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December B. Season of Preparation is based on the four Sundays of Advent and Christmas Year B. Season of Preparation prepares us for the whole year of hearing and accepting the Good News of Jesus. John the Baptist is key as the voice who paves the way and Mary gives witness to God’s preparation. Isaiah gives the Advent message of waiting and preparation through repentance .
As you step forward to discuss the Advent liturgies, key in on John the Baptist. This prophet of God fulfilled the Messiah’s heralding and truly paved the way smooth through the turning hearts to repentance. Repentance of sin opens the heart to receive grace.
Grace is needed to allow faith to blossom.
As the feast of the Immaculate Conception takes place, the people shall know that the Lord predestined the time and place for the Savior by purifying a vessel to hold and bring forth the King, the Son of Man.
The feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe gives witness that Mother Mary’s role continues through the ages to “deliver” the savior unto the people. It is not by her own power these things are done but by the Divine Mercy of the God who so loves the World that He sent his only Son to redeem it.
As the generations’ tale tells, the preparation was a guarded family, touched by God. David was blessed as was many others.
OTL 10/31/2008
LSC Season of Preparation Dec B Transcript
Recorded 11/25/08 by Padua Media
Patti Brunner
You’re listening to Living Seasons of Change, and the Season of Preparation. From the beginning of time God had a plan for our salvation and during the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas we hear the plan unfold before us in the liturgical readings of the Mass. I’m Patti Brunner and with me today is my co-host, Monsignor David LeSieur, a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock. Welcome Monsignor!
Msgr. David LeSieur
Thank you, Patti. During liturgical year B the Gospel of Mark shall be predominately proclaimed. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the 4 gospels and is likely the first written. We begin Year B with the First Sunday of Advent and will continue with Christmas, Epiphany, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost and will end twelve months later with the feast of Christ the King.
Patti Brunner
So, Advent is a season of preparation not just for Christmas, but for the whole year as we hear the Good News of Jesus and the Kingdom of God in our midst.
Msgr. David LeSieur
We’ll be hearing from Isaiah. “The message of the prophet Isaiah has been understood as an “Advent message” throughout the history of the Church.”[i] It is a message of waiting and preparation through repentance.
Patti Brunner
On the first Sunday of Advent we hear Isaiah chapter 64 tell us “No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but You doing such deeds for those who wait for him. Would that You might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of You in our ways! ” [ii] We are still waiting for God’s fullness. But while we wait God does marvelous deeds for us! There is so much more in store for us if we keep our face turned toward him.
Msgr. David LeSieur
In Mark’s Gospel on the first Sunday of Advent Jesus tells us “Be watchful! Be alert!”[iii] For hundreds of years the Israelites have waited and hoped for a Messiah. God desires for everyone to be prepared to receive Him.
Patti Brunner
John the Baptist is the key figure as we look at preparation for the coming of Christ. He ties the Old Testament to the New Testament and really sets the stage for entrance of the Messiah. Six months before the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, the Lord prepared the world for a savior with the conception of John, John who baptized with the baptism of repentance.
Msgr.:
The Archangel Gabriel appeared first to Zachariah and announced the coming of a son. Even though Zachariah didn’t believe him, it didn’t stop the plan. We might think that if I don’t cooperate fully or if I don’t do this or that just right, then God is not going to act. That’s not true. He will perform His plan one way or the other. If you and I don’t take part, He’ll get somebody else to do it.
Patti Brunner
We hear about Gabriel’s visit to Mary on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the 4th Sunday of Advent from the 1st chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The angel tells Mary that “her relative Elizabeth conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren, for nothing is impossible for God.”[iv] Bringing forth life from barren women and water in the desert happens several times in scripture to show God’s power over life and death. And it is a reminder that God can bring life to those who are barren due to original sin. Why do we hear it from Luke’s gospel instead of Mark’s, since its year B, the Year of Mark’s Gospel?
