Advent 3rd Week: Dec 15-20:
Dec 15 Monday: Mt 21:23-27:23
The context: After casting out the animal-merchants and moneychangers from the Temple immediately after the Palm Sunday procession, Jesus started teaching in the Temple courts. Hence, the chief priests and elders of the people approached Jesus, challenging his authority to enter the city in a triumphal procession, allowing the children to acclaim him, curing the sick, casting out the merchants and moneychangers and teaching in the Temple area. It was a trap. If Jesus claimed Divine authority as the Messiah, they would bring a charge of blasphemy. Jesus could not claim only human authority without denying His very Being as Son of God as well as Son of Man. But even if He could, His arrest as a mad Zealot would give scandal, another sin, and would damage the simple Faith of the people present in the Temple and what it stood for, destroying Jesus’ whole Messianic Mission. So, Jesus refused to answer, unless they would first answer His counter-challenge — were the mission and message of John the Baptist from God or man? Was the source of John’s vocation and message Divine or human? If they answered Divine, the questioners would be asked to explain why they had not accepted John’s message and his witness-bearing that Jesus was the Messiah. If they answered human, they would have to face the anger of the crowd who had accepted John as a prophet. Hence, they, too, kept silent, opting for a shameful self-humiliation.
Life message: In religious matters we should not ask the question whether our stand is safe, politically correct, or useful. Instead, we need to stand for God’s truth and obey His commandments with the courage of our Christian convictions even if it costs us our lives. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Dec 16 Tuesday: Mt 21:28-32:
The context: Jesus entered Jerusalem, which was to be the scene of all the Passion events he had predicted. After he had cleansed the Temple with prophetic indignation and had started teaching in the Temple area, the priests and the elders challenged him, demanding hs provide his credentials to teach. Jesus used the parable of two imperfect and sons to give them a wake-up call. Through this parable, Jesus gave them the warning that, because of their pride and their refusal to obey God’s call to repentance, they would exclude themselves from God’s Kingdom, while the tax-collectors and sinners would repent of their sins and would be accepted there.
In the parable, a man who has two sons tells both to go out to work in the vineyard. The first says he will go but he does not. The second says he won’t go, but later regrets his refusal and goes to work. The second son who first refused to go to work in the vineyard represents the tax collectors and sinners, while the first son, who agreed to work but did not go, represents the scribes and the Pharisees. The parable gives us the warning that it is our final decision for or against God that is most important, because we are rewarded or punished according to it. The message of the story is crystal clear. There are two very common classes of people in this world. First, there are the people whose profession of Faith is much better than their practice. Second, there are those whose practice is far better than their profession. The ideal son for this parable would be a son who accepted the father’s orders with grace and respect and who unquestioningly and fully carried them out as Jesus did his Father’s will.
Life messages: 1) We need to lead responsible Christian lives, saying “Yes!” to God. We should become men and women who profess our Faith in word and deed, knowing that, “Not all those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but those who do the will of my Father Who is in Heaven” Mt 7:21). 2) The Christian way lies in performance, not just promise, and the mark of a Christian is obedience, graciously and courteously given. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Dec 17 Wednesday: Mt 1:1-17:
The context: Starting with a genealogy was the Jewish way of beginning a biography because the Jews gave importance to the purity of the lineage which made them part of God’s Chosen People. For a noble Jew, the line must be traceable back through five generations, and for a Jewish priest traceable back to Aaron. Matthew presents Jesus’ human ancestry, indicating that salvation history has reached its climax with the birth of the Son of God through Mary by the working of the Holy Spirit. The Jewish genealogies followed the male line. Hence, Joseph, as the husband of Mary, was the legal father of Jesus, and the legal father was on a par with the real father regarding rights and duties. Thus, it was through Joseph, His legal father, that Jesus became the descendant of David. Since the Jews generally married within their clan, the early Fathers of the Church believed that Mary also belonged to David’s family. As a legal son of David, Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecies. The genealogy of Jesus Christ in today’s Gospel is carefully arranged into three groups of fourteen generations each. The three groups are based on 1) the rise of Israel to a great kingdom under David and Solomon, 2) the fall of the nation in the Babylonian exile and 3) the raising of the nation after the exile. The three groups symbolically represent the creation of man in God’s image, the loss of man’s greatness in Adam’s sin, and the regaining of greatness through Christ Jesus.
Life messages: 1) We need to accept and support, lift up, and correct the bad members of our family, acknowledging the truth that every family has some black sheep. Jesus’ genealogy mentions a harlot named Rahab, an adulteress named Tamar and a Moabite Gentile woman named Ruth. We need to remember that God can bring good out of the worst persons and circumstances. 2) We need to appreciate our membership in the Divine family of God through Baptism and behave as holy children of a Holy God.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Dec 18 Thursday: Mt 1:18-25:
The context: Today’s Gospel focuses on the story of the Virgin Birth, which is at the heart of our Christmas celebrations. It focuses also on the person and role of St. Joseph. In today’s Gospel, Matthew sees in the passage from Isaiah one of the most descriptive and definite prophecies foretelling that the future Messianic King, Christ, will be born as a descendant of David. In order for Jesus to fulfill this promise, Joseph had to, and willingly did, accept Jesus as his son, making Jesus a descendant of David because Joseph was a descendant of David. Matthew makes it clear that Jesus was not the biological child of Joseph. But because Joseph was the husband of Mary at the time Jesus was born, Jesus was legally the son of Joseph and, thus, a descendant of David in his royal line. Luke tells us of Mary’s obedience (Lk 1:38), and Matthew shows us Joseph’s obedience. Luke tells the story of the angel’s appearance to Mary (Lk 1:26-38), but Matthew tells us only that the child was from the Holy Spirit.
