December Year A – Season of Waiting. Experience Advent including the Old Testament waiting, 2nd coming, call to repentance and preparation as the salvation plan continues. It is God’s personal plan for you.
The host of Living Seasons of Change is Patti Brunner. Her co-host is Msgr. David LeSieur a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock in this episode of Living Seasons of Change, originally broadcast as a radio show.
Audio: Season of Waiting . Continue reading for transcript, liturgical readings list for Advent Year A, and references used in this episode.
Season of Waiting Transcript December/Advent Year A
Patti Brunner: Welcome to Living Seasons of Change, the show that explores how the Church’s liturgy is connected from week to week to apply the Gospel to our daily lives. Today’s show is about the Season of Waiting—the liturgical season of Advent. I’m Patti Brunner and my co-host today is Monsignor David LeSieur, a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock. Welcome Monsignor!
Msgr. David LeSieur: Thank you, Patti. As we begin Liturgical Year A we connect with the people of the Old Testament as we wait for the coming of Christ. I want to remind our listeners that they can find the liturgical readings and the references from our show today at PatriarchMinistries.com.
Patti Brunner: Monsignor, our generation has worked hard to speed things up: microwave ovens, computers, iPods, even processed convenience foods! Everyone wants quick and easy. Waiting can be very irritating.
Msgr. David LeSieur: You’re right, but it can also be an opportunity. It’s a time to step back from our busyness, to contemplate and enjoy the moment we are in. How are you at waiting?
Patti Brunner: I have to work at staying patient! In my car I keep my radio tuned to Christian radio and I listen to teaching and scripture tapes. Waiting at red lights can be an opportunity to play back a key passage. If I’m going to a doctor appointment, I usually bring something I’ve been wanting to read. By staying busy during waiting, I don’t feel like I’m “wasting” time and so the waiting doesn’t irritate me all the time.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Staying busy satisfies the need to be productive, and the Advent season is used to productively prepare for Christmas, but Advent can also teach us about waiting. The people of the Old Testament didn’t wait minutes, they waited years! Centuries! Several of the Psalms, like Psalm 13 and 89, call out, “How long, oh Lord?”
Patti Brunner: Isaiah, who writes prophecy about the Messiah, lived 700 years before Christ. That’s a really long time to wait! Yet, it looks like the Advent season bonds us with the people of the Old Testament in waiting.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Often the writers of the Old Testament are waiting for God to intervene on their behalf, waiting for God to fight their enemies for them, to help them– because it seems they are always in trouble. A lot of the Psalms are about people in trouble. “When will you come and help us, O Lord?” God was so real to them they just wondered, “When are you going to save us? When are you going to help us again? The event of the Exodus was a huge thing. I think they looked upon that as being the greatest example of God’s help and they wondered, “When are you going to renew that in this present danger?” whether it was their enemies surrounding them, like the Assyrians or the Egyptians or whether it was the exile in Babylonia. When they were in exile, they probably thought, “How long, how long is this exile going to last?”
Patti Brunner: On the 2nd Sunday of Advent our readings address ‘waiting’ and the savior. Isaiah Chapter 11 shares God’s promise that “from the stump of Jesse a shoot will sprout and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” Jesse was the father of King David, right?
Msgr. David LeSieur: Yes, and although it was a stump, you know new growth comes out of a stump as long as the roots are down in there. I’ve seen that happen many times. When you chop down a tree, little shoots come up out of the stump. In other words, Isaiah is reminding us that a king in David’s line will reign with the spirit of the Lord upon him, “a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord.”
Patti Brunner: Msgr., this passage from Isaiah is the source of the traditional list of seven gifts available to us through the Holy Spirit. The New Testament later expands the list in 1st Corinthians, in Ephesians and in Romans with gifts of: Prophecy, faith, ministry, teaching, exhortation, generosity, and cheerful mercy; also healing, discernment of spirits, varieties of tongues and interpretation of tongues and so on. The Lord gave us the Holy Spirit who manifests in these gifts to build us up and to build up the Church. Whenever the Church is struggling, we should strive to more fully activate these gifts of the Holy Spirit. The second reading on that 2nd Sunday, from Paul to the Romans, reminds us that the Old Testament writings help us to hang in there.
