Feed My Lambs/ Tend My Sheep/ Feed My Sheep (John 21:15-17) (Feeding Our Souls with God’s Word)

By Michael Onyekwere

Reflections on Weekday Readings, Feasts and Solemnities, Cycle 1

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Onyekwere
• Release date: Jan 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215728871

Book preview

Dedication

This work is dedicated to my Celestial Superior, The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Church, Queen of the Apostles, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Perpetual Visitation, Seat of Wisdom, Our Lady of Divine Vocations, Queen of All Saints, et cetera.

Preface

As a priest called to serve Jesus Christ and his holy Church, I feel obligated to share my contemplative and prayerful reflections with the people of God. For the past twenty-six years of my priestly life, I have shared with my immediate parishioners and those I have directly ministered to in various places. With Christ’s mandate to his apostles through Peter, to feed his lambs, to feed his sheep, and to take care of his flock (John 21:15-17), I take it more seriously to take care of Christ’s faithful disciples by sharing my reflections on Sunday and weekday readings, according to the liturgical seasons of the Church Year.

This book is the presentation of some weekday readings, feasts and solemnities in Cycle one of the Liturgical year. The first part is the Advent and Christmas celebrations. The second Part is the Lenten and Easter weekday Celebrations. The Third Part is the weekday celebrations in Cycle one of the ordinary time of the year. The Fourth Part is the Feasts and Solemnities of the year.

The reflections for Weekdays of cycle 2 will be coming in a separate volume. Already, reflections for Sundays of years A, B and C have already been published in separate volumes.

This book was inspired by my previous publication of my earlier work, with the title of The Conflicting Influence of the Christian Messages in Igboland, which received a wide and positive reception by the people of God here. It was published by the Dorrance Publishing Co. Most of the contents of it are also reflected here.

Part One: Advent and Christmas Season

Monday of the first week of Advent

1st Reading: Isaiah 2: 1-5. Gospel: Matthew 8: 5-11

"If this day you only knew what makes for peace- but now it is hidden from your eyes (Luke 19: 42)." These wishes of Jesus are the right note on which we open up the advent season as the time of hope, watchfulness, patiently waiting for the realization of what makes for peace. Reflection on Isaiah’s prophecy for the realization of universal peace ushers us into this season of advent, which is the expectation of the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He has already come in his first coming when at the appointed time, he took flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and became man and dwelt among us. Having lived among us, he has redeemed us through his life, death and resurrection and is now with us in mystery through the sacraments of the church. As his disciples and members of his holy church, we await his coming in glory, when he will judge the living and the dead. What makes for peace is to live in Christ, to put on Christ and become a new creation. Living in Christ does not mean absence of wars, difficulties and challenges of life in this world, it means weathering the difficulties of life in union with Jesus, carrying the cross in oneness with him and dying in union with him, so that we can experience his resurrection and share fully in his life, death and resurrection. This is what it means to be a disciple of the one who said that anyone who wishes to come after him, should take up his cross and do as he has done.

When Isaiah made his prophecy of world peace, his people, the Southern Kingdom of Judah, was preparing for a great war. Jerusalem was in danger of being over-run by their enemies. Isaiah prophesizes that Jerusalem would become the center of interest for the whole world; The nations will come to Jerusalem in search of the Lord’s word and listen to his teachings; universal peace would be the fruit of practicing justice and the word of God (see Isaiah 2:1-5). This messianic prophecy of Isaiah gives us Christian hope for the establishment of the Lord’s reign which will bring about the messianic kingdom and set into motion a universal recognition of the Lord and the triumph of his judgement. The Second coming of Our Lord, Jesus Christ will bring about the vision of Isaiah for the new world order. In this advent season, we are called to fully make the teachings of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, his life and ways, the principle of our own lives, so that we can experience Isaiah’s new world order. This is very important for every baptized follower of Jesus.

Isaiah’s new world order, expected to be lived out, in the life of everyone of Christ’s disciples is seen in the interaction between a gentile, who happened to be a Roman centurion and Jesus. In Capernaum, the centurion approached Jesus with strong faith in his request. He wanted Jesus to heal his servant who was lying at home paralyzed and suffering dreadfully. Jesus wanted to come to his house to cure him. But the centurion expressed his faith in Jesus that he is not worthy to have Jesus under his roof; but that he should please say the word, and his servant will be healed. This was a powerful expression of faith in the power of Jesus to heal. Jesus was also amazed at the faith of a non-Jew, a Gentile. Jesus declared that many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness. By the faith of the centurion, Jesus granted his desire and his servant was healed.

The faith of the centurion is recalled in every holy Mass as we repeat it before communion. There are lessons for us, here: we should not look down on any person or consider anyone as undeserving of God’s mercy. We should not consider anyone as outside of the people of God. The Jewish exile has a lot to teach us about universalism of God’s love. As we learn from the exile of the people of God, let us in imitation of Christ, extend God’s love to all without any exclusion. May God make us great representatives of Jesus Christ, especially in this Advent, bringing his love to all.

