Mary, the Mother of God

RESOLVING TO LIVE AS GOD’S CHILDREN

Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21

Readings for the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

A video I saw recently has a four-year old say she has “problems with new year resolutions”! Ah! Doesn’t she speak for all of us? 

But the wise one says resolutions are problems not because she’s “bad at them” but because “most people think that’s it… it’s the one time to change.” Resolutions are not about that “one big moment” but working through several little ones. 

What could be a good new year resolution?

In the second reading, Paul recalls a fundamental truth of our faith: the incarnation has freed us and enabled us to be adopted as sons and daughters of God. A good new year resolution (and one we need to make every year) is to realize more fully this new life as children of God.

How do we do this? The gospel presents Mary as a model of this new life! Mary said “yes” to God. She did not understand the immensity and implications of that “yes” which was not restricted to that “one big moment” but involved several little (and difficult) yeses. 

How did Mary live her mission? The gospel tells us after the shepherds narrated what the angels had said, “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” After the boy Jesus was found in the temple, we read again “his mother treasured all these things in her heart.” 

Mary treasured the word of God and pondered it to discern his will for her at every stage in her life as his handmaid.

For us, too, life’s choices are rarely clear. We often cannot understand what God wants of us. The example of Mary shows us how to live out our calling as children of God.

Let me today resolve to listen more to the voice of God, to treasure his word, and ponder it in my heart. Then shall I be able to realize my new year resolution of a new life in union with God.

The Nativity of the Lord

DO NOT BE AFRAID

Readings for the Mass at Night

Isaiah 9:1-6; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14

Readings for the Nativity of the Lord: Mass at Night

Readings for the Mass During the Day

Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18

Readings for the Nativity of the Lord: Mass During the Day

A family was making its Christmas crib; everybody was contributing, putting in the statues and the hay. Five-year-old Scott suddenly ran into his room, brought a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and placed it overlooking Mary and Joseph. It looked so menacing in that manger.

The dad was tempted to tell Scott: “Look, that dinosaur lived millions of years before Jesus was born. He wasn’t around during Christ’s time. And it didn’t look good in the manger.” He added: “I caught myself because I realized that, in essence, he had caught a truth of Christmas. For Christmas came to help us face the dinosaurs in life… those menacing terrors that seem to be so strong, so powerful. Christmas came to defeat them.”

We have so many fears in life! We fear life, we fear death, and everything in between. We fear rejection. We fear an uncertain future. There is fear caused by epidemics and disasters; by a changing economics and a warming planet. We have and face so many dinosaurs!

The antidote to our fears is found in the coming of Christ into the world. Recall that the first words of Adam are “I was afraid.” But the first words that herald the birth of Jesus (the second Adam) are “Do not be afraid.”

There are four times when Gabriel says “Do not be afraid” in the Christmas Story: to Zechariah because his prayer for a son was answered; to Mary because she was the favoured one who would bear God’s Son; to Joseph to take Mary as his wife because what was conceived in her was from the Spirit and would save his people; to the shepherds because he brought good news of great joy. In each case, Gabriel had to tell the recipients of his message not to be afraid.

We still have our fears. And to us, too, the message is: Do not be afraid because our God has provided the remedy for our fears: he has come; he has pitched his tent among us and has given us power to become children of God. He is the light that shines in the darkness to overcome it. 

And so: Do not be afraid! Happy Christmas!

IV Sunday of Advent

LISTEN – OBEY – COOPERATE

Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24

Readings for the IV Sunday of Advent

Elisabeth Elliot (who worked for several years with the Huorani in Ecuador) tells of two adventurers who came to see her, loaded with equipment for their adventure in the Andes. They sought no advice, just a few phrases to converse with the Indians!

She writes: “Sometimes we come to God as the two adventurers came to me—confident and, we think, well-informed and well-equipped. We know what we need… a yes or no answer to a simple question. Or perhaps a road sign. Something quick and easy to point the way. But has it occurred to us that with all our stuff, something is missing? What we ought to have is the guide himself.”

