Tag: Christian

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We Are an Advent People

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First Sunday of Advent Mass Readings

First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5
Responsorial: Psalm 122:1-9
Second Reading: Romans 13:11-14
Gospel: Matthew 24:37-44

Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120119.cfm
Our website: https://www.deaconrudysnotes.org/

Welcome to SEASON TWO of deacon rudy’s notes! I am so excited that you are allowing me to spend a few minutes walking with you on your journey. If you are just joining me, welcome! I try to post these reflections on the Sunday readings every week on Sunday or Monday at the latest. Now, these reflections are designed to supplement what hear preached during the mass. These reflections are not meant to substitute for the homily or the mass – so please don’t put that on me!

A few housekeeping details. In every episode I will include the links to the readings in the notes section of this podcast and on the website, www.deaconrudysnotes.org.

Something to look forward to: every episode includes homework – something practical to help us try to incorporate the lessons we receive from Scripture into our everyday lives.

I also include the script for each podcast in the notes. The recording might deviate a little from the script because sometimes I get a little carried away, but for the most part, it’s all there. Just after the script, I try to include references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in case you’d like to go a little deeper into the Church’s teachings. From time to time I will include references to materials that I use to prepare and any notes that I think might be helpful.

New this season, if you scroll all the way to the bottom to the bottom of the notes, you will find all three readings and the responsorial just in case you can’t get the links to work.

One more thing, please help me bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to more people by sharing a link to the website or the podcast with your family and friends. You can also help me reach more people by leaving a review on whichever podcast platform you are using. Many thanks in advance for helping me out.

This podcast is recorded in my home, so every now and then you might hear some random noise, like our dog barking or noise from the street. I hope it’s not too much of a distraction. We’re just keeping it real.

Now on to this week’s readings.

My brothers and sisters, today we begin Advent. This is a time of preparation. Not only do we look forward to the memorial of Jesus’ birth on Christmas, but we are reminded that our entire being should be oriented toward the Second Coming of Christ. Like the early disciples, we are called to “stay awake” for the Lord is near.

First, we should remember that there is nothing we can do as disciples to force God to come an earlier than he planned. Staying awake means that we should not get caught up in political or so-called religious activities that seek to set the stage for the Second Coming. As Jesus said, He will return, “at an hour you do not expect.”

Second, being prepared means that we should be prepared everyday of our lives, because the end will come – the Second Coming will come at the end of time, yes, but this world will come to an end for each of us when we face our own death. We don’t know when that will happen, so if we don’t have everything in order, then Advent is a good time to start. We should start now trying to deepen our relationship with Jesus. We should set the affairs of our lives in order now and stop delaying for some time in the future that might never come.

That means now is the time to address any unresolved pain or anguish in our lives. Now is the time to forgive ourselves for something we might have done in our past. Now is the time to forgive others who might have really ticked us off. But the key to forgiving ourselves and forgiving others is let it go. We can’t say we’ve forgiven and keep beating ourselves up about it or holding a grudge against other people.

Now is the time to examine how we live as Christians and ask ourselves if we allow our Christian beliefs to influence how we live our everyday lives, how we run our businesses, how we work at our jobs, how we treat other people, how we vote and the sorts of issues we advocate for. Now is the time to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

So, when is Advent exactly? Every day of the year is Advent, not just these days running up to Christmas. As Christians, we must be an Advent people – a people who stay awake – a people ready and prepared for the coming of our Lord.

Homework! After hearing the Word of God proclaimed, I encourage you to reflect on the following questions.

  1. What conversion of mind, heart and life is the Lord asking of me?
  2. If Jesus were coming today, what would I do? What can I do today to walk more closely with God?

I think doing our homework will help us be an Advent people as we look forward to celebrate the memorial of Christmas, and as we wait for the coming of our Lord.

Do you got it? Do you get it? Then go make disciples! May Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! +Amen!

References

  1. Mitch, Curtis, and Edward Sri. The Gospel Of Matthew. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2014.
  2. Lectio Divina Of The Gospels. Washington, D.C.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2019.

