1. Today we begin Advent, a time when Christians look forward in hope to Jesus' coming at Christmas. In these weeks of Christmas, I invite you to a time of prayer and reflection using prayer slides that will be uploaded to this blog each Sunday of Advent. Our theme for this year's prayer is "To Jesus Through Mary."

    Below you will find the slides for this First Sunday of Advent.


    To begin your prayer, click on the arrow in the middle of the prayer slide above. Then, click on the rightmost box at the bottom of the slide to enlarge the slide. Use the arrows on the left-hand side of the bar below the prayer slide to navigate yourself through the prayer.

    Do remember that this is your time with God in prayer. Allow God's Spirit to move you onward through the slides. If you find yourself pausing at a word, a phrase or an image, stay with this for awhile. God is meeting you there. Spend some time with God.

    May your prayer today be blessed and holy.


    0

    Add a comment


  2. Gospel Reading: Luke 19:1-10 (Zacchaeus)


    Do you remember
    when your classmate or workmate became your best friend?
    when your date blossomed into the friend you married for life?
    when someone everybody disliked reached out and you responded in friendship?

    Perhaps, that moment happened over a meal:
    Mom’s packed lunch in the canteen;
    that first dinner with the in-laws;
    a doughnut and coffee at Starbucks.

    As you ate together, you probably let down your guard,
    became comfortable being yourselves,
    sharing more and more
    who you each really are, what you truly think and feel.
    Honestly. Acceptingly. Joyfully.

    Indeed, inviting someone to the table to eat with you
    can be that defining moment when
    a stranger becomes a friend,
    a face in the crowd becomes a name on our lips,
    a nobody becomes somebody we cherish.

    What we see here with eyes of faith is transformation:
    ordinary interaction becomes relationships that matter,
    friendships that love.

    This is the image Luke invites you and me to reflect on in today’s gospel.
    Jesus and Zacchaeus feasting together.
    They feast together
    not as rabbi and tax collector,
    not as holy and sinful,
    but as friends,
    as the Son of God in friendship with a son of man and woman.

    How does their friendship come to be?
    In Jesus inviting and Zacchaeus accepting.

    Jesus enters Jericho, into Zachaeus’everyday life.
    And meeting Zacchaeus there, Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ home
    Zacchaeus accepts, and Jesus comes and stays with him.

    Jesus enters; Jesus comes; Jesus stays.

    Isn’t this how Jesus also meets us in friendship?

    Entering into our lives
    into our laughter to laugh with us
    and into our grief to grieve with us?

    Coming into our lives
    to heal us in our suffering with life-giving words?
    to teach us when we are lost with his Godly life?

    Why does Jesus come in friendship
    to someone like Zacchaeus, much despised by the Jews for being a tax collector?
    to some like you and me who strive to be God’s holy people,
    yet disappoint God and ourselves with our less than holy human lives?

    Perhaps, he comes because he hears the truth
    of who God really is in his life and for our lives.

    We hear this same truth in the Book of Wisdom we read earlier:
    For you, God, love all things that are and loathe nothing you have made (Wisdom 11: 24).

    I believe this is the reason Jesus reaches out in friendship:
    to remind us that God made us good and to help us live the good life with God.

    This is the reason Jesus enters and comes,
    but, more importantly, the reason he stays with us.
    Jesus stays with us in God’s love…
    in God’s love that seeks us out in our sinfulness
    that embraces back us, again and again, into in his forgiving love,
    that brings us home into his divine life.

    Here, we are at home:
    we have entered into God’s home; we have come into God’s presence.
    As we enter and come to Mass today,
    we too are taking those steps Jesus makes in forging friendship.
    With our steps, we enter into God’s friendship through Jesus;
    we come to God in Jesus’ Spirit.

    Zaccaheus took these steps too.
    Hearing Jesus’ invitation, he welcomed Jesus’ friendship.
    Jesus with him; Jesus transforming him; Jesus helping him to repent and save his life.
    This is the Good News we hear today.

    But the real miracle Luke wants us to focus on is:
    Zacchaeus staying in Jesus’ company, as Jesus stayed with him.

    In a few moments, we will gather around the altar.
    Jesus invites us to this altar, his table of plenty,
    to this our Eucharist together.

    Like Zachaeus, we come, saint and sinner alike.
    We come because we believe Jesus will feed us who hunger and thirst with his friendship

    We come because we hear Jesus say:
    I have entered your life, called you by name for you are mine;
    I have come so you might have life and have it to the full;
    be not afraid, I am with you always, staying close beside you.

    And today, we might also hear him say, But, you, will you stay with me too?




    This is a Sunday homily I delivered as a requirement for my class in liturgical preaching.


    artwork: zacchaeus being called down from the tree by william hole






    0

    Add a comment

"Bukas Palad"
"Bukas Palad"
is Filipino for open palms
Greetings!
Greetings!
Peace and welcome, dear friend.
I hope you will find in these posts something that speaks to you of the God who loves us all and who always holds us in the palm of his hand. Blessings!
The Liturgical Calendar / Year C
Faith & Spirituality
Tagged as...
Blog Archive
Blog Archive
Fall in Love, Stay in Love
Fall in Love, Stay in Love

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute way final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."

Pedro Arrupe, sj, Superior General, 1965 - 1983

About Me
About Me
My Photo
is a 50something Catholic who resides in Singapore and works for the Church. He is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
Disclaimer
Disclaimer
©adrian.danker.sj, 2006-2018

The views I express in these pages are personal. They do not speak for the Society of Jesus or the Catholic Church.
Loading