I guess we can identify with Elliot’s experience. In moments of difficulty, we come to God but seldom to seek his guidance; we come to ask him to approve our plans!

I guess Joseph would identify with Elliot’s experience!

When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant, he knew that law and custom required him to denounce Mary. But “since he was a righteous man, and unwilling to expose her to shame, he decided to divorce her quietly.” Joseph decided to go beyond law and custom; he let compassion guide his decision. 

But God intervened and made clear to him that he would have to recognize the child in Mary’s womb as his own. Joseph “did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him”. He goes even beyond love; he allowed God to guide him and took a leap of faith into an unknown and difficult situation. 

This listening-obeying-cooperating with God’s action results in the birth of Jesus.

Mary did the same. She, too, listened to God, and despite questions, obeyed his will, and cooperated with him. The result: the incarnation.

Paul, in the second reading, is another example of this divine-human dynamic: he, too, listened to God, obeyed him, and facilitated the birth of Jesus in the new churches.

God’s coming in our world still depends on “Josephs” and “Marys”: men and women of humility and docility.

In moments of dilemma, do I seek merely God’s approval and rely on my own strength to arrive at decisions? Or do I listen to his voice, obey his will, and cooperate with his plan for me? 

May you and I listen-obey-cooperate and make Christmas still happen!

III Sunday of Advent

HE RENEWS ALL THINGS

Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Readings for the III Sunday of Advent

Dr Verghese Kurien, the Milkman of India and the Father of the White Revolution, helped establish Amul. His brainchild “Operation Flood” became the world’s largest dairy development program and transformed India from a milk-deficient nation in 1949 to the world’s largest milk producer forty years later. He helped farmers improve their financial and social well-being: his work lifted millions out of poverty (three-fourths of the price one pays for an Amul product goes to the producing dairy farmer) and contributed to the transformation of rural India. 

What Dr Kurien did for dairy farmers in India, Jesus does for all peoples: he transforms us; he makes all things new!

The readings of today on this Third Sunday of Advent emphasize this renewal and wholeness.

In the first reading, Isaiah announces that the coming of God will cause abundant flowers to bloom in the desert, strengthens feeble hands, makes firm knees that are weak, and brings back the Babylonian exiles. There will be a radical renewal.

In James’ letter, the coming of the Lord is likened to “the precious fruit of the earth.” 

This renewal is evident in the gospel, too. Jesus answers John’s question (“are you the one?”) in the language of Isaiah: “The blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” What Isaiah foretold becomes reality with the coming of Jesus.

The same Jesus comes again to renew all things – every day and at the end of time. What should we do while we await his coming? 

In the words of St James, we ought to “be patient” and wait with “hearts firm” like “the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth”. A farmer waits patiently and productively! When we do this, the Lord will make all things new in his time and on his terms.

Will I wait patiently and productively for the coming of God? Do I believe that he can and does transform my reality or do I look for another because his action does not meet my expectations? How can I be his instrument of transformation?

May we be partners with God in the rainbow revolution and cooperate with him as he makes all things new.

II Sunday of Advent

CTRL+Z

Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12

Readings for II Sunday of Advent

One of the most useful Windows shortcuts, and one that I use most often, is “Ctrl+Z”! By pressing this key combo, one can undo one’s last action. Did I key in a wrong word or letter? Did I delete an entire paragraph by mistake? No problem! I just press “Ctrl+Z” and return to where I was before my mistake.

All of us have done things in our lives that we regret and would like to undo: poor decisions, unkind words, wrong acts… it’s part of being human, and sometimes we wish we had Ctrl+Z in our lives.

Advent offers us a Ctrl+Z time and program, summarised in the call of John the Baptist: “Repent… make straight his paths”. 

Repentance is undoing our errors. It is turning away from sin (whatever breaks my relationship with God, others, myself, and nature) and a turning to God. It is what happens when – like the prodigal son – we come to our senses and return to the Father. It is moving from selfishness to selflessness, from defending oneself to donating oneself.

