A Journey in the Mystery of Love.

SIMBANG GABI 2023: 

In the mystery of the Incarnation, we are invited into the mystery of Love, the mystery of who God is, for all eternity. St. John wrote in his apostolic letter: “God is love.” (1 John 4:7-12) So, God is nothing but love and overflowing with love.

At Christmas, we revive how God's love was made manifest in our humanity, how the Son of God revealed himself to man and took our human nature to become one of us. The mystery of Incarnation is truly a mystery of love. It is the beautiful mystery of our God sharing fully in our human life and experience. The fact that God chose to enter completely into our humanity and the human condition speaks to us about both the nature of God and the human person. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son..." (Jn 3:16) "And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth." (Jn 1:14) All that we celebrate at Christmas finds its meaning in these two extracts of the Gospel of John.

Entering these nine days of intensive preparation for the Nativity of the Lord, we will like, day after day, to point out one specific aspect of God's love that we celebrate in the Incarnation of his Son. For, Christmas is a mystery of God's love made flesh in Jesus our brother and Savior.

 

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HOMILIES DECEMBER 15TH – 24TH

 

December 15, 2023.

Friday of the Second Week of Advent.

Homily: Listening as an Act of Love.

Readings: Is 48:17-19; Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6; Mt 11:16-19.

 

A Chinese proverb says: “If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.”

Who loves you, listens to you, and does as you say. Christmas is a time when we are challenged to see the signs of God's presence and his love among us, listen to him, and obey his word. The children of Israel failed to see God's presence among them because they did not listen to his Prophets nor obey his commandments.

In today's first reading, we hear the Prophet Isaiah speak of God's complaint about his people. He taught them what was right, what was good, and how they should live to prosper. But the people did not listen to him. Israel will not obey nor keep the Lord's words and warnings. And we know what will be the consequences for the people.

In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus also complains about the people of his time, he compares them to children playing in the marketplace. He points out their inconsistency. They failed to listen to John and Jesus. They failed to read the signs of the time and notice God at work among them.

These warnings are addressed to you and me today. This Christmas should be a time for us to listen more and more to the Lord, to see him at work in our midst. See his love and so be able to love others too. For, he who knows how to listen knows how to love and to obey.

 

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December 16, 2023.

Saturday of the Second Week of Advent.

Homily: Salvation as a Mystery of Love.

Readings: Sir 48:1-4, 9-11; Ps 80:2ac and 3b, 15-16, 18-19; Mt 17:9a, 10-13.

 

A Latin proverb says: “The knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation.”

Christmas, the day of the Nativity of the Lord is the dawn of our salvation. God, out of love, comes to share in our human likeness in order to pull us out of the pit of sin and evil. For this mystery of salvation to come to date, the Lord sent prophets and messengers to prepare the way. Among them, are two great figures, Elijah and John the Baptist. They are the heralds of the Messianic time, the forerunners announcing the coming of the Lord.

The Salvation plan of God is in process. It is something ongoing. God has never stopped manifesting his love for his people. So, in years, he sent them prophets and messengers. The accent of today's liturgy is on two prophets, Elijah and John. Sirach, in the first reading, sings about the fame of Elijah. He is the greatest of all the Prophets Israel has ever known, unsurpassable in power, and filled with Divine glory. For Israel, Elijah will be the announcer of the Messianic time. So, they were awaiting him. But in the Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that Elijah has already come, referring to John. We are given to see John as the true precursor of the Messiah.

John's life and teachings were the expression of God's love which wanted a people ready to welcome the Messiah. He announced conversion and repentance as a way to get ready for the Lord.

Christmas, we said, is the mystery of God's love. To enter into that love, we should make room for corporal and spiritual preparation. May we be made open to hear John's message and listen to it. This is the right time for conversion and inner preparation for the Lord is coming.

 

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Cf. December 17, 2023.

Third Sunday of Advent – B.

Readings: Is 61:1-2A, 10-11; Cant. Lk 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54; 1 Thes 5:16-24; Jn 1:6-8,19-28.

 

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December 18, 2023.

Monday of the Third Week of Advent.

Homily: God's Love for David.

Readings: Jer 23:5-8; Ps 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19; Mt 1:18-25.

 

A Traditional proverb says: “No pillows so soft as God's Promise.”

Christmas is beforehand, the fulfillment of a promise. It is the concretization of God's love for David and his house. The Lord promised David to give him a kingship that would last for many generations. The coming of the Son of God, who is also the Son of David, is the fulfillment of that promise.

