20141213
PREPARING ONESELF AND OTHERS TO RECEIVE THE
LORD
Readings at Mass
|
First reading
|
|
Ecclesiasticus
48:1-4,9-12 ©
|
The prophet Elijah
arose like a fire,
his word
flaring like a torch.
It was he who brought
famine on the people,
and who
decimated them in his zeal.
By the word of the
Lord, he shut up the heavens,
he also,
three times, brought down fire.
How glorious you were
in your miracles, Elijah!
Has
anyone reason to boast as you have?
Taken up in the
whirlwind of fire,
in a
chariot with fiery horses;
designated in the
prophecies of doom
to allay
God’s wrath before the fury breaks,
to turn the hearts of
fathers towards their children,
and to
restore the tribes of Jacob,
Happy shall they be
who see you,
and those
who have fallen asleep in love.
|
Psalm
|
|
Psalm
79:2-3,15-16,18-19 ©
|
Lord of hosts,
bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel,
hear us,
shine
forth from your cherubim throne.
O Lord, rouse up your
might,
O Lord, come
to our help.
Lord of hosts,
bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
God of hosts, turn
again, we implore,
look down
from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and
protect it,
the vine
your right hand has planted.
Lord of hosts, bring
us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
May your hand be on
the man you have chosen,
the man
you have given your strength.
And we shall never
forsake you again;
give us
life that we may call upon your name.
Lord of hosts,
bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The day of the Lord
is near;
Look, he comes to
save us.
Alleluia!
|
Or
|
Lk3:4,6
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Prepare a way for the
Lord,
make his paths
straight,
and all mankind shall
see the salvation of God.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
|
Matthew 17:10-13
©
|
As
they came down from the mountain the disciples put this question to Jesus, ‘Why
do the scribes say then that Elijah has to come first?’ ‘True;’ he replied
‘Elijah is to come to see that everything is once more as it should be;
however, I tell you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him
but treated him as they pleased; and the Son of Man will suffer similarly at
their hands.’ The disciples understood then that he had been speaking of John
the Baptist.
PREPARING
ONESELF AND OTHERS TO RECEIVE THE LORD
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: SIRACH 48:1-4, 9-11; MATTHEW 17:10-13
The
resounding message in the first two weeks of advent is that the Lord is coming.
When He comes He will restore us to our dignity and give us all His blessings.
But are we ready to welcome Him? If we have no peace or joy or
meaning in life, the problem does not lie with God but with us. For this
reason, the Church throughout the liturgy invites us in different ways to make
ourselves available to His coming.
To help
us in this process, the liturgy gives us two of the greatest prophets,
one in the Old Testament and the other, a contemporary of Jesus, to teach us
the meaning of preparing ourselves to welcome the Lord, our Saviour.
In many ways, both prophets are similar in character, lifestyle and in
message. In lifestyle, Elijah lived in the wilderness and caves whereas
John lived in the desert. Elijah was taken care of by the birds whereas
John fed on locusts. In attire, they both dressed in camel hair with a leather
belt around their waist. In ministry, both were persecuted by powerful
ladies for their fidelity to the Lord. Queen Jezebel was after Elijah’s
life for he killed all her prophets. Herodias had John killed, for she
could not tolerate his criticism of her adulterous affair with Herod.
Both prophets were courageous in reprimanding the kings for their failure in
moral and religious lives. Elijah admonished King Ahab whereas John
rebuked Herod. Ironically, both kings were more receptive to the
prophets, but under the influence of their wives, they lacked courage to obey
the Word of God. For these reasons, John the Baptist was thought to be Elijah
who was to come again to prepare the people to receive the Messiah. Jesus
Himself in the gospel confirmed that Elijah had come in the person of John the
Baptist, but the people failed to recognize him.
From
their lives, what can we learn from Elijah and St John the Baptist with respect
to preparing the way for the Lord? Firstly, to prepare the way of the
Lord, we must begin with ourselves. If both of them were great
prophets, forerunners of the coming of the Messiah, it was because both of them
lived an ascetic life of prayer, mortification and watchfulness. Before they
preached repentance to others, they ensured that they themselves had received
the message of the Lord and acted on it. They lived a life of integrity,
in close communion with God in prayer. Their love for the Lord was
demonstrated by their commitment to the Chosen people of God whom the Lord
loves.
The first thing we must
do to welcome the Lord is therefore to put our moral and religious lives in
order. We lack
integration in the way we live our faith and life. Certainly if we have
listened to the Word of God and have been faithful to our prayer life,
especially our quiet time with the Lord, our conscience would have been pricked
so often. There are certain negative habits we have refused to give up,
or certain sins that cling to us so tenaciously. If we want to find the
peace and joy of the Lord, we must begin by making time to be with the Lord in
prayer and reflection. Only then can we become sensitive to our sins and
the lack of priority and focus in life. So like Elijah and John the
Baptist, let us enter the wilderness to hear the voice of the Lord, the voice
of peace.
But it is not sufficient
simply to welcome the Lord as individuals. We have a responsibility
like Elijah and John the Baptist to prepare others to receive the Lord as well.
Elijah sought to purify the hearts of his people from the contamination of the
pagan practices brought in by Jezebel. John the Baptist too, was
called to be the “prophet of God, the most High” to “go ahead of the Lord to
prepare His ways before Him, to make known to His people their salvation
through forgiveness of all their sins, the loving kindness of the heart of our
God who visits us like the dawn from on high.” (Lk 1:76-78)
We too, in our own ways
must help our loved ones and those whom we know to turn to the Lord and seek
His love and His grace.
We must encourage them to spend more time in silent prayer and quiet
expectation of the coming of Christ. We must resist joining the crowd in
merry making to the extent that we are spiritually unprepared for Christ.
Sure, we want to celebrate Christmas with parties, presents, etc. But
reducing Christmas to mere social celebrations would be to miss the person whom
we are celebrating. We need to get in touch with our deepest self,
especially when we are coming to the end of the year, and know the things that
we truly desire and the people whom we want to be reconciled with.
It would be a good
opportunity to reach out to the poor, the lonely, those who are discouraged,
misunderstood or have been hurt by their loved ones and need a listening ear.
For such people, they can only see the face of God through us when we offer
them a helping hand or some words of encouragement and hope. Like
the psalmist they too are saying, “Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your
face and we shall be saved. Once again, O Lord of hosts, look down from heaven,
and see. Take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted,
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.” Like John the Baptist, we are to
be a signpost to them so that they can encounter the Lord’s grace and
mercy. Do not allow this Advent to pass by without offering hope to
someone who has lost hope in God, in himself, or in others. Have you
given hope to anyone recently?
We can be prophets of hope
only if, like Elijah and John the Baptist, we receive the Spirit of God.
We know that both of them were filled with the Spirit of God, which enabled
them to witness courageously to the Lord. Yet John the Baptist also
encourages us to wait for the Messiah who will fill us with the fullness of His
Holy Spirit. As Christians, we have received this fullness of the
Holy Spirit. We must now pray to Him to renew our lives and the face of
the earth once again, so that the world will come to have faith and hope in God
as they see the face of Christ in us.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment