Tag Archives: jesus

Advent Day 12: Spoken to and spoken for

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TODAY’S GOSPEL (Lk 1:39-47)

From Luke 1:45:

“Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

From The Navarre Bible: St Luke, page 43

“Joining the chorus of all future generations, Elizabeth, moved by the Holy Spirit, declares the Lord’s Mother to be blessed and praised her faith. No one has ever had faith to compare with Mary’s; she is the model of the attitude a creature should have towards its Creator — complete submission, total attachment. Through her faith, Mary is the instrument chosen by God to bring about the redemptive work of her Son.”

From Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Luke, page 50:

“Elizabeth concludes her Spirit-filled words by pronouncing the first beatitude in the Gospel: ‘Blessed are you who believed’…Mary ‘believed’ that God’s word ‘spoken’ to her ‘would be fulfilled.’ In this way, she received the privilege of being the mother of the Son of God. She also became a model for all those who ‘hear’ God’s word and accept it (8:21; 11:28). Throughout the Gospel, not only God’s words spoken through an angel but also those written in Scripture will be fulfilled (4:21; 18:31; 22:37; 24:44).”

From Opening The Scriptures: Bringing the Gospel of Luke to Life, page 30

“She is blessed because of her faith that what God said ‘would be fulfilled’ — that she would conceive through the Holy Spirit and bear a son who would be called Son of God and rule over God’s people forever (1:31-33). That is a lot for a young woman to believe!…Mary is a model for hearing the word of God and acting on it (see 8:21; 11:28).”

My take

Mary is very much a model for us. The reason I chose this quote from today’s readings is that the word “spoken” struck me. God speaks to us in myriad ways: in our heart, in our conscience, through others, through events, and, last but not least, through Scripture, which is the Word of God, who is Jesus (cf. John 1:1-18). The Bible is the inerrant revelation of God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (I highly recommend reading Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation [Dei Verbum] and CCC 101-141 to understand the proper approach to Scripture specifically and divine revelation in general).

St Jerome famously said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” So, regular, ideally daily, reading of the Bible, particularly the Gospels, is necessary. But then we encounter this problem:

Some people are troubled by the things in the Bible they can’t understand.
The things that trouble me are the things I can understand. (Attributed to Mark Twain)

Do we hear the Word and accept it? Do we hear the Word and act on it? Are we completely submissive and totally attached to the Word? With apologies to JFK, do we choose to follow the Lord’s commands, not because they are easy, but because they are hard?

The gift of faith is ours through Baptism. Do we exercise it by complete submission to the will of God? Can we truly say we know the will of God for our lives? Mary likely did not know how it was going to all turn out, but she submitted to the Lord. She “let go and let God.”

Are we ready to believe that what the Lord speaks to us will be fulfilled? And are we completely open to being God’s instrument, without counting the cost, in fulfilling our mission?

The Meeting of Mary and Elisabeth (1866) by Carl Heinrich Bloch

God bless!

Advent Day 11: Taking a load off

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TODAY’S GOSPEL (Mt 11:28-30)

From Matthew 11:28:

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.

From Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word (Volume I), pages 712, 714:

“[W]e are surely not to limit the scope of Jesus’ magnificent Venite ad me! only to those under the yoke of Pharisaism. For the love of Christ has a much more universal scope and, in Jesus, God is the absolute liberator of man from a legalistic conception of Torah as well as from every burden that keeps him back from fully becoming a child of the infinitely free Father.
…
“Jesus is the one who, by a divine ‘instinct’, himself bends down to share the lot of all who are burdened beyond their ability to bear it….Rather than denounce the source of the oppression — whether within or outside the person — Jesus simple extends an invitation: ‘Come to me!’ It is crucial that these words be seen as an invitation, because a person must respond to it with perfect freedom. One must oneself in some sense leave behind the oppressive situations and go to Jesus. Although elsewhere Jesus is portrayed as himself searching out the lost sheep, here the appeal is made to the exhausted person’s desire to change his life. He must take the first step himself toward the source of regeneration.”

My take

If you love Scripture, particularly Matthew’s Gospel, I encourage you to invest in Father Simeon’s (formerly Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis) four-volume Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word series. Over 2,800 pages breaking down Matthew. What a treasure goring verse by verse, phrase by phrase, or word by word through the Gospel. Amazing spiritual insights from these “meditations” will be much food for thought, prayer, and contemplation. The excerpt above is only a tiny portion of the several pages devoted to just this one verse.

