EASTER III-A. Acts 2:14, 22-33; 1 Pt 1:17-21; Lk 24:13-35

There is a gripping story of a traveller who was walking along the road one day when a man on horseback rushed by. There was an evil look in his eyes and blood on his hands. Minutes later a crowd of riders drew up and wanted to know if the traveller had seen someone with blood on his hands go by. They were in hot pursuit of him. "Who is he?" the traveller asked. "An evil-doer," said the leader of the crowd. "And you pursue him in order to bring him to justice?" asked the traveller. "No," said the leader, "we pursue him in order to show him the way." (Fr. Anthony de Mello, Taking Flight (New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1990), p. 65.) The picture we have in the Bible is of a God who pursues us so that God may show us the way. From the time of the fall of Adam and Eve, God has been chasing mankind. God chased mankind through the Patriarchs. God chased mankind through the Judges. God chased mankind through His prophets. Finally God chased mankind through His son. Even after the resurrection Jesus continued His chase. He travelled with the disciples. They do not recognize him, but it is he who takes the initiative. He walks with them and interprets Scripture for them. He opened their spiritual eyes and they were able to walk back and share the light they enjoyed from Jesus.

The Emmaus incident described in today’s Gospel shows us a God who will not abandon us when we are hurt and disappointed.  During the meal, when Jesus broke the bread and gave it to Cloepas and his wife, they realized that this stranger was Jesus, the risen Christ, and Jesus immediately vanished.  Later they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us when he opened up the Scriptures to us?”  Since they could not keep the Good News to themselves, these Emmaus disciples walked back seven miles to Jerusalem to share their story with the other disciples.  The Fathers of the Church note how well the details of this Emmaus episode match our process of coming to Faith in Jesus Christ.  First, there are questions and a search for answers.  Then comes a moment of discovery when our eyes are opened and our hearts within begin to burn with longing.  Finally, there is the desire to tell the story to all who will listen.

 Luke tells us that we can meet and experience the risen Lord through the reading and interpretation of Scripture (v. 27), and the “Breaking of the Bread”. The story of the encounter on the Emmaus Road is presented in a liturgical fashion using liturgical language such as the commentary: “he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them” (v 30); “the Lord has risen indeed” (v. 34).  Thus, the risen Christ is revealed through the telling of the story, the interpretation of Scripture, and the Breaking of the Bread.  This means that Christ still reveals himself to us through Word and Sacrament. The word “companion” derives from two Latin words, “cum” meaning “together with,” and “panis” which means “bread,” implying that companionship is the result especially of eating together, breaking bread together, something which is at the heart of the Eucharist.

The Church instructs us to hear Jesus on a daily basis through our faithful reading of, and meditation on, the Bible; through our participation in the Eucharistic celebration (now on TV or internet) at which we receive Jesus as our spiritual Food and Drink ; through our personal and family prayers; and through our family meals. When we meet our risen Lord through the Word of God, we commune with him. We renew our relationship with Jesus through prayer. All these meetings prepare and enable us to encounter the risen Jesus living in all the people we meet and to do Him humble, loving and selfless service in each of them.

Do our hearts burn when we listen to the Risen Lord in the reading of the Scriptures. Vatican II (Dei Verbum 21) tells us that Jesus is to be equally venerated in the Eucharist and in the Bible. Therefore, we need to study the Bible, learn the Bible, memorize the Bible and meditate on the word of God. We know that Christ lives in the Bible, and so we need to spend time in the Bible to have a deep, intimate, loving, caring, long-term relationship with Jesus Christ. We know we are to brush our teeth every day. Likewise, we are to read the Bible every day, making it habitual, because people either read the Bible daily or almost never. When we read the Scriptures daily we meet and converse with Jesus Christ! Abraham Lincoln, whom many consider the best President of the United States, said: “The greatest gift that God gave to human beings is the Bible.” Another President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, said that it was a principle of his to read the Bible through each and every year. Yet another great President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, said, “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.” Goethe, the great German philosopher, said that the beauty of the Bible grows as we grow in our understanding of it.