Msgr. David LeSieur: That’s right, Patti, Paul tells the Romans that “Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” He’s talking about what we now call the Old Testament. He also calls us to unity. On the third Sunday of Advent, James also guides us in patience because “the coming of the Lord is at hand.” He is writing this after the birth of Christ because we are still in that longing, in that period of waiting, for the Second Coming of Christ.
Patti Brunner: On the third Sunday of Advent, James uses the farmer as an example. “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it.” He says, “You, too, must be patient” and so on.
Msgr. David LeSieur: James talks about the early and late rains and waiting for precious fruit of the earth until the coming of the Lord. The first reading that Sunday has Isaiah talking about the desert blooming.
Patti Brunner: There is a lot of desert area around Jerusalem. I was surprised when I saw so much desert when I visited the Holy Land.
Msgr.: Isaiah 35 says when the rains come, the desert blooms. In the American southwestern desert, people will tell you that after a rain storm, the desert just comes to life because the seeds are already down there. Isaiah 45:8 says, “Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this.”
Patti Brunner: It’s a beautiful image. “Let the earth be open and bud forth a savior.” God’s plan was in place even before Isaiah. It was in place at the beginning of creation.
Msgr. David LeSieur: It was like a seed that was lying dormant until the proper conditions would bring it about. The time of the New Testament is the time it began to fructify and bud forth. That passage I mentioned, from Isaiah, is used often, of course, to refer to Jesus. Historically, King Cyrus was a Persian who set the Jewish people free from exile by defeating the Babylonians and sending the Jews back to rebuild Jerusalem. So, Cyrus was used as an instrument in God’s hand and could also be considered a savior.
Patti: Which shows the multilayered-ness of the Scripture and how the Lord in his magnificence put words in the mouths of the His Prophets, words that were good for their time but also good for our time. These words can also attach to something in our daily life.
Msgr.: Exactly! The condition of, let’s say, Israel in exile, was a very specific condition and so Cyrus could be considered in a very limited sense a savior, but in the fuller sense, it refers to Christ. And thus the Babylonian Exile refers to the exile of sin; the human condition that only Christ can free us from. So, maybe Isaiah meant a very limited thing even in Chapter 7 verse14 when he said, “the virgin shall be with child”. In his time, he is probably referring to Hezekiah, one of the kings that were ready to be born. But for us, in our understanding of things, it is someone else, it’s Jesus.
Patti: Especially when it says the name will be Emmanuel, “God is with us”.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Indeed! You know, the Prophets were like the early planters of the seed of hope. They spoke for God. Some of what they said came true during their lifetime and some of it didn’t. We take Isaiah, who is the prophet of Advent, and those beautiful images he gives of us to wait for– that image of the leopard lying down with the lamb—that hasn’t happened yet, but he has planted the seed of hope that this thing will happen. With God all things are possible and so the idea of waiting is like a farmer waiting for the precious seed to grow or the spring rains come, and it all leads to harvest, but it takes time.
Patti: A lot of times when we anticipate something, it’s bigger in our anticipation than when it really happens, yet this is something that is so much bigger than what the Prophets anticipated.
Msgr. David LeSieur: And our imaginations aren’t as big as the realty of the Second Coming of Christ. We anticipate Christmas by weeks of planning and wrapping yet it can take less than an hour to open those presents and eat our Christmas meal. But the actual coming of Christ into the world is a gift so big it cannot be contained.
Patti Brunner: And it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Scripture calls us to prepare for the gift of Christ through repentance. We need the repentance because Adam and Eve failed. Instead of repenting they offered excuses. We have the reading from Genesis on the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.
Msgr. David LeSieur: There are always consequences and the consequences of the fall at Eden were that they were expelled, and things got hard and difficult for Adam and Eve. Next thing you see is Cain killing his brother, Abel, and it just goes downhill from there.
Patti Brunner: God sent various prophets to get people to repent including Jonah who reluctantly went to Nineveh by way of the big fish, Jeremiah was sent to Jerusalem before the Babylonian captivity, and John the Baptist who preached in the desert of Judea. Their message was the same—repent!
Msgr. David LeSieur: In the Gospel on the Second Sunday, Matthew tells us that when John came with his message of repentance, all of Judea and Jerusalem and the region around the Jordan acknowledged their sins.
Patti Brunner: That is the first step of repentance isn’t it! Before you can change your ways, you have to recognize that a change is needed. So, that really plowed the field for the fruit to come forth from Jesus, didn’t it?
