Weekly Reflections

CCAS Administrative Assistant 12/8/25 CCAS Administrative Assistant 12/8/25

Third Sunday of Advent

December 14, 2025

What kind of Messiah are you waiting for?

Matthew 11:2-11

Now John had heard in prison what Christ was doing and he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?” Jesus answered, “Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin-diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the good news is proclaimed to the poor; and blessed is anyone who does not find me a cause of falling.” As the men were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the people about John, “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Look, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces. Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet: he is the one of whom scripture says: Look, I am going to send my messenger in front of you to prepare your way before you. “In truth I tell you, of all the children born to women, there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions - 3rd Sunday of Advent by Jude Siciliano, OP
Isaiah 35: 1-6a, 10; Psalm 146; James 5: 7-10; Matthew 11: 2-11

The opening line of James’ letter today certainly sets an Advent tone. “Be patient brothers and sisters until the coming of the Lord.” We often speak of Advent as a time that requires patience and waiting. But it is not a passive waiting, merely putting up with the trials life presents to us in our society. James gives us the image of a farmer who waits for the “precious fruit of the earth,” trusting that time, patience and God’s providence will bring growth. He reminds us at this Advent time to live in faith in what is unseen, “not yet.” He is inviting us to trust that time and God’s providence will bring growth. Patience is not easy during testing times. Testing might be as we struggle with personal issues in our families, local community and diminished health. The bad news in our world of national and international strife can also test our patience. Advent patience is active as we, in James’ imagery, tend the soil of our hearts through prayer, repentance and compassion. We are like the farmer and must do as much as we can to prepare. But we are reminded that we are not in control and must surrender the outcome to God’s timing. The good news, James tells us is, that “the Lord is near.” That nearness gives us strength as we wait in a “not-yet world.” We are tempted and can grow discouraged. Indeed, James reminds us, God is with us as we wait and already at work in the hidden places: in quiet conversations, small acts of mercy, the early signs of light present even before sunrise. Have we noticed? He also cautions us not to grumble against one another. In our waiting we might grow impatient with God which can spill over to impatience with one another. Advent invites us to be gentle to see others who are like us, pilgrims on the road to redemption. In today’s gospel we meet John the Baptist in prison, sending his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” This is a poignant moment in the gospel. John was the fiery prophet who had proclaimed the coming of the Messiah. Jesus had come, but he doesn’t seem to be what John expected. John sounds like he is wrestling uncertainty; might even be wondering if he had gotten God’s message right. He lives in a state we know as well: between promise and fulfillment; between what has begun in Christ and what we still await and hope. John voices our own questions in Advent when we ask, “Lord, where are you? Are you really present at this time in our world?” The world is in deep pain, spiritual and as well as physical. The delay in God’s promises being fulfilled can cause us to wonder if God and the kingdom are really near. That is our Advent question and besides raising the question we are also invited to listen to Jesus’ gentle reply. Here is the answer Jesus gives to John’s disciples about himself. “The blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” Jesus does not argue or explain. He points to what’s happening: healing mercy and transformation. Aren’t those signs of God’s kingdom? Advent faith invites us to look for those same signs. They may be small and hidden, or right before our eyes, hard to miss. These signs announce to us to God’s saving power is still at work among us. Do we not see? How can we participate in them? We note the beatitude in today’s gospel, “Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” This is an Advent challenge because God’s ways can surprise or unsettle us. We can’t stumble when Christ comes to us in a form we do not expect in the poor, and suffering, in the slow process of grace. Faith means trusting that even when we do not see everything clearly, God’s promises being fulfilled. John the Baptist is a reminder to us that even the prophet of fiery conviction struggles to understand how God is working. Like him, we too may wonder: where is God’s kingdom? Why does it seem delayed when the world needs it to come in its fullness?Today is the third Sunday of Advent, also called “Gaudete Sunday.” It is customary to light the third candle in our Advent wreath, the “Rose candle.” With its lighting we are reminded that joy grows in patient faith, the kind of trust that even when the world seems dark, God’s light is already dawning.”

[Here is a short prayer to accompany the reflection on Matthew 11:2–11 for the 3 rd Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday)]

Advent Prayer

Lord Jesus,
you are the One who was promised,
the light that dawns in our darkness,
the joy that quiets our fears.
When we grow weary or impatient in waiting,
help us to see the signs of your presence all around us —
in kindness shared, in mercy given, in hope renewed.
Give us the faith of John the Baptist,
who sought you even in his uncertainty,
and the courage to point others toward your coming.
As we rejoice this Advent,
strengthen our hearts with your peace,
and make us ready to welcome you —
now and when you come in glory.
Amen.

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom.— Isaiah 35:1

“Rejoice!” I say, “Rejoice!” The third Sunday of Advent, so called from the first word of the Introit at Mass (Gaudete, i.e. Rejoice), calls upon the faithful to worship with joy, “The Lord who is now nigh and close at hand.” While our attitude during Advent is one of anticipation and preparation, this Sunday’s liturgy symbolizes that joy and gladness in the promised redemption /salvation should never be absent from the heart of the faithful. Many Christians have reduced “salvation” to assurance of a blessed afterlife with God. However, if we look at biblical words translated as “salvation,” we find that they convey meanings of healing, wholeness, and right relationships. The human person can act on these three meanings of salvation. As Isaiah points out, salvation begins on this earth. One of the best ways we can make a difference and bring about a bit of salvation is to advocate on behalf of the poor and the earth against unjust situations. Here are some avenues:

1. Justice for Immigrants: JFI’s primary objectives are to educate the public, especially the Catholic community, about Church teaching on migration and immigrants; to work for positive immigration reform articulated by the bishops; and to organize Catholic networks to assist qualified immigrants obtain the benefits of the reforms. Contact Luisa Martin-Price.

2. The Reflecting Pool: A contemplative group that studies and reflects on the subject of racial justice with the hope of action toward a more equitable world. We meet once a month remotely by Teams. Lauren Green, Master Catechist, is the facilitator.

3. Laudato Si’ Circle: A group that meets monthly by Zoom to pray, reflect, and act on how to live out being stewards of God’s creation. Parishioner Monica Kleimeyer, a Laudato Si’ Animator, facilitates the group.

4. NC Catholics Caring for our Common Home: (N4CH) is building a network of Catholics across our diocese that want to unite in hearing and responding to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth through an integral ecological lens. Come join any of the above at socialconcern@hnojnc.org

As you light the third Advent candle, reflect on what you can do to heal, to bring to wholeness, and to create right relationships. Then, rejoice in the God who is coming to be with us and who saves us by showing us how to live.

Faith Book
Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Letter of St. James: “You must be patient. Make your hearts firm because the coming of the Lord is near”.

Reflection: James gives us the image of a farmer who waits for the “precious fruit of the earth,” trusting that time, patience and God’s providence will bring growth. He reminds us at this Advent time to live in faith in what is unseen, “not yet.” He is inviting us to trust that time and God’s providence will bring growth.

So, we ask ourselves:
Where in my life am I being called to wait with faith rather than anxiety?
How can I “make my heart firm” through prayer, or service, during this Advent season?
In what way can I practice gentleness and patience with others as I prepare for the Lord’s coming.

Commentary on Isaiah 35:1-6; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 From Living Space, A service of the Irish Jesuits

Today used to be called “Gaudete Sunday” from the first word of the Entrance Song in Latin. Gaudete means “Rejoice!” Formerly, Advent was a much stricter penitential season. At this earlier time in the Church, there was fast and abstinence for three days of this week. This was known as “Quarter Tense” because it occurred four times in the year. However, this Sunday was intended to be a relaxing break reminding us of the celebrations soon to come. As a symbol of this, the penitential violet of the vestments are softened to a kind of pink or rose colour. There is a similar Sunday in the middle of Lent. On the one hand, a penitential mood is an appropriate way to prepare ourselves to welcome the coming of the Lord. And, though we may not have fasting, many parishes will organise Penitential Services with the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the days leading up to Christmas. At the same time, it is difficult not to feel some excitement as we anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ coming among us.

Full of joy — So, the Mass text and readings today are full of joy, especially the Entrance Song, the Opening Prayer and the First Reading from Isaiah. The cry of the Entrance Antiphon is: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (Phil 4:4) And why? Because: The Lord is near! (Phil 4:5) The Opening Prayer asks that we: …who look forward to the birthday of Christ, experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving. In the First Reading, the prophet goes overboard with excitement and enthusiasm: The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom…and rejoice with joy and shouting. And the reason for all this? They shall see the glory of the Lord,the majesty of our God. And is it just a matter of being able to see him? No, because: …your God….He will come and save you. Salvation means bringing healing, wholeness and holiness as we become closely united to him. This healing, wholeness and holiness is depicted graphically: …the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. These words, as we will see below, will be applied explicitly to Jesus, who brought this healing and wholeness into so many people’s lives. However, we should not confine this healing only to the physical. It will also include healing on the emotional, social and spiritual levels. We are not made whole until harmony and well-being flows through our whole self.

The One who is to come — All this is closely linked to today’s Gospel. We find ourselves, in Matthew’s Gospel, at the mid-point in Jesus’ ministry. John the Baptist had already been arrested. He had accused King Herod of doing something immoral, i.e. marrying his brother’s wife while his brother was still living. While in prison, John hears about Jesus and sends some of his disciples with a question: Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? Whether John really wanted to know, or whether it was really for the benefit of his disciples is not clear. After all, John had already proclaimed Jesus at the River Jordan, and said he was not worthy to unloose the thongs of Jesus’ sandals. “The one who is to come” is, of course, the long-expected Messiah. How does Jesus answer? As so often happens, he does not respond directly to the question, but quotes the prophet Isaiah using the passage which is our First Reading for today: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news [gospel] brought to them. This exactly describes what Jesus has been doing. It also exactly conforms to what Isaiah said about the time of the Messiah. Jesus in effect is saying “Yes, I am the one who is to come. I am the Messiah, the Christ, the Saviour King of Israel.”

Still waiting — While the Gospel speaks of the Messiah already here, we at this very time are, in a sense, still waiting in anticipation. Jesus, of course, is already present and working through his Body, the Christian community: the Church. But he still has to come more fully into our own lives. As the Opening Prayer suggests, we need to “experience the joy of salvation,” that power of healing and wholeness which Jesus can bring into our lives. This is something each one of us has to do, and what we as a community also have to do. I feel that there are still many, including Christians, who have not yet experienced the deep joy of becoming whole in Christ. For most of us, the transformation into becoming “another Christ” takes time. We need the advice of James in the Second Reading: Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. And James says: The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

One of the greatest — John the Baptist is presented by Jesus as one of the greatest persons ever born. Yet, he missed the privilege of being born into the age of Christ, a privilege that has been made available to us. We could do well to emulate John in preparing ourselves for Jesus to become really part of our lives. John was strong, he was a man of integrity. He was not one of the rich and famous, he was no pop star, all sound and no substance. He would never have been a glamorous public icon. Yet many people went out to hear him, to be challenged by him, to have their lives radically changed by his words. Actually, our Christian vocation is similar to his. We are called to prepare the way for Jesus to come into our own hearts, and also to prepare other people’s hearts so that they, too, may “experience the joy of salvation,” that healing, wholeness and holiness we all long for, and which alone gives real meaning to our lives. Christmas is a time of gifts, both giving and receiving. Let us make sure that among the gifts we offer to others is some of the Christian joy which we ourselves have received.

PREPARATION FOR THE SESSION

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence. Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. ( 1-2 minutes of silence)

Leader: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. ( 1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt. God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

OPENING PRAYER

Jesus, we talk of your coming, of your coming again. But you have never really gone away. You have been with humanity since the beginning of time, have been with us throughout history, and are with us now and forever. Help us to remember that and live in the “now” of your presence, and help us to live truly in your presence, modeling our very lives after the humility and selflessness, the forgiveness and compassion which was your true self.

