Christmas (C), Dec. 25, 2012

The Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday or Rejoice Sunday On the Advent wreath it is marked by the pink candle Our first two readings are filled with thoughts of joy Zephaniah commands ldquo Shout for joy O daughter Zion The Lord your God is in your midst rdq

There is an ancient story that depicts a man entering the gates of heaven Once inside he discovers nothing but a place to sit facing a huge wall When he asks his escort St Peter for an explanation Peter says ldquo You have but entered the antechamber of paradise Paradise itself is on the ot

The Book of Baruch is a beautifully poetic biblical text that takes us back to the period of the Exile a time of darkness for Israel They are a broken people far from their homeland which was ravaged by the Babylonians Just before our reading desolate Jerusalem speaks as a mother to her lost c

The church comes to the close of the liturgical year by celebrating the solemnity of Christ the King As Blessed John Paul II once reflected this solemnity is ldquo a synthesis of the entire salvific mystery rdquo The Scriptures we use are both triumphal and paradoxical In our first reading fr

The Bible is highly complex and includes a plurality of theologies not all of which align Some of these differences even reflect dramatic shifts Many Old Testament authors assumed for example that there were gods other than Yahweh Ps 82 1 95 3 This had to be corrected Isa 45 20 ndash 21 J