First Sunday of Advent Year A 2022

 

      1^st. Sunday of Advent (A)               

      (Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44)

 

 

 Advent has come round once again and I can well imagine that many of us who are mature adults might be thinking how the time since last Christmas has flown; and that, dear People of God, is what I invite you to consider today: how quickly the last year has passed by! 

I ask you as disciples of Jesus to do this because it is so easy for people to live through their whole life and, when it comes to an end, find themselves not only surprised -- the years having passed like a dream, as the poet puts it – but also quite unprepared for what awaits them.  That is why, in God’s Providence, the Church’s liturgy has periods of preparation – Advent and Lent -- that recur annually and thereby remind us: “Look, another year has gone by!   How many more do you think you have?  You need to prepare yourself for what might soon be coming.”

Today’s readings serve that purpose by reminding us of the ultimate significance of our life here on earth and how supremely important it is for us to make good use of the time at our disposal.  These readings have two main themes: first of all, they evoke the joy of pilgrims going up to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifice and praise in the hope and expectation of messianic times to come. 

Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.

In those words from the prophet Isaiah we can sense the excitement and anticipation of those pilgrims journeying to meet Him Who, they believed would guide them and their people along the way of salvation.

And then, in our Gospel reading, Our blessed Lord tells us of the need to be well and truly prepared for that final, solemn, meeting with the Himself when He comes, as Son of Man in heavenly glory, to judge the nations and reward His faithful servants:

Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken one will be left.  Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.  Therefore, stay awake!  For you do not know (when) the Lord will come.

Surely our Christian faith and expectation should stir up in us -- who today are living in a war-besmirched and fear-oppressed world -- a similar confidence and determination as that which filled the hearts and minds of those ancient pilgrims in Israel who, as they walked along, encouraged each other with those words of exhortation:

            Come, house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

As Christians, and above all as Catholics, we are, as St. Peter said, a privileged People: for we have already -- in a far truer sense than those pilgrims could ever have imagined for themselves -- reached Jerusalem, the dwelling-place of the Most-High, because we have the privilege of being children of Mother Church, and in her, the letter to the Hebrews (12:22-24) tells us:

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant.

Therefore, being so privileged, we should come -- each and every Sunday -- with even greater joy and expectation to the house of the Lord,

            (Who) will teach us His ways, (that we may) walk in His paths.

The Jerusalem which Isaiah foresaw was a figure of Mother Church, where the faithful disciples of Jesus already enjoy a share in heavenly life, and are being continually guided, by her liturgy and sacraments, towards the fullness of Christian maturity that will ultimately enable them to attain the celestial Jerusalem and there join the  assembly gathered there -- the Church of the righteous made  perfect -- as fully living members of the Body of Christ, children of God in the only-begotten Son, able to be presented to, and  stand in the presence of, Him Who is the God and Father of us all.

Let us then pray wholeheartedly that we may learn the ways of the Lord and come to walk in His paths in accordance with the second theme of our readings today:

Stay awake!   For you do not know on what day your Lord will come;

for, not only do we not know the day of the Lord’s coming, but we have even been warned, quite explicitly, that it will take place when we least expect it:

The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.  

That final advent of the Lord will, indeed, be the supreme moment of faith, with no further time to pretend!!

St. Paul, that most faithful apostle of the Lord Jesus, explains what this means and how we should set about doing what Jesus requires of us in preparation for that meeting:

Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.  Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts.

We human beings are creatures of habit: we can do something one way, and then, by repetition, allow it to become first of all a tendency for us, and then finally develop into a firmly fixed habit that we do almost instinctively.  Now, in God’s Providence, the liturgy of Mother Church each year invites, indeed, urges us, to observe Advent as preparation for the celebration of Christmas, the birth of Christ; just as she also gives us Lent to prepare for the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord.  And she does this because, without repeated observance of such seasons of preparation, we might easily drift into a habit of unthinking observance of feasts of great moment for the Spirit at work in our lives, instead of establishing a truly Christian habit of preparation that will enable us to appreciate, celebrate, and profit from, the enduring goodness of the Lord.

