Meeting Christ in the Liturgy Library
Advent, Year B
Select liturgy here
First Sunday
Second Sunday
Third Sunday
Fourth Sunday
First Sunday
Isaiah 63, 16-17. 19; 64, 2-7; Psalm 80;
1 Cor 1, 3-9; Mark 13: 33-37
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"What I say to you, I say to all: Be on guard!"
The world from God's perspective must appear a veritable beehive of activity as
man goes about his perennial task of seeking "the good." Once man has what he
wants to possess, he guards it and cares for it. What is the one thing above all
others for which you and I make daily sacrifices and in pursuit of which we spend
great time and effort? Are we "on guard"? For what? Why?
The young man and woman, deviantly pursuing sexual pleasure outside of marital
commitment, "guard" their Godless lifestyle by putting their newborn child in a
plastic bag and throwing it into a garbage can. Women and men, married as well as
not, seeking the fantasy of sex without consequences "guard" themselves against
what they believe to be the "disease" of pregnancy. They turn to abortifacient
contraception, and to abortion in ever-increasing numbers when contraception
fails.
Doctors too selfish to truly care for the well-being of their patients "guard" their
free-time and profits by prescribing abortifacient contraceptives and dangerous
implants and shots, rather than taking the time to learn and teach God's beautiful,
natural, healthy, and effective means of spacing and delaying births through
natural family planning. Today pleasure is "guarded", at the expense of health
and life of the body, at the expense of the child conceived, by the marital act
sullied in a brief shameful encounter devoid of love or marital commitment. The
"cult of the body" leaves no effort undone in pursuit of physique, "guarding" the
passing splendor of the body while neglecting the higher good of mind and spirit
and the moral life.
Organizations worldwide seek to "guard" the environment or endangered species
from the effects of man's work and life, obsessed by ecological concerns in a
bizarre denial of the human holocausts in our midst. This while the most beautiful
and perfect "ecology" in all of creation, that of the mind, body, soul and spirit of
the human person, is attacked in the womb, in old age, if unfit, handicapped or
voiceless.
Misguided parents seek to "guard" economic security at the expense of their
children. The security and happiness of childhood is marred as babies are shifted
daily from one caretaker to another, denied the love and presence of their parents,
whom no person and no amount of money or financial security can replace.
Blind nationalists or revolutionaries seek to "guard" their national identity
through a genocidal bloodbath in East Timor, Bosnia, Rwanda, and other places
through "ethnic cleansing", dirtying their own hands through murderous wars
which cry out to heaven. These and other conflicts have raised up a near-countless
host of Catholic and Christian martyrs in this bloody "suffering century", as it is
described by Pope John Paul II.
The Catechism discusses the petition of the Our Father, "and lead us not into
temptation," in reference to the gospel according to St. Mark, chapter thirteen,
verses thirty-three to thirty-seven. The one who is truly on guard is the one who
struggles against temptation through union with God in prayer. To "be on guard"
means to turn away from sin, to cast all one's sins behind one's back. Sin begins
with our consenting to temptation (CCC 2846). Only by prayer and spiritual
watchfulness are we ready for the "appointed time" of the judgment, the coming of
the Lord in glory to invite forever into the kingdom those who have sought Him
and His love above all things.
"Be constantly on the watch! Stay awake!" When, roused to attention by Christ's
unmistakable words of warning, we discover what is that thing we "guard" most,
will we find it something lasting? Or are we "asleep", lulled into spiritual blindness
by our love of comfort, our fear of human respect, our lust for money, our romance
with a false "security." The true vision given by Christian faith infuses us with the
truth to see that the only security is in God, fully revealed in Jesus Christ. In
prayer, the prayer of the Our Father and the perfect prayer of the Eucharistic
Sacrifice, we embrace Christ. Pray for the blessing of strength in battle, for the
grace of watching in love while others sleep, pray for victory over temptation.
Effective prayer is a generous expression of love, rather than a hurried obligation,
or a perfunctory rattle of words.
