Baptism of the Lord.

IS.42:1-7; Acts 10:34-38; Mt.3:13-17

The Christmas season, comes to an end with the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. Christmas is the feast of God’s self-revelation to the Jews and Epiphany celebrates God’s self-revelation to the Gentiles. At his baptism in the Jordan, Christ reveals himself to repentant sinners. The liturgical season of Christmas comes to conclusion this Sunday with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord.
Baptism had been practiced for centuries among the Jews as a ritual equivalent to our confession. Converts were also expected to take this bath before entering Judaism. The Orthodox Jews still retain the rite. John preached that such a bath was a necessary preparation for the cataclysm that would be wrought by the coming Messiah.

John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance: people who were moved by his preaching to change their ways went out to the river to be baptized by him. Thus they symbolized their need to finish with their old ways and turn over a new leaf. Jesus joined the crowd to show complete solidarity with sinners; he sat and ate with sinners, shared his life with them, defended them against heartless religious authorities who would call them unclean and cast them out. He did not come like a firebrand yelling God’s vengeance on sinners, but preaching mercy of God to repentant sinners, though did not mince words with the arrogant hypocrites. As Isaiah said he will not break a bruised reed, or quench the dimly burning wick. Or he will not enforce ‘the eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth’ principle. On the contrary as the Baptist said: he will baptize with the holy spirit leading people on the way of transformation. In his baptism when he identified himself with humanity, he included us in his righteousness.

When we were baptized we experienced God’s love and forgiveness. It was a time of beginning of change, inviting us to figure out what that involves. Baptism saves, but it is only a beginning of God’s saving activity; not the end of saving activity of God, like many other denominations believe, calling themselves fully saved. Baptism is only the gateway to  God’s saving activity.

Most of us dipped the fingers of our right hands into the holy water font and blessed ourselves when we came into Church today. Why ? This blessing is supposed to remind us of our Baptism. And so when I bless myself with the Holy water, I should be thinking of the fact that I am a child of God; that I have been redeemed by the Cross of Christ; that I have been made a member of God’s family and that I have been washed, forgiven, cleansed and purified by the blood of the Lamb.

The 13th century King of France,S t.Louise IX, insisted that the grand celebration of his birthday should be held on the day of his baptism, and not on his birthday proper. His argument was that Baptism was the beginning of a life that would continue for eternity in the everlasting glory of heaven.
There is a folk tale from India that summarizes our thoughts on baptism’s power. There was a good king who ruled wisely and well. One day the king called his three daughters together and told them he was leaving on a long journey. “ I wish to learn about God, so I will need to go away and spend a long time in prayer. In my absence I will leave the three of you in charge. Before I leave I would like to leave each of you with a gift; a gift I pray will help you learn how to wisely use your power to rule.” Then he placed in each of their hands a single grain of rice.

The first daughter tied a long golden thread around her grain of rice and placed it in a beautiful crystal box. Every day she looked at it and reminded herself that she was powerful. The second daughter took one look at the common grain of rice, and threw it away, thus squandering her father’s mysterious gift. The third daughter just looked at her grain of rice for a long, long time- until she finally understood what to do with it…
She went outside and planted it in a field. And it became a seed giving life beyond itself, eventually turning into a vast field of hope and nourishment to others.  When the father returned years later, he asked his daughters what they had done with their grains of rice. Though he was polite with his first two daughters, he did not respond to their explanations with much enthusiasm. It was only after the king saw the fields of grain resulting from the 3rd daughter’s wisdom that he responded with delight. Taking the crown off his head, he placed it on hers, saying, Beloved, you alone has learned the meaning of power. From that day onward that daughter ruled the kingdom. Our baptism helps us to be one with Christ and to grow in Christ. Like that 3rd daughter who developed the gift manifold, we need also to increase the power of baptism in our life by fulfilling the promises we made to God.

Let us ask Our Lord today to make us faithful to our baptismal promises, helping us to put on the mind of Christ and grow to the stature of Christ.

EPIPHANY OF THE LORD.  Is 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-3, 5-6; Mt 2:1-12

Today is the feast of Epiphany. The Greek word Epiphany means appearance or manifestation. The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates Jesus’ first appearance to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi. Who were these Magi ? The word ‘magi’ is translated here as “wise men.”  ‘Magus’ meant different things: a magus was a member of the Persian priestly caste; or one who possessed occult knowledge and power (this is the origin of our word ‘magic’).  They were, basically, the "scientists" of the ancient world. They were like the scholars and professors of ancient times. But instead of working in universities, they usually worked for kings. A king would finance his own group of scholars, using them as consultants and translators, and also to enhance his kingdom's reputation.  King Herod consulted the Jewish magi or scholars to tell him the place and time of the Savior’s birth, though they themselves failed to look for him.