Catechism Links:

  1. The human knowledge of Jesus, 471-74 http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a3p1.htm#471
  2. The Coming of Christ 668-677 http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s2c2a7.htm#668

Mass Readings

First Reading
Isaiah 2:1-5
This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz,
saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In days to come,
the mountain of the LORD’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain
and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it;
many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.”
For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
one nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.
O house of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Responsorial
Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
May those who love you prosper!
May peace be within your walls,
prosperity in your buildings.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
Because of my brothers and friends
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
Because of the house of the LORD, our God,
I will pray for your good.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Second Reading
Romans 13:11-14
Brothers and sisters:
You know the time;
it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.
For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed;
the night is advanced, the day is at hand.
Let us then throw off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light;
let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day,
not in orgies and drunkenness,
not in promiscuity and lust,
not in rivalry and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

Gospel
Matthew 24:37-44
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

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Christ My Lord and King

Color picture of Jesus washing feet

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The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe Mass Readings

First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-3
Responsorial: Psalm 122:1-5
Second Reading: Colossians 1:12-20
Gospel: Luke 23:35-43

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112419.cfm

Greetings on this Solemnity of Christ the King! I’m sure that many of you have heard excellent homilies today about Christ the King, perhaps tracing the history of kingship through Scripture to its manifestation in Jesus Christ, that is to say, in Jesus the anointed. So rather than attempt cover that ground again, I’d like to share with you my reflection about what the kingship of Jesus means.


But first, I’d like to admit that I have been a little bummed. I can’t specifically tell you how long I’ve felt this way, but it’s been a while. “Why,” you might ask? Well, I’ve probably spent a little too much time over the past year on social media. More recently, between politics in several countries and the fallout over the Pan Amazon Synod, I’ve been really bothered specifically by all the negative comments I’ve read.

Very often I’ve composed a response to one post or another, but of course I rarely actually post replies. I try to take a page from President Lincoln who, it is said, would write what he called a “hot letter” whenever he felt the urge to tell someone off. Once he finished emptying his anger into the letter, he would write on the bottom, “Never sent. Never signed.”, and then he’d file it away.

Now he is not the only person in history to write unsent “angry letters.” I have some examples in the notes to this podcast which you can find on the website www.deaconrudysnotes.org. <1> But I’ve got to tell you, the sheer volume of angry, accusatory and hurtful comments cast into cyberspace makes my heart hurt.

You see, it seems no one seems interested in solving problems. Everyone just seems focused on trying to win the argument. “What’s happening to Western society?” I wonder to myself. It can be all so overwhelming. Why does all of this bother me so much?

Well, when my faith teaches me that we are all created in the image and likeness of God, I believe it. I believe that Jesus is the fullness of humanity – everything God ever hoped for all of us. St. Paul tells us that Jesus is in us:
• 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Or do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?”
• 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels…”
• Romans 8:10, “But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
• Galatians 1:15-16, “But when it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me.”
• Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”


You get my drift?

This is why some of the mystics and saints go further than suggesting we should be like Jesus. They say, based on Scripture, that we are Jesus – each and every one of us. Think about that! The English mystic, Caryll Houselander describes the most incredible vision that hit her while she was traveling in the underground on a crowded train. Suddenly, she couldn’t see the people around except various form of Jesus Christ. The vision persisted when she emerged on the street and it continued for several days. In some people she found a suffering Jesus while in others a living, vibrant Jesus bursting with love and compassion. And still in others, sadly, a Jesus in the tomb of a lifeless soul. <2> Whoa!

For me, to read the overwhelmingly negative exchanges on various social media platforms, especially between supposed Christians, makes me feel…well it makes me wonder how a disciple must have felt standing in the crowd and watching helplessly as Jesus was convicted; as he carried his cross; as he was hung on the cross and as he died on the cross.

Sadly, the worst is not over yet. I suspect we will be witness to more online cruelty and intolerance as elections play out in the UK and the United States just like we’re seeing in Israel and Bolivia.

How is it that Christians can do this to one another? I think it’s because they haven’t accepted Jesus as King. You see, when we accept Jesus as King, he becomes king over every aspect of our entire lives, over our very souls. And our response to one another must first recognize Jesus in the other person and second come from a place firmly grounded in the Kingdom of God. Does that mean we can’t be patriots of our various nations? No, of course we can be patriotic, but our patriotism – our claim to our respective nations and indeed to everything in this world must come second, perhaps a distant second to our citizenship in the Kingdom of God.

If we are to live like Christ, then we need to realize that our Lord and King comes to us not on a bejeweled throne of gold, but on a wooden cross. His kingship isn’t turned inward toward power, wealth and a desire to always be right, but rather it is turned outward with love, compassion, healing, forgiveness, and non-violence. <3>

As we consider the great challenge of the Kingship of Jesus, I encourage us to use the upcoming season of Advent which is a time of preparation to begin again the business of self-evaluation and self-reflection; to reign-in our egos and to make sure that our lives are in service to Jesus Christ as we find him the people all around us.
Homework! As this liturgical season winds down, I encourage you to reflect on the following two questions:

  1. How can I be a channel of God’s service, comfort, healing and life in this world?
  2. Cool off before posting ANYTHING on ANY social media platform.