COMPANIONS FOR THE JOURNEY

From “ First Impressions” a preaching service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Boy, a lot has changed in the life of John the Baptist since last Sunday’s gospel! He has been center stage for us these two middle weeks of Advent. Last week he was out in the desert, the fiery preacher and precursor for Jesus. Remember his warning about “the one who is coming” after him, the one who would have a winnowing fan in his hand to clear out all the chaff from the threshing floor and burn it in unquenchable fire? Well, that was then, in chapter 3 — this is now — in chapter 11. A lot has happened since John’s earlier preaching. Jesus has taken up his ministry of preaching and healing and John has been arrested for speaking out against Herod’s marrying Herodias, the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother. Now John is in prison and he sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” What happened to that sure-fired preacher we met earlier? He seemed pretty sure he knew what God had in mind and what the one to come would be like. Initially John was quite taken by Jesus and when Jesus came to him to be baptized in the Jordan, John demurred, “I should be baptized by you, yet you come to me!” (Mt. 3: 14) We sense, in the question John sends through his disciples to Jesus, that John is disappointed or confused in how his successor Jesus is following the game plan John initiated. Why was it taking Jesus so long to purge the world? Where was the judgement on the world and the fire for the chaff John promised in last Sunday’s gospel? Why didn’t the religious leaders embrace Jesus? Others would have been disappointed as well. Jesus wasn’t pulling the country together along nationalistic lines, wasn’t organizing the people to fight for their freedom from the Romans. Sometimes when people go through a life-changing religious experience and they come to a deeper and more personal experience of Jesus in their lives, the initial moments are quite rosy. (Many people, when they recall their childhood faith, also have similar memories of a time when they felt they had stronger faith because they questioned less.) After a major faith awakening there is a sense of illumination, daily life takes on new meaning and having a sense of Jesus ready and present to their prayers gives a great feeling of companionship. But as life goes on, that sense of immediacy often fades, especially in the harsh light of the daily grind or at moments when we are jarred out of our routine by the harsh realities of life. Where, we ask, is Jesus now that we need him? Why isn’t he helping us solve our current problem? Isn’t our faith in him supposed to protect us from the difficulties we are now facing? Were we wrong to have put so much trust in him at the start? Faith doesn’t take the shape we think it should—or rather, if today’s gospel is any indication–Jesus doesn’t always fit our preconceptions. Besides the personal issues Christians face there are larger ones we face as a community of believers. Where is Jesus’ power in the world these days when we are experiencing so many manifestations of darker powers? What difference are we making to bring about a world of peace? Do our individual and communal efforts at reconciliation make any difference? So, we may find ourselves asking at worship today the question John raises, “Are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?” Are we being asked to trust this Advent that God is really at work in our lives, though in often less obvious or “impressive” ways? “Lead us not into temptation...” we will pray today before we receive the eucharist. Is our temptation to be disappointed in God’s pace, timing and manner of response to our urgent prayers? What answer will Jesus send back to allay John’s doubts and reinforce his faith in prison? Jesus doesn’t impatiently dismiss the emissaries from John--- and that was good news for John and comforting to us as well. We are not ignored in our faith struggles to understand who Jesus is for us at this stage of our journey. Jesus does respond to the question John sends, though at first, it seems indirect. Wouldn’t a simple “yes” or “no” have been appropriate to such an urgent question? Instead Jesus refers to Isaiah 35: 5-6 (“Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing.”) and 61: 1 (“God has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the broken hearted.”) John would certainly be familiar with the prophet Isaiah’s description of the one God would send. Guided by the Jesus’ Isaiah reference, John would also have learned that Jesus was going to put aside the more militaristic messianic anticipations some of the people had and was going to be the kind of gentle messiah the prophet Isaiah had anticipated. However, Jesus did not give a thundering response to John’s question, did not draw down lighting or cause the Jordan to stop flowing to reassure John’s doubts. That would have coerced faith. Instead, John like us, was invited to draw his own conclusions and then decide whether to put faith in Jesus. John was urged to see God at work in Jesus’ reaching out to those in most need, bringing healing to the sick, forgiveness to sinners and preaching good news to all who had come to hear him. Jesus was God’s sure sign that God had heard the cry of the people and had come to address them definitively! Let’s not overly spiritualize Jesus’ statements to John’s disciples about the blind, lame, lepers, deaf and poor. They are very real among us, their numbers grow daily in the economic downturn our world is experiencing and the loss of jobs due to the terrorists’ attacks. (“Food for Survival,” one of New York City’s major food pantries just made a report that one million people, one out of eight New Yorkers rely on the city’s food pantries to help them fight hunger. NY Times, December 2, 2001) Jesus really did help the forgotten and those in need. His actions on their behalf were a proof to John that God was working through him, for they were the ones God has always shown concern for and considered precious. Though forgotten by a world distracted by war, possessions, fashion, glamor and high tech, the poor are noticed by God. Jesus is the undeniable proof.

LIVING THE GOOD NEWS

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow:

Reflection Questions:

What do you think is meant by the coming of Jesus into our lives?
What changes will happen?
Will you like those changes, or are you happy with the world as it is for you personally right now?

By my words and actions do people around me experience Jesus in their lives?

When have I recognized Jesus in someone who needed my help?

Am I proclaiming “good news” to the poor?
Do I encounter the poor in my life?
Do I even see the poor in my life?

In this gospel passage, John’s plans have changed and his life has taken a turn for the worse; still he has hope… For what do I hope, right here, right now?

Am I waiting for Jesus to make the blind see, the lame walk, those suffering from diseases cured, the deaf hear, the dead raised to life, and to bring good news to the poor?
Just who are the blind, the deaf, the lame, the suffering in my life?
What help or even comfort am I bringing to them?

John expected a “fire and brimstone” Jesus; instead he got a Jesus of compassion and forgiveness.
What kind of Jesus is our culture looking for?
What kind of Jesus am I looking for?

Advent is really not about waiting for the Baby Jesus to be born; the historical Jesus has come and gone. So what are we waiting for?
Are we sitting back and waiting for God to fix the messy world we inhabit?
If not God, who?

Advent clashes with the Christmas shopping season; how can we be more true to Advent with a better use of our resources, both personal and environmental?

Do we really believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s plan?
Does this give us hope or cause a shiver of apprehension?

The world of John the Baptist and of Jesus was a mess, especially for the Jewish people. The rich were few but powerful, and exploited the poor. Poverty was rife, as were disease and problems caused by that poverty. The Romans were constantly rattling their sabers at the Jewish people, threatening their sovereignty and their very existence as a people. What messes are we facing as a people or individually in our own lives at this time?
Where do we find hope?

Jesus tells his disciples to go and see John in prison and tell him what they have heard and seen about Him (Jesus).
Are there peoples whom we need to tell about Jesus?
What are some of their particular prisons?
What do we say about Jesus to these peoples?

What brings the presence of Christ to us today?

CLOSING PRAYER

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for. From Karl Rahner: Behold, you come. And your coming is neither past nor future, but the present, which has only to reach its fulfillment. Now it is the one single hour of your Advent, at the end of which we too shall have found out that you have really come. O God who is to come, grant me the grace to live, now, in the hour of your Advent, in such a way that I may merit to live in you forever, in the blissful hour of your eternity.

WEEKLY MEMORIZATION

Taken from the gospel for today’s session: What did you go out to the desert to see?

FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Meditations:

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
Imagine that you are John the Baptist, the prophet who convinced people to change their hearts in advance of the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. Now you are in prison, put there by Herod who feared your popularity among the Jewish people, (After all HE is king, and any popular figure is seen as a threat) Look around you: what is this prison like? Is it hot and stuffy or cold and damp? Is it clean or filthy? What do they feed you? How do the guards treat you? Sitting in your cell, you look back on your life, trying to piece together how you got here in the first place. So you reminisce: What was your childhood like? When did you realize that you had a special calling from God? Why did you go out into the desert and live as you did? What was with the clothes and the locusts and wild honey? Remember what it was like at the river Jordan when people came in droves to hear you preach and to be baptized. Try to imagine the arrival of the Pharisees and Sadducees on the scene. How did they react when you called them out for assuming they were special because they were descended from Abraham? Do you remember when you called them a brood of vipers? Did you seek out confrontation, or did confrontation seek you out? Jesus was all grown up and just beginning His ministry when he approached you that day by the River Jordan. When you hesitated to baptize Jesus, and when He insisted that you do so because it was what “uprightness” demanded, were you still a little reluctant to do so? Did you hear the voice from heaven calling Jesus God’s beloved, or was it only Jesus who heard? If you heard the voice of God, why, now that you are in prison, do you have such concern about what people told you that Jesus was doing and saying that you send some of you own disciples to talk to Jesus himself? Was it frustrating to be locked up and away from any ability to interact with Jesus directly? Specifically, does His message seem a little too “soft” on repentance and a little long on compassion for your taste? Do you ever hear back from your disciples? If so, what do you think about what they told you upon their return? Do you agree with what Jesus said about you? Just how DO you view Jesus? Now project yourself into our time and place where we can only know about Jesus from what others have told us. Does what I have heard give me hope? In what way am I called to advance the message of Jesus as John did? What sacrifices might Ï be called upon to make to advance the coming of the Kingdom of God?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:
Jesus had a mission, but He is gone. Now it is our turn. Our mission, particularly this week, is to carry on the mission of Jesus. And while we cannot, perhaps, bring sight to the blind, help the lame walk, cure any lepers, restore hearing to the deaf, or raise the dead, we CAN in some way, by some concrete action, proclaim good news to those poor among us. How? We can donate money, food or clothing to a homeless shelter, we can give to Catholic Relief services, we can visit someone who is ill, or, or….

POETIC REFLECTIONS

Sparks
he late Stanford poet Denise Levertov ponders two approaches to the coming of the kingdom. Which do you prefer?

In today’s mail a poem
quotes from Ecclesiastes:
Whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do, do it with thy might:
for there is no work,
nor device,
nor knowledge,
nor wisdom,
in the grave, whither thou goest.
A letter with it
discloses, in its words and between them,
a life opening, fearful, fearless,
thousand-eyed, a field
of sparks that move swiftly
in darkness, to and from
a center. He is beginning
to live.
The threat
of world’s end is the old threat.
“Prepare
for the world to come as thou shouldst
die tomorrow” says
the Book of Delight,
and:
“Prepare for this world as thou
shouldst live forever.”

Advent Calendar by Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury
Is the poet speaking of the first coming or the second coming?

He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.
He will come like the frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.
He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.
He will come, will come
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.

By Judy Chicago
What is my part in creating “a new Eden?”

And then all that has divided us will merge 
And then compassion will be wedded to power 
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle 
And then no person will be subject to another’s will 
And then all will be rich and free and varied 
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the Earth’s abundance 
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young 
And then all will cherish life’s creatures 
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the Earth
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.

Gaudete by Brad Reynolds, S.J.
This is called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete means rejoice. Here is a wonderful poem for the season.

Gaudete
Because some people love you
Because of chocolate
Because pain does not last forever
Because Santa Claus is coming.
Gaudete
Because of laughter
Because there really are angels
Because your fingers fit your hands
Because forgiveness is yours for the asking
Because of children
Because of parents.
Gaudete
Because the blind see.
And the lame walk.
Gaudete
Because lepers are clean
And the deaf hear.
Gaudete
Because the dead will live again
And there is good news for the poor.
Gaudete
Because of Christmas
Because of Jesus
You rejoice.

CCAS Administrative Assistant 12/1/25 CCAS Administrative Assistant 12/1/25

Second Sunday of Advent

December 7, 2025

How do we prepare our hearts for Christ?

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea *[and] saying, “Repent, * for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: “A voice of one crying out in the desert,‘ Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees * coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions - 2nd Sunday of Advent by Jude Siciliano, OP
Isaiah 11: 1-10; Psalm 72; Romans 15: 4-9; Matthew 3: 1-12

Our passage from Isaiah today is one of the most beloved readings of Advent. It is rich in hope and promise, portraying the coming of a new king from David’s line: “On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse.” Isaiah’s image of a stump might well describe the condition of our world today. The news this morning reported that 30,000 women and children have been killed in Gaza, and 1.2 million Gazans have become refugees. The “stump” could also describe some part of our own lives – the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, declining health, a broken relationship. A stump is something cut down, lifeless, and seemingly beyond renewal. Israel must have appeared like such a stump to the prophet. Her monarchy had failed, and her people were in exile. Yet Isaiah speaks of a new shoot springing forth, symbolizing God’s power to bring life out of ruin. Could God really do that for Israel? It did not seem possible. Can God bring forth a new shoot from the “stump” of our lives? That is the Advent hope. We wait for God to bring new life into a weary world – and into our own hearts – even in situations that seem hopeless. God has made a promise, and God is a Promise Keeper. The prophet reminds us that the new ruler will not judge by appearances – the usual measure of the world – but with righteousness, defending the poor and striking down oppression. Ours is not a passive waiting, but a longing for the day when all will live in God’s truth and love. In Advent, the Church becomes both a sign and an instrument of that hope. Advent is a season of waiting – but not idle waiting. Isaiah’s vision of the shoot springing from the stump of Jesse reminds us that God is always at work, even when life feels barren. Isaiah sees new life pushing through hard, dry ground. He promises that from Israel’s failed kingship, God will raise a new kind of king – one filled with the Spirit, ruling with justice, compassion, and peace. In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist cries out in the wilderness, calling people to prepare the way of the Lord: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He demands an immediate response. We must change to make room for God’s justice. John is like a gardener turning the soil so that the new shoot Isaiah saw can grow. The shoot of Jesse grows quietly, but it transforms everything. God’s reign begins in small acts of repentance, mercy, and reconciliation – in the places where we allow the Spirit, who dwells within us, to soften the hardened ground of our hearts. “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.” Advent is a season of hope – not the shallow kind that merely wishes things would get better, but a deep and quiet trust that God is working even when we cannot see how. We live in a world, both large and personal, that often feels like a field of stumps – war, animosity, moral confusion, and personal loss. These can leave us disheartened. Picture an Advent banner in the sanctuary reading: “God has not finished with us yet.” From what looks barren, God can raise new life. Can you hear the familiar voice calling to us this Second Sunday of Advent? It is John the Baptist: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight God’s paths.” His cry is urgent and hopeful, reminding us that God’s coming is not far off or abstract. It is near – very near. But for God’s new life to take root, something must change within us. Advent is not merely a time for decorations and shopping. As good as those things may be, they can also distract us from what truly matters. We must clear away the clutter of our hearts, focus, and make room for Christ to enter. Notice where we find John today – in the wilderness. In Scripture, the wilderness is the place where God speaks to a wandering people: freed from slavery, yet unsure where they are going. It is there that they learn to depend on God day by day. The wilderness strips away false securities and distractions, teaching the heart to listen.