The Orthodox Church holds that the Magi consisted of twelve Kings, corresponding in number to the twelve tribes of Israel.   Commentary on the Torah by Jewish rabbis suggested that a star appeared in the sky at the births of Abraham, Isaac and Moses.  Likewise, in the Book of Numbers, the prophet Balaam speaks of "a star that shall come out of Jacob."  Stars were believed to be signs from God, announcing important events.  

We know what their coming meant, theologically speaking - it shows that Jesus Christ was not just another Jewish prophet. The Magi were "from the east" - they were not Jews. And yet, they came to worship Jesus. This shows that Christ was the promised Savior of the entire world, of both the Jews and the Gentiles.

While Jesus’ mission was first to the lost sheep of Israel, it was not to be exclusively for them. Jesus would tell his Apostles: Go out into all the world and preach the good news. The good news of salvation is “catholic” – a word that comes from the Greek language which means universal. If Salvation is “catholic”, then the Church which Jesus founded to preach the good news of salvation must necessarily be Catholic as well. 

Our unity is not founded on race or language or nation of origin – rather it is founded on Christ. We acknowledge one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism as Paul tells.

The adoration of the Magi fulfills the oracle of Isaiah (first reading), prophesying that the nations of the world will travel to the Holy City following a brilliant light and will bring gold and incense to contribute to the worship of God.

The presence of the searchers of this new born king really startled king Herod. Herod was one of history’s great tyrants: he spared no one, not even his own family; to keep his grip on power he murdered his wife, three of his sons, his brother-in-law, an uncle, and even his mother-in-law.  He had been appointed “King of the Jews” by the Roman Senate in 40 BC and he had already reigned for over thirty years.  He was in no mind to hear of a new king, especially one who was no son of his. “He was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.”  He was frightened to hear of a rival, and the people were frightened because they knew what he was capable of.  

Herod would fail to kill him, but later on they themselves would succeed. 

The scribes, Pharisees and the Jewish priests knew that there were nearly 500 prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures concerning the promised Messiah.  They were able to tell Herod the exact time and place of Jesus’ birth.    Unfortunately, they were more interested in their own selfish gains than in discovering the truth. Hence, they refused to go and see the child Jesus -- even though Bethlehem was only 6 miles south of Jerusalem.  They were totally engrossed in their Temple rituals and legal discussions that they completely disregarded Jesus. He meant nothing to them. Even today there are many among us who disregard Jesus. He is considered as a noble person to be worshiped and adored. But he is not given any role in their personal lives. Today many Christians remind us of this group.   They practice their religion from selfish motives, such as to gain political power, prestige and recognition by society.  

The only group that came to worship the savior was the Shepherds and Magi. The shepherds offered the only gifts they had: love, tears of joy, and probably woolen clothes and milk from their sheep.  The Magi offered gold, in recognition of Jesus as the King of the Jews; frankincense, in acknowledgment that He was God, and myrrh as a symbol of His human nature. 

This feast invites us to see ourselves as images of the Magi, a people on a journey to Christ. In our journey to Christ, what he needs is not what we have, but what we are. Our total self, our sins and our virtues, our strength and our weaknesses, our sufferings and sorrows , Our talents and efforts.

Today, when we receive our Lord again in Holy Communion, let's lay at his feet whatever will please him most, whatever he is asking for, so that we may share the joy and peace of the magi who travelled long thirsting for the Savior of the world.

MOTHER OF GOD- NEW YEAR.

A few weeks ago, when Pope Francis was selected as “Person of the Year,” a young woman of feminist leanings joked, “We should have a WOMAN as head of the church ABOVE the Pope,”.  Another woman who heard her immediately tossed back, “We have one- Mary.  Mary, Mother of God, is above the Pope in the Church!”   She is not God, but above any human being as the message of the angel indicated “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb too. She herself proclaimed: All generations will call me blessed.

Today we celebrate the New year, but as Catholics today we think and celebrate Mary as the Mother of God.  Mary’s Motherhood is the heart and reason for all our attention to and claims on Mary through the centuries.

