LET US WALK IN THE LIGHT OF THE LORD

I SUNDAY OF ADVENT - Isaiah 2:1-5

We enter the liturgical season of Advent, in which we turn ourselves towards the coming of the Messiah, that is the birth of Jesus Christ, when we celebrate God’s love for humanity, and so great that love was that he came to be God-with-us.

Advent is a time pregnant with promise and hope. It is God’s Promise that keeps our hope alive, because we are sure that God will fulfil his promise. We call this season Advent, because he has come, and he is coming. Indeed, he is the one “who is and who was and who is to come” (Rev 1:8).

If we stop for a while, look around and listen attentively, we remain with a feeling of hopelessness and even despair, because these times we are living in are so dark that we cannot find a direction or discover where we are moving to. That’s why the prophet Isaiah advises us: Walk in the light of the Lord. Only his light can disperse the darkness that surrounds us. We cannot find a way, but with him, because he is the Way.

The Gospel of this first Sunday of Advent tells us that in Noah’s time people just went on with their lives “eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands”, as if everything was in order. They didn’t question themselves and they didn’t listen to Noah’s warnings; and so they did not become aware of the impending disaster that would destroy them. It is the same with us, in spite of so many warnings of danger. There was a time, when we thought that peace would be possible, because man was learning from the mistakes of the past, thus showing much greater respect for human rights and for the dignity of our neighbours. It seemed to us that finally all peoples of the world were being set free and the wealth was being more equally shared, while at the same time we were gaining victories against major diseases. But the reality has shattered all that optimism: there are as many wars today as before, and they are more vicious and bloody than before. It seems that humanity is intent on self-destruction, destroying the world - the common house of all, and destroying ourselves. The thirst for power and domination and the hunger for riches are bigger than ever. It is as if we are thirsty for human blood. And in the name of freedom and human rights, we dominate and exploit, feeding ourselves on the lives of the poor, whose number is on the increase. However, in the name of political correctness, we cannot speak out. The true values that make us human, as created in the image of God, are thrown out as old fashioned. We are intent on creating a society where God is never mentioned and never thought of, forgetting that man left to himself is consumed by self-hatred, easily going astray and never finding the way back.

It is good to listen to Isaiah’s advice: Walk in the light of the Lord. And as he advises us, Isaiah puts forward God’s Promise as a source of hope and motivation to change direction. The time has come for us to learn the ways of the Lord, “so that we may walk in his paths” (Is 2:3). If we start waling in the paths of the Lord, then we will enjoy the peace that comes from the Lord.

Nation will not lift sword against nation,

there will be no more training for war. (Is 2:4)

Advent is a time of preparation - a time to be awake and to stand ready:

“Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Mt 24:44).

Let us prepare ourselves to welcome the Lord by walking in his ways. He is the way, he is the truth and the life (Jn 14:6).

JESUS CHRIST IS THE PRINCE OF PEACE

CHRIST THE KING - Luke 23:35-43

We end the liturgical year with the feast of Christ the King and we proclaim him to be “the King of kings and Lord of Lords” (1 Tim 6:15; Rev 19:16). Lord - translating the Greek word - κυριος - which was the word used in the Septuaginta translation of the Bible (done about 300 years before Christ) to translate the name of God, YHWH. In today’s translations of the Old Testament, whenever we find the word LORD, we know that it corresponds to YHWH in the Hebrew Bible. Calling Jesus LORD was like calling him by God’s personal name YHWH, and the Jews considered that a great blasphemy. 

In this Sunday, the whole Church, united to all past generations, proclaims that Jesus is LORD and that he is the King of kings. He came to establish the Kingdom of God and his mission will be fulfilled. 

Not like the earthly kings

However, we cannot be induced in error by thinking that Jesus is a king like the earthly kings. And in this Sunday’s gospel, we can discover how Jesus’ kingdom is completely different. The reason for his crucifixion was given in an inscription fixed on the top of the cross: “the King of the Jews.” (Lk  23:38). Such words sounded like a mockery: If he is king, then his throne is the cross. But that is the truth. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus is glorified on the cross; and in the same way, in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus’ kingship is proclaimed and recognised on the cross. The ones responsible for his condemnation abused him and challenged him to prove that he is “the Christ, the Chosen One” (Lk 23:35). In Jesus, they only could see a false prophet. It was one of the criminals crucified with him who was able to recognise the truth and to believe that Jesus is indeed the Christ who came to save us and set up God’s kingdom, and he prayed: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Lk 23:42). Jesus answered his plea with the promise that they would enter together in paradise to share the blissfulness of God’s kingdom. Jesus’ kingship is one of faithfulness, service and love. He so loved the world, the he gave his life for us, so that we have a share in his glory.

