December 9, 2021Thursday of the Second Week of Advent

2021년 12월 9일 대림 제2주간 목요일 



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

제1독서

<나는 이스라엘의 거룩한 분, 너의 구원자이다.>
이사야서. 41,13-20
나 주님이 너의 하느님, 내가 네 오른손을 붙잡아 주고 있다.
나는 너에게 말한다.
“두려워하지 마라. 내가 너를 도와주리라.”
14 두려워하지 마라, 벌레 같은 야곱아
구더기 같은 이스라엘아! 내가 너를 도와주리라.
주님의 말씀이다.
이스라엘의 거룩한 분이 너의 구원자이다.
15 보라, 내가 너를 날카로운 타작기로, 날이 많은 새 타작기로 만들리니
너는 산들을 타작하여 잘게 바수고 언덕들을 지푸라기처럼 만들리라.
16 네가 그것들을 까부르면 바람이 쓸어 가고 폭풍이 그것들을 흩날려 버리리라.
그러나 너는 주님 안에서 기뻐 뛰놀고
이스라엘의 거룩한 분 안에서 자랑스러워하리라.
17 가련한 이들과 가난한 이들이 물을 찾지만
물이 없어 갈증으로 그들의 혀가 탄다.
나 주님이 그들에게 응답하고
나 이스라엘의 하느님이 그들을 버리지 않으리라.
18 나는 벌거숭이산들 위에 강물이,
골짜기들 가운데에 샘물이 솟아나게 하리라.
광야를 못으로, 메마른 땅을 수원지로 만들리라.
19 나는 광야에 향백나무와 아카시아, 도금양나무와 소나무를 갖다 놓고
사막에 방백나무와 사철가막살나무와 젓나무를 함께 심으리라.
20 이는 주님께서 그것을 손수 이루시고
이스라엘의 거룩하신 분께서 그것을 창조하셨음을
모든 이가 보아 알고 살펴 깨닫게 하시려는 것이다.

복음

<세례자 요한보다 더 큰 인물은 나오지 않았다.>
마태오 11,11-15
그때에 예수님께서 군중에게 말씀하셨다.
11 “내가 진실로 너희에게 말한다.
여자에게서 태어난 이들 가운데
세례자 요한보다 더 큰 인물은 나오지 않았다.
그러나 하늘 나라에서는 가장 작은 이라도 그보다 더 크다.
12 세례자 요한 때부터 지금까지 하늘 나라는 폭행을 당하고 있다.
폭력을 쓰는 자들이 하늘 나라를 빼앗으려고 한다.
13 모든 예언서와 율법은 요한에 이르기까지 예언하였다.
14 너희가 그것을 받아들이고자 한다면,
요한이 바로 오기로 되어 있는 엘리야다.
15 귀 있는 사람은 들어라.”

December 9, 2021

Thursday 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 41:13-20

I am the LORD, your God,
who grasp your right hand;
It is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I will help you.”
Fear not, O worm Jacob,
O maggot Israel;
I will help you, says the LORD;
your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
I will make of you a threshing sledge,
sharp, new, and double-edged,
To thresh the mountains and crush them,
to make the hills like chaff.
When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off
and the storm shall scatter them.
But you shall rejoice in the LORD,
and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain,
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the LORD, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the broad valleys;
I will turn the desert into a marshland,
and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar,
acacia, myrtle, and olive;
I will set in the wasteland the cypress,
together with the plane tree and the pine,
That all may see and know,
observe and understand,
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

 

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 145:1 and 9, 10-11, 12-13ab

R. (8) The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let them make known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.

Gospel

Mt 11:11-15

Jesus said to the crowds:
“Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 
From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and the violent are taking it by force. 
All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. 
And if you are willing to accept it,
he is Elijah, the one who is to come. 
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

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

 As a teacher and a scholar of education, I am very familiar with the idea of service requirements for students.  School policy often dictates that students must satisfy expectations about the amount of time that the spend serving others.  If you ask students what they gain from their service that they give, they might respond that they gain “hours” for some arbitrary graduation requirement.  After all, the easy path is almost always to reduce these service encounters to a mere transactional endeavor.

Take a moment to consider how service is to you.  If your reflection is similar to mine, you might find that service can be transactional here as well.  For example, I have suggested to my adult child before that he highlight his service activities when he applies for jobs so that he might be a more desirable applicant.  And even for me, as a tenure-stream professor, I am expected to comment on my service if I hope to achieve tenure.

Today’s readings prompted me to reflect on how we engage the poor and marginalized – the least among us – the ones who need it most.  What do you give for your service?  What do you gain in return?  The answers to these questions will probably reveal a lot about your mindset when in comes to serving others.

Of course, some of this might be the reality of the world in which we live.  But, the psalmist writes, “the Lord is good and merciful – slow to anger, and of great kindness.”  For me, the important word of this passage is merciful.  To be merciful means to show compassion – to suffer with – to see the world through another’s eyes.  Jesus was and is a perfect picture of this compassion as we see in so many of his encounters with others.  Jesus’s compassion calls us to the same – to encounter others with steadfast grace and perfect humility, so that we too can understand their world through their eyes.

In quiet and still of this Advent season, we can and should take care to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord by examining our approach to mercy and service, and especially to what we give and gain in these encounters.   And when our approach shifts the focus to compassion, what we gain will be so much more valuable than hours, jobs, and advancement.

