Epiphany

Epiphany A B C

Readings: Isaiah 60:1‑6   Ephesians 3:2‑3,5‑6  Matthew 2:1‑12

Beginning with the call of Abraham, God's plan for salvation history extends his blessing from Israel to all the nations (Gen 12:1‑3).  Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, the manifestation of God's salvation to all peoples.  In the words of the responsorial psalm, we pray: "Lord, every nation on earth will adore you" (Ps 72:11).

The Isaiah reading looks forward to the time when nations will walk by the light of God's blessing shed upon Jerusalem.   Speaking to exiles recently returned from Babylon, the prophet  commands them to see their efforts to rebuild Jerusalem's walls and Temple as the beginnings of the epiphany of the Lord's light and glory piercing through the darkness of the whole earth. “Nations shall walk by your light,/ and kings by your shining radiance/. . . . For the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you,/ the wealth of nations shall be brought to you/ . . . All from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense,/ and proclaiming the praises of the Lord”  (Is 60:3,5‑6).

Ephesians announces the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy by proclaiming “that the Gentiles are now coheirs with the Jews, members of the same body and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the preaching of the gospel."  Paul had to fight for the Gentiles’ right to be part of the new Messianic community without the duty of becoming observant Jews.  According to Paul, Jesus' death and resurrection is the saving event, long anticipated by the prophets, which has opened the way for the Gentiles to become members of the people of God.  This good news also calls Christians to a new way of living together in a love, rooted in Christ's own love for us.  Our epiphany prayer for one another should be Paul's. “I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner-self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you may be rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:14‑19). 

Matthew's story of the adoration of the magi foreshadows that the Gentiles will receive the gospel. Many of the details of the Epiphany story‑‑ the character of Herod, the mysterious star, the magi‑‑ have their background in the traditions of the Old Testament. Herod's character is modeled on previous wicked kings who attempt to thwart God's promises, only to bring them to fulfillment.  Like the Pharaoh in versions of the Exodus story, Herod becomes "greatly troubled" by the birth of "the newborn king of the Jews" and attempts to kill the child by ordering the massacre of the infant boys in Bethlehem.  As a result Jesus, as God's son, must descend into Egypt, like his ancestors, and then be called out in fulfillment of Hosea's prophecy: "Out of Egypt I have called my son" (Hos 11:1; Mt 2:13‑23).

The star that the magi follow is also associated with an Old Testament story about another king who tried unsuccessfully to frustrate God's plan.  When the Moabite king Balak confronts the Israelites in their march through the wilderness, he summons Balaam, a pagan seer (a magus), to curse them, but he can only pronounce blessing on God's people (see Numbers 22‑24).   Among the blessings is the foreshadowing of a Messiah arising like "a star" out of Jacob. “There shall come a man out of Israel's seed,/ and he shall rule many nations/. . . . I see him, but not now;/ I behold him, but not close;/ a star shall rise from Jacob,/ and a man (scepter) shall come forth from Israel” (Num 24:7,17‑‑partially from Greek Septuagint).      

In contrast to Herod, the magi are sincere Gentiles who cooperate with God's plan and, in fulfillment of the Isaiah text, come to "walk by (Israel's) light."  Although they only have the astrological revelation provided by nature, the magi humbly come to Israel seeking fuller knowledge of where the child is to be born so that they may do him homage.  When they learn from the Scriptures that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem, they continue their journey, again guided by the star.  And when they see the child with Mary his mother, they respond with joy and in homage offer their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

Mary, Mother of God

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Readings: Numbers 6:22‑27  Galatians 4:4‑7  

Luke 2:16‑21

            Today's feast celebrates the merciful God, whose name has been fully revealed in Jesus, and Mary, the mother of God, who is our model for pondering the mysteries of the Christmas season. As we wish for others the blessings of the Christmas season, let us pray today's psalm: "May God bless us in his mercy" (Ps 67:2a).

            In the Numbers reading the Lord instructs Aaron and his sons in the way they are to bless the children of Israel.  The actual words of the priestly blessing are three parallel poetic lines petitioning the Lord's protection associated with his presence or "face." “The Lord bless you and keep you!/ The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you!/  The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!” The first half of each line requests the Lord's attentive care, and the second half elaborates its consequence for the individual.  God's blessing culminates in shalom, "peace" or "well‑being," material and spiritual prosperity in all its fullness (see Deut 28:3‑6).      

            In the Galatians reading Paul is describing the consequences of belief in Christ through a contrast between the state of Jews and Gentiles before and after his coming.  Until Christ came, both groups were in a state of slavery, but now they have become free children and fully adopted heirs of God's kingdom.  In today's selection Paul is describing the Messiah's liberation of the Jews, like himself, who were living under the law; he therefore uses the first person plural. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.” The proof of this new status for both Jews and Gentiles is the new, intimate way that they may address God as "Abba, Father!”.  Paul then concludes by reiterating the new status of Christians as fully adopted children and heirs. “So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.”          

            The Gospel reading completes Luke's nativity narrative with three scenes.  In the first, the shepherds, most unlikely candidates for God's revelation, become the first apostles of the Christian message.  After deciding to go to David's city to verify the message that the angels have given them, they find "Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger," just as the angels had announced.  They now understand "what had been told them concerning this child," namely that he is destined to be "a Savior . . . the Messiah and Lord."  Not content with keeping this news concealed, they report it to others, and "all who heard of it were astonished."  As the shepherds return, they glorify and praise God "for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them." 