Msgr. David LeSieur
We turn to Luke because Mark does not have the infant narratives. Only Luke reveals the visit by the Angel Gabriel. Both Luke and Matthew tell us about the birth of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John both start with the adult Jesus and John the Baptist. On the 2nd Sunday of Advent we get to hear the opening verses of Mark’s gospel which quote the prophet Isaiah. It says, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Son of God). 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. 3 A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'” 4 John (the) Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”[v]
Patti Brunner
The Gospel makes it pretty clear that John fulfills the prophecy by Isaiah. On the 3rd Sunday of Advent we hear confirmation to that from John, himself. His ministry is so amazing the crowd asks him if he is the Messiah or Elijah and John replies “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord,”‘ as Isaiah the prophet said.”[vi]
Insert A
Msgr.:
There is a beautiful reflection by St. Augustine of Hippo, an Early Church Father, in the Office of Readings that says that “John is the voice and Jesus is the Word.[vii] The voice dies away but the Word, once it has been voiced, remains on.” So, in other words, if I have an idea in my mind, I can explain it to you with my voice but long after my voice ceases to explain it to you, the idea has come into your mind. If the idea is the Word of God, my voice is just a servant to that idea. Once it has been expressed, the voice is no longer needed. John the Baptist said, “I must decrease, He must increase.”[viii] “His joy was complete to see Jesus increase and himself decrease in importance.”
Patti Brunner
St. Augustine said, “Do you need proof that the voice passes away but the divine Word remains? Where is John’s baptism today? It served its purpose, and it went away. Now it is Christ’s baptism that we celebrate. It is in Christ that we all believe; we hope for salvation in him. This is the message the voice cried out.”
We hear on Christmas Day in the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist that “John testifies to the Light”. We know the Light is Jesus. Since John’s ministry came first, how did John the Baptist testify for Jesus?
Msgr. David LeSieur
John kept saying, “One is coming after me who is greater than I am.” His voice gained prominence in the desert, as people came out to hear him preach to “Prepare the way of the Lord.” When Jesus appeared on the scene later, John pointed to Jesus identifying him as “the Lamb of the God who takes away the sins of the world” and he was satisfied to lose his own disciples to Jesus. He is like the bridegroom’s best man. He prepares the way for the bridegroom. The groomsman rejoices to see the groom come. He prepares for the wedding, gets everything ready then he fades out of sight. When the groom comes, all the attention is on the groom.
Patti Brunner
Even Pharisees went out to the desert to hear John preach. Of course, John called the Pharisees a brood of vipers. But John had quite a following.
Msgr.:
And because of his ability and message everybody thought He could be the Messiah.
Patti:
John was filled with the Holy Spirit, too. From the time he leaped in the womb when Mary came to visit his mother.
Msgr.:
Obviously, the “leaping” was a sign of recognition. Scripture says Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And that the Angel Gabriel promised John’s father Zechariah that John would “be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and that he would turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.”[ix]
Patti:
This prophet of God fulfilled the Messiah’s heralding and truly paved the way smooth through turning hearts to repentance. John proclaimed a baptism of repentance[x], which we hear in the Christmas Vigil’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. That was his main message—repentance. What does repentance mean?
Msgr.:
It means turning away from what you were doing. A “Metanoia”, “Conversion”, it means going in the other direction. It’s a 180 degree turn.
Patti:
So, it’s more than being sorry. It’s the decision to change your life to focus on the will of God.
Msgr.:
St. Paul said to put on the new person. “Put on Christ”. In Romans he said,
“We live in the day; we should walk by light. We do not belong to the darkness; we belong to light and to the day. Let us, therefore, cast off the deeds of darkness and live becomingly as in the day of light.”[xi] It’s like the time is now for us to act in the light. Those who act in the darkness don’t want to be seen. They have something to hide.
Patti:
Paul especially understood the Light of Christ through his spiritual encounter with the light of God’s presence during his conversion experience. He truly understands what darkness we experience without the light of Christ. On the first day of Advent, we hear Isaiah wonder that since we continue to sin, if “God has hidden his face from the people and delivered us up to our guilt.”[xii] We’re the ones hiding! Yet there is hope because God is the Potter and we are the clay. We can be reformed! The Lord gives us the opportunity to repent and be reformed; He really provides it to us. He molds us, He changes us. He opens our hearts; He has a plan. And He is going to stick to it.
