Tuesday, December 8, 2009: Genesis 3:9-15, 20; Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12; Luke 1: 26-38 (Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception)
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is exactly nine months before the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is celebrated on September 8. In proclaiming the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, Pope Pius IX said, “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.” This celebration is not a celebration of the virginal birth of Jesus Christ. The Immaculate Conception does not mean that the Blessed Virgin Mary was miraculously conceived. Mary was conceived in a natural way. All of us share the sin of our first parents at the moment of our birth. Mary had the privilege of being born unstained of this sin because of the singular role she was to play as the mother of our savior. This was a special grace she received because of her place in the economy of salvation. Thus, the angel in today’s gospel refers to her as the woman that is “full of grace.” She has the fullness of grace which did not only keep her free from the original sin but kept her sinless after the birth of Jesus Christ and throughout her time here in the world. That Mary was sinless is an important aspect of our Christian theology because the sinless son of God, Jesus Christ could not have been carried in a corrupted womb and share in the corrupted nature of Mary. It is for this reason that God prepared Mary from the moment of her birth to be sinless and blameless to receive Christ. It was appropriate that the “new Eve” would also be born without sin as the old Eve was created without sin.
As we celebrate this feast, we can call upon her, who is full of grace to give us the graces we need that Jesus Christ may be reborn in our own lives this Christmas.
Thursday, December 3, 2009: Isaiah 26:1-6; Matthew 7:21, 24-27 (St. Francis Xavier)
The name of God has been used in all sorts of way by different people. Some have used it to justify their acts which are not necessarily godly; others have used it to make legitimate their claims to religious authority. Those who justified slavery cited the bible, “Slaves be obedient to your masters.” In God’s name, many people have been killed or treated in inhuman ways. In our own personal lives, we sometimes find ourselves invoking the name of God when we do not actually believe in his word. Religion and religious practices can easily become a show. We can act out our faith and everyone may think we are truly religious people but in our real lives, we are monsters. Jesus Christ tells us in today’s gospel that, it is not enough to call upon the name of God with our lips, it must come from the heart and must be matched with our actions.
St. Francis Xavier truly lived his call. He went to India in 1541 to preach the gospel and he spent the rest of his life in the East witnessing the power of the name of God in Goa, Malacca, and Japan. He was not just another European exploiter masked as a missionary, but he truly preached and lived the gospel values. He stood against any form of exploitation of the native people by the Europeans. He died in 1552 after a secret mission to China to preach the gospel. He died of fever and exhaustion.
Monday, November 30, 2009: Rom 10:9-18; Matthew 4: 18-22 (Feast of St. Andrew)
When God called Andrew to change his profession from that of a fisherman to that of an evangelizer, Andrew did not hesitate to abandon everything and follow Jesus. There is a conviction that comes with his openness to Jesus. That moment that Christ called him, he knew he has encountered his true vocation in life and that would be the only thing that will give him true joy and happiness. Being a fisherman was a very strenuous and skillful job. Andrew was willing to let go of these years of professional experience and follow Jesus Christ in a new vocation. When Jesus Christ calls you to do something, how do you respond to him? Do you make excuses or do you leave immediately and carry out the mission he is giving to you? We can only find true happiness if we are doing what God wants us to do.
Thursday, November 25, 2009: Daniel 6:12-28; Luke 21:20-28 (Thanksgiving Day, USA)
Jesus invites us in today’s gospel to trust in him. When things are not going smoothly; when life becomes too difficult; when you get to a point of giving up; Jesus says, hold firm in your trust. We see this trust in the life of Job in the Old Testament. When he lost everything and even the wife asked him to curse God and die, Job held firm to the Lord because he believed strongly that when he is down to nothing, God is up to something in his life. What about Daniel in the Old Testament? When he was thrown into the lions den, he trusted that his God will save him and His God saved him. In my life I know so many people who gave up. They could not trust in the Lord when they met challenging times. They felt the Lord had abandoned them. Remember, all those difficult and challenging times have a life span, but the life with Jesus is eternal. Let us stand firm in him because he is coming with power and great glory to liberate us from our present bondage. That is the reason we must give thanks for everything.
As we celebrate “Thanksgiving” here in the United States, we may feel we do not have things to be thankful for because of all the problems that we are going through. We thank God not only in our joys but also in our sorrows. In everything, we must be thankful. The very fact that we are alive today is a cause for thanksgiving. Let us thank God today for giving us life and let our thanks be our faith in him that we would be victorious.
