First Reading: Is. 62:1 - 5 | Responsorial Psalm: 96:1 - 3, 7 - 10
Second Reading: 1 Cor. 12:4 - 11 | Gospel: Jn. 2:1 - 11
Here is the Aha moment! The scene is a wedding at Cana, a Galilean town near Nazareth. This is the third day after Jesus was baptized. He performs the first of his miracles before he goes to Capernaum, which will be the center of his public ministry. I always portray this conversion of water into wine, as what happens at every Mass at the altar. The water mixed with wine is changed into the sacrament of his blood. That is why this is the Aha moment.
When they were running out of wine, “the mother of Jesus” tells the servers: “Do whatever he tells you.” How did Mary expect him to be able to do it? In the 2nd century non-canonical Infancy Gospel of Thomas there are a series of stories of miracles performed by Jesus as a boy. So the boyhood Christology had developed in family circles. Yet Jesus’s response is even more amazing than the miracle itself “My hour has not yet come.” So at this point he is fully aware of his hour of glorification, his Passion to fulfill the task of salvation given to him by the Father.
Mary also tells us: “Do whatever he tells you.” Follow his commands and live in his love. The mission is about to begin and goes onto eternity. Draw wine from the jar and serve others.
Isaiah promises the glorious crown to the land (Jerusalem) as the bride of the Bridegroom, that is Jesus. Thus the faith of the Church is born. Pope Francis says: “We are all invited to the wedding feast because the new wine will never run short!”
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)
First Reading: Is. 40:1 - 5, 9 - 11 |Responsorial Psalm: 104:1b-4, 24-25, 27- 28, 29b-30
Second Reading: Titus 2:11 - 14; 3:4 - 7 | Gospel: Luke 3:15 - 16, 21 - 22
“Comfort, give comfort to my people … Is. 40:1) Here is the promise of hope and liberation to the Babylonian exiles. Jacob returned with his flock from Mesopotamia, the Judean exile (Gen. 31:1 - 33), and Jesus, is called by the Father, coming up from Jordan to bring salvation for people. By accepting Baptism by John, Jesus identifies with us, and shows the “way” with penance to regeneration and newness of life. Once Jesus comes up from purifying waters of Jordan, the heaven opens up: “heaven and earth are spanned by a great axis of love, which has as its poles, on high, the Father’s will to save, and below, the Son’s willingness to obey. (Fire of Mercy, Vol. I, p. 133) Then the Holy Spirit descended, thus revealing the Trinitarian form of God. The Voice from heaven confirms the identity of Jesus.
Years back on this feast day, I was at my home parish, St. Abraham in Tehran, and to this day the strong voice of Bishop Barden, O.P., resonates in my ears: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Barden was a saint.
Maximus of Turin, in Sermon 100, “On the Epiphany,” comments on how both the Father and the human Mother point to the Son: “The Mother, I say, presents him to the Magi for adoration; the Father manifests him to the nations for worship.”
“For while gentle silence enveloped all things … Your all-powerful Word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed. (Wis. 18:14 - 15)”.
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)
First Reading: Is. 60:1 - 6 | Responsorial Psalm: 72:1 - 2, 7 - 8, 10 - 13
Second Reading: Eph. 3:2 - 3a, 5 - 6 | Gospel: Matt. 2:1 – 12
“I see him, though not now; I behold him, though not near; a star shall advance from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel. (Nm. 24:17)”
Today is our festival of Epiphany, manifestation of the True God to redeem the world from sin. Isaiah prophesies that when the darkness covers the world, the glory of the Lord shines through. It is believed today that the Magi were Persian Astronomers in a humble search for the Truth. Even though the Christ Child was born in Bethlehem, the Star rose from the East, and guided the Magi to the place of their Creator. Their search and pilgrimage may reflect the journey of our lives, and we can hope that our journey ends to the same point, hidden under the Mystery of Love.
Even as late as now, astronomers are searching to answer this question: What was the Star of Bethlehem? You can read articles on Space.com and other sites. It may be true that the Star was a conjunction of a planet and a star, but was it not the Divine will to make it happen and to lead the Magi to the Child? The Magi bend low in adoration and present gifts to the Child that are “symbolic” of a great interior event. With their gold signifying his kingship, they challenge us to believe and obey him as King of our lives and hearts. With frankincense, they offer praise and adoration, and with myrrh, used for burials, they prefigure his Passion and work of salvation.
They must have sensed the duplicity of Herod, during their audience with him and returned to their homeland. Their function of Evangelization was accomplished.
