THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR C!

There was a great monastery that had fallen on hard times. In the past it had been populated by hundreds of devoted monks who were praying, working in the fields and serving the poor. But now for a variety of reasons, the population of the monastery had dwindled until all that were left were the Abbott and three monks. And they were all in their 70’s, so clearly the life of this monastery was about to come to an end. In the woods next to the monastery there was a small hut in which an old rabbi lived. He was known for his wisdom and spent his days as a hermit. The Abbott thought there was nothing to lose in visiting the rabbi. Perhaps he would have some word of advice that could save the monastery. The rabbi welcomed the Abbott warmly and listened to his story. Then the rabbi said, “I know only one thing about your monastery: God has revealed to me that the Messiah is one of you.”

The Abbott returned to the monastery and told the other monks what the rabbi had said. They were filled with wonder. The Messiah is one of us, one of us here in the monastery? Immediately they began to debate who the Messiah could be: It must be the Abbott. He’s our leader, and he has wisdom and strength. Surely, he is the Messiah. But then again, there is Brother Thomas. He is a holy man, and we often see the love on God in him. It probably is not Brother Elrod. He is old and cranky. But when we have to make a decision, he’s usually right. In fact he is almost always right. Maybe he’s the Messiah. The only monk left was Brother Phillip, and at first no one thought he was the Messiah because he was passive and even lazy. But then they realized that whenever there was a need, he was suddenly there to help. So try as they might, the monks could not figure out who the Messiah would be. Therefore, they determined to wait until the Messiah was revealed.

But as they waited, they changed. Because they were sure that the Messiah was one of them, they began to treat one another with more and more respect. They found themselves laughing more often, beginning the day with a certain joyous expectation that perhaps today might be the day that the Messiah was revealed. The people who lived in the village close to the monastery noticed the change in the monks when they interacted with them. People started to come for Mass at the monastery and began seeking out the monks for spiritual direction. The word spread among their family and friends. Soon the young people in the town began to consider joining the monastery. In a few years, that monastery was as alive and thriving as ever.

In today's gospel John the Baptist tries to announce the same powerful message to the Jews of His time who were anxiously waiting for the coming of the Messiah. John tells them: " 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".

The reason the Jews of Jesus’ time could not recognize him as the Messiah is that they had definite ideas on how the Messiah was going to come. The Messiah would suddenly descend from heaven in his divine power and majesty and establish his reign by destroying the enemies of Israel. No one would know where he came from, humanly speaking, because he came from God. So when finally Jesus came, born of a woman like every other person, they could not recognize him. He was too ordinary, too unimpressive.

After 2000 years, are we now better able to recognize Christ in the persons of the ordinary men and women in our midst together with their unimpressive attitudes, habits and appearances?

John the Baptist was the last of the prophets whose mission was to bear witness to the Lord when he came among his people. He prepared the way for the Anointed One and pointed him out. Today John is the model for every one of us: we are called to be prophets in our world; we are called to bear witness to the Christ; in the wilderness of human greed, injustice, and falsehood. We are called to make straight the way of the Lord.

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's why in the first Sunday of Advent, we talked about the preparation by being watchful because we do not know when Christ will come again. 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 or His presence among us especially nowadays. All through the centuries, Jesus has been coming into the lives of his people, and along with his comings John the Baptist's indictment keeps re-echoing: There is one among you whom you do not recognise."

What a changed world there would be if we would treat the people we live with and meet each day like the monks after they discovered that the Messiah was in their midst, but in disguise. Is he still amongst us and we don’t recognize him because of his disguise?

Lord Jesus, give us your holy Spirit so as to recognise you in others always and to treat them with respect and love as the best way to prepare for your coming at Christmas and at the end of time. Amen.

 THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR C!

