PUT ON CHRIST

I SUNDAY OF ADVENT - Matthew 24:37-44

We begin Advent looking forward to the Day of the Son of Man, which is seen by many as a day of doom and by those who believe as a day of salvation. One thing is made clear by Jesus: “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect”. And many people will be caught by surprise and may be found wanting. Jesus compared that situation to what happened during the days of Noah when the flood came and all were swept away, because “they suspected nothing”! This unawareness prevented them from taking measures to reduce the impact of the disaster. The signs of an impending crisis were there, but people were preoccupied with enjoying life, going their own way and doing everything possible to find pleasure, so they could not read the signs. This applies to our own generation. We enjoy life, but we are never satisfied and our urges continue to press us to look for greater satisfaction, without paying attention to the signs of danger that are emerging. We too are in danger of being caught off guard. And Jesus warns us: "So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming”. 

Advent requires an attitude of vigilance and an effort of preparation. "Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Undoubtedly, the best way to prepare ourselves is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Through baptism, we were grafted into Christ to be one with him.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul calls out to all of us: "The time has come!" It is time to wake up, beach salvation is near, and so "let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime.” This implies a change in attitudes and habits. And Paul is brave enough to expose the most common behaviours among the Romans: no more “in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy.” (Ro 13:11-14).

And Paul presents the only way to conversion, the only way to be prepared for the Coming of the Lord: “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ”, so that in everything we may become like him.

IN HIM ALL THE FULNESS OF GOD WAS PLEASED TO DWELL

XXXIV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: Christ the King - Luke 23:35-43

Before Pilate, Jesus was accused of promoting rebellion and was sentenced to be crucified for the crime of treason and lese-majesty by claiming to be king of the Jews. The reason for his death sentence was fixed on the cross, in an inscription reading: "This is the King of the Jews.” The leaders of the people scorned him who claimed to be the Messiah (the Christ) and the soldiers mocked him and laughed about this false king who had for throne a cross. For them, Jesus was no more than a sham or a bad joke that ended in tragedy. However, it is on the cross that Jesus shows his true kingship. 

He was falsely accused of rebellion since Jesus never had any kind of pretence to be or to become the king of the Jews. In fact, when people wanted to proclaim him as king, he went into hiding. And he instructed his disciples to avoid imitating the kings of this world, who exploit and oppress the people. However, Jesus is King, but his kingship is of a completely different nature: he frees instead of oppressing, brings peace instead of making war and saves instead of condemning. One of the criminals became aware of the injustice done to Jesus and recognised in him the divine presence, affirming His kingship. Thus he entrusted himself to Jesus, asking: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” That is the same request we must make: Jesus, remember me and welcome me into your kingdom.

Jesus’ kingdom is a kingdom of peace, where love reigns supreme. As King, He is the Lord of life. By his blood shed on the cross, he reconciled all things to himself, establishing peace. In order to take part in this reconciliation, it is only necessary to allow ourselves to be touched by Jesus, welcoming the salvation that he offers us. And “in him all things hold together” (Col 1:17).

REMAIN FAITHFUL TO THE LORD

XXXIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 21:5-19

The Temple in Jerusalem was the centre of all religious life of the Jewish people. It embodied the presence of God in the middle of his people. The first temple, built by Solomon, was destroyed by the Babylonians when Nebuchadnezzar conquered the city and took most of the people as prisoners of war. Then, the Persians conquered Babylon, allowing the Jews to go back to their homeland and to rebuild the temple. Due to many hardships, this second temple did not match at all the glory and the wealth of the first one. That’s why Herod, in order to gain recognition, decided to build the temple anew; and people marvelled at the beauty and the greatness of this temple.

Even though Jesus loved the Temple, he was not blinded by the empty glory of stones. The temple could not be taken as a substitute for God. And like Jeremiah before, Jesus announced the destruction of the temple: “time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed”. 

The theme of the destruction of the Temple is mixed up with the themes of the end of times, the day of the Lord and the second coming of Christ. Astonished with Jesus’ words, people asked: “Master, when will this happen?” That question has been repeated endless times and it seems that fearing the uncertainty, many have tried to set a date for that final event. When will it happen? And what are the signs?

As for the end of the world, even science affirms that someday, sometime, the world will come to an end. So, it will happen. How will it be? And Jesus answered: “Take care not to be deceived”. As for those who say that “the time is near at hand, refuse to join them”. All that interest about the end of the world is misplaced and distracts us from what is really important. Some live in fear, being prevented from a commitment to life. They may despair and abandon all attempts to walk along the right path. Others may do like the Thessalonians, who stopped working because the end was near. Paul told them off and ordered them to work hard so that they do not become a burden to the others.

The day of the Lord will a day of judgement because the inner value of each one will be revealed. The evil-doers are like stubble that catches fire and burns away. However, all those who put their trust in the Lord will see “the sun of righteousness” and be healed by its rays. For them, the day of the Lord will be a day of salvation and they will rejoice in the Lord while singing God’s victory.

Meanwhile, the true followers of Jesus Christ will suffer persecution. Indeed, in many places of this earth, there many Christians who are imprisoned, tortured and killed as criminals for the only reason that they believe in Jesus Christ. And Jesus concludes: “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.”

