Morning Voice

December 6, 2020 Second Sunday of Advent - B. READINGS:   IS 40:1-5, 9-11 ;  PS 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14 ;  2 PT 3:8-14 ;  MK 1:1-8 . A Bantu proverb says, “The road doesn't tell the traveler what lies ahead.” And a Nigerian proverb adds, “A traveler to distant places should make no enemies.” To travel is to move forward. No one travels backward. The Advent journey is a walk towards newness and the perfection of life. The Christian life, but also human life in general, is a journey. We are pilgrims on this earth. Our life lasts just the time of a journey. When one says journey or travelers, we think of realities such as the road, the means of transportation, the conditions of the journey. He who dreams of a pleasant trip must first put conditions to make it pleasant. Thus, the French dictum, “He who wishes to travel far take care of his mount.” Last Sunday, opening the Advent pilgrimage, we said we are an Advent people, which means people on the wait, called to kee...

November 29, 2020 First Sunday of Advent - B  Readings:   IS 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7 ;  PS 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19 ;  1 COR 1:3-9 ;  MK 13:33-37 . A Masai proverb says, “Life has seasons.” And an Ashanti proverb adds, “It takes a season for a snake to change into its new skin.” In the life of man, there are seasons or moments which have a very special connotation. When these moments arrive, the whole of life takes on another meaning and at times a different color and flavor. We cannot live these periods without them making their mark on us. The Advent Season, in the liturgical year, the year of the Church is one of those moments. It has a very special character and is felt by the message it conveys and for its great theological and spiritual significance. Through the Eucharistic celebration of today, we open a new liturgical year, the Year B. Advent, the first season of this year carries the message of preparation and awakening for greater dawn. The word Adven...

November 22, 2020 The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - A. READINGS: EZ 34:11-12, 15-17; PS 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6; 1 COR15:20-26, 28; MT 25:31-46. A Zambian proverb says, “The king lives way up to where the stench of the poor cannot reach him.” And an Albanian proverb adds, “Crowning a clown won’t make him a king.” “How worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and divinity, and wisdom and strength and honor. To him belong glory and power for ever and ever.” (Rev 5: 12; 1: 6) When we hear the word ‘King’, what comes first in the mind of everyone is honor, power, glory, wisdom. In monarchic traditions, the Monarch or the King is the highest personality of a country, the one who has words of life or death on everyone’s life. What a king says makes office of law. According to the Britannica Dictionary, the king is a supreme ruler, a sovereign over a nation or a territory, of higher rank than any other secular ruler except an emperor, to whom a king may ...

November 15, 2020 Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - A. READINGS: PRV 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; PS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; 1THES 5:1-6; MT 25:14-30. A Senegalese proverb says, “It is only the eagle that can give an account of the whisper of the cloud.” And a Japanese proverb adds, “Even a fool has one talent.” Discussing one day with a friend, he asked me about judgment and damnation, how can we understand the mercy of God in front of the reality of hell? My answer to him was: ‘It is not God who judges and condemns us, but our actions and choices. Therefore, we should take the risk to dare the good always and show love to anyone we meet if we dream of heaven. For, hell is the fruit of our choice.’ The Catechism of the Catholic Church comes in great support to this answer when it states: “Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven...

November 8, 2020 Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - A. READINGS: WIS 6:12-16; PS 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; 1 THES4:13-18 OR 4:13-14; MT 25:1-13. A French proverb says, “Hope is the dream of a soul awake.” A Sicilian proverb adds, “Who stays vigilant, will win.” “Let my prayer come into your presence. Incline your ear to my cry for help, O Lord” (Cf. Ps 88: 3). Here is the entrance antiphon that plunges us in the Eucharistic celebration of this 32nd Sunday in the Ordinary Time A. Prayer is a time of encounter and intimate communication with the one we wait for. In prayer, the orant pours his heart and his soul before God. He turns to him for help, knowing that, away from him, human life is a loss. About prayer, the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes St. Therese of Lisieux, saying, “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy” (CCC.2558). Entering the Teresian vocabulary...

November 2, 2020 The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed(All Souls) READINGS:  WIS 3:1-9 ;  PS 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6 ;  ROM 6:3-9 ;  JN 6:37-40 . A Spanish proverb says, “He who fears death cannot enjoy life.” And a Native American Duwamish proverb adds, “There is no death, only a change of worlds.” Why does the Catholic Church pray for the dead? Is it not a kind of necromancy or even sorcery to pray for the dead? These were questions someone put to me one day while we were discussing faith, life, and death. He even went farther, to speak of necrophily, that is, excessive love for the dead; that, we Catholics seem to love the dead more than the livings. And he added, once dead, nothing can be done for one’s conversion. So, it is while one is still alive that he must plead for God's grace. He went beyond to quote Mark 12:27 where Jesus says, “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Reflecting on today's celebration, one could be tempted to...