For today's homily, I came across the story about the faces in Da Vinci’s Last Supper. One of the world’s greatest portraits ever painted. This story reveals that when the painter Leonardo Da Vinci was painting The Last Supper, he had an intense and bitter argument with a fellow painter. Da Vinci began to think of a way to get back at this guy. He came up with a deceitful plan. He decided to paint the face of his enemy as the face of Judas Iscariot, so it would be captured for all time, and that is exactly what he did. When people came to look at his work, while it was still in progress, they immediately knew who “Judas” was. Da Vinci got great joy out of portraying this man as Judas Iscariot. But as he continued his work on the painting of Jesus and his disciples, he finally came to the face he had saved for the very end-the face of Jesus. But he drew a mental blank. He could not paint a thing. Finally, God convicted him and showed him the trouble he had painted the face of his enemy as the face of Judas Iscariot. He realized that his hatred and bitterness were keeping him from being able to face the face of Christ. So he went back to the image of Judas and repainted some unknown face. He went to his painter enemy, asked forgiveness, and they were reconciled. Then he went back and could clearly paint the face of Christ and complete his masterpiece. Be reconciled with your fellow human beings, says today's Gospel.

There is a penitential element to the season of Advent. The Advent season, besides being a season of joyful expectation, is also a season of repentance. This is symbolized by the violet colour of the vestments. John the Baptist is one of the central figures and our guide for the season of Advent. Today’s Gospel defines his role. He is to prepare the way of the Lord. But how does John prepare the way of the Lord? We might think that he does this simply by announcing that Jesus is coming. But I think his role is much deeper than that. John’s ministry is not about information. It is about formation. He is not only telling us about Jesus, he is forming us so that we will be able to receive Jesus.

In today’s Gospel, he appears preaching a baptism of repentance. That makes repentance a part of this season of Advent. It calls us to practice repentance during these weeks before Christmas. But what is repentance? There are several meanings to the term, but its most foundational sense is a call to change, to change something in our lives. We see that all of us have qualities in our lives that keep God out, that make the way of the Lord crooked and rough, that prevent Christ from coming into our hearts.

The season of Advent calls us to repent, to change anything that hinders Christ’s coming. Of all the things that hinder Christ’s coming, perhaps the most detrimental is any resentment that we have in our hearts against others. We see, when someone hurts us, when someone rejects us, when someone demeans us, our hearts fill with anger and pain. That pain makes our hearts hard. Our hearts become ready for battle, ready to strike back. When our hearts are hardened, it will be difficult for us to receive the grace of Christ. When our hearts are hardened by resentment, we cannot welcome the Prince of Peace in our hearts.

Therefore, this season of Advent asks us to examine whether we are carrying resentment against others? When someone hurts us, we prolong that pain by making it into a story and then telling and retelling that story over and over again. We make the pain permanent by giving it a narration by repeating over and again what happened, what someone said, how we felt. As we tell that story over and over again, we continue to give life to the hurt and to the pain.

The season of Advent calls us to let go of the stories of our hurt so that our hearts can heal. Yes, we have been hurt. Yes, we have been treated badly. But the only thing we accomplish by telling that story over and over again is to keep the pain alive. It is time to stop the story. Resentment builds a roughness into our lives. It twists our hearts. If Christ is coming to us, he needs a way that is straight and smooth.

The recognition of our inability to make things right reminds us of why we wait for Jesus. Jesus is coming. Of course, we can never forgive or let go of our hurt without God’s help. Advent is a time of grace. So this is the time to ask for that help, to let go of the story, to let go of the hurt, and prepare the way of the Lord, because it is only by finding the emptiness in our lives, in our world, in our church, that we will have the room to let Jesus in.

 THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR C!

Once, there was a round table discussion on religion and freedom in which many theologians and famous religious leaders were present. Dalai Lama, the Tibetan religious leader and a Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff, were also taking part. During recess, there was a brief discussion between Dalai Lama and Leonardo. Leonardo asked Dalai Lama: “Your holiness, what is the best religion?”

Leonardo thought that he would say: “The Tibetan Buddhism” or “The oriental religions, much older than Christianity.” Dalai Lama paused for a moment, smiled and looked into his eyes and said: “The best religion is the one that gets you closest to God and makes you a better person.” He further asked him: "But what is it that makes him a better person?" Dalai Lama responded: “Whatever makes you more compassionate, more sensible, more detached, more loving, more humanitarian, more responsible, and more ethical.” “The religion that will do that for you is the best religion.”

