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Study and Meditations on this Sunday's Scripture Readings: November 28th
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Fidelis
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A mediation and questions for group and personal study from “The Word Among Us” magazine:
“Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain.” (Isaiah 2:3)
At this moment, Mount Everest is surrounded by numerous base camps with hundreds of climbers in various stages of ascent. Many climbers are doing something that may strike us as unusual: They are ascending and descending different stages of the mountain. It’s their way of getting their bodies used to high altitudes, where the air is thinner. These climbers know that trying a direct ascent without training your body for life at the top would be folly.
As we begin Advent, Isaiah invites us to climb the mountain of the Lord. He invites us to begin a journey that will bring us closer to Jesus and closer to our hearts’ desires. But as in all mountain climbing, this is not a casual excursion. Preparation is key. Just as the Everest climbers take months to attain their goal, we have an entire season to get ready for Christmas. So let’s come up with a good strategy!
Just as a climber needs a healthy breakfast to provide energy for the day’s climb, so do we. That’s why it is a good idea to set aside time every morning to be nourished by prayer and Scripture. And just as experienced climbers travel light, so should we examine our consciences every day so that we can repent of our sins. That way, we can stay free from unnecessary burdens of the past.
Mountain climbers know the value of pacing themselves. They work stage by stage, not expecting to reach the summit overnight. Similarly, we should approach this Advent with a sense of patience. All it takes is a few steps each day to bring us closer to our goal, while an all-out sprint will leave us exhausted and frustrated.
Jesus knows how much we want to be with him, and he wants to help us every step along the way. So take some time today to draw up a plan this Advent. You’ll be amazed at how much progress you will make by Christmas!
Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion“Lord, you know that I love you. Teach me how to make the most of this season of grace. Lord, I want to know you more!”
- The whole Advent season is a time of expectant waiting for the “coming” (the meaning of the word advent) of the Savior. Jesus’ first coming has already occurred, of course, but we still await him to come into our hearts in a deeper way and we still await his second coming. What steps can you take to allow for a deeper encounter with Jesus at Mass, or during the week during Advent? In what way, if at all, do you look forward to his coming again? What are your thoughts about his second coming at the end of time?
- The first reading says that one of the principle “instructions” we will receive from the Lord will be how to follow in his ways and “walk in his paths.” What can you do to allow the Lord to “instruct” you like this?
- The response to the Responsorial Psalm is “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” What steps can you take prior to Mass, to increase your expectancy of what the Lord will do in your life at Mass, so that you too can “go rejoicing to the house of the Lord”?
- Also in the responsorial psalm, the word “peace” is used three separate times. Receiving particularly attention are “the house of the Lord” and “brothers and friends.” What can you do to rebuild and strengthen damaged relationships and bring peace to your family and to your parish community during Advent?
- In the second reading, St. Paul tells us to “throw off the works of darkness.” Advent is a good time to examine our life and prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. How might you open more areas of your life to the “light” of Christ and allow him to heal those areas rather than keeping them closed?
- The Gospel warns us to “stay awake” and speaks of the care and watchfulness, which should be ours as we await the coming of Jesus during this grace-filled season of Advent. What can you do to help prepare yourself and your family to receive Christ in a deeper way this Christmas?
- The meditation ends with these words: “Jesus knows how much we want to be with him, and he wants to help us every step along the way. So take some time today to draw up a plan this Advent. You’ll be amazed at how much progress you will make by Christmas!” Are you willing to take time to draw up such a plan for yourself this Advent?
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Fidelis
Guest
Recipe for Readiness – A Meditation on the Epistle for the First Sunday of Advent
By: Msgr. Charles Pope
By: Msgr. Charles Pope
The first weeks of Advent focus more on the Lord’s second coming in glory more than his first coming at Bethlehem. The Gospel is clear enough to state that we must be prepared, for, at an hour we do not expect, The Son of Man will come! “Ready” is the key word. But how should we be ready?
The Second reading of today’s Mass (Romans 13:11-14) gives us a basic recipe for readiness. We can distinguish five fundamental ingredients in Paul’s recipe.
1.** WAKE UP** – The text says: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day – St. Paul of course has more than physical sleep in mind here. But consider for a moment some of the aspects of physical sleep. When we sleep we are unaware of what is taking place around us or even of what we are doing. Perhaps a family member will say, “When you sleep you talk and snore!” “Really?” we may wonder. “I was unaware I was doing that.” At other times we may doze off in front of the TV and miss the game-winning touchdown or the critical scene that helped the movie make sense. Further, when we are asleep our minds are dreamy and confused. Some of the craziest things happen in our dreams because our more rational part of the brain is asleep and any absurd thought may manifest itself and seem perfectly understandable. But when we finally do awake, we say. “What was THAT all about?!
