Adv2A19.   Isaiah 11:1-10.  The chapter before this in Isaiah describes the destruction and conquest wrought by the Assyrian army over a substantial part of Israel.  God used Assyria to punish his sinful people.  Chapter 11 looks forward to a future time when God will restore his just rule by raising up a ruler from the line of Jesse, David’s father.  The new ruler shall have the spirit of Lord so to make of Israel a new creation, the sinful Israel having been annihilated by the invaders and even the new ruler himself.  Faithful to the Lord, he will be just and gracious as the Lord is just and gracious.  “There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for all the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water cover the sea.” “For his dwelling shall be (so) glorious” that “the Gentiles shall seek (it) out.”

Matthew 3:1-12.   In fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy, “A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths,” “John the Baptist appeared to make the people ready for Jesus.  John said of Jesus, “He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire; whereas “I am baptizing you with water” only.  John’s water cleanses whereas Jesus’ fire purifies and refines like gold in a furnace.  As “wheat is gathered into the barn”, he will gather those who are truly repentant of their sins in heaven.  Also as the chaff is burned, in his “coming wrath” so too “he will burn with an unquenchable fire” those who do not repent.  In effect he is telling us also, “Bear good fruit (or we) will be cut down and thrown into the fire” that gets rid of all who are worthless because of sin.

Romans 15:4-9.  Paul commends to his readers the strength and resolution of spirit to face the difficulties of bringing Christ to a world that is so self-centered, materialistic and in denial of eternal truth so to live just for the day and the moment. The Scriptures help us to build that endurance and courage that give us hope that the final victory belongs to those who belong to Christ. To give glory to Jesus and his salvific work requires his followers to think in harmony and be of one accord so to speak with one, unified voice.  What was promised to the patriarchs belongs to all, even the Gentiles.  Jews and Gentiles unite in the Messiah himself.

Adv2A  11/30/16

Isaiah 11:1-10   “On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom, it says in our first reading this Sunday.  The last line reads, “On that day, the root of Jesse set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.” Jesse is David’s father and so represents the Davidic dynasty, which was decimated with the Babylonian Captivity.  However there still remained a stump from which came to be Jesus, the promise of an eternal peace and joy.

Matthew 3:1-12   “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” In other words, get ready to meet Maker and Judge.  You will be judged according to the “good fruit” of God working within you.  John makes it clear that they will not be judged righteous just because they were born Jewish (or us, Catholic).  “Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and throw into the fire.”

“The one who is coming is mightier than I.”  “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance.”  He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire,” the fire of an intensity of life in the Lord.

He “will gather wheat into his barn(heaven), but the chaff (those who do not repent) he will burn with unquenchable fire.”(hell)

Romans 15:4-9.   The Scriptures Paul speaks about here are the Old Testament readings which we can interpret to have references to the future Messiah, Jesus.  That is the way, I believe, the first reading is to be understood.  “Think in harmony with one another”   A church that operates harmoniously will be a wonderful symbol of Jesus presence on earth.  Paul writes “Christ became a minister of the circumcised (the Jews) to show God’s truthfulness, to confirm the promises of the patriarchs, but so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.”  Jesus is Messiah/Savior of all peoples to the glory of God.

Adv1A22.    Isaiah 2:1-5.   For Isaiah the God of the universe made his home in this universe in Jerusalem.  “All nations shall stream toward it.”  “He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples.”  Under the leadership of the God of all peoples he will turn the instruments of war that take life away into instruments of agriculture that give life.  “Let us walk in the light of the Lord” and no longer in the darkness of destruction.

Matthew 24:37-44.  Most people live as if life is just an ordinary everyday flow of activities that only deal with ‘the here and now’, “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.”  Jesus requires us to live our ‘now’ as a preparation for the ‘then’, when we will be swept away into the endless forever world.  “So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”  Live each day as though we are already in an endless forever, because as a matter of fact, we are already in ‘the endless forever’.

Psalm 122: “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.”

Romans 13:11-14.    Paul uses the earthly imagery of being asleep in the darkness of the night to portray a spiritual state of being caught up in “the desires of the flesh.”  He contrasts it to the spiritual state of living awake in the daylight of conducting ourselves properly in Christ.  Life ought to be Christ and not this world and our body.

Adv1A19.   Isaiah 2:1-5.   At the beginning of book of Isaiah, Isaiah condemns his people for not having walked in God’s ways. In our passage Isaiah pictures for God’s people, who have wandered astray, the glorious joy it is to truly live obeying God’s will.  It is as if heaven were here on earth, when we walk in the light of God’s path on earth.

