Fourth Sunday of Advent

Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Commentary:

Reading 1 Isaiah 7:10-14

Jerusalem is being attacked by two neighboring kings when Isaiah is commanded by God to go and speak to the Jewish King Ahaz cautioning him to have faith that God will protect Jerusalem. Ahaz is hypocritical in both his faith and his response which is interpreted as cynical when he says “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!”

Isaiah follows with his prophetic vision explained well in the footnote from the NAB: “The sign proposed by Isaiah was concerned with the preservation of Judah in the midst of distress (cf Isaiah 7:15, 17), but more especially with the fulfillment of God's earlier promise to David (2 Sam 7:12-16) in the coming of Immanuel (meaning, "With us is God") as the ideal king (cf Isaiah 9:5-6; 11:1-5). The Church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and his Virgin Mother.”

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. Let the Lord enter; he is king of glory.

Psalm 24 is a processional song. It recalls that God is the great creator and he calls his people to be faithful. It asks the question who can come into his presence and answers only those who are sinless (completely reconciled to God). They who achieve that beatified state will receive the reward of eternal life from the savior. It focuses on the character of the one who worthily seeks God and the one who is worthy to come into God’s kingdom and stand before him. We are answered; “He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.”

Reading II Romans 1:1-7

St. Paul introduces himself to the Christian churches in Rome with this opening message from his letter. In typical fashion, the introduction includes a statement of purpose (apostolate of the Gospel of Christ) and a profession of faith.

Gospel Matthew 1:18-24

Following the genealogy, the short story of Mary’s virginal conception through the Holy Spirit and how God intervened to insure that Joseph also heard his call. This section of the Nativity Narrative from St. Matthew’s Gospel tells the story of Joseph’s dilemma. He is required by Mosaic Law to file a petition of divorce in front of witnesses. He has resigned himself to this course of action when he has a dream in which an angel came to him and told him of the origins of the child Mary bore. For his part, Joseph accepted the message and did as the Lord commanded.

Reflection:

We have been given all of these scriptural readings in our liturgy within the past twelve months. Then have occurred at different times and with different significance but each of the readings have been presented, some multiple times (The psalm and St. Matthew’s Gospel). They come together today to tell a story of God’s plan being fulfilled. What is remarkable is that none of the individuals involved today had any relationship to each other, yet all were integral in causing God’s plan of salvation to come together. Isaiah, probably thinking he was delivering a message to his King so the people would take heart that God was with them, predicted the birth of Jesus, born of a virgin, called Emmanuel, the Messiah.

Following Isaiah by hundreds of years comes St. Joseph, of the line of King David as Ahaz was, selected by God to foster His only Son who was to be the salvation of the world. Finally we have St. Paul who comes as an Apostle of the Son of God to bring the message of hope, predicted by Isaiah and fostered by Joseph to the world. We stand today in awe of God’s wondrous works.

The baton is passed to us as we gather ourselves for the final rush to the Nativity of the Lord. We take the message of peace and joy which is encompassed by the Kingdom of God into a world that prefers the darkness of greed, hate, and hedonism. Like a scene from a vampire movie, we take the cross of Christ to dispel the evil of the world an bring hope to those without hope and love to the unloved.

Always it has been the same. God called Isaiah to deliver a hard message, he called Joseph to take on a heavy burden based upon faith, and he hurled St. Paul to a hostile world. We reach out for the hand of the infant Jesus knowing where it leads and pledge once more to walk with him to the Kingdom of God.

Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture today is “The Nativity of Jesus” by Caravaggio, 1609

Third Sunday of Advent

Readings for the Third Sunday of Advent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Commentary:

Reading 1 Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10

The Prophet Isaiah envisions for his contemporaries the beauty of the land as the people of Israel return from the Babylonian exile. For later generations this is seen as a vision of the coming of the Messiah, who comes with healing hands to lift up the poor and those seen as punished by God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
R. Lord, come and save us.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Psalm 146 is from the wisdom tradition. Here we are given a vision of God’s salvation. His saving power (envisioned in the oracle of Isaiah and fulfilled in Jesus the Christ) lifts up the poor and down trodden and heals those afflicted with every sort of malady.