May the days and weeks leading to Christmas be quiet, reflective, and revealing to all of us seeking to grow closer to Him.​

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

 ​

DE-WORMED

“Fear not, O worm.” —Isaiah 41:14

The Israelites were in exile in Babylon. Among other miracles, they needed to go home; they had to walk hundreds of miles across a desert. They had no more chance than a worm or a maggot to cross that desert and climb its mountains (see Is 41:14). However, the Lord promised to take Israel’s weakness and make it as powerful (2 Cor 12:9) as a super-threshing sledge, which could crush and level mountains (Is 41:15).

The Lord promises to take our fallen human nature and make us adopted children of God. “God chose those whom the world considers absurd to shame the wise; He singled out the weak of this world to shame the strong. He chose the world’s lowborn and despised, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who were something” (1 Cor 1:27-28). Even when we are defeated and degraded by sin, the Lord will accept us, lead us to repentance and forgiveness, and make us more than conquerors (Rm 8:37). At the end of the world, Jesus will return and raise up the bodies of those who seem to have been destroyed by death but have died in Him. Then we, in all our weakness, will be given the power to meet Jesus in the clouds (1 Thes 4:17). Jesus has worked all things together for the good of the worms and the weak who love Him (see Rm 8:28).

Prayer:  Abba, the Holy Spirit cries out Your name in my heart (Gal 4:6).

Promise:  “I solemnly assure you, history has not known a man born of woman greater than John the Baptizer. Yet the least born into the kingdom of God is greater than he.” —Mt 11:11

Praise:  In 2002, Pope St. John Paul II canonized St. Juan Diego at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Praise God for St. Juan Diego’s blessed obedience.

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

 Who is the greatest in the kingdom of God? Jesus praised John the Baptist as the greatest person born. Who can top that as a compliment? But in the same breath Jesus says that the least in the kingdom of God is even greater than John! That sounds like a contradiction, right? Unless you understand that what Jesus was about to accomplish for our sake would supersede all that the prophets had done and foreseen.

"Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel"
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed to the forsaken and dispersed people of Israel some 700 years before the birth of Christ that "your Redeemer - the Holy One of Israel" would come to restore his people and to make all things new (Isaiah 41:14ff). When the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel did appear John the Baptist announced his arrival. He fulfilled the essential task of all the prophets - to be fingers pointing to Jesus Christ, God's Anointed Son and Messiah. John proclaimed Jesus' mission at the Jordan River when he exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). John saw from a distance what Jesus would accomplish through his death on the cross - our redemption from bondage to sin and death and our adoption as sons and daughters of God and citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

The spirit of Elijah is sent in advance through John's words
John the Baptist bridges the Old and New Testaments. He is the last of the Old Testament prophets who point the way to the Messiah. He is the first of the New Testament witnesses and martyrs. He is the herald who prepares the way for Jesus the Messiah. Jesus confirms that John has fulfilled the promise that Elijah would return to herald the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5). Jesus declares that John is nothing less that the great herald whose privilege it was to announce the coming of the Redeemer - the Holy One of Israel.

Jesus equates the coming of the kingdom of heaven with violence (Matthew 11:12). John himself suffered violence for announcing that the kingdom of God was near. He was thrown into prison and then beheaded. Since John's martyrdom to the present times the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and persecution at the hands of violent men. The blood of the martyrs throughout the ages bear witness to this fact. The martyrs witness to the truth - the truth and love of Jesus Christ who shed his blood to redeem us from slavery to sin and Satan and the fear of death. The Lord Jesus gives us the power of his Holy Spirit to overcome fear with faith, despair with hope, and every form of hatred, violence, jealousy, and prejudice with love and charity towards all - even those who seek to destroy and kill.

We proclaim the joy of the Gospel of Christ even in the midst of suffering and violence
God may call some of us to be martyrs for our faith in Jesus Christ. But for most of us our call is to be dry martyrs who bear testimony to the joy of the Gospel in the midst of daily challenges, contradictions, temptations and adversities which come our way as we follow the Lord Jesus. What attracts others to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? When they see Christians loving their enemies, being joyful in suffering, patient in adversity, pardoning injuries, and showing comfort and compassion to the hopeless and the helpless. Jesus tells us that we do not need to fear our adversaries. He will fill us with the power of his Holy Spirit and give us sufficient grace, strength, and wisdom to face any trial and to answer any challenge to our faith. Are you eager to witness to the joy and freedom of the Gospel?

Lord Jesus, by your cross you have redeemed the world. Fill me with joy and confidence and make me a bold witness of your saving truth that others may know the joy and freedom of the Gospel of your kingdom of peace and righteousness.

Psalm 145:1, 9-13

1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name for ever and ever.
9 The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made
10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the sons of men your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds.

Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The Kingdom of Heaven, by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD)

"What violence (Matthew 11:12)? People did not believe in John the Baptist. The works of Christ were held to be of no importance. His torment on the cross was a stumbling block. 'Until now' prophecy has been dormant. But now the law is fulfilled. Every prediction is finished. The spirit of Elijah is sent in advance through John's words. Christ is proclaimed to some and acknowledged by others. He is born for some and loved by others. The violent irony is that his own people rejected him, while strangers accepted him. His own people speak ill of him, while his enemies embrace him. The act of adoption offers an inheritance, while the family rejects it. Sons refuse to accept their father's last will, while the slaves of the household receive it. This is what is meant by the phrase 'the kingdom of heaven suffers violence' (Matthew 11:12). Earlier expectations are being torn apart. The glory that was pledged to Israel by the patriarchs, which was announced by the prophets and which was offered by Christ, is now being seized and carried off by the Gentiles, through their faith." (excerpt from the commentary ON MATTHEW 11.7)​

 

 

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