Don’t we all need rest from our many burdens? And Jesus offers to be that resting place. He already took the cross off our shoulders. Just as we must freely accept this gift of redemption, so must we freely come to Jesus in our difficulties and challenges. He is always waiting for us.

So, please join me as I endeavor to put my cares and troubles into Jesus’ hands so that I may finally true rest.

Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7)

The Hard Job of Living… (1922) by Georges Rouault

God bless!

Advent Day 10: Lost and Found

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TODAY’S GOSPEL (Mt 18:12-14)

From Matthew 18:14:

“[I]t is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost.”

From Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word (Volume II), page 628:

“‘It is not the will in the sight of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish’: The ever-watchful eye of God’s love tirelessly scans the whole horizon of human existence with only one concern: Are all being saved? Are all being brought into life? Are any being lost, even one? For God’s joy is not complete until all are saved! The newness of life that comes about as a result of conversion to Christ — my turning and clinging ardently to Christ after having been sought and found by Christ — is an event that makes the Heart of God dance with joy. Can we not see the Face of the eternal Father glowing with exultation at the recovery of one of his dear children? And that tidal wave of divine joy then reverberates through his creation, since no act of God is without effect in the whole of the created order. Just as the angels of the little one, forever contemplating the face of the heavenly Father, build a bridge connecting childlike innocent and divine glory, so too the greatest exultation among the choirs of angels is reserved for the occasion of a single sinner’s conversion (Lk 15:7, 10).”

My take

Father Simeon’s exposition of the highlighted verse brought to mind immediately two other New Testament passages:

God our savior…wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:3-4)

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Mt 18:6)

What a stark warning: If we oppose the will of God for all of mankind by leading others into sin directly or by bad example, we would be better off dead. We have an obligation, by virtue of our Baptism, to bring others to Christ, not lure them away or drive them away. If only we were constantly mindful of that. If only we saw the world through the eyes of God we too would desire salvation for all. We are God’s chosen instruments to effect God’s will — what an awesome gift and what an awesome responsibility! We must get close to the Lord and stay close to the Lord through prayer, penance, the Sacraments, and Scripture. Vigilance!

God bless!

Advent Day 8: Straightening up

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TODAY’S READINGS

FROM Baruch 5:7 (the full passage is Bar 5:1-9):

God has commanded
that every lofty mountain be made low,
and that the age-old depths and gorges
be filled to level ground

FROM Psalms 126:5 (the full passage is Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6):

Those who sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.

From The Navarre Bible: The Psalms and the Song of Solomon, page 422

“[This] simile seems to be built around a popular proverb. ‘The pain of suffering gives rise to holy tears. But the time of weeping is also the time of sowing, because the works of charity that are performed to ease the burden of men’s sins are the seeds of eternal happiness’ (Prosper of Aquitaine, Expositio Psalmorum, 125, 6).”

FROM Philippians 1:4-5 (the full passage is Phil 1:4-6, 8-11)

I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you,
because of your partnership for the gospel

From Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, pages 75-76

“‘your partnership for the gospel’: That phrase may seem at first to refer simply to their common faith in the gospel. But for Paul the partnership is more concrete and practical than that. As Paul uses the word, ‘gospel’ can sometimes mean the message of the good news itself (God has definitely entered into history to save us through the death and resurrection of his Son), but at other times ‘gospel’ means the project of sharing that good news. Here, the ‘partnership in the gospel’ for which Paul is grateful seems to refer especially to the financial aid that the Philippians have sent to him through Epaphroditus (see 4:10-20). This aid in partnership in the sense that it is a real contribution to the advance of the gospel.”

FROM Luke 3:4b-5 (the full passage is Lk 3:1-6)

 Every valley shall be filled
        and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
    The winding roads shall be made straight,
        and the rough ways made smooth

From The Word of the Lord (Year C), page 18

“‘Every valley shall be filled’ refers to hope, encouragement, and new life being granted to the poor, the oppressed, the lowly — people who fell they have been forgotten by God or are not worthy of God’s attention.
“‘Every mountain and hill shall be made low’ refers to the humbling of the proud, the repentance that the strong and arrogant must undergo in order to receive God’s salvation.
“The ‘winding roads’ and ‘rough ways’ refer to the twists and turns of the human heart, contorted by sin (Jer 19:9). The human heart needs to be ‘simplified’ or ‘straightened’ by honest and truthful confession of sin.”

