Coming

Mt 1:18-24

“he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21).

When the Angel announced to Joseph the coming of Jesus, he proclaimed news of great joy but in a dramatic way.  He said, “your wife is going to bear a son” and “he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21).  That statement speaking about Jesus’ birth indicates His self-sacrificial death.  The only way to save people from sins is by His death on the cross.  Thus, the birth of Christ is connected to His suffering and death.  Jesus himself said, “to this end I was born”(Jn 12:27).  At Christmas, we are directed toward the cross.  The fact that God comes as a powerless baby; the fact that He chooses rather to die than spectacularly destroy evil and sin teaches us an important lesson about God but also about our lives.

Our God is not a God who rescues us from evil and suffering; our God is a God who does more; He redeems us from evil and sin; He takes our sins upon Himself and transforms them into hope and meaning.  Christmas doesn’t promise an end of suffering and distress.  Rather it promises, here on earth, something else:  God’s presence in our lives.  One of Jesus’ names, as we heard, is Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us’ (Mt 1:23).  That statement ‘God is with us’ does not merely mean that God is present doing nothing.  God’s presence always means transformation of evil into hope and nothing.  God’s presence with us means that He is able to transform all evil and even our sins into benefits for us.^[1]  But that transformation does not take place without our part.  In order to experience that transformation, we are invited to allow Christ to be born in us, to allow Him to embrace us in His mercy.

By coming to us in the form of the powerless baby, whose destiny is to die for us, Christ shows us that evil and sin can be overpowered.  We do not have to carry the burden of sin.  All we are invited to do is to allow Christ to embrace us in His mercy.  When we do so, evil, and even our sins and failures, will be transformed into hope and meaning for us. 

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^[1] Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, “Our Christmas present?  God’s presence.”

https://www,wer,ab,ca/Columns/Columns/entryid/5797 (accessed October 17, 2017).

Mt 11: 2-11

“the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, … the poor have good news brought to them” (Mt 11:4-5).

Signs of Christmas are all around us these days.  Displays in malls, decorations in homes, Christmas cards, music on the radio.  We don’t have to look very hard to find them.  But do they really speak of the coming of Christ into our lives? How do we find signs of God’s presence in our lives?  This is the question that is proposed in today’s liturgy.^[1]

The same question occupied the mind of John the Baptist.  In the Gospel, we have John who is in prison.  He has heard about the work Jesus has performed and sends his disciples with a question, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Mt 11:3).  It seems John’s expectations are not being met.  It was because the peaceful and merciful way Jesus dealt with sinners.  That behaviour was not at all like the one the Jews expected from their Messiah.^[2]  In two preceding chapters, the evangelist Matthew tells us about two miracles done by Jesus.  In the first Jesus heals a leper and in the second He made the lame walk and the blind to see.  Lepers were considered as people rejected and cursed by God because of their sins.  Lame and blind similarly were seen to be sinners and their physical impediments were wrongly interpreted as God’s punishment for their sins.^[3]  John saw that Jesus did not treat ‘sinners’ the way one would expect from the Messiah.  It was believed that when the Messiah comes all evil will be powerfully destroyed and sinners condemned and punished.  Not only does Jesus not condemn sinners, He dines with them and calls them His friends (Mt 11:19).  Instead of cutting down the unfruitful trees, as John expected, Jesus, in words from our first reading, “strengthens the weak hands, makes firm the feeble knees.  And says to those who are of fearful heart, ‘Be strong do not fear’” (Is 35:3-4).  Seeing the tender and merciful way Jesus deals with sinners, John is perplexed.

