Saturday 11th December 2021, 2nd Week of Advent is the feast of St Damasus 1 (305 - 384). Pope. Born in Rome but of Spanish descent. Damasus presided over the See of Peter when the Church was rocked by many heresies. Arian heresy had not yet been crushed. He defended the Church against schismatics.  Damasus is the Pope who commissioned St Jerome to translate the Bible into common Latin. This translation called the Vulgate made the Latin language the official language of the Church.

Elijah the great prophet is the subject of the first Reading and the Gospel of today. Elijah came back in the persona of John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight His paths. People did not recognize the hour or the opportunity he represented.  Although he appeared like a fire whose words were as a flaming furnace, yet people took little notice. The noise in the world was too loud and impenetrable for the message of salvation to get through.

In less than fourteen days, we shall be in the season of Christmas and the Season of Advent with its opportunities and graces will be over. Arise from your sleep.  Do not allow Christmas shopping and any other frenzied activities to obscure the true meaning of the Season.

The Lord is surely coming in splendor to visit His people. Prepare to welcome Him.

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Thursday 9th December 2020, 2nd Week of Advent is the feast of St Juan Diego. (1474 - 1548). Mexican. Hermit and visionary. Our Blessed Mother appeared to this humble and simple Indian and used him to transform the nation of the Aztecs. "Behold the humble maid servant of the Lord. Be it done to me according to Your promise." God can use you and me to accomplish great things in the world. All He needs is humility and faith.

In the Gospel of today, Jesus praised John the Baptist. "Among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
Pope St John Paul II in the Mass of canonization of St Juan Diego in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2002 praised Juan Diego as a great example of holiness for our times. Juan Diego, a lay man accepted the difficult mission that the Blessed Virgin Mary entrusted to him.

John the Baptist, the son of the Priest Zachary and saintly mother Elizabeth abandoned his rights to a priestly inheritance and a comfortable life to embrace the purpose of God for his life. He was the voice crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord." He accomplished his mission and at the end was martyred by King Herod.

Let us live justly and devoutly in this age as the two Johns in this message. Let us await the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of our great God. (Cf Titus 2: 12 - 13).

"Be on your guard, then, and be prudent, but without fear, because I am your Mother and, just as I said to my beloved little son Juan Diego, I hold you beneath my protecting mantle, in the crossing of my arms, close, very close to my Immaculate Heart. Trust in my protection. Yes, I am your Mother of Perpetual Help, every ready to come to your rescue, ever ready to provide for your needs, to deliver you from danger, and to console you in sorrow. Approach me with childlike confidence and you will never be disappointed." (IN SINU JESU, Tuesday, December 9, 2008).

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Friday 10th December 2021 is the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto.
What is Loreto? According to tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived, born and raised in the Holy House of Loreto. The Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary in Loreto. This is how Loreto became a Holy House of Prayer.

The House of Loreto which was completed in the 16th century became a famous pilgrimage site. All the 3 recent popes: John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have all made pilgrimages to the Holy House of Loreto.

How do we respond to the reprimand of Jesus in the first Reading? "If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea."

Come Lord Jesus and renew my heart and my life. I had not paid attention to Your voice in the past. I was my own Lord and Master. You said to me Jesus: "Forget the past. I am doing a new thing in you. My Name is not I WAS. My Name is not I WILL BE. MY NAME IS I AM."
These words are very comforting Jesus. Come Lord Jesus!

"The Mystical Body of Christ needs the gentle and perfect ministrations of the most pure hands of Mary. She is sent from heaven—without leaving her glorious heavenly throne—to nurse the ailing members of the Mystical Body and to restore health to the Church wheresoever she is weakened by sin or poisoned by evil. There cannot be—and there will not be—a full restoration of unity until the divinely appointed role of the Mother of Jesus is recognized and confessed. The same is true when it comes to the healing of broken lives and of souls poisoned by sin." (IN SINU JESU, Thursday, January 29, 2009).

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Wednesday 8th December 2021, 2nd Week of Advent is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. This is the patronal feast of the United States of America.

What is the Immaculate Conception and why does it matter?  In the first Reading today from Genesis, God said to the Serpent: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel." (Genesis 3: 15). This is the promise of our Redemption after the fall of Adam and Eve. God chose Mary before the foundation of the world and prepared her to be the sinless Mother of His Son. God preserved the Blessed Virgin Mary from original sin by virtue of the Death of her Son, Jesus the Christ which God foresaw.

Only a pure Vessel can hold a pure God. Why does this matter? Jesus is 100% God and 100% Man. Although Mary is 100% human, it is absolute necessity that the Mother of the Redeemer be not tainted with the least sin.

Mary's generosity in giving her Yes made the Incarnation possible.
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1: 38).

The total faith and surrender that Mary displayed here is rewarded by God's special revelation to Mary:

"For nothing will be impossible for God.” (Luke 1: 37).
Let this words nourish our faith today and always. When you are afraid, when you worry, when you are tempted to doubt God's power and promises, redouble your trust in God and remember that nothing will be impossible for God.

"Honour My Mother in the mystery of her Immaculate Conception. This is a mystery full of grace and of light for those who ponder it. It is the remedy for many of the ills that afflict My priests and poison their souls. Invoke My Mother conceived without sin and she will communicate to you something of the purity and brightness of her all-holy and immaculate Heart." (IN SINU JESU, November 29, 2008 After First Vespers of the First Sunday of Advent).

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