"I am the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say."
Lectionary Readings for 4th Sunday of Advent, Year B
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/4th-advent-b.html
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, one of the saints who had a great devotion to Mary, had this for his spiritual intuition: "God depended on a virgin for the salvation of the world" [paraphrased quote]. Mary had found so much favor in God's eyes that God depended on her fiat, her "yes", so that His Son, the Saviour of the world, may be incarnated in her. Although God depended on Mary, this does not make Mary on the level of the divine. It only means that there is a greater context for this dependence of God on her. And this context is that it was all part of the plan of God. God created her sinless [the Immaculate Conception] so that when the time comes when she will be asked by God, she will, by the gift of free will, will say "yes" to God. This is how God depended on Mary. It was because Mary had the gift of free will that God depended on her. And this gift of free will is also given to all of us who are created in the image and likeness of God.
Now, we who are called to be humble and to obedient like Mary are also called to follow her obedience to God's will. We too have been given the gift of free will to say "yes" everyday to the calls for service, to a call for greater generosity or charity, to the call for more self-surrender or more courage and gallantry, or to any other call to practice in greater and more intensity the Christian virtues. In the course of our Christian life, there will eventually and inevitably come a time when we will need to say "yes" to greater responsibilities. Usually, through the routines of what we are doing now, God is preparing us for something even greater than what we are doing. Like Mary, when the time comes for the Lord to ask us to do something great for Him, let us not be afraid, but have the faith and courage of Mary to say "yes" to the Lord and do His will. This certainly is not a matter of just saying "yes" suddenly but involves a lot of personal discernment with regard to our present life situation and seeing how it can fit with the plans or orders of those who have authority over us - those want us to accept bigger tasks and responsibilities. Eventually, let us realize that our "yes" is a "yes" to God through the established authorities He has instituted in the world.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Third Sunday of Advent, Year B
"There is one among you whom you do not recognize - the one who is to come after me"
Lectionary Readings for Third Sunday of Advent, Year B
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/3rd-advent-b.html
Although the gospel places John the Baptist in the center stage, we are called to discover that he represents Someone who is to come and whom John's duty is to prepare the way of the people. That is why when he was baptizing the people with water, and they asked him who he was, he said, "I am not the Christ, the Messiah". Rather, he states that "he is a voice in the desert, crying out: Make straight the way of the Lord!' " He was aware that his role is to decrease while Christ is to increase when Christ comes to be baptized by him in the river Jordan.
In the preparations for our Advent season, we are called to be like John the Baptist to our fellow Christians. By word and deed, we are called to point out the importance of Christ in our times today. Especially when people have forgotten to live a life in the spirit of Christ, this is the time when we are indeed called to live out the spirit of Christ through our simple and daily witness of family and work routines. Most often we make ourselves the point of reference of others for their source of information and knowledge, that we forget to point them to Christ as the Wisdom of God - the One whom John was leading the people to. Thus, the call for us this Advent season is to imitate the example of John by making ourselves always secondary in role to Christ and leading others to the Spirit of Christ, as He is revealed in many ways in peoples' daily family living and professional lives.
Lectionary Readings for Third Sunday of Advent, Year B
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/3rd-advent-b.html
Although the gospel places John the Baptist in the center stage, we are called to discover that he represents Someone who is to come and whom John's duty is to prepare the way of the people. That is why when he was baptizing the people with water, and they asked him who he was, he said, "I am not the Christ, the Messiah". Rather, he states that "he is a voice in the desert, crying out: Make straight the way of the Lord!' " He was aware that his role is to decrease while Christ is to increase when Christ comes to be baptized by him in the river Jordan.
In the preparations for our Advent season, we are called to be like John the Baptist to our fellow Christians. By word and deed, we are called to point out the importance of Christ in our times today. Especially when people have forgotten to live a life in the spirit of Christ, this is the time when we are indeed called to live out the spirit of Christ through our simple and daily witness of family and work routines. Most often we make ourselves the point of reference of others for their source of information and knowledge, that we forget to point them to Christ as the Wisdom of God - the One whom John was leading the people to. Thus, the call for us this Advent season is to imitate the example of John by making ourselves always secondary in role to Christ and leading others to the Spirit of Christ, as He is revealed in many ways in peoples' daily family living and professional lives.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
33rd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
"Since you were dependable in a small matter I will put you in charge of larger affairs. Come, share your master's joy!"
Lectionary Readings for 33rd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/33rd-sunday-a.html
In life, when we are given a small task to perform, we often undervalue the task and see ourselves as greater than the task. But when it comes to performing the task in actuality from day to day, given all the drudgery involved and the requirements of making improvements on the task so that its operations will be better or the results of the task will provide more production or profits, we finally realize that it takes a lot of industriousness, reliability on our part and lots and lots of hard work. When we are successful, we are 'upgraded' or promoted or given a nice title, a reward or more tasks at a higher level of responsibility plus added perks or benefits.
The gospel today speaks about these small tasks that we are given to be responsible for-- given our talents and capabilities. We may be a small business owner who was given a loan to start a small enterprise; or we may be a school teacher given a class of 30 young pupils; or we may be a religious superior given the task of formation of 10 young novices; or we may be a parish priest that need to minister to a small parish of 500 families; or we may be a young accountant of a small corporation given the task to record accurately all the accounts of the company; or we may be a small schooltown coach needing to encourage a team of young teenagers lacking confidence; or we may be a simple father or mother given the blessing of a baby boy or girl to nourish and nurture till he reaches walking stage; and many much more gifts and blessings we are given in order to "produce and to bear fruit" by our industriousness, sense of responsibility, perseverance, and other talents and giftedness that are uniquely gifted to us by God.
