Breaking Open God’S Word: A Three-Year Cycle of Reflections on the Sunday Readings of the Liturgical Year

The Season

of

Advent

Cycle A

First Sunday of Advent

Matthew 24:37–44

A new liturgical year calls us to embrace the message of the religious aspect of Christmas. While society’s message centers on gift giving and decorations, it is important to remember the true meaning of this season. When our thoughts and energy follow the pattern of materialism in order to get ready for Christmas, we easily forget the purpose of this wonder-filled season of Advent. We are called to follow a very different path from that to which society beckons us. The world believes it is not enough to merely lead us in a different direction at this time of the year by filling stores with much that is not the reason for the season. In fact, they even invade our living rooms with their countless advertisements on television and in our papers and magazines.

The scriptural readings turn us in a completely different direction. The first image we encounter in the Gospel of Matthew today is the story of Noah and the flood. Noah called his friends and neighbors to come with him on a journey of faith, but they only laughed at him and turned away. The flood came with great destruction because people were not attentive to the real needs around them. They were unaware that they had taken the wrong direction in life. We are warned not to make the same mistake but to heed God’s invitation to change our lives.

The second image shows us how people disappear from their families and workplaces. It makes us wonder why some people were left behind while others were taken up into the presence of God. Was it because some were more prepared for eternity by their motive to live according to their faith? God tells us to look into our hearts and prepare for our final call. We can do this by reaching out to others as Moses reached out to the people of his day.

The final image is one of a burglar picking his way into the security of a happy household. As we listen to these words during Mass this weekend, let us ask ourselves what robs us of the security of reaching our final destiny. Such an account reminds me of an experience I once had in a small country parish. Going into my office one morning, I found the door broken down, all files ransacked, and papers strewn all over the floor. I felt that not only my space but my entire being had been violated.

The primary message in Matthew’s Gospel calls us to wake up and watch and to do something constructive as we wait for God to come. We know that Jesus will come again at the end of our earthly lives; the scary reality is that we don’t know when this will happen. It is easy to be distracted by the noise of our world, telling us all about a commercial Christmas. This message is so loud that we fail to hear the rumbling of an approaching flood. Perhaps we are so comfortable with our upper-middle-class lifestyle that we do not even hear the thief breaking in upon our shallow, secular, seemingly peaceful space until we have been robbed.

Our liturgical season of Advent gives us time to wait and hope for the peace that comes with the birth of Jesus. It is time to clothe ourselves again with the robe of our baptism and to use it as a shield, much like the way Noah used the building of his ark. The word of God is in our midst like something knocking at the door of our hearts. Let us open up to let God be with us so he can restore our human dignity to its original baptismal innocence.

Take the secular Christmas away, and give us only yourself.

Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 11:1–10

Matthew 3:1–12

Today we are called to think about stumps, dead trees, and possibly new growth. Two prophets inspire us: Isaiah and John the Baptist, who envisions our world at peace once again. Isaiah talks about a shoot that grows out of a dead stump, which eventually becomes a fruitful branch and then produces the fruit of justice. I have a bumper sticker on my car that reads, ‘If you want peace, work for justice.’—John Paul VI. I believe this is a great way to live life during the Advent season.

John not only raises his voice, but he insists on a path for us to follow. When he baptized Jesus in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit came down to earth and gave us a new vision for a new time. In our own sacrament of baptism, we were given gifts to live out our convictions. Those gifts were poured upon us once more as we received the sacrament of confirmation. We were filled with wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of God. I would add one more gift, that of delight, for it is through our joyful presence to one another that all these gifts shine for others to see and emulate. These gifts might help us to drop the concepts of Isaiah and John from our minds as intellectual ideas and let them move down about eighteen inches—from the head to the heart—to give deeper meaning to our lives.

We are challenged by the voice of John the Baptist, a first-century hippie, unshaven, with rough clothing and open sandals. His call is an urgent invitation for us to come and work beside him and Isaiah, sharing food and life with the poor, working so that war will be no more, and striving to erase the word and concept of killing from our vocabulary. We must no longer allow treating other human beings as slaves and living with domestic violence, drugs, and guns in our society. This can happen if we make positive efforts to straighten out our daily lives and religious practices, along with endeavoring to reform our political and economic systems. Then, instead of having to listen to prophets’ shouting, we will hear the gentle whispers of peace all around us, coming from our loving God.

We are called today to sort out our lives, clear up our own values, and reassess the values by which we live in our broken society. God has given us all the tools needed to effect a new Advent. Let us stop terrorizing one another and create peace in our own hearts. By listening to the whispers of God, together we will be able to create a new world at peace.

If you want peace, work for justice.

—Pope Paul VI

Third Sunday of Advent

Matthew 11:2–11

Last Sunday, John announced God’s wrath, putting fear into the hearts of sinners and calling down fire and brimstone. Now, however, he is imprisoned in a dark dungeon because of his preaching. Such a change of events! And now he hears that Jesus has come with gentleness and joy, eating and drinking with the very sinners whom John was trying to reform. We surmise that John must be having doubts, because the eternity that he envisioned was not anything like the dream that Jesus has. Jesus wants us to stop the injustice, violence, and inhumanity, which was rampant in the world in his time as much as it is today. No wonder John sent his followers to ask, Are you the one who is to come?

Today we experience great rejoicing in a paradigm shift that has taken place right before our eyes. John shouted about power and judgment to a faithless crowd, and then a child entered the scene who grew up to become a gentle man of courage and hope. He came humbly, as a baby in a feeding trough for animals. His message is of peace and justice, and he reaches out to the poor and marginalized, walking with the ordinary people of his day. Jesus sends a report to John about his lifestyle of gentleness, compassion, and mercy, and he preaches a lifestyle of forgiveness.

We cannot forget that John had been living a rough life in the desert, dressed in animal skins, eating insects, and drinking contaminated water. He was accustomed to being away from other people and spending day and night in prayer and solitude. He must have expected the Messiah to come preaching repentance and stressing prayer, going to the synagogue, and teaching a new understanding of what life is all about. Without knowing it, John ushered out the old way of life so that Jesus could bring in a new way.

Jesus then turned to the crowd and asked them what they expected of John, someone who lived a rich life of leisure, dressed in fine clothes, and perhaps even was a prophet. What Jesus said was shocking and comforting at the same time—that John was a man above par. He immediately went on to say that if we live so as to attain heaven, we will be even greater.

How is this so? Such words do not come without a great price. Our churches may be full this Christmas, but will peace and justice reign in our world? We are asked to have a daily routine of prayer, but will our life decisions help the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the dead to rise? Will you and I be the good news that the poor will hear today?

God has been intense about such a message during this Advent. We are called to help create peace and justice, but it won’t happen until we turn our minds and our hearts to the values that reflect what Jesus calls us to do. Let us ask God to help us become instruments of peace by touching our hearts as we go out to help change the world.

We rejoice when we know where we are going.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Matthew 1:18–24

The spirituality of Advent comes to a high point in the readings today through the hope and faithfulness of a man who is little known in scripture. We finally meet this humble man, Joseph, someone of true honor, even as he stands in embarrassment because he has cut a deal with his future father-in-law, sealing the covenant with a handshake. Joseph discovers that his intended bride is pregnant, though still a child herself. He reflects on what would happen to an unwed mother in his day—a sure stoning by the mob!

Next we meet Joseph the dreamer, whose life has been stressed to the max by an angel’s message in a dream. Joseph has been living on visions and dreams for the better part of his life, but this latest dream seemed impossible! The most striking thing about Joseph is the way he accepts this message with complete confidence in God. He gives us an example of the type of faith for which we should strive. He had to be accustomed to giving everything to God. We admire his great patience and humility as he accepts the burdens God places on him. The way in which he deals with what God gives him reminds me of the actions of our holy father, Pope Francis. Francis once said, Worshiping the Lord means stating, believing, not only by our words, that he truly guides our lives. … It means that he is the God of our lives, the God of our history. Such a history reaches all the way from Joseph the dreamer to Francis the believer.

