December 10, 2019 Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

2019년 12월 10일 대림 제2주간 화요일 

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp 

제1독서

 이사야서. 40,1-11
1 위로하여라, 위로하여라, 나의 백성을.
─ 너희의 하느님께서 말씀하신다. ─
2 예루살렘에게 다정히 말하여라.
이제 복역 기간이 끝나고 죗값이 치러졌으며
자기의 모든 죄악에 대하여
주님 손에서 갑절의 벌을 받았다고 외쳐라.
3 한 소리가 외친다. “너희는 광야에 주님의 길을 닦아라.

우리 하느님을 위하여 사막에 길을 곧게 내어라.
4 골짜기는 모두 메워지고 산과 언덕은 모두 낮아져라.
거친 곳은 평지가 되고 험한 곳은 평야가 되어라.
5 이에 주님의 영광이 드러나리니 모든 사람이 다 함께 그것을 보리라.
주님께서 친히 이렇게 말씀하셨다.”
6 한 소리가 말한다. “외쳐라.”
“무엇을 외쳐야 합니까?” 하고 내가 물었다.
“모든 인간은 풀이요 그 영화는 들의 꽃과 같다.
7 주님의 입김이 그 위로 불어오면 풀은 마르고 꽃은 시든다.
진정 이 백성은 풀에 지나지 않는다.
8 풀은 마르고 꽃은 시들지만 우리 하느님의 말씀은 영원히 서 있으리라.”
9 기쁜 소식을 전하는 시온아, 높은 산으로 올라가라.
기쁜 소식을 전하는 예루살렘아, 너의 목소리를 한껏 높여라.
두려워 말고 소리를 높여라.
유다의 성읍들에게
“너희의 하느님께서 여기에 계시다.” 하고 말하여라.
10 보라, 주 하느님께서 권능을 떨치며 오신다.
당신의 팔로 왕권을 행사하신다.
보라, 그분의 상급이 그분과 함께 오고
그분의 보상이 그분 앞에 서서 온다.
11 그분께서는 목자처럼 당신의 가축들을 먹이시고
새끼 양들을 팔로 모아 품에 안으시며
젖 먹이는 어미 양들을 조심스럽게 이끄신다.

 

복음

 마태오. 18,12-14

그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
12 “너희는 어떻게 생각하느냐?
어떤 사람에게 양 백 마리가 있는데 그 가운데 한 마리가 길을 잃으면,
아흔아홉 마리를 산에 남겨 둔 채 길 잃은 양을 찾아 나서지 않느냐?
13 그가 양을 찾게 되면,
내가 진실로 너희에게 말하는데,
길을 잃지 않은 아흔아홉 마리보다 그 한 마리를 두고 더 기뻐한다.
14 이와 같이 이 작은 이들 가운데 하나라도 잃어버리는 것은
하늘에 계신 너희 아버지의 뜻이 아니다.”

December 10, 2019 

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent  

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass

Reading 1

Is 40:1-11

Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
The rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

A voice says, “Cry out!”
I answer, “What shall I cry out?”
“All flesh is grass,
and all their glory like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower wilts,
when the breath of the LORD blows upon it.
So then, the people is the grass.
Though the grass withers and the flower wilts,
the word of our God stands forever.”

Go up onto a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
Cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
Here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
Carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
 

Responsorial Psalm

PS 96:1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13

R. (see Isaiah 40:10ab) The Lord our God comes with power.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name;
announce his salvation, day after day.
R. The Lord our God comes with power.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. The Lord our God comes with power.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice.
R. The Lord our God comes with power.
They shall exult before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
R. The Lord our God comes with power.
 

Gospel

Mt 18:12-14

Jesus said to his disciples:

“What is your opinion? 
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray? 
And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it
than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. 
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost.”

http://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow

 «Your Father in heaven (…) doesn't want even one of these little ones to be lost»

Fr. Damien LIN Yuanheng
(Singapore, Singapore)

Today, Jesus challenges us: «What do you think of this?» (Mt 18:12): what kind of mercy do you practice? Perhaps, we, “practicing Catholics”, having drunk copiously of God's mercy in his sacraments, could come to a point to think that we are already justified in the eyes of God. We run the danger of unconsciously becoming the pharisee who slights the tax-collector (cf. Lk 18:9-14). Though we might not speak it aloud, we might think that we are already blameless before God. Some symptoms of this pharisaical pride taking root could be impatience before the defects of others; or thinking we are already beyond reproach.

