A BLESSING TO ALL FOR THE NEW YEAR

At the beginning of the New Year, let us call upon the Lord, that he may bless us.

In the book of Numbers 6:22-27, Moses is ordered to tell Aaron, the priest, to bless the people, using the following formula:

“May the Lord (Yahweh) bless you and keep you.

May the Lord (Yahweh) let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord (Yahweh) uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

That is the blessing that I call upon you all. May the Lord be gracious to us; may the light of his face illumine us, so that we walk no more in darkness; and may he grant us peace.

As we enter the New Year, we cannot allow the doubts, the uncertainties, the shortcomings and the sufferings prevalent in the past year cover us in a dark cloud of despair, which does not allow us to see any way out any more. The optimism of the previous years has been shattered to pieces. The conviction that we become always bigger and get always more has been challenged by the downturn of the rich economies, which in the end were found to be bankrupted. People got used to consume and to enjoy life and they think it to be their right, even when they keep up the consumption with borrowed money that they cannot pay.

As we start the New Year, let us be realistic. We must stop living beyond our means, and must learn to save instead of spending. We need to work for a society that is fairer to all and which all can find a life worth of living.

May God bless you all.

CHRISTMAS: THE SAVIOUR COMES TO US

THE SUN OF JUSTICE COMES TO END THE DARKNESS OF OPPRESSION

In the gospel of today’s morning mass, we read the hymn of Zechariah (Lk 1:67-79) pronounced at the birth of his son, John the Baptist. It is a song of praise to God, because he fulfilled the promises made to our ancestors by sending a saviour to rescue his suffering people.

At the end of the hymn, we find these words: “God from on high will bring the rising Sun to visit us, to give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

These words help us to understand why the birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated on 25^th December. We do not know in which day Jesus was born; and as for the year, we guess, because we know the date of Herod the Great’s death and Jesus was born while he was still alive. However, for past generations, the day and the year of one’s birth did not matter. Think of it… how many of the old people you know can tell you when they were born? In spite of that, the fact remains that they were born. And so it is with Jesus: the truth of the fact remains: he was born. And that is what we celebrate.

The fact that Jesus’ birth is celebrated on 25^th December is due to a well succeeded effort of inculturation. Throughout the Roman Empire, people celebrated the rising sun on 25^th December, which is the date of the winter solstice in the Julian calendar, used in the first centuries. The feast of the sun was a pagan feast, which persisted even after the majority of the population in the Empire had become Christians, putting in danger their faith in Jesus Christ. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus on the same date, because he is the true rising sun, the sun of justice, which dispels darkness and oppression, and brings peace, joy, life and salvation.  At Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Saviour, we proclaim that Jesus Christ is the light of the world.

Merry Christmas to all, full of Jesus’ blessings.

IV SUNDAY OF ADVENT: Luke 1:26-38

MARY, THE FAVOURED ONE

We cannot end the Advent season without talking about Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. To her, the angel applied the words of the prophet Zechariah: “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion” (Zech 2:10), when he greeted her saying: “Rejoice, so highly favoured” (Lk 1:28).

Mary is like the daughter of Zion, and she is going to see the fulfillment of God’s promises. She must rejoice, because God has remembered the suffering of his people and is going to send the liberator, the Messiah; and she must rejoice because God has highly favoured her, choosing her to be the mother of the Messiah. Later on, Elisabeth would recognize this favour bestowed on Mary and call her “Blessed among women” and the “mother of my Lord” (Lk 1:42-43).

We are preparing ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus and we will do it rejoicing together with Mary. She carried Jesus in her womb and welcomed him in her arms; she brought him up with love and care; in a similar way, we must be ready to welcome Jesus in our lives and to give him a place in our homes.

With Mary, we must learn to listen to God’s message and be ready to accept his will, even when we do not understand it very well. She gave her final answer to God’s messenger: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me.” (Lk 1:38). Every time we pray Our Father, we say: Your will be done.

Looking at Mary, we must realize that we cannot be true disciples of Jesus and we cannot find salvation without having the same attitude and making the same decision: I am the servant of Lord; let your will be done.

In Chililabombwe, for a wedding

Austin Chiluba and Cecilia Solo

Chililabombwe, in Zambia, is like my home. I worked there for many years, and there I have many friends, with whom I feel at home; they have become my family. As a priest, I had influence in the lives of many; however, that influence was reciprocal. They have taught me so much, and with their guidance and their love I have grown in wisdom and understanding. 