Now this text which tells us to “wake up” refers to all of this in a moral and mindful sense. What St. Paul is really saying here is that we need to wake up, and become more aware of what is happening in our life. We cannot sleep through life like someone dozing on a couch. We need to live lives that are alert and aware of what is happening. We need to be morally awake and responsible for our actions. We cannot and must not engage in dreamy thinking that is not rooted in reality and is fundamentally absurd in its premises. Dreamy thinking has to go. We need to be alert, rooted in what is real, and what is revealed. We cannot go on calling good what God has called sinful. We need to wake up, take the “coffee” of God’s Word, shake off the cobwebs of drowsiness, and start living in the light of holiness, rather than the darkness of deceit and sin.
Waking up also means taking responsibility and exercising authority over one’s life. When we sleep we toss and turn and have little authority over our movements. But when we are awake we take authority over our actions and are responsible for them.
The first ingredient in the recipe for readiness is to wake up! The cobwebs of groggy and sleepy behavior have to yield to the alertness of a new mind. There are many scriptures that make a similar point
Code:* Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. * 1 Cor 15:34 Come to your right mind, and sin no more. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. * Eph 4:17 Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them…22 Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds * Col 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth
Continued on the next post…
- **CLEAN UP **– the text says – not in orgies and, not in promiscuity and lust… and make no provision for the desires of the flesh. – Notice the emphasis in this passage on sexuality. This is because the pagan world at the time of Paul was sexually confused and immature: Promiscuousness, fornication, homosexual activity, divorce, abortion, and infanticide were all rampant. Sound familiar? We have slipped right back into pagan immaturity and immorality. This text tells us it is time to clean up and grow up and take authority over our sexuality by God’s grace. It’s time to act more like adults than irresponsible teenagers…
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Fidelis
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The text, in saying we should make no provision for the desires of the flesh, is indicating we should avoid the near occasions of sin. We should not easily find ourselves in compromising and tempting situations. To make “provision” literally means to “see ahead” or to “look toward” something in such a way as to facilitate it. The text says to resolve ahead of time not to provide occasion for the flesh.
Many people make light of sexual sin today and say it’s no big deal and “everyone is doing it.” But God says otherwise and speaks very strongly against it in his Word. He does not do this because he is a prude, or wants to limit our fun. Rather, God wants to save us a lot of suffering and also protect the innocent. What does promiscuity get us? Sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, abortion, teenage pregnancies, children born outside of the ideal nuclear and properly formed family, divorce, bitterness, jealousy, broken hearts, and used, discarded human beings. God is not out to limit our fun, He is trying to protect us. He is also trying to protect marriage and children. With all this promiscuity, it is children who suffer most. Many of them are simply killed by abortion. Those who survive are often raised in less than ideal settings without both parents in a stable union of marriage. Many are born to teenage mothers not ready to raise them
God says to all of us that, in order to be ready we have to clean up. We have to take authority over our sexuality by his grace. Promiscuity, orgies, pornography, illicit sexual union, and lust have to go. Those who make light of sexual sin have been deceived. It is a very serious matter and God makes this clear in his word:
Code:* Ephesians 5:3-7 As for lewd conduct or promiscuousness or lust of any sort, let them not even be mentioned among you; your holiness forbids this. Nor should there be any obscene, silly or suggestive talk; all that is out of place. Instead, give thanks. Make no mistake about this: no fornicator, no unclean or lustful person – in effect an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of God. Let no one deceive you with worthless arguments. These are sins that bring God’s wrath down upon the disobedient; therefore, have nothing to do with them. * 1 Cor. 6:9-11 Can you not realize that the unholy will not fall heir to the Kingdom of God? Do not deceive yourselves: no fornicators, idolaters, or adulterers, no sodomites, thieves, misers, or drunkards, no slanderers or robbers will inherit the kingdom of God…Flee fornication… You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within – the Spirit you have received from God. You are not your own. You have been purchased at a price. So glorify God in your body.
- **SOBER UP ** – the text says, Not in drunkenness– Physically, to be drunk means to have our mind confused due to the influence of alcohol or drugs. Conversely, to have a sober mind is to have a clear mind that is capable of making sound judgments. So much of our battle to be ready to meet God comes down to our mind. Stinkin’ Thinkin’ is a real problem today. There are many fuzzy-headed, lame-brained, crazy and just plain wrongful notions today that amount to a lack of sobriety. They emerge from the haze of un-sober thinking and from a world that increasingly and in a moral sense resembles the Star Wars barroom scene. Don’t believe everything you think. Much of what we think has come from a drunken and confused world. Square everything you think with God’s word and the teachings of the Church. The third item in the recipe for readiness is to sober up, to request and receive from God a clear and sound mind. Scripture says elsewhere about the need to cultivate a sound and sober mind:
Concluded on the next post…Code:* 1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. * 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith. * Titus 2:2 Let the older men be sober, serious and temperate.