Emmaus moments come to us when we meet the risen Christ on our life’s journey through rough times. The disciples on the road to Emmaus had a self-pitying message, “we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.” But that wasn’t to be, they thought. And their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. We are facing a time when many feel disappointed like these disciples. Our eyes are prevented from recognizing Jesus who calmed the sea, walked on water, raised the dead and multiplied bread. Though now we are not able to participate in person at Eucharistic celebrations, we can read the scriptures and help our hearts burn with divine love and accept the risen Christ in spiritual communion. Let’s try to read the scripture every day and may memorize the word of God so that it will jump at us in times of disappoints and help us overcome them.

LENT II [A]: Gen 12:1-4a; II Tim 1:8b-10; Mt 17:1-9

Lent is about a week and a half underway, and today’s readings remind us that everything we’re commemorating during this season hinges on faith in Christ. The disciples Peter, James and John who witnessed the transfiguration have been given a profound religious experience. They have been charged to share this experience when the time comes, but not until his resurrection. In all three gospels this Transfiguration scene comes just after Jesus predicted his suffering and death for the first time. The Transfiguration was a preview of the glory of the resurrection. Our own transfiguration can come only after our own passion and cross with Christ. 

This is the way it happened with Abraham too. He had to court the pain of leaving his kith and kin to embrace the promise of God and become the father of a gret nation. The call of Abraham is the beginning of God's covenant with his chosen people, Israel, from whom the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, will come. With the call of Abraham, God's salvation of this sinful world shifts into high gear. God tells Abram exactly why he is asking him to leave behind his comfort zone and follow this call. He says, "I will bless you... All the communities of the earth will find blessing in you."

Fulfillment, lasting happiness, wisdom, maturity, the joy of a life well-lived - that's what God wants, for each one of us, and for the whole human family. That's why he stays involved in this world that rejected him and continues to reject him. Only God can bless us, because only God can remove from our lives and our world the obstacles that keep us from living as we are meant to live: selfishness, greed, lust, sloth, arrogance - in short, sin in all its forms.

Abraham received God's blessing and spread it to those around him and to his descendents. Why? Because he listened to God's call and obeyed it. We too can experience God's blessing more abundantly, and spread it to those we love, if we just do what the Father told Peter, James, and John to do: "Listen to Christ." To listen to him properly and clearly we need to spend some extra time in prayer during the Lent.

 Only by keeping in mind that God wants to bless us, and to bless others through us, can we find the strength we need to listen to him, to obey him.

Following Christ is always demanding. Christ's passion, crucifixion, and death are the pattern of Christian living. Every Christian has to share in Christ's cross in order to share in Christ's resurrection.

We have to die to ourselves, to our selfish desires, in order to be able to live for God and for others, which is where true happiness lies. We have to learn to put ourselves in third place, others in second place, and God in first place. That's not easy. It requires self-sacrifice, self-denial, self-giving. Our selfish tendencies want pleasure, comfort, ease, popularity, and visible success at all costs. But God asks us to sacrifice those passing, empty realities for a higher purpose and a more lasting happiness - just as Jesus did.

We can only do that if we are deeply convinced that living life God's way is the only path to real blessing. This was St Paul's point in the Second Reading. He wrote, "Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God." And then he went on to give a summary of everything that God has done for us in Christ: saving us and calling us to a holy life, destroying death, bringing to light eternal life and immortality.

Today, let's thank God for reminding us that whatever he asks of us is directed towards our own blessing and the blessing of those around us.

And when we receive Jesus again in Holy Communion, let's promise that no matter what happens, we will "listen to him," following him even unto death on a cross. May this Lenten season give us the opportunity to become a blessing for others as Abraham was chosen to be a blessing for the world.