Such a battle and such a victory become possible only in prayer. It is by his prayer
that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in
the ultimate struggle of his agony. (Mt 4:1-11; 26:36-44) In this petition to our
heavenly Father, Christ unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges us to
vigilance in communion with his own. Vigilance is 'custody of the heart,' and Jesus
prayed for us to the Father: 'Keep them in your name.'(Jn 17:11; Mk 13:9, 23,
33-37) The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch. (1 Cor 16:13;
Col 4:2) Finally this petition takes on all its dramatic meaning in relation to the last
temptation of our earthly battle; it asks for final perseverance. 'Lo, I am coming
like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake.'(Rev 16:15)
The greatest tragedy of all, beyond the power of words or weeping to express, is the murder of the soul and of the conscience. They invite everlasting exile from God who, though they may pursue and gain the whole world, "guarding" it as a treasure, reject eternal life and lose their souls in the process.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy," Father Cusick
(Publish with permission.) http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
Second Sunday
Isaiah 40, 1-5.9-11; Psalm 85;
2 Peter 3, 8-14; Mark 1: 1-8
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"O come, o come, Emmanuel."
"But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Gal 4:4-5) This is "the gospel
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God": (Mark 1:11) God has visited his people. He
has fulfilled the promise he made to Abraham and his descendants. He acted
far beyond all expectation - he has sent his own "beloved Son." (Mark 1:11)
(CCC 422)
The Catechism beautifully expresses what we anticipate and celebrate in this
Advent season. We take special efforts in liturgy and life to prepare
ourselves anew to receive our Lord in the commemoration of his birth in a
fitting spiritual way as we answer the call of John the Baptist to "Make
ready the way of the Lord, clear him a straight path." We also mark the
historical birth of Christ in a continuing witness of the historicity of our
faith. What we recite in the Creed did indeed really and truly take place.
We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of
a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and
the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died during the reign
of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man. He "came from
God," (Jn 13:3) "descended from heaven," (Jn 13:3;6:33) and "came in the
flesh." (1 Jn 4:2) For "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of
grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the
Father...And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace." (Jn
1:14, 16)(CCC 423)
Many movies and television shows treat the subject of faith and the
supernatural. Some books purport to be "autobiographies" of God, some seek
to remake Jesus Christ as a sinful human being, denying His divinity. Some
of the most popular entertainment denigrates the authentic Christian faith
and attacks the Church. It is often the case that when a religious figure
or authority encourages Christians to avoid buying or reading certain books
or viewing certain films that are inimical to the faith, there is a public
outcry against "book banning", and fear-mongers dredge up images of a
rebirth of the inquisitions or book burnings.
For those who understand that salvation comes through faith, and that the
faith must be loved, cherished and protected, it just makes good sound sense
to avoid books, films and any influences that would deny or undermine what
we know to be the truth. What good could come of reading a book which denies
the Son of God existed, that he knew who he was, that he rose from the dead?
What of a movie that denies the need for faith, that attacks Christ's Body,
the Church, or commits sacrilege against the Sacrifice of the Mass? St.
Paul teaches in one of his letters, "say only the good things men need to
hear." Our Lord reserved his most severe condemnation for those who
scandalize the faith of the weak. It is for these reasons that we seek out
those things which feed and nourish our faith, and reject or avoid those
things which are destructive or corrosive of our faith.
The first and ordinary means of growing in the Faith is our encounter with
Christ in Word and sacrament. In the liturgy, the source and summit of our
Christian life, we have the highest source of the upbuilding of the kingdom
within us and within the communio of our Catholic Church.
Active participation in the Mass helps us to avoid experiencing it as an
empty ritual. Begin or renew the practice of the prescribed postures for
the Mass, for these are practical means of entering more deeply into the
Paschal mystery fully present in the Eucharistic sacrifice. These include,
(1), a bow of the head at the holy names of Jesus, the three persons of the
Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saint of the day in whose honor the
liturgy is offered; (2), a profound bow at the words: "by the power of the
Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man" in the Creed;
(3) the striking of the breast at the words "that I have sinned through my
own fault" in the Confiteor; and (4), the "strongly recommended" sign of
reverence, such as the genuflection while in procession to receive Communion
or kneeling to receive the Body of Christ.