Msgr.: Yes, except for the Pharisees and the Sadducees. John rather gets after them. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” he told them, “Produce good fruit and do not presume to say, ‘We have Abraham as our Father.’”
Patti Brunner: That’s like thinking once you are mechanically connected to Abraham through circumcision, you’re okay. John was real clear that it takes more than that.
Msgr.: That’s right. Then there is another agriculture reference, “The axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance; produce a fruit of love and kindness. In Luke’s Gospel, in this very scene, they come and say, “What do we do?” And John the Baptist says, “Well, if you have two coats, give one to someone who doesn’t have any. If you are a soldier, be content with your pay. If you are a taxpayer, don’t cheat.” He gives some very concrete examples of repentance. Matthew doesn’t have that, but the production of fruit is the evidence of your repentance. Repentance is what, as you said, plows the soil or paves the way for us to be able to receive Jesus.
Patti Brunner: Most Catholic churches arrange for communal reconciliation services during Advent and that is good. Confessing our sins and receiving absolution from the representative of Jesus is good. But confessing is different than repentance.
Msgr.: Definitely. You can confess and be very honest and say, “Yes, I did it,” but what are you going to do about it after you say you did it and you have received your forgiveness. Are you going to try, with God’s grace, to be different? That’s why I think we have Purgatory. I think Purgatory is for all those forgiven sins we haven’t repented for, that we haven’t quite overcome.
Patti: Because repentance causes you to change your life to avoid those things.
Msgr.: Yes, Metanoia! And when we don’t have repentance – we can still be forgiven. I don’t think Purgatory in any way draws into question whether God forgives us or not. That’s not the question. It’s whether or not we are willing to change. If we are sorry for our sins and truly are sorry, God forgives us, and we will go to Heaven, but we may have a stopover in Purgatory because our hearts aren’t yet changed.
Patti: God calls us to repentance. Even if we are still struggling with a sin, as we confess it God gives us the sacramental grace we need to work through a change of heart. When I have a “repetitive” sin, I ask God to show me the root cause of that sin. Through awareness and confession, I find the grace to overcome.
Msgr.: He has always given us the grace to change. Paul struggled with that, too. Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient”. The grace is always there but, I think, in our weakness, the more we sin, the more prone we are to sin, and the harder it is to repent.
Patti Brunner: The more we sin the less aware we are of sin and we don’t even desire repentance. And, like the Pharisees, our obedience to the law becomes a ritual for us rather than a matter of relationship with God. God, in his mercy, sent us a savior to show us what we were missing. God’s prophets had relationship with God. They spoke truth no matter the cost to them personally. And through their words the people were given hope.
Msgr. David LeSieur: On the first Sunday of the liturgical year, we hear from Isaiah promising that the Lord’s house will be established, and instruction and the Word of the Lord shall go forth. “That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” Jesus is the Word of God.
Patti Brunner: Jesus is the Word made flesh, the magnitude and miracle of that is revealed as we examine the life of Christ in the Gospel starting with the Holy Spirit overshadowing the Virgin Mary as reported in the Gospel of Luke.
Msgr. David LeSieur: We read that Gospel on December 8th, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. On that day the Church celebrates that Mary was conceived without the effect of the original sin of Adam and Eve. God created her as a perfect vessel to give birth to the Son of God.
Patti Brunner: A second miracle reported is the pregnancy of Mary’s cousin Elizabeth who conceived a child in her old age, who was considered barren.
Msgr. David LeSieur: “For nothing will be impossible for God.”
Patti Brunner: “for nothing will be impossible for God!” In the Gospel of Matthew, after the transfiguration, as Jesus prepares the apostles for his passion, he tells them “Nothing will be impossible for you.”
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Patti Brunner: Welcome back, I’m Patti Brunner and I’m talking with Msgr. David LeSieur about the magnitude of the coming of Christ. This Advent we hear several readings from the prophet Isaiah.
Msgr. David LeSieur: We also hear a prophecy quoted from Isaiah in the Gospel of Matthew as he reveals God’s plan, and we hear of the Angel appearing to Joseph in a dream.