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. — Matthew 3: 10
There is no doubt that the prophets could be harsh in their proclamations. In his words above, the prophet John the Baptist leaves no room for gray areas. So, while it is understood that salvation always comes from God, God does expect and await human cooperation. As we see in today’s readings, Matthew underscores the human role in bringing about a world ruled by divine values. One of the documents of the Second Vatican Council is the “Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People.” This document calls for the laity to exercise their cooperation as agents of God’s saving grace and help create a new human community of justice based on right relationships with God, with other humans, and with the material world. The document states: Lay people, sharing in the priestly, prophetical and kingly office of Christ, play their part in the mission of the whole people of God in the church and in the world. In the concrete, their apostolate is exercised when they work to evangelize people and make them holy; it is exercised, too, when they endeavor to have the Gospel spirit permeate and improve the temporal order, going about it in a way that bears clear witness to Christ and helps forward the salvation of humanity (2). Echoing the words of John of the Baptist in a kinder fashion, the document states. . .members who fail to do their best to promote the growth of the body must be considered unhelpful both to the church and to themselves (2). As you light the second Advent candle, reflect a moment on what the world would look like if we all participated in bringing about God’s vision of a just world. In the broad strokes of an artist’s brush, people would work together to meet the needs of all, the physical world would function as a peaceful unity, and all kinds of artificially created boundaries would dissolve. On the lines below, write down one brush stroke that you could do as a visible act to help in the creation of a just world. Producing a work of art takes many brush strokes. Producing a good crop of fruit takes a community working together. Producing a better world takes living our faith to a whole new level. Prepare this Advent to give the gift of yourself.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SESSION
Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. ( 1-2 minutes of silence)

OPENING PRAYER

Lord, the world is such a mess, as it was when you first entered it. Help us to see beyond the chaos and despair of a broken world, a fractured political climate in our country, a sometimes divided church and our frequently divided hearts. Help us to find your presence, ever faithful, steering the barque of humanity into a safe harbor. Help us to pick up an oar and row with you towards the shores of eternal life.

COMPANIONS FOR THE JOURNEY

Spoiler alert: John the Baptist was not heralding the coming of Jesus into the world; he was heralding the coming of Jesus into His public ministry. Advent is less about anticipating the birth of Jesus and more about anticipating the birth of the Kingdom on earth through Jesus.

Adapted from “First Impressions”, a service of the southern Dominican Province, 2013: Why would anyone want to go through the trouble of going out into the desert to hear a preacher tell them to “Shape up” The desert is uncomfortable in itself, but John the Baptist adds a “squirm factor” to the venture. Instead of welcoming his admirers and inviting them to sit and make themselves comfortable, his first words are, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” Aren’t the days leading up to Christmas supposed to be a time for lights, cheery music, buying for loved ones and parties? What we forget is that Advent is not necessarily about awaiting the birth of the baby Jesus; in fact, when John is preaching, Jesus is about 30 years old, and the early Church picked this reading to remind people to pare down their lives and make way for the coming reign of God. But John’s voice rings out to us now as then. John calls us to examine our lives, rethink our priorities, reorient our dreams and longings. With that visitation about to happen “one is coming after me” we will want to put our house in order. The material things we worry about buying or receiving will not focus our eyes and ears to see and hear the promised One when he enters our lives anew this time. John isn’t preaching in a big city, or at the seat of power in Jerusalem. He’s out on the fringe. Those in the center, Jerusalem (and the people under its sway in Judea) are leaving homes, jobs and their communities to come out to hear him. They are leaving their comfort zones to move out to the edges to hear the Word of God. Advent is our chance to make space in our lives; to leave our center of comfort and scheduled routines and search out a listening place to hear what God has to say to us. In a recent document, “Evangelii Gaudium” (the “Joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis wrote, “I do not want a church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures.” Advent encourages us to simplify, calm down and listen. What we will hear is the “old story” of the prophets’ promise of restoration. John is another prophet who has gone out to the wilderness to encourage us to stand on tip toes of expectation, anticipating a deep-down renewal by the One, John says, who will wash us with the Holy Spirit and fire. It’s not just about what God began to do a long time ago out in the Judean desert. John’s messages is for now; it is in the present tense. He is preparing the way for our God. If we are stuck in a present condition of apathy or routine, then we experience our need for a savior. That’s what John is promising us, one who can fire us up and renew our spirits by baptizing us anew with the Holy Spirit. Advent is not about purifying and making ourselves worthy. It’s about a trust that Christ is coming to make a dwelling place in us. What encourages us and helps us is our recalling Isaiah’s promise and its coming to fulfillment in Christ. During a season of revelry and toasting let’s mention the unmentionable -- fasting and prayer; waiting and keeping an interior silence so we can be nourished by the Advent scriptures. The cheer and fasting will come at Christmas. For a while, at least, put the TV on mute when the pitches for Christmas shopping pop up. Look away from the screen and voice a silent prayer of longing and trust, “Come Jesus, come.” Advent calls us to repentance --- that’s step one. Then, we examine our lives to see if we are producing the good fruits of the kingdom Jesus came to proclaim. Paul spells out just some of the good fruit required of Jesus’ new community: “harmony with one another” and glorifying God “with one accord.” That’s Paul’s wish for the Christian community in Rome. He hopes such a community will bear witness to Christ among the Gentiles. We hope that the witness of our Church community will draw others, as John the Baptist did, away from their centers of comfort to join us as we hear the Word of God and are nourished at the table of life.

LIVING THE GOOD NEWS

Reflection Questions:

What is the meaning the term “repent” if it is not only to seek forgiveness for your sins? (hint: the root meaning of the word is “re-think”) How can you re-pent in Advent?

What is the difference between the actual coming of Christ two thousand years ago and the coming of the cosmic Christ?

Is there a disconnect between our run-up to Christmas and the message of Advent?
How do we bridge that gap?
In what ways does John the Baptist speak to our situation today?

What do we think is a baptism of spirit and fire?
Has it ever occurred in our history?

Have you known anyone who has come to a place in their life where they experienced a need to make a significant change in the way they were living their life?
Was there an event that signaled/marked that person’s decision?

How is public expression of repentance different from a private acknowledgment of personal sinfulness? What do you think would happen in your church community if every year even a few people would take on the role of sincerely publicly acknowledging their repentance for the past and publicly commit to changing the way they lived their life?

Have you ever felt the love of another so deeply that you wanted to change your life?

What part of our lives needs a renewing and warming gift of divine fire?

Am I praying to the Holy Spirit to come into my life this Advent?

Do I believe God wants to make a home in me?

Can you remember a time when you felt a deep desire to have God come into your life?
Would a public act of penance have been authentic?

What do you think it would feel like to be that caught up in God’s love for you that you want to change the way you lived your life?

Has there ever been in a time in your life when you felt that you were unworthy of God’s love and trust for you?

At this time in history, most people looked upon the Pharisees and Sadducees with great respect. Why would they be coming to John?
What do you think John saw in them that caused him to treat them with such disdain?

How does this text ask you to think about your preparation for Christmas?

In what ways do you want to reform your life? What in your life needs to be improved to prepare for the coming of Christ?

Have there been any “desert places” in the landscape of your memory?
How were you affected by them?
What did you learn?

CLOSING PRAYER

Repent! Is John’s message. I must sort my priorities and change my life; I must change my life. Am I ready to do this? Lord, help me to change what I need to change to prepare for your coming. Jesus, I have many faults. I can’t see my way to getting rid of them all. But at least let me become more tolerant of the faults of others!

FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Weekly Memorization: Taken from the gospel for today’s session….Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
While advent leads up to the Christmas season, it is not about waiting for Christ to be born; it is about making a place for Jesus in our own hearts here and now. It is about being open to the coming of the cosmic Christ, and preparing ourselves to account for the way we are living our lives. What do I have to do in order to be open to this message from God?

Let go of my personal notions of religious propriety by which I judge others
Let go of past hurts and bad memories
Let go of bad habits or actions of mine
Keep my eyes open to unusual people and places through which God chooses to break into my life
Find a place apart from daily life to quiet down and listen

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Prayer of Consideration:
Read Psalm 51, then make the following “examen of conscience”:
Thank God for all the Lord has done in and for you and all humankind.
Ask God to enlighten your mind to see your sins and help you to live without them.
Ask yourself what you have said or left unsaid; what you have done or left undone.
Examine your day perhaps with a little system, by time periods, or places, or some other method.
Identify anything you do not approve of according to your own conscience, and turn to God, asking forgiveness.
Look forward and decide how you will act tomorrow, provided God gives you that gift.
End with the Our Father
-Adapted from Tetlow: Choosing Christ in the World.

Poetic Reflection: How does the poet Mary Oliver capture our need to get ready for the coming of Christ? What is the role of compassion, of hope and joy in all of this preparation?

Making the House Ready for the Lord

Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but
still nothing is as shining as it should be
for you. Under the sink, for example, is an
uproar of mice—it is the season of their
many children. What shall I do? And under the eaves
and through the walls the squirrels
have gnawed their ragged entrances—but it is the season
when they need shelter, so what shall I do? And
the raccoon limps into the kitchen and opens the cupboard
while the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow;
what shall I do? Beautiful is the new snow falling
in the yard and the fox who is staring boldly
up the path, to the door. And still I believe you will
come, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox,
the sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering sea-goose, know
that really I am speaking to you whenever I say,
as I do all morning and afternoon: Come in, Come in.

Poetic Reflection: This is another way of looking at our time on earth and the need to reassessing our priorities.

Blessèd sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit
of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated
And let my cry come unto Thee.
-T.S. Eliot. (1927)

CCAS Administrative Assistant 11/24/25 CCAS Administrative Assistant 11/24/25

First Sunday of Advent

November 30, 2025

We do not know the time of Jesus’ return, we must be prepared, and we must continue to HOPE.

Matthew 24:37-44

As it was in Noah’s day, so will it be when the Son of man comes. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept them all away. This is what it will be like when the Son of man comes. Then of two men in the fields, one is taken, one left; of two women grinding at the mill, one is taken, one left. So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions — 1st Sunday of Advent, Year A by Jude Siciliano

Isaiah 2: 1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13: 11-14; Matthew 24: 37-44

The passage from Isaiah today is beautiful – filled with love and hope. It sets the right tone for us as we enter the Advent season. In these days of struggle and division, Isaiah presents a vision that lifts our hearts in hope, despite our personal and worldly challenges. In his prophetic vision, Isaiah invites us to look beyond conflict to a world where peace and unity reign: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another.” This is what happens when God’s word takes root in our hearts – we turn from fear, anger, and prejudice toward compassion, reconciliation, and service. Though the fullness of God’s kingdom is not yet realized, Isaiah urges us to begin walking that path now: “Let us climb the Lord’s mountain to the house of the God of Jacob.” He invites us to live today in the light of the peace God promises. Each small act of understanding, each gesture of forgiveness, is already a step into that divine light: “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” Isaiah’s words are fitting for this first Sunday of Advent. He reminds us that Advent is a time of waiting and expectation – not a passive waiting, but an active and hopeful one. God desires that our lives be united, peaceful, and rooted in divine wisdom. Hearing Isaiah’s message, we long for – and begin even now to live – his vision. “In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills.” Isaiah points to the coming of God’s kingdom – a kingdom that began with Christ’s first coming and will be fulfilled when he returns. During Advent, we renew our commitment to live the kingdom life Jesus taught us and to wait for his peace to reign fully. The prophet calls us to “beat swords into plowshares.” Advent challenges us to prepare for Christ’s coming not merely through external observances, but through inner conversion – transforming whatever is harmful or divisive into something that nurtures life. Christ came to bring long-promised peace and calls us to become signs of that peace now. Each week we will light another candle on our Advent wreath – a small sign of Christ’s light growing stronger as his coming draws near. Though we wait in darkness, we are not without light. We can name the darkness in our world and in our hearts, but we also recognize the light of Christ already guiding us—step by step, Sunday by Sunday – until his light fills the world and no shadows remain. Isaiah’s grand vision may seem at odds with Jesus’ words in Matthew, where he warns that the coming of the Son of Man will be sudden, as in the days of Noah, when people were unaware of what was coming. Isaiah’s message is full of serene hope; Matthew gives a sharp warning. Yet, they complement each other. Isaiah shows us what we are waiting for – God’s reign of peace and justice when hearts are converted and creation is healed. Matthew shows us how to wait – with alertness, readiness, and faithfulness in our ordinary lives. Jesus says that in Noah’s day people missed God’s signs because they were absorbed in daily life – eating, drinking, marrying. There is nothing wrong with those things, but amid the humdrum, we must keep our hearts awake to God. Advent calls us to do just that – to live ordinary lives with extraordinary awareness. Advent is not a season of anxious waiting, but of awakened living. If we want Isaiah’s vision of a world transformed by God’s peace, that transformation must begin within us. We prepare for Christ’s coming not by wistful gazing at the heavens, but by living each day with love, mercy, and attentiveness – walking in the light God provides, especially in our Advent Eucharists, in Scripture, and in our conversations with one another. Here is a prayer for Advent. I’m sorry I do not know the source.

Loving God, you call us in this holy season to wake from our sleep and walk in your light. You promised peace for our world and hope for our hearts. As we begin our Advent journey turn our eyes toward your coming and make us ready to welcome you in every moment of grace.

Blessing: May the God of hope fill us with peace as we await God’s coming. May God’s light guide our steps and God’s love make us one in faith and service.

Quotable

Let in the cold,
Let in the wet,
Let in the loneliness,
Let in the quick,
Let in the dead,
Let in the unpeopled skies...
Fearful is my virgin heart
And frail my virgin form,
And must I then take pity on the raging of the storm
That rose up from the great abyss
Before the earth was made,
That pours the stars in cataracts
And shakes this violent world?
Let in the fire,
Let in the power,
Let in the invading might...
Let in the wound,
Let in the pain,
Let in your child tonight.