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Fidelis
Guest
- CHEER UP - The text says, not in rivalry and jealousy – An awful lot of our sins revolve around our touchy little egos. Paul warns elsewhere of other things that flow from this source: enmity, strife, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, and envy (Gal 5:20). The recipe for readiness here warns that this sort of stuff has to go. We need to be more forgiving if we expect to be forgiven. We also to more generous to the poor, less stingy, and less prone to the kind of anger that comes from being thin-skinned and lacking in humility. The biggest sin is pride and it is enemy number one. It has to go and along with it all its minions: envy, jealously, selfishness, hatred, fear, bitterness, a hard and unforgiving heart, and being just plain mean. The Lord wants to give us a cheerful heart, a heart that is loving, generous to the poor, considerate, glad at others’ gifts, forgiving, truthful, patient and meek, a heart that is less ego-centric and more Theo-centric, a heart that is open to others.
- DRESS UP – The text says, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, – If we miss this point, everything else is just a moralism, more rules to live by. But the moral life of the New Testament is not achieved, it is received. The Moral life of the New Testament is not so much a prescription, as it is a description. It is description of what we are like when Jesus Christ really begins to live his life in us. St. Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20) Jesus says, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them , will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5). St John says, But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know [experience] we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did(1 John 2:5-6). Hence the moral life is not imposed, it is imparted, it is not achieved it is received, it is not demanded it is delivered. There is surely a requirement that the moral law describes, but the requirement can only be met in a real or full sense by Jesus Christ living his life in us. If we try and accomplish it by our flesh, any minor success will last about twenty minutes (max). Hence we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We must humbly give him our life and assent to his kingship and authority over us. The more we surrender the more he renders us apt and fit to the life he describes. The fact is, if we really hope to wake up, clean up, sober up, and cheer up it will have to be a work of his grace.
The Book of Revelation speaks of the garment, the long white robe that is given to each of the saints to wear (Rev 6:11). Later, Revelation 19:8 describes the long white robe (of the Bride of the Lamb) as the righteous deeds of all the saints. It is in this sense that St. Paul tells us to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” Hence righteousness is imparted both to the individual and to the Church as the gift of God. It is given to us like a precious wedding garment. In the baptismal ritual the newly baptized is clothed in white and told that their garments represent their dignity which they are to bring it unstained to the judgment seat of Christ. In the funeral rites the cloth placed over the casket recalls the baptismal garment. Yes, the final element in the recipe for readiness is to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Only Jesus can really can really get us ready.
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colmcille1
Guest
Hi Fidelis,
Thank you for your great thread.
I am thoroughly enjoying your posts on the daily readings. They are very enlightening!
May I ask you with regard to today’s First Reading, Isaiah 2:1 - 5 : I have noticed that the word “Gentiles” appears in Is 2:4 in the Douay-Rheims Bible but not in the NJ Bible. Why is this?
God Bless you and thanks again,
Colmcille.
Thank you for your great thread.
I am thoroughly enjoying your posts on the daily readings. They are very enlightening!
May I ask you with regard to today’s First Reading, Isaiah 2:1 - 5 : I have noticed that the word “Gentiles” appears in Is 2:4 in the Douay-Rheims Bible but not in the NJ Bible. Why is this?
God Bless you and thanks again,
Colmcille.
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Fidelis
Guest
The word in question is literally “nations” (Hebrew hag·go·v·yim) and is translated as such in just about every translation I’ve seen (both Protestant and Catholic) except the DRV. The Latin, upon which the DRV is based, uses gentes (I’m not sure what the Greek Septuagint says; maybe someone else can help us out with that).Hi Fidelis,
Thank you for your great thread.
I am thoroughly enjoying your posts on the daily readings. They are very enlightening!
May I ask you with regard to today’s First Reading, Isaiah 2:1 - 5 : I have noticed that the word “Gentiles” appears in Is 2:4 in the Douay-Rheims Bible but not in the NJ Bible. Why is this?
God Bless you and thanks again,
Colmcille.
In any case, the meaning is the same: Isaiah is referring to non-Jews (everyone in the world besides Jews), and that they will come to the Lord’s house and worship the God of Israel.
C
colmcille1
Guest
Hi Fidelis,The word in question is literally “nations” (Hebrew hag·go·v·yim) and is translated as such in just about every translation I’ve seen (both Protestant and Catholic) except the DRV. The Latin, upon which the DRV is based, uses gentes (I’m not sure what the Greek Septuagint says; maybe someone else can help us out with that).
In any case, the meaning is the same: Isaiah is referring to non-Jews (everyone in the world besides Jews), and that they will come to the Lord’s house and worship the God of Israel.
Thank you very much for your post. That has cleared it up for me.
God Bless,
Colmcille.
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