Solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord Sunday Cycle C

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

The King Who Cannot Be Deposed

The Gospel story today tells us of the visit of the Magi to the family of Jesus in Bethlehem. The word “magus” whose plural is “magi” in the old Persian language meant “magician”. It has been translated as “wise man”. The magi therefore were wise men from Persia or near Persia. Some scholars think that they were Persian priests of the Zoroastrian religion who believed in one God. Certainly they were not kings as most Christians think they were, as popularized by the song “We Three Kings of Orient Are”. In the Bible their names are not written. It is popular story telling which has appended to them their names.

These wise men, as our Gospel reading narrates, were looking for the newborn king of the Jews. Although they were Persians they had an idea that the king of the Jews was born somewhere in the land of Israel. And they came to worship him. They must have an idea that this king was divine, was God, because when they saw the child Jesus they prostrated themselves in worship and gave their gifts.

On the last Sunday of the liturgical year we celebrate the feast of Christ the king. If you notice the description of this feast the Christ here is the king of the universe, not the king of the Jews. We do not have a feast in our liturgical calendar for Jesus the King of the Jews, except a reference to this fact in the Passion Sunday when we celebrate Jesus’ entering Jerusalem as the King of the Jews.

Maybe it is time to pause and consider what this phrase means, “King of the Jews”. After all it is inscribed in many of our crucifixes, the INRI on top of the crucifix which is an abbreviation for Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum or Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews. This inscription was put there to tell the people that this was the crime for which a person was crucified. In other words for Pilate and the Jews they made it appear that Jesus was crucified because he claimed that he was the king of the Jews.

Jesus came to be the king of the Jews. The prophets foretold that a descendant of David would be born who would be king of the Jews. The Jewish people were expecting that a person would be born who, descended from David, would be their king.

And yet when Jesus did come the Jewish people in general did not recognize him as their king. It was foreigners from a far away land who recognized him as the King of the Jews.

The Jewish people rejected Jesus as their king. And until now they still do not acknowledge him as their king. The most positive judgment that they can give him is that he was a good man, not deserving of death.

But for us it is most important that we realize that Jesus is the King of the Jews, whether they know it or not. Why? Because Jesus is himself aware that he is the king of the Jews. He said that for this he was born. The magi were correct. He was and is indeed the king of the Jews.

The relevance of this for us is that Jesus is coming again to prove finally once and for all that he is indeed the king of the Jews. He in fact is the only king who cannot be deposed. His kingship is eternally secure.

Today we suffer the terrible effects of sin. We see hunger and gruelling poverty all around us. Terrorist attacks are being launched in many parts of the world. The condition of our environment is getting worse and worse. The waters are rising due to the melting ice. The air is suffocated with pollution. All these are the effects of the sin of human beings. Although Jesus has come and died and risen to redeem us, we still experience these effects of sin.

Those of us who care rightfully ask the question, When will all these evil things we suffer end? When shall we experience unending peace and complete prosperity? Politicians may be promising these things but we know from experience their promises will never be fulfilled.

All these evils will only cease when Jesus comes as king of the Jews and the Jewish nation will accept him as such. Paul writing to the Romans says this: “Brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery lest you be conceited; blindness has come upon part of Israel until the full number of Gentiles enter in, and then all Israel will be saved. As Scripture says: ‘Out of Zion will come the deliverer who shall remove all impiety from Jacob’” (11:25-26).

The Spirit of Jesus is working right now to win as many Gentiles or non-Jews to Jesus so that when all of them who need to be saved are in, then the Jews will acknowledge Jesus as their king and then all the effects of sin will be taken away from us.

Let us bow down our heads to pray.

Lord Jesus, you are our Lord and we acknowledge you as our king. We also acknowledge that you are the king of the Jews who have been expected by them. Hasten the day when they will so acknowledge you. Hasten that day because only then will our suffering completely stop and we shall fully enjoy the fruits of your redemption. Amen.

Feast of the Holy Family Sunday Cycle C

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

Wisdom That Get Wiser Everyday

We heard from our Gospel reading today that the twelve year old Jesus “progressed steadily in wisdom and age and grace before God and men”.

It is obvious that Jesus grew in age. Each year added a year to his age. At the time of his being found in the temple he was 12 years old, as Luke tells us. The next year he would be 13 years old. And so forth, until he reached 30 years old, the age when he started his public ministry, again as Luke tells us in the next chapter of his Gospel.

