Advent FIRST SUNDAY 24

I SUNDAY ADVENT, 01 DECEMBER 2024 Focus: We step again into the holy season of Advent. Let us remind ourselves of the very purpose of advent, its significance and live and fulfill its purpose 1. It is once again the season of advent. What immediately comes to our mind is the holy Christmas. For many, advent is nothing more than some days that come before the birthday of the Lord 2. It is the duration for preparing the cribs, for installing the stars, for singing around the carols, for practicing the Christmas choir, for decorating and illuminating the churches, for planning some programs and organizing some get-togethers, for inviting or visiting the friends and relatives, for doing some special shopping for special festive dresses or articles, et cetera. 3. We do not undervalue the importance of all the above-listed. Our only concern is that the holy advent is reduced only to these items. Certainly, advent is a time of preparation preceding the holy Christmas. All these preparations form part of this preparation. 4. But it is a preparation much more than these. It is a preparation of a deeper and higher realm. It is a time of preparation of hearts, of the families, of lives both collectively and personally. It is a time of preparing to go to meet the Lord who is coming. 5. It is preparing a fitting birthplace for the one who will be born among us. It is preparing enough and clean space for him to enter. It is preparing the whole earth itself to receive the Lord who will encounter us. 6. In the first place, advent is a commemoration and celebration of a past bygone event. As such, it must serve as a special occasion to draw inspiration for our imitation. It must make us recall the event of incarnation of the loving God amidst our sinful condition. 7. It must inspire us to be deeply impressed by the selfless love of God that empties itself of the heavenly glory and embraces our human misery and struggle. It must make us imitate the same spirit of the incarnate Savior. It must make us live up to the very purpose of his birth, that is, to allow him to be with us and to transform us. 8. Thus, our preparation and celebration will be meaningful, only when they blend together all the three dimensions of time, that is, the past, present, and future 9. We remember gratefully and joyfully the past, so that we can meaningfully and committedly live the present, and thereby become worthy of the eternal presence of God. Our celebration will be very inadequate if it is limited only to recall the past, if it does not affect and change our present, and does not charge and orient us toward the future. 10. In this sense, advent is a threefold appropriate present preparation. Firstly, for the celebration of the past events; secondly, /irth of the Lord because he is with us; thirdly, orientation for the future joy of the eternal communion with God. 11. We celebrate his past birth, his present life within and amidst us, and our eternity with him. Our advent preparation must look behind, look and walk onward and forward, and look and rise upward. That is why, Jesus says, “when these (adverse) things happen, “raise your heads and look up because your redemption is near” 12..It is in this sense of future orientation the gospel speaks of the end times in the future. Future and end need not be exclusively in time sense, as something that lies in the far distance at the end of completion of all time and space. 13. It is not a fixed, definite time. Rather it is the appointed time. It is the time of judgment. Thereby, advent becomes really significant when it is not only backward-looking but forward-looking and marching.W 14. We commemorate and celebrate the past because it affects our present and leads us to the future. Advent should prepare us fittingly for a worthy immediate celebration, for a worthy ongoing living, and for a worthy eternal destiny. 15. Jesus cautions us against three factors that trouble this fitting preparation: dissipation, drunkenness, and cares of the world. All these three hinder our fitting preparation and making a productive blend of the past, present, and future. Dissipation makes us tied down to the regrets and negative impacts of the past. 16. Drunkenness creates an illusory world, dissociates us from the present reality and responsibility to it. It can be understood more as a pleasure and comfort-seeking life, and not just something to do with drinking alone. 17. Cares and preoccupations of the world do not allow us to rise higher, to the lofty future. All these three fail in the productive use of the past, commitment to the present, and orientation to the future. Direction: Advent is a sacred commemoration of the past, contribution to the present, and further construction for the future