Msgr.:
If we don’t get it this way, He’ll show it to us another way. He wants to make sure we get it. He doesn’t want anyone to be lost. He doesn’t try to hide from us. He doesn’t try to make it difficult for us. It may be difficult but I don’t think it is because He is deliberately trying to make difficult for us. We make it difficult for ourselves.
Patti Brunner
Obviously, John came along to get us to reform, to shake things up; to get the cobwebs out of people’s thinking and feeling and to refresh the looking for the Messiah because the promise was so old.
Msgr.:
The promise was old and John the Baptist was so good at what he did. They thought he was the messiah. He shook things up so much in his message and had such a commanding presence they began to look at him. He said, “No, it’s not me.”
Patti:
And he changed hearts. He “plowed the field” for Jesus. Instead of Jesus coming and finding all hearts too hard to receive him, John had plowed the field and so that the seed would fall on fertile ground. Repentance does that. Repentance opens up and softens the heart so you can receive the grace and then allow the faith to bloom.
Msgr.:
We might think that all we have to do is be sorry for our sins. That is just the beginning; once you repent and soften your heart to receive what God wants you to do, then you start working for Him. That’s a whole new life there. It is an ongoing thing, too. After you do God’s work, we still have to repent because we put our hand to the plow and keep looking back.
Patti:
And Jesus reminds us to be watchful and alert; always offer God your repentance. Don’t be caught unaware and think that you have time to change later.
Msgr.:
You might not, you know! Jesus, John the Baptist and Paul each tell us to be prepared, to be ready. The Advent liturgies remind us to prepare and we’ll keep on getting reminded at liturgical year end, too. We can prepare because Jesus opens our hearts to grace. On Christmas Day the reading from Hebrews reminds us that Jesus accomplished purification from sins[xiii].
Patti:
The scriptures of the various weeks show the grace that He is giving us to help us into repentance. On the third Sunday we hear Paul write the Thessalonians, “Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks.” In other words, when things are bad, the way that we can accept God’s grace is to start thanking the Lord for them. The bad circumstances will clear up. Repentance means change. Not just change your way of doing things. Change your thinking. Change your attitude. Change your whole life. Don’t think of the things in the negative.
Msgr. David LeSieur
We don’t have to do it all by ourselves. In 1st Corinthians Paul reminds us that we are not lacking in any spiritual gift as we wait for the full revelation of Christ.[xiv]
Patti Brunner
Yes, we just need to activate them; stir them into a flame. Desire, accept and use whatever gifts of the Holy Spirit that God provides.
Msgr. David LeSieur
Paul in 1st Thessalonians on the third Sunday of Advent continues to say “don’t quench the Spirit”[xv] Grace from the Holy Spirit is needed to allow faith to blossom.
======Break=======
Patti Brunner
Welcome back, you’re listening to Living Seasons of Change. I’m Patti Brunner and I’m talking with Msgr. David LeSieur about the Season of Preparation and grace given by God to prepare us to receive him.
Jesus set the example for us as he quoted Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me” [xvi] Jesus also gives us his mother as an example for us. We celebrate Mary on December 8 with the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In the United States it is a holy day of obligation. Why is that such an important feast? What is the Immaculate Conception?
Msgr.:
A lot of people think it’s the conception of Jesus but it is not. It is the conception of Mary without the effect of original sin. I think it goes back to Genesis 3 where the couple, Adam and Eve, had just sinned and God is saying, “Okay, tell me what happened.” Adam points to the woman and the woman points to the snake. God says to the snake, “Because you have done this, on your belly you shall crawl and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. Your offspring will strike at the heel of the woman’s offspring, but her offspring will crush your head.”[xvii] That is sometimes called the First Gospel. It is the first hint of hope in the midst of that terrible situation where Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. The offspring of the woman is Mary. She is the new Eve.
Patti Brunner
Our Catholic faith tells us that God picked this person, Mary of Nazareth, for His own reasons and by His grace He formed His plan. At the very first moment of her conception, His grace kept her from being affected by original sin, unlike anyone else since the first Eve. She was a pure vessel to carry the child Jesus after his supernatural conception—when Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. How can any Catholic doubt when human life begins when we have this example of these important conceptions!