Matthew 24:37-44. In the verse before our reading starts (Matthew 24:36), Jesus says: “But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”  Jesus is speaking out of his humanity and not out of his divinity, since as the Son of God he must know.  The emphasis that Jesus wishes to bring out is that we do not know when Jesus will come to call us out of this world, whether it is his Second Coming at the end of the universe or our own individual death.  Be prepared to be called at any moment and do not be mesmerized by daily routine left unable to see much beyond one’s surrounding everyday world.

Romans 13:11-14.  “Brother and sisters: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.”  The theme of gospel is repeated.  “Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”  Darkness is to live daily as if there is no other reality other than what see and can put our hands on.  The light is to live in a faith that sees the fullness of the truth that is even more genuine than the one we live in now because it is forever and this earthly one is not.  “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” Paul makes this overstatement to bring out the necessity to be primarily a spiritual people because that will protect us from hell and enable us to reach heaven.

Adv 1A          11/23/16

Isaiah 2:1-5.                  God will to establish his dominion over this earth.  All peoples will come to him to be instructed in his ways and walk in his paths.  No longer shall nations war against one another.  He shall rule over all the nations and all will be subject to him.

Matthew 24:37-44.               In Noah’s time people went about their daily routine, not knowing that some would suddenly be saved and some lost.  Likewise, one day unknown to anyone Jesus will come, taking his own to himself and leaving the rest behind.  Since we  know neither the hour nor the day when Jesus will come the second time, we must always be prepared for him.

Romans 13:11-14.                            The routine of this earthly world can put us to sleep to the things of the heavenly world.  “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.  For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” “Let us then throw off the works of darkness,” the improper “desires of the flesh” and “put on the armor of light” that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

34CKing22.     2 Samuel 5:1-3.  “And the Lord said to you (David), ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.’”  The Lord anointed a human being to rule over and order Israel according to his Will.  And so he did later, anointing his Son made man to rule over and order all humanity forever and ever.

Luke 23:35-43.  In John 18:37, “Jesus answered, ‘You (Pilate) 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.’”  Truth is eternal reality.  Everything else that claims to be and appears for the moment to be reality or the truth terminates in earthly corruption or rot one day.  Jesus, God made man, submitted himself to the Father’s Will in offering himself up as a sacrificial redemption so that all human beings of all times might have access to heaven.  As a sign of the redemptive aspect of his self-sacrifice, Jesus said to the crucified criminal who recognized the goodness of Jesus, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Colossians 1:12-20.  Paul wrote, “He (Jesus) delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  Only by submitting ourselves to his authority, his kingship, can we find and possess our redemption.   In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  It is only through him that we can serve and please the Father.  As God the Son, “All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.” (John 1:3a)   When we live with him as the king of our lives, we have everything and we have it forever. (Heaven) If we choose live under some authority other than Jesus, we have nothing and we have it forever. (Hell)

34CKing19.    2 Samuel 5:1-3.   Of David the Lord said, “You shall shepherd my people and shall be commander of Israel.”  Following God’s will the elders of Israel anointed David king of Israel.  In his Chosen People God establishes a precedent that God will name a King over his People.

Luke 23:35-43.   As a ridicule, Jesus’ enemies call him king and messiah who cannot save himself, much less others.  As a people who have cut themselves off from God’s salvific work in Jesus, Jesus’ enemies have no idea that, by the very act of offering himself up on the cross, that infinitely loving act redeems us from our sins. Those who revile Jesus are unable to understand that in the very act of Jesus’ suffering and death, he acts as the King who conquers sin and death.  By accepting his sacrificial pain and suffering and death for our redemption, Jesus saves us.  The criminal, hanging on the cross next to Jesus, does understand the sublimity of Jesus’ action, saying “remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Given every reason not to believe in Jesus as king, yet he believes and accepts Jesus as king. He is the one we traditionally call the Good Thief, the only one in the Scriptures whom Jesus names a saint who will be with him in Paradise.

Colossians 1:12-20.  He is not an earthly king.   In what way then is he king?  As David was shepherd and king, Jesus shepherds us out of the power of darkness, leading us by the infinite power of his light to his kingdom of holiness.  In Jesus’ humanness he makes visible the holiness that is not of this world.  All things were created through him and for him and in him.  God the Father created all things but God the Son brought all things to share in the divine holiness by “making peace by the blood of the cross.  Through his resurrection from the dead he is preeminent in leading all to eternal life.  He holds all things together with him at the center like gravitational force drawing all to live and be by binding us to the divinity of God. He is the head with the church as his body with him having total authority over the church. “All the fullness was pleased to dwell in him,” since he himself shares in the fullness of the Godhead.

34CKing16

2 Samuel 5:-3.  David the shepherd is anointed as King David, king of Israel.  He serves as an earthly image in time and space of the divine king of the universe Jesus Christ, who is beyond time and space.

