Ordinary Time Cycle A

Second Sunday of Advent Cycle C

 

December 5, 2021

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We continue our Advent journey of waiting and watching daily for the Lord.  

Sometimes that is easy and other times that is very difficult, and we can even, at moments, forget all about Advent and the mission of looking for Jesus in our everyday experiences including everyone we meet.  

Yet, He comes and He will continue to come.

 

Recall.....The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of God...and the people ...taken into the Exile in pagan Babylon

 

 

For all of us there have been or will be the experiences of seemingly losing everything, whether that is through a natural disaster, an illness or disease, an ending relationship, or even having to face our own death.  

Where is the courage to go on and to not give up hope?

 

 

 

Baruch was the scribe for the prophet Jeremiah, and had experienced the destruction of the Holy City Jerusalem, and what seemed like the end of the Jewish people and the promise of a Messiah.

The first reading on this Sunday is from the prophet Baruch; he writes...

 

...take off your robe of mourning and misery;

put on the splendor of glory from God forever:

 

 

 

  

In spite of all the unfaithfulness and of all the disasters, past and present, God will not abandon his people.  We too, are a part of his Chosen People through our Baptism.

We believe that when scripture is proclaimed, God is speaking to us individually and as a whole.  

 

As in the past, these words from Baruch can give each of us courage to continue to wait and watch for the coming of the Lord daily in spite of all that we go through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Gospel we hear...

We are once again assured that in our difficulties, our high mountains and low valleys, God will make a way.  We will daily experience the coming of the Messiah.  So, with great hope, we pray for the grace to trust that God will again fulfill his covenant with each of us.

 

 

In the second reading, Paul writes to the small group of newly baptized Jewish Christians and continues to offer them hope in the midst of all their ups and downs, persecutions and sufferings.  

 

 

 

 

 

He encourages them to continue the way of love for all and watch for the coming of the Lord.  Today we know that the coming is everyday, at our death, and at the end of time.

Wherever we find ourselves this week, let these sacred readings give us the courage to continue to wait and watch for the coming of the Lord.

 

 

 

Courage!

 

Pray for the gift to be able to love all.  

That is preparing the Way.

He is coming daily!!!

Wait and Watch!!!

 

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Advent First Sunday Cycle C

 

November 28, 2021

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Advent is that time we prepare for the coming of Christ. That coming will  happen everyday, and for sure, at our death, but often we don't give that much thought.  So, this is the time to, once again, focus on the coming of Christ in our lives.  What keeps us from recognizing Christ every day?

The readings can remind us to take this time, before the celebration of His birth, to reflect on where we are in seeing Christ daily.

God loves us and always has great mercy and compassion when we turn to Him.  

Advent can be that period of time we are called to look deep within, and see where we are spiritually.  

It is so easy to simply reject this and say, "Well, maybe next Advent."  

Will we have a next Advent?

 

 

In the first reading Jeremiah has already spoken again and again warning the kings and the people that they have placed too much worship, attention, on political and worldly things.  The reading we hear today was written after all the warnings, and at the time when Jerusalem had been destroyed and the people taken into the captivity of Babylon (about 587 B.C.).  Things could not have been worse.  Yet, Jeremiah gives words of encouragement.  In spite of their lack of faith in God and placing their faith in worldly things, God did never abandon them.

The daily coming of Jesus is where we experience God's mercy and love.  Yet we can be like the people Jeremiah was addressing who simply would not listen until they were taken into exile and had to face all the devastating experiences that came.  

Advent Wreath First Sunday of Advent

 

That same not willing to listen can also happen to us, especially when all is going pretty well in our lives.  That is one reason Advent is so important for us so, we can experience the coming of the Christ not just at the celebration of His Birth, or at our own death, but every day.

Maybe the question becomes how can we experience Him daily?  

The starting point is to look at our own lives.  

Are we like the people in the first reading putting too much trust in this world.  

Are we believing that we will not die tomorrow?

 

 

 

In the Gospel reading we hear  Jesus say,

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap."  

 In other words, we won't experience the daily coming of Christ from our thinking that the world and its trapping will lead to the kingdom and to the experience of the coming of Christ.  

Will we listen this Advent?

 

So, how then can we experience the daily coming of Jesus, now, at his birth, at the end of our lives, and at the end of time?

 

The second reading gives us a hint as to the answer.  

The author, around 50 A. D., encourages the Thessalonians to continue to strive to love all.  That must have been a real challenge to those new Christians who we so persecuted and had experienced, like us, the ups and downs in life.  

But to experience the coming of Christ we, like the Thessalonian, must pray for the courage to look deep within and see, do we love?  Even the difficult person?  Even the enemy?  Even the one we disagree with?  Even the one who will not listen to us?  In other words, love to the enemy.

