A Homily – The Third Sunday of Advent (Year C)

First Reading - Zephaniah 3:14-18 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Isaiah 12 ©

Second Reading - Philippians 4:4-7 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Isaiah 61:1 (Lk4:18)

The Gospel According to Luke - 3:10-18 ©

 

(NJB)

Listen!

God, the creator of the universe, God is not a warrior. God does not intervene in human affairs, either to pass judgement or to grant reprieve. God has no enemies; God is love.

Consider the wisdom of the prophet and be patient, salvation flows from the divine-wellspring, it fills all of creation, from this life into the next.

God set the galaxies spinning in the heavens, and it is the desire of God that all people be well, loving and good.

God desires that we be tolerant and care for one another, that we serve the divine in humility, with justice, and love for our neighbors…no matter who they are.

 This is the way, and in it is the peace of God.

 Be mindful.

 God knows us, each and every one of us; God knows what we struggle with, God knows the content of our dreams and understands our experience, even as we experience it ourselves.

 Praise God, and give comfort to God’s servant. When the will of God is done, the message is clear and the mission is pure; they are one in the same, the message and the mission is love.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today:

 The authors of Luke are saying something about Jesus through a narrative concerning his cousin, Saint John the Baptist.

 Reflect for a moment on the wisdom of John; the spirit of truth was in him, as it is in all of us. God made us with innate capacities for reason, wisdom and love, and it is these qualities we are referring to when we say that we are made in the image of God.

 Know this.

 Everyone and everything in the universe, every moment of time flows from and is sustained by the providence of the divine.

 We did not then (in the time of John), and we do not now need to wait for the anointed one, for a Christ to preach to us and tell us the truth; we have the capacity for it now.

 The truth is spoken all around us, if you open the ear of your heart you may hear it spoken in  ordinary moments, in normal conversation, the truth is speaking to you at the core of your being; it is there, in the seed of God’s Word germinating within you, just as it was spoken by John to those that followed him, and by Jesus who came after.

 “What must we do?” The people asked.

 John and Jesus responded according to the best tradition of the prophets:

 Act mercifully.

Act justly.

Be humble.

Do no harm.

Ahimsa

 Adhere to the Shema by loving God with all your strength, all your heart and all your mind; love your neighbor as you love yourself…this is the golden rule, and in it is the whole of the law and the wisdom of the prophets.

 If you take up the way, you will execute the duties of your office and fulfill the trust that has been placed in you faithfully, and without corruption.

 There is nothing extraordinary in these precepts. This is the ordinary way of life that we are called to it. Nevertheless, this message stunned the people who heard it when Jesus preached from the Mount of Olives, and John by the River Jordan; it stunned them to hear the truth spoken so simply and with such conviction.

 Why is this our response to the truth when we hear it?

 Because the solution to the world’s sickness (the desire to sin and the love of evil) is so simple that when we try to imagine these solutions coming to fruition in our own lives, we get lost in the overwhelming reality of what is.

 We are awash in sin and the consequences of sin, our own sins and everyone else’s, both the living and the dead. It is as if we were trying to hold back an ocean of greed, hate and fear with a gossamer veil, as thin as a wish.

 In the here and now, we know what the solution is, and yet we do not faith in one another, we do not trust that each of us will do our part to stop our sinful desire from overflowing. The realities of sin and evil are so prevalent that when we try to imagine a resolution to them with the only solutions that are available to us (love and mercy in the service of justice), the scope of the problems takes on a cosmic significance.

 Know this:

 No matter how great the reality of sin and evil are, they are rooted in time and space, they are finite, and as such they are infinitely less than the infinite love of God.

 This is the mystery of the Gospel…preach it!

 John was wise when he set aside a claim to divinity; when he set aside the expectation that he was himself an anointed being come to solve the world’s problems.  He knew that they would not be solved in his lifetime, not in the final sense, because sin and evil are a part of the human condition.