LENT I [A] Gen 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Rom 5:12-19; Mt 4:1-11

Today we begin the first Sunday in the season of Lent. Lent is a season of penance that has been set apart by the Catholic Church in memory of the forty days fast of Our Lord Jesus in the desert.

The first reading from the book of Genesis (Gen 2:7-9, 3:1-7) describes the “Original Temptation” – “You will be like gods, knowing what is good and what is evil.”  It tells us that Adam and Eve were given the possibility of making a choice. The fundamental choice was to live for God, dependent upon and obedient to His will, or to say no to God. Like Adam and Eve, we are all tempted to put ourselves in God’s place. Consequently, we resent every limit on our freedom, and we don’t want to be held responsible for the consequences of our choices, as the first parents tried to pass the blame on each other and the snake.

Paul reminds us of the social consequences of sin. Sin is never a private affair, affecting only myself. When we sin, all our relationships are affected: our relationship with our inner self, our relationships with our brothers and sisters, our relationship with our God and our relationship with nature and the world in which we live.

Today’s Gospel gives an account of the temptations Jesus endured. After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was put to severe temptations.  The message of lent given to us from the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is that we fight against three basic evil natures in us:  temptation to amass material possession, temptation to gain popularity through unfair means, temptation to get power at the cost of others. If we are able to resist them in little measures we will be able to contribute to the alleviation of suffering and injustice that prevail today.

Originally, Lent was the season when those about to be baptized repented of their sins and sought to know the Lord Jesus more intimately. Then it became a season for the baptized to do the same. We are challenged to die to sin so that we may rise again to the new life in Christ.

There is an Irish island called Lough Derg, which is also known as St. Patrick’s Purgatory, which purportedly was visited by St. Patrick in the 5th century. The saint came in order to spend a penitential retreat of forty days and forty nights. And from the Middle Ages to the present day, pilgrims have journeyed there, in imitation of Patrick, to do penance and to pray. When the retreatants arrive, they are instructed immediately to take off their shoes and socks, and they endure the three-day process barefoot, regardless of the weather. That first day, they fast (eating nothing but dry bread and a soup composed of hot water and pepper), and they move through a series of prayers and spiritual exercises. The first night, they are compelled to stay awake, fasting from sleep. If someone dozes off, his fellow pilgrims are expected to wake him up. The following day, they continue with their fast and their exercises, but they are allowed to sleep that night. The third day involves still more prayer and culminates with confession and Mass. After the liturgy, the pilgrims put their shoes back on and are ferried across to the mainland. Those who come to Lough Derg take their spiritual lives with utter seriousness, and that is precisely why they are willing to endure hardship – even imposing it on themselves – in order to deepen their communion with God. They know that there are certain tendencies within their bodies and souls that are preventing the achievement of full friendship with God and therefore they seek, quite sensibly, to discipline themselves.

St. John Henry Newman commented that the ascetical principle is basic to a healthy Christianity. He meant that Christians, at their best, understand that our sinful nature has to be chastised, disciplined, and rightly ordered. When the ascetical instinct disappears (as it has in much of Western Christianity), the spiritual life rapidly becomes superficial and attenuated, devolving into an easy “I’m okay and you’re okay” attitude. The whole point of the Christian life is to find joy, but the attainment of true joy comes, in a sinful world, at the cost of some suffering.

As we delve deeper into the season of lent let’s recognize our need to accept personal suffering and inconveniences to strengthen us in our spiritual footing and the need of grace to fight the temptations that come from within and the testing that comes from outside of us. And let’s earnestly pray the prayer Jesus taught us:  “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

O T VI [A]: Sir 15:15-20, I Cor 2:6-10, Mt 5:17-37

Two great men were born in the year 1564 A.D. One was Shakespeare, who lived to the age of fifty-two and became the greatest dramatist of the English language. The other, Christopher Marlow, perished midway in his life at the age of twenty-nine, because of his anger. Christopher wrote some of the best tragical plays at a very young age. One of his best plays is The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus. Had he lived longer he probably would have become greater than Shakespeare. He was a man given to anger. He picked up a quarrel with a man in a tavern. That man challenged him to a sword fight unto death. They both fought and Christopher was mortally wounded and later succumbed to his injuries. A great promise was terminated because of anger. In the gospel reading today Jesus equates anger with physical murder. Whoever is angry with brother will be liable to judgment just the way a murderer will be.  We have to control our anger because it is the rawest, strongest and most destructive of human emotions.