Consequently, People of God, I urge you to use this Advent well: try to form a habit of welcoming the Lord into your life.  We have a month in which to start a new habit, or in which to strengthen a habit we have already been trying to build up over several, perhaps many, years.  The whole point is that if we do not have a habit of recognizing, welcoming, and gratefully responding to Jesus, a habit diligently practised and firmly established over years of observing the Advent preparation for Christmas, then when He comes, unexpectedly, at the end of our days, we might find ourselves unable to welcome Him.  Be sure, People of God, one cannot live a forgetful life and then, when suddenly challenged, come out with the right response or show the right attitude.  His coming at the end will be quite unexpected, there will be no time to collect our thoughts and weigh up what should be our attitude; we will find ourselves responding instinctively, at that unprepared moment, either in accordance with the character we have carefully built up by faithful devotion over the years, or with an attitude thoughtlessly allowed to develop over years of selfish, careless, and faithless living.  And that response will, for better or for worse, prove to be our final response and our last opportunity: a violent person, under pressure, will always react violently; a weak-willed person, under threat, will always be craven; a faithless disciple will always prove himself a hypocrite.   No wonder Jesus said:

Blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing (right) when he comes.

Recognize yourselves, People of God: sudden trials, sudden and unexpected threats, leave us neither the time nor the ability to act in an unaccustomed manner: to be found doing the Master's will when He comes, we need to have seriously formed good habits and the right instinctive attitudes.  Advent is an opportunity given us by Mother Church to try to establish the supremely good habit of recognizing and welcoming the Lord into our lives this Christmas.  Therefore, the way we prepare during the course of this Advent could be the mirror image of our state of preparedness when He comes – suddenly -- to settle accounts with each of us personally at the end of our time of preparation and formation in Mother Church. 

God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God;

the Psalmist tells us (53:3); and, most deliberately, the same Psalmist (53:4), immediately assures us that God found none:

Every one of them has turned aside; there is none who does good, no, not one.  They do not call upon God.

That was the situation, even in Israel, before Jesus, Our Lord and Saviour, came to redeem us; and that is still the situation of so very many today who turn away from, reject, Jesus.   They will not acknowledge a transcendent God; but yet, as weak men – and of course women – they indeed need a ‘god’ of their own making: a ‘god’ who condones power and pleasure-that-‘harms no one’; who lauds good works redounding to doer’s praise and self-approval; a ‘god’ who delights in our moral indifference, and most generously offers and recommends to men the option of suicide, an escape which is ever-available and never to be questioned.  Thus, deniers of Jesus and the true God, find pride and take pleasure in their sins, while the only law they support – based on no moral convictions other than popular approval -- inevitably fails, repeatedly, both to give justice to the suffering and abused, and timely protection for the weak and needy.

Those who thus rejoice in the world they have made, have not understood the probationary nature of our life experience on earth, where both the wonder of God’s creation – so beautiful with all its natural powers and sublime human potential -- and the nature and depth of mankind’s spiritual needs, seem irreconcilable for them.

So, dear People of God, use Advent to prepare to welcome Jesus fittingly: try to recognize all those occasions, both great and small, clear and only glimpsed, where truth and beauty, goodness and love, sympathy and help, power and fragility, fear and wonder, impinge on your consciousness and invite you to respond to God somehow present there, and may your Advent character of awareness, gratitude, trust,  peace, and joy further Jesus’ Kingdom of faith, hope, and charity in your souls.

 

Christ the KIng Year C 2022

 

 Christ the King (C)

(2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43)

 

 Today we are invited to rejoice in Christ our King, the Son of God made flesh.  We should be aware that throughout the New Testament the many mentions of "the God", for example, “the God of our fathers", "the God of the living", "may the God of hope", and other such expressions, all refer to God the Father, He is "God" because the Father is the source of all. 

However, because He is Father, always and eternally, therefore He always and eternally expresses His Fatherhood in His Son, His co-eternal Son, for without His Son He would not be Himself, that is, He would not be the Father.  The Father withholds nothing from His Son, as Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper:

All things that the Father has are Mine (John 16:15)

(Father), all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. (John 17:10)

And therefore we heard in the second reading that:

            He (the beloved Son) is the image of the invisible God.

The Nicene Creed proclaims in our Mass the eternal relationship between Father and Son in the one Godhead: He is God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.   Therefore, in the one God, the Son is the essential, total and complete, expression of the Father's very being. 

Creation, on the other hand, is not essential to God; it is a choice He makes and, though it is an abiding choice of His will, it is only a partial expression in space and time of His infinite wisdom, goodness, and power.  Nevertheless, as true Father, He loves creation as He made it (Genesis 1:31):

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.

