The Sunday that falls within the Octave of Christmastide is dedicated to the celebration of the family, and so it is called “Holy Family Sunday.” This Sunday is meant to bring to the fore the blessing and merits of the institution of The Family which is so esteemed by the Church that she refers to it as the Domestic Church. What would the Church look like without the Family?

We have arrived at the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the last weekend before Christmas. We have been preparing for the coming of our Saviour and the Readings for this weekend answer the question about who He is. Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of the covenant promises made by God to King David of old. God had promised to confer permanent duration to the reign of David’s house over Israel, but when David’s princely descendants failed to rule over Israel with justice in accordance with Divine will, God elected to rule over Israel Himself. This Divine rulership was achieved when Jesus took flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and was born in the house of Joseph, His foster father, a descendant of King David.

Today is known as Gaudete Sunday, Gaudete is the Latin word for “rejoice.” Today, we light the rose-colored candle on our Advent Wreath, signifying our symbolic expression of joy. On this Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday. We are invited to reflect on the things that make us truly joyful. What makes us truly happy and joyful? Is it our work, family, faith, money, good health, sports, etc? We are also invited to even go beyond identifying the things that make us joyful during this Christmas Season to see how we can share our joy with those who are in need around us. The tradition of giving gifts at Christmas is a way of sharing our joy not only with those who are in need but those within our families.

Apart from the Lord Jesus, Himself, and Mary, His blessed mother, no other New Testament protagonist gets more “individual airtime” like John the Baptist in the Liturgy of the Church. The Church celebrates both his nativity (June 24) and his martyrdom (August 29). He is also given special mention in the earthly life of Jesus, especially in His early life and at the beginning of Christ’s public ministry. John is presented as a close relative of Jesus who precedes Christ in earthly birth. Like Jesus, his birth is foretold and his name was predetermined by God via an Angel (Luke 1:13). He is credited with an encounter with Christ while both were in their mother’s womb (Luke 1:41); he baptized Christ and witnessed the beginning of His public ministry, and it was he who pointed Christ out to his disciples and called Him “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus Himself described John as the greatest of all the children born of women (Matthew 11:11). On the Second Sunday of Advent, we are introduced to this enigmatic Scriptural character.

Welcome to a new Liturgical Year, “Year B.”

Welcome to the First Sunday of Advent, the Season during which we await the commemoration of the First Coming of Jesus, as well as prepare for His Second Coming. Whether it is the individual Second Coming, which will happen when each one will experience the separation of our mortal bodies from our immortal souls, or at the general Parousia when Christ comes again to reunite our bodies once more with our souls and call all humanity to Judgement; the Season of Advent reminds us of the need to stay spiritually alert and active, not in fear but in joyful anticipation of the restoration of our truest nature, our Sonship in the Kingdom of God.

On the last Sunday of each liturgical year, the Church celebrates the “Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe” or, “Christ the King.” This Solemnity was established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI with his encyclical Quas Primas (in the first) as a response to growing secularism and Atheism. The Pope noted the unholy attempt by the world to “thrust Jesus Christ and His Holy Law” out of public life, and the resultant discord, distrust and injustice among people and nations. This Solemnity reminds us that while empires and governments come and go, Christ and His reign enjoy permanent duration. The Readings at the Liturgy presents Christ and His Divine reign in this light.

We have arrived at the penultimate weekend to the end of the liturgical year. Next weekend shall be the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, and that my friends, will bring us to the end of the liturgical “Year A.” The season of Advent will then begin a new liturgical year. At the end of every calendar year, we often take stock of most aspects of our lives. We take a look at how we are doing financially, many do a comprehensive medical examination to find out where they are healthwise, and most families come together not only to celebrate but to also dialogue on the state of their relationship with one another in the family. The Church, God’s great family where Jesus is the head and we are the body, invites us to effect an introspection, a personal inquiry into how we have used, failed to use, or misused the talents invested in each of us by God’s benevolence.

Robert Baden-Powell, the English soldier who founded the Boy Scouts published the motto, “Be Prepared” in his 1908 handbook, Scouting for Boys. He wrote that to be prepared meant “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.” A wise person ensures that he stays prepared for any event or activity, especially the ones for which he has been afforded previous information. The Readings at the Liturgy this weekend invite us to make the wise decision of staying awake and prepared for the coming of God’s Kingdom among us.

In His unfathomable wisdom, God has blessed every one of us with charisms, the application of these gratuitous gifts when left to the dictates of our individual volitions, usually end up producing self-centered and sometimes harmful results that are injurious not only to our conscience but also to our community and even society. Good leadership is the gap-filler that coordinates our individual talents and applies them for the improvement of our human condition and to the greater glory of God. This is true even in our relationship with God. If everyone of us was asked to determine, on the basis of personal preference, how our relationship with God should be, the result would certainly be unmitigated chaos. This is why even God needs leaders to ensure that the assembly of those who believe in Him and have opted to stay in the right relationship with Him are properly enabled to sustain it. What constitutes good leadership is the unifying theme of the Readings at the liturgy this weekend.

Some of us may have experienced how parents, especially mothers, instinctively give more care and attention to any of their children who is impaired, has a disability or is younger than their siblings. The parents tend to “understand” with a disabled child and are more likely to overlook their “transgressions” and to address an “off ense” against them by their siblings. Since we were made in the image of God, it is safe to say that parents, who in their vocation collaborate with God in His benevolent ordering of this world, derive this natural bias towards the disadvantaged from God who is Love itself. God loves us all, but the disadvantaged among us are particular objects of God’s compassion and love. To ensure that they are cared and provided for, God made a Law of Love to protect them from the greed of others. This is the central theme of the Reading of the Liturgy this weekend, that God is love and His greatest commandment is the Law of Love.

The Readings this weekend are concerned with the right relationship that a Christian believer is expected to maintain between human authority and God. Holy Scripture affirms that despite appearances to the contrary, ultimate control of human history and well-being resides in God’s hands. Human rulers have their place and should be given their just due, but even they are ultimately instruments by which God guides human affairs. So, in the midst of human politics, believers should strive not to be distracted from righteousness, which is the right relationship with God.

Mount Zion, the mountain on which the Temple was built, was regarded as the holiest site for all adherents of Judaism. It was the political and religious center of Israel and only confirmed beneficiaries of the Old Covenant could claim exclusive rights to her. In Isaiah’s previous oracles (Isaiah 24 and the first few verses of 25), Israel is informed that she has lost favor with the Lord and reminded that she would be restored to favor if she would repent and reconcile with the Lord. In the First Reading, God designates this same mountain as the setting for Universal Redemption. God metaphorically referred to the event as a feast where rich food and choice wine would be served, the place where the veil of ignorance and death woven over all peoples would be destroyed, and the Lord would wipe away the tears from every face. In summary, Jerusalem will be the holy site for the redemption of people from all nations, not just the beneficiaries of the Old Covenant, and for the establishment of the new and everlasting Covenant that will admit all people who are willing, Jews and Gentiles alike.

This weekend, the First Reading and the Gospel provide two parables that describe the covenant relationship between God and the People of Israel. These parables provide a historical explanation for God’s dissatisfaction with the People of Israel that ultimately gave rise to the formation of the “New Israel” (The Church), an expansion of the national relationship God had with Israel to a universal relationship that includes all people who believe.

The Readings last weekend demonstrated how “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways” with the parable of the vineyard owner who paid a flat wage to all his workers despite hiring them at different times. This must have raised in our minds a question about the “fairness” of God who rewards equally all who respond to His invitation to labor in His vineyard. The Readings of this weekend’s liturgy are intended to facilitate further reflection upon the “justice” of God.