Christ Comes to Set Us Free

The Entrance Antiphon of today's liturgy reminds us that "Christ our King is coming, he is the Lamb foretold by John."  In the Collect of today's liturgy, we lift our voices, saying: "Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who are weighed down from of old by slavery beneath the yoke of sin, may be set free by the newness of the long-awaited Nativity of your Only Begotten Son." 

Each one of us, every day, experiences the "slavery beneath the yoke of sin" that weighs down upon us.  We may do things or say things that we regret having said or done, or regret not having said or done things that we knew needed to be done or said. Also, our thoughts may be anything but kind. We, as well, may find ourselves grumbling or complaining about something, resentful of what is being asked of us as a committed responsible member of a religious community or as a father/a mother, a child, a student, an employee.  We may even tell God that what is expected of us is too much to ask of us.

Let us turn to the Lord and ask to "be set free by the newness of the long-awaited Nativity of [God's] Only Begotten Son."  Let us acknowledge our  weaknesses and/or our complaining about the challenges we face in our lives, knowing, in faith, that because of our humanity we need God's help. In graciously, humbly and courageously meeting our responsibilities in life, we need God to infuse us with the graces of the Holy Spirit to be faithful and committed, to hold nothing back, as Jesus held nothing back for us as He gave His life in self-sacrificing love on the cross. On the crosses of our lives, may we do the same for others as Jesus did for us--pour ourselves out for the other's sake, "bread" shared and broken as at every Eucharistic sacrifice of the Holy Mass!

Behold the Lamb of God

In today's first reading, i John 3: 7-10, St. John says to us: "Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he [Jesus] is righteous. Whoever sins belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the Devil. No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God's seed remains in him [her]; he [she] cannot sin because he [she] is begotten by God.  In this way the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother [sister]."

The questions that I need to ask myself are:

Am I allowing myself to be deceived?
Am I attempting to deceive myself or others by my words or actions or by my silence or failure to act?
Am I acting righteously, as Jesus is righteous? Or am I unjust/unfair in how I relate to people?
To whom do I belong?

This last question is a hard one but one that I need to consider!   When I involve myself in sinful behaviors and attitudes, I am not acting as a child of God but as a child of Satan, as were Adam and Eve in the act of original sin!  Thank God that Jesus has been sent into this world "to destroy the works of the Devil."  For those who cling to Jesus and who return to Jesus in humility and repentance following a sinful act, "the works of the Devil" are destroyed in them. Unfortunately, there are times when we are deaf and blind to our sinfulness and need prayers that we will grow in our awareness of when we have closed our ears and our eyes to sin at work within us. And that is why St. John the Baptist, in today's Gospel,  John 1: 35-42, says to us: "Behold, the Lamb of God."  May we, like the disciples who heard John, follow Jesus and stay with Him as our Savior, ass they did!

God, a Mighty Champion, a Warrior

In today’s first reading, Jeremiah 20: 10-13, the prophet describes the situation around him:  “I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! Let us denounce him!’ All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. ‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him.’ But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion.”

I couldn’t help but think of Jesus.  The Scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests and leaders  of His day were looking for ways to trap Him. They wanted evidence that would justify their intent to have put Him to death and then wash their own hands clean of any wrongdoing.  What these “bounty hunters” rejected was that Jesus was the Son of God, the Anointed One, the sinless Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, who would die and rise again as He prophesied. God the Father was on His side. God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were champions of the New Covenant. God’s promise of eternal salvation, of crushing Satan’s head, the ultimate enemy of God’s Covenant, would not be thwarted by the faithlessness, the jealousy, and the pride of the Scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests and leaders of Jesus’ day.

T o this very day, those who taunted Jesus on the cross  are “put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion.” That Good Friday scene is never forgotten! You and I, when we attempt to thwart the will of God in our lives or the lives of others, are also put to utter shame and thrown into confusion. Only when we repent of our ways, acknowledge our sinfulness and ask for forgiveness are the shame and the confusion lifted.