John the Baptist was making his followers aware of a need for a complete change of heart. God was calling them back to an authentic way of living in keeping with the Covenant. John taught that the correct response to a forgiving, merciful God was to show compassion for others by sharing with those in need and avoiding exploitation. Baptizing in the Jordan River signified a return to the freedom experienced when the Chosen People crossed the Jordan. It was the beginning of a radical conversion. When Jesus arrived at the river, John immediately recognized that He didn’t need a conversion. Why then, did Jesus choose to be baptized by John? The Son of God not only washed the feet of sinners but also allowed Himself to be counted among them. At this beginning of Christ’s ministry, the revelation of His divine sonship is also the revelation of the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Son of God submits to baptism with humility. There is tender approval in the Father's loving words and the Spirit's embracing presence. The Christmas Season begins with the Incarnation which shows God’s love for our humanity. It ends with the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism in which Jesus Christ publicly identifies with sinners - with the approval of the Father and the Spirit. And, He will continue to keep company with sinners to the very end of His life on the cross. The meaning of Christ’s baptism does not end there. By descending into the waters and reemerging, Christ symbolically anticipates His coming death and resurrection. At the same time, He sanctifies the waters of baptism providing us with the means of being cleansed of sin and united with Him. Later, He will institute the sacrament of Baptism and send His disciples out to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. From the moment of our baptism, we are united with Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and the Father’s favor rests on us, too. The Baptism of Jesus is the first public event in Christ’s mission. He begins by showing us how to live and His authority is acknowledged by the Father. During Christmas, we have been celebrating God’s coming into the world for our salvation. Starting today, we have Christ’s example of finding the way to salvation. St. Gregory of Nazianzus prayed let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with Him; let us rise with Him to be glorified with Him. Fr. Hernan Cely Pastor
At Christmas, we celebrate a divine mystery revealed to us in the ordinary circumstances of
the life of a family. The Incarnation is an exchange in which God becomes man so that our
humanity can be drawn deeper and deeper into the life of God. The truth of Christmas is that
all of this has occurred within a familiar setting and within the humblest of situations. It
wasn’t from among the powerful or influential that God identified a family for His Son. God
chose a poor girl capable of such love that He invited her to become the most exalted of
women.
Today’s feast teaches us something about the unfathomable humility of God. The maker and
ruler of all that exists chose to come among us in an environment of such apparent
disadvantage. The story of the Holy Family is full of encouragement for those families who
struggle in their family life. It helps them see that true riches lie in our relationships, not our
abilities or possessions.
The family setting for Jesus’ birth was the loving, trusting bond between Mary and Joseph and
the difficult circumstances they found themselves in. The bonds of love that held Jesus, Mary,
and Joseph together as a family formed the first human relationships that the Word-Made-
Flesh would know. Like all of us, Jesus was shaped in His expectations of life and His outlook
toward others by what He heard and saw as a child at home.
Despite the hardships surrounding the birth of their child, Mary and Joseph did not grow
cynical or suspicious. They communicated a generous outlook in their lives. The Holy Family
and their experiences of misunderstanding and rejection remind us of the need for
compassion – especially for those who have suffered a breakdown of family life or
estrangement from their closest relatives.
The Holy Family embraces us, with all our imperfections, so that we may long for perfection
in Christ. Jesus grew up looking for goodness in others because He had experienced the
search for goodness within His own family. The Holy Family of Nazareth inspires us to be
true to Christ and to reflect His mercy in our own family homes.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
Catholicism is a physical as well as a spiritual religion. It is about things that happened and
things that happen in and through human bodies, in particular places such as Bethlehem or
northern New Jersey, and in certain times such as the days of King Herod or December 2024.
Our Faith is about the Word becoming flesh. It is centered on One born of a woman, born
under the Jewish Law to save us, through the offering of His body once and for all.
The ministry of Jesus is to human bodies. He opens eyes so that they see, ears so that they
hear, and He loosens tongues so that they speak. The Visitation to Elizabeth is about bodies:
pregnant bodies, a kicking fetus, sounds reaching ears, and mouths speaking. Elizabeth hears,
believes, and proclaims. For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears – why
doesn’t she just say – when I heard you? Elizabeth … cried out in a loud voice – why doesn’t it
just say, she said?