Jesus once asked his disciples “Who do you say I am?” (Mt 16:15).  It is a question that never goes away, and every believer faces it again and again.  We can be quite clear in our mind about the Church’s answer to the question, but every believer has to experience the force of the question addressed to him or herself.  “Who do you say I am?”  In a sense it cannot be fully answered with words but only with one’s life.  It could have the right formulation but it has little significance if my life contradicts it or ignores it. 

Through the centuries every possible answer has been given.  Followers of Nestorius, the 5th-century archbishop of Constantinople said that Christ was two persons – the man Jesus and the divine Son of God.  This view was rejected at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD), which insisted that Jesus was one person with two natures, divine and human.  The most emphatic way they could say this was to affirm that Mary was not just the mother of the man Jesus, but that she was the mother of God.  This was to say that Christ was one person, not two.  If there were two persons in Jesus, Mary could not be the mother of Son of God. She could only be the mother of human Jesus, not of the Christ. Note that it is more a statement about Christ than about Mary – or rather, equally so.

In today's Second Reading, St Paul reminds us that through God's grace we have all become brothers and sisters of Christ and, therefore, children of God.

This is what happened at baptism. At that moment we were born again, supernaturally; God infused his divine DNA into our souls. The spiritual life consists of the gradual spread and development of that DNA, until each one of us becomes a mature, wise, and fruitful follower of Jesus Christ.

Today's Solemnity reminds us that if we have become Christ's spiritual brothers and sisters, we have also become spiritual children of Mary. She was his mother in the flesh, and she is our mother in grace. Representing all disciples of Jesus in John the apostle Jesus said: this is your mother.

In today's Gospel she teaches us one of the most important virtues of all: wisdom. St Luke tells us how Mary responded to the wonderful things that God was doing in and around her: "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart."

God did not tell Mary His entire plan. She had to walk in the dim light of faith, one step at a time, trusting in God, witnessing his action, and seconding it whenever she could. This capacity and habit of reflecting in our heart of God's action in our lives is both a sign and a source of wisdom. And we can never become mature, courageous, and joyful  followers of Christ unless we develop it.

Our culture has a custom of making new year resolutions. Why not make the resolution to spend this year learning from our spiritual mother how to let God put wisdom into our lives, by "keeping all these things and reflecting on them in our hearts" through praying Rosary every day. Rosary is a very powerful weapon to fight Satanic influences in our families if prayed together as a family.

As we make new priorities for life, let’s make sure that Jesus and Mary find a place in our plans and decision makings. When  wrestling with all the uncertainties of life, struggles, challenges that seem to keep coming our way, remember we can fight them all with the help of Mary and her Son.

In closing let me draw our attention to one of the important areas we should be paying attention to this new year. It is about redeeming our time.

What portion of our time does God have in my everyday life ? How much television are we watching? How much time to sports are we devoting? What are we doing with our time? If we don’t find time for God, he will not find time for us to. Let’s not always be pleasure seekers but seekers of Holiness, which gives us joy and peace.  Let’s start every day of our New year on our knees, one who kneels before God can stand up to anything in life. Wish you all a happy new year.

Feast of the Holy Family :Sir 3:2-6, 12-14, Col: 3:12-21, Mat: 2:13-15, 19-23).

Pope Francis said that as a child, he heard a story of a family with a mother, father, many children and a grandfather. The grandfather, suffering from Parkinson’s illness, would drop food on the dining table, and smear it all over his face when he ate. His son considered it disgusting. Hence, one day he bought a small table and set it off to the side of the dining hall so the grandfather would eat, make a mess and not disturb the rest of the family. One day, the Pope said, the grandfather’s son came home and found one of his sons playing with a piece of wood. “What are you making?” he asked his son. “A table,” the son replies. “Why?” the father asks. “It’s for you, Dad, when you get old like grandpa, I am going to give you this table.” Ever since that day, the grandpa was given a prominent seat at the dining table and all the help he needed in eating by his son and daughter-in-law. “This story has done me such good throughout my life,” said the Pope, who celebrated his 77th birthday on December 17. “Grandparents are a treasure,” he said. There is sickness and all that, but the wisdom our grandparents have is something we must welcome as an inheritance.” A society or community that does not value, respect and care for its elderly members “doesn’t have a future because it has no memory, it’s lost its memory,” Pope Francis added.

On the last Sunday of the year, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family.  The first reading is a commentary on the fourth commandment: "Honor your father and your mother." Ben Sirach mentions a two-fold reward which God promises to those who honor their father and mother. The first reward is “riches,” and the second long life.

Paul, in the letter to the Colossians, advises us that we should put on love and remain thankful in our relationships with one another. The reading says that if the parents fail to do what is right and just in the sight of God, they can hardly complain if their children turn out disobedient to God and to them. The young learn more from example than from precept.