Tuesday of the first week of Advent

1st Reading: Isaiah 11.1-10 Gospel: Luke 10.21-24

Our liturgy today takes us back into the life situation of the people of God, to which the prophet Isaiah prophesied. They were a people with uncertainty in their future. Wars were looming around them. In the book of Immanuel, the prophet wanted his people to put their faith and confidence in God who is with them and directs their history. There would be a possible world of peace brought about by a shoot from the stump of Jesse. This one will bring about harmony and peace. His governance will not be wealth-oriented but of service, taking care of all, especially the poor and the oppressed. This messianic king will be a descendant of David, specially anointed with the spirit of the Lord, to have the fullness of divine power. He will establish a kingdom of justice, peace and perfect harmony in the whole of creation.

Like Isaiah and his contemporaries, we too await the coming of this messianic king in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He anoints us, too, with his Spirit of wisdom and of understanding; His spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord (see Isaiah 11:2). He comes to bring about the new world order envisioned by the prophet Isaiah. He, too, wants to use us as his instruments to accomplish this task through his own way of love to bring about harmony and peace among all peoples. In every Advent season, we prepare ourselves to receive him as he comes in the Christmas so as to pattern our lives after his own. He has called us to be his own here and hereafter.

Christianity is a life to be lived. It is far from imaginations, speculations and personal theory. It is a life to be lived; it is an encounter that gives experiential knowledge of who we are following. It makes us to experience God as a personal God. It is in this encounter and experience that we have mystical knowledge of Our God in Jesus Christ and become practical in our Christian life. Coming to union with God in this way, we become one with God in his son, Jesus Christ to do what he does, through which the disciples were successful in their mission, as we see in today’s gospel reading. As we heard, when the disciples returned to Jesus, they report to him how the demons were subjected to them, because of his name. Like the disciples, in union with Jesus, we shall safely have power, to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon the forces of the enemy. It is through our union with Christ, that our names shall be written in heaven. It is in union with Christ, that we shall experience and attain that inseparable oneness, which exists between Jesus and his Father, expressed in Jesus’ prayers. In this way, Jesus will reveal the Father to us.

It is on account of the childlikeness of the disciples by their oneness with him that Jesus, the revealer of the Father, rejoices, because in this way, the disciple has become like him, promoting the glory of God. The name of the disciple is written in heaven by being a child of God in imitation of Jesus Christ. Called to be disciples, we should aim higher in our spiritual life, to be anointed with the Spirit that will enable us to conform into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus Christ, the Emmanuel, or God-with-us, is anointed with the Spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, his disciples, too, share in his anointing to bring about new world order, in which the kingdom of evil is destroyed, so that the kingdom of God, the kingdom of truth and justice, the kingdom of love and peace, will prevail.

Wednesday of the First week of Advent

1st Reading: Isaiah 25.6-10a Gospel: Matthew 15.29-37

The prophet Isaiah, tells us today that on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines… With this message, he tells us that God promises communion with all peoples on mount Zion, symbolizing the heavenly Jerusalem, where he will bestow his abundant blessings. It is here that he will host the great eschatological feast for the redeemed, in which he will remove all religious blindness, and uncover the eyes of the people, so that they can know him, as he is, and so, become believers. St. Paul will tell us that all of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is on this mountain of the resurrection that he will overcome, mourning among nations, and guarantee eternal communion with the redeemed, by abolishing death, with all its pain, weeping and shame (see Isaiah 25:6-10; see also 1 Corinthians 15:54-55).

In Jesus Christ, God fulfills this most solemn promise he has made. By so doing, he is the cause of joy to the people saved through his life, death and resurrection, giving them reason to intone a hymn to him, who has rewarded their patient and trustful wait for his salvation. He is now their protector from his holy mountain. Let us not forget the many times the heavenly liturgy, resounding with hymns of praise were revealed to St. John the beloved disciple in the book of Revelation. At one time, in a vision and ecstasy, he was taken up to heaven and was shown the throne of the thrice holy, the Lord God Almighty, He, who was, and who is, and who is to come, worshipped by the heavenly court (see Revelation 4:1-11). At another time, the beloved disciple was encouraged not to weep, because no one could be found worthy to open or examine the scroll. It was only the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, who has won the right by his victory to open the scroll with the seven seals (Revelation 5:1-8). He is worshipped by the heavenly court with the song: worthy are you to receive the scroll and break open its seals, for you were slain. With your blood you purchased for God men of every race and tongue, of every people and nation. You made them a kingdom, and priests to serve our God, and they shall reign on the earth (Revelation 5:9-10).

To be numbered among those who enter into the marriage feast of the Lamb of God after this earthly life, each of us is encouraged to be faithful in our Christian cause. It was revealed to the beloved disciple that the faithful ones who have made the exodus from earth to the Promised Land of heaven, and had been victorious, would sing the song of Moses and the people of Israel. As the Israelites sang the song of deliverance after the safe crossing of the sea, as in the book of Exodus 15, so will the martyrs sing a new song of victory. Though they had been killed, they have not been conquered. Their song will be: Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God almighty. Just and true are your ways, O king of the nations, who will not fear you, Lord, or glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed (Revelation 15:3-4).

In our gospel reading today, as the expected Messiah, Jesus liberates his people from all kinds of diseases, and feeds them through the miraculous multiplication of bread and fish. He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. The left-over picked up were seven baskets full. We are told that four thousand men, not counting women and children ate.

