Fourth Sunday of Advent

 

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Matthew 1:18–24

Friends, in today’s Gospel, an angel tells Joseph in a dream to name his son Jesus “because he will save his people from their sins.” The rightful King has returned to reclaim what is his and to let the prisoners go free. The God announced by all the prophets and patriarchs—by Abraham, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Isaiah—is a God of justice, and this means that he burns to set things right. God hates the sin and violence and injustice that have rendered gloomy his beautiful world, and therefore he comes into that world as a warrior, ready to fight. But he arrives (and here is the delicious irony of Christmas) stealthily, clandestinely—sneaking, as it were, unnoticed behind enemy lines. The King comes as a helpless infant, born of insignificant parents in a small town of a distant outpost of the Roman Empire. He will conquer through the finally irresistible power of love, the same power with which he made the universe. Bishop Robert Barron “AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM.”   Children, being so small and vulnerable, are very approachable, and we are drawn to love them and to delight in them. God could have come in another way, but He chose to enter human history as a child in a human family so that we might not fear to come close to Him, to love Him, and to delight in Him. Three times in Sunday’s Mass we hear these words of the Prophet Isaiah: “The virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.” Pope Benedict commented on the warmth of Christmas by referring to St. Francis and his crib, saying:   Indeed, the night at Greccio restored to Christianity the intensity and beauty of the Feast of Christmas and taught the People of God to perceive its most authentic message, its special warmth, and to love and worship the humanity of Christ.   … Easter had focused attention on the power of God who triumphs over death, inaugurates new life and teaches us to hope in the world to come. St. Francis with his crib highlighted the defenceless love of God, his humanity and his kindness; God manifested himself to humanity in the Incarnation of the Word to teach people a new way of living and loving. (Wednesday Audience, 23 December 2009)   Child Jesus, teach us this “new way of living and loving” as we delight in the “special warmth” of this time when we are drawn to your “defenceless love.”   In the Child Jesus,   Fr. Joseph Mary   P.S. If you are inspired by this message, please forward this email to your loved ones or encourage them to join our Advent journey.

Thoughts on Gabriel's visit with Mary

 

Third Week of Advent

Luke 1:26–38

Friends, in today’s Gospel, the angel Gabriel reveals to Mary that she will bear a son who will reign from David’s throne. As background, note that God had promised that David’s throne would last forever, but his line had apparently been broken in 587 BC. Six hundred years later, Gabriel appeared to Mary, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph of the house of David. Greeting her as “full of grace,” the angel announces that she will conceive in her womb and bear a son. “He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.” Then comes the kicker that would have taken the breath away from any first-century Jew listening to the story: “And the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” What seemed to have come to an end had in fact just gone underground and was now ready to appear fully in the light. The kingly line of David was in fact unsevered, and now the full meaning of God’s promise would be revealed. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Christmas

Matthew 1:18-24

My mother had what I thought a curious Christmas habit. She would buy a few extra gifts for unexpected Christmas visitors, who might bring gifts for us. She even cleverly coded these gifts according to the wrapping: woman’s, man’s, girl’s, boy’s. This old custom saved her more than once from the embarrassment of not being prepared. Now there are only four days until Christmas. Are you prepared? Have you forgotten a gift for someone?

The Gospel of the 4^th Sunday of Advent always focuses on Our Blessed Mother. Perhaps she is the one that we have forgotten so far this Advent? Sometimes Advent preparation focuses entirely on Jesus, but of course, Mary is essentially important for Christmas, too.           

Today’s Gospel recounts the angel’s assurance to Joseph. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”

When considering the miraculous Annunciation to Mary, I have frequently marveled that her first thought after hearing the angel’s wonderful news is to think of someone else in need. She has learned that Elizabeth, her “kinswoman has conceived a son in her old age” and is now in her sixth month. Mary rushes to Elizabeth (“proceeding in haste”) to help her. Here is the perfect Christian response. Here is the way to say Yes to God.

We, too, are in need. We are sinners who struggle to believe and who struggle to live our Faith as we know God wills. But now, late in Advent, we are part of a Visitation of the BVM. Mary, our mother, “proceeds in haste” to help us at this time of year especially.

Perhaps we can take time in these last few days before Christmas to welcome Mary into our heart. 

We may not be prepared for Christmas. We may not have all the gifts ready, all the shopping completed. 

Perhaps we have not taken much time for spiritual preparation this Advent. Still, Our Blessed Mother rushes to help us as the time draws near. 