We read from the prophet Jeremiah what the Lord announces to his people: "I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; As king he shall reign…"

The days are coming when we will witness and live the Nativity of our Lord. The readings today plunge us into his origins and how his birth took place. In the Gospel of today, Matthew gives a clear and detailed account of the happening. In this Mattean narrative, two figures sprout for their singular action, Mary and Joseph. God chose to make them the instruments of his love. He entered their project of life and transformed it into a divine project and a fulfillment of prophetic promise. Jesus will be born as the Son of David.

Matthew narrates that, "When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit..." So, Jesus is born of Mary through the Holy Spirit. He is thus, the Son of God. Nevertheless, the task of Joseph is to make him a Son of David. Joseph is from the house of David. From him, through the name's giving to Jesus, the Lord will be inserted into the Davidic line.

Sometimes, God uses strange ways to work his mystery, but in the end, his love prevails over everything. Through Joseph becoming the foster father of Jesus, we learn that paternity is not only biological. And the spiritual paternity often is a greater bound than the blood.

This Christmas, let's be the new Josephs who will welcome the Lord in their lives and make him feel loved and accepted. He comes to us in the appearance of the poor, the needy, the handicapped, the beggar, the marginalized, the migrants... May we not reject him, but give him a name and love.

 

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December 19, 2023.

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent.

Homily: Love and Joy at the New Birth.

Readings: Jgs 13:2-7, 24-25a; Ps 71:3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17; Lk 1:5-25.

 

A Japanese proverb says: “One joy can drive away a hundred sorrows.”

The birth of a child in a family is the concretization of love, and it brings joy to everyone who hears about it. At Christmas, what we celebrate is love that became Man. The Son of God is about to invest our humanity as an expression of God whose love does not give up on our weaknesses and sinfulness.

Today, hearing the announcement of the birth of Samson in the first reading and of John the Baptist in the Gospel, our hearts overflow already with the Christmas joy.

Samson and John are two figures of God's consolation to their parents and his people. Through the birth of Samson, we read that God's plan of salvation goes a long way centuries before Jesus Christ. To his people suffering the oppression of their enemies, the Lord sent a "Champion", a Nazarite, consecrated to God, whose mission will be to fight their enemies and protect them against their oppressors. Samson was chosen and dedicated before his birth to be an instrument of God's consolation. His birth itself brings consolation to his mother who was subjected to humiliation and mockeries.

In the announcement of the birth of John, in the Gospel, we have another sign of God's consolation to Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah. God gives a child to the old barren woman and her old husband. When human expertise and science seem to show the impossibility, God's love opens to possibilities.

Christmas is the time of all possibilities, as would say the Archangel Gabriel to Mary tomorrow, "With God, nothing is impossible." His love goes beyond human reason and proficiency. May we enter this prophetic time of Christmas with the same love.

 

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December 20, 2023.

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent.

Homily: Emmanuel, our Love.

Readings: Is 7:10-14; Ps 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6; Lk 1:26-38.

 

An Italian proverb says: “He who lives among wolves learns to howl.”

Why a God Most High may choose to enter human weakness and become one with mankind? If not for love, nothing can explain the mystery of Emmanuel, God among us.

The Nativity of Jesus in our humanity is the fulfillment of a prophecy and a promise. God comes to share our human nature in order to help us share his divine nature. God becomes Emmanuel so that man may become Godlike or "Deify".

The beautiful news behind the Incarnation of Christ is that, it opens to a certain deification, the act or process of exalting to the position of a god, the state or condition of being deified. For, in him embracing our nature, we are also brought to embrace God's nature. Only love can make this possible.

In today's first reading and the Gospel, we have the story of Emmanuel. God promised to come and exist in humanity through the childbearing of a virgin. This is made true with Mary bearing Jesus.

Let's pray that this birth of Jesus in our humanity gives us to see in every birth of a new child, God's love and God coming again to visit and share our condition. Every child is an Emmanuel, God among us.

 

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December 21, 2023.

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent.

Homily: The Lover is Coming.

Readings: Sg 2:8-14 or Zep 3:14-18a; Ps 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21; Lk 1:39-45.

 

A French proverb says: “Love is a sweet tyranny because the lover endures his torments willingly.”