Here, Jesus employed what he did at the last supper, pointing to the Eucharist. To attain the eschatological life with God, and to feast in his heavenly kingdom, singing his eternal praises in the heavenly Jerusalem, we need to eat of him and drink of him in the Eucharist, and live out our Eucharistic life to the fullest.

Thursday of the First week in Advent

1st Reading: Isaiah 26.1-6 Gospel: Matthew 7.21, 24-27

Yesterday, the prophet Isaiah tells us about the feast of the end-time with which God will bless those who were victorious on his holy mountain. Through communion with him, God will be a refuge for the oppressed and satisfy the needy in distress. His salvific action will be in the interest of the oppressed. Today, the prophet tells us that during that eschatological era, the redeemed will sing in the land of Judah in praise of God that they have a strong city, where God sets up walls and ramparts to protect them. It is because of the peoples’ trust in God, that they should praise him ceaselessly. The prophet’s message is that whoever follows the directives of the Lord, walks along the right way that leads to him. But those who do not follow his ways, the wicked, do not learn from his clemency. They go on oppressing the poor and the innocent, who do not retaliate, but only listen, wait and pray to the Lord. The prophet goes on to tell us to trust in the Lord forever, because he is the eternal Rock. The Lord humbles those in high places, the lofty… he brings down (Isaiah 26: 1-6).

What the prophet speaks about today, has been the ways of God, who lifts up the lowly and humbles the proud. Jesus himself will tell us that he who humbles himself will be exalted and he who exalts himself will be humbled. His way has been the way of humility. It was out of humility that he emptied himself and allowed himself to be born of the Virgin Mary to become Man. And being Man, he humbled himself to the least. He took a lower position less than that of a slave, to the point of dying a shameful death on the Cross, for the salvation of the whole world. He was exalted because of his obedience and humility, to the highest place above every other name, to the glory of God the Father. In the Magnificat, Mary’s humility and the blessings that come from it, are celebrated. For that reason, in this Advent season, to prepare well for the Son of God to enter into our souls, we need to adopt the ways of humility, simplicity and obedience in the Spirit of Mary, and in imitation of Jesus Christ. In this way, we shall become like Christ and replicate his life with ours.

In line with this, St. James says that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. For that reason, he urges us to submit ourselves to God; to resist the devil, and he will flee from us. We should draw near to God, and he will draw near to us (James 4:6-8). Our religion should be practical and not theoretical. For this reason, today, Jesus in our gospel reading tells us that none of those who cry out, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of God but only the one who does the will of his Father in heaven. Theoretical religiosity resists no pressures, it means nothing. Even if people are satisfied with some kind of religious beliefs, if it is all founded on words, it cannot resist the storms of criticism. The solidity and support of our lives, must be strengthened with works of charity and love towards our brothers and sisters, for our religion to be practical. We must place our hope in God and do his will, for us to withstand all trials in life. Building of one’s life on denial of God, setting one’s happiness on material goods such as money, power and success, will certainly lead to one’s failure. Let us therefore, build up ourselves by strengthening our spiritual life by centering more on Jesus and Mary, in imitation of the saints who have gone before us.

May God give us the spirit and grace to build up our lives on Jesus by doing what he wants, and so sing this song in Zion: a strong city have we; he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us. Open up the gates to let in a nation that is just, one that keeps faith. A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace; in peace, for its trust in you.

Friday of the first week in Advent

1st Reading: Isaiah 29.17-24 Gospel: Matthew 9.27-31

For the past two days, the prophet Isaiah has been speaking to us about the communion of God with his people at the end time, and the security that will be enjoyed by the Lord’s redeemed in the heavenly Jerusalem, in which they will eternally sing of God’s praises. Today, he speaks to us about God’s plan of the eschatological, or the end time new world order; in which evil and its perpetrators, the oppressors will be removed, so that peace and prosperity will reign in the land. The prophet presents this scenario by saying that in a little while, Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and the orchard will be regarded as a forest. On that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a book; out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 29:17-24).

The message of the prophet refers to the abundant heavenly blessings given to Judah, which will bring about the moral change in the land, together with its bodily and spiritual cure. In this situation, the lowly, meaning the just who trust in the Lord, will rejoice. The prophet promises the elimination of oppression and the establishment of justice by God. Here, the prophet in his prophecy, renders accurately events of the Messianic times, in which Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world has come to destroy Satan, sin and death, through his life, death and resurrection. By his passion, suffering and death on the cross of Calvary, he accomplished the salvation of humanity, and by his resurrection and exaltation at the right hand of the Father, he has restored us to life with God, animating us with his Holy Spirit.

Jesus has built up our faith in him by the activities of his earthly ministry among us. He healed the sick, raised the dead, cleansed lepers, made the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the blind to see; he casts out demons and broke the shackles that held us in bondage. He fed the hungry crowds and so on and so forth. By these, he removed instruments of oppression and has brought about the messianic new world order that was envisaged by the prophet Isaiah in our first reading, today.

In our gospel reading today, St. Matthew presents before us the healing of two blind men. As Jesus was passing by, the two blind men followed him crying out to him, Son of David, have pity on us! They followed Jesus into a house. There, Jesus asked them if they believe he could do this. On expressing their faith by answering yes, Lord, Jesus touched their eyes and said, let it be done for you according to your faith. Restoring their sight, they were overjoyed. And so, they could not heed the messianic secrecy enjoined on them by Christ. They went out and spread the word of him throughout that land (Matthew 9:27-31).