 He also knew that another would come to pick up his mantle and carry on that work, he was confident in this knowledge because he understood the nature and role of the prophet, and that the truth is spoken in every generation, in every community, in all times; the truth is spoken without cease.

 John was wise to point his followers to the future, because we are led into the place of justice and mercy only by our desire for it; we are led by the power of hope, through expectation to realization.

 It is not necessary for us to believe as the Gospel writers did, that John was pointing to the coming of Jesus of Nazareth, because, if it had not been Jesus, it would have been someone else, as it will be someone else in our own future, because God’s redemptive work never ends.

 Be mindful.

 When we are on God’s threshing floor, understand that we arrived there as we are, a complete person; we came in as the whole stalk of wheat, and that is how we encounter God, in our entirety; each of us as the whole of who we are. The wheat and the chaff are not separate people, sinners and saints. We are each of us the wheat and the chaff together, saint and sinner combined in one body.

 It is the encounter with the divine that frees us from the compulsions and addictions that bind us to our sins. Gods winnowing fan blows against us like the wind, it is the breath of the Holy Spirit blowing over us and flowing into us, freeing us from fear and hate, from the desires that cause us to lie, cheat, steal, to harm our neighbors, even those we love…and in so doing harm to ourselves.

 It is the Spirit, ruhah, that carries us to the fire where doubt is burned away, not in a fire of prosecution, judgement and destruction, but in the fires of transformation, purification, and hope.

 When we pass through it, we become a new creation.

  

First Reading - Zephaniah 3:14-18 ©

The Lord, the King of Israel, is in Your Midst

Shout for joy, daughter of Zion, Israel, shout aloud!

Rejoice, exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!

The Lord has repealed your sentence; he has driven your enemies away.

The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst; you have no more evil to fear.

When that day comes, word will come to Jerusalem: Zion, have no fear, do not let your hands fall limp.

The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.

He will exult with joy over you, he will renew you by his love; he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival.

 

Responsorial Psalm - Isaiah 12 ©

The Rejoicing of a Redeemed People

Sing and shout for joy for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Truly, God is my salvation,

  I trust, I shall not fear.

For the Lord is my strength, my song,

  he became my saviour.

With joy you will draw water

  from the wells of salvation.

Sing and shout for joy for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Give thanks to the Lord, give praise to his name!

  Make his mighty deeds known to the peoples!

  Declare the greatness of his name.

Sing and shout for joy for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Sing a psalm to the Lord

  for he has done glorious deeds;

  make them known to all the earth!

People of Zion, sing and shout for joy,

  for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Sing and shout for joy for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

 

Second Reading - Philippians 4:4-7 ©

The Lord is Very Near

I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near.

There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Isaiah 61:1 (Luke 4:18)

Alleluia, alleluia!

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me.

He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 3:10-18 ©

'Someone is Coming Who Will Baptize You With the Holy Spirit and Fire'

When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’

A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.

 

A Homily – The Third Sunday of Advent (Year C)

Observation - December 9th, 2024, Monday

There are patches of blue in the soft gray sky

A few golden leaves 

    cling to the maple outside my window

The wind has turned cold and bitter

    the promise of a hard winter 

        on the far side of the sun

 

A Homily – The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation (Year C)

First Reading – Genesis 3:9-15, 20 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 97(98):1-4

Second Reading – Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 1:28

The Gospel According to Luke – 1:26-38 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

The reading for from Genesis is a fable, drawn from a book of fables; we cannot take this narrative literally.

Eve is not the mother of all living beings and the garden of Eden was not paradise. This trope refers to the early agricultural civilizations of Summer and Akkad.

The name Adam, or Adamah, means the one who came from the soil, it is a name given to a class of bondsmen (and women), to people who tilled the earth.