Holy- means healthy. A family can grow healthy only on the key virtues of forgiveness and patience. "Put on... patience," St Paul writes, "bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do."

There is no way to create an atmosphere of forgiveness without being ready to ask for forgiveness. The best gift we can give our families is to make a commitment to always be the first one to say "I'm sorry" whenever there is the slightest need. That little phrase is like super-glue for family relationships.

 A senior Judge of the Supreme Court congratulated the bride and groom in a marriage with a pertinent piece of advice: “See that you never convert your family into a courtroom; 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.”

Today's Gospel described for us a family on the run, suffering, struggling just to survive. God permits hardships, because he knows that hardships can bring us closer to him. When we face the hardships of family life with courage, we grow in virtue and glorify God better, because we have a chance to love more heroically.

Jesus did not come to a protected life, but he came to the life that any ordinary man must live.  He experienced the hardships of the people who are forced to leave their home and kinsmen; he can very well relate to the problems of refugees. He experienced the problems of an ordinary workman, while working as a carpenter in Nazareth; and He experienced the pangs of death when his foster father died.

When we try to give a struggle free life for our children we do not give them any chance to experience the world in which they live. When we try to provide them the best education, they ignore the illiteracy around. When we struggle to provide them the best food, they are unaware of the poverty that exists around them. When we want to give them the best of everything, they do not see the suffering in the world. So, never hesitate to let our children go through struggles, but help them go through it. It will strengthen them as mature human beings. Family life, truly is the school where we learn to color in the outline of the image of God in which we were created.

At a time when many families are breaking up and breaking down all over, the Holy Family presents itself as our source of great hope and consolation. There is perhaps no other way to keep each family intact and moving onwards except through the virtue of sheer self-sacrifice and self-giving for each other in the family.

May the Holy Family intercede for all families that they may remain one and united in the model of Holy Family of Nazareth.

CHRISTMAS.-2013

A grade school class was putting on a Christmas play which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. In that class was one little boy who wanted very much to be Joseph. But when the parts were handed out, his biggest rival was given that part, and he was assigned to be the inn keeper instead. He was really bitter about this.

So during all the rehearsals he kept plotting in his mind what he might do the night of performance to get even with his rival who was Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn, and the inn-keeper opened the door and asked them gruffly what they wanted.

Joseph answered, "We’d like to have a room for the night." Suddenly the inn-keeper threw the door open wide and said, "Great, come on in and I’ll give you the best room in the house."

For a few seconds poor little Joseph didn’t know what to do, and a long silence ensued. Finally thinking quickly on his feet, Joseph looked in past the inn-keeper, first to the left and then to the right and said, "No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this. Come on, Mary, let’s go to the barn." And once again the play was back on course.

In the beginning of creation, Satan tried to sabotage God’s plan for the creation, using innocent Adam and Eve as victims. As a result God had to rewrite rest of the story to reach the final climax he had intended. For that, God himself had to play the major role in the newly rewritten script. Christmas is the celebration of that role God played in the story of human history.

Jesus, the Incarnation of God as man, came to save us from the bondage of sin. The Hindu Scriptures in India describe ten incarnations of God. The purpose of these incarnations stated in their Holy Scripture is to restore righteousness in the world whenever there is a large scale erosion of moral values. But the Christian Scriptures teach that there was only one, only one Incarnation of God, and the reason is stated in John 3: 16: “God so loved the world that he sent His only Son so that every one who believes in Him may not die, but have eternal life.”  God had promised the coming of his son into the world through several prophets. Jesus is the only one who came into human history who fulfilled all the conditions of those prophesies of Messiah. The gospel of Mathew itself quotes 11 of those prophesies being fulfilled in Jesus. The purpose of incarnation of Jesus was not just to die on the cross and save us from sins, if that were the only purpose, he would have come down on earth a week before the crucifixion and save us from our sins. It also had a purpose to show us how to live a normal human life amid trials and tribulations and be obedient to God’s will.

Christmas is the feast of the Emmanuel -God-with-us, God who continues to live with us in all the events of our lives as announced by the Archangel Gabriel. The Christmas story tells us that there is a way out of our sinfulness and hopelessness, because God is with us. There is a mighty God within us to strengthen us in our weaknesses and temptations, and he will fight for us from within our human nature.