Reading II James 5:7-10

The NAB footnote on this passage provides an excellent commentary with scriptural supports. “Those oppressed by the unjust rich are reminded of the need for patience, both in bearing the sufferings of human life (James 5:9) and in their expectation of the coming of the Lord. It is then that they will receive their reward (James 5:7-8, 10-11; cf Hebrews 10:25; 1 John 2:18).”

Gospel Matthew 11:2-11

In this part of St. Matthew’s Gospel, John the Baptist sends his disciples to question Jesus. He does so because his expectation of the Messiah is of one coming with power and majesty, “his winnowing fan will be in his hand”. In response the Lord directs them to see the Messiah as Isaiah’s oracle predicted (Isaiah 35:1-6). It can be seen as a warning not to disbelieve because the expectations of a “Royal Messiah” were not met.

The Gospel continues with the Lord turning to the crowd and praising St John’s role, likening him to Elijah who was to come, preparing the way for the Messiah. He concludes this passage with a statement about the reward given to those who hear and believe in the Kingdom of God.

Reflection:

The Gospel message summarizes the vision of both the incarnation of Jesus and the vision of his coming again. It also does one more very important thing; it asks a question that we must answer for ourselves. In the Gospel Jesus is speaking to the disciples of St. John the Baptist. They came to him with a rather insulting question. They ask him directly if he is the Messiah. As if to add injury, they finish their question with “…or should we look for another?”

The reason for this question goes back to what we heard just last week. Recall the words of St. John as he spoke about the Messiah: “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

John was expecting the Lord to come with authority and power like Elijah, calling down the wrath of God on those who opposed him. In a breath, the Lord changed everything. He told the disciples of John, quoting Isaiah’s vision, that he was the Messiah and they did not need to look elsewhere. He (St. John the Baptist) had just looked at the wrong prophecy. Justice for the unjust would come later, first, God’s love and the hope of things not seen must be brought to the poor, the crippled, the blind and the mute; those seen by others as being punished by God.

As if to emphasize his point he turned to the crowd and asked them about St. John. He asked them what they had gone into the desert expecting (“What did you go out to the desert to see?”) This question brings our question into sharp focus; what do we expect of Christ? When we go to Mass and come away saying; “I didn’t get much out of that.” What had we gone to see? When we do God’s work and behave in ways we know God would approve and no one says “Thank you.” Or even worse, you are criticized for it. We must ask “What did we expect?” Did we expect angel choirs or loud hosannas, for doing as we have been asked?

The Gospel message is crystal clear today. The Lord asks us, during this our season of great expectation, what it is we expect. It is a difficult question for us but one we need to pray on. On this “Little Easter”, on this “Eighth Day” we pray that our hope is the hope God gives, not what the world gives. We also pray for the patience St. James mentions as we see the hope of eternal life dawn at the Nativity of the Lord.

Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Christ the Redeemer” by Andrea Del Sarto, c. 1511-1517

Second Sunday of Advent

Readings for the Second Sunday of Advent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Commentary:

Reading 1 Isaiah 11:1-10

The Prophet Isaiah refers to a “shoot from the stump of Jesse.” Jesse was the father of King David. The stump refers to the line of David being cut back during the Babylonian Exile. The prophet here sees the return of the messianic King, predicting that the messiah will come from King David’s line and will ultimately bring great peace to the faithful.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.

Psalm 72 is one of the Royal Psalms. In this selection we hear an echo of the justice and peace of the King’s rule that is reiterated in Isaiah’s prophecy above.

Reading II Romans 15:4-9

The first paragraph of this passage speaks of “what was written previously.” In this St. Paul refers to the previous verse, a paraphrase from Psalm 69 which in turn refers to messianic suffering on our behalf. Through that vision comes the hope of the faithful and Paul’s encouragement to be unified in that common hope.

The second paragraph calls for unity among all who believe in Christ. He did not come only to fulfill the Hebrew Prophecy (“the promises to the patriarchs”) but to all peoples. In the verse immediately following this selection he cites Deuteronomy 32:43 as his source.

Gospel Matthew 3:1-12

This Gospel passage from St. Matthew introduces St. John the Baptist. The Gospel author does not, as St. Luke does, make it clear that St. John is a relative of Jesus or say anything about his origins. The Baptist is making the preparatory statements to the people that will open the way for Jesus own ministry.