Leonardo was silent at his wise and irrefutable response. Dalai Lama said, "I am not interested in your religion or if you are religious or not. What really is important to me is your behavior in front of your friends, your family, your work, your community, and in front of the world and God." Remember, the universe is the echo of our actions and our thoughts. The law of action and reaction is not exclusively for physics. It is also of human relations. If we act with goodness, we will receive goodness. If we act with evil, we will get evil. we will always have what we desire for others. Being happy is not a matter of destiny. It is a matter of options. And finally, he said: We should be watchful and careful at all times in our lives.

Today is the beginning of Advent season, which reminds us to be vigilant, watchful, and hopeful as we prepare to celebrate the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ. On this first Sunday of Advent, we are warned that everything will end. This is a very timely reminder especially for those who continue to believe that they can extend, prolong or perpetuate their worldly pursuit of power, fame, riches and glory, even at the expense of other people and God Himself. The message is simple, loud, and clear. The key word of today's Gospel is WATCH, which sums up what Dalai Lama said to Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff. The word for word, *W-A-T-C-H stands for* :

*W stands for words.* Watch your words. Our irresponsible use of words can hurt and destroy people. Many relationships had been broken with onslaught of vile language, cursing, and gossiping. Let our mouths be instruments of blessing rather than cursing and gossiping, of kindness than condemnation, of appreciation than destructive criticism and of praising than blaspheming. That is why a saying goes this way: “The tongue should be used to bless rather than to curse; to compliment rather than to criticize; to highlight good qualities rather than focus on bad qualities.”

*A stands for Actions.* Watch your actions. It is rightly said, “Actions speak louder than words”. Do our actions reflect profoundly our faith? We know that a mere profession of faith is not enough. We need to express it concretely in deeds. Can we be more loving, caring, and forgiving in our lives?

*T stands for Thoughts.* Watch your thoughts. A wise man once said: “All that we are is a result of what we have thought. It begins with our thoughts; it is carried on with our thoughts and ends with our thoughts.” The New Testament standard is that it is never enough to avoid doing wicked things; it is to restrain our thoughts not to even desire them. The word may never be concerned with judging the thoughts of humans. But for Christ, thoughts are just as important as actions.

*C stands for Character* Watch your character. Saint Paul says: “Fortitude produces character” and “character produces hope,” (Rom 5:4). When trials afflict people, some may allow themselves to whine and grovel in despair, other may spur themselves with the opportunities of merging stronger and greater and nearer to God. Christians are those who set efforts and hopes in bringing about God’s kingdom in their midst. What is the character of our lives? Is it devoted to our own glory or God’s glory?

*H stands for Heart.* “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” (Matt 6:21). If our hearts are fixed on possessions, we become greedy; if they are directed to having popularity and power, we become proud; if our hearts are set on worldly security, we become people of fear. What is in our hearts? Is it a heart full of love for God and for those whom we have committed ourselves to love? Or is it a heart full of H-Hatred, E-Envy, A-Anger, R-Resentment, and T-Timidity?

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Jesus tells His disciples to be vigilant at all times. He tells us to be alert and to be on the watch and not let our hearts cause anxieties of daily life. Let us watch, and our watch will bring conversion into our lives. Let us prepare ourselves for the coming Christmas celebration, which involves a spiritual renewal on our part so that we can celebrate Christmas meaningfully and allow our Lord to come into our lives. Let us be watchful against the devil and his evil ways and resolve to walk in the light of the Lord.

Take care of your thoughts

because they become Words.

Take care of your words

because they will become Actions.

Take care of your actions

because they will become Habits.

Take care of your habits

because they will form your character.

Take care of your character

because it will form your destiny.

And your Destiny will be your life. Remember, there is no religion higher than the truth.

 THE THIRTY THIRD ORDINARY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B!

Today is the second last Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday, we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. So, as we come to the end of the liturgical year, the Church focuses our attention on the last things. On this Sunday, the Scripture Readings traditionally speak about “the end of the world,” “the end of time,” “the final coming of Jesus” and our ultimate future. This is the mystery of faith we profess in the Mass: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Today’s readings bring us stark reminders of life’s limits. We are going to die, and our world is going to end. When the latter will happen, even Jesus in His humanity did not know, though we can form a rough but unreliable estimate of our own life span. As the years pass, our bodies give us increasing hints that death will come to us at any time, perhaps even today.

