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Dear Friend, At times we discover
that our lives are a bundle of contradictions! There are times when we want
things to happen fast, we find the pace of life too slow and we keep pushing
ourselves and others to the limit. We want fast food, quick results; we want
speed and become easily impatient. On the other hand we want to move at our
own pace and don’t want to be pushed. Especially when it comes to changing
our behavior and bad habits we want to do it when we want. We resist change.
We will act but not now! Perhaps God is calling us to change something in our
lives right now before it is too late! Have a hopeful weekend looking forward
to a change of heart! Fr. Jude Botelho |
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In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah we
hear about the coming of the Messiah and the kind of justice and peace he
would bring. Isaiah foretells that even though the family tree of Jesse has
been reduced to a mere stump, nevertheless from that stump will spring – a
true king filled with the Spirit and endowed with all the virtues of his
ancestors. The new king, the Messiah will be a champion of the poor and will
restore justice and peace for all. The prophet has a marvelous vision of the
kingdom of God in which all violence will be overcome and people will live
in unity and harmony with nature and
with one another. The second reading from St.
Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds the readers that God is faithful to his
promises. God does not forget his promises to Israel and he is merciful with
regard to the pagans. Paul speaks of the importance of hope on our faith journey.
Those who do not give up will experience God’s help. Paul also asks his
followers to support one another by being tolerant and friendly towards one
another. The model for us is always the Lord Jesus –‘Treat one another in the
same way as Christ treated you.’ Hope in the Lord The message of John does not differ from that of Jesus Christ. In
today’s Gospel John is compared to the voice crying out in the wilderness:
“Repent for the kingdom of God is close at hand. Prepare a way for the Lord
and make his paths straight.” John
calls everyone to change, from the Pharisees and Sadducees, leaders of
religion to the common man in the street.
John calls the whole of Israel to change. If the people do not change,
John says a catastrophe will destroy Israel. To repent would imply a change
of heart, a change of attitude, a change of the way we live. John’s life
itself was a witness to his message. The people heard him and were drawn to
him and were influenced by him. The gospel tells us that the crowds came to
him, confessed their sins and were baptized by him. John was not satisfied
with mere ritual actions. He confronted his listeners: “If you are repentant,
produce the appropriate fruit, show with your lives your true repentance……
Any tree that fails to produce fruit will be cut down and thrown into the
fire.” He warns the Pharisees that it will avail them nothing to plead that
Abraham is their father. To the Jew Abraham was unique. So unique was he in
goodness and in his favour with God that his merits sufficed not only for
himself but for all his descendants also. He had built a treasury of merit
which not all the claims and needs of his descendants could exhaust. So the
Jews believed that a Jew, simply because he was a Jew, and not for any merit
of his own, was safe in the life to come. Similarly, we too sometimes tend to
believe, that just because we were baptized Catholics we will be saved. Jesus
challenges this belief. If we are followers of Jesus Christ our lives should
bear evidence of this fact. Jesus also warns us of retribution to come which
imposes on us a two-fold task: personal repentance, and preparation of the
ways by which he who saves is to come. Untattoo You A few years ago a newspaper columnist reported on an unusual
programme. It dealt with removing unwanted tattoos –especially gang-related
tattoos –from the bodies of young people. A surprising thing happened after
the column appeared. Over a thousand letters flooded in from young people all
over the country, asking more about the programme. Because of this remarkable
response, the Los Angele School District and a local cable television company
produced a film called Untattoo You. It told of the dangers of amateur
tattooing and showed how difficult it was to remove small tattoos from arms
and faces and larger tattoos from chests and backs. The stars of the film
were young people themselves. They talked frankly about why they were
tattooed in the first place and why they now wanted the tattoos removed. The
film eventually won a national award and was distributed throughout the
country. - The story behind the film Untattoo You illustrates an
important point. All of us have done things in our past that we now regret
and would like to erase. This is not just true of young people. It is even
more true of older people. The tragic thing about all of this is that so many
people regret what they did but don’t know what to do about it now. So they
live with the mistake. However, just as young people rejoiced when they
discovered a way to remove their unwanted tattoos, so we Catholics rejoice
that Jesus gave us a way to remove our sins. Advent reminds us of the great
gift Jesus made available to us, and it urges us to use this gift. Something
can be done now about our mistakes. “Prepare a way for the Lord!” Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ "Jesus and John preached the same message to the same people.