MY TAKE

Not only is John the Baptist’s message echoed in Isaiah (Is 40:3–5), but also in Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch, as seen in today’s first reading. I can do nothing to improve on Dr. Bergsma’s reflection above in his The Word of the Lord series (a must have — I’m working through the last of the four volumes, as I did the first three, this year), but I will add a thought that came to me as I heard the Gospel proclaimed at Mass.

“Mountains made low” certainly evokes images of the proud being “put in their place.” So, then, if the lofty peak represents the proud, maybe those in a deep valley are folks who are mired in sin and despairing of salvation. The only way out is up and it’s a struggle that may seem overwhelming (or impossible) to undertake. And how easy it is to get to the bottom! I’m a bicyclist so it is impressed upon me what an easy journey it is when going down hill and what a challenge it is to go back up that same hill. Sin can be that way for us, as well. Our transgressions may start out small, but the slippery slope is there to carry us rapidly down if we are not careful and vigilant. Sometimes it is only when a person in the throes of sin or addiction hits “rock bottom” that he comes to his senses and makes the decision to climb out of the abyss. Can we not say that what was “sowed in tears” (the descent into the darkness of sin) can ultimately lead to “rejoicing in the reaping” (in ascending to righteousness)?

Finally, a word on the second reading. By virtue of our Baptism, we are partners in sharing the Gospel. We should do so in word and action at all times. But, as the Catholic Commentary lays out, we should also support ministries, as Paul’s followers did for him, that authentically and faithfully get out the Word. Some of my favorites are my home parish, the St Paul Center, Catholic Answers, and EWTN.

BP BARRON SERMON

FR MIKE SCHMITZ HOMILY

Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park

God bless!

Advent Day 7: We’re all to be farmers

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TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (Mt 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8)

From Matthew 9:37-38:

[Jesus] said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”

From The Navarre Bible: St Matthew, page 101

“Paul VI reminds us: ‘the responsibility for spreading the Gospel that saves belongs to everyone — to all those who have received it! the missionary duty concerns the whole body of the Church; in different ways and to different degrees, it is true, but we must all of us be united in carrying out this duty. Now let the conscience of every believer ask himself: Have I carried out my missionary duty? Prayer for the Missions is the first way of fulfilling this duty’) Angelus Address, 23 October 1977).”

From Opening the Scriptures: Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life, page 180:

“This request [v. 38] will be the prayer of the church when Matthew writes his gospel, and it is the prayer of the church today. It is a prayer offered out of compassion for those who are troubled and helpless: laborers are needed to lift their burdens and bring them ‘the gospel of the kingdom’ (verse 35).”

From Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word (Volume I), page 520:

“Jesus’ movement of mercy in verse 36 and his densely imaged reflection, which in a flash of lightning transforms the landscape before him, are conveyed by the evangelist not as a direct quite of anything said by Jesus, but rather as an unveiling of the interior thoughts of the His Heart. For one precious instant, Matthew makes us privy to the emotive and mental processes of the Son of God. This means that the prayer Jesus teaches his disciples a moment later is a communication to them of his own Heart, mind, and prayer. In teaching them to pray in that way, there is an undertone of high pathos as God turns to man expectantly, seeing if he might convey to him the desires of his own Heart. On seeing and assuming human misery, the Son of God turns to his brother men — to those who he has chosen and who have given him some token of reciprocal affection — in order to share with them the common burden of the Persons of the Trinity. e does not at once inform them of some efficient plan of action to solve the problem before them. Rather, he admonishes them to see as he sees and to run to his and their Father with their pressing desire. In this way, the friends and followers of the Bridegroom are on the point of becoming fellow workers with the Bridegroom…’Disciple’ becomes indistinguishable from ‘worker’.”

My take

Just a month ago we marked National Vocation Awareness Week. It was billed as “an annual week-long celebration of the Catholic Church in the United States dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life through prayer and education, and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations.” This is a wonderful thing! No bishops, no priests. No priests, no Mass. No Mass, no Eucharist. So let us continue to fervently pray for our clergy and for those being called by God to be ordained.