Sunday, November 22, 2009: Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33b-37 ( Solemnity of Christ the King)
In traditional African societies, the people had some expectations of the king. He was someone who was strong and wielded so much power. He distinguished his strength by waging wars of expansion and subjecting other kingdoms under his dominion. This kingship is different from the kingship of Jesus. The Jews understood Jesus’ kingship in a secular sense. They saw him as a political or national leader who would make them once again a super power. They expected a king that was going to sit upon the throne of David and would rule over the whole world, rebuild the temple, bring the Jews all back from exile and place them in the number one position worldwide with dominion over all the earth. In a sense, Jesus fulfilled all these, the people failed to see this because they were looking for a different kind of kinship. Jesus took the whole human institution of kingship and transformed it into a spiritual institution. In this sense, Jesus was truly a king.
Jesus was never weak. He was strong. It is only a strong and brave person that can embrace death joyfully for what he believes in. He was not ready to change his positions in order to save his life. He knew what his mission was and he stood by it even unto death. Jesus waged a spiritual a war against the kingdoms and powers of the evil one and the resurrection is a sign and crown of that victory. Jesus Christ liberated the whole of creation from the power of Satan and made us all a kingdom of priests to serve our God. For a moment, Satan thought he was victory when he saw Jesus Christ dying on the Cross, three days later, it was proven that the power of satan as well as the power of the rulers of this world were limited. When Jesus rose from the dead, he showed that his kingdom was more powerful than the kingdom of those who sent him to the Cross.
As we celebrate this feast of the kingship of Jesus Christ, we must keep in mind that as Christians, we do not belong to the kingdoms of this world, nor does any kingdom contrary to the kingdom of God has any power over us. Our worship and homage must only be to the kingdom of God and no other kingdom. Jesus Christ not only sits upon the throne of David, but he sits upon the throne of the Almighty Father, in which he exercises his dominion over the entire world. Everyone is subjected to him, whether Christian or not. The new temple is the body of Christ and all those who are in exile in their different beliefs are welcomed to this new temple.
For your challenge this week, spend some time reflecting on these questions: What does the kingship and lordship of Jesus Christ mean to me personally? Am I living as a child of the kingdom of God? What must I do to make this world reflect God’s kingdom?
JESUS IS TRULY A KING. NOT ONLY A KING OF THE JEWS, BUT THE KING OF ALL THE WORLD.
Monday, November 9, 2009: Ezra 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17; John 2:13-22 (Feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran)
Today’s feast is a celebration of the unity of the Catholic Church. St. John Lateran is not only the cathedral of the diocese of Rome, but also represents all the dioceses of the world. This feast is also a celebration of religious freedom. Christians in the Roman Empire were now able to worship publicly. Contrary to the general opinion that it was Constantine’s conversion that made Christianity grow in the empire, it was rather the growth of Christianity that made Constantine convert. After many years of persecution, Christians were steadfast and large numbers continued to join them. Christians achieved this success because of their unity. They were of one mind and spirit and they loved each other. The story is different today when we have allowed our personal ideologies and differences tear us apart. Today we speak of “liberals” and “conservatives”; “traditionalists” and “progressives”; “orthodox” and “unorthodox”, etc. These divisions do not help in building up the body of Christ. We must show our unity with the mother Church in Rome. The visible way of doing this is by accepting the teachings of the church and living them in our lives.
Monday, November 2, 2009: Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 5:5-11; John 6:37-40
What we celebrate today is Christian hope. As Christians we believe that death is not the end of life, it is a beginning of new life, a new life in our eternal home where we truly belong. Today is an opportunity for us to commit the souls of dead family members, as well as friends and fellow Christians into the hands of God. We believe that Christ’s resurrection is a victory over death and those who shared in the baptism of Christ would also share in the resurrection of Christ. We celebrate hope because we believe that Jesus will raise us all up on the last day. We need not fear death as Christians because Jesus has conquered death and has given us life. He has purchased us with his precious blood and he keeps watch that none of us would be lost. Our only responsibility is that we believe in him.
Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let your perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace, Amen. May the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.
Sunday, November 1, 2009: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a
(c) http://www.twb.catholic.edu.au/reled/all_saints_day.jpg
The solemnity we celebrate today is a recognition of the countless numbers of people who have gone before us and who have lived righteously. They took their new status as God’s adopted children seriously and they washed their robes white in the blood of the lamb. The love for the world or the things of the world did not deter them from living faithfully as God’s children. These came from every nation, race, people and language. They are not only the 144,000 which symbolizes the twelve tribes of Israel, multiplied by the twelve apostles and then multiplied by 1000, which in antiquity simply meant a very large crowd. It is not only the people of Israel that are privileged to stand before the throne and the Lamb of God but people from everywhere in the world who have lived righteously. Acts 10: 34-35 tells us that, “God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” If we all who have been called by God into his new family act uprightly, we will be among the multitude of witnesses who are crying in a loud voice, “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the lamb.” These people are both the officially canonized and the uncanonized saints. Some of them are our relatives, our friends, our co-workers, our parents, brothers and sisters and fellow parishioners. We all know how they strived to live righteously. We celebrate all of them today. You may ask, how can I live righteously?
