2B18.   1Samuel 3:3b-10, 19.  This Sunday opens our walk with Jesus through his public ministry.  The foundation is being laid down as we hear Samuel say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”  The first reading calls upon us to have minds open to hear and understand; and wills open to obey and love.  In our first reading Samuel hears the Lord calling but does not know that it is the Lord who is calling because he does not know how to listen for the voice of the Lord.  The first reading says, “At that time Samuel was not familiar with the Lord, because the Lord had not revealed anything to him as yet.”  The Lord became a human in our midst to say in part that he did not want to be just a distant person far from us.  He came then and comes now to become a familiar part of our lives.  It is not the familiarity that breeds contempt but rather engenders love.

When asked by a Pharisee in Matthew 22:36-37, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the great?”  Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  This is a new and old testament demand that God be the love of our life, the love that is our life.  We can only truly love someone with whom we are in personal and cordial contact.  We can know a cold fact, e. g., there is a God out there somewhere in the sky, but that is not love.  God makes himself familiar to us in prayer.  It is a relationship that grows by our becoming more and more committed to him and his will, treating him as the God of our lives.  It is a relationship that grows deeper and stronger day by day until the day we die to this world.

John 1:35-42.  When John the Baptist said of Jesus to two of his disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” they knew that he was telling them that Jesus is the Messiah.  So when Andrew, one of those two disciples, found his brother, Simon, he said to him in reference to Jesus, “We have found the Messiah.” What does it mean to be called the Messiah?  In Mark 15:32a, the chief priests with the scribes said, “Let the Messiah, the King of the Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”  In John 18:36a, Jesus says to Pilate, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.”  The Messiah is the king of the world beyond this material world.  Then in John 18:37c, Jesus says, “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.”  Jesus is the voice of truth because he himself is the truth.  Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  The very person of Jesus that is the Word spoken by the God the Father is the truth.  This material world, a world in which things are here today and gone tomorrow, can limit us to the world of our earthly horizon, blinding us to the world that is beyond it, the spiritual world that is forever.  The Messiah came to lead us to the fullness of truth, to the whole of reality.  In Luke 9:35, God the Father came as a voice from a cloud saying, “This is my chosen Son: listen to him.”  Hear him by letting not only his words but also his very person be the very life of our hearts, minds and souls.  Jesus changes the name of Cephas to Peter, which means rock, to say that Jesus will be a new life for him, a rebirth in the Christ, which will make of him a whole new person in Christ.  Jesus wants to do the same with all of us.

1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20.  In this epistle God reveals the fullness of truth that is so diametrically opposed to the thinking of this world.  “You are not your own.  For you have been purchased at a price.”  Our bodies, for that matter, our lives, our very persons belong to the God who gave us life so that we may live forever in the joy of his love.  The attitude of this world is that this is my body and I will do whatever I want with it.  As the angel Lucifer did, we can reject God’s ownership over us and so merit that eternal future called hell. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?  But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.”  To have eternal life we must be joined to the only one who is able to give eternal life, Jesus.  Any immorality of the body, or otherwise, is a choice to separate ourselves from Christ.  When we choose to belong to Christ, how wonderful it is to realize each day of our lives that we are temples of the Holy Spirit!  Jesus said in John 16:13: “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.”  When Jesus left this world he gave us the Holy Spirit to enable us to have Jesus who is truth himself as our daily life so that we can find our way to heaven and the joy of an eternity there.

Romans 13:14.

Epiph24.   Isaiah 60:1-6.   The prophet is calling upon the first captives who had relatively recently been released from captivity in Babylonia to envision the spectacularly glorious work that the almighty God is performing for them in rebuilding Jerusalem.  What was before the intense darkness of Jerusalem which had been crushed in defeat and all but the most miserable of its inhabitants taken away into slavery was then in the process of being reconstituted as a city and a people by which nations would walk in its shining radiance.

