CCC 668-677, 769: The final tribulation and Christ’s
return in glory
CCC 451, 671, 1130, 1403, 2817: “Come, Lord Jesus!”
CCC 439, 496, 559, 2616: Jesus is the Son of David
CCC 207, 210-214, 270, 1062-1063: God is faithful and
merciful
 |
| “The Triumph Of Christianity Over Paganism” by Gustave Doré, c. 1868 |
Reading 1: Jeremiah
33:14-16
The days are coming, says the
LORD,
when I will fulfill the
promise
I made to the house of Israel and Judah
In those days, in that time,
I will raise up for David a
just shoot ;
he shall do what is right and
just in the land.
In those days Judah
and Jerusalem
this is what they shall call
her:
“The LORD our justice.”
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Commentary on Jer 33:14-16
Jeremiah predicts
the continuation of the dynasty of King David (“I will raise up for David a
just shoot”) in fulfillment of the prophecy made to Nathan in 2 Samuel 7:11-16 (see also Psalm 89:35ff). "The reference to the true [just] branch [shoot] of
David's line draws on Isaiah 11:1-16 which portrays the righteous Davidic monarch as a branch
('tsemah') from the root of Jesse, language which is at home in the
agriculturally centered world of ancient Israel." [5] To
contemporaries of the period, this would have announced the restoration of
Judah and Jerusalem. This selection is the second time the prophet has
predicted the coming of the Messiah, the first being in Jeremiah 23:5-6. This prediction, fulfilled in Jesus, is one reason so much
stress is laid on Jesus’ genealogy.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25:4-5,
8-9, 10, 14
R. (1b) To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
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,
and for you I wait all the
day.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift
my soul.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the
way.
He guides the humble to
justice,
and teaches the humble his
way.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift
my soul.
All the paths of the LORD are
kindness and constancy
toward those who keep his
covenant and his decrees.
The friendship of the LORD is
with those who fear him,
and his covenant, for their
instruction.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift
my soul.
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Commentary on Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
In this hymn of
thanksgiving, we hear the petition we have all made many times. In
paraphrase, it is “God tell me what you want me to do. Tell me how to
follow you.” It goes on to say how blessed are those who have found
that path. This selection gives a clear sense of the Lord’s path announced by
angelic messengers, prophets and the very Law of Moses: the culmination and
completion of God’s covenants in the tradition of the Hebrews.
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Reading II: 1 Thessalonians
3:12—4:2
Brothers and sisters:
May the Lord make you
increase and abound in love
for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your
hearts,
to be blameless in holiness
before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord
Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
Finally, brothers and
sisters,
we earnestly ask and exhort
you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us
how you should conduct
yourselves to please God
and as you are conducting
yourselves
you do so even more.
For you know what
instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
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Commentary on 1 Thes 3:12—4:2
St. Paul speaks
to the Thessalonians about encouraging their already fervent love for one
another and the Lord. This selection (4:1ff) begins the Apostle’s exhortation
on holiness and chastity. He has warned them earlier that they will be facing
resistance, and that it is now necessary to strengthen themselves for what is
to come. The reference to "instructions" refers to Christian
morality. "Christian morality is not viewed as natural law, but as the
will of God (Matthew 6:10). sanctification: This
connotes a progress toward holiness, a likeness to God (3:13). [6]
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Gospel: Luke 21:25-28,
34-36
Jesus said to his disciples:
“There will be signs in the
sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be
in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of
the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is
coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens
will be shaken.
And then they will see the
Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power
and great glory.
But when these signs begin to
happen,
stand erect and raise your
heads
because your redemption is at
hand.
“Beware that your hearts do
not become drowsy
from carousing and
drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily
life,
and that day catch you by
surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault
everyone
who lives on the face of the
earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations
that are imminent
and to stand before the Son
of Man.”
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Commentary on Lk 21:25-28, 34-36
Jesus finds it necessary to remind his disciples not to become
complacent in their practice of the faith. It is one of his sternest warnings
that the end will come without notice and judgment will be immediate. The final
verses of this same Gospel reading concluded the Liturgical Year, having been
used the previous day (Saturday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time) and is
repeated to begin the Advent season. This dual use emphasizes that we celebrate
not only the coming of Christ in his nativity but look forward to his second
coming in Glory.
"It is clear from this short section that Luke (different from 1
Thessalonians) eliminated the idea of an immediate Parousia. Sudden
trials will strike everyone, and so there is need of continual vigilance.
Everyone, however, will eventually take part in the Parousia. How a
person lives now determines how he will 'stand before the Son of Man.'" [7]
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Homily:
Happy new year! It is indeed
the beginning of the new church or liturgical year. We start fresh, as we do at the beginning of
the new calendar year, seeking to improve ourselves through resolutions and
promises. The main differences are, in
the year of our faith journey, we seek to draw closer to our Lord Jesus’
example of love for others and love of God.