In today’s gospel, Jesus Christ teaches us what it means to live righteously. The beatitudes are directed not only to the inner circle of Jesus Christ, the disciples and apostles as the beginning of Matthews gospel may make us believe. They are directed at everyone, Christians and non-Christians. These are universal values of living uprightly. In Matthew 7: 28, we are told that when Jesus finished this great teaching on righteous living, “the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” To live righteously is to live according to God’s will in our lives. It is to die to ourselves, so that God may live in us. There are two things that the beatitudes teach us: how to live righteously and what the role of the law is now that Jesus Christ has come. To begin with the role of the law, Jesus Christ says that if we really want to be perfect, then we have to be perfect just as he is perfect. There is a difference between being morally perfect and being completely faithful to God. That was the situation of the Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus Christ severely condemns in Matthew 23. Seven times, he says “woe” to them. Their problem is that they are hypocrites. What they care about is perfectly keeping the law without being completely faithful to Jesus Christ. I will encourage you to read Matthew 23. I will however give you one example of what Jesus Christ is talking about. Jesus says to them in Matthew 23:23, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity.” They are fulfilling the law by paying their tithe. However, they are not aiming toward perfection and have not given their lives completely to God and live virtuously. For Jesus’ followers to be perfect just as he is perfect, they must live virtuously. The beatitudes are not suggestions for us, nor are they future hopes. We are expected to live them. This expectation is seen in the Hebrew noun asre (ashere) which is translated as “are” and the Greek adjective makarios, translated as “blessed.” These were presented by Jesus Christ in the form of an exclamation of congratulations. The direct translation would be, “O the blessedness …” Those who are standing before the throne and the Lamb of God are being congratulated for their righteous living on earth. Jesus concludes the beatitudes in Matthew by saying, “for your reward will be great in heaven.”
All the witnesses who have gone before us show us that it is possible to live the beatitudes. People say it is impossible to live them. Yes, it is impossible if you try to live them by your own power and grace. As Jesus tells us in John 3: 30, by ourselves we can do nothing. If you recognize that salvation comes from God and you rely upon his grace and mercy, you will be able to live the beatitudes. By living the beatitude, you will receive your great reward in heaven by standing in your white robes before the throne of God and the Lamb that was slain.
Your challenge this week is to find the pictures of five people you know who have died. These should be people you believe strived to live righteously. Place their photos in a special space in your home or room. Pick one of them each day of the week. Ask them for their intercessions and try to emulate a virtue you so admire in them each day throughout this week.
May the merits and prayers of all the saints gain us your constant help and protection. Amen.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009: Ephesians 2:19-22; Luke 6:12-16 (Sts. Simon and Jude.)
What is our status in the church? Vatican II teaches that the church is the people of God. Every one of us has a privileged status in the church. We are not aliens or visitors in the church but we are all citizens. By being citizens, we have full access to God’s household. There are two privileges that we have: the church and the kingdom of God. The Church is founded upon the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the capstone. Today, we celebrate two apostles who are instrumental to the growth of the church: Simon is one of the twelve apostles. He is also called the Zealot. St. Jude is also called Thaddeus and is one of the twelve apostles. As citizens of the Church, we are the modern apostles who with Jesus Christ must labor to build the Church on earth. We can labor joyfully because we know that the kingdom of God belongs to us also.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009: Revelation 12:7-12ab; John 1:47-51 (Feast of St. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels.)
We celebrate today the feast of Archangel Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. These three angels have been used by God to effect his work on earth. Today’s first reading from revelation speaks of Michael as the leader of the host of angels that fought the devil and conquered him. We must never forget that Satan is real and he is in a battle with us the followers of Jesus Christ. The church gives us a wonderful prayer we can say, invoking the help of St. Michael in fighting for us. St. Gabriel was the bearer of the good news from God that Mary would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can ask him to be the great revealer of the plans God has for us. St. Raphael was the one that healed Tobith who was blind. Let us ask him to bring God’s healing to us also. As we celebrate this feast, let us always keep this angels close to us. With them by our sides, victory is sure.