This myth does not concern the creation of the universe. Rather, it narrates a critical moment in the history of the Hebrew people, known at the time as the Apiru, or Iberu. It recalls their transition from a time when they lived in a state of relative safety and security in service to the kings of one dynasty or another, a ruling class of priests, priestesses and warriors, followed by the hardship of exile and expulsion, whether self-imposed or forced on them as the consequence of a broken relationship.

Consider the teaching of the psalmist.

It is right and good to praise God, the creator of the universe, it is right and good because the created world is miraculous and beyond the scope of human comprehension…praise God for making it, it is a thing of wonder and beauty. But never forget that God does not determine who will be victorious in combat or any contest. God has no enemies, and in God, within whom all things exist and have their being…there is no conflict.

Be mindful.

It is not God’s justice that we demonstrate in our courts of law, it is human justice. When human justice approximates the justice of God we experience it as mercy, divine justice is restorative, healing…it is then and only then that justice is good.

Remember.

God is kind and faithful to all people, the divine promise is distributed to all people in equal measure.

If you seek to be an instrument of justice, then you must judge fairly, judge kindly and always keep before you the love God bears toward all.

Consider the life of Jesus, and God, whom he called Father and ask yourself this:

Is God glorious?

What is glory?

The apostle informs us that God’s greatest desire is to be in relationship to us, like a parent who loves their children; God desires that each and every one of us comes into the full knowledge of the divine.

There is hope in the knowledge of God, and the hope we have for ourselves, like the hope we hold out for those we love, is a hope that God wishes we would extend to everyone, even those we do not love. This is the way that leads to the knowledge of God.

If you think that God has promised riches and glories to be the inheritance of the saints, remember this, the first will be last and the last will be first. Spiritual riches are not counted in gold and silver and precious things; grace is a manifestation of love, we find it through companionship and friendship with God, and we discover God through our relationships with one another.

Be mindful.

God choses all of us, and in so doing God has determined to accept us as we are; God accepted us even when only the possibility of our being existed. God accepted us then, poured forth the divine love, and prepared a place for us in eternity.

God does nothing for the sake of vanity; God did not create the universe, and us in it, so that God could hear us praise the divine name. The divine has no interest in such things and gives no special consideration to anyone, whether they follow the way as taught by Jesus…or not, whether they were the first workers in the field of good works, or came to it late in the day, whether a person is  more-or-less good…or bad.

Whoever you are and whatever you bring with you, God loves and has prepared a place for you. Hod has promised to heal you, to make you well, and God will do so before the end.

Consider the Gospel reading for today.

You must understand that the stories of his Jesus’ birth, beginning with the annunciation as it is presented here, is just another fable like the Genesis fable we discussed earlier.

More significantly, they are intentional fabrications that amount to a heap of propaganda and in some cases they are adorned with outright lies.

While the Genesis mythology aggregated slowly from an oral tradition before it was ever set down in script, this took place over the course of centuries, possibly even millennia. Whereas the Jesus mythology was a contrivance from the outset, and the version of it that we inherited from the Church was ultimately a product of Roman imperialism, forever conditioned by the machinations of an empire. 

Be mindful.

The spirit of God is the spirit of truth; God’s spirit can never be served by falsehoods and lies.

The annunciation did not happen as recorded, the spirit of God did not impregnate a virgin woman, like Zeus when he impregnated the princess Danae and begetting Perseus…and so forth and so on, ad nauseum.

First Reading – Genesis 3:9-15, 20 ©

The Mother of All Those Who Live

After Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’

  Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,

‘Be accursed beyond all cattle, all wild beasts.

You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust every day of your life.

I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring.

It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.’

The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 97(98):1-4

Acclaim the King, the Lord.

Sing a new song to the Lord,

  for he has worked wonders.

His right hand, his holy arm,

  have brought him victory.

The Lord has shown his saving power,

  and before all nations he has shown his justice.

He has remembered to show his kindness

  and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth

  have seen the saving power of our God.

Rejoice in God, all the earth.

  Break forth in triumph and song!