Msgr. David LeSieur
There is a tradition that says John the Baptist never sinned during his lifetime. Our faith tells us that Mary didn’t sin during her lifetime nor was she ever affected by original sin. That’s the Immaculate Conception. [There was no effect of sin on her life whatsoever, unlike yours or mine.] We were born into this sinful situation and are deeply affected by it. Mary would not have needed baptism in our understanding of baptism today.
Patti Brunner
This is so important to us because it tells us that God had a plan all along.
Msgr. David LeSieur
He hatched it long ago in His own patience – there is no time with God, so it didn’t seem so long to Him. On the 2nd Sunday of Advent the reading from 2 Peter tells us that to God “a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day.”[xviii] God hatches His plan and carries it through in his own way. When the time was right for Jesus to be born, He prepared this woman from the first moment of her conception until the angel appeared to her and she said, “Yes.” It was a little, humble, Jewish girl who said, “Yes” to God’s plan; who agreed with it; cooperated with it. So, I think what this Immaculate Conception feast tells us is that God works His plan in His own time and it is flawless. I know only Catholics believe in this concept of the Immaculate Conception but it just seems normal and natural and true that God would pick a person to bear His Son into the world who was perfect as a human could be. She was fully human.
Patti:
So, she would have had the same choices that Adam and Eve had. Just because she was born without the effect of sin doesn’t mean she didn’t have the same temptations that Eve failed against. She faced hardship and suffering yet she remained faithful and without sin.
Msgr.:
She had free will. She could have said, “No.” In fact, when the angel spoke Mary said, “How can this be since I don’t know man.” I think what she was basically saying was, “I’m not married and Joseph and I aren’t living together, yet; so what do I have to do to make this happen?” The angel said, “You don’t have to do anything. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and make this happen. You don’t have to sleep with a man. You don’t have to do anything else. The Spirit is going to take care of it for you.” Then she said, “Okay.”
Patti:
Again, it shows, like you said, the preparation the Lord had for His plan. He prepared her at her conception.
Msgr.:
Before she even knew what was going on.
Patti:
Before she even knew God had a plan for her and for the world, way long before that.
Msgr.:
Even before her parents knew, we would imagine. He chooses us, too. On the feast of the Immaculate Conception we hear Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, “He blessed us, he chose us, he destined us for adoption.”[xix]
Patti Brunner
Another notice of the promise, or the preparation, is the Lord’s promise to Simeon, who was the prophet at the temple during the presentation of Jesus. He was promised to see the Savior before he died.
Msgr.:
Simeon’s beautiful prayer is said every day in the Liturgy of the Hours’ Night Prayer. “My Lord, you may dismiss your servant in peace for my eyes have seen the Salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people, a light of revelation for the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel.”
The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is a prayer that relies heavily on scripture using the Psalms, feasts and seasons. It is a custom continuing from ancient Judaic prayer. It is public daily prayer of the Church.
Patti:
Priests are required to say these prayers—the breviary—every day. So are deacons and many orders of nuns. They are joined by thousands of lay people. So, the preparation continues. Our preparation didn’t end. The preparation didn’t end at the Immaculate Conception. It didn’t end at the visitation of Gabriel. And it didn’t end at our Baptism. The preparation for the coming of the Lord continues; the Lord’s preparation of us, of our hearts, to receive Him.
Msgr.:
That we might see God’s salvation, see it in our lives, in our world, see the salvation of God. Like Simeon did. Fortunately, we have the hindsight of 2,000 years of Christianity and Church teaching and the Scriptures to assure us that He’s come. Now we just have to find Him and seek Him and notice Him.
Patti:
Another important feast that we celebrate during this season is Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. This feast really gives witness that Mother Mary’s role continues through the ages to deliver the Savior unto the people, just like she delivered him at the first Christmas. It is not through her own power that these things are done but the Divine Mercy of God.
