. Let the families we live be blessed by the presence and assistance of the Most Holy Family.
Friday, December 25, 2009
CHRISTMAS-2009
All religions involve mankind's effort to get back into a stable and healthy relationship with God - that's why they can appear to be so similar. But Christianity is the only religion in which mankind's effort to find God is met by the unimaginable event of God himself deciding to come down into human nature so that he can be more easily found.
It's like, the farmer who stayed home on Christmas Eve because he didn't believe in Jesus. A terrible snow storm started, and outside the living room window he saw a gaggle of wild geese huddling together in confusion, trying to keep warm. He rushed out into the storm and opened his barn door. Then he went over to the geese - barely able to see them through the blizzard. He tried to coax them into the barn. Then he tried to scare them in. But they just kept jumping away from him, squawking and flapping their wings in self-defense. After 20 minutes and no progress, he gave up and went back inside. He stood in the warm living room staring out at the geese. And he thought: "If only I could become a goose myself, then I could lead them into the barn and save them." And with that thought, he fell on his knees, right there in the living room, and started to cry. He realized that that's exactly what God had done on the first Christmas night - and that he had been spending his life squawking and flapping in the wrong direction. Christmas tells us that God became one like us, like us in everything but sin. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He became man so that he could approach humans in a non-scaring and non-frightening way.
St.John says He came to his own and his own did not accept him. God never presents himself in revelation in a manner in which we are forced to believe. I imagine, if it weren’t so, there would have been no atheists or non-Catholics. We are always left with an option, for that is God's way. Thus, one person can say "Its a miracle, while another says "It's coincidence." Certainly there were thousands of people in Palestine but only very few people saw and heard and understood what took place that night. The choirs of angels singing were drowned out by the haggling and trading going on in the Jerusalem bazaar. There was a bright star in the sky but the only ones apparently to pay any attention to it were pagan astrologers from the East. If anyone did see Mary and Joseph on that most fateful night, they were too preoccupied with their own problems to offer any assistance.
The Child born today is God's new deed: But this is not announced in the excited voice of the advertisers; it is a silent deed. He is the Word made flesh, but he lies there as helpless to speak as any infant. Only in silence can this silent Word be heard. The new blade of grass does not make a scene or a noise; neither does the Word made flesh. God comes to us in the whisper of the breeze, not in peals of thunder or earthquake as the prophet Elijah experienced. So we need to be quiet and calm to enter into the presence of the World made flesh.
We all believe in Jesus - at least to some extent. So why don't we experience his joy and peace as deeply and constantly as we would like to? It is because we don’t pause enough to see him. It's because we don't trust him enough. We are afraid to let Christ rule our lives completely - we are afraid to let him be the King that he was born to be, that he truly is. We are like the inn-keeper in the Gospel passage. Our lives are crowded - filled with personal pleasures and hopes, maybe even with unhealthy relationships and habits. And Jesus comes knocking on the door of our hearts and wants us to let him in. But we are afraid that if we do, there won't be room enough for our little idols. So we let him stay in the stable, out back, where we can keep an eye on him, where we can be sure he doesn't clean out our closets and junk drawers. But unless we give him free rein, he cannot give us his true peace and joy. Instead of being like the inn-keeper, we need to be like Mary. When Jesus knocked on the door of her life, she put all her plans aside. She risked her reputation and her engagement; she opened every closet and every junk drawer to Christ. Let’s Accept Him and allow Him to turn our life inside out and upside down. And he wants to come not as a mighty warrior, but as a little baby, because he wants us to hold him in our arms, to adopt him, to make him the companion of our lives.
He chose to be born in a smelly, damp, cave near Bethlehem, a cave full of moldy straw, a cave that shepherds used as a stable for their dirty sheep during storms. Maybe our souls are like that cave, and we don't really believe that God's love can get in there. But Christmas proves that it can. He wants to come into the smelly, dark caves of our hearts and fill it with the light, joy, and peace that will come from convincing us that he hasn't given up on us. And so we greet one another today by saying "Merry Christmas." Be merry, be joyful, not just because a baby was born 2,000 years ago, but because God has entered into our world to draw us into His Presence. For we have been chosen by the Son of God to be holy.
Every Christmas reminds us that we still need this Savior to be reborn in our hearts and lives to free us from our evil addictions and unjust, impure and uncharitable tendencies.
As Emmanuel, Jesus is present to us in the sacraments (especially in the Holy Eucharist), in the Holy Bible, in the praying community and in each believer, while His Holy Spirit transforms us into the "Temples of the Holy Spirit.” Christmas reminds us that we are bearers of God with the missionary duty of conveying Jesus to others around us by loving others as Jesus did, through sacrificial, humble and committed service. Sharing Jesus, Emmanuel living within us, with others, should be our best Christmas gift to others.
Thomas Merton speaks of Christmas this way. "Christ is born to us today so that He may appear to the whole world through us. This one day is the day of His birth, but every day of our mortal lives must be His manifestation." Let’s ask the Lord the grace to be his ambassadors living out his legacies, living out his will so that the world may come to know him through our lives. Merry Christmas.
It's like, the farmer who stayed home on Christmas Eve because he didn't believe in Jesus. A terrible snow storm started, and outside the living room window he saw a gaggle of wild geese huddling together in confusion, trying to keep warm. He rushed out into the storm and opened his barn door. Then he went over to the geese - barely able to see them through the blizzard. He tried to coax them into the barn. Then he tried to scare them in. But they just kept jumping away from him, squawking and flapping their wings in self-defense. After 20 minutes and no progress, he gave up and went back inside. He stood in the warm living room staring out at the geese. And he thought: "If only I could become a goose myself, then I could lead them into the barn and save them." And with that thought, he fell on his knees, right there in the living room, and started to cry. He realized that that's exactly what God had done on the first Christmas night - and that he had been spending his life squawking and flapping in the wrong direction. Christmas tells us that God became one like us, like us in everything but sin. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He became man so that he could approach humans in a non-scaring and non-frightening way.
St.John says He came to his own and his own did not accept him. God never presents himself in revelation in a manner in which we are forced to believe. I imagine, if it weren’t so, there would have been no atheists or non-Catholics. We are always left with an option, for that is God's way. Thus, one person can say "Its a miracle, while another says "It's coincidence." Certainly there were thousands of people in Palestine but only very few people saw and heard and understood what took place that night. The choirs of angels singing were drowned out by the haggling and trading going on in the Jerusalem bazaar. There was a bright star in the sky but the only ones apparently to pay any attention to it were pagan astrologers from the East. If anyone did see Mary and Joseph on that most fateful night, they were too preoccupied with their own problems to offer any assistance.
The Child born today is God's new deed: But this is not announced in the excited voice of the advertisers; it is a silent deed. He is the Word made flesh, but he lies there as helpless to speak as any infant. Only in silence can this silent Word be heard. The new blade of grass does not make a scene or a noise; neither does the Word made flesh. God comes to us in the whisper of the breeze, not in peals of thunder or earthquake as the prophet Elijah experienced. So we need to be quiet and calm to enter into the presence of the World made flesh.
We all believe in Jesus - at least to some extent. So why don't we experience his joy and peace as deeply and constantly as we would like to? It is because we don’t pause enough to see him. It's because we don't trust him enough. We are afraid to let Christ rule our lives completely - we are afraid to let him be the King that he was born to be, that he truly is. We are like the inn-keeper in the Gospel passage. Our lives are crowded - filled with personal pleasures and hopes, maybe even with unhealthy relationships and habits. And Jesus comes knocking on the door of our hearts and wants us to let him in. But we are afraid that if we do, there won't be room enough for our little idols. So we let him stay in the stable, out back, where we can keep an eye on him, where we can be sure he doesn't clean out our closets and junk drawers. But unless we give him free rein, he cannot give us his true peace and joy. Instead of being like the inn-keeper, we need to be like Mary. When Jesus knocked on the door of her life, she put all her plans aside. She risked her reputation and her engagement; she opened every closet and every junk drawer to Christ. Let’s Accept Him and allow Him to turn our life inside out and upside down. And he wants to come not as a mighty warrior, but as a little baby, because he wants us to hold him in our arms, to adopt him, to make him the companion of our lives.
He chose to be born in a smelly, damp, cave near Bethlehem, a cave full of moldy straw, a cave that shepherds used as a stable for their dirty sheep during storms. Maybe our souls are like that cave, and we don't really believe that God's love can get in there. But Christmas proves that it can. He wants to come into the smelly, dark caves of our hearts and fill it with the light, joy, and peace that will come from convincing us that he hasn't given up on us. And so we greet one another today by saying "Merry Christmas." Be merry, be joyful, not just because a baby was born 2,000 years ago, but because God has entered into our world to draw us into His Presence. For we have been chosen by the Son of God to be holy.
