6th day of Novena Mass for Christmas – Mary Visits Elizabeth (Lk 1:39-45)

Choose to serve over being served

Introduction

- In this Christmas season we receive gifts. Once a man got a beautiful ‘barong’ as a gift for the Christmas. He thought of wearing it in special occasion and kept it in the cupboard and forgot about it. After a year while he was cleaning his room he saw that barong which was by then destroyed by moats and rest. This ‘mistake’ of keeping the gift and destroying it, is done by many of us.

- God has given us lots of gifts – our talents, health, and other abilities. Are we eager to use them or share them? If not it will be destroyed eventually.

- In today’s gospel Mary shows the example of spending her time and energy for a person who is in need and thus using the gifts of God in a meaningful way. Thus she proved to be ‘Great” or “blessed”.

Body

- Greatness or blessedness is achieved through two things;

1. Service

§ The example of Jesus washing the feet of the disciple during the last supper is a model of achieving greatness through serving the least of my brother and sister.

§ Mother Theresa of Calcutta became a great person by service, by using the God given talents and abilities for the poor and needy.

§ Mary shows us today the lessons of service, by serving Elizabeth, even though Mary was pregnant.

2. Other orientedness

§ An old wisdom – “If you want to be somebody, put others before yourself”

§ We are born with ego-centeredness. As we grow to maturity we learn to be other-oriented. That is why the children find happiness in receiving the gifts while the elderly find pleasure in giving gifts.

§ Greatness or blessedness depends on how far we give preference to ‘others’ in our life.

- The blocks that may hinder us in the growth towards this greatness can be;

· Laziness

§ Laziness is the mother of many other evil. It is a habit of postponing for some other day/time.

§ It is one of the trick that satan inspires in the heart of the good people so that no good will happen.

· Selfishness

§ Good relationships are built on ‘other-centeredness’.

§ We are called as a disciple of Jesus to share our life for others as our master did on the Cross. Jesus gave himself totally for us, and continues to nourish us by his body and blood in the Eucharist.

· Pride

§ It is against humility. Humility means accepting all the blessings that have been showered into our lives with a thankful heart and share it with others.

§ Mary would have thought – ‘I am the mother God’s son. Therefore why should I go to serve Elizabeth?’, but she never thought in this way, instead rushed to serve her cousin.

Conclusion

- God has called us to be great / blessed.

- Let us remember that blessedness consists in serve and other orientedness.

- Let us avoid Laziness, Selfishness and Pride from our lives and prepare for Christmas.

4th Sunday of Advent – Announcement of the Birth of Jesus (Lk 1:226-38)

Courage of Mary

Introduction

- Once a young man approached the retreat master and asked to pray over him for exorcism. The explanation was, ‘I have visions of heavenly beings. It threatens me. I want to get rid of those visions’.

- If an angel comes to my room when I am alone, how will I feel? Mary had the courage to face Angel.

Content

- Mary was the most courageous women of history. She had the courage;

o to stand always in the presence of God; and

o to say ‘amen’ to the will of God.

1. Courage to stand in the presence of God

· The story of the first parents – Adam and Eve – They hide from the presence of God because they disobeyed and sinned against God.

· Sins take away our courage to stand in the presence of God. Since Mary was sinless she had the courage to face the angel.

· Are we in the presence of God? Well known preacher and writer Anthony De Mello in a story on Emmanuel presents a fish. A young river fish happened to reach the ocean. Seeing an older fish it asked, “Excuse me, you are older than I, so can you tell me where to find the thing they call the ocean?" "The ocean," said the older fish "is the thing you are in now." "Oh, this? But this is only salty water. What I’m seeking is the ocean," said the disappointed fish as he swam away to search elsewhere.

· We are always in the presence of God, but we forget or ignore this fact, sometimes for convenience, to do our selfish interests. Awareness is the key to be in the presence of God.

2. Courage to say ‘amen’ to the will of God

· In the first reading from 2Sam chapter 7, King David wanted to build the temple for God. But God said ‘no’ to his wish. David said yes to the will of God and praised God. He had the courage to obey the will of God.

· Mary had the courage to surrender the total self to the will of God, ‘behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word’.

· Courage comes from the conviction that – God is with me, He sets everything for my good, and he will see me through.

Conclusion

- Are we aware that we are always in the presence of God? Do we have the courage to stand in the presence of God? We have to keep the purity of heart and mind in order to face God and make Him ‘my own’.

- Are we ready to say ‘amen to the will of God’ in any difficult situations of life, even at the cost of our life?

