24-Nov-2014 Dear Friend, We are used to announcements that inform us that something is going to happen or someone expected is arriving. At railway stations and airports we hear announcements of the arrival of a train or plane that we are awaiting. If there is someone whom we love arriving, that announcement fills us with joy and we get all excited because we will soon see the one we are waiting for. The good news given to us is that God is coming soon. Do we believe it? Do we look forward to his arrival? Are we prepared to welcome Him? Have an expectant, exciting weekend, looking ahead! -Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: 2nd Sun. of Advent "Already and not yet! God has come! but Wait!" 7-Dec-2014Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11 2 Peter 3: 8-14 Mark 1: 1-8 In the first reading the prophet Isaiah assures the people that the period of harsh discipline is over and God will come with forgiveness for his people. "Console my people, console them." says your God. He will lead them back to their homeland and the difficulties along the way will disappear as God himself will journey back with his people. The Israelites are asked to prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord. Therefore they should not wait for things to happen but should be active and vigorous in preparing for the coming of the Lord. The preparation is not an external preparation but a preparation of the heart and a removal of anything that does not fit in with God's coming. When Jesus EntersA working man was strongly drawn towards a beautiful vase he saw in a stall in the town market. He bought the vase and brought it home. The vase was so beautiful that it made the front room look drab, dull and indeed plain ugly. So he got bright prints and transformed the whole room. He got colourful curtains to match the paint, a brightly patterned carpet, and even stripped down and varnished furniture. Because of the beauty of the vase, the whole room was totally transformed. -When Jesus enters my heart, the areas in need of attention become, oh, so obvious. -Holiness consists in discovering that I am a much bigger sinner than I ever thought I was! The closer I come to God, the more obvious the contrast!Jack McArdle in '150 More Stories for Preachers and Teachers' In today's Gospel Mark highlights the example of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the coming of the Lord. His role was to be the messenger announcing the coming of the Messiah. He would be the voice crying out in the wilderness, "Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight." His message was one of repentance, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He invited everyone to change and repent and experience a conversion of heart. John's preaching and personal life witness had a dynamic impact on the people. They came forth in large numbers to be baptized by him and they showed readiness to change their lifestyle and come back to the Lord. What does it mean to prepare a way for the coming of the Lord today? Where do we seek God and where will we find him? Light in the DarknessA man went out for a walk on a cold but bright winter's morning. The sun had just come up and was scattering light into the four corners of the sky. As he walked along he noticed that the moon too was in the sky. But it was so pale compared to the sun that it was barely visible. An hour or so ago it was a bright and beautiful creature and dominated the sky. Now it looked like a beggar, and had been pushed in the background. It was like a candle made redundant by electric lights. But as the man looked at it, it suddenly occurred to him that it was this ragged creature whose faithful light had seen people through the darkness of the night. -The moon reminds us of the Old Testament prophets, and perhaps especially of John the Baptist. The prophets had kept alive the hopes of the people during the long night of expectation, when it seemed that the dawn would never come. It was thanks to them that the flame never went out. John worked hard to bring his own light to the people. For a while he dominated the scene. But he was always conscious that a greater light was coming. When that light appeared in the person of Jesus, John knew that his task was done. He pointed out Jesus and he stepped aside and allowed Jesus to shine.Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies' To find God"Vladimir Ghika was a Romanian prince who became a catholic priest and died a martyr in a Communist concentration camp in 1954. His words are particularly apt today as we begin our own odyssey in a new wilderness: "He who does not seek God everywhere runs the risk of not finding him anywhere." The good news of this advice, as St. Bernard and other mystics remind us, is that "No one can seek you O Lord, who has not already found you." Or as St. Gregory of Nyssa put it: "To find God one must search for him without end." Not only will we come to experience the truth of this timely paradox, but we will discover that God does indeed let himself be sought and found in every historical era, even in those great axial ruptures in history such as ours. Our new spirituality will remind and reassure us that God is still Emmanuel, that is, still very much "with us" in the wilderness."Richard Cote Waiting to be a SaintGraham Greene's protagonist in the 'Power and the Glory' is the hero or non-hero really, a seedy, alcoholic catholic priest who, after months as a fugitive, is finally caught by the revolutionary Mexican government and condemned to be shot. On the evening before his execution, the priest sits in his cell with a flask of brandy to keep his courage up, and he thinks back over what seems to him the dingy failure of his life. Greene writes: Tears poured down his face. He was not at that moment afraid of damnation -even the fear of pain was in the background. He felt only an immense disappointment because he had to go to God empty-handed, with nothing done at all. It