Every Christmas reminds us that we still need this Savior to be reborn in our hearts and lives to free us from our evil addictions and unjust, impure and uncharitable tendencies.
As Emmanuel, Jesus is present to us in the sacraments (especially in the Holy Eucharist), in the Holy Bible, in the praying community and in each believer, while His Holy Spirit transforms us into the "Temples of the Holy Spirit.” Christmas reminds us that we are bearers of God with the missionary duty of conveying Jesus to others around us by loving others as Jesus did, through sacrificial, humble and committed service. Sharing Jesus, Emmanuel living within us, with others, should be our best Christmas gift to others.
Thomas Merton speaks of Christmas this way. "Christ is born to us today so that He may appear to the whole world through us. This one day is the day of His birth, but every day of our mortal lives must be His manifestation." Let’s ask the Lord the grace to be his ambassadors living out his legacies, living out his will so that the world may come to know him through our lives. Merry Christmas.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Wednesday, LUKE 1:57-66
John the Baptist was chosen by God to be one of His greatest prophets. As a baby he was helpless and needy. As a prophet, he displayed the same humility and need for God. Prophets are humble. They understand that without God's grace, they are nothing. The Precursor's birth speaks of the proximity of Christmas. The Lord is at hand! When asked who he was, he said: «I am the voice crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord» (Jn 1:23). John’s life teaches us the virtues we need to receive Jesus properly; fundamentally, humility of the heart. He acknowledges himself as an instrument of God, to fulfill his vocation, his mission.
His humility has deeply impressed Christians through the ages. Before anyone had heard of Jesus of Nazareth, people were coming distances to see John the Baptist. Yet he pointed to Jesus and away from himself. “He must increase, I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). John actually encouraged his disciples to leave him and follow the Lamb of God.
We, too, are anointed with the grace to be prophets. We testify to this grace through embracing a truly humble attitude before God and our neighbor. No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who think they have no need even of God, for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor in spirit, those who hunger for God, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is our Emmanuel, our God-with-us.
It is necessary to examine ourselves to see how we are preparing ourselves to receive Jesus this Christmas.
The virtue of humility will help us to prepare ourselves for the coming festivities appropriately. Because we are celebrating the feast of someone who was born in a manger, not in magnificent palace.
His humility has deeply impressed Christians through the ages. Before anyone had heard of Jesus of Nazareth, people were coming distances to see John the Baptist. Yet he pointed to Jesus and away from himself. “He must increase, I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). John actually encouraged his disciples to leave him and follow the Lamb of God.
We, too, are anointed with the grace to be prophets. We testify to this grace through embracing a truly humble attitude before God and our neighbor. No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who think they have no need even of God, for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor in spirit, those who hunger for God, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is our Emmanuel, our God-with-us.
It is necessary to examine ourselves to see how we are preparing ourselves to receive Jesus this Christmas.
The virtue of humility will help us to prepare ourselves for the coming festivities appropriately. Because we are celebrating the feast of someone who was born in a manger, not in magnificent palace.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Tuesday -LUKE 1:46-56
One of the most beautiful prayers of praise to God can be found in the Magnificat. Mary knew very well of the fulfillment of God's promises to His people. She recounts the deliverance of the people in the Exodus and how the Lord takes care of the poor and destitute of society. This joyful cry to the Lord starts with our soul proclaiming the greatness of the Lord in everything. And our greatest joy is to see how God is faithful to us in our daily lives.
Mary’s Magnificat has been called the most revolutionary document in the world. Notice, however, that she did not say, “Let’s bring down the powerful…” but “God has brought down the powerful….” She is already celebrating the topsy-turvy logic of the Gospel.
Back before India won its independence, it was under British rule. Bishop William Temple of the Anglican Church warned his missionaries to India not to read the Magnificat in public. He feared that it would be so inflammatory that it might start a revolution!
Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth and Mary sensed that God has chosen them for special tasks and would do great things through their children. Mary was then given by the Holy Spirit insights far too profound for a simple teenager to originate. She declared the impact that her son would have upon the world. She announced three distinct revolutions- Spiritual,social and economic, which Jesus would instigate and activate. She spoke of these revolutions in the past tense, as if they had already happened. The world has been reeling ever since under the influence of our revolutionary Lord.
Mary is an image of the new community, the Church. That is a community where the logic of the Gospel is intended to hold sway: the first is the last, the weak is the strong, the greatest is the least, the poorest is the richest, the lowest is the highest.... But when we look at the Church – at ourselves – sadly, we see that we live mostly by straightforward logic: power and privilege, palaces, badges and titles of honour.... And if we wear such a badge we do not qualify for the title christian . Let’s ask Mary, the greatest revolutionary figure, to accomplish the revolution in our life, by bringing to birth the Savior who turned upside down all the logic of the day.
Mary’s Magnificat has been called the most revolutionary document in the world. Notice, however, that she did not say, “Let’s bring down the powerful…” but “God has brought down the powerful….” She is already celebrating the topsy-turvy logic of the Gospel.
Back before India won its independence, it was under British rule. Bishop William Temple of the Anglican Church warned his missionaries to India not to read the Magnificat in public. He feared that it would be so inflammatory that it might start a revolution!
Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth and Mary sensed that God has chosen them for special tasks and would do great things through their children. Mary was then given by the Holy Spirit insights far too profound for a simple teenager to originate. She declared the impact that her son would have upon the world. She announced three distinct revolutions- Spiritual,social and economic, which Jesus would instigate and activate. She spoke of these revolutions in the past tense, as if they had already happened. The world has been reeling ever since under the influence of our revolutionary Lord.
Mary is an image of the new community, the Church. That is a community where the logic of the Gospel is intended to hold sway: the first is the last, the weak is the strong, the greatest is the least, the poorest is the richest, the lowest is the highest.... But when we look at the Church – at ourselves – sadly, we see that we live mostly by straightforward logic: power and privilege, palaces, badges and titles of honour.... And if we wear such a badge we do not qualify for the title christian . Let’s ask Mary, the greatest revolutionary figure, to accomplish the revolution in our life, by bringing to birth the Savior who turned upside down all the logic of the day.
Monday, LUKE 1:39-45
Ancient Christian writers delighted to notice that John was a prophet even before he was born, because he gave witness to Christ by leaping in his mother’s womb. Origen (b. 185) wrote, “At that moment Jesus made his forerunner a prophet for the first time.” Maximus of Turin (d. 408 / 423) wrote, “Not yet born, John already prophesies and, while still in the enclosure of his mother’s womb, confesses the coming of Christ with movements of joy—since he could not do so with his voice.” Later the same Maximus noted that at the end of his life John was still giving witness to Christ – from the confines of a prison. “We should not be surprised that after Herod put him in prison, he continued to announce Christ to his disciples from his confinement, because even when he was confined in the womb he preached the same Lord by his movements.”
The events from today's readings confirm Mary's belief in the greatness of God. While it was Mary who went to Elizabeth, it was Elizabeth, who filled with the Holy Spirit, recognized the presence of the Lord in Mary's womb. Elizabeth called Mary "the mother of my Lord." The Holy Spirit to whom they responded is the same Spirit that each one of us received in Baptism and Confirmation. We, too, are filled with the Holy Spirit just as they were. We only need to listen to the call of the Spirit and say "yes". We need to strive to reach the level of belief and trust which Mary and Elizabeth had.
Our Lady's strength was her gaiety and joy. Joy alone could have given her the strength to set out in all haste across the hill country of Judah to become the servant of her cousin. It is just the same for us. Like her, we must be true servants of the Lord and after holy communion each day we must hurry over the mountains of the difficulties we encounter, offering our service to the poor with all our heart.
Let the soul of Mary be in each of us, so that it magnifies the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each of us, so that it rejoices in God.”
The events from today's readings confirm Mary's belief in the greatness of God. While it was Mary who went to Elizabeth, it was Elizabeth, who filled with the Holy Spirit, recognized the presence of the Lord in Mary's womb. Elizabeth called Mary "the mother of my Lord." The Holy Spirit to whom they responded is the same Spirit that each one of us received in Baptism and Confirmation. We, too, are filled with the Holy Spirit just as they were. We only need to listen to the call of the Spirit and say "yes". We need to strive to reach the level of belief and trust which Mary and Elizabeth had.
Our Lady's strength was her gaiety and joy. Joy alone could have given her the strength to set out in all haste across the hill country of Judah to become the servant of her cousin. It is just the same for us. Like her, we must be true servants of the Lord and after holy communion each day we must hurry over the mountains of the difficulties we encounter, offering our service to the poor with all our heart.
Let the soul of Mary be in each of us, so that it magnifies the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each of us, so that it rejoices in God.”