Sing to the Lord on the lyre,

  with the lyre and with music.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn,

  sound jubilation to the Lord, our king.

Let the sea resound in its fullness,

  all the earth and all its inhabitants.

The rivers will clap their hands,

  and the mountains will exult at the presence of the Lord,

  for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge all the world in justice,

  and the peoples with fairness.

 

Second Reading - Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 ©

Before the World Was Made, God Chose Us in Christ

Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.

Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved, and it is in him that we were claimed as God’s own, chosen from the beginning, under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things as he decides by his own will; chosen to be, for his greater glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 1:28

Alleluia, alleluia!

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!

Blessed art thou among women.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke – 1:26-38 ©

'I Am the Handmaid of the Lord'

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

 

A Homily – The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation (Year C)

A Homily – The Second Sunday of Advent (Year C)

First Reading - Baruch 5:1-9 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 125(126) ©

Second Reading - Philippians 1:4-6,8-11 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 3:4,6

The Gospel According to Luke 3:1 – 6

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 In the readings for today, from the prophet Baruch to Paul, it must be understood that Jerusalem and Israel are metaphorical figures that are representative of the entire people of God…we are speaking of humanity writ large. The hope expressed here in scripture, from the Psalms to the Gospel, is hope for the whole human race; it is not selective and cannot be limited to a select group of people in a specific time and place.

 Remember.

 The splendor of God is not the splendor of royalty. God is not a king or prince; the divine comes to us as a counselor and a friend. The glory of God is found through service, and for our service to one another we should not expect any reward other than peace.

 Though our work in the service of the divine may be met with enmity, scorn and derision always keep in mind that God, the creator of the universe, that God has no enemies, and we may not regard those who oppose us as such. Everyone is a child of God, and as such are equal beneficiaries of God’s love.

 If you take up the work of God you may the an arduous one, but in the end there is rest.

 Do not expect God to prepare the way, God does not intervene in the affairs of human beings, set those vain notions aside and take up the mission in faith and trust.

 Know this.

 It was not God who released the Jews from captivity, either in Egypt or Babylon, it was Moses and Joshua who led the people through the desert and into the promised land (if you believe it). It was Cyrus, the Persian emperor, who released them from captivity in Babylon. Great deeds accompanied those migrations, deeds of heroism and courage and mercy, as well as unspeakable horror and villainy.

 The clemency offered to the Jews, which led to the diaspora in the 5^th century BCE, honored the fellowship that all human beings share as children of God. Insofar as all good deeds have their origin in the goodness of the divine, then yes…God deserves the credit.

 Nevertheless, it was the free choice of the Cyrus to release those enslaved by the Babylonians (whom he subsequently conquered) allowing them to return to Judea. It was Cyrus not God who exercised that agency.

 Many, in fact most of those who were freed by the Persians never returned Judea, but remained living in the diaspora, carrying on their traditions in foreign lands, becoming citizens, building synagogues sharing the faith of their ancestors among them.

 Only some returned to Judea, and when they did they chose to regard their neighbors and cousins who had never left as gentiles, as impure and as outcasts.

 This was unjust and out of alignment with the will of God, who desires that all people live together in peace. This mistake that has been repeated over and over again, an error we are still living with in our time, and the consequences are catastrophic for those embroiled in them.

 Consider the wisdom of the apostle who teaches that we are all the objects of God’s love…every single one of us.

 Here in the world God works through our agency, speaking to us in the secret chamber of our hearts, and yet the promise remains, God will not abandon anyone. The divine work will be completed and no-one shall be lost.

 This is the hope of the Gospel; this is the good news.

 The apostle prays for you, as he prays for everyone, in so doing the he echoes the prayer of Jesus, the prayer of God’s own self; it is a prayer of love, a prayer of hope and a prayer of faith.

 God has placed God’s trust in us; God’s trust is not a façade.

 God has placed God’s hope in us; God’s hope is without measure.