For us to experience the messianic new world order, we, too should have strong faith in Jesus Christ as the One who will destroy the instruments of oppression in our lives and rescue us from the powers of darkness and ignorance, so that we can enjoy the salvation that God has meant for us.

For what God has done for us in Christ today, let our prayer be:

Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-9).

Saturday of the first week of Advent

1st Reading: Isaiah 30.19-21, 23-26 Gospel: Matthew 9.35 – 10.1, 5a, 6-8++

The prophet Isaiah emphasizes the importance of true conversion and complete trust in God. They constitute the strength of the people of God. The prophet tells us that the Lord is waiting to show his people favor, and he rises to pity them, because he is the Lord of justice. He assures his people that all who wait for him are blessed. On this note, the people who dwell in Jerusalem, will weep no more. God will be gracious to them. He will be prompt in answering their-out-cry. He will provide them with bread and water. As their teacher, the Lord will no longer hide himself, but they will see him. His voice will be directing them aright (Isaiah 30:18-21). The Lord’s blessings will be abundantly revealed through the future prosperity of Zion. The blessings will be witnessed in the farming, agricultural and natural, as well as in the cosmic transformations (Isaiah 30:23-26). These are the signs of the Messianic era.

By these, we see that the Lord who spoke to our ancestors formerly in veiled fashion, through the prophets, now, in the last days, speaks to us visibly and truly, through his Son, Jesus Christ, our divine teacher and physician. For us to hear him, and receive his message, Our God requires real conversion. He requires baptismal innocence from us that will bring about our spiritual regeneration, making us candidates for entry into the kingdom of God. This is the reason for the incarnation. God sent his Son to become man, so that man and God might have communion, and have sharing of life. Jesus emptied himself to share the life of humans that humans might empty themselves to share in the divine nature and life. Finding humans alienated from God, by their sins, he laid down his life on the Cross and died a shameful death on Calvary to redeem humanity, that we might imitate his sacrifice, and his unconditional love. In this way, he died for the salvation of the sinful humanity, the sinless one for the guilty, to show his two-fold love for the Father in the Holy Spirit and for the world. In this way, he invites us to the life of oneness with him, in loving God and our fellow human beings. We should love unconditionally in imitation of Jesus Christ, in order to make the world a better place.

To accomplish all these, Jesus embarks on his earthly divine mission. He went around preaching the reign of God, healing all kinds of diseases and illnesses. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. In his great love and solidarity with human suffering, he told his disciples that the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. For that reason, he instructed them, to ask the master of the harvest, to send out laborers for his harvest (Matthew 9:35-38).

To diversify the work in the Lord’s vineyard, he sends out the apostles on their mission, to reap the abundant harvest. Sent forth on their mission, the apostles were to continue the work of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as his representatives or ambassadors (Matthew 10:1-8). Having been with Jesus, and learnt from him, they are to carry on with his divine mission and ministry. They were to go on reaping what Jesus Christ, himself has already sown in his life, death and resurrection. Jesus himself empowered them to heal the sick, to raise the dead and exercise his power and authority. Just as the Father sent him, so did he send his apostles. They were not to do their own things but what Jesus does. Receiving without charge, they were to give without charge. After his resurrection, at his ascension into heaven, he told them: all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).

Each of us is called to be a candidate of the reign of God. Let us heed the words of prophecy and the teachings of the apostles and follow Jesus Christ, who wants us to be one with him in union with the Father and the Holy Spirit. May God give us the Spirit and the grace he gave to the apostles now and forever. Amen

Monday of the Second week of Advent-

1st Reading: Isaiah 35.1-10 Gospel: Luke 5.17-26

In few days, the holy church will call her children to rejoice because Our God whom we seek will be closer at hand and will not delay. This will be the good news to those who have been in distress. It is good news because God is the savior of those in distress, who languish in captivity, who are helpless and in need of God. The prophet Isaiah today communicates this good news that the Messiah’s coming will bring about transformation in the desert and parched land. They all will exalt and rejoice because they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of Our God. The good news is for those whose hands are feeble, those whose knees are weak, those whose hearts are frightened. The good news is that they should be strong because their God comes with vindication and divine recompense to save them.

Through the glory of the Lord, streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water. The natural transformations will provide the holy highway which no one unclean may pass over (Isaiah 35:1-10). It will be for those with a journey to make. On it, the redeemed will walk, and it will be a return way for those whom the Lord has ransomed, singing as they journey back to Zion, crowned with everlasting joy.

This prophecy is for us, the new people of God, if we are worthy. God will transform our places of habitation. Just as the psalmist tells us about the transformative power of God when he comes. He tells us that God changes rivers into desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the wickedness of its people. The same God changes the desert into pools of water, arid land into springs of water. He settles the hungry there, to build a city to live in (see Psalm 107:33-36). When the prophet Isaiah prophesies today, he is promising a new Exodus, the joyous return of the liberated Israelites through the transformed Syrian deserts to Zion. What the prophet describes is the new eschatological creation of Judah, a new Garden of Eden, a new paradise, a place of the Lord’s majesty. It is the most fertile and luxuriant place where the Lord’s glory and beauty will be reflected.