His disappointment and inquiry addressed to Jesus, “Are you the One …?” gives voice to our questions directly to God.  We, too, often feel disappointed by God.  We, too, often notice that God does not act in our lives the way we would expect.  If there is an all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving God, why is His presence so obscure in our daily lives?  Why do bad things happen to us?  There are people abused by others; there is brokenness in our families; there are those who suffer and die by senseless acts of violence or accidents or diseases.  Why is God seemingly absent, inactive, and unmoved?  Is God truly present in my life?^[4]

The answer Jesus gives to John and to us is not the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response.  Jesus describes how the presence of God is manifested, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised” (Mt 11:4-5) NRSV).  In other words, do not be caught up by your expectations.  Look around, God is alive and active.

There are many who were ‘blind’, not seeing light and purpose in life, but now they find meaning and light.  There are many who were ‘lame’, who stumbled, not being able to walk in God’s ways, but now they find strength to walk the right path.  There are those who were ‘deaf’, not able to hear other people’s needs; now they are attentive to the cry of others. There are those who were ‘dead’, without real life, but now they enjoy new life and hope.  This is what happens, Jesus says, when God enters people’s lives, or better to say, when we allow God to enter our lives.^[5]

We are often disappointed by God because we fail to see that anything bad could ever happen to us.^[6]  But paradoxically, sometimes it is through ‘bad things’ that our ‘eyes’ are opened and our ‘knees’ are strengthened.  It does not mean that God wants these ‘bad things’ to happen to us; it means that God can transform evil into goodness for us.  How does God transform evil into goodness?

There is an insightful story written by Gilbert Chesterton, a theologian and writer. A man died and went to hell.  His business agent went down to the gates of torment to try to release him.  The agent pleaded with the devil saying, “Let him out!”  But to no avail.  Then the man’s best friends, even his priest, came down and made the same request, “Let him out!” But, again, to no avail.  The gates of hell remained firmly shut.  Finally, the mother of this man came.  But she did not ask for her son’s release.  “Quietly, with a strange tone in her voice, she said to Satan, ‘Let me in’.  Immediately the great doors swung open on their hinges.  Chesterton summarizes, “For love goes down through the gates of hell and there redeems the damned.”^[7]

Rolheiser points out that this is how evil and sin can be taken away and work for us.  Jesus takes our sins and all evil inside Himself and transforms them.^[8]  Christ takes in hatred and gives back kindness; He takes in sin and gives back forgiveness.  This is the way sin and evil can leave us; someone has to take it upon himself, and through a certain sacrifice of self, transform it into goodness.^[9]

God does not intervene by force; He does not stop pain, evil and death. Instead, He redeems the pain and transforms evil into hope and meaning.  God does so, not by using force or His miraculous power, but by taking evil and suffering upon Himself.^[10]  He invites us to participate in transforming evil into goodness.

We often hear a lot about evil and God’s absence but we overlook God’s presence in countless people who work selflessly to bring hope, comfort, and healing to others.^[11]  Each time we take in bitterness and give back comfort to others; each time we take in hatred and give back forgiveness; we become signs of God’s presence.

Jesus concludes his response to John with a beatitude, “blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” (Mt 11:6).  It means, ‘blessed is anyone who is not scandalized by the mysterious way God acts in our lives.’  Put simply, if we trust, as John finally did, that God is alive and active though He does not act the way we expect; if we, instead of bitterness give comfort, then our eyes, like the eyes of the blind, will be opened.  And, in this way, we will become signs of God’s presence, signs of Christmas for those searching for God. 

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^[1] Fr. Greg Friedman, OFM, “Daily Reflections December”.  December 15, 2019.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Draa3WV3o&list=PLpTzvCOJa7DAAsw34PxZGDqnI_bBKNWa9&index=16&t=0s (accessed December 14, 2019).

^[2] ASP. ”15 December, 3^rd Sunday of Advent”.  https://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2019/12/15-december-3rd-sunday-of-advent/ (accessed December 10, 2019).

^[3] Fr. Fernando Armellini, “3^rd Sunday of Advent, Year A”.  December 15, 2019.  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Fr.+Fernando+Armellini+3rd+Sunday+of+Advent+Year+A (accessed December 11, 2019).