 

This can be a difficult challenge for each of us.  It is so easy not to look within and to make excuses as to why we don't love as Jesus has shown us.  

 

Perhaps, this is why the Church encourages us to use the sacrament of Penance, Reconciliation, during this time of Advent.  

Pray, with courage, to see ourselves as we really are, (our inability at times to love), and to turn to God who is waiting to fill us with his mercy and compassion.

 

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Christ the King Cycle B

November 21, 2021

 

 

 

This is...the Last Sunday of the Liturgical Year B

Next comes Advent Week One the start of Liturgical Year C (Nov 30th)

 

The first reading was written some two centuries before Christ.  It was a time when earthly kingdoms were trying to destroy the religion of the Jews.  The prophecy gave them hope and assures them that a king and kingdom will come that is for all people  and will last forever. It is good news for us too, especially when we feel judged, persecuted, or misunderstood because of our making Christ present for others we meet. 

 

 

 

 

 

The second reading was written in Greek and is dates 165 AD.  It was given the Greek word, Apocalpse, which means the uncovering or revelation.  

 In the reading, we hear that Jesus is the one who is the king that was predicted to come, and to establish a kingdom for all people, Jew and Gentile alike. We know that He will come at the end of time, but He also comes everyday in our present lives.  He is in the people we encounter today; in the troubled, the poor, the distressed, the hungry, the one by the side of the road with a sign, etc. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The words from this Gospel reading, we are given the event in which Jesus claims that He is the king.  The king of a new and everlasting kingdom.

Each of us through, our Baptism, were anointed to be prophet, priest and king.  We were chosen by God and, were made a part of that kingdom.

The kingdom of Christ was not to make us healthy, happy, or prosperous in this world but to bring us and others to the eternal life and true happiness.

 

 

 

 

Jesus gives us, through his life the model of king and kingdom builder.  

He shows us that we are to make Jesus the king present in the world today.  We do this by doing what Christ did for us. 

compassion

mercy

forgiveness

love

etc.

 

Each of us are to make the kingdom present today by our compassion, mercy, forgiveness, love, etc. for all people.  That means to both friend and foe, to both the deserving and to the non deserving.

We all have a part in making the kingdom of eternal life present.  The kingdom is now and we are to make it present daily through our lives.  

 

He was the beginning of the kingdom and is a part of it everyday through his presence in his followers, us, the baptized that have been called and chosen for this mission.  

 

So, there is good reason to look at our own failures, our sins.  Those are the moments that we say, "no", to our part of His kingdom, and our part in making His Kingdom present.  Our sins, when we clearly see them, allow us to experience  the qualities of Jesus as King.  This happens when we experience God's mercy, compassion, and love.  We can then continue to grow in being able to do the same for others and thus continue leading others to the kingdom.

Alleluia

 

Thirty Third Sunday Cycle B

November 14, 2021

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When we hear the words, The end is near, we think first of all of some crazy person on a street corner.

 

But, the reality is that we are coming to the end of the liturgical year. The current liturgical year, Cycle B, is ending after next Sunday, and we will begin Advent, in the liturgical year Cycle C.  

Who knows who will not be here for the whole of the coming liturgical year.  

The end of life here on earth will end for some of us this coming liturgical year.

This Sunday's readings help us to reflect on...

 The end is near

We all have a tendency to not want to think about those words. But for each of us they are a truth. We experience that when each day ends,  a new day begins..

The end of our current liturgical year cycle B will be ending after next Sunday, the celebration of Christ the King.  That celebration will help each of us to look at the fact that...

The end is near...

has been conquered by Christ the King.  

We have all been given a way to eternal life where there is no end.

 

So, now without fear, we can look at this Sunday's readings, and reflect on our own life to see if we are  ready to accept the kingdom Christ has prepared for us?

 

In the first reading from the book of Daniel, which, by the way, was not named after the author, who is unknown, but after one of the principal participants, who is described as living in Babylon during the last years of the Babylonian empire.

 
This reading is a chance for each of us, to once again, think about the end of our life here on earth, and the beginning of our gift of eternal life that is waiting for us.

 

We hear in the Gospel  Jesus telling that the earth will end. 

 

 

 

 

 

But we do not need to be filled with fear.

 

 

In the second reading the author of this letter, tells us that Jesus is the high priest.

Remember, that for Jews in the time of Jesus, the high priest had to offer sacrifice in the temple for his sins and the sins of all the people. And this needed to be repeated, year after year.

 

 

 

However we have Jesus Christ as our high priest, who made the one sacrifice that has paid the price for our eternal salvation.

 

 

 

 

 So what are we afraid of?

 

 

 

 These readings are wonderful in helping each of us to realize that not only The end is near...

