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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

1st Reading (Isa 11:1-10): On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a Spirit of counsel and of strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land's afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea. On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.
Responsorial Psalm: 71
R/. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king's son; he shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment.

Justice shall flower in his days, and profound peace, till the moon be no more. May he rule from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

He shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him. He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor; the lives of the poor he shall save.

May his name be blessed forever; as long as the sun his name shall remain. In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed; all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
Versicle before the Gospel (---): Alleluia. Behold, our Lord shall come with power; he will enlighten the eyes of his servants. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Lk 10:21-24): At that very moment he rejoiced [in] the holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

“I give you praise, Father”

Fr. Jean GOTTIGNY (Bruxelles, Belgium)

Today, we are reading an excerpt of Chapter 10, of the Gospel after St. Luke. The Lord had sent seventy-two disciples to the towns He intended to visit. And they came back exultant. While listening to the accounts of their doings and exploits, “At that very moment he rejoiced [in] the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth’” (Lk 10:21).

One of the aspects of humility is gratitude. The arrogant one feels he owes nothing to anybody. To feel grateful, we need first to discover our insignificance. “Thanks” is one of the first words we teach our children. “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike” (Lk 10:21).

Benedict XVI, when speaking of the attitude of adoration, he affirms, “that adoring God means recognizing his presence as Creator and Lord of the Universe. The hallmark of worship is, recognizing the greatness of God that arises from the depths of one's heart and marks one's whole being, (…) ensuring that God is the most important part of one's life with the realization that with God at the centre of our lives the purpose of their existence will become clear”.

A sensible soul feels the need to express its gratitude. It is the only way for us to reciprocate for the divine favors received. “What do you possess that you have not received?” (1Co 4:7). We must certainly “give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us He took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sins he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation” (St. Leo the Great).

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “For what idea could the human person have of God before, except maybe that of an idol which his own heart had made? Once God was incomprehensible. But now He wanted us to be able to understand him. How was this done? By lying in a manger. When I think on this, I am thinking of God.” (Saint Bernard)

  • “Jesus exalted in the joy of the Holy Spirit and praised the Father. This the interior life of Jesus: his relationship with the Father in the Spirit. Jesus is the closeness and the tenderness of the Father to us.” (Francis)

  • “The dual dimension of the Christian liturgy is evident. On the one hand, the Church, united with her Lord and ‘in the Holy Spirit’ (Lk 10:21), blesses the Father ‘for his inexpressible gift’ (2 Cor 9:15) in her adoration, praise, and thanksgiving. On the other hand... the Church never ceases to present to the Father the ‘offering of his own gifts’ and to beg him to send the Holy Spirit upon that offering, upon herself, upon the faithful, and upon the whole world, so that... these divine blessings will bring forth the fruits of life.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 1083)

Other comments

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see”

Fr. Joaquim MESEGUER García (Rubí, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, and always, we Christians are all invited to share Jesus' joy. He, filled with the holy Spirit, said: “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike” (Mt 11:25). Very rightly, this fragment of the Gospel has been called the “Magnificat of Jesus” by some authors, as the underlying idea is the same as in Mary's Canticle (cf. Lc 1:46-55).

Joy is an attitude, which goes together with hope. It has to be difficult for a person who has no hope, to be happy. And, what is it that we Christians put our hope in? The coming of the Messiah and of his Kingdom, in which justice and peace will bloom; a new reality where “Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.” (Is 11:6). The kingdom we are waiting for is making its way day by day, and we have to know how to discover its presence amongst us. For the world we live in, so lacking in peace and harmony, in justice and love, how necessary the hope of us Christians is! A hope that does not come from natural optimism nor false illusion, but from God himself.

However, Christian hope, which is light and heat for the world, will only be had by those who are simple and humble of heart, because God has hidden knowledge and the mystery of his kingdom's love from the wise and expert, that is to say, from the ones who are blinded by pride in their erudition.

A good way to prepare the paths of the Lord in this Advent would precisely be to grow in humility and in simplicity, to open our hearts to the gifts of God, to live with hope and become better witnesses of Jesus' kingdom every day.