Advent through Christmas -- 2007
Saturday, December 15, Second Week in Advent
As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things, but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking about John the Baptist. Matthew 17:9, -10-13
The Second Book of Kings describes Elijah, in his final days, talking with the prophet Elisha when…”a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.” Thus it was believed that he did not taste death.
Some 500 years later in the book of Malachi, God says, “Lo, I will send you, Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes.” Jewish theologians took this to mean that Elijah would return before the Messiah came.
So the disciples ask: If Elijah hasn’t returned, how could Jesus be the Messiah? Jesus gives the answer: John the Baptist is the Elijah figure prophesized by Malachi.
The Gospel writers do not give us a biography of Jesus, but answer the question: "Who is Jesus?”
All four Gospels answer: He is the Messiah. He is the Son of God. He has come to begin the final preparation for the kingdom of God.
Picture Jesus saying to you (as he once said to the disciples)” Who do you say that I am?
Give your answer – not in the abstract, but to him.
Spend some quiet time with the Lord.
Advent through Christmas -- 2007
Sunday, December 16, Third Week in Advent
Why Am I Doing This?
She lived alone, as so many do. And she felt it especially at Christmas, as so many do.
Decorating her Christmas tree, she began to argue with herself, an argument she’d had several times before in these days before Christmas. “Why am I doing this? No one will see it, and I don’t need it.”
Then she heard herself say, “You have to do this. Not so that others will see it, but to remind yourself that the hope is real – not just words or a dream. It’s real. Jesus really did come. And so you really have a tree, and you decorate it, and you buy real gifts, and you go to Midnight Mass, and you have a real Christmas dinner.
“This is how you keep the hope alive and real.”
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In the three-year cycle of Sunday Scripture readings during Advent, the first reading always describes the words and/or actions of one of the prophets.
Today is traditionally called “Gaudete Sunday.” The Latin word “gaudete” means “rejoice.”