Patti Brunner: That quote is read on the 4th Sunday of Advent “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us”.” In the Old Testament God challenged Ahaz to ask for a sign but King Ahaz was afraid so God himself provided the sign that “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall name him Emmanuel”
Msgr. David LeSieur: In the Gospel of the Christmas vigil readings Matthew gives us the genealogy of Jesus beginning with Abraham. “The total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations, from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations.”
Patti Brunner: One time I looked up Jesus’ ancestors in the bible. It took me a while, but it gave me a new understanding of the scripture. The list includes five women, which is unusual in Jewish traditional genealogies. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah—who we know that was Bathsheba—and Mary.
Msgr. David LeSieur: As you study the ancestors of Jesus, you see the plan of God from the beginning. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham and to David and through the law, the Prophets and the Psalms. Matthew takes great care to pull in the passages from the Old Testament with what he saw and knew. As Luke wrote his account he said, “I have only taken only what was said before and written up a new account for you, Theophilus, so that you can have faith in what you believe.”
Patti Brunner: We have this genealogy of specific Jewish roots with a few hints at Gentile heritage through some of the women. Jewish genealogy was extremely important to the Jews, yet John the Baptist on the 2nd Sunday of Advent reminds us that “God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” He’s the one who said, “Even now the ax lies at the root”. We still have to make our decision to follow Christ even if we have the heritage of the Old Testament and the heritage of the New Testament.
Msgr.: Even if we are baptized it is not automatic. It is an affair of the heart. It is not an affair of ritual.
Patti: Something else to consider: if we are a weak tree, it’s really hard to put off good fruit. We live in a generation when there are so many people who have walked away from the Catholic faith, the Catholic heritage of their parents. It can happen when people are strong in their faith; but more often, it happens when people are weak in their faith; and their children also turn away.
Msgr.: They don’t pass along their faith. Or if they do, it is rejected because of the influences around us. Our society is very influential because it offers so much easy stuff – low hanging fruit, I guess, which is not necessarily healthy fruit.
Patti: In Romans 13, on the first Sunday of Advent, Paul asked us to throw off darkness and put on Christ. We have that opportunity even when we face the temptation–that low-hanging fruit. Mary is our model of taking free will and opportunity to the highest when she said, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” Once she accepted the fullness of the Holy Spirit our lives were changed.
Msgr.: She’s the model disciple. And she made a decision. Casting off darkness – I like that passage. Paul said, “The hour is now, the hour for you to wake from sleep. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us throw off the forces of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness and promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousness but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of flesh.” That is a good description of our challenges as Christians in the world.
Patti: Matthew made a point of drawing out the prophecies and proving them. We will see that as we go along this year, how Matthew specifically tied back the prophecies in the Old Testament to Christ. In Cycle “A”, which is the first of a three-year cycle for the Sunday liturgy, we will hear the Gospel of Matthew except for special days.
Msgr.: Yes. On the feast of the Holy Family the gospel of Matthew says that Jesus, Mary and Joseph dwelt in Nazareth after they returned from Egypt and that this happened to fulfill the Scripture that “My son shall be called a Nazorean”.
Patti Brunner: Another sign promised by Isaiah and fulfilled by Jesus was that the lame walk, the deaf hear. That’s the kingdom breaking in there with these things happening.
Msgr.: Those are from Isaiah 35 and Matthew 11. John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one?” And Jesus says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised” to life.
Patti Brunner: Truly these signs are wonderful proof that God is among us. We still can have these signs, as the Holy Spirit manifests his power among us. God also used dreams, like the one Joseph had.
Msgr.: And Joseph accepted it. He believed it; obeyed it. He took Mary as his wife and later, again obedient to a dream sent by God, he took Mary and Jesus into Egypt to safety.
Patti: When was the last time someone came to you with a dream, Monsignor, and said, “I had this dream and I think we need to shift what we are doing.”?
Msgr.: I don’t know if anybody’s ever done that – I have had people tell me their dreams before and I’ve tried to help them understand what they mean. And, I’ve had my own dreams before, but they were very personal.
Patti Brunner: I think when the Kingdom of God breaks in with signs or dreams, we have no doubt. They can change our lives and our way of thinking as we accept God’s fullness in a new way. Fear is conquered and love expands. God prepared us for centuries and then he very specifically prepared the situation of the birth of Jesus.
Msgr.: He prepared Mary. He sent angels to the Shepherds so that they would witness Jesus in the manger.
