A covenant is an act of love between human beings and God where the confidence between both is important. When God chooses a nation or a person to live an act of love it is because he believes in the capacity of this person or nation to live it. Thousands of years ago God chose a people to live a covenant from generation to generation. Covenant in the Bible means “The conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in scripture, it is an agreement between God and the ancient Israelites in which God promised to protect them if they kept his law and were faithful to Him” (Covenant – STEVEN L. McKENZIE). Today God lives this covenant with each woman and man who opens his/her heart and mind to hear his voice. Living a covenant with God means being for others: Saving life, rescuing dignity, respecting each person’s religion and each people, seeking peace between religions and people, loving the poor, respecting different people in their individuality and culture. Covenant can be between …

For the Christmas Mass at Dawn, a group of Migrant Workers presently in Israel decided to walk to Bethlehem from Jerusalem. While they walked they talked about various personal experiences of what is going on in their own countries and in Jerusalem. Their conversation went something like this: In Brazil there is big problem of human trafficking, mostly women and children. Also in Guatemala the situation is very challenging. Many people illegally migrate to the U.S. in order to look for better jobs. This situation affects their families terribly. Israel also is full of Migrant Workers, who are here illegally. Along with that, the anti-Semitism around the world is a great concern for all the Jews and Christian Jewish interfaith groups. In Egypt there is so much poverty, and education is very basic, and people are so preoccupied about earning enough, that they maintain two or three jobs just to be able to feed their families. This is the sad reality today. You know in the Philippines, corruption and human rights violations are increasing. As …

We are near to our awaited and greatest day! This Sunday we light the fourth candle, if we pay attention of our advent wreath is it more shining than before and the light is stronger than the darkness. As we know, we light the “candle of love,” and it reminds us as Christians that God loves us more than enough because He sent his only Son to became man in order to unite the heaven and earth, to re-establish harmony between man and God. The readings have helped us to walk step by step and to prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus our Savior. The gospel of this Sunday is about Annunciation, God sent his angel two thousand years ago for Mary to announce the good news. As human being we have thought that it is impossible to experience what Mary had but we have this experienced through our daily life because God send His angels to watch and lead us. If we are in the place of Mary when the Angel visited her, what …

The third Sunday of Advent invites us to rejoice in the Lord who will come This invitation makes us believe with joy that the Messiah is coming. The prophet Isaiah speaks of this waiting with great ardor to awaken and strengthen the hope for people in the Exile. The people spent by worst moments of history when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. They needed comforting words and faith. Today the invitation remains the same, “Rejoice in the Lord who will come” to free us from all human evil: injustice, lies, social, physical and psychological oppression, in short of all sufferings that generate pain, sadness and desolation. Let us rejoice in the Lord who will come to wipe all tears, and that fulfilled the promise of save us and walk with us. This Sunday requires of us that we are with eyes, heart and mind opened for the manifestation of the Lord who gives himself in many ways in the events and every person on our side and away from us. Isaiah 7.14 tells us …

Second Sunday of Advent. Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11, Psalm 85, 2 Peter 3:8-14 Mark 1:1-8 This time of Advent is a good opportunity to go more deeply into ourselves and with God to see what we did last year and what we should let go of this year. We can think about what step I can take to grow and to renew my relationship with God and others in the new year. I should be ready while waiting for God, like John the Baptist who asks us to prepare ourselves and repent because the kingdom is near. How can we prepare ourselves for the Child Jesus to be born in our hearts? Are we able to wait for Jesus like John the Baptist says to us? What kinds of seeds should I bury in the good earth letting them die to be able to grow and produce much fruit? All these questions will help me to think about my life and how can I be with God. We can return to God with humble prayer and …

Today is the New Year in the Church. Today on this First Sunday of Advent the liturgical year begins. Advent is a call to the spirit of poverty and hunger for God. Advent, Christmas preparation is a time for conversion, to follow and seek God’s presence. It is the reflection of the great mystery of the Incarnation, of humanity expecting a Redeemer who comes to save his creation. On the first Sunday of Advent, the invitation of the Word of God is to “to look and watch over”, to respond and to be aware of the realities of our time. The first reading from Isaiah describes the social and religious situation of the Jewish people who returned from exile but when they reached Jerusalem they found the temple abandoned, and encountered a vacuum. What they needed was a human community that received them well and made them feel at home but they did not find it. Isaiah invites us to prepare for the Lord’s coming, with calls for repentance and to put ourselves in the …

Ez. 34: 11-12, 15-17; Ps 23, 1 Cor. 15:20-26, 28, Mt. 25: 31-46 A Shepherd of Love and Justice The readings for today’s feast, “SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING” portrays an image of a God who is a Good Shepherd. A shepherdwho tends one’s flock and look for the lost sheep. The prophet Ezekiel put it, “For thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tend his flock when he find himself among his scattered, so I will tend my sheep, I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark”(34:11-12). This recognition of God as a Shepherd is beautifully crafted in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In verdant pastures he give me repose…” However in the second reading there is a slight shift from a Shepherd God to the person of Jesus Christ who is the first fruit of all creation. From Him comes a new life. Christ as the Son of …