Who Can Be Saved?

December 24 Wednesday the Fourth Week

2SAMUEL 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16; LUKE 1:67-79

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

What are you waiting for?

Is it for a savior to “set you free?” From “enemies” and those who “hate” you?

The Gospel shifts us to a different perspective: the “prophet” sent to “prepare his way,” will do it by “giving his people knowledge” of a salvation that consists in “the forgiveness of their sins.”

The “enemy” is ourselves.

The “tender mercy” of God will “shine like the dawn” on those who “dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.” He will “guide their feet into the way of peace.”

His salvation will be invisible to those who believe they have sufficient light and life within themselves.

It will not affect those who say, “‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:4). Who have no concept and no desire for “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.” The peace that comes through union of “heart and mind in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

Our Savior doesn't force; he sets us free. We have to want to move. To change. To experience “more.”

Those who feel their enslavement can wait for a savior. And accept him when he comes. They can celebrate Christmas.

For the rest, there is nothing but “Happy holidays!”

So what are you waiting for? “Lift up your head and see; your redemption is near at hand!"

Pray constantly: 

“Come, Lord Jesus!”

Practice: 

See the dark. Seek the light.

Jesus Emmanuel

December 23 Tuesday the Fourth Week

MALACHY 3: 1-4, 23-24; LUKE 1:46-56.

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

What are you waiting for?   

The Jews were waiting for Elijah, the violent prophet (1Kings 18:40) who would “prepare the way” for the Messiah. Jesus said John was he (Matthew 17:10). But now “His name is John” – yohanan: “Yahweh is gracious.” Kind. Merciful.

John could be tough (Matthew 3:1). But he announced Jesus: the incarnate kindness of God: “God-with-us,” Emmanuel:

When the loving kindness of our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of [our] works of righteousness, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 2:4).

Jesus saves by acceptance. Accepting us as we are, with all our sins. Accepting death at our hands and “loving back.” Accepting our inconsistent efforts to serve him. Accepting our doubting faith, our hesitant hope, our limited love. Accepting to be “with us” until the end of time. Emmanuel.

Jesus is always available. And accessible. To talk to in our hearts. To listen to in the Bible. To experience in other people. To encounter in the sacrament of Reconciliation. To unite ourselves to in Eucharist. Waiting for us.

“Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.”

So what are you waiting for? Jesus is near. Go to him.

Pray constantly: 

“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Show me your steadfast love”(see Psalm 143:8).

Practice: 

Go to Jesus in every need.

King of Hearts

December 22 Monday the Fourth Week

1SAMUEL 1:24-28; LUKE 1:46-56.

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

What are you waiting for?

The Jews were waiting for a Messiah-King who would make things right on earth. The Alleluia “O Antiphon” calls Jesus “O King and desire of all nations, the cornerstone of unity and peace.”

What do you expect of Jesus?

His contemporaries were disappointed, because his miracles misled them into assuming he would use divine power to stop all human suffering – (except their enemies’ suffering! We Christians still pray for that during wars!).

Jesus said, “The Kingdom is within you” (Luke: 17:21). He reigns in hearts. He brings unity and peace through hearts surrendered to him – if we let him act “with us, in us and through us.”

As he did through Mary, who said:

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

He has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant…

The Mighty One has done great things for me.

And in me. And through me. And will do more if I let him.

Jesus uses divine power to do divine things through humans surrendered to him. In faith. In hope. In love.

So what are you waiting for? He will “help his servant, according to the promise he made to our ancestors,” to Mary, and to all who are “sons and daughters in her Son.”

Pray constantly: 

“Lord, do this with me, in me, through me.”

Practice: 

Begin every change you want to make by changing yourself first. 

Believe. Trust. Love.

Jesus Dawns Daily

December 21 Sunday the Fourth Week

2SAMUEL 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16; ROMANS 16:25-27; LUKE 1:26-38.

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

  

What are you waiting for?

God promised David: “I will raise up your offspring after you… He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his kingdom forever.” That was Solomon, who previewed the real “Son of David,” Jesus.

He will be called the Son of the Most High.

The Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David

and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

The Messiah has come. And is always coming. Like the sun dawning anew every day.

But he hasn’t come fully. Many still “dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.” So in Advent we focus on expectation.

The (weekday) Alleluia calls Jesus “O Radiant Dawn.” The Eternal Light appearing differently every day.

Advent is acknowledged darkness that we enter into to appreciate the dawn. We look at what is wrong to arouse hope based on faith. And excite love.

I wait for the LORD, and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the dawn.

Hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love.

So what are you waiting for? Look at the darkness. Look toward the light. And hope.

Pray (all day): 

“Lord, strengthen me by the proclamation of Jesus Christ!

Practice: 

Shine the light of the Gospel on anything that is wrong. 

See. Judge. Act.

Jesus is the Key

December 20 Saturday the Third Week

ISAIAH 7:10-14; LUKE 1:26-38.

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

 

What are you waiting for?

The angel of the Lord was sent to Mary – and to you: “Hail, highly favored one! The Lord is with you.”

We are all “highly favored.” All “blessed among men/women” by Baptism, the blessing of God’s life.

“Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God.” You may not “conceive in your womb,” but you will give divine life to others. Paul called his converts, “My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). Through your ministry you will “bear sons and daughters,” and you “shall name them ‘Jesus,’” for they will be his body. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High. Therefore those born of your labor will be called holy, the sons and daughters of God.”

The Alleluia calls Jesus “O Key of David.” Jesus is the key to everything. If we know him we can make him known – and bring him to birth and “full stature” in others (Ephesians 4:13).

So what are you waiting for? You have “become Christ!” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 795).

Be Christ. Learn Christ. Express Christ. Give Christ. Establish his reign.

Pray (all day): 

“Lord, do this with me, do this in me, do this through me!

Practice: 

Live and give the life of God. In Christ, as Christ, through Christ.

Jesus is Root and Fruit

December 19 Friday the Third Week

JUDGES 13:2-7, 24-25; LUKE 1:5-25.

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

What are you waiting for? Is it to do something great?

The reading promises, “Though you are barren, you will conceive.”

The Alleluia calls Jesus “O Root (or “Flower”) of Jesse’s stem” – the third “O Antiphon” that prepares us for Christmas.

Root and fruit. One invisible, one visible. Source of life, evidence of life. Life of Jesus at its source; life of Jesus in us. Root and flower, vine and branches.  “Source and summit” of God’s divine life on earth.

And both combined in Eucharist: the sacrament that makes the Body of Christ – members and head, vine and branches – really present in the act of offering and being offered in his life-giving death. Calvary, the root of all, continuing to bear fruit in us, a “living sacrifice,” his risen body, in every space and time.

No wonder the Church calls Eucharist the “source and summit of the Christian life.”

Like Samson and John, you were “consecrated to God from the womb” – the “second womb” of Baptism.

So what are you waiting for?

Go! “Turn hearts” toward God. “Prepare a people fit for the Lord.” Jesus said, “I chose you… to go and bear fruit” (John 15:16).  His life is in you. Go. Live it and give it.

Pray (all day):

“My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!”

Practice:

Talk about Jesus.

Say what you know.

Learn more.

Jesus is Leader

December 18 Thursday the Third Week

JEREMIAH 23:5-8; MATTHEW 1:18-25.

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

  

What are you waiting for? What do you hope will  “save” your life on this earth? (And beyond).

Is it a leader? Someone everyone will follow? Who will “reign and govern wisely,” as Jeremiah promises?

The Alleluia calls Jesus “Leader” – the second of seven key titles (“O Antiphons”) the liturgy gives to Jesus as intensive preparation for Christmas.

The angel told Joseph “Mary will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” How does a leader do that?

A leader is only a leader if someone follows. With Jesus we can “dwell in security.” Safe from the destructiveness and distortion that are the causes and effects of sin. “Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.” But only if we follow him.

To “follow” means to look where Jesus is pointing and move in that direction. Not alone, but with him. And with others who give support. Then we all lead each other.

So what are you waiting for? You have “become Christ.” Lead. As a follower. Look at where Jesus is pointing. Move.

Read Scripture. Also read Pope Francis’ “Evangelii Gaudium” (Gospel Joy) http://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html. Francis is a leader who follows.

Pray (all day): 

“Lord, lead me in your truth, and teach me. 

You are the God of my salvation (Psalm 25:5).

Practice: 

Read, reflect, respond.

Keep Your Eye on the Goal. Wisdom

December 17 Wednesday the Third Week

GENESIS 49:2, 8-10; MATTHEW 1:1-17.

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

What are you waiting for during Advent?

Is it for God to bring you – all of creation – to fulfillment?

Matthew’s Gospel presents Jesus as the promised “Son of David” who fulfills God’s promises (2Samuel 7:12).

He divides Jesus’ genealogy into three periods: Abraham up to David, David down to the Babylonian exile; up again to Jesus. Second peak. Second David. Messiah.

Jesus is the goal of Jewish – and human – history.

The Alleluia calls Jesus “Wisdom” – the first of seven  “O Antiphons,” key titles of Jesus offered as intensive preparation for Christmas.

“Wisdom” is the gift of “taste for spiritual things” and the habit of “seeing everything in the light of our last end.” God gives the gift; we form the habit. Jesus as goal is the key to both.

Wisdom is focusing on union with Jesus on earth and acting for union with God in heaven as goal. Wisdom brings about justice.

“Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.”

Wisdom leads us into peace. Tasting God’s “ground level” human words and actions in Jesus arouses desire to taste more. That is Wisdom.

We find Wisdom by interacting on ground level with God made flesh in Jesus.

So what are you waiting for?

Pray (all day): 

“Lord, do this with me, do this in me. do this through me.”

Practice: 

Taste the human Jesus. Study the Gospels.

Listen Out of Need

December 16 Tuesday the Third Week

ZEPHANIA 3:1-2, 9-13; MATTHEW 21:28-32

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

What are you waiting for during Advent?

Is it for God to hear your prayers? The Responsorial Psalm says:

“The Lord hears the cry of the poor.”

Are you “poor”?

“Poor” means you don’t have what you need – financially, physically, intellectually, spiritually, whatever. The “poor in spirit” are those who know they “haven’t got it made.” God hears their cry.

Why? Because they can hear God. They listen.

God calls Nineveh a “soiled, defiled, oppressing city!” Because “It has listened to no voice; accepted no correction. It has not trusted in the LORD or drawn near to its God.”

Those who think they “have it made” don’t think they need to listen to God.

Those who think keeping the rules makes them “good Catholics” don’t see any need to read the Bible. They already know all they have to do. They “accept no correction” from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters 5-7).

Those who pride themselves on their “doctrinal orthodoxy” don’t need to listen to the “prophets.” They know what they were taught in grade school. Anything more is suspect.

Like the second son Jesus talks about, they say “Yes” to the mysteries of Christianity without trying consciously to experience them in practice.

So what are you waiting for?

Pray (all day): 

“Lord, my hope is in you. Hear my prayer.”

Practice: 

Admit you are poor. 

Open your mind. 

Seek. Read. Listen. Learn.

Don’t Just Take His Word

December 15 Monday the Third Week

NEHEMIA 24:2-7, 15-17; MATTHEW 21:23-27

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

  

What are you waiting for during Advent?

For clarity about how to live? Motivation? The courage to do what you know?

Balaam prophesied: “A star [light] shall advance from Jacob, and a staff [authority, strength] shall rise from Israel.” People found in Jesus “A new teaching  [light] – with authority! [strength].” He is the Life who gives power to follow the Way of Truth. “He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him” (Mark 1:27).

Do you need light, guidance? Jesus is what you are waiting for. Better: let’s say “who.”

Do you need strength to live by what you already know? Jesus is who you are waiting for.

But you have to interact with him. Challenge him, like the Jewish leaders did in the Gospel. If he challenges you in return, don’t be like them. Answer.

You know he teaches with authority. But you need to understand. So dialogue. Don’t just take his word for it, even though you grant it is true. Argue with him.

That’s called “meditation.” Use the three R’s: Read, Reflect, Respond. That puts you into personal relationship (interaction) with Jesus.

So what are you waiting for?

Accept Jesus as God. But deal with him as human. Get to know him.

Pray (all day):

“Teach me your ways, O Lord.”

Practice:

Take some time every day to discuss Christ’s words with him.

Let him explain things.

Look Within

December 14 Sunday the Third Week

ISAIAH 61:1-2, 10-11; THESSALONIANS 5:16-24; JOHN 1:6-8, 19-28

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

Advent is waiting. What are you waiting for?

Are you waiting at all? Do you think that in Catholic teaching and Sunday Mass you have found the true faith? Heard the Good News?

You may have heard it but not experienced it. Unless you have met Jesus Christ. Dealt with him personally. And – let’s use the word – had “mystical experience.”

John said, “I am just a “voice, a witness to testify to the light. He himself was not the light.”

Preachers and teachers are just voices. They cannot give you the experience of Christ or Christianity; they just tell you where to find it.

