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).