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Sunday,Advent IV,LUKE 1:39-45
The Gospel reading says that on hearing Mary's greeting to Elizabeth,
the child in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy. Mary and Elizabeth's
encounter was a sharing of joy. Each had her own reason for a great
happiness but thought of the other's happiness. Joy that is shared is
doubled. It was a special joy because it found its source in God.
Wherever Mary goes, she provokes an explosion of joy like at the
wedding in Cana. In today's Gospel, the baby leaps for joy. Elizabeth
shouts her joy at being visited by the Lord in Mary's womb, and in
Mary's Magnificat the poor exult for joy because their liberation is
close at hand.
Mary is proclaimed blessed by Elizabeth because she believed that the
promise made to her by the Lord would be fulfilled. God made so many
promises to the chosen people of Israel through the prophets. But when
their fulfillment was delayed, the people doubted the word of the
Lord. They preferred to place their trust in themselves and in their
plans and it ended in total failure. Mary instead is blessed because
she trusted God. She was sure that in spite of all appearances to the
contrary, the word of the Lord would be fulfilled.
Maybe our communities and all of us today could be called blessed
because we have believed the word of the Lord. Let us try to question
ourselves, for instance, if we are really convinced that the promises
God made in the Beatitudes to the peacemakers, the non-violent, those
who offer the other cheek, those who do not seek vengeance, will
really be fulfilled. Perhaps we do believe in God but maybe only to a
certain point especially when God asks us to do something that goes
against human common sense. Mary is teaching us that it is worthwhile
to place our trust in the Lord; not just when it suits us or
occasionally but always. Perhaps in these next few days before
Christmas, we need to ask ourselves: "Where are we going to find him,
the Messiah, the expected Savior? Is it on the surface of life?
As one family, let us prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord in
faith, in simplicity, in humility and in availability. Christmas is a
family feast. Let us learn to give up our inflexibility and
stubbornness and be good to one another. Forgive one another and do
our share in creating a hearty atmosphere in our home. Give God all
the chances of becoming human in our home, in our family, in the union
of our married partnership, in the oneness between parents and
children. So many things can become signs of our availability and of
God's graciousness. All these signs combine to become the sacrament of
our Christmas this year: God becomes man and He becomes human among
us, in our homes, our hearts, our community and in our world.
the child in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy. Mary and Elizabeth's
encounter was a sharing of joy. Each had her own reason for a great
happiness but thought of the other's happiness. Joy that is shared is
doubled. It was a special joy because it found its source in God.
Wherever Mary goes, she provokes an explosion of joy like at the
wedding in Cana. In today's Gospel, the baby leaps for joy. Elizabeth
shouts her joy at being visited by the Lord in Mary's womb, and in
Mary's Magnificat the poor exult for joy because their liberation is
close at hand.
Mary is proclaimed blessed by Elizabeth because she believed that the
promise made to her by the Lord would be fulfilled. God made so many
promises to the chosen people of Israel through the prophets. But when
their fulfillment was delayed, the people doubted the word of the
Lord. They preferred to place their trust in themselves and in their
plans and it ended in total failure. Mary instead is blessed because
she trusted God. She was sure that in spite of all appearances to the
contrary, the word of the Lord would be fulfilled.
Maybe our communities and all of us today could be called blessed
because we have believed the word of the Lord. Let us try to question
ourselves, for instance, if we are really convinced that the promises
God made in the Beatitudes to the peacemakers, the non-violent, those
who offer the other cheek, those who do not seek vengeance, will
really be fulfilled. Perhaps we do believe in God but maybe only to a
certain point especially when God asks us to do something that goes
against human common sense. Mary is teaching us that it is worthwhile
to place our trust in the Lord; not just when it suits us or
occasionally but always. Perhaps in these next few days before
Christmas, we need to ask ourselves: "Where are we going to find him,
the Messiah, the expected Savior? Is it on the surface of life?
As one family, let us prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord in
faith, in simplicity, in humility and in availability. Christmas is a
family feast. Let us learn to give up our inflexibility and
stubbornness and be good to one another. Forgive one another and do
our share in creating a hearty atmosphere in our home. Give God all
the chances of becoming human in our home, in our family, in the union
of our married partnership, in the oneness between parents and
children. So many things can become signs of our availability and of
God's graciousness. All these signs combine to become the sacrament of
our Christmas this year: God becomes man and He becomes human among
us, in our homes, our hearts, our community and in our world.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Friday, MATTHEW 1:18-25
Joseph is the epitome of true faithfulness and unwavering trust in the Lord. He was extremely sensitive towards Mary, his betrothed. There is no doubt that both were excellent people, in love with each other like no other couple. However, it is plain to see that the Almighty wanted their love to go through some very demanding circumstances.
Let's take a look at his dilemma. The woman he is about to marry is found to be pregnant and he is not the father. Being a man of honor, he decides to divorce her quietly so as not to cause scandal. In order not to risk discrediting her, he would have preferred to disappear discretely and to renounce her love (something that was socially unfavorable to him). Thus, before the law of charity had been proclaimed, Saint Joseph was already practicing it: Mary (and his loving attentions with her) was his law.
The angel of the Lord, however, appears to Joseph in a dream imploring him to reconsider. The child to be born will do great things. And so, the story of Christmas is as it is supposed to be.
God, not only asks us for permission, He also wants us to take part in His plans, to make a heroic contribution. And so it was for Mary and Joseph. In fact the Christ-child needed parents. Even more so: He needed his parent's heroism, for they had to go to extremes to defend the life of the “little Redeemer”.
The Pope John Paul II has written that «Christianity is a surprise from a God who has taken sides with his creature». As a matter of fact, He has taken the initiative: To come to this world He has not waited for us to deserve it. He proposes His initiative; He does not impose it upon us: It is as though God asked us for “permission”. To Mary He proposed —never imposed anything!— the vocation of being the Mother of God: «He, who had the power to create everything from nothing, had refused to rebuild what had been desecrated if Mary had not agreed to it» (Saint Anselm). God crates and recreates now through our hands. In this role he calls us to take challenges from him. What are the challenges before me in implementing God’s plan.
Let's take a look at his dilemma. The woman he is about to marry is found to be pregnant and he is not the father. Being a man of honor, he decides to divorce her quietly so as not to cause scandal. In order not to risk discrediting her, he would have preferred to disappear discretely and to renounce her love (something that was socially unfavorable to him). Thus, before the law of charity had been proclaimed, Saint Joseph was already practicing it: Mary (and his loving attentions with her) was his law.
The angel of the Lord, however, appears to Joseph in a dream imploring him to reconsider. The child to be born will do great things. And so, the story of Christmas is as it is supposed to be.
God, not only asks us for permission, He also wants us to take part in His plans, to make a heroic contribution. And so it was for Mary and Joseph. In fact the Christ-child needed parents. Even more so: He needed his parent's heroism, for they had to go to extremes to defend the life of the “little Redeemer”.
The Pope John Paul II has written that «Christianity is a surprise from a God who has taken sides with his creature». As a matter of fact, He has taken the initiative: To come to this world He has not waited for us to deserve it. He proposes His initiative; He does not impose it upon us: It is as though God asked us for “permission”. To Mary He proposed —never imposed anything!— the vocation of being the Mother of God: «He, who had the power to create everything from nothing, had refused to rebuild what had been desecrated if Mary had not agreed to it» (Saint Anselm). God crates and recreates now through our hands. In this role he calls us to take challenges from him. What are the challenges before me in implementing God’s plan.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Wednesday, LUKE 7:18-23
When John the Baptist sent envoys to ask Jesus if he were the expected one, Jesus replied, "Tell John what you have seen and heard. Lk 7:22
Isaiah foretold that these signs would announce the Messiah's arrival: the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be cleared; the lame will leap like a stag, the tongue of the dumb will sing." Is. 35:4-6 . Jesus' miracles are the signs foretold by Isaiah.
Since earliest times commentators have wondered about John the Baptist’s doubt. Had he really come to doubt Jesus? And if so, why? He was a tempestuous man; was Jesus moving too slowly for him? Or did the gloom of the dungeon affect his mind? Was it himself that he doubted? Was he feeling what Jeremiah felt when he wrote, “Woe is me, my mother, for you have borne me to be a man of strife and of dissension for all the land”(Jer.15:10)? Of course prophets ought to doubt themselves. If they haven't faced their own illusions and limitations what could they possibly have to say to us about God? And when one is in the pits of self-doubt it is hard to distinguish self-doubt from doubt about God and Jesus and everything. Somehow this mood of doubt that seems to have overcome John makes him more human. He needed softening. When he was yelling at the people he had no doubts about anything.
But perhaps the more telling proclamation of the word was in his dungeon, quietly in the ear of fellow-prisoners: the lonely and discouraged, the fearful and the dying. May be if John had had an opportunity to preach again, there would have been a different quality. His presence would have been much more like that of Jesus.
How many good people do we know, in an hour of temptation, call in question the most important truths.we all desire to have our beliefs confirmed. But how can we ?