You find it in the mystery of recognizing Christ within you. Talking to him. Realizing he himself is enlightening you through his words in Scripture. Empowering you through his Spirit to think and act on a higher level, the level of God. In the mystery of surrendering to let Christ express himself through your words and actions. Abandoning all you have and are to the work of establishing his Kingdom.

Then you know Jesus is real to you. When you take him for real.

So what are you waiting for?

Pray (all day): “

Lord, do this with me, do this in me, do this through me.”

Practice: 

Hear Jesus speaking in Scripture; through his Spirit in your heart. 

Express your faith, hope, love to others. 

Work with Christ for change.

Look For a Face

December 13 Saturday the Second Week

SIRACH 48:1-4, 9-11; MATTHEW 17:9, 10-13

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

Advent is a waiting time. What are you waiting for?

Are you saying with the psalmist: 

“Lord, make us turn to you;let us see your face and we shall be saved”?

 It is true many seem to have turned away from God – or Jesus, or the Church – in our time. They haven’t found in our religion what they were hoping for.

The psalm continues:

May your help be with the man of your right hand,
with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

The answer is in a who, not a what. We need to look at the face of Jesus. God as a person. Made flesh. Knowable as a human being.

Of Jesus we say, “Blessed is the one who shall have seen you, and who falls asleep in your friendship.” We can have friendship with Jesus. When we do, as the psalm says:

Then we will no more withdraw from you;

give us new life, and we will call upon your name.

So what are you waiting for?

Life comes through relationship with Jesus. Is yours deep or shallow, personal or distant; interested or indifferent? Your interaction defines your relationship.

Pray (all day):

“Lord, let me see your face.”

Practice:

Interact with Jesus as with any other friend.

Talk to him. Discuss his ideas. Do things for him.

 Ask him to do things for you. Get to know him.

The One in the Many

December 12 Friday the Second Week

ISAIAH 4817-19; MATTHEW 11:16-19

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

What are you waiting for to become a better Christian?

More changes in the Church? A better parish? A special impulse from the Holy Spirit?

Why not start with what is right in front of your eyes? Jesus Christ.

It is Jesus we accept or reject. Not the Church, priests, bishops or popes. Not even other Christians. Those are just excuses for rejecting Jesus.

Jesus said, “This (every) generation” is like children playing “follow the leader,” but who reject every leader. No Christian – clergy or lay – is perfect. But in them all Jesus is saying, “Love me, love my minister! I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.”

It’s not about the kind of ministry or example we get from others. It is about finding the truth and way of Jesus hidden in each one. And obvious in the Bible. We can always find Jesus the Way in his example, Jesus the Truth in his words, Jesus the Life in his sacraments. If we look for him.

Being a “Christian” is recognizing Christ.

So what are you waiting for?

Pray (in every encounter): 

“Lord, show me yourself with this person, 

in this person, through this person.” 

(Or with, in and through this event).

Practice: 

Focus on the person of Jesus. 

Accept him wherever you find him.

It is I – I am It

December 11 Thursday the Second Week

ISAIAH 41:13-20; MATTHEW 11:11-15

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

What are you waiting for in Advent?

For God to help you? Answer your prayers?

When God says, “Do not fear, I will help you,” he identifies himself: “I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I. I the LORD, I the God of Israel will answer you, will not forsake you.”

God emphasizes relationship. More important than the fact he helps us is the fact he is our God. That he “holds our right hand.” That he is the God special to Israel. For God, “who” counts more than “what.” The relationship he has with us is more important than what he does for us.

Is it that way with you? Are you looking forward more to Christmas or to Christ? To enjoying “it” or to being with him?

Looking beyond Christmas: is your religion more about what you do or who you know?

Being a “Christian” is knowing Christ.

So what are you waiting for?

Jesus said, “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15). Have you experienced that? Have you been listening to him?

Pray (all day):

“Jesus, you have called me your friend. Teach me to be one.”

Practice:

Form a friendship with Jesus -- the same way you do with anyone else.

Whatever you do or talk about with your friends, do that with Jesus.

Ask him how.

The Yoke of Grace

December 10 Wednesday the Second Week

ISAIAH 40:25-31; MATTHEW 11:28-30

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

Advent is waiting. What are you waiting for?

For relief from life’s burdens? For a deep peace of soul that will help you bear them?

The readings say “Be aware!” Awareness is what Advent is all about.

