Saturday, November 23, 2013

November 24, 2013

Solemnity of Christ the King

First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-3
    In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: "Here we are, your bone and your flesh. In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back. And the LORD said to you, 'You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.'" When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron, King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD, and they anointed him king of Israel.
Second Reading: Colossians 1:12-20
   Brothers and sisters, let us give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light. He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

Gospel Reading: Luke 23:35-43
   The rulers sneered at him and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God." Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews." Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus
   "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself" (Luke 23:37). Israel was a theocratic community (society). ‘One God; one people’ was the beginning of their history as a society. God revealed through the prophets that he was not at all pleased to appoint kings over them. Because of the insistence of the people and because the neighbouring states had kings over their people; Israel was also allowed to have kings over them.
   Kings in Israel were to be ruling the nation as the God of Israel would do. One of the important duties of the kings was to care for the orphans; widows and the strangers. Kings was to give relationship to the people who had lost their relations. Because, this was the work of God. God was always gave relating to giving care and concern the people who had lost their relationship. Rightly so Jesus was the king of the Jews. As such this king was special; he was not saving himself instead he was saving others at the expense of his own life.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

November 17, 2013

33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14
   Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts. But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
   Brothers and sisters, you know how one must imitate us. For we did not act in a disorderly way among you, nor did we eat food received free from anyone. On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you. Not that we do not have the right. Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us. In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat. We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business ofothers. Such people we instruct and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and to eat their own food.

Gospel Reading: Luke 21:5-19
   While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here-- the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?" He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. "Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives."

Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus
   Temple was the most beautiful building one could imagine. It was decorated and adorned by the skill and love of hundreds of years. It was occupying the central place in the national life and religion. It would be unthinkable for a devout Jew to hear of the destruction of the temple because the temple signified a thousand years of God’s dealings with Israel.
   The disciples of Jesus are going to face problems because Jesus is not going to be with them. Some will pretend to be Jesus and there will be wars, revolutions and alarming events. The disciples will be undesirables. But Jesus’ promises of his presence in wisdom and speech are precious. By your perseverance you will secure our lives, O Lord!

Saturday, November 9, 2013

November 10, 2013

32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14
   It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law. One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: "What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors." At the point of death he said: "You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying." After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: "It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again." Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing. After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. When he was near death, he said, "It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life." 
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
   Brothers and sisters, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word. Finally, brothers, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you both are doing and will continue to do. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.

Gospel Reading: Luke 20:27-38
   Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, 'If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her." Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Reflection: Fr. James Theophilus
   The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive (Lk 20:37-38). There is a great deal of difference between the state of the children of men on earth and that of the children of God in heaven, a vast unlikeness between this world and that world; and we wrong ourselves, and wrong the truth of Christ, when we form our notions of that world of spirits by our present enjoyments in this world of sense.
   Who shall inherit that world and what shall be their state of life is not known to us. When man compares the next world with the present world and considers it to be similar to this then he falters. What it shall be cannot be expressed or conceived (1 Cor 2:9 - "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him"). There they do not marry. They cannot die anymore there. They are equal to angels. They are the children of God. They are the children of the resurrection.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

November 3, 2013

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading: Wisdom 11:22-12:2
  Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth. But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook the sins of men that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O LORD and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things! Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them, and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD! 
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
   Brothers and sisters, we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. We ask you, brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a "spirit," or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.

Gospel Reading: Luke 19:1-10
   At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner." But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

Reflection: Fr. Sahaya G Selvam
   Why did Zacchaeus want to see Jesus? It was perhaps a mere curiosity. But could this eagerness be an indication of something deeper – a thirst? The source of that thirst is God Himself. To fulfil that thirst Zacchaeus goes searching for Jesus. But Zacchaeus has two problems.  First, he was short. The first problem is part of his person - a personal weakness, perhaps. The second problem is “because of the crowd.” This difficulty rises from his environment. The same God who has put within us the desire to search for Him, also puts pointers on our way.
   Zacchaeus sees a way out of his situation.  He is able to unblock his challenges. He sees an alternative - a signpost: the sycamore tree! The God of surprises goes to Zacchaeus who is now on the tree: “Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I am to stay at your house today” (Lk 19:5). As for Zacchaeus, the meal becomes really an experience of salvation. He stands up to make a statement about his reaction to the encounter with Jesus. The encounter with God in the person of Jesus could mean simply experiencing the saving justice of God.