These elaborate expressions draw our attention to her hearing and speaking and show that it is
a hearing and proclamation of the Gospel. Faith is established in Elizabeth through physical
events: her meeting with Mary, their conversation, John the Baptist leaping in her womb. The
spirit is working through the physical - then and now.
Elizabeth praises Mary, it has become part of the “Hail Mary.” Later in the gospel, another
woman shouts out words of praise for Mary, blessed is the womb that bore you. To which
Jesus replies, blessed rather those who hear the word of God and keep it. Happy are those who
hear and practice the gospel.
The Word is to be received and believed in the life we have – here and now – in the
relationships, experiences, and commitments that are ours, here and now. We do not need to
look for a future incarnation of ourselves, where we might do a better job of living a human
life.
In the reading from Hebrews, we are told that Jesus, on coming into the world is given a body.
This is so that He can do the Father’s will. It is so that the Word can become flesh in other
words. The Word of God becomes embodied. Our faith is physical, and Mary stands at its
center.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
Most of us usually know what the right thing is in a situation, but too often we don’t do it. The
people in today’s Gospel think that John the Baptist must be Christ when all he is doing is
telling them things they already know. The tax collectors realize they shouldn’t cheat their
people. The soldiers know they shouldn’t practice extortion. Hearing it out of someone else’s
mouth is provoking. John doesn’t tell the tax collectors to stop collecting taxes. He doesn’t tell
the soldiers to give up soldiering. He calls them to do what they know is right.
There’s nothing foolish about people wanting to go to someone who sees their moral situation
more clearly and can say what they know to be true but have conveniently forgotten.
Consequently, they respond to being reminded of what they already know with a certain kind
of awe.
John knows that challenging moral amnesia will not be enough. He cannot offer the
transformation that they need. While repentance is necessary, it is just a part of what will save
us from ourselves, save us from the moral forgetfulness that we’ve willed upon ourselves, and
save us from the terrible harm we do to ourselves and others when we act from moral
forgetfulness.
We anticipate Christmas, just as John waited for His cousin’s divine mission to begin. God in
Christ is offering us more than John can. Christ’s message echoes John’s reminder to repent,
but Jesus also baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. Baptism is a sign of repentance, a forgiveness
of sin, a wiping of the slate clean, and beyond that, the love of God is poured into our hearts.
The birth of a baby brings hope to parents, family, and friends. Children are a sign of hope for
the future, a potential for great possibilities yet unfulfilled. The birth of the Christ-Child brings
great hope for us. Since most of us have squandered the great expectations of our beginnings,
we need to repent and find forgiveness. But Christ brings a new birth, not just a second
chance. He returns us to a new and certain life with God, of being a child of God in this life
and forever. On this Sunday, we pause and rejoice. We rejoice in John’s Good News: Jesus
brings us a radical new beginning.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
Advent is about arriving, coming - and in today’s liturgy - returning. In the first reading from the prophet, Baruch, we witness the return of exiles to Jerusalem, God’s city. They come at God’s command from east and west, carried like royalty. God has removed every obstacle from their return, as though He has leveled mountains and hills to make the road smooth. He is present with them, escorting them. So, when they return home, the Lord’s special presence among His people is also returning. In today’s Gospel, we see how Baruch’s prophecy is fulfilled. John the Baptist is that voice that calls for a straight road to be prepared for God with valleys filled in and hills laid low. The return takes place in Jesus, when He comes among us and the salvation of God is made plain to all. Jesus is God returning to be present in the most special way among His people when He becomes man. All this is done so that we too can return to Him and be part of the city of God. Scripture teaches us that we human beings turned away from God at the beginning of history, in our first ancestors. Now, each one of us -at our existence - shares in that turning away from God. This is the mystery of original sin. But in Baptism, that sin is taken away: we are turned back to God by grace, and our return to Him begins. We can only return to God because He returns to us first in His grace. When God returns to us, he enables us to return to Him. In the second reading, Paul speaks of the way God who began a good work in us will bring it to completion on the Day of Christ Jesus. That work includes an increase in mutual love among us and an increase in knowledge as we come to know God within us. This changes us as we are filled with righteousness which is a gift through Christ. The path of Christian growth becomes our return. Returning to God has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It begins in us at Baptism. It ends at the Second Coming when we are raised from the dead in glory. The middle is our ongoing journey of return.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
Advent is a break in the liturgical cycle. The colors change: we put on purple. It is a new
year. We prepare for the birth of Jesus by waiting. Like a pregnancy the time of waiting is
important. We relive that time of waiting which the Old Testament records. His birth is not
just part of the natural cycle of death and birth. Jesus will break out of this cycle and offer us
a saving freedom.