We start our efforts to become more Christ-like by recalling that Jesus
is coming – our Advent Season.
The Advent season is intended
to be analogous to a child’s gleeful anticipation on Christmas Eve. From a spiritual perspective, our Advent season
is intended to rekindle our anticipation for Christ’s ultimate victory, coming
in glory, robed in light, by reminding us of his enigmatic first coming for our
salvation.
I have marveled before that
for all of our reflection and prayer, for all of our questioning and study, we
find that in the millennia since Christ walked the earth as man that others,
graciously endowed with the gift of faith, have reflected more deeply and
expressed more clearly the ideals the Lord saw fit to impart. In this case I
offer the words of St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church who served us until his
death in 386 AD as an example:
We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a
second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked
by patience; the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom.
In general, what relates to our Lord Jesus Christ has
two aspects. There is a birth from God before the ages, and a birth from a
virgin at the fullness of time. There is a hidden coming, like that of rain on
fleece, and a coming before all eyes, still in the future.
At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling
clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a
garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the
second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels.
We look then beyond the first coming and await the
second. At the first coming we said: Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
At the second we shall say it again; we shall go out with the angels to meet
the Lord and cry out in adoration: Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord. (From the Catechetical
Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem)
St. Cyril reminds us, as does
the Gospel from St. Luke, that the Kingdom of God has not yet been fulfilled. While
we most commonly use this Advent season to anticipate the triumph of the
manger, we need also to be vigilant in our faith as the Lord’s second coming
needs to find us diligent in our faith.
This year something new is
added. For the people of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, we are
embarking upon a transformation. It will
truly follow our Lord’s instructions to be faithful and vigilant. This year we begin in earnest to change
ourselves into what our leadership has imagined we can become. This begins with our Parish Vision about
which you have already heard but what will become central to the life of our
parish in the year, actually the years, ahead since we cannot accomplish all we
will need to in a single year.
To refresh your memories,
here is the vision of what we hope to become:
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic
Church is a welcoming community that exists to make and equip missionary disciples
through a transformative encounter with Jesus Christ, the Gate of Heaven. As
Spirit-filled disciples, we learn to connect and share our life in Christ, love
and serve the greater community, and worship and adore the living God.
What we hope will happen, in
part, is that these words will be lifted up and looked at by everyone in our
parish. We pray that each of us will do
their parts to become active participants in making our vision a reality.
Since I was part of the team
that crafted the picture painted by the words of our vision, I’ll share my own
thoughts as to what this vision means to me.
The first part states that
St. Thomas is a “welcoming community.” For me, this means that when I come here
as part of our house of worship, I am warm and welcoming to each person I meet,
whether they are people I have known for the past 40 years or people I am
meeting for the first time. I will put
away my stress and reach out for the peace of Christ. I know there are some who find this
difficult. But each person who comes
here carries a burden and a simple smile and acknowledgement can tell that
person they are welcome and their burden is shared.
Next is a statement about why
we exist as a parish: “to make and equip missionary disciples through a
transformative encounter with Jesus Christ, the Gate of Heaven.” There are a
few definitions in this statement that can use some explanation. First of all, a disciple is one who is a
student of our Lord, Jesus Christ. There
is a very old Latin text that captures the whole concept of “missionary
disciples”: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi. This Latin axiom is translated loosely as: “As
we Worship [Pray], So we Believe, So we Live.” Since most of us do not live
cloistered lives, that means (hopefully) we take our beliefs into to world
beyond these walls. To do otherwise is
hypocrisy. So our parish exists to
create in us the ability, mindful of Christ’s teachings, to express our selves
as obvious Christians in a secular world.
And we can do this because we have, through our worship and prayer
encountered Jesus in the Eucharist and in our welcoming body (the Living Body
of Christ), in this house of worship which has inscribed (also in Latin) “This
is nothing more than the house of God and the Gate of Heaven.”
The final sentence provides a
summary of what we hope to become – spirit-filled – connecting with others,
unified in our beliefs, expressing the love Christ through our worship and our
interactions with everyone we meet, be they our fellow parishioners or people
we meet at work, school, or on the street.
Our scripture for this first
week of our Advent season expresses this very thought. So in this new year, we ask that your pledge
yourselves to that ancient axiom: “As we Worship [Pray], So we Believe, So we
Live.”
Pax
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation
for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2]
The picture is “The Triumph Of Christianity Over Paganism” by Gustave Doré, c.
1868
[5]
The Jewish Study Bible, © 2004 Oxford University Press, New York, NY, p. 996
[6]
Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 48:23 p. 231.
[7]
Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 44:149, p. 155.
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