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)
First Reading: Num. 6:22 - 27 | Responsorial Psalm: 67: 1 - 2, 4 - 5, 7
Second Reading: Gal. 4:4 - 7 | Gospel: Luke 2:16 – 21
As Carmelites, we claim Elijah as our father and Mary as our Mother. In 1Kg. 18:41 - 46, the drought ends at the word of Elijah. Elijah went to the top of Mt. Carmel and prayed. He sent his servant to look toward the sea for any sign of clouds. “At the seventh time, he (the servant) said, ‘Look, a little cloud no bigger than a person’s hand is rising out of the sea.’1Kg. 18:44” So the rain followed. That cloud represents Virgin Mary, as the Star of the Sea, bringing us the promised Eternal Light.
In the Greek Church, the Virgin Mary is called “the book of the Word of Life.” God has first written his living Word in the living book of the Virgin. She is the “Theotokos” the God bearer. I quote a few words from Fr. Simeon, OCSO (Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis): “Without knowing it, each of us is a bearer of mystery …. is caught up in a genealogy, both biological and spiritual, and we each bear the tremendous Mystery the personal presence of God among us and within us. As the early Christians liked to style themselves, we are “theophores”.” (Fire of Mercy, Vol. 1, pp. 60 - 61)
We carry the Mystery within us, and like the shepherds we should proclaim Him as we go out in the world. May our Mother Mary help us to bring her Son to everyone we meet.
The reading from the book of Numbers is a priestly benediction to bless the community. According to a commentary, portion of this blessing appear on two tiny silver scroll amulets found in a tomb in Jerusalem from the 7th or 6th century BC.
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)
First Reading: 1Sm. 1:20 - 22, 24 - 28 | Responsorial Psalm: 84:1 - 2, 4 - 5, 8 - 9
Second Reading: 1Jn. 3:1 - 2, 21 - 24 | Gospel: Luke 2:41 – 52
We are the Inn.
Our hearts are the “inn” to make room for the Holy Family to enter and live with us. This phrase was on a little card painted by Sr. Anna Preister, BVM. Do we have room in our hearts?
The Holy Family was the ideal model for all families, bond in love, faith, and mutual respect.
In the first book of Samuel, we read that Hannah had prayed to conceive Samuel and had made a vow to offer him as a “perpetual nazirite.” Once Samuel was weaned, they made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This parallels the pilgrimage of Joseph and Mary, when Jesus was about 12. In Ch. 2 of 1Samuel, Hannah’s praise corresponds to Magnificat of Mary. Both had sensed the sacrifice that laid ahead for them.
Many youngsters may have felt at times, the sensation of running away from home, some for wrong reasons, and some perhaps to enter a religious congregation (I was in the second category!). Tradition has it that St. Teresa of Avila, when she was about 12 years old, together with her older brother Rodrigo, left Avila to go to the country of Moors, to become martyrs and go to heaven; an uncle found them and brought them home. Jesus remained in the Temple, in His Father’s house. He knew his time for martyrdom had not yet come, but he had to start the work of God. Once found by his earthly worrying parents, he went with them back to Nazareth He was obedient to them, fulfilling the 5th Commandment (Ex. 20:12), and as St. John prescribes: “love one another” (1Jn. 3:23).
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)
As I was in the middle of a St. Ignatius retreat, walking to my apartment in a dark street close to Christmas, I did as Ignatius taught: I imagined myself in the manger with Mary and Joseph, holding the baby Jesus in my arms and rocking him! Oh, I was just a helper to the Mother of God!
The Gospel of Matthew at the vigil Mass begins with the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew calls his Gospel the book of the “genesis” of his ancestors, reminding us of the first creation of the world. Here is the proclamation of the “genesis” of Grace and salvation. God created and transformed the human race, so Jesus ancestry includes saints and sinners. The letters of the name of David in Hebrew add up to 14, so there are 3 sets of 14 generations to Jesus’s birth. King David himself was a lover of God, as well as a sinner and a murderer. Yet God found him a “man of His heart.”
The name to be given to Yeshu (Jesus) is part of the revelation of the angel to Joseph: He who is to redeem us from our sins and self-centeredness. So Joseph becomes the first evangelist. Joseph the tsaddiq (the righteous), obeyed the God’s command as Abraham did to sacrifice his son.
By midnight we read the beautiful prophecy of Isaiah in Ch. 9, a light has shown upon us this day, the yoke of slavery is smashed, “For a child is born to us, a son is given us …” Would it not be a wishful thinking that we as shepherd or shepherdess would have witnessed the birth of the Good Shepherd, and sing with the heavenly hosts
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)