Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. – Romans 15:4
THE LIVING WORD
The Word of God is alive. How else are we able to draw wisdom
to guide us in the same way that people from the time of Moses, Jesus
and the Apostles did? It amazes me that even though the problems and
circumstances that people faced in the past are different from what we
experience today, Scripture remains constant in teaching us that love —
the love of God and the love of neighbor — is the solution to our
concerns.
Even more amazing is that in spite of the chaos, desperation and
confusion our problems bring us, Scripture continues to convey to us a
message of hope — hope in Jesus who rose victorious over death and sin.
Our Blessed Mother Mary placed her hope in God’s Word to her during the
Annunciation. That is why she gave her fiat wholeheartedly and in joyous anticipation of the great things God will do through her simple yes.
Like Mary, let us put our hope in God’s Word and see the amazing things He will do in our lives. Dina Pecaña
1ST READING
The
gifts of the Spirit that we read here are those that we talk about when
explaining the work of the Spirit associated with the Sacrament of
Confirmation. While we receive the Holy Spirit at baptism, there is a
need for each person to own that fact for themselves, as they are
usually unaware of anything much at their baptism, since they were still
less than a year old. Faith is both a collective and personal reality.
When we reflect upon the gift of salvation, we need to realize that each
person has to make the decision to receive the gift of salvation, to
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 11:1-10
1 On that day a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. 2 The
spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him a spirit of wisdom and of
understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of
knowledge and of fear of the Lord, 3 and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, 4 but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. 5 Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. 6 Then
the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down
with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a
little child to guide them. 7 The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. 8 The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. 9 There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea. 10 On
that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the
Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.
P S A L M
Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
R: Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.
1 O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king’s son; 2 he shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment. (R) 7 Justice shall flower in his days, and profound peace, till the moon be no more. 8 May he rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. (R) 12 For he shall rescue the poor man when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him. 13 He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor; the lives of the poor he shall save. (R) 17 May
his name be blessed forever; as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed; all the nations
shall proclaim his happiness. (R)
2ND READING
Christ
is the true source of all hope. Christian hope is more than a holy
wish. It has something to do also with the sure knowledge that Christ
has redeemed us. This is a truth in which we place our hope, and our
whole Christian existence stems from this hope in a truth. That is,
Christian hope is all about the sure knowledge of salvation, something
that God will never take away from us.
Romans 15:4-9
4 Brothers
and sisters: Whatever was written previously was written for our
instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the
scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, 6 that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8 For I say that Christ became a minister of the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, 9 but
so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:
“Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing praises to
your name.”
GOSPEL
The
world needs more radical Christians. The choice to follow Christ and be
baptized originally involved the (fairly high) possibility that one
might become a martyr. This makes it a truly radical choice. Radical
comes from the word “radix,” meaning “root.” The axe being laid to the
roots of the trees means that we either take up the call to live a
Christian life in its entirety or not at all. There is no such thing as a
half-Christian life. We are either Christians “through and through” or
not.
Matthew 3:1-12
1 John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 It
was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: “A voice of
one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make
straight his paths.’” 4 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him 6 and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. 7 When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. 9 And do notpresume
to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you,
God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I
am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming
after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
REFLECTION
THE WINNOWING FORK
We
all like to talk and hear about how God is a loving God and that His
mercy reaches to the depths of the earth and to the heights of heaven.
This knowledge of His love and care for us brings us comfort and
strengthens us. However, if love is to be true love, there is always an
element of choice involved — the choice to give on the part of the giver
(in this case, God, so we can remove any doubts about whether or not He
really wants to love us), and on the part of the receiver, us. It is
here that Shakespeare, through his character Hamlet, would say, “Aye,
and there lies the rub!” That is, here is where the problem begins.
We all have to make choices in life for which we will be held
accountable. We cannot avoid this assessment if we want to believe that
we have free choice and, thus, we are not just a small part of a
“wind-up universe” that God has started and which will eventually run
down to nothing. In other words, for there to be truly free acts, there
has to be responsibility attached to them. This is what John the Baptist
refers to when he talks about the “winnowing fork” of the Holy Spirit.
A time of reckoning will come for us — when we will give an account of
our lives, the sum total of the choices we have made, to God. There is
little to fear if we live lives of goodness as best as we can. But there
is much to fear if we ignore the responsibility to do good and simply
live carefree and irresponsible lives. The lives of the saints remind us
of the costs that we are called to pay when we follow Christ. We will
not all become saints, but that simply begs the question, “Why not?”
Unfortunately, the simple answer is that most people are not committed
enough to excising sin from their lives in order to become saints. Thus,
we are reminded that at some time in the future such excision will have
to be done if we are to achieve our goal of eternal life in heaven. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL
"Lord, give me the grace to
immerse my heart and soul in the deep wisdom of the Scriptures that I
may live my life in accordance to Your will."
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