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HOMILIES ARCHIVE
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!
Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year C)
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0First Reading
A reading from the Book of Prophet Micah (5:1-4a)
Thus says the Lord: You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his kindred shall return to the children of Israel. He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord, his God; and they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.
(P) The word of the Lord.(R) Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms of David (80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19)
(R) Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken, from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth. Rouse your power, and come to save us. (R)
Once again, O Lord of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted, the son of man whom you yourself made strong. (R)
May your help be with the man of your right hand, with the son of man whom you yourself made strong. Then we will no more withdraw from you; give us new life, and we will call upon your name. (R)
Second Reading
A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (10:5-10)
Brothers and sisters: When Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, "As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God." First he says, "Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in." These are offered according to the law. Then he says, "Behold, I come to do your will." He takes away the first to establish the second. By this "will", we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
(P) The word of the Lord.(R) Thanks be to God.
Gospel
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (1:39-45)
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
(P) The Gospel of the Lord.(R) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Homily
There is a story of an elderly woman who went from house to house across the countryside selling thread, buttons, shoestrings and other small items. Every day when she came to an unmarked crossroad, she would toss a stick into the air and go in the direction the stick pointed when it landed. One day, however, she was seen tossing the stick up several times. "Why do you toss the stick more than once?", someone asked her. "Because", the woman replied, "it keeps pointing to the left, and I want to take the road on the right." She then kept throwing the stick into the air until it pointed the way she wanted to go. Today's second reading recounts the story of a man who stood in stark contrast to the woman in the story or to any of us. The person is Jesus.
Today we start the fourth and the last week of Advent. The word "Advent" comes from the Latin word adventus, which means "coming" or "arrival". From the scriptures and traditions we understand that Advent is a time to prepare for both the celebration of Christ's birth and His second coming. Traditionally the second coming has been understood to mean the return of Jesus Christ to earth at the end of time as King and Judge. Some people refer the second coming to the appearance of Jesus at the time of our death when we will see him face to face. Some others believe that the second coming happens when Jesus comes into our life to live and reign in us with the spirit or come in our hour of need. However, since we know neither the day nor the hour of such coming we are to be prepared. That is, we must be in a state of grace to welcome His arrival.
How are we to prepare for it?
You may remember on the first Sunday of Advent we read from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians in which he exhorted them to increase their love for one another and to please God and live a holy life. On the second Sunday we read from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians which was written in unusual circumstances. Paul was a prisoner in Rome awaiting possible death. But he was not deterred one bit by his loneliness and abandonment. He rather gratefully remembered the Philippians' loyalty to Christ and their generosity towards him and, was confident that God will complete the work He had begun in them. Therefore, as they waited for the coming of Jesus, he prayed that they may "increase their love for one another; to grow more in knowledge and perception" of others so that they would be able to love one another even in the face of the most adverse circumstances.
Last Sunday we read his words of encouragement to the same community. He encouraged them to rejoice in the Lord always. Imagine rejoicing while in prison! He was in prison and yet he was joyful. He had no worries of his own. Not only did Paul want them to be joyful but he also admonished them for being anxious about things even when the Lord is near. However, he told them to present all their requests to God in their prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks.
In today's second reading of the Letter to the Hebrews, the writer, presumably Paul, is urging the Hebrew Christians to prepare themselves for the coming of Jesus by knowing and doing God's will, and cited Jesus as a great example. Yes. The writer quoted what Christ had said when he was on earth. Christ said, "Sacrifice and offering you (God) did not desire, but a body you prepared for me (Jesus); in holocausts and sin offerings you (God) took no delight. Then I said, "As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God."
Then the writer himself gave an explanation. That is, although God required animal sacrifices and burnt offerings which were offered according to the law, the ultimate will of God was that a perfect life be offered to replace every sinner. It was therefore necessary for Jesus Christ, the Son of God to take on human flesh or a human body so that He could do the will of the Father. In other words, Jesus willingly offered Himself for the redemption of all. That's why facing that painful death on the cross, Jesus said, "Not my will but let your will be done."
Jesus knew God the Father's will and He carried it out. From His birth to His death, His every thought and deed was to know and do God's will. Surely, as Christians we all want to do God's will. But how can we first come to know God's will so that we can carry it out? Many of us perhaps say that we do not even know what God's will is for our life. Some of us perhaps pray often to know God's will, but are not making any progress. Some people think that God is somehow hiding His will from us and, reveals His will to just a select few. There are some others who are waiting for a kind of voice or a dream or a command from someone to do something. This is very, very common.
But the truth is that, first of all, the will of God is not hard to know. Secondly, there is not any personal will of God which we should try to identify. In fact, as someone has said, "the will of God is nothing less, nothing more and nothing else". The Word of God or the Scriptures is the will of God. The Word of God explains to us clearly what God expects of us. The Word of God also gives us wisdom and guidance to know and to do God's will in a special way. Therefore, since we read and hear God's Word often we all know God's will and, the will of God is the same for everyone.
But knowing God's will and doing God's will is different. It may be easy to know God's will, but it is hard to do God's will. All of us, left to ourselves, would rather do our own will. For instance, after a lengthy prayer to God would we do God's will if we knew it? Well, it depends on what it is. Like the woman in the story we perhaps keep throwing the stick into the air until it points to the way we want it to go. Remember, Jesus was facing a painful death on the cross at the hands of those He had come to preach and save, yet He willingly chose this path because it was the plan of His Father. It is important that we, his followers, also have this essential mindset of Jesus in our life as we prepare for His coming no matter when and how it comes.
(P) Amen.God Bless You!
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