 

but also that  The end is near which leads us to the eternal life and the  eternal peace that we have each been searching for all our lives, often thinking we could find it now with our material things, power, possessions, money, etc.

 

We will finally have that peace in the kingdom of God for all eternity.

 

Wow!

What great hope we have!

The end is really the beginning

Think of all we have learned through the endings in our life thus far.

The best is yet ahead

Alleluia

Thirty Second Sunday Cycle B

 

November 7, 2021

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Do you???

It is always important to remember that many of the stories that were told in the Bible were written to help people look at their lives and see where they were spiritually.  

It is called conversion.  

The same is true in our time, and the important thing, as we hear the readings, is that we not get defensive and give excuses as to why we can't do what is being asked of us.  

If we find ourselves in that position, it is the moment to pray for the grace to change,

and to fulfill what our Baptism has called each of us to.

 

 

 In this first reading, we meet the prophet Elijah who preached in the northern kingdom from the year 908 until 850 B.C. 

 

Elijah enters the city as a stranger and sees the widow. He asks her for a cup of water. She leaves everything and goes and gets him a cup of water.

 

I know that for me, when I am doing things that seem important as the widow was doing, it is almost impossible to drop everything and go out of my way for the other.  That is the moment I need to pray for a change of heart.  Help me, Lord, to be open to be ready to help others even when it seems inconvenient 

 

Then after getting the cup of water, Elijah then makes another request of her for some food.

She is at her wits end because she is almost out of the last amount of food which she intends to feed to herself and her son, and then they will die.

 

The story illustrates how this poor widow was willing to go out of her way and help the stranger.

 However she decides to do what  Elijah asks and prepares a meal for him.

 

 

 

Each of us need to ask ourselves...

Are we willing to go out of our way and to help the other?

 

 

 

In this Gospel we hear the story of the widow who comes to the temple and offers the last amount of money that she has.

 

 

In the second reading we hear the story of Jesus as high priest. 

This letter was written to Jewish Christians who were used to the tradition of the high priest going to the temple year after year and offering sacrifice for his sins and for the sins of all the Jewish people.

Paul tells the story of how Christ, as high priest ,died once and for all, for the forgiveness of sin. There was no longer need to go and offer sacrifice again and again and again, as was done in the past tradition.

For each of us, in our baptism, we were called by God to be prophet, priest, and king.  As priest, we are called to sacrifice, to go out of our way for the other, as Christ did.  He was willing to give his sufferings and his life for each of us, so that we could find eternal life.

 

Every day we need to pray for that grace, for that gift, to be able to go out of our way for other, even when it's inconvenient, even when we have other things to do.

 We may discover that at times...

 

The gift of that discovery in ourselves, is that we now know what to pray for.  

 

Give me the grace to...

 

 

All Saints... November1st Yearly Cycle A,B,C

November 1st yearly

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 This is the day we celebrate all those who are in heaven.  

All in heaven are Saints.  

That is what it means to be a Saint...you are in heaven

 

In the first reading, a book full of symbols ,which was written for early Christians who were persecuted and sentenced to death if caught because Christianity was illegal, so it is not easy for us today to interpret.  

In the Book of Revelation we hear:

 

After this I had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.

 

 

So we know that there are many in heaven and in a sense we also hope to one day be in that multitude wearing our white robes which were we given when were baptized.  We died in baptism and were given new life.  The pall, a symbol of that white robe, will be placed over our casket at our funeral.  A symbol that in baptism we were called to eternal life.  We were called to be a part of that multitude which was not countable.

 

In the second reading John, reaffirms that we are God's children.  If we look at salvation history, many who were chosen were not the best of the human race.  But because of God's great love for each of us, we were given the chance to covert, to change, and to find eternal life.

 

I know that gives us great hope.  God will never give up on us.  

His love is so great for us that He was willing to give in to His Son to suffering and death so that each of us can find eternal life and be a part of the uncountable multitude as in the first reading.

 

 

In the Gospel from Matthew we hear the beatitudes .

 

 

 

I think it is always good to remember that after Jesus gave the beatitudes in His Sermon on the Mount, many did not continue to follow him.  They were scandalized.  

How could one be blessed, made holy, headed for eternal life by doing the beatitudes  

To mourn,

to be poor in spirit,

to forgive,

to have mercy, etc

 

As we look at our own lives, it seems to me that the beatitudes give us hope.  The only one that fulfilled them completely was Jesus.  

 He has showed us this is the way to eternal life.  He sent the Holy Spirit to each of us to give us courage to always pray to fulfill the beatitudes in our own lives.  

When we fail, let us not give up but continue to pray for the grace to fulfill them...

...and...

 

to one day join the multitude with our white baptismal robes.  

Alleluia