Our ancestry, religious affiliation, social status do not matter. What matters is bearing good fruit: we ought to live justly, in harmony with one another, and in total dependence on God.

When we repent, we collaborate with God in the realization of the ideal realm (which Isaiah foretold in the first reading) and of his kingdom (which Jesus brings and where justice, peace, and harmony reign). 

That’s what Paul exhorts the Romans: “Think in harmony with one another… Welcome one another.”

And yet today we are a divided people… nations are divided, communities are divided, families are divided. 

In trying to build harmony, we focus on conflict resolution. However, there are issues which are difficult to resolve and some which can never be resolved. Psychology and spirituality tell us that the focus should be on conflict engagement. We acknowledge our differences and figure out a way to live in harmony. We acknowledge someone’s perspective without agreeing with that perspective. Not easy but possible!  

In what areas of my life do I need Ctrl+Z? How can I foster peace - justice - harmony… and so collaborate in the realization of the kingdom? 

May our celebration of the Eucharist and of Advent be Ctrl+Z time and help us return to our original state of being.

I Sunday of Advent

HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING

Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44

Readings for the I Sunday of Advent

A school tutored its students, while they were in hospital, to stay abreast with their academics. Once, it sent a tutor to teach a boy nouns and adverbs, which his class was studying. The boy had been seriously injured in an accident.

When the tutor reached his room, she was unnerved by his state, and stammered: “Your school sent me to teach you nouns and adverbs.” The next day, a nurse asked her: “What did you do to that boy?” The teacher thought she had done something wrong and began to apologize. The nurse said: “No, no! Since yesterday, his attitude has changed; he’s fighting back, responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”

Later the boy explained that he had given up hope until the tutor arrived. Everything changed when he realized that “they wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy!”

Hope changes everything!

Isaiah (first reading) writes during a period of wars and intrigue, alienation and division. In this time of discouragement, his is a message of hope: our faithful God is with us and is bringing us together. He predicts a time of unity and peace symbolized by people transforming “swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks” (changing weapons of war into tools for growth).

This is the message we need today!

No matter where we live, there is uncertainty, violence, upheaval. We need to hope… and make it change everything. In Paul’s words to the Romans, we need to throw off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; we need to live upright lives.

The gospel, too, is a hopeful reassurance that the Lord will come. We need to stay awake and be prepared.

God doesn’t send his Son into a “dying” world!

During this Advent season, will I hope and make it change everything? Will I allow light into places of darkness? Will I work for reconciliation and unity in my family/ community/ society? What swords do I need to beat into ploughshares and what spears into pruning hooks?

Jesus Christ the Universal King

THE POWER TO FORGIVE AND TRANSFORM

2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43

Readings for the Solemnity of Christ the King

In the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Archbishop of Paris preached: 

Some years ago, three young tourists—rude and cynical—came into this cathedral. Two dared the third to make up a confession. The young man went and arrogantly made his confession. The confessor told him: “For your penance, stand before the crucifix, look into the face of the crucified Christ and say: ‘All this you did for me, and I don’t give a damn!’” The young man went out and bragged that he had completed the dare; but the other two insisted he finish the dare by doing the penance. So he re-entered the cathedral, stood before the crucifix, looked up into the face of Christ and began: “All this you did for me and I… I… I don’t… I don’t give…” he couldn’t continue. 

At this point, the archbishop leaned over the pulpit and said: “That young man stands before you to preach today.”

This is the power of our King has: the power to forgive and transform through love and the cross.

On the cross, stripped of everything—clothes, strength, dignity—Jesus retains his power

- to forgive: he forgives his persecutors, the executioners, and the repentant thief; 

- to change hearts: he transforms the thief, the centurion, and the people.

Paul’s hymn to the Colossians (second reading) emphasizes that in Jesus we have the forgiveness of sins; through him, all things are reconciled.

