THE END IS THE BEGINNING - By: Fr. Joel Jason

Today is the last day prior to a new liturgical year. Tomorrow is the start of the Church’s calendar, the 1st Sunday of Advent. It is the New Year’s eve in the Church calendar.

The readings of the past weeks and days have had an apocalyptic flavor. They warn of the End Times. They speak of readiness for the coming of the end.

This might be puzzling especially when we know that with the Advent season, we prepare for the beginning, the coming birth of the Messiah. The reason is this — the beginning is useless without keeping the end in mind. Our excitement and anticipation to accept Christ’s birth will mean nothing unless we are ready to accept Him as Just Judge of the End Times.

Let us remember that we celebrate Christmas not only because we will be having a cute baby to adore and cuddle. This is the role of the Advent season. Advent will prepare our hearts to realize that the “cute” baby in the manger of Jerusalem will soon become an adult that will bring “fire on the earth.” Unless we prepare ourselves to be disturbed from our complacency in sin and mediocrity, Christmas will be nothing but a sentimental and emotional holiday. 

REFLECTION QUESTION:  

As Advent approaches, where do your thoughts and desires focus on?

GOSPEL READING TODAY

Luke 21:34-36

 

34 Jesus said to his disciples: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise 35 like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. 36 Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

 

Reflection

Today is the eve of Advent. The spirit of Christmas is upon us once again, and the revelry in the air is all the more telling of an economy in the upswing, with lavish spending evident in all the malls and jam-packed restaurants all over the land. Surely it is during this season of “carousing and drunkenness” when we must pause and reflect on the message of our Lord in today’s Gospel. It is also the time to be vigilant. Isn’t it strange that on the eve of Christianity’s greatest celebration, such foreboding message should come from the Celebrant Himself? As He warned in another Gospel passage: “… in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.” (Mt.24:38-39) That is how it will be in His Second Coming. So, to be “vigilant at all times . . . and have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent. . .” 

 

Father God, on this eve of Advent, please let Your Holy Spirit keep us vigilant and prayerful, well prepared for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, for it is during times of celebration that we become complacent and vulnerable to the temptation of the evil one. Help us, Father, to be ready for His coming. Amen.

WITH THE LORD, FEAR TURNS TO PEACE - By: Fr. Benny Tuazon

 

As a new priest sitting inside the reconciliation room, listening and pasturing a penitent can be intimidating yet satisfying. Seeing them leave, healed and pardoned brings happiness and relief. But each penitent is different. It is hard to know their situation beforehand. What to say and how to say the appropriate things involve great difficulty. The idea that a soul is at stake makes me shiver. But knowing that it is not me who forgives makes me confident. I know that God is there and He leads and guides me to let the penitent experience His loving forgiveness. Always, I feel God’s wisdom flowing through me to the penitent. And many times, I am surprised at the things I have said and done that fulfill the penitent.

 

Jesus tells the Christian not to prepare or worry about what to say. He asks for our complete and absolute dependence on Him. He will give us the wisdom that nobody could resist or refute. Through all those challenges and trials, God will always be present.

 

Being a Christian is about recognizing and serving our Master. Our baptism and ordination do not free us from Him, but rather enslave us to Him. God is enough. Asked which is the first commandment, Jesus responded by saying that we must love God with all our strength, all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul. There should be nothing in us that does not worship God. As the song goes, “All that I am, all that I do, all that I ever have, I offer them to you!”

 

Faced with suffering and death, we can be at peace if we know that God is with us and will never leave us. He is Emmanuel, remember? This we must be able to appreciate and live. The daily awareness and experience of the Lord will help us very much to know Him more, love him more, and serve Him more. And when we do, it would be easy to say what He wants us to say and do what He wants us to do. 

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you believe that God is in the midst of your fears?

 

Father, there are many people and things that I am afraid of. Let Your light shine through the darkness of my fears and give me courage to face them.

GOSPEL READING TODAY - November 28, 2012

Luke 21: 12 - 19
12	But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.
13	This will be a time for you to bear testimony.
14	Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer;
15	for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.
16	You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death;
17	you will be hated by all for my name's sake.
18	But not a hair of your head will perish.
19	By your endurance you will gain your lives.

WHERE IS YOUR LIFE FOCUSED On? By: Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

In life, we usually concentrate our commitments and resources to that which we are focused on. In today’s Gospel (Matthew 6:19-23), Jesus reminds us to be wary of storing up our treasures and wealth in the form of the pleasures of this world as they are all passing away. None of the things of this world will accompany us beyond our grave. Of course, if you do not believe in eternal life, then what I am saying here is irrelevant to you.

The Gospel often reminds us to be wary of the promises of this world as even if they are true, they are true only for as long as we are alive. What happens to us when we die? This is a serious question and one that should cause us to think carefully about our faith, eternity and so on. Jesus exercised a heroic detachment to the things of this world, as did the saints in their attempts to imitate their Lord and Master. What about us? What are we doing in this regard?

It saddens me to see people who are so focused on earthly matters that they have no time for the heavenly ones. Heaven is not just a concept applicable to us when we die. Heaven begins now with the acceptance of the gift of salvation. It is possible to begin living the life of beatitude and goodness now, and this will make heaven an ever more enjoyable reality for us when we die.

We should ask ourselves where our lives are heading once in a while to ensure that we are not straying from the path that leads to heaven. This path follows a different course for each of us, but we can travel together to support one another. Let us commit to being a companion to whoever asks us to help them on their way to eternal life.