Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 30, 2025: So it will be at the coming of the Son of Man...

So it will be at the coming of the Son of Man…
 Can we carry on as usual when Jesus is about to enter our lives? 

    If Jesus walked into your home and woke you from a deep sleep, do you suppose life would suddenly be different? And are you prepared for that? In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tries to convince his disciples always to look to the future, to be awake and aware of all of the ways in which upcoming changes in their day-to-day existence are about to radically transform how they understand themselves, their lives, their very identity. Therefore, stay awake, he tells them, for you do not know on which day your Lord will come… and when he does, look out! 

    Advent invites us to contemplate not only the imminent Incarnation of Jesus at Christmas, but also the age to come, a new age that also promises radical change and transformation. As Paul tells the Roman community, the night is advanced, the day is at hand; to be properly prepared, we must put on Christ. We who have come to faith now know who Christ is, and what he came to reveal; we can therefore no longer dwell in darkness of a past age, but must, by baptism, enter into new age with our eyes open. Like the people in Isaiah’s time, we must pay attention to the Word of God, for from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Remaining open to radical transformation, we will be able to walk in the light of the Lord, awake, aware, prepared for Jesus’ coming, joy-filled at the imminent possibility of standing in the presence of the Lord, inviting all with the words of Psalm 122: Let us go rejoicing… 

    For life with Christ is radically different, transformative; once we have let him enter in, we can no longer carry on as usual. The new age to come offers us a new encounter with God, an invitation to be open, and to enter into relationship more fully than ever before; Advent is an opportunity to ponder this mystery. How will it be for you at the coming of the Son of Man? 

This "vintage" post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture Class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 1, 2024: Strengthen your hearts...

Strengthen your hearts…

How can Christians stand erect and raise their heads

in moments of trial and tribulation? 

    In Luke’s Gospel, as his teaching ministry in Jerusalem comes to a close, just before his Passion, Jesus speaks to his disciples of the tribulations that are imminent, reminding them that they must be vigilant at all times, and pray that they have the strength to escape the tribulations and to stand before the Son of Man. Some people will die of fright, Jesus says, but the disciples know the Lord, know how to remain in right relationship with him, and thus know that their redemption is at hand. They must continue to trust, therefore, in the promises given through the prophet Jeremiah: that the just shoot that is Jesus shall do what is right and just in the land. 

    We want to know the ways of the Lord; we would rather have certainty than signs, definite answers rather than dismay. But, as Psalm 25 reminds us, the friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him, and his covenant, for their instruction. It is openness to this instruction and trust in the Lord our justice that allow all Christians to stand erect and raise their heads in moments of trial and tribulation. The psalmist prays, Your ways, o Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths; we echo this prayer as we wait for the coming of Christ. 

    Yet, as St. Paul tells the Thessalonians, we have simply to conduct ourselves in such a way as to please God, according to the instructions given to us through the Lord Jesus to be assured of eternal life. If we are open to God’s love active in our lives, then the Lord will make us increase and abound in love for one another and for all – a sure way for us to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus. Constant vigilance, as the refrain goes, is essential. Don’t lose sight of the goal that is eternal life; don’t lose sight of the face of God who loves you and who calls you to union with him; don’t lose sight of the love that is ours, but remain strong in heart, dedicated to the one Lord Jesus Christ. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture classes and homilies.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 3, 2023: We are all the work of your hands...

We are all the work of your hands…

Are we letting God’s love work in our lives? 

    Toward the end of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the people of Israel are nearing the end of their exile in Babylon. Knowing they have incurred distance from the Lord, their God, they pray, Return for the sake of your servants. Although they recognize their own sin – our guilt carries us away like the wind, they admit – they still don’t realize that it’s not God who hardens their hearts, but they themselves who need to allow God in, that their hearts might be softened. Where love is allowed to work, hardness of heart cannot exist. Their error is similar to that described Psalm 80: Lord, make us turn to you. The distance of the people from the Lord is their own choice; they are not who he made them to be, but who they themselves have chosen to be. Our salvation depends on our own choice to be obedient to God’s will; the change required needs to happen in us, not in the Lord. Only once we become clay in the hands of God our Father, accepting of his will, can love truly be at work in us. 

    The Corinthians were notorious for going in their own direction, rather than accepting the will of God. Paul’s first letter to that community calls them to something that they are not currently participating in: union in Christ. God has bestowed grace on them; have they received it? Or are they still relying on their own spiritual gifts as they wait for the revelation of Christ? Paul reminds the Corinthians that God is faithful, and that they were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. But they must choose to open to his love revealed in their lives, and accept the union, the fellowship, he offers. Are they ready? 

    Be watchful! Be alert! Jesus says to his disciples toward the end of Mark’s Gospel. We don’t know when the Second Coming will occur, when the lord of the house is coming, as Jesus puts it, but so long as we are who God made us to be, servants commissioned to love the human race, so long as we live the faith, we can rest assured that we will be ready for all God calls us to. The Lord calls us back to love again and again and again; we have but to be watchful over our hearts, open to his love at work in us, letting go of all that keeps us from God, that we might be one in him. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 27, 2022: You do not now on which day your Lord will come...

You do not know on which day your Lord will come…

Are you preparing now for perfect union with God? 

    Speaking to a community threatened on all sides with exile, the prophet Isaiah offers his countrymen the promise of something to come: he speaks of what Jerusalem will one day be, not physically, but in spiritual terms. No longer will there be armed conflict, for they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; peace will be the order of the day. Nations will be drawn to Jerusalem not for its power but because it will be a city where all will walk in the light of the Lord; indeed, God’s justice and divine presence will cause all nations to stream to Jerusalem. Psalm 122 likewise reminds us that Jerusalem was built as a city with compact unity; there, all will go rejoicing to the house of the Lord. For a people living in a dangerously precarious political situation, Isaiah’s prophecy speaks of a radical shift in how they live and how they understand themselves. For all that danger threatens, Isaiah knows the future will one day be bright again. 

    In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus similarly calls his disciples to a radical shift in how they live and how they understand themselves. They must be prepared, Jesus tells them, for they do not know on which day the Lord will come. It is no longer appropriate to carry on as usual, as if nothing has happened, and Jesus’ death and resurrection will cause them to enter into a new age, with new hopes and new expectations. Paul likewise reminds the Romans that it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep, for Jesus’ death and resurrection have brought clarity, and they now see clearly what they are to hope for, namely, perfect union with Christ in heaven. 

    God has shown us, too, the path we are to walk, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Now that God has sent his Son, we can no longer dwell in the darkness of the past, but must put on the armor of light that is the Lord Jesus Christ. This light reveals who we are, the choices we have made, and the promise in which we live. The new age of which Paul speaks invites us to enter into relationship more fully than ever before, in expectation of the coming of the Son of Man. We are waiting for that second coming, the fulfillment of all the Incarnation has meant to us; we need to be living for it now, ready to embrace the radical shift it entails, so that we can one day also embrace that perfect union that God promises to all people of faith. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 28, 2021: The days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made...

The days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made…

Where do you find hope?

    In the time of the prophet Jeremiah, Israel is long gone and Judah will soon disappear as well. Yet the Lord looks forward to restoration: The days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah, he says. The Lord wants his people to know that one day Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure, manifesting God’s divine justice. Even at the darkest moments, we are called to hope. Our readings in the first weeks of Advent look forward to the end times, when all will come to fulfillment; we are called to step back and think about how we are participating in progress toward salvation. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus acknowledges that there are dark times ahead: on earth nations will be in dismay, and people will die of fright. Yet Jesus’ followers know better than to be overwhelmed; rather, they must stand erect because their redemption is at hand, knowing the Lord is with them, always.

    When fear takes hold of us, it’s hard to hold to our hope. But, in fact, we need precisely to pass through the struggle to find redemption, opening ourselves to the experience and remembering throughout all of our travails the one who loves us and stands with us and came for our salvation. We are never alone; God’s grace is at work in us even when bad things happen. God sent his Son to die on a cross so that he would be with us forever; we must, as Paul tells the Thessalonians, strengthen our hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus. No barriers – and certainly not fear – should keep us from growing in the love we have been baptized into. Indeed, we must increase and abound in love, seeking the paths of the Lord, as Psalm 25 reminds us. We are called to grow in our relationship with the Lord, remaining open to learning every day how much God loves us, and where we fit into God’s plan. God is allowing our world to unfold, and God is carrying us through, until we stand before him, ready to meet him, unafraid. We, for our part, must hope in his love, confident that all the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant. God will fulfill God’s promise, and we will one day dwell in his perfect love – that is our hope. In the meantime, let us remain confident in his love, and increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we wait for the fulfillment of God’s promise.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 29, 2020: Be watchful! Be alert!

Be watchful!  Be alert!

How can we best prepare to receive the Lord during Advent?

 

   Advent is a penitential season, a time during which we prepare to receive light into our lives.  But there is so much we have to let go of for that to happen!  After returning from exile, the people of Third Isaiah are faced with having to rebuild everything, and this causes them to feel distance from God.  However, they are confused as to what their own responsibilities are:  why do you let us wander, o Lord, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?  It is as if they are blaming the Lord for their own sinfulness, when in truth, only they can allow God into their heart, to soften it, for where love is allowed to work, hardening of heart cannot take place. Similarly, in Psalm 80, the people ask, Lord, make us turn to you – when in truth, the ability to turn to God lies with the people themselves; it’s their own choice.  God planted the vine, but they have become not what God intended, but what they have themselves chosen, which is distant from the Lord, and it is up to them to open to God’s will. It may be, as the people say in Isaiah, that God is our father; we are the clay and you the potter – but ultimately, the choice to be soft clay in the hands of God lies with us.