seemed to him at that moment that it would have been quite easy to have been a saint. It would have needed a little restraint, and a little courage. He felt like someone who has missed happiness by seconds at the appointed place. He knew now that, at the end, there was only one thing that counted -to be a saint. -To be a saint I suggest is to learn how we walk, and talk to Mary our mother during these advent days. She is a woman who knew how to become a saint. She waited and waited for nine long months for the quiet life within her to become the Savior, the long-desired Christ. Like her, we have to wait for God to help us become saints.William Bausch in '40 More Seasonal Homilies' Prepare for the Service of GodMartin Buber tells the story about a rabbi's disciple who begged his master to teach him how to prepare his soul for the service of God. The holy man told him to go to Rabbi Abraham, who at the time, was still an innkeeper. The disciple did as instructed and lived in the inn for several weeks without observing any vestige of holiness in the innkeeper, who, from Morning Prayer till night devoted himself to affairs of his business. Finally the disciple approached him and asked him what he did all day. "My most important occupation" said Rabbi Abraham, "is to clean the dishes properly, so that not the slightest trace of food is left, and to clean and dry the pots and pans, so that they do not rust." When the disciple returned home and reported to his rabbi what he had seen and heard, the rabbi said to him, "Now you know the answer about how to prepare your soul for the service of God." The way to reach God is by doing everything wholeheartedly and genuinely; everything (and every act) is full of God's holiness -so treat it accordingly with dignity and respect.Brian Cavanaugh in 'Sower's Seeds of Christian Family Values' Rehearsal!It was a hot Sunday in June and millions of Americans were watching the U.S. Golf Open on TV. At a critical point in the play, the camera focused on John Nicklaus. He was in the rough and preparing to shoot out. Slowly and deliberately he addressed the ball. Then for a full 20 seconds of prime time TV, he stood poised and ready to swing. Suddenly at the last moment he backed away from the ball and said aloud for everybody to hear, "That's the wrong swing." The sports commentator covering the match was confused and said, "But he didn't swing! What's going on here?" A lot was going on. And Nicklaus explains exactly what it was in his book 'Golf My Way', in which he describes how he prepares for every shot he takes. It is a process called mental rehearsal. This simply means that he plays every shot in his imagination before he plays it for real. Nicklaus writes: "It is like a colour movie. First I 'see' the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes and I 'see' the ball going there, even its behaviour on landing. Then there's a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality." What Jack Nicklaus was doing on that hot Sunday afternoon in the U.S. Golf Open is what the Church is asking us to do during the season of Advent. The Church asks us to go through a kind of mental rehearsal to prepare for the coming of Christ, his final coming at the end of time.Mark Link Letting God Find UsA school principal called the house of one of his teachers to find out why he was not at school. He was greeted by a small child who whispered: "Hello?" "Is your Daddy at home?" asked the principal. "Yes" answered the whispering child. "May I talk to him?" the principal asked. "No," replied the small voice. "Is your Mommy there?" the principal asked. "Yes," came the answer. "May I talk with her?" Again the small voice whispered, "No." "All right," said the principal, "Is there anyone besides you?" "Yes," whispered the child, "A policeman." "A policeman? Now may I speak with the policeman?" "No, he is busy," whispered the child. "Busy with what?" asked the principal. "Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the fireman," came the child's answer. "The fireman? Has there been a fire in the house or something?" asked the principal. "No," whispered the child. "Then what are the policeman and the fireman doing there?" Still whispering, the young voice replied with a soft giggle, "They are looking for me." It would be pretty hard for the 'rescuers' to find the child as long as the child keeps hiding from them. -In today's Gospel we see John the Baptist calling out to the people of Judea to come out into the open space and let God find them. You can liken John the Baptist’s call to the fireman calling to the 'lost' child. The child has to leave his hiding place and come out into the open for the policeman to find him.John Pichappilly in 'The Table of the Word' Forget Him!There is an interesting and thought-provoking incident from Lawrence of Arabia. While crossing the desert in a blinding sandstorm, Lawrence suddenly noticed that one of his group had been mistakenly left behind. Turning to the group, he asked, "Where is Jasmine?" "Forget him," said one of the leaders, "not only is he sick, but he is worthless!" Without batting an eyelid, the valiant leader turned back in search of his lost companion, even at the risk of his own life, and would not rest content until Jasmine had been traced and re-united to the group. Lawrence's refusal to abandon the lost Jasmine is indeed a striking image of God's unfailing and unwavering concern for us all. This image is echoed by the Word of God today: "For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Said Bob Goddard: "Be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in life you have been all of these."James Valladares in 'Your words, O Lord, Are Spirit, and They are Life' May we be always prepared and actively waiting to find and be found by God!! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
[Goanet] [JudeSundayReflections] 2nd Sunday of Advent
Jude Botelho [email protected] [JudeSundayReflections] Mon, 01 Dec 2014 00:26:28 -0800