Christmas tells that to find Jesus we need look for Jesus in unlikely places and persons. The magi looked for him in the likely place: the palace of Herod. But they found him in the most unlikely place: the manger. Today we can find him also in the most unlikely places –   in the streets, in slums, in asylums, in orphanages, in nursing homes – starting in our own homes, workplaces and town.

Pope Francis said "God abases himself, descends to earth as someone small and poor, which means that to be like him we should not put ourselves above others, but on the contrary, abase ourselves, give ourselves in service, make ourselves small with the small and poor with the poor,".  He continues: "It is an ugly thing when one sees a Christian who will not abase himself, who will not serve, a Christian who struts about vainly everywhere,"  "That is not Christian, that is pagan." he added.

Today Jesus will come to us again in the Eucharist. Just as he came into the world on the first Christmas, quietly, gently, helplessly, entrusting himself to Mary's care, so he comes to us in Holy Communion, quietly, gently, helplessly, entrusting himself to our care. Christmas reminds us that we have to allow this God of unconditional love to be reborn in us and to start living in us.

He comes into our lives in order to invite us to come into His life, to follow him all the way to heaven. This Christmas, will we take up God's gentle invitation and let Christ come further into our lives? Will we agree to follow him more closely, even if it means leaving our comfort zones behind?

Let’s pray to the newly born divine king to give us the  courage to abase ourselves and to risk our self-sufficiency and comfort for the sake of proclaiming his kingdom of peace on earth. 

III- Advent: Is 35:1-6, 10; Jas 5:7-10; Mt 11: 2- 11

The third Sunday of Advent is known as “Gaudete Sunday.” Its name is taken from the entrance antiphon of the Mass, which is:Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.
This is a quotation from Philippians 4:4-5, and in Latin, the first word of the antiphon is gaudete. By the third Sunday of Advent, we are most of the way through the season.

Thus it is appropriate to rejoice as we see the goal of the season approaching: “The Lord is near.”

In the readings, we hear about miracles associated with the Messianic age, its coming, and what we need to do to prepare. We also learn about the doubts of John the Baptist, how he dealt with them, and the blessing that makes us even more fortunate than John was. John is the greatest, born of women, but one born in the kingdom of God is greater than John.
John the Baptist is almost a New Testament figure; he is a kind of honorary member of the new community.  The Church does not refer to Isaiah or Jeremiah or any of the great prophets as ‘Saint’, but we call John ‘Saint John the Baptist’.  Yet, as Jesus said to the crowd, “the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” 

Scripture scholars over the centuries have wondered why John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he were the one who was to come. There are two possible explanations: 1) John knew that Jesus was the Christ and, as a prisoner, he wanted his disciples to follow Jesus as their new master. So he sent them to ask Jesus this question and presumed that, once they had met Jesus, they would see for themselves that he was the Messiah and so would become followers of Jesus.

2. John the Baptizer became confused about the way in which Jesus acted out his messiahship. He had doubts about the validity of his contemporary, Jesus of Nazareth. John had said that he came to baptize with water, and that the one following him would baptize with "fire from heaven." So, where was the fire? So far there wasn't even smoke. So far, the Pharisees and Sadducees were still in charge of the faith, and Rome was still in charge of the government. In fact, instead of bringing in the kingdom, Jesus had kept pretty quiet up north in Galilee while John got himself arrested and thrown into one of Herod's dungeons on a mountaintop down by the Dead Sea. That might make a person ask some questions. Is this any way for a Messiah to behave?
John may have found sympathetic doubters among his own disciples who might have wondered how the Messiah could leave their own teacher in prison, and how He could usher in the kingdom without political or military might.  This may have been why John sent his disciples to dispel his doubt, asking: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 

Like John or his disciples, are we also expecting a Messiah to come with might and power ? Or are we content to recognize him coming to us in a simple unassuming way, in the quiet and simplicity of a manger ? Our Christmas preparations and celebrations will manifest that our attitude.

Another point for us to bring home is: Instead of criticizing Jesus or breaking away from him, John approached Jesus through his disciples.   John may have had his doubts, but he was open to hearing Jesus say that he was, indeed, the one! John must have recognized the scriptural allusions behind Jesus' answer.  Isaiah 29:18 speaks of the deaf hearing and the blind seeing.  Isaiah 35:6 speaks of the lame leaping like a deer.  Isaiah 26:19 speaks of the dead becoming alive.  Isaiah 61:1 speaks of good news for the oppressed, the brokenhearted, captives and prisoners. These were signs of the Messiah's coming.  

