2nd Sunday of Advent

I like to think of St Luke, at this stage of his gospel, leading us with the camera like a movie director. He starts with the wide lens that takes in the Roman Empire. Then he zooms in on Judea and its provinces. Finally, he arrives at the striking figure of John the Baptist, wild eyed, dressed in camel skin with shaggy hair preaching by the River Jordan in the wilderness. The stage is now set for the public proclamation of the Good News that the plan of salvation, prefigured in the prophets, is being brought to fulfilment! The annunciation made to Our Lady is about to be revealed to an unsuspecting world. We, too, are recipients of this Good News and it is designed to bring about a renewal in us so that we yield the harvest of the Kingdom in our lives. The prospect of this renewal also brings about a harvest of joy as we see in St Paul's letter to the Philippians. Just like St Luke, Paul can see the big picture and this gives him optimism that his ministry will not be futile in their midst. On the contrary, he is able to write: "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil 1: 8) Let that optimism fill our hearts, too, ith joy even as we are surrounded by commercialism and materialism this Advent.

1st Sunday of Advent

The first half of Advent is not about preparing for the birth of Jesus at Christmas. It is about another coming which will be that of our Lord in glory. This coming, predicted by Jesus during his earthly ministry, has some similarities with the first coming of the Messiah: first, we do not know when it will occur; second, it is being prepared for by a Chosen People, with the Jewish people for the first and the Church for the second; third, both comings are informed by the person of Jesus Christ - second person of the Holy Trinity and son of Mary. There are also, however, some differences: the first coming was in lowliness and humility in the stable at Bethlehem while the second will be in glory; the first coming came to a world with no definitive answer to sin and death while the second fulfils the victory of the resurrection; in the first coming Jesus appears as the son of a Galilean peasant while in the second he reigns as Christ the King.

What are the implications for us of this mystery? We must not live as if the world has no hope or that evil has any chance of success. We should not try to redeem ourselves from our sins through our own efforts. We, however, are not called to be passive. On the contrary, we need to work as hard as we can to prepare for that Day. This will happen either before or after our physical, individual deaths. What we do know is that both the living and the dead will be caught up in the same reality and participate in the same judgment: "For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will be no means precede those who have died." (1 Thess 4: 15) Thus, the Early Christians and ourselves live with the same hope, the same expectation, and have the same mission. We can take the exhortation of St Paul as being addressed to us in 2021: "Beloved, may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." (1 Thess 3: 12-13)

Feast of Christ the King

 I think it is important that we realize that the Kingdom of God is not like some territorial entity with a sovereign ruling over subjects who live there. We hear in the second reading: "To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom..." (Rev 1: 5-6). The kingdom we are talking about today is founded on love and composed of those who have been freed from their sins by the sacrifice of the Cross. Yes, we are the kingdom. The rule of Christ is manifested in his Church. This reality which is simultaneously spiritual and temporal is articulated and actualized through the sacraments. St Paul wrote to the Romans: "For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Rm 14: 17) The kingdom is therefore not a mechanism for ruling the world rather the inbreaking of the new creation that will reach its fulfilment in Second Coming when the "Lord of lords and King of kings" (Rev 17: 14) will take full possession of the reality founded on and informed by his passion, death and resurrection. In the letter of Peter we read: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Pt 2: 9) It is that dignity and mission that we celebrate today as we acknowledge Christ to be our king and ourselves to be his kingdom.

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus today is delivering his "Sermon on the Mount of Olives" which is a eschatological discourse to prepare his disciples for the "last things." Just as in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus sits down on a mountain to deliver an authoritative teaching except, this time, he is not in Galilee but on the Mount of Olives where it was expected that the dead would rise at the end of time. This is evident to today where one can see all of the tombs on the Mount. He is also opposite the temple on which he shut down after his messianic entry to the city (Mk 11: 15-19 ) and declared its redundancy in the parable of the fig tree (Mk 11: 12-14, 20-25). In this sermon he tells his disciples of the signs of the end times but he doesn't give them any date or time. The message for the Early Christians and for us remains the same and is given at the end of the chapter: "Therefore, keep awake - for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake" (Mk 13: 35-37) What is the effect of this teaching on our lives in 2021? It serves to exhort us to self-discipline so we do not yield to temptation and self-indulgence and lapse into despair that results. St Paul wrote to the Romans: "Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; let us live honourably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery  and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." (Rm 13: 11-14)

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lord praises the woman today who gave "out of her poverty" as opposed to those who "contributed out of their abundance." It is always easy to give to people when we have lots of money or time or other assets. It is when the going gets tough, as we see also with the widow in the first reading, that we tend to shut down, turn inward and look to ourselves. The mystery of the Cross is that we trust in God even when things are grim. We believe in God's love for us even when there is suffering and grief. The great example of such love is St Maximilian Kolbe who gave of himself to the end in the hell that was Auschwitz. Such saints help us to strive to imitate the Lord and to trust in God's providential care in all circumstances - good or evil.