The book of Song of Songs gives us the tune of what we are about to revive and celebrate at Christmas. "Hark! my lover—here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills."

The Lord, like a lover, is coming. He brings with him a great message of consolation and joy. This message of consolation and love leads us not only to rejoice but also to become instruments of joy to others. The joy of the Nativity is to be shared and contagious because it springs from love that contaminates all hearts.

Today's liturgy provides us with two beautiful readings. First, the Song of Songs, a hymn of exaltation and ecstasy about love. It sings the burning passion that consumes the heart by the notice of the coming of the loved one. Those who have fallen in love can imagine the state of mind and the feeling when one hears the voice of a loved one. It is in this state of mind we are urged to be, while the day of the Lord is near.

It is the same joy that leads Mary to visit Elizabeth her cousin who is expecting John the Baptist. Love and Joy are the two feelings that fill the encounter of Mary and Elizabeth.

A new dawn of love is showing up. The little Virgin of Nazareth is made herald and sharer of this love. May this Advent journey we are in, open the way to the greater joy of the Nativity. With Mary and like Mary, may we be eager to reach out to others and share the joy of Christmas with them. Fraternal charity and joy should be our Christmas mission and gift to all we encounter. The lover is coming, let's be his messengers. This Christmas, give joy, share joy, and give love.

 

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December 22, 2023.

Friday of the Third Week of Advent.

Homily: Gratitude as an Expression of Love.

Readings: 1 Sm 1:24-28; Cant. 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd; Lk 1:46-56.

 

A French proverb says: “Gratitude is the heart's money.”

Those whose hearts are filled with love and humility are always grateful. Gratitude or thankfulness springs from humble hearts and shows how lovable a person is. Gratitude opens up the light and the path for unconditional love to flow from one's heart. It leads us to a deep connection with the source of unconditional love which is God. Those who are grateful see God's hand at work in any event of their life.

While nearing the great day of the Emmanuel, the day when love was made man, we are called today to sing our act of gratitude to God for visiting our humanity and answering our prayers. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and Mary, the soon-to-be mother of our Lord and Savior, show us the way.

Hannah prayed to the Lord for a child. The Lord answered her prayers and removed her veil of humiliation. The barren woman has born a son. Out of gratitude, she came to the Temple not only to offer the prescribed sacrifice and offering, but she also decided to consecrate her son definitively to God, leaving him with Eli in the Temple. That is a great act of gratitude.

Mary, in the Gospel, after her encounter with Elizabeth, exclaims with gratitude to the Lord through a hymn of humility and love, the Magnificat.

Gratitude is what we are called to ask for and express during this Christmas. It is the gate of all the other virtues. He who is grateful loves. The ungrateful people know not what love is or how to love, and they take all things for granted.

 

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December 23, 2023.

Saturday of the Third Week of Advent.

Homily: Messenger of Covenant, Messenger of Love.

Readings: Mal 3:1-4, 23-24; Ps 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14; Lk 1:57-66.

 

A Danish proverb says: “Kisses are the messengers of love.”

Today is the day of the Messenger. The birth of John sounds like the coming of the time. Moreover, the time is at hand. The coming of the Lord will no longer delay.

We are two days away from Christmas, and as one can notice it externally, all is ready. Houses, shopping centers, streets, and churches, are all well decorated and lighted. Belens are all set. Only one thing is missing yet, the Baby Jesus. While awaiting his birth, the word of God plunges us today in the joy of the Nativity. Through the Prophet Malachi, the Lord announced that he would send his Messenger whose mission is clear, to prepare the way before the Lord. He would be the Messenger of the covenant of love.

For the people of Israel, that figure was Elijah, the great Prophet. They were awaiting the coming of Elijah as an announcement of the Messianic time. This prophecy of Malachi, however, will meet its fulfillment in the Gospel through the Nativity of John, the Son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. He is the Messenger of the new and everlasting covenant, the covenant of love between God and his people. John's birth itself is an expression of God's love. His mission will also be to reconcile people with God, that is, to help us enter God's love. In Him, and through him, God will always be gracious to his people. Thus, the prophetic name given to him: “John is his name.”

Let us share the joy of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Let us enter into this new covenant and we too, become messengers of God's merciful love for his people. Like John, each of us has a mission. Our names condition and determine that mission.

 

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December 24, 2023 Cf. Sunday.

Fourth Sunday of Advent – B.

Readings: 2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29; Rom 16:25-27; Lk 1:26-38.