What is Advent? (Advent I - Cycle A)

This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new liturgical year. Our society has different ways of calculating the timespan of a year. The civic calendar goes from January 1 to December 31. Schools follow the academic calendar, which begins late summer or early autumn and lasts until the spring. The fiscal year starts on July 1 and ends on June 30. A number of ethnic groups also maintain their own traditional calendars.

In the Catholic Church, our calendar is the liturgical year. We start on the First Sunday of Advent, which is the Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Andrew, observed on November 30. We then follow a sequence of seasons and feasts throughout the year, until the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the liturgical year.

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Photo Credit: Advent wreath: Week #1 by Eugenio Hansen, OFS from Wikimedia Commons.

Welcoming Christ to Be the King of Our Lives (Christ the King - Cycle C)

This Sunday, we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, which is more popularly known as the Feast of Christ the King. While the feast has biblical roots, its observance was instituted one hundred years ago by Pope Pius XI. He did so in response to the increasing secularization of Western Civilization, whereby Christ was being pushed more and more out of the public sphere. The pope sought to remind the faithful and the world at large that Christ is King of all the world, now and always.

Before the coming of Christ, the Israelites expected the Messiah to be a great military conqueror, who would overthrow the Roman Empire, which was occupying the Holy Land at the time. In place of Roman rule, the Messiah would set up a new, glorious Israelite kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital. The new kingdom would be the strongest in the world and all the nations of the world would bow down to Jerusalem.

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Photo Credit: Roof fresco of Pantokrator, Nativity of the Theotokos Church, Bitola, North Macedonia from Wikimedia Commons.

Is the End Near? (33rd Sunday - Cycle C)

The Catholic liturgical year runs from the First Sunday of Advent to the Feast of Christ the King, which we will celebrate next Sunday. As we get close to the end of the liturgical year, the readings at Mass focus on the end of the world. Predicting when the world will end is something of a pastime in some parts of American culture. However, the Catholic Church has never tried to predict the time of the end of the world, since Christ has clearly told us that it is not for human beings to know when the world will end.

Instead, we are to live with the expectation that the world might end at any time, while still being focused on our day-to-day responsibilities. A good way to approach the question is with the Benedictine Latin motto "ora et labora," which means to pray and to work. We should pray as if we were about to die in any moment, as if Christ were to return right now. At the same time, we should work as if we were to live in this world indefinitely.

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Photo Credit: The Last Judgement by Fra Angelico from Wikimedia Commons.

Living With a Single-Minded Focus (25th Sunday - Cycle C)

One significant theme in the writings of the Old Testament prophets, a theme we see in this Sunday's first reading as well, is the condemnation of the exploitation of the poor. Dishonest business practices are immoral in any situation, but they are especially reprehensible when the people defrauded lose everything. Most people in ancient times lived in a subsistence-based agricultural economy, with very little margin to protect against starvation. The passage from Amos lists several business practices that were used by some unscrupulous merchants to take advantage of such vulnerable families. Then, once a family's livelihood was destroyed, those who exploited them could force them into slavery, causing them to work for the benefit of others on their own ancestral lands. Amos and the other prophets decried such exploitative practices in no uncertain terms.

The Psalm for this Sunday goes further. In this passage, we see the depiction of a new social order, in which the poor are lifted up and are seated with princes. We see the creation of a new social order without the stratified economic divisions that have characterized most societies in history, where birth determined one's economic condition for life. The fullness of the vision might only come to fruition in Heaven, but God wants us to strive for bringing about a more just society already here on earth.

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Photo Credit: Parable of the Unjust Steward by A. Mironov, from Wikimedia Commons.

The Cross Alone Gives Meaning In This Life (Exaltation of the Holy Cross - Cycle C)

This year, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross falls on a Sunday, the 24th in ordinary time. The feast supplants the regular Sunday readings and prayers, which very rarely happens. The change underscores just how deeply the Church honors the Holy Cross.