Jesus responds with the facts; MIRACLES ARE IN THE MOMENT. This should be good enough for us. If I am asked about the divinity of Christ, what proof or miracles do I find in the moment ? Do I see any miracles taking place around me on a daily basis?
Isaiah foretold that these signs would announce the Messiah's arrival: the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be cleared; the lame will leap like a stag, the tongue of the dumb will sing." Is. 35:4-6 . Jesus' miracles are the signs foretold by Isaiah.
Since earliest times commentators have wondered about John the Baptist’s doubt. Had he really come to doubt Jesus? And if so, why? He was a tempestuous man; was Jesus moving too slowly for him? Or did the gloom of the dungeon affect his mind? Was it himself that he doubted? Was he feeling what Jeremiah felt when he wrote, “Woe is me, my mother, for you have borne me to be a man of strife and of dissension for all the land”(Jer.15:10)? Of course prophets ought to doubt themselves. If they haven't faced their own illusions and limitations what could they possibly have to say to us about God? And when one is in the pits of self-doubt it is hard to distinguish self-doubt from doubt about God and Jesus and everything. Somehow this mood of doubt that seems to have overcome John makes him more human. He needed softening. When he was yelling at the people he had no doubts about anything.
But perhaps the more telling proclamation of the word was in his dungeon, quietly in the ear of fellow-prisoners: the lonely and discouraged, the fearful and the dying. May be if John had had an opportunity to preach again, there would have been a different quality. His presence would have been much more like that of Jesus.
How many good people do we know, in an hour of temptation, call in question the most important truths.we all desire to have our beliefs confirmed. But how can we ?
Jesus responds with the facts; MIRACLES ARE IN THE MOMENT. This should be good enough for us. If I am asked about the divinity of Christ, what proof or miracles do I find in the moment ? Do I see any miracles taking place around me on a daily basis?
Monday, December 14, 2009
Tuesday, MATTHEW 21:28-32
This parable is strikingly similar to Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, In both, the younger son stands for sinners who start badly but end well. And in both, the elder son stands for the scribes and Pharisees. They start well but end badly.
What really matters is not saying “yes”, but “doing it”. As the saying goes -actions speak louder than words. On another occasion, Jesus will refer to the doctrine taught by this parable: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven” (Mt 7:21). We need to walk the talk if we need to be pleasing to the Father. As Saint Augustine wrote, “there are two wills. Your will has to be corrected so as to identify it with God's will; but do not try to bend God's will to adapt it to yours. To obey does not mean to be a puppet in someone else's hands, but to interiorize what we must accomplish: and then, to do it “because you feel like it”.
What is common in tax collectors and prostitutes is that their sin is quite public in nature. Others know it and they know it. It is quite obvious. This can work in their favor in the sense that they easily identify themselves as sinners. Therefore, they have a better chance of conversion.
The most difficult part of conversion is to admit that we have sins. More often than not, we always say that: "well, I am a sinner, but not as sinful as my neighbor, or my enemy". There are those who think that we are on the road to holiness, but in the end never even attempt to walk a single step in this journey due to complicity, overconfidence and pride. Many times, we don't think that we have committed very grave sins. We run the risk of becoming a complete first-class Pharisee and moralist, judging everyone from our high throne.
Therefore, let us be cautious; let us learn holiness by looking and examining ourselves regularly so that we can enter conversion.
Our Mother, a great teacher of obedience to the faith, will show us the way to learn how to obey the will of the Father.
What really matters is not saying “yes”, but “doing it”. As the saying goes -actions speak louder than words. On another occasion, Jesus will refer to the doctrine taught by this parable: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven” (Mt 7:21). We need to walk the talk if we need to be pleasing to the Father. As Saint Augustine wrote, “there are two wills. Your will has to be corrected so as to identify it with God's will; but do not try to bend God's will to adapt it to yours. To obey does not mean to be a puppet in someone else's hands, but to interiorize what we must accomplish: and then, to do it “because you feel like it”.
What is common in tax collectors and prostitutes is that their sin is quite public in nature. Others know it and they know it. It is quite obvious. This can work in their favor in the sense that they easily identify themselves as sinners. Therefore, they have a better chance of conversion.
The most difficult part of conversion is to admit that we have sins. More often than not, we always say that: "well, I am a sinner, but not as sinful as my neighbor, or my enemy". There are those who think that we are on the road to holiness, but in the end never even attempt to walk a single step in this journey due to complicity, overconfidence and pride. Many times, we don't think that we have committed very grave sins. We run the risk of becoming a complete first-class Pharisee and moralist, judging everyone from our high throne.
Therefore, let us be cautious; let us learn holiness by looking and examining ourselves regularly so that we can enter conversion.
Our Mother, a great teacher of obedience to the faith, will show us the way to learn how to obey the will of the Father.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Monday, MATTHEW 21:23-27
Jesus' authority was challenged by the chief priests and religious elders in today's Gospel reading. But no one can ever challenge Christ's authority and win. Take a look at the historical setting in which the story in today's first reading took place. It happened near the end of the lsraelites' 40-year journey through the desert. Balaam
had been hired by Balak, the king of the Moabites, to defeat the Israelites by sorcery since Balak knew he could not defeat them by arms. So Balaam set out to put a curse on them, but each time he tried, God convinced him to pronounce a blessing instead. Balaam then warned Balak that no matter what he tried, the Israelites would defeat
them anyway because of a great king Jesus who would come in the distant future.
The vision is especially enchanting as it describes a fundamental reality of faith, that I see Him but not now, and I behold Him though not near.
Jesus’ opponents’ contempt for him is obvious in every encounter; but their fear is also obvious. He was evidently afraid of nothing, but “they were afraid of the crowd,” the text says. They were afraid of the crowd because they were afraid for their own positions. And their “darkened wills” were afraid of the light. It seems we are always caught in the end by what we are afraid to look straight at.
Fear was the underlying factor that paralyzed their spiritual growth. If we listen to fear when seeking an answer from Jesus, he says to us: "I cannot answer your questions. You wouldn't understand me or believe me." The question that Jesus asked about John the Baptist was a test of their willingness to trust the truth. What if Jesus had answered the question posed by the chief priests and elders and defended it so convincingly that could not disagree? They would soon be compromising the truth for the sake of saving their reputation or advancing their own agenda. Giving them an answer would have done them more harm than good.
We need humility to learn. We should be continually educating ourselves about the truths that are taught in scripture. Let’s ask the Lord for the gift of humility to accept truth as it is and be freed from fear to witness to it.
had been hired by Balak, the king of the Moabites, to defeat the Israelites by sorcery since Balak knew he could not defeat them by arms. So Balaam set out to put a curse on them, but each time he tried, God convinced him to pronounce a blessing instead. Balaam then warned Balak that no matter what he tried, the Israelites would defeat
them anyway because of a great king Jesus who would come in the distant future.
The vision is especially enchanting as it describes a fundamental reality of faith, that I see Him but not now, and I behold Him though not near.
Jesus’ opponents’ contempt for him is obvious in every encounter; but their fear is also obvious. He was evidently afraid of nothing, but “they were afraid of the crowd,” the text says. They were afraid of the crowd because they were afraid for their own positions. And their “darkened wills” were afraid of the light. It seems we are always caught in the end by what we are afraid to look straight at.
Fear was the underlying factor that paralyzed their spiritual growth. If we listen to fear when seeking an answer from Jesus, he says to us: "I cannot answer your questions. You wouldn't understand me or believe me." The question that Jesus asked about John the Baptist was a test of their willingness to trust the truth. What if Jesus had answered the question posed by the chief priests and elders and defended it so convincingly that could not disagree? They would soon be compromising the truth for the sake of saving their reputation or advancing their own agenda. Giving them an answer would have done them more harm than good.
We need humility to learn. We should be continually educating ourselves about the truths that are taught in scripture. Let’s ask the Lord for the gift of humility to accept truth as it is and be freed from fear to witness to it.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Advent III Sunday C
Zeph. 3:14-18a,: Phil. 4:4-7,Gosple: Lk 3:10-18
A few years ago The Reader’s Digest reported the story of an attractive and successful business woman who noticed a small lump behind her ear as she was brushing her hair one morning. As the days went on, she noticed that the lump was getting larger, so she decided to see her doctor. Her worst fears were confirmed. The doctor told her that the lump was a large tumor that would require immediate surgery. When she awoke following the surgery, she found her entire head wrapped like that of a mummy. She could see herself in a mirror only through two tiny holes cut into the wrapping. When the bandages were removed after a week she was shocked to see that her once attractive features had become disfigured by a facial paralysis caused perhaps by damage to facial nerves during the removal of the tumor. Standing before the mirror, she told herself that she had to make a choice whether to laugh or to cry. She decided to laugh. Although the various therapies tried were unsuccessful in alleviating the facial paralysis, the decision to laugh in the face of adversity allowed this woman to carry on with her life with joy, giving encouragement to those with similar paralysis.