John, ‘the voice crying in the wilderness’ expressed his own sense of being
unworthy to precede the Messiah. His baptism too, is only ‘in water’ and not
‘with the Holy Spirit’. We are put off by this single minded and severe
prophet, just as we are by the seemingly formidable and intolerant God of the
Old Covenant. Perhaps we can forget them both, since we are children of a
kingdom of love and grace? John the Baptist’s message should make us see the
range of our problems in the light of God and with reference to God. It
should lead us away from the domain of sin into the domain of love, which is
‘strong as death’-of love whose ray is like a flash of fire –the fire of
Yahweh himself. This love cannot be taken lightly, John warns us. We must
look to the Christ’s coming – the King who is here and now and on the last
day separates the chaff from the wheat.” - Glenstal Sunday Missal God at the Window There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their
farm. He was given a sling to play out in the woods, but he could never hit
his target. Little discouraged, his headed back home for the evening tea. As
he was walking back he saw grandma’s pet duck. Just out of an impulse, he let
the sling fly, it hit the duck on the head and killed it. He was shocked and
grieved. He quickly dug a hole and hid the duck in the mud, only to find his
sister watching him. Mary kept quiet. The following day, after lunch, grandma
called Mary to do the dishes. Mary smiled and said, “Grandma, Johnny said he
wanted to help you in the kitchen.” Then she turned to Johnny and whispered.
“Remember the duck.” And Johnny did the dishes. In the evening grandpa called
the children to go fishing. Grandma said, “Sorry, I want Mary to help me make
the dinner.” Then Mary smiled and said, “Well grandma, Johnny told me that he
would like to help you to prepare the dinner.” Then turning to Johnny she
whispered, “Remember the duck.” Mary went for fishing while Johnny stayed
back to help grandma to prepare the dinner. After many days of doing his
chores and his sister’s he could not stand it any longer. He went and
confessed to his grandma that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down and
hugged him and said, “Sweetheart, I know that you killed the duck, I was
standing at the window and saw everything. But because I love you, I had
forgiven you. I was just wondering how long you would allow many to make a
slave of you.” Johnny’s confession led to his liberation. When we confess we
do not tell God what he does not know. He knows everything because he is
standing at the window. Our failure to confess enslaves us. John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’ Do it Now! According to the label, Drambuie was the liqueur of Prince
Charles Edward, the famous ‘Bonnie Prince Charles.’ In a recent magazine,
Drambuie was advertized as: Why wait for your promotion or next raise? Why
wait for the holidays? Why wait for tomorrow? In other words, now is
the time to enjoy Drambuie, Now is the time to sip this smooth
liqueur. Now is the time to savour its distinctive taste. Typical of many
ads, there is a note of urgency in the Drambuie commercial. Tomorrow may be
too late. Act now! -Today’s Scripture too has a note of urgency in it,
not for the purpose of selling a liqueur, but for the purpose of arousing us
to reform our lives. Why wait for the prophet to return? Why wait for the
promised Messiah to come? Why wait for the kingdom of God to be established?
All these things are already happening. Now is the time to experience
these events by reforming your lives. Now is the time to change your
attitude and conduct. Tomorrow may be too late. Act now! Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’ May we repent and change our
lives now! Fr. Jude
Botelho |
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Other Sunday Homily Websites Daily Reflections Immaculate Heart Retreat Center Gospel Commentary from Ireland Daily Scripture |
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Sunday Reflections First Sunday of Advent 02-Dec. 2007 Thirty-Fourth Sunday of the Year 25-Nov. 2007 Thirty-Third Sunday of the Year 18-Nov. 2007 Thirty-Second Sunday of the Year 11-Nov. 2007 Thirty-First
Sunday of the Year 04-Nov. 2007 Thirtieth
Sunday of the Year 28-Oct. 2007 Twenty-Nineth
Sunday of the Year 21-Oct. 2007
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