God’s will was made known to Joseph, not in words but simply in a dream. His heart must have burst with anguish that triggered very difficult decisions for him. So too with Pope Francis, who faces unbelievable decisions in his pontificate. The examples of these men give us the courage to face problems with deeper faith, even when life brings us difficulties that make us feel hopeless and alone. Joseph, the quiet, strong, unwavering man, shows up in this Gospel to teach us how we are to walk the faith journey, no matter what is placed in our path. And Francis, outgoing, vivacious, and just as strong in his convictions, shows up today to teach us how to return to a simple, courageous renewal in the church where we, once again, journey together as a Christian community along the path of our Christian journey.

Did God provide dreams and situations of hope, peace, and justice so that we could discern God’s will in the hardships of our lives? The lesson today might be that we are called to live with uncertainties, to grasp what our faith teaches us, so that God can dwell in our hearts in a new way on Christmas Day. God wants us to come home this Christmas, to open the door and let God in. This is a call to recognize the tremendous shift on our Advent journey.

We have only a brief time remaining in our days of waiting. Let us go to Joseph and Mary with our needs and ask them to be with us and to show us how to make the final preparation for Christ’s Mass. Watch for messages from Pope Francis that also will guide us to live into the future.

Jesus, we ask you for the gifts of peace and joy.

The Season

of

Christmas

Cycle A

Feast of the Holy Family

Matthew 2:13–15, 19–23

Christmas was a beautiful celebration set apart from the Sunday scriptures. We will find a personal reflection in the final section of special feast days. Here, we continue our journey from the perspective of Joseph. Jesus had barely arrived on earth before the holy family escaped as refugees, fleeing from violence. Our world situation has not really changed since that time because we have similar violence and problems with immigrants, even today.

Joseph continues to live under the oppression of civic leaders as he experiences real life through dreams. In the Hebrew scriptures, dreams were considered a forgotten language of God until they came alive at crucial moments in Israel’s history. Joseph sometimes dreamed when Jesus was in danger. We find him relying on the presence of God in dreams. Are we, perhaps, being called to pay more attention to our dreams as we become attuned to how God slips into our lives through the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized, who seem to recognize Jesus to a greater degree than we do? It is now time for us, as a family, to stand in solidarity with those in need as we face the struggles and hopes that exist in our own lives.

Ever since that first Christmas, it is impossible to separate our faith from human history, even though our government seeks to keep God out of our lives. Where do we discover Jesus right now? We all dream every night, even though we may not be fully aware of what our dreams tell us. Years ago I took a dreams course in which we were encouraged to write down our dreams as soon as we awakened. I began doing that and discovered all kinds of interesting (and some not so interesting) things about myself. Dreams can be consoling as well as frightening. What would each of us discover if we were more cognizant of our dreams?

Matthew ends his story by accepting the call and the challenge to journey, as God asked him. God knows the reality of our fears, joys, and sorrows. I think particularly of troops coming home from battle to a very different reality because they may be maimed for life. The Gospel today tells us about God’s love and friendship that can bring with it peace and justice when we follow God’s dream and not our own. As we spend time reflecting on family life, let us become more keenly aware of the possibility of God’s dream unfolding in us as God sends messages that we can hear only when we are attentive to the God within us.

We are at a fork in the journey of history, as we are challenged to take the proper direction for our future and our families’ future. Trust God’s path for us as we dream of a positive, loving, and caring concern for our future and the prospect of a bright dawning for our families in our Christian pilgrimage this year.

I have a dream!

—M. L. King Jr.

Feast of the Epiphany

Matthew 2:1–12

We are still in darkness despite the fact that daylight is slowly getting longer. The stars shine with such brilliance on these cold winter nights that they make me wonder if one of them might have been the star that led the Magi to Jesus. Very much like wise persons, we too seek our Savior, but instead of looking up into the night sky, we are called to look down deep into our hearts as we seek him.