The first reading, from Sirach, contains the clearest statement in the Old Testament concerning the God-given freedom of the human will and exonerating God from all responsibility for evil in the world. “If you choose, you can keep the commandments . . . before you, are life and death, whichever you choose shall be given you.” 

For the Israelites, the Torah was not a set of laws, but the instructions or teachings intended to promote the holiness and wholeness of each believer. It was the revealed will of a caring God for His Chosen People, those with whom He had made His covenant.

In today’s Gospel, while challenging his disciples to live a life of justice and righteousness which would exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus sets forth his own position with regard to the Law given through Moses by providing a new interpretation and meaning for the old laws. He says that he did not come to destroy the Torah but to bring it to perfection by bringing out its inner meaning, because Jesus Himself is the ultimate Self-revelation of God, the Lawgiver. Jesus also explains the real meaning of three Mosaic laws concerning murder, adultery and false oaths.

The world judges a man from his deeds. But Jesus judges a man from his thoughts. Jesus taught that thoughts are as important as deeds. By Jesus’ standards a man is not a good man until he never even desires to do a forbidden thing.

Jesus is very practical about what can corrupt our hearts. He identifies anger, lust, and dishonesty as hidden viruses capable of damaging, and even destroying our integrity, our very souls. But if we are honest with ourselves, all of us will have to admit that we struggle with temptation in each of these areas.

So what are we to do? Are we simply doomed? No.

Jesus comes with the medicine of his grace to cure us. Jesus looks to the heart, not just to appearances; he knows our deepest motivations and desires. We just have to give him the chance.

Later in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 15:18), Jesus explains that, "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man."

If we want to know the true condition of our hearts, of our friendship with Christ, all we have to do is reflect seriously about our words and the quality of our conversations. For a true, faithful citizen of Christ's Kingdom, the attitudes and desires of the heart must also be in harmony with God's plan for our lives. When we speak, are we usually building others up, or tearing them down? Do we engage in crude and degrading humor? Do we join in gossip sessions and unnecessarily spread criticisms or even lies?

Do we use our words to encourage, enlighten, and edify, or are we constantly nagging, nitpicking, and belittling?

The fuller our hearts are with God and the experience of his love, the more our words will reflect his mercy, goodness, and his wisdom.

The standard Jesus demands from us is not only our deeds but also our thoughts should be pure. So Jesus forbids forever the anger which broods, the anger which will not forget, the anger which refuses to be pacified, the anger which seeks revenge. When selfish anger boils up in our hearts, we don't have to let it rule our lives - we can turn to Christ on the cross and learn from him how to turn the other cheek.

When a lustful thought flashes through our minds, we don't have to accept it - we can reject it and turn to Jesus and Mary instead.

When we are tempted to get ahead by compromising the truth, we can hold our tongues and cling to Sirach's promise:  "Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him."

Jesus wants us to choose life, a fulfilling life here on earth and eternal life with him in Heaven, by choosing to reject temptation and follow him.

As we continue with this Mass, in which Jesus will give us, yet again, undeniable evidence of his unconditional love for each one of us, let's ask for the grace we need to make the right choices every day, thereby deepening our virtues rather than just externally comply with the laws like the Scribes and the Pharisees.

