Year B

Jan 23 2025

Scripture Study for

The story of Adam and Eve and the serpent suggests that the inevitable result of human sin is alienation from God and from one another. Instead of trust and confidence, the divine presence now evokes in the humans fear and a desire to hide from the divine gaze. Personal responsibility gives way to finger pointing and excuse making. Ultimately, though, God recognizes the role of the serpent, who has acted malevolently, taking advantage of human weakness and naïveté to sow discord and distrust between God and humans. God’s response is to sow discord between the humans and the serpent. Whereas they had earlier trusted the serpent, now humans will look upon the instigator of their ruin with fear and hatred.

The reading from Ephesians focuses on divine gifts of election and blessing. Divine election means that God has “chosen” the human family to receive “blessing” in Christ, if they will accept it in faith and hope. The election and blessing are a call to become “holy and without blemish,” and also the power to become so. Election and blessing also mean adoption into God’s household, an unearned gift, “in accord with the favor of his will.” This re-creation of human beings in Christ, being a pure gift of God, redounds to the glory of God, whose benevolent, gracious will is always accomplished.

When Mary is confronted with the divine presence through Gabriel, her response is at first puzzlement and then acceptance. Explicitly told she has nothing to fear from Gabriel (or from God), the Virgin believes that she has found favor with God and that what God intends to do, God will be able to do. The child to be born to her is the culmination of a longstanding divine plan. Jesus, as the son of David, will inherit the throne God promised to establish firmly and forever (2 Samuel 7:13). Mary receives this announcement of the divine will, puzzling as it may be, with trust and acceptance, allowing the divine plan for the human race to go forward.

Jan 23 2025

The Status Un-quo

It was a football weekend at the University of Notre Dame. Sacred Heart basilica was packed. People from all over streamed forward in a straight line, holding open their hands—tender hands with well-formed nails, broad hands accustomed to strength. A few opened their mouths. All had straight white teeth. And I kept saying it: “Body of Christ.” And they replied: “Amen.” “Body of Christ.” “Amen.” “Body of Christ.” “Amen.” The multitudes streamed toward the Lord.

Then I saw him in line. He didn’t fit among the well-dressed crowd. Scraggly long hair. Shorts (in November?). Hiking boots. Gray wool socks with red stripes. He might have walked in straight from the Appalachian Trail. What was he doing here? He stopped in front of me and opened his hands to receive the One who was mightier than he. Eager for the One he so obviously loved, his eyes gleamed with joy.

I wondered, if John the Baptist were here among us, is this what he would look like? Would he choose to deliberately unsettle the status quo? Would he intend to show us how transitory this life is? Would he want us to be cognizant that all earthly things will pass away? That this glorious building, with these good-looking people celebrating this famed football team—would John the Baptist rail at us not to forget that all is nothing compared to the grandeur of the One who comes to us at Christmas? In spite of our self-assurance that we control the present, would he remind us that we are simple Advent people—never secure in the now, always on a tenuous trek to something more? Maybe he would. Maybe he should.

I focused back on my task for those who flowed forward, offering food for the journey: “Body of Christ.” “Amen.” “Body of Christ . . .”

Consider/Discuss

Unexpected events unsettle our surety. What has sharpened our focus, made us realize that this earthly life is not sufficient, not all there is? Where has God been in those moments?
In this tenuous Advent of our lives, paths are not always straight, mountains can seem high, valleys can feel abysmally low. How can we be like John the Baptist for each other, helping to prepare the way for the Lord?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, with you, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day. Yet we can become so focused on what we are doing right here and now that we lose sight of your bigger picture. Sharpen our eyes to see your broader vision. You alone are enough. Ready us to receive your forgiveness as we prepare for your coming, eager to be found without spot or blemish. Come, Emmanuel, come and be born in our hearts!

Jan 23 2025

Scripture Study for

The beginning of this passage from Isaiah combines fierce language of the Divine Warrior with pastoral images of the Divine Shepherd. Together the two metaphors evoke confidence in God’s power and desire to save, which is motivated by care for God’s “flock.” The highway in the wilderness is the path of the Divine Warrior, who marches into Babylon to retrieve Israel. The language of “reward” and “recompense” refers to plunder that a warrior could expect to gain from pillaging conquered lands. Here the “war booty” is God’s own people. God gently scoops them up and brings them home. The overall image is of a fiercely loyal Warrior on a rescue mission, marching into enemy territory to retrieve (redeem) the Chosen People.

The community to which Peter in his Second Letter writes has struggled to be faithful in the face of persecution, and has doubts about the delay in the Lord’s return or the coming of the day of the Lord. The apparent delay also challenges fervor and perseverance in discipleship. Peter first assures them that the “delay” is only from their limited human perspective; in fact, it is for their benefit that the Lord does not return right away, as it gives time for repentance. But be assured, he says, that the day of the Lord will come and when it comes, the Lord will want to find this people faithful, holy, devoted, “without spot or blemish.”

