First Reading - Jeremiah 33:14-16 ©
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 24(25):4-5,8-9,10,14
©
Second Reading - 1 Thessalonians
3:12-4:2 ©
Gospel Acclamation – Psalm 84:8
The Gospel According to Luke
21:25-28,34-36 ©
NJB
Listen!
The
Church is steeped in the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew people.
Jesus
was a prophet, not a fortune teller or a seer; he was critical of the power
structures that governed the people in his day. He spoke directly to the people
in his time, as a witness to their suffering and the injustice they experienced
at the hands of the wealthy and the powerful, in response to which he called
for love and mercy.
Remember.
God,
the creator of the universe, God does not intervene in the affairs of human
beings. God does not establish royal houses or tear them down. God does not do
these things, because God has created us and the entire universe free from
divine coercion.
God’s
only intention is to teach us the way of justice and lead us to it in
humility, by calling us to love and mercy.
God
does not choose between contending tribes or nations, God does not designate winners
and losers. God has no favorites; God has no enemies.
If
you follow the way you will discover peace, even in the midst of
calamity; if you follow the way you will learn to be generous in times
of abundance and scarcity both.
Consider
the wisdom of the psalmist; lift-up your spirit, give your life to God, seek mercy
and distribute it. Grow in the spirit of forgiveness…not merely to those who
have done you wrong; move yourself to forgive God also, God who made you a
creature who can experience pain and brought you into being in an unjust world.
Do
not expect God to take sides with you in any conflict; that is vanity. God
loves all of God’s children fully and equally; the divine does not discriminate
between one child and another.
If
you ask God to punish the faithless, the promise breakers, you must know that
you are asking God to punish you yourself; we are all faithless, we are all
promise breakers.
When
you pray, pray for wisdom and guidance, pray in a way that acknowledges God’s desires
that you be well. If you pray for God to do anything for you, you are praying
in vain. God will not intervene in your life, either to your benefit or your
detriment, to reward or punish you.
Be
mindful of God’s mercy as it applies to you and to everyone; God allowed for
your existence even knowing all your crimes; since the beginning of time God
knew them, God has not forgotten them…and loves you anyway.
All
the ways of God are kindness and mercy, follow the divine example as we see it
reflected in the person of Jesus. Love one another and all humanity; be a vehicle
for love as God desires it. Love one another even as God loves you.
Know
this.
God’s
purpose in creating us with the knowledge of right and wrong fixed in our
hearts and minds, the divine purpose in creating us as beings us with conscience,
for creating us in the divine image is so that we may learn to love, excepting
both the joy and the grief that flows from it...into it, encompassing it.
To
be a follower of Christ…to be a Christian, is not about what you believe, it is
not about what images or ideas you have in your mind or about who or what God
is…or is not. To be a follower of Christ…to be a Christian has nothing to do
with the structure of sacred rituals or what songs you sing, creeds you consent
or rituals you have enacted. To be a follower of Christ…to be a Christian has
only to do with the quality of life you lead.
It
is God’s desire that we lead a moral life, a just life, a life characterized by
good works, by charity, compassion and humility, a life of love in service to
our sisters and brothers. We find our well-being in this and thus we are saved.
Remember
this on the first Sunday of Advent, and carry it with you throughout the year. God
is the creator of the entire universe, all lands belong to God; all seas, all
planets, all stars, all galaxies; everything and everyone living exists within
God who sustains us all.
Remember.
God
did not end the captivity of Jacob, the Hebrews did, with Moses and Joshua
leading them through the desert (if you believe it).
This
is not hubris; it is greater hubris to think that God loves a special people, a
people chosen above all others, than to think that the Israelites escaped
bondage under their own power.
Reflect
on this; think deeply on it as we consider the Gospel reading for the day, and
the trouble that always accompanies our interpretation of prophecy.
The
authors of Luke report that they have given us the words of Jesus, though they
never met him; instead they presented this myth and placed lies in the mouth of
their teacher.
Jesus
never spoke about the end of the world, he knew nothing about it; rather, he
was concerned overwhelmingly with the injustice and suffering he witnessed to
in his own time.
Jesus
did not seek to motivate us through fear, he was a beacon of love.
If
the moon were to slip in its orbit either falling toward us or away from us,
that would be a sign of the end of the world (but only the world as we know
it).
Tens
of billions of years from now, when the sun has spent the last of its nuclear
fuel; the end of the world will begin…not one moment sooner.
Know
this.
The
stars are in fact so distant from us, that what happens with them has next-to-nothing
to do with what happens here, and long before our sun burns itself out, our
galaxy will collide with another, that collision will radically change life on
this planet (billions of years from now), when human beings won’t even be
recognizable as the beings we are.
As
has already been stated, God does not interfere or intervene in our lives and
our choices. As such the only futures we can predict are those that flow
naturally from their antecedents that are discernable right now. For instance,
we can predict climate change because it is happening, and the antecedents for
it were laid down decades ago; we cannot stop it. We can predict the
continuation of wars, of terrorism, of economic injustice, because they are
present realities and matters of statistical certitude. We can predict the
continuation of social injustice, not because God has decreed that these things
will continue or come to pass, but only because we have not yet made the
determination to change them ourselves…to change ourselves and take up the
way.
First Reading - Jeremiah 33:14-16 ©
I Will Make a Virtuous Branch Grow
for David
See,
the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when I am going to fulfil the
promise I made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah:
‘In
those days and at that time, I will make a virtuous Branch grow for David, who
shall practise honesty and integrity in the land.
In
those days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell in confidence.
And
this is the name the city will be called:
The-Lord-our-integrity.’
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 24(25):4-5,8-9,10,14
©
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Lord,
make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make
me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
The
Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
He
guides the humble in the right path,
He teaches his way to the poor.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
His
ways are faithfulness and love
for those who keep his covenant and law.
The
Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him;
to them he reveals his covenant.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Second Reading - 1 Thessalonians
3:12-4:2 ©
May You be Blameless When our Lord
Jesus Christ Comes Again
May
the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and
the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so confirm your hearts
in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when
our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.
Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to
you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that
you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as
you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you
on the authority of the Lord Jesus.
Gospel Acclamation - Psalm 84:8
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Let
us see, O Lord, your mercy and give us your saving help.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Luke
21:25-28,34-36 ©
That Day Will be Sprung
on you Suddenly, Like a Trap
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs
in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the
clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what
menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will
see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these
things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your
liberation is near at hand.
‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened
with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be
sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man
on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to
survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the
Son of Man.’
A Homily – The First Sunday of Advent
(Year C)
