Friday, December 15, 2023

Friday of the Second Week of Advent

(Isaiah 48:17-19; Matthew 11:16-19)

A young man was having trouble choosing a priestly vocation.  He wavered between being a diocesan priest and a religious.  Finally, he chose a religious order and was ordained.  Unfortunately, after a few years he left that calling.  His changing loyalties is like the fickleness that exasperates Jesus in today gospel.

The crowds following Jesus are unwilling to commit themselves to the Lord.  His approach has emphasized God’s love and mercy.  Earlier they had rejected John’s sterner approach warning of God’s wrath for sinners.  One way or the other, people must submit themselves to God if they are to experience His salvation.  Isaiah gives this instruction in the first reading.  He says that if a people follow God’s commandments, their prosperity would be like a river growing as it reaches the sea.

We have chosen to follow the Lord’s ways.  Still there is a possibility of our backsliding.  Leaving our commitment unfulfilled would be tragic for us as well as for those who look to us for example.  So we pray everyday and in a special way today, “Lead us not into temptation…”

Thursday, December 14, 2023

 Memorial of Saint John of the Cross

(Isaiah 41:13-20; Matthew 11:11-15)

The violence to which Jesus refers in the gospel seems to be Herod’s seizure of John.  Shortly, Jesus will receive word that John has been beheaded.  Jesus too will suffer a violent death.  In truth the Kingdom as Jesus says, is being taken over by violent men.

However, God will upend the violence.  With the resurrection Jesus’ Roman executioners will fall to the ground as if they were dead.  As Second Isaiah predicts in the first reading, the Lord God will redeem those subject to violence. 

As much as any theologian, John of the Cross describes the suffering of those who participate in the Kingdom.  Their ordeals are as much existential as it is physical.  Often, he says, they feel that they are abandoned by God in their need.  They experience, in John’s words, “the dark night of the soul.”          ‘ Their faithfulness in this trial, however, opens them to God’s mercy as He acts on their behalf.  They come to know God as their loving redeemer who in death will save them from oblivion.

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

(Isaiah 40:25-31; Matthew 11:27-30)

The movie Chariots of Fire tells the story of the British Olympic track team of 1920.  Several outstanding men were on that team, but the one who captured the most attention was a Christian who refused to compete on the Lord’s Day.  Because of his insistence on putting the Lord before earthly prizes, he lost the opportunity to win a medal in his specialty.  One of his teammates, who had already earned a medal, saw the injustice and gave the him his berth in another race.  The Christian ran and won.

After the race the Christian received a message from a runner of a different team.  The message contained the verse from today’s first reading.  “They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings. They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.”  This truth was certainly validated in the case of this athlete who refused to betray his principle of resting on the Lord’s Day.

We may disagree with the judgment of the athlete not to run on Sundays, but his living what his conscience dictates deserves not only admiration but also imitation.  Conscience is the voice of God speaking personally to us.  We are obliged to form our conscience guided by Church teaching, and we must always obey what it judges right.

 

 

 

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

 Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

 (Zechariah 1:14-17; Luke 1:39-47)

What were Juan Diego’s hopes as he set out the morning of December 9, 1531, for the Franciscan mission?  Perhaps he only hoped to learn more about Christ.  But probably deep down he harbored other, greater hopes.  He might have hoped for the Europeans to leave his land.  They were foreigners telling the native people where they could go and what they could do.  It may be that Juan Diego harbored another hope that morning.  He was a devout man and already a Christian.  Perhaps he hoped to see all the native peoples embrace Jesus.  As the Spaniards occupied more of the land, fewer natives were accepting the faith.  Juan Diego may have regretted that his people were missing the one who could have improved their lives immeasurably.

Hope is more than wishful thinking.  It invades one’s consciousness causing the person to search for opportunities to realize what is hoped for. Hope overcomes the fear of taking risks.  People today cross seas in small boats and deserts at night in hope of a better future.  Juan Diego’s hope moved him to enter the city as the lovely lady, the Virgin of Guadalupe, told him.  It made him insist that the bishop there hear what the lady wanted.  Hope finally caused Juan Diego to work for the conversion of his people to Christianity.

During Advent Christians become aware of a great hope in our hearts.  We long to see the good prosper and the evil reform.  We try to reform ourselves and pray for others to do so.  Because we know that the mother of God is an especially powerful advocate, we ask her to pray for us.  Today we especially pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe.  We ask her to intercede for us that our hope that our children keep the faith, our elders may live out their years in peace and happiness, and that we may become more just and kind.

Monday, December 11, 2023

Monday of the Second Week of Advent

(Isaiah 35:1-10; Luke 5:17-26)

During the first weeks of Advent the gospel of the mass always fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah in the first reading.  Today Isaiah proclaims that Israel will experience soon the coming of the Lord.  Isaiah says that the Lord will not only heal the afflicted but also transform nature. With his coming the desert will turn into a watered garden.  The new reality will enable the people who have been exiled in Assyria to return to their homeland.

In the gospel people come to Jesus who is a kind of watered garden refreshing the faith of the people.  They come from all over Israel to experience his salvation.  He heals the paralyzed man and, more wondrously, forgives his sins.  In doing so, the scribes and Pharisees give indirect testimony that Jesus is God.  Since only God can forgive sin, Jesus must be God!

Sometimes we feel exiled on the fringe of a desert and far from salvation.  We become sick or injured.  Those around have lost trust in God.  People appear increasingly careless if not cruel. We too should go to Jesus, accompanied by others who believe in him.  He will lift our spirits and heal our souls.