Baptism of the Lord [A] Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Mt 3:13-17 

During the very brief Pontificate of Pope John Paul I (Albino Luciani; (August 26 — September 28, 1978),
an Irishman, Monsignor Magee, served as the Pope’s personal secretary.  As Papal secretaries are wont to do, the Monsignor spent much of his day with the Pontiff.  Each morning, he would serve the Pope’s private Mass in the Papal chapel in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. In a talk he gave some years ago, Magee recounts an incident where the Holy Father said, “Monsignor, every day now that I have been Pope, you have faithfully served Mass for me.  You have never been late and your service has been impeccable.  So, tomorrow, we are going to do things a little differently.  You will serve my Mass as usual at 6:30 in the morning.  After my Mass, we will exchange vestments and then I will serve YOUR Mass.” Understandably, Magee resisted, saying he could not permit such a thing.  The Pope replied, “Are you rejecting a wish of the Pope?”  Magee replied, “Well, your Holiness…”  The Pope answered, “Very well, then.  I knew you’d agree.”  And Magee did.  He recalls this moment with great fondness.  Here was the Pope – the Vicar of Christ and the Shepherd of 1 billion Catholics acting as an altar boy for a priest – a reversal of roles. This is somewhat analogous to the scene in today’s Gospel taken from St. Matthew.  Incidentally, it is an event recorded in all four Gospels.  We have the King of Kings, the Savior of the World asking John the Baptist for baptism. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

What is this righteousness that he talks about?

John the Baptist was from a priestly family. The book of Leviticus mentions how a priest is to be initiated. When the priests were initiated they were to be washed in water first. Book of Leviticus says in chapter 12. “Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water” (12:10). And 12:12 says: “He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him.” Then after vesting them with priestly vestments they were presented the bull for the sin offering and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head before that was offered. And another sheep was taken and the leaders of Israel laid their hands on its head symbolizing laying of the sins of Israel on its head and sent away into the wilderness carrying the sins of the people of Israel.(v.14). As the lamb that was driven away into the wilderness Jesus the eternal high priest and the lamb of God, the priest and the victim, goes in to the wilderness for 40 days and nights soon after baptism to pray and fast in preparation for taking away the sin of the world.

One time Jesus mentions his crucifixion as his baptism. I have a baptism to undergo and I wish it were over. It was at this baptism he really took away our sins. That is why pointing to Jesus John the Baptist mentioned Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. Priests, prophets and kings in the OT were washed and anointed by oil of Chrism before they were installed. Here Jesus becomes the Eternal High Priests and this is the righteousness or rightful things Jesus speaks about to John.  Remember,  we are also told that we become priests,  prophets and kings in the manner of Jesus Christ at our baptism.

Whatever happened to Jesus at baptism is happening to us at our baptism.

When Jesus was baptized the heaven opened and the Holy Spirit came down upon him as a dove and the voice said that this is my beloved son. Jesus knew this was to happen and that is one of the reasons that he wanted to be baptized, even though he had no need to be baptized.

He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners. By becoming one with the sinners he could make reparation on behalf of the sinners.

The Holy Spirit descended upon him after Baptism. The spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception comes to rest on him. Jesus will be the source of Spirit for all mankind.

And the waters of Baptism were sanctified by the descending of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the water. And the Father spoke, this is my beloved Son. It was a confirmation to Jesus himself that he was ordained by the Father for the ministry of salvation.

At our baptism we all experience these things. When we are baptized in water we are washed clean. We get the Holy Spirit. The heaven that was closed to Adam is now opened for us. The heavenly Father accepts us as children in his Son Jesus.

Baptism makes us members of the Mystical body of Christ. We are cells and molecules in the mystical body of Christ of which he is the head. On his way to Damascus Paul was asked by Jesus Saul, why do you persecute me; not why do you persecute those believing in me. Every Christian is a member of the body of Christ. Matthew 25 : whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers you do it to ME. We get into the mystical body of Christ by baptism. While Jesus washing his feet Peter said, Lord I won’t let you do that to me. Jesus said if I don’t do this to you, you have no part with me. To get a part or share in Jesus’ life we need to get baptized.