Luke 23:35-43.  “The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, “He saved others, let him save himself.”  If Jesus were to speak then, he would say, “I am here on the cross because I am saving you.  I do this by my own free will out of love for you.  I am the only One who can offer a truly appropriate sacrifice to my Father to redeem you from your sins because I am divine.  I am the only One equal to the task because I am God.”

During his life time Jesus had exercised miraculous powers.  There were no limits to what he could do.  However, he chose not to exercise those powers to his own benefit as he hung on the cross.  Jesus understood what he must do but those around him did not.  “Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ?  Save yourself and us.’”  The other criminal rebukes him, recognizing that they are justly condemned. In compassion for Jesus, he said then, “’but this man has done nothing criminal’.  Then he said, “’Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’.  He replied to him, ‘Amen I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’”   That second criminal, although he himself was in great pain, since he too was in the process of being executed; and, despite the fact everyone else was jeering Jesus, he goes against the crowd to recognize that Jesus is king.  He puts his future in the hands of the crucified, dying king.  He is in essence saying that earthly death has no power over this king.  This king Jesus will triumph.  What a glorious act of faith!  He is rewarded for it with a future place in the kingdom of King Jesus, in Paradise.

Colossians 1:12-20.  God the Father” delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, forgiveness of sins.”  Jesus, as King, daily shepherds us through the narrow gate.  The Scripture scholars think that the last part of our second reading was probably a liturgical hymn.  This hymn announces the preeminence of Jesus, in part, by using the expressions: in him, through him and for him.  This hymn is also a prayer of adoration, recognizing Jesus royal supremacy.

In the Godhead there is one God, yet three persons.  God does everything as one God yet different tasks in relation to humanity are attributed to each person:  God the Father is the Creator; God the Son is the Redeemer; God the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier. In the hymn of the second reading, the role of the Son is explained more fully to his glory and to the glory of the One God.

 

33C22.    Malachi 3:19-20a.  “Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble.”  “But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice.”  God comes to punish the evildoers and reward the good.  Await the day!

Luke 21: 5-19.  Jesus foretold that one day the great temple in Jerusalem would be torn down.  And much later in 70 AD the Romans did that because of the Jewish revolt against them.  Jesus predicted that terrible things would happen, especially to those who believed in him.  Even members of ones’ own family would put some of them to death.  “You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed” which is to say that nothing of any real value will be lost because by their own perseverance they will secure their soul, which is the only thing that has any real value.  What comes to an end in this world has results in the next world.  We must look passed the appearances in the present time to see what God has for us in the future.  Psalm 98 refrain: “The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.”

2 Thessalonians 3:7-12.   Paul saw that among the Thessalonians were those who were “conducting themselves” “in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others.”  Paul exhorts them to imitate him and those who followed his example, the model for living an orderly life and so enjoying the food of ones’ labors.  St. Francis DeSales wrote, “Do all ordinary things extraordinarily well.”  Ordinary daily life should be lived in a way that pleases the Lord.

33C19.   Malachi 3:19-20a.    God prophesies that the day is coming when the heat will be like an oven that burns up the proud and the evildoers into nothing but stubble. That statement was in stark contrast to those who give God the honor that is due him, for whom the heat of the sun will gently give healing.

Luke 21:5-15.  As the Sundays of this liturgical year draw to a close, the readings invite us to think of the days when this world is about to end. Jesus predicts, “All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left stone upon another stone.”  And that was to happen roughly forty years later, when the Romans counterattacked against the Jewish revolution and destroyed the temple in 70 AD.  Since then wars, revolutions and terribly destructive things have happened, still the end has not come.  False saviors have come and gone, persecutions and horrors have been rained down against God’s good people but we survive on.  Although they destroy our bodies as they did the Maccabees, our life in the Lord helps us to persevere on to secure our eternal salvation.  God is faithful to those who are faithful to him.  He walks with us and is our spiritual life within our flesh.  Christ, our life within us, enables us to live to the fullest the life that God has given us.  Those who kill our physical life do not kill our spiritual life.   In our reading Jesus says, “You are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.”  This is but one way that shows he is our only source of strength that will enable us to gain eternal victory.  Our adversaries can put to death a body that was only going to die anyhow.  Their evil actions achieve nothing of value for them but only serve to compel us to seek out Christ even more urgently.  Jesus says, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

2 Thessalonians 3:7-12.   When Paul was ministering to the Thessalonians he did not live off of their donations to him but he continued to work for his own daily bread.  Paul did that, he says, because “we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us.”  As we pass through this world on our way to heaven, Paul is insisting that we do so in an orderly way serving as a model to one another and not as a distraction or disruption.  In Paul’s time there were those who were disorderly, “by not keeping busy but minding the business of others.”  God the Father wishes that his children work daily for the salvation of souls both here on earth and later in heaven.  God constructed this universe in an orderly way as an example of how we are to live in his world.