Today is “Gaudete” Sunday. Today we light the rose candle of the Advent wreath, and the celebrants wear rose vestments to express our communal joy in the coming of Jesus, as our Savior. The rose color signifies "rejoicing." Advent is a time for joy, not because we are anticipating the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, but because God is already in our midst. Christian joy does not come from the absence of sorrow, pain or trouble, but from an awareness of the presence of Christ within our souls.
St. Paul tells us to "rejoice in the Lord always." He doesn't say, "rejoice when things go your way." Or "rejoice when you are feeling good." No, he simply says, "rejoice always." Why it is necessary for a Christian to always rejoice.
St. Paul himself gives the reason in the second sentence: "Your kindness should be known to all." Inner joy leads to kindness.* The person who goes around sullen, angry and bitter has a hard time treating others with kindness. On the contrary, the angry person often treats others harshly. St. Paul presents joy, constant joy, as not just a good thing, but as a duty.
The people in today's Gospel think John the Baptist must be the Christ, when all he is doing is telling them things they already know. The tax collectors know they shouldn't cheat their own people. The soldiers know they shouldn't practice extortion. But hearing it out of someone else's mouth is challenging. John isn't calling them to a radically different life. He doesn't tell the tax collectors to stop collecting taxes. He doesn't tell the soldiers to give up soldiering. He simply calls them to do what they already know to be right.
There's nothing foolish in these people's wanting to go to someone who sees their moral situation more clearly and can say the things they know to be true, but have conveniently forgotten. And they respond to being recalled to themselves, reminded of what they already know, with a certain kind of awe.
John, however, knows that that will not be enough on its own, that what he offers is not the transformation that they really need. Repentance, which is John's message, is a very important part of what we all need, but it will only be part of what will save us.
We are waiting with eager anticipation for the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas because God in Christ is offering us far more than that. Jesus is not just setting us back on our feet, recalling us to the faithful following of God's law. He is doing that, but he offers so much more. Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. That baptism is much more than a sign of repentance, much more even that a simple forgiveness of sins, if by that we just mean a wiping of the slate clean. We're not just set back on our feet: the love of God is poured into our hearts.
Repentance is not just changing our minds, or feeling sorry for something that we have done, or even making bold resolves that we will never participate in certain conduct again. Instead, repentance means to turn around and go in another direction. The prodigal son realized of his wrong when he was living with the pigs, but he did not stay there realizing that, he walked towards the home, to meet the Father. What John the Baptist wanted his audience to hear was: Not just repent of your sins but Turn your life toward this one called Messiah as well. This is not negative or down-faced. Rather, it breaks the chains of oppression and death that hold us back. So repentance is for rejoicing. Repent Your Way to a Merry Christmas.
We are all to a greater or lesser degree tax collectors and sinners. They had the honesty to admit it and asked John what they should do in order to be ready to welcome the Messiah. Let us ask today what we should do if we mean to welcome Christ sincerely at Christmas. The secret of happiness consists in being faithful to one’s commitments and responsibilities while at the same time enjoying life. It is easy to be happy when we are doing what we want. But to find happiness in what we have to do is a blessing from God. As Mother Teresa says, “Do small things but with great love.” Let us rejoice and enable others to rejoice following the words of John the Baptist during this advent season.
A few years ago The Reader’s Digest reported the story of an attractive and successful business woman who noticed a small lump behind her ear as she was brushing her hair one morning. As the days went on, she noticed that the lump was getting larger, so she decided to see her doctor. Her worst fears were confirmed. The doctor told her that the lump was a large tumor that would require immediate surgery. When she awoke following the surgery, she found her entire head wrapped like that of a mummy. She could see herself in a mirror only through two tiny holes cut into the wrapping. When the bandages were removed after a week she was shocked to see that her once attractive features had become disfigured by a facial paralysis caused perhaps by damage to facial nerves during the removal of the tumor. Standing before the mirror, she told herself that she had to make a choice whether to laugh or to cry. She decided to laugh. Although the various therapies tried were unsuccessful in alleviating the facial paralysis, the decision to laugh in the face of adversity allowed this woman to carry on with her life with joy, giving encouragement to those with similar paralysis.
Today is “Gaudete” Sunday. Today we light the rose candle of the Advent wreath, and the celebrants wear rose vestments to express our communal joy in the coming of Jesus, as our Savior. The rose color signifies "rejoicing." Advent is a time for joy, not because we are anticipating the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, but because God is already in our midst. Christian joy does not come from the absence of sorrow, pain or trouble, but from an awareness of the presence of Christ within our souls.
St. Paul tells us to "rejoice in the Lord always." He doesn't say, "rejoice when things go your way." Or "rejoice when you are feeling good." No, he simply says, "rejoice always." Why it is necessary for a Christian to always rejoice.
St. Paul himself gives the reason in the second sentence: "Your kindness should be known to all." Inner joy leads to kindness.* The person who goes around sullen, angry and bitter has a hard time treating others with kindness. On the contrary, the angry person often treats others harshly. St. Paul presents joy, constant joy, as not just a good thing, but as a duty.
The people in today's Gospel think John the Baptist must be the Christ, when all he is doing is telling them things they already know. The tax collectors know they shouldn't cheat their own people. The soldiers know they shouldn't practice extortion. But hearing it out of someone else's mouth is challenging. John isn't calling them to a radically different life. He doesn't tell the tax collectors to stop collecting taxes. He doesn't tell the soldiers to give up soldiering. He simply calls them to do what they already know to be right.
There's nothing foolish in these people's wanting to go to someone who sees their moral situation more clearly and can say the things they know to be true, but have conveniently forgotten. And they respond to being recalled to themselves, reminded of what they already know, with a certain kind of awe.
John, however, knows that that will not be enough on its own, that what he offers is not the transformation that they really need. Repentance, which is John's message, is a very important part of what we all need, but it will only be part of what will save us.
We are waiting with eager anticipation for the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas because God in Christ is offering us far more than that. Jesus is not just setting us back on our feet, recalling us to the faithful following of God's law. He is doing that, but he offers so much more. Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. That baptism is much more than a sign of repentance, much more even that a simple forgiveness of sins, if by that we just mean a wiping of the slate clean. We're not just set back on our feet: the love of God is poured into our hearts.
Repentance is not just changing our minds, or feeling sorry for something that we have done, or even making bold resolves that we will never participate in certain conduct again. Instead, repentance means to turn around and go in another direction. The prodigal son realized of his wrong when he was living with the pigs, but he did not stay there realizing that, he walked towards the home, to meet the Father. What John the Baptist wanted his audience to hear was: Not just repent of your sins but Turn your life toward this one called Messiah as well. This is not negative or down-faced. Rather, it breaks the chains of oppression and death that hold us back. So repentance is for rejoicing. Repent Your Way to a Merry Christmas.
We are all to a greater or lesser degree tax collectors and sinners. They had the honesty to admit it and asked John what they should do in order to be ready to welcome the Messiah. Let us ask today what we should do if we mean to welcome Christ sincerely at Christmas. The secret of happiness consists in being faithful to one’s commitments and responsibilities while at the same time enjoying life. It is easy to be happy when we are doing what we want. But to find happiness in what we have to do is a blessing from God. As Mother Teresa says, “Do small things but with great love.” Let us rejoice and enable others to rejoice following the words of John the Baptist during this advent season.
Friday, December 11, 2009
December, 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Today is the feast of our lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of Americas. The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe dates back to the 16th century. According to tradition, the Blessed Mother appeared to a poor Indian named Juan Diego whose feast we celebrated three days ago. Juan Diego, who was converted to Christianity only in his adulthood. He was 57-year-old widower when he witnessed the apparition of Mary. He lived in a small town near Mexico City.
It all happened on a Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, while he was on his way to a nearby village. He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and asked him to see the bishop of Mexico.
The Blessed Virgin wanted a church to be built in her honor. Juan Diego, in obedience to the beautiful woman, went to the bishop’s residence and told him what the Blessed Mother wanted him to say. The bishop asked Juan Diego to return with a “sign” that it was indeed the Blessed Mother whom he had talked to. When the lady again appeared to Juan Diego, the lady asked him to gather Castilian roses --- flowers that are uncommon in Tepeyac and particularly in December. Diego wrapped the flowers in his tilma (peasant cloak). Then, he proceeded to the bishop. When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared an image of Mary exactly as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. The miraculous event happened on December 12, 1531. Tilma is a poor quality cactus-cloth, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay 477 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin.