Msgr.:
I’ve done a little research on the meaning of this apparition and when she appeared to Juan Diego. He was an Aztec Indian. He was just a poor, little nobody. She appeared to him as a representative of his people. This book that I read is called “A Galilean Journey”[xx]. It’s about the Mexican people today. They are mestizo, which means they are a mixture of Indian blood and Spanish blood. In a way, at first they had no name. There were a conquered people when Mary appeared in 1531. Because of her appearance to them, she gave them hope and dignity. That was their birth as a new people. They were no longer a conquered people. They became a new people because Mary, the mother of Jesus, picked them to visit. What a tremendous privilege to have received that apparition and to be picked out, because they were so conquered, just nobodies. That’s the way God works. He picks the nobodies of the world. Bernadette of Lourdes, the three children of Fatima, little shepherds.
Patti:
Think about the preparation the Lord did for that. Mary appeared to Juan Diego in 1531. As we look at the Church history we find that four years earlier, the Pope announced he was naming the first Bishop to Mexico.
Msgr.:
Yes, Bishop Zumárraga.
Patti:
He had barely arrived on the scene when Juan Diego was becoming a convert. Times were very harsh for the native Indians. Yet, he was in place to be able to give Juan Diego the protection and the support he needed.
Msgr.:
Yes, once Bishop Zumárraga was finally convinced that this was a true apparition. That’s where the beautiful image comes from.
Patti:
The Bishop was in place for the miracle that was for his particular benefit to prove the apparition of Mary; the miracle that quickly became a benefit for the Indians of Mexico and ended up benefiting the whole human race.
Msgr.:
The Bishop said, “Give me a sign.” So, Mary helped Juan Diego load up the miraculous roses in his tilma and when he gave them to the Bishop our Lady’s picture was visible on his garment. That’s the sign Mary sent. They say there has been a lot of research on that image, a lot photographic research and they say that in one eye of Mary you can see Juan Diego’s reflection. They can see his image, his reflection in her eye. Have you ever heard that?
Patti:
Yes. The whole image is amazing and very symbolic. She appeared to Juan Diego with the characteristics of a pregnant Aztec Indian.
Msgr.:
They call her La Morena, which means “the dark one” or La Morenta, the “little dark one”. It’s quite a story. It’s just amazing.
Patti:
And thousands and thousands of converts come forth from that.
Our last subject to talk about is the genealogy of Jesus and God’s promise to David. The liturgy on the 4th Sunday of Advent reminds us from 2 Samuel 7 that the Lord promised King David “And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.”[xxi]
The prophecy is that the Messiah would come from King David’s lineage. So, God put His plan into motion way before Mary said ‘yes’, certainly back to when the promise was made to David. God prepared Mary by having her betrothed to Joseph who descended from King David.
Msgr.:
At the Christmas vigil we hear Matthew’s recitation of the bloodline of Jesus. “Thus 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 Messiah, fourteen generations.”[xxii] Scripture tells us that Joseph was of the house of David. Jesus was Joseph’s adopted son and thus got his legal bloodline from Joseph.
Patti:
There is research that shows Mary has that lineage, too. [xxiii] [Note: I have heard it suggested that Matthew gives Joseph’s bloodline and Luke gives Mary’s when in chapter 3 verse 23 he mentions Heli. Heli is also known as Joachim, the father of Mary. Matthew’s genealogy states Jacob was the genetic father of Joseph. Luke mentions Heli who was Jacobs’s half-brother and probably Joseph’s legal father by adoption. Therefore Heli was Joseph’s father in law]
Msgr. David LeSieur
Luke’s lineage of Jesus goes all the way back to Adam.
Patti Brunner
At Midnight Mass, in Luke’s Gospel, we have the Holy Family going to Bethlehem for the census. That was a sign, a proof that they were from the House of David because they had to go to Bethlehem, David’s birthplace, to register for the tax according to their heritage.
Msgr.:
A prophecy from the prophet Micah Chapter 5 said, “But you, Bethlehem- too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth, for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.”
Patti:
It’s reported in Matthew’s Gospel that King Herod found the ancient prophecy when he tried to track down Jesus to kill him. The Holy Family is warned by a dream and they go to Egypt for safety.
Msgr.:
In Matthew’s gospel, they are already in Bethlehem. And he doesn’t report a census. Both Gospels report the Holy Family moving Nazareth.