Patti: So, after all these centuries of preparing mankind, of foretelling what was going to happen…
Msgr.: Tilling the soil…
Patti: Tilling the soil! Then, we had this specific glorious night…
Msgr.: Then the “root” buds forth the Savior! It had to happen through their obedience, too. Mary had to believe the angel. She had to say, “Be it done to me according to your word.” Joseph had to believe his dream and take Mary as his wife. So, it shows our cooperation with God. He has these plans, these ideas, these plans. If Mary had said, “No, sorry,” or if Joseph didn’t believe the dreams, things would have been different. You know, Mary, is often compared to Eve. She is the second or the New Eve and Jesus is the Second Adam. The First Adam and Eve were disobedient, and the Second Eve and Adam obeyed God completely. It was a beautiful turnaround. Thousands of years after Adam and Eve, we have these two people that are obedient to God and help bring about His plan for salvation, the re-creation. Adam and Eve were present at the first creation and Mary and Jesus were present at the second creation. God begins to renew the earth and renew us.
Patti: And then the salvation plan set before the foundation of the world continues with purpose: The plan that Jesus would be conceived by the Holy Spirit, be born of the Virgin Mary, suffer under Pontius Pilate, be crucified, die and be buried; the plan to descend into hell to proclaim the Good News, to rise again and ascend to the Father, the plan to reunite us to God by the Holy Spirit.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Jesus told us that even as great as John the Baptist was, the least in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than he. Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead we are “called to belong to Jesus Christ”; we are “called to be holy.”
Patti Brunner: We are called to be holy! On the 2nd Sunday of Advent Paul tells us in Romans to “welcome one another as Christ welcomed you”. I think James gives us some very practical advice on the Third Sunday which says don’t complain about one another. Now, I think that one of the keys that we need to unlock unity in the Church, and God’s fullness in our lives, is putting an end to complaining about each other. If we focus on our differences and mistakes and not let go of hurt feelings no matter how old the wound, we’ll find ourselves miserable. And so we complain even more! Complainers lose heart and step back from active participation. Or they split away completely.
Msgr.: Yes. If something is hard to put aside, at least be honest about it, “Well, we might not agree on this but we are still in the same household of the faith. We are meant to love each other with Christian charity” and then put it aside. And after being honest, say, “Okay. I’ve said my piece”– it’s like a husband and a wife. You might not like everything your spouse does, but you don’t divorce over it.
Patti: I hope not! I think complaining leads us away from love. We have a decision to make. We can love our Church that was formed as the Holy Spirit was outpoured and work to improve it or we can hack away at our roots and separate ourselves. We can choose to follow the way of Christ who tells us to turn the other cheek, to pray for those who mistreat us; to judge not, or we can threaten the gift of unity by unforgiveness. The pain we feel can be very real. But the solution can be found. Love finds a way.
Msgr. David LeSieur: The best option would be to be honest about differences and talk about them and then in some sense try to talk back and forth and say, “Here is why we did this.” And, “I didn’t like the way you did it.” We can, at least, talk about it. Our society is a smorgasbord of choices. If you don’t like that product, you can get this product over here. If you don’t like this gasoline brand, you buy another gasoline brand over there. There is so much competition. I think it’s an attitude in churches and parishes, too.
Patti Brunner: I wonder sometimes if the complaining is a way to justify not doing our part in an area. Perhaps the thing that bothers us the most is the area God is calling us individually to impact. When we approach our faith with a secular view we ask, “Where am I best served?” instead of asking, “how can I best serve others?”
Msgr. David LeSieur: Before James mentions the complaining, he calls us to make our hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand. But you know, the kingdom was coming in Jesus and people were not preparing for Him. Many accepted Him but a lot didn’t.
Patti: The kingdom breaks in at lots of different points. It broke in with Noah because among mankind things were so bad. The kingdom broke in and washed things out. In a big flood!
Msgr.: It was so bad –but people lived like nothing was going on. Eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, life as usual. The kingdom breaks in on that. When things are going crazy and we’re acting like nothing is going wrong, the kingdom breaks in on that eventually. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. Then it was too late.
Patti: Jesus reminds us of Noah as he tells us about his second coming. We hear it in Matthew Chapter 24, the gospel on the first Sunday of Advent.