As we look at the feast, we see that the assigned Gospel Reading contains perhaps the single most famous passage from the Bible in American culture - John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." The passage is often quoted especially by fundamentalist and evangelical Christians and is a favorite verse to hold up on signs at sporting events. How does the Catholic Church interpret this passage?

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Photo Credit: Wayside cross in Baroña, Galicia, Spain, from Wikimedia Commons.

Why Did Jesus Speak of Hate? (23rd Sunday - Cycle C)

The message of the Gospel passage for this Sunday might seem shocking at first sight. What could Jesus possibly mean by this statement: "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Matthew 14:26)? Doesn't Jesus want us to love our families? Doesn't he want us to have a healthy sense of self-love? How should we interpret his words?

To understand his words in this passage, we need to bear in mind two important aspects of the society in which Jesus proclaimed the Gospel. Ancient Israelite culture relied greatly, as do many cultures today, on the use of hyperbole, which entails deliberate and often excessive exaggeration in order to drive a point home. The manner in which Jesus spoke very much reflected the conventions of his culture.

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Photo Credit: Conversion of St. Paul by Michaelangelo from Wikimedia Commons.

What Is Humility? (22nd Sunday - Cycle C)

Both the First Reading and the Gospel Reading for this Sunday teach about humility. The Greek philosopher Aristotle and later St. Thomas Aquinas, who drew upon his work, both saw virtues as the golden mean between two extremes. Humility can be seen as a virtue between the two extremes of self-absorption and self-hatred.

On the one hand, an exaggerated ego is clearly a vice. In this state, we make ourselves the center of the universe and consider our own wants and desires the most important thing in the world. Being egocentric is deadly for us because it closes us off from God's love and destroys our relationships with others in our lives.

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Photo Credit: Foot washing - Chapel of the Holy Sacrament - Basílica of Aparecida - Aparecida 2014 Wikimedia Commons.

Two Traps to Avoid (21st Sunday - Cycle C)

The Gospel reading for this Sunday warns against presumption. It is not enough to just claim to be Christian. It is not enough merely to say the words. Being a follower of Christ entails action, the reorienting of our entire lives, with Christ as our center.

There are at least two major ways that presumption can manifest itself. One is complacency. We begin with true dedication and enthusiasm. We follow Christ with a sense of excitement. But the danger is that, like the seed planted in shallow ground, we start to lose focus. We might still think that we are on the straight and narrow and are truly following Christ. But in reality, the word Christian no longer truly describes us. We might still be going through some motions, but when we are complacent, Christ is no longer central in our lives.

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Photo Credit: Храм Христа Спасителя, Cathedral of Christ the King from Wikimedia Commons.

Does Jesus Want Division? (20th Sunday - Cycle C)

Years ago, I heard a Jesuit mention in his homily that when he visited the headquarters of the Society of Jesus in Rome, he saw a life-size statue of Jesus with the Sacred Heart in an alcove. Under the statue was inscribed a verse from the Gospel Reading for this Sunday: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!" (Luke 12:49) The priest said that he didn't know if it was an oversight or someone's idea of a bad joke, but right next to the alcove, someone had placed a fire extinguisher.

The priest went on to say that the unfortunate juxtaposition was a good illustration of what we tend to do with the Gospel. We have the powerful message of Christ, which is meant to fundamentally transform all of society, reshaping human life entirely. But we tend to domesticate the Gospel message, robbing it of its power, making sure that the message does not disturb our comfort too much. But the Gospel message is meant to upend everything in our lives, to transform our perspective on everything and reorder all of our interactions in life. The Gospel of Christ is not to be a simple veneer on an otherwise earthly life, but a force that transforms us from within.

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Photo Credit: Altar of the church of Libyan Martyrs in Minya from Wikimedia Commons.

The One Thing We Have to Do in Life (19th Sunday - Cycle C)

The Old Testament period was a time of preparation for the coming of Christ. The Catholic Church has always interpreted the text of the Old Testament as pointing toward Christ. The events of the Old Testament foreshadow various events from the New Testament and prefigure the teachings revealed by Christ.