Matthew 2:1-12.   In King Herod the forces of darkness challenge the glorious power of God’s light.  King Herod was so terrified that he could possibly lose power that he previously even had his own wife and sons murdered.  Seeking an opportunity to kill “the newborn king of the Jews,” he tells the magi to “bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.”  John 1:4-5 says, “Through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  In giving the gold, frankincense and myrrh, the magi and through them all humanity that is open to God, show and recognize Jesus as God’s gift.

Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6.   The mystery “has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”  The epiphany is the revelation that Jesus is the Messiah or Savior for all peoples in all times and all places.

Epiph21.    Isaiah 60:1-6.   Isaiah was encouraging a disheartened remnant of Jews who had relatively recently been released from captivity.  They were a poor people with little resources who had returned to a land that had been ravaged by war and they needed to rebuild.  Isaiah is calling upon the people to have faith in their glorious God who will make them a light to the nations.  Proclaiming the praises of the Lord, the nations will come, bringing gold and frankincense.  Israel will be the light, the shining radiance.

Matthew 2:1-12.     Magi from the ancient faith of Persia were astrologers who attempted to read the stars as a way to read messages from the supernatural to the people of earth.  As Catholics we traditionally believe that God used a special star to lead the magi to the newborn king or Christ or messiah of the Jews.  The magi accepted the star as a guiding light from God.  They, who were Gentiles, came to do homage to the king of the Jews whereas Herod, representing the Jewish establishment, sought to kill the Christ.  John 1:5 reads, Jesus is the light that “shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”  The way to Jesus is fraught with difficulties.  We seek to bring to him anything and everything that we have that is of value; after all, he gives us the most valuable thing we can ever have, eternity in heaven.

Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6.   Paul speaks of the mystery that was made known or revealed to him that he, in turn, makes known to the Gentiles.  It was a mystery because it had not been revealed to people in other ages.  The revelation is Jesus, God who became human to bring humans to God.  John 1:11-12 reads, “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.  But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.”  How magnificent it is to be children of the almighty Creator of the universe!   God has invited us to belong to him.  However only by living daily in the power of the Holy Spirit can we make our divine adoption a genuine reality.

Epiph18.   Isaiah 60:1-6.  Isaiah writes here of the return of the Hebrews to Israel.  Isaiah 45:3a writes that God says, “I will give you treasures out of the darkness, and riches that have been hidden away,” probably meaning that King Cyrus, on allowing the Hebrews to go back to Israel, returned to them the treasures taken from the Temple by the Babylonians when the Jews were taken into captivity. The Wikipedia article on ‘Cyrus the Great in the Bible’ states, “Among the classical Jewish sources, besides the Bible, Josephus (1^st century AD) mentions that Cyrus freed the Jews from captivity and helped rebuild the temple.  He also wrote to the rulers and governors that they should contribute to the rebuilding of the temple and assisted them in rebuilding the temple.”  I believe that Isaiah was referring to this when he wrote, “the wealth of the nations shall be brought to you.”  By extension we take this to mean that this is a prophetic reference to the gifts of the magi.

Matthew 2:1-12.  “Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews?  We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.’” Even though these magi were what we would call pagans; nonetheless, they were obviously in prayerful union with God so that they could come to know the significance of the star.  In the Acts of the Apostles (10:34-35) it says, “Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, ‘In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.  Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” Prayer or communication with God is not only God listening to us but also us listening to God, i. e. a dialog, not just a monolog.  Not only does he tell us, “Ask and you shall receive,” but also, “have the ears to hear.”  The problem, of course, is that religion is primarily a faith and not a science.  Our God is invisible to our eyes and inaudible to our ears.  So there is the need for a spirit  of discernment that what comes to us is truly from God.  We have the sacraments, sacred and religious buildings and literature and good people in our lives through whom the Lord often enough speaks to us.  1 John 4:1 reads: “Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  However, only if we grow daily in giving our hearts and minds to the Lord through God the Holy Spirit, will we truly have the internal and external voices to speak to the Lord and the external and internal capacity to perceive the Lord speaking to us.