From a theological perspective, this entire episode helps us to understand how the experience of a faith crisis can play a role in our spiritual and emotional development. If John the Baptist, even after having had a direct encounter with Jesus the Messiah, could question, doubt and revise his faith, then so can we.  If disillusionment is a necessary precondition for a more resilient faith, then we, too, must be open to its possibilities . Does the Jesus I believe in fail to act in the way I wish him or desire him ?

        
Did Jesus fail to come when we rubbed the lantern?
Then perhaps Jesus is not a genie.

Did Jesus fail to punish our enemies?
Then perhaps Jesus is not a cop.

Did Jesus fail to make everything run smoothly?
Then perhaps Jesus is not a mechanic.

But, he is the lamb of God as John says, who takes away the sin of the world, a lamb that was born in a manger among other lambs. He is not a political king or a quick fixer of our problems in the way we think he is. So we will surely fail to put him in our small box. Let’s ask him to help us in our doubts to strengthen our faith in him, and understand him the way he wants us to understand him.

ADVENT II- Is 11:1-10; Rom 15:4-9; Mt 3:1-12

In the first reading, prophet Isaiah paints a picture of what the reign of the future descendant of David, Son of Jesse, will look like. Isaiah foresees a time when peace and concord would be established throughout the whole of creation. There would be the restoration of a lost serenity and innocence so that in their relations with one another God’s creatures ‘do no hurt, no harm’.

In his kingdom, “The wolf lives with the lamb,

the panther lies down with the kid, Calf and lion-cub feed together with a little boy to lead them.

The lion eats straw like the ox. The infant plays over the cobra’s hole, into the viper’s lair the young child puts his hand.

In short, he will be able to re-establish harmony between God and man; harmony between man and man; and harmony between man and nature. This extraordinary harmony will be founded on wisdom and the fear of the Lord. Once men come to know God, sin, the cause of disunion, will disappear and peace will set in.

The Gospel of today shows John the Baptist inviting the Jews to “Repent, for the kingdom of God is close at hand.”

John came heralding Jesus and he was the last of the Old Testament Prophets; he came after a gap of 400 years of prophetic silence. In the ancient world, a herald was one who went ahead of a king’s chariot to prepare the road. He would command a crew which would smooth out the usually rough roads of that day by filling potholes and removing boulders. The herald would also go before the king shouting, “Make way, the King is coming!”

John was very straight forward in calling people to conversion. He tells those who came to him for baptism that they cannot claim security simply by calling themselves children of Abraham and thus assuming that the promises made to Abraham would be applied to them. Placing their confidence in their ancestry was not enough to maintain a right relationship with God. Rather, John tells them, if they don’t measure up to their calling then God will simply raise up new children of Abraham. God will leave them as chosen people of God.

Participation in the kingdom of God requires a change of heart. And this means living life in a new and challenging way.

The Greek word for repentance is metánoia which means, "to change one's mind and heart," a change of direction or a U-turn. Repentance involves turning around – facing in a new direction -- with a change of heart and a new commitment. Repentance is a daily experience that renews our Baptism. “The repentant person comes before God saying, 'I can't do it myself, God. Kill me and give me new life. You buried me in Baptism. Bury me again today. Raise me to a new life.'" Repentance for us is not a one-time action but must take place daily, because preparing for the Lord is a perpetual task.  Repentance should lead to right action.

At the time that Leonardo da Vinci painted "The Last Supper," he had an enemy who was a fellow-painter. Da Vinci had a bitter argument with this man and despised him. When Da Vinci painted the face of Judas Iscariot, he used the face of his enemy so that it would be present for ages as the man who betrayed Jesus. While painting this picture, he took delight in knowing that others would actually notice the face of his enemy on Judas. As he worked on the faces of the other disciples, he often tried to paint the face of Jesus but couldn't make any progress. Da Vinci felt frustrated and confused. In time, he realized what was wrong. His hatred for the other painter was holding him back from finishing the face of Jesus. Only after making peace with his fellow-painter and repainting the face of Judas was he able to paint the face of Jesus and complete his masterpiece.

Our repentance should lead us to asking forgiveness from God and the one another. To the offended human person we can ask straight but to get assurance of God’s forgiveness we need to approach him through the sacrament of penance. We have opportunity for that here at our parish this Tuesday at 7.00 pm. We will have 8 priests to choose from, to go to reconciliation.

Bearing good fruit is not just doing good things but being a good tree, making oneself worthy of God’s grace. To experience the joys of the coming Kingdom in a fresh way at this Christmas, just as Christ wants us to, let’s show evidence of true repentance in our life.