^[4] See, Ron Rollheiser, OMI, “Waiting for the Resurrection”. https://ronrolheiser.com/waiting-for-the-resurrection/#.XfOq4i3Mw0o (accessed December  13, 2019)

^[5] Fr. Fernando Armellini, “3^rd Sunday of Advent, Year A”, December 15, 2019.

^[6] Jessica Fish, “Disappointment with God” https://medium.com/@jessica.thefish/disappointment-with-god-537b3a31821 (accessed December 15, 2019).

^[7] Second Baptist Church, Daily Lesson for November 21, 2015. https://www.secondb.com/daily-lesson-for-november-27-2015/ accessed December 23, 2016).

^[8] Ronald Rolheiser, How Jesus Takes Away the Sin of the World https:1/ronrolheiser.com/how-jesus-takes-away-the-sin-of-the-world/#.WF1SA7GZM1g (accessed December 20, 2016).

^[9] Ronald Rolheiser, How Jesus Takes Away the Sin of the World.  https://ronrolheiser.com/how-jesus-takes-away-the-sin-of-the-world/#.WF1SA7GZM1g (accessed December 20, 2016).

^[10] See, Ron Rolheiser, OMI, “Waiting for the Resurrection” https://ronrolheiser.com/waiting-for-the-resurrection/#.XfOq4i3Mw0o (accessed December 13, 2019).

^[11] See, Scott Lewis, SJ, “God’s Word on Sunday:  A little digging reveals news full of hope.”  https://www.catholicregister.org/faith/columnists/item/30808-god-s-word-on-sunday-a-little-digging-reveals-news-full-of-hope (accessed December 12, 2019).

Mt 3: 1-12

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt 3:1-12)

Sometimes we hear people say, ‘I know I have to change my life; I know I need to deepen my faith but I do not find enough strength or motivation to do so.’  What motivates people to change their lives?  Where do we find strength to return to the right path?  As we are in the Advent season, the liturgy helps to answer these questions.

In the first reading (Is 11:1-10), the prophet Isaiah gives voice to the eager hopes of Israelites who awaited the Messiah. In a symbolic way, the prophet describes all the beauty that the coming of the Messiah would bring.^[1]  As we read, He “will extend His hand … to recover” all brokenness on the earth.  In His time, even wild animals “will not hurt or destroy.”  The reading presents a vivid image of how meaningful and good our lives can be, when we allow the Lord to enter them.  In the Gospel, John the Baptist proclaims that the waiting and longing of Israelites for the Messiah are to be answered in the person and mission of Jesus.^[2]  This is why John invites people to be prepared for His coming.  But the language John uses surprises us, even shocks.  “You brood of vipers! … Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear the fruit of repentance”; otherwise, “the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  We wonder, is this what religion is about?  We must bear fruit, perform good works; otherwise, we will be punished, ‘cut down’, and thrown into the fire?  Does God get angry and pay back like we do?  What does the wrath of God really mean?

There are many places in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, when we read about the wrath of God.  It is noteworthy, however, that the wrath of God is not an explosion of anger against people for their offences.  The wrath of God is always an expression of God’s concern for the people; it is always God’s intervention against evil, not against people who carry out evil acts.  God does not want to destroy or punish people but to bring them out of their sinful condition.^[3]  As Fr. Ron Rolheiser points out, when the Bible says that we experience God’s wrath when we sin, it doesn’t mean that God actually gets angry and punishes us.  There is no need for that.  The punishment is inherent in the sin itself.  Sin itself is an evil act.  When we sin, it is our own actions that punish us.  Excessive use of alcohol causes a headache.  The pain is not from God, though it feels like divine punishment.^[4]  God does not punish people for their sins.  This truth is quite clearly expressed through the prophet Ezekiel.  God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their ways and live” … I am “God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love … forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex 33:11. 34:6-7).  Jesus himself emphasizes, “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (Lk 19:10).  Christ came to save, not to destroy or punish.  The human heart is complicated and we know that.  And God knows that there is no need to destroy and punish sinners; He knows that much more powerful than punishment is to touch a sinner’s heart with mercy and forgiveness.  Indeed, the image of God in the Gospel is not an image of the one who destroys and burns the unfruitful trees.  It is rather an image of a gardener who nourishes and supports the trees without fruit.  Jesus presents Himself as the one who does everything to help the unfruitful tree to bear fruit.  In one of His parables, Jesus intercedes for the barren tree.  When the owner wants to cut down the tree, Jesus, the gardener, begs him, “Let the tree alone, sir, this year also, ‘till I dig about it and put on manure” (Lk 13:7-8 RSV).  God never gives up on us.  We can turn away from God; we can even go to hell but God will not stop loving us.