34 th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B 24

34TH SUNDAY: CHRIST THE KING: 24 NOVEMBER 2024: DAN 17. 13-14; REV 1. 5-8; JOHN 18. 33-37 Focus: Christ is the king of the universe. But it is not in terms of power and subjugation. Rather it is in terms of love and animation 1. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King with great joy and honour. This Sunday marks the last Sunday of the ordinary liturgical year as we will step into the holy season of Advent next Sunday. 2. This placement at the end of the ordinary year can indicate something significant: our whole life with all its ordinariness culminates in the kingship of Christ. We find our end and fulfillment under the reign of Christ. Our entire life must be geared and oriented toward Christ the Lord. 3. The concepts of king, kingship, and kingdom are not strange to us. History has seen a great many kings and kingdoms, both benevolent and malevolent, both just and unjust, righteous and wicked, promotive and destructive. But when we say and celebrate Christ as King, there is an enormous difference. 4. One obvious and explicit difference is he is a king with no demarcated territory of the kingdom. There are no boundaries. There are no disparities or inequalities. It is a boundless, boundaryless kingdom. 5. It is a way of life. It is open to all and embraces all. There is equity and justice. There is no hierarchy of higher or lower, no scope for subjugation and suppression. There is no division and discrimination. There is no partiality or favoritism. 6. There is no aggression or violence. There is no death and destruction. There is no falsity and deception. There is no manipulation and corruption. There is no ruthless seeking power and popularity. Rightly, he is a king of hearts. He is the king of souls. He is the king of communities and families. He is a spiritual king. 7. Thus his kingdom is not a location or domain. It is a reign and ambience of love, justice, mercy, joy, and peace. It is a reign of truth and authenticity, loyalty and commitment. It is where one readily makes himself “the first to become the last and the servant”. 8. It is the divine reign where one “serves and not craves to be served”. It is where one loves selflessly even to the extent of “dying for the other”. It is where one seeks relentlessly the will of God. It is where one can affirm courageously, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let everything happen according to your holy word and will”.I 9. In sum, Christ is king when and where he reigns with his virtues and values. Where there is love and not hatred, peace and not violence, reconciliation and not retaliation, forgiveness and not grudge, altruism and not egoism, truth and not duplicity, humility and not arrogance, unity and parity and not division and discrimination, magnanimity and not malice, generosity and not jealousy, purity and not pollution – there and then is Christ the king, his kingship and kingdom. 10. Today, many followers of this unparalleled and unique king sadly “profane” and “secularize” their king because they themselves are such, stung by high profanity and mundanity. 11. They forget that they are citizens of a spiritual kingdom and not a temporal one. They forget that it is a spiritual reign and not a material domain or gain. They forget the very fact that they are only members and subjects and not the king or master themselves. They ignore the very pillars of this kingdom and build petty kingdoms with worldly pillars and ingredients. Direction: Time is ripe now to demolish all the false kingdoms based on money, manipulation, and deception, corrupt power and lording authority, discrimination, and aggression, malice, and destruction. Let our prayer be sincere: “Let your Kingdom come!”