But even with a vocations boom, the number of clergy would be minuscule in relation to the general population. This is where we, the laity, come in. By virtue of our Baptism, we are called to be harvesters — wherever the Lord has placed us. The vast majority of us are the laborers in fields like: the office, the school, the construction site, the homestead, the club, and the public square. If we truly interiorize the Good News of Jesus, becoming possessed by the Holy Spirit, even if we are resistant to expressing this outwardly, we would be like Jeremiah (20:9 — read vv. 7-18 for inspiration from his struggle and ours):

I say I will not mention him,
I will no longer speak in his name.
But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding back,
I cannot!

And like the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:32):

Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”

Jesus, the Word of God, known to us by the Scriptures the Church has given to us, should light a fire (cf. Acts 2:3) within us.

How can I repay the LORD
for all the great good done for me? (Psalms 116:12)

How about fulfilling His desire to be a farmer? Let us pray incessantly for others (and ourselves) with Ezekiel (36:26):

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

ADVENT RESOURCES

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS READING

The Harvesters (1565) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

God bless!

Advent Day 6: I see (or do I?)

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TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (Mt 9:27-31)

From Matthew 9:28-29:

When he entered the house,
the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,
“Do you believe that I can do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they said to him.
Then he touched their eyes and said,
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.”

From Opening the Scriptures: Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life, page 175:

“The men want to be able to see and Jesus knows that this is what they want. He asks them whether they believe he can do this. This is the only time in Matthew’s gospel (or in any gospel) that Jesus asks anyone whether they believe that he is able to heal them. ‘”Yes, Lord,” they said to him.’ Calling Jesus ‘Lord” is an acknowledgment of his authority and power to give them sight. Their faith has been demonstrated by their following Jesus and crying out to him, even though he seemed to ignore them.”

From Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Matthew, page 137:

“[The blind men] call Jesus Son of David — the first time someone addresses him with the royal title that has messianic overtones. ‘Son of David’ also brings to mind David’s heir, King Solomon, who was known in Jewish tradition as a great healer and exorcist.”

From Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word (Volume I), pages 493-494:

“In the end, this faith [of the blind men] proves to be omnipotent, because it is a whole-hearted embracing of the full reality of the presence of the incarnate Word. Faith rejoices in a natural blindness that is the precondition for the vision of God….Our own native lights need to be extinguished if Jesus is to light his lamp in our souls….Whatever empties itself out of itself in order to receive omnipotence, itself becomes omnipotent, just as only total darkness can receive the uncreated Light (St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul)….The blind men set no condition to God but rather open themselves up wholly and actively to the divine action.”

My take

Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. (Mt 17:20)

Jesus’ words to the blind men in today’s Gospel and His words above, further along in the same Gospel, should be a wake-up call to us, encouraging driving us to deep prayer and contemplation. What can Jesus not do if we place ourselves totally in His hands? Jesus can do any good thing. It is we who dampen or even short-circuit His healing power.

I have for months now been reading, as a spiritual exercise, Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade. At first, the radical nature of the good Father’s advice took me aback (and sometimes still does, over 300 pages in). But his admonition to give up our own will and self-concern in favor of whatever the Lord ordains or permits for us, makes total sense. What peace we would have if we simply, “Let go and let God,” as the popular saying goes. Emptying out ourselves, as Father Simeon says in Fire of Mercy, allows in God.

What if we “set no condition to God but rather open [our]selves up wholly and actively to the divine action”? What a radical difference that would make! Lord, make me blind to worldly concerns so that I can be open to truly seeing You.

ADVENT RESOURCES

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS READING

Jesus Healing Two Blind Men (undated) by Patriarchate of Peć by School Serbian

God bless!

Advent Day 5: Challenging Jesus

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TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (Mt 7:21, 24-27)

From Matthew 7:21:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

From The Navarre Bible: St Matthew, page 84:

“To be genuine, prayer must be accompanied by a persevering effort to do God’s will. Similarly, in order to do his will it is not enough to speak about the things of God: there must be a consistency between what one preaches — what one says — and what one does: ‘The kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power’ (1 Cor 4:20); ‘Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves’ (Jas 1:22).
…
“To enter the Kingdom of heaven, to be holy, it is not enough, then, to speak eloquently about holiness. One has to practise what one preaches, to produce fruit which accords with one’s words. Fray Luis de León puts it very graphically: ‘Notice that to be a good Christian it is not enough just to pray and fast and hear Mass: God must find you faithful, like another Job or Abraham, in times of tribulation’ (Guide for Sinners, book 1, part 2, chap. 21).”

From Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Matthew, page 121:

“The point is that religious confession is no substitute for a personal relationship with Jesus and the obligation to obey his Father’s will. If our creed and our conduct are out of alignment, then our profession of Jesus as Lord is not a true submission to his lordship.”

My take

Particularly, as a teacher, this passage and the associated commentary really hit home for me. Day in and day out, I endeavor to faithfully and clearly expound on the truths of Catholicism. But it requires frequent prayer, penance, reflection, spiritual reading, and of course recourse to the Sacraments, to even come close to practicing what I teach and preach — and not without a struggle and frequent stumbles. I especially appreciated the nod in Navarre to the letter of James, my favorite New Testament epistle due to its practicality. James, again:

So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (Jas 2:17)

A message I find plenty of opportunities to convey to my students is that with the Catholic Faith there is no “easy-believism.” Saying, “I believe in Jesus,” and thinking that is enough to be saved, is poppycock. Jesus did not spend years teaching for nothing. He speaks of hell often, letting us know how one can find himself there, and what it takes to avoid it. The message of our Lord is not for lightweights; it is a challenge that we face daily. Only with the grace of God can we overcome the lure of sin and gain perseverance during trials so as to maintain a right relationship with the Lord.

Are you ready to meet the Lord should He come calling today? Am I?

ADVENT RESOURCES

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS READING

Christ Enthroned (1505) by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano

God bless!

Advent Day 3: Get to know the Trinity!

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TODAY’S GOSPEL (Lk 10:21-24)

From Luke 10:21-22:

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
…
“No one knows who the Son is except the Father,
and who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

From The Navarre Bible: St Luke, page 139:

“Here we see Christ as almighty Lord and God, consubstantial with the Father, and the only one capable of revealing who the Father is. At the same time, we can recognize the divine nature of Jesus only if the Father gives us the grace of faith — as he did to St Peter (cf. Mt 16:17).”

From the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke, pages 42-43:

“The Father, Son, and Spirit are equal in being, and no one of them possesses more of the divine life and knowledge than another. Since the Son is no less perfect than the Father, he is uniquely qualified to reveal the inner life of the Trinity to the world.”

From the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Luke, page 208:

“Already at the age of twelve, [Jesus] had expressed awareness of his identity as Son (Lk 2:49). He now expresses it more fully — the words Father and Son occur a total of eight times in verses 21-22 — and he does so in the holy Spirit (v. 21), giving a glimpse of the life of the Trinity. He thus reveals to the larger group of disciples what Peter, John, and James found out on the mountain (Lk 9:35) and Mary had been told by the angel (Lk 1:32, 35).”

From Opening the Scriptures: Bringing the Gospel of Luke to Life, page 296:

“Because Jesus is uniquely the Son of God and has a privileged intimacy with the Father, he can make him known to anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. What Jesus is able to reveal about the Father goes beyond the knowledge that humans can have of God through creation (Rom 1:19-20) or through God’s previous revelations (Heb 1:1-2).”

My take

What a treasure Catholics have in the many wonderful commentaries now available! The excerpts above highlight and provide superb insights into what I myself just discovered when scanning today’s readings in trying to decide what to highlight. What we have in verses 21-22 is a fairly obvious explication of the Holy Trinity. Jesus “rejoice[s] in the Holy Spirit,” the One who enlightens, and then speaks of the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. It is a lesson for us that we should have devotion to each of the three Persons of the Trinity individually. All one Godhead, yes. But there is a reason that there are three Persons and that this was revealed to us plainly in Holy Writ by Jesus through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Practically, we can and should frequently invoke the three Persons in spontaneous prayer, particularly in group settings. It can go something like this:

“Heavenly Father, we ask you to send your Holy Spirit to send His many gifts to enlighten us in this endeavor [and then expound on it]. We ask this, as we ask all good things, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”

That the opening two verses of today’s first reading (Is 11:1-10) provides us a list of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit is a bonus that serves to highlight exactly what the Third Person of the Trinity brings to the table, so to speak.