THE HOPE IN THE RESURRECTION

XXXII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14

As usual, the first reading is connected to the Gospel, which speaks about the resurrection. Taken from 2 Maccabees, we read the story of the seven brothers who suffered martyrdom with their mother at the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria. They found their courage in their faith in God and their hope in the resurrection. So we are called to reflect on martyrdom and the resurrection. For the Christians, martyrs are those who pay with their lives for their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Throughout the centuries, thousands have shed their blood because they refuse to turn their backs on Christ and they prefer to obey God instead of obeying the powers of this world. Stephen was the first martyr and since then there has been a multitude of believers who shared the fate of Jesus Christ. We may think that this is something of the past, but the truth of the matter is that in our days there are more martyrs than in the past. There are many countries, where the Christians have to go underground, living in the continuous risk of being arrested, tortured and killed. There are many countries where it is a crime to be a Christian. There are countries where all Christian symbols are forbidden. The Christians who live in peace and enjoy freedom cannot forget their brothers and sisters who suffer great hardships because of their faith. The Christian martyrs are people who do not use violence but suffer violence for their steadfast loyalty to Jesus Christ.

On All Souls day, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the Catacombs and remembered all those who died or are still suffering for their faith:

“The celebration of the feast of all the dead in a catacomb - for me it is the first time in my life that I enter a catacomb, it is a surprise - tells us so many things. We can think of the lives of those people, who had to hide, who had this culture of burying the dead and celebrating the Eucharist here… It is a moment of bad history, which has not been overcome: even today there are some. There are many of them. Many catacombs in other countries, where they even have to pretend to have a feast or a birthday to celebrate the Eucharist, because in that place it is forbidden to do that. Even today there are persecuted Christians, more so than in the first centuries. This - the catacombs, the persecution, the Christians - and these Readings make me think in three words: identity, place and hope.

The identity of these people who gathered here to celebrate the Eucharist and to praise the Lord is the same as that of our brothers and sisters today in many, many countries where being a Christian is a crime, it is forbidden, they have no right. The same. This is the identity that we hear: it is the beatitudes. The Christian's identity is this: the Beatitudes. There is no other. If you do this, if you live like this, you are a Christian. "No, but look, I belong to this association, to this other... I am from this movement...". Yes, yes, yes, yes, all these things are good, but they are fantasies before this reality. Your identity document is this [he indicates the Gospel], and if you don't have it, movements or other groups are useless. Either you live like this, or you are not a Christian. Simply put! The Lord said this. "Yes, but it's not easy, I don't know how to live like this...". There is another passage of the Gospel that helps us to better understand this, and that passage of the Gospel will also be the "great protocol" according to which we will be judged. It is Matthew 25. With these two passages from the Gospel, the Beatitudes and the great protocol, we will show, by living this, our identity as Christians. Without this, there is no identity. There is the fiction of being Christian, but not identity.

This is the identity of the Christian. The second word: the place. Those who came here to hide, to be safe, even to bury the dead; and those who today celebrate the Eucharist secretly, in countries where it is forbidden.... I think of that nun in Albania who was in a re-education camp at the time of communism, and the priests were forbidden to distribute the sacraments, and that nun baptised secretly. The people, the Christians, knew that this nun baptised and the mothers approached her with their children, but she didn't have a glass, something to put the water in. Then she did it with her shoe: she took the water out of the river and baptised with her shoe. The Christian's place is everywhere, we don't have a privileged place in life. Some want to have it, they are "qualified" Christians. But they run the risk of staying with the "qualified" and abandoning the "Christian". What is the place of Christians? "The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God" (Wis 3:1): the Christian's place is in the hands of God, wherever He wants it. The hands of God, which are wounded, which are the hands of his Son who wanted to take with him the wounds so that they could be seen by the Father and intercede for us. The Christian's place is in Jesus' intercession before the Father. In the hands of God. And there we have the certainty, what happens, even to the cross. Our identity [the Gospel indicates] says that we will be blessed if they persecute us if they say everything against us; but if we are in God's hands wounded with love, we are right. This is our home. And today we can ask ourselves: but where do I feel most secure? In God's hands or with other things, with other certainties that we "borrow" but which in the end will decay, that have no consistency? These Christians, with this identity card, who have lived and live in the hands of God, are men and women of hope. And this is the third word that comes to me today: hope. We heard it in the second reading: that final vision where everything is remade, where everything is recreated, that homeland where we will all go. And to enter there you don't need strange things, you don't need sophisticated attitudes: you just need to show your identity card: "All right, go ahead". Our hope is in heaven, our hope is anchored there and we, with the rope in our hands, lean on each other looking at that bank of the river that we have to cross.” (HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS, Priscilla Catacombs on Via Salaria, Saturday, November 2, 2019)

All the martyrs are moved by the certainty that dying with Jesus they will rise with Jesus to eternal life. Our God is not a God of the dead but the God of the living.

TODAY I MUST STAY IN YOUR HOUSE

XXXI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 19:1-10

Last week, we heard the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector - a parable dealing with two ways of approaching God: with pride or with humility. The Pharisee boasted about himself, as if he was the best in the world and as if God himself was obliged yo give him praise. In his pride, he despised everybody else and considered them as sinners. The tax collector acknowledged his sin and asked for forgiveness, well aware that on his own he cannot be saved. He relied completely on God and entrusted himself to his mercy. In this Sunday’s gospel, we have a very similar situation, presented in a real-life story: the encounter of Zacchaeus with Jesus. He was “a chief tax collector”, having thus a prestigious position in society. Befitting his rank, he was rich; however, living in a deeply religious society, he had everything against him. He knew that being hated and despised by all, the crowd would never let him come close to Jesus. Being “small in stature”, he felt deeply his smallness. His wealth might have given him influence and some respect, but that was not enough to disguise the fact that he had become a stranger in the eyes of the people. This emptiness spurred in him the desire to seek someone who would look at him with kindness and welcome him as a person. He became creative and turned the disadvantage into an advantage. His curiosity was so great that he climbed a tree to see Jesus. Jesus, being always attentive to the slightest hint of search, restlessness, and interest, noticed it and immediately act upon it, calling on Zacchaeus to come down and to welcome as a guest in his house. 

To each one of us. Jesus goes on saying, "Today I must stay in your house.” Are we going to welcome him with joy?