HOMILIES

Dear Audience,
For better understanding of the spiritual message behind this homily I kindly remind you to first read and contemplate the biblical texts before reading or listening to my preaching - a human reflection on the Word of God!

First Sunday of Advent (Year A)

Dec 1, 2013

3268

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First Reading

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (2:1-5)

This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it; many peoples shall come and say: "Come, let us climb the Lord's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths." For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms of David (122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5)

(R) Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

I rejoiced because they said to me, "We will go up to the house of the Lord." And now we have set foot within your gates, O Jerusalem. (R)

Jerusalem, built as a city with compact unity. To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord. (R)

According to the decree for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. In it are set up judgment seats, seats for the house of David. (R)

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May those who love you prosper! May peace be within your walls, prosperity in your buildings. (R)

Because of my relatives and friends I will say, "Peace be within you!" Because of the house of the Lord, our God. I will pray for your good. (R)

Second Reading

A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (13:11-14)

Brothers and sisters: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Gospel

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (24:37-44)

Jesus said to his disciples: "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."

(P) The Gospel of the Lord.
(R) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily

One hot summer day two friends were traveling through the desert. They saw something black on the ground from afar. One said, "It's a vulture." The other said, "No, it's a goat." They drew closer still arguing over what it was. When they neared it the first one picked a stone and threw at it. It flapped its wings and flew away. "See!" said the first one. "I told you it is a vulture." "That doesn't prove anything," said the second man, "it could be a goat with wings."

Friends, for centuries God used ancient prophets to lead the people of Israel and instil in them the hope of the coming of their Messiah. Unfortunately the people ignored the prophets of God and rejected God's promise. As we begin the season of advent we hear the first vision of the prophet Isaiah concerning Israel's bright future with the coming of the Messiah.

The word "advent" comes from the Latin word "adventus" which means coming or arrival of something momentous that has been awaited for. Therefore, in Christian faith the time preceding Christmas is called Advent. One of the Christian traditions during advent is that we use a wreath, called the advent wreath, to help us focus on the coming of Jesus Christ. An advent wreath is made of green leaves which symbolize life. It traditionally contains five candles. Three purple candles represent Christ's Royalty as the King of Kings. Christ is born as King and manifests his kingship most perfectly through his suffering and death on the cross. The pink candle represents rejoicing. Some traditions regard the three purple candles as symbols of hope, peace, and love and the pink candle as joy. These candles are lit progressively, one new candle each Sunday. The center candle is lit on Christmas Day signifying the birth of Jesus the Christ as the Light of the World.

With the beginning of Advent we also begin a new liturgical year. Today the Word of God opens with a great promise and message of hope from the Prophet Isaiah. He begins his preaching not with events of the past but with good and joyful news of the future. He says, "In the days to come...", "All nations shall stream toward it", "many peoples shall come to it", "One nation shall not raise the sword against another" and so on. Let us imagine the world he foresees and compare it with our world today. This is apparently an unreal vision and yet it is being fulfilled and will be fulfilled. Is the vision of Isaiah being fulfilled? Yes, indeed.

Isaiah prophesied for the people of Israel in the eighth century before Jesus Christ. At the time the people had turned away from God. They had turned from the worship of the true and living God to the worship of idols. They had grown impatient and rebelled against God. They had become indifferent to spiritual truth. They had everything but God. At around the same time the Assyrians who had successfully occupied the Northern Kingdom of Israel were threatening to invade Judah, the Southern Kingdom to which Isaiah belonged. Some people in Judah wanted the King to form an alliance with Egypt to fight the Assyrians. Isaiah opposed such an alliance and brought instead a message of hope and the promise of salvation. He called on them to rely solely upon their Lord God who would protect and preserve them if they remained faithful to him by keeping the covenant. So in the midst of anxiety and despair, Isaiah preached a vision of a much brighter and more hopeful future.

His vision was that one day the Lord's house would be established on the highest mountain and it would draw all nations and all people to it. It would be the center of the universe. People would go there not just to worship but also to listen to the Word of God or the Law of God. The prophet says that they would go there to learn of God's ways and then walk in His paths. He also foresaw that there would be no wars and disputes but peace. His vision was significant to the people because they believed that the key to peace, prosperity, security and fulfilment was the rebuilding of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem which had been destroyed by then.

But what is more important in his vision was his call to the people of Judah to walk in the light of the Lord for they were living in darkness. Since they had driven out God with their own arrogance, stubbornness, greed, and violence, Isaiah was calling on them to repent, turn from their sin and hope in the Lord. The people did not appropriately heed Isaiah's message. Yet the Lord God delivered them as Isaiah had promised. However, moral decay prevailed, and Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord were destroyed by the Babylonians five hundred years before Christ, which led to the exile of the Jews. The prophet's vision of rebuilding the holy temple came to be fulfilled once again in the days of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah but was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD as Jesus had foretold.

Friends, after Jesus' death and resurrection, Jerusalem becomes the Holy City, New Jerusalem and New Heaven and New Earth. Jesus Christ as great High Priest and King of New Jerusalem draws all nations and people to him. He promises everlasting life to all those who walk toward Him, worship Him and follow His ways. Friends, we are witnesses to the continuing revelation and the fulfillment of prophecies in our own lifetime. In the first week of Advent God's message to us therefore is Hope just as it was for the people in Isaiah's time. Let us put our hope in God who never disappoints His people. Let us worship God in spirit and in truth. Let us learn of God's ways and walk in His paths all the days of our life. Let us renew hope in the areas of our life that we are losing hope.

(P) Amen.

God Bless You!

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