Awaiting for the Son and the Holy Spirit

St. John the Baptist attests to the greatness of the one who comes after him: I baptize with water but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie. This greater one who comes after him is the one who, in last Sunday’s Gospel, will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Whenever we celebrate Advent, we presume that we are preparing for the coming of Jesus, the Son of God. Thus, we presume that St. John the Baptist was referring to Jesus as the one “who is among you whom you do not recognize.” However, seldom do we realize that it is not only God the Son who was hidden and unrecognized in the past. So also was the Holy Spirit. The Catechism points out: “From the beginning until the ‘fullness of time,’ the joint mission of the Father’s Word and Spirit remains hidden, but it is at work. God’s Spirit prepares for the time of the Messiah. Neither is fully revealed but both are already promised, to be watched for and welcomed at their manifestation.” (CCC 702.) In fact, we should know that the mission of Christ and the mission of the Holy Spirit are inseparable: “When the Father sends His Word, He always sends His Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible Image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals Him.” (CCC, 689). The Prophecy of Isaiah reveals the inseparability of both the Son and the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.” The reason why Jesus is called the Christ, the Messiah, is because He is anointed by the Holy Spirit. Messiah means “Anointed One.” Jesus is the Anointed One and the Holy Spirit is His Anointing.

Thus, in the Old Testament, “Two prophetic lines were to develop, one leading to the expectation of the Messiah, the other pointing to the announcement of a new Spirit.” (CCC 711) Thus, the prophets of old did not wait only for the Messiah. They also awaited the Spirit who would renew the face of the earth. These two prophetic lines will be fulfilled by Jesus who does not come alone, but one who comes anointed by the Holy Spirit. He comes to bestow the Holy Spirit: He will baptize with the Holy Spirit. “The prophetic texts that directly concern the sending of the Holy Spirit are oracles by which God speaks to the heart of his people in the language of the promises, with the ‘accents of love and fidelity.’ …According to these promises, at the ‘end time’ the Lord’s Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them. He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace.” (CCC 715)

And that time, the “end times” referred to, is now. The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost inaugurated the end times – “By his coming, which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the ‘last days’ , the time of the Church, the Kingdom of God already initiated though not yet consummed.” (CCC 732) Isn’t this what Advent is all about? It is not simply a preparation period for Christmas, the annual commemoration of Christ’s first coming. It is also the preparation for Christ’s coming at the end of time. Christ has already come and by his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, has delivered to us the Holy Spirit whom He promised. Now, as we joyfully await the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit is at work to prepare us to face the Lord Jesus. How does the Holy Spirit do this? St. Paul gives the answer: “May the God of Peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” As the prophets cooperated with the Holy Spirit in preparation for Christ’s coming, so should we, in preparing for the Lord’s 2^nd coming, cooperate with the Holy Spirit: Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances, give thanks…Do not quench the Spirit…Test everything, retain what is good. Refrain for every kind of evil.”

Nuestra Senora de la O: the Expectation of our Lady

In the town of Pangil, Laguna is an image of the Virgin of Expectation which the people call as Nuestra Senora de la O. I have been intrigued by this title. I asked people about the title and they say that she is called Nuestra Senora de la O because she answers "OO" (Yes) to all petitions given to her. Well, that's folk religiosity for you! Anyway, further reading about this image of the Virgin is that during the Christmas Novena (simbang gabi), a peculiar antiphon is sung wherein the Virgin is addressed with the "O". I thought it was the "O Antiphons" of Advent until I stumbled upon an article by Fr. Z about the Spanish Veneration to Our Lady of Expectation, popularly known as Nuestra Senora de la O.

This is interesting read: Expectation of the Blessed Virgin – interesting customs

St. Nicholas, Christmas Saint

Jolly Old St. Nicholas punched the heretic Arius because he could not take what the heretic was saying about the Lord! Wow! This makes St. Nicholas all the more a fitting Advent/ Christmas saint. More than just a symbol of generosity in gift giving, St. Nicholas is the Defender of the Divinity of Jesus Christ! Ho, Ho, Ho!

Canterbury Tales by Taylor Marshall: Saint Nicholas Allegedly Punched This Heretic in t...

Our Lady of the Annunciation

I recently acquired an antique image of Our Lady of the Annunciation just in time for the celebration of Advent. As Advent is the time of great expectation, the Annunciata is the fitting Advent image. At the New Liturgical Movement blog is an interesting article on the Annunciation in Art.