Death is inevitable, and we can't escape death. When it is time, it is time. There is nothing we can do about it. Every single soul has to taste death. The reality of death is certain. The truth is, none of us know its day and time. But when our final day comes, we can't negotiate any extension. This story will give insight that we can not change our fate. What is going to happen will happen.

One day, death encountered a man and told him that today is your last day.

The man replied, " But I am not ready!"

Death said: Your name is at the top of my to-do list for today.

The man said, "Then, before you take me along, let us sit together and have one Last Cup of Coffee.

Death said: Of course.

The man offered a Cup of Coffee to Death. The coffee was laced with some sleeping pills. Death drank the coffee, and soon, it was fast asleep.

The man took Death's to-do list, wiped his name from the top, and placed it at the bottom of the page.

When Death woke up, it said: "You have treated me so kindly and with full of Love today. I would like to reciprocate you by starting my today's work from the names at the bottom of my list." It was written in man's fate that he has to go eventually with death.

A funeral director who developed his own personal style of letter writing. Before he would sign his name at the end of the letter, he would always close with “eventually yours.” There is no doubt about it. We all will be eventually God’s. We don't know the date and time of our passing away but we are sure and certain that we have to leave this world one day and wait for the judgements and rewards on the basis of our lifestyle.

In the month of November, the feasts of our Church remind us that this world is passing: We must remember where we are going and what we must do to get there. On the first day of this month, we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. This feast holds a special place in our heart because it reminds us of the goal of our human life. We are called to share in the eternal life of God, to participate in the divine life of the Holy Trinity, to experience joy in the fulfillment of the deepest desires of our hearts. On the next day, the Church commemorates all the souls of the faithful departed on All Souls Day. This is an instructive and helpful reminder that even though we aim for Heaven, nearly all of us will experience further purification after our lives on this earth end.

Throughout this month, the readings have continued to emphasize these themes: that we will one day die, we will experience the judgment of God, and the actions of our lives will determine our experience of eternity. If we have repented and sought to return to God, we will, finally, be blessed with the vision of his glory. If we turned away from him or sought to satisfy our own self-desires, then we will be allowed to experience the joyless absence of God for eternity.

Today’s readings are no exception. They warn of great tribulation, of the destruction of the universe, and the judgment of all humanity. The Lord tells us to learn from the fig tree: when you see the signs of what is coming, prepare yourselves.

As we ponder the end of our lives, we must remember that we are all called to be holy, to be saints. We are called to turn back to God in this world, to follow the path of divine life. This is the road of the wise. Daniel says, “the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament.”

The Church further reminds us to “be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.” It reminds us of the parable of the virgins and the lamps, awaiting their master’s return from the wedding. Those who prepared themselves were welcomed into the feast, but those who were not were cast aside. In the parable of the wedding garment, we hear that those who enter the wedding feast must be clothed in a wedding garment. When we ponder these parables together, we see that we must prepare ourselves for the wedding feast–Heaven–as best we can.

To prepare ourselves for this moment, we must ensure we are not strangers to our Lord. We must repent daily of anything that leads us away from him. Even better than this, we must come to greet him face-to-face in the greatest of sacraments: the Holy Eucharist. When we attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, we relive the Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord. As he offers himself to the father on the Cross, we offer ourselves to him so that he might lift us up too. Through the power of the Church, we mystically join at the moment when he redeemed humanity. Then, as we receive him in the Eucharist, we receive a foretaste of the banquet of Heaven and the divine life of God.

When we contemplate the last things: death, judgment, Heaven, and hell, we can sometimes fall into hopelessness or into a cycle of anxiety regarding our salvation. This is not what the Church desires for us. If it were, she would not remind us of the great glory that we are to receive, nor would she remind us constantly of the mercy of God. But we also must not fall into carelessness or presumption, so she reminds us of the consequences of our actions or inaction. As we pray, let us ask the blessings of the Almighty God that we may remain always vigilant, and seek out the Lord in all that we do, so that we will have the strength to stand before him at the end of our days.

 THE THIRTY SECOND ORDINARY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B!

One night in a small town, a stormy rain made it impossible to a newlywed couple on a remote country road to move forward. Unable to go any farther, they got out of their car and walked towards a dimly lit farmhouse. When they reached the house, an elderly couple, carrying a kerosene lamp, met them at the door. Explaining their situation, the young man asked: “Could we spend the night with you? A place on the floor or a few easy chairs will do.”

