Christmas Preparations

    

First Sunday of Advent

01 December 2024

 

First Reading: Jer 33:14-16

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

Second Reading: 1 Thes 3:12-42

Gospel: Lk 21:25-28, 34-36

 

Reflection

By: Grace B. Madrinan

 

When we think of the 1st day of December, what is usually the first thing that comes to our mind? "Oh no, it's only a few days before Christmas and I have not completed my shopping list!" "What food shall I prepare for Christmas feast?" "It's our Christmas party next week, and I still do not have anything to wear!"

Admittedly, I used to think like this. But if you think I worry less, you are wrong. It just evolved into something else like worrying if I will even have a Christmas vacation with all the deliverables I have to do, something like "will I even have a work after Christmas?" We all have our worries in one form or another.

Today's Gospel reminds us of what should be our state of mind and heart as we enter this Advent season. "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 (Luke 21:34)."

When we are overwhelmed with the social expectations and the glitter of the season, let us look back at the encouragement from His Word, "Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:36)." In everything we do, we should ask ourselves, "Will this matter to God? Do I bring Him honor?"

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NO,

Prayer

Father God, we tend to worry and busy about so many things that never add up to Heaven. May our hearts and minds be grounded to what matters and be vigilant for Your Son's coming. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Go into the Deep

 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

06 February 2022

 

First Reading: IS 6:1-2a, 3-8

Responsorial Psalm: PS 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8

Second Reading: 1 COR 15:1-11

Gospel: LK 5:1-11

 

Reflection

By: Sem. Carlo Alexis R. Malaluan

 

I love walking through labyrinths. The first time I walked through a labyrinth was over five years ago when I was invited for a personal retreat in Tagaytay. I was drawn to the slow pace to which the pathway lends itself and to long rests sitting in the center praying. As you go along the path, deeper realizations and reflections would arise. Sometimes, the path could be too confusing or overwhelming but a labyrinth is a spiritual encounter - an invitation to journey to the very center of our hearts where God awaits.

This is the very invitation of Christ to the fishermen of Galilee - put into the deep! I could imagine the reactions of these skilled men upon hearing the instruction of the Lord. Of course, they have mastered the sea. It has been their life. They could tell whether or not they could catch fishes. But Christ was insistent - duc in altum! Most of the time, we have thought that we already mastered our own seas - our lives, our relationships, our work, our priorities, our dreams and desires. We thought we knew the deepest recesses of our hearts only to find out that we have been casting our nets on the wrong side of the sea. We have been overly familiar with the world we create for ourselves thus we end up being frustrated and lonely because it is not our reality. But Christ sees us through. Christ looks tenderly on the things we fail or choose not to look at. Time and time, He invites us to go deeper - to put ourselves into the depths of our being and to see our own reality, our own brokenness and woundedness.

In the Camaldolese Constitutions, there is a passage that I like very much. It reads: "We are frequently cast out from our hearts as the sea casts out a dead body." We don't like going into the deep. We go into our hearts and are pushed out. We cannot take it. We cannot stay. We cannot be still because we know that the depth of our being and the silence of our hearts reveals only one reality - that we are broken. And that truth is very uncomfortable. However, it is liberating one - an intimate moment of spiritual breakthrough. This is the same experience of the people of God. Isaiah admits that he is a doomed man with sinful lips and Paul tells that he is not worthy to be called as an apostle. And with Peter we could only say with great humility - "Depart from me, Lord, for I am sinful man."

When we are able to enter into the depth of our hearts and accept the reality of our being - conversion begins. When Isaiah acknowledges his sinful lips, God gave him the faculty to proclaim His message to His people. When Paul and Peter admitted their unworthiness, they were given grace to become witnesses for Christ. Christ already knew how deep our seas were. Christ already knew the unexplored depths of our hearts yet Christ invites us to immerse ourselves in the reality of our lives no matter how shameful, how ridiculous and wounded they are.

When we are able to go into the depth of our hearts - we will only find one thing: the love of Christ that loves us even in the darkest deepest reality of our lives.

Prayer

Lord, You know my heart and my whole being more than I do. I offer You the entirety of my being most especially the parts where it is painful or shameful for me to look at. Grant me the grace to journey into the deepest parts of my soul ever consoled that I would find Your unchanging love in the brokenness of my heart. Amen.

 

Christmas in Our Hearts

Christmas Day
25 December 2012

Readings for the daytime Mass on Christmas Day:

First reading  
Isaiah 52:7-10 

How beautiful on the mountains,
are the feet of one who brings good news,
who heralds peace, brings happiness,
proclaims salvation,
and tells Zion,
‘Your God is king!’
Listen! Your watchmen raise their voices,
they shout for joy together,
for they see the Lord face to face,
as he returns to Zion.
Break into shouts of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord is consoling his people,
redeeming Jerusalem.
The Lord bares his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.

Psalm   
Psalm 97:1-6

Second reading  
Hebrews 1:1-6

At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son, the Son that he has appointed to inherit everything and through whom he made everything there is. He is the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of his nature, sustaining the universe by his powerful command; and now that he has destroyed the defilement of sin, he has gone to take his place in heaven at the right hand of divine Majesty. So he is now as far above the angels as the title which he has inherited is higher than their own name.
  God has never said to any angel: You are my Son, today I have become your father; or: I will be a father to him and he a son to me. Again, when he brings the First-born into the world, he says: Let all the angels of God worship him.

Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
A hallowed day has dawned upon us.
Come, you nations, worship the Lord,
for today a great light has shone down upon the earth.
Alleluia!

Gospel  
John 1:1-18 

In the beginning was the Word:
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came to be,
not one thing had its being but through him.
All that came to be had life in him
and that life was the light of men,
a light that shines in the dark,
a light that darkness could not overpower.
A man came, sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light,
so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light,
only a witness to speak for the light.
The Word was the true light
that enlightens all men;
and he was coming into the world.
He was in the world
that had its being through him,
and the world did not know him.
He came to his own domain
and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to all who believe in the name of him
who was born not out of human stock
or urge of the flesh
or will of man
but of God himself.
The Word was made flesh,
he lived among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John appears as his witness. He proclaims:
‘This is the one of whom I said:
He who comes after me ranks before me
because he existed before me.’
Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received –
yes, grace in return for grace,
since, though the Law was given through Moses,
grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God;
it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart,
who has made him known.

Reflection
By Nats Vibiesca

Just around the corner, many groups or sects predicted the end of the world before Christmas day this year.  They are proven wrong for the simple reason that they are not God for Whom thousand years are like one day.  In fact, God is timeless and makes every human prediction sound hollow.
God’s schedule goes way beyond our understanding. That’s why God sent a baby boy to earth to touch us personally, fingertip to fingertip, and experience divine mercy in our midst. It is a stupendous moment that the Son of God, invisible, becomes the Son of Man, visible.  The impossible becomes possible and we witness the greatest miracle, the source of all miracles. Our liberation from our sins started with one baby boy and our days will end when we see Him again in eternal heavenly glory.
Our Emmanuel is the source of pure joy and lasting peace—the real Christmas meaning in our hearts.  The joy and peace not related to glitter and gifts but to something more liberating, lasting, saving and redeeming rooted in faith because Christmas reveals New Life, and not the end of the world.
The secret of new life is not angels singing praises in the sky but all of us sharing the goodness received from God on this day and all days of our life. Let us share the blessings of Christmas to all people especially those in need of love and peace. Merry Christmas to all!

Prayer
Loving God, today we enjoy the abundance of your love as we embrace new life with Jesus. Make us generous to share the joy and peace we received to express how we truly care to those in need.  Amen.