In a world which gives importance to territory, power, wealth, rhetoric, and show… Jesus is a king

  whose kingdom has no boundaries and goes beyond nationality; 

  whose citizens are the poor, the lost, the marginalized;

  whose crown is compassion 

  whose throne is the crib and the cross; 

  whose authority is that of humble and loving service; 

  whose law is love;

  whose life and death was among sinners.

Is Jesus my king? If so… Do I imitate him and his way of love and mercy, humility and service? Do I allow him to transform me with the power of his love and his cross?

XXXIII Sunday of the Year

LIVE FULLY… NOW

Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19

Readings for the XXXIII Sunday of the Year

A warrior was struck by a poisonous arrow. His companions wanted to remove the arrow. But he would not allow them until he had answers to his questions: the characteristics of the shooter and his origins; the wood of the arrow; the bird from which the feathers came; the type of bow; the material of the bowstring. His companions cried out in frustration: “For heaven’s sake! Stop speculating and pull out the arrow!”

In this Sunday’s gospel, there is the speculative warrior in the people: they live in a present which is tense, and they want to know when the end will happen and what signs will indicate the end.

Jesus lists three phenomena which people might assume are indicators of the end: persecution, the appearance of false messiahs, disasters. But he indicates that it is pointless to speculate when and how the end will happen; it will happen “whenever”.

What is more important is our response when these things happen! 

We need not be afraid because the Lord will be with us; we ought not to be attached to transient structures. We need to live fully with and for God always, to lead lives of perseverance. Then, it will be future perfect! “There will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays” (first reading). In the second reading, St Paul gives us another response: hard work. Some people in the church at Thessalonica were unwilling to work and were becoming a burden to others. Paul presents himself as a model and advises all to work hard and quietly!

Am I going to allow the speculative warrior in me to “wonder” about the future and the end of the world or will I “pull out the arrow” by working hard and living a full life?

Let us not re-live the past; not pre-live the future; let us live fully now. As Joan Borysenko writes: “The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live!”

XXXII Sunday of the Year

LIFE IN A WHOLE NEW WORLD

2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Luke 20:27-38

Readings for the XXXII Sunday of the Year

In the film Aladdin, Aladdin sings to and with Princess Jasmine the song: “A Whole New World”. The last verse of the song is:

A whole new world; that’s where we’ll be

A thrilling chase, a wondrous place for you and me!

These words sum up the thrust of the readings of today.

In the gospel, the Sadducees—who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead—reduce this belief to absurdity by using a far-fetched example of seven brothers, who are married successively to the same woman and die before having children. They ask: “At the resurrection which of the brothers will be the wife’s husband?”

Jesus indicates that their question betrays their limited perspective. He draws a sharp distinction between this world and the “coming age”. The latter is not an extension of this world; it is a whole new world, in which a human being is a child of God and not a piece of property. 

In this life, marriage and procreation are needed for the continuation of humanity. In the “age to come” people will neither die nor be born; there is no need for marriage and procreation. 

We enter new relationships with God, we will be his children; and with people in relationships that transcend blood and marriage.

We will have a new way of being like angels! We will live forever in the fullness of our person.

The reason/basis for our hope in this new world is God!

The first reading is a narrative of seven brothers and their mother who are killed for their faith in the God of life. They believe that he will raise them to a higher life because they have lived faithfully on earth. 

The way to prepare ourselves for this new world is living on this earth without making ideas, things, persons, and relationships into gods. We need to nurture our rootedness in God and to live faithfully by his values and ideals.

A little girl and her father were walking on a clear, starry night. She turned to him and asked: “If the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what will the right side be like?” 

When it comes to answering that question, we’ll just have to leave it up to God! We’ll do our part of living right on the wrong side of heaven!

XXXI Sunday of the Year

ALLOWING GOD TO FIND ME

Wisdom 11:22-12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10

Readings for the XXXI Sunday of the Year

John Powell writes about Tommy, a student in his theology of faith class at Chicago’s Loyola University. Tommy, Powell writes, was the “atheist in residence” and a serious pain in the back bench! 