By our actions as well as our words we show our sincerity as we pray "O
come, O rod of Jesse's stem; O come, O come Emmanuel." Let us grow more
profoundly in our desire for the coming of the Lord in the liturgy that we
may be found acceptable on the great day of His coming in glory.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we "meet
Christ in the liturgy," Father Cusick (Copy with Permission)
Third Sunday
Isaiah 61, 1-2,.10-11; Luke 1:46-54;
1 Thes 5, 16-24; John 1: 6-8, 19-28
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Look to the coming of the Lord, "prepare the way of the Lord", as does John,
humbly proclaiming, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world!" (Jn 1:29) This phrase, in the Latin, "Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit
peccata mundi," has been handed down in the sacred liturgy, said by the priest
while holding up the sacred Host, the Body and Blood of Christ, for the adoration
of the people. John the Baptist, man of holy humility and bold proclamation,
demands that we turn our eyes to Christ, who "takes away the sin of the world."
Wholehearted desire for Christ begins with honest acknowledgment of our
sinfulness, "the sin of the world": both original sin, ours by "origin" from our first
parents, and personal sins. "The consequences of original sin and of all men's
personal sins put the world as a whole in the sinful condition aptly described in St.
John's expression, 'the sin of the world.' (Jn 1:29)" (CCC 407)
"This dramatic situation of 'the whole world [which] is in the power of the evil one'
(1 Jn 5:19) makes man's life a battle: 'The whole of man's history has been the
story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from
the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the
battlefield man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself,
and aided by God's grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity.'
(Gaudium et spes, 37, art. 2)" (CCC 409)
Much of what ails the world today is rooted in an erroneous view of the human
person, a view which has omitted the reality of original sin. Two effects remain in
man after baptism, flowing from the sin of our first parents: a darkened intellect
and a weakened will. Unless we acknowledge this fact, we struggle to love Christ
in vain and deny he is God. The Lord has told us, "Without me you can do
nothing." If we believe that we can accomplish anything good without Christ, we
deny him, we deny the need for salvation, we claim to save ourselves.
"The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ,
provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first
parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though
man remains free. Original sin entails 'captivity under the power of him who
thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil.' (Council of Trent (1546): DS
1511; cf. Heb. 2:14.) Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined
to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action,
and morals."
The judges, the courts, and small lobbying groups with large bank accounts today
demand, for example, that the label "marriage" be applied to something other
than a lifelong union between man and woman alone. This has become possible
because the world has become unmoored from rootedness in God which alone can
guide man and woman to an authentic understanding of themselves, of each other,
of God's will and plan, and, in Christ, of the possibility of holiness and salvation.
Adrift without Christ, the individual is left only with the false gods of desire and
self-will. Many divorced and remarried persons, rendering their own opinions as
magisterial, re-admit themselves to Communion in violation of the express
teaching of the Church that each marriage be submitted to the judgment of the
Church and that men and women have their marriages blessed by the Church
before participating further in the sacramental life. Many today are their own
magisteriums, rendering the truth of God mere opinion, equal to the scientific
theories of the day, or the preference of the majority. Denial of the "sin of the
world", both original and personal, is a fatal error. Life is in Christ alone, and
Christ alone can exchange sin and death for life.
Our Church is a prophet, preparing the way for Christ both at Advent and the end of time, guiding us as we walk the paths of our vocations through the world. The Church is Mother and Teacher, "Mater et Magistra" as Pope John XXIII declared. The Church is such because of, and for, the will of Christ the Lord. The Church does not offer mere opinion when she opens and explains the Word of God, handed down to us through Scripture and Tradition. The Church teaches with the authority of God Himself. "I give you the gift of the Holy Spirit", "I will be with you always", "He who hears you, hears me."
John the Baptist guides us in Advent, a people who look to Christ alone to take away our sins and to open heaven for us when he comes again in glory. Christ is the "Lamb of God", to whom we confidently go to receive the fullness of God's mercy. Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata mundi. Go humbly, and with a sense of urgency, to receive him who unburdens us of the weight of death and shameof sin and gives us in exchange his unending, divine life.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
(Publish with permission.) http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
Fourth Sunday
2 Samuel 7:1-5.8-11.16; Psalm 89;
Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." (Lk 1:28, RSV Catholic Edition) For
nearly two millennia Catholics, and other Christians, have committed to memory
these words of the angel Gabriel, "Ave Maria, gratia plena", as they pore
devotedly over the sacred scriptures. The angelic salutation, now incorporated into
the prayer of the Hail Mary, is sent up to heaven millions of times each day from
every corner of the globe. Our frequent repetition of these words can dull our
sense of awe for the fantastic event which they announced: the incarnation of God.
