Morning Voice

December 19, 2021 Fourth Sunday of Advent – C. READINGS: Mi 5:1-4a; Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; Heb 10:5-10; Lk1:39-45. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) A Serbian proverb says: “Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.” And a Spanish proverb adds: “The first duty of a soldier is obedience.” Greatness in humility, that is the beautiful message of Advent, and one of the most precious expressions of God’s love. The one who is to come will incarnate himself in our ‘HUMAN’ nature, made of ‘HUMUS’. He will therefore take onto himself our weaknesses, and give us a share in his glory and power. The Advent pilgrimage teaches us about God’s way made of love and humility. What we are preparing to celebrate, the first coming of our Lord and Savior in our humanity is the admirable exchange where God came unto us. God made himself a man to share in our life with all its realities. At the incarnation...

December 12, 2021 Third Sunday of Advent – Gaudete - C. READINGS: Zep 3:14-18a; Cant. Is 12:2-3, 4, 5-6; Phil 4:4-7;Lk 3:10-18. “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!” (Zep 3:14) “Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.” (Is 12:6) “Brothers and sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again:   rejoice!” (Phil 4:4) Here is the insistent and powerful call of this third Sunday of Advent – C. An Uruguayan proverb says: “A stolen object brings no joy to one’s heart.” And a Moore proverb adds: “Fun is like fine beer it is rarely enjoyable alone.” The joy of the new coming of the Lord already invades our hearts. Christmas is at hand. Through today’s liturgy, we learn one of the greatest meanings of Advent, time of the perfect joy. So, we can say praying: “O God, who see how your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity, enable us, w...

December 8, 2021 Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Readings: Gn 3:9-15, 20; Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4; Eph 1:3-6,11-12; Lk 1:26-38. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38) A Yiddish proverb says: “No man suffers from another's sins - he has enough of his own.”   And a German proverb adds: “God forgives sinners, otherwise His heaven would be empty.” In Adam, all mankind is made sinner. This is a kind of genealogical and biological luggage we all carry. We all are children of Adam. Therefore, heirs of the Adamic sin, called, the "original sin". We are sinners by creation, debtors of disobedience. However, God who created us for life and obedience formed the project to save us and restore us into our original beauty, the beauty we had before the temptation and the falling. He plans to send His Son, our Redeemer, to ransom us from sin. To save sinners, God is about to share our humani...

December 5, 2021 Second Sunday of Advent – C. READINGS: Bar 5:1-9; Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6; Phil 1:4-6,8-11; Lk 3:1-6. “A voice of one crying out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths…” (Luke 3:4) A Ghanaian proverb says: “When a man is coming toward you, you need not say, ‘Come here.’ be prepared rather to welcome him.” And an Ivorian proverb adds: “He who never knows where he is coming from will never know where he is going.” One of the greatest achievements in Advent time is restoration. Man is brought back to his God through acts of repentance and conversion. The coming of the Lord is to reconcile the sinful humanity to its Creator. And so, the time that prepares us to relive that coming sounds the melody and the divine symphony of restoration. Advent, however, is also a time for a new beginning, new world, new life, new coming. The old, made of sorrow and sadness will be forgotten and give the way to the new, made of triumph and glory. Pea...

November 28, 2021 First Sunday of Advent – C. READINGS: Jer 33:14-16; Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14; 1 Thes3:12—4:2; Lk 21:25-28, 34-36. A Traditional proverb says: “The wood will renew the foliage it sheds.” And an English proverb adds: “Every day is a new beginning.” The Apostolic Constitution, Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council about the Sacred Liturgy, in its article 102 states that “Over the course of the year the Church celebrates the whole mystery of Christ, from the Incarnation to Pentecost Day and the days of waiting for the Advent the of Lord.” It refers here to the second and glorious Advent. Advent, in that sense, is par excellence, a time of preparation and expectation. Advent is a season of great hope, the meaning of the 1 st Advent Candle. Our Advent journey is a two-fold journey. Firstly, it is a time of preparation to revive and rememorate the first coming of the Lord in our humanity with the Solemnity of Christmas. And then, Advent, secondly, is a ti...

November 21, 2021 The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - B. READINGS: Dn 7:13-14; Ps 93:1, 1-2, 5; Rv 1:5-8; Jn18:33b-37. “Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.” (Jn 18:36) A Moroccan proverb says: “If at noon the King declares it is night, behold the stars.” And a Hindi proverb adds: “I am king, you a king: who is to fetch the water?” Kingship, in our human and worldly understanding, is a position of authority, power, dominion. Kings have the right of life or death over their subjects. All power in a kingdom belongs to the king. He is surrounded by slaves and people at his service. Many people, in our today's reality dream of Kingship, a position that will give them all rights and potency. With the Lord Jesus Christ, however, Kingship and authority take another definition. There is a complete change of paradi...

November 14, 2021 Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – B. READINGS: Dn 12:1-3; Ps 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11; Heb 10:11-14, 18;Mk 13:24-32. A Turkish proverb says: “Hope won't be cut from the soul that has not expired.” And an Ivorian proverb adds: “Don't lose hope no situation is permanent.” You can let people take away from you everything that you have, everything you do, and even everything you say. But may no one ever take from you your hope. For, hope is what keeps man moving despite the adversities. As long as there is life, there is hope, it is said. We are exhorted, on this 33rd Sunday in the Ordinary Time, to keep firm our hope in a new world to come. All the storms in man's life end with a new beginning. As says the proverb, “After the rain comes the beautiful weather.” This, however, requires a firm hope for the people to keep dreaming of a better tomorrow, and a better life. The liturgy today has an apocalyptic taste. It is all about the end of a time, of t...

November 7, 2021 Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – B. READINGS: 1 Kgs 17:10-16; Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10; Heb 9:24-28; Mk12:38-44. “For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” (Mk 12:44) A Spanish proverb says: “Say nothing when you are giving -- only say something when you are receiving.” And a Corsican proverb adds: “Giving what one does not possess is always a sign of charity.” It is said that God loves a cheerful giver. To give to the Lord, one must have no half measure. Either you fully give all with all your heart or you give nothing. Speaking of love as the greatest of all commandments, the Lord insisted on this dimension of totality: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, and with all your soul..." (Mk 12:30), a replication of Deuteronomy 6:5. For, genuine love knows no measure and has no half measure. You...