Footprints of the Messiah

Third Sunday of Advent - Year A

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 11:2-11. 
When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus 
with this question, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?"
Jesus said to them in reply, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: 
the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me." 
As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, "What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. 
Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it is written: 'Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.'
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.

Reflection
We live in a world that needs guarantees. Banks won't approve of loans without a collateral. Credit companies won't issue you a credit card without good credit standing. Math teachers won't consider your answer without a solution. A fact is scientifically sound if it is demonstrable, repeatable, and tested. News is truth if it comes from a verifiable source. It is human to ask for a guarantee for truth.

John the Baptism was your ordinary human. He was like Facebook asking for your password as you log-in or Gmail when asking for a two-factor authentication code as you check your email or Android asking for you PIN, or iPhone waiting for your fingerprint. He was curious if Jesus was the real long-awaited Messiah.

If you remember, in Genesis, God promised Adam and Eve that he would send a savior. In Isaiah, he promised to send a Suffering Servant. Among the prophets, a new Moses. Throughout the Old Testament is a string of promises of Salvation and the people of Israel for thousands of years have been waiting for the one. In their tongue, they call him מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach) or the 'anointed one' which is anglicized as Messiah. In Greek it is christos. He would bring with him peace, harmony and joy for Israel and the whole world.

When Jesus appeared on the public scene and gaining a name for himself, John heard about him. John wanted to confirm if Jesus was indeed the one. "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" They have been looking for so long. Many have come forward as the savior but all of them have failed expectations. This Jesus was proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God. He shares the same preaching as John, repent! Is he the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises?

To this Jesus replied: "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them." These are the footprints that mark that the Messiah has walked the earth. Jesus alludes to the messianic promises of Isaiah 35. For the anointed of the Lord is anointed with the Spirit and with Him comes not only miracles but the sense of joy, peace, and harmony. And he commends John the Baptist as being that voice that prepared for Jesus coming.

Jesus however declares that even the least in the Kingdom is greater than John. Why? Because those in the Kingdom of God has already seen the promises fulfilled in Jesus, something that John longed to see, something that the prophets of old could only dream of. We who have received Jesus' baptism of water and Spirit have received the fullness of God's promises especially when we receive communion in the Holy Mass.

As we await the second coming of the Christ, we are on the mission to make visible the fruits of these promises. As Christians, we are called to build a society of joy, peace, and harmony; of contributing to growth in humanity, of promoting life and justice. Because the Christ of God has been united to us and is now living in us and working in us. Like Jesus we also have received the anointing of the Spirit in which we are empowered to so that we can also go to the John the Baptists in our lives what we have heard and seen in Christ. This should be the Advent preparation we should do as we move towards Christmas.

Jesus Christ continues to walk the earth through us. We are the footprints of the Messiah.

Mary, the Immaculate Kecharitomene

Icon of St Anne, Mary, and Jesus

As we celebrate today the Solemnity of our Blessed Mother, the Immaculate Conception, my thoughts dwell on the richness of our Catholic tradition. The circumstances and details of the family life of Jesus in Nazareth is not recorded in the Gospels. What has been handed down to us came from a long line of tradition that stretches back to earliest Christianity. Mary's mother was named Anne, her father, Joachim. Sts. Joachim and Anne then are the grandparents of Jesus. We celebrate their feast on July 26 which we consider as grandparents' day.

It is important to note that such details were not recorded in the Bible because the early Christian writers were first preoccupied in writing the core of the Gospel message: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Its beginnings saw Christianity struggle to form its distinct identity by anchoring itself in the Paschal mystery of Jesus. Only later did the Church begin to explore the other details of Jesus rich life.

The belief in the Immaculate Conception is rooted in the belief of the purity of Jesus. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews would say that Jesus was like us in all things except sin (Hebrews 4:15). It is important to hold on to this truth because our salvation rests on the fact that the Son of God became man. Being God, the Second Person of the Trinity had to be incarnated as the Perfect Man for him to become a worthy thanksgiving to the Father in behalf of humanity. But to be born as a man, Jesus needs a mother from whom He will receive His humanity.

Mary was chosen beforehand to be the mother of Jesus. And so, in a singular grace granted to her, she was given the grace of being born without sin in order to prepare her for her role as the mother of Jesus. It is only right that the flesh and womb that would carry the Son of God for nine months be preserved from all stain of sin. But this grace is not given to her because she deserved it. Rather, it was given to her in view of Jesus. This grace of being free from sin is not something that is outside the work of Jesus. Rather it is something that we can call as a "preview" of the salvation that is to be won on the cross. It is the same salvation that we have received at Baptism except that Mary had a foretaste of it at her conception while we receive it after the cross through the water and the Spirit.

This is why our Blessed Mother is often called the Tabernacle because she would carry in her womb the Son of God in the same way our tabernacles in churches would hold the reposed consecrated bread. She is also called theotokos, meaning God-bearer for the same reason. To do this singular role, she was designated and prepared beforehand by the Father.

