"Remember the past with gratitude. Live the present with enthusiasm. Look forward to the future with confidence.” Pope John Paul II

Reflect on these wise words of a holy man. The past teaches us about the graces God has given us. For these we give thanks. The present is the place of God's word and grace today. Be attentive and respond by embracing them with gratitude and excitement. The future is not yet. It too will be filled with the saving works of God directed to our eternal salvation and life with God. Trust in what God has in store for us.

 "Fasting in tongue is better than fasting on food." St. John of the Cross

Why is this so? When we fast from sinning by our tongue, we offer a better sacrifice of praise to God than when we fast from food. We sometimes fail to realize how often we sin by the use of our tongue, lies, uncharitable remarks, taking the Lord's name in vain, to mention a few. Jesus said that it is not what we take in that defies a person, but what comes from within. Eating or fasting from food is indifferent. But using our tongue against another is not indifferent. God accepts our fast but desires more that we keep our tongue pure for his praise.

 First Sunday of Advent Gospel A

Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 

· This coming of the Son of Man can refer to the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of the world or it could mean the coming of Jesus when we die. In each case there is a finality.

In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. 

· Despite Noah’s words and actions, the people of his day did not put any stock into what they heard and saw.  Because they did not heed the warnings and repent, they lost their lives in more ways than one. Will it be different for us?

So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.  Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.

· The reason it is probably the coming of Jesus at the time of death and not at the end of the world is that one is taken and one is left. Even then, the one that is left does not heed the warning signs.

· How many people we know have died? We know that death is inevitable. But does the death of any bring us closer to God? Does it lead us to repentance and a change of life? Or do we continue to eat, drink and be merry as if death is far from us. It is not that we are to stop living, but our life should show awareness that God may be giving us a sign to make him the center of our lives? What do you think?

Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.  Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

· How prepared are we at this moment? Are we living as if this would be our last night?  Again, not in fear or anxiety but in readiness because we want to be with God at all times.

· What do you think God wants you to do in response to his word which you just read and reflected on?

o Advent is a time of preparation for the celebration of the coming of Jesus. He came and we are preparing to celebrate the remembrance of his birth. But he is coming again at the moment of our death. We are preparing to welcome him so that we can be welcomed by him. We are preparing for his second coming in glory so that we can be with him eternally.

o Jesus is also coming in the present moment. How open are we to welcome and receive him? He comes directly in his word and in the Eucharist. He comes indirectly in the peron of another. “What you did to the least, you did to me.”

 "It can be discouraging when we fall. But do not focus only on your sins. Look to Jesus. Trust His mercy and go to Him with confidence. He will always welcome you home." Pope Leo XIV

To fall is part of our weakened nature, the result of Original Sin.  To remain in the state of sin is to play into the hand of the Evil One. But to rise, to repent and tor return to the Lord is a grace from God. He gives us the grace, because in his unconditional mercy he desires us to be one with him. Jesus himself said, "There is more joy in heaven oven one sinner who repents." We may fall into the ocean of sin, but God throws us a life preserver. The choice to sin is ours; the choice to grab hold of the preserver is also ours.

 "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." St. Augustine

Sometimes we fail to embraced this wondrous truth of revelation. In fact, the Evil One attempts to convince of the opposite. For if we believe in our heart this truth of God's personal love for us, then we would have a reason not to sin. Each of us is called to accept love and to love. That is part of our spiritual DNA. We were created, redeemed, and sanctified out of love, so that we may extend love to others. When we don't fully believe that God loves us in a unique way, we open ourselves to all sorts of problems. But when this truth is deeply rooted in our heart, then we see ourselves and life differently. God loves you as you are here and now, through and through. It is not something we have to earn. It is a pure gift.

 "You must accept your cross; if you bear it courageously it will carry you to Heaven." St. John Vianney

Our road to Heaven can be made easier if we follow the plan of Jesus. The passport on the narrow road and the key to the narrow door, both of which lead to the eternal presence of God is the cross. Both for Jesus and ourselves, the cross is doing the will of the Father in love. Sometimes our crosses are small and lite and sometimes large and heavy. Regardless, when we carry them in union with Jesus they are the building blocks that allows us to reach Heaven, by God's grace. Jesus laid the road by his death and resurrection. We are following his path.

