Here I Am, Lord. Send Me.

23/11/2021

23/11/2021

Lord, today you warn us to not be deceived by those who pretend to come in your name. In our world, we have many who speak as if they know all that is to be known. We may even be confused by the conflicting claims we hear each day. Let us have the wisdom to listen to Your words, Your voice that resonates deep within us. We pray this to you Our God, forever and ever. Amen. ~ Rev. Thomas O’Hara, C.S.C.

23/11/2021

LUKE 21:5-11

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus responds to questions about the end of the world. When will it come? What will happen?

Why were the first Christians interested in these questions? The simplest and deepest answer is that they had experienced the end of the world—precisely in the dying and rising of Jesus.

Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God, and the nations conspired against him. The old world seemed to conquer this new world that Jesus embodied. But then, in the Resurrection, they saw that the old world—the world predicated upon death and the world that had done Jesus in—was now defeated.

So awed were they by the Resurrection—and you can sense it in every book and letter of the New Testament—that they awaited the imminent arrival of the new state of affairs, the return of Jesus and the establishment of God’s kingdom. Though Jesus did not immediately return, the old world was over, broken, compromised, its destruction now just a matter of time.

23/11/2021

Luke 21:5-11 ~

While some people were speaking about
how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings,
Jesus said, “All that you see here–
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”

Then they asked him,
“Teacher, when will this happen?
And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?”
He answered,
“See that you not be deceived,
for many will come in my name, saying,
‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’
Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,
but it will not immediately be the end.”
Then he said to them,
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place;
and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.”

23/11/2021

Appreciate the Simple Things ~

We need to reawaken the art and discipline of what it means to “taste and savor.” Instead of swallowing our food almost whole, we may have to ruminate upon it as we ought to do with a favorite text. When a dish is as delightful to see as it is to eat, it ought not to embarrass us to ask for a second helping. Rather than rushing to leave the table, we may discern that slower eating is as necessary for bodily nourishment as slower reading is for spiritual enlightenment.

—from the book Table of Plenty: Good Food for Body and Spirit
by Susan Muto

21/11/2021

God the Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, free us from worldly desires and bind us ever more closely to the kingdom of your Son, Christ the King. We acknowledge how quickly we lose sight of your presence in our lives, how easily we drift from the faith that gives us life and purpose. Make us true servants of your Son, Lord God. Help us to hear his voice and, with him, testify to the truth. Release us from the corruption of this world, and make us subjects of his Kingdom, where he reigns now and for ages unending. Amen. ~
Rev. Aaron J. Michka, C.S.C.

21/11/2021

JOHN 18:33B-37

Friends, today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. And though the very notion of kingship is rather alien to us, the metaphor should remain. For the whole idea is that Christ must become the Lord of our lives, the one to whom an absolute submission is required.

Things do become a bit easier to take when we see precisely what kind of king Jesus Christ is. Bottom line: we are not dealing with another Napoleon or Caesar Augustus; just the contrary. We are dealing with the one who rightly reigns over those earthly potentates but who bears very little resemblance to them.

Our first clue as to his identity comes from the Gospel for today, an account of Jesus’ conversation with the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who asks, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And Jesus responds that his kingdom "does not belong to this world."

So what precisely is his kingship? Worldly kingship has to do primarily with power and self-aggrandizement. But the kingship that Jesus represents is a ruling ordered to the truth. Its purpose is to guide people to the truth, which is another way of saying toward God.

21/11/2021

Gospel
John 18:33b-37 ~

Pilate said to Jesus,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?"
Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?"
Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here."
So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

21/11/2021

Reading II
Revelation 1:5-8 ~

Jesus Christ is the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father,
to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will lament him.
Yes. Amen.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, " says the Lord God,
"the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty."

21/11/2021

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 93:1, 1-2, 5 ~

R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.

The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.

R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.

R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed;
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.

R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.