—Kathleen Raine, “Northumbrian Sequence” COLLECTED POEMS, 1935-1980 (London: Allen and Unwin, 1981, 36-37)

Justice Bulletin Board

You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. —Romans 13:11

Advent brings with it the spirit of watchfulness, a time of observing God’s in-breaking salvation. Are you preparing a place for God in your life in a more visible and tangible way? Are you ready to wake up and join in? If you listen to the nightly news, the world seems hopeless. Yet, we are called to be a people of hope and Advent is a time of preparation. We prepare because we have hope in God’s love and grace at work quietly in the world. At our Door Ministry, we strive to give the people who come to see us a sense of hope. One parishioner said to me that our pledge of $200 doesn’t seem like much to help a person behind on rents that average between $1200-2200. I always think to myself, God hasn’t abandoned this person, why should our parish? We are a parish that offers hope. I have deep gratitude for all of you that contribute to the Door Ministry. You make a difference in many lives. It is like that with all our social justice ministries here at Cathedral. If you aren’t participating in an outreach ministry, maybe this Advent would be a good time to explore where you could use your God-given talents and love to help the less fortunate. Prepare now to give the gift of yourself. As you light the first Advent candle, reflect on your need to wake up to God’s hopes for you, to be the one God created you to be, to be hope to others. Lord, sustain us on our Advent journey as we go forth to welcome the One who is to come.
Cathedral Ministries Acts & Words of Hope:
— Angel Share Tree—provide joy at Christmas
— Catholic Parish Outreach—food, clothing for infants to toddlers, assistance in warehouse
— Crafters for Christ—share your talent for making items
— Door Ministry—financial donations, light-colored hoodies in L and XL
— Habitat for Humanity—build with us on Saturdays
— Helen Wright Center, Oak City Cares & Women’s Center—more cooks or bring supplies
— Justice for Immigrants—help with legal papers, advocacy
— Laudato Si Circle—come care for our common home
— Refugee Resettlement—help families already here in USA
— Share the Blessings & Farm of the Child—ministries that help outside the USA — Walking with Moms in Need—diapers, formula, baby equipment, more parishioners to accompany pregnant women

Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS — Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

From today’s Isaiah reading:
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks,
one nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.

Reflection: Peace is our prayer for ourselves, our families and our world. Isaiah calls us to a change of heart and a commitment to a new way of living. We pray with Isaiah today, asking God to fashion our hearts to the prophet’s words, so that we can put down whatever swords and spears we are carrying.

We want peace and so we ask ourselves:
What “swords and spears” do I carry into my daily life?
How can I refashion my words and actions to bring about the peace Isaiah envisions in my world?

Commentary on Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44

A new year in the Church’s calendar begins today. Happy new year to all! This period is appropriately called ‘Advent’. It comes from the Latin word adventus which simply means ‘coming’. But whose coming are we talking about? Obviously we are beginning to prepare to remember God’s coming to be a human being among us, with us and like us. And yet, although the Scripture for today does speak of the coming of God, it makes no mention of the coming of Christ as Christmas. Actually, at this time we can speak of three comings of God. The first is when Jesus, the Son of God came to be born in the stable at Bethlehem. But today’s Mass also speaks of the final coming of Jesus at the end of the world. And, there is still a third kind of coming we need to be aware of, namely, when God enters our lives every day. Every single experience can be an opportunity to make contact with God. And we are reminded of that ongoing contact with God especially in the celebration of the sacraments, including the Eucharist.

Preparing for the end: Today’s Mass actually says very little about the first coming of Jesus, i.e. his birth in Bethlehem. Rather, the Scripture readings emphasise our need to prepare for the final coming of Jesus, whether that means the end of the world as we know it, or the end of our own individual lives. The First Reading invites us to go with God. It says: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob…Of course, we know that for us, Jesus himself is the real “house [or temple] of God”. And because of that, the body of the Christian community united with Christ as its Head is also God’s Temple. And we go to him and with him:…that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. He will show us the way for us to follow on our pilgrimage through life, the way that will lead us to meet him on that last day on earth.

A Final Coming: The Second Reading and the Gospel emphasise that we must prepare for that final coming of Jesus, whatever form it is going to take. The first coming of Jesus in Bethlehem is to help us prepare for this final coming. We really need this warning. On the one hand, we do not like to think too much about how or when we will leave this world, but it is a fact. It is the one future fact of our lives of which we can be absolutely certain. There are people who are very afraid to die and who do not even want the subject raised. Today’s Scripture wants to remind us of the final purpose of our lives. Many of us are like the people mentioned in today’s Gospel: …in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away…These people were doing very ordinary things—exactly the same things that we do. But they were so busy doing them that they failed to give any thought to where their lives were ultimately leading, and what was the goal of those lives. They were very busy, just like us. Maybe they were very successful, maybe they made a lot of money, maybe they made wonderful marriages and had lots of exciting experiences. But in the end, they were not ready for the most important appointment of their lives. The question is: How ready am I right now? Maybe you think: “I don’t have to worry. I had my medical check-up the other day and the doctor said I have the heart of a teenager.” But how many end up as statistics on the death toll of our roads every year? For them, death is something which happens to other people, to old and sick people. We sometimes think that the busier we are, the better. We even like to say, “The devil finds work for idle hands to do.” We work for today, for tomorrow, for next month, for next year, for our future, for our children’s future. But what about our real future—our future with God? What preparations are we making for that future?

One taken, one left: So the Gospel today says: Then two will be in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken, and one will be left. This could mean that one is taken away by a natural or personal disaster (an earthquake or a heart attack) and the other left untouched. Or it could mean that God takes one away to himself and is left abandoned the other. In either event, the basic meaning is the same. Two men and two women, on the outside apparently the same, doing the same work. And yet there is an important difference between them. One is prepared and one is not. Of course, in our daily lives we have to work, cook food, earn our living and take care of our families. But we must also prepare for the final call. That is the most basic reality of our lives. If we forget that, all our other success is actually failure. Let us remember the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was so busy about good things and concerned about taking care of others, but it was Mary who had “chosen the better part”, in touch with the centre of meaning, the Word made flesh. We do not know when the Lord will come: …if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. And in many ways, it is a blessing that we do not know the day nor the hour. On the one hand, if we did know, we could be filled with a terrible anxiety knowing what the final blow was going to be or, on the other hand, we would let our lives go completely to pot knowing that we could straighten everything out at the last minute. In either case, our world would become a terrible place in which to live. So it is a question of being ready for any eventuality: …for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

How to prepare: The obvious question to ask is, How are we to prepare? St. Paul today in the Second Reading has some advice: Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. There are dark areas in all of our lives—things we do, things we say, things we think, the indulging of our lower and self-centred appetites. There are things which we would not like other people to know about because they are quite wrongful. They do no good to me or to others. Instead, we need to develop our relations with God and with our brothers and sisters based on a caring and unconditional love for all. We need to learn how to find God, to find Jesus in every person, in every experience. We need to respect every person as the image of God. We are to love our neighbours as ourselves, to love everyone just as Jesus loves us. If in our words and actions, our daily lives are full of the spirit of Jesus, then we have prepared. We do not need to be anxious about the future or what will happen to us. Concentrate on today, on the present hour, the present situation and respond to it in truth and love and the future will take care of itself. Then we do not have to fear, no matter when Jesus makes his final call. Because we know he is going to say: “Come, my friend. I want to call you now; I want to share with you my life that never ends.” And we will respond: “Yes, Lord, I am ready. I have been waiting for you all this time.” It will be an encounter, not of strangers, but of two old friends.

PREPARATION FOR THE SESSION

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

OPENING PRAYER

Lord make me available to your daily appearances in my life. Help me to see that you are there in the people I meet, the situations I face. Help me to live fully in the present, with an eye to the future that comes to all of us. Help me to live in the eternal now. Help me to trust in you completely.

COMPANIONS FOR THE JOURNEY

From “First Impressions” 2014, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

The Israelites in exile had no hope for their recovery and return to Israel. The Babylonian captivity lasted for about 50 years and, judging from their present situation, the exiles had no concrete reason to hope. Despite their sins “our guilt carries us away like the wind,” Israel’s prayer recalls that God created the people “You, Lord, are our father, our redeemer who are named forever” and how once God deemed them from slavery. The prayer articulates that neither the enslaved people, nor we, can save ourselves from our present situation. The present is a period of suffering for large populations around the globe. The world can’t get better on its own. We need divine intervention: we need Advent hope, we need the coming of Christ. We can’t merely “prepare for Christmas” without that help. We need and pray for an intervention by God. We need a Messiah. The gospel is sober and leaves little doubt that the master is returning to the house to assert his authority. This passage is part of a section called “the Little Apocalypse” i.e. a miniature “revealing.” The text sets up Advent for us. We are not yet expecting the birth of the little baby Jesus, but the coming of Jesus, the master, who unexpectedly breaks into our routine in the middle of the night when we may be dozing off, or fully asleep. Our usual routine is shattered when God enters our world. In our lives we may have placed too much security on what was close at hand and seemed secure. But our accustomed world can easily collapse, like the dollar in recession. Advent asks how secure is the ground we stand on? When God enters our lives our self-sufficiency will not be enough for us. Don’t we sense that our weary and battered world is not what God has in mind for us? God has plans to bring about another world through Jesus Christ. Those who are ready and awake will know when God comes and how to respond to God’s presence. Advent awakens us to realize we have invested our treasure in the wrong places and that world must end. The master, whom we serve, is coming to help us awaken from sleep so we can put aside our false world and rebuild our house on rock. “God is faithful.” Paul’s words will accompany us through any change or adjustment we must make in our lives. This is the God Isaiah evokes as he imagines us as clay to be formed by our God, “the potter,” and reminds us, “we are all the work of your hands.” Today’s selection from Mark is a gospel for hard times. This was certainly true for the community for whom Mark wrote. To name just a few problems the early Christian community faced: Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70; Christians were persecuted by both religious and political authorities; the new faith had torn families apart; false prophets were predicting Christ’s imminent return. Who could blame these early Christians for asking, “Where is Jesus now that we need him? Has he forgotten us? When is he going to return?” These questions we modern believers might ask when the foundations of our world are shaken by death, divorce, catastrophic illness, a child on drugs, extended unemployment etc. Hearing today’s gospel would have strengthened the faithful undergoing hard times. As difficult as their days might have been the parable would have assured them that Jesus was going to return, and would put an end to their suffering. The admonition “Be watchful! Be alert!” would influence them each day. “Perhaps this is the day Jesus is returning.” That expectation and hope would strengthen them “in the meanwhile.” What about us, all these years later? In the developed world we may not be going through what the early Christian community did in Mark’s time. But some communities in the world and individuals among us, certainly are. So many Christians and people of goodwill are experiencing uprooting with the consequent confusion and pain. We pray with the many distressed of the world today. We cling to Advent hope and trust that God holds all people in loving hands. Nothing is outside God’s concern and God can come at any moment to help us. We have a lot that distracts us in daily life and can numb us to the pain of others. Following Jesus’ mandate to “Be watchful! Be alert!” helps us stay in touch with our faith in God’s love and alert to God’s intervention in our daily lives. Staying alert helps us grow spiritually. We grow in sensitivity to the pain of others when we begin to notice what grieves them. Our staying awake and attentive to the world around us can alert us to the already-arrived and still-coming of Christ. This season has us keep watchful for Christ’s future return. Still, Advent is very much a season of the present moment because God is already in our midst and continues to stay with us. When Advent has ended we will celebrate Christ’s taking flesh among us. In the meanwhile this Eucharist helps us prepare for Christ and, with the Word, can open our eyes and ears to his presence already among us.

LIVING THE GOOD NEWS

Reflection Questions:
Have you ever found yourself suddenly unprepared for something?
How did it feel?
How did it work out?
What did you learn?

Have you had an experience which made you stop and reflect on the priorities you have in your life?
Have you spent more time shaping your resume than shaping your soul?

How many of us, like the rich farmer in the gospel, live in denial and live as if our lives were forever on this earth?
Without getting lugubrious, how can we be sure that we are prepared to meet Jesus?

The world is crazy and depressing, as it was in the time of the early Church. What gives me hope?
How do I share that hope with others?

How can we “stay awake” in the present?
How can we avoid “sleepwalking” through life?
What is the role of prayer in helping us notice what is really important and frequently overlooked or ignored?

Christ has already come! how does that fact make Advent confusing for Christians?

Adapted from Walter Burghardt, S.J.: Advent is a time to remember, repent, and rehearse.
Remember: Do we remember God’s pivotal care for a people who walked in darkness? How is the world of today like the world Jesus entered 2025 years ago? How is it different?

Repent: Which actually means “change your mind --change your behavior—to rethink”. What do we in our current American society need to re-think and what changes must we make?

Rehearse: what are we as individuals and as a society going to look like when Jesus comes for us (singularly or as a group)? What preparations do we need to make and what behaviors must we mirror in order to be ready? How are you working now to make the world look like a place Jesus would want to be when He comes again?

From Father Paul Gallagher OFM:

All of creation seems to suggest that change and cycles of nature are at work all around us. Where are you most aware of those changes taking place? How do you feel about the changes that you are experiencing at this point in your life and in creation?

The historical, political and social events of the world were affecting how Matthew’s community understood their relationship to God. What are some of the events in your life, in the community, and the world that are affecting your understanding of your relationship to God and or the Church?

This gospel will be proclaimed all around the world next Sunday. How do you think people in different parts of the world will hear and react to this text? Can you think of places where they may hear this text very differently than you are hearing it?

How do you hear this gospel text? What do you think God is saying to you? How will you respond?

CLOSING PRAYER

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.

From Sacred Space, 2017:

Dear Jesus, I can open my heart to you. I can tell you everything that troubles me. I know you care about all the concerns in my life. Teach me to live in the knowledge that you who care for me today will care for me tomorrow and all the days of my life.

FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Weekly Memorization: Taken from the gospel for today’s session….You must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Meditations:

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

I read Luke 12:13-21 (The Foolish Rich Man), and set the scene of the story. What is the rich man’s house like? Does he have a family? How do they live? I picture the rich man storing up his grain and goods, and imagine the effort and length of time it takes. What does he say to himself when his tasks are completed? I imagine how he feels when he learns he is going to die that night. To what people or things am I attached? What have I done to hang on to those things? How would I feel if they were taken from me by fire, earthquake, or death? What does this tell me about attachments? Both the Dali Lama and Tony DeMello, S.J. say that our attachments bring no happiness; in fact, they are a source of unhappiness. Do I agree? Why or why not?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

“The way I live should be the way I look when Christ comes for me” ( Walter Burghardt)

How Christ-like am I in where I am right now and in what I do; with people whose lives I touch?
How do I handle money, power, fame?
Whom do I need to forgive?
From whom do I need forgiveness?
How do I relate to Christ who is found in the 14% of US children who live in poverty?
How do I relate to Christ who is found in those seeking refuge and asylum in my wealthy country?
How do I relate to Christ who is found in the 50% of all elderly who love on $450 a week or less, and that includes medical expenses?
Do I really believe Christ has come?

A Meditation in the Franciscan style/Action:

From Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director, Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh,NC

“You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.” Romans 13:11

Advent brings with it the spirit of watchfulness, a time of observing God’s in-breaking salvation. Do you see God acting in quiet ways in the world? Are you preparing a place for God in your life in a more visible and tangible way? Are you ready to wake up and join in? If you listen to the nightly news, the world seems hopeless. Yet, we are called to be a people of hope and Advent is a time of preparation. We prepare because we have hope in God’s love and grace. At our Door Ministry, we strive to give the people who come to us a sense of hope. One parishioner said to me that our pledge of $100 doesn’t seem like much to help a person behind on today’s rents that are climbing. I always think to myself, God hasn’t abandoned this person, why should our parish? We are a parish that offers hope. I have deep gratitude for all of you that contribute to the Door Fund/Ministry. You make a difference in many lives. It is like that with all of our justice ministries here at Cathedral. If you aren’t participating in an outreach ministry, maybe this Advent would be a good time to explore where you could use your God-given talents and give the gift of yourself. As you light the first Advent candle, reflect on your need to wake up to God’s hopes for you; to be God’s hope to others. I ask myself what I am doing for those around me who are poor and struggling . I resolve this week to do at least one thing to bring God’s hope to someone else.

POETIC REFLECTIONS

While we all know that the world will end for us at some time or another, we often live as though this were not the case, until we can no longer do so. This cycle has been dubbed “denial, denial, denial, despair.” How does Wendell Berry capture our wish to deny our own demise?

Voices Late at Night

Until I have appeased the itch
To be a millionaire,
spare us, O Lord, and spare;
Don’t end the world until it has made me rich.

it ends in poverty

O Lord, until I come to fame,I
pray thee keep the peace;
Allay all strife, let rancor cease
Until my book may earn its due acclaim.

it ends in strife, unknown.

Since I have promised wealth to all
Bless our economy;
Preserve our incivility
and greed until votes are cast this fall.

Unknown, it ends in ruin.

Favor the world, Lord, with Thy love;
Spare us for what we’re not.
I fear They wrath, and Hell is hot;
Don’t blow Thy trumpet until I improve.

Words blaze; the trumpet sounds.

O Lord, despite our right and wrong,
let Thy daylight come down
Again on woods and field and town,
to be our daily bread and daily song.

It lives in bread and song.

—from Entries

CCAS Administrative Assistant 11/17/25 CCAS Administrative Assistant 11/17/25

The Solemnity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

November 23, 2025

The power of Jesus gives us hope.

Luke 23:35-43

The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God.” Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.” Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

From Living Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits

Today, the last Sunday of the Church year, we celebrate as usual the Feast of Christ the King. It is one of the most beautiful and meaningful feasts of the year. The concept of king and kingdom is at the very heart of Jesus’ message to us. He came to inaugurate among us the Kingdom of God. By this we understand that complex of people and communities which have totally accepted and assimilated the vision of life under God which Jesus proclaimed. It is a vision not only for a minority sect among the peoples of the world but a call that is valid for all, a message which contains the deepest hopes and longings of peoples everywhere. To take on board this message is to enter a life of fullness, of deep happiness and satisfaction. It is not necessarily a life without pain or suffering. In fact, pain and suffering may be integral to the very development of the Kingdom vision in our lives. It is a life which essentially involves other people, who on the one hand are agents of my personal growth and who on the other depend on me to be the agents of their growth. Behind all this is the figure of Jesus Christ, our King. In himself he embodies the whole vision of the Kingdom by the way he lived, spoke, worked, taught, healed, liberated and finally sacrificed his life in love for us. In today’s Scripture readings we are given two extraordinarily contrasting images of our King. They are complementary and we cannot have one without the other. In the reading from the Letter to the Colossians we have a description of the Son as emanating from the Father with all the power and dignity of God. The letter tells us that we have been “taken out of the power of darkness” and for us has been created “a place in the kingdom of the Son…and in him, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins”. To enter the Kingdom is to experience being brought from darkness into light and we gain our freedom through the forgiveness of our sins. To be free and in sin are mutually exclusive. Who is this Son? “He is the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation” in whom and through whom all things in the heavens and on earth were brought into being. “Before anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity.” This is the special gift that the Son is for us. Through his taking on himself our human nature, we have been given access to the very being of God himself. We have access to the way God thinks, the way God loves. Being made in his image, we are called also to reflect in our lives the way God thinks and loves. And so the Son is called Pontifex (Bridge-builder) and ‘Mediator’ – for in his humanity as Jesus, he is the visible link between God and ourselves. In the man Jesus we have an intimate access to God and yet God remains transcendent and, in many respects, unknowable and unattainable. In Jesus we see God – to use Paul’s phrase – as “in a glass darkly”. When Jesus speaks and acts, it is both a man and God who speaks and acts but the fullness of God cannot be accessed through the human body of Jesus. So it is that all the prayers of the Church go through Jesus to the Father. Jesus is the Way; the Father is the End, the Ultimate Goal. But the letter goes further for it says that “now the Church is his body, he is its head”. The body of the risen and glorified Jesus is not now a human body, but the whole Christian community taken together. It is now our calling and responsibility to be the mediating agent between God and the world. It is for us to proclaim the Kingdom both in word and in the way we live together. “By this will all know that you are my followers, that you have love for one another.” Together with Jesus as the Head of our Body, we have a special mission to be pontifex and mediator between God and the world. In the Gospel, we are transported to an altogether different scene, a scene that can scarcely be reconciled with the image of the Second Reading. Jesus, our King, is hanging nailed to a cross between two other executed criminals. On the headboard is the sign, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’. On each side are his two ‘courtiers’, a pair of murderous gangsters. Apart from the terrible physical pain he experiences, Jesus has been stripped of all dignity as he hangs there naked before a mocking world. This is the final ‘emptying’ described in the Letter to the Philippians (2:7). Is this truly the “first-born of creation, the image of the unseen God” described in the Second Reading? Is this the same One through whom “Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers” were brought into being? No wonder that Paul says the Cross of Jesus is a scandal, a stumbling block to the Jews and nonsense to the pagans. For our part, can we see and understand that this moment of utter degradation is in truth the most glorious moment in the lifof Jesus? The moment when he gave the “uttermost proof of his love”. Below the cross, the religious leaders, who engineered his execution, now mock the Teacher and Wonderworker who drew huge crowds. “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” The soldiers, too, only knowing by hearsay that he claims to be a ‘king’ join in the jeering as does one of the criminals beside him. “If you are who people say you claim to be, get yourself out of this mess and us as well.” But it is the other criminal who shows deeper insight. He fully acknowledges his own guilt, but sees that Jesus is totally innocent of any wrongdoing. And he turns to Jesus, addressing him with a strange intimacy, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” It is an acknowledgement of Jesus’ Kingship. Once again, Jesus sees not the stereotype nor even the vicious past of this man but only the repentant individual before him here and now. That is enough: “I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.” What an extraordinary thing to say! There is no delay, no testing of the genuineness of the man’s repentance. Today with Jesus he enters into eternal glory, into the very fullness of the Kingdom – even before any of Jesus’ other disciples, before his own Mother! Here is the wonder of our King and what it means to be part of his Kingdom. It is beautifully described in the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer in today’s Mass:

As King he claims dominion over all creation,
that he may present to you, his almighty Father,
an eternal and universal kingdom;
a kingdom of truth and life,
a kingdom of holiness and grace,
a kingdom of justice, love and peace.

Our King has been chosen for us by God, but it is for each one of us to profess our allegiance to him. We do this, not just saying it in so many words, but by taking on board the fullness of his life and teaching which we find in the Gospel and in the New Testament. And, as members of his Body, we too in some strange way share in that Kingship. Today we are called to work together to expand the reality of his Kingdom in our families, in our society and in the world generally. Lord Jesus, your Kingdom come!

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
November 23, 2025
2 Samuel 5: 1-3; Psalm 122; Colossians 1: 12-20; Luke 23: 35-43

Today’s first reading recalls the moment when the twelve tribes of Israel gathered at Hebron to recognize David as their king and pledge allegiance to him. Centuries later, in Jesus’ time, the Jews lived under King Herod and the Roman Empire. They were in a miserable, seemingly hopeless state and longed for the past glory of their united kingdom under David – the “Shepherd King.” David had his faults, but the people were one with him. As the tribes said to him, “Here we are, your bone and your flesh.” Despite his all-too-human weaknesses, God used David to unite the twelve tribes into a single, powerful nation. Under Herod and Roman occupation, the suffering people not only looked back to that golden age, but also forward to a messianic, David-like king who would deliver them. They believed God would again raise up a ruler to free them from oppression. But where was this long-awaited king? And how would they recognize him when he came? In the gospel, the answer is shocking he hangs on a cross. Pilate, in mockery, had placed above him the inscription, “This is the King of the Jews.” How did this king end up in such a crushing place of defeat? Earlier in Luke, we read that Jesus “firmly resolved to proceed to Jerusalem” (9:51). From that moment, we have been traveling with him and his disciples toward the Holy City. Along the way – the “Journey Narrative” that runs from 9:51 to 19:28 – Luke reminds us again and again that Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem. During that journey, Jesus performs miracles, teaches about prayer and the cost of discipleship, sends his followers on mission, meets resistance from religious leaders, predicts his passion, warns of coming trials, and exhorts perseverance in faith until the Son of Man returns. Still, when they finally reach Jerusalem and everything he foretold comes true – his arrest and crucifixion – the disciples are devastated. Shocked and disillusioned, they scatter. In Luke’s account of the crucifixion, those who remain are few: onlookers, mocking soldiers, sneering religious leaders, and, at a distance, “his friends and the women who had followed him from Galilee” (23:49). Beside him hang two condemned criminals. It is a lonely throne and a powerless crown for this so-called “King of the Jews.” Yet, ironically, it is one of those criminals who has the faith to ask, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Kings and queens – those with real authority – exercise “top-down” power over their subjects, much like the control we exert over things, animals, or subordinates. I once witnessed this kind of power at a Marine base in South Carolina: when a drill sergeant barked, “Attention!” his recruits instantly stiffened, eyes fixed straight ahead. Some imagine Jesus’ kingship in that way – as the ability to command instant obedience or crush opposition at will. But on the cross, where is that power? Why doesn’t he use it to descend, destroy his enemies, and establish his reign? Instead, to see our King, we must look upon the terrible sight of the cross, where he is pinned and powerless. What kind of kingship is this? From the cross, Jesus reveals a different kind of power. St. Paul tells us in Philippians that Jesus “emptied himself,” setting aside divine privilege and humbling himself, even to death on a cross. His power is not the power of force, but of self-giving love. He invites us into union with him – a relationship that appears weak yet is stronger than any earthly rule. In that union, we share in his power: the power to heal, to forgive, and to serve as agents of reconciliation. Through our relationship with Christ, we become strong – not by dominating others, but by sharing his life and love with them. In accepting the cross, Jesus entered into solidarity with the lowest in society. Who could be lower than a condemned criminal? The crucified Christ shows that he gives himself to all, especially the least and the lost – not by imposing himself, but by offering himself in apparent defeat. Earthly rulers, and at times even religious authorities, assert power to achieve their own ends. Jesus, by contrast, exercises power through service – laying down his life for us. We are free to accept or reject his rule. He will not compel us. He seeks not subservient subjects, but friends: “I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends…” (John 15:15). Those who accept his reign live as brothers and sisters in his kingdom, already present among us. Yet the world daily tempts us to follow other rulers – greed, violence, indifference, cruelty, aggression. Accepting Jesus’ kingship, then, is not a one-time act; it must be renewed each day through deliberate choices. Living under his reign can sometimes feel discouraging, since his kingdom often appears incomplete or fragile in our world. A glance at the day’s headlines confirms that! There is still much to do to make Jesus’ “peaceable kingdom” visible – not only in the world around us and within the Christian community, but within each of our hearts.

Quotable

“We cannot forget that … the dignity of every human person must be respected today, not tomorrow, and the extreme poverty … should constantly weigh upon our consciences.” —Pope Leo, “Dilexi te”

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

He [God the Father] delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. --Colossians 1: 13

The idea of a kingdom is an interesting concept to ponder. Look around at the kingdoms active in our world and one typically sees great power and wealth; some are headed by people who want the best for their people, and some are surrounded by corruption and self-interest. The late Pope Francis, in a November 20, 2016, homily, wrote of Jesus’ kingdom, “the grandeur of his kingdom is not power as defined by this world, but the love of God, a love capable of encountering and healing all things.” Someone once wrote that Jesus had more of a “kingdom” than a kingdom in mind, where everyone is meant to be loving siblings to others. What a world that would be! It requires that followers of Jesus’ Way would honor God through compassionate encounters with everyone, even those who may seem very different, from the very poor to perceived enemies. This is reaffirmed in Pope Leo’s new apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, “I have loved you.” He writes, “Jesus’ teaching on the primacy of love for God is clearly complemented by his insistence that one cannot love God without extending one’s love to the poor. Love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God, as the Apostle John attests: ‘No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. . .God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them’ (1 Jn 4:12,16). The two loves are distinct yet inseparable. Even in cases where there is no explicit reference to God, the Lord himself teaches that every act of love for one’s neighbor is in some way a reflection of divine charity: ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40)”(26). This is a grassroots kingdom. Pope Francis reflected that, “The future of humanity does not lie solely in the hands of great leaders, the great powers and the elites. It is fundamentally in the hands of people and in their ability to organize. It is in their hands, which can guide with humility and conviction...” The vision is a “kingdom” and it is in our hands to make it present now.