Msgr. David LeSieur: Yes, then Jesus says “so will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.” He tells us to “stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”
Patti Brunner: People that believe in the rapture quote this as part of being “left behind”. I know the Catholic Church has never believed in the rapture. When this quote is in context it looks like that those that are disappearing are those washed away as the earth is cleansed like it was by Noah’s flood but this time by the second coming of Christ. The plan of salvation continues today. God has a personal plan for each of us. Just as Jesus was filled with the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, and knowledge so too are we filled with these and all the available Gifts of the Spirit promised in the New Testament writings in Acts, Romans, Ephesians and 1 Corinthians.
Msgr.: ‘They shall climb the Lord’s mountain to the house of the God of Jacob that he may instruct us in His ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ We are waiting to walk fully in his paths. Mary, when she conceived Jesus, waited. A pregnant mother waits and is full of hope because she knows she is carrying a child and it’s exciting and maybe a little frightening, too. I think that is the hope that God has for us. He is pregnant with us. He wants us to grow to maturity. He wants to be proud of us. He has all these plans and dreams like any mother or father would have for their unborn child; all these thoughts, hopes and dreams. Every time a baby is conceived God has all these hopes for this particular child.
Patti Brunner: There’s an Advent kind of an attitude in waiting — waiting for the birth of the Lord or waiting to see Him. There are three comings: his birth, his coming in us and through us to each other and then, His last and final coming. Advent is a time when all three come together.
Msgr. David LeSieur: When we look to the first couple of Sundays of Advent, we are looking to his future coming; then his birth; and how that all ties together in His presence now, and how we treat each other. So, Advent for me is a time of waiting for the birth of Lord, to celebrate it, of course; but it’s a time of expectation, too. Maybe expecting of ourselves, how we can find Jesus in other people. That should be an expectation that we have for ourselves, assuming we should be willing to wait for it. If it is not happening now, if we are not seeing Jesus in other people, then that is something we should be willing to wait for or pray for or hope for that someday we will be able to see Him more clearly in other people and treat them accordingly.
Patti Brunner: Indeed! Monsignor, will you close our show with a blessing?
Msgr. David LeSieur: [blessing]
Patti: Amen. Thank you, Monsignor. To get a copy of the references in today’s show or to read the Liturgical readings please check the website PatriarchMinistries.com
Liturgical Readings
1st Sunday Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5 Isaiah “saw” the Lord’s house in days to come “All nations shall stream toward it”; “From Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares”
Romans 13:11-4 “know the time” “the day is at hand” “throw off works of darkness” “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”
Matthew 24:37-44 “in the days of Noah” “did not know until the flood came and carried them away” “therefore, stay awake!”
Immaculate Conception
Genesis 3:9-15, 20 Adam & Eve excuses instead of repentance
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world” “in accord with the purpose” to “exist for the praise of his glory”
Luke 1:26-38 Gabriel sent to Mary full of grace, Virgin conceives: “The power of the Most High will overshadow you”, Elizabeth conceives: “nothing will be impossible for God” “May it be done to me according to your word.”
2nd Sunday Advent
Isaiah 11:1-10 “from the stump of Jesse” spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge fear of the Lord; “with rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked” calf/lion/child browse
Romans 15:4-9 “Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction”, encouragement for endurance to have hope; “one accord” “welcome one another as Christ welcomed you” Christ ministers to Jews to show God’s truthfulness & confirm promises to the patriarchs
Matthew 3:1-12 John: “Repent” all Judea “acknowledged their sins” “produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance” Abraham/root/ax “every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down” “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”
3rd Sunday Advent
Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10 desert will bloom, they will see the Lord’s glory, he comes to save you, then healing of the blind, deaf, lame, mute
James 5:7-10 “be patient” “the coming of the Lord is at hand.” “Do not complain about one another”
Matthew 11:2-11 signs fulfilled lame walk, deaf hear; John great/least in heaven greater than he
4th Sunday Advent
Isaiah 7:10-14 Lord’s sign: virgin shall conceive and bear a son” Emmanuel [God with us]
Romans 1:1-7 Gospel of God promised through prophets in Scripture about Son descended from David, established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead. All Gentiles-you also- called to belong, to be holy
Matthew 1:18-24 Mary “with child through the Holy Spirit” Angel appeared to Joseph in a dream
Nativity Vigil
Isaiah 62:1-5 ‘you shall be called a new name pronounced by the mouth of the Lord” “my delight”
Acts 13:16-17, 22-26 promise to David, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance
Matthew 1:1-25 genealogy, 14, 14, 14+ Joseph dream
Midnight
Isaiah 9:1-6 “walked in darkness/have seen a great light” “name him wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace” from David’s throne
Titus 2:11-14 “saving all and training us to reject godless ways” “deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse “
Luke 2:1-14 census takes Mary & Joseph to Bethlehem, birth in a manger, angels to shepherds
Christmas Dawn
Isaiah 62:11-12 “the holy people, the redeemed”
Titus 3:4-7 saved “not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy”
Luke 2:15-20 shepherds went to manger proving true the amazing message given by the angels
Christmas Day
Isaiah 52:7-10 joyful message to Zion of peace, good news, salvation restoration redemption
Hebrews 1:1-6 “in these last days”, he “accomplished purification from sins, he took his seat at the right hand “of God
John 1:1-18 “In the beginning was the word” life, light, darkness has not overcome it” John testifies to the light.