The angel Gabriel would affirm this her state when he would greet her: "Hail Mary, full of Grace! The Lord is with you!" A more faithful translation would be: "Rejoice, O Graced one! The Lord is with you!" The original Greek would highlight the relationship between joy (rejoice) and grace. Not only is Mary given grace by God but she is graced to to the full. We would say to her fullness because this grace is but a manifestation of the presence of God (Lord) in her life. This is so unique to her that St. Luke's Greek gave her a theological name: kecharitomene - a title that fully describes her unique role (Luke 1:28). Our Blessed Mother is the Kecharitomene.

The title Immaculate Conception is but a negative statement of the Kecharitomene. God and sin are mutually exclusive of one another. Sin the separation from God. To the Hebrew mind, it is 'missing the mark' of doing God's Will, the Law, which separates us from the righteousness of God. Not doing God's Will is separating, excluding, isolating ourselves from God (and not God separating Himself form us). Grace is its opposite: it is communion with God where we receive the fullness of God who is Grace Himself through whom we become just and saved. To be fully graced then is to be without sin!

Yet it is not our act that accomplishes this. It is only through God's mercy that these things happen. Mary was the recipient and God was the benefactor. She only completed this preparation given her when she said her fiat: "be it done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). If through her human nature God has dwelt like the fire that dwelt in the bush before Moses, now her 'yes' allowed for God to dwell in her womb. Grace prepared her to be the Mother of God.

The Immaculate Conception is the most proper solemnity to prepare us for the Birth of Jesus which we celebrate every Christmas. When we see the Madonna embracing the little Child, we see in her the representative of all humanity that has been longing to embrace and receive salvation. The little Child that slept soundly on her breast should be able to sleep soundly on our hearts. We might not have been conceived immaculately in the wombs of our mothers but we have been spiritually born immaculately in the womb of the Church when the waters of Baptism have completely washed away our sins. Let us maintain this purity through the practice of the virtue of chastity and allow Grace to dwell in us especially as we await the birth of Christ in our hearts.

Hope In A Messiah

Second Sunday of Advent

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 3:1-12.
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea
(and) saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: "A voice of one crying out in the desert, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'"
John wore clothing made of camel's hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.
And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
  
Reflection
We all believe in a higher power. When computers started to become prevalent we thought that technology could further advance our civilization. And it did. As digital technology became smaller and smaller and moved from the desktop to the mobile we believed it would revolutionize the way we communicated. And it did. We thought that somehow, the better our technologies become the better the world we live in would be. We were wrong.

New technology bring with it advancements. It makes lives easier and speeds up development. But it also brings with it a whole new set of problems. Before the internet, the question of privacy is limited to the size and transparency of the window. Today, privacy is a battleground between the netizens and the surveillance groups, be it the state or not. WiFi availability is now one attraction for public spaces. Bullying has spilled online. Technology like any human tool is amoral. It brings with it its own solutions and its own unique set of problems.

We have always believed in technology. This is an indication that we believe in some higher power, something to carry us forward through the daily grind and the rough conditions of human existence. For some, technology have become their messiah, their savior, to which they invest resources in order to solve human problems. Human history, however, has shown that human technology while propelling civilization forward cannot be the sole solution. Human problems remain human. They come from human beings, perpetrated by human beings, and is to be solved by human beings. No other part of creation could solve our own problems except collective human effort.

Pope Benedict would point this out when he describes how humanity today is building a "kingdom of man" rather than the Kingdom of God. It is a kingdom whose chief architect is man and designed to build a utopia where human problems are past. Down through history, civilizations and religions have sought out a higher power to save humanity from its misery. Israel too yearned for a messiah, a savior for which the Prophet Isaiah spoke God's promises of salvation. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.

John the Baptist would echo this with much urgency. A savior is indeed coming, a savior not made by man but coming from God. He is not to build an earthly kingdom, a kingdom of man, but a kingdom of heaven, a Kingdom of God. This savior will not just bring solutions but will strike at the very root of the problem - the sinfulness of man. John the Baptist's call then is justified: repent!

The world that this savior will usher forth is so incompatible with ours that they are mutually exclusive. For this world to conform itself to the Kingdom of God the Spirit is to be invoked. Thus this Savior will baptize with the Spirit who is fire that purifies and burns the impurities. It is the Spirit that transforms man to the real humanity that God envisioned in him.

Jesus is that Savior foretold by John. He alone was filled with the Spirit. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the work of the Son and the action of the Spirit is gloriously revealed to us as the two hands of the Father working through humanity. Even God knew that human problems are solved humanely and that is why He sent His Son to become man - the perfect and ideal man who could teach us how to be truly human. Jesus will baptize the man and the world with the Spirit that it may be transformed to what it should be, the Kingdom of God.

How is this Kingdom seen today? Where Christians work for peace and sow love; where Christians bear with one another and forgive to end the cycle of hatred and war; where Christians go beyond themselves to become Jesus to others today - this is the ushering in of the Kingdom of God, this is the cleansing movement of the baptism of the Spirit. And as John points out to the Pharisees and Sadducees, this change must come from within, must come first from a personal transformation.

There would always be problems in the world. Suffering it seems is a consequence of human brokenness that manifests in each one of us. Technology would help, certainly, but it can never be the savior for humankind. We cannot craft our own salvation. We need a higher power and this higher power will come down among us to teach us how to be human. And in becoming human, we become a Kingdom of God.