Accepting Jesus as Our King by Brian Gleeson, CP

Some years ago an American soldier was travelling on a bus in Sweden. He boasted to the man sitting next to him: “America is the most democratic country in the world. Ordinary citizens can go to the White House and discuss things with the President.” “That’s nothing,” said the other passenger, “in Sweden the King and the people travel on the same bus.” When the man got off the bus, the other passengers said to the American: “You have just met our King, Gustav Adolf VI.” There is some similarity between that type of King and Jesus Christ, our King. During his time on earth Jesus ran away when the crowd tried to make him their kind of king. And this is just what we would expect from someone who told his disciples not to be lord and master over others. This is just what we would expect from someone who put a child in the centre of the circle as a model of vulnerability and openness to others. This is just what we would expect of a king who showed his authority by washing his followers’ feet, and who was never so powerful as when he hung powerless on the cross, and yet as we have just heard, was able to promise paradise to a repentant thief. As it was for Jesus, so for us his followers! We are never so influential as when we do what Jesus did – never bossing others around, not trying to be someone special or someone different, but welcoming every other person as someone like ourselves, someone with needs and longings like ours, someone who bleeds and hurts like we do. In short, we are never so influential as when we welcome every other person into our lives as another self. On that basis, let me draw your attention to this definition of a friend which I found on the door of the fridge in a priest’s house: “A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and still accepts you the way that you are now.” That’s the kind of person that Jesus wants us to be, that’s the kind of person who truly belongs to his kingdom, whether they know it or not. More than any other leader in our lives, he is our Leader, one whom we honour and love, and one to whom we readily and gladly bend the knee and bow the head. Was it not to bring in that new world that he called ‘the kingdom of God’ the very reason that he came among us? Isn’t that too why he stays with us? Did he not come down to earth to change our hearts, to rid us of all evil and all sin? Did he not come among us to bring an end to all hostility, all wars and all terror? Did he not come to bring us and everyone else justice, joy, peace, health and wellbeing? His kingship, then, is not like that of other kings and rulers. It is not about wealth and power. It is not about domination and control. It is not about military might, conquests, and national security. It is not about palaces, splendour and magnificence. His kingship is about truth and honesty. It’s about goodness and generosity. It’s about service and self-sacrifice. It’s about justice and love. It is about mercy and care. Mercy and care for all people, but especially for those who are poor, broken-hearted, neglected or ignored! So, do you and I really qualify as subjects of his kingdom? Do we belong to him or not? Do we call him ‘Our Lord’, and if we do, do we really mean it and live it? Today our liturgical year is coming to an end. Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, and the start of the Year A Cycle of Readings. Today, Jesus our King is inviting us to bring this year of the Church to an end by choosing him once again and forever as our Lord and Saviour, and recommitting ourselves to living his teachings, values, and example. With the help of his amazing grace, are you and I ready and willing to renew our commitment to him during the rest of our prayer-time together today? Are we? Surely we are! Let’s try to make that commitment, then, make it from the heart, make it for real, and make it for keeps!

PREPARATION FOR THE SESSION

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

OPENING PRAYER

Lord, we lean on your example to show us what real power means. You are king of all that is good, compassionate and just. You died on the cross the way you did to show us how to trust in the Father’s goodness, even in the darkest moments of our lives. You showed us that love is more powerful that hate, that mercy is more powerful than vengeance. You showed us that dignity is not a matter of where and how we suffer, but a matter of the grace and openness to the suffering other others. Help us to understand what real power means.

COMPANIONS FOR THE JOURNEY

From a homily preached to CC@S in 2010:

Jesus, Remember Me When You Come Into Your Kingdom

Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30. It was the beginning of the week of Passover, the most sacred week of the Jewish year. On the West side of the city, the main entrance, so to speak, entered Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Idumea, Judea and Samaria. Imagine a cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. Imagine the sounds: the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, the beating of drums. Then think of the swirling of dust from the entourage. The eyes of the silent onlookers, some curious, some awed, some resentful.”( 1.) Though unfamiliar to most people today, the imperial procession was well known in the Jewish homeland in the first century. It was the standard practice of the Roman governors of Judea to be in Jerusalem for the major Jewish festivals, not out of respect, but simply to be in the city in case there was trouble from the increased population. On the other side of town, the east side, there was another processional. There was a modestly clothed man named Jesus riding on a donkey coming down from the Mount of Olives. Jesus was from the peasant village of Nazareth. His followers were also peasants as were most of the people in the country and surrounding the city. It included people who were outcasts and lame, women and Samaritans. He was the son of a laborer, perhaps a carpenter. His message was about another kind of kingdom, the kingdom of God. They stood by him and alongside the entrance. Many people simply spread their cloaks and shawls before him on his path while others quickly plucked branches from some trees to lay before him and still others waved palms. What kind of king is this, what kind of kingdom? First of all, the Kingdom of God is not a place, or a political structure, but a realm in which only God is adored, a realm in which peace, justice and love are the reigning principles, a realm in which power is shared, not the possession of a few. Were the onlookers that day really looking for a king whose reign would be radically different? Are we? Since the 13th Sunday, when Luke told us that Jesus “firmly resolved to proceed to Jerusalem.” we have been traveling with Jesus to the Holy City. Along the way, he feeds the hungry, heals the hurting, loves and serves the poor, the broken, the marginalized. And when he enters Jerusalem –a dusty little man on a dusty little borrowed donkey, the fun begins. Beaten, mocked, scourged and hung on a crossbeam like a common criminal, he is not the king anybody was expecting. It’s a lonely throne and powerless crown for this “King of the Jews.” Ironically, it is one of the criminals executed alongside Jesus who has the faith to ask Jesus to remember him when Jesus enters his kingly power. Jesus, the king, is showing us another kind of power from the cross. Jesus’ power is not exerted by force, but by inviting us to become one with him. He is offering himself to us in a relationship that is strong, even when it appears weak. In that relationship we share in his power--a power to heal and forgive; a power to be his servants in his ministry of reconciliation. In our relationship with Jesus we become strong, not assuming power and rule over people, but by sharing his life in our relationship with others. Pilate entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with soldiers and a chariot and led by force. Jesus entered on a donkey and led by service. One was the executioner and one was executed. One is forgotten in history. One is worshiped and loved and changed the world. For whatever people want to say about Jesus, the historical reality about Jesus is that he represented not only a new way of believing, but a new way of being. He deliberately countered the aristocratic and pharisaic domination system. Jesus spoke and lived for the oppressed and became the greatest leader by being the greatest servant. And now it is our turn. When we pray May your kingdom come, we sometimes hope God will change the world around us without our having to change at all. But when we pray may your kingdom come we have to be willing to let our kingdom go. Oh, we can point to historical institutions like governments and even the Church who have abused power and coveted the trappings of monarchy. But that is a cop out. Real change has always begun with individuals. Think Jesus, yes, but think also of Ghandi, of Buddha, of Mother Teresa and many others who changed their priorities and changed the world forever. It starts in our daily choices: Do we seek power and prestige? Is our goal in life to be “somebody” to be important or successful or relevant? Do we seek wealth and control? Or do we seek to put our gifts to work for the good of those who cannot help themselves? Do we seek to work to save a ravaged planet? Do we seek to dominate, intimidate or exclude those closest to us—our family members, friends and co-workers? Do we Judge and distain others or are we seekers of care and compassion? May your kingdom come. Talk is cheap. Are we truly seekers of God’s kingdom of love and peace or are we mouthing empty phrases? Two processions entered Jerusalem on that long ago day. The same question, the same alternative, faces those of us who would be faithful to Jesus today. Which procession are we in?
(1.) Borg, Marcus and Crossan, Dominic: What the Gospels Really Teach About the Last Days

LIVING THE GOOD NEWS

Reflection Questions:
Christ freely gives forgiveness to those who ask: What holds you back from asking?
Is there someone from whom you are holding back forgiveness?

Has Jesus been a shepherd for you in times of turmoil and trouble?
How can Jesus be a shepherd for a troubled world and deeply disturbed world?

Like a revisiting of the earlier temptations in the desert at the beginning of his career, Jesus once again hears the seductive hiss of a final temptation---to use his power to free himself from the cross. Have you ever had a particular temptation that would not seem to go away?
What was it?

Have I ever been tempted to use what power I possess for my own personal purposes or needs?

The grace for Jesus was the thief’s voice on the other side of his cross, reminding him of his mission and his promise to his father to stay faithful to that mission… Has anyone in your life been that steadying voice that recalls you to fidelity to your obligations and promises?

How successful have those voices of grace been in returning you to an even keel?

Powerlessness is horrible—there are things in life we cannot control, and we just HATE that. Has there been anything in your life that has mirrored this powerlessness?

What is the difference between coercive power and suasive power?
What is God’s power like?

Anne Lamott said there are three ways in which we wish we had power, and they are impossible to obtain: the power to change the truth, the power to change the past, and power to change another. Do you agree?
What DO we have the power to change?

We find Christ today dying on the cross. What kind of power is that?
How will he attract people from such a powerless place?

Luke tells us that, “the people stood there watching….” What is your reaction to this scene?

Do I ever surrender power to those who don’t deserve it?

The king isn’t ruling from a throne, but from a cross, a place of defeat and abandonment. Do I want to accept his rule in my life?

From “First Impressions” 2025, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:
Can you name two or three powers that lay claim to the hearts of people in the world? What powers compete with Jesus’ rule within our church? Within ourselves?

CLOSING PRAYER

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offerprayers for anyone you wish to pray for.

Lord, we are selfish, unkind and mean-spirited at times. We have failed so often and often failed spectacularly. But you understand and forgive, extending to us the Father’s care. Aways the father’s care.

WEEKLY MEMORIZATION

Taken from the gospel for today’s session….Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Meditations:

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions

Read Psalm 147 and consider the questions which follow:

Psalm 147

Praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.
He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.
He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.
His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Extol the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion.
He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.
He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.
He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast?
He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.
He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws.

A psalm reflects the psalmist’s theology and the psalmist’s idea of how they want the world to work. Sometimes, psalms about God’s power reflect all too closely the ideal of power prevalent at the time—powerful rulers who reward those who curry favor with them, who punish those who disobey the rules. Order is maintained through intimidation and sheer force. It is coercive power. In reading the psalm, how would you describe this psalm writer’s notion of God’s power? Does this comport with your idea of God’s power? Do you think power must include destruction or create fear among others? What about suasive power—the kind of power that draws in others and empowers them, encourages them, and, yes, reminds them when they are messing up? What kind of power did Jesus eschew while he was on the cross? What kind of power did Jesus embrace while he was on the cross? What does the tell you about the proper use of kingly power? Or the proper use of God’s power?

A meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action (Adapted from Justice Notes: “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province)

We are a people who admire power. We are quick to react if we think we are being infringed upon in any way. Our country began with a rebellion against a British king’s power. We wanted our national and individual liberties and would accept no king or queen over us. We boast of being the most powerful nation in the world and we have the economic, military and political might to prove it. This feast challenges us to reflect on the power each of us has and how we use it. Are we first world citizens who are economically comfortable, educated, articulate, etc.? There are many ways we have and use power; many ways we have influence over individuals and as members of communities and organizations. Where do you see abuse of power or a power vacuum? The Gospel is not only about our own individual goodness or charity. It is about our responsibility to help change social structures and national policies to make them more compassionate. We must ask the Gospel questions and struggle to change the answers: Does our nation feed the hungry? Or do we cut support programs in order to fund an ever increasing military budget? Does our nation welcome strangers? Or are our immigration limits and laws making it more and more difficult for those seeking a better life to find one here in our country? Does our nation clothe the naked? Or do we support the sweatshops, which make the lives of the poor a misery while making cheap clothing more available for those who already have an abundance? Does our nation care for the sick? Or are health care plans and medical care available only to those who can afford it? Does our nation visit Christ in prison? Or as the nation with the highest percentage of its population behind bars do we ask why these brothers and sisters of Jesus come mostly from minority groups and extreme poverty? What can I do? Read the Gospel from the perspective of the poor. Be Informed. Get involved in advocating for “The Kingdom of God.”

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination

I read Kings 12:1-9. I imagine that I am the young Rehoboam who has just inherited the throne from my father Solomon, a very powerful man. When I am asked to lighten the yoke of slavery and taxation that my father put on the people, why do I respond the way that I do? Insecurity? Fear of my brother Jereboam’s power? The heady feeling of being in control so much? Sheer bad temper? Why do I listen to my contemporaries instead of the elders? Where does my show of power lead me? In what ways am I tempted by my own desire for power and control? Have there ever been times in my life when I have taken advantage of those less powerful, less intelligent, less ambitious or less loveable? I speak to God about these instances. What personal changes would I like God’s help with?

POETIC REFLECTIONS

This poem, written by Thomas a Kempis in the fifteenth century, shows us the difference between our notions of power and the power God favors:

Oh, love, how deep, how broad, how high,
Beyond all thought and fantasy,
That God, the Son of God, should take
Our mortal form for mortal’s sake!

He sent no angel to our race,
Of higher or of lower place,
But wore the robe of human frame,
And to this world himself he came.