Insert B
Patti:
In Matthew, which is the Christmas Vigil reading, we get the 14, 14, 14 generations genealogy.
Msgr.:
The number 14 is important. In Hebrew, David is D-W-D. Each letter in Hebrew alphabet has a numerical value, similar to Roman numerals. D has a value of 4. W has a value of 6. So, D, W, D adds up to 14.
Patti:
Bible code! It’s interesting, the depth of the Sacred Scripture. There is always more! In the Matthew gospel proclamation of the genealogy of Jesus there are several women mentioned.
Msgr.:
Yes, and the women mentioned by Matthew are of questionable character: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba.
Patti:
Tamar is the one who tricked her father-in-law, Judah. She was married to his son and didn’t have any kids before he died, so, according to custom, she married the second son then he died before having children. She was supposed to get the third son and Judah wouldn’t give him to her. So, she pretended to be a harlot and slept with Judah and conceived the twins, Perez and Zerah.
Msgr.:
Rahab was the harlot who welcomed the reconnaissance team sent by Joshua at Jericho. Her act of hiding the spies saved their lives and they, in turn, saved her life and the lives of her entire family when the walls of Jericho fell.
Patti Brunner
Some references call Rahab an innkeeper’s daughter, which is a little milder. But her own people would have considered her a traitor.
Msgr.:
The Bible is full of intrigue.
Patti:
And Ruth was a Moabite, a Gentile daughter-in-law of Naomi. Naomi and her husband left Bethlehem because of famine and moved to the Gentile lands of Moab and both her sons married Moabite women. After Naomi’s husband and both her sons died she decided to move back home and she released the two wives to return to their families. Ruth, knowing that Naomi was penniless, decided to go with her to help her survive. That’s where she connected with Boaz.
Msgr.:
And Boaz was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Patti:
God in His preparation – He had to work it. Bathsheba was married to Uriah when King David approached her. David sent Uriah into the thickest of battle so he would be sure to be killed. Then David married the wife of Uriah.
Msgr.:
It’s at this point that Matthew’s genealogy is different than Luke’s. Luke aligns Jesus with David’s son Nathan[xxiv] instead of Solomon. And he doesn’t mention the women at all.
Patti:
We are reminded that the Bible is not a book of facts; it is a book of Truth.
Msgr.:
Luke traces from Jesus back to Adam. Both he and Matthew want to show that Jesus came from somewhere. He didn’t just drop from heaven. He has a family tree, and he descended from David. Heritage is very important as the blessings of David and Abraham passes down.
Patti Brunner
As the generation’s tales tell us, the preparation was a guarded family line, touched by God. In the end, God was faithful to his promise to David. At the Christmas Vigil we are reminded of that promise with the 13th chapter of Acts of the Apostles: “God raised up David as their king; of him he testified, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish.’ From this man’s descendants God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.”[xxv] David was blessed by God, and through him so are many others. We now inherit David’s blessings as well as Abraham’s as we join together as Christ’s family.
Monsignor, will you close our show with a blessing?
Msgr. David LeSieur
[blessing]
Patti
Thank you Monsignor. Our next show discusses the Epiphany and the Baptism of Jesus. To get a copy of the references in today’s show or to read the Liturgical readings please check the website: Patriarch Ministries.com and to listen to this show, or other wonderful Living Seasons of Change shows online, click Padua Media.com.
[i] The message of the prophet Isaiah has been understood as an “Advent message” throughout the history of the Church.” Lector Workbook Year B 2009. Mary A. Ehle.
[ii] NAB Isaiah 64:3 “No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him. 4 Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! ”
[iii] Mark 13:33 “Be watchful! Be alert!”
[iv] NAB Luke 1:36-37 “36 And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; 37 for nothing will be impossible for God.”
[v] NAB Mark 1: “1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Son of God). 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. 3 A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'” 4 John (the) Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
[vi] NAB John 1: “23 He said: “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord,”‘ as Isaiah the prophet said.””