There are many in the church today who want sinners to be punished, not converted and saved.  Even John the Baptist, as we hear, expected the Messiah to come to punish sinners.  His concern was justice, repentance, asceticism.  He expected the Messiah to come precisely as a violent fire, a winnowing fan that would burn and destroy sinners.^[5]  John had to learn that Jesus was a gentler guide than he was:  no name-calling, not bringing the ax to the tree, but calling sinners His friends, not cutting the unfruitful trees down but rather nourishing them.^[6]

In today’s Gospel, John says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt 3:1-2 NRS).  Only in the light of God’s kindness and mercy can we understand what repentance is about.  Repentance was a crucial idea in the Judaism of John the Baptist’s time.  John declared that the chosen people’s salvation was not guaranteed by the fact that they are descendants of Abraham but by bearing fruits of repentance (Mt 3:8).^[7]  The invitation to repent is of great importance in our Christian tradition.  Each Advent season (and Lent) we hear about repentance.  What does it really mean “to repent”?  The world “repent”, as we know, is a translation of the beautiful Greek word, meta-noia; it means a total transformation of mind and will, we may say a change of the heart.  It implies that a person has found himself/herself going in a wrong direction and has made a complete turnaround in order to return to the right path.  What is noteworthy about that change of the heart is that it is not simply a personal decision to better oneself; it is rather a response of a person to the prior encounter of God’s kindness and mercy.^[8]  We may say repentance, in fact, is not first of all a change of one’s life; it is first of all an experience of being loved unconditionally.  Ultimately, it is not the power of our will that changes us; it is an experience of being accepted, welcomed, and loved that motivates us to change our life in a meaningful way.  There is a story that comes from a Jewish tradition; it illustrates what the power is that is able to touch a sinner’s heart.

There was a young Jewish boy named Mordechai who refused to go to school.  When he was six years old, his mother took him to school but he cried and protested all the way and, immediately after she left, he ran back home.  She brought him back to school and this scenario played itself out for several days.  The boy refused to stay at school.  His parents tried to apply all combinations of bribes and threats.  But nothing worked.  Finally, in desperation, they went to their rabbi and explained the situation to him.  The rabbi simply said, “If the boy won’t listen to words, bring him to me.”  They brought him into the rabbi’s study.  The rabbi said not a word.  He simply picked up the boy and held him to his heart for a long time.  Then, still without a word, he set him down.  What words couldn’t accomplish, a silent embrace did.  Mordechai, not only began to willingly go to school, he went on to become a great scholar and a rabbi.^[9]

What this story illustrates is how God deals with us, his stubborn yet loving children.  When people experience that there is someone who believes in them, who welcomes them as they are, they will find strength and motivation to make the most twisted and broken ways straight and right.^[10]

And so, as we are in the Advent season, as we hear, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”, we are invited to come to Christ, as we are, with our sins and brokenness, to experience His kindness and mercy.  When we allow Christ to touch our hearts, when we allow Him to embrace us in His mercy, we will see ourselves and our lives in a new way, the way God sees us, with compassion and understanding.   