The prophetic promises found here began to be realized with the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In his ministry the eyes of the blind were opened, the ears of the deaf were cleared; the lame leaped like stag, the tongue of the dumb sang the praises of God. In our gospel reading today, we see the transformative power of Jesus Christ in his divine mission. Filled with the power of the Lord for healing, as he was teaching so many people, with no room through which to reach him, some men brought a paralytic, and lowered him in a stretcher from the roof to where Jesus was. Seeing their faith, Jesus proved his power to forgive sins and made the paralytic wholesome. Jesus both heals and sets the entire person free, body and soul, as he promotes the value of every human being and invites all to believe in God’s forgiveness. The paralytic condition concerns the gravity of guilt that reaches to the point of paralyzing one’s whole life, including one’s body (Luke 5:17-26).

Applied to us as followers of Christ, we see that the power of the Lord that is with Jesus is oriented towards the future. It is to us and to all would-be-disciples for our healing and transformation. Healing involves renouncing self-accusation and self-justification and hearing the call of Christ to stand up before others and glorify God. In this way, we will be among those in the new exodus, rejoicing en-route to the Promised Land, the New and heavenly Jerusalem.

Tuesday of the 2nd week of Advent

Isaiah 40: 1-11. Gospel: Matthew 18: 12-14

The liturgy celebrates the unfathomable mercy of God towards his people. God wants to revisit and liberate his people, who had been through so many upheavals. They had been punished for their sins. That is why, today, we reflect on the book of consolation, in which through Isaiah, God plans a new exodus for his people, and says: comfort, give comfort to my people… speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins (Isaiah 40:1-2).

In the history of the people of God, as a result of their so many infidelities, God allowed the Babylonians to defeat the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the years 597 BC, 587 BC, and 582 BC. They destroyed Jerusalem and deported the influential people of Judah to Babylon. The temple of Jerusalem was burnt down, ending the liturgical worship and the Davidic monarchy. Languishing in Babylon, the people of God started questioning the faithfulness and omnipotence of their God who allowed his people to suffer defeat at the hands of a pagan nation. After a while, God through the prophet of Deutero-Isaiah school, addressed the problems, and gave the message of consolation to his afflicted people, promising them a new exodus. In this new exodus, the desert through which they would journey home, will be transformed. The people will be led and guided by the Lord, himself, who will fill the Promised Land with his abundant blessings (see Isaiah 40:3-11).

The new exodus envisaged by the prophet of the Second-Isaiah will be permeated with joy because of the greatness of the Lord who guides his people. Their return will be mysterious, because God will transform the desert road and make it wide, flat and comfortable. Their leader will be a new Moses, as during the great Exodus from Egypt, but the Lord himself will be the leader, who will lead as a shepherd leads his flock.

The experience of the people of God is also ours, as we are the new people of God. This is what we celebrate in this Advent season. We are expecting and hoping for the coming of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, who will come into our lives, to lead us in a new exodus, to the promised land of heaven, our true home. He has already come in the mystery of the incarnation and we look forward to his coming again in glory. In Advent, we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Christmas, so that he can be born into our souls, so as to relive his life with ours, and so, have a joyful Christmas.

The holy Church invites us to prepare well for the coming of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Son of God. As the messenger sent before us, we must make ready his way and clear a straight path for him. We are to work with ourselves to prepare the way of the Lord, just as John the Baptist paved his way for his ministry. He not only baptized him, during which he is declared to be the beloved Son of God, he continued to bear witness to him, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He bore witness to Jesus as the one who is mightier than him, who must increase, while himself, John must decrease.

To prepare the way of the Lord, we must do so in the spirit of John the Baptist, in the spirit of humility and simplicity, in the spirit of asceticism and self-mortification, getting detached from everything that takes the place of God in our lives, so as to create space for God, to come and dwell in our souls. John was clothed in camel’s hair, and wore a leather belt around his waist. His food was grasshoppers and wild honey. Like John the Baptist, we too, are called to pay less attention to ourselves and to spend more of our time and resources in adorning the things of God and promoting his own glory.

As we prepare the way of the Lord, we should become his instruments, through whom he seeks and finds the lost sheep in our midst (Matthew 18:12-14).

Wednesday of the second week of advent- St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoalzin

1st Reading: Isaiah 40.25-31 Gospel: Matthew 11.28-30

Today, we continue to reflect on the book of Consolation of the Deutero-Isaiah. It is about God’s consolation given to the exiles in their suffering conditions in Babylon, who earlier were questioning the faithfulness and the omnipotence of their God, who allowed them to suffer defeat at the hands of a Pagan nation, Babylon. As we saw last Sunday, to the people in the suffering conditions, God, whose covenant, word, and promises stand forever, through the prophet of the Deutero-Isaiah school, gives the message of comfort and deliverance, when he says: comfort, give comfort to my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for her sins (Isaiah 40:1-2). Through that prophet, God assures his people that he will do what he says based on his omnipotence. He is the one who has made all things and gives each of his handwork its own name and identity. His people should not give way to discouragement, because their God is eternal. They should lift their eyes to the heavens and to know that their God knows all the stars by name, who by his might and the strength of his power lets them be.

