FAMC18.   1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28.   God was always active and involved in the lives of his Chosen People, the Israelites.   He guided them through the prophets he personally appointed and raised up.  In order to understand this first reading please read the first chapter of the book of Samuel.  God answers the prayer of Hannah by allowing her to bear a son, Samuel.  Through Samuel, God was to lead King David and his People to be a great nation.  In the third reading God gives Mary a son Jesus to lead the peoples of all times to heaven.

Luke 2:41-52.   Mary and Joseph are referred to as Jesus’ parents because Joseph is Jesus’ father by adoption.  Joseph is, in effect, Jesus’ earthly father.  God is still Jesus’s heavenly father but in part exercises his fatherly care through Joseph while Joseph is still alive.  I believe this incident of the Holy Family in Jerusalem has been given in the Scriptures to further confirm that Jesus was both thoroughly human as well as thoroughly divine.  Jesus’ divinity had to carefully keep enough of a distance from his humanity to allow his humanity to be fully human because his divinity is so incredibly powerful that his humanity would have been overwhelmed, if his divinity became too involved with his humanity.  Around the age of twelve a Hebrew boy can celebrate his ceremonial age of becoming a man, his bar-mitzvah, fully responsible to follow the Law.  Jesus in his humanness had achieved a certain level of maturity by the age of twelve that he was able to sit “in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions,” to the extent that “all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.”  However, at the age of twelve he had not yet gained the mindfulness to think of asking his parents for the permission to remain in Jerusalem.  In no way did Jesus mean to reject obedience to his parents but was simply being thoughtless in his humanity.  He was to grow yet further in his maturation process. This passage continues on saying, “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.” This gospel finishes by saying, “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”  In his divinity he was all-knowing and so could never learn more but in his humanity he needed to and did learn more and more as he grew older and older.

1 John 3:1-2, 21-24.  “Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.”  In our liturgy at the beginning of the ‘Our Father’ prayer it says, “We dare to say, Our Father.”  How can we be so bold to call the Almighty Creator, Our Father’?  Jesus, his son, made it clear that his Father wants to be a loving, caring Father, but also a demanding Father to us.  His demand is that “we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.  Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them.”  By being obedient to his will, which means the same as keeping his commandments, we become his children and he, our Father.  We are living in him and he; in us; he is our home and we are his home. In other words, we are at home with the Lord daily, sharing endless fellowship with the Lord, much in the same way we feel at home with our families, friends and fellow workers.  The Holy Spirit enables us to be his obedient children, who grow in holiness daily, developing more and more in his likeness as his children, even while we live in a world that rejects God as our Father.

“We do not know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”  I believe that means that, as God took our humanity through Mary, when we go to live as God’s children in heaven, he will share with us, in some way or another that is not known to us now, some of his divinity.

Adv4C21.   Micah 5:1-4a.  Micah the prophet proclaims that “from you (Bethlehem-Ephrathah) shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.”  We understand that that one is Jesus, the Christ or Messiah.

Luke 1:39-45.  Mary, just hearing that she will bear the Messiah, hastens to help Elizabeth to give birth in her old age.  However, Elizabeth, despite her own miraculous pregnancy, is brought by the Holy Spirit to bring Mary to recognize what an earth shattering, heaven proclaiming event has happened to her.  “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  How beyond anything that could be imaginable was what the Lord had done through Mary, the lowliest of the lowly.  God had made her the mother of God made man, of divinity to be human.

Hebrews 10:5-10.   “Sacrifices and offering (of animals) you did not desire.” Instead we are the ones, in union with Christ, who are given up to God the Father.  “We have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  Jesus is taking us daily from our earthliness into his heavenliness, from our humanity to share in his divinity, to be a people graced by God.  He assumed our humanity to walk us daily into his divinity.

 

Adv4C18.     Micah 5:1-4a.   The Lord announces to Bethlehem, where David was born, “from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.”  “He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the Lord.”  “His greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.”  In 2 Samuel 7:12-13, Psalm 89 & Psalm 132:11-12, God declared that an heir of David would rule forever.  We understand that person to be Jesus the Christ.

Luke 1:39-45.  Mary has just been told, right after she accepted her God-given assignment to be the Mother of God-made-man, that Elizabeth in her old age is to bear a child. She immediately recognizes that Elizabeth will need help.  The sixth-month old child in Elizabeth’s womb is so Spirit-filled he “leaped in her womb,” because God-made-man has arrived in Mary’s womb.  “Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,” blesses Mary and her awesome, divine child and expresses her astonishment that Mary, despite her spectacular calling has come to help Elizabeth in her lowliness.  Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  Mary then, after she has answered her call to duty to Elizabeth, rejoices that God “has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness” to rejoice that “the Mighty One has done great things for” her.  It seems to me that Mary had been long-suffering in her unrecognized closeness to God amidst many others who were of no account in the eyes of God yet held in high esteem by many in this world.  They were ones who were “arrogant of mind and heart” and others rich in the things of this earth.  Mary had put her life in the hands of God and not of this earth.  God not only was helping Israel his servant but also Mary his handmaid, “remembering his mercy,” for those who “have favor with God.”