The devil communicates also.  Herod who so connived in his attempt to murder the child Jesus through his perceived gullibility of the magi and later through “the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16) seemed to be in close contact with the devil.  In these Scripture verses concerning the magi there is a stark contrast between the magi who lived in the light of Lord and Herod who dwelled in the darkness of the devil.  Psalm 72:10-11 reads: The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.  All Kings shall pay him homage, all nations shall serve him.”  This psalm speaks of the qualities of the promised Messiah.  The magi help to fulfill the prophecies of Psalm 72.  They offer the best they have and so should we.

Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6.  “You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely that the mystery was made known to me by revelation.”  “It has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus though the gospel.”  The magi represent the acceptance by the non-Jews who choose to be believers in the Christ as the Father’s Son and Redeemer.  We receive all that Christ came to give.  We are the adopted children of God the Father through the work of his Son.  In our own individual humble way may the love of Christ which the Spirit imbues in us reveal the glory of the tiny babe!

FamB23.   Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-3.   Abram (Abraham) was very old and had no heir; and his wife was beyond her childbearing years.  It could have easily been that Abraham should have had every reason to think that his family line would have had no future; but, nonetheless, he “put his faith in the Lord, who credited to him as an act of righteousness.” “The Lord took note of Sarah as he had said he would.” “Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age.” The Lord is faithful to those who are faithful to him.

Luke 2:22-40.  Mary and Joseph came to the Temple as practicing Jews.  Simeon and Anna, representing the Judaism that the Lord had first established in Abraham and Sarah, received the baby Jesus, as the unique One, who was to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for (God’s) your people Israel.” However, Simeon warns Mary: “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted—and you yourself a sword will pierce—so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” This baby Jesus was divinity taking on humanity so to sacrifice himself on the cross for the redemption of Abraham’s descendants and all the People of God.  In Jesus God was faithful to his people, even to the point of suffering and death.

Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19.    Abraham is the paragon or saint of faith.  Despite every reason to not believe, he believed and for his belief in the face of unbelief, he triumphed.  Simeon prophesized that Mary was also to be tested and challenged.  Mary’s greatness is not so much in her being physically Jesus’ mother but rather her faith in the faithfulness of God her Father.  She was to believe to the cross and beyond.

FamB20.    Genesis 15:1-6; 21:1-3.    God has made Abram rich but given him no children and his wife was too old to bear a child.  Abram’s hopelessness to have a family offered the opportunity to God to show his gloriously mighty caring power.  God promised Abram that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.  Then Sarah bore Abram a son in her old age.  When God made his promise to Abram, Abram simply accepted God at his word.  Our reading says, “Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him (Abram) as an act of righteousness (holiness).”

Luke 22:22-40.   Matthew 1:24b says, “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.”  Although Jesus was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit, once Joseph took his wife Mary into his home, Joseph legally became Jesus’ father.  Joseph and Mary, who are referred to in this Sunday’s reading as “the child’s father and mother,” brought the baby Jesus to the Temple to present him to the Lord.  Four times it is mentioned that they were doing everything as good Jews in compliance with the Jewish Law.  The sacrifice they offered in the Temple was the sacrifice mandated for the poorest of families. (Leviticus 12:8 & Exodus 13:2 & 12)  Simeon spoke prophetically that Jesus was “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”  Also traditionally it has been understood that the sword that would pierce Mary’s heart was Jesus’ crucifixion. Likewise Anna spoke prophetically that Jesus was the one for whom “all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”  In Jesus, divinity took on humanity.  Jesus was truly a human being without losing his divinity; however, his divinity had to stand back so as to allow Jesus’ humanity to develop as a true human being.  As Abram entrusted himself to God’s promise, so Mary put her faith in the word of God spoken through the angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of Jesus, the “Son of the Most High.”

Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19. This reading begins: “Brothers and sisters: By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go.  By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age—and Sarah herself was sterile—for he thought the one who made the promise was trustworthy.”  This Sunday is dedicated to the Holy Family.  They are the Holy family because their lives individually and their life as a family unit were lived in their faith in God, entrusting themselves to the God who is trustworthy.  They invite us to do the same.

 

FAMB17.   Genesis 15:1-6; 21:1-3.  “Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited to him as an act of righteousness.”  Abraham needed to have male descendant from his wife Sarah to establish a line of descendants, as the basis of God’s Chosen People.  He trusted that God would do what he had promised, despite the fact that Sarah was beyond her child-bearing years.  That trust was credited to him as an act of righteousness because he believed that no matter what God would never fail him. And so Isaac was born.

Luke 2:22-40.   “They took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.”  The act of presenting or consecrating a child to God is recognize and honor the fact that all life is from God and belongs to its creator and not to the one created.  God has given us conception as human beings to be loved by him forever and, being loved by him, we have been given the calling to be love as God is love, as his sons and daughters in the image of God our Father.  Simeon had the Holy Spirit who revealed to him that he would see the Messiah before he died.  Even before John the Baptist, Simeon introduced to the world the Messiah, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”  Joseph and Mary, “the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him by Simeon.”  Simeon, foretelling Mary’s witnessing the passion and death of Jesus, says to Mary, “you yourself a sword will pierce.”  Simeon also foretells, “This child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel,” which I interpret to mean that many will go to heaven and many others to hell as they manifest from their hearts their acceptance or rejection of Jesus.  Anna, the prophetess, also foretold that Jesus would lead his followers to redemption.  “The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him.” Since the angel Gabriel came to Mary, one might imagine that the angel made timely visits to Jesus’ parent to keep them informed about their extraordinary child but apparently not.  After the incident of the boy Jesus teaching in the Temple, John 2:50-51 says, “But they did not understand what he said to them.  He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.” Mary is a model for us of one who is attentive to God who reveals himself a little here and there.  As Mary stayed close to God, ready to listen to what God wishes to reveal, we should do the same.  Our gospel reading (John 112:40) ends, “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.  John 12:52 ends “And Jesus advanced {in} wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”  Jesus, in his humanity, was a real child who grew up under the care of his parents.  Jesus was not God masquerading as a pretend human being.  It is very difficult but necessary to keep in balance that Jesus is both human and divine. Joseph is referred to as his father because, even as a adopting father, he is a real parent to Jesus.  This feast of the Holy Family is an invitation to us to think of ourselves as members of God’s family here on earth, as members of the church, and as members-in-formation of God’s family in heaven.

Hebrew 11:8, 11-12, 17-19.  “By faith Abraham obeyed,” “not knowing” to what land God was calling him.  By faith he believed that God would make of Sarah and him a great nation, even though they were well beyond the age to have a child.  By faith he believed that, even if he offered up Isaac as a sacrifice, God would still raise up Israel as a great nation.  Abraham calls upon us to be a people of faith in the God who is always faithful.  In Mark 9:22b-24, the father of a boy whom a demon had possessed says: “’But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us’.  Jesus said to him, ‘If you can!’  ‘Everything is possible to one who has faith.’  Then the boy’s father cried out, ‘I do believe, help my unbelief!’”  We live in a world that that requires physical proof of everything but as people of faith, we realize we put our faith a God who made the universe.  We have a reality beyond the reality that only our eyes can see.

Adv4B23.   2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16.  God makes his home here on earth by dwelling in the midst of his own adopted People, rooted in Jesus’ ancestry from David.  The Lord spoke to David through the prophet Nathan: “I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm.  I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.” The Lord has made us, his People, redeemed by the sacrificial blood of his Son made human through Mary, so that through his humanity he is to offer himself on the cross.