God’s Kingdom is completely different from the Muslim Caliphate 

Speaking of a kingdom, we may think of power in the same way we think of the political powers of this world. Nothing further from the truth. How different is Jesus’ kingship from the Caliphate of the Islamic State founded on the footsteps of Muhammad and the Caliphs that came after him. They spread Islam through the power of the sword and have kept it through the centuries with an iron fist, killing those who disenchanted with Islam go in search of other answers for their lives. Unlike Muhammad, Jesus never used the power of the sword. Instead of killing all those that opposed him, as Muhammad did, he suffered death at their hands and promised suffering and persecution to those who follow him. Jesus’ power is the power of love and of mercy, and in him we experience God’s love and mercy.

Jesus made peace by his death on the cross

The second reading, taken from the letter of Paul to the Colossians, speaks of this great mystery, which is the salvation in Jesus Christ.

“He is the image of the unseen God

and the first-born of all creation,

for in him were created

all things in heaven and on earth:

everything visible and everything invisible,

Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers –

all things were created through him and for him.” (Col 1:15-16)

It is in Him that we can make a true experience of God. Everything was created through him and for him. He is the first to be born from the dead,

“because God wanted all perfection

to be found in him

and all things to be reconciled through him and for him,

everything in heaven and everything on earth,

when he made peace

by his death on the cross.” (Col 1:19-20).

It is by his death on the cross that we are reconciled and that the door of God’s kingdom is open to all who are one with Christ. This is the mystery of God’s plan, a plan made of love and mercy, as Paul puts it:

“Because that is what he has done: he has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and in him, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.” (Col 1:13-14)

Celebrating God’s mercy

As we celebrate Christ the King, we conclude as well the Jubilee of Mercy. This Jubilee has helped us that God’s merciful love is in the centre of his plan of salvation, and Jesus Christ, who came to carry out that plan, has taught us to be merciful as the Father is merciful (Lk 6:36).

Even though the Jubilee of Mercy is coming to an end, the spirit and the attitude of mercy are an essential part of being a Christian. As children of God, we must practice mercy, because our Father is merciful. We pray for those who are our enemies and ask God’s blessings upon them. Only being merciful, can we expect to receive mercy.

THE DAY IS COMING…

XXXIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Malachi 3:19-20

The day is coming… It sounds like a threat or at least a warning. Which day is the prophet talking about? The day of judgement, when justice will be done. It will be a fearsome day for evildoers. And seeing so much injustice and violence in the world, where the poor are  trampled upon, many people say with a deep feeling: Let that day come, before we loose hope. The wealthy and the powerful live as if they are the owners of the earth, claiming the right to be served by everybody else, whom they transform into slaves, condemning them to suffering. And the poor cry out to God. It may seem that God does not care and does not pay attention to them, abandoning them to their own fate. However, if we read through the Bible, we find this constant that God is on the side of the poor and listens to their cry. 

Yes, the day is coming… The Virgin Mary was so sure of its coming that she saw it already here, praising God for it:

“He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.” (Lk 1:51-53)

That day will be the day of the coming of the Lord, and for those who walk on the ways of the Lord, that day will be a day of rejoicing. The prophet Malachi announces that day as a day of healing and salvation:

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays. (Malachi 3:20).

And we must look forward to that day with hope. It is not surprising that, since the beginning of the Church, the Christians have always cried out: Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus. (1 Cor 16:22; Rev 22:20). Come Lord, and bring your Kingdom, a kingdom of justice and righteousness, a king of peace. And we pray daily: “They Kingdom come!”

Being anxious for the coming of the Lord, there are people who announce the day of its coming. Jesus warns us about that, saying:

“Take care not to be deceived,’ he said ‘because many will come using my name and saying, “I am he” and, “The time is near at hand.” Refuse to join them.” (Lk 21:)

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus mixes up the prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem and the teaching about the end of times. They are two different things, but putting them together, Jesus wants to enable us to look at the tragedies of the present moment as reminders of the times to come. We must be prepared and confident in God’s love and mercy. If we are true disciples of Jesus Christ, we must be prepared for persecution, because we will be rejected, despised and hated. We must pass through the way of the cross, following in the footsteps of Jesus. And there we will give witness to the Lord.

“You will be hated by all men on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.” (Lk 21:17-19).

And in the Lord we will find salvation.

***

Reflecting on Trump’s election

We are still trying to digest the big surprise of Trump becoming the president of the United States of America. Very few were foreseeing it. And most thought that the American people would be wise enough to reject  a crazy man. But he was chosen to the surprise of many.

It was a protest vote of people disenchanted with a political class that separated themselves from the common man. They are bored and tired with what the politicians have been offering.

Hilary Clinton had a far better organised and funded campaign, but she did not speak to the soul of the people. She should have seen the warning signs in the struggle she had to go through in order to get the nomination. The young people and the poor people were not with her. They saw her policies as a carrying on of Obama’s policies and the media, while campaigning for her, liked to indulge in the common assumption that she shares her husband’s corruption.