It is also obvious that Jesus grew in grace. The word “grace” used here means basically “favor” in the original Greek. In other words he grew in favor in the eyes of God and of human beings. His Father God was more and more pleased with him and more and more human beings, especially his human parents, appreciated his presence and work among them.

But it is not clear how Jesus could have progressed in wisdom because he was already the all wise God even before he was born a human being. Furthermore in the verse before our Gospel reading today we read “The child grew in size and strength, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (verse 40). If he was already full of wisdom how could he have progressed in that characteristic of his life?

This passage which tells us that Jesus progressed in wisdom gives us a very important truth that most of us miss because we put unequal emphasis to another aspect of Jesus’ personality, his divinity. We think too much of Jesus’ divinity that we may forget his complete humanity. And this verse we just read in the Gospel reading today emphasizes that Jesus was a completely normal human being.

The Letter to the Hebrews makes this very clear to us, he “was tempted in every way that we are, yet never sinned” (4:15). Paul wrote to the Philippians, “he (Jesus) emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men” (2:7). In other words Jesus behaved like any other ordinary human being would do. The only difference between him and other human beings was that he never committed a sin.

Because Jesus was a completely genuine human being he progressed in wisdom. He grew in wisdom.

Wisdom is different from knowledge. Knowledge pertains to knowing something. Wisdom pertains to knowing how to do things. We search for knowledge in the dictionary and in the encyclopedia. We look for wisdom in a recipe book. An encyclopedia tells us information about many things. A recipe book tells us how to cook a dish. An encyclopedia makes us knowledgeable about many things. A recipe book enables us to be wise in cooking a dish. After several trials we become expert in cooking a particular food. We have become wise in respect to the cooking of that food.

In this sense Jesus progressed in wisdom. He learned how to talk, how to walk, how to cook, how to play, how to study the Scriptures. He learned how to appreciate nature. He learned his trade which was carpentry. The creator of the world became a humble carpenter. He learned how to cut wood, how to form it to his desired object, how to join one piece of wood to another.

And because Jesus is still a human being even now he keeps on progressing in wisdom. He is already Lord of all by virtue of his death, resurrection and ascension but he has not ceased to be a human being. And because he is still a human beings he keeps on progressing in wisdom. He is the wisdom that keeps on growing wiser everyday.

What would Jesus even now learn how to do something? He is learning even now how best to manage our lives. He is our Lord and he has complete control over us but he does not want to violate our free will. As God he made us human beings with freedom. As man he wants to partner with us in bringing about the new creation he has always longed for. This he does first of all by praying for us. He intercedes for us night and day. This is very clear when we read the Letter to the Hebrews, particularly 7:25.

Another way Jesus is acting on our lives is through his Holy Spirit whom he sent to us to be our comforter. Paul the Apostle in his letter to the Romans says that Jesus poured his Spirit into our hearts. The Spirit of Jesus is in our lives to make us wise. He is also called the spirit of wisdom.

Jesus is able to make us wise in what we do because he himself progressed in wisdom. Through his Spirit he lives in us making us wise in all that we do. He does not come to our hearts to just sleep there. He comes to our hearts to energize our body, soul and spirit so that we can become like him.

This is true wisdom for us, how to be like Jesus. And Jesus is more than happy to lead us into the way whereby we become like him. The process may be painful at times, but it is most rewarding. John tells us, “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”, (1 John 3:2).

Let us bow down our heads as we pray.

Jesus, you progressed in wisdom. Even now as a glorified human you still continue to progress in wisdom. You want to know how to lead us nearer and nearer to your self without violating our freedom. Thank you for managing our lives through your Spirit. Thank you for making us wiser and wiser everyday through your Spirit. Amen.

Fourth Sunday of Advent Cycle C

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

The Joy of Every Heart

Léon Bloy was a French writer who lived in the 19^th century. He wrote, “Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.” He was also quoted by Pope Francis in his first homily as Pope. In that quotation he said, ‘He who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil.’

Leon Bloy tells us that the surest sign that God is present in our lives is that we possess joy, the joy of God himself. If we do not have this joy it means that God is not present in our lives or this presence is not acknowledged by us, not enjoyed by us.

In our Gospel reading today we read Elizabeth telling Mary the mother of Jesus, “The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby leapt in my womb for joy.”

The not-yet born John the Baptist leapt in the womb of his mother Elizabeth for joy. He was joyful because God had come to him and his family in bodily form in the womb of Mary.

Jesus put joy into the heart of John the Baptist even when both of them were still in the wombs of their mothers.

Jesus gives joy to us. He is the source of all our genuine joys. Here are the ways of how Jesus gives joy to us.