It was with great joy that I spent the weekend in Chililabombwe. Chiluba and Cecilia invited me to their wedding. Both of them were active members of youth groups; both enjoy singing and both were members of Yangeni Singers group. In their wedding ceremony, after the exchange of rings, they sang “Umbike pa cifuba cobe” (Set me as a seal upon thy heart), taken from the Song of Solomon 8:6-7).

In the years spent in Lubengele Parish, I always paid attention to the youth and I always made an effort to give guidance to the ones in a relationship, being aware that a good foundation for marriage starts in the early years, when love starts changing their lives. Young people need guidance and support, so that they enter in marriage with a love that is strengthened and cemented by their commitment to each other. And that guidance and support must be there during the early years of marriage as well.

To the Lord I ask that he may pour his blessings upon Chiluba and Cecilia and all the other young couples.

III SUNDAY OF ADVENT: John 1:6-8,19-28

John the Baptist, a witness

The gospel of John presents the Baptist as man who came as a witness. After John’s death and even after Jesus’ resurrection and the spreading of the Christian Church throughout the Roman Empire, there were people who thought of John of being much more than a prophet. Paul found some of his disciples in Ephesus (Eph 19:1). It is possible that some confusion arose between Christians and the disciples of John; that’s why John’s gospel states it very clearly: John the Baptist was just a man. He was not the light, but he came to speak for the Light. In fact, John refused to be the Messiah; instead, he presented himself as a voice crying out in the wilderness and calling on people to come to the Saviour and to accept him.

A witness only can be considered a witness, if he speaks the truth; and John was true to himself and to his mission. Questioned about his baptism, he did not make much of it, since he was baptizing just with water. In a way, that statement presents the difference of the Christian baptism, in which we are baptized with the Holy Spirit.

In baptism, we are born of the Spirit

In the Christian baptism, water is used as symbol and an instrument of the Holy Spirit. Some people think that the most important thing is the water, and that one has to go under water in order to be truly baptized. The Holy Spirit does the miracle of a new creation, which takes place in baptism. It is from him that we are born again as children of God.

THE GOSPELS ARE PROCLAMATIONS OF THE NEWS OF SALVATION

Reading the Gospel of Mark

The Gospel of Mark will be the main gospel book to be read during this liturgical year. It is the shortest gospel and it is counted as the first to be written, becoming one of the sources of the later gospels of Matthew and Luke.

The first verse is like the title of the book: “The beginning of the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (NRSV – New Revised Standard version), and it tells us what to expect of the book: it gives us news about Jesus Christ. And those are good news (gospel), because he is the Son of God, who came to live among us.

In a way, Mark sets up the standard and the scope of the books called gospels: they are proclamations about Jesus, and they intend to lead us to faith in Jesus, the Son of God. They are not biographies of Jesus, in which we expect to find a thorough report of what he did and said. In his gospel, John tells us that Jesus said and did much more that he reported. He wrote just enough for us to know Jesus, and to believe that he “is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:31).

The Gospels reflect the preaching, the catechesis and the life of the Christian Communities. Jesus is the centre of the Christian life, and the Gospels were written to lead us to Jesus, so that in him we find life and salvation.

II SUNDAY OF ADVENT: Mk 1:1-8

JOHN THE BAPTIST, A FREE AND FEARLESS MAN

By his message and his character, John the Baptist still stands out today as an extraordinary man. 

In a way, he was a strange man; one may even consider him to be crazy. Alone in the desert, surviving on a frugal diet of honey and locusts, and dressed in camel’s hair tied with a leather belt around his waist – what a frightful vision. However, appearances are deluding.  And he was looked upon as a holy man, with plenty of people coming to him for guidance.

By his life, John was a protest and a challenge to the society, which he lived in. He rejected its values and its way of life, and showed it in everything that he said and did. He looked upon it as a rotten society that was interested only in the pursuit of pleasure, wealth and power. So he decided to run away from it. In him, we can see an angry man who dealt with his anger by going into the desert, instead of taking a sword in order to clean society in a blood bath. He wanted a radical change, but he would not bring it about by shedding others’ blood. 

Surprisingly, his way of life was appealing to many people who started going to him, and for them he had a powerful and meaningful message: “Prepare the way of the Lord”.

John was a free and fearless man. Nothing was powerful enough to bring him into submission and keep his mouth shut. He lived by the truth, and he was ready to die for it. In his freedom, he would speak out and denounce the vices of the powerful, and he would call the common people to repentance and conversion.

Questioned about his own identity, he had a very simple answer: I am just a voice calling in the desert (Jn 1:23).

Looking at John, we should always remember that the word spoken in freedom and truth is powerful and effective and, sooner or later, it will bring change.