 

   In like manner, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus places the responsibility for being watchful on the shoulders of his disciples:  Be alert!  You do not know when the time will come.  If we are constantly focused in God, if our lives are unceasingly directed toward his service, if we are dedicated to loving the human race at every moment, then we are indeed watchful and alert.  But we must stay focused, ready for whatever God calls us to rather than stuck in our own plans.  The Corinthians are not there yet.  Paul notes that they have been given all they need – I give thanks… that in [God] you were enriched in every way, he writes.  Paul preached to them, taught them, gave witness to them by his life, yet they still clamor after something else.  Only if they open to God’s love, the source of all grace evident in the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, can they remain firm and irreproachable in the end.  But they must remain watchful, alert, and aware of their own responsibilities, setting aside their own strong-willed natures in order open to the will of God.  As we move through Advent this year, may we all remain watchful and alert, aware of our own responsibilities in our relationship with the Lord, but also open to the power of his love at work in us all.

 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

 

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 1, 2019: One will be taken, and one will be left...

One will be taken, and one will be left…

How aware are we of God’s promises?

  Early in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the prophet promises a future of peace and prosperity to those who are open to the Lord:  in days to come, Isaiah says, nations shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, ending war and putting their energy into the land, that it might bear fruit.  But the people must pay attention:  Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, Isaiah tells them, that he may instruct us in his ways.  It is only when we are open to God working in our lives, aware of God’s presence, that we can walk in the light of the Lord.  Only then can we embrace all that the Lord promises; Psalm 122 cites the fulfillment of our journey to God as a moment of rejoicing:  We will go up to the house of the Lord!

  It seems odd, perhaps, to be thinking about the end times just as Advent is beginning.  Yet, as we prepare to celebrate the Incarnation itself, we simultaneously celebrate the fulfillment of all the Incarnation brought us.  It’s no longer appropriate to carry on as usual, as if nothing has happened -- because something has!  Jesus’ death and resurrection have radically changed how we see and understand ourselves, and we need to be aware, to be prepared and ready, now, to enter into that new age to come.  In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus calls his disciples to stay awake, for at an hour they do not expect, the Son of Man will come.  Paul will likewise remind the Romans to awake from sleep, for salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  God has shown us the path and we must walk it; those who have come to faith now know who Jesus is and what he has come to reveal.  Like the disciples, we can no longer dwell in the darkness of the past age, but fully aware of God’s promises, must put on Christ, and thus enter into a new age with our eyes open, wearing the armor of light! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordart.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 2, 2018: Teach me your paths...

Teach me your paths…

How do we know which way to go?

  We begin the season of Advent with readings that focus on the end times in order to arrive a few weeks later at the birth of Jesus, In a sense, the entire season of Advent is about reaching the goal of our lives:  God’s love made perfect in us.  But we must not lose sight of that goal!  How do we manage this? How do we know which way to go, which direction to turn, especially when the unknown threatens us on all sides?  

  The Book of Jeremiah promises the people of Israel a messiah, who will be sent to bring salvation to the world:  I will raise up for David a just shoot, God tells the house of Israel and Judah.  The author of Psalm 25 asks the Lord for guidance:  Your ways, o Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, guide me in your truth.  Both texts recognize that to embrace and then reveal the perfect love of God in us is not something we can achieve on our own; it is something only God can achieve in us.  And our guide is none other than Jesus, our ‘true north’ who offers us direction, a viable path to that perfect love.

  Shortly before the Last Supper in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus warns his disciples that trials and tribulations are coming:  People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world.  But so long as the disciples remain vigilant, there is no need for them to fear:  they are to focus on Jesus himself, so that they are ready when the time comes.  Paul tells the Thessalonians that they must not be content with what they are currently doing, though it is good – they must do more, increasing and abounding in love for one another and for all.  To do so is to live a life in Christ, so that, when the Son of Man comes in a cloud with power and great glory, we can look up and see the face of God who loves us, and be the face of that love for our world.

  How do we know which way to go?  Hearts strengthened, we must be focused on Jesus, our guide, our true north, so that we may be ready when the time comes, ready to make decisions that are just and live-giving because we are following our compass.  Eucharist, Christ-within-us, offers us that compass; to open our hearts to God is to remember where true north is, that we might remain on track, on the path Christ sets before us, the path to perfect love, embraced and shared with our world.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s first homily during Advent 2015.

Image source:  www.wordle.net