I think our homework this week might help us recognize Jesus in the people around us. Do you got it? Do you get it? Good! Now go make disciples! May Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! +Amen!

Notes:
<1> “Harry S. Truman once almost informed the treasurer of the United States that, ‘I don’t think that the financial advisor of God Himself would be able to understand what the financial position of the Government of the United States is, by reading your statement.’ In 1922, Winston Churchill nearly warned Prime Minister David Lloyd George that when it came to Iraq, ‘we are paying eight millions a year for the privilege of living on an ungrateful volcano out of which we are in no circumstances to get anything worth having.’ Mark Twain all but chastised Russians for being too passive when it came to the czar’s abuses, writing, ‘Apparently none of them can bear to think of losing the present hell entirely, they merely want the temperature cooled down a little.’ Konnikova, Maria. The Lost Art of the Unsent Angry Letter. 22 March 2014. The New York Times Opinion page accessed 22 November 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/the-lost-art-of-the-unsent-angry-letter.html
<2> Houselander, Caryll. A Rocking-Horse Catholic. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1955.
<3> Bishop Robert Barron “March in the Army of the True King” https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/homily/march-in-the-army-of-the-true-king/25853/

Church Teaching:
• Jesus prays on the cross, 597, 2605, 2635
• Jesus as king, 440
• The good thief 1021, 2616

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Jesus is the Temple

the words Jesus is the temple and a crucifix

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Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Mass Readings

First Reading: Malachi 3:19-20A
Responsorial: Psalm 98:5-9
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
Gospel: Luke 21:5-19

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111719.cfm

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that the Temple will be destroyed. Now this is a really an important point for us to discuss. You see, “temple” is one of the central patterns of the Bible. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time in this podcast to discuss this in more detail. Suffice it to say, temple imagery flows through Scripture from the Garden of Eden as temple in Genesis, to Noah’s Ark as a temple, to the First Temple, the Second Temple and ultimately the resurrected Jesus as Temple. Indeed, in the Book of Revelation, when the new Jerusalem is described, there is no Temple in the new Jerusalem. Why? Because Jesus is the Temple.

In the first part of today’s Gospel, Jesus predicts the destruction of the Second Temple. Why does this happen? To answer that, we need to understand Israel’s role as the chose people. They are “chosen” not for their own exclusive benefit. Israel’s purpose as the chosen people is to be a magnet to unite all the peoples of the world to God. According to the Bible, throughout history, the sin of the people disrupts Israel’s calling. Each time, this leads to purification – a cleaning out which of course means the destruction of the temple and starting over. So, Jesus predicts the destruction of the Second Temple, meaning that the sin of the people has reached a tipping point. Indeed, our first reading from Malachi tells us that, “the day is coming, blazing like an oven…and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” (Malachi 3:19-20).

But then the Gospel shifts. Those listening to Jesus ask when all these things will happen. Unbeknown to them, Jesus describes signs that will happen before his second coming. Yes, many of these signs come to pass before the destruction of the Second Temple, but as we understand this Scripture today, we believe he is speaking about his second coming. He describes the persecution his disciples will face. Indeed, in Acts, Luke describes the apostles rejoicing that they suffer on account of Jesus’ name, (Acts 5:41).

Our mission as disciples is to carry on come what may. Our first task is to spread the Good News. We must be beacons of light in a dark world trying to help lead everyone to the new Temple – to Jesus Christ. Jesus, healing the wounds of Original Sin, helps orient us back to right praise and worship of the Father. It is Jesus who will reign as Lord of all the nations. Our Gospel today points us to next weekend when we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. Our responsorial tells us that the Lord our King will at last come to rule the earth with justice.

Homework! Fed by the Word of God proclaimed, and, in the Eucharist, and in anticipation of Advent, I encourage you to reflect on the following:

  1. Think about how you’d like to receive the message about the Good News. What would be helpful for you to hear?
  2. Use the ideas you come up with and combine them with your personal story of faith. Perhaps write this out but keep it brief – maybe 1 handwritten page. When you’re finished, you now have a basic script you can use to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. Cool, right?

Okay, do you got it? Do you get it? Good! Then go and make disciples! May Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! +Amen!

Church teaching:

  • Catechism of the Catholic Church: Christ is the true temple, 1197; the temple’s destruction a sign of the last days, 585; the Church persecuted, 675; times of the Gentiles, 58, 674.