A reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle C. The readings are Baruch 5:1-9; Psalm 126; Philippians 1:4-6, 8, 11 and Luke 3:4-6.
The word of God came to John in the desert….
When I was younger, I was listening to music all the time. We had tapes and tape recorders and then Boomboxes and then Walkmans (remember Walkmans?) and we were listening to music all the time. When I was in college I remember telling people that I could not study if I didn’t have music on. Seems a little crazy to me now – It must be a teen-age thing. But that’s the world we live in; a world that is saturated with noise, with activity, with distractions – all the time. Today’s Gospel tells us that the word of God came to John in the desert. Perhaps that means that if we need to hear the word of God, we have to go into the desert. And leave the music behind!
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A reflection on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year B. The readings are Daniel 7:13-14; Psalm: 93; Revelation 1:5-8 and John 18:33b-37.
On a July Sunday morning, 13 years ago I was at Downsview Park in Toronto waiting for Pope John Paul II to arrive for the final Mass of WYD 2002. The WYD Choir was singing selections from Handel’s Messiah, “and He shall reign forever and ever…” and it was raining like it’s never rained in Toronto. I remember thinking, “he is raining forever and ever!” I was thinking of that day as I was preparing for today’s Feast of Christ the King, because even though I’ve heard that song dozens of times, I’ve never made the connection that the reason why He reigns is because He’s a king! We celebrate this feast – the Solemnity of Jesus Christ King of the Universe every year and still I have a real hard time picturing Jesus as king – that’s not an image that works for me. I suspect it’s because I have not had many great models of kings in my life. I mean, what do you think of when you think of kings? Game of Thrones? I remember learning about King Henry XVIII. Not the best examples of kingly behaviour. These are men who are more concerned about their own pleasures and desires and for their need to hold on to their power than their duty to serve the people.
Today we have three readings and three qualities of the Kingdom of Jesus that are very different than those kingdoms of earth.
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A reflection for the 30th Sunday, Ordinary Time, B. The readings are Jeremiah 31:7-9; Psalm 126; Hebrews 5:1-6 and Mark 10:46-52.
You don’t have to see something to know that it exists. We can’t see the CN Tower right now, but we know it exists. I’ve never seen a $1000 bill but I’m told they exist. I don’t have any reason to believe they don’t exist. Just because I can’t see or understand something doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist or that it isn’t true. There are some things that we can’t prove, but they exist. Our ability to see sometimes has to do with how open our hearts are. You go to Mass to worship God and to meet Christ in the Eucharist, but you can’t see him. You’ve been told that He’s there, but we can’t see him.
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A reflection for the 23rd Sunday, Ordinary Time, Year B. The readings are Isaiah 35:4-7; Psalm 146; James 2:1-5 and Mark 7:31-37.
When the Cardinals were in Conclave three years ago, the story goes that when the cardinal from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had the majority of votes, his Brazilian friend, Cardinal Claudio Hummes leaned over and whispered to him, “remember the poor.” Pope Francis, says that up to that point everything was a bit of a blur, but at that moment he thought of St. Francis of Assisi, Il poverello, “the poor one” and knew that would be his name, “Francis.” It’s pretty clear today that his papacy has put not just the poor at the front, but all who are marginalised, the people he calls, “the throways.” But I’ve always wondered why Cardinal Hummes said that. Why ‘remember the poor’? Had the Church been neglecting the poor? I don’t think so.
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deacon pedro 