The First Reading for this Sunday, taken from the Book of Wisdom, reflects on the Passover, through which the Israelites were freed from Egypt, where they had been slaves for generations. The night of the Passover, the Angel of Death flew over the land of Egypt and struck down the firstborn male in every household. The Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb and smear its blood on their doorframes, which was a signal for the angel to pass over the household and not to strike down the firstborn male. When Pharaoh saw the devastation in his domain, he decided to let the Israelites go. The captives fled, but Pharaoh decided to pursue them after all. With God's grace, Moses was able to open up the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to walk dry-shod to the other side, but then the waters closed again when Pharaoh's army continued the pursuit, destroying them completely.

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What We Can Take With Us (18th Sunday - Cycle C)

In my office I display an assortment of snow globes from various parts of the world and there is a story behind the collection. In college, I became the godparent for a classmate who joined the Catholic Church. Later, she became a family friend. When she traveled, she would send us postcards. When I traveled to new locations, I would get her a snow globe in turn. But four years ago, she died as a result of an unsuccessful heart surgery. In her will, she left me the snow globes, so now the gifts I had found during my travels are back in my possession.

Nor is this the only time that things I had given to others came back to me because of their passing. Gifts for my Dad, Mom, and my Aunt Gizi (a holy water bottle from Lourdes, a decorative Virgin Mary plate from Medjugorje, and an icon of a Hungarian saint) had all come back to me after their deaths. All of these objects remind me of the stark reality highlighted by the title of an American play - You Can't Take It With You.

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The Need to Pray for Each Other (17th Sunday - Cycle C)

In the First Reading for this Sunday, taken from the Book of Genesis, we see Abraham haggling with God. Anyone who has bought something from a merchant in the Middle East would know the experience. The original Middle Eastern audience of the text would no doubt have found an element of humor in Abraham presuming to haggle with God himself.

In Middle Eastern cultures, haggling was (and often still is) an everyday part of financial transactions, usually involving an element of theatricality as both sides try to prevail over the other. But we see one key difference in the interaction between Abraham and God. Unlike in traditional haggling, in this account, only Abraham is arguing, as he is trying to lower the number needed to save the city. God gives in to him each time, without a counter argument.

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The Fruit of Patient Faith (16th Sunday - Cycle C)

In the First Reading for this Sunday, we see God Himself visit Abraham. His choice to come in the form of three men points toward the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the deepest mystery of our faith, the doctrine that God is wholly one, and yet has three distinct persons. God assuming the shape of three men for visiting Abraham also points toward the mystery of the Incarnation, foreshadowing that God would take on human nature and become one of us, which we see fulfilled in the coming of Christ among us.

Many years before this visit, God had promised Abraham that he would have a son with his wife Sarah and that he would have innumerable descendants. But Sarah had proved to be barren and in time she grew too old to have children. Despite everything, however, Abraham continued to trust. God now tells him that the promise is about to be fulfilled. Within a year, his son Isaac is born. Abraham indeed becomes the father of many nations and he is the spiritual forefather of Christians.

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Photo Credit: Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary by Harold Copping, from Wikimedia Commons.

Loving Like the Samaritan (15th Sunday - Cycle C)

Today, a four-lane modern highway leads from Jericho to Jerusalem, partially following the route of the ancient road that connected the two cities at the time of Jesus. In that period, the road was known to be dangerous, with robbers often lying in wait to despoil vulnerable travelers. People often journeyed in caravans to minimize the risk, unlike the man in the parable in this Sunday's Gospel reading, who was braving the road by himself and was overcome by robbers.

The story has come to be known as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. After two millennia of Christianity, the phrase "Good Samaritan" has a positive connotation for us. We even have Good Samaritan laws to protect people who help those in danger selflessly. However, the audience of Jesus would not have reacted positively to the idea of a Samaritan being the hero of the parable.

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What Does Discipleship Look Like? (14th Sunday - Cycle C)

In the Gospel passage for this Sunday, Jesus sends the disciples on a training mission so that they can experience the sense of being sent out before the fullness of their mission begins. Their journey highlights a number of the characteristics of a Christian disciple. We can also learn much about discipleship from the First and Second readings.

