A Homily – The Second Sunday of Advent (Year A)

First Reading – Isaiah 11:1-10 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 71(72):1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17 ©

Second Reading – Romans 15:4-9 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 3:4, 6

The Gospel According to Matthew 3:1 - 12 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

Let your heart be filled with hope, filled to overflowing; let it flow through the wisdom of Isaiah. Reflect on the power of his words, and the sense of encouragement he shares with the people as he recapitulates the past while directing them toward a blessed future.

Let me be clear, Isaiah is a fictional person, the writings attributed to Isaiah (first and second) should be seen as belonging to a school of thought, one that is articulated to the people of Israel and Judea over the course of several generations. These writings represent the real concerns of real people dwelling in the midst of crises over the course of several decades.

The School of Isaiah served as a beacon of hope, promising the people a return to the way of justice, to the way of peace, and an end to the wars and the conflicts that had come to be an ordinary feature of life in the land.

Hope is eternal and though God does not intervene in the order of creation, the divine purpose is present in all times and places, in all things and beings. Through the eternal mystery of the divine will, God draws the whole of it to God’s own self…reordering creation in the process.

God’s promise is real and true, according to Isaiah; there is a way to justice and peace, there is a way to end war and heal the wounds of conflict. This is the hope Isaiah expresses when he tells us that the wolf lives with the lamb, the panther lies down with the kid, calf and lion feed together, with a little boy to lead them. This beautiful world can exist if we endeavor to make it so, through our collective will, we can do this, though we must do it for ourselves.

Know this.

God made the world and we in it, God made us absolutely free, and out of respect for our freedom God will not interfere in the choices we make or spare us from their consequences. We are fragile creatures and we live by each other’s leave; we are always at each other’s mercy and God will not interfere with that, but God has lit the way for us, God has provided a way for us that we may understand our purpose in the divine plan, if we listen to our heartbeat, we can hear its rhythmic calling.  

Be mindful.

God is not a king, a dread-lord…or even God (for that matter), as many have come to believe God to be…

Listen to the apostle; listen to the teaching of the prophets, give some mind to our sages and our seers; consider the testimony of the patriarchs and judges as they are recorded in the sacred texts; they lived for one purpose, to furnish hope in the hearts of the people.

The path before our generation is just as it was in Isaiah’s time, and Jesus’ time, and the apostle’s time; our path is lit by the lamp of hope as well, it is the same hope shed by the divine will for the same purpose…now being shared with us, who are the same people, so that in its light we may abandon fear and find ourselves free to love one another as Jesus taught us to do..

Faith is trust; it is marked by a willingness to believe in the that which we hope for, a world at peace, where justice is never without mercy, and where those called to govern, govern with humility. 

Be mindful!

For two thousand years the normative mode of the Christian tradition has (at least) attempted to root itself in historical realities, with greater and lesser degrees of success. The importance of understanding history cannot be underestimated, including, most especially, its limitations.

The dedicated study of our tradition in the modes of textual and narrative criticism is what gave birth to the fields of literary criticism and modern historical criticism, from which wre developed the fields of dialectics and de-constructuralism, including  all modern and post-modern theory, without which we would be culturally bereft and have no understanding of the uses and limitations of history whatsoever.

Our stories and narratives about the life and mission Jesus, his arrest, torture and murder are a part of the testimony of our faith. These narratives allow us to locate in time, as a historical reality, the singular moment when for Christians, the principle commitment to the teaching of Jesus took place.

Through the story we tell we recall the rule of Tiberius, heir to Augustus; we recall the reign of Herod, and the governance of Pontius Pilate. We recall the role that Pilate played in the killing of Jesus, we shout it out at every hour of every day, in every part of the world; at every mass that is held we say the words: that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified and was buried; this story is told unceasingly…it is the story that never ends.

It may be time to say something else.

As heirs to the ministry and teaching of Jesus we might consider forgiving Pilate, and Judas, and Herod, and the Sanhedrin for the role they played in that political murder.

Jesus forgave them, our story also tells us that...so maybe we should let them off the hook.

Our theology tells us that Jesus died for the sins of the world; we all have a hand in that, each and every one of us, all of us who have ever been and who will ever, so we can all take a little responsibility there, and let the other players rest for a moment.

John the Baptist taught us to repent and be forgiven, but Jesus taught us to simply forgive, and in so doing, accept the forgiveness that has been granted us, to drink from it, like a fountain or a well overflowing with hope.

Jesus forgave those who killed him, he asked God to forgive them, broken as he was, hanging from the cross, he pointed the way and it is time we followed.

The promise of Isaiah, the prophetic tradition to which both John and Jesus belonged, the promise which John sang out in the wilderness, the promise which Jesus proclaimed on the mountain, that promise cannot be realized until we take it up for ourselves and do our partand do our part. God is the author of our salvation, but we ourselves are the agents, and it is incumbent on us to proceed with the healing, if there is to be any healing at all.

Remember!

John the Baptist was a social critic, and to be a social critic that is the role of the prophet, he stood within the tradition and criticized its institutions. John was not alone in this, he dwelt on the fringe of society along with those who saw and experienced the same troubles as he did. He and his people were on the margins both figuratively and literally; they belonged to the community of Qumran in the desert, which provided the foundation for a new-movement to form. John preached a new path for the people to follow, a new way of living an intentional life; his little cousin Jesus came along after and showed us how it could be done.

John and Jesus were so controversial, they had to do their preaching away from the towns and cities. They took to the wilderness and the people followed them there.

Now let’s get real:

Isaiah did not foretell the coming of John the Baptist.

As stated, Isaiah was not a real-life historical-figure, but the School of Isaiah, those who wrote in his name, they offered a criticism of their tradition, while assuring people that when they were gone others would come…others like John and Jesus would surely come…they foresaw that.

John did the same thing when he knew his days were numbered, he knew another would come after him. He might even have believed that his cousin Jesus, of Nazareth, would pick up his work, but that fact is unimportant, because he knew that if not Jesus, then another would follow; sooner or later another would follow…this is always true.

The prophets are among us, they are preaching and teaching and pointing out the way. The prophets are present in every generation. The voice of the prophet is present in the heart of every human being; waiting, nascent, patient, desiring to be heard.

Understand this.

Do not believe that being baptized and being a Christian makes you special. Being a member of group, belonging to an organization, coming from a certain family, having membership in a clan or tribe or identifying with any other proto-nationalistic nonsense does not make a person special…no matter how highly you and others regard that group.  

Being a Christian does not impart a special gift to anyone, only a special responsibility. Being a Christian means that you have accepted the sacred burden of speaking with the voice of a prophet, that you are prepared to demand that the unjust be just, that you kindle hope in the hopeless and be merciful toward the outcast.

This is the way: serving the good, loving justice and being merciful to all of those within your power to help; there is no other way.

Do not be distressed or afraid of the harsh language that you might sometimes encounter in the gospels. Do not be afraid of the fire, rather discover what it means, because in scripture our encounter with fire is always symbolic of our encounter with God…the fire that never ends is the eternal fire that burns in the heart of the creator; it is the fire Holy Spirit and of grace. We know this because God, and God alone is arbiter of the eternal, and there is no eternality without God.

Our encounter with God, whether in fire or water, or sewage and vomit, our encounter with God by whatever means it occurs is a moment of transformation, of transfiguration for every person who experiences the ordeal. The encounter might be painful depending on who you are or how ready you are to experience it, the encounter may be painful but it will not be harmful, because the divine purpose is not destructive but restorative.

The fire of God refines, just as the power of love refines, just as justice does when trued by mercy.

Go into the world and remember to be like John: preach the faith, love the good, walk humbly in the world, serve justice with mercy all the days of your life.

Spread the good news; God loves you.

First Reading – Isaiah 11:1-10 ©

A Shoot Springs From the Stock of Jesse

A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots: on him the spirit of the Lord rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

(The fear of the Lord is his breath.)

He does not judge by appearances, he gives no verdict on hearsay, but judges the wretched with integrity, and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land.

His word is a rod that strikes the ruthless, his sentences bring death to the wicked.

Integrity is the loincloth round his waist, faithfulness the belt about his hips.

The wolf lives with the lamb, the panther lies down with the kid, calf and lion feed together, with a little boy to lead them.

The cow and the bear make friends, their young lie down together.

The lion eats straw like the ox.

The infant plays over the cobra’s hole; into the viper’s lair the young child puts his hand.

They do no hurt, no harm, on all my holy mountain, for the country is filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters swell the sea.

That day, the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples.

It will be sought out by the nations and its home will be glorious.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 71(72):1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17 ©

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

O God, give your judgement to the king,

  to a king’s son your justice,

that he may judge your people in justice

  and your poor in right judgement.

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

In his days justice shall flourish

  and peace till the moon fails.

He shall rule from sea to sea,

  from the Great River to earth’s bounds.

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

For he shall save the poor when they cry

  and the needy who are helpless.

He will have pity on the weak

  and save the lives of the poor.

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

May his name be blessed for ever

  and endure like the sun.

Every tribe shall be blessed in him,

  all nations bless his name.

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

 

Second Reading – Romans 15:4-9 ©

Christ is the Saviour of All Men

Everything that was written long ago in the scriptures was meant to teach us something about hope from the examples scripture gives of how people who did not give up were helped by God. And may he who helps us when we refuse to give up, help you all to be tolerant with each other, following the example of Christ Jesus, so that united in mind and voice you may give glory to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It can only be to God’s glory, then, for you to treat each other in the same friendly way as Christ treated you. The reason Christ became the servant of circumcised Jews was not only so that God could faithfully carry out the promises made to the patriarchs, it was also to get the pagans to give glory to God for his mercy, as scripture says in one place: For this I shall praise you among the pagans and sing to your name.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 3:4, 6

Alleluia, alleluia!

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight, and all mankind shall see the salvation of God.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 3:1 - 12 ©

The One Who Follows Me Will Baptize You with the Holy Spirit and Fire

In due course John the Baptist appeared; he preached in the wilderness of Judaea and this was his message: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’ This was the man the prophet Isaiah spoke of when he said:

A voice cries in the wilderness:

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.

This man John wore a garment made of camel-hair with a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judaea and the whole Jordan district made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. But when he saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers, who warned you to fly from the retribution that is coming? But if you are repentant, produce the appropriate fruit, and do not presume to tell yourselves, “We have Abraham for our father,” because, I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these stones. Even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees, so that any tree which fails to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire. I baptise you in water for repentance, but the one who follows me is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to carry his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’

 

A Homily - The Second Sunday of Advent, (Year A)

 

A Homily - The First Sunday of Advent (Year A)

First Reading – Isaiah 2:1-5 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 121(122):1-2, 4-5, 6-9 ©

Second Reading – Romans 13:11-14 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Palms 84:8

The Gospel According to Matthew 24:37 - 44 ©

 

(NJB)

Listen!

Isaiah proclaims that the law of God is meant to be for all people, and that the law is meant to be a blessing that will lead the people to peace. When Isaiah says that the temple of God will rise higher than the hills, he is not issuing a doctrine of supremacy; rather, he is articulating the his faith in the ethical precepts of Judaism, and the notion that in time all people will come to the law as a universal principle of truth and goodness and abandon the capriciousness of their national and tribal rulers, deities and demi-gods.

This is the law as Jesus said it while standing explicitly in the tradition of Isaiah:

Love God with all your strength and all your heart, and all your mind; love your neighbor as yourself…this is the whole of law.

Remember.

When the law or its prophets makes reference to Zion it is not referencing a physical place. Zion is a metaphor that stands for the center of our being. Zion represents the heart of each of us individually, and the whole of us collectively. Zion is the heart of hearts; in its deepest chamber is the holy of holies, the place where we encounter the divine, and it is there that the creator of the universe has written the immutable law: to love your neighbor even as you love yourself…this is the way.

It is there, in the living temple of the living God that the invisible hand has inscribed the indelible command, to love one another as God loves you, and that we return God’s love through the service we give to our neighbors, our friends and family and to the stranger in our midst, fulfilling the hope of the psalmist who sings of the desire to return to a place of simplicity, peace and rest.

Be mindful.

It is only through the other that God presents God’s self to us, God is present in the heart of every human being.

Know this

Insofar as we uphold the rule that our salvation is complete and the savior’s work is done, that we dwell in the place where the fear of death is gone, it is then and only then that pain and suffering lose their power over us. It is then that the poison of sin is drawn out by the grace of love and the wound itself healed by faith…which means trust in the ever compassionate providence of the divine.

When we have fulfilled this rule for ourselves, in our own communities we will have no need for anyone to come with power and authority to adjudicate between us, because there will be no conflict, and we will have no need of a judge.

When this rule is followed there is peace among the people of God, both in the here and now and in eternity to come…when all people in all places at all times shall be as one.

Consider the wisdom of the psalmist who says to each of us, to each and every one of us:

You were conceived in the womb of salvation

You were conceived in the womb of salvation; you do not have to seek that which has already found you...you came to be in and through and by the word of God, of God who breathed life into you and called you into being, of God who knew you before the foundations of the world, who knew all of your deeds, your triumphs and calamities, who loved you and said that you were good..

When you consider again the words of the psalmist forget all the talk of securing cities, ramparts and thrones. God has nothing to do with these things…they are stuff that human beings dream of.

The eternal God does not belong to one people, one nation, one world or one galaxy; God’s being is co-extensive with the universe, and there is no place where God is not. The infinite and eternal God is beyond our comprehension, and yet God is with us and within us, both immanent and transcendent; God is the being through whom and in whom each and every one of us comes into existence.

Stay awake!

Reflect on the teaching of the apostle; it is always dark somewhere in the world, and somewhere in the world there is light. It is easy to hide in plain sight, while it is difficult to work for the good and keep it private. Whether in private or in public, we mut endeavor to fulfill the expectations we have set for ourselves regarding our relationship to the divine, and do so in the knowledge know that God’s love for us, for even the worst of us, endures forever.

Act as if everything you do will be known by all, because it will in the end, in that place beyond time, when God is all in all; then there will be nothing hidden and all secrets will have been revealed.

Forget all about the talk of God’s glory; the creator of the universe is not a nationalist, and promoting that image of God is to promote a god of fear; it is a false image of a lesser being. Rather, promote the God of love, Isaiah’s God, beyond all tribalism, all national borders, all boundaries and the limitations of time and space.

Reject the image of God as king, dread lord and tyrant. Promote the God of humility, justice and mercy, just as Jesus walked the way and taught us to be; live decently and free from the addiction of our desires…which only lead to suffering.

Know this!

God is the creator of the entire universe, it is from God that everything flows; all of the rivers and streams, all of the oceans and seas, all planets, all stars and all galaxies…with everything and everyone who dwells, dwelt or will dwell in them.

Consider these truths when you read the scriptures so that you may understand that it was not God who ended the captivity of Jacob, the Israelites did…this is not hubris, it is truth. It is far greater hubris to think that God loves a special people, a single tribe above all others, than to think that the Israelites escaped bondage under their own power.

Know this!

God is never angry or indignant with the people, and yet God will not rescue anyone from the misery of this world; that is for us to do for ourselves, but more importantly it is for us to do for each other.

Consider the Gospel reading for today and know that the future history of the world has not been written; it exists in potentiality and remains so until the crest of time curls into its actuality.

Any suppositions that you may find in scripture concerning our future on Earth is merely guesswork. Now, some guesses are more informed than others; we can speak in terms of possibility and probability, of patterns and trends but we cannot know anything about the days and nights to come; nothing is fixed and change is the only constant…everything is uncertain except for the understanding that God’s will shall prevail in the end.

There are thousands of ways in which the plans we have laid, or the hopes that we cherish can come undone: lightning will strike, a tornado will blow, a meteor fall, a volcano explode. A person in the fullness of life may trip and fall, hit their head and die, leaving all their deeds and all their hopes and dreams behind them, it can happen without warning…it happens like this everyday.

God has promised to bring an end to suffering, injustice, hunger, illness and we can believe in this promise, but only with the understanding that these promises are not of this world; they concern the world to come, a world in which human beings are not subject to the vicissitudes of the material condition or the hungers of the flesh…these promises express a hope that does not belong to the worlds of time and space; I cannot speak of that world, I will not pretend to because I have never seen it…no one has. Our belief in a loving God, our hope in the words of the prophets, our trust in the Gospel, these are what allow us to believe that the world of God’s promise is real, but anyone who pretends to know for certain is overstating their case, or simply lying…they are either con-men or the conned and they are not to be trusted with anything.

This is what we have been taught, and we should keep strictly to it:

We can live our present lives as if the actuality of God’s promises were real, we can believe it even though we cannot see it; this is the secret of the way. If we care for one another we do not have to wait for the end of time; we can experience something of God’s promise in the here and now. In those moments, which may be transitory, the spirit of God is alive within us…God is always with us, but in those moments when we are working with God to bring about that better world, then God is with us in a special way, it is then through the synchronicity of our beating hearts that we experience the mystery of the sacred and the unity of the divine.

First Reading – Isaiah 2:1-5 ©

The Lord Gathers All Nations Together Into the Eternal Peace of God's Kingdom

The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In the days to come the mountain of the Temple of the Lord shall tower above the mountains and be lifted higher than the hills.

All the nations will stream to it, peoples without number will come to it; and they will say:

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths; since the Law will go out from Zion, and the oracle of the Lord from Jerusalem.’

He will wield authority over the nations and adjudicate between many peoples; these will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles.

Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for war.

O House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 121(122):1-2, 4-5, 6-9 ©

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

I rejoiced when I heard them say:

  ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

And now our feet are standing

  within your gates, O Jerusalem.

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

It is there that the tribes go up,

  the tribes of the Lord.

For Israel’s law it is,

  there to praise the Lord’s name.

There were set the thrones of judgement

  of the house of David.

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

For the peace of Jerusalem pray:

  ‘Peace be to your homes!

May peace reign in your walls,

  in your palaces, peace!’

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

For love of my brethren and friends

  I say: ‘Peace upon you!’

For love of the house of the Lord

  I will ask for your good.

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

 

Second Reading – Romans 13:11-14 ©

Our Salvation is Near

You know ‘the time’ has come: you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted. The night is almost over, it will be daylight soon – let us give up all the things we prefer to do under cover of the dark; let us arm ourselves and appear in the light. Let us live decently as people do in the daytime: no drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Palms 84:8

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let us see, O Lord, your mercy and give us your saving help.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 24:37 - 44 ©

The Son of Man is Coming at an Hour You Do Not Expect

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it be when the Son of Man comes. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept all away. It will be like this when the Son of Man comes. Then of two men in the fields one is taken, one left; of two women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left.

‘So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

 

The First Sunday of Advent (Year A)