            In the second scene, Mary's reaction is distinguished from the others.  Luke notes that she "kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart."  The verb is the same one used by Luke to describe Mary’s reaction to Gabriel's initial greeting in the annunciation (1:29) and later of her response in the story of Jesus' remaining behind in the Temple at Passover when he was age twelve (2:51).  It has the sense of intense thought which returns to the subject time and again.  In Luke's theology Mary is a model of discipleship.  She hears God's word, reflects deeply upon it, and then acts in accord with it. 

The concluding scene of today's Gospel narrates the circumcision and naming of the child, as "Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb."  Luke deliberately harkens back to the annunciation where the name "Jesus" ("the Lord saves") was associated with the child's destiny to become the Messiah with his heavenly exaltation after his crucifixion and death (1:31‑33; see Acts 2:22‑36).  At the end of Luke's Gospel, Jesus will commission his disciples to preach forgiveness of sins in this sacred name."Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things" (Lk 24:46‑48).

Holy Family

Holy Family A 

Readings: Sirach 3:2‑6, 12‑14  Colossians 3:12‑21  Matthew 2:13‑15,19‑23

During the Christmas season the Church celebrates the incarnation by dwelling on various aspects of this mystery.  This year's feast of the Holy Family recalls that Jesus and his family had to flee into Egypt, like their ancestors, in order to escape the wrath of King Herod.  As we listen to Joseph's obedience to the angel's commands concerning "the child and his mother," let us pray in faith the words of the responsorial psalm: "Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways" (Ps 128). 

The reading from Sirach is a wisdom instruction based on the commandment to honor father and mother (Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16).   This commandment obligates us to care for our elderly parents when their health and minds fail.  It has much to say to our time when aged parents are often neglected by their children. “My son take care of your father when he is old; . . Even if his mind fail, be considerate with him; revile him not all the days of his life.” According to Sirach, care for elderly parents is a way to atone for one’s sins. “Whoever honors his father atones for sins;/ . . .  he stores up riches who reveres his mother.” 

Paul's instructions to the Colossians put family obligations in a Christian context.  Christians are to divest themselves of their old lives of sin (see Col 3:5‑9) and clothe themselves with Christian virtues: heartfelt mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and especially love, "the bond of perfection" (3:12‑14).  Paul's instructions to husbands and fathers in a patriarchal society are particularly shaped by the ideal of Christian love. “Husbands, love your wives and avoid any bitterness toward them. . . .  Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they may not become discouraged.” 

In Matthew’s nativity story the child Jesus recapitulates his people's and Moses' experience in Egypt, as he fulfills the prophecies concerning the Messiah.  Matthew also foreshadows Jesus' destiny to be rejected in Jerusalem but to be accepted by the Gentile world, represented by the magi from the East who follow a mysterious star and come with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to joyfully worship the child king.  In striking contrast to the magi, King Herod the Great, like the Pharaoh of the Exodus, attempts to slaughter the child by killing all the two year old males in the city of Bethlehem.  Jesus, like Moses, narrowly escapes death as child, when God sends an angel to warn Joseph in a dream: “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you.  Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.

Matthew understands Jesus' descent and return from Egypt as the Messianic fulfillment of a prophetic text in Hosea: "Out of Egypt I called my son" (Mt 2:15; see Hos 11:1).

After Herod's death, God continues to providentially guide the child's life through angelic dreams and the dutiful obedience of Joseph.  Like Moses who could return to Egypt with the death of the Pharaoh who sought his life (Ex 4:19), Jesus may return to the land of Israel with Herod's death. “When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.’”  When Joseph obediently returns to the land of Israel, he discovers that Herod Archelaus, also a wicked king, had succeeded his father as ruler of Judea, and so, having been warned in a  dream, he settles in Nazareth, a town in Galilee.  Matthew even attempts to relate this obscure place to a scriptural text: "so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Nazorean’" (Mt 2:23; see Is 11:1; Jgs 13:5,7).  In the troubled and frightening events of this child's life, God is preparing an obedient son who will say to John at the time of his baptism: “. . . it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Nativity of the Lord - Midnight Readings

Christmas Midnight A B C

Readings: Isaiah 9:1-6 Titus 2:11-14  Luke 2:1-14

            The readings for Christmas at midnight proclaim the joyous, yet humble, arrival of Jesus as the light of the world.  He comes to bring peace to all and calls Christians to live temperate and just lives as they await his return in glory.  Let us rejoice as we hear the angel’s proclamation to the shepherds: “’Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.’”

Isaiah’s messianic oracle expresses the hope for a king in the Davidic line who will bring peace in the aftermath of an Assyrian invasion of Israel.  The prophet prefaces his description of the king’s just rule by praising the Lord for delivering the nation from the Assyrian yoke.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;/ Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone./ You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing./ For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder,/ And the rod of their taskmaster/ You have smashed, as on the day of Midian.”  Isaiah believes this liberation is only the initial act of a two part drama.  He expects that “the zeal of the Lord of hosts” will raise to the Davidic throne a king who will rule with wisdom, power, paternal care and peace.  Although Jesus did not assume a worldly throne, we Christians believe he is the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s oracle though his life, preaching, death and resurrection, and return in glory (see Peter’s sermon in Acts 2).  Jesus has begun the Kingdom of God that will ultimately triumph in the peace and justice Isaiah so urgently awaited.