[vii]http://crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/336/John_is_the_Voice__Jesus_is_the_Word__St._Augustine.html John is the Voice Jesus is the Word by St. Augustine of Hippo Early Church Father and Doctor of the Church “This excerpt from a sermon by St. Augustine (Sermo 293, 3: PL 1328-1329) is used in the Roman Office of Readings for the Third Sunday in Advent known as Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday. It presents a wonderful contrast between the role of John the Baptist, the voice crying out in the wilderness, and that of his cousin, Jesus, the Word of God made flesh. The humility of John, whose role was to prepare the way of the Lord, is highlighted. His joy was complete to see Jesus increase and himself decrease in importance.”
“John is the voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning. John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives for ever.
Take away the word, the meaning, and what is the voice? Where there is no understanding, there is only a meaningless sound. The voice without the word strikes the ear but does not build up the heart.
However, let us observe what happens when we first seek to build up our hearts. When I think about what I am going to say, the word or message is already in my heart. When I want to speak to you, I look for a way to share with your heart what is already in mine.
In my search for a way to let this message reach you, so that the word already in my heart may find place also in yours, I use my voice to speak to you. The sound of my voice brings the meaning of the word to you and then passes away. The word which the sound has brought to you is now in your heart, and yet it is still also in mine.
When the word has been conveyed to you, does not the sound seem to say: The word ought to grow, and I should diminish? The sound of the voice has made itself heard in the service of the word, and has gone away, as though it were saying: My joy is complete. Let us hold on to the word; we must not lose the word conceived inwardly in our hearts.
Do you need proof that the voice passes away but the divine Word remains? Where is John’s baptism today? It served its purpose, and it went away. Now it is Christ’s baptism that we celebrate. It is in Christ that we all believe; we hope for salvation in him. This is the message the voice cried out.
Because it is hard to distinguish word from voice, even John himself was thought to be the Christ. The voice was thought to be the word. But the voice acknowledged what it was, anxious not to give offence to the word. I am not the Christ, he said, nor Elijah, nor the prophet. And the question came: Who are you, then? He replied: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord. The voice of one crying in the wilderness is the voice of one breaking the silence. Prepare the way for the Lord, he says, as though he were saying: “I speak out in order to lead him into your hearts, but he does not choose to come where I lead him unless you prepare the way for him”.
What does prepare the way mean, if not “pray well”? What does prepare the way mean, if not “be humble in your thoughts”? We should take our lesson from John the Baptist. He is thought to be the Christ; he declares he is not what they think. He does not take advantage of their mistake to further his own glory.
If he had said, “I am the Christ”, you can imagine how readily he would have been believed, since they believed he was the Christ even before he spoke. But he did not say it; he acknowledged what he was. He pointed out clearly who he was; he humbled himself.
He saw where his salvation lay. He understood that he was a lamp, and his fear was that it might be blown out by the wind of pride.”
[viii] John 3:29 “I must decrease; He must decrease.”
[ix] Luke 1:15 Angel Gabriel promised his father Zechariah that John would “be filled with the holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, 16 and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.”
[x] Christmas Vigil reading. Acts 13:24 “John proclaimed a baptism of repentance”
[xi] Romans 13:12-13 “12 the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness (and) put on the armor of light; 13 let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day.” Also, refer to 1 John 1 and John 8:12 “Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
[xii] Isaiah 64:7 Isaiah wonders, since we continue to sin, if “God has hidden his face from the people and delivered us up to our guilt.”
[xiii] Hebrews 1:3 On Christmas Day the reading from Hebrews reminds us that Jesus accomplished purification from sins.
[xiv] 1st Corinthians 1:3-9 Paul reminds us that we are not lacking in any spiritual gift as we wait for the revelation of Christ.
[xv] 1st Thessalonians 5:16-24 on the third Sunday of Advent continues to say “don’t quench the Spirit”
[xvi] Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me”
[xvii] NAB Genesis 3: “14 Then the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.”
[xviii] 2 Peter 3:8 tells us that to God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. [also Psalm 90:4]
[xix] Ephesians 1:3-5 He blessed us, he chose us, he destined us for adoption.