As I read this week’s scripture, I became aware of three groups of people who came to visit Jesus. I was astounded by their responses. The first group included the political people—power-hungry folks whose only religion was their own egos and advancement. They remind me of the actions of Herod, a violent person who used others for his benefit. Some of our politicians today do not seem to have changed much in these thousands of years. Some of them still show us how power might be used without the wisdom of light. We can see too many of our citizens, especially our troops, who come to a violent end because of the lack of a Jesus light.

The second group of people included the religious leaders of their day. They seemed to have hidden their noses in books of the law, living in a world of theory and ignoring the love of God, who reaches out with compassion to all people. Unfortunately, some of this group are still with us; for example, leaders who have little concern about the trafficking of human beings or the poor and the marginalized. We might have thought that slavery is dead, only to have it raise its ugly head in our time.

The third group consisted of the wise women and men who had the courage to leave their safe homes and step out into the darkness, where they could see the star that would lead them to Christ. These are the true magi! We only need to open the pages of some of our best Catholic newspapers to find men and women who continue to bring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the abused, the poor, the mistreated immigrants, and the mentally and emotionally ill. A wise person’s gift of gold is a commitment to peace and justice that makes Jesus more visible in our world. The gift of frankincense helps them to be true priestly people as they authentically carry out their priestly duties in response to their baptismal commitment. Finally, myrrh is a gift that shows how we live our trust in Jesus, who has conquered death and given us the gifts that we celebrate at Eucharist. This is a gift that we freely give back to Jesus every time we gather at Mass.

Take time this week to think and pray about which category of people you fit into most faithfully and what gifts you can bring to Jesus in this New Year.

Epiphany—a manifestation of God among us.

The Baptism of the Lord

Matthew 3:13–17

Today, Jesus walks out of his private life in Nazareth into the crowd, where he immediately gets involved with them. Up until now, he had been safe and secure and no one, perhaps not even Jesus himself, was clear about who he was. Jesus did not wait on the bank of the River Jordan until all who had come for baptism by John had completed their baptismal covenant. No, he walked with them, among them, into the water to face John and ask for the same ritual.

Matthew, who was the last evangelist to write his Gospel, knows that this day was a turning point not only for Jesus but for all of us. Whereas the other writers definitely state that when Jesus came out of the Jordan, he heard the voice of God, Matthew tells us that God shouted out for all to hear that this beloved Son was now entering upon a life of ministry that we all need to emulate. What was said of Jesus on that day took place with each of us at our baptism. God also tells us we are now God’s beloved, upon whom great favor rests; we now have the spirit of God’s own life.

The focus is now on Jesus at the threshold of his public life. As we return to ordinary time in the liturgical year, what we see Jesus do is what we are called to do by reason of the relationship that began at the baptismal font. Jesus got involved with all of us. He stayed with people in their joys and in their sorrows. You and I are called today to get more involved so we can deepen our own relationships with one another. This is definitely our vocation—to be involved with anyone who has a claim on us: our children, those entrusted to our care, those dependent on us, our neighbors, certainly our extended family, and the people we will meet on our journey this week.

Jesus was no longer safe and secure as he began walking in solidarity with us. The waters that poured over him at the Jordan were most probably waters of violence that eventually would lead him to a turbulent death. By our own experiences of baptism, even though we were not aware of the repercussions at the time, God has called us to walk daily into a tumultuous world in order to do our part to bring about peace and happiness. The violence of our time, the wars and natural disasters, can serve as a reminder that we are called to let the waters of our baptism purify our motives, our thoughts, and our lived experiences as we follow Jesus’ example.

Our role this week is to announce Jesus to the world through our actions in our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces or schools, our churches and, indeed, our entire world. As we begin anew this week, God says to us and about us: This is my beloved with whom I am well pleased.