The disobedient prophet Jonah, a Jew, was adamant when God showed pity the Assyrian city of Nineveh. Yahweh reproached Jonah’s intolerance (cf. Jon 4:10-11). His human outlook set a limit to divine mercy. Do we also set limit to God's mercy? We too have to heed Jesus' lesson: «Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful» (Lk 6:36). In all likelihood, we still have a long way to go to imitate God's mercy.

How should we understand the mercy of our heavenly Father? Pope Francis said that «God does not pardon with a decree but with an embrace». God's embrace of each one of us is called “Jesus Christ”. Christ manifests God's fatherly mercy. In John chapter four, Christ did not make light of the sins of the Samaritan woman. Instead, God's mercy heals by helping the Samaritan woman come face to face with the full reality of her sin. God's mercy is fully consistent with truth. Mercy is not an excuse to cut corners. Yet, Jesus must have elicited her repentance with so much tenderness that the adulterous woman felt herself “wounded by love” (cf. Jn 8,3-11). We too have to learn how to help others come face to face with their mistakes without shaming them, with great respect for them as fellow brothers in Christ, and with tenderness. In our case, also with humility, knowing that we ourselves are “vessels of clay”.

«It is the same with your Father in heaven: there they don't want even one of these little ones to be lost»

Fr. Joaquim MONRÓS i Guitart
(Tarragona, Spain)

Today, Jesus makes it known that God wants all men to be saved and «doesn't want even one of these little ones to be lost» (Mt 18:14). With the parable of the shepherd who looks for the sheep that has gotten lost, he presents us with a figure that deeply moved the first Christians. In the title page of the Catechism of the Catholic Church we find, engraved, the figure of Jesus the Good Shepherd who as early as in the catacombs of Rome is present among the first images of the Lord.

God's desire for our salvation is so strong that, from the uttering of these words, up to His unconditional sacrifice of the Cross, it is Christ who is looking for us so that we can —with complete freedom— come back to his friendship. We Christians need to share this same desire: that all be saved and get to know the Truth! As Josemaria Escrivá liked to say, «we are all sheep and shepherd». There are people —our husband or wife, our children, relatives and friends, etc.— for whom we may be the only chance they have of recovering the happiness of faith and a life of grace.

We can always leave aside ninety-nine percent of the things we are doing, to pray for and help that person whom we have near, that we love and that we know is missing something in their soul.

With our prayer and mortification, and with our loving faith, they can achieve the grace of conversion, just as Saint Monica got her son Augustine to become the “first modern man”, one who knows how to explain in "The Confessions" the way in which grace acted in the conversion that would lead to his sanctity

We ask the Mother of the Good Shepherd for the joy of many conversions.

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

 

Anthony de Mello, SJ, an Indian Jesuit of the mid-twentieth century writes, “Behold God, beholding you and smiling”. I remember the first time I experienced the weight of these words in prayer. I began by imagining the love I experience in this earthly life – the love of my parents and closest friends, the love I experience in the wonder and intricacy of creation, in watching new parents so evidently love their child. Then, I attempt to multiply all of this powerful earthly love into infinity, the amount of love God has for me, and I am quickly overwhelmed. Overwhelmed, not in a way that makes me want to run from it, but, that encourages me to stay in the soul-filling feeling of infinite love.

The Gospel reading ends with “In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.” How reassuring to read these words, to know that God wants to be close to us. one of those facts that we know, but we can easily forget. However, we are human. Which means, at times, we do feel lost, distant from our relationship with a God who loves us infinitely.

In this season of Advent, this Gospel passage relays the messages of the season – the light of God’s darkness shines bright in the darkness, and hope will prevail. If I were this sheep, I would likely feel fearful and hopeless in being reunited with my flock and shepherd. But, what Jesus reminds us, is that God searches for us in our darkness, bringing us back home to God’s infinite love.

For those of us who may feel lost, may we find hopefulness in this passage. For those of us who are in darkness, may we be on the lookout for the light of God’s love coming to find us. For all the rest of us, may we be beacons of God’s love throughout this Advent season.

Finally, may we rest in the prayer: “Behold God, beholding you and smiling.” Amen. 

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

BULLDOZERS

"A voice says, 'Cry out!' I answer, 'What shall I cry out?' " �Isaiah 40:6

When we think of Christmas preparations, we think of trees, cards, presents, cookies, and candles. However, the Bible speaks of a different kind of preparation. To prepare the way of the Lord, we must turn a desert wasteland into "a highway for our God" (Is 40:3). This means bulldozers, earthmovers, dynamite, a fleet of dump trucks, and the Army Corps of Engineers. It would take all that to lay low mountains and hills and use them as fill dirt for valleys (Is 40:4). It's a big operation to take crooked, rough, winding ways and make them straight and smooth. Yet this is the picture the Bible presents about preparing for Christ's coming. This Advent time of preparation requires a heavy-duty job of deep repentance, conversion, soul-searching, and healing. It can be heart-wrenching, painful, convicting, and tearful. However, the end product is a clear and straight road for the Christmas Jesus to enter into our hearts. What will it be � superficialities, worldly desires, and mere customs, or a real Advent preparing for a real relationship with Jesus?

