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Catholic Preaching

By Father Roger LandryReligion & Spirituality Christianity

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December 20, 2024Learning From Mary How To Receive The Sign The Lord Gives, December 20, 2024
Msgr. Roger J. Landry
Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan
Mass for December 20
December 20, 2024
Is 7:10-14, Ps 24, Lk 1:26-38

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.20.24_Homily_1.mp3

The following points were attempted in the homily:
The O Antiphon on which the Church has us meditate today in anticipation of Christ’s birth is “O clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel: qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris,” which is translated, “O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: come and lead forth the captive who sits in the shadows from his house arrest (his home of prison).”
Jesus is the Key of David who opens and locks the door to heaven. He identifies himself as such in his message to the Church of Philadelphia in the Book of Revelation, where he identified himself as “the holy one, the true, who holds the key of David, who opens and no one shall close, who closes and no one shall open” (Rev 3:6). He was the descendant of David to whom the keys of the kingdom were eventually transmitted and who in turn transmitted them to Peter and his successors. But this reference to a key to open and close goes back to the time of today’s first reading. We encounter King Ahaz who, if you remember the Gospel of Jesus’ genealogy from December 17, was the eighth generation grandson of King David. We’ll return to King Ahaz shortly, but his son, Hezekiah, was one of the most faithful kings in the Davidic line. He replaced the master of his household — Shebna, basically his prime minister, who had allowed the temple of God to become sullied — with Eliakim. God said to Shebna through Isaiah, “I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station. On that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah; I will clothe him with your robe, and gird him with your sash, and give over to him your authority. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family” (Is 22:19-23). Jesus received those keys according to his humanity. As the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary in today’s Gospel about the Son she would conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit and bear, “The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
As we draw near to the celebration of Christmas, we prepare to welcome Jesus as that key, the one who comes to lead those sitting in darkness from our house arrest. We recognize that Jesus has come into the world to open up the doors to our prison cells and lead us out of darkness into light. The key he holds is the Cross, which is what — through his passion, death and resurrection — freed us from sin and the death to which it leads and opened up for us a life of grace and the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. But while Jesus has done his work of opening up our prisons, we must leave our “house arrest” behind. The doors are open but we must walk out that door. Plato, 500 years before Christ, in his famous work The Republic, gave an allegory (extended metaphor) of a cave, which he puts on the lips of Socrates in one of the most famous philosophical images ever made. Plato describes an underground cave which has an opening toward the light. In this cave there are living human beings chained from childhood in such a way that they face the inside wall of the cave and have never seen the light of the sun. Above and behind them — in other words, between the prisoners and the mouth of the cave — is a fire, and between them and the fire is a raised way and a low wall, like a screen. Along this raised way men pass carrying statues and figures of animals and other objects in such a way that the objects they carry appear over the top of the low wall or screen. The prisoners, facing the inside wall of the cave, cannot see one another nor the objects carried behind them, but they see the shadows of themselves and the shadows of the objects. Eventually one of the prisoners is freed and led up the cave toward the light. At first, the light blinds him and he wishes to return to looking at the wall and the shadows. But as he is led further up, he sees the ledge containing the fire and the people carrying objects that were casting the shadows on the wall. He is led out of the cave and beholds sunlight shining on the created world. Finally, he is moved to gaze on the sun. Plato used the analogy to describe the whole process of learning, which is an arduous ascent, whereby one sees at first the initial cause of the shadows in the pots and statues and fire, but then is led even beyond that into the real world that those looking at the shadows never see. Finally, the true adult, the fully-educated and -formed man, is able to behold the sun, the ultimate source of light, the ultimate source of life. By this allegory, Plato implies that many people remain imprisoned at the level of shadows, but don’t know it. When the freed former prisoner returns after having seen the light of the Sun, and tries to tell the others about all that he has seen and the causes of the shadows, they mock him, they call him crazy, they say he’s the one living in the dream world, and eventually they kill him. This was Plato’s way of describing what happened that led to the death of Socrates, his teacher. It also describes very well what led to the death of Jesus. Jesus came to lead people from imprisonment in the shadows of the cave into the light, but many prefer to remain at the level of shadows. Jesus has opened the door but many sadly want to stay in house arrest.
We see the contrast between those living in the shadows and those living in the light in today’s readings. In the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah we encounter King Ahaz, who was King of Judah for 16 years about 720 years before Christ. Judah was under threat from the northern Kingdom of Israel under Pekah and the Syrians under Rezin. Those two kingdoms wanted Ahaz to join in an alliance against the powerful Assyrian kingdom under Tiglath-Pileser III. Ahaz was just an 18-year-old leader and he was afraid. He was planning to form an alliance with the Assyrians against the two other kings, something that would prove disastrous for Judah, but God sent Isaiah to him to guide him. The problem was that he didn’t want to follow Isaiah’s advice because he preferred to follow the counsel of his political advisors and the false prophets who told him what he wanted to hear rather than what God was perhaps counter-intuitively advising through his true prophet. Ahaz was trapped in the shadows. Even when Isaiah came to tell him that the Lord would help and save them, that he would open the door out of the predicament and lead him and the Jews, Ahaz didn’t want to have anything to do with it. So the Lord told him through Isaiah, “Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!” When God had asked his ancestor Solomon — at the identical age of 18! — the same question, Solomon asked for a prudent heart to judge things according to God’s wisdom. Ahaz feigned piety, saying, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!” The reason why he didn’t want a sign was because once the sign was given, it would, in a sense, bind him to the truth, bind him to something other than what he was already intending to do. How dark was his darkness! How bound was he in the imprisonment of the shadows! So God through Isaiah told him what sign he would give: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” The sign would be God-with-us, a sign that would be fulfilled in so many ways through God’s presence, including in the Babylonian exile to which Ahaz’s political moves would eventually lead, but most especially in Jesus, who would would literally be God-with-us. But Isaiah explained how wearisome it must be for God when God gives us all the help we need, when God frees us, to see us remain where we are. “Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God?” In Jesus’ coming, God has done so much so that we may live freely, but we have to take advantage of this liberation and leave the darkness and go into the light.
The one who shows us how to do this is the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was liberated “preveniently” in her Immaculate Conception by her Creator and Savior who would become in time her Son according to the flesh. She lived in the light from the first moment of her conception. And when the Archangel Gabriel came to her, she manifested how those who live in the light, who are full of grace, who are with the Lord who is with us, respond to God. She first asked a question about whether God was asking her to change what she had previously thought he had requested in order to fulfill his will. That’s what her query means, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” The only way that this question makes sense is if Mary had already totally consecrated herself as a virgin to God, because if she hadn’t, then she would have well known how she would conceive and bear a son: it would have been through conjugal relations with her betrothed husband, St. Joseph. She had already responded to God’s light in her previous consecration but she was humbly open to being led further in the light of God’s plan if that’s what God was asking of her. After being told that she would conceive Jesus — a name which means “God saves,” God liberates, God opens up the door of our prisons — miraculously by the power of the Holy Spirit, she luminously replied, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” She shows us very clearly how to respond to God, by placing ourselves at his service, by allowing our whole lives to develop in accordance with this word.
She enfleshes the three virtues that we read about in today’s beautiful responsorial psalm. When asked, “Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord or who may stand in his holy place?,” the Psalm responds, “He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.” To live in the light, to take advantage of the gift of freedom to leave the prison cell behind, involves three things: desires, intentions and deeds. We first need to desire not what is vain, fleeting, worthless, but to desire what lasts, what is truly important; we need to long for more than the shadows, but rather the light! Second, our heart must be pure, not filled with the darkness of evil thoughts. Third, our hands must be clean; we must not take bribes, we must not use our hands to steal, to abuse others, but use them for deeds of love and fold them in prayer. Mary desired what God desires, wanting her whole life to develop according to his word, rejoicing and magnifying him. Her heart was pure, seeing God in ordinary circumstances, contemplative, treasuring all his gifts, pondering them within. And her deeds were those of love, placing herself as the Lord’s handmaid in his service, and eventually holding the Son of God in her hands and helping to raise him with maternal love. Mary wants to lead us by these means on the moral and spiritual exodus from the cave into the kingdom of God, into the eternal promised land that is both now and not yet.
“Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!” If we had been given this opportunity as King Ahaz was, even if Mary with her sinless hands, clean heart and holy desires had been given this possibility, none of us would have ever dreamed of asking God to send his own Son into our world, to take on our own nature, to be born for us, to be God-with-us, to set us free by suffering, and to leave himself as our food under the appearance of bread and wine until the end of time. But what we never would have dreamed God himself has done! This is the reality that we receive today, as I celebrate my last daily Mass here at Columbia. It has been a great joy for me over the last two and half years to have the privilege to be with you here to receive that mind blowing gift under the prayers and watchful gaze of Our Lady in this Grotto. Thank you for your regular and truly faithful attendance. I will miss you! But the same Lord who has given himself to us here every day, the same Mother who has prayed us here, will remain with us both, to help us on the continued pilgrimage of Christian life. Today let us together prepare once more to receive the Key of David and the Scepter of the House of Israel within us and let us ask him for all the graces he knows we need to become, like Mary, his servants, letting our lives develop according to his word; to have sinless hands, pure hearts and holy deeds; to leave the darkness of our house arrest behind and move forward into the light; and to take advantage, in the days that remain in Advent, of the power of the keys in the Sacrament of Confession, whereby Jesus sets us free and makes all of this possible!

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1 is 7:10-14
The LORD spoke to Ahaz:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”
Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary men,
must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.
Responsorial Psalm ps 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
R. (see 7c and 10b) Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
O Key of David,
opening the gates of God’s eternal Kingdom:
come and free the prisoners of darkness!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel lk 1:26-38
In the sixth month,
the angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
The post Learning From Mary How To Receive The Sign The Lord Gives, December 20, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
17 min
December 19, 2024Following John the Baptist Lead Us To Christ With Desire and Silence, December 19, 2024
Msgr. Roger J. Landry
St. Jean Baptiste Church, Manhattan
Mass for Pilgrims from Corporate Travel
Mass for December 19
December 19, 2024
Jdg 13:2-7.24-25, Ps 71, Lk 1:5-25

To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.19.24_corporate_travel_homily.mp3

The following points were attempted in the homily:
Why did God make St. Elizabeth and the mother of Samson wait so long to conceive, suffering with infertility? To increase their desire for a gift and appreciate the child as a gift. That’s the first lesson we learn six days from Christmas.
The second lesson is about silence, which was the punishment for Zechariah’s doubt. It’s the means by which not to talk ourselves out of God’s action by human wisdom.
We see both of these in the life of St. John the Baptist and the mystery he points to, especially in this Church: Christ in the Eucharist.
To appreciate John’s role as a precursor not just to Jesus’ conception, birth, preaching, arrest and death, but also in the mystery of the Eucharist, we need both desire and silence. The National Eucharistic pilgrimage is meant to stoke that desire and bring us to a holy awe before the culmination of salvation history, which is the Eucharist.

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
JGS 13:2-7, 24-25A
There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah.
His wife was barren and had borne no children.
An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,
“Though you are barren and have had no children,
yet you will conceive and bear a son.
Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink
and to eat nothing unclean.
As for the son you will conceive and bear,
no razor shall touch his head,
for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb.
It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel
from the power of the Philistines.”
The woman went and told her husband,
“A man of God came to me;
he had the appearance of an angel of God, terrible indeed.
I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.
But he said to me,
‘You will be with child and will bear a son.
So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.
For the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb,
until the day of his death.’”
The woman bore a son and named him Samson.
The boy grew up and the LORD blessed him;
the Spirit of the LORD stirred him.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 71:3-4A, 5-6AB, 16-17
R. (see 8) My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.
R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!
For you are my hope, O LORD;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.
R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!
I will treat of the mighty works of the LORD;
O God, I will tell of your singular justice.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.
R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!
Gospel
LK 1:5-25
In the days of Herod, King of Judea,
there was a priest named Zechariah
of the priestly division of Abijah;
his wife was from the daughters of Aaron,
and her name was Elizabeth.
Both were righteous in the eyes of God,
observing all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren
and both were advanced in years.
Once when he was serving as priest
in his division’s turn before God,
according to the practice of the priestly service,
he was chosen by lot
to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense.
Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside
at the hour of the incense offering,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him,
standing at the right of the altar of incense.
Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
because your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you shall name him John.
And you will have joy and gladness,
and many will rejoice at his birth,
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
He will drink neither wine nor strong drink.
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb,
and he will turn many of the children of Israel
to the Lord their God.
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah
to turn the hearts of fathers toward children
and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous,
to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”
Then Zechariah said to the angel,
“How shall I know this?
For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
And the angel said to him in reply,
“I am Gabriel, who stand before God.
I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.
But now you will be speechless and unable to talk
until the day these things take place,
because you did not believe my words,
which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah
and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them,
and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary.
He was gesturing to them but remained mute.
Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home.
After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived,
and she went into seclusion for five months, saying,
“So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit
to take away my disgrace before others.”
The post Following John the Baptist Lead Us To Christ With Desire and Silence, December 19, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
23 min
December 19, 2024Silent Awe Before God and His Wondrous Action, December 19, 2024
Msgr. Roger J. Landry
Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan
Mass for December 19
December 19, 2024
Jdg 13:2-7.24-25, Ps 71, Lk 1:5-25

To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.19.24_Homily_1.mp3

The following points were attempted in the homily:
In the second phase of Advent that begins each year on December 17, the Church’s proximate journey to Christmas is accompanied, as I mentioned on Tuesday, by the ancient “O Antiphons,” called “O” because they all start with a vocative, calling the Lord Jesus by a specific title, and then asking him under that title to do something specific for us when he comes so that we may become more like him. The O Antiphon and readings for December 19 help us to enter more deeply into the dynamism of God’s interaction with us, how he seeks to transform what seems lifeless into something fruitful and sacred and how we need silence to approach these mysteries with a proper sense of wonder. We ponder today the antiphon O radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, iam noli tardare, “O root of Jesse, who stand as a sign for the people about whom kings stay silent and before whom all the nations pray: come to free us, do not delay.” These sacred fourth-century words come from two parts of the famous passage from the Book of Isaiah that we heard back on Tuesday of the first week of Advent: “A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out for his dwelling shall be glorious” (Is 11:1,10). The other part of the Antiphon comes from the passage about the Suffering Servant later in Isaiah, when the prophet, speaking about what he would suffer for us, foretells, “Even as many were amazed at him — so marred was his look beyond that of man, and his appearance beyond that of mortals — so shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; for those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it” (Is 52:14-15). Together they reveal to us the shocking surprise of the rise of the shoot from Jesse’s stump. From a stump — which seems sterile, cut down — we don’t expect much growth, but we see that the shoot would eventually reach across the globe and into eternity. Isaiah was referring to King David’s descendant Jesus, who was set up as a sign to the nations of the literal presence of God. And that leads us to the response before this wondrous transformation: In his presence, the O Antiphon based on Isaiah continues, kings stayed silent, as we see with the three kings at his birth, blown away by his humility, resting not in silk garments in a palace but wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. We see it before King Herod on Good Friday. We see it still as the kings and leaders or the earth look at Jesus on the Cross. God’s love, his willingness to become so small and humble, his willingness to suffer and die to save us, ought to make us speechless in amazement. Likewise before him all the nations come to pray, as we saw in the coming of the Magi, in the Centurion, Syro-Phoenician woman, the Greeks and so many others during his lifetime, and still today. His dwelling turned out out to be even more glorious than the Temple in Jerusalem in all its splendor: his very body became the refulgence of the glory of God.
We can enter more deeply into this exodus from silence to wonder, from emptiness to life, from hopelessness to the fulfillment of hope, in today’s readings. Both feature sterile women. In something as wondrous as a shoot sprouting from a stump that didn’t seem capable of generating life but then led to a whole forest that would never be cut down, we see two women whose wombs were barren, who after much prayer and longing finally conceived a son. In the first reading, we have the wife of Manoah (who unfortunately is never named!), who hadn’t been able to conceive. The angel appears to her doubtless as a response to her prayer and says, “Though you are barren and have had no children, yet you will conceive and bear a son … who will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines … [and who] shall be consecrated to God from the womb until the day of his death.” Her long wait, her many prayers, eventually led to her conceiving the heroic judge Samson. In the Gospel we see an even greater miracle. Elizabeth and Zechariah were sterile and were both late in years. Elizabeth was almost certainly post-menopausal. Zechariah was a priest of the priestly division of Abijah whose turn it was to serve in the temple. The way the cultic priesthood worked at the temple of Jerusalem was that there were about 20,000 male descendants of Aaron, all of whom were automatically priests. They were divided into 24 divisions and they would rotate ministry at the temple, serving twice a year for a week. In every division, there were between 800-900 priests assigned. The day’s duties — offering the morning and evening sacrifices of a one year-old unblemished male lamb together with flower, oil and wine, as well as offering the incense at the altar while those two sacrifices were taking place — were assigned each day by lottery. One could go an entire lifetime of service without one’s name ever being drawn (in each tribe, there were 28 chosen each week, 56 per year, out of 800-900 priests; if everyone got a turn and were chosen by lot equally, that would be every 14-16 years). When one’s name was selected, however, it was one of the happiest days in the priest’s life. Doubtless as Zechariah was chosen to offer the incense for the evening sacrifices he approached the altar with a prayer that he had been carrying within him his entire life. We wouldn’t be surprised if Elizabeth, before he would begin each week’s service, would have reminded him every time, “If you’re chosen, don’t forget God to hear our prayers and give us a child to remove the shame of my sterility.” So during the time he was offering the incense, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him, “Your request has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you must call him John. … Many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him … to prepare a people fit for the Lord.” Just as God had made a stump sprout, just as he would make rocks give streams of water, turn deserts into oases and even raise the Dead Sea to life (Ez 47), so he would turn sterility into fertility. Pope Francis spoke about this miraculous transformation from barrenness to bounty during his homily for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2017. “Together with Elizabeth, the sterile woman” the Holy Father said, “we contemplate Elizabeth the woman of hidden fecundity. It’s she who is the first to recognize and bless Mary. It’s she who in her old age experienced in her life, in her flesh, the fulfillment of the promised made by God. She who couldn’t have children bore in her womb the precursor of salvation. In her we understand that the dream of God isn’t sterility or stigmatization or shame, but to make rise up in them and from them a hymn of blessing.”
The Lord wants to work a similar miracle in us and every Advent we prepare for it. He wants to raise to life whatever it in us is barren so that it gives forth life with him. Many times we’re spiritually sterile, we bear no fruit. We labor for months, years and even more to grow in prayer and it seems like we have nothing to show for it. We try to pass on the faith to others and we end up feeling like barren fig trees. Today Jesus wants to give us hope. The reason why he often waits to grant something intrinsically good for which we desire so ardently is to increase that desire and to make us always conscious of the gift God gives that most of us would take for granted if we received things too easily. The long advent for the fulfillment of those promises are meant to increase, like the candles on an advent wreath increase each week during Advent, our prayer, our hope and — after the prayer is granted — our gratitude.
But how does this transformation take place? How do we cooperate with what God’s trying to do? I think that’s shown in the second important lesson we learn from today’s readings. In order for the miracle to occur we not only need to ask for it in faith but receive it with faith. That’s what Zechariah didn’t do. He asked the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.” Even though he and his wife had prayed for decades, even though an angel had appeared to him to announce the answer to his longings, he wanted verification. He really didn’t want to accept it without another sign. His question is totally different from the question of Mary that we see in the Annunciation. After the same Archangel Gabriel appeared to her, she asked, “How will this be, for I will not know man.” That wasn’t at all a question of doubt, but of modality. It clearly implies she had made a vow of consecrated virginity to the Lord — otherwise, why would she be asking how she would conceive a child, since she would well have known how children are conceived! — and therefore essentially was asking, “How will I become a mother? Does the Lord intend for me to break my vow of virginity in order to conceive?” That’s when the Angel talked about how the Holy Spirit would overshadow her so that she would become the only virginal mother in the history of the world. Zechariah’s question was different. He knew how Elizabeth would conceive a child if she were to become a mom. He just didn’t really want to believe and accept that she would become a mom through him now that she was a senior citizen. For us to bear fruit, we need to trust in the Lord’s promises. Questions are fine especially when it seems that God is asking us something that seems to go against what he’s indicated to us up until then, but as St. John Henry Cardinal Newman once said, ten thousand questions do not constitute a single doubt.
But what if we struggle with doubt? How can we overcome our temptations not to believe that all that God has promised will take place? That’s the third lesson from today’s readings. It’s found in the medicinal penance the Archangel gave Zechariah. At first it might seem very strange as a response to Zechariah’s doubt. We could imagine that Gabriel would have instead negated or delayed the promise. Instead he said, “But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.” Why would his being struck mute be a proper punishment? The answer is because it would force him to pray, force him to become good soil of faith for the Lord to respond to the Lord’s gifts. Like the kings are forced to silence before the root of Jesse, each of us must approach these great mysteries of God and the fulfillment of his promises with a faith nourished in silence. St. Augustine says that Zechariah was struck mute for the whole time when his son, John the Baptist, would be silent in the womb of Elizabeth. As soon as he was born and could start to cry out, Zechariah’s tongue would be loosened so that he, too, could cry out about the marvel the Lord had done for him when he would name his son John, which means God-is-gracious. I’ve always thought that the reason is to help him develop a contemplative heart like Mary, who would visit over the last months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy and who treasured within her heart what the Angel had said. She believed because she was one who regularly received the Lord’s gifts in the silent dialogue of prayer. Zechariah needed to become more like Mary. That’s a very important lesson for us every Advent. The way for us to go from sterility to fertility is by faithfully receiving all God’s word on good soil, which will enable us to bear not just a son or a little fruit, but 30, 60 and 100 fold. We’re supposed to be tremendously fertile! But to become fruitful soil, we have to make time for silence, to ponder within our hearts and treasure all that God is saying and doing in our lives, in others’ lives, in the world. If we’re too busy, we’ll often be prone to doubt like Zechariah. If we’re running around “hustle, bustle, push and muscle, rushing to and fro” (A Christmas Carol), we’ll never be able to respond with faith and bear the type of fruit that God wants to give us.
Today we come up to the Lord’s temple. We don’t have this privilege just, maybe, once in a lifetime or every 14-16 years, but we have the opportunity every day. We don’t have make this grotto chapel smoke with incense rising up to God because we come with hearts lifted up the Lord with the sweet-smelling fragrance of faith. It’s here that the Lord wants to do a greater miracle in us than in the wife of Manoah and in Elizabeth’s womb. He wants us to bear someone far greater than Samson and John the Baptist within, but the same Jesus whom Mary conceived, so that we will become pregnant with the presence of God-with-us within us, and bear him, his love, his life, his joy to the world. O root of Jesse, about to come down on this altar, the sign that stands before the people of the depth of God’s love, please make us silent like kings, please help us to pray like the saints of all the nations, so that we, freed by you, may go without delay to announce that same liberation to all we know!

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
JGS 13:2-7, 24-25A
There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah.
His wife was barren and had borne no children.
An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,
“Though you are barren and have had no children,
yet you will conceive and bear a son.
Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink
and to eat nothing unclean.
As for the son you will conceive and bear,
no razor shall touch his head,
for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb.
It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel
from the power of the Philistines.”
The woman went and told her husband,
“A man of God came to me;
he had the appearance of an angel of God, terrible indeed.
I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.
But he said to me,
‘You will be with child and will bear a son.
So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.
For the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb,
until the day of his death.’”
The woman bore a son and named him Samson.
The boy grew up and the LORD blessed him;
the Spirit of the LORD stirred him.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 71:3-4A, 5-6AB, 16-17
R. (see 8) My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.
R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!
For you are my hope, O LORD;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.
R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!
I will treat of the mighty works of the LORD;
O God, I will tell of your singular justice.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.
R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!
Gospel
LK 1:5-25
In the days of Herod, King of Judea,
there was a priest named Zechariah
of the priestly division of Abijah;
his wife was from the daughters of Aaron,
and her name was Elizabeth.
Both were righteous in the eyes of God,
observing all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren
and both were advanced in years.
Once when he was serving as priest
in his division’s turn before God,
according to the practice of the priestly service,
he was chosen by lot
to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense.
Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside
at the hour of the incense offering,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him,
standing at the right of the altar of incense.
Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
because your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you shall name him John.
And you will have joy and gladness,
and many will rejoice at his birth,
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
He will drink neither wine nor strong drink.
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb,
and he will turn many of the children of Israel
to the Lord their God.
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah
to turn the hearts of fathers toward children
and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous,
to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”
Then Zechariah said to the angel,
“How shall I know this?
For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
And the angel said to him in reply,
“I am Gabriel, who stand before God.
I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.
But now you will be speechless and unable to talk
until the day these things take place,
because you did not believe my words,
which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah
and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them,
and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary.
He was gesturing to them but remained mute.
Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home.
After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived,
and she went into seclusion for five months, saying,
“So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit
to take away my disgrace before others.”
The post Silent Awe Before God and His Wondrous Action, December 19, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
21 min
December 17, 2024Learning the Way of Wisdom Starting from Wisdom Incarnate’s Genealogy, December 17, 2024
Msgr. Roger J. Landry
Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan
Mass of December 17
December 17, 2024
Is 49:2.8-10, Ps 72, Mt 1:1-17

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.17.24_Homily_1.mp3

The following points were attempted in the homily:
Today we begin the second phase of Advent dedicated to the proximate preparation for the celebration of the Lord’s birth. In the first phase of Advent, which runs from the first Sunday of Advent through December 16, we focus on the Lord’s “triple-coming” in history (Bethlehem), mystery (the sacraments and prayer), and majesty (on the clouds of heaven for the second coming), with a special accent on the third, and on how we’re called to run out to embrace him in each of these three ways so that, transformed by him, we begin to journey with him. Now we shift gears and we will begin traversing the events that happened just before our Savior’s birth.
To accompany us each day, the Church gives us the ancient “O Antiphons,” called “O” because they all start with a vocative, calling the Lord Jesus by a specific title, and then asking him under that title to do something specific for us so that we may become more like him. These antiphons were already in use in the 700s in Rome but may have their origin a few hundred years earlier. In them, we’ll address Jesus in Latin, O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai (O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens (O Rising Sun), O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), and finally O Emmanuel (O God-with-us). These Antiphons are prayed by the Church twice a day, originally and principally during Vespers before and after the Magnificat canticle and then during the Alleluia verse to prepare us for the Gospel at Mass. They influence the way we’re supposed to relate to Jesus as he comes into our world, the way we’re supposed to respond with joy to the reception of God’s word. The beautiful Advent hymn we sing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” is based on the O Antiphons, but the translation is a little loose and they’ve changed the traditional order. Regardless, it is a beautiful hymn not just to sing but upon which to meditate during this proximate preparation for Christmas.
The O Antiphon we have today orients our approach to today’s readings: O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter sauviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae. “O Wisdom, who have come from the mouth of God Most High, guiding all created things strongly and sweetly from end to end: come to teach us the way of prudence.” And Jesus, Wisdom incarnate, responds to that prayer by teaching us the way of wisdom that effuses his genealogy.
The first reaction by most of us to the Lord’s genealogy is that it concerns anything but wisdom. Pope Francis, whose 88th birthday we mark today, said that when this passage is read, many comment it’s like reading straight out of the telephone book. But there’s something else going on. Just like today we celebrate not only Jorge Mario Bergoglio but also focus on his roots as the first of five children of Mario José Bergoglio and Regina Maria Sivori, so the genealogy of the Lord first shows us history: that the Word of God not only became man and dwelled among us but became “history.” He entered our human history. Jews were focused on genealogies and it was highly significant for St. Matthew to show that Jesus was a descendent first of Abraham and then of David. This communicated, respectively, that he was a Jew and he was an appropriate candidate to be the Messiah as a descendant of King David. (It also shows us how St. Joseph was part of God’s plans, since the genealogy of Jesus, according to the law and history, runs through St. Joseph.) The genealogy in St. Luke’s Gospel runs backward from Jesus through Joseph all the way to Adam, showing how Jesus was fully human, the new Adam.
We know, however, that Jesus didn’t merely enter into history, but changed it, making it “salvation history.” That’s what the three phases of fourteen generations show us in St. Matthew’s genealogy today. They trace out for us the three main stages in salvation history. The progression from from the wandering Abraham to King David reveals the dignity to which God calls us all, to his kingdom, to greatness. God’s made us for this greatness. The middle 14 generations show how we squandered that greatness, ending up in slavery in the Babylonian exile. But the last 14 show us that God didn’t leave us there, but entered not just to bring us back to the beginning but to bring us forward to an even greater state, because now we know that how much God really does love us mercifully.
We see this truth about salvation history clearly depicted in the genealogy. We see it in the mention of David and Solomon and several of their descendants, kings who squandered their dignity became great sinners. We see it also in the women mentioned. It was almost unheard of to mention the names of women in genealogies. But we see several women named: Tamar, who was a seducer and adulteress, deceiving her father-in-law into impregnating her (Gen 38); Rahab who was a prostitute in Jericho (Josh 2:1-7); Ruth who was not even a Jew but a Moabite whom the Book of Deuteronomy said shouldn’t be admitted into the assembly of the Lord (Deut 23:3); and Bathsheba, an adulteress, whom David seduced and who became the mother of Solomon (2 Sam 11). These are women despite their sins were grafted onto the tree of salvation history leading to Jesus. They point ultimately to the role of the last woman named — the sinless Mary — in bringing about salvation history, whose yes righted the sin of Eve and of other women and men throughout the centuries. The list of these men and women show us how Jesus wants to redeem all of us from the inside, from within history, turning even our sins into an opportunity for salvation.
But the genealogy in a sense doesn’t stop there. God has entered into salvation history in order to walk with us, in order to lead us out of sin onto the path of wisdom and right judgment. In the first reading, we have the prophecy Jacob gave to Judah his son, calling him a “lion’s whelp,” a baby lion. That baby lion would eventually become the “lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David” (Rev 5:5), who in the Book of Revelation would open the scroll with its seven seals. That Lion comes to make us all part of his family tree, so that we can be grafted not only onto his history but also salvation history. St. Paul writes that we were “cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated one” (Rom 11:24) — and, in Christ’s case, cultivated for millennia. That’s meant to lead us to be “rooted in [Christ] and built upon him” (Col 2:7). The true path of wisdom onto which we beg God to lead us culminates in our living in Christ, in our being firmly rooted in him, in our letting him, salvation history incarnate, to begin to write our own history, as we cooperate with Jesus’ plans to save us and through us to help him save the world. We prayed in the Collect to begin Mass today, that Jesus, “having taken to himself our humanity, may be pleased to grant us a share in his divinity.” That is the prayer that we will make on Christmas morning. That is the prayer made every day at the altar when a drop of water is placed into the chalice filled with wine. That is ultimately Jesus’ work of leading us in the way of prudence, leading us to become truly his image and likeness. As we prepare for communion with the Lord of history, let us ask him for the grace to do in us what he did with David and Solomon, with Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, and make our names famous because of their association with Him, who loved us so much to make us his own!

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
GN 49:2, 8-10
Jacob called his sons and said to them:
“Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob,
listen to Israel, your father.
“You, Judah, shall your brothers praise
–your hand on the neck of your enemies;
the sons of your father shall bow down to you.
Judah, like a lion’s whelp,
you have grown up on prey, my son.
He crouches like a lion recumbent,
the king of beasts–who would dare rouse him?
The scepter shall never depart from Judah,
or the mace from between his legs,
While tribute is brought to him,
and he receives the people’s homage.”
Responsorial Psalm
PS 72:1-2, 3-4AB, 7-8, 17
R. (see 7) Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
The mountains shall yield peace for the people,
and the hills justice.
He shall defend the afflicted among the people,
save the children of the poor.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Gospel
MT 1:1-17
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham became the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah,
whose mother was Tamar.
Perez became the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab became the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
whose mother was Rahab.
Boaz became the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth.
Obed became the father of Jesse,
Jesse the father of David the king.
David became the father of Solomon,
whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.
Solomon became the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asaph.
Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah.
Uzziah became the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amos,
Amos the father of Josiah.
Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers
at the time of the Babylonian exile.
After the Babylonian exile,
Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud.
Abiud became the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok.
Zadok became the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar became the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Thus the total number of generations
from Abraham to David
is fourteen generations;
from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations;
from the Babylonian exile to the Christ,
fourteen generations.
The post Learning the Way of Wisdom Starting from Wisdom Incarnate’s Genealogy, December 17, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
19 min
December 17, 2024Where Was John’s Baptism From?, Monday of the Third Week of Advent, Mass Celebrating the Baptism of Ting Li Ahmari, December 16, 2024
Msgr. Roger J. Landry
Notre Dame Parish, Manhattan
Monday of the Third Week of Advent
Mass Celebrating the Baptism of Ting Li Lucy Yi Zhenmei Ahmari
December 16, 2024
Num 24:2-7.15-17, Ps 25, Mt 21:23-27

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.16.24_Ting_Ahmari_Baptismal_Mass_1.mp3

The following points were attempted in the homily:
“Where was John’s Baptism from?” If John the Baptist’s baptism, which only pointed to the need for the forgiveness of sins, was of heavenly origin, how much more is Jesus’ baptism, which he sent out the Church to do, of heavenly origin, as it delivers efficaciously the pardon of sin.
By Jesus’ authority as God, he has established the Sacrament of Baptism with tremendous impact. We see that impact in the story of Naaman the Syrian, who, after washing seven times in the Jordan River, had his leprosy cured. The power of the Sacrament of Baptism is far greater, wiping away sin, making us a temple of the Holy Spirit, incorporating us into the Church, making us a child of God. These are graces to which we’re called to correspond and in which we’re called to grow, as the prophecy of Ezekiel about the water flowing from the eastern side of the Temple into the desert reveals.
Today Ting will have a chance to receive within her the one whom Balaam prophesied in the first reading. She will receive the power of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation to live faithfully this new life. How lucky we are to be present on what Pope Francis calls the most important day of her life.

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1 nm 24:2-7, 15-17a
When Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel encamped, tribe by tribe,
the spirit of God came upon him,
and he gave voice to his oracle:
The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
the utterance of a man whose eye is true,
The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled:
How goodly are your tents, O Jacob;
your encampments, O Israel!
They are like gardens beside a stream,
like the cedars planted by the LORD.
His wells shall yield free-flowing waters,
he shall have the sea within reach;
His king shall rise higher,
and his royalty shall be exalted.
Then Balaam gave voice to his oracle:
The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
the utterance of the man whose eye is true,
The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled.
I see him, though not now;
I behold him, though not near:
A star shall advance from Jacob,
and a staff shall rise from Israel.
Responsorial Psalm ps 25:4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9
R. (4) Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Alleluia Ps 85:8
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Show us, LORD, your love,
and grant us your salvation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel mt 21:23-27
When Jesus had come into the temple area,
the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him
as he was teaching and said,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
And who gave you this authority?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me,
then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things.
Where was John’s baptism from?
Was it of heavenly or of human origin?”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd,
for they all regard John as a prophet.”
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
He himself said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The post Where Was John’s Baptism From?, Monday of the Third Week of Advent, Mass Celebrating the Baptism of Ting Li Ahmari, December 16, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
17 min
December 16, 2024Learning the Lord’s Ways and Living Our Baptism, Third Monday of Advent, December 16, 2024
Msgr. Roger J. Landry
Corpus Christi Monastery, Bronx, New York
Monday of the Third Week of Advent
December 16, 2024
Num 24:2-7.15-17, Ps 25, Mt 21:23-27

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.16.24_homily.mp3

This is the text that guided the homily:
We can’t help but notice a huge contrast today between the first reading and the Gospel. In the Book of Numbers, we see a mysterious figure named Balaam, a pagan diviner whom the Moabite King Balac bribed to pronounce a curse over Israel. When Balaam tried to curse Israel on four separate occasions, however, he couldn’t. Instead he pronounced a blessing, and the greatest blessing of all, foretelling the coming of Jesus 1,300 year later: “I see him, though not now; I behold him, though not near: a star shall advance from Jacob and a [shepherd’s] staff shall rise from Israel.” Even though Balaam certainly didn’t start in the right place, he couldn’t help but acknowledge and announce the truth and the light that God revealed to him.
In the Gospel we see something totally different. The chief priests and elders of the people, who had started with God’s revelation, who had prayed since their youth the words of today’s Psalm, “Teach me your ways, O Lord!,” ended up rejecting God’s ways, spurning Jesus’ fulfillment of all the Old Testament Messianic prophecies as well as the prophetic announcement of John the Baptist. For them, they were no longer interested in the truth. They were not hungry to learn and follow God’s paths. They thought they already had all the answers they needed. They thought that they were firmly on the path. They were interested only in authority, and, frankly, not God’s authority but their own. They asked Jesus, “By whose authority are you doing these things?,” because they knew Jesus didn’t have their authority, and likely, they thought, hadn’t received a mission from anyone else who could give it in categories they would acknowledge. The fact that God had given him authority — or even more, that he was God and was speaking on his own authority — hadn’t even crossed their mind because it was a category they did not want to acknowledge even existed. Jesus knew this and for that reason asked a question not to trip them up but to bring them conversion, seeking to have them acknowledge God’s authority. That’s why he asked, “Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?” It was designed to open them up to the fact that God, as the Source of all authority, could have sent John. But they didn’t respond with a desire for the truth of things, just with a political calculation: “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.’ So they said to Jesus in reply, ‘We do not know.’” Even though they supposedly “didn’t know” and didn’t really care to know, they were not agnostic in their approach to Jesus. They didn’t treat John as a prophet. They didn’t heed John’s message. They didn’t make straight the paths. And they didn’t heed John’s indication of Jesus as the Lamb of God who had come into the world to fulfill all the prophecies of the sacrificial lambs in the temple.
We see in the Psalm the attitude each of us should have toward God’s word announced to us with God’s authority through St. John the Baptist and announced to us by the Author himself: “Guide me in your truth and teach me!” There’s supposed to be not only an openness but an active, hungry docility. God always wants to respond to that prayer, but we need to be open to how he responds. The scribes and the Pharisees prayed Psalm 25 often, asking the Lord to teach them his ways, but when he sought to teach them through St. John the Baptist or came in the flesh to teach them in person, they rejected his teaching, his truth, his ways. Today’s readings help us to examine our own attitude toward God’s prophecy. Are we responsive or resistant to the message God sends us? Have we acted on John the Baptist’s summons to us to make straight the paths of the Lord by conversion and a good confession or have we just given lip service to the need for conversion God has announced to us through him throughout this Season? Have we opened ourselves up to the “star” of Jacob and the “shepherd” of Israel who came in order to revolutionize our life and help us to live like him in the midst of the world, sent out by him not only with his blessing but, to some degree, as his blessing?
As we learn from Balaam’s prophetic utterance despite his bad beginning, and the chief priests’ and elders’ refusal to accept John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ words and actions despite their good beginning having been nourished by God’s word and the worship of him in the temple, it doesn’t matter so much where we start but how we end up. This goes for us this Advent and it also goes for everyone else. We prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth in a beasts’ trough in a stranger’s animal cave rather than a crib in a palace. That would have seemed in the eyes of the world and even in many religious Jews’ eyes as if the child were cursed from the start, but we know that from those humble grounds, God turned that worldly affliction into a blessing. In the most powerful way of all, when Jesus was pinned to a tree underneath a sign mockingly proclaiming him that king of the Jews, God did something even greater. The Jews and Romans both used to say, “Cursed be anyone who dies on a tree,” and many of the same chief priests and elders were cursing Jesus as they saw him dying on Good Friday. But God made that earthly malediction the greatest blessing in human history — in fact the blessing with which we began our prayer of the Mass and the blessing with which we will finish our Mass, namely the Sign of the Cross. God always draws good out of evil, he always seeks to turn curses into caresses, blights into blessings. Everything propitious and adverse comes from God. We ask him to convert in us whatever is resistant to receiving his prophetic words and sharing them and to transform us into the disciples, prophets and divine blessing the world so much needs this Advent and beyond!

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1 nm 24:2-7, 15-17a
When Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel encamped, tribe by tribe,
the spirit of God came upon him,
and he gave voice to his oracle:
The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
the utterance of a man whose eye is true,
The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled:
How goodly are your tents, O Jacob;
your encampments, O Israel!
They are like gardens beside a stream,
like the cedars planted by the LORD.
His wells shall yield free-flowing waters,
he shall have the sea within reach;
His king shall rise higher,
and his royalty shall be exalted.
Then Balaam gave voice to his oracle:
The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
the utterance of the man whose eye is true,
The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled.
I see him, though not now;
I behold him, though not near:
A star shall advance from Jacob,
and a staff shall rise from Israel.
Responsorial Psalm ps 25:4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9
R. (4) Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Alleluia Ps 85:8
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Show us, LORD, your love,
and grant us your salvation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel mt 21:23-27
When Jesus had come into the temple area,
the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him
as he was teaching and said,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
And who gave you this authority?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me,
then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things.
Where was John’s baptism from?
Was it of heavenly or of human origin?”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd,
for they all regard John as a prophet.”
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
He himself said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The post Learning the Lord’s Ways and Living Our Baptism, Third Monday of Advent, December 16, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
9 min
December 15, 2024What Must We Do?, Third Sunday of Advent (C), December 15, 2024
Msgr. Roger J. Landry
Convent of the Missionaries of Charity, Bronx, NY
Third Sunday of Advent, Year C
Gaudete Sunday
December 15, 2024
Zeph 3:14-18, Is 12:2-6, Phil 4:4-7, Lk 3:10-18

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.15.24_MCs_Homily_1.mp3

The following text guided the homily:
For the second Sunday in a row, like happens each Advent, we go out to meet Saint John the Baptist at the Jordan River. There, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness summons us to make straight the paths of the Lord, to lower the mountains of our pride, to fill up the valleys of spiritual minimalism, to straighten our crooked ways and smooth our rough ones. People were walking for 20-50 miles to meet John out in the middle of the desert at the Jordan, some to investigate whether he was the Messiah, others sent by the religious authorities to evaluate him, many to listen to him with sincerity, be converted by him and prepare for the coming of the Messiah whom he was announcing.
As a result of his powerful preaching, as we see at the beginning of today’s Gospel, the crowds were moved to ask him to get practical about how to prepare the way for the Messiah. “What then should we do?,” they asked. And he got very concrete. He called them to self-giving charity: “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none and whoever has food should do likewise.” When despised tax collectors asked him the same question, he instructed them to stop collecting more than was prescribed and basically to cease their greedy ways and notorious shakedowns of their own people. When even the Roman soldiers present had their hearts pierced by his words and asked what they had to do, John told them to practice justice rather than use their power for extortion, to tell the truth rather than falsely accuse, and to be satisfied with their wages so that they would not be prey to corruption.
We need to be just as practical when we hear John the Baptist’s message each Advent. We are called to be generous in sharing what we have with those in need, to avoid greed, to be just, to tell the truth, and to be content with what we possess rather than obsessed about more. We need to be willing to make a journey out into the desert, away from our comforts, and with courage ask not John, but God in prayer, or even his earthly emissaries, “When then should I do?” And as a fruit of repentance and a desire for renewal in our faith, act on what God through prayer, conscience or his representatives indicate.
But John calls us further than asking for and making such minor or major course corrections, as important as they are. Ultimately, he summons them to a new life through a life-changing relationship with the One for whom he was preparing the way. “I am baptizing you with water,” he blared, “but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John was preparing us for Jesus and for our living out the true meaning of Christian baptism. John’s baptism at the Jordan was just a sign of the need for the forgiveness of sins and of a new life; the baptism Jesus would inaugurate, by the power of the Holy Spirit, would actually accomplish that forgiveness and make possible that new life together with him, a life that rejects Satan, his empty promises and evil works, and lives consciously by faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in communion with the holy, Catholic Church, forgiven by sin, risen with Christ, and seeking eternal life. Jesus would come with fire, John indicates, to clear his threshing floor of chaff so that we might be free to live this new, fully Christian, way of life to the full. To live this way is the ultimate response to the question, “What must I do?” To receive this gift, open it, and live by it, is what we make straight the paths, lower the mountains, fill the valleys for.
One of the characteristics of that new life being offered, of the truly Christian life with Jesus, is joy. This Sunday the Church celebrates Gaudete Sunday, taken from Saint Paul’s command to the Philippians that we hear in the second reading, “Gaudete semper in Domino,” “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.” Elsewhere he said the same thing to the Christians in Thessalonika: “This is God’s will for you: rejoice always!” (1 Thess 5:16). Our vocation, our fundamental Christian mission, is to rejoice. Paul frames it as a command. To highlight the importance of this Christian vocation in general and this annual Advent summons in particular, the priest uses rose vestments and we light a rose rather than a purple candle on the Advent wreath according to medieval color schemes for joy. A Christian who is not joyful is not just an oxymoron but a false prophet. If we’re not joyful, we imply that the “good news” is a lie. On the other hand, if we are really filled with joy, the world will eventually bust down the doors of our churches to get in, because our family, our friends, our neighbors, are made for joy, most don’t have it, and most consciously or unconsciously are seeking it in the midst of short-lived technological pleasures that can never deliver it. If they see it in us, they’ll hunger to know why, and they’ll follow us to the source of our joy, who is Christ Jesus.
One of the biggest challenges facing the Church, Pope Francis has been saying since the beginning of his pontificate, is that many Christians do not live the faith we joy. That’s why in 2013 he wrote a beautiful exhortation called The Joy of the Gospel, since he said that joy “fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus, who accept his offer of salvation [and] are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness.” But we must really encounter Jesus at the depth at which he seeks to meet us.
One of the problems for many of us is that we relate to Jesus mainly as a moral teacher rather than one who said to us, “I have come so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be made complete” (Jn 15:11). Many of us are not accustomed to thinking of Jesus as the most joyful person who ever lived. We don’t imagine him smiling or laughing. Many times we picture Jesus as he was depicted in the 1977 Franco Zeffirelli filmJesus of Nazareth in which Robert Powell portrayed Jesus in a way in which Jesus seldom smiled and was, at least to me, rather lifeless. That’s why Jonathan Roumie’s depiction of Jesus in the video series The Chosen is important, because he tries to show Jesus who is joyful, who is fun, while at the same time loving and fully serious about conversion, salvation and holiness.
Back in 1975, Saint Pope Paul VI wrote a beautiful exhortation that I like to read every year as we approach Gaudete Sunday. It is entitled, appropriately, Gaudete in Domino, taken from Saint Paul’s words in today’s second reading that are first words the Church uses for this liturgy in the entrance antiphon. St. Paul VI described at length in this exhortation Jesus’ contagious joy. What he says is important for everyone to ponder, but even more so important for Missionaries of Charity, insofar as the spirit of the Society of the Missionaries of Charity is one of loving trust, total surrender and cheerfulness” — joy — “as lived by Jesus and Mary in the Gospel.”
Paul VI wrote wrote that Jesus “experienced our joys. He … celebrated a whole range of human joys, those simple daily joys within the reach of everyone. … He admires the birds of heaven, the lilies of the field. He immediately grasps God’s attitude towards creation at the dawn of history. He willingly extols the joy of the sower and the harvester, the joy of the man who finds a hidden treasure, the joy of the shepherd who recovers his sheep or of the woman who finds her lost coin, the joy of those invited to the feast, the joy of a marriage celebration, the joy of the father who embraces his son returning from a prodigal life, and the joy of the woman who has just brought her child into the world. For Jesus, these joys are real because for Him they are the signs of the spiritual joys of the kingdom of God: the joy of people who enter this kingdom return there or work there, the joy of the Father who welcomes them. And for His part Jesus Himself manifests His satisfaction and His tenderness when He meets children wishing to approach Him, a rich young man who is faithful and wants to do more, friends who open their home to Him, like Martha, Mary and Lazarus. His happiness is above all to see the Word accepted, the possessed delivered, a sinful woman or a publican like Zacchaeus converted, a widow taking from her poverty and giving. He even exults with joy when He states that the little ones have the revelation of the kingdom that remains hidden from the wise and clever. Yes, because Christ was ‘a man like us in all things but sin,’ He accepted and experienced affective and spiritual joys, as a gift of God. And He did not rest until ‘to the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation…and to those in sorrow, joy.’”
Saint Paul VI doesn’t stop there, but says we have to “understand properly the secret of the unfathomable joy that dwells in Jesus and that is special to Him. … It is by reason of the inexpressible love by which He knows that He is loved by His Father. When He is baptized on the banks of the Jordan, this love, which is present from the first moment of His Incarnation, is manifested: ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you.’ This certitude is inseparable from the consciousness of Jesus.” Jesus’ joy came from his abiding in the love of the Father and Jesus wants to communicate to us that joy by helping us to know and experience that love. At the same time, however, St. Paul VI makes plain that this joy is not some spiritual cotton candy. This Christ-like joy, he clarified, is a “demanding joy,” saying it begins with the beatitudes. People today think joy comes from being rich but Jesus says it comes from spiritual poverty; the world says it comes from comedy, but Jesus says it comes through mourning as a result of a heightened sensitivity for others’ suffering and for the destructive power of sin; the world says it comes from having everyone fear starting a conflict with you, but Jesus says it comes through being meek and a peacemaker; the world says it comes from having all of your sexual fantasies and even perversions fulfilled, whereas Jesus indicates it flows from being pure in heart; the world says it flows from being popular and admired, but Jesus says real joy comes from being persecuted, reviled and hated on his account. That’s the path for us to “rejoice and be glad,” for our reward in heaven, the Lord says, will be great. Christian joy is a demanding joy. We see this in Jesus’ own joy. “In a mysterious way,” Saint Paul VI writes, “Christ Himself accepts death at the hands of the wicked and death on the cross, … but the Father has not allowed death to keep Him in its power. … This is why the disciples were confirmed in an ineradicable joy when they saw the Lord on Easter evening.” And so Paul VI draws a conclusion: “The joy of the kingdom brought to realization can only spring from thesimultaneous celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lord. … Neither trials nor sufferings have been eliminated from this world, but they take on a new meaning in the certainty of sharing in the redemption wrought by the Lord and of sharing in His glory. … Here below this joy will always include to a certain extent the painful trial of a woman in labor and a certain apparent abandonment, like that of the orphan… but the disciples’ sadness, which is according to God and not according to the world, will be promptly changed into a spiritual joy that no one will be able to take away from them.”
The spirit of the Missionaries of Charity is a joy flowing from loving trust and total surrender like Jesus and Mary, and so it’s important, likewise, to focus a little on Mary’s joy. We’ve had a chance this last week to do so with the celebrations of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Loreto and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Saint Teresa of Calcutta stressed, “Joy was the strength of Our Lady.” She was full of joy because she was, as the Archangel Gabriel said, full of grace and full of God, and because the Lord was with her. Later in her Magnificat, which is a hymn of joy, she exulted, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” and then gave reasons: because he has looked on her humility, done great things for her, extended his mercy from generation to generation, exalted the humble, filled the hungry, and faithfully helped Israel as he promised. We have the same perennial reasons for joy. And Mary as “cause of our joy” intercedes for us. This Gaudete Sunday is an opportunity for us to receive that help, which is constitutive to our Christian vocation and to the identity and apostolate of the Missionaries of Charity. “An MC must be an MC of Joy,” Mother Teresa famously said. “By this sign the world will know that your are MCs.”
So this Sunday, as we ask, “What must I do?,” as John the Baptist orients us, as Jesus and Mary radiantly show us the path, we are summoned and challenged anew to rejoice always. We ask Jesus, with his winnowing fan, to burn away whatever keeps us from recognizing in the Father’s love and Jesus’ triumph the ineradicable sense of enduring Christian happiness even in this world. The Mass is the perfect place to begin our re-rooting ourselves in Christian joy. In the Mass, we enter live in time into the eternal events of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We bring our whole life, the good and the bad, to Calvary, where we ask Jesus to take them, to unite them to himself on the Cross, to transform and transfigure them by the power of his resurrection. We ask him ultimately to change us radically through his word and through entering into communion with him. St. Josemaria Escriva was once asked why he couldn’t stop smiling when he distributed Holy Communion. He responded, “Because I am giving Happiness incarnate to people!” Jesus is our happiness. Jesus is our joy. And during the celebration of the First Mass in the Upper Room, he told us, “I have said these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete!” Jesus-our-joy has called us to rejoice always. Jesus-our-joy will soon be in us to make our joy complete. We cry out with joy and gladness, because among us, within us, is the great and holy one of Israel! May we exult always at this incredible gift in such a way that we may help the whole world learn how to rejoice with us!

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading I
Zep 3:14-18a
Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
The LORD has removed the judgment against you
he has turned away your enemies;
the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,
you have no further misfortune to fear.
On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!
The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a mighty savior;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
he will sing joyfully because of you,
as one sings at festivals.
Responsorial Psalm
Is 12:2-3, 4, 5-6.
R. (6) Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;
among the nations make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Reading II
Phil 4:4-7
Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Alleluia
Is 61:1 (cited in Lk 4:18)
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Lk 3:10-18
The crowds asked John the Baptist,
“What should we do?”
He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,
“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them,
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”
Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Exhorting them in many other ways,
he preached good news to the people.
The post What Must We Do?, Third Sunday of Advent (C), December 15, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
26 min
December 14, 2024Third Sunday of Advent (C), Conversations with Consequences Podcast, December 14, 2024
Msgr. Roger J. Landry
Conversations with Consequences Podcast
Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, C, Vigil
December 14, 2024

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.14.24_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

The following text guided the homily:
This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday, as, for the second week in a row, like we do each Advent, we go out to meet Saint John the Baptist at the Jordan River. There the voice of one crying out in the wilderness summons us to make straight the paths of the Lord, to lower the mountains of our pride, to fill up the valleys of spiritual minimalism, to straighten our crooked ways and smooth our rough ones. People were walking for 20-50 miles to meet John out of in the middle of nowhere at the Jordan, some to investigate whether he was the Messiah, others sent by the religious authorities to evaluate him, most to listen to him with sincerity, be converted by him and prepare for the coming of the Messiah whom he was announcing.
As a result of his powerful preaching, like we see at the beginning of this Sunday’s Gospel, the crowds were moved to ask him to get practical about how to prepare the way for the Messiah. “What then should we do?,” they asked. And he got very concrete. He called them to self-giving charity: “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none and whoever has food should do likewise.” When despised tax collectors asked him the same question, he instructed them to stop collecting more than was prescribed and basically to cease their greedy ways and the notorious shakedowns of their own people to which they were accustomed. When even the Roman soldiers present had their hearts pierced by his words to ask what they had to do, he told them to practice justice rather than use their power for extortion, to tell the truth rather than falsely accuse, and to be satisfied with their wages so that they would not be prey to corruption.
We need to be just as practical when we hear John the Baptist’s message each Advent. In a materialist age, in a culture of walk-in closets and storage bins, we are called to be generous in sharing our clothes, our food, our money with those in need, to avoid greed, be just, tell the truth, and be content with what we have rather than obsessed about more. We need to be willing to make a journey out into the desert, away from creature comforts, and with courage ask not John, but God in prayer, or even his earthly representatives in our parishes and dioceses, “When then should I do?” And then, as fruits of repentance and a desire for renewal in our faith, act on what God through prayer, conscience or his representatives indicates.
But John calls us further than just asking for and making such minor or major course corrections, as important as they are. Ultimately he summons us to a new life through a life-changing relationship with the One for whom he was preparing the way. “I am baptizing you with water,” he blared, “but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John was preparing us for Jesus and for our living out the true meaning of Christian baptism. John’s baptism at the Jordan was just a sign of the need for the forgiveness of sins and of a new life; the baptism Jesus would inaugurate, by the power of the Holy Spirit, would actually accomplish that forgiveness and make possible that new life together with him, a life that rejects Satan, his empty promises and evil works, and lives consciously by faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in communion with the holy, Catholic Church, forgiven by sin, risen with Christ, and seeking eternal life. Jesus would come with fire, John indicates, to clear his threshing floor of chaff so that we might be free to live this new, fully Christian, way of life. To live this way is ultimately the response to the question, “What must I do?” To receive this gift, open it, and live by it, is what we make straight the paths, lower the mountains, and fill the valleys for.
One of the characteristics of that new life being offered, of the truly Christian life with Jesus, is joy. This Sunday the Church celebrates Gaudete Sunday, taken from Saint Paul’s command to the Philippians which we will hear in the second reading, “Gaudete semper in Domino,” “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.” Elsewhere he said the same thing to the Christians in Thessalonika: “This is God’s will for you: rejoice always!” (1 Thess 5:16). Our vocation, our fundamental Christian mission, is to rejoice. To highlight the importance of this calling, the priest will use rose vestments and light a rose rather than a purple candle on the Advent wreath. A Christian who is not joyful is not just an oxymoron but a false prophet. If we’re not joyful, we advertise that the “good news” is a lie. On the other hand, if we are really filled with joy, the world will eventually bust down the doors of our churches to get in, because our family, our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, our fellow students, are made for joy, most don’t have it, and consciously or unconsciously are seeking it in the midst of short-lived technological, materialistic, or bodily pleasures that can never deliver it. If they see joy in us, they’ll hunger to know why, and they’ll follow us to the source of our joy, who is Christ Jesus. One of the biggest challenges facing the Church, Pope Francis has been saying since the beginning of his pontificate, is that many Christians do not live the faith with joy. That’s why in 2013 he wrote a beautiful exhortation called the Joy of the Gospel, since he said that joy “fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus, who accept his offer of salvation [and] are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness.” But we must really encounter Jesus at the depth at which he seeks to meet us.
One of the problems for many of us is that we relate to Jesus mainly as a moral teacher rather than one who said to us, “I have come so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be made complete” and “I have come so that [you] may have life and have it to the full.” Many of us are not accustomed to thinking of Jesus as the most joyful person who ever lived. We don’t imagine him smiling or laughing. Many times we picture Jesus as he was depicted in the 1977 Franco Zeffirelli film Jesus of Nazareth in which Robert Powell portrayed the Lord in a way in which Jesus seldom smiled and was, at least to me, rather lifeless. Back in 1975, Saint Pope Paul VI wrote a beautiful exhortation entitled Gaudete in Domino, taken from Saint Paul’s words this Sunday, in which he went on at length about Jesus’ contagious joy. He wrote that Jesus “experienced our joys. He … celebrated a whole range of human joys, those simple daily joys within the reach of everyone. … He admires the birds of heaven, the lilies of the field. He immediately grasps God’s attitude towards creation at the dawn of history. He willingly extols the joy of the sower and the harvester, the joy of the man who finds a hidden treasure, the joy of the shepherd who recovers his sheep or of the woman who finds her lost coin, the joy of those invited to the feast, the joy of a marriage celebration, the joy of the father who embraces his son returning from a prodigal life, and the joy of the woman who has just brought her child into the world. For Jesus, these joys are real because for Him they are the signs of the spiritual joys of the kingdom of God: the joy of people who enter this kingdom return there or work there, the joy of the Father who welcomes them. And for His part Jesus Himself manifests His satisfaction and His tenderness when He meets children wishing to approach Him, a rich young man who is faithful and wants to do more, friends who open their home to Him, like Martha, Mary and Lazarus. His happiness is above all to see the Word accepted, the possessed delivered, a sinful woman or a publican like Zacchaeus converted, a widow taking from her poverty and giving. He even exults with joy when He states that the little ones have the revelation of the kingdom that remains hidden from the wise and clever. Yes, because Christ was ‘a man like us in all things but sin,’ He accepted and experienced affective and spiritual joys, as a gift of God. And He did not rest until ‘to the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation…and to those in sorrow, joy.’”
Saint Paul VI doesn’t stop there, but says we have to “understand properly the secret of the unfathomable joy that dwells in Jesus and that is special to Him. … It is by reason of the inexpressible love by which He knows that He is loved by His Father. When He is baptized on the banks of the Jordan, this love, which is present from the first moment of His Incarnation, is manifested: ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you.’ This certitude is inseparable from the consciousness of Jesus.” Jesus’ joy came from his abiding in the love of the Father and Jesus wants to communicate to us that joy by helping us to know and experience that love. At the same time, however, Saint Paul VI makes plain that this joy is not some spiritual cotton candy. This Christ-like joy, he said, is a “demanding joy,” saying it begins with the beatitudes. People today think joy comes from being rich but Jesus says it comes from spiritual poverty; the world says it comes from comedians, but Jesus says it comes through mourning; the world says it flows from being popular and admired, but Jesus says real joy comes from being persecuted, reviled and hated on his account. That’s the path for us to “rejoice and be glad,” for our reward in heaven will be great. Christian joy is indeed a demanding joy. We see this in Jesus’ own joy. “In a mysterious way,” Saint Paul VI writes, “Christ Himself accepts death at the hands of the wicked and death on the cross, … but the Father has not allowed death to keep Him in its power. … This is why the disciples were confirmed in an ineradicable joy when they saw the Lord on Easter evening.” And so Paul VI draws a conclusion: “The joy of the kingdom brought to realization can only spring from thesimultaneous celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lord. … Neither trials nor sufferings have been eliminated from this world, but they take on a new meaning in the certainty of sharing in the redemption wrought by the Lord and of sharing in His glory. … Here below this joy will always include to a certain extent the painful trial of a woman in labor and a certain apparent abandonment, like that of the orphan… but the disciples’ sadness, which is according to God and not according to the world, will be promptly changed into a spiritual joy that no one will be able to take away from them.”
So this Sunday, as we ask, “What must I do?” and John the Baptist orients us, we are summoned to rejoice always and ask Jesus, with his winnowing fan, to burn away whatever keeps us from recognizing in the Father’s love and Jesus’ triumph the ineradicable sense of Christian happiness even in this world, a joy that begins by encountering Jesus at the altar each Sunday, where he longs to enter into each of us full of joy.

