2ND WEEK OF ADVENT
St. Lucy, virgin & martyr
Psalter: Week 2 / (Red)

Ps 145:1 & 9, 10-11, 12-13ab
The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.

1^st Reading: Is 41:13-20

For I, Yahweh, your God, take hold of your right hand and say to you: ”Fear not, I am your ­assistance.” Fear not, Jacob, poor worm, and you, people of Israel, so frail. I am your redeemer, says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, your helper. I will make you a thresher, new and with sharp double teeth: you will thresh hills and mountains, crushing them and ­reducing them to chaff. You will winnow them, the wind will carry them off and the storm will scatter them. But you will rejoice in Yahweh and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and the afflicted seek water, and find none. Their tongues are parched with thirst. But I, Yahweh, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

I will open up streams over the barren heights and let the rivers flow through all the valleys; I will turn the desert into lakes and brooks and the thirsty earth into a land of springs.

I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle and the olive; I will plant in the wasteland fir, cypress and pine — that all may see and know, consider and understand, that the hand of Yahweh has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Gospel: Mt 11:11-15

 I tell you this: no one greater than John the Baptist has arisen from among the sons of women; and yet, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven is something to be conquered; and violent men seize it.

Up to the time of John, there was only prophesy: all the prophets and the law. And if you believe me, John is indeed that Elijah, whose coming was predicted. Let anyone with ears listen!

Reflections

John has a unique role which sets him apart from all others: he is the one to announce the long-awaited arrival of the Messiah. John is the last in the line of the great prophets, men who spoke in God‘s name pointing the way for God‘s People. He forms a kind of bridge between the Old and the New. What does John the Baptist brings to us? It‘s his witness for Jesus and His teachings costing his life. Like the Prophets before him, John gave his life so that evil would not triumph over goodness and truth. John chose the way of God‘s justice and love over evil, immorality and violence. He gave his life for God. His fidelity to God was tested to the limit and he chose the most demanding way of God. Jesus hailed him as the greatest amongst the prophets. Somehow the gospel communicates to us that for us to become great in the eyes of Jesus, we have to emulate John. His humble witness for Jesus and his uncompromising stand against falsehood and lies are the way of the prophet. More than the crave for money, manipulative power or anything that the world offers us is the fullness of life in living our faith truthfully and steadfastly. God‘s love is greater than anything that we can attempt to replace with. Faith in God, like the one of John‘s, is the authentic way as he chose the true love for God over cheap and inauthentic ways of worshipping God.

Daily Reflection 2018

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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL

With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

 

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