3rd Week of Advent, Monday, Dec 14

Numbers 26:2-7, 15-17 / Matthew 21:23-27 

Balaam prophesies: A star shall advance from Jacob. 

Douglas Hyde was an English journalist who disliked the Catholic Church. One day he bought an anti-Catholic book to use in his attacks against the Church. The book had just the opposite effect on him. It led him into the Church. Something similar to this happened to Balaam in today’s reading. He set out to curse Israel, but ended up blessing her instead. Early church writers considered the words about the star in today’s reading as a prophetic reference to the star that directed the Magi to Jesus.

2nd Week of Advent, Saturday, Dec 12

Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4, 9-11 / Matthew 17:10-13

 Great are you, Elijah: You are destined to return. 

Elijah is described as parting life in a fiery chariot. (2 Kings 2:11) Symbolic or not, the description gave rise to the popular belief that Elijah would return to prepare the way for the “Day of the Lord.” To this very day, Orthodox Jews put an empty chair at the seder table for Elijah. Reform Jews put a “cup of Elijah” at the table. They hope this will be the year he’ll return.

2nd Week of Advent, Friday, Dec 11

Isaiah 48:17-19 / Matthew 11:16-19 

I am your God: I will show you the path to follow.

 

In The Upper Room, David McIntosh tells this story about a dream his uncle had. In the dream, his uncle’s four-year-old son had grown up to be a teenager. The boy was walking down a road when, suddenly, he disappeared down a dark path. As he did, he called back, “Daddy, you never showed me the right path to follow.”

The dream was so vivid that his uncle woke up from a sound sleep. He was so disturbed by the dream that he woke his wife and told her about it. Together they knelt down on the spot and prayed for their young son. They also resolved to teach their son how to walk always in the light of God’s Word.

2nd Week of Advent, Thursday, Dec 10

Isaiah 41:13-20 / Matthew 11:11-15

 I am the Lord your God: I will turn deserts into marshes. 

Before child labor laws were enacted, a ten-year-old boy was working in a factory in Naples, Italy. He wanted to earn money for music lessons. After singing for a schoolteacher, however, he was told to save his time and money. “Forget about singing,” the teacher said;

2nd Week of Advent: Dec 7-12

Dec 7 Monday (St. Ambrose, Bishop, Doctor of the Church): https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-ambrose Lk 5: 17-26: 17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.  18 And behold, men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they sought to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.  20 ……. 26 .. (Cfr. Mt 9: 1-8). USCCB reflections:  https://youtu.be/1aqVBJogCY4  Daily Catholic reflections: https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/ 

2nd Week, Advent, Monday Dec 7

2nd Week of Advent, Monday, Dec 7

Isaiah 35:1-10 / Luke 5:17-26

 Our God is coming: He will save us.

 In God of the Oppressed James Cone describes what Sunday worship meant for black slaves in pre-Civil War days: “How could black slaves know they were human beings when they were treated like cattle? How could they know that they were somebody when everything in their environment said that they were nobody?” Cone answers: “Only because they knew that Christ was present with them and that presence included the divine promise to come again to take them to the ‘New Jerusalem.’”

1st Week of Advent, Saturday, Dec 5

 Isaiah 30:19-21, 25-26 / Matthew 9:35 - 10:1, 6-8

 When you cry out, he will answer you. The harvest is great, "Send workers to gather it in. "

Kate Drexel came from a wealthy Philadelphia family. While riding about the city, she saw the tragic plight of black children living in hideous slum conditions. In her reading she learned about the plight black children in the South and of Native American children in the West. Moved to pity, Kate founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to work among these children. Before Mother Katherine Drexel died at age 97, she spent nearly $20 million of her own personal fortune to care for and educate blacks and Indians. Today, her order continues her work.

1st Week of Advent, Friday, Dec 4

Isaiah 29:17-24 / Matthew 9:27-31 

Isaiah talks about messianic times: Then the eyes of the blind will see.

Bob Evans had been blind since birth. When he was 50 years old, an operation gave him eyesight for the first time in his life. Suddenly his world changed beyond belief. He said in a Chicago Sun-Times interview: “It’s the most amazing thing in the world. ... I can’t wait to get up each day to see what I can see. . . .“And at night I look at the stars. . . . Everything is a constant high. You could never know how wonderful everything is.” This story gives us an insight into Isaiah’s prophecy in today’s reading, about how life will be changed for people when the Messiah comes.

1st Week of Advent, Wednesday, Dec 2

Isaiah 25:6-10 / Matthew 15:29-37

The Lord will feast his people: He will wipe away all tears.

 

Pulitzer prize winning author Thornton Wilder wrote a novel called The Eighth Day. It’s about a good and decent family whose lives are filled with pain, sorrow, and hardship—caused by evil people. Wilder ends his novel without alleviating or resolving the family’s tragic situation.

1st Week of Advent, Tuesday, Nov 30

 1st Week of Advent, Tuesday, Nov 30

Isaiah 11:1-10 / Luke 10:21-24

The Spirit rests upon him; He will defend the rights of the helpless.

1st Week of Advent: Nov 30-Dec 5

Nov 30 Monday: St. Andrew, the Apostle

 (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-andrew) 

Mt 4: 18-22: 18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea;  for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.  21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.  22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. (Mark 1: 14-20) USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm

Advent 4th Week-Christmas week: Dec 23-31: Daily Reflections

Dec 23 Monday: (St. John of Canty, Priest) https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-john-kanty/ Luke 1:57-66: 57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. 58 And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your kindred is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote,

Dec 16-21: 3rd Week of Advent- Reflections

Dec 16 Monday: Matt: 21: 23-27: 23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you a question; and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or from men?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, `From heaven,’ he will say to us, `Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, `From men,’ we are afraid of the multitude; for all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. USCCB reflections: https://youtu.be/iYgXgiTyVHU?list=PLpTzvCOJa7DAAsw34PxZGDqnI_bBKNWa9

Advent 2nd Week - Dec 9-14: Weekday Reflections

Dec 9: Monday (Immaculate Conception of Blessed Virgin Mary) (Transferred to Dec 9^th Monday and hence not a Holy Day of obligation in the U. S. in 2019): USCCB: https://youtu.be/jGQQe-PVimw?list=PLpTzvCOJa7DAAsw34PxZGDqnI_bBKNWa9 Introduction: Mary’s prophecy given in her Magnificat, “Behold all generations will call me blessed,” was fulfilled when the Catholic Church declared four dogmas of Faith about her: 1-The Immaculate Conception, 2-The Perpetual Virginity, 3-The Divine Maternity, 4-The Assumption. The Immaculate Conception is a dogma based mainly on Christian tradition and theological reasoning. It was defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX as a dogma of Faith through Ineffabilis Deus. Definition: From the first moment of her conception, Mary was preserved immune from original sin by the singular grace of God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race. (CCC #491). This means that original sanctity, innocence and justice were conferred upon her, and that she was exempted from all the evil effects of original sin, excluding sorrow, pain, disease and death which are temporal penalties given to Adam. (Catholic Encyclopedia).

Dec 2-7: Advent 1st Week - Daily Reflections

Dec 2 Monday: Mt 8: 5-11: 5 As he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion answered him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, `Go,’ and he goes, and to another, `Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. USCCB video reflections: https://youtu.be/-11zPaLsOK8?list=PLpTzvCOJa7DAAsw34PxZGDqnI_bBKNWa9