 "Do not think that you live in this world to have fun, to become rich, to eat, drink and sleep. The end for which you were created in the first place is infinitely more noble and sublime. And it is this: to love and serve God in this life, and be that way save your soul." St. John Bosco

The world tells us one thing. Our faith tells us another. The world tells us that what we see is what we live for. Our faith tells us that we were given a definite destiny and it is not something seen by sight. The world tells us self-satisfaction is our destiny. Our faith tells us that we are meant to be with God eternally. The world lays out for us a wide road with signs pointing to what others say will make us happy. Our faith shows us a much narrow road with signs made into crosses, pointing to what God has revealed as our true fulfillment. Whom will we follow?

 "Lord, help me to live this day, quietly, easily. To lean upon your strength, trustfully, restfully. To wait for your will, patiently, serenely. To meet others, peacefully, joyously. To face tomorrow, confidently, courageously." St. Francis of Assisi

His approach to life is not something unattainable by us. It is the attitude and desire of one who seeks to be holy and pleasing to the Lord. The focus of his plan of life is the Lord. His life was not perfect. He had his ups and downs. He was ridiculed and persecuted. But in spite of all his difficulties, he chose a plan of action, a way to respond that would deepen his relationship with God. In other words, it is not the externals that make the difference, but our internal attitude and choices.

 Solemnity of the Feast of Christ the King C

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God." 

· Here we have a connection with the temptation of Jesus in the desert. The focus of the question is whether Jesus is the chosen one, the Messiah of God.  If he is, they implied, he would not be in this situation. God would not allow it. This was the same sticking point the devil used against Jesus in the desert temptation.

· Imagine Jesus hearing this statement of mockery. What do you think went through his mind? Was he questioning his identity? Or rather did he embrace the fuller meaning of being the chosen one, the Messiah of God as the suffering servant of God?

Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out,

"If you are King of the Jews, save yourself."  Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews." 

· The soldiers were aware that Pilate had asked Jesus if he was a king. They even mocked him by placing a crown of thorns on his head and a purple robe on his back and a reed in his hand, while pretending to do his homage.

· What do you think Jesus was feeling as he heard the mockery intensify?

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us." 

· Now, one of the criminals crucified with Jesus joins in the attack. He was not interested in whether Jesus was the Messiah or not. He was only interested in Jesus performing some miracle freeing the criminal from the cross.

The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 

· The other criminal hears the mockery of the rulers, the soldiers and the other criminal. But there is something different about him.  Though he recognizes that he is deserving of the punishment, he still has a “fear of God,” while at the same time he recognizes the innocence of Jesus.

· This man expresses his repentance for his deeds by asking God not to physically save him but to show him forgiveness and mercy.

· How often have we tried to justify ourselves rather than admit our faults and seek God’s mercy?

He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

· What a powerful witness of Jesus mercy, even in the midst of his own suffering.  Maybe it was the Father’s way of reassuring Jesus that he came to save the repentant sinner not the self-righteous. Here was the first fruit of his death and resurrection.

· This event reaffirms what the psalmist said: God does not want the death of the sinner but that he repent and live.

· This also underlines the word of God to the prophet. If a wicked man turns back to the Lord and dies, he will live forever with God.

· Reflect of God’s mercy to you over the years.

· From your reflections on this passage what is God saying to you?

 "A Saint is a sinner that keeps trying." St. Josemaria Escriva

There is hope for each of us, who are sinners. Every saint struggles with the possibility of sin even at the moment of death. For the Evil One does not want God to have the final say. The main thing is not the struggle but our fidelity to the Lord. His grace is always present to give us the strength to remain faithful to him. Fear not the struggle, but keep your eyes on the Lord in the midst of the struggle. In doing so, with the help of God's grace, you can be a saint with the Lord eternally. Thus, you will fulfill your true destiny for existence. 

 "We are real contemplatives in the heart of the world. If we learn to pray the work, we will do it with Jesus, we will do it for Jesus, and we do it to Jesus. It is not difficult." St. Teresa of Calcutta

To key to sanctifying our daily tasks is our focus and intention. The normal, mundane things we do each day can just be that or they can become means to a greater holiness and union with God. All it takes is intentionality. As St. Teresa said, do it for, to and with Jesus. For example, you are driving to work or to an appointment. You can be focus on many things while you are driving. However, if you focus on Jesus, what is mundane, now becomes a holy thing. This doesn't come easy, because we have not been in the habit of approaching life's events with a focus on Jesus. It will take awareness and practice. In time, our focus on Jesus will become the underlying support of our actions.

 "We must pray without ceasing, for the salvation of mankind does not depend upon material success...but on Jesus alone." St Francis Xavier Cabrini

The first important point is that salvation depends on Jesus, his gift of redemption, not on our good works. The second important point is that God desires us to be part of his plan of salvation. How? Primarily through prayer, but also through the witness of our lives and the sharing of our faith. Through these efforts we lay a foundation for the grace of God to impact the live of one who has not yet been saved. We will only know in heaven whose lives we made an impact on. Even if we don't, we are called by baptism and confirmation to publicly witness our faith in the only Savior of the world.  Don't neglect this responsibility. 

 "Holiness does not consist in not making mistakes or never sinning. Holiness grows with capacity for conversion, repentance, willingness to begin again, and above all with the capacity for reconciliation and forgiveness." Pope Benedict XVI

Holiness is primarily a grace from God, responded to by us. When we sin, God gives us the grace of repentance and reconciliation. If we act on his grace, we will once more share in his life of holiness. When others sin against us, again God gives us the grace to forgive the other and to be reconciled. If we respond, then we enter into the holiness of God. God is holy. The more we are in in union with God, the more we will be holy.

 

Homily Thirty-third Sunday Year C     

 

Reading 1: There is a constant theme in the Old Testament and in the New Testament: identifying and separating the proud and the evil doers from those who have a reverential awe of the Lord. In Psalm 1 it is identified as two paths of life: those who follow the way of the Lord and those who follow the way of evil. In the parables of Jesus it is the wheat and the weeds, the net that brings in the good and bad fish, the separation of the sheep from the goats.

 

What happens to the proud, the evildoers, the goats and the weeds? They are destroyed by the blazing fire of justice. What happens to those who have reverential awe of God, the wheat and the sheep? They will rise to new and everlasting life.

 

The implication is that while there is time before the Day of the Lord, when the Son of justice appears, to hear the word of God and to repent and turn back to the Lord. At the same time, it is important that those who believe in the Lord remain faithful till the end.

 

Gospel: Here is an example of the gift of prophesy exercised by Jesus. It is one of the gifts Jesus promised the Spirit will give us, when we are filled with the Spirit, as Jesus was. Here Jesus is prophesying about the future destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. This took place less than 40 years later in 70 AD by the hands of the Romans.

 

While the focus of the people is to know the exact day and the details, Jesus says that is not to be our focus. Yes, there will be those who will try to say that this or that is the sign of the end. They will say they were given a message about the end. Jesus’ response is that we are not to become disturbed and distracted. Signs will take place that people will point to. Again, we are not to be distracted.

 

What are we to focus on? Not on the end but on being faithful witnesses to Jesus in the present moment by the way we live. There will be times of persecution for our faith; there may be times we may be challenged or questioned by others concerning our commitment to Jesus. We are to be readied to give witness to Jesus. Even if we will feel inadequate, Jesus said not to worry. He will give us the words to say, the wisdom we will need. What is this wisdom? The Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.

 

When we were baptized, we were told that we now shared in the life of Jesus as priest, prophet and king. That prophetic call is to be a living, conscious witness of what Jesus has done and who he is. When we were confirmed, we were anointed once more with the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that we can be witnesses to others of Jesus and his mighty deeds.

 

What are we to do when wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, famine, pestilence and other phenomena happen? Not to become fearful or distracted but to turn to the Lord and to point others to the Lord, who is calling us back to the truth and way of life that would lead to eternal glory, rather than eternal destruction.

 

Reading 2: No community is perfect. Each has its problems. In Thessalonica the problem was that someone had erroneously told them that the second coming of Jesus was imminent. As a result some decided that it wasn’t necessary to work. But they had to eat, so they expected other members of the community would provide for them.

 

Paul seeks to correct two things. We don’t know then Jesus is coming, so we need to live our lives in an ordinary way. The second thing is that we need to continue to work to provide for our daily sustenance and not depend upon others to do so for us, when we are capable.

 

In essence, Paul is saying don’t get distracted from focusing on that which is necessary because of the words of others. Don’t become a burden to others in the community because of personal convictions. Live as if today is the last day but live your normal life.