The Apocryphal Gospels as a Source of Imagery

The Immaculate Conception: the True Breaking Dawn

We will never recognize sin clearly without the knowledge which is given to us by Divine Revelation. Born in sin, we would have thought that sin is a “normal developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or simply the necessary sonsequences of an inadequate social structure” which we all have to live with in this imperfect world of ours. Were it not for Divine Revelation, we would not have known the sublime dignity that God intended for us who were originally created in His image and likeness. “God created man in his image and established him in his friendship. A spiritual creature, man can live this friendship only in free submission to God. The prohibition against eating ‘of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ spells this out:’for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die.’” (CCC, 396) Last night someone asked me: “Father, why did God create that tree of knowledge only to prohibit us from eating of its fruit?” The Catechism answers: “The ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ symbolically evokes the insurmountable limits that man, being a creature, must freely recognize and respect with trust. Man is dependent on his Creator, and subject to the laws of creation and to the moral norms that govern the use of freedom.” (CCC 396) The sublime dignity of the human nature is shown by the fact that “Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully ‘divinized’ by God in glory.” (CCC, 398.) However, “seduced by the devil, man wanted to ‘be like God,’ but ‘without God, before God, and not in accordance with God.’” (Ibid.) This desire to be like God but without God is being popularized today by that famous “Twilight” vampire series wherein one can become immortal even without God – all you have to do is to be transformed into a vampire.

Thinking that they can become like God even without God, our first parents lost the grace of original holiness: “the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions…lust and domination; …visible creation becomes hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject ‘to its bondage to decay.’ And finally…Death makes its entrance into human history.”(CCC, 400) Not only did Adam and Eve suffer this loss on account of their personal disobedience, they transmitted to their children a human nature that is in a fallen state: a human nature that is deprived of original holiness and justice, a human nature that is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and a human nature inclined to evil (and sin). (CCC, 405) Original sin is like a very wealthy man who lost everything to gambling. Because of this, his children and descendants would have to be born in poverty. The nakedness of Adam and Eve shows us the abject poverty that sin has brought upon the human nature. Original sin consists in the fact that “all men…are deprived of the glory of God.” Thus, the whole world was plunged into darkness, into “captivity under the power of the devil who had the power of death.” (CCC407) “The whole world is in the power of the evil one.” (CCC 409.)

Thus, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin is the true Breaking Dawn at the end of the long dark night of sin. Not deprived but rather “full of grace”, not naked but clothed in the garments of salvation and robed in a mantle of justice (Is. 61:10), “Mary benefitted first of all and uniquely from Christ’s (future) victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.” (CCC 411). Untouched by sin, this uniquely beautiful creature called Mary does not only show us the original intention of God for our humanity had it not fallen into sin. Mary the Immaculate Conception shows us that “Christ’s inexpressible grace gives us blessings better than those the demon’s envy had taken away.” (St. Leo the Great, CCC, 412.) The twilight of man’s fall led to a long dark night of the reign of evil. The Immaculate Conception was the breaking dawn that announced the end of the long night. “It was a breaking of light over a dark and wintry world.” Conceived immaculate, sinless and free from the guilt of our first parents, Mary was the dawn for Christ the day, the was the aurora for the Sun of Justice. She was the Immaculate Conception for Him the Son of God who will later on be her Son. Mary is God’s response to humanity’s plea for a renewal of creation. The Immaculate Conception is the beginning of the new creation.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Divine Mercy and Advent

In a catechetical class about the long Old Testament preparation for the coming of the Messiah, a student once asked me: Why did it take God so long in sending His Son? We ask ourselves: Why the delay in the Lord’s return? St. Peter, in the 2^nd reading, reminds us that what seems a “delay” to us isn’t really so for the Lord because “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.” The length of time did not really matter to the Lord to whom past, present, and future is all the same. God dwells in the eternal present. Time does not matter to Him who is beyond time.

The seeming delay of that dreadful day of judgment, when everything shall be dissolved by fire, is actually an expression of the patience of the Divine Mercy: the Lord is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. It is not that the Lord is slow in coming. Rather we are slow to repent. It takes us so much time to realize our faults. It even takes longer for us to come to repent over what we have done. All we have to do is to look at the way we deal with our favorite sins. It takes long for us to admit our guilt. It takes so long for us to overcome it. We confess our favorite sins again and again because we keep on doing it. That is why it is called “favorite sin.”