First, Jesus gives joy to us as an infant. William and Gloria Gaither once wrote a song entitled, Because He Lives. In that song they sing, “How sweet to hold a newborn baby, And feel the pride and joy he gives;”.

A newborn baby gives joy to its parents. Jesus gives joy to us as a newborn baby. Jesus is God and he came down to earth and was born from our humanity. He was from us. He is as it were our baby and in the spirit through our imagination we can hold him in our arms and feel the joy he gives to us as an infant. Parents have experienced this joy. Older brothers and sisters have experienced the joy of holding their infant brother or sister in their hand. Jesus, especially in this season of Christmas, allows us to feel the joy of holding him as an infant in our arms.

But Jesus gives us more joy than just from holding him as a baby. He gives us joy by redeeming us, saving us from sin. His name literally means, the God Yahweh saves us. He saves us from our sin, from our sins, from our sinfulness and from the effects of sin in our lives.

He saves us from our sin. John the Baptist would later point to Jesus saying, Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This sin is singular. This is the sin by which we all commit all sins. This is the sin of being disobedient to God.

No matter how much we try we will always be disobedient to God because disobedience is in our heart planted there by the first sin of our first parents. It is this disobedience that Jesus took away from us by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. He gives us his new life, a life of obedience to God.

This is what makes us joyful. We were once disobedient to God. Jesus comes to us and makes us obedient to God by giving us a completely new life. This life was given to us in baptism but many of us have not actualized this life. We have not made it actual and real in our life. This is because we fail to follow the instruction of how to make it actual and real in our life. That instruction is in the Word of God, the Bible.

Join me now as I recite the prayer hymn composed by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Let us bow down our heads to pray.

Jesus, the very thought of You

With sweetness fills the breast;

But sweeter far Your face to see,

And in Your presence rest.

No voice can sing, no heart can frame,

Nor can the memory find

A sweeter sound than Your blest Name,

O Savior of mankind!

O hope of every contrite heart,

O joy of all the meek,

To those who fall, how kind You are!

How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this

No tongue nor pen can show;

The love of Jesus, what it is,

None but His loved ones know.

Jesus, our only joy be You,

As You our prize will be;

Jesus be You our glory now,

And through eternity.

O Jesus, King most wonderful

You Conqueror renowned,

You sweetness most ineffable

In Whom all joys are found!

When once You visit the heart,

Then truth begins to shine,

Then earthly vanities depart,

Then kindles love divine.

O Jesus, light of all below,

You fount of living fire,

Surpassing all the joys we know,

And all we can desire.

Jesus, may all confess Your Name,

Your wondrous love adore,

And, seeking You, themselves inflame

To seek You more and more.

You, Jesus, may our voices bless,

You may we love alone,

And ever in our lives express

The image of Your own.

O Jesus, You the beauty are

Of angel worlds above;

Your Name is music to the heart,

Inflaming it with love.

Celestial sweetness unalloyed,

Who eat You hunger still;

Who drink of You still feel a void

Which only You can fill.

O most sweet Jesus, hear the sighs

Which unto You we send;

To You our inmost spirit cries;

To You our prayers ascend.

Abide with us, and let Your light

Shine, Lord, on every heart;

Dispel the darkness of our night;

And joy to all impart.

Third Sunday of Advent Cycle C

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

The Fire That Purifies Us

Fire has many uses. I have a list of 18 uses. The most common in this list is cooking. We use fire to cook our food. We use it also to give light, to produce heat or warmth, to purify metal, to join metals, to destroy things, to produce a signal, to propel a mechanism, to protect ourselves from wild animals, to preserve energy by trapping it as in a charcoal, to torture, to kill, to clear areas for construction or rehabilitation, to fertilize, to manage a landscape, to clear a filed for planting, to drive vehicles, to produce electrical power.

There may be other uses not in that list. They all tell us that fire is very useful.

There is another use not in that list which most of us are not aware of. Fire is also used to baptize.

When we use or hear the word "baptism" what comes immediately to our mind is water. Water is poured over somebody or someone is immersed in water. We usually do not associate baptism with fire. \

But the gospel reading today tells us of a baptism by fire. We heard John the Baptist announcing, "He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire" (Luke 3:16).  He was referring to Jesus.  He proclaimed that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, in contrast to his baptism by water.

Jesus baptizes by fire  He himself was baptized with fire when he cried out on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  Here he was referring to that unquenchable fire mentioned also by John the Baptist in our reading. Jesus entered into that fire, was immersed in that fire for us so that we may no longer need to be put there. Jesus redeemed us from that fire. And in order to redeem us from that fire he had to go into that fire. It is like a fireman going into a house blazing with fire in order to rescue its residents trapped there. This is the baptism he referred to when he said, "I have a baptism to receive. What anguish I feel till it is over" (Luke 12:50).