Hebrews 10:5-10.   “When Christ came into the world,” God the Father was not looking for just another Old Testament/Covenant offering.  He desired to show the infinite depths of his love for the whole world. Jesus, both divine and human, was to be the once-and-for-all offering.  God “takes away the first to establish the second” Covenant.   God  became a helpless, tiny baby to purposely put himself in the hands of those who would contribute to his handing himself up as a sacrificial redemption for our sins to God the Father.   His incarnation and birth into humanity and then death on the cross were one seamless act of redemption.  In a sense the Annunciation/Incarnation, celebrated on March 25 which tends to fall around Holy Week, is an integral part of Holy Week as one seamless act of redemption.  He became flesh (John 1:14) so to offer himself up on the cross in the flesh (1 Timothy 2:5-6a) (Rom 6:8).

Adv3C21.    Zephaniah 3:14-18a.    “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!” “The Lord has removed his judgment against you.”  “He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love.”  This is appointed by the Church to be the Sunday to rejoice in Jesus who is our joy!

Luke 3:10-18.  John the Baptist calls for a change of heart and mind from being self-centered to being compassionate and loving as is our God.  To be a follower of Jesus we need to think as God thinks with love for all.  This world calls us to be centered in ourselves; God’s mind set is to love even to the cross.  Christianity is a fundamental change in thinking and living.  John the Baptist proclaimed the coming the One who would give us the Holy Spirit as the one who would move us to live as heavenly beings while we are still here on earth.  He is the fire of divine life within our earthly bodies.  If that fire is not our life, there is another fire that will consume and devour whoever chooses not to be filled with God’s divine life.  Choose life by living united to the source of life, the God who loves us.

Philippians 4:4-7.  Joy is an ongoing state of living in the Lord.  Worry is an ongoing state of living as a partially godless self-centered being this world.  Despair is an ongoing state of one who seeks living totally without God.  When you                             “make your requests known to God, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”  Joy and peace are God’s gift to us who live in him daily.  Turmoil and trouble without peace and strength are the hallmarks of a Godless life.

Adv3C18.  Zephaniah 3:14-18a.  “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!  Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad with all your heart!”  “The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you in his love.”  The people of Judah at that time had for the most part abandoned the practice of the Torah and any faithfulness to the God of Israel.  The prophet Zephaniah seeks to strengthen those who were still loyal to God by encouraging them to rejoice in the God who was still loyal to them.

Luke 3:10-18.  In Luke 3:8a, John the Baptist says, “Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance.”  He tells those who have more than enough, to share; to tax collectors, be fair; to soldiers, do not be unjust.       Then John says that the Messiah is coming who will baptize them “with fire with the Holy Spirit and fire” and not just water as he does.  The Holy Spirit is to bring repentance and holiness; the unquenchable fire, to cleanse the world of sinfulness.

Philippians 4:4-7.  The Entrance Chant verse for this Sunday says: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.  Indeed, the Lord is near.”  Since the word ‘rejoice’ in Latin is ‘Gaudete’, this Sunday from the times Latin was the language used in the Mass has been called ‘Gaudete Sunday’.  Where there is Jesus, as the Lord of one’s life, there is joy even in times of suffering.  Paul goes on to write: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.  Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”  When we live our lives out of the giving hand of God, then we have it all, we will never lack anything.

Responsorial Psalm from Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6.  “Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.”  “With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation.”  The water that the Lord gives us at the fountain of salvation is a share in his holiness that entitles us to live with him in his household of heaven with his family, the saints.

Adv2C21.     Baruch 5:1-9.   The prophet Baruch calls upon Jerusalem to rejoice because God will bring the Hebrews back from captivity, “for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory.”

Psalm 126 goes on to see the captives actually returning to Jerusalem with the Hebrews saying, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”

Luke 3:1-6.  John the Baptist prepares the way of the Lord Jesus by “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”  God was to come into our world as one of us humans to bring the love of his divinity to us in way we could understand.  In the Old Testament God’s presence brought joy to his people.   That joy is brought to a pinnacle in the New Testament in the person of Jesus, God made man.  We rejoice that he frees us from our captivity to sin so that we may be united to him in his holiness.

Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11.  Paul wrote to the Philippians: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it.”  The Lord does great things so that we all “may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”  The Lord enables us to pass through a world of seductive temptations to one day be totally united to him in heaven.

Adv2C18.   Baruch 5:1-9.  The people of Israel were led into slavery by Babylonians, as a punishment for their gross unfaithfulness to God.  God, ever faithful despite the lack of loyalty of his people, gathers his own back to him.  “See your children gathered from the east and the west as the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God.  Led away on foot by their enemies they left you: but God will bring then back to you.”  He has made their way back easy: lowering “every lofty mountain,” bringing the gorges up “to level ground,” cooling their way with “every kind of fragrant tree,” “for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory.”