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^[1] Patricia Datchuck Sánchez, Waiting and Welcoming the Coming One, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/sanchez/.  (accessed October 26, 2016).

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] See, Fernando Armellini, “She will flourish like the palm tree and will grow like a Lebanon cedar.”  Second Sunday of Advent, A. https://sundaycommentaries,wordpress.com (accessed December 5, 2019)

^[4] See, Ron Rolheiser, “God and Violence”.  https://ronrolheiser.com/god-and-violence/#.XeprHy3Mw0o (accessed December 6, 2019).

^[5] See, Ron Rolheiser, “The God Who Is Revealed in Christmas”, Second Sunday of Advent, A.  https://liturgy.slu.edu/2AdvA120819/reflections_rolheiser.html (accessed December 2, 2019).

^[6] See, Neary, Donal SJ, Gospel Reflections, for Sundays of Year A:  Matthew. (Dublin:  Messenger Publications, 2016), 9. 

^[7] Davies, W. D., & Allison, D. C., Jr. (2004).  A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew (Vol. 1, p. 306).  London; New York: T&T Clark International.

^[8] Patricia Datchuck, Sánchez, Waiting and Welcoming the Coming One, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/sanchez/ (access, October 26, 2016).

^[9] Ronald Rolheiser, Our One Great Act of Fidelity.  Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist. (New York: Doubleday, 2011), 31-33.

^[10] See, Neary, Donal SJ, Gospel Reflections.  For Sundays of Year A: Matthew.  (Dublin: Messenger Publications, 2016), 9.

Mt 24: 37-44

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” (Mt 24:44)

Today is the first Sunday of the liturgical year and the beginning of Advent.  The word ‘advent’ originates from the Latin word ad venio which means “to come”.  Today we begin the holy time of preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas.  But what do we exactly mean by saying ‘the coming of the Lord?’  The fathers of the Church, like St. Bernard of Clairvaux, understood the coming of Christ on three levels, the same in which we experience time:  in the past, when Jesus came as a baby in Bethlehem; in the future, when He will come at the end of time; but, most importantly, in the present, when Christ comes to us every day.  To prepare us for this present coming of the Lord, all three readings call us for spiritual alert.

In the Gospel, Jesus invites us to be vigilant and watchful.  Otherwise, we can repeat the mistake of the people of the time of Noah.  Immersed in their daily life and ordinary activities, the people were unaware of the flood that was coming upon them.  So, Jesus says, the same is with the coming of the Son of Man.  Those who are not attentive won’t be prepared for His coming.^[1] When the Son of Man comes, two people will be doing exactly the same thing, like “working in the field or grinding meal together; but one will be taken, and one will be left” (Mt 24:41).  The image of taking some people and leaving others behind comes from the early Christian’s belief.  The early church believed that, when the Son of Man comes, He will send His angels to take the saints, the righteous, to Himself.  To say “one is taken and one is left” is to say one was prepared, the other was not.^[2]  Those who are “left” does not mean they go to hell.^[3] Since Jesus is talking also about His coming every day into our lives, “to be left” means to have no part in God’s life here and now;  to continue life without depth and meaning.  This is why Jesus invites us to be alert.  This is why he says, “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Indeed, when we honestly look at our lives, we notice that often we are very much asleep, both to God’s presence and to people around us.  Fr. Ron Rolheiser, to illustrate our sleepiness, recalls in one of his articles a story that comes from the Hindu mystical tradition.

One day a man was walking with God.  The man says to God, ‘Please explain to me the mystery of your presence?’  God says, ‘I will explain it to you but first, let’s stop at this house, I am thirsty.  Please go into this house and bring me a cup of water.’  The man knocks at the door and a very beautiful woman answers the door. He says, ‘Could you give me a cup of water?’  She answers, ‘I could, and I will, but why don’t you come in and first we have a meal?’ So he does. … Forty-five years later … they have been married; they have three children; they have a happy household.  One night there is a terrible storm. The house is shaken by wind and thunder and the man begins to pray, ‘God, God, where are you?’  God says, ‘Where is my cup of water?’