In the same way, their God, Yahweh has the power to deliver them, and so, the prophet goes on to tell them that the Lord is the eternal God, who does not faint, nor grow weary, whose knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting, and makes vigor abound for the weak. He strengthens them that though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar as with eagles’ wings. They will run and not grow weary, and walk and not grow faint (Isaiah 40: 25-31). Through these, the prophet calls his people to strong faith amidst their daily humiliations and servitude, a kind of slavery they had gotten used to, for more than five decades. They had been made powerless and unable to resist their masters, the Babylonian oppressors. In this message, they were made to know that the Lord is not powerless, rather, he has the will and the power to save them and restore them to their original dignity.

The history of the Old Testament people of God, is ours as well, because we are the new Israel. In the waters of baptism, we have entered into a covenant relationship with Our God, in his Son, Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, God leads us in the new exodus through this earthly pilgrimage to life with him in the new and heavenly Jerusalem. He calls us to a life of faith. We should not be in doubt. We should each day grow in our faith. Jesus calls us to be one with him and pattern our lives after his. For that reason, today, he calls us, who are weary and who find life burdensome to come to him, that he will refresh us. The way to follow him is through the way of meekness and humility, for that reason, he wants us to take our yoke upon ourselves and learn from him, assuring us that his yoke is easy, and his burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). He wants each us to bear the yoke of discipleship. By putting on Christ in this way, we shall become free sons and daughters of God, who share in his resurrection and victory.

To attain this height of Spiritual life, on the cross of Calvary, Jesus entrusts us in the person of the beloved disciple to the motherly love and care of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who forms us into the image and likeness of her Son. Mary takes this responsibility so seriously all through the ages. She is always leading us to her Son, encouraging us to do whatever her Son asks us to do. She stands with us in our trials of life, as she stood by her dying Son on Calvary and was asked to be a Mother to the beloved disciple, the representative person for each of us, called to be Disciples of Christ.

In carrying out her responsibility, as the first Disciple of her Son, called to form all his disciples and would-be disciples, she has made so many apparitions all through the ages. In 1531, she appeared four times to St. Juan Diego, a native convert, at Tepeyac, New Mexico City. She left her miraculous image on his cloak. An image which has drawn so many pilgrims to Guadalupe, with no natural explanation. Through the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we be found in Jesus Christ as we journey through this earthly life, en-route to heaven. Amen

Thursday of the second week of Advent

Isaiah 41:13-20. Gospel Matthew 11:11-15

Our reflections have been centering on the promises of God to his people languishing in the Babylonian exile. Through the prophet of the Deutero-Isaiah school, God who promised to give comfort to his people, today tells his people that he is the Lord, their God, who grasp their right hand. He himself will be their strength, who will personally intervene on their behalf. He tells them, fear not, I will help you, assuring them that he is their redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He will make them strong against the mountains, which they will crush, and empowering them to destroy all obstacles. In this way, he promises that his people will rejoice and glory in him.

In this way, God will become Israel’s strength to take the aggressive stance, through which she will subdue all her enemies. The fulfillment of this prophecy, could be seen when Israel’s history has become the salvation history of the whole world. The entire world has succumbed to the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose universal kingship and kingdom encompass the whole world, running across all geographical boundaries. In Jesus Christ, God has become Israel’s strength, enabling her, to become a sharp, new, and double-edged threshing sledge, threshing the mountains and crushing them, to make the hills like chaff, with wind carrying them off and the storm scattering them (Isaiah 41:15-16), it is just as we are told that indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account (Hebrews 4:12-13).

Just as God promised spiritual support and refreshment to his people, who in captivity were facing dull and dreary time, so does he promise to us in our alienation from him, who like his people in captivity, were dwelling in a desert without water, or shade, or the relief to the eye furnished by the greenery of trees and shrubs. He who at the time of the first exodus, through Moses, made water to gush forth from a rock for the thirsty Israelites, now promises that the whole desert will become like a green earthly paradise. He now fulfills this great promise in the Messianic era, by sending his Son Jesus Christ, who by taking flesh, and living among us, has revealed God’s sovereign power and tender love, enabling us to attain their fulfillment in the incarnation of the Son of God. The Psalmist speaks about God’s great love when he tells us that, he changes the desert into pools of water, arid land into springs of water. He settles the hungry there; they built a city to live in. They sowed fields and planted vineyards, brought in an abundant harvest… (Psalm 107:35ff). These describe the abundant blessing and graces which abound for those who are faithful to God. Sharing in Christ’ sufferings and cross, they shall share in Christ’s victory and resurrection.

It is in the desert environment that we encounter God in a special way and experience his special care for us. After many times of turning away from our God, he does not give up on us. God still wants to restore us to our original dignity. He wants to renew our covenant relationship with him. Through the prophet Hosea, he promises to allure us, and lead us into the desert; there, he will speak to our heart (Hosea 2:16). In our gospel reading, Jesus wants to allure us into the desert, there to speak to us. That is why he presents to us today, John the Baptist whom history has not known a man born of woman that is greater than he. He was a man of the desert experience, a man of great asceticism and self-mortification, who relied on God’s providential care. Using him as a model, Jesus tells us that from the time of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of God has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:11-15). Those who are willing to do self-mortification and are courageous, not being afraid of dying, are the violent, who take the kingdom by force. Let us therefore, not be afraid of entering into desert experience. There to encounter God and live his life.