Prayer: Jesus, bring in the bulldozer. All I've got to lose is my sin and selfishness.

Promise: "It is no part of your heavenly Father's plan that a single one of these little ones shall ever come to grief." —Mt 18:14

Praise: Thomas prepared for Christmas by leading his family to Confession.

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 God carries us in his bosom

Do you know what it's like to lose your bearings and to be hopelessly adrift in a sea of uncertainty? To be alone, lost, and disoriented without a sense of direction is one of the worst fears we can encounter. What we would give to have a guide who would show us the way to safety and security, the way to home and family. Scripture comforts us with the assurance that God will not rest until we find our way home to him. The Scriptures use the image of a shepherd who cares for his sheep to describe what God is like. God promised that he would personally shepherd his people and lead them to safety (Isaiah 40:11). That is why God sent his only begotten son as the Messiah King who would not only restore peace and righteousness to the land, but who would also shepherd and care for his people with love and compassion. Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep (John 10:11).

The Good Shepherd feeds, protects, and provides the best care possible for his flock
What can we learn from the lesson of Jesus' parable about a lost sheep? This parable gives us a glimpse of the heart of a true shepherd, and the joy of a community reunited with its lost members. Shepherds not only had to watch over their sheep by day and by night; they also had to protect them from wolves and lions who preyed upon them, and from dangerous terrain and storms. Shepherds often had large flocks, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or thousands. It was common to inspect and count the sheep at the end of the day. You can imagine the surprise and grief of the shepherd who discovers that one of his sheep is missing! Does he wait until the next day to go looking for it? Or does he ask a neighboring shepherd if he might have seen the stray sheep? No, he goes immediately in search of this lost sheep. Delay for even one night could mean disaster leading to death. Sheep by nature are very social creatures. An isolated sheep can quickly become bewildered, disoriented, and even neurotic. Easy prey for wolves and lions!

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, watches over every step we take - do we follow him?
The shepherd's grief and anxiety is turned to joy when he finds the lost sheep and restores it to the fold. The shepherd  searches until what he has lost is found. His persistence pays off. What was new in Jesus' teaching was the insistence that sinners must be sought out time and time again. How easy to forget and be distracted with other matters while the lost become prey for devouring wolves of the soul. The Apostle Peter reminds us that the "devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

God does not rejoice in the loss of anyone, but desires that we be brought back and restored to friendship with him. That is why the whole community of heaven rejoices when one sinner is found and restored to fellowship with God. God is on a rescue mission today to save us from the destructive forces of sin and evil. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, watches over every step we take. Do you listen to his voice and heed his wise counsel? Do you follow the path he has set for you - a path that leads to life rather than death?

"Lord Jesus, nothing escapes your watchful gaze and care. May I always walk in the light of your truth and never stray from your loving presence."

Psalm 96:1-3, 10-13

1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!
2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established, it shall never be moved;  he will judge the peoples with equity."
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy
13 before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: A small seed produces a great tree, by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD)

"Do you see in how many ways he leads us to care for our worthless brothers? Don’t therefore say, 'The fellow's a smith, a cobbler, a farmer; he's stupid,' so that you despise him. In case you suffer the same, see in how many ways the Lord urges you to be moderate and enjoins you to care for these little ones. He placed a little child in the midst and said, 'Become like children,, and, 'Whoever receives one such child, receives me.' But 'whoever causes one of these to sin' will suffer the worst fate. And he was not even satisfied with the example of the millstone, but he also added his curse and told us to cut off such people, even though they are like a hand or eye to us. And again, through the angels to whom these small brothers are handed over, he urges that we value them, as he has valued them through his own will and passion. When Jesus says, 'The Son of man came to save the lost (Luke 19:10),' he points to the cross, just as Paul also says, writing about his brother for whom Christ died (Romans 14:15). It does not please the Father that anyone is lost. The shepherd leaves the ones that have been saved and seeks the one lost. And when he finds the one that has gone astray, he rejoices greatly at its discovery and at its safety." (excerpt from the  THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 59.4)

  

More Homilies

December 12, 2017 Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent