ISAIAH 9:1-6 | TITUS 2:11-14 | LUKE 2:1-148

The Pastor’s Reflections

“She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7

This one sentence from Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth speaks about Jesus, us, and the world we live in. There’s a word in that wonderful sentence that brings up an important question. The word is “because.” We tend to read the sentence as two distinct thoughts, “She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger” is one. The second is, “There was no room for them in the inn.” The way it’s written seems to say that “because” there was no room for them in the inn Mary wrapped the child in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. Is this sentence merely giving us three facts – swaddling clothes – manger no room in the inn? Or is it giving us three ideas that are meant to help us understand something about Jesus, ourselves and the world?

First, let’s look at the images, swaddling clothes and manger. The clothes that wrapped the child Jesus as an infant are a child-sized image of the cloths (shroud) that will wrap his body at his death. The second image, the manger, intimates that Jesus will be a source of nourishment and life. On the night before his death while at his last supper with his disciples, he broke bread with his disciples telling them, “This is my body which will be given up for you.” His redemptive death was forever to ne remembered and celebrated in the breaking of the bread.

Here’s the message of this one sentence in Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus. Jesus poured out his life and his love for anyone who would accept him and believe in him. Not everyone will invite him into their lives. For some, there will still be no room for him. But he will continue to search for the heart that will find and accept him. He continues to offer himself, the bread of life, in the Eucharist we share. He’s still present to us feeding us with his very person. And, we must never forget that he asked us to do the same. “Love one another as I have loved you.”

The Christmas story isn’t about the past; it’s about the present. It’s about us and the world we live in that’s so in need of redemption. The key to its redemption, “peace on earth to people of goodwill,” is to live a life based on love and self-giving, to accept Jesus as our model, to integrate him into our lives, to make room for him in the inn.

The sisters, priests and brothers of St. Jean Baptiste wish blessings and peace for you and your families, and a happy and healthy new year.

Fr. John A. Kamas, SSS Pastor

ISAIAH 6:1-2A, 10-11 | THESSALONIANS 5:16-24 | JOHN 1:6-8, 19-28

The Pastor’s Reflections

As I write, the war in Ukraine grinds on with massive death tolls on both sides. The Holy Land is once again on fire. The political atmosphere in our country is toxic. If we listen closely we even hear whispers of civil war. People are telling me that they can no longer watch the news, local nor international, because it’s so distressing. I understand their response, and I admit that I, too, have been limiting my daily news consumption. Reading today’s scriptures was like grabbing on to a life jacket.

Advent is our yearly dose of hope, and this third Sunday, in particular, ignites a beacon of hope. We so need this Sunday. We begin with Isaiah’s messianic prophecy. “The Lord has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.”

Every one of us is the poor whether we have a stable income or not. Each of us is poor when we feel stuck and don’t know which way to turn. We’re poor when we don’t know how to solve our personal problems, our children’s problems. We’re poor when we feel little or no hope for ourselves or for the world we live in.

Isaiah calls to us to raise our heads. To look at the sun. To feel God’s warmth on our

faces. To give our broken hearts to the divine healer. To grasp the freedom that’s offered us as children of God. The time has come. Look with hope to the one who can “make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.”

Paul piggybacks Isaiah’s message by encouraging us to reclaim the spirit of joy, to “rejoice always,” to “pray without ceasing,” “to give thanks.”

We need to hear the prophets’ message this Sunday. We need to fix our attention on hope and the possibility of joy. Let’s conclude this reflection with one final prophecy of hope.

“Jerusalem, take off the clothes you have worn in your mourning and distress, and put on the eternal splendor of God’s glory. Put around you the cloak of God’s righteousness. Place on your head the crown of the glory of the Eternal God.” Baruch 5:1-2

DO NOT LOSE HOPE!

Prayer “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked upon his lowly servant…he has remembered his promise of mercy.”