She will calm us and tell us that all will be well. She will encourage us and assure us that Our Lord was born into this world because He loves us so much. She will guide us these last few days before Christmas and teach us how to prepare as we should. She will lovingly remind us to follow her example: To say yes to God’s will; to think of others in need.

Perhaps we will never be so organized and prepared for Christmas as to have extra gifts ready, just in case. However, we can still be spiritually prepared if we try to take the time to welcome Mary into our hearts, and if we make the effort to follow her example in the Annunciation and Visitation: Say yes to God’s will; think of others in need.                

-Fr. Don Saunders, SJ

Thoughts on Joseph

 

Third Week of Advent

Matthew 1:18–25

Friends, today’s Gospel centers on one of the most beloved figures in Christian history: Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. He’s featured in countless works of art and is prominent in the devotional lives of many. Yet we know almost nothing about him. The scant verses here in Matthew offer the most extensive description, yet even they reveal some powerful spiritual themes. First, we discover Mary was betrothed to Joseph and this union had been blessed by God. But then Joseph finds his betrothed is pregnant. Can you imagine the distress? This must have been an emotional maelstrom for him. And at a deeper level, it was a spiritual crisis. What did God want him to do? But then an angel appears to him in a dream and tells him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.” He realizes at that moment that these puzzling events are part of God’s much greater plan. What appears to be a disaster from his perspective is meaningful from God’s perspective. Joseph was willing to cooperate with the divine plan, though he in no way knew its contours or deepest purpose. Like his wife, Mary, at the annunciation, he trusted and let himself be led. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on the genealogy of Jesus

 

Third Week of Advent

Matthew 1:1–17

Friends, today’s Gospel records the genealogy of Jesus. It was desperately important for Matthew to show that Jesus didn’t just appear out of the blue. Rather, he came out of a rich, densely textured history. St. Irenaeus tells us that the incarnation had been taking place over a long period of time, with God gradually accustoming himself to the human race. Look at this long line of characters: saints, sinners, cheats, prostitutes, murderers, poets, kings, insiders, and outsiders—all leading to the Christ. Of course, King David is mentioned. He was, without doubt, a great figure, the king who united the nation. But he was also an adulterer and a murderer. From this long line of the great and not-so-great, the prominent and obscure, saints and sinners, and kings and paupers came “Jesus who is called the Christ.” God became one of us, in all of our grace and embarrassment, in all of our beauty and ordinariness. God had a series of human ancestors, and, like most families, they were kind of a mixed bag. And what good news this is for us! It means that God can bring the Christ to birth even in people like us. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on authority

 

Third Week of Advent

Matthew 21:23–27

Friends, in today’s Gospel, the chief priests and elders question Jesus: “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” The Greek word used for “authority” is most enlightening: exousia. It means, literally, “from the being of.” Jesus speaks with the very exousia of God, and therefore, his words effect what they say. He says, “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43), and the dead man comes out of the tomb. He rebukes the wind and says to the sea, “Be still!” (Mark 4:39), and there is calm. And the night before he dies, he takes bread and says, “This is my body” (Matt 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19). And what he says is. Friends, this is the authority of the Church. If we are simply the guardians of one interesting philosophical perspective among many, then we are powerless. If we rely on our own cleverness in argumentation, then we will fail. Our power comes—and this remains a great mystery—only when we speak with the authority of Jesus Christ. Bishop Robert Barron

More thoughts on Gaudete Sunday

Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, is a time of joy and anticipation in the liturgical calendar. The name "Gaudete" comes from the Latin word for "rejoice," and this Sunday invites us to rejoice in the near arrival of our Savior. 

The liturgical color of rose used on this day symbolizes joy and hope amidst the penitential season of Advent.

As we celebrate this moment of joyful expectation, it is a perfect opportunity to reflect on the profound message of Our Lady of Fatima and her Immaculate Heart. Our Lady's call to prayer, penance, and conversion resonates deeply with the spirit of Advent.

Her message invites us to prepare our hearts for Christ's coming with sincerity and devotion!

The Immaculate Heart of Mary, full of grace and love, offers a model for our own preparation. 

Just as Gaudete Sunday encourages us to find joy in our journey towards Christ, Our Lady of Fatima’s Immaculate Heart reminds us of the transformative power of opening our hearts to God's grace and love. 

Her example of purity, humility, and unwavering faith can inspire us to approach this Advent season with renewed fervor and devotion.

Let us, therefore, use this Gaudete Sunday as an opportunity to rejoice in the hope of Christ’s coming, while also embracing the call of Our Lady of Fatima. 