Why is she called Our Lady of Guadalupe. In all apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary she identified herself as the Virgin Mary and phrases like Mother of God or another of Her Titles, and was later usually known by the name of the place or region where she appeared (Lourdes, Fatima). And so it should have been our lady of Tepeyac. So why should Mary, when appearing to a Native American in recently invaded Mesoamerica and speaking in the local language, want to be named with the Spanish name of Guadalupe?
Was she referring to the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, that was given by Pope Gregory the Great to the Bishop of Seville, Spain, was lost for 600 years and was found in 1326 by a cowherd named Gil Cordero guided by an apparition of Our Lady? This statue was named Guadalupe for the village located near the place of discovery.
Most believe that the word comes from the Aztec Nahuatl word which was spoken by Juan Diego , which would mean “who crushes the serpent. That is the most probable explanation of the name Guadalupe. Because in that part of the country the priests sacrificed thousands of human beings to the snake god. Snake is the symbol of Satan and so it could mean Mary who crushes the head of Satan.
An incredible list of miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to Her. Yearly, between 18 - 20 million pilgrims visit the Basilica making it Christianity's most visited sanctuary. Altogether 25 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe. His Holiness John Paul II visited her Sanctuary four times.
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on December 12th. In 1999, Pope John Paul II in his homily from the Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, declared the date of December the 12th as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent.
During the same visit Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of being born.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is also regarded as the “Mother of Life.” We pray to her in a special way to beg her intercession for our pro-life advocacies. May Our Lady of Guadalupe bless our undertakings for the sanctification of our families and protection of unborn.
It all happened on a Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, while he was on his way to a nearby village. He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and asked him to see the bishop of Mexico.
The Blessed Virgin wanted a church to be built in her honor. Juan Diego, in obedience to the beautiful woman, went to the bishop’s residence and told him what the Blessed Mother wanted him to say. The bishop asked Juan Diego to return with a “sign” that it was indeed the Blessed Mother whom he had talked to. When the lady again appeared to Juan Diego, the lady asked him to gather Castilian roses --- flowers that are uncommon in Tepeyac and particularly in December. Diego wrapped the flowers in his tilma (peasant cloak). Then, he proceeded to the bishop. When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared an image of Mary exactly as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. The miraculous event happened on December 12, 1531. Tilma is a poor quality cactus-cloth, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay 477 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin.
Why is she called Our Lady of Guadalupe. In all apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary she identified herself as the Virgin Mary and phrases like Mother of God or another of Her Titles, and was later usually known by the name of the place or region where she appeared (Lourdes, Fatima). And so it should have been our lady of Tepeyac. So why should Mary, when appearing to a Native American in recently invaded Mesoamerica and speaking in the local language, want to be named with the Spanish name of Guadalupe?
Was she referring to the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, that was given by Pope Gregory the Great to the Bishop of Seville, Spain, was lost for 600 years and was found in 1326 by a cowherd named Gil Cordero guided by an apparition of Our Lady? This statue was named Guadalupe for the village located near the place of discovery.
Most believe that the word comes from the Aztec Nahuatl word which was spoken by Juan Diego , which would mean “who crushes the serpent. That is the most probable explanation of the name Guadalupe. Because in that part of the country the priests sacrificed thousands of human beings to the snake god. Snake is the symbol of Satan and so it could mean Mary who crushes the head of Satan.
An incredible list of miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to Her. Yearly, between 18 - 20 million pilgrims visit the Basilica making it Christianity's most visited sanctuary. Altogether 25 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe. His Holiness John Paul II visited her Sanctuary four times.
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on December 12th. In 1999, Pope John Paul II in his homily from the Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, declared the date of December the 12th as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent.
During the same visit Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of being born.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is also regarded as the “Mother of Life.” We pray to her in a special way to beg her intercession for our pro-life advocacies. May Our Lady of Guadalupe bless our undertakings for the sanctification of our families and protection of unborn.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Wednesday, MATTHEW 11:28-30
‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.’ St.Augustine said we are not learning from Jesus how to refashion the fabric of the world, nor to create all things visible and invisible, nor to work miracles and raise the dead. Rather, we are simply learning from Jesus: 'that he is gentle and humble in heart.’ If we wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level. If we are trying to construct some mighty edifice in height, we will begin with the deepest foundation. This is humility. The taller the building is to be, the deeper we will dig the foundation. The building in the course of its erection rises up high, but the one who digs its foundation must first go down very deep. The heaviest thing in the world is the ego, even though it is a bubble, made of nothing. Ego is what causes heaviness in our life. But when we attach ourselves with Jesus our ego breaks and disappears like a bubble.
We're strengthened by yoking ourselves to Jesus. To be yoked to Jesus means teaming up with him to love as he loves, to plow what he plows, and to go where he goes. Our burdens grow lighter as Jesus helps us pull the load. Our labors become causes for joy as he takes us in a different direction than where we were headed under the weight of anger and resistance and the illusion that life must be easy to be good.
To be meek means to be strong in the truth without forcing it upon anyone. Jesus is so strongly meek that he gladly pulls the weight of our heavy loads after we yoke ourselves to him. In this life of being united to Jesus, he challenges us to work harder. He exercises us while patiently waiting for us to build up our strength so that we can go farther in the work of his kingdom.
An anonymous ancient writer writes: “The burden of Christ helps the one who bears it, because we do not bear grace; grace bears us. It is not for us to help grace, but rather grace has been given to help us.”
Let’s pray to Jesus” Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart unto yours.
We're strengthened by yoking ourselves to Jesus. To be yoked to Jesus means teaming up with him to love as he loves, to plow what he plows, and to go where he goes. Our burdens grow lighter as Jesus helps us pull the load. Our labors become causes for joy as he takes us in a different direction than where we were headed under the weight of anger and resistance and the illusion that life must be easy to be good.
To be meek means to be strong in the truth without forcing it upon anyone. Jesus is so strongly meek that he gladly pulls the weight of our heavy loads after we yoke ourselves to him. In this life of being united to Jesus, he challenges us to work harder. He exercises us while patiently waiting for us to build up our strength so that we can go farther in the work of his kingdom.
An anonymous ancient writer writes: “The burden of Christ helps the one who bears it, because we do not bear grace; grace bears us. It is not for us to help grace, but rather grace has been given to help us.”
Let’s pray to Jesus” Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart unto yours.
Monday, December 7, 2009
DECEMBER 8. Feast Of Immaculate Conception
Genesis 3:9-15, 20: Ephesians 1: 3-6, 11-12,Gosple: Luke 1: 26-38
A humor going around like this: The Pharisees brought the woman, caught red-handed in adultery, to Jesus for judgment. He said, "Let the person who is without sin cast the first stone." They fell silent, and then, all of a sudden, a stone came flying from the crowd. Jesus looked up, surprised and amused, caught the stone and then said, "Hold it, mother? I was trying to make a point, here." This gives a humorous slant to the Catholic belief that Mary was born immaculate to lead an immaculate life.
Mary’s prophecy given in her Magnificat, “Behold all generations will call me blessed,” was fulfilled when the Catholic Church declared four dogmas of faith about her: 1-Immaculate Conception, 2-Perpetual Virginity, 3-Divine Maternity, and 4-Assumption. The Immaculate Conception is a dogma based mainly on Christian tradition and theological reasoning. It was defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX . It reads thus :“From the first moment of her conception, Mary was preserved immune from original sin by the singular grace of God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, savior of the human race.” (CCC). This declaration means that original sanctity, innocence and justice were conferred upon her, and that she was exempted from the evil effects of original sin, except for sorrow, pain, disease and death, the temporal penalties given to Adam. The Fathers of the Church from the fourth century believed and taught that the Blessed Virgin Mary had been kept free of all traces of sin by the grace of God because she was to become the Mother of the Lord Jesus. Church history makes known to us that as early as the seventh century, there was a liturgical observance that proclaimed the Blessed Virgin Mary to be free from sin. Mary herself approved it by declaring to Bernadette at Lourdes: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
Proofs from Holy Scripture:
1) God purified prophet Jeremiah in the womb of his mother and anointed John the Baptist with His Holy Spirit before John’s birth. (Jer. 1/5: “Before I formed you in the womb of your mother I knew you and before you were born, I consecrated you”). Hence it is reasonable that God kept the mother of His Son, free from all sin from the first moment of her origin.
2) The angel saluted Mary as “full of grace”. This greeting means that she was never, even for a moment a slave of sin and the devil. Scripture says “ one who commits sins is a slave of devil.
3) Gen. 3/15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and her seed shall crush your head.” The woman stands for Mary and the promise would not be true if Mary had original sin.
Argument from reason:
1) If we were allowed to select our mother; we would select the most beautiful, healthy and saintly lady. That’s what God did.
2) The All-holy God cannot be born from a woman who has been a slave of the devil, even for a moment in her life.
The celebration of this feast calls us to place an honorable position to Mary in our life. Saints used to say :to Jesus through Mary. Mary first gave Jesus to the world, she keeps giving Jesus to the church and the world.