Luke 3:1-6.  Luke locates the work of John the Baptist in real time by listing the real people of those times because this was a genuine historical event:  his proclamation of the Messiah.  “The word of God came to John” because he was a prophet, even more than a prophet (Luke 7:26).  Then John roughly quotes Isaiah 40:3-4 and a bit more paraphrasing the ideas expressed in the rest of Isaiah 40.  Luke builds on the Baruch and Isaiah to say that God is now freeing us from captivity to sin to once again be a blessed people of God.  John proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin which is our Advent way to make straight the way of the Lord to our hearts.

Psalm 126.  “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”  This is what the Hebrews proclaimed when they, captives of Zion, were brought back by the Lord to Zion.  We likewise proclaim the greatness of Lord toward us when we experience being brought back from sinfulness into the holy company of God.

Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11.  “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (code words to mean when Jesus comes the second time.)  “And this is my prayer: that your love may increase evermore,” “so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, (the Second Coming) filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”  Let us welcome the Messiah as sinners who have become saints through the work of the Spirit.

Adv1C21.     Jeremiah 33:14-16.   “The days are coming, says the Lord,” “in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land.”  Advent is time to look forward to the coming of the Messiah as the loving Savior of our lives.

Psalm 25:  “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, and for you I wait all the day.”

Luke 21:25-28, 34-36.  “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs.’” “People will die.” “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”  Jesus is saying that we should not live each day as though life is just a daily routine with little or no thought that each day is step on the way to eternity.  Live life now, as a part of eternity.  Each moment walk, breath, think and take each heartbeat in union with the Lord now.  Live with the Lord now, with the Lord as the heart of our daily life!  Walk daily with Jesus to his judgment seat and we will have nothing to fear when we stand before him in judgment.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2.   Paul is writing to the Thessalonians for them to let the Lord make them “increase and abound in love for one another and for all,” so that they may “be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.”  Advent is the time to prepare ourselves to receive the Lord by conducting ourselves to please God.  It is human nature to want to please one another so that they in turn are nice to us.  Advent is the time to think first and foremost of pleasing God.

Adv1C18.    Jeremiah 33: 14-16.   The Lord God promises “to the house of Israel and Judah” that he “will raise up for David a just shoot.”  In the Advent season we understand this to be applied to Jesus, who “shall do what is right and just in the land” by being the Messiah that will redeem the people.

Luke 21:25-28, 34-36.  Here we go back to November’s theme of the Second Coming of Jesus with the terrifying signs of the end of the universe.  “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”  Then redemption is hand for those who have remained faithful to the Lord but destruction for those who were forgetful of Jesus and lost in worldliness.

Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14.  As we live out our daily lives we must constantly lift our souls in prayer to the Lord so not to be lost in the lowliness of this world.  A wonderful daily prayer is the first lines that have been given to us in today’s psalm: “Your ways, O Lord, make known to me: teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.”  It is so easy to get lost in ourselves, thinking that we have it all figured out and can do it on our own.  The psalm says that the Lord will only teach “the humble his way” but ignore the proud who do not feel they need God.  “The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear” or respect God for who he is in relation to us, the almighty, loving Father helping his children who need to be cared for daily.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2.  “Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming for our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.”  As the God who created us to be loved by him, we should love one another, as he loves us all.  We should love the love that God has for us and love his will which is the supreme expression of his love for us.  In loving God’s will for us and acting in obedience to his will, we are made “blameless in holiness before our God and Father.”  Loving God’s will for us means that we conduct ourselves in way that is pleasing to God.

34BKing21.     Daniel 7:13-14.  This Old Testament passage makes a wonderful presentation of  the New Testament Jesus, who here is not seen as a person in the flesh and who has subjected himself to the cruelties of evil human beings, but now as a glorious heavenly being who has everlasting dominion over all.

Psalm 93.   “The Lord is king, in splendor robed; robed is the Lord and girt about with strength.”

John 18:33b-37.   Jesus answers Pilate, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.” “’My kingdom is not here.’ So Pilate said to him, ‘Then you are a king?’  Jesus answered, ‘You say I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’” For Jesus the truth is eternal, timeless reality, in which our universe amounts to no more than a tiny pin head.  For us as humans, truth or reality is quite often what is around us in space and time.  It is whatever touches us or what we individually are in contact with.  For Jesus, truth is infinite; for us, reality is infinitesimal, minute or microscopic, that is, our little world.  To recognize Jesus as our king is to accept his invitation to us to live in the whole of reality, the truth. What a spectacular realm it is over which Jesus is king!

Revelation 1:5-8.   “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.”   Jesus is at one and the same time king in his majesty over us and at the same time suffering savior in his unimaginable self-sacrificing love on the cross for us.  He is glorious by the power of his love.  We recognize his kingly glory by submitting ourselves daily to his loving will.