Be aware that nothing is a problem for God. “Lift up your eyes and see!” He “created all these things.” He “does not faint nor grow weary. He gives strength.”

He does it by becoming our yoke mate. He joins himself, with the strength of his divinity, to us in the weakness of our humanity, and together we carry the load. We don’t carry it alone. He carries it with us.

Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

If we have enough trust to get under the same yoke with him, we will find “rest for our souls.” Walking with Jesus is not always easy. But compared to going it alone, he says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

So what are you waiting for?

To be “yoked” with Jesus is to do everything in union with him: his divinity, your humanity working together. Whatever your burden, let him carry it with you, in you and through you.

Pray (all day): 

“Lord, do this with me, do this in me, do this though me.”

 Practice:

Whenever you feel overburdened, shift some of the weight to Jesus. 

Lift Up Your Heart – And Voice

December 9 Tuesday the Second Week

ISAIAH 40:1-11; MATTHEW 18:12-14

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

Advent is a waiting time. What are you waiting for?

Isaiah says we are waiting for “comfort” when the  “glory of the LORD shall be revealed.”

He tells us: “Cry out at the top of your voice. Fear not to cry out, ‘Here is your God! The Lord our God comes with power.’”

We are charged as heralds of the Gospel to “announce his salvation, day after day.” To “say to all nations: ‘The LORD is king.’” They should find “comfort” in that. Who wouldn’t?

We are the bearers of good news. To the whole world. Jesus said, “It is not the will of your heavenly Father” that a single person in the whole world should miss hearing it. Or that “even one of these little ones be lost.”

So what are you waiting for?

First make clear in your speech and demeanor that you are looking to the future. That you yourself find comfort – peace – in Christian hope.

Then “Fear not” to talk about it. It is more certain than the weather, football scores or election results, and people talk about those. What good is a voiceless herald? Light under a basket? Tasteless salt?

Pray (all day): 

“Lord, make me a herald of your peace."

Practice: 

Respond whenever anyone speaks pessimistically. 

Say there is Good News too.

Don’t be afraid to say what it is.

The Beginning and the End

December 8 (again) Feast of the Immaculate Conception

GENESIS 3:9-15, 20; EPHESIANS ;1:3-6, 11-12;LUKE 1:26-38

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

The man blamed the woman for his sin. The woman blamed the devil. God blamed all three.

It was a defeat: for God and humanity. Making humans free was a risk. God lost. We misused freedom and made our Creator look like a failure.

People still reject God when he allows others to cause them pain by choosing to sin.

But the Responsorial urges: “Sing to the Lord a new song.” Genesis wasn’t the end of the story. Nor are the sins of human history. God “has done marvelous deeds. His right hand has won victory.”

God remembers that “before the foundation of the world, he chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in love.” Mary’s immaculate conception is the promise and preview of our “immaculate conclusion,” when Christ “presents the Church (us) to himself in splendor, holy and without blemish.” Then “all the ends of the earth will see the salvation by our God.”

God wins by forgiving. “He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness.”

At the end, we will all be perfect “in Christ.” Because God has “destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ.”

So what are you waiting for? Strive for perfection now.

Pray: 

“Lord, make me perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.”

Practice: 

Try always to do what is divine, not just human.

The Holy Way

December 8 Monday the Second Week 

(Also the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. See next post.)

ISAIAH 35:1-10; LUKE 5:17-26

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

Advent is a waiting time. What are you waiting for?

Is it for “a way out” – of desperation? Or for “a way up” – to union with God? The way is the same for both.

Isaiah says, “A highway shall be there. It shall be called the Holy Way. It shall be for God’s people… no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.”

It is the baptismal way. At Baptism you “became Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 795). Live as Christ. Learn his words as a disciple. Proclaim his values in action as prophet. Share the divine life within you by expressing it as priest. Renew society as a steward of his kingship.

You will see his truth: “blind eyes shall be opened.” You will understand his words: “deaf ears shall be unstopped.” You will be empowered: “the lame shall leap like a deer.” To the paralyzed Jesus says, “Stand up and walk.”

He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. “Be strong, do not fear!” If you want a way out – or a way up,  “he will come and save you.”

So what are you waiting for?

Pray as Christ’s body: 

“Lord, do this with me, do this in me, do this through me.”

Practice: 

Read and reflect daily on his words. 

Ask before acting: “How does this reveal Christ in me?” 

Express physically to others your faith, hope, love. Work for change.