Second Week

2nd Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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In today’s First Reading we see beginning of the end for King Saul. The Lord chose him to be king over Israel, and so he was the Lord’s representative: the way he lead was understood by the people to be what the Lord wanted. The Amalekites had a long enmity with Israel, and the Lord expressly ordered not only their destruction as punishment, but the destruction of all their goods: none of it was to be spared. Saul “countermanded” the Lord by not killing the Amalekite king (and a king, being like the head, is like not killing the body at all) and kept the best booty because it would please his troops, sacrificing it as a way to appease them and the Lord, or so he thought.

When the Lord sends the prophet Samuel to denounce Saul for what he has done, Saul repeatedly tries to justify himself: with his own words he shows he did not obey the Lord to the letter, as was expected, and he was not repentant for what he had done. He thought a few sacrifices were enough to appease the Lord, an attitude toward a god that is typical of the nations surrounding Israel, but also an attitude of people worshiping what they thought was a god, but wasn’t. Their gods didn’t speak to them or talk back when they disobeyed them. Saul, to the contrary, had all the means to know God’s will clearly: his very kingship was the Lord’s doing, and he had a prophet who could help him know the Lord’s will as well. In the end he listened to his fears and ego instead and started down the path of losing everything the Lord had given him.

Saul teaches us that separation from God doesn’t happen in an instant: little by little we subtly justify ourselves, switching our criteria for God’s, thinking that one will blend with the other until the moment comes when our criteria and his become like oil and water. Our Lord’s criteria is always the best criteria, and it always has our best interest in mind. Let’s learn from the sad case of Saul not to deceive ourselves into thinking we may know better than God.

Readings: 1 Samuel 15:16–23; Psalm 50:8–9, 16b–17, 21, 23; Mark 2:18–22. See also 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday and 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.

2nd Sunday Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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What starts in today’s Gospel with Our Lord attending a wedding banquet turns into a sign that the Lord’s courtship with Israel has begun in earnest. The transformation of the water into wine is the first sign Our Lord performs in John’s Gospel. John doesn’t speak of miracles as much as he speaks of signs: each sign is an opportunity for Israel to put her faith in the Lord. As today’s First Reading reminds us, nuptial symbolism is very strong in the mind of Israel as the way to understand the joy her salvation will bring. For Isaiah, any checkered past of Israel, any past disgrace will be swept away by the Lord not only wedding himself to her by way of concession, but with the delight of young fiancees in love. That wedding is definitively consummated between him and the Church, with the wedding banquet awaiting us in Heaven.

Wedding celebrations in Jesus’ time were prolonged affairs with abundant wine to represent the joy of the wedding and also the future joy of when the Lord would be wed to his spouse Israel. When it seems today that the joy is going to prematurely run out, Our Lord through transforming the water into wine not only extends the joy, but makes it an even greater joy. All the things we enjoy in life that are good and holy for us will experience a similar transformation. The huge jars of water represent penance, conversion, purification, and baptism, everything that shows our contrition for our checkered past and our desire to change. Our Lord takes that penance and purification and converts it into pure joy, just as he turns the water into fine wine.

Our Lord envisions his relationship with us, whether as Church or as individuals, as one of intimate and joyful love. If we want to be captivated and purified by him in order to achieve a greater joy let’s follow the Blessed Mother’s advice today to do whatever he tells us.

Readings: Isaiah 62:1–5; Psalm 96:1–3, 7–10; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; John 2:1–11.

2nd Week of Advent, Saturday

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Today’s Gospel is just after the Transfiguration, an experience of Our Lord on the mountain where the disciples caught of glimpse of his divinity and glory and saw Elijah and Moses at his side, representing the prophets and the the Law that testified to him. This experience confirmed their faith that Jesus was the Messiah, but also raised a question: in the Old Testament it was foretold that Elijah, one of the greatest prophets who was taken up into Heaven on a fiery chariot at the end of his mission, would return before the coming of the Lord. This thought captivated the imagination of the Jews (see Malachi 4:-56 and today’s First Reading, Sirach 48:1ff.), so they were on the lookout for a great prophet before the Messiah came, and some thought Jesus was that prophet when he began his public ministry.

Our Lord helps the disciples understand that the sign of the coming of the Lord they were expecting had already happened: John the Baptist was the prophet who announced the immediate arrival of the Lord (see Luke 1:16–17). He was the greatest prophet because he was the last prophet: on his watch the Lord came, and he rejoiced at that, even in his mother Elizabeth’s womb. Advent is an Elijah moment in this sense. John the Baptist is a little baby, but that little baby points to the little baby about to be born on Christmas, just as he rejoiced at his presence in his mother’s womb.

We already know the story that is playing out each Advent and Christmas. Let’s also rejoice, like John the Baptist, that the Lord is coming soon.

Readings: Sirach 48:1–4, 9–11; Psalm 80:2ac, 3b, 15–16, 18–19; Matthew 17:9a, 10–13.

2nd Week of Advent, Friday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord invites us to go beyond the superficial in the Advent season and seek not only merriment or consolation, but a source of true and lasting joy. If Advent is characterized by John the Baptist, someone calling for repentance and conversion, the superficial see this as crazy, and just keep looking for a drinking buddy with which to drown their sorrows, not believing a path back to joy is possible. With so many dramatic family situations in the modern world Advent and Christmas are a painful reminder of a joy ever never possessed or lost, with nothing during the holidays to distract oneself from sobering realizations.

Christmas is characterized by Our Lord, a time for celebration, but also a time to find something deeper than the next party, treat or present before the season is over. If Advent is an opportunity to seek a deeper source of joy, the superficial see a little holiday happiness as enough, and then back to work and the daily grind. They can experience a similar emptiness to those drowning their sorrows, but they try to ignore it by keeping the party going.

Our Lord reminds us in the face of these attitudes that wisdom is justified by her works. Wisdom is what we’re looking for to find not only joy, but a source of joy. Jesus is the Wisdom of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:24) and also God’s power: he is able to help us go deep and tap the source of true joy that can sustain us in happy or sad moments. Feelings come and go, but joy remains. During Advent we prepare for the coming of the Prince of Peace, and, as he reminds us, his peace is not like the world’s (cf. John 14:27). Let’s continue to live this Advent as a time to prepare and welcome the Prince of Peace who’ll take us beyond happiness or sorrow to a deep joy.

Readings: Isaiah 48:17–19; Psalm 1:1–4, 6; Matthew 11:16–19. See also 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday.

2nd Week of Advent, Thursday

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To understand the momentous revelation Our Lord makes today for his listeners we have to imagine what it was like to hear prophet after prophet promise, generation after generation, century after century that the Messiah was coming, only to have to keep waiting. Today Our Lord tells them, and us, that the wait is all but over: John the Baptist is the last prophet, the prophet who would come as a new Elijah right before the arrival of the Messiah. A promise made through the prophets for centuries is about to be fulfilled in Jesus.

In Advent we celebrate that long wait drawing to an end, but also that events are about to take a dramatic turn for the better. When Our Lord describes John as least in the Kingdom of heaven, he is telling us that if we considered John blessed to be a prophet with a special mission and relationship with God, we would be even more blessed if we believed in Our Lord and formed a part of his Kingdom, a Kingdom he’ll inaugurate with his incarnation and birth.

Advent is a time to help us grow in joyful expectation and hope. Let’s ask Our Lord for a great faith that his promises will be fulfilled in our lives if we believe in him. Let’s ask for his blessings as we prepare for Christmas.

Readings: Isaiah 41:13–20; Psalm 145:1, 9–13ab; Matthew 11:11–15.