Advent 4 - The Promise of Love

Last Sunday the third candle, that of joy, was lit along with the previous candles of hope and peace. We light them again as we remember that Christ will come again and bring us everlasting peace and joy. The fourth candle of Advent is the candle of love. Its light is meant to remind us of the love which God has for us. Jesus shows us God's perfect love. He is God's love in human form. The Scripture says that God so loved the world in giving God's only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Love is patient, love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful or conceited, rude or selfish. Love isn't quick to take offense, it keeps no record of wrongs, does not gloat over other people's troubles, but rejoices in the right, the good and the true. There is nothing which love cannot face; no limit to love's faith, its hope, its endurance. Love never ends. We light this candle today to remind us of how God's complete and unconditional love is found in Jesus.

Loving God, we thank you for the gift of love shown to us perfectly

in Jesus Christ the Lord. Help us prepare our hearts to receive him.

Bless our worship. Help us to hear and do your word.

We ask it in the name of the One born in Bethlehem. Amen.

Who Are Your Messengers?

En este segundo domingo de Adviento, / es bueno para nosotros escuchar con atención a la oración: / "Dios de misericordia, / que enviaste a tus mensajeros, los profetas, / a predicar el arrepentimiento y preparar el camino de nuestra salvación: / Danos gracia para atender sus advertencias / y abandonar nuestros pecados, / a fin de que recibamos gozosamente / la venida de Jesucristo nuestro Redentor..."

¿Quiénes son sus mensajeros, sus "profetas"? /  Tal vez un amigo suyo? / Sus padres, o sus hijos? / El sacerdote? / El profeta podía ser un santo favorito? / O tal vez alguien que admiras, como Nelson Mandela o César Chávez? / O tal vez una persona por lamentarse, como Andy Lopez? / ¿Qué es lo que dicen tus profetas acerca de arrepentimiento y de preparar el camino para Jesús, que es nuestra "salvación"? /

Hoy cada lectura de la Sagrada Escritura / nos da algunas pistas con el fin de responder a esta pregunta. / En la Biblia, Dios envía mensajeros o profetas que hablan en nombre de Dios. / A veces, traen un mensaje esperanzador. / En otras ocasiones, es un mensaje de instrucción o aviso. / En cada caso el mensajero o profeta revela los deseos y las expectativas de Dios. /

En la primera lectura Isaías habla del Mesías, / lo de que el pueblo de Dios espera. / Isaías indica que este "Ungido" es único mensajero y profeta de Dios. / Él dice que la principal tarea del Mesías / es la de traer justicia para los pobres / y la igualdad de oportunidades / para aquellos que están débiles o desfavorecidos. / El "Ungido" enseñá al pueblo de Dios para no herir o destruir mutuamente. / Van a aprender a vivir juntos en paz. /

En la Epístola de San Pablo desea lo mismo: / "a vivir en armonía unos con otros", / "acéptense los unos a los otros", / y lo realizar como servidores a demás, / al igual que Cristo fue un servidor “de la verdad de Dios", / a fin de que todas las personas "glorifiquen a Dios por su misericordia". / Esta es la fórmula de alegría, / de paz / y esperanza abundante del Espíritu Santo. /

Por ultimo, / el evangelio describe la predicación de San Juan Bautista, / el mensajero y profeta clasico del adviento. / El Bautista predica en el desierto, / en un lugar donde no hay cosas que puedan distraer la atención de las personanas. / El desierto es el lugar tradicional /  donde, desde los días del Exodo, Dios llamaba a su pueblo a la conversión. / 

San Mateo subraya la austeridad personal del Bautista, / que nos recuerda al profeta Elías, y que ataca la conversión superficial y de apariencias de los fariseos que acudían a bautizarse. / Dios desea de todos una conversión interior sincera, / y no solamente despreocupada. / La conversión debe verse concretamente en sus frutos / y en la manera en que nos comportamos con Dios y con los demás. / El que no se convierte sinceramente para recibir a Jesús como Salvador, / lo recibirá y encontrará como juez. /