[xx] Galilean Journey The Mexican-American Promise by Virgilio Elizondo
“The groundbreaking work in Hispanic theology, relates the story of the Galilean Jesus to the story of a new mestizo people. In this work, which marked the arrival of a new era of Hispanic/Latino theology in the United States, Virgilio Elizondo described the “Galilee principle”: “What human beings reject, God chooses as his very own.” This principle is well understood by Mexican-Americans, for whom mestizaje—the mingling of ethnicity, race, and culture—is a distinctive feature of their identity. In the person of Jesus, whose marginalized Galilean identity also marked him as a mestizo, the Mexican-American struggle for identity and new life becomes luminous.”
[xxi] 2 Samuel 7:12, 14 “12 And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm.. 14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.”
[xxii] Matthew 1: “17 Thus 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 Messiah, fourteen generations.”
[xxiii] http://home.inreach.com/bstanley/geneal.htm [Note: site no longer available] The Genealogy of Jesus Christ Through Mary… Matthew 1:15, shows that Matthan is the father of Jacob, and Luke 3:23-24, show that Matthat was the father of Heli. It is not known if Matthan and Matthat are the same person. If they are the same person, that would indicate that Jacob and Heli could be brothers if they had the same mother, or half brothers if they had different mothers, or one of them could have even been adopted from the tribe of Judah. Julius Africanus (160-240) wrote in his Epistle to Aristides that Jacob and Heli were half brothers. The Bible makes no distinction between genetic birth and adoption. See 2Sam 6:23, where Michol the daughter of Saul and the wife of David (1Sam 18:27) had no children. Yet in 2Sam 21:8, it says Michol had five sons. In reality, they were adopted sons of Merob. Jacob was the genetic father of Joseph. Heli, the father of Mary, was Joseph’s father in law, his legal father.
[xxiv] 1st Chronicles 3 “where the following were born to him: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon–four by Bathsheba, the daughter of Ammiel;”
[xxv] Acts 13:22-23 “God raised up David as their king; of him he testified, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish.’ 23 From this man’s descendants God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.”
see Readings & Catechism [Note: site N/A]
1st Week of Advent Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2b-7 No ear has heard; but God is doing such deeds for those who wait; You have hidden your face from us. You are the potter and we are the clay1 Corinthians 1:3-9 You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of Christ Gospel of Mark 13:33-37 Jesus said “Be watchful and alert!” “Watch”
Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8 Genesis 3:9-15,20 Adam hid; The woman was tricked by the serpent; “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head while you strike at his heel” Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 he blessed us, he chose us, he destined us for adoption Luke 1:26-38 Mary, you will conceive a son, he will be son of God, given the throne of David. Also Elizabeth has conceived, for nothing is impossible for God2nd Week of Advent Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11, “A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord” Then the glory shall be revealed” 2 Peter 3:8-14, “With the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.” The Lord does not delay; but is patient so all might come to repentance. Wait. Mark 1:1-8 “a voice…Prepare” John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming repentance. “One mightier” is coming.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12 Zechariah 2:14-17 or Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab Luke 1:26-38 or Luke 1:39-47
3rd Week of Advent Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11 The spirit is upon me, anointed me; clothed me with robe of salvation. Thessalonians 5:16-24 Pray without ceasing, in all circumstances give thanks “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances John 1:6-8, 19-28 John was sent from God for testimony to the light. Answered the priests: I am not Elijah or the prophet, I am the voice…, I baptize with water
4th Week of Advent 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16, King David asked to build a temple as the Lord’s tabernacle, The Lord promised to establish David’s house & his heir will be a son of the Lord, his kingdom forever Romans 16:25-27, revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages now manifested through prophetic writings to bring about obedience of faith Luke 1:26-38 Gabriel: Hail Mary the Lord is with you. You will conceive a son; the Lord God will give him the throne of David, the Holy Spirit will overshadow you. Elizabeth has also conceived a son. Nothing will be impossible for God.
NATIVITY
Christmas 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, 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 Luke 2:22-40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.
References and Resources
Please note that CCC refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, English translation, 2nd Edition,©1994, 1997. United States Catholic Conference, Inc., Libreria Editrice Vaticana. [see link]New American Bible (NAB) readings are referenced from the Lectionary for Mass, for use in the dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition ©1997, 1970 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. [see link]Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