Finally, I found particularly thought provoking the last commentary that refers to Heb 1:1-2. While all of Scripture is “God-breathed” (cf. 2 Tim 3:16 — think of the Holy Spirit as Holy Breath) and it is all the Word of God, who is Jesus (cf. Jn 1:1, 14), it is only with the Incarnation of the Son of God that the Father’s plan is fully revealed (see also Jn 1:18). All creation had been awaiting the Messiah since Adam and Eve’s fall (cf. Gen 3:15). We had glimpses and foreshadowings and types of Christ, but the reality of the Messiah in the flesh exploded all expectations and marked a new age in salvation history.

Do we really appreciate the gift we have in Jesus, awaited for thousands of years, and now with us (cf. Mt 28:20) until the end of time — and for all eternity if we accept the grace of redemption?

TRINITY RESOURCES

ADVENT RESOURCES

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS READING

The Trinity (early 17th Century) by Circle of Artus Wolffort (1581–1641)

God bless!

Advent Day 2: Jesus is amazing and amazed

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TODAY’S GOSPEL READING

For today, I’m going to fall back to a couple of my favorite posts regarding the encounter between Jesus and the centurion. One of my absolute favorite Gospel events and immortalized by Ernest Borgnine in the classic movie Jesus of Nazareth.

Advent Day 2: Amazing Amazing Jesus

As a bonus, check out this fine article on this biblical episode.

ADVENT RESOURCES (in case you missed yesterday; and I added one as a bonus)

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS READING (in case you missed yesterday)

Christ and the Centurion

Christ and the Centurion (ca. 1575) by Veronese and Workshop

God bless!

Are you “incredulous for joy and…amazed” that “the author of life” is “expiation for our sins and..for those of the whole world”? “O Lord, you put gladness into my heart.”

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TODAY’S READINGS

It struck me in hearing the readings proclaimed at Mass that, while Sunday readings are always purposeful in connecting the first reading and the Gospel reading, all four Scriptures fit together in a profound way. Let’s take a closer look at each reading, in particular the phrases in question.

Today’s first reading (Acts 3:13-15, 17-19) has Peter remonstrating his Jewish hearers for what they did to Jesus.

“The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.” (v. 15)

We cooperate with this “author” to make new humans and He provides the soul. He gives the life of grace to that soul in Baptism, gives life back to that soul through Confessions, and strengthens the life of that soul through the Eucharist. This Author writes beautifully, don’t ever forget when you look around and when you look in the mirror.

The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9) is overwhelming in its delight of the Lord:

O LORD, let the light of your countenance shine upon us!
You put gladness into my heart. (vv. 7b-8a)

Wow! When our heart is full in earthly matters, we never want to lose that feeling, but inevitably it fades or is jarred away. But the gladness God brings to the heart can never be taken away if we hold it close. Never let earthly distractions, no matter how severe, disturb your peace, knowing that God is with you when you stay in His good graces.

Then John (1 Jn 2:1-5a) tells us how we honor Jesus Christ for doing the following for us:

He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world. (v. 2)

Thank God! This is truly Good News! This great benefit we have received in knowing Christ and having been initiated into the Catholic faith should be made known to “the whole world.” There is no human that is not a beneficiary of Christ’s sacrifice. We are under obligation to make it known to every soul. What could ever stop us from winning over brothers and sisters to Christ? We must follow the Lord’s commandments and share this requirement with others.

The Gospel has Jesus appearing to the apostles and His Road to Emmaus companions in the Upper Room:

[Jesus] showed them his hands and his feet…
[T]hey were…incredulous for joy and were amazed… (vv. 40-41a)

When was the last time you were “incredulous for joy and…amazed” at what Jesus has done for you and every person who ever has come into existence or who will be conceived? It is far too easy to become complacent in our faith. Let us renew ourselves in the Lord daily , finding joy and amazement in what He has done for us and for everyone. Let us exude the joy of knowing Jesus and share our amazement in how He saved wretches like us, so more wretches will come to the Faith..

BP BARRON SERMON

Christ Appearing to His Disciples After the Resurrection (c. 1795) by William Blake

God bless.