Monday of the First Week of Advent

Why Begin Advent with the Reading About the Centurion?

Fr.  Ken Baretsch, OFM Conv

“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.”

The question we might ask of every reading during the Christmas and Easter seasons is, “Why do we hear this particular reading?”

The story of the centurion and Jesus is not taken from the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. It does not concern the birth of Jesus. So why do we hear it today, as we settle into Advent?

My friend Chaplain Bishop at the VA “owns” this story as he comprehends like few others the centurion’s reluctance to have Jesus enter under his roof. A man of terrible violence, he would not feel worthy at the approach of Jesus, despite his apparently desperate need. Jesus’ entering the centurion’s house might be too much for the commander who must maintain a stern countenance before his subordinates.

So perhaps we should first notice the awed deference at the Coming of the Lord. The fierce soldier is all but paralyzed by his sense of unworthiness and yet he cannot stop himself from asking for help.

His asking is even more astonishing when we consider the contempt the typical Roman soldier would feel toward the “locals.” They are mostly “hostiles,” but without the training and discipline of the most powerful army on Earth. To Roman eyes the Jewish men of Capernaum might be pathetic if they weren’t so suspicious.

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Father Joseph Costantino preaches about the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and how, through Mary, God was preparing us for our Savior.

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Courtesy of Fr. Kadavil at Fr. Tony’s Homilies

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SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homilies; Used with permission

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St. Catherine Laboure

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

The Childlike

Fr.  Ken Baretsch, OFM Conv

“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus taught the world about “the little way.” It would be the way she lived, quietly, in an isolated, cloistered monastery, out of sight, and unimaginable to the greater world around her.

When Jesus’ disciples returned from their missionary adventure, astonished at their success, he praised God for the hidden things that were being revealed to the childlike.

These were mysteries beyond the imagination of the powerful, influential or elite of this world. His truths did not require sophisticated mind-games or violent efforts to believe the incredible. They did not need admen to promote them, or an army to persuade others to see them. In fact they were comprehended better by those who had little investment — financial, social or educational — in this world’s thinking.

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Father Jean Aubin preaches about showing real courage and commitment to Christ this Advent season as we prepare for His coming.

SOURCE: THE CATHOLIC TV NETWORK

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Courtesy of Fr. Kadavil at Fr. Tony’s Homilies

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SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homilies; Used with permission

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USCCB AUDIO - TODAY'S READINGS

Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle

Hear, Follow, Invite

Fr.  Ken Baretsch, OFM Conv

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

What one says with the mouth does make a difference. Members of Alcoholics Anonymous challenge one another to “Walk the walk; don’t just talk the talk!”

But the talk does make a difference. Once a man or woman has said, “My name is ___ and I am an alcoholic.” it can never be taken back. Those words are out there in the minds and hearts of other people. They have changed everything; the universe has absorbed those words and been reconfigured by them.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

Of course, words can be used to testify against the speaker. “He declared in the meeting he was alcoholic but he still frequented the tavern.” or “She confessed that Jesus is Lord but she continued to swear like a sailor, drive like a maniac, shop like a pagan and lie through her teeth.”

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Monsignor Liam Bergin preaches about how the Savior, Jesus Christ, comes for us all-from promise to fulfillment.

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FR. TONY's GOSPEL COMMENTARY

Courtesy of Fr. Kadavil at Fr. Tony's Homilies

Gospel: Lk 21: 12-19 Context: Today’s Gospel gives Jesus’ prophetic warning to the apostles and disciples about the sufferings they will have to bear for their Faith in Him until Jesus’ Second Coming. Jesus advises them to bear witness to Him in spite of persecutions, for those persecutions would also encourage the disciples to flee to remote places and to preach the Gospel among the Jews and the Gentiles. Believers, Jesus warns, will be locked up in prisons and brought for trial before kings and governors. Jesus assures them that the Holy Spirit will give them words of defense and witness-bearing. (In the Acts of the Apostles, we read how Stephen was given the wisdom to bear witness to Jesus in Jerusalem). Since there will be divisions in families between believers and non-believers, Jesus declares, close relatives will betray their Christian family members to the pagan authorities and cause their martyrdom. But Jesus assures the disciples in today’s Gospel passage that their suffering for Him will be amply rewarded.

SOURCE: Fr. Tony's Homilies; Used with permission

Life Messages

Courtesy of Fr. Kadavil at Fr. Tony's Homilies

1) Although we may not get a chance to die for the Faith, we are invited to face “dry martyrdom,” a “living death” as outcasts in our contemporary materialistic, secular, liberal, agnostic, and atheistic society.

