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LOVE LETTER

30 November 2003ÝÝ First Sunday of Advent ©ÝÝÝ 1 Thess 3:12-4:2

St. Patrickís parish is in Kowloon, Hong Kong.Ý There are four weekend Masses including a childrenís Mass at 10:45, Sunday.Ý This is the parish where I was formerly pastor. [email protected].Ý Cf. also Social Concerns Education: www.acpp.org --ÝÝ Fr. Gene Thalman M.M.]

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ Today is the first Sunday of Advent.Ý During these next four Sundays St. Paul will be writing letters to our community so that we will be prepared to celebrate Christís coming this Christmas, 2003.

 

Nowadays very few of us write letters. Instead we telephone or e-mail our loved ones. Yet we all feel a special excitement when we receive a personal letter from a dear friend.Ý

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ In a movie I once saw, there was an elderly man who lived alone and didnít have any relatives or friends.Ý But once a week, the postman delivered a letter to his mailbox.Ý The old man would open his mailbox, look surprised, smile and take the letter into his house.Ý Later the townspeople discovered that each week he went to the postbox in town and mailed a letter to himself.

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ How many of you have never received a love letter?Ý Raise your hand.Ý Well today is your lucky day.

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ As Christians, we always have a letter in our mailbox.Ý These letters are written by Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.Ý Among Paulís writings there are some very personal love letters. Our reading today is truly a love letter. Paul writes this love letter to the Thessalonian Christians but he also is sending this letter to our community here at St. Patrickís.Ý That is what the Holy Spirit makes happen when we read the Holy Scripture.

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ You see,Ý in 50 C.E., about twenty years after Christís Ascension, Paul visited Thessalonia.Ý He didnít know any people there so he set up a little roadside stand, started repairing and making tents to earn a little money.Ý Paul was a tent-maker by trade. He made quality tents.Ý Paul was a friendly fellow and quickly made friends with other workers in the neighborhood.Ý Of course he told them about Jesus and the kind of things that Jesus continues to do.Ý Paul also went to the Jewish synagogue each Sabbath.Ý In a short time, Paul had a little group of Christians who gathered together regularly to learn about Jesus.Ý Most of these folks were not Jewish.Ý Well, Paul was only there for about six months and already he had a small thriving community. Things were going great!Ý UntilÖ

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ The Jewish leaders in the synagogue got jealous and started to report Paul to the Roman government and accused him of being a threat to national security.Ý To save the little Christian community from persecution, Paul had to leave this little community.Ý But the Christians promised to keep following Jesus.

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ PaulÝ was very sad to leave.Ý He really got to love these folks.Ý And like a mother, he was worried about them.Ý He was afraid they might forget some of the important things that he had taught.Ý After all he had only been with them for a short time.Ý He knew it could be very difficult for them to keep being disciples of Christ.

Ý

GODíS WORD:Ý Two months after leaving, Paul wrote todayís beautiful letter to these Christians.Ý We have just listened to four verses from this letter to the Thessalonians.

 

 

I Thess: 3:12-13 and 4:1-2

 

 

3:12 ìAnd may the Lord increase you and make you overflow with love for one anotherÖî

 

Paul sounds like a worried mother.Ý Such a mother is most happy when her children are not only growing up in age and wisdom, she doesnít want her kids to quarrel. Rather she wants them live in harmony and to love each other more and more. ìOverflow with love. î

 

Ýìand for allÖ,

 

ÝOf course, all parents want their children to love each other but Paul adds: ìand for allÖî The Christians of Thessalonia not only must love their family members and good friends but Paul also insists that they love everybody -- even their enemies, people who are pains in the neck and people who are just plain nasty.

 

ìeven as our love does for you.î Ý

 

After Mass I sometimes ask a little child:Ý ìDo you love your mommy?îÝ Or ìDo you love your daddy?îÝÝ And nine times out of ten, the child, after giving it some thought, will answer: ìYes, I love mommy.îÝ Or ìYes, I love daddy.î And the parent smiles from ear to ear. However, an adult seldom tells another: ìI love you.î

 

Let me ask the married women a question: ìWhen was the last time your husband said: ëI love you?íîÝ Please answer by smiling. Within the past year? Ö Within the past two years?ÖWithin the past five yearsÖwithin the past ten yearsÖnever?Ý Ugh!Ý

 

I guess that some people have been married for forty years and have never once spoken those words: ìI love you.îÝ It is kind of embarrassing for an adult to tell someone that you love him/her.Ý I think it goes against Chinese culture.Ý It may be easier to say ìI love youî in a letter.