Whether we like it or not we are connected with every other baptized member, just like organs are connected to each other in a body. And then, my problem becomes your problem, and your problem mine. Since we belong to the same body we cannot but be concerned about each other.

If baptism is the beginning of Christ’s life in us, beginning of divine life in us we need other sacraments to keep on living. If a baby doesn’t get food, he will starve to death. We need Eucharist and other sacraments to nourish us.

Most of us dipped the fingers of our right hand 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 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.

We accepted Chelsea Bezold today as a Catechumen to join the mystical body of Christ. Her joining will help strengthen the body of Christ here at Sts. Peter and Paul. We are called to evangelize and let Christ’s body grow and surge more grace into each other and the world.

Let us ask Our Lord today to make us faithful to our Baptismal promises.  Let us thank Him for the privilege of being joined to His mission of preaching the “Good News” by our transparent Christian lives of love, mercy, service and forgiveness.

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

The Greek word Epiphany (epiphanos), which means appearance or manifestation or showing forth, is used to describe Jesus’ first appearance to the Gentiles.  Originally the word Epiphany referred to the visit of a king to the people of his provinces. Epiphany is an older celebration than the feast of Christmas, having originated in the East in the late second century.  In Italy and Spain, the gifts traditionally associated with the Christmas season are exchanged on the feast of the Epiphany. In the Western Church, the feast commemorates the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.  In the Eastern Church, the feast also commemorates   the Baptism of Christ. The angels revealed Jesus to the shepherds, and the star revealed him to the Magi, who had already received hints of Him from the Jewish Scriptures. 

The Magi who came to worship Jesus "from the east" - were not Jews. This shows that Christ was the promised Savior of the entire world, of both the Jews and the Gentiles.

The sixth century Italian tradition, that there were three Magi, Casper, Balthazar, and Melchior, is based on the fact that three gifts are mentioned in Matthew’s Gospel:  gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Magi may actually have been Persian priests or Babylonian astronomers or Nabataean spice-traders. Eventually, however, they were pictured as representatives of different peoples and races.  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 (24:17), the prophet Balaam speaks of “a star that shall come out of Jacob.”  Stars were believed to be signs from God, announcing important events.   

In the stories of Jesus’ birth, two special groups of people came to visit the newborn babe: the shepherds and the Magi. The Church has no special feast to commemorate the visit of the shepherds, but we have this special feast of Epiphany today to celebrate the visit of the magi. Why is that? It is because the visit of the Magi is an eye-opener. The shepherds learnt of the birth of Jesus through a direct Revelation from angels appearing in the midnight sky, and they believed the Message. This is direct and supernatural Revelation. Many of us have no problem with that. The Magi, on the other hand, learnt of the birth of Jesus by observing a star. The star did not say anything to them. They had to divine and interpret this natural sign of the star to know what it meant and where it led.

The Epiphany can be looked on as a symbol for our pilgrimage through life to Christ.   The feast invites us to see ourselves as images of the Magi, a people on a journey to Christ.     Today’s Gospel also tells us the story of the Magi’s encounter with the evil King Herod. This encounter symbolizes three reactions to Jesus’ birth:  hatred, indifference, and adoration. First group headed by Herod planned to destroy Jesus. Second group, composed of priests and scribes, ignored Jesus. The third group — shepherds and the magi — adored Jesus and offered themselves to Him.

Today, many oppose Christ and his Church because of their selfish motives, evil ways and unjust lives. Children still have Herods to fear. In the United States alone, one and a half million innocent, unborn children are aborted annually.

The scribes, the 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.   They were in the habit of concluding their reading from the prophets on the Sabbath day by saying, “We shall now pray for the speedy arrival of the Messiah.”   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 quite close to Jerusalem.  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.   They ignore Jesus’ teachings in their private lives.

