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Category: Advent

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Advent / Second Week / Weekdays

OPEN OUR EYES TO THE TRUTH, O LORD!

⏰Saturday of the Second Week of Advent (15 December 2018) 📕Sir 48:1-4, 9-11b; Ps 28:2ac and 3b, 15-16a, 18-19 (R.v.4); Matt 17:10-13 Do you understand why some people normally leaves the truth to pursue shadows? I think it is because they normally subject the verification of the truth to principles which are generated from personal biases. But truth cannot be subjective. That was the problem with the leaders of the Jews which Jesus condemned. That is also the same problem that makes some people jump from one place to another in search of the type of God which they have...

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Advent / Weekdays

HE WHO FOLLOWS THE LORD WILL HAVE THE LIGHT OF LIFE (cf. John 8:12)

⏰Friday of the Second Week of Advent (13 December 2019) 📖Isa 48:17-19; Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6 (R. John 8:12); Matt 11:16-19 🎤HE WHO FOLLOWS THE LORD WILL HAVE THE LIGHT OF LIFE (cf. John 8:12) Coming into the presence of the Lord yields a much desired positive transformation. The prophet Isaiah informs us today that it would earn us peace, righteousness and every good thing, including having our names in his book of life (cf. Isa 48:17-19). To be in the presence of the Lord is to be without sin. The prophet Isaiah had also noted that it...

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Advent / Reflections / Weekdays

HOPE REVISITED: RELAX! GOD IS IN CHARGE!

HOPE REVISITED: RELAX! GOD IS IN CHARGE! I do not know why I am revisiting this matter. I have tried to ignore the urge to do this but my conscience would not allow me to rest. I then reasoned that God might be pushing me to do this again because of you. Maybe he wants to reassure you that he is with you despite all that come your way in life. Listen to this! The people of Israel had spent a very long time in exile, and were already losing hope of God’s intervention before the prophet Isaiah came to...

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Advent / Weekdays

“THEY WHO WAIT FOR THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH” (Isa 40:31)

⏰Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent (7 December 2022 – Memorial of St. Ambrose) 📖Isa 40:25-31; Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8 and 10, (R.v.1a); Matt 11:28-30 🎤”THEY WHO WAIT FOR THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH” (Isa 40:31) Having spent a long time in exile amidst disappointments and pain, and of course, with a possible feeling of abandonment by God, it would need an extra grace for the Israelites to be convinced again that God cares for them. Isaiah tried to do this by pointing to the fact that God’s plan may not be very evident to man at the...

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Advent / Second Week / Weekdays

YOUR WARFARE IS ENDED! (cf. Isa 40:2)

⏰Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent (10 December 2019) 📖Isa 40:1-11; Ps 96:1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12a, 12b-13 (R. Isa 40:9-10); Matt 18:12-14 🎤YOUR WARFARE IS ENDED! (cf. Isa 40:2) If you have been following us through this medium for a while now, you must have heard us say that the book of the prophet Isaiah is divided into three – First Isaiah (Isa 1 – 39), Second Isaiah (Isa 40 – 55) and Third Isaiah (Isa 56 – 66). It is believed that there are different prophets for the three different divisions. Our first reading of today is...

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Advent / Second Week / Weekdays

“BE STRONG, FEAR NOT!” (Isa 35:4)

⏰Monday of the Second Week of Advent (10 December 2018) 📖Isa 35:1-10; Ps 85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14, (R. Isa 35:4ff); Luke 5:17-26 “BE STRONG, FEAR NOT!” (Isa 35:4) My dear, God wants you to begin this new working week with smiles and strong faith in him; do not allow anything to rob you of that. Learn from the determination of the friends of this paralytic in Luke 5:18-26. The crowd proved to be an obstacle to them but they still found a way to reach Jesus through the roof. There can be a lot of crowds trying to prevent...

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Advent / Sundays / Year A

“IN HIS DAYS JUSTICE SHALL FLOURISH AND GREAT PEACE FOREVER” (Ps 72:7)

⏰Second Sunday of Advent Year A (8 December 2019) 📖Isa 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17; Rom 15:4-9; Matt 3:1-12 🎤”IN HIS DAYS JUSTICE SHALL FLOURISH AND GREAT PEACE FOREVER” (Ps 72:7) The wonderful season of Advent comes with a lot of promises, central of which is the exposition of God’s faithfulness on his people. The Book of Genesis tells us that when God had finished his work of creation, “He saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Things remained in that good state until man sinned and lost the original grace in which...

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Advent / Weekdays

YOU SHALL WEEP NO MORE! (Isa 30:19)

⏰Saturday of the First Week of Advent (3 December 2016 – Memorial of St. Francis Xavier) ????Isa 30:19-21, 23-26; Ps 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 (R. Isa 30:18); Matt 9:35 – 10:1, 5a, 6-8 YOU SHALL WEEP NO MORE! (Isa 30:19) My dear, listen to Isaiah talking to all of us, Blessed are all those who wait for the Lord (Isa 30:18). The people of Israel had neglected Gods earlier warnings against forming alliance with foreign nations (see Isa 7). Here, in Isa 30:18-26, the prophet tries to assure the people that God has not given up on them, and that if...

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Advent / Weekdays

“THE LORD IS MY LIGHT AND MY SALVATION” (Ps 27:1)

⏰Friday of the First Week of Advent (2 December 2016) ????Isa 29:17-24; Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14, (R.v.1a); Matt 9:27-31 “THE LORD IS MY LIGHT AND MY SALVATION” (Ps 27:1) The transition from darkness to light is one of the phenomena that is often used to describe the messianic era in the scriptures. The prophet Isaiah used it to describe the events surrounding the birth of the Child, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned upon those who lived in the land as dark as death” (Isa 9:2). The evangelist Matthew also borrowed...

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Advent / First Week / Weekdays

LET YOUR FAITH BECOME PERFECT BY YOUR WORKS (cf. Jas 2:22)

⏰Thursday of the First Week of Advent (07 Dec 2017) ????Isa 26:1-6; Ps 118:1 and 8-9, 19-21, 25-27 (R.v.26a); Matt 7:21, 24-27 My dear, in borrowing the ideas of St. James in the above quotation, instead of using work merely in the context of charity and generosity, we shall extend it here to also mean our active response to our faith in God. We are often distracted from that focus by many worries. Whichever way our worries come from, the prophet Isaiah reminds us that in God, our security is ensured. For them who trust in the Lord, the Lord...