Luke 1:26-38.  God sent his messenger or angel Gabriel to Mary to announce to her: “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus.” He is to be the “Son of the Most High” God conceived in her by “the power of the Most High” God.  Coming into our world, our divine God became human while still retaining his divinity, so to enable us to enter into his divine world while we still retain our humanity.  By Mary’s response to the announcement delivered to her by the angel: “Behold, I am the handmaid (servant) of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word,” she accepted God’s Will.  She is a model for us to respond positively to God’s will and so to give God access to sharing some of his divine life with us and enable us to be at home with him even while we are on earth.

Romans 16:25-27.  Alone without God we cannot resist the temptations of this world and the devil.  He strengthens us daily throughout the day.  God’s plan for our salvation has been made “known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith.”  In Christmas Jesus not only came into the world but still comes into our hearts.  To let him enter we must with Mary say ‘yes’ to his will.

Adv4B20.    2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16.   King David had come to a stable time in his life when he was victorious over his many enemies and quite well-to-do.  He naturally thought that it was time for him to do something for God who had so much for him.  It is so human to think of God as being on our level.  God is the source of all good.  Whatever anyone has that is good came, comes and will come from God.  No one can give him anything that is good that God himself has not had eternally.  God turns the tables on David.  David who already has received so much from God will receive even more.  God promises David a house or a dynasty that will be composed of one heir who will rule eternally.  The Lord God said to David thought the prophet Nathan, “I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm.”  “Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.”

Luke 1:26-38.   This gospel is traditionally referred to in the rosary as the Annunciation.  The angel or messenger of God announced to Mary, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever.” This fulfills the prophecy found in the first reading.  Also Mary is celebrated for her submission or obedience to God’s will.

Romans 16:25-27.  Paul concludes this epistle with a doxology or hymn of praise: “To him—-be glory forever and ever. Amen.”  The long section between those words calls upon God to strengthen the Roman Christians to be obedient to God, which obedience is their faith lived out in their lives.

Adv4B17.   2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16.   Through the prophet Nathan, God says, “Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Should you build me a house to dwell in?’” God goes on to assert that it is he who gets things done, using David as his servant.  In the narration that follows, using the word ‘I’ eleven times, God makes it clear that it is his omnipotence that has accomplished the good things that have been done for Israel.  It was not David but God with David’s cooperation who accomplished all the good.

Luke 1:26-38.  The angel Gabriel, sent by God, announces to Mary, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,.”  Mary responds, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”  Mary accepts her role as servant of God’s will, as David had been ages before.  Since Mary recognizes that it will not be by her action that this birth will occur, she asks the angel, ‘How can this be?”  “And the angel said to her in reply, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” It is God’s power with Mary’s cooperation that brings about the wondrous divine act of divinity taking on humanity so that in his humanity Jesus is able to offer himself up to the Father as a redemptive sacrifice for our sins and so open the gates of heaven to those who wish to enter by living out a life of faith in Jesus the Christ.

In the Christmas Vigil Mass, Isaiah (62:5) proclaims, “As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you.  And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.”  Through Mary all humanity that serves God as Mary did, in a sense, becomes a bride to God.  Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11:2: “For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”  In the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:10b), the five wise virgins went into the wedding feast with the bridegroom.  At the judgment time those who have filled their lives with holiness become the bride of Christ, the new Jerusalem (Revelation. 21:2), God’s holy people.

At the end of the first reading, God says through the prophet Samuel, I will make his kingdom firm. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.  Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.”  Through Mary’s son Jesus, God fulfills his promise.  In this Gospel reading, the angel says to Mary, Jesus “will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his Father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Romans 16:25-27.  Paul glorifies God who has made known to all nations the mystery kept secret for long ages that Jesus is Lord and so we ought to obey him by putting our faith in him.

Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29.  “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord,” for fulfilling his promises made to David.