Reading 1Is 61:1-2a, 10-11
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,
to announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God.
I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
As the earth brings forth its plants,
and a garden makes its growth spring up,
so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise
spring up before all the nations.
Responsorial Psalm
Lk 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54.
R. (Is 61:10b) My soul rejoices in my God.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
R. My soul rejoices in my God.
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
R. My soul rejoices in my God.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
R. My soul rejoices in my God.
Reading II
1 Thes 5:16-24
Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.
In all circumstances give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophetic utterances.
Test everything; retain what is good.
Refrain from every kind of evil.
May the God of peace make you perfectly holy
and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body,
be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful,
and he will also accomplish it.
Gospel
Jn 1:6-8, 19-28
A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
And this is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests
and Levites to him
to ask him, “Who are you?”
He admitted and did not deny it,
but admitted, “I am not the Christ.”
So they asked him,
“What are you then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
So they said to him,
“Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you have to say for yourself?”
He said:
“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
‘make straight the way of the Lord,’”
as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him,
“Why then do you baptize
if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”
John answered them,
“I baptize with water;
but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,
where John was baptizing.
Preparing For Jesus' Coming
The Gospel reading speaks of John the Baptist and his ministry. John was born to "make straight the way of the Lord". That is, his mission was to "prepare the way of the Lord".1 The birth of John the Baptist finally signaled the end of the prophets and the coming of the Savior. In order to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord, John the Baptist offered the people baptism. The baptism described in last week's Gospel of Luke chapter 1, involved "acknowledging their sins," and turning away from their sins as the means to prepare for the coming of the Lord. This repentance goes hand in hand with the 2nd reading this week where Paul wishes that we be "holy and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is necessary that we prepare for our Lord's coming by confessing our sins and turning away from them. Whether we are preparing for Jesus' birth or for our own deaths, the way to prepare for a meeting with the Lord is to turn away from our sins. If we turn away from our sins truly, we can face God, just as the good thief who was crucified next to Jesus did. He admitted his own fault and saw not only the face of Jesus that day, but he is with Jesus in his glory right NOW.
Jesus actually quotes the first reading (Isaih 61) in Luke 4:18-21 and says that this reading applies to him. In other words, Jesus says that he is the one Isaih was talking about who would "bring glad tidings to the poor." Who is "the poor"? The Catechism paragraph 716 defines the poor in this particular reading as those "who humble, and meek, rely solely on their God's mysterious plans." Here again, we are reminded of how we can prepare properly for the Lord. We must humbly rely on his mysterious plans.
The Right and Wrong Way to Prepare for Jesus' Coming
The gospel of Luke gives us an example of a person who was not completely prepared for the coming of the Lord. We are also given an example of a person who prepared and reacted PERFECTLY to "God's mysterious plans." John the Baptist's father, Zechariah heard the "mysterious" announcement of John's improbable birth from an angel. But Zechariah did not believe what he heard and so the Lord made him mute until the birth of John the Baptist because of Zechariah's unbelief. On the flip side was Mary. When she heard the angel Gabriel's announcement to her (which was strikingly similar to the announcement of John's birth) Mary replied differently than Zechariah despite the fact that the announcement to her was much harder to believe (pregnancy without sex). And so, we are given a glimpse of how "poor" Mary was. She was very humble, and "relied solely on God's mysterious plan." And so, she is the grandest example of a person who was prepared for the coming of the Lord. Instead of becoming mute, she rejoiced as we see in this week's responsorial psalm which quotes Mary's response. Because of her humility, she was able to hear the "glad tidings" that God had promised(1st reading).
Mary's Reaction to Holy Communion vs Our Reaction
Colossians 2:9 says of Jesus "in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity". This means that in Jesus is not just the characteristics of God, but God in his entirety. After Mary said, "May it be done to me according to your word", the Holy Spirit "came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her." She then conceived Jesus, God in his entirety in her body. This was her "first communion"- as Blessed Theresa of Calcutta once said. This was Mary's first encounter with Jesus as he became present in her body. Let's imagine for a moment what it meant for God to be inside of Mary, the humble girl from Nazareth.
Personally, when I encounter God by the grace of the Holy Spirit, the feeling I always have is love, peace, and IMMENSE joy. Should it surprise me that Mary reacted the way she did? She said, "my soul rejoices in God my savior." It would be incredible to have Jesus dwelling inside of me in his entirety.
But wait a second, in our Catholic faith, we believe that "by the power of the Holy Spirit", God in his ENTIRETY comes to dwell in another created thing- bread. With humble hearts we respond, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and I shall be healed". How incredible it is that God wants to dwell in us just as he dwelt in the Virgin Mary!
In this week's readings, we are given instructions on how to prepare for the coming of the Lord. We are to confess our sins to God and we are supposed to be humble. That means we have to "rely solely on God's mysterious plan" for our lives. The words we hear at the end of mass tell us what "God's mysterious plan" is for us.
Our Call To Action After Communion
Now we can clearly see that God loves us just as much as he loves the Virgin Mary. He wants to dwell in is. He wants to save us. After receiving Jesus in her womb, Mary rejoiced and she loved Jesus perfectly as a mother. Now what about us? What do we do after Jesus comes to dwell in US? Right after we receive Jesus at communion, the priest tells us to "go in peace to love and serve the Lord."
Now it is hard to love our enemies. It is difficult to forgive. It's challenging to love our families and friends. We wonder, "how can we love enemies?". Forgiveness, mercy, giving our hard earned money to poor strangers, and being chaste in a world of lust seems so difficult that knowing how to do it may seem like a mystery. But THIS is God's mysterious plan for us. God's plan that we love him and one another may be hard to believe or accept, but it IS God's plan for us. What will my decision be today?
Shall I be mute like Zechariah, or shall I rejoice at God's mysterious command as Mary did? God will help us make the right decision.
God loves us.
Real Life
When I was a missionary, I used to visit this man named "Eddie". "Eddie" was very ill and could not leave his home. He was skinny. He was bed-ridden. He never seemed to get better and he looked like he was on the verge of death everytime I saw him. The worst part of his situation was that he held a tremendous anger towards someone. I can't remember who he was angry with but I was told that he was having difficulty forgiving someone. He seemed like he was in a self-chosen prison of anguish to me. My heart was very troubled at the sight of him. One day, the missionaries came to visit him, and he was already dead. I hope that "Eddie" found a way to forgive before the end.
I also used to live on a ranch with a lady named Marion. Marion was over 90 years old. She was a holy lady who feared the Lord. The last time I went to visit her, she had a special gleam in her eyes. When I looked into her eyes, I felt like I could see that she was in close proximity to God. I sensed that she was nearing death, yet it did not trouble me. In fact, it put a smile on my face because when I looked into her eyes I felt like I was seeing Jesus. Ironically, I was visting a friend of mine recently and I held her friend's newborn son. When I looked into his eyes, I saw the same "gleam" I saw Marion's eyes. It seems like we are close to God when we enter the world. If we prepare properly, with God's help, we can leave this world in the same fashion.
Marion and me on the day of our last visit June 2008
1-Mark 1:3
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