How privileged we are to be the hands and feet and heart of Jesus.

The Season

of

Ordinary Time

Cycle A

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

John 1:29–34

When we were baptized, God planted a special seed of faith in our hearts and from then on, God called us to follow Jesus. Little by little we came to know who Jesus was and that we have a purpose in our lives to let that seed sprout, grow, and blossom. Let us return to the message we were given last week when we accompanied Jesus to the Jordan to be baptized by John. It was the voice of God who announced that we must listen, learn, and live from that nourishment of faith. Then we are able to leap up and shout for everyone to look at the Lamb of God, to see the special person of Jesus with the strength that only God can give us.

Once we know Jesus the Lamb, we are ready to tell others about him. So this week, as we leave church in his name, what will we do to change the world around us so we can bring about peace and help to eradicate hatred, racism, poverty, violence, greed, and lust, just as Jesus did thousands of years ago?

These same terrible crimes that Jesus met with so long ago will continue to surface often in our lifetimes. This need calls us to be the Lamb of God with the same call that our Savior had. Before we receive the Eucharist today, we will hear, Behold the Lamb of God; behold him who takes away the sins of the world. How blessed are we who are called to the supper of the Lamb. This invitation to come forward to receive him should make us want to stand up and shout with conviction that we are ready to carry out the mission to which we were called by our baptism.

At the end of Mass, when Father bids us to go forth to love and serve the Lord, I ask you to remember that we are that very Lamb whom we have just received in order to be strengthened for our missions. God’s spirit has also come down upon us, and so we courageously go forth to open our hearts and share the richness of our faith that has sprouted, grown, and produced fruit. Let us be conscious that we may be the only presence of Christ that some people will encounter in their lifetimes.

God sends us to those who have lost their dignity through lack of faith, through poverty, and through sin that has weighed them down. We have God’s gift of the Spirit so we can go and preach, not by words but by the way we live our lives, according to the norm of St. Francis of Assisi, letting that seed of faith grow. Francis sent his followers out to preach and, only if necessary, to use words. Be the Lamb of God to those in your family first of all, then in your workplace and in your neighborhood, and then in your world. In this way you will take the fruits of today’s Eucharist out to others.

Let the seed of our baptism grow and produce fruit.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 4:12–23

Today we hear Jesus calling us to help create a better world. This is not a new call; it has been heard since the time of Jesus, when he set down a definite plan for his followers after he heard that John the Baptist had been arrested. Jesus then did three significant things: (1) he left Nazareth forever and chose a new home in Capernaum; (2) he began to preach about the reign of God; and (3) he decided that he would not walk his journey on earth alone.

I would like to center on the third point today. Jesus releases the power of the Holy Spirit upon ordinary women and men in various walks of life. Your name and mine are included in the people he calls. As a community of believers, we no longer need to be alone, complaining and criticizing the miserable world in which we live. We are called not only to pray and worship together but to leave our place of worship each weekend and go out to heal, cure, and carry the reign of God into our world.

Matthew makes it clear that Jesus’ work is to set up the reign of God in our midst. He announces that this reign is at hand, and from there he immediately lights a beacon on a hill, where he preaches the charter of life through the beatitudes. As he does this, Jesus selects disciples and empowers them with knowledge and courage so they can help spread the good news that the reign of God is at hand. Notice that Jesus does not call priests, Levites, or leaders in the temple but common folk who were fishing, mending their nets, or doing housework. Next, Jesus speaks to us in parables so that whoever wants to listen can truly understand God’s word. Then he organizes followers and teaches them at great length. Finally, he speaks to them about the future of the kingdom, where he will return in glory. This is truly a clear blueprint of his mission.

Like his first followers, our minds will have to turn full circle and face the values and standards in our lives because Jesus is about to change our perspective. The rich people of the kingdom will be those who have the greatest emptiness, so there is room for God in their hearts. It will not be the loudest voice that receives attention but the whisper of those who go into their rooms and pray to God in private. In God’s kingdom, the first