The Titus reading presents us with the whole mystery of salvation: the appearance of God’s grace in Christ’s offering salvation to all, the challenge of the Christian life, and our hope for the final appearance of God’s glory and our savior Jesus Christ.  Even on the feast of Christmas, the Church does not lose sight of the demands of our renewed life and the urgent expectation of the second coming.  As the letter to Titus proclaims, all have been cleansed and redeemed in Christ, but we still wait in hope, as did Isaiah, for the appearance of the full glory of God’s kingdom.  In the interim, we are called to reject godless ways and to live temperately and justly.

Luke’s beautiful nativity story is best understood in relation to the major themes of his gospel, especially his insistence that Jesus is a universal savior, who was prophesied in the Scriptures and will overturn worldly expectations for greatness.  This universality is most explicit in the angel’s greeting to the shepherds which is the center piece of his entire narrative. “’I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord.’”

By dating Jesus’ birth in the reign of Caesar Augustus, Luke contrasts the powerful Roman emperor with the lowly Jesus who is born as an exile.  Luke’s initial readers were aware that Augustus had inaugurated the Pax Romana and that many entertained messianic expectations about his rule.  For Luke, however, Jesus’ humble birth is the joyous beginning of the long-awaited fulfillment of God’s promises of salvation in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Salvation and peace will not come from the emperor who has the power to order a census of the whole world, but from Jesus whose parents must obey the emperor’s commands.

Luke’s special emphasis on the fact that Jesus has come for the lowly is evident in the role of the shepherds.  In Jewish tradition, they were considered disreputable and their testimony was invalid.  Yet in Luke’s account they receive the initial annunciation of Jesus’ birth and even function as evangelists.  When they proceed to Bethlehem, they witness the truth of the angel’s message and then make it known to others.  Likewise, when they return, they glorify and praise God “for all they have heard and seen.” 

Other details of Luke’s story make symbolic allusion to Jesus as the unexpected fulfillment of the Scriptures.  The swaddling clothes recall a saying associated with King Solomon who says: “I was nurtured in swaddling clothes, with every care./  No king has known any other beginning of existence” (Wis 7:4-5).  Despite the lowly circumstances of Jesus’ birth, he is already a king like the great Solomon.  The manger (feeding trough) also has more than literal significance.  Isaiah had criticized his generation’s failure to understand the Lord in the following oracle: “An ox knows its owner,/ and an ass its master’s manger./  But Israel does not know, my people has not understood” (Is 1:2-3).  In contrast to the senseless people of Isaiah’s time, the humble shepherds, representative of a renewed people of God, go in haste to the infant lying in the manger who is food for the world.  Setting aside our pride, let us follow the shepherds to adore the Christ-child.

Advent IV A

4^th Sunday of Advent A 

Readings: Isaiah 7:10‑14   Romans 1:1‑7   

Matthew 1:18‑24

As our Christmas feast draws near, we are presented with the mystery of Immanuel, "God‑with‑us," first in Isaiah's prophecy and most completely in Jesus who in the words of the angel to Joseph “will save his people from their sins.”  To prepare ourselves to celebrate the feast properly, let us identify with the obedient Joseph in the Gospel and pray for  the Lord's coming in the words of the refrain of the responsorial  psalm: "Let the Lord enter;/ he is the king of glory" (Ps 24:7c and 10b). 

Isaiah's speaks his prophecy to Ahaz during a threatening invasion that has made "the heart of the king and the heart of the people tremble, as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind" (Isa 7:1‑2).  Judah and Jerusalem are being attacked by an alliance of Aram (Syria) and Ephraim (Israel) who want to dethrone Ahaz and make "the son of Tabeel" king in order to force Judah into their alliance against the mighty Assyrian Empire.  Isaiah has already challenged Ahaz to trust the Lord's promises of protection for the Davidic kings and the city of Jerusalem (Isa 7:3‑9; see 2 Sam 7; Pss 46, 48), but the king has decided to put his trust in an alliance with Tiglath‑pileser III, the great king of Assyria (see 2 Kgs 16:5ff).  Now Isaiah challenges Ahaz to ask the Lord for a confirming sign that he will protect Jerusalem and the Davidic line, but the king, with feigned piety, refuses: "I will not ask!  I will not tempt the Lord!"   He has, of course, already determined to rely upon Assyria. In exasperation Isaiah still gives Ahaz a sign confirming the truth of his prophecy. "Listen, O house of David!  Is it enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God?  Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel." The name "Immanuel" means "God‑with‑us."  Despite Ahaz' lack of faith, the child will be a sign that God will be with Judah in this crisis.  Isaiah goes on to say of the Immanuel child: “He shall be living on curds and honey by the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good.  For before the child learns to reject the bad and choose the good, the land of those two kings whom you dread shall be deserted” (Isa 7:15‑16).

The second reading is the greeting of Paul's Letter to the Romans, introducing himself and his understanding of the Christian gospel.  Paul insists that the gospel is both rooted in the promises of the Jewish scriptures but also includes the Gentiles in God's plan for salvation in Christ.  He carefully notes that it fulfills what God "promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, the gospel about his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh . . ."   But he also proclaims that the Gentiles are now invited into God's kingdom because Jesus has been "made Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead . .  ."  God's plan is no longer limited to Israel; Paul and his co‑workers "have received the grace of apostleship" so that they might spread Jesus' name and “bring about the obedience of faith . . . among all the Gentiles."

Matthew's story of the annunciation of Jesus' birth to Joseph also fulfills the Scriptures in a way which transcends their original meaning.  Jesus, God's unique Son who “will save his people from their sins,” is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and will fulfill the name Immanuel, "God‑with‑us," in a way that surpasses all other actions of God in the past.

We cannot help but admire the way Joseph cooperates with this plan.  When he discovers that Mary is with child, he does not wish to expose her to the stoning prescribed for adultery (see Deut 22:20‑21), and so he has "decided to divorce her quietly."   But the angel of the Lord tells him in a dream:" Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that  this child has been conceived in her.  She is bear a son and you are to name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” In contrast to the disbelieving Ahaz in the first reading, "Joseph . . . did as the angel of the Lord had directed him and received her into his home as his wife."       

Advent III A

3^rd Sunday of Advent A

Readings: Isaiah 35:1‑6, 10   James 5:7‑10   Matthew 11:2‑11

            “Are you the one who is to come or do we look for another?”   This is John the Baptist's question, when he hears “of the works of the Christ."  As we wait with John to hear of and experience the saving works performed by Jesus in fulfillment of the prophecies of the Book of Isaiah, let us pray for the coming of the Lord's justice in the words of the responsorial psalm.

“Lord, come and save us./ The Lord God keeps faith forever,/ secures justice for the oppressed,

gives bread to the hungry./ The Lord sets captives free.”  (Ps 146:6‑7) 

            The first reading is a lyrical prophecy of the Lord's ransoming the Jewish exiles and bringing them home to Zion "singing, crowned with everlasting joy."  This return will be accompanied by a transformation of "the desert and the parched land" of Judah into a verdant paradise. “They will bloom with abundant flowers,/ and rejoice with joyful song/. . . . They will see the glory of the Lord,/ the splendor of our God.”  Prophetic voices in the community have the responsibility of preparing the discouraged exiles for God's wondrous saving deeds.   They are to: “Strengthen the hands that are feeble,/ make firm the knees that are weak,/ say to those whose hearts are frightened:`Be strong, fear not!/ Here is your God,  He comes with vindication.'. . .”  When the exiles are prepared for the Lord's action, they will be transformed into new life. “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,/ the ears of the deaf be cleared;/ then will the lame leap like a stag,/ then the tongue of the mute will sing.”  (Isa 35:5‑6)            

            The Letter of James exhorts us who are awaiting "the coming of the Lord" to "be patient."  It presents two models of waiting:  the hopeful patience of the farmer and the active preaching of the prophets.  During the winter and spring rains, the farmer patiently awaits the precious yield of the soil.  Likewise, James encourages Christians to "Make firm your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is at hand."  The prophets of old provide an example for those who are suffering for God's kingdom while awaiting God's judgment; they "spoke in the name of the Lord," and, as a result, suffered "hardships."                

            In the Gospel, John the Baptist is an example of such a prophet who suffered for preaching the coming of God's kingdom.   As we heard last week, he fearlessly called the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees to repentance (Matt 3:1‑12).  Now John has been imprisoned by Herod Antipas for criticizing his marriage to Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.  And she will soon demand that Herod have John beheaded (see Matt 14:3‑12). 

            After the Baptist's messengers depart, Jesus testifies to John's unique role in the history of salvation.  He is the prophetic messenger, spoken of in Malachi, who would precede the coming of God's kingdom (see Mal 3:1; Ex 23:20). "What did you go out to the wasteland to see? A reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go to out to see?  Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are found in royal palaces.  Then why did you go out?  To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.'  Amen, I say to you, among those born of women There has been none greater than John . . .”

            Despite John's greatness as the precursor of the Kingdom, Jesus ends by saying: "Yet the least born into the kingdom of God is greater than he."  John belonged to the time of preparation; Jesus is bringing the fulfillment of the Kingdom, but not by being a powerful military Messiah, nor by ruthlessly condemning the unrighteous.  The signs of Jesus' kingdom Jesus are the liberating ones spoken of in Isaiah 35.  He tells the messengers sent from John the Baptizer: "Go back and report to John what you hear and see:/ the blind recover their sight, cripples walk,/ lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead are raised to life,/ and the poor have the good news preached to them./ Blest is the one who finds no stumbling block in me.”

Advent II A

2^nd Sunday of Advent A 

Readings: Isaiah 11:1‑10   Romans 15:4‑9   

Matthew 3:1‑12

            On the second Sunday of Advent the Church presents John the Baptist as Jesus' precursor, who "prepares the way of the Lord" by demanding that those who come to him reform their lives because “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  We Christians still long for the fullness of God's reign of justice through Jesus the Messiah, and so we continue to pray in hope the refrain of this  Sunday's responsorial psalm: "Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever" (Ps 72:7). 

            The opening reading is Isaiah's messianic vision of a future  Davidic king who will be endowed with God's spirit and rule the land of Judah with justice.  In contrast to the cowardly and self-serving king Ahaz of Isaiah’s time (see Isaiah 7‑8), this "shoot . . . from the stump of Jesse" will have the divine gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, and fear of the Lord. Endowed with these virtues, he will both "judge the poor with justice" and "strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth."  As a result of his just rule, even the predatory violence in the animal world will be transformed into peaceful harmony. “Then the wolf shall be the guest of the lamb,/ and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;/ the calf and the young lion shall browse together,/ with a little child to guide them. . . .” When the knowledge of the Lord fills the earth "as water covers the sea," the rule of this just king will be "as a signal for the nations" so that they too will "seek out his glorious dwelling." 

            Paul's prayer in the second reading is that the and Gentile Christians in the Roman community "will think in harmony with one another."  Although they have come to Christianity from very different religious traditions, Paul encourages them: "Welcome one another . . . as Christ welcomed you for the glory of God."  Christ came to save and unify both groups.  He "became the minister of the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs," and his death on the cross is the source of "mercy" for the Gentiles.  Christ's self-emptying love is to be the model for their treatment of one another.

            Matthew's account of the ministry of John the Baptist presents him as the precursor of the Messiah who is beginning to gather a reformed people of God by calling them to repentance.  First of all, Matthew carefully links John to figures from the Jewish Scriptures.   He is "a voice of one crying out in the desert" spoken of in the Book of Isaiah.  His camel's hair garment and wilderness diet recall the prophet Elijah who was expected to come at the end time to  prepare God's people for the arrival of the kingdom (see 2 Kgs 1:8; Mal 3:1; 4:23‑24).  John's fiery preaching challenges the Pharisees and Sadducees to produce true fruits of reform.  Merely participating in his baptism or claiming to be descendants of Abraham will not suffice.  John warns that “every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire.”  His expectations for the Messiah are even more frightening.  In contrast to his water baptism of repentance, “the mightier” one who will follow will baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire.”    Like a harvester with “his winnowing fan in his hand,” he will “gather his grain into the barn, but the chaff he will burn in unquenchable fire.”

            As we consider what might be the proper fruits of repentance, we can do no better than the verses of this Sunday's responsorial psalm which pray that the future king will help bring about God's justice.  We, like the king, are called to "save the poor when they cry/ and the needy who are helpless" and to "have pity on the weak/ and save the lives of the poor" (Ps 72:12‑13).

Advent I A

1^st Sunday of Advent A

Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5   Romans 13:11-14 

 Matthew 24:37-44

            In the Advent Season of preparation for the celebration of Christ’s nativity each Gospel reading has a distinctive theme: the Lord’s coming at the end of time (First Sunday of Advent), the ministry of John the Baptist, the precursor of the Messiah (Second and Third Sundays), and the events that prepared immediately for the Lord’s birth (Fourth Sunday).  The Old Testament readings are prophecies about the Messiah or the Messianic age, especially from the Book of Isaiah.  The second readings from an apostolic letter contain exhortations and proclamations, in keeping with the themes of Advent: alertness in preparation for the coming of the Lord.

During the dark days of December, we Christians begin our Advent vigil by watching for the light and longing for the coming of God's kingdom of justice and peace in the Messiah Jesus. With our Jewish ancestors and the early Christian community, we are called to live in hope and eager expectation.  As we listen to Isaiah's vision of peace for Judah and the city of Jerusalem, let us pray in the words of the responsorial psalm for peace in all the world's cities and nations. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!? May those who love you prosper!? May peace be within your walls,/ prosperity in your buildings”  (Ps 122:6‑7).

            Although the prophet Isaiah lived through the Assyrian invasions which destroyed the kingdom of Israel and reduced Judah and Jerusalem to "a waste, like Sodom overthrown" (Is 1:9), his vision for the future is filled with hope for a world peace established by God.  Isaiah envisions a time when "the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest mountain."  Then the world's war weary nations will decide to pilgrimage to the Lord's temple mountain in Jerusalem in order to be instructed “in his ways."  And the Lord "shall judge between the nations" so that they will turn their weapons into instruments of productive agriculture. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares/ and their spears into pruning hooks;/ one nation shall not raise the sword against another,/ nor shall they train for war again.”

Isaiah concludes with an invitation to the "house of Jacob" and to us: "let us walk in the light of the Lord.”

            Paul's exhortation to the Romans continues this Sunday's light theme and offers us a pattern for living in the season of Advent.  Paul believed in the imminent return of the Lord Jesus to complete God's kingdom, and therefore he warns the Roman Christians: "the night is advanced, the day is at hand."  He urges them "to wake from sleep" and "throw off deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."   They are to live honorably as in daylight and are to avoid carousing and drunkenness, sexual excess and lust, quarreling and jealousy. 

            The Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Advent is always from Jesus' apocalyptic sermons in Jerusalem just before his trial and death.  Jesus speaks of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple and his later triumphant return as the Son of Man to complete God's kingdom.  During this year the Church does the A cycle of readings which feature Matthew's Gospel, and so this Sunday we read from his version of Jesus' apocalyptic discourse. Jesus warns his disciples that they cannot know the day your Lord is coming.  Since the time is unknown, those who await Jesus' return must not make the mistake of the flood generation, when people were so totally unconcerned that “they were eating and drinking, marrying and being married, up to the day Noah entered the ark.”  Because they were unprepared, “the flood came and carried them away.”  Christians who live in the expectation of Jesus' coming cannot simply continue life as usual; they must “stay awake” and “be prepared” like the owner of a house who knows a thief is coming. Perhaps, there is no better way to maintain this alertness than to live by the words that Isaiah puts on the lips of the nations in his vision. "Come, let us climb the Lord's mountain,/ to the house of the God of Jacob,/ that he may instruct us in his ways,/ and we may walk in his paths."  (Isa 2:3)  

Christ The King (year C)

Christ the King C 

Readings: 2 Samuel 5:1‑3  Colossians 1:1‑20  

Luke 23:35‑43

The readings for this year's feast of Christ the King proclaim the paradox of Christian faith.  Jesus, the rejected and crucified one, is also the triumphant Messiah who brings salvation "through the blood of his cross."  A grateful joy, exemplified by the promise of Paradise to the penitent thief, marks the celebration.  Let us enter the spirit of the feast in the refrain of the responsorial psalm (Ps 122): "I rejoiced when I heard them say: let us go to the house of the Lord." 