At the end of the course, he asked: “Do you think I’ll ever find God?”  Powell emphatically said: “No!” and added: “Tommy! I don’t think you’ll ever find him, but I am certain that he will find you!”  Tommy left Powell’s class and life.

Sometime later, Powell heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. He returned to Powell to tell him that God had found him. When the cancer was detected, Tommy said he “got serious about locating God… and began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven. But God did not come out.” Then “one day I turned around and God was there. He didn’t come to me when I pleaded with him… Apparently God does things in his own way and at his own hour. But he was there. He found me. He found me even after I stopped looking for him.” Tommy found God when he opened his heart to love his own father and the people to whom he was close. 

The story of Zacchaeus is like Tommy’s. Zacchaeus went in search of Jesus the wonder worker… and God found him. Rather, he allowed God to find him when he opened his heart to love the poor. 

Two questions!

Why does God—the hound of heaven—seek us and wait till we allow ourselves to be found? We have an answer in the First Reading: “You have mercy on all… and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent. For you love all things…” Love is the reason why God waits for us; love does not compel.

Why do we take so long to allow God to find us? Perhaps because God challenges us to change, and we don’t like/ want to change! Luke probably intends the story of Zacchaeus as a contrast to the earlier story of the rich young man (18:18-23). Both are rich and look for Jesus. The young man has observed the commandments from his youth; Zacchaeus is a tax collector and a sinner. The young man is saddened by Jesus’ challenge to sell his possessions and follow him; Zacchaeus responds with joy and repentance to Jesus’ invitation to stay at his house.

Today’s liturgy reminds us that God constantly seeks us and waits for us to respond to his love.

Will I allow God to find me? Will I change my life and open my heart to love? What is the change that I need in my life?

May you and I do this so that the Lord can say: “Today salvation has come to this house”!

St Thomas

FIRST-HAND FAITH

Jeremiah 1:4-9; Ephesians 2:19-22; John 20:24-29

Readings for the Solemnity of St Thomas

Just for a moment close your eyes. Imagine the buzz of bungee jumping or the thrill paragliding… not happening, right? If we have never bungee jumped or paraglided, we’d find it almost impossible to imagine the experience! Someone may describe the raw excitement of the adventure, but we can feel the buzz only when we experience it first-hand!

What is true of adventure sport is true of life and of faith. Faith is not second-hand knowledge. Faith is first-hand experience; it comes from an encounter with God.

This is the thrust of today’s gospel and solemnity! 

Thomas is not with the other apostles when Jesus appears to them. They testify that they have seen the Lord, but Thomas refuses to believe: “Unless I see… and place my finger… and place my hand… I will not believe.” He is not content with second-hand knowledge. He wants to see Jesus himself; he desires to experience the risen Lord first-hand. 

Thomas may be known as “the apostle who doubted”, but he is not very different from the other apostles. They did not believe Mary Magdalene’s testimony or the disciples who encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus. It is only after Jesus appeared to them that they believed! They believe after a personal experience.

What brings Thomas to belief is not the proof he demanded; Thomas does not touch the Lord. He believes after an encounter with the risen Jesus, which leads him to acknowledge Jesus as “My Lord and my God.”

We are like Thomas! We do not want to learn from others; we want to and have a right to experience life for ourselves. The same should be true of our faith-life. Will I be content with a second-hand knowledge of God, or will I experience the thrill of encountering God myself?

When we use our God-given intelligence, like Thomas, we will have doubts about faith and religion. Like Thomas, we need to be honest about our doubts. Will I boldly face and express my doubts, and seek a response to them? Or will I push aside my unanswered and, perhaps, unasked questions? 

Thomas recognized the broken and wounded body of Jesus! May we encounter Jesus in our woundedness and in the brokenness of others and proclaim him as our Lord and God!