Wishing you a blessed Gaudete Sunday and a joyful Advent season!

In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

Christopher P. Wendt
International Director
Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima

Third Sunday of Advent

 

Third Sunday of Advent

Matthew 11:2–11

Friends, in today’s Gospel, John the Baptist asks if Jesus is “the one . . . or should we look for another?” When this inquiry is conveyed to Jesus, the Lord does not respond theoretically but rather by pointing to things that are happening. “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 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.” Was Jesus doing all of this in the literal sense? Yes! That he was a miracle worker and a healer was one of the most fundamental perceptions regarding Jesus. When God came among us in Christ, he effected the work of repairing his broken and hurting creation. He is not interested simply in souls but in bodies as well. And so we hear indeed of the man born blind, of Bartimaeus, of the paralyzed man lowered down through the roof to Jesus, of the woman with the flow of blood, of the man who is deaf and dumb to whom Jesus says “Ephphatha!” (Be opened!). We hear of Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Our Lady of Guadalupe

 

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Luke 1:39–47

Friends, today we celebrate the great feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. What followed the apparition of Mary at Tepeyac is one of the most astounding chapters in the history of Christian evangelism. In 1531, on the hill of Tepeyac, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego—a humble Indigenous man—and left behind one of the greatest miracles in the history of the Church: her image, imprinted on his tilma. Though Franciscan missionaries had been laboring in Mexico for twenty years, they had made little progress. But within ten years of the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, practically the entire Mexican people, nine million strong, had converted to Christianity. Our Lady of Guadalupe had proved a more effective evangelist than Peter, Paul, Patrick, and Francis Xavier combined! And with that great national conversion, the Aztec practice of human sacrifice came to an end. She had done battle with fallen spirits and had won a culture-changing victory for the God of love. Our Lady of Guadalupe continues to inspire hearts and call people to her Son throughout the world today. Her message of compassion, unity, and conversion still resounds powerfully across cultures and generations. The challenge for us who honor her today is to join the same fight. We must announce to our culture today the truth of the God of Israel, the God of Jesus Christ, the God of nonviolence and forgiving love. And we ought, like Our Lady of Guadalupe, to be bearers of Jesus to a world that needs him more than ever. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Gaudete Sunday

                                                                 

Who do you believe is the greatest human being to have lived? In today’s Gospel Jesus says it is John the Baptist: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist . . . .” (Mt. 11:11) Certainly, John the Baptist was impressive: He was the culmination of all the Old Testament prophets; he had the courage to be unpopular; he was strong and unwavering, clearly announcing the arrival of the Messiah. But rather surprisingly, Jesus continues: “Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

           

We are those “least in the kingdom of heaven.” John the Baptist lacked that which the simplest Christian has, what we have: John never knew of the Cross; he never saw the Cross of Christ. So, he never knew the full revelation of God’s love.

 

The Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday (Rejoice Sunday). That’s why the vestments are rose colored and flowers adorn the altar. Why should we rejoice? Because Christmas draws near. But the more complete reason lies in three things: the crib, the Cross, and the Church.

• If we look to the crib, we see the hope of new life, and the fulfillment of all God’s promises.
• If we look to the Cross, we see the assurance of God’s love, and the redemptive value of suffering.
• If we look to the Church, we see the abiding presence of God in the world; His grace,

His sacraments, and His forgiveness even now.

This Wednesday marks the 182^nd anniversary of the publication of the world’s best loved Christmas story, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, published December 17, 1843.

• It’s called by literary scholars the “most outstanding Christmas myth of modern literature.”
• Dickens said that he laughed and cried over this short novel as he did over no other.
• A Christmas Carol has changed hearts and spread love at Christmas for 182 years.
• Because it’s all about the changed heart of Ebenezer Scrooge and his spreading love.

How much more should the truth of God’s love for us (crib, Cross, Church) change our hearts and inspire us to spread Christian love this Advent and Christmastide?

 

We have been blessed even beyond John the Baptist. We, the “least in the kingdom of heaven,” are greater than he! John knew the crib, but we know the love of God in the Cross and in the Church.

On Gaudete Sunday we should be confident to rejoice, knowing God’s love for us, trusting that He can change our hearts to be ever more like His. 

-Fr. Don Saunders, SJ

An Advent prayer

 

An Advent prayer of joy

Lord, we are filled with joy because of You. We sing praises to Your Name, O Most High! We rejoice because of You, and we want to say it again! Rejoice! We know You are near; Emmanuel is coming! 