33rd SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B 24

33RD SUNDAY, 17 NOVEMBER 2024: DAN 12. 1-3; HEB 10. 11-14, 18; MARK 13. 24-32 Focus: Our life is a short duration with a definitive orientation toward an eternal destination. Therefore, let us be aware of the end times and befittingly prepared to meet the end for a new beginning 1. The Word of God speaks of the end times. The first simple lesson is this: there is an end to our life. This life on earth as humans is only temporary and transient. There is one day when we need to leave this world. 2. If this is so, it must make us think seriously about why there is so much evil, greed, and selfishness in the world. If everyone has to disappear from this earth sooner or later, why do people go on endlessly accumulating money and other material things for generations as if they are going to be permanent on this earth? 3. Second consideration is: This end moment is not only the moment of death but also a time of reckoning and judgment. Death is not merely a cessation of life. It is a threshold to another phase of life that will be judged at that moment. Everyone will be judged according to the quality of their life on earth till death. 4. Everyone has to submit a strict account of their life. God is the Judge. And He judges whether one merits eternal salvation or deserves eternal damnation. That is why the first reading from the book of Daniel declares that “some (will be sent) to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 5. The third consideration is: One may not know the exact time or the mode of the end day. But what is sure is that there will be an end day and judgment and destiny. And there are enough and more signs that direct our attention on to our last day. These are the so-called end times in terms of natural calamities, social unrests, corrosion of human values and relationships, et cetera. 6. Fourth consideration is: These are not to frighten us but to caution us, awaken us, challenge, and change us. That is why Jesus compares this to the seasons of the fig tree. Just as the nature of the fig tree indicates the corresponding seasons, so also “when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near at the very gates”. 7. Fifth consideration is: This fact of the end times and end day shall make us more responsible to prepare ourselves to meet that destined day and the destiny thereafter in a fitting way. What does this imply? 8. This summons us to be “wise”. This concretely implies depth-awareness and follow-up. That is, to be aware of the fact of culpability, the vulnerability and unpredictability of earthly life, and the need to live a life of accountability. 9. Sixth consideration is: When one lives such a life of wisdom in awareness and uprightness of life, then there is no need to fear or be panicky. They can be serene and joyful for their reward is immeasurably great. 10. They “shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book”. “For by a single offering Christ Jesus has perfected for all time those who are sanctified”. “They will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out his angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heavens”. “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever”. Direction: It will be really foolishness to live an unaccountable and blameworthy life that deserves a just judgment, knowing fully well that our judgment and destiny depend on a wise and accountable life

32 SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B 24

32° SUNDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2024: 1 KINGS 17. 10-16; HEB 9. 24-28; MARK 12. 38-44: "Poor widow" Focus: Our God is a God of giving. It is a giving that is so generous beyond portions or proportions 1. "Generosity pays willingly and God repays generosity more generously". What does this mean? The first part, "Generosity pays willingly" means that those who are generous are ready to give away readily, promptly, and joyfully. They know that it costs them, it demands an amount of deprivation, giving up, sacrifice. But they readily pay the price. They bear the burden of others. 2. The second part, "God repays generosity more generously" is evidently clear in its meaning. Those who give generously can rejoice because their giving is not a waste. God takes it into account. He values and appreciates them much. And He rewards them much more abundantly than the extent of their giving. 3. This is what is seen in all three readings. They impress upon us how meritorious is giving. A generous giving merits an abundant reward. The poor widow in the first reading from 1 Kings 17. 10-16 gives to the prophet Elijah so generously the little portion of the meal that she preserves for her and her son. Practically it was the last meal for them because they had no more except to die. As a result, she was rewarded abundantly: the jar of the meal was not spent and the cruse of the oil did not fail. 4. Similarly, the poor widow in the gospel also gives two copper coins to the synagogue treasury. Apparently, it is very little. But it is very big in the sight of God because “she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living”. Accordingly, she merited the high praises of Jesus and thus his blessings as well. For sure, she would merit God’s salvation as well. 5. In the second reading too from the letter to Hebrews, we have another example of this same culture of giving. And here the example is none other than Jesus himself. Unlike the other high priests, he did not offer various offerings for the atonement of sins. Instead, he offered his own self; as the text says: he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to bear the sins of many and to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And the fruit of this selfless self-giving is the expiation of sins and salvation. 6. These examples of generous giving should not be mere matters of biblical knowledge or good exhortations. Primarily they should challenge us for an honest self-examination about our own spirit of giving. They should lay bare our frequent tendencies and instances of greed, dishonesty, manipulation, and accumulation. 7. They should seriously put to question our undue craving for and attachment to money and material possessions and very often even slavery to them as well. They should make us ashamed and repent about our lack of sensitivity, generosity, and sharing. They should inspire and induce us to be generous and joyful givers. 8. Let us recall the inspiring words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 9. 6-7: Verse 6: "The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." Therefore, don't give sparingly; give bountifully, generously. Verse 7: "Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." Therefore, don't give begrudgingly; give freely and cheerfully. Direction: Often what is lacking is not the quantity of resources, but the quality of sharing those resources. The problem is not the lack of having but the lack of giving