No hay que olvidar que Jesús viene en Navidad también esperando frutos de nosotros. / Todos necesitamos conversión. / Nos convertimos a Dios y nos convertimos hacia los demás por una vida de caridad / y de sincero interés por ellos, / especialmente por los necesitados. / Los ritos externos, hasta el del bautismo, ayudan poco / si no van acompañados de un esfuerzo sincero para hacer la voluntad de Dios. /

Los fariseos se adaptaban a los ritos externos cuando les convenía, / pero no aceptaban los valores, / la mentalidad / y las exigencias del Reino que Jesús anunciaba. / El bautismo sin conversión es tan ilusorio / para la salvación como el pretender ser hijo de Abrahán por el solo hecho de ser de raza judía; / el hijo es el que se comporta como su padre, / y que de tal palo tal astilla. / El ser hijo o hija de Abrahán debía traducirse en imitar la fe heróica del santo patriarcha /que creyó contras toda esperanza. /

San Mateo señala que el bautismo de agua debe ir acompañado del bautismo con el Espíritu / (de veracidad, / amor / y compromiso por los pobres / y con el fuego / (de purificación radical del amor de Dios). / San Juan Bautista recurría a un lenguaje de urgencia, / apocalíptico, / duro y violento, / para despertar a sus oyentes y moverlos a aprovechar la oportunidad de salvación que Dios les ofrecía. / La salvación, / la vida con Dios y con Jesús, / está siempre al alcance de la mano / y nos urge el recibirla. /

Escucha con atención a los mensajeros y profetas en su vida. / Hoy Dios nos llama a "atender sus advertencias y abandonar nuestros pecados". / Dios nos llama a la conversión, / que tipo de pruebas concretamente nuestra fidelidad a Dios. / Una prueba de este tipo sólo se encuentra en nuestras relaciones con los demás. / ¿Estamos dispuestos a someterse a esta conversión en la fe / para "que podamos saludar con alegría la venida de Jesucristo nuestro Redentor"?

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On this second sunday of Advent, it is good for us to listen closely again to the prayer: "Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with jSoy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer...”

Who are your messengers, your "prophets"? Perhaps a friend of yours? Your parents, or your children? your priest? Could your prophet be a favorite saint? Or maybe someone whom you admire, like Cesar Chavez? or perhaps a person for whom you grieve, such as Andy Lopez? What do your prophets tell you about repentance and about preparing the way for Jesus who is our "salvation"?

Each reading today from Holy Scripture gives us some clues in order to answer that question. In the Bible God sends messengers or prophets to speak in the name of God. Sometimes they bring a hopeful message. At other times it is a message of admonition or warning. In each case the messenger or prophet reveals the wishes and expectations of God.

In the first reading Isaiah (11:1-10) talks about the Messiah, the One for whom the people of God awaited. Isaiah indicates that this “Anointed One” is God’s unique messenger and prophet. He says that the Messiah’s chief concern is to bring righteousness for the poor and equity for those who are weak or disadvantaged. The “Anointed One” will teach the people of God to not hurt or destroy each other any longer. They will learn to live together in peace.

In the Epistle (Romans 15:4-13) St. Paul wishes for the same thing: “to live in harmony with one another”, to “welcome one another”, and to accomplish this by becoming servants to one another, just as Christ was a servant “of the truth of God”, in order that all people “might glorify God for his mercy.” This is the formula for joy, peace, and abundant hope through the Holy Spirit.

Finally, the Gospel (Matthew 3:1-12) describes the preaching of John the Baptist, the classical advent messenger and prophet. The Baptist preaches in the desert, in a place where there are no things which can distract people’s attention.  The desert is the traditional place where, since the days of the Exodus, God calls his people to conversion.

St. Matthew stresses the austerity of the Baptist:  who reminds us of Elijah the prophet, and who attacks the superficial conversion and appearances of the Pharisees who came to be baptized; God requires of everyone a sincere interior conversion, not just a casual one. Conversion hinges specifically on the fruits and in the way that we behave with God and with others. Whoever isn’t sincerely converted to accept Jesus as Savior, will receive and find him as a judge.