This gospel tells us that progressing in life; that being productive and fruitful in our endeavors; that being capable to enlargen our estates; always starts from the faithful attendance to small matters. We do not raise our stature in society by big steps. Usually, it is through small honest and trustworthy acts and responsibilities fulfilled. If we use our talents, our giftedness and our resources as best as we can, all our hard work will always pay off and those who have positions over us can promote us or those who have a higher stature in society will invite us to join his or her social circle. But the moral and message of the story is that we have to be faithful in small matters well first. Even though these small matters may be boring or routinary, but if we can be able to progress our work and endeavors, then we can take on larger matters and responsibilities. And the Lord knows and sees what we do and how we employ all the giftedness He has given us and the resources He has provided us with.
Let us therefore pray for ourselves that we may appreciate the little things that we do and always realize that they count a lot if we do them faithfully. Because if by our doing them, it influences others to goodness and fidelity and inspires them to work harder and to follow our industriousness, success in our hard work, and progress in our stature, then we will lead others to value the importance of making well our use of our talents, our resources and our life for the sake of Christ. Let us also pray for others who do not see this importance in their life and drudgingly go about working without the desire to progress or improve on one's life even if they are given small matters to take care of. Let us follow the humble and simple example of Jesus, who before He was rewarded the Resurrection through the power of the Holy Spirit, had to be born a helpless infant in a manger, live simply and quietly in Nazareth, preach and teach to a group of people, gather a large crowd and produce the miracle of the loaves, confront the powers of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and obeyed the Father's will by taking up the Cross and giving His life to ransom us from sin. Like Jesus, who had to be faithful first in small matters as a growing child in the quiet life of Nazareth and was soon elevated to the status of a public Rabbi and Teacher and Master of His apostles, we too in our small and simple ways may follow Him and soon accept the responsibilities of a higher level so that we may serve the Lord more in our life.
Lectionary Readings for 33rd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/33rd-sunday-a.html
In life, when we are given a small task to perform, we often undervalue the task and see ourselves as greater than the task. But when it comes to performing the task in actuality from day to day, given all the drudgery involved and the requirements of making improvements on the task so that its operations will be better or the results of the task will provide more production or profits, we finally realize that it takes a lot of industriousness, reliability on our part and lots and lots of hard work. When we are successful, we are 'upgraded' or promoted or given a nice title, a reward or more tasks at a higher level of responsibility plus added perks or benefits.
The gospel today speaks about these small tasks that we are given to be responsible for-- given our talents and capabilities. We may be a small business owner who was given a loan to start a small enterprise; or we may be a school teacher given a class of 30 young pupils; or we may be a religious superior given the task of formation of 10 young novices; or we may be a parish priest that need to minister to a small parish of 500 families; or we may be a young accountant of a small corporation given the task to record accurately all the accounts of the company; or we may be a small schooltown coach needing to encourage a team of young teenagers lacking confidence; or we may be a simple father or mother given the blessing of a baby boy or girl to nourish and nurture till he reaches walking stage; and many much more gifts and blessings we are given in order to "produce and to bear fruit" by our industriousness, sense of responsibility, perseverance, and other talents and giftedness that are uniquely gifted to us by God.
This gospel tells us that progressing in life; that being productive and fruitful in our endeavors; that being capable to enlargen our estates; always starts from the faithful attendance to small matters. We do not raise our stature in society by big steps. Usually, it is through small honest and trustworthy acts and responsibilities fulfilled. If we use our talents, our giftedness and our resources as best as we can, all our hard work will always pay off and those who have positions over us can promote us or those who have a higher stature in society will invite us to join his or her social circle. But the moral and message of the story is that we have to be faithful in small matters well first. Even though these small matters may be boring or routinary, but if we can be able to progress our work and endeavors, then we can take on larger matters and responsibilities. And the Lord knows and sees what we do and how we employ all the giftedness He has given us and the resources He has provided us with.
Let us therefore pray for ourselves that we may appreciate the little things that we do and always realize that they count a lot if we do them faithfully. Because if by our doing them, it influences others to goodness and fidelity and inspires them to work harder and to follow our industriousness, success in our hard work, and progress in our stature, then we will lead others to value the importance of making well our use of our talents, our resources and our life for the sake of Christ. Let us also pray for others who do not see this importance in their life and drudgingly go about working without the desire to progress or improve on one's life even if they are given small matters to take care of. Let us follow the humble and simple example of Jesus, who before He was rewarded the Resurrection through the power of the Holy Spirit, had to be born a helpless infant in a manger, live simply and quietly in Nazareth, preach and teach to a group of people, gather a large crowd and produce the miracle of the loaves, confront the powers of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and obeyed the Father's will by taking up the Cross and giving His life to ransom us from sin. Like Jesus, who had to be faithful first in small matters as a growing child in the quiet life of Nazareth and was soon elevated to the status of a public Rabbi and Teacher and Master of His apostles, we too in our small and simple ways may follow Him and soon accept the responsibilities of a higher level so that we may serve the Lord more in our life.
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