 

It must have been the same at the time of St. Paul.Ý However Paul isnít uncomfortable saying how much he loves this little community in his letter.

 

3:13Ý ìMay he strengthen your hearts, make them blameless and holy before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.î

 

Like a mother who tells her kids to wash behind their ears and wear two of the same color socks when the grandparents come to visit, Paul is concerned that this little community will be spic and span when the Lord comes in glory. ìÖat the coming of our Lord Jesus...î He wants to show off this great little community.Ý (Just as Fr. Moses, Sr. Lam, and the catechists will want to show you off when Jesus comes in glory.)

 

4:1Ý ìNow, my brother [and sisters], we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, even as you learned from us how to conduct yourselves in a way pleasing to Godówhich you are indeed doingóso you must learn to make still greater progress.î

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ The best way to prevent backsliding is to keep going forward.Ý Itís like roller-skating up a hill. Once you stop skating uphill, you roll back down.Ý The only way is to keep progressing up the hill.

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ If any of us have stopped growing and advancing in our Faith and in our love for God, we should think about it on this first Sunday of Advent.Ý We certainly want to be ready when Jesus comes.

 

OUR RESPONSE:

 

During the coming year, read St. Paulís epistles.Ý Keep in mind that although Paul was writing for the Christians of Thessalonia, the Holy Spirit through Paul is also writing a love letter just for us at St. Patrickís.

 

FINALE:Ý Please raise your hand if you

 

Have a Bible at home?

 

Have opened the Bible during the past month?

 

Will open your Bible this week and read something lovely that God may want to tell you?

ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ

 

HOMILETIC NOTES AND STUFF

30 November 2003ÝÝ First Sunday of Advent ©

 

ONE WORD:Ý Letter

 

TWO WORDS:Ý Thessalonian letter

 

THEME:Ý Paulís epistle to the Thessalonians is written for St. Patrickís community, Wang Tau Hom.

 

TEXT:ÝÝÝÝÝ ìYou know the instructions we gave you in the Lord Jesus.îÝ

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ I ThessaloniansÝ 4:2.

 

DESIRED RESULT: ÝFather, last week you excited my interest in Paulís epistles. I never imagined that somebody would ever write me a love letter.Ý

 

REFERENCES:

 

ìHis [Paulís] primary purpose is to encourage this group of new Christians [in Thessaloniaómodern day Salonika] who are living out their faith in the hostile climate of a large Hellenistic city and suffering persecution from their fellow citizens because of it (1:6; 3:3-4) and who are experiencing stress within the community, possibly because of moral failings (4:3-8) and certainly because of wrong ideas about the future coming of the Lord (4:13-5:11).

George M. Soares-Prabhu, ìI Thessalonians, in The International Bible Commentary, ed. by William R. Farmer (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1998), p. 1710.

 

TIDBITS:ÝÝ I have decided to devote the next series ofÝ homilies to the second readings.Ý The second reading was seldom included in my menu during these past forty years.Ý Some of you who have been with me for a long time, will notice that there have been some repeats from the year 2000 in the past few months.

 

 

Chewing, Digesting and Practicing Godís Word

30 November 2003ÝÝ First Sunday of Advent © 1 Thess. 3:12-4:2

 

NAME_________ Grade_____________

 

1. What is the first letter in the Bible that St. Paul wrote? _____________

 

2.Ý In what year was this letter written? ___________________________

 

3.Ý Give three reasons why St. Paul was concerned about the Christian

ÝÝÝÝ community in Thessalonia?

ÝÝÝÝ a. _________________________________________

ÝÝÝÝ b. _________________________________________

ÝÝÝÝ c. _________________________________________

 

4. Who were the two groups of people that Paul wanted the Christians to

ÝÝÝÝ love?

ÝÝÝÝÝ a.Ý ________________________

ÝÝÝÝÝ b.Ý ________________________

 

5. (Optional) Tell about a special letter that you once received.Ý How did

ÝÝÝ you feel when you read the letter?Ý How did the letter affect your life?ÝÝÝ

ÝÝÝ How do you feel when you read a love letter to you from God?

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ Donít Peek!

(Answers:

1. Paul may have written other letters but I Thess. It is theÝÝ

ÝÝÝ first Letter that he wrote found in the bible.

2. 50 C.E. or 51 C.E.

3. a. They had an abbreviated Catechumenate.

ÝÝÝ b. The government was hostile to Christians at times.

ÝÝÝ c.Ý The Jewish leaders persecuted them.

ÝÝÝ d.Ý There may have been some frictions within the

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ community itself.

4. a. ìÖone anotherÖî

ÝÝÝ b. ìÖAnd for all.î