Like the third group let us worship Jesus at Mass, every day if we can, with the gold of our love, the myrrh of our humility and the frankincense of our adoration.  Let us plot a better course for our lives as the Magi did, choosing for ourselves a better way of life in the New Year by abstaining from proud and impure thoughts, evil habits and selfish behavior and sharing our love with others in acts of charity.  Let us become stars, leading others to Jesus, as the star led the Magi to Him.   Let’s pray that Jesus the light of the world help us remove or lessen the darkness of the evil around us by being, if not like stars, at least like candles, radiating Jesus’ love by selfless service, unconditional forgiveness and compassionate care.

New Year 2020.

Today we celebrate the oldest of all Marian feasts in our liturgy, most appropriate for new beginnings, with new resolutions, and renewed hopes. Today’s Feast of Mary, the Mother of God is a very appropriate way to begin a new year. This celebration reminds us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, is also our Heavenly Mother.  Hence, our ideal motto for the New Year 2020 should be “To Jesus through Mary!”

In today's Gospel Mary 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." Just as Mary’s womb was open to receiving God's living Word at the moment of Christ's Incarnation, so her heart was constantly open to receiving God's ongoing words and messages as He continued to speak through the events of her life.

This capacity and habit of reflecting in our heart on God's action in our lives is both a sign and a source of wisdom. That will increase our trust and faith in Him.

We do not know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future in his hands. Like the Blessed Mother, let us be more trusting in God’s providence and love. Trusting in God everyday will deliver greater things in our lives than trusting in our own strength.

A little boy and his father visited the country store, and upon leaving the store, the owner of the store offered the little boy some free Sweets... “Get a hand full of Sweets", the merchant said to the boy. The boy
just stood there looking up at his father. The owner repeated himself:- “Son get a hand full of Sweets... it’s free.” Again the boy did not move, continuing to look up in the face of his father. Finally the father reached into the candy jar and got a hand full of Sweets and gave it to his son.
As they walked back home, the father stopped and asked his son why he did not grab a hand full of the free candy. The boy with a big smile on his face looked into the face of his father and said:- “Because I know that your HAND is BIGGER than mine.”
So, whatever our needs are for 2020, please place them in the FATHER'S HAND IN HEAVEN, because HIS HAND is BIGGER THAN OURS. And so make sure we receive everything in the new year from Our Father’s hands. That will make us also rich in God’s eyes.

Some time ago someone asked Bill Gates. Is there any person richer than you?

Bill Gates replied, “Yes, there is a person who is richer than me.” He then narrated a story. “It was during the time when I wasn’t rich. I was at New York Airport when I saw a newspaper vendor. I wanted to buy one newspaper but found that I don’t have enough change. I told him of not having the change.

The vendor said, “I am giving you this for free. On his insistence I took the newspaper. I landed the same airport and again I was short of change for a newspaper. The vendor offered me the newspaper again. I refused and said that I can’t take it for I don’t have a change today too. He said, you can take it, I am sharing this from my profit.”

After 19 years I became famous and known by people. I began searching for him and after about 1½ months I found him. I asked him, “Do you know me?” He said, “Yes you are Bill Gates.” I asked him again, “Do you remember once you gave me a newspaper for free.” The vendor said, “Yes, I remember. I gave you twice.”

I said, “I want to repay the help you had offered me that time.” The vendor said, Sir, don’t you think that by doing so you won’t be able to match my help?” I asked, “Why?”

He said, “I helped you when I was a poor newspaper vendor and you are trying to help me now when you have become the richest man in the world. How can your help match mine?”

That day I realized that the newspaper vendor is richer than me. People need to understand that the truly rich are those who possess rich heart rather than lots of money.

It is very important to have a rich heart to help others. The psalmist prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Let it be our resolution and prayer for the New Year: Create in me a clean heart O God.  Wish you all a very Happy New Year 2020.