Greetings of peace and love to all! As we enter deeper into our time of preparation for Christmas, it is really important that our focus becomes intent on peace and love.

After all, that is the gift God has granted to us in the birth of Jesus. Our scripture readings from today’s Mass should encourage us to live a life of faith.

Happy New Year! Welcome to the Church’s New Year as we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent for year B in
the liturgical cycle. The prominent gospel readings in this cycle are taken from Mark, but due to his being the shortest gospel, we
will have readings from other evangelists as well to complete the year.

Two thousand years ago, a horribly-abused young man died slowly and painfully on a cross. Above his head hung the sign listing off his crimes, it read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”

He had been executed by one of the most powerful empires that the world has ever known, and yet from the emperor down to his lowly delegate in Jerusalem, there was a fear.

There is the joke about the parish priest who was in his office. The assistant priest came in and said to him, “There is a man here who claims he is Jesus Christ. What should I do?” And the parish priest replied, “Look busy.”

Sadly, some people live as if this joke was actually the truth. They put off thinking about their duties as Christians, hoping that they will have a little time before Jesus Christ does come.

Gradually the rhythm of our year is coming to an end. People are at ease with many different cycles of the year. We can think of the agricultural or lunar new year, beginning with its traditional Spring Festival.
We think of our calendar year, beginning its solar cycle on January 1; our taxation year, ending on a certain date; and even our academic year.
For us as Catholics, an important dimension is our liturgical year, which ends soon. Our new year will start with the First Sunday of Advent, which this year is on November 27.
Our liturgical year gives us a special perspective.

 Mission Sunday  Exodus 22:20-26;  Thessalonians 1:5c-10; Matthew 22:34-40

T

oday, the word mission is used in so many ways that to a certain extent it may have lost its meaning or at least taken on so many meanings that it no longer describes or defines anything clearly.

An autobiography published by singer and songwrite, Dion Dimucci, under the title The Wanderer Talks, reveals a very different person from the young man who brought out hit songs like Runaround Sue and The Wanderer back in 1959 and 1961.

Jesus was a great story-teller. He often used stories to make his point. “Once upon a time, there was a king…” The story in the liturgy for today helps us to understand God’s plan for us.

The story-image for God’s plan is a wonderful one, the image of a great banquet. The banquet is so big, so generous, that there is room for everyone.

The vineyard of the Lord plays host to the House of Israel in the first reading in today’s liturgy. However, the Lord laments that when he came to the vineyard to look for and find justice, all he discovered was bloodshed, leaving the Lord shouting for justice.

The prophet, Isaiah, describes the successive generations of Israel as called to be the repairers of what is breached, or people cooperating with God to fix what is wrong in the world.

Twenty-sixth Sunday of the Year

Ezekiel 18:25-28;
Philippians 2:1-11; 
Matthew 21:28-32

Recently, a young man challenged me; was I really a Catholic? Or was I just someone wearing a Catholic disguise, but not fully committed to the Catholic faith?