We must not forget that Jesus comes at Christmas expecting fruits from us. We all need conversion. We are converted to God and toward others by a life of charity and of sincere interest in them, especially those in need. The external rites, even of baptism, help little if they aren’t accompanied by a sincere effort to do God’s will.

The Pharisees were adapted to external rites when it suited them, but they didn’t accept the values, the mentality and the demands of the Kingdom that Jesus announced. Baptism without conversion is as illusory for salvation as pretending to be a son of Abraham by the mere fact of being part of the Jewish race; A son is one who behaves just like his father: “like father, like son”. The son or daughter of Abraham should be able to reflect the heroic faith of the holy patriarch who believed against all hope.

St. Matthew says that baptism with water should be accompanied by baptism with the Spirit (of truth, love and commitment to the poor, and with fire (the radical purification by God’s love).  John the Baptizer resorted to a language of urgency, apocalyptic, harsh and violent, in order to awaken his listeners and move them to take advantage of the opportunity of salvation which God offered them. Salvation, life with God and with Jesus, is always within reach, and he urges us to grasp it.

Listen closely to the messengers and prophets in your life. Today God calls us to “heed their warnings and to forsake our sins.” God calls us to the type of conversion which concretely tests our fidelity to God. Such a test is found only in our relationships with  one another. Are we willing to undergo this conversion in faith in order “that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer”?

Advent: A Coming…of What?

In our increasingly irreligious American culture, the irrational preoccupation with "Christmas", from at least October on, and the blatantly crass mission of shoppers to spend and acquire ever more things fairly blinds us to the rich meaning of the Advent season. The “coming” which the word Advent signifies looks to the continual coming of Christ into our hearts daily, his coming, liturgically, in the celebration of the feast of the Nativity, his coming to us in the persons of those with whom we come in contact daily, not least the poor, the disadvantaged, those suffering, and, finally, his coming to take us to Godself in never-ending life.

Like any of the seasonal liturgical celebrations occurring year after year, without study and education we run the risk of becoming indifferent to the reasons behind the celebration and its meaning to us individually and corporately. There was a time when Christian families routinely used visual aids to reflect on and emphasize Advent's significance: the Advent wreath, a daily Advent calendar, the Jesse Tree, etc. A few families, of course, continue those traditions, but I doubt that it's in any sense a common practice today.

J. B. Phillips, in an article "The Christian Year", notes: "What we are in fact celebrating is the awe-inspiring humility of God, and no amount of familiarity with the trappings of Christmas should ever blind us to its quiet but explosive significance. For Christians believe that so great is God's love and concern for humanity that he himself became a man. Amid the sparkle and colour and music of the day's celebration we do well to remember that God's insertion of himself into human history was achieved with an almost frightening quietness and humility."

Look at the historic facts: when Jesus was born few people were really aware of what was happening, even his parents. After the fact, apparently, no one spoke openly about this unusual human being for some thirty years. As an adult, he was recognized by few people for who he really was. In fact, for the short two or three years in which he taught, preached and did remarkable healings, he was looked down upon, opposed, and written off by many folks as pretty much a nobody. He was betrayed by one of his inner circle of followers, deserted by many of the rest of them after his arrest, and murdered by Roman occupiers and Jewish leaders outside the capital city as a common criminal. By human measuring, this was just another young, poor, idealistic man who failed in the pursuit of his cause, and was murdered by professional politicians and religious fundamentalists in an outback province occupied by Rome.

But Phillips makes this observation, quite relevant in this age of outspoken professed atheists: "It is two thousand years ago that his apparently invincible [Roman] Empire utterly collapsed, and all that is left of it is ruins. Yet the baby, born in such pitiful humility and cut down as a young man in his prime, commands the allegiance of millions of people all over the world. Although they have never seen him, he has become friend and companion to innumerable people. This undeniable fact is, by any measurement, the most astonishing phenomenon in human history. It is a solid rock of evidence that no agnostic [or atheist] can ever explain away."