ISAIAH 40:1-5,9-11 | 1 PETER 3:8-14 | MARK 1:1-8

The evangelist, Mark, begins his gospel with a most marvelous sentence. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It’s so simple that we can overlook it and miss what it’s saying. So let’s spend some time di- gesting it’s content.

Let’s start with word the “gospel.” In Greek, the original language of the gospel, the word is “euangeleon.” It’s a combination of two words, “eu,” meaning good, and “angeleon,” meaning messenger. In ancient days when a King, for example, was victorious in a battle, messen- gers were sent throughout the realm carrying the good news of the victory. The meaning of gospel is, first and foremost, an announcement declaring good news. The angels in Luke’s story of the birth of Jesus, for example, were messengers declaring good news. “Today, in the city of David, a savior has been born for you who is Savior and Lord.” That news was so good that the angels were joined by a multi- tude of angels proclaiming, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.”

Mark introduces the messenger to us today by using the words of the prophet Isaiah. “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” In the next sentence, he identifies the messenger, John the Baptist. His message is startling and pow- erful. “One mightier than I will come after me… he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

This first sentence of Mark’s gospel is not only an announcement, it’s also a very short, but powerful, creed. “The beginning of the Gos- pel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus is a man like all of us, but Mark is telling us that he’s much more than that; he is the Christ, the Messiah that the prophets spoke of and prom- ised. But, he’s more than the Messiah. Jesus Lord. He’s the Son of God.

Mark’s marvelous first sentence has a power- ful message for us. Jesus is Messiah and Lord. He’s the Son of God. If we believe this, truly take it into our hearts and invite Jesus to be our Lord, how blessed we are. There isn’t anything greater. But…there is something we must recognize. This acceptance of the Lord in our lives is only the start, the beginning. We’ve heard the good news and have accepted it. Now we act, we become the messengers. We declare it to the next generation, to anyone who can hear. As John the Baptist told us today, we’ve been baptized in the water of re- pentance and new life. Now we, move with the power of the Holy Spirit. Today, we’re the begin- ning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. We’re the euangeleon.

ISAIAH 68:16B-17 | 19B, 64:2-7 1 CORINTHIANS 51:3-9 | MARK 13:33-37

“We are the clay and you the potter, we are all the work of your hands.”

Isaiah begins our Advent reflection. We hear him open his heart to God, confessing his sins and the sins of his people. “We are angry and we are sinful; all of us have become like polluted rags. We have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.” Along with his confession, he reaches out to God in a most intimate way. “You, Lord, are our father, our redeemer.” “We are the clay and you the potter, we are all the work of your hands.”

Isaiah’s prayer forms the foundation of our Advent hope. We begin by examin- ing our personal lives, and then, extend- ing our gaze to the world around us. Isaiah gives us two questions to ask of ourselves. First: have I alienated myself from the Father’s love. Second: have I contributed to the world’s alienation from God?

Isaiah’s confession is followed by a prayer that directs us to a renewed rela- tionship with God by offering our lives totally to God. “We are the clay, you are the potter: we are all the work of your hands.”

The founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, St. Peter Julian Eymard, spoke at length of this total giv- ing of oneself to God. He called it the gift of self. The insight sprang from the words of Jesus. In the garden of Geth- semane Jesus handed his will to his Fa- ther: “Not my will, but yours be done.” On the cross he released himself entirely to the Father: “Into your hands I com- mend my spirit.”

Advent time brings us back to the ba- sics of our Christian spirituality. We re- flect on our relationship with God, a rela- tionship of complete dependence. We see ourselves as clay in the hand of the di- vine potter. We ask God to determine who and what we are. The gift of self isn’t only the placing our lives in God’s hands, it’s also the pouring out of our lives for others.

This is what we hope for – a world liv- ing as Jesus lived, living for God and for one another. One this first Sunday of Ad- vent we renew our hope for a new me, and a new world. We hope for the coming of the kingdom of God.