FIRST READING : Is 61:1-2. 10-11
Ø This chapter of Isaiah taken from the third part of the Book of Isaiah, also called Trito-Isaiah begins and ends mentioning the name of God: Adonai אֲדֹנָי Hebrew word that means Lord, my God.
Ø This chapter has three parts:
o Verses 1-3a the prophet announces his vocation
o Verses 3b-9 speak about the people and we may think that these words are pronounced by the Lord.
o Verses 10-11 declaration of the joy of the holy city.
Ø The readings of the third Sunday of Advent are taken from the first and third part of chapter 21.
o The prophets says that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him, because he has anointed him.
o To bring good tidings to the poor and to the brokenhearted.
o To proclaim the year of grace in terms of the Jubilee Year Lv 25:10-17.
o It is a year of liberation for some, and of vengeance for others.
o Vengeance in the Old Testament has a different meaning that it has for us today. For us vengeance has attached to it a meaning of hardness of heart and cruelty. However for Israel the vengeance of God or of a human being means the protection of the poor and the restoration of justice. Certainly for the person who has more than he or she needs this justice or vengeance of God is experienced as suffering, as punishment. It is the original justice of God the creator, creation is for all of us, if I accumulate more than I am supposed to, someone else will be deprived of the earthly goods and will be in need. God comes to restore the original justice of creation, his justice which is always love.
o Verses 10 and 11 are words said by the holy city that rejoices because God is present in her midst. The presence of God has made her beautiful, everything has flourished in her. God will not only embellish her from the outside, but he will make justice and praise germinate in her.
o Most probably the Prophet wants to encourage the inhabitants of Jerusalem to build what is destroyed, in the city. They suffer not only because of the material destruction of the city but because of the differences between those who have come from exile and those who remained in the country. Those who come back want to have again their possessions which they left when they were deported, those that remained want to keep them.
o Advent is the time to remember that we are already in the year of the Great Jubilee. Since the incarnation of the Son of God we are in the year of the Great Jubilee. The Great Jubilee, the great forgiveness, in Him justice and praise become a reality. And for us who have been united to his body by our baptism justice and praise can be a reality also.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: LK 1:46-48; 49-50; 53-54 MY SOUL REJOICES IN MY GOD
« For the responsorial psalm we will recite the Canticle of Mary called Magnificat, because of the first word in the Latin canticle “Magnificat” which means “ magnifies”.
« Mary belongs to the little remnant of Israel, the poor of Israel.
« She rejoices because God has looked at her lowliness and has done great things in her.
« She rejoices because the Almighty has taken vengeance: he defends the poor and restores justice by giving plenty of goods to those who suffer from hunger, and leaving without anything those who are satisfied. And this because his mercy endures from one generation to the next. The vengeance of God saves all, the little and the powerful. To the former he gives plenty to the latter he takes away and this helps them to seek the salvation of God our Father who loves us all.
SECOND READING 1 Thes 5:16-24
Paul invites the community of Thessalonica to rejoice always. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Pray incessantly, prayer is also fruit of the Spirit Giving thanks, thanksgiving is closely associated to prayer Paul exhorts them in regards to the gifts of prophecy. Jewish and Hellenistic parallels indicate that this passage refers to the charismatic activity of oneself and of others. Probably the Community of Thessalonica was also fascinated by the different charism like the community of Corinth. But Paul does not speak yet of charisms but of gifts of the Spirit. Paul invites them to do a discernment of spirits. What is new causes always friction in the communities especially with the traditional ways. Paul says that it is convenient to try everything, and to keep what is good. This is an invitation to discern. For us Catholics to discern is to judge everything in the light of the faith and the teachings of the Catholic Church. We cannot discern using the concepts given in other Christian groups or churches. This fragment ends wishing that the God of peace make them perfect, and Paul assures us that the one who has called us is faithful and thus He, himself will make us perfect. Our job or responsibility is to be open to his action in us. GOSPEL Jn 1:6-8; 19-28
ü The Church in her liturgy puts again before our eyes John the Baptist.
ü Verses 6 to 8 break the harmony of the prologue of the Gospel of John and introduces the person of John the Baptist.
ü We have here two Johns: John the Baptist and John the author of the Fourth Gospel.
ü John gives testimony. The testimony theme of John’s Gospel is introduced. The other portrays Jesus as if on trial thoughout his ministry. All testify to Jesus: John the Baptist, the Samaritan woman, Scripture, his works, the crowds, the Spirit and his disciples.
ü On verses 19 to 28 we read the testimony of John about himself:
o Jews in the Gospel of John are not simply Jewish people, in the fourth Gospel the Jews means the hostile authorities of Israel. They come and questioned John, they want to know who he is, and why does he act as he does.
o John says that he is not the Messiah. The Messiah anointed agent of God usually considered from Davidic descent.
o He is not Elijah returned to earth (Mal 3,23), he is not the prophet, probably a prophet like Moses.
o He is the voice of one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”
o He baptizes with water, but there is one greater than him, who comes after him, and whose sandal traps John is not worthy to untie.
o The baptism of John emphasizes purification and preparation for a better baptism.
Let us end our meditation with the words of a prayer of the Brazilian Bishop Hélder Camara (my translation from Spanish):
O God! Make me a rainbow of goodness, hope and peace.
A rainbow that will never announce deceitful goodness,
vain hopes and false peace.
A rainbow, your rainbow to announce that your love of Father ,
the death of your Son and the wonderful action of your Spirit,
O Lord, will never fail.
COME LORD JESUS! MARANATH!
The Catholic Study Bible. New American Bible.
Gianfranco Ravasi, Segun las Escrituras: doble comentario a las lecturas del domingo, San Pablo 2005.
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. 1988.
Autobiography of the Venerable Maria Antonia Paris.
Autobiography of Saint Anthony Mary Claret.
Autobiography of the Venerable Maria Antonia Paris.
Autobiography of Saint Anthony Mary Claret.
CLARETIAN CORNER
In a hurry everything was arranged as well as we could, and on Monday after Pentecost of 1853, our Prelate celebrated mass in the new small church, so small that it was capable only of the celebrant, the sacristan and three or four more persons. Its smallness and poverty gave me great devotion because they brought to my memory the holy and lucky cave of Bethlehem.
On June 7 of the same year the enclosure was erected. The Archbishop closes the door, and on the 15th day of the same month and year we started the classes. (María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters , Autobiography 188-189).
I preached a mission, exhorting all to penance, telling them that God had treated some of them as a mother treats a sleepy-headed child of a morning. She shakes his cot to awaken him and make him get up. If this fails, she has to nudge him bodily. This, I told them, was what God was doing with his children who were oversleeping in their sins. He had shaken their cots, beds, and houses. If they still weren't awake, He would strike their bodies with a plague of cholera, for God our Lord had given me to understand that this is what He would do. Some of my listeners resented this and grumbled about me, but in scarcely a month's time a frightful epidemic of cholera broke out. There were streets in which everyone died within two days.
Many who had not gone to confession during the mission did so because of the earthquakes and the plague. How true it is that some sinners are like walnut trees; the only way they will yield their fruit is by being beaten with sticks. Withal I could only bless the Lord and thank Him continuously for visiting this plague upon us in due season; for I saw quite clearly that this was an act of his adorable mercy. I know that many who confessed on their deathbed had not gone to confession during the mission and that others who had confessed and been converted at the mission had already fallen back into their former sins. God used that plague to take them to Himself, and this very day they are with Him in heaven. If it had not been for this plague, they would have fallen back again into their sins and, dying in them, would have been condemned. Blessed and praised be God, our good Father, the God of kindness and of all consolation! (St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 535-536 )
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