An outdoor statue of Mary at a church in St. Mary’s, Kansas was especially popular with native Americans. Over the years, it lost most of its paint so that Mary's eyes looked as if she were blind. When a new pastor wanted to repaint the statue, the tribal chief opposed it vigorously saying, “We could never make her look as beautiful as she is in heaven. On the other hand, if we keep the statue the way it is now, it reminds us of how Mary looks down on us from heaven. Her eyes are blind to our faults, but her ears are open to our prayers. Mary is also called the refuge of sinners and the prayer memorare says “ that it is never heard that anyone who went to her protection left unaided.
Let us ask her to obtain for us the grace to respond as generously to God's call as she did and to be as faithful in discipleship to her Son as she was. On this feast day, let us ask her to be with us, to guide us, to protect us through her prayers of intercession with her Son, and to share her privilege with us, making our bodies worthy resting places for her son. And let us learn to respond to God always as Mary said : "May it be done in my life according to your will." .
A humor going around like this: The Pharisees brought the woman, caught red-handed in adultery, to Jesus for judgment. He said, "Let the person who is without sin cast the first stone." They fell silent, and then, all of a sudden, a stone came flying from the crowd. Jesus looked up, surprised and amused, caught the stone and then said, "Hold it, mother? I was trying to make a point, here." This gives a humorous slant to the Catholic belief that Mary was born immaculate to lead an immaculate life.
Mary’s prophecy given in her Magnificat, “Behold all generations will call me blessed,” was fulfilled when the Catholic Church declared four dogmas of faith about her: 1-Immaculate Conception, 2-Perpetual Virginity, 3-Divine Maternity, and 4-Assumption. The Immaculate Conception is a dogma based mainly on Christian tradition and theological reasoning. It was defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX . It reads thus :“From the first moment of her conception, Mary was preserved immune from original sin by the singular grace of God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, savior of the human race.” (CCC). This declaration means that original sanctity, innocence and justice were conferred upon her, and that she was exempted from the evil effects of original sin, except for sorrow, pain, disease and death, the temporal penalties given to Adam. The Fathers of the Church from the fourth century believed and taught that the Blessed Virgin Mary had been kept free of all traces of sin by the grace of God because she was to become the Mother of the Lord Jesus. Church history makes known to us that as early as the seventh century, there was a liturgical observance that proclaimed the Blessed Virgin Mary to be free from sin. Mary herself approved it by declaring to Bernadette at Lourdes: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
Proofs from Holy Scripture:
1) God purified prophet Jeremiah in the womb of his mother and anointed John the Baptist with His Holy Spirit before John’s birth. (Jer. 1/5: “Before I formed you in the womb of your mother I knew you and before you were born, I consecrated you”). Hence it is reasonable that God kept the mother of His Son, free from all sin from the first moment of her origin.
2) The angel saluted Mary as “full of grace”. This greeting means that she was never, even for a moment a slave of sin and the devil. Scripture says “ one who commits sins is a slave of devil.
3) Gen. 3/15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and her seed shall crush your head.” The woman stands for Mary and the promise would not be true if Mary had original sin.
Argument from reason:
1) If we were allowed to select our mother; we would select the most beautiful, healthy and saintly lady. That’s what God did.
2) The All-holy God cannot be born from a woman who has been a slave of the devil, even for a moment in her life.
The celebration of this feast calls us to place an honorable position to Mary in our life. Saints used to say :to Jesus through Mary. Mary first gave Jesus to the world, she keeps giving Jesus to the church and the world.
An outdoor statue of Mary at a church in St. Mary’s, Kansas was especially popular with native Americans. Over the years, it lost most of its paint so that Mary's eyes looked as if she were blind. When a new pastor wanted to repaint the statue, the tribal chief opposed it vigorously saying, “We could never make her look as beautiful as she is in heaven. On the other hand, if we keep the statue the way it is now, it reminds us of how Mary looks down on us from heaven. Her eyes are blind to our faults, but her ears are open to our prayers. Mary is also called the refuge of sinners and the prayer memorare says “ that it is never heard that anyone who went to her protection left unaided.
Let us ask her to obtain for us the grace to respond as generously to God's call as she did and to be as faithful in discipleship to her Son as she was. On this feast day, let us ask her to be with us, to guide us, to protect us through her prayers of intercession with her Son, and to share her privilege with us, making our bodies worthy resting places for her son. And let us learn to respond to God always as Mary said : "May it be done in my life according to your will." .
Monday,LUKE 5:17-26
Today’s Gospel carries on the theme of faith and rescue. The paralytic was blessed with friends who were faithful and persistent. Surely Jesus was also moved by such a demonstration of friendship. We don’t know much about the faith of the paralytic, but his friends demonstrated their faith so vividly and boldly. When the paralyzed man’s unwavering friends could not get him in front of Jesus because the stretcher was too unwieldy to bring through the crowd, they carried him up to the roof and lowered him through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “your sins are forgiven.” The power of faith teaches that the bigger the faith the better a friend we make.
All of us have come to God because someone else shared God’s love with us. Through an unbroken chain going back to the Apostles, the faithful among God’s people have carried forth the truth of the Gospel, carrying an invitation of hope and a relationship of love and friendship with the God who created us, and who reigns as King forever. We need to be grateful for those people, going back to our parents, sibling, and friends who have carried us from time to time along the journey of faith.
A man was on his way to a bridge to leap to his death. He stopped for a traffic light. Standing on the curb was elderly woman who gave him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. As he drove off, the smile began to haunt him. He had no idea who she was, but he does know he owes his life to her. She was a blessing to him at the most critical moment of his life.
God can use us to bless another. Do I really become instrument of God’s healing for others ? If I have not brought at least a few people come to faith and healing I have not really expressed gratitude for my faith and wellness. Let’s express our gratitude to God by leading others to the mercy and forgiveness of God.
All of us have come to God because someone else shared God’s love with us. Through an unbroken chain going back to the Apostles, the faithful among God’s people have carried forth the truth of the Gospel, carrying an invitation of hope and a relationship of love and friendship with the God who created us, and who reigns as King forever. We need to be grateful for those people, going back to our parents, sibling, and friends who have carried us from time to time along the journey of faith.
A man was on his way to a bridge to leap to his death. He stopped for a traffic light. Standing on the curb was elderly woman who gave him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. As he drove off, the smile began to haunt him. He had no idea who she was, but he does know he owes his life to her. She was a blessing to him at the most critical moment of his life.
God can use us to bless another. Do I really become instrument of God’s healing for others ? If I have not brought at least a few people come to faith and healing I have not really expressed gratitude for my faith and wellness. Let’s express our gratitude to God by leading others to the mercy and forgiveness of God.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
ADVENT II: BARUCH 5:1-9; PHILILPPIANS 1:4-6, 8-11; LUKE 3:1-6
Carl Michalson, a brilliant young theologian who died in a plane crash some
years ago, once told about playing with his young son one afternoon. They tussled playfully on their front lawn when Michalson accidentally hit the young boy in the face with his elbow. It was a sharp blow full to his son's face. The little boy was stunned by the impact of the elbow. It hurt, and he was just about to burst into tears. But then he looked into his father's eyes. Instead of anger and hostility, he saw there his father's
sympathy and concern; he saw there his father's love and compassion. Instead
of exploding into tears, the little boy suddenly burst into laughter. What he saw in his father's eyes made all the difference!
The sharp blow of God's message to us is: Repentance. But, look into your father's eyes. What he offers you is forgiveness and that makes all the difference. Repent and you will be forgiven.
On the second Sunday of Advent, we hear the words of the ancient prophet, Malachi.
Malachi tells of a figure who is coming "to prepare the way for the Lord."
He speaks of a messenger who will purify people's hearts. "God is sending an
emissary," writes Malachi, "who comes intending to cleanse your souls."
In this world we find a lot of warning signs: At an intersection, the green light changes to yellow. At the theater the house lights flash. At the airport terminal the boarding call comes over the intercom. At school zone and railroad crossings the lights begin to flash. Tornado siren screams before the tornado hits. On the football field the two-minute warning sounds. They are signs or warnings that we need to prepare ourselves for what is about to happen. Advent and lent are the times the church rings the warning bells. And those who heed the call are found prepared to receive the Lord.
Each year, the second and the third Sundays in Advent center on John the Baptist, reminding us that if we want to prepare properly for the coming of Jesus we need to listen to the Baptizer’s message. The evangelists realized the importance of John’s message. Hence all the four of them wrote about John’s preaching, while only two of them described the nativity of Christ. The Baptizer proclaimed the coming of God’s Kingdom and preached a ceremony of immersion as a response that was to symbolize the interior repentance that leads to forgiveness.