- Let us have the courage

o To refrain from gossip

o To stand for the rights of helpless and the poor

o To live honestly

o To abstain from injuring others

o To hold the values of Gospel

o To promote life

o To forgive our brothers and sisters

o To avoid sinful ways of our life

2nd day of Novena Mass for Christmas – Genealogy of Jesus (Mt 1:1-17)

Introduction

- Once in a sharing of the high school students each student was introducing themselves by saying their names, about their parents and other details. One student came up and said all the things about his family without mentioning his father’s name or occupation. After the sharing one of the teachers approached him and asked him about his parents. He said, ‘I love my mother. I am proud of my grandfather who was a soldier’. But still he did not mention about his father. Later the teacher realized that his father was in prison, for doing something criminal (who was a notorious figure in that community) and this student hated his father.

- In our genealogy we may be proud to say that ‘I am the grandson of ……, or I am the great grandson of ……’. In other words we love some, ignore some and sometimes hate some.

Body

- Today’s gospel is the genealogy of Jesus. What Jesus would have felt when he thought about his ancestors? We can be sure that Jesus loved them all. But a human;

o He would have proud of some, like Abraham, David etc

o He would have ignored some, like Zodok, Achim, Eliud etc

o He would be not so comfortable with some, like Rahab (a prostitute), Tamar (not a righteous women) etc.

- All the people in this genealogy are remembered by us. They found a place in the Bible and became unforgettable because Jesus was added into that list.

- What made them great/unforgettable?

1. Their connectedness to Christ.

§ The difference between the stone in the temple and stone on the way side – both may be of the same place of origin. But one stone is attached to God and so it is respected in the temple, and the other stone is one the way side, ignored and abandoned.

§ Saints are the people, though many were even poor and illiterate, we remember them and venerate them, because they connected themselves to Christ.

2. Even though they were week, God could bring forth a treasure from them.

§ As St. Paul says, “For when I am weak, then I am strong”. (2Cor 12/10). It is because, when he was feeling weak, he depended more on Jesus and the strength of Jesus began to flow to him.

§ Those who feel fragile try to depend on God’s power and God will make them strong.

3. Their role in the salvation history

§ Everybody has a role in the salvation history. Even our least brothers and sisters have their role in Kingdom of God.

§ All the poor and the sinners are included in the salvation plan of God. Therefore we have to;

1. RESPECT the least of our brothers and sisters

2. ACCEPT them as my co-pilgrim to heaven.

Conclusion

- Let us accept all the people in our family, though they might have some problems. Forgiveness is the way of Christ. Forgiveness and love can change the life of others miraculously.

- Let us be connected with Christ always so that we will be great

- When we feel weak, depend more on God. He will make us strong with Holy Spirit

- Let us respect and accept our least of the brothers and sisters and help them since they are my co-pilgrims.

3rd Sunday of Advent – John the Baptist’s Testimony (Jn 1:6-8)

John the Baptist - a ‘disturbance’ in the society

Introduction

- ‘Disturbance’ is a common word that we use in our daily language. It can be weather disturbance, political disturbance, social or any other.

- Disturbance leads to change and newness.

- For example - without disturbance there would not have a new born baby (mother’s birth pain and the actions thereafter bring forth the baby), there would not be rain (the disturbances in the cloud is the reason for rain), and there would not be any newness on earth.

- Prophets are considered as the disturbance makers in a society. They disturb the regular rhythm of the society/individual and call for a change. John the Baptist was the last among the Old Testament prophets who disturbed the Jewish community.

Body

- There can be two responses to the disturbances, negative and positive.

o Negative response would be reacting to the situation and destroying the agent that is the cause of disturbance.

o Positive response would be change in to goodness because of the disturbance.

- In the case of John the Baptist there were these two kinds of responses

o Positive response was – people came forth and asked him “what shall we do” (Jn 3:10). They were ready to receive the baptism of repentance.

o The negative response was – King Herod imprisoned John the Baptist (Mt 14:3). Herod and his followers tried to annihilate John.

- In the positive response, the disturbance would lead to self reflection and change. In the negative response, the disturbance would lead to resistance and destruction.

Conclusion

- Today John the Baptist points his finger towards us and deliver the same disturbing message “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Mk 1:2-3). When we close our eyes in front of God and ask Him, “Lord, what shall I do to receive you wholeheartedly?” he would answer us. The answer would be a disturbing one that will affect our ordinary rhythm of life.

- The message from the Lord might be - to reconcile with our brothers and sisters, or to be more punctual with our spiritual exercises, or to stop some of the bad habits like smoking and the use of drugs, or to abstain from our sins, or to be more generous in charity, etc. These kinds of messages are disturbing in nature since it calls for action that is painful.

- How we are responding to this disturbing message?

- We can either ignore the message and become like anyone lived at the time of Jesus who never listened to him or experienced him, or listen to the message and respond (positive) / react (negative).

- Let us be the people who positively respond to the message of God self reflection and change.