Since the Son is the total, co-eternal, expression of the being and nature of God the Father whereas creation is but a partial, temporal, expression of His goodness and truth, we can, nevertheless, understand there being a special relationship between the Son and creation, as we heard in the second reading:

He -- the image of the invisible God -- is the firstborn over all creation.  For in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers -- all things were created through Him and for Him.

Moreover, we can now appreciate why it should be the Son Who was sent by the Father for our salvation; for, though outwardly seen as a mysteriously humble figure known as Jesus, the son of Mary of Nazareth, the same letter to the Colossians tells us that:

            In Him dwells the whole fullness of the Deity bodily;

and therefore we can and indeed should endeavour to see something of the glory of the Father, manifested to us in the beauty, the truth, and the goodness of His Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It was the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the bond of love between Father and Son in the one Godhead, Who guided, strengthened, and sustained, the incarnate Son; Who -- having become one with us in all our powers and potentialities, even to the extent of sharing in our native human weakness, though without sin -- would be led to the full maturity of His human nature, through His appreciation of, love for, and response, to His heavenly Father, by the Spirit.

This was publicly manifested, as you will recall, at the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan (Matthew 3:16-4:1):

After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 

The beloved, only-begotten, Son of God, the Lord and Saviour of all mankind, willed to become one of us and be brought to perfection in His fleshly existence for our sake and for love of His Father, Who eternally loves mankind as He originally made it.  Because of our sins, that perfection in human flesh could only come through suffering as the letter to the Hebrews tells us:

It was fitting that He, for Whom and through Whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the Leader of their salvation perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10)

And we see the true nature of Christ's glory in its earthly manifestation, as we glimpse His goodness and His humility, His patience and His fortitude, His faith and love:

Now since the children share in flesh and blood, He likewise shared in them, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life.   (Hebrews 2:14-15)

This He was able to do because:

Though He was in the form of God, (He) did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.  Rather He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and being found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)

And when He was made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. (Hebrews 5:9)

Let us, therefore, raise up our minds from things on earth to have a look in faith at the heavenly beauty of Him Whom the prophet Malachi, in the name of God, described as the "sun of righteousness":

For you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. (Malachi 4:2)

For this Son-of-God-made-man was revealed in all His beauty by rising from the dead as the prophet Isaiah also had foretold (Isaiah 33:17):

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty, they will see the land that is far off.

Indeed, only the beauty of the risen Christ enables us to raise our eyes in hope to the promised land of our heavenly home with Christ.  As the prophet Zechariah had foretold:

On that day the Lord their God will save them, for they are the flock of His people.  What comeliness and beauty will be theirs!  (9:16-17).

What beauty must be His since He offers such comeliness and beauty to His faithful flock!  What beauty is His Who, rising like the sun, is able to bestow such blessings on those who formerly:

Sat in darkness and in the shadow of death? (Psalm 107:10)

To understand a final aspect of the glory of Christ the King let us now just consider Him in heaven.  There, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and there we can recognize His eternal goodness, truth, and faithfulness; for, we are told that, in heaven, He is eternally solicitous for our well-being:

It is Christ Jesus, Who died, yes, Who was raised, Who is at the right hand of God, Who indeed intercedes for us. (Romans 8:34)

He is always able to save those who approach God through Him, since He lives forever to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

What way to God will those prayers of Jesus open up for us?  What guiding power will enable us to walk faithfully and perseveringly along that path?  Let us carefully attend to Jesus Himself on the Cross and learn His ways.

The people stood looking on (and) even the rulers with them sneered saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself”.   (Luke 23:35)

But Jesus did not save Himself.

One of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” (Luke 23:39)

He was the Christ, He knew He was the Christ, but still, He did not save Himself.  Why?

Listen yet more closely:

Then (the other criminal hanged with Him) said to Jesus, “Lord”, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”  And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23: 42-43)

Jesus, so calmly and faithfully certain what was to happen to Himself, did not promise that He would take the former thief with Himself into Paradise, “you will be with Me” He said; in other words, ‘He Who will receive Me into Paradise will draw you there with Me’.  Notice most carefully Jesus’ total commitment to and trust in His Father and in the Spirit Who was working in Him for the Father’s glory, for that, dear People of God, is -- for all His true disciples -- the royal way of Jesus from this world to the next as children of God.