The reading from Samuel is the joyful climax of a long process by which David rose from an insignificant shepherd boy to be king of both Judah and Israel (see 1 Samuel 16‑2 Samuel 5).  After a bloody and tragic war between David's tribe of Judah and Israel under the leadership of Saul's descendants, the tribes of Israel finally decide to make David their king by coming to his Judean capital at Hebron.  Their speech is both conciliatory and hopeful. "Here we are, your bone and your flesh.  In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back.  And the Lord said to you, `You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.'" The elders anoint David and make a covenant with him in the hope that he will both "shepherd" Israel and bring them victory over their enemies as "commander" of the army.

The tone of joyful gratitude is continued in the thanksgiving from the letter to the Colossians.   We Christians are to be grateful for the work of the Father who has "rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son."  This salvation has been brought about by Jesus through whom "we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

The main body of the reading is a great hymn celebrating the cosmic Christ as both the agent of creation and the savior who effected a second creation by "making peace through the blood of his cross."   Paradoxically, Jesus is both "image of the invisible God, the first born of all creatures" and also "the first born from the dead" through his cross and resurrection. A fivefold repetition of "everything" asserts Christ's cosmic power, but there is a wonderful incongruity in that the one in whom God's "absolute fullness" resides has reconciled the world as a crucified king. “He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creatures. In him everything in heaven and on earth was created . . .All were created through him, and for him. He is before all else that is.  In him everything continues in being. It is he who is head of the body, the church; he who is the beginning, the first-born of the dead, so that primacy may be his in everything. It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in him and, by means of him to reconcile everything in his person everything, I say, both on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of his cross.”

Luke's crucifixion scene exemplifies the divided response that accompanied Jesus throughout his ministry in this gospel.   As the innocent, suffering Messiah (see Ps 22:7‑8, Wis 2:18; Ps  69:21), Jesus reigns from the cross and continues to extend the offer of God's mercy to sinners.  The people are expectant; they stand there "watching."  Later after witnessing the crucifixion, they will repent of their rejection of Jesus by "beating their breasts" (see Lk 23:13‑25, 48).  Both "the leaders" and "the soldiers" give hostile, but ironically true, responses to Jesus.   Like the devil in the desert (4:1‑13), they tempt Jesus to "save" his life by holding on to it (contrast 9:24).  Ironically, only as the crucified one who dies in faith, can Jesus fulfill his destiny as “the Messiah of God” and “King of the Jews” (see 9:22; 18:33; 20:27‑40; 22:69; 24:26).  The first thief also joins in the taunting, but the second, like so many sinners in the gospel, responds to Jesus with a deep faith.  He believes that the dying Jesus is about to enter his Messianic reign and requests, “Jesus, remember me when you enter into your reign.”  Jesus, as the new Adam who has been obedient and faithful (see 4:1‑38) and who will experience God's victory over death, promises forgiveness to the repentant thief with the words, “I assure you: this day you will be with me in Paradise.”  

33rd Sunday C

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Readings: Malachi 3:19‑20  2 Thessalonians 3:7‑12  Luke 21:2‑19

At the end of the Church year the liturgy focuses on our Christian hope for the coming of God's kingdom in the final judgment.  This Sunday's readings call us to prepare for that judgment with lives of justice, fruitful work, and patient endurance.  With fervent hope, we pray for the coming God's kingdom in the refrain for our responsorial psalm: "The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice" (Ps 98).

The prophecy in the Book of Malachi ("My messenger") is addressed to those who have lost faith in God's justice during the depressing years after Judah's return from exile (c. 450 B.C.).  We hear of priests offering shoddy worship and neglecting their duty to instruct the people in Torah (Mal 1:6‑2:9).  Many men have broken the marriage bond by divorcing their Jewish wives and marrying foreigners (2:10‑16).  Finally, some, when they see the apparent prosperity of the wicked, have given up lives of justice and begun to ask “Where is the just God?” (Mal 2:17).  In the midst of this moral malaise, the prophet proclaims that the fire of the Lord's justice will come.  For the proud and wicked, it will be "blazing like an oven . . . leaving them neither root nor branch."  But for those who fear the Lord, "there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays."     

We saw last week that 2 Thessalonians is written to a community confused by the belief that "the day of the Lord is already here" (2 Thess 2:2).  Apparently, some equated this event with baptism and reasoned that, because they already enjoyed the benefits of salvation, they were free to live lives of disorder and idleness.  Today's selection reminds the Thessalonians of how Paul and his co‑workers lived among them.  Rather than being parasites on the community, they "worked day and night, laboring to the point of exhaustion so as not to impose on any of you."  To prod the idle to resume productive lives, the author recalls Paul’s rule "that anyone who would not work should not eat."   Last of all, the "busybodies" are enjoined "to earn the food they eat by working quietly." 

The Gospel is taken from Luke's version of Jesus' apocalyptic sermon predicting the destruction of the Jerusalem temple and his coming as the Son of Man with power and glory.  In Luke's account, Jesus makes a clear distinction between the fall of the temple and the events associated with “the end.”  His followers are not to be misled by false messiahs who say, ‘I am he,’ or ‘The time is at hand.’  The wars and insurrections associated with the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 A.D. fired many with the expectation of Jesus' return, but in Luke Jesus warns: “These things are bound to happen first, but the end does not follow immediately.”