People are tired of the political correctness and from one day to the other they threw it off the board. Going against the feeling of many people, the Obama administration imposed transgender bathrooms in the public schools, meaning “that students who identify as transgender must be allowed to use the private facilities that match their gender identity with “no medical diagnosis or treatment requirement.” 

Small but vocal groups have all their rights safeguarded, while the rights of the majority are ignored. To promote  gender ideology is  a sign of political correctness, and gay couples are allowed to adopt children. Religion - mainly Christianism - is seen as an obstacle for the advancement of policies like the gay agenda, the gender ideology, abortion and euthanasia. They were preparing to create groups and movements to fight the Christian Churches from within.

It is not surprising that some people in the Christian Churches accused Clinton of being the Devil, because of being surrounded by people with an atheistic agenda.

However, with Clinton, we knew what to expect. Trump is unpredictable. He is a rich man who will be on the side of the rich, without any consideration for the poor, the refugees, the ilegal immigrants. Where is he going to take America? Many of those who voted for him will be disappointed.

Let us pray for a better world, a world of peace, where justice is for all.

WE BELIEVE IN GOD’S PROMISE THAT HE WILL RAISE US UP

XXXII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 20:27-38

This Sunday’s readings are about the resurrection, a central belief of our faith and a theme that needs to be revisited time and again, and nowadays more than before, since there are many people who do not belief anymore in the resurrection. For the Jews, the belief in the resurrection was a theological novelty, and that’s why the Sadducees, traditionalists in matters of religion - did not believe in it. They wanted to have a good laugh, and so they tried to prove to Jesus how ridiculous this belief is by inventing the story of the woman who got married to seven brothers, without having a child from any of them. Their thinking was: whose wife will she be, if there is resurrection? However, Jesus proved them wrong, because “you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Mt 22:29). 

In fact, “those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God” (Lk 20:35-36). Following the Scriptures, there is no marriage neither sexual intercourse in paradise. In this, the Christian concept of Paradise is different from the Muslim Paradise, where the ones who are rewarded with it will enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, having plenty of perpetual virgins to satisfy them. Paul wrote that the time will come when God will be “all in all” (1 Co 15:28). And God will be our joy and our peace, our freedom and our salvation, our victory and our life.

And Jesus reminded the Sadducees of this simple truth that our God “is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” (Lk 20:38). In the first reading, taken from 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14, we find the same truth: God is the Lord of life, the God of the living, and those who put their trust in him find life. It was the faith in the faithfulness of God that led people to believe in the resurrection, and that gave the seven brothers the boldness to defy the king and to despise their own earthly lives: 

“Ours is the better choice, to meet death at men’s hands, yet relying on God’s promise that we shall be raised up by him; whereas for you there can be no resurrection, no new life.” (2 Mac 7:14)

The book of the Maccabees was written to record the Jewish revolt against the oppressive regime of Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, who forbade the Jewish religion and imposed the Greek culture and religion. The ones who refused to keep this law were persecuted, tortured and killed. They were the first martyrs, dying for keeping their faith. Since then, thousands have offered their lives in sacrifice in order to remain faithful to the God of life, sure that we can find life only in him. Hearing the story of the seven brothers, we must remember and honour the thousands upon thousands of people who preferred death to betrayal and apostasy, because God is the Lord of life and the Lord of their lives. Let us remember specially all those who live under islamic law in islamic countries, being second class citizens, always in danger of being accused and persecuted. May God give them the strength and the courage of those seven brothers.

Let us pray with the psalm:

Guard me as the apple of your eye.

  Hide me in the shadow of your wings

As for me, in my justice I shall see your face

  and be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory. - Ps 17:8,15

WITH ALL SAINTS, WE SING GOD'S PRAISE

SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS - Apocalypse 7:2-4,9-14

Today, we are celebrating the solemnity of All Saints. In Portugal, it is holiday.

We remember and celebrate all those who went before us, all those who have been received in God’s kingdom as his beloved children. This remembrance and this celebration strengthens our hope, because we are on our way, guided by Jesus, to reach our eternal dwelling in God’s kingdom.

Celebrating this day, I put two videos from Lubengele Parish, Chililabombwe, Zambia.

The first presents the Litany of the Saints, where we ask the Saints to intercede for us:

And the second is a song of thanksgiving and praise, the song sang by the choirs of heaven, with words from the book of Revelation.

“Now the salvation and the power 

and the kingdom of our God 

and the authority of his Christ have come, 

for the accuser of our brothers 

has been thrown down, 

who accuses them day and night 

before our God. 

And they have conquered him 

by the blood of the Lamb 

and by the word of their testimony, 

for they loved not their lives even unto death". - Rev 12:10-11