John's baptism was not a proselyte baptism converting Gentiles into Jews. Instead, it was a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and it required repentance (metenoia, a change of being}, which implied a turning around to proceed in a new direction. Baptism itself is a purification ritual and John was inviting people to be purified of the unholy elements in their lives. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist declared, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth” (Lk 3:5). If a king were planning to travel, work crews would be dispatched to repair the roads. Ideally, the roads for the king's journey would be straight, level, and smooth. John considered himself as the courier of the king. But the preparation on which he insisted was a preparation of heart and of life. "The king is coming," he said in effect. “Mend, not your roads, but your lives. A smooth road means nothing to God, but a repentant heart means a great deal. Hence, the truly important goal for us is to prepare our hearts to receive the Lord. True repentance hates the sin, and not merely the penalty; and it hates the sin most of all because it has discovered and felt God's love.
Billy Graham, had these comments about the disease running rampant in our
world: "We're suffering from only one disease in the world. Our basic problem is not a race problem. Our basic problem is not a poverty problem. Our basic problem is not a war problem. Our basic problem is a heart problem. We need to get the heart changed, the heart transformed." This is the call of John the baptizer today.
As we walk farther into the Advent we need to prepare the way for the Messiah in our hearts: We have to fill in the “valleys” of our souls which have resulted from our shallow prayer life and a minimalist way of living our faith. We have to straighten out whatever crooked paths we’ve been walking, like involvement in some secret or habitual sins or in a sinful relationship. If we have been involved in some dishonest practices at work or at home, we are called to straighten them out and make restitution. If we have been harboring grudges or hatred, or failing to be reconciled with others, now is the time to clear away all the debris. If we have been pushing God off to the side of our road, if we have been saying to Him that we don’t really have the time for Him, now is the time for us to get our priorities straight. And we all have to level the “mountains” of our pride and egocentrism.
John's message calls us to confront and confess our sins. We have to turn away from them in sincere repentance and receive God's forgiveness. There are basically two reasons why people who have recognized their sins fail to receive forgiveness for them. The first is that they fail to repent. But the second is that they fail to forgive. Jesus was very explicit about this in Matthew 6:14 and 15. He says, "For if you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." Is there someone I need to forgive today? We must not let what others have done destroy our lives. We can't be forgiven unless we forgive. We must release our bitterness if we are to be able to allow God to do His healing work in our lives. Let’s heed to the call of John the Baptist to prepare our hearts for real Christmas in our lives.
years ago, once told about playing with his young son one afternoon. They tussled playfully on their front lawn when Michalson accidentally hit the young boy in the face with his elbow. It was a sharp blow full to his son's face. The little boy was stunned by the impact of the elbow. It hurt, and he was just about to burst into tears. But then he looked into his father's eyes. Instead of anger and hostility, he saw there his father's
sympathy and concern; he saw there his father's love and compassion. Instead
of exploding into tears, the little boy suddenly burst into laughter. What he saw in his father's eyes made all the difference!
The sharp blow of God's message to us is: Repentance. But, look into your father's eyes. What he offers you is forgiveness and that makes all the difference. Repent and you will be forgiven.
On the second Sunday of Advent, we hear the words of the ancient prophet, Malachi.
Malachi tells of a figure who is coming "to prepare the way for the Lord."
He speaks of a messenger who will purify people's hearts. "God is sending an
emissary," writes Malachi, "who comes intending to cleanse your souls."
In this world we find a lot of warning signs: At an intersection, the green light changes to yellow. At the theater the house lights flash. At the airport terminal the boarding call comes over the intercom. At school zone and railroad crossings the lights begin to flash. Tornado siren screams before the tornado hits. On the football field the two-minute warning sounds. They are signs or warnings that we need to prepare ourselves for what is about to happen. Advent and lent are the times the church rings the warning bells. And those who heed the call are found prepared to receive the Lord.
Each year, the second and the third Sundays in Advent center on John the Baptist, reminding us that if we want to prepare properly for the coming of Jesus we need to listen to the Baptizer’s message. The evangelists realized the importance of John’s message. Hence all the four of them wrote about John’s preaching, while only two of them described the nativity of Christ. The Baptizer proclaimed the coming of God’s Kingdom and preached a ceremony of immersion as a response that was to symbolize the interior repentance that leads to forgiveness.
John's baptism was not a proselyte baptism converting Gentiles into Jews. Instead, it was a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and it required repentance (metenoia, a change of being}, which implied a turning around to proceed in a new direction. Baptism itself is a purification ritual and John was inviting people to be purified of the unholy elements in their lives. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist declared, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth” (Lk 3:5). If a king were planning to travel, work crews would be dispatched to repair the roads. Ideally, the roads for the king's journey would be straight, level, and smooth. John considered himself as the courier of the king. But the preparation on which he insisted was a preparation of heart and of life. "The king is coming," he said in effect. “Mend, not your roads, but your lives. A smooth road means nothing to God, but a repentant heart means a great deal. Hence, the truly important goal for us is to prepare our hearts to receive the Lord. True repentance hates the sin, and not merely the penalty; and it hates the sin most of all because it has discovered and felt God's love.
Billy Graham, had these comments about the disease running rampant in our
world: "We're suffering from only one disease in the world. Our basic problem is not a race problem. Our basic problem is not a poverty problem. Our basic problem is not a war problem. Our basic problem is a heart problem. We need to get the heart changed, the heart transformed." This is the call of John the baptizer today.
As we walk farther into the Advent we need to prepare the way for the Messiah in our hearts: We have to fill in the “valleys” of our souls which have resulted from our shallow prayer life and a minimalist way of living our faith. We have to straighten out whatever crooked paths we’ve been walking, like involvement in some secret or habitual sins or in a sinful relationship. If we have been involved in some dishonest practices at work or at home, we are called to straighten them out and make restitution. If we have been harboring grudges or hatred, or failing to be reconciled with others, now is the time to clear away all the debris. If we have been pushing God off to the side of our road, if we have been saying to Him that we don’t really have the time for Him, now is the time for us to get our priorities straight. And we all have to level the “mountains” of our pride and egocentrism.
John's message calls us to confront and confess our sins. We have to turn away from them in sincere repentance and receive God's forgiveness. There are basically two reasons why people who have recognized their sins fail to receive forgiveness for them. The first is that they fail to repent. But the second is that they fail to forgive. Jesus was very explicit about this in Matthew 6:14 and 15. He says, "For if you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." Is there someone I need to forgive today? We must not let what others have done destroy our lives. We can't be forgiven unless we forgive. We must release our bitterness if we are to be able to allow God to do His healing work in our lives. Let’s heed to the call of John the Baptist to prepare our hearts for real Christmas in our lives.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Wednesday,MATTHEW 15:29-37
Freedom from want is a theme of these three readings. The Lord in Isaiah will provide us a rich feast; for the psalmist the Lord is a shepherd that shields us from want; Jesus both heals the hurting and feeds the hungry. And although the theme is expressed in terms of easing hunger, it also resonates with satisfying our spiritual needs – Isaiah says the Lord will destroy death forever, and the psalmist indicates we will live in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives.
Jesus has just finished giving a three-day seminar. His message was so captivating that most people forgot to go home and eat. Jesus understood their needs. He cared about them so much that he worked a miracle, taking what was insufficient and converting it into a generous heaping of more than what was necessary. Clearly, there was no limit to Jesus' generosity that day.
Jesus understands our needs! He cares about us! He can and wants to give us more than we need! But he also wants us to perform what he performed on the desert. Develop compassion for the hungry and lonely, and become the hands in feeding the hungry. It is our obligation as Christian servants to feed the poor, give water to the thirsty and clothe the naked.
During this period of renewal and waiting, we need to consider the circumstances of those desperately in need and do what we need to do to come to their aid. At every Mass, Jesus comes to us whole and entire filled with the same desire and power to heal that moved him two thousand years ago. Let us come to the banquet of the Lord eager for him to wipe the tears from our eyes and to heal us body and soul.
Jesus has just finished giving a three-day seminar. His message was so captivating that most people forgot to go home and eat. Jesus understood their needs. He cared about them so much that he worked a miracle, taking what was insufficient and converting it into a generous heaping of more than what was necessary. Clearly, there was no limit to Jesus' generosity that day.
Jesus understands our needs! He cares about us! He can and wants to give us more than we need! But he also wants us to perform what he performed on the desert. Develop compassion for the hungry and lonely, and become the hands in feeding the hungry. It is our obligation as Christian servants to feed the poor, give water to the thirsty and clothe the naked.
During this period of renewal and waiting, we need to consider the circumstances of those desperately in need and do what we need to do to come to their aid. At every Mass, Jesus comes to us whole and entire filled with the same desire and power to heal that moved him two thousand years ago. Let us come to the banquet of the Lord eager for him to wipe the tears from our eyes and to heal us body and soul.
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