Advent 3 Year B

Third Sunday of Advent (Year B)

Is. 61:1-2,10-11; 1Thess 5:16-24; Jn 1:6-8,19-28

The story is told about a young man coming out from the Mass in a Church one day. The priest pulled him aside and said: “My child, you need to join the army of the Lord!” the young man answered. “I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Father.”

“How come I don’t see you except at Christmas and at Easter?” the priest asked. “I’m in the Secret Service, Father,” he whispered in reply.

Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord: His coming to us sacramentally at Christmas, His coming to us individually at the end of our lives and His coming to us collectively at the end of time. That is why in the First Sunday of Advent, we talked about preparation by being watchful because we do not know when Christ will come again. In other words, the key word was the word W-A-T-C-H. Let us watch our Words, Actions, Thoughts, Character and Heart. In the Second Sunday, we also talked about how to prepare and be watchful and that is preparing the way of the Lord by way of repentance. And today’s Third Sunday of Advent let us talk about Christ’s Coming.

Now suppose we are told that the Christ whom we are waiting to come is already here in our midst as one of us because Saint John says in today’s gospel: “…..but among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me, I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandal,” (vv. 26-27), what is the difference will that make to us?

Here is the story of the enormous difference that the awareness of the presence of Christ among us could make in our lives as individuals and as communities.

A certain monastery discovered that it was going through a crisis. Some of the monks left, no new candidates joined them, and people were no longer coming for prayer and consultation as they used to. The few monks that remained were becoming old and depressed and bitter in their relationship with one another. The abbot heard about a holy man, a hermit living alone in the woods and decided to consult him. He told the hermit how the monastery had dwindled and diminished and now looks like a skeleton of what it used to be. Only seven old monks remained. The hermit told the abbot that he has a secret for him. One of the monks now living in his monastery is actually the Messiah but he is living in such a way that no one could recognize him.

With this revelation the abbot goes back to his monastery, summons a community meeting and recounts what the holy hermit told him that one of them is the Messiah. The aging monks look at each other in unbelief, trying to discern who among them could be the Christ. Could it be Brother Mark who prays all the time? But he has this holier-than-thou attitude towards others. Could it be Brother Joseph who is always ready to help? But he is always eating and drinking and cannot fast. The abbot reminded them that the Messiah has adopted some bad habits as a way of camouflaging his real identity this only made them more confused and they could not make a headway figuring out who was the Christ among them. At the end of the meeting what each one of the monks knew for sure was that any of the monks, excepting himself, could be the Christ.

From that day, however, the monks began to treat one another with greater respect and humility, knowing that the person they are speaking to could be the very Christ. They began to show more love for one another, their common life became more brotherly and their common prayer more fervent. Slowly people began to take notice of the new spirit in the monastery and began coming back for retreats and spiritual directions. Word began to spread and, before they knew it, candidates began to show up and the monastery began to grow again in number as the monks grew in zeal and holiness. All this because a man of God drew their attention to the truth that Christ was living in their midst as one of them.

The reason why, nowadays, we could not recognize Jesus as our Lord and Messiah, it is because like the Jews in Jesus’ time, we have definite ideas on how the Messiah was going to come. For the Jews, Messiah would suddenly descend from heaven in his divine power and majesty and establish His destroying by destroying the enemies of Israel. No one would know where he came from, humanly speaking, because he came from God (John 7:27). So when finally Jesus came, born of a woman like every other person, they could not recognize Him. He was too ordinary and too unimpressive.

In our case, when we celebrate Christmas too it seems that we celebrate Christmas without Christ. What pervades more is the spirit of commercialism that robs away the real meaning of Christmas. It is like when we celebrate the feast of a saint. Many would say that fiesta is dry and boring because there is no disco, no cockfighting and no beauty and miss gay contests. What happen now when we celebrate Christmas is, instead of ringing the bell in the Church, what we hear is the merry ringing of cash at shopping centers. When we sing Christmas songs what we sing is: “Rudolf, the Red-nosed reindeer,” “I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus,” “Pasko na Sinta ko,” and many more. Instead of greeting “Merry Christmas,” to somebody, we greet, “Happy holidays.” Instead of saying, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” we say, “Forgive us our Christmases as we forgive those who Christmas against us.”

Instead of writing the whole word, ‘Christmas,’ we write ‘X-mas.’ But actually, for the English-speaking world, X is simply the twenty-fourth letter of the alphabet and for the Greeks, this stands for “Chi,” the first letter in the name “Christos,” the Messiah. Through the years it has been an acceptable abbreviation for Christ. To backtrack a moment, I am less than accurate when I say that “X” to us is only a letter of the alphabet. Any math student would happily correct me. In algebra, it represents an unknown: 2+3=X…3×3=X. But in Christianity X represents someone we do know.

As Christians, actually, we may recognize the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, in the Eucharist and other Sacraments, in Word and many more. We may also recognize Him in our fellow human being especially among the poor, the marginalized, those who have no voice in the society for whom Jesus said: “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you did this to me,” (Matt 25:40).

 

Advent 2 Year B

Second Sunday of Advent (Year B)

Is 40:1-5,9-11; 2Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8

A patient called up her doctor. Something is wrong with her; she needed emergency treatment in her house. “Can you have somebody fetch me because my car broke down today?” the doctor said. “My husband and my children are here,” the patient replied. ‘All of them can drive but I can’t allow them to get you because I’m afraid of their safety. Besides, my car is brand-new. It might be carnapped or be dented from an accident. Why don’t you just flag down a taxi so that you can come here?”

The doctor got a taxi and set out to his patient’s house. Immediately he checked her up. “You have a serious case of hypertension; your blood pressure is very high. Unless you do something drastic about your condition, you will die,” the doctor said. “Can you take this medicine regularly?” “I can’t,” was the patient’s reply. “I’m a busy person. I have many other things to do.”

Can you refrain from eating fatty foods and have a low-salt diet?” the doctor asked her again. “I can’t because they are my favorite. And how can I have appetite for food lacking in salt?”

“Can you at least do some exercises?” you really need to lessen your weight and improve your blood circulation,” the doctor said. “I can’t because I just want to relax, eat and sleep.”

“Then there is one thing I can do,” the doctor said. “What is that?” asked the patient. “I will contact funeral parlor and advise its agents that you will be dead any day from now. I might get a bigger commission this time! The doctor replied.

Just like this doctor who gave an advice to his patient on what to do, today’s gospel talks about Saint John the Baptist who proclaims baptism of repentance which leads to the forgiveness of sins. Saint John the Baptist has a message to tell to us about Jesus Christ. Who is John the Baptist? Why is he important to us especially in this season of Advent?

John the Baptist is a messenger. He is a messenger because he applies the Old Testament prophecies to Jesus. His life, however presents still a much greater message for it foreshadows the implications of loyalty to God’s work: simplicity of lifestyle and fearlessness in preparing the path for the coming of God’s kingdom. John is part of the good news through faithfulness to his mission.

We too can be messengers. Has it ever occurred in our minds that we are where we are now because God wanted us to be there or here? Maybe we go to another place because of financial reason s for our family but have we ever considered that we are where we are now because of God’s plan? Nothing happens by accident for those who love God. We are where we are now because God has a mission for us to do there.

John the Baptist is a man of prayer. He is a man of prayer and therefore, he is closed to God. He knew that if we want to change the world, we have to start with ourselves. He led a simple life.

In order to experience God who is with us, we need to go for a desert experience like Saint John the Baptist and that is to be alone with God and pray. But to pray one requires certain aids. First is simplicity. In an urban life, we are easily enchanted by what is pretty, plastic and superficial. In order to pray, we have to get rid of this excessive baggage because it blocks our way to Christ and to seeing things as they are. The second aid is silence. We need to be still, to be healed of our disturbed spirits. We need a place of quiet in order to calm our tingling nerves and hear God speaks. The third aid is solitude. We cannot allow ourselves to be driven all the time by an instinct to perform, to produce and to do many things. Sometimes we have to stand in solitude to discover who we are and who our God is.

John the Baptist is an authentic person. He lives what he preaches. By his lifestyle, his dressing and eating habits, he shows that the meaning of life is not to be found in the abundance of material possessions but in relationship with God. Simplicity of life and detachment from unnecessary cares and worries of social life frees the heart for a personal relationship with God. To go into the desert is the first step in true repentance. It means abandoning our usual hiding places and putting ourselves in a situation where God can easily reach us. He is authentic because there was nothing shady about him. He was genuine through and through. His lifestyle lent credibility to his preaching. He did not take up a collection; he did not enrich himself from his preaching.

Unlike this story of one of the international flights of Philippine Airlines (PAL) from America to the Pihlippines. One of the passengers asked the pilot, “Mr. Pilot where are we now?” “Oh, we are already in Alaska,” said the pilot while opening the window, ‘because I saw snow in my watch.”

After awhile, the passenger asked again, “Mr. Pilot, where are we now?” The pilot opened the window again and said: “We are in the Middle East because I saw oil in my wristwatch.”

For the third time the same passenger asked again, “Mr. Pilot, where are we now?” the pilot for the third time opened the window and said, “We are already in the Philippines.” “Why Mr. Pilot?” asked the passenger. “It is because my wristwatch is lost,” said the pilot.

Do you like the story I think you don’t’ but in reality, this is true. It is because there are some brothers and sisters of ours who are not doing the right thing. Like for example, we change names like: instead of adultery, we call it, ‘I have an affair with someone; instead of prostitute, we call it Guest Relation Officer (GRO); instead of A-Go-Go dancer or japayuke, we call it cultural dancer; instead of live-in and fornication, we call it trial marriage.

Like Saint John the Baptist, let us be authentic too. Is there something of Saint John the Baptist in us at all: a messenger, a man of prayer and an authentic person?