That’s why today, on the First Sunday of Advent, the Church insists that the Jesus who came
at the first Christmas is also the one who will come in majesty at the end of the world. We
look at the past in the light of the future. By the time Luke wrote this gospel the Temple
whose destruction Jesus predicted had fallen. Jesus looks to the future and foretells the end
of the world. The story which began at Creation will come to a climax. The cycle of birth
and death is not endless. The Christ who comes at Christmas is the Universal King of
Creation whom we celebrated last Sunday.
Christ is not just our savior; He is the cosmic Christ who will bring God’s purpose for
Creation to its fulfillment. Who can save this world? The God who created it. The God who
created the sun, the moon, and the stars and who has the power to shake these heavenly
elements. Luke’s language symbolizes God’s control over His universe. And now, in this
passage, just as Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple, so He predicts that the
seemingly endless cycle of the world will be broken when the Son of Man comes in a great
cloud of power and great glory to establish a new creation.
The end of the world is not a time to cower in fear, Jesus tells His disciples. It is a time to
stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. This is the perspective
with which we meet Advent. We wait and long for the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem again but
in the hope of His second glorious coming.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
In John’s Gospel for the Solemnity of Christ as Universal King, Jesus seems powerless.
Arraigned before the powers of the world, standing in front of Pontius Pilate, He is asked Are
you the king of the Jews? Pilate is looking for a yes or no answer. He doesn’t get one.
Jesus does not deny being a king, just as He did not deny Peter’s acknowledgment that He is
the Messiah. My kingdom is not of this world. This is a different kingship and Pilate’s use of
the word is not enough. Jesus is not limited to the designation of a king of this world, like
the kind of king the crowds wanted to make Him at the miracle of loaves and fish. If He had
been a king dependent on violence and power, His followers would have used force to keep
Him from arrest. He is not a king thriving on self-serving ambition and despising weakness.
Jesus’ kingship is essentially not of this world because His rule is other-worldly, concerned
with the transcendent realm, detached from involvement in the compromises of human
government.
At the last supper, He had told His disciples that He was not asking God to take them out of
the world, only to protect them from evil so that they could be sent back into the world to
bear witness to the truth.
Jesus is not of the world, but He is very much in the world and has a mission to it. His
sovereignty is exercised by bearing witness to the truth. He has come from the Father and so
He can reveal the truth, a truth which exceeds the limitations of an unbelieving world.
Pilate refuses this truth. With the high priests, he embodies the corruption of worldly
government. To save his status, Pilate condemns the one whom he has recognized as
innocent, and the priests, to preserve their power, acknowledge Caesar as their king.
If we want to see what happens when God’s rule is present in a human being – look at Jesus.
Behold the man! The crucified Christ rules from the cross as He reveals the self-giving love
of God and its power which can draw all men and women into His kingdom.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
As we approach the end of the Church’s liturgical year, and our salvation seems as uncertain as ever, we have two apocalyptic readings. This style of writing creates an atmosphere and image of a time when all we know will cease to exist; all that sustains us will come to an end. People who are going through difficult times find a resonance in this kind of writing. The theme of cosmic upheaval represents the hardships they are facing. It evokes fear, dread, and even a sense of despair. It should be different for Christians.
For Christians, the end of the world is a good thing. It is something we pray for and look forward to. The proof is that each Mass we celebrate is praying that Jesus will come again and the world will end. Every Mass is one Mass less before the end of the world.
At the Consecration, Jesus Christ is truly present, body and blood, soul and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine. But if, the appearances should change into the natural, glorified form of Christ, it would be the end of the world. This is what we pray for at every Mass. Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life, Lord, Jesus, come in glory! or when we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, O, Lord, until you come in glory. At every Mass, we are always praying that Christ will come again.
When Jesus does come in glory, then we will no longer need this bread and cup. We will no longer need the Eucharist because the same Jesus we now receive sacramentally at Mass, we will then see directly face to face. The one, single sacrifice of Christ on Calvary will have completely sanctified us, and we will no longer need Mass.
The end of the world is a good thing, not because we are fed up with the evils and troubles, we experience throughout human history, but because we love it, even as God loves it. We long for it to be made whole and perfect. God, in His love for us will accomplish this at the blast of the last trumpet. In the meantime, at every Mass we pray, Come, Lord, Jesus!
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
Every organization needs a treasury and a treasurer. The Jewish historian Josephus, who was himself a priest of the Temple, tells us that many people followed Christ’s precepts and anonymously gave generously to the Temple treasury, just as many others received, equally secretly, from the Temple’s almsgiving budget. Much of the reason for the Temple to have all this money was to function: to feed the priests and Levites who worked there, to pay the cleaners, to buy wood for the fire, gold for the vessels, and silk for the veil and the vestments.
The poor widow who offered her last two coins to the Temple treasury knew this. With her whole livelihood – that is her entire life – she affirms – and means to affirm, the importance of all these things. She knew the importance of what they pointed towards. The Temple with its ritual and priesthood in all its magnificence, pointed towards the Presence of God, the true king of Israel, among His people. The poor widow, like every pious Israelite, went up to the Temple to seek some sign of that presence, and to visit the place where the mercy of God was to be found.
The poor widow knew that the hope that the temple offered her was of more value than anything she had because that hope was what gave her life value. It is the same for us. The signs of God’s presence among us, the finding of His mercy in His Church, and in the saintly people we meet in everyday life, are what give meaning and value to our lives.
As Christians, we do not just play the role of the widow in this story; we also play the role of priests. Washed clean, not in the water located in the Court of the Priests, but in the Blood of the Lamb. We bear on our foreheads the name which is above every name. Each one of us is a priest of the heavenly temple, called to be a sign of God’s mercy, called to give hope and consolation, meaning and value to those who seek the presence of God.
The Church must be the place where all Christians, within every level of the Church, continuously renew their commitment to their baptismal priesthood. Those who have offered themselves in service of the Church and those who turn to the Church in hope and trust need to meet faces marked by that perfect love the widow might have seen in the face of Christ.
Fr. Hernan Cely
Pastor
Something is frightening about a disembodied voice. In the Old Testament, God's voice is difficult to hear, and the awesome face of God cannot be seen. So, God speaks increasingly through prophets, who hear their Lord through their own speech. As the prophets struggle and eventually fail to speak for God, the way is prepared for the coming of Christ.
Jesus is the embodied voice of God. The high priests and scribes are astonished by Him because the people are impressed with His teaching. He has a human voice, and as such, the religious authorities feel free to treat Him with disrespect.
In Mark’s Gospel, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, all take turns aggressively questioning Jesus. Their purpose is not to find answers, but to silence His Voice.
When the Scribe enters the conversation, he asks a question and shows his willingness to agree that the two commandments affirming the primacy of love are greater than any regulations concerning sacrifice or holocaust. The Scribe is fair and open-minded. He has listened to Jesus’ replies to the other leaders. He seems genuinely interested in how Jesus would answer a question familiar to Jewish lawyers. With 365 prohibitions and 248 positive commands in the Torah, he is searching for a basic principle to interpret them. He asks Jesus Which is the first of all the commandments?
Jesus answers by quoting the Shema in our first reading today from Deuteronomy. You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. Love of God comes first but is not enough. Jesus adds a command from Leviticus. You must love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus does not prescribe theory without practice. Throughout His ministry, He shows what the Love of God means. As He goes His way from Gethsemane to Calvary, the Incarnational Son shows in practice what it means to love God and neighbors simultaneously.
Jesus is the embodied Voice of God. The voice of God has become flesh, and in doing so, part of the meaning of the Incarnation is that from now on, all the truth of God will be spoken in dialogue with humanity, not in monologue. In Jesus, we have heard the voice of God, and we are not afraid. In the Scribe, we find a man not imprisoned by rigid views, but a sympathetic and willing listener. An open mind not far from the kingdom of God.