Advent 1 - A (December 1, 2019)

Your Father Knows

Matthew24: 37-44

The Gospel passage used for this Sunday begins at verse 37 of Chapter 24 of Matthew. 

In the verse immediately precedes it, Jesus says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

It is this same Father who Jesus earlier in Matthew taught us to pray to as “Our Father” [1] .  Jesus continued in Chapter 6 pointing out that the Father takes care of even the birds of the sky and the grass of the field.   Jesus assured us that “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

It is with this attitude that we must begin the Season of Advent.  It is with this attitude that we must live our daily life as we wait the coming of the Son of Man.  

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[1] www.progressiveinvolvement.com

Image source:  www.agnusday.org

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33rd Sunday - C (November 17, 2019)

“Remember”

Luke 21: 5-19

Living the faith has its challenges.  Being disciples of Jesus has its crosses.    

By the time Luke wrote down this Gospel, the first generation of disciples have suffered persecution and martyrdom as Jesus had told them.

They must have remembered what he had said to them.  They also experienced throughout their lives, in moments of peace and moments of suffering, his promise to remain with them.   

May their faith and perseverance inspire us to remember and trust in Jesus’ promise. 

Image source: www.agnusday.org

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32nd Sunday - C (November 10, 2019)

God is God of the living

Luke 20: 27-38

Every culture has multiple euphemisms for death.  One religious example is to say that someone is “with God.”

This kind of euphemism has its place since death is never easy to cope with, and news of death is difficult to convey.  It is also the reality that we do not know God fully in this life. 

Yet, Jesus assures us, “God is not God of the dead, but of the living.”

I already belong to God in this life.  So are my neighbors.

How does this reality that Jesus teaches us guide the way I live my earthly life?  How does it shape the way I treat others?

Image source:  www.agnusday.org

31st Sunday - C (November 3, 2019)

A Guest

Luke 19: 1-10

Jesus tells Zaccheaus, “I must stay at your house.”

By using “must,” Jesus expresses a sense of obligation [1] , or rather, the reason of his coming among us – “to seek and to save what was lost.”  It is the obligation of the Father’s plan and of Jesus’ love for sinners.

Some people find it hard to accept God’s plan of salvation.  They “grumble” that Jesus makes himself a guest at the house of a sinner.

So great is Jesus’ love for us sinners that he makes it his obligation to be our guest.

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[1] “In Luke, the verb dei (“must”) is used to convey divine necessity – that is, what Jesus must do in fulfillment of God’s plan” (Pablo Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Academic, p. 75).

Image source:  Zacchaeus by Niels Larsen Stevns, en.wikipedia.org

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