For us baptized, for us he bore
His holy fast and hungered sore;
For us temptation sharp he knew;
For us the tempter overthrew.

For us he prayed; for us he taught,
For us his daily works he wrought,
By words and signs and actions thus
Still seeking not himself, but us.

For us by wickedness betrayed,
For us, in crown of thorns arrayed,
He bore the shameful cross and death;
For us he gave his dying breath.

For us he rose from death again;
For us he went on high to reign;
For us he sent his Spirit here
To guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.

All glory to our Lord and God
For love so deep, so high, so broad;
The Trinity whom we adore
Forever and forevermore.

How does the following poem by the late Stanford Professor and poet Denise Levertov reflect on the way we humans have misinterpreted the words in Genesis and believed that the earth was ours to plunder and abuse, as opposed to being a gift we were to preserve and return to God in better condition than we found it?

Tragic Error
“The earth is the Lord’s, we gabbed,
and the fullness thereof–
while we looted and pillaged, claiming indemnity:
the fullness thereof
given over to us, to our use–
while we preened ourselves, sure of our power,
willful or ignorant, through the centuries.
Miswritten, misread, that charge:
subdue was the false, the misplaced word in the story.
Surely we were to have been
earth’s mind, mirror, reflective source.
Surely our task
was to have been
to love the earth,
to dress and keep it like Eden’s garden.
That would have been our dominion:
to be those cells of earth’s body that could
perceive and imagine, could bring the planet
into the haven it is to be known,
(as the eye blesses the hand, perceiving
it form and the work it can do).”

CCAS Administrative Assistant 11/11/25 CCAS Administrative Assistant 11/11/25

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

November 16, 2025

We must develop perseverance in the face of the unknown.

Luke 21:5-19

When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, he said, “All these things you are staring at now -- the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another; everything will be destroyed.” And they put to him this question, “Master,” they said, “when will this happen, then, and what sign will there be that it is about to take place?” But he said, “Take care not to be deceived, because many will come using my name and saying, ‘I am the one,’ and, ‘The time is near at hand.’ Refuse to join them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for this is something that must happen first, but the end will not come at once.” Then he said to them, “Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines in various places; there will be terrifying events and great signs from heaven. But before all this happens, you will be seized and persecuted; you will be handed over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and brought before kings and governors for the sake of my name, and that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Make up your minds not to prepare your defense, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated universally on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your perseverance will win you your lives.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

Malachi 3: 19-20
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3: 7-12
Luke 21: 5-19

We are approaching the end of the Church year – and something is afoot. It is more than just a calendar event; as the opening lines of our first reading from the prophet Malachi make clear: “Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble….” Malachi was one of the last of the twelve Minor Prophets. He wrote in the fifth century BC, after the exiles had returned from captivity. His name means “my messenger.” He was addressing a spiritually lax community of returned exiles in Judah, calling both priests and people back to fidelity to God’s covenant. His message seems fitting for our own times as well. In addition, the prophet announces the coming of the “day of the Lord.” The images of fire and burning stubble symbolize God’s judgment. The world coasts along, committing acts of injustice against the poor, and it may seem to some that no one is held accountable. Does God even notice or care? Malachi stands in the prophetic tradition from Joel to Zephaniah, who describe “the day of the Lord” as both terrifying and decisive. Yet the reading ends on a note of hope: “But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” This is one of the most beautiful images in prophetic literature. It assures the faithful that, despite appearances, God has indeed noticed the plight of the oppressed. For them, liberation and joy will dawn. The early Church saw this as a messianic prophecy pointing to Christ—and rightly so. The first readings at our Eucharists are chosen in light of the Gospel. Usually, the first reading anticipates the fulfillment found in the Gospel. So, today the two share a common prophetic theme: the coming “day of the Lord,” carrying twin messages of judgment and hope. In the Gospel, Jesus speaks to people admiring the beauty and adornment of the Temple, with its “costly stones and votive offerings.” They seem distracted by the externals of religion as they gaze in awe at the building. Jesus, echoing Malachi’s sober voice, offers a wake-up call to those lost in superficial religion: “All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Those gazing in awe at the Temple would have thought it eternal, yet Jesus warns, “not one stone will be left upon another.” It is not only a prediction of the Temple’s destruction; Jesus also warns of false prophets, wars, and persecution. But is God planning to destroy because of false prophets and persecution? Is this simply Malachi’s “day of wrath”? Neither Malachi nor Luke proclaims a God intent on destruction, but rather a God who purifies and renews. On that “day blazing like an oven,” Malachi envisions healing and freedom for the faithful. Jesus, foreseeing trials, wars, persecution, and loss, calls his followers to steadfast trust: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” We live amid uncertainty, and our world often seems on the verge of collapse – politically, morally, or personally. Our prophetic readings urge us to stand firm and trust in the Lord. Times of judgment and crisis may feel like the end, but they also herald God’s transforming light. There are many ways we can experience the turmoil Malachi and Jesus describe – not only in great historical events, but in the “small endings” of our personal worlds. Today, the structures of society and leadership can appear unstable or unjust: wars, corruption, the erosion of trust in institutions, and social upheaval. As the people of Jesus’ time viewed the Temple as secure—the very center of Israel’s identity—so too we may cling to what once felt stable. Yet the Gospel reminds us that while human power fades, God’s reign endures. This truth reaches into our personal lives as well. There are “small apocalypses” when life feels shaken – by illness, betrayal, failure, or deep change. In such moments, Jesus assures us that God remains constant, even when everything else feels uncertain. At times we may experience collapse and loss. In those moments, Malachi’s image of purifying fire and Christ’s call to endurance remind us that faith – not fear – is our sure foundation. As the change in tone of our recent readings indicates, the liturgical year is drawing to a close. The Scriptures remind us that we already know the side God has taken and that present injustices will not have the final word. As we await God’s resolution, we continue, as best we can, to live faithfully, to do God’s will, and to stand with God against injustice. After all, has not the “sun of justice” already risen upon us and illuminated our path?

God’s Word is Alive!: Entering the Sunday Readings by Alice L. Camille
(Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications), 1998. ISBN0-89622-926-2, page 352.

“Lo the day is coming”
Though his writings were brief, Malachi was important enough to be quoted by Jesus to clarify the role of John the Baptist (see Malachi 3:1 and Matthew 11: 10) as the messenger of preparation for judgment. And the day of judgment is coming, Malachi insists. Those who fear God will come out ahead of those who surrender to a skeptical and uncommitted age. So how does one prepare for the judgment? My Pentecostal friends in college would make us laugh by staging a “rapture drill,” referring to the belief that the Second Coming of Christ would include a snatching up to the heavens of those who were saved before the destruction of the earth. During this drill, my friends would stand with their arms raised, waiting to be “snatched up.” The point of the humor was, of course, that one cannot prepare for such an unearthly event, that the real test of readiness is the way we live in relationship to God and others every day.

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC

There will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.—Malachi 3:20

Across our country during November, envelopes are provided to parishioners to help finance the work of CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development). The 52-year-old CCHD is justice and charity in action through the Church. CCHD funds local community groups that work to change the systems that keep them in poverty. Work is being done to fight poverty at its roots in places that offer inadequate education, tolerate unaffordable housing, and turn away from communities in need. Through CCHD and its beneficiaries, we manifest Catholic social teaching of the preferential option for the poor thus carrying out Jesus’ mission to “bring glad tidings to the poor. . .release to captives. . .sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free” (Lk 4:18). CCHD is the official domestic anti-poverty agency of the U.S. Catholic Bishops and works to break the cycle of poverty by helping people help themselves. Consider these words of Bishop Timothy C. Senior, Chairman, CCHD Subcommittee United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: CCHD empowers the powerless to make their communities better. It helps residents to think about neighborhood problems, propose solutions, and advocate effectively with local leaders and elected officials to make those changes happen. CCHD is designed to put Catholic social teaching into action, helping the poorest of the poor use the gifts that God has given them to improve their communities and care for those around them. Right now, in the United States, 38 million people are classified by the federal government as living in poverty with 1.5 million children experiencing homelessness in a given year. A lot of factors can send a family below the poverty line—and keep others there who are already poor, such as a lack of adequate housing, health insurance or a living wage, underfunded education systems, challenging family environments, and racism. CCHD is made possible by the support of Catholics in the United States, especially through this annual parish collection. Grants to local anti-poverty efforts are screened, awarded and monitored in partnership with local dioceses and require the approval of the diocesan bishop. Your support during the November collection this weekend will create lasting change. Make your check payable to Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral for CCHD Collection. Be a ray of healing.

Faith Book — Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also
brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: Jesus said to his disciples, “You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Reflection: The end time may still be far off, but Christians are persecuted right up to this present time. We can be reassured that even as we suffer for our faith, in big ways, or daily smaller trials, Christ has not left us on our own.

So, we ask ourselves:

What is the daily cost to you of being a disciple of Jesus?
If it doesn’t cost, then why not?

Postcards to Death-Row Inmates

“One has to strongly affirm that condemnation to the death penalty is an inhuman measure that humiliates personal dignity, in whatever form it is carried out.” —Pope Francis

“Can you imagine what it’s like to have your boy on death row? Can you imagine what it’s like to visit him there every Saturday and tell him, ‘I love you. I’ll see you next week,’ when you never know if they’re going to call and say, ‘He’s up next—it’s time for his execution.”’ —Jeanetter Johnson, Mother of Alan Gell, who was retried and found innocent because prosecutors withheld evidence that might have cleared him of first-degree murder. [The News and Observer, February 15, 2004, Raleigh, NC]

Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I am posting in this space several inmates’ names and locations. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know that: we have not forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or whatever personal encouragement you might like to give them. If the inmate responds, you might consider becoming pen pals.

Please write to:

Wesley T. Smith #0765397 (on death row since 5/29/2002
John H. Thompson #0406487 (11/14/2002)
Terry More #0290634 (6/14/2003)

Central Prison, P.O. 247 Phoenix, MD 21131
Please note: Central Prison is in Raleigh, NC., but for security purposes, mail to inmates is processed through a clearing house at the above address in Maryland. For more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the Catholic Mobilizing Network: http://catholicsmobilizing.org

Commentary on Luke 21:5-19 by Gilberto A. Ruiz

Whenever a disaster strikes, it doesn’t take long for some prominent Christians to blame it on the secularization or moral permissiveness of society. On a September 13, 2001, appearance on The 700 Club, Rev. Jerry Falwell blamed the 9/11 terrorist attacks on certain groups and organizations he characterized as promoting “an alternative lifestyle” and trying to “secularize America.” Austrian priest Rev. Gerhard Wagner wrote in a 2005 parish newsletter that Hurricane Katrina resulted from the indescribable amoral conditions of New Orleans. Recently, the Westboro Baptist Church has attained notoriety for this line of thinking. Anyone who wants to justify their belief that God uses wars and natural disasters to punish people for “attacking” Christianity can find material in Luke 21:5-19 to support this view. This passage presents Jesus predicting the Jerusalem temple’s destruction (vv. 5-6) as well as more general catastrophes (vv. 7-10) that are preceded by an intense persecution of Christians (vv. 12-19). I propose, however, that we take a closer look at the different sections of 21:5-19 to see if other, more compelling readings are possible. By the time Luke puts the finishing touches on these verses, the temple’s destruction has already happened. Luke’s Gospel is dated to about 85 ce, 15 years or so after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple by the Romans in 70 ce, which means that for Luke’s readers what Jesus says in Luke 21:5-6 is more a reflection on the temple’s destruction than a prediction of it. Luke uses the destruction of this magnificent temple to make a statement on the impermanence of human achievement. In response to their wonder at the temple’s beauty, Jesus attempts to divert the attention of his audience from their fascination with “these things that you see” (21:6). Their focus should be on something else. What, exactly, is not specified, but immediately before this exchange Jesus drew attention to a poor widow in the temple (21:1-4). Perhaps Luke’s Jesus thinks his audience should focus their attention on the poor, not on the temple building. Those listening to Jesus teach in the temple, however, remain concerned with what will happen to the building (Luke 21:7). In response, Jesus moves from discussing a specific catastrophic event to more general statements about the coming of false prophets, wars, and other calamities (21:7-12). Here Luke employs language and imagery that is conventional in apocalyptic literature from this period (for example Daniel 11:20, 25, 44; 4 Ezra 13:31; Revelation 6:12; 8:5; 11:13, 19; 16:18). As readers we now have to decide how we are going to interpret Luke 21:7-12. Are we going to read these as literal predictions of Jesus, or are we going to read this section in light of the aims of apocalyptic literature? If a story begins “Once upon a time,” do we take literally the story’s events, or do we adjust our expectations because we recognize it as a fairy tale that is trying to entertain even as it conveys a moral or lesson? The decision we have to make in reading Luke 21:7-11 is similar. A specific genre (apocalyptic) is introduced, meaning we should adopt the interpretive lenses that help us understand this genre on its own terms. Apocalyptic literature uses unsettling language and imagery as a means to assure the faithful that they should keep their trust in God even when facing the most challenging of circumstances. Sure enough, while describing the terrible events, Jesus tells his listeners not to be afraid (Luke 21:9). There is nothing particularly original or specific about Jesus’ “predictions” here. Everyage has its own false prophets, wars, natural catastrophes, and so on. We will misread 21:7-11 if we think Jesus is describing a specific set of calamities. The point is that when bad things happen — and they will — we should “not be terrified” (21:9) or follow anyone proclaiming these are signs of God’s judgment and the end (21:8). Instead, we should trust that God remains present in our lives. That assurance of God’s faithfulness to us in the face of difficult times is the real concern of this passage is confirmed by Luke 21:12-19. Jesus details the persecution that his followers can expect to face: arrests; persecution; trials before government authorities; betrayal by family and friends; hatred on account of Jesus’ name; and even execution. Throughout his Gospel, Luke depicts Jesus as a prophetic figure who risks rejection and death as a result of his prophetic message (see especially Luke 4:16-30). Anyone who follows Jesus can expect the same hostility that Jesus and Israel’s great prophets endured. Indeed, the Acts of the Apostles (written by the same author who wrote Luke’s Gospel) provides numerous examples of early Christian leaders facing precisely the sort of troubles that Jesus describes in 21:12-19. But does Jesus in Luke 21:12-19 tell his audience they should lay blame on a particular person or group of people, on their society, or even on their enemies, for such treatment? No. He says that persecution is “an opportunity to testify” (21:13). Just as God gave Moses and other prophets the capacity to speak to and confront their doubters and opponents (for example Exodus 6:28-7:13; Jeremiah 1:6-10), Jesus himself will provide strength and wisdom for such testimony (Luke 21:15). Using a proverb that signifies divine protection, Jesus tells them that not a hair on their head will perish (Luke 21:18; see also 1 Samuel 14:45; 2 Samuel 14:11; 1 Kings 1:52). Ultimately, their experience of persecution will not end in death but in a victory for their souls (Luke 21:19). Underscoring all of these statements in 21:12-19 is the importance of trusting in God even in the midst of hardship and persecution. A close reading of Luke 21:5-19 shows that using this passage as a springboard for proclaiming God’s judgment on society would miss the point. Rather, the passage warns us about becoming too fixated on temporary human institutions, perhaps with the implication that we should attend to the poor in our communities instead (21:5-6; see also 21:1-4), and it exhorts us to be firm in our trust in God when calamity and persecution strike (21:7-19). Despite its language and imagery of destruction, Luke 21:5-19 is ultimately a passage grounded in hope — in the hope that God remains present in the world and in one’s life even when things have gotten so bad that it feels like the world is closing in on us.

Notes:
1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-CAcdta_8I
2 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-rescinds-hiring-of-katrina-priest/
3 Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke (X–XXIV), Anchor Bible 28A (New York: Doubleday, 1985), 1336-1337.
4 See R. Alan Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible 9 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995), 400-402.
5 Fitzmyer, Luke, 1341.

Commentary on Luke 21:20-28

Jesus continues his warnings of what is to come. It is a blending of what is going to happen to Jerusalem and of the end of all things. The images are mainly biblical and apocalyptic, taken from Old Testament prophecies and not to be seen as an accurate description of what is actually going to happen some 40 years later. The sign that the end was near would be Jerusalem surrounded by armies accompanied by the “desolating sacrilege” (see Matt 24:15). Nevertheless, it is true that Jerusalem was encircled by the armies of Rome. The safest place to be was in the surrounding hills, not in the city, which was reduced to rubble. Jesus is emphasising not so much the actual events, but rather their cause—the faithlessness and corruption of so many for which destruction was the inescapable outcome. So he calls them the “days of vengeance”, a time of punishment not indicating God’s revenge, but the natural result of evil and corruption, warnings of which the Scripture, especially the prophets, are full. See, for example, Isaiah 63:4; Jeremiah 5:29, Hosea 9:7; and especially, Daniel 9:26-27: Desolations are decreed. He [King Antiochus] shall make a strong covenant with many [faithless Jews] for one week, and for half of the week [three and a half years] he shall make sacrifice and offering cease, and in their place shall be a desolating sacrilege until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator. The temple was desecrated by Antiochus from 167 to 165 BC. The “desolating sacrilege” perhaps refers to an inscription placed on the portal of the temple dedicating it to the Olympian Zeus. All of this, of course, was to be repeated. And in many ways, has been repeated again and again—recall, for example, the statue of a nude woman set up as a deity in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris during the French Revolution. What follows from verse 23 is more relevant to the destruction of Jerusalem: Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! It will be a time of great distress. Many will be cut down and others will be led away into captivity to pagan territories (the Romans liked to parade their prisoners in a victory march in Rome). The holy city itself, its Temple in ruins, will be trampled on by Gentiles—a fate it still experiences. This will happen:
…until the times of the nations are fulfilled. For, as Paul indicates in his letter to the Romans (11:25-29), it is the Gentiles who have taken the place of the Jews as the bearers of the Good News and the builders of the Kingdom. But Paul believed that the age of the Gentiles would only end with the return of Israel and the reconciliation of all in Christ Jesus as Lord. It is an indefinite period, and it is still in process. Our God is an all-inclusive God, and a patient God. Finally, Jesus speaks of various cataclysmic and apocalyptic signs to signal the end of time. They are typical biblical phenomena and not meant to be taken as exact foretelling of events. They conclude with Daniel’s vision: Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. It is not intended to fill people with fear and trembling, except perhaps those who have lived wicked lives. But for the disciples, the loyal followers of Jesus, it is a time to: …stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. As we saw in yesterday’s Gospel, sufferings and tribulations are part and parcel of living the Christian life to the full. Our message and our vision is a ‘sign of contradiction’, a beacon of light to many and to others a threat to be radically uprooted. But for those who have tried to live by the vision and values of the Gospel, for those who have tried to seek and find Jesus in all the people and events of their lives, who have spent hours with him in intimate dialogue, it is the time of their final liberation, a time when there will be no more sorrows, no more tears, no more hardships, no more disappointments. Rather, they will be entering an unbroken time of love and intimacy, of freedom and peace, of joy and consolation. So, as we approach the end of another liturgical year, we do so on an upbeat note.

PREPARATION FOR THE SESSION

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

OPENING PRAYER

Lord, help me to get my priorities straight. Help me to see the transitory nature of so many of my goals and desires, my frustrations and resentments. I waste so much of my time and emotions building temples to success and achievement that will soon be torn down in my life to come. Teach me to focus on your enduring message and let go of things that do not really matter.

COMPANIONS FOR THE JOURNEY

From time to time someone predicts that the world is going to end on such-and-such a date. These predictions are typically greeted with a mixture of fear, ridicule and bemusement. In New Testament times many people seemed to have been concerned, if not with the end of the world, then at least with the dramatic arrival of God’s kingdom and the totally new situation that might accompany it. Today’s Old Testament readings can help us get a sense of these expectations. Psalm 98, originally composed for the liturgical celebration of the kingship of God at the Temple in Jerusalem, came to be understood as prophesying the dramatic future intervention of God in human history and the establishing of a kingdom of justice for all. Likewise, in Malachi 3 the early biblical motif of “the day of the Lord” is pictured in dramatic imagery (“blazing like an oven”) and as bringing about the future destruction of evildoers and the proud. Even more detailed and graphic scenarios of the coming reign of God can be found in Jewish apocalyptic writings and in the Synoptic Gospels. Today’s selection from Jesus’ apocalyptic discourse in Luke 21 presupposes such beliefs and images. In this situation Jesus responds as the prophet of God, a theme developed throughout this Gospel. As God’s prophet, Jesus warns against false prophets who pretend to know the details of God’s plan, gives hints of the events or signs that will accompany the coming of God’s kingdom in its fullness and warns about coming persecutions and even divisions within families.. This selection from Luke 21 ends with a sentence that is unique to Luke’s version of the apocalyptic discourse, “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” The word translated as “perseverance” is sometimes rendered as “patience” or “endurance.” These are not popular virtues in 21st-century America. We want fast food, fast cars and fast computers. We have short attention spans; and we communicate in sound bites, e-mails and instant messages. The kind of perseverance recommended in today’s Gospel text, however, is not apathy or laziness or timidity. In the biblical concept of perseverance there is an element of active resistance in the face of opposition. It is inspired by confidence and hope in God. Hope and perseverance are two sides of the same coin. Hope without perseverance is anxiety and ends in madness. Perseverance without hope leads to resignation, fatalism and indifference. As Christians we hope for the full coming of God’s kingdom, the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment and just rewards and punishments. We expect that these events all will come about in God’s own time and way. In the mean time we try to conduct our lives as people of faith, hope and love, fully aware of the fragility of human existence and of the world around us. In the midst of fast-paced change, we need the biblical kind of patience and perseverance to live one day at a time, seizing the moment and living it to its fullness, all the while moving forward in hope to eternal life in God’s kingdom. By Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., Professor of New Testament Studies at Weston, Mass

LIVING THE GOOD NEWS

Reflection Questions

How important to Jesus was the Temple in Jerusalem?

What, in my mind, is God’s “temple”?
If I am God’s temple, do any of these predictions apply to me, and what are the implications of such an idea?

What are some contemporary “temples”?
Do some institutions and systems of modern western culture represent evil temples to others of different cultures?
What might some of them be? (the Twin Towers for example)
Do we fear that some of them might be brought down?

What does it mean to me when I hear that the world as we humans know it is not the last stage of Salvation History?

Why does the world have to end?

Does it matter for me to know the timing of the end of the world?

How do I react when I hear predictions about the end of the world as we know it?

How can we be “ready”?

What does Jesus say about taking literally such signs of the end of the world?
Why do we continue to do so?

What privileges, possession or way of life might I lose in an upending of the world’s values?

How does a contemplation of end times comfort or frighten you?

When my world is falling apart, and the usual supports are not there for me, what do I do?

What are some current symbols of God’s abiding presence in your life? (Rev Paul Gallagher, OFM)

How can I thank those who have been a "sun of justice" and brought "healing rays" in my dark moments?

What is the role of faith (trust) in the contemplation of end times?
What does it mean to live faithful lives while we await a reign of justice?
Where do we meet Christ in our lives?

How can we go through all sorts of problems as disciples of Jesus and not have a “hair of our head” harmed?

Define perseverance.

How does the current world situation—the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, persecution of immigrant peoples, rising prices and food shortages for the poorest on the planet, illness—demand perseverance?

Describe a time in your life when you had to persevere in the face of difficulties. In what areas do you need to grow in perseverance and patience?

From Rev Paul Gallagher, OFM: Are there experiences in your life that have had dramatic effects on how you understand your life, your relationship to others, or God? Did you take your feelings at that time to God in your prayer?

In the poem “Hollow Men”, T. S. Eliot’s final lines are:
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
What do you think Eliot meant?

CLOSING PRAYER

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.

From “Ash Wednesday” by T.S. Eliot
Blessèd sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit
of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated
And let my cry come unto Thee.

FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Weekly Memorization: Taken from the gospel for today’s session…By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

Meditations:

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions

Read Psalm 98 in its entirety. Then change the words around so that you address God personally. (I will sing a new song to you, Lord. You have done marvelous deeds) After each sentence reflect on what God has done for the world in general, and for you in particular. Write your own ending--just what do you want to happen when God once more governs the earth? What will be your role? What can you do to make the reign of God more possible here and now?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/ Action: (Adapted from Walter Burghardt S.J., in Lovely in Eyes Not His)

Christ has come and he will come again. But don’t live your life in a crib that has passed or on a cloud that is yet to arrive. Christ our Lord is here now. Not only in the word you have heard and in the bread that is broken. He comes to you in every human person that crosses your path, haunts your eye, beats your ear. He warms himself in the winter on the grates of Market Street, begs for shelter at the homeless missions, cries for your compassion behind bars. In slum and condo, he grows old and unwept. He bleeds not only in Gaza, but in every brutal rape, in every sneer or shoulder shrugged, in every student lonely amid campus laughter. He lies alone and afraid on every hospital bed. Dies again in each mother bereaved. And dear God, the children. From the skin-and-bones of the displaced children seeking asylum in our country and in Europe, through the thousands of battered bodies and shriveled souls that show up each year at places like Covenant House and Homeboy industries, to the uncounted victims of opioids and other drugs who “crash” on our streets. The end that Jesus foretold—we cannot hasten it and we cannot delay it. It will come in God’s own time. Today’s gospel is not a betting pool—put a buck in and guess when Christ is coming again. Instead, this gospel commits you to act as if Christ were already here—because he is. And you clearly find him here in our Eucharistic liturgies. But do you find him out there? Where do you personally find Christ? At Catholic Worker House or in your dorm room? At hospitals or detention centers? in prison on or vacation? Just open your eyes and you will find Jesus there. And if you have already discovered Christ out there—what must you do? Only you know the answer to that question.

Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Consideration:

Read the following from Luke 12:16-21: And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” For this farmer, it did not matter when the world was going to end; his world was ending way before he expected it. Has there ever been a time in your life when you behaved/made choices as if you were going to live forever? What can you do to remind yourself that your life is God’s?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Jesus, who himself continued to pray and have hope in God, even as his world collapsed, has made a promise to us. He would not leave us on our own, but would send us his Spirit. We received that Spirit at our baptism. The Spirit is a persevering and praying Spirit within us. It enables us to be faithful no matter what world ends for us. The Spirit keeps us hope-filled when all we see in front of us is darkness and struggle. Is it hard to remember this? Why? What is the role of prayer for you as you face the challenges of life?

POETIC REFLECTION

Read the following poem by Robert Frost:

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Walter Burghardt, S.J., in Lovely in Eyes Not His, said that there are two things that will destroy our world from within: Lust ( desire for power, possessions and need to determine what others do) and hatred—familial, cultural, racial, religious) Can you think of examples of both of these playing out in our lives today? In your mind which is currently the most dangerous?

Ash Wednesday—Part I by T.S. Eliot

Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man’s gift and that man’s scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the agèd eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?
Because I do not hope to know
The infirm glory of the positive hour
Because I do not think
Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power
Because I cannot drink
There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is
nothing again
Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessèd face
And renounce the voice
Because I cannot hope to turn again
Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
Upon which to rejoice
And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain
Because I do not hope to turn again
Let these words answer
For what is done, not to be done again
May the judgement not be too heavy upon us
Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still.
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Further Reading:
Ash Wednesday---T.S. Eliot
Hollow Men—T.S. Eliot