St. John is calling for repentance, a change of heart and conduct that will lead the faithful back to God. His attire recalls that of the prophet Elijah (who was expected to return to prepare for the final establishment of God’s Kingdom according to Hebrew tradition). We are told that he is the one predicted by the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 40:3.

St. John has harsh words for the Pharisees and Sadducees whom he apparently come to his ritual bath with an attitude that they do not need to repent since they are already keeping Mosaic Law scrupulously. The Baptist tells them that, while they may keep the Law, there is no conversion of heart and God will see that.

The passage concludes with St. John’s prediction of the coming of the Messiah who will “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” This final reference to judgment uses the image of the harvest where chaff is separated from grain by throwing both into the air and letting the heavier grain fall back to the ground while the useless chaff is blown away and later collected and burned.

Homily:

It is said that Vince Lombardi, famed football coach of the Green Bay Packers, would start his team’s training camp each year emphasizing the basics or fundamentals of the game. In his first session of that camp it is said he would hold up the ball and say; “This is a football.” It was that basic.

The Holy Scripture we are given on this Second Sunday of Advent start with the same kind of basics. Isaiah, one of the great Prophets of the Old Testament, paints us a picture of what it will be like when Christ returns and establishes His Kingdom on earth. In essence he is saying to us “This is a football.” This is the Kingdom of God that we look for, that John the Baptist will later announce.

The Kingdom we wait for with such anticipation is amazing. Listen to the picture painted by the Prophet:

“Then the wolf shall be a 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.

The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox.

The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea.”

This is the idyllic peace to which we, the faithful, look forward. When the Lord comes again all will see and that knowledge will cover the world as the sea covers the land.

This is our Football, the Kingdom of God, unending peace infused with the love of God. St. Paul gave the early Christians of Rome this same message.

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He clearly looked forward with eager anticipation for that time of complete unity, when the wolf and the lamb lay down together.

And to cap things off, we find in our Gospel St. Matthew’s introduction to John the Baptist. He is calling out for us to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” His statement is clear and simple. If Coach Lombardi were saying it, it would sound like; “All you have to do is take this ball and move it to the other guy’s goal;” the basics.

And just what, we may ask does that mean; “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths”? He tells those who are coming to him that they must repent. They must change their hearts to accommodate the great love God has for us. It is that love personified that we wait for in the incarnation of Jesus.

Now we may say to ourselves that “I already believe in God. I already have the faith. What do I need to repent from or for?” We find our question answered in the very next breath of our Gospel message today. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to John for his ritual purification with that same attitude. They were already at the “Top of the Spiritual Heap” in their day. They practiced Mosaic Law so rigorously that it became almost a contest. “This is a football!” says St. John. It is not the rituals you worship, it is God. It is how you live the faith that becomes the fruits of your worship, he tells the Pharisees and Sadducees. They too, we too, need to examine how we live our faith and repent – turn to the Lord with our whole hearts in this holy season.

The message today is clear. We are shown a picture by the Prophet Isaiah of the Heavenly Kingdom that is our goal. We are encouraged by St. Paul to join the whole faith community in that interior faith that makes us one for God’s glory. And finally, we are called once more by the Baptist to repent – turn our lives back to God preparing the way of the Lord, make straight his paths within us.

Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used is “St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness” by Hieronymus Bosch, 1495-1500

First Sunday of Advent

Readings for the First Sunday of Advent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Commentary:

As this Advent season begins we offer this passage from “The Spirit of Advent” by Mark Searle[3]

“Human beings cannot live without hope. Unlike the animals, we are blessed -or cursed- with the ability to think about the future and to fear our actions to shaping it. So essential is this to human life, that human beings cannot live without hope, without something to live for, without something to look forward to. To be without hope, to have nothing to live for, is to surrender to death in despair. But we can find all sorts of things to live for and we can hope for almost anything for some measure of success or security or for the realization of some more or less modest ambition; for our children, that they might be saved from our mistakes and sufferings and find a better life than we have known, for a better world, throwing ourselves into politics or medicine or technology so that future generations might be better off. Not all these forms of hope are selfish; indeed, they have given dignity and purpose to the lives of countless generations.