Jesus goes on to prepare his disciples for the trials they will experience before his final coming.  As Luke recounts so dramatically in the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus' disciples can expect to be persecuted and summoned for trial in both synagogues and before kings and governors.  When they are called upon to give witness to Jesus' name, he tells them not to worry, “for I will give you words and a wisdom which none of your adversaries can take exception to or contradict.”  They can expect to be hated and may even die because of their witness to the gospel, but Jesus assures them “not a hair of your head will be harmed.” 

Although Jesus' followers will be persecuted by the world's powers and even family members, they will have his assistance in time of trial and will experience the ultimate triumph of God's justice.  For all of us who wait and struggle for the coming of God's kingdom, Jesus' final words are a source of hope: “By patient endurance you will save your lives.”

32nd Sunday C

32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Readings: 2 Maccabees 7:1‑2,9‑14  2 Thessalonians 2:16‑3:5   Luke 20:27‑38

At the end of the liturgical year, the readings focus on the resurrection of those who have persevered in faith.  As we hear of the heroic faith of Jesus in the Gospel and the seven Jewish martyrs in 2 Maccabees, let us join them in praying the refrain of this Sunday's responsorial psalm: "Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full" (Ps 17).

            In the 2 Maccabees reading, the seven brothers die for their refusal to violate God's law during the terrible persecutions of Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the 160s B.C.  Each gives a speech, expressing some aspect of resurrection faith.  The first affirms courageous fidelity to God's law in the face of death: “We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.”  The second expresses a transcendent hope for a life beyond this physical life: “. . .  you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to life again forever.”  The third believes that God, who created life, can also restore it beyond death: “It was from Heaven that I received these (his bodily parts); for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.”  Finally, the fourth brother states his hope that resurrection will be granted only for those who have been faithful: “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life.”

The reading from Second Thessalonians also offers hope in the resurrection during a time of persecution and confusion.   Because they were confused by the delay of Christ's triumphant return (see 2 Thes 2:1‑12), some Christians at Thessalonika were spreading the rumor that the Day of the Lord was at hand and were leading others into disorderly and irresponsible behavior (see 2 Thes 3:6‑16). In that context, the Pauline author prays that the community persevere in faith: "God our Father, who loved us and in his mercy gave us eternal consolation and hope, console your hearts and strengthen them for every good work and word."   He also requests prayers for himself and his co‑workers as they struggle to be faithful to preaching the gospel.  “Pray that we may be delivered from confused and evil men. For not everyone has faith; the Lord, however, keeps faith; he it is who will strengthen you and guard you against the evil one."

In today's Gospel Jesus, shortly before his own death, affirms his belief in resurrection against a challenge from Sadducees who claimed there was no resurrection.  This hostile encounter occurs in the Jerusalem temple after Jesus has driven out the money changers and become embroiled in a heated controversy with the chief priests, scribes, and elders over his  authority to be teaching in the temple (see Lk 19:45‑20:26). The Sadducees attempt to ridicule belief in resurrection by proposing a case from a law which was designed to keep property within the family (see Deuteronomy 25) by demanding that a woman marry her deceased husband’s brother.  In their unlikely example a single woman married seven consecutive brothers in an attempt to raise posterity to the first brother (see also Tobit and Genesis 38).  They want to know whose wife she will be at the resurrection. 

 Jesus' answer stands in the same tradition as the author of Second Maccabees.  First, he asserts the radical transformation God will bring about “in the age to come.”

"The children of this age marry and are given in marriage,

but those judged worthy of a place in the

                        age to come and of resurrection from the dead do not. 

                        They become like angels and are no longer liable to death. 

                        Children of the resurrection, they are children of God." 

Then he goes on to prove this belief from a text in Exodus, a portion of the Torah that the Sadducees themselves accepted as authoritative. "Moses in the passage about the bush showed that the dead rise again

                        when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Because these patriarchs had died centuries before the time of the revelation to Moses at the burning bush, Jesus can conclude that they must now be living with God because “God is not the God of the dead but of the living.  All are alive for him.”   

            By limiting their hopes to worldly concerns about property and descent, the Sadducees demonstrate their lack of faith in God's power and the impoverished character of their own religious imaginations which are bound to these materialistic preoccupations.

31st Sunday C

31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Readings: Wisdom 11:22‑12:2  2 

Thessalonians 1:11‑2:2  Luke 19:1‑10

Today's readings emphasize God's mercy that continuously offers the possibility of repentance, even to those whom we, in our self-righteousness, may deem unworthy of God's love.  Let us praise the Lord's compassion in the words of our responsorial psalm: "I will praise your name forever, my King and my God!" (Ps  145).

The reading from the book of Wisdom is an apologia for God's loving providence.  It is written in Greek and uses philosophical terminology that would make sense to its original audience: Greek-speaking Jews living in Egypt during the first century B.C.  God is the transcendent Lord before whom "the whole universe is as a grain from a balance/ or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth."  But He is also the merciful one who "overlooks the sins of men that they may repent."  All that exists is potentially good and is sustained by God's love. “For you love all things that are/ and loathe nothing that you have made;/ for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.” God's love and compassion point to an eternal destiny that transcends this material order. “But you spare all things, because they are yours,/ O Lord, and lover of souls,/ for your imperishable spirit is in all things!”

