Third Sunday - C (January 27, 2019)

Certainty of the Message

Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

This Gospel passage offer some points for consideration on our encounter with God’s words and the way we can share God’s words.

-       Today, even more precise, “in your hearing” – the present moment

-       Where we are – even if it is lowly Nazareth [1]

-       The power of the Holy Spirit

-       Jesus’ mission

-       The certainty of the Gospel message: Luke wrote this Gospel to affirm the faith of believers: “so that you may realize the certainty of the message you have received. “ 

It is in this place, today, at this moment of our life that God continues to come and reveal God’s salvation to us.

Moreover, the Holy Spirit is at work to empower us to continue Jesus’ mission.  With the Holy Spirit, at this moment and in this place, regardless of where the place might be, I can proclaim God’s words.

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[1] In Joh’s Gospel, when Philip told Nathanael of the hometown of Jesus, Nathanael responded “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46)

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2nd Sunday - C (January 20, 2019)

God Is There

John 2: 1-11

“There was a wedding at Cana, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.”

We all know how the party went. 

Besides, in Scripture, marriage and wedding banquets are commonly used as a symbol of the relationship between God and God’s people (as in this week’s First Reading, Isaiah 62: 1-5).  Jesus also used the wedding banquet to preach about heaven. (For example, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son” Matthew 22:2).

Looking at marriage in this way, we can even connect the two Sacraments of Marriage and Eucharist. 

God intends for family to be a place of love.  And “God is love” (1 John 4:16).  Therefore, where there is love, there is God.

The Eucharist is Jesus’ gift of love to us.  It is his loving presence with us. 

Consequently, when a family is conscious of the presence of Jesus and the Church in the family, as Jesus, Mary and the disciples were at Cana, when the members of the family strive to love, the family lives the mystery of the Eucharist.  The family becomes the reality of God’s love.  

 Image source:  www.agnusday.org

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Baptism of the Lord - C (January 13, 2019)

You Are My Beloved Child

Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

At Jesus’ baptism, the Father confirmed Jesus God’s beloved son.

By becoming human, and by his cross and resurrection, Jesus shares this identity with all humanity.  Peter professed this from the beginning of the Church.  When Peter realized that God had called Cornelius, a gentile, Peter said to Cornelius, his relatives and friends, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.  Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him” (2^nd reading).

God “has grasped” each of us “by the hand.  God “formed” us and has given us a share in Jesus’ mission.  Like Jesus, each child of God is “a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness” (1^st reading)

Image source:  www.agnusday.org

Holy Family (December 30, 2018)

Jesus Advanced in Wisdom and Age

Luke 2: 41-52

Reading this passage, we can get caught up in the details of Jesus going missing (how could that even happen?) and on Jesus’ response to Mary, and overlook three details that Luke include in this passage.

1. Luke tells us that “each year” [the family] “went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.”  This and other details in Luke’s account of the events in his Gospel up to this point tell us that Jesus’ parents were devoted to God in their religious practices.  Furthermore, they raised Jesus in the practice of the Jewish faith.
2. Jesus is often portrayed in stories, paintings, etc. as lecturing the teachers.  Luke, on the contrary, tells us that Jesus was a twelve-year-old, “sitting in the midst of the teachers,” learning from them by “listening to them and asking them questions.” [1]
3. While the parents “did not understand what he said to them, [Jesus] went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.”  He indeed lived as their son, “obedient to them.”

These three elements, while often overlooked, teach us some valuable lessons for good family life.  The Holy Family of Nazareth lived their religious faith.  Jesus was obedient to his parents.  And he learned from the wisdom and experience of his parents and others.  

 
Then Luke concludes that in such an environment, with such attitudes, “Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”

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[1] John Petty, www.progressiveinvolvement.com

Image source:  www.agnusday.org  

4th Sunday of Advent - C (December 23, 2018)

God in the Ordinary

Luke 1: 39-45

Mary is from Nazareth, a town of no significance [1].  She goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth who lives in a town with no name worth mentioning (Luke simply wrote, “a town of Judah.”). 

It is an ordinary meeting of two relatives, in an unimportant place.

A simple act of kindness on Mary’s part.

Yet, God is present.

Elizabeth and her son John recognize the presence of the Savior as soon as they hear Mary’s greeting. 

Ordinary people.  Ordinary situation.  There, God is present. 

 [1] In John 1: 46, Nathaniel judges Nazareth, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Image source:  Author:  an unnamed Vietnamese artist, https://tillchrist.wordpress.com 

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3rd Sunday of Advent - C (December 16, 2018)

Good News

Luke 3: 10-18

People ask John, “What should we do?”.  In response, John does not demand from them anything extraordinary.  John tells them to share what they have with those who have less.  The same applies even to the soldiers and tax collectors of an illegitimate government.  Do your job and don’t abuse your power or position.

Do what is expected of us and share with those who have less. 

That is how we are to prepare the way for the Lord and that is the “good news” of John’s message.  

 Image source:  www.agnusday.org

 

2nd Sunday of Advent - C (December 9, 2018)

The Word of God Came to John

Luke 3:1-6

Luke introduces a year, then a list of names of people and places to provide a concrete setting for “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah.”

Into concrete situations, places, and people that the word of God comes into human history and our individual life.  Advent calls us to renew our encounter with God in the concreteness of life.

Similarly, each son and daughter of God, you and I, has a unique and concrete place in God’s plan of salvation for all humanity.  Advent reminds us of our vocation of furthering the Kingdom of God in the concreteness of our lives.  That is our vocation until “all flesh [has] see the salvation of our God.” 

Image source:  www.agnusday.org