Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 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).

Like A Thief

Why did Jesus describe himself as a thief when he talked about his second coming? Why did he not compare himself to a thunder which suddenly strikes in the sky? He did compare himself to a lightning to describe the speed of his appearance. Why did he not compare himself to a sudden rain on a clear, sunny day? Why did he did not compare himself to a sudden earthquake or an accident which is totally unexpected? Why did he rather choose the image of a thief to describe his second coming?

In our Gospel reading we heard him say, "Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Here it is clear that Jesus compared his coming to that of a thief who comes at an hour we do not expect.

The reason why Jesus compared his coming to that of a thief for those who do not expect his coming is because he was and is like a thief for those who do not wait for him, for those who do not expect his coming.

A thief steals. He steals from those who are not aware of his presence. Jesus also steals from those who do not expect his coming. A thief steals valuables from us, our money or our appliances or anything that he can bring with him. Jesus steals the most valuable material possession we have: our time.

When Jesus comes to get us time stops for us. Our time has run out. We can no longer do what we want to do because there is no more time to do them. In the language of the classroom our time to study has ended. It is already examination time.  

There was a song written by James M. Black in 1893 entitled WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER. It begins "When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more". Indeed a time will come when time shall be no more. This song has a lively melody sung by our separated brethren and some charismatic groups.

We can also say that Jesus by his coming steals us from time. He snatches us from this world of time. He transfers us to a world without time, where there is no more sun or moon which provides us with our present measure of time.

So there are two senses by which we can say that Jesus acts like a thief. He steals time from us and he also steals us from time. In both cases we are no longer in this world of time but in the world without time.

When will Jesus come? He does not tell the hour and day of his coming. But he tells us to be always prepared for his second coming.

There are some who think that it will be a long time before Jesus returns. There are others who say that Jesus will come very soon. Some Bible scholars say that the early Christians were wrong in thinking that Jesus would come in their lifetime. The article “The Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Setting the Record Straight” (http://www.mgr.org/2ndcoming.html)  is a common example of the belief that the early Christians, especially Paul the Apostle, were wrong in thinking that Jesus would come back during their lifetime.  The logic is quite simple. They expected Jesus to come back during their lifetime. Jesus did not come. Therefore they had a wrong expectation.

The truth is that from the perspective of Jesus their attitude of expecting his return during their lifetime is the only proper Christian expectation of his return. Christians of all eras, whether in the first century or in the latest century, if they are to be faithful to the mind of Jesus have to expect his coming in their own lifetime. In fact we need to expect Jesus’ return always, every day, every minute of the day. That is what he meant when he said that we need to be watchful all the time.

Not only do we need to be always watchful for his second coming. We need to welcome him all the time. Peter even goes to say that we need to hasten his return (2 Peter 3:12) by doing what he told us to do during his physical absence, that is, announcing the good news of the kingdom to all we meet.

We are reminded of this future reality during the Mass. After the consecration we say, Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

For those of us who watch always, who welcome and hasten Jesus' second coming he is not a thief. He is our lover, our bridegroom, the one whom we desire all our life. Surely he will lead us straight into the heavenly courts without passing the pains in purgatory. This is plenary indulgence at its best.

Let us pray the prayer of the early Christians as they waited for Jesus' second coming. Let us bow our heads in prayer.

Mara natha. Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

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.