All the conceits of our human sinfulness have gradually to be set aside until we are totally convinced that we can neither grab the fruit of tree of Paradise, nor can we merit heaven for ourselves.  Such fruit is given only to those who -- through faith in Jesus, and in the fear of the Lord -- become increasingly aware of His Gift of the Spirit at work in their lives and who humble themselves with heartfelt gratitude beneath such gentle yet sovereign goodness: those who pray for, and are willing to wait for, His lead in all things; those who sincerely seek to distinguish aright between His guiding and their own passions and fears, between His enlightening and their own imagining, wishing, and wanting; and finally, those who will then commit themselves totally in an endeavour to follow His lead as closely as their trust in Him, and death to themselves, will allow.

And here we should just glance back at our first reading:

All the tribes of Israel came to David saying: “We are your bone and your flesh.  In times past you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord said to you, ’You shall shepherd My People Israel’”.

Yes, dear People of God, Jesus Christ is Our Shepherd and Our Lord, He has been, is, and will be, with us in and through all the vicissitudes of life; whenever we turn to Him, He is, has been, and will be waiting and available; indeed, tracing our way for us, He has gone before to turn the dark shades of our death into the glowing portal of the heavenly home  which is even now being prepared for us. 

Lord Jesus, trusty Friend and Brother, dear Lord and Saviour, King of all creation and only-begotten Son of the eternal Father, may our celebration today further the rule of Your Spirit in our hearts and minds, promote Your Lordship over our society and our world, hallow the name of, give eternal praise and glory to, Him Who is and will be ‘All in All’. 

                                                                                                (2022)    

33rd Sunday Year C 2022

 

33^rd. Sunday (Year C)

(Malachi 3:19-20; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19)

 

 The prophet Malachi heard the Lord declare:

The day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch.  But for you who fear My name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

Though terrible events be taking place all around them, the People of God will not be afraid, neither will they allow themselves to be disturbed in any way because, “fearing the name of the Lord" in spirit and in truth, leads them to fear naught else.

Malachi’s picture of a people thus set apart from all others agrees with St. Peter's description of the true disciples of Jesus:

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, (the Lord’s) own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

God’s children, say both the prophet Malachi and the Apostle Peter, are meant to be -- as we hear in the canon of the Mass -- "a chosen generation, a people set apart".

In what respect are they set apart from others?  Surely, not because they are aloof from, or indifferent to, others, for charity is the essence of the great commandment that rules their way of life; while the Lord they worship and follow, Himself gives the supreme teaching and example of fraternal love.  Nor are individual Christians to set themselves apart by any flamboyance or exuberance; on the contrary, St. Paul tells us that Christians ought to be quiet in their lifestyle:

We command and exhort (you) in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in a quiet fashion and eat (your) own bread.

So, we realize that Christians are to be "different" from others, above all, by their strength of character: fearing the name of the Lord, they will fear no other, naught else; always and only -- in the power of the Spirit and by their moral discipline -- bearing witness to the love of Christ in all circumstances and before all peoples.

If we now turn our attention to Jesus, we can see how He Personally formed the character of His foremost disciples along those lines:

As some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, (Jesus) said, “These things which you see -- the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down."

Here He would seem to be weaning them from such false supports as national pride, or vain-glorious human enthusiasm, sparked off by external circumstances such as the magnificent Temple recently built by King Herod in Jerusalem:

Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He', and 'The time has drawn near.'   Do not go after them!

"Take heed not to be deceived", even though many others be misled; "do not go after" the crowd, to join in the comfort of communal emotion.  There Jesus is clearly seeking to form in His disciples a characteristic attitude that will distinguish them in the future: they will not be afraid to walk alone with their Lord; for His sake, to stand apart from other men when necessary, overcoming every desire to hide in, or run with, the crowd.  

That was not to be all, however, for Jesus went on to warn of yet greater trials:

When you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.