Holy Family
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 revere mother & father
Colossians 3:12-21 “put on love”
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 Flee to Egypt, return to Israel to Nazareth warned in dream
Resources used in this episode:
[1] The Holy Bible RSV
Psalm 6 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David. 1 O LORD, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in thy wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is sorely troubled. But thou, O LORD–how long?
Psalm 13 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 1 How long, O LORD? Wilt thou forget me for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? 2 How long must I bear pain* in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Psalm 74. 9 We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long. 10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile thy name for ever?
Psalm 89. 46 How long, O LORD? Wilt thou hide thyself for ever? How long will thy wrath burn like fire?
Psalm 90. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on thy servants!
Psalm 94. 1 O LORD, thou God of vengeance, thou God of vengeance, shine forth! 2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; render to the proud their deserts! 3 O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?
[1] The Babylonian exile of the Jews lasted between 48 to 70 years. Last kings of Judah killed or exiled by King of Babylon 606-586 BC, the people exiled 586 BC, King Cyrus allowed people to return to Jerusalem in 538 BC.
[1] Isaiah 11: 2 Wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, fear of the Lord
[1] Gifts of the Spirit: 1 Corinthians 12: 4-10; 28-31 Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:11-12; Acts 2::2-4; 17-18
[1] Romans 15 scripture written previously for encouragement to endurance; hope; Christ ministers to Jews to show God’s truthfulness & confirm promises to the patriarchs
[1] Isaiah 45: 8 “Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this.” NAB
[1] Isaiah 7:14 when he said the virgin shall be with child
[1] Isaiah 11:6 image of the leopard lying down with the lamb
[1] Matthew 3 ““At that time, Judea and Jerusalem, all Judea and all the whole region around the Jordon were going out to Him and were being baptized by Him in the Jordon River as they acknowledged their sins.”
[1] You brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” he told them, “Produce good fruit and do not presume to say, ‘We have Abraham as our Father.’”
[1] The axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
[1] Luke 3:10-14 “What do we do?”
[1] 2 Corinthians 12: 8 Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; 9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” RSV
[1] Isaiah 2: Word will go forth from Jerusalem
[1] Luke 2:37 “For nothing will be impossible for God”
[1] Matthew 17: “Nothing will be impossible for you”
[1] Matthew 1:17 “The total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations, from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations.”
[1] Luke 1:1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, 2 just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed. RSV
[1] Romans 13:11-14 Throw off the works of darkness.
[1] Matthew 2:19-23 My son shall be called a Nazorean.
[1] Ephesians 1 And then the salvation plan set before the foundation of the world continues with purpose.
[1] Matthew 11: John great/least in the kingdom of heaven greater than he
[1] Apostles Creed. See CCC
[1] Romans 1:1-7 we are “called to belong to Jesus Christ” we are “called to be holy.”
[1] Romans 15: welcome one another as Christ welcomed you”
[1] Luke 6: 27 “But I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. 31 And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
[1] James 5:7-10 Before James mentions the complaining, he calls us to make our hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.
[1] all the available Gifts of the Spirit promised in the New Testament writings in Acts, Romans, Ephesians and 1 Corinthians.
[1] ‘They shall climb the Lord’s mountain to the house of the God of Jacob that he may instruct us in His ways and we will walk in his paths.’