For the next three weeks the second reading will be from 2 Thessalonians, a letter which warns the Thessalonians not to be seduced into believing that the day of the Lord has arrived so that they no longer need to live responsible and ethical lives. “. . . (W)e beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be so easily agitated or terrified, whether by an oracular utterance or rumor or letter alleged to be ours, into believing that the day of the Lord has arrived.” The Pauline author urges them to endure their persecutions and trials in the assurance that God's justice will triumph over their persecutors.  He prays that God will make them worthy of their calling so that God's name may be glorified in them. “We pray for you always that our God may make you worthy of his call, and fulfill by his power every honest intention and work of faith.”

The Gospel presents the unforgettable story of Zacchaeus as an illustration of all that Christian repentance involves both for the penitent and for Jesus as the agent of God's salvation.  As a tax collector and rich man, Zacchaeus represents the despised sinner in Luke's gospel because he had acquired his wealth through dishonest means.  Yet this stereotypical sinner, like many others in Luke, is attracted to Jesus when he enters his town of Jericho, and he makes an extraordinary effort "to see what Jesus was like."  Because he is "small of stature," Zacchaeus cannot see Jesus in the huge crowd so he climbs a sycamore tree.  His efforts are matched by Jesus' outreach; he announces his intention to stay at Zacchaeus' house:  “Zacchaeus, hurry down.  I mean to stay at your house today.”

In contrast to the self-righteous Simon the Pharisee earlier in Luke’s Gospel (see Luke 7:36‑50), Zacchaeus delightfully and hospitably welcomes Jesus.  When everyone murmurs against Jesus' going to this sinner's house as a guest (see also Luke 15), Zacchaeus defends himself as a penitent. “I give half my belongings, Lord, to the poor. If I have defrauded anyone in the least, I pay him back fourfold.”  Unlike the rich young man in the previous episode (Lk 18:18‑30), Zacchaeus knows that his possessions are to be used in charity for the poor, and that he is obligated by the law to make appropriate restitution to anyone he has overcharged in collecting taxes.  The story concludes with Jesus affirming that Zacchaeus has discovered what it is to be a true child of Abraham. “Today salvation has come to this house, for this is what it means to be a child of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to search out and save what was lost.”      

30th Sunday C

30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Readings: Sirach 35:12‑14,16‑18  

2 Timothy 4:6‑8,16‑18  

Luke  18:9‑14

Last Sunday's readings stressed the need for perseverance and faith in prayer.  This week we learn that our prayer should seek justice and forgiveness in a spirit of humility.  In the words of the responsorial psalm, let us pray: “When the just cry out, the Lord hears them,/ and from all their distress he rescues them./ The Lord is close to the broken hearted;/ and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.”  (Ps 34:18‑19)

Sirach's reflections assert that a desire for justice must accompany true worship.  As a God of justice, the Lord does not favor the wealthy but "hears the cry of the oppressed," especially "the wail of the orphan" and "the widow's complaint."  Therefore Sirach states that the one "who serves God willingly is heard," and "the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds."  The reading concludes with an act of faith in the final triumph of God's justice. "Nor will it (the prayer of the lowly) withdraw till the Most High responds,/ judges justly and affirms the right."   

The closing portion of Second Timothy also binds a life of service to God's justice with worship.  In language charged with emotion, the Pauline writer describes Paul’s suffering in prison and approaching death as "being poured out like a libation."  Then, he depicts the struggle to be a faithful apostle in athletic imagery. “I have fought the good fight.  I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  From now on a merited crown awaits me; on that day the Lord, just judge that he is, will award it to me‑‑ and not only to me but to all who have looked for his appearing with eager longing.” The author is not simply bragging in Paul’s name; he uses Paul’s situation to teach Timothy the proper attitude for a minister of the gospel in the midst of suffering and abandonment.  Although Paul had no one to defend him in his first hearing before the Roman court, he forgave those who abandoned him in time of need.  "May it not be held against them!"  In his suffering Paul has been rescued by the Lord who "stood by my side and gave me strength." The selection ends with a confident act of faith in God's protection:  "The Lord will continue to rescue me from all attempts to do me harm and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom."      

Last week the parable of the widow and the unjust judge taught "the necessity of praying always and not losing heart."   This week Luke continues his treatment of prayer with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector which is "addressed to those who believed in their own self‑righteousness while holding everyone else in contempt."

The Pharisee's prayer reminds us that piety can turn into narcissism.  “With head unbowed,” he begins by assuming in a god-like way to judge himself as morally superior to others. “‘I give you thanks, O God, that I am not like the rest of men‑‑grasping, crooked, adulterous‑‑ or even like this tax collector.’” Then, with smug self-assurance, he goes on to list his deeds of extraordinary piety: ‘I fast twice a week.  I pay tithes on all I possess.’  The Pharisee's prayer is really an act of idolatrous self-love. Instead of opening himself to God's gifts, he enumerates his own accomplishments.

In sharp contrast to the Pharisee's moral posturing, the tax collector prays by humbly acknowledging the truth that he is a sinner.  "The other man, however, kept his distance, not even daring to raise his eyes to heaven.  All he did was beat his breast and say, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’" Because the tax collector recognizes his need for God's mercy, Jesus asserts: “Believe me, this man went home from the temple justified but the other did not.” 

This parable forces us to choose between two ways of approaching God.  Either we turn religion into a self-righteous worship of our own moral superiority, or we admit our need for God's mercy.  Jesus concludes: "For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled while he who humbles himself shall be exalted."  (Lk 18:14)