So also the tinsel, lights, gifts and parties, which sometimes overwhelm us in
competition with the message and celebration of Advent, can take away from the
spiritual preparation which should guide the way for the birth of the Lord at
Christmas. Giving complete attention to the hectic events and attractions around
us can dull our awareness of those less tangible divine realities which are the sure
source of lasting joy. The season has become a steady barrage of advertisements,
with mobbed stores, endless traffic, long lines at the counters and mass hysteria,
such as we see over a small red stuffed animal, for the sake of attaining which
store workers are trampled and which fetches thousands of dollars on the rare
occasion when it is not out of stock. It is possible that these events can be
expressions of happiness, but more often than not, immersion in material excesses
distracts from the reason for giving gifts, for celebrating, for singing with joy: the
gift of the Savior.
Perhaps the story has been told so many times that we have lost interest in it as if
it is simply old news. The Good News is "good" and "news" precisely because, if
we hear its truth with the grace of faith, it will move our hearts and minds to praise
and glorify God for the life, the light, the embrace of love he has given us in Christ.
We will be moved to commit ourselves in thought, word and action to live as the
praise of God's glory by renouncing Satan and all his works and empty promises.
The blessed virgin Mary, saluted as "full of grace" by the angel, freely chooses to
cooperate with God's plan, such that our Savior was "conceived by the power of
the Holy Spirit," as we recite in the Creed. "From the first formulations of her
faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of
the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, affirming also the corporeal aspect
of this event: Jesus was conceived 'by the Holy Spirit without human seed.'
(Council of the Lateran, 469)." (CCC 496)
This faith we profess was described by St. Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of
the second century thusly: "You are firmly convinced about our Lord, who is truly
of the race of David according to the flesh, Son of God according to the will and
power of God, truly born of a virgin,...he was truly nailed to a tree for us in his
flesh under Pontius Pilate...he truly suffered, as he is also truly risen." (CCC 496)
The virginal birth of Christ and Mary's perpetual virginity are often ridiculed or
questioned, even by Christians. Some so-called "theologians" misuse their
learning to call these facts into question in books and articles. Comedians and
entertainers delight in mocking the virginity of Our Lady. Each of us can
experience a weakening of our own faith as we hear and see others question the
authority of scripture and tradition underlying these great mysteries of faith or
belittle God and sacred people or things.
"People are sometimes troubled by the silence of St. Mark's Gospel and the New
Testament Epistles about Jesus' virginal conception. Some might wonder if we
were dealing with legends or theological constructs not claiming to be history. To
this we must respond: Faith in the virginal conception of Jesus met with the lively
opposition, mockery, or incomprehension of non-believers, Jews and pagans alike;
so it could hardly have been motivated by pagan mythology or by some adaptation
to the ideas of the age. The meaning of this event is accessible only to faith, which
understands in it the 'connection of these mysteries with one another' in the
totality of Christ's mysteries, from his Incarnation to his Passover. St. Ignatius of
Antioch already bears witness to this connection: 'Mary's virginity and giving
birth, and even the Lord's death escaped the notice of the prince of this world:
these three mysteries worthy of proclamation were accomplished in God's silence.'
" (CCC 498) The real event of Christ's birth has taken place so that the real gift of
grace, and its fruit in faith, will enable us to meet and know Christ here and now.
God's love is generous. He gives the one gift without limit: himself.
Through the miracle of faith, belief in things unseen, we encounter Christ and grow
in our love of him now. Christ is really and truly born for us only if we are prepared
to celebrate the anniversary of his birth as a moment of faith. Advent is a time for
renewal of faith, and faith grows only with a deeper commitment to renounce sin.
Our preparation for our guests would be patently insincere and a charade were we
to commence our celebration before their arrival. How much more should our
spiritual preparation for the coming of Christ be accomplished through ardent
offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice, personal prayer, spiritual reading and
Confession. Such are the marks of our sincerity even as we string lights, wrap gifts
and fight traffic in the search of the 'perfect' holiday. The 'holy day' is the best
holiday.
It is a continuing miracle that the whole world pauses to celebrate at Christmas.
Far more marvelous is the blessed Christian for whom the lights, festive parties
and gift-giving are only signs of the real source of abiding joy: the gift of Jesus,
"he who saves his people from their sins."
Prepare well for a truly merry, blessed, 'Christ-Mass'.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we "meet Christ
in the liturgy", Father Cusick
(Publish with permission.) http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