Mature Christians must be able to stand resolute amidst widespread anxiety and contagious panic: the only fear they acknowledge being a heartfelt and reverential fear of the Lord they will have sufficient spiritual courage and moral discipline to wait for, and confidently trust in, Him; though everything else, be it even the very heavens, might seem to be falling apart:

There will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

Fear is instilled above all by imminent and urgent threat to self: to one's life, one's reputation, one's family; and only the supernatural Christian fear of the Lord can overcome the effect that such natural and fundamental fears can trigger off.  Here we should appreciate, People of God, that Christian fear of the Lord is no ordinary gift from God, but such a sign of His blessing that, according to the prophet Isaiah (11:1-3), the Messiah Himself would take special delight in it:

Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.  And He will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord, therefore, is indeed a supernatural gift from God which we ourselves are called upon to co-operate with and develop as part of our character; but, much more than that, it is a supreme sign of God’s love and favour, meant to be our special delight and ultimate defence against anything this world can throw up against us or the devil devise to ensnare us.

And that is just the final situation which Jesus puts before His disciples now:

They will seize and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons; and they will have you led before kings and governors, because of My name.

Then indeed, fear of the Lord and trust in His mercy and power, must be seen to be the disciple’s great delight and sure shield.  Jesus insists they then look neither to men, nor rely on themselves; but, rather, turn to Him and:

So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand how to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

People of God, recognize what Jesus is looking for in His disciples, appreciate the sort of character He wishes us to have, for today many have an idea of holiness that is not only sugar-coated but also largely conformed to worldly standards, set up for worldly acceptance.

True holiness, however, is not worldly, but Christian and personal, being God’s gift, by the Spirit, to the committed disciple of Jesus. Therefore, we should appreciate that Paul’s teaching -- though it does indeed reflect his own character and his personal appreciation of Christ – is, nevertheless, the teaching of one who was most particularly chosen by the Risen Lord Jesus Himself, and most specially endowed by God for his role as teacher of the nations.  Paul was supremely one with, and committed to, the Risen Lord: as witnessed by his incomparable sufferings for Christ and the glowing eloquence of his witness and testimony to the Gospel.  And we – ordinary mortals with our feet still muddied by the filth of the world -- should in no way presume to suspect, let alone criticize, the intentions of one who had been raised up to the third heaven, when he chooses to write in the name of his Lord and Saviour words such as:

If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.

Our true Christian duty and privilege should be to learn to appreciate them truly, and to live them aright, for St. Paul was following the example and purpose of Jesus Himself by preparing and promoting in his converts, as best he could, that moral discipline and spiritual strength essential for disciples who would, inevitably, have to carry the Cross with their Lord for God's glory and mankind's salvation; and such strength is never acquired through indulgence, nor is mere encouragement or comforting exhortation able to promote it.

Today we find similar weaknesses, similar desires for quick, sugar-coated, easily seen, and popularly appreciated, holiness still preventing the wholesome teaching of the Scriptures and Mother Church from finding practical acceptance: how many parents, for example, today, “don’t like” to correct, let alone discipline, their children; with the result that the children suffer many and more serious difficulties and dangers resulting from their emotional indiscipline and moral ignorance.  Likewise, how often is the Gospel watered down for public approval rather than proclaimed with apostolic integrity; how publicly is discipline laughed at, mocked, while sin, and at times even depravity, is passively condoned.

And today indeed, in these our own ‘latter days’, there are some former Catholics and even presumed Christian leaders, who find themselves ‘so deeply sorrowful’ for having hurt the feelings of so many of their fellow human-beings  -- I also am very sorry to say I cannot find any teardrop type!! -- by holding teachings that they are now willing to drop as they desert Jesus and the Church He founded on the bed-rock of Apostolic faith, and profess a new, supposedly superior, not Christianity, but ‘Christ-insanity’, where pseudo-love of neighbour – whatever the neighbour’s faith or practice – is to be supreme, and the only blameworthy act is whatever disturbs the all-embracing harmony of people freely living and promoting their own version of life, so long as that version does not prevent  or impinge harmfully on the rights of others to do the same.  Thus, they become a ‘body’ of humanity without any bone structure, just a formless ‘blob’, going nowhere -- for it has no future vision other than ever-present indulgence – nowhere that is, except to its own destruction and disgrace.

Jesus’ final words in the Gospel reading have special significance for all those called to be witnesses to Him.  They are not soft words to coax, for He wants all who are thus called and will aspire to become His disciples to be strong enough, in Him, to glorify the Father by the power of the Spirit, and to this end He chooses to help them, and us ourselves, surely, with clear words of strength and inspiration:

You will even be handed over by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and some of you will be put to death.   You will be hated by all for My name's sake, but not a hair on your head will be lost.  By your perseverance you will secure your lives.