But one of the reasons why we read the Old Testament during Advent is to learn what to hope for. The peoples of the Old Testament had the courage to hope for big things; that the desert would be turned into fertile land; that their scattered and divided people would eventually be gathered again; that the blind would see, the deaf hear, the lame walk; that not only their own people but all peoples of the earth, would be united in the blessings of everlasting peace. Clearly, their hopes were no different from ours or from any human being’s; lasting peace, tranquil lives, sufficiency of food, an end to suffering, pain and misery.

Thus we hope for the same things as the Old Testament people for their hopes are not yet realized. But we differ from them in two ways. First, the coming of Jesus in history, as a partial fulfillment of God’s promise, immeasurably confirms and strengthens our hope. Secondly, we differ from the Old Testament people because Jesus has revealed to us that God is not afar off, but is already in our midst. Hence the importance in the Advent liturgy of John the Baptist and Mary; because they recognized the new situation, they serve as models for the Church in discerning the presence of our Savior in the world.”

Reading 1 Isaiah 2:1-5

We are given in this reading, Isaiah’s vision of a time of unity, the great messianic destiny. He sees a time when all peoples will recognize God as the one true God and flock to call. (Isaiah uses the “highest mountain” metaphor in the Hebrew context. High places were places closet to God. Mountain tops frequently were places were altars were built. “Highest” would then be above all others.)

The prophet sees the Law of the Lord governing all peoples and a time of great peace as a result of the universal unity of people in faithfulness to God. “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 122: 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Psalm 122 is a song of praise that anticipates the great procession into God’s house. While the Hebrews would have used this as a literal processional song, we see it as anticipating our entry into the New Jerusalem, the Kingdom of God.

Reading II Romans 13:11-14

St. Paul calls the Romans to repentance, reminding them that the time of salvation, the day of the Lord’s return, is closer than it was when they first heard the word of God. He calls them to act as children of the light and to throw off sinfulness. He tells them to put on Christ and become spiritually focused. These verses provide the motivation for the love that is encouraged in Romans 13:8-10.

Gospel Matthew 24:37-44

St. Matthew’s Gospel shows us the Lord reminding his audience that the people of Noah’s time did not heed the warning of the coming flood and were destroyed because they were unprepared. He speaks of the eschaton, the end times when one person will be taken into the Kingdom of God and another, standing next to them, will be doomed to destruction.

The second section of the reading gives an analogy of the final judgment being likened to a thief who breaks in at night, unexpected, and makes off with all that is valued. The clear message taken from this reading is the call to preparedness and constant vigilance.

Reflection:

We begin our anticipatory season with a stern warning from the Lord in St. Matthew’s Gospel; be alert for we do not know the hour or the day when we will be called to account for our actions. It may seem ironic to start out with this warning, (We note it is echoed in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, also given today.) but our season is not just looking forward to the Advent of the infant Christ in His nativity, but also the second coming of Christ in final glory.

The feeling we receive is that we must see ourselves as God does, not just as a person growing in a straight line but in our totality, beginning with our Baptism where we began our journey toward the Father. We follow that path as best we can to our own final journey back to the Father (Sacramentally right back were we started). And in between the Lord asks us; “What have we done with what he gave us?”

We are told that in the final analysis, the vision of Isaiah from our first reading will be fulfilled. All people of all nations will stand in final judgment before the One True God and be invited to follow a path that will lead them to that “highest” mountain. It is that path we concern ourselves with at this beginning. Once more we stand, looking at the top of that high mountain. We look back and see that we have come some distance. We also see clearly the times we have strayed from the path that we desire greatly to be on.

So we begin again, beginnings are great times to adjust our course. Knowing that our Advent time is one of preparation, let us take time to see what we can do to take a more direct path toward Christ who is both our guide and out goal. Let us pledge to eliminate the mistakes of the past and be faithful to the course upon which we now set ourselves.

We pray today that our time of Advent will find us alert and dedicated, constant in our efforts to emulate the one we love, our Lord and Savior who was born of the Virgin Mary, pointed out to us by John the Baptist, and who promised to come again so that we might have salvation.

Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Christ the Judge” by Fra Angelico, 1447
[3] Searle, Mark, “The Spirit of Advent”, Assembly V. 7-1, © Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, Notre Dame, IN.