Thus, the Lord delays in bringing us to justice. He gives us time to repent. Patiently, he awaits for our return to him because he does not want the sinner to die. Rather, he wants the sinner to repent and live. Thus, he gives us many opportunities to avail of his mercy. Look at the Gospel. Before sending His Son, he sends first John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord. Contrary to our stereotyping of John the Baptist as a fire and brimstone prophet, the man is actually a proclaimer of the Divine Mercy: John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. His mandate is one of tender compassion: Comfort, give comfort to my people…Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated. Attracted by the message of mercy that the Baptist brings, people were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. Indeed, that dreadful day of judgment will come with the suddenness of a thief’s coming. But before that day, the Lord extends the limits of his mercy. He makes his mercy accessible to all.

Thus, we should take advantage of this time of reprieve. We should not hesitate to go to confession which is the tribunal of the Divine Mercy. Let us repent while we still can. Let us go to the priest and to him acknowlege our sins. Let us do this while the Lord allows his patience to delay his judgment. “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.” To St. Faustina, the Lord said: “Before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy.” (Diary, 83.)

On the Sense of Urgency in our Advent Prayer

The Carpenters have a beautiful song which was recently used as title for a movie: “I wont last a day without you.” The refrain goes: When there’s no getting over that rainbow; when my smallest of dreams wont come true, I can take all the madness the world has to give, but I wont last a day without you.” Romantic as it seems but the song reflects the sentiments of the Prophet Isaiah which sets the mood of the Advent Season we begin today. The prophet laments: Why do you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? He laments that God has hidden his face and that he has every right to do so for “you are angry and we are sinful, all of us have become like unclean people, all our deeds are like polluted rags, we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.” And because God has hidden his face, no one calls upon his name and none clings to him. Because of this, we have become even poorer, because we do not know what we are missing: You Lord are our father, our redeemer you are named forever. “No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him.”

Advent is once again upon us and unfortunately, it does not seems to have much impact upon our lives. Well, of course, there is that anticipation for the coming holidays with much gift, food, and merrimaking to expect. But the idea of waiting for the Lord’s return, which is the real spirit of Advent, seems lost to us. No longer to we see ourselves in the shoes of the gatekeeper whose task is to be on the watrch for the coming of the lord of the house. Nostalgic Christimas songs like Pasko na Sinta ko speak of a longing for a loved one who might be anyone, a spouse, a girl friend, anyone but the Lord. The holidays become very sentimental on account of the absence of people we love, but seldom on account of the absence of God. The Lord is definitely not sorely missed.

He is not sorely missed because we think that we can live without him. We presume that we can last a day without him. But that is not true for the Prophet Isaiah says: O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands. Even if you look through the paradigm of master and servant, as shown in the gospel, we still cannot miss the relationship of absolute dependence which we have with the Lord. The servant is dependent on his master for his livelihood. The clay is dependent on his potter for his existence. The child is dependent on his father for everything. In other words, “I wont last a day without you” is first and foremost true between the Lord and our selves.

And that is why we wait for his return. We watch for his coming. Although he is long delayed in coming, we still light our lamps and watch for his return. We patiently do so because the Lord Jesus has promised to return. And we hold on to his promise because “God is faithful.” And we are sure of his fidelity. But can we be sure of ours? We know how fragile our fidelity is. We know how easily we are swayed to mediocrity and compromises. It is on account of our awareness of our inclination to infidelity that we pray to the Lord with a certain sense of urgency: Return for the sake of your servants…Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down! Please Lord, return while we are still faithful. Return while we are still awake lest we drowse into sleep and be caught unprepared when you come.

St. Faustina wrote in her diary: “I am reliving these moments with Our Lady. With great longing, I am waiting for the Lord’s coming. Great are my desires. I desire that all humankind come to know the Lord. I would like to prepare all nations for the coming of the Word Incarnate. O Jesus, make the fount of your mercy gush forth more abundantly, for mankind is seriously ill and thus has more need than ever of your compassion. You are a bottomless sea of mercy for us sinners; and the greater the misery, the more right we have to your mercy. You are a fount that makes all creatures happy by your infinite mercy. (Diary, 793.)