 "You just cross yourself more often because it guards you just like a lock on a door. Save yourselves and defend yourselves with the power of the honorable and Life-giving Cross." St Matrona the Blind of Moscow

As we are saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross, so we are protected by the cross from the onslaughts of the Evil One. We don't wear a cross as a good-luck charm. We wear the cross as a proclamation of our faith in Jesus, our Savior. As Jesus defeated the Evil One by his death on the cross, so Jesus thwarts the attack of Satan by the cross. So make the sign of the cross at times of temptation, calling on the powerful name of Jesus. Let him be your shield and protector, as he fights the battle.

 "No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ." St. Leo the Great

All of us are sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God because of our sinfulness. But the grace of God is greater than our weakness.  If we repent and call on the name of the Lord, the victory of the cross, namely salvation, will be ours. For God does not will the death of the sinner, but that he should live, not by his own efforts, but by the mercy of God. Our focus is not on our weakness, but on the strength given by God's mercy. Thanks be to God for his merciful grace!

 "Heaven is filled with converted sinners of all kinds, and there is room for more." St. Joseph Cafasso

What a comforting, hopeful word! The saints were once struggling sinners like ourselves. They are saints now because of Jesus' grace and their surrender to him. We have received the same grace as they did. But have we surrendered our life to be led by Jesus? They stumbled and failed on their journey many times, but they persisted to look and depend upon the Lord for his grace. They came to a point that they wanted nothing but Jesus. Do we desire to be with Jesus enough to get up each time we fall? Heaven awaits us. Let grace overcome our weaknesses, O potential saints.

 "Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone...We find it with another." Thomas Merton

Our true destiny is Love, who is God.  We sometimes seek love from others to fulfill us, only to learn they can't. That's not their role. Only when we love others in and because of Christ can we begin to experience fulfillment. The key is not the other, but Christ. When God commands us to love one another, it is not to leave God out but to love the other because of God, who is love. Merton also said that "no man is an island." We need each other, but more importantly, we need God. Love without God is "eros" or at best "philos". Love with God is "agape."

 "Act in such a way that your humility may not be weakness, nor your authority be severity. Justice must be accompanied by humility, that humility may render justice lovable." Pope Gregory the Great

Humility is not a popular word in today's vocabulary. Yet, it is the attitude that confused people about Jesus. They misread his humility as weakness, whereas it was that virtue was at the root of his strength. Though Jesus was God, St. Paul tells us that he humbly became man in order to do the will of the Father. Jesus knew who he was and lived in that truth, even embracing the cross of redemption. In his humility he did not lord it over others, though he was Lord. He served by laying down his life for others. He chose a life of littleness, enduring the abuse of others, so that he could teach us what life with God was all about. It is not about us, but about us in and with God.

 "If we wish to make any progress in the service of God, we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but in the divine honor." St. Charles Borremeo

One of the lures of the Evil One is that of losing sight of our goal in life. Our daily distractions and activities can sometimes so consume us that we lose sight of the purpose of our existence. To avoid this deviation, we need to remind ourselves of the call of God in our life, namely to be his redeemed, adopted son or daughter, sharing in his life in anticipation of doing so eternally. That means consciously renewing our commitment to the Lord each day. That means being attentive to the grace of the present moment, keeping our heart rooted in the Lord. 

 "Do not foster hatred for the sinner, for we are all guilty...Hate his sins, and pray for him, so that you may be made like unto Christ, who had no dislike for sinners, but prayed for them." St. Isaac the Syrian

We serve the Lord, when we pray for those who are far from the Lord because of sin. We dishonor the Lord, when we hate any person, who is loved by God. God's grace is always available to each sinner, including ourselves. Jesus prayed for Peter, who would sin by betraying the Master. We are call to do likewise. After he sinned, Peter repented, because of Jesus' prayer. We are called to pray for those who persecute us, those who harm us, those who offend God by their actions. With the grace of God, we pray for their repentance and reconciliation. Our prayer for the sinner is like flood waters, lifting the person up to God.

 "In the difficulties which are placed before me, why should I not act like a donkey? When he is mistreated, he says nothing. When he is forgotten, he says nothing. The servant of God must do likewise."

This is true humility after the example of the Master. When he was falsely accused he did not defend himself. When he was brutally beaten, he did not retaliate. Why? He knew who he was and was not defined by what others said or did. He had freely embraced the call to be the Suffering Servant for our salvation. There is a time to defend ourselves and a time for silence. In both we seek the will of the Father, not our will or our good name. Why? We are servants of God, seeking to please him in all we say or do.