Today is the second Sunday of Lent, a season of grace, prayer, penance, and almsgiving that helps us walk with God. The Lenten observances and practices are meaningful if they are carried out in loving obedience and faith to God. Lent, as a season of grace, is a time we leave behind those distractions and develop a deeper relationship with God. In today’s liturgy, we are called upon to have absolute faith in God irrespective of the challenges and trials that confront us every day. Such challenges can lead to loss of faith in God but from the example of Abraham in the first reading and Paul’s injunction in the second we are encouraged to remain firm and steadfast.

Lent is here again when we draw closer to God and go into the desert with the Lord in prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The season of Lent is a season of grace because by walking with the Lord, for these forty days journey, we draw strength and grace from the life of prayer, fasting and almsgiving we do. We grow during Lent by accepting and living the Good News deeper in our lives. No matter how much the power of sin and its effect have flooded every area of our lives, salvation is possible for us the moment we make a complete turn around and embrace the mercy and love of God which He offers us every day. This is possible when we enter into the desert of our inner self to discover whom we are and what God intends for us and Lenten period that offers us that opportunity.

Beloved Parishioners,

May the peace, blessings, and healing grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ abide in each one of you and your families. This is another time of the year we thank God for what has been accomplished in our parish for the past one year through your generous support.

In the gospel passage of last Sunday, Jesus was seen in the Synagogue teaching with authority and casting out demons from a man under demonic influence and possession. In that, Jesus demonstrates His power over evil forces and demons. In today’s gospel reading He demonstrates His power over pain and sickness. We read that “when he came into Peter’s house, the mother-in-law of Peter was sick with fever and immediately they told Him of her. And He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and the fever left her.”

The Gospel tells how Jesus taught His audience with authority unlike the Scribes and Pharisees who came before Him. To teach with authority is to demonstrate that everything comes from Him and not appealing to any outside authority to convince His audience as done by the Scribes and Pharisees of His day. This finds confirmation in the first reading of today when Moses spoke to the people saying the Lord says, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and will put my words into his mouth, he shall tell them all that I command him.”

One remarkable feature in Mark’s Gospel is that the first time ever we hear Jesus speak. His words were “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” This shows Jesus came to reconcile us with the father and be at peace with him. Reconciliation and peace are achievable through repentance and belief in Jesus who has come to save us. Similarly, the message of repentance and reconciliation is also what we see in today’s first reading from the book of Jonah. The Lord orders Jonah to go to Nineveh, capital of Assyria and preach repentance to the Ninevites.

The call of Samuel, in the first reading, demonstrates how God calls each of us individually. Just like Samuel who was unaware of God’s call at the beginning, we too may be unaware when God is calling us but with patience, steadfastness, focus, and an open heart we can recognize His voice in our lives. Just as Eli pointed out to Samuel that it was God calling him so too, we can recognize God’s voice when we pay attention and listen to our parents, teachers, priests and those God has placed to look after us.

Today, being the feast of Epiphany, we celebrate Jesus the incarnate word being revealed to all the nations of the world. The Church calls it, the feast of appearance or manifestation of the Lord. Epiphany comes from the Greek word and means “Manifestation”. The Church celebrates the light of God’s revelation of his Son as human in Jesus Christ. The story of the magi is the story of the ways in which God reveals Himself to us and even more about the different responses and reaction this revelation receives. The Lord of the universe who reveals the star of Bethlehem to the Gentiles of the East gives each one of us the same light of revelation to recognize and accept Jesus as Our Lord and Savior.

The summary of the message of the first reading is honor and respect children are obligated to give to their parents. The amazing thing is that this honor to parents, when practiced with love, goes with lots of blessings as stated in the reading. Thus, the author of book of Sirach enumerates these blessings to include:

1. They will earn great favor of God.
2. Their prayers would always be listened to.
3. They would enjoy a long life and be happy with children of their own.
4. Even if they sinned, they would be forgiven.

Beloved Parishioners,

This is the time we celebrate the joy of Christmas that a savior was born for us and the mystery of God becoming man out of His love for humanity. It is a celebration of God’s love as He identifies with our humanness which He transforms by His divine love. It is a time many families gather to share the love of family reunion and God’s blessing as the year winds down. It is a time we celebrate the joy of God’s presence in our midst.

We are very close at Christmas as tonight we begin the celebration of the mystery of the incarnation of Christ among us. As we can see the attention shifts from John the Baptist to Mary the Mother of God. This story is only found in Luke’s gospel. Hence, we reflect upon Mary’s example of faith and obedience to God which permitted her to receive the angel’s message that God’s son would be born as a human person as one of us. She is to be mother of Christ.

Today is known as Gaudete Sunday, Rejoicing Sunday. The first reading we heard today was taken from the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1-2 and 10-12. Biblical scholars divided the work of Isaiah into three parts. Thus, we have the First Isaiah 1-39, the second Isaiah from 40-55 and the third Isaiah from 56-66. Thus, our reading is taken from the third Isaiah and the place of this prophecy was Jerusalem at a time immediately after the return of the exiles.

In today’s gospel reading, we see John the Baptist in the desert calling out to the people of Judea to come out into the open desert and let God find them. Isaiah, in the first reading, calls our attention to the mountains and valley that obscure our vision of God’s Glory. Then, Peter, in the second reading, invites us to a life of holiness and devotion to God. May we open ourselves to the grace that would enable us to respond to this call.

Today begins this special season of advent. It is a time of prayer, a time of repentance and a time of preparation. Advent ushers us into the new liturgical year of the church when we prepare for the coming of the Lord at Christmas, recall His coming many years ago and prepare for His coming at the end of our life. The word advent comes from the Latin word, “Adventum”, meaning, “coming”, but the question is, who will come? Jesus, even though He has come two thousand years ago, He comes every day in our life and we are called to get ready to receive Him anytime He comes.