The point of course is not to say that God pays back the same as us.  The point is that we are very much asleep to God’s presence.  Rolheiser points out that God’s presence lays inside of us quietly, almost unfelt, and largely unnoticed.  It can be ignored for years and years.  God does not overpower us.  He does not twist any arms, but He never goes away.^[4]  

Jesus, at one point turned to his disciples and said, “you can perfectly read the signs of weather, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ … (or) ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’  You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Mt 16:2-3).  You are so astute in reading weather but you cannot see the depth of your own life and God’s presence in it.  So, how can we learn to see more deeply in terms of faith?  How to be awake to God’s hidden and quiet presence in our lives?^[5]  How to stay awake, to be vigilant and prepared for the Lord’s coming?

Today there is rich literature that offers us all kinds of advice on how to be awake to a deeper reality.  One of the most popular types of advice we hear is to live each day of our lives as if it were our last day.  That is a valuable recommendation but it is not difficult to recognize that to take this advice seriously would be difficult.  We simply cannot sustain that kind of intentionality over a long period of time.  Awareness of our mortality does not make us more alert.^[6]  We know that our life has a 100 percent mortality rate; without exception, each of us will die, but this fact does not necessarily wake us up.  So, what does wake us up?  How to be awake to the riches of our own lives?  How to see the mystery of God in our lives with depth and understanding?

One may say that success or great achievement would wake us up and make us more aware of God’s presence.  But when we look at the most successful people, we see that their great accomplishments, yes, bring them glory, but not necessarily depth or awareness of God’s presence in their lives.  James Hillman, an American psychologist and writer, claims that what truly shapes our characters, what allows us to see with depth, what wakes us up, are not our successes and victories, but our defeats and failures.  Hillman claims that the door into our souls is opened through our wounds and our pains.^[7]

And Hillman is right but there is one condition for our defeats, failures, and wounds to wake us up, to work for our benefit.  As we know, wounds, in order to be healed, need to be brought to a physician.  Our failures and wounds and sins, in order to be healed and wake us up, need to be brought to Christ.  What does happen when we bring our wounds to Christ?  What happens when we come to God with our failures is illustrated well in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  As we read in the parable, “while the son was still far away his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran (towards him) and put his arms around him and kissed him” (Lk 15:20).  Our wounds are healed when they are embraced and kissed by the unconditional mercy of God.  We do not wake up by the power of our will.  We do not wake up by awareness of our mortality.  We do wake up and our eyes are opened when we meet with unconditional kindness and unconditional mercy.

And this is what Advent is about.  When Jesus says, “you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” He wants us to know that He comes to us every day but in order to be ready and to see His presence, in order to experience the depth of His mercy and kindness, we are invited not to be afraid to open our wounds before Him.  When we do so, when we approach God as we are, with our wounds and failures, when we allow Christ to embrace us in His mercy, His love will transform the deepest darkness and the most humiliated failures into hope and meaning for us.   

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^[1] Senior, Donald. Abingdon New Testament Commentaries; Matthew. (Nashville; Abingdon Press, 1998).

^[2] See, Davies, W. D., & Allison, D. C., Jr. (2004). A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew (Vol. 3, p. 383).  London; New York; T & T Clark International.

^[3] Fr. Fernando Armellini, “A Judgment that Saves.”1^st Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2019, A.

https://sundaycommentaries.wordpress.com (accessed November 29, 2019)

^[4] Ron Rolheiser, OMI, “Staying Awake” http://ronrolheiser.com/staying-awake/#.XUDg6C3Mx0s (accessed July 30, 2019)

^[5] Ibid.

^[6] Ibid.

^[7] See, James Hillman, Re-Visioning Psychology, Harper Collins Publishers, 1997.