Friday of the second week of Advent

1st Reading: Isaiah 48.17-19 Gospel: Matthew 11.16-19

We have a great lesson to learn today, from the experiences of the Old Testament People of God. From their own experiences, we should avoid their mistakes and listen to the Lord, our redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, who teaches us what is for our good, and leads us on the way we should go. If the Israelites had listened to their God and fulfilled the demands of the covenant, their destiny would have been different. They would not have found themselves in captivity. Even so, the trial they were undergoing, their suffering in exile, was still a means of conversion. God gave them the opportunity to understand their past. Now, they will understand that by the fall of Babylon, the land of their captivity, a new era is beginning to unravel for them. For that reason, they should return to their God and recognize him as the Holy One, their teacher and redeemer, to whom they should listen and whose commandments, they should keep, who would bless and proper them (Isaiah 48:17-19).

As the new Israel, the new people of God, we are given the opportunity to amend our ways in preparation for the coming of the Son of God at Christmas. Through God’s invitation to his people, telling them that if they would listen and keep his commandments and what follows it, we should return to the Lord like the prodigal son, and be converted genuinely like every sinner who returns to God. It is not the will of the Father for anyone to languish in captivity, away from him, because he is merciful. At the same time, he has created us giving us the gift of intelligence and freedom. That is why he makes us experience his great love for us, and giving us the gift of his grace and allows us freedom to either choose his ways or not. Experiencing his great love and touched by his grace, we should take a stance.

In our gospel reading today, observing the indifference of his unconcerned and faithless contemporaries, Jesus says to them, asking what comparison he could use to describe their generation. The comparison here was among Jesus audience who had experienced his ministry with its accompanying miracles, revealing the kingdom of God, present among them. While some accepted and became believing disciples, other either rejected his teaching, or were indifferent to the Christ event. Jesus’ presence brings both judgement and salvation, as well as both healing and division. Today’s gospel as we have heard, focuses on the failure of those who after witnessing Jesus’ ministry in their midst, have failed to respond either for or against (Matthew 11:16-19). They were like children squatting in the town squares, calling to their playmates, neither responding to joyful music, nor to the funeral dirge.

Jesus wants his disciples to have a positive and joyful spirit in their practice of religion. He does not want them to have a gloomy spirit. He wants us to take a stance, to say, ‘yes’ and mean it. We cannot be ‘yes’ and ‘no’ at the same time. Through the church of Laodicea, he tells us that he knows our works. He knows that some of us are neither cold nor hot. For that reason he says that he wishes that we were to take a stance, to be either cold or hot. He does not want anyone to be lukewarm, and so will spit out of his mouth, anyone who is neither hot nor cold (see Revelation 3:15-16).

Jesus wants his followers by taking a stance in religion, to be practical in their religion. St. James will say: show me your faith that has no works, and I will show you the works that underline my faith. Faith without works of love is dead (James 2:14-17). One of the mistakes of the Old Testament people of God, we must avoid, is that of profession of faith in God and belief in their covenant with God, to the neglect of doing what is right before God. Orthodoxy must go hand in hand with orthopraxis; that is, right believing must be coupled with right doing or practice. True religion calls its adherents to translate the mystery dimension of their faith into morality, leading to proper formation, which is the integration of knowing and being in the adherent of the religion.

May God give us the spirit and the grace to form us into true believers, who worship in Spirit and in truth.

Saturday of the 2nd week of Advent

Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11. Gospel: Matthew 17: 10-13

The wise man of the Old Testament, Ben Sirach paid tribute to two great spiritual heroes, Elijah and Elisha (Sirach 48:1-14). Elijah and Elisha were two prophets who stood as God-fearing men. In an era of Baalism and godlessness in Israel, Elijah was like fire, radiant with God’s light, who powerfully defended the faith and upheld Yahweh-ism. Through his preaching, miracles and vengeance against God’s enemies, both within and outside of Israel, the prophet succeeded for a time in destroying idols. He also succeeded in restoring faith and the worship of the true God. The experience of Elijah at Mount Horeb, might have tempered him somehow. He experienced God, neither in the storm and the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the tiny whispering sound or in the silence. His miraculous departure from this life gave rise to the belief that he did not die, but would return before the end of the world, to put an end to wrath and restore the tribes of Israel. His disciple Elisha, who inherited the double portion of his spirit, fearlessly continued the work of his predecessor by numerous miracles, but the obstinacy of the people eventually brought on, the destruction of the kingdom of Israel and the dispersion of its subjects. The kingdom of Judah, however survived under the rule of Davidic kings, both the good ones and the bad ones.

One thing remarkable about Elijah and Elisha is that they were men of strong faith and prayers. They fought against idolatry and sought the will of God. Like them, each of us is called to be a man or woman of prayer, strong faith, always upholding the purity of God, and seeking the will of God in our lives and in the lives of others. In forming his disciples to be like them, Jesus wanted them to have experiential knowledge of the mysteries of the divine realities and to also come to see from the point of view of the Old Testament figures who had knowledge of God. Those Old Testament figures were Moses and Elijah. To this end, he took the inner apostles, Peter, James and John up the mountain of the transfiguration, to experience him in communion with the Father, in conversation with Moses and Elijah, representing the revelation of the old dispensation.