And Jesus is the he one, according to John the Baptist, who baptizes with fire.

The fire that Jesus uses to baptize us with is the agent that destroys the vestiges of sin in us. He said, "I have come to light a fire on the earth. How I wish the blaze were ignited" (Luke 12:49). Fire produces warmth. The two disciples going to Emmaus felt this warmth as they testified, "Were not our hearts burning inside us as he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32).

Who produced this warmth inside their hearts?  It was Jesus by the fire that accompanied his words as he explained the Scriptures to them.

Today Jesus still produces that fire which gives warmth to our hearts by his words.  He baptizes us with fire through his words, purifying us from the remains of sin in us.

During this last meal with his disciples before he died he told them, "You are clean already , thanks to the word I have spoken to you" (John 15:3). His words produces the fire that cleans us of the dirt of sin in us. As we listen to Jesus like his disciples going to Emmaus we feel a burning inside our hearts. This fire keeps us close to Jesus, providing us with the strength and perseverance not only to live a truly Christian life but also to be equipped with the proper attitudes to prepare for his first and second coming.

Do you have a sin in your life which you want to get rid of but you have not succeeded despite your trying and trying again? Do you have unseemly tendencies which continue to bother you? a quick temper? a tendency to use profane language? a proclivity to think about sexual enjoyment outside of marriage? An attraction to a person of your sex? These are vestiges of sin in your life waiting for purification by the baptism of fire from Jesus. Turn to him and be baptized by fire.

This purification, as St. John of the Cross taught, will be passive since you have tried your best but have failed. You simply give in to the purification of Jesus . He purifies you by his word. Listen to him. One word from him is enough to cure you of your vexatious malady. As we pray just before communion, "just say the word and I shall be healed." Let us bow down our heads to pray.

Jesus, you came to baptize us with fire. You produce fire in our hearts to warm them so that we be purified of the effects of sin in our lives. Thank you for this baptism of fire. Thank you for going through yourself the baptism of unquenchable fire so that we may escape the fires of hell.  Amen.

Second Sunday of Advent Cycle C

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

Someone Is Preparing You for Jesus’ Return

Life is a series of preparations. When we were in our mother’s womb we were prepared by our parents and by the cells multiplying in our body to be born. After we were born we were prepared to grow up. As we grew up we were prepared to go to school, have a job and found a family. In the last stages of our life we are being prepared to leave this planet earth. Life is indeed a series of preparations.

In the life of Jesus both as God and man he was also involved in preparation. He prepared the whole solar system and this planet earth in order to be inhabited by human beings and animals. He also prepared for this coming to earth as a man. He sent prophets, priests and kings to prepare for his coming. He prepared a virgin to conceive him inside her womb.

In the Gospel for today we read that “the word of God was spoken to John son of Zechariah in the desert” (NAB). As a result of this speaking of the word of God, John began the proximate preparation for the public manifestation of Jesus as a preacher.

It was as if Jesus said to John, Now is the time for you to preach that I am coming soon in public. This is true because Jesus is the word of God, as John the evangelist tells us in the first verse of his gospel.

It was Jesus who worked out that John the Baptist would prepare for his coming. As God he enabled Elizabeth, John’s mother, to conceive him even though Elizabeth was already very old. As word of God it was Jesus who prepared John to prepare for his public appearance.

Another John was commissioned by Jesus to prepare for his return to earth or his second coming. This John wrote, “I, John, your brother” (1:9) in the last book of the Bible. Here he wrote to prepare us for Jesus’ second coming. The word of God told him “It is I, Jesus, who have sent my angel to give you this testimony about the churches”. And the last words of Jesus in this book are “Yes, I am coming soon” (22:20).

It was Jesus who sent John the Baptist to prepare the world for his first coming. It was Jesus who sent another John to us to prepare us for his second coming.

Today he sends us persons to prepare us for his second coming. He sent the Holy Spirit to apply the fruits of his redemption in our lives, saving us, making us just before God, sanctifying us and glorifying us even while we are still on earth since even now we can taste Christ’s heavenly glory as “the first payment” of our reward, as Paul the Apostle says in his second letter to the Corinthians 1:22.

In Revelation 5:6 we read that Jesus sent the seven spirits of God to all parts of the world to prepare for his second coming. These spirits are with us in our churches, represented by the seven churches mentioned in the beginning of this book, preparing us for his return.