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Gospel
Lk 3:10-18
The crowds asked John the Baptist,
“What should we do?”
He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,
“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them,
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”
Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Exhorting them in many other ways,
he preached good news to the people.
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10 min
December 13, 2024Adjusting to the Lord’s Advent Music, Second Friday of Advent, December 13, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan
Friday of the Second Week of Advent
Memorial of St. Lucy
55th Anniversary of the Priestly Ordination of Pope Francis
December 13, 2024
Is 48:7-19, Ps 1, Mt 11:16-19

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.13.24_Homily_1.mp3

The following points were attempted in the homily:
As we have been pondering, Advent involves a triple dynamism: the Lord comes, we go out to meet him with lighted lamps, and then transformed by the encounter with the Bridegroom we continue to journey with him and finish together with him his mission.
When we go out to meet him, it’s key that we are open to that transformation. In the Gospel today, Jesus says that many of us don’t encounter him with that in mind. He describes his generation — and frankly every generation — like children in marketplaces “sitting,” in other words, not wanting to move. They’re playing different music and wanting everyone to respond to that music: if they play the flute, they want people to dance; if they play a dirge, they want people to mourn. The key is that they want to set the terms of the interaction. They want the others to move. That’s what Jesus was saying they were doing with God’s messenger and God himself. They criticized John the Baptist for his ascetical fasting; and when Jesus wasn’t fasting because he was showing us how to rejoice because the Bridegroom was with us, they criticized him for drawing close in mercy to the hedonists like the tax collectors and other sinners, who were enjoying the things of this world in a disordered way. They failed to grasp that it’s we who should be dancing to the Lord’s music and not the other way around.
Often we, too, try to play the music for our relationship with the Lord. We play soft, sentimental hits and want the Lord just to touch our emotions. Or we’ll play marches and want the Lord to ship others around us into shape and boss them around like a drill sergeant. Or we’ll play horror movie music to try to “scare the hell” out of people. Or we’ll play heavy metal at high volume to drown out the Lord’s whisper. Or we’ll play the music of our favorite singer or band and give to him, her or them more attention than we do God. Or we won’t play any music at all, because we’re in a bad mood, or hate music, or can’t sing, or anything else. The point is that we need to attune ourselves to what the Lord is playing.
In the first reading, God tells us through Isaiah, “I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.” We need to allow him to teach and guide us, rather than our seeking to teach him how the world, our life and the lives of those around us should run. We need to follow him rather than try to lead him, like Peter did when Jesus had to call him “Satan.” We need to learn in all of these ways to sing with him a new song. In this age in which Popes John Paul II and Francis have called kairos of mercy, the Lord hopes that we’ll besinging, “Misericordias tuas in aeternum cantabo!,” “I will sing of your mercies forever!” In this time where faith is needed, he wants us chanting “Let it be done to me according to your word” and “Faith of our Fathers.” In this time in which there’s such a need for the joy of the Gospel, he wants us to be singing our own “Magnificat.” But as we sing them, we’re supposed to be singing them in a new way, with all we have. The Psalmist today describes the type of fruit we’ll produce when we align ourselves to the Lord’s music, when we delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on his law day and night: we will be like a tree planted near running water, yielding its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. When we listen to what the Lord teaches us for our own good and allow him to lead us on the way we should go, hearkening to his commandments, as Isaiah tells us, we will spiritually prosper like a river. But if we don’t, if we want to remain in control, the Psalmist tells us we will be like chaff, dead airy matter with no holy solidity, blown away by our whims.
Today we can focus on two people who help us to see what it is to get up from a situation of our whims, adjust our lives to the Lord’s tune, and follow the Lord with the light of life. The first is St. Lucy. From her youngest days, she loved the Lord and wanted to align herself totally to his movements in her life. She offered her virginity to God young in life, but her mother Eutychia had already made plans to marry her off to a rich pagan. After her spurned suitor grasped that her vow of virginity likely meant that she was a Christian and turned her over to Diocletian’s persecutorial administration, she was condemned to death in Syracuse, Sicily. She was willing to continue dancing not only to the Lord’s tune but together with the Lord even in suffering and death so that she could join in the music of the saints and angels. The love song of virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven was a great tune of her life and strengthened her for martyrdom. What St. Ambrose said of St. Agnes’ virginity we could likewise say of St. Lucy’s: “Virginity (chastity) is not praiseworthy because it is found in martyrs, but because it itself makes martyrs.” The type of love that leads one to consecrate herself totally to God in response to his love, to turn to him and to seek his face above all, is what makes a person strong in loving him to the end, loving him despite suffering, torture and even execution. She walked, she ran, she danced, she died with the light of life. Her name Lucy — which derives from the word Lux, Lucis for light — is not just because she is the patron saint of those with eye maladies, especially those at risk of blindness, but also because her whole life was radiant with the light of Christ turning her into light for the world.
The second example of someone who got up from the marketplace to follow Christ in light is Pope Francis, who was ordained a priest 55 years ago today by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano in the chapel of the Jesuits’ Colegio Máximo. He had been planning as a boy to become a chemist, but on September 21, 1953, when he went to confession to Fr. Carlos Duarte Ibarra in the Church of San Jose in Flores, and had the experience that the Lord had been waiting for him there, he left the confessional with the conviction that God was calling him through his mercy to be a priest (an insight that eventually he chose as his papal motto, miserando atque eligendo, from St. Bede’s commentary on the calling of St. Matthew) and he danced to that tune. He followed the Lord. 16 years later, he was ordained a Jesuit priest, and since has been trying, through continuous discernment, to adjust his life to what the Lord was asking and help others to learn how to do so and actually to do so. In preparation for this day, he made an eight-day retreat during which he wrote a personal credo. It’s a beautiful testimony as to how he wanted his whole life to march to the Lord’s beat. “I want to believe in God the Father who loves me like a child, and in Jesus, the Lord who infused my life with His Spirit, to make me smile and so carry me to the eternal Kingdom of life. I believe in the Church. I believe in my life story, which was pierced by God’s loving gaze, who on that spring day of 21st September, came out to meet me to invite me to follow him. I believe in my pain, made fruitless by the egotism in which I take refuge. I believe in the stinginess of my soul, which seeks to take without giving. I believe in the goodness of others, and that I must love them without fear and without betraying them, never seeking my own security. I believe in religious life. I believe I wish to love a lot. I believe in the burning death of each day, from which I flee but which smiles at me, inviting me to accept her. I believe in God’s patience, as good and as welcoming as a summer’s night. I believe that Dad is with the Lord in heaven. I believe that Fr. Duarte is there, too, interceding for my priesthood. I believe in Mary, my Mother, who loves me and will never leave me alone. And I believe in the surprise of each day, in which will be manifest love, strength, betrayal, and sin, which will be always with me until that definitive encounter with that marvelous face which I do not know, which always escapes me, but which I wish to know and love. Amen.” We pray for Pope Francis, that he may constantly align his life to the Lord’s music and help the entire Church, as the Bride of Christ, learn how to dance with the eternal Bridegroom the song of salvation.
Today we ask the Lord to help us to learn from St. Lucy and Pope Francis how to leave behind our desire to sing at our speed, at our pitch, with our version of the lyrics, with the melody that might please us most, to singing the Lord’s Song which is ever new. We ask him to help us, like them, to synchronize ourselves to the Lord’s music so that as we go out to meet the Lord who is coming we can live by the light of faith, by lux and credo, and come one day to the definitive encounter with that Marvelous Face whom we wish to know and love smiling on us.

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1 IS 48:17-19
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
I, the LORD, your God,
teach you what is for your good,
and lead you on the way you should go.
If you would hearken to my commandments,
your prosperity would be like a river,
and your vindication like the waves of the sea;
Your descendants would be like the sand,
and those born of your stock like its grains,
Their name never cut off
or blotted out from my presence.
Responsorial Psalm PS 1:1-2, 3, 4 AND 6
R. (see John 8:12) Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord will come; go out to meet him!
He is the prince of peace.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MT 11:16-19
Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare this generation?
It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,
we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,
‘He is possessed by a demon.’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said,
‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”
The post Adjusting to the Lord’s Advent Music, Second Friday of Advent, December 13, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
21 min
December 12, 2024How Does It Happen To Me, That The Mother of Our Lord Should Come To Me?, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12, 2024
Fr. Roger J. Landry
Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 12, 2024
Rev 11:19.12:1-6.10, Judith 13:18-19, Lk 1:39-47

To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.12.24_Homily_1.mp3

The following points were attempted in this homily:
“How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” This question, asked by St. Elizabeth in the Visitation, ought to be asked by each of us today on this great feast of the Patroness of America, Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mary identified herself to St. Juan Diego in Tepeyac as the “Mother of God” and then later as our “Merciful Mother” and she came there as a woman on a mission. A specific type of mission. She’s pregnant with Jesus seeking to bring him to others. In the Gospel, we see what she does as soon as she became pregnant by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit: she went with haste to care for her cousin Elizabeth, forming her embryonic Son to be the itinerant missionary he would become before he even had developed the tiniest of feet. And when she arrived in Ein Karim, Jesus blessed his in utero cousin John the Baptist in the womb, preparing him for his own mission as the precursor of the Messiah, as the great Advent prophet sent to prepare the way for Christ to come. Likewise in the first reading from the Book of Revelation, we see Mary pregnant once again, this time with the Church — we know it’s the Church because she “wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth,” something that didn’t happen in Bethlehem, but certainly happened on Calvary as her crucified Son announced to her that she was to be the mother of the human race — seeking to help bring to birth in all of God’s children the image and likeness of that Son. Mary seeks to do for us what Jesus entrusted her to do as he was dying on the Cross: to help bring him to birth in us. When Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego, when she imprinted her image in his tilma 493 years ago today, she did so as a pregnant Aztec princess, a symbol that she was about to give birth to her Son here in our continent, in our hemisphere. Christianity had arrived in Mexico just ten years before but there were relatively few converts because most of the indigenous people were turned off by the conquistadors rather than turned on by the Franciscan missionaries to the Lord both groups claimed to believe in. But after her appearance and seeing the image of this mestiza woman — which was an harmoniously beautiful mix between Indian and Spanish features, showing the compatibility of the Gospel being announced by the Spanish Franciscans and the Indian nature — there started to be converts by the millions. Ten million came to the faith in just the next decade.
The mission Our Lady of Guadalupe gave to St. Juan Diego shows us how Mary sought to give birth to her Son in this hemisphere. It wasn’t merely bringing people to baptism and the sacraments. It was incorporating them into her Son’s saving mission. It was helping them to continue her own work of bringing Christ to birth in others. When she identified herself to St. Juan Diego, she said, “Am I not here who am your Mother?” She later identified herself as his merciful Mother and told him she wanted a place built where she could “hear [her sons’ and daughters’] weeping, their complaints and heal all their sorrows, hardships and sufferings.” In this kairos of Mercy in which we’re living in the Church and the world, Mary wants to show herself to be our merciful Mother, to hear our sorrows, hardships and sufferings, and to help us to become like Juan Diego, facilitating the fruits of her ongoing mission with so many others. She wants us to help bring people to her so that she can help bring them to her Son so that they might all experience his merciful love. St. Juan Diego’s vocation story shows us all how each of us, no matter how unworthy we think we are, are asked to cooperate in this missionary work of Christ — Mercy incarnate — and his Merciful mother.
When the Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill on December 9, 1531, he was a simple, humble, 57 year-old widower known for walking with his head down and shuffling his feet. He had been baptized only seven years before by the Franciscan missionaries. He soon became a fervent believer. Every Saturday and Sunday he would walk fifteen miles each way to Mass. As he was journeying one cold Saturday morning, he heard a voice calling from the top of a hill, in his native Nahuatl “Juantzin,” “Juan Diegotzin,” — little Juan — “Come here!” He scaled the rocky slope, where at the top he saw the Blessed Virgin Mary arrayed in splendor. Our Lady announced she was on a mission of mercy and wanted him to be her emissary to Bishop Juan de Zumárraga of Mexico City to have him build a church on Tepeyac Hill. She said, “Know for sure, my dearest, littlest, and youngest son, that I am the perfect and ever Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the God of truth through Whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near us, the Lord of heaven and earth. I want very much to have a little house built here for me, in which I will show Him, I will exalt Him and make Him manifest. I will give Him to the people in all my personal love, in my compassion, in my help, in my protection: because I am truly your merciful Mother, yours and all the people who live united in this land and of all the other people of different ancestries, my lovers, who love me, those who seek me, those who trust in me. Here I will hear their weeping, their complaints and heal all their sorrows, hardships and sufferings. And to bring about what my compassionate and merciful concern is trying to achieve, you must go to the residence of the Bishop of Mexico and tell him that I sent you here to show him how strongly I wish him to build me a temple here on the plain; you will report to him exactly all you have seen, admired and what you have heard. Know for sure I will appreciate it very much, be grateful and will reward you. And you? You will deserve very much the reward I will give you for your fatigue, the work and trouble that my mission will cause you. Now my dearest son, you have heard my breath, my word; go now and put forth your best effort.”
Obeying simply and immediately, in his simple peasant’s outfit, he went to the episcopal residence, where he was forced to wait for hours in an outdoor courtyard. Eventually the bishop received him, treated him with kindness, but basically, despite Juan Diego’s obvious sincerity, as probably a little deluded. Juan Diego left feeling like a complete failure. Returning at once to Our Lady on Tepeyac Hill, he said that he had struck out. “I beg you, Noble Lady,” he implored, “to entrust this message to someone of importance, someone well-known and respected, so that your wish will be accomplished. For I am only a lowly peasant and you, my Lady, have sent me to a place where I have no standing. Forgive me if I have disappointed you for having failed in my mission.”
Our Lady smiled tenderly on him and said, “Listen to me, my dearest son, and understand that I have many servants and messengers whom I could charge with the delivery of my message. But it is altogether necessary that you should be the one to undertake this mission and that it be through your mediation and assistance that my wish should be accomplished. I urge you to go to the Bishop again tomorrow. Tell him in my name and make him fully understand my disposition, that he should undertake the erection of the teocalli (temple) for which I ask. And repeat to him that it is I in person, the ever Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, who send you.” We see here that Mary didn’t, strictly speaking, need Juan Diego. She could have appeared to the Bishop herself. But she wanted to incorporate Juan Diego in this saving mission. Likewise she wants to involve each of us, no matter how unqualified we feel or may in fact be.
So after that second meeting with our Lady, Juan Diego went with trepidation to see the bishop again. He feared what the bishop’s overprotective servants might do to him. They greeted him with ill-concealed exasperation. He was told the bishop was busy with more important matters. He told them he was willing to wait — and he did, for several hours in the frigid outdoor courtyard. When he finally met the bishop again, he repeated, with fervor and tears, the message of Our Lady entrusted to him. The bishop asked some questions. Though moved by Juan Diego’s sincerity, he wasn’t going to build a church in a desolate spot on the basis of one person’s unsubstantiated word. To test the message, the bishop asked him for a special secret sign from Our Lady. Juan Diego left at once to ask for the sign. Arriving back at Tepeyac, the Virgin told him to return the following day to receive the sign to bring the bishop: “That is fine, my youngest and dearest son; you will return here tomorrow so that you may take the sign he asked for. Then, he will believe and no longer doubt or be suspicious of you; and know, my dear son, I shall reward your care, work and fatigue in my behalf. Go now; tomorrow I shall be here waiting for you.” That sign turned out to be Castillian roses, which had not yet been introduced to Mexico, growing on the top of a stony hill in frigid December temperatures. Juan Diego was instructed to bring them back to the bishop in his tilma, or outer parka. When he returned to the bishop, as he opened up his tilma, the bishop saw the roses from his native Castille, the sign he was seeking. He and everyone else also saw something even more miraculous: some of the roses had melted into the tilma and produced the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Dressed like a pregnant Aztec princess, Our Lady was giving witness that she was ready to give birth to Christ among the Mexican people.
For me one of the most impressive elements of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and an incredible sign of its authenticity, is what has happened when they did modern scientific tests on the tilma. Various tilmas like it of maguey-fiber (ayate) fabric have been made as controls and they all begin decomposing, even behind glass, after about 20 years, and yet the image itself is present without any decomposition after 493 years. Studies have been done about how an image could get and stay on a tilma like that, showing that it defies human means; infrared studies have shown that there was no trace of paint at all and that the fabric hadn’t been treated with a means to receive paint. And my favorite is what has been discovered with regard to the eyes. With high-tech zooms magnifying the image 2,500 times, it’s been discovered that 13 highly detailed figures are present in the iris and pupil of her eyes, in the left and right eyes, as would happen when human eyes reflect the objects before them. The figures seem to be all those who would have been present in the Bishop’s room when Juan Diego unfurled the tilma, including the Bishop himself, shown as a balding, elderly man with a white beard, matching portraits of him at the time. Such optical information would be impossible for anyone to paint, not only because of the microscopic detail but also because the science of the eye and how images are processed in reflection (the Purkinje effect) were not known at the time. At a theological level, it shows that the Blessed Virgin always has us in the apple of the eye. She’s looking at all of us now with love. We’re not only in her eyes but in her heart. She really is our merciful mother.
And just like she gave birth to Jesus among the Mexicans in the 1530s, so she wants that Christ be born within us, she wants to teach us how to relate to him within us like she did as he was growing within her, so that like her we may seek to bring him to others. And she has that chance here at Mass, particularly daily Mass, as she appeared to St. Juan Diego as he was heading to daily Mass, taking advantage of the love he had for her Son in the Eucharist. It’s here at Mass that she gives us a chance to enter into communion with her Merciful Son and together with him, united with her and all the saints, offer to the Eternal Father Christ’s body, blood, soul and divinity, in expiation for our sins and the sins of the world stretching from the beginning to the end of time! And from here she sends us out, like she sent Juan Diego, to help others come to this temple where Our Lady ever leads us to her Son. O Merciful Mother, our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
RV 11:19A; 12:1-6A, 10AB
God’s temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed.”
Responsorial Psalm
JDT 13:18BCDE, 19
R. (15:9d) You are the highest honor of our race.
Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God,
above all the women on earth;
and blessed be the LORD God,
the creator of heaven and earth.
R. You are the highest honor of our race.
Your deed of hope will never be forgotten
by those who tell of the might of God.
R. You are the highest honor of our race.
Gospel
LK 1:39-47
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,
“Most 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 at 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.”And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”
The post How Does It Happen To Me, That The Mother of Our Lord Should Come To Me?, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
17 min

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Father Roger J. Landry is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, who works for the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York.

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