God’s message through His angel: This is the first of four* occasions on which an angel appears to Joseph in a dream. The angel commands Joseph to take Mary as his wife. Mary’s role is to bear a son, and Joseph’s role is to name him. By naming him, Joseph makes Jesus his son and brings him into the House of David. Joseph’s hallmark is obedience — prompt, simple, unspectacular obedience. Joseph’s obedience allows Jesus to be adopted as a true Son of David; it is Mary’s free consent to the will of God that allows Jesus to be born Son of God. In the end, Joseph takes Mary as his wife, in spite of his fears, and he claims her son as his own by naming him. In spite of his earlier decision to divorce this woman quietly, Joseph nurtured and protected and watched over and loved both Mary and her child.
*[The other three angelic vision-encounters are:
2) the message to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt and stay there, until 3) the angel comes to tell them to come home again, and then
4) to settle in Galilee instead of Bethlehem or Jerusalem.]
Life messages: 1) Like Joseph, we need to trust in God, listen to Him and be faithful. Like Joseph and Mary, we are called to be faithful, to trust in God as we do His will. Let us talk to Him and listen to Him speaking through the Bible. 2) Let us try to imitate Joseph and Mary, the humblest of the humble, the kindliest of the kindly, and the greatest-ever believers in God’s goodness and mercy, and welcome Jesus into our hearts and lives not only at Christmas but all year long.
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Dec 19 Friday: Lk 1 5-25:
The context: We recall two advents and two angelic messages during the Advent season, namely, the advent of John the Baptist and the Advent of Jesus. The first is preceded by the Archangel Gabriel’s informing Zechariah the aged priest that a son, whom he is to name John, will be born to him and his barren, aged wife. The second is preceded by the Archangel Gabriel’s message to Mary, a virgin betrothed to Joseph, asking her consent to become the mother of Jesus. Today’s Gospel describes how Zechariah receives the Divine message from the Archangel Gabriel in the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem while making the offering of incense.
Zechariah was one of the 1800 priests serving the Temple of Jerusalem. They were divided into 24 groups of 75 each. Thirty priests of each group were to serve the Temple for worship services each day and only one of them got the yearly chance of offering incense in front of the hidden Holy of Holies. It was while performing this priestly function that Zechariah received the vision of the angel who told him that his long-prayed-for son would be born of Elizabeth, that Zechariah was to name the boy John, and then described in detail how that child was to be raised and what he would do. Disbelieving, Zechariah demanded a sign of the angel who responded, “I am Gabriel, who stand in the Presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time” (Lk 1:19-20.
Life messages: 1) We should not take our small misfortunes as big tragedies. We should imitate Zechariah who remained optimistic, continuing in prayer and service in the Temple. 2) We need to get rid of the barrenness of our heart, cleanse it daily, liberate it from evil attachments, and prepare it for the rebirth of Jesus. 3) We need to be good parents and grandparents, offering incessant prayers for our children and grandchildren.
(Fr. Tony) (https://www.frtonyshomilies.com/)
Dec 20 Saturday: Lk 1:26-38:
The context: Today’s Gospel describes the story of the Annunciation, explaining how God began to keep the promise He had made to King David through the prophet Nathan, that David’s descendant would rule over the world as its Messiah. The Archangel Gabriel’s salutation to Mary: “Hail, full of grace,” reminds us of God’s words to Moses at the burning bush (Ex 3:12), and the angel’s salutation to Gideon, (Jgs 6:12). Mary is described as “full of grace,” filled with God’s favor and graciousness. She is to be the new Ark, a tent and temple. God will be in her, literally and physically, and thus she will be the greater House God promised to David. Mary’s believing question, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” is natural. That is why Gabriel reminds Mary, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” God will “empower” her (“the Spirit will come upon you“) and “protect” her (“overshadow you“). Luke’s narrative points out that the Child will not only be a distant grandson of David — He will be God’s own Son. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His ancestor David.” Mary does not require confirmation but responds in obedient, humble Faith: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38) . She agrees to carry out the Word Gabriel has addressed to her.
Life messages: 1) We need to be humble instruments in the hand of God, trusting in His power and goodness. St. Augustine reminds us that God Who created us without our permission cannot save us without our active cooperation. Hence, let us cooperate in the fulfillment of God’s plan for us with Mary’s trusting Faith and humility. 2) Like Mary, who brought God to us as Jesus our Savior, it is our duty to carry Jesus everywhere and bring Jesus to the lives of others around us through love, mercy, forgiveness, and service. “Let the soul of Mary be in each one of you to magnify the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each one to exult in Christ.” (St. Ambrose). 3) We should treasure these words of the Gospel and use them often, for example, by practicing the Christian custom of saying the Angelus every day and reflecting on the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. (Navarre Bible Commentary).
(Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