Then he sends us angels, his ministers who give his message. The book of Revelation is full of mention of these angels. He sends us shepherds of our souls, priests, preachers, catechists, teachers to prepare us for his second coming.

Jesus has inspired the ones who wrote our liturgy for today to have this Gospel according to Luke, chapter 3, verse 1 to 6, to be our reading in order to prepare us for his return. Again and again Jesus told us that he is coming soon.

Right now Jesus himself is preparing your heart and mine to enable you and me to be spotless and without any wrinkle when he arrives on earth for the second time. He is preparing you so that there will be “nothing profane” in you when you enter the new city of Jerusalem where there will be no sun or moon there because the glory of God shall give it light (Revelation 21:22-27).

Let us bow down our heads and pray.

Jesus, you are preparing us for your second coming which is very soon. By your Spirit you are working in our hearts to make us holy and spotless when you appear. Thank you for this salvation prophesied in the Gospel we read today. With Mama Mary we pray, Thy will be done in our lives.

First Sunday of Advent Cycle C

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

The Precision of Jesus’ Knowledge of the Future and our Present

When we lie down at night to sleep we are confident that the sun will shine on the morrow. We know this for a certainty. The knowledge of what will happen the next day is sure enough for most of us. At the beginning of the month we know that on the 15^th or end of that month we will receive our salary or wage, for those of us who are working for others. We also know this for a certainty. Some events may intervene which would invalidate this knowledge, like sickness or an accident. Whether for a day or for a month we know things in advance. The farther the time the more uncertain we are of the future. More or less we know that one year from now you and I will still be living. But this is not sure knowledge because we know that we can be dead by then from an accident or sickness, God forbid. And ten years from now we really do not know what will happen. The economy may crash again, the political situation will be in an upheaval, the environment may be devastated. Much more if it is a century or one hundred years from now. For sure we will no longer be here. So we really do not know what will happen then.

But with Jesus he knew precisely what would happen centuries from where he stood.

In his life he knew precisely what would happen days or weeks ahead of time. He knew, as recorded in Matthew 21:1-3, that as he was speaking a man would tie his colt and that his disciples would get that colt and bring it to him. As early as in Matthew 16 Jesus knew that he would suffer and he knew precisely how he would suffer. He did not just say that he would meet a violent death. In Matthew 20 he told us that it was the scribes and chief priests who would find fault with him, then he would be handed to the Romans, he would be made sport of, flogged and crucified. He knew the details.   

But Jesus’ precise knowledge of the future did not apply only to his personal life. He knew also what would happen years after his resurrection and ascension to heaven. In fact he knew what would happen centuries later.

The Gospel for today’s Sunday tells us the details of Jesus’ knowledge of the future. He told us, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.

People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man

coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

He used the future tense in the indicative mood. He did not say, Maybe this or that will happen because of this or that. He went straight to the future facts: the sun, moon and stars will behave abnormally, nations will be in dismay, the seas will roar with waves that are gigantic. Then he will come in a cloud with great power and glory.

But this knowledge of Jesus was not only about the big events in this world. He knew precisely what would happen to us. In fact because he now is Lord of this world he knows what is happening to each one of us. And he knows what will happen to us. That is why he counselled us in the Gospel reading “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.”

He knows that we will be anxious about our daily life and that this anxiety will take away attention from him. That is why he tells us in Matthew 6:26-34 to stop worrying about our today or our tomorrow.

He knows what is happening to each of us now. For those of you who have actualized the grace given you in baptism you know that Jesus lives in you. There inside you he knows what is happening to you. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 139, “Truly you have formed my inmost being, ... My soul also you knew full well, ... your eyes have seen my actions”.

For those of you who have not undergone the conversion which enables you to be fully conscious of being truly a child of God, Jesus is waiting that you surrender your life to him so that he can take over your affairs. Unless you do this, you will be trapped by the cares of this life. Now is the time to surrender to him, as the Little Flower St. Therese of the Child Jesus advices us. For her this is the new and shortcut road to perfection, love and unconditional surrender to Jesus as Lord of our personal life.

Jesus knows what is happening to us because he knew this centuries ago. He takes care of us, if we let him do it.

Let us bow down our heads and pray.

Jesus, you prophesied your second coming centuries ago. You knew then what would happen to us. You know what is happening to us now. Because you have resurrected and ascended to heaven and you have sent your Spirit to us we know that you are present among us and in each of us. Make us follow your advice not to worry about our daily life because you care for us. Amen.