We see in the Gospel passage that we are to focus on God rather than on our gifts. Jesus says to the disciples "do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). God gives us many gifts as a part of our spiritual journey, both for our own use and to share with others. The temptation for us is to care more about the gifts than God, the giver of the gifts, thereby developing an exaggerated sense of self-importance, as if we were the source of the gifts ourselves, rather than God himself. Some truly gifted evangelizers have fallen from grace by giving in to that temptation. Our primary focus must always be God. We should acknowledge his gifts and thank him with deep gratitude, rather than allowing pride to take hold.

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The Peace of Christ vs the Peace of the World (St. Peter and St. Paul - Cycle C)

To understand the Gospel reading for this Sunday more fully, we need to consider the geographical location where the passage takes places. Jesus goes with the disciples to Caesarea Philippi, a town situated in the modern day territory of the Golan Heights in Israel. The area had many pagan temples and was notorious for the rituals practiced there.

The most horrific of these rituals was performed at the mouth of a cave known as the Gates of Hell. Here parents performed child sacrifice, killing their own children, in order to obtain favors from their gods. The very idea of visiting this area would have been shocking to the disciples.

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Self-Sacrifice is at the Heart of the Eucharist (Corpus Christi - Cycle C)

Years ago, I was teaching a class where I was discussing going on pilgrimages to Marian apparition sites, when someone asked me why we need to go to such places, since everything we need spiritually is right here in our church at home. My response was that sometimes we need to go to a faraway holy place to be open to the grace to appreciate what we have at home. Little did I know that I was talking about myself.

When I journeyed to the Marian apparition site of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina for the first time, I received the grace to see the gifts of the Church in a whole new light. I realized that God supplies us with everything we need spiritually through the day-to-day life of our parish church. The sacraments, the prayers, the devotional life - all these are there for me.

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The Holy Trinity Is Our Only Fulfillment (Trinity Sunday - Cycle C)

Catholic theology starts with the premise that God is one. God has one, indivisible nature. At the same time, we also believe that God has three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are distinct from each other and yet share that one indivisible nature. We do not have three Gods, but only one. At the same time, the three persons of the Holy Trinity are not merely modes of expression in God, but are actual persons. So God is both indivisibly one and yet has three distinct persons.

One way to try to conceptualize the mystery of the Holy Trinity is to start with the premise that God is infinite love. Love, by its very nature, requires a love dynamic. In God, there is the Father, who is the One Who Loves. His love is received and reciprocated by the Son, who is the Beloved. The love that exists between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is an eternal exchange of infinite love, which is not bound by time, but takes place in the eternal timeless now of God’s infinite nature.

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Making Each Day Like Pentecost (Pentecost Sunday - Cycle C)

After Jesus was crucified, the disciples hid away behind locked doors for fear of suffering the same fate themselves. When Jesus rose from the dead and revealed himself to them, the disciples still remained in hiding. But on Pentecost they went forth to proclaim the Good News and they kept on proclaiming it, despite threats and persecution. In fact, eleven of the twelve apostles were martyred for their faith.

What made the difference was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Once they received the Holy Spirit, they had the courage and the strength to go forth. They were empowered for ministry. In the same way, we too derive our spiritual strength from the grace we receive through the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the animating principle of the Church.

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What the Ascension Enjoins Upon Us to Do (Ascension Sunday - Cycle C)

In Greek mythology, the belief was that gods could become incarnate for short periods of time. They could take on human or animal forms just for a day or two and then could shed their incarnate shapes as if nothing had happened. The Catholic understanding of the incarnation is quite different. As Catholics, we believe that the incarnation was not a temporary, passing action of Christ, but a permanent act, which transformed the whole history of creation.

God is love and he created the world out of love to share his love with his creation. Humanity was created good and lived in the blessed state of Paradise in the beginning. But through the sin of our first parents, humanity fell from grace, resulting in a wedge between God and his creation. But even when human race was in darkness, God did not abandon us. He became incarnate as Jesus Christ - that is, he came among us as one of us, taking on a human nature, becoming like us in every way but sin.

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