Last week’s Gospel reading featured Jesus warning his listeners not to put off repentance. At the beginning of today’s Gospel, we have John the Baptist also warning his listeners to be prepared for the (first) coming of the Son of God. The baptism John preaches is one of both repentance and forgiveness. His message is not simply “repent,” but also “allow yourselves to be forgiven.” Both repentance and forgiveness prepare the crowds for the One who is coming, the One who will complete the work by making it possible for the people to receive the Holy Spirit, the divine agent of sanctification, ensuring that repentance and forgiveness bear lasting fruit.

Jan 23 2025

Advent Is Calling!

She stokes the fire and stirs the logs so that they get more air. From upstairs, she hears the breathing machine, whirring in and out, bringing oxygen to the one she loves. She cannot see the air around the logs. She cannot see the oxygen in the machine. But she is continually attentive to its movement. It is always there. It is always moving. Something could happen. She needs to be ready.

He is chopping onions, humming a tune. A pan lid clangs. A grunt sounds as a diaper plops to the floor. From the corner of his eye, he sees movement and then feels a tug on his pant leg. He reaches down to lift his beloved onto his hip. He slides vegetables into the skillet. The toddler is always there. He is always moving. His dad is continually attentive to his noises, alert to his motion. Something could happen. He needs to be ready.

For Israel, the Lord is always present, always active, always moving. The prophet Isaiah is alert to that invisible motion. He pleads to the Redeemer who has been faithful in the past, for his people are at risk: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!” Today’s psalmist begs, “Come, come to save us!” The divine “you” is constantly in Israel’s awareness as their enduring reality: always present, continually moving, forever acting.

It may not be the noise of the breathing machine in Mary Oliver’s poem “Oxygen.” It may not be the crawling boy in my son’s kitchen. But you and I, we too may have seasons of hyper-alertness at the edge of consciousness. In situations that carry some risk, we are ready.

Jesus alerts us today: The One we love is here. Something is happening. Be attentive. Watch!

Consider/Discuss

Consider the times in your own life when you have had that attentiveness at the edge of consciousness. What was the situation? Who was the beloved? What was the risk?
Like the oxygen that continually flows within us, the Spirit of God breathes in our lives right now. Like the toddler crashing pan lids around us, the Spirit is active and moving in this world. As we begin anew this Advent, how can we allow the grace of God to cultivate within us a livelier attentiveness to this divine movement?

Living and Praying with the Word

Savior of the world, you are the Prince of Peace. We are not at peace. We feel some risk. You have always been faithful to us. We are not always faithful to you. As we move into Advent, bring us to deeper conversion. You ask us to be more aware of your presence. You are here. You are active. You are always moving in our lives. Thank you for rescuing us in our past. We trust you to take care of our future. O come, Emmanuel. Come and save us!

Jan 23 2025

Scripture Study for

The Isaiah reading comes from the post-Exilic period, when Israel’s hopes for restoration remained unfulfilled. Years after their return to the ancestral land, God’s people remained under foreign rule and suffered agricultural, economic, and social difficulties, which many took as a sign that Israel remained under divine judgment. Thus the lament and communal confession in the reading, which features reminders of the deliverance from Egypt. God is Israel’s father (Exodus 4:22) and redeemer, an enduring reality that is the basis for the present hope in God’s fidelity. As in the past, Israel’s heart is hardened, but confession opens up the possibility of God’s saving return. As in the past God came to Israel as redeemer, so now Israel hopes to receive mercy again.

Paul begins his First Letter to the Corinthians by reminding them that they have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus” and are called to be holy (1:2). Paul gives thanks that they do indeed show signs of having received God’s grace in the form of spiritual knowledge and gifts. These manifestations of God’s grace are also confirmation of the truth of the gospel that Paul had preached to them (the “testimony to Christ”). These divine gifts also reveal God’s fidelity and desire to keep the Corinthians faithful as they persevere during this time of waiting. It is God who has called them to fellowship with Christ and it is God who will give them what they need to be faithful.

Jesus’ warning to his disciples is essentially an exhortation to avoid spiritual procrastination, putting off ultimate concerns because one perceives there is plenty of time to “take care of things” like repentance or growth in virtue. Just previous to this reading, Jesus had informed his disciples that only the Father knows when the end will come (13:32), which means it is pointless and dangerous to hope there will be time to get one’s house in order. When the Lord decides to come, those who have persuaded themselves they can delay their repentance or ignore their obligations to God and neighbor will be found “asleep.” Jesus leaves it to his audience to imagine the fate of those found asleep by the “man traveling abroad” when he returns.