This Advent season, remind us of the joy we have as we anticipate Your arrival a second time, but also that You are with us, in our presence here and now.

God, we long to always have the joy that comes only from You in our lives - not just happiness that is temporary. We know that joy is deeper and given to us only through your Holy Spirit.

We sing with joy to You as Mary did after learning of her holy pregnancy:

Our souls are ecstatic, overflowing with praises to You, God!
Our spirits burst with joy over our life-giving God! O Mighty One, You have worked a mighty miracle for us; Holy is Your name! Mercy kisses all who revere You, from one generation to the next.

We also sing joy to the world because You have come! Let earth receive her king! Let each of our hearts prepare room for You, as heaven and nature sing.

In wonder and joy, we watch the events of your birth, and with awe we perceive your cross and your crown from afar. Maranatha: come, Lord Jesus. Sustain us, uphold us, redeem us.

Repeating the sounding joy,

Amen.

- Beth Hildebrand

More thoughts on the Immaculate Conception

 

Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.   In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception:   The Most Holy Virgin Mary was, in the very first moment of her conception, by a unique gift of grace and privilege of Almighty God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin. (Ineffabilis Deus, Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius IX on the Immaculate Conception)   Thus, the Church teaches that the Blessed Mother was redeemed by her Son, just as we are, but by a Divine anticipation of the merits of the Word-made-flesh. Like Eve before her, she was not subject to the Fall and thus to the prince of this world. However, unlike Eve, she would never surrender that freedom which God’s grace provided her.

We encourage you to read our special page dedicated to the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, where we answer questions such as: How do we know Mary was immaculately conceived? Is the Immaculate Conception in the Bible? Why did God choose Mary? How are the Immaculate Conception, Lourdes, and St. Bernadette related? On the page, we also offer a free eBook, The Immaculate Conception Novena, to help you reflect more deeply on the Blessed Virgin Mary’s obedient heart to God’s Will and her unique role as Mother of our Savior.  We pray this page and eBook will help you grow in devotion to our Blessed Mother, who always points us to her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.    In Christ,   Your EWTN Family

Thoughts on the Immaculate Conception

 

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Luke 1:26–38

Friends, today we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Church Fathers consistently referred to Mary as the New Eve, which is to say, the one who reversed the momentum started by the mother of the human race. The Ave of the angel was seen as the reversal of Eva. While Eve grasped at divinity, Mary said, “May it be done to me.” Here’s the liberating paradox: Passivity before objective values is precisely what makes life wonderful. Allowing oneself to be invaded and rearranged by objective value is what makes life worth living. And this applies unsurpassably to our relationship with God. The message that your life is not about you does indeed crush the false self that would bend the whole world to its purposes, but it sets free the true self. The immaculate conception itself is concealed in the privacy of salvation history, but the effects of it are on clear display in this Gospel. In the presence of the supreme value, we ought to say, along with Mary, “May it be done to me!” Bishop Robert Barron

Second Sunday of Advent

Second Sunday of Advent 

Matthew 3:1–12 

Friends, today St. Matthew compels us to come to grips with the great Advent figure of John the Baptist. It’s really impossible to grasp the significance of Jesus without passing through the cleansing bath of John the Baptist. He provides a lens through which Jesus is properly interpreted. John, Matthew tells us, made his appearance as a preacher in the desert of Judea. Deserts are places of simplicity and poverty, places where distractions and attachments are eliminated—and hence where the voice of God can be heard. Wealth, pleasure, power, honor—and all of their avatars and priests—are shouting at us, luring us, tempting us. But what is God saying? We have to go to these silent and deserted places in order to hear. What is the first thing that the prophet says? “Repent!” This word cuts to the heart of every one of us, precisely because we all know that our lives are not where they are supposed to be. We have all fallen short of the glory of God; we have all fallen into patterns of self-absorption and addiction. So let us hear John’s word today: “Repent!”

Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Advent

 2^nd Sunday of Advent

Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand                         

                                                                                               

The Church’s new season of Advent began last Sunday, so let us review a few basics about the season. Advent is a special season of the Church’s year to prepare for Christmas. The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means “a coming, approach, arrival.” Advent has a double purpose:

1. It is a season to prepare for Christmas when Christ’s first coming is remembered.

2. It is also a season to look forward to and prepare for Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time.

In today's Gospel John the Baptist tells us that the essential way in which we prepare is through repentance. How might we go about preparing through penance?