With this experience, the apostles were to know that Moses and Elijah were not dead, but still alive in God. Our communion with God here on earth, will result to our preeminent union with him after this earthly life. But before we can come to this level of union with God, we must make a transition (transitus) from life through the passage way of passion, suffering and death, to come to the fullness of life. This will only bring us to have vision of God, if only we follow the ways of God in this life. This requires the mission of the chosen ones of God, like Moses and Elijah.

It is what necessitates the coming back of Elijah as clarified by Jesus in answer to the question asked by his disciples as why the scribes say that Elijah must come back. In reply, Jesus says that Elijah is indeed coming, and will restore everything. Continuing, Jesus affirmed that Elijah has already come, and was not recognized, as his contemporaries did as they pleased with him. He goes on to say that the Son of Man will likewise suffer at their hands (Matthew 17: 10-13).

What Jesus is speaking about is the repetition of the characteristics and what happened to the Old Testament figures, in John the Baptist, and their continuity in him, flowing into his disciples and would-be disciples within the church.

The way of passion, sufferings, cross and death lead to the vision of God, now assured and glorified through the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

How about us? Let our prayer be that through the trials, challenges and difficulties of this life, we shall come to the glories of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Our Lord.

Monday of the third week of Advent

1st Reading: Numbers 24.2-7, 15-17a Gospel: Matthew 21.23-27

Our reflection brings us into the experience of the people of God as they journeyed en- route to the Promised Land. When Israel encamped in the plains of Moab, on the other side of the Jericho stretch of the Jordan, Balak the king of Moab sent for Balaam to come and curse Israel, so they might be able to defeat them and drive them out of their country (Numbers 22:6). When at last Balaam was persuaded to come, he could not curse Israel, even his donkey spoke. The angel of the Lord stopped it. The Lord then removed the veil from Balaam’s eyes, so that he too saw the angel of the Lord standing on the road with sword drawn; and he fell on his knees and bowed to the ground. The angel of the Lord asked Balaam why he had beaten his ass three times, knowing that he was armed to hinder his rash journey. The angel told him that the ass stopped, because she saw him, and knew that he would have killed him, and sparing the ass. At this, Balaam begged for forgiveness of his sin and wanted to abort his journey. The angel allowed him to continue with his journey, but only to say what he would tell him to say (Numbers 22:31-35).

When Balaam finally arrived, he could not curse Israel to the disappointment of Balak and his officials. In his first oracle. He asked: how can I curse whom God has not cursed (Numbers 23:8)? In his second oracle, Balaam made it clear to Balak that it is a blessing he had been given to pronounce; a blessing which he could not restrain (Numbers 23:20). In the third oracle, raising his eyes and seeing Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the spirit of God came upon him and Balaam spoke in blessing, announcing a glorious future for the people of God, seeing from the distant past a star from Jacob and a staff of kingship which shall rise from Israel. He says that Israel’s king shall rise higher, and his royalty shall be exalted. He goes on to say that he sees him, though not then; he beholds him, though not near, that a star was going to advance from Jacob, and a staff was going to rise from Israel (Numbers 24: 2-7, 15-17).

This Messianic prophecy from the distant past, refers to the eternal kingship of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and of the Davidic kingship, the eternal and universal king. Fulfilling this prophecy, Jesus reigned as king in a humble and subtle way. He did not reign in the way and manner of earthly kings; he came to serve, not to be served; he came to reveal the love of God for mankind; he chose the ways of suffering and death. His contemporaries recognized that he worked with power and authority, healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, performing all kinds of cures and signs of God’s kingdom. That is why, in today’s gospel reading, after he entered the temple precincts, and while he was teaching, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to him and wanted to know on what authority he was doing his ministry and who gave him the power. By asking them a rhetorical question, wanting to know from them where the power and authority with which John the Baptist ministered, the questioners, could not answer, and so, were not answered, but seeing the solution, they were silenced (Matthew 21:23-27). Jesus himself will refer to his power and authority, as the finger of God. He would say that if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, know that the kingdom of God has come upon you (Luke 11:20).

In his earthly ministry, Jesus exercised his reign by overcoming all the forces and powers of darkness. He revealed the Father of love, whose kingdom of light, truth and love, excludes none of his children. Jesus now continues his divine work in our time by means of his Body the Church. May he continue to reign as king over us now and forever.

Tuesday of the third week of Advent

1st Reading: Zephaniah 3.1-2, 9-13 Gospel: Matthew 21.28-32

The prophet Zephaniah’s message ushers us into a spiritual preparation, enabling us to be among the remnant who repent of their sins, who will experience the presence of God among his people, upon whom he will pour out his love. The prophet Zephaniah originally preached in response to the immorality of the kings of Judah, namely Manasseh and Amon. For that reason, he proclaimed the coming of the day of the Lord, which would be a day of judgement and of condemnation that would doom all in Judah and Jerusalem who had worshipped false gods. That day of the Lord will proceed to destroy the nations that had both threatened and corrupted Israel. Afterwards, the prophet