2) We are called to bear witness to Christ by loving those who hate us, by showing mercy and compassion to those who hurt and ill-treat us, by forgiving those who continue to offend us, by accepting our sufferings without complaint, and by continuing to keep Jesus’ word in our lives.

SOURCE: Fr. Tony's Homilies; Used with permission

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Thursday of the First Week of Advent

The New Jerusalem

Fr.  Ken Baretsch, OFM Conv

A strong city have we;
he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us.
Open up the gates
to let in a nation that is just,
one that keeps faith.
A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace;
in peace, for its trust in you.”

Jerusalem is one of the most important symbols of the Advent season, one which is often overlooked. The Holy City will appear frequently in our readings and our songs. It might be recognized as the temple, Bethlehem or the Virgin Daughter.

In the Gospel of Matthew Jerusalem appears ominously as the kingdom of Herod, his advisers, soldiers and restive population. In Saint Luke, she appears more gracious; she welcomes the Infant in the persons of Simeon and Anna. The same city, in an Advent mood, will welcome the Messiah who comes riding on a donkey.

Catholics readily recognize Mary as the New Jerusalem. Especially, in Saint Matthew’s account, the magi will honor her as the Mother of the Messiah; the starlight reveals her as brilliantly as it was dark over Jerusalem. Mary is the New Jerusalem who abides wherever Christians worship Jesus, especially because, by the time of Matthew’s writing, Jerusalem had been destroyed by Roman armies. The city was no more, and would not reappear in history for a long time to come.

A strong city have we…

Many American Christians have hoped the United States might be that “city on a hill.” The one nation under God might even replace the Church as the City of God on earth; it’s sacred icon might be the American flag rather than a crucifix; it’s pledge of allegiance should replace Sunday worship; the Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful and God Bless America should stand in for Christian hymns. It was supposed to be the strong, just nation that keeps faith, a nation of firm purpose kept in peace for its trust in God. 

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Father Frank Sevola preaches about how we should be spending time this Advent season listening to God and realizing we are partners in His creation and we all have a role in working with God to bring creation to its fullness.

SOURCE: THE CATHOLIC TV NETWORK

Life Messages

Courtesy of Fr. Kadavil at Fr. Tony’s Homilies

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SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homilies; Used with permission

Friday of the First Week of Advent

God’s Promises of Future Blessings

Fr.  Ken Baretsch, OFM Conv

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?

Natural religion is genetically conservative; it remembers the days of yore when people were virtuous, when good was rewarded and wickedness was punished, and life was predictable. That there never was such a time does not worry the religious person. The illusion is precious, not the truth.

However, Christianity, like its Jewish ancestors, remembers the past more clearly, that we have sinned, suffered betrayal and persecution. It teaches us that our salvation lies in the future, not the past.

In today’s first reading, the Prophet Isaiah promises,

“But a very little while, and Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and the orchard be regarded as a forest!” 

Hearing God’s promises of future blessings shakes us out of reverie for the past. It reminds us to pay attention to this moment and the gift that is staring us in the face.

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Father Zimmerman preaches about how although Christ is with us, we are also still waiting for Him.

SOURCE: THE CATHOLIC TV NETWORK

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Courtesy of Fr. Kadavil at Fr. Tony’s Homilies

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SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homilies; Used with permissio

Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest

The Big Picture of What God Sees

Fr.  Ken Baretsch, OFM Conv

O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem,
no more will you weep;
He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you.
The Lord will give you the bread you need
and the water for which you thirst.
No longer will your Teacher hide himself,
but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,
While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: “This is the way; walk in it,”
when you would turn to the right or to the left.

A half-century ago, as I walked to school in Washington DC I noticed a narrow footpath that meandered up a hill toward Holy Name College, the Franciscan friary. The building housed our classrooms, and the friars’ quarters, with ample space for other activities. I could see that the trail was not direct and sometimes I vaguely wondered about that.

Finally, one day, I saw two dogs winding up the trail; they had made it. At dog height they could not see what I saw so clearly, the building over the crest of the hill. Their path straightened out only when they came in sight of its roof.

I have come to suspect we humans are like that. We don’t know half of what we need to know to get where we’re going.

This illusive mystery we call “Salvation History;” it describes the Big Picture of what God sees. Saint Paul described it as the mystery that was hidden in times past and now revealed to God’s holy ones.

We mortals, even believing mortals, cannot descry its forms very clearly but we can find our place within that “history” as we attend the liturgies of the church. I have recently learned it took nearly four centuries for western Christianity to agree on the broad outline of our liturgical year!

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SOURCE: John Michael TalboT

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Courtesy of Fr. Kadavil at Fr. Tony’s Homilies

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SOURCE: Fr. Tony’s Homilies; Used with permission

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