It has long seemed to me that a practical method of Advent preparation and repentance is suggested in an English Renaissance poem little known today, the “Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” written by John Milton in December 1629. This poem follows a favorite theme of Renaissance Christian humanists: the birth of Christ causes the classical pagan gods to flee. Milton’s banished gods include Pan, Apollo, the Lars (gods of cities or houses) and Lemures (spirits of the dead), Peor, Baalim, Ashtaroth, Haamon, Thammuz, Moloch, Isis, Orus, Anubis, Osiris, Typhon.

           

The banishing of this litany of gods epitomizes to me the project of Advent. We must attempt to banish our false gods. How do we banish and cause false gods to flee? 

We must repent, as John the Baptist makes clear in today’s Gospel. We might ask what false gods affect us? What gods must we dispel? For each of us these are different, but we should take time to consider and reflect, as the struggle against false gods is the very heart of the first of the Ten Commandments.

Perhaps I have made a false god of a few of these common today: My own pride, opinions? Perhaps I think myself always right? Is worry so common that I dwell on it rather than on the goodness and Providence of the True God? Maybe my work is a god? What about my comfort and convenience? Perhaps sensual pleasure and recreation?

Placing my interest, hope, and desires in things that draw me into materialism and excessive consumerism? Or maybe I am prone to seek as distractions specious joviality, social festivities, frenetic activities to the exclusion of time for reflection, time for prayer?

May we be given the grace necessary for our essential Advent project.

With the help of the True God, may we banish our individual false gods to prepare for the re-birth of Christ in our hearts, meeting Him once more this Christmas, and meeting Him when He returns in glory.

Besides a season of preparing to meet Christ, Advent is also a season of waiting and hope. Advent waiting is not the common and irritating waiting that we so frequently endure; it is not a time of doing nothing. Rather, it is a time of faith filled with expectation of joy. This waiting can even be a type of service rendered to God. As John Milton concluded Sonnet 19, “On His Blindness” (c. 1652): “They also serve who only stand and wait.”   

-Fr. Don Saunders, SJ

Thoughts on divine events

 

Making Sense of our Story

From: Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith

A faith community reminds us continuously of what really is happening in the world and in our lives. The church liturgy and lectionary – commonly used prayers, rituals, scripture passages, and a calendar that follows Christ's life throughout the year – unfold for us, for example, the fullness of the Christ-event. Christ is coming, Christ is being born, Christ manifests himself to the world, Christ is suffering, Christ is dying, Christ is being raised up, Christ is ascending into heaven, Christ is sending the Spirit. These events are not simply events that took place long ago and which are remembered with a certain melancholy, but they are events that take place in the day-to-day life of the Christian community. In and through the life of Christ, remembered in community and worship, God makes his active presence known to us. That is what Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost are all about. The Church calls our attention to the divine events that underlie all of history and which allow us to make sense out of our own story.

“So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”   - Romans 7: 4

Thoughts on the Holy Trinity

 

First Week of Advent

Luke 10:21–24

Friends, today in the Gospel, we hear Jesus in intimate conversation with his Father. The passage invites us into very deep mysteries. Jesus addresses his Father and thereby reveals his own deepest identity within the Holy Trinity. He says, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” It is important to keep in mind that this is not simply a good and holy man addressing God but rather the very Son of God addressing his Father. We are being given a share in the inner life of God, the conversation between the first two Trinitarian persons. And what are the “things” that have been concealed from the learned and revealed to the little ones? Nothing other than the mystery of Jesus’s relationship to his Father, the love that obtains between Father and Son, the inner life of God. From the beginning, this is what God wanted to give us. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Christian faith

 

First Week of Advent

Matthew 8:5–11

Friends, today in our Gospel, Jesus praises the faith of a Roman centurion. How often the Bible compels us to meditate on the meaning of faith! We might say that the Scriptures rest upon faith and remain inspired at every turn by the spirit of faith. One of the most fundamental statements of Christian faith is this: Your life is not about you. This is not your project. Rather, you are part of God’s great design. To believe this in your bones and to act accordingly is to have faith. When we operate out of this transformed vision, amazing things can happen, for we have surrendered to a power already at work in us “who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph 3:20). This is precisely what we see in the lives of the saints: Mother Teresa moving into the worst slum in the world in an attitude of trust; Francis of Assisi just abandoning everything and living for God; Rose Hawthorne deciding to take cancer sufferers into her own home; Anthony leaving everything behind and going into the desert; Maximilian Kolbe saying, “I’m a Catholic priest; take me in his place.” This is how faith transforms the Christian life. Bishop Robert Barron