 God has placed God’s love in us, like a fruit that will flower forever.

 Be mindful.

 If we set out to emulate Jesus and follow the way, we must practice forgiveness, exhibit humility, demonstrate mercy…all in the pursuit of justice.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today.

 The Christian tradition has always attempted to root itself in historical realities; with greater and lesser degrees of success, often with outright failure, and intentional malfeasance, but understanding history is a crucial component of understanding the gospel.

 The study of our tradition is what gave birth to modern historical criticism; without which we would have no understanding of the uses and limitations of history whatsoever; it only took eighteen hundred years of scholarship to develop.

 Our narrative about the life and mission, the arrest and killing of Jesus are a part of the testimony of our faith. Our understanding of these events is aided when we are able to locate the point in time, the singular moment when our commitment to the teachings of Jesus took place.

 With that being said we can articulate this:

 Jesus was born during the reign of Tiberius, heir to Augustus. He came of age during the Herodian dynasty, beginning his mission when Pontius Pilate was governor of Palestine.

 We recall the role that Pilate played in the killing of Jesus, we shout it out at every hour of every day in all parts of the world when we proclaim that Jesus suffered under him before he was crucified and buried.

 This story is told without end.

 It is long since time that we, as heirs to the ministry and teaching of Jesus, forgive Pilate for the role he played in that political murder...Jesus did, even when he was dying on the cross.

 John the Baptist taught us to repent and be forgiven, but Jesus taught us simply to forgive, as he himself forgave those who played a role in his killing; it is time we do the same. This is the character of mercy that we are called to. The promise of Isaiah, which John echoed in the wilderness, cannot be fulfilled until we do.

 Remember.

 God is the author of our salvation but we are its agents, and it is incumbent on us to proceed with the healing, if the human race is to be made well.

First Reading - Baruch 5:1-9 ©

God Means to Show your Splendour to Every Nation

Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of the glory of God for ever, wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you, put the diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head:

Since God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven, since the name God gives you for ever will be, ‘Peace through integrity, and honour through devotedness.’

Arise, Jerusalem, stand on the heights and turn your eyes to the east:

See your sons reassembled from west and east at the command of the Holy One, jubilant that God has remembered them.

Though they left you on foot, with enemies for an escort, now God brings them back to you like royal princes carried back in glory.

For God has decreed the flattening of each high mountain, of the everlasting hills, the filling of the valleys to make the ground level so that Israel can walk in safety under the glory of God.

And the forests and every fragrant tree will provide shade for Israel at the command of God; for God will guide Israel in joy by the light of his glory with his mercy and integrity for escort.

 

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 125(126) ©

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,

  it seemed like a dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

  on our lips there were songs.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels

  the Lord worked for them!’

What marvels the Lord worked for us!

  Indeed we were glad.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage

  as streams in dry land.

Those who are sowing in tears

  will sing when they reap.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,

  carrying seed for the sowing:

they come back, they come back, full of song,

  carrying their sheaves.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

Second Reading - Philippians 1:4-6,8-11 ©

May You Become Pure and Blameless in Preparation for the Day of Christ

Every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy, remembering how you have helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right up to the present. I am quite certain that the One who began this good work in you will see that it is finished when the Day of Christ Jesus comes; and God knows how much I miss you all, loving you as Christ Jesus loves you. My prayer is that your love for each other may increase more and more and never stop improving your knowledge and deepening your perception so that you can always recognise what is best. This will help you to become pure and blameless, and prepare you for the Day of Christ, when you will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us for the glory and praise of God.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Lk 3:4,6

Alleluia, alleluia!

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight, and all mankind shall see the salvation of God.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 3:1-6 ©

The Call of John the Baptist

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrach of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah:

A voice cries in the wilderness:

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.

Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth.

And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.

 

A Homily – The Second Sunday of Advent (Year C)

A Homily – The First Sunday of Advent (Year C)

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)