The elderly couple saw a few grains of rice on the young lady’s hair and understood their situation. “Why surely, children,” said the elderly woman. “We just happen to have a spare bedroom. You get your things from the car while my husband and I clean it up a bit.” Then they led them up to the room. The next morning, the newlyweds got up early and prepared to leave without disturbing the elderly couple. They dressed quietly, put a ten-dollar bill on the dresser, and tiptoed down the stairs.

When they opened the door to the living room, they found the old couple asleep in chairs. They had given the newly-weds their only bedroom. The young man had his wife wait a minute while he tiptoed back upstairs and put another five dollars on the dresser. The heartwarming story is a modern illustration of the poor widow in today’s gospel. Like the poor widow, the elderly couple gave not from their surplus but from the only resource they had.

The Gospel of today seems to be very demanding, which expresses that in our poverty, emptiness and detachment from this world provide a doorway for God to bless us with true riches. In today’s readings, we are invited to reflect on our attitude towards giving. Jesus warns us to beware of and not to imitate the hypocrisy of the Scribes. He is asking us to be charitable towards the needy neighbour even when we have only bare essentials for ourselves. He loves a cheerful giver. He assures us that the measure we give will be the measure we shall receive.

Each Sunday in our worship service, during offertory time, we take offerings in baskets. Do you think Jesus is interested in how much money we put in the offering basket? No, he is not interested in how much we put in the offering baskets, but he is interested in what is in our heart that will make our offerings extraordinary. It is not what and how much we give that matters but rather how lovingly and cheerfully we give. Jesus is more interested in what is in the heart of the giver than the size of their gift.

Humans judge by the amount of money, but God judges our giving by value. The widow's mite, by human standards, meant nothing because it was just two copper coins, but for that widow, these two copper coins meant the whole world to her. The others gave money, but she gave value.

God doesn’t measure the gift by its face value, but he judges it by the sacrifice behind it. That is why Jesus put the widow’s two small copper coins higher on the scale of giving than the large contributions of the others. She gave from poverty, they gave from abundance. The poor man sacrifices more to give his little gift than the rich man does to donate his large one. Remember, we are rich only through what we give and poor only through what we keep.

In the first reading, we see the widow of Zarephath in Sidon recognized Elijah as the man of God and put his need above her need. She gave him all that she had and satisfied his hunger in her utter want. Both these widows portray an image of people who think it is finally God who is in charge of their belongings. This leads us to think of four attitudes towards giving:

*Forceful Giving* : In such case, the act of giving is not inspired from within. It is rather the effect of external force such as prestige, fame, and social pressure.

*Duty based Giving* : The people of Israel in the Old Testament, as well as the Jews in the New Testament, experienced duty based giving in the form of taxes. This attitude still exists in income tax and other official contributions. Jesus himself has clarified his position about this. “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.” If we have a proper attitude towards such giving, we shall do it cheerfully.

*Conditional Giving* : In this case, the person gives something out of the condition of getting it back again. Hence, there is a string attached. In such a case that the joy of giving will not come to the person till the person is paid back. Peter wanted to know what they would get in return for giving up the family and property. Jesus makes it clear that if it is for the sake of the Kingdom of God and if it is accompanied with self-denial, they would get it back 100-fold of all that they have given up plus eternal life with persecution.

*Unconditional giving* : In such a case, as says, when you arrange a dinner, call those who cannot repay you. The people who do this give others little more than they expect from them. Give yourself in the giving of a thing like the widow of Zarephath and the wdow in the temple who gave themselves and have immovable place in the Bible. This is the reward of total self-giving.

My dear people, nature shows us the way. A well that is unused becomes stagnant. A well from which water is often drawn remains fresh. As we celebrate the total self-giving of Jesus in this Eucharistic celebration, Let us build up a proper attitude of giving and ask God’s choicest blessings and pray to make us more generous like the widow of Zarephath and widow in the temple who gave themselves unconditionally and found a place in the Bible and in the heart of Jesus. Amen.

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2Maria Stanislaus and Lini Kuruvilla