November 2, 2008
Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Is 25:6-9 / Psalm 27
Second Reading: 1 Thes 4:13-18
Gospel: Jn 14:1-6 Many dwelling places
In my father’s house, there are many dwelling places.
Jesus assures his disciples that in his “Father’s house, there are many dwelling places.” He further strengthens them by saying, “and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may also be.”
A candle comes to life only when it is lighted. Yet, when it gets lighted, it slowly approaches it death as it melts drop by drop. A beautiful flower gets plucked and offered to a lady. Yet, the moment it gets plucked, it draws near to its end as its color fades, its fragrance vanishes, its petals wither.
Yet, such is life – death at the end of everything. But, Death is too small a price to say the face of God. Only through Death can I dwell in my Father’s house.
November 9, 2008
Dedication of St. John Lateran
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Ez 47:1-2,8-9,12 / Psalm 46
Second Reading: 1 Cor 3:9c-11,16-17
Gospel: Jn 2:13-22 The temple of his Body
Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.
Jesus whips and drives away moneychangers and vendors who have turned his Father’s house into a marketplace. When the Jews challenge him as to why he was doing this, Jesus replies, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
Reverence, therefore, should be accorded to churches, shrines and sites designated as places for worship. Not only should they be conducive to prayer, they should also be spaces that foster an environment of worship and not of commerce.
In the end, churches, shrines and sacred spaces are not only building. They are “presences” of the holy and the divine. As buildings, they may age and rot. Yet, they remain venues of God’s epiphanies – like Jesus’ body, they may be destroyed, but they will later rise to new life.
November 16, 2008
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Prv 31:10-13,19-20,30-31 / Psalm 128
Second Reading: 1 Cor 15:20-26,28
Gospel: Mt 25:31-46 Judgment of the nations
For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcome me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.
It is how I relate with my fellow man that I will be judged “when the Son of Man comes in his glory.” “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you give me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”
Only through my responses to my neighbor’s grief will I get to hear the words, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
November 30, 2008
First Sunday of Advent
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Is 63:16b-17,19b; 64:2-7 / Psalm 80
Second Reading: 1 Cor 1:3-9
Gospel: Mk 13:33-37 Be watchful
Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.
Jesus exhorts his disciples by saying, “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.” “Watch,” he declares a second time, “you do not know when the lord of the house is coming.” He then concludes with “What I say to you, I say to all, ‘Watch!’”
The Lord Jesus is, indeed, coming. The Promised One of the ages shall soon be born of a virgin. The time for prophets and kings is over; God himself will become flesh and walk in man’s midst to make known the Father’s great love for the world. Like the Magi who scanned the skies, I shall then keep watch for his star so that when he is born, I can pay him my homage.
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