Neli ML

  Third Sunday after the Epiphany 2025 St. Luke 4:14-21 Rev. Neli Miranda   On the third Sunday after the Epiphany, we travel to Nazareth in Galilee, Jesus’ hometown. According to Luke, after the temptations ended, Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee. His fame had spread among the Galileans and he began teaching in their synagogues. In Nazareth, as was his custom, Jesus attended the synagogue on the Sabbath Day and participated in the liturgy by reading a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah.   There he found a powerful message: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4,18-19). This powerful message had been proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah in the sixth century B.C., amidst the earliest returnees from the Ba...

  Second Sunday after the Epiphany 2025 John 2:1-11 Rev. Neli Miranda   On the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, we travel from Judea to Cana of Galilee, to participate in a special wedding celebration and witness Jesus’ Epiphany. Here, according to John the evangelist, Jesus performed the first of his signs… “and revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him” (2,11). In contrast to the other evangelists, John uses the term “sign” to refer to Jesus’ miracles, underscoring that these acts are not merely displays of supernatural power but visible manifestations of Jesus’ divinity—Epiphanies. In using this term, John emphasizes that the importance of Jesus’ extraordinary deeds lies not only in the acts themselves but on what they signify: the manifestation of God among the people. In Cana, a small, remote village in Galilee, a wedding is taking place today.   Mary, Jesus’ mother, is there. Jesus along with his disciples have also been invited to the weddi...

  First Sunday after the Epiphany 2025 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 Rev. Neli Miranda   Last Sunday we celebrated the Epiphany, when like the wise men from the East, we were blessed with the Divine manifestation of the birth of baby Jesus. Today, on the first Sunday after Epiphany, we discover that the infant has now grown into a 30-year-old young man devoted to God. He, together with the people, has heeded the call of John the Baptist, who calls the people to turn to God. Luke tells us today that, upon John’s proclamation, the people were filled with expectation, questioning whether John might be the expected Messiah. However, John, referring to Jesus, proclaims: “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (3,16). As John announces the Messiah’s arrival, Jesus is there among the people, anticipating the sacred moment to dedicate himself to God and begin his proclamation. So, as all the people ar...

  Second Sunday after Christmas 2025 Matthew 2:1-12 Rev. Neli Miranda   Today, we celebrate the second Sunday after Christmas as we stand on the threshold of Epiphany, to be celebrated on January 6.   During the Christmas season we rejoice in the birth of the Son of God while the Epiphany celebration heralds the revelation of the Son of God to all peoples of the earth. It proclaims that God’s manifestation is not a privatized event but a grace extended to all.   Epiphany, derived from the Greek epiphaneia , means “manifestation” or “appearance” and was used in ancient Greece to refer to the visions or appearances of gods. This term was resignified by Christians in the 3rd century when the Feast of Epiphany was adopted to celebrate God’s manifestation in the person of Jesus to the gentiles, represented by the wise men or Magi from the East. According to ancient tradition, the Magi did not visit the stable on Christmas Day but twelve days later, on Epiphany Day...

  First Sunday after Christmas 2024 John 1:1-18 Rev. Neli Miranda   On this First Sunday After Christmas, the Gospel passage does not depict a traditional Christmas scene of baby Jesus lying in a manger with his parents. Instead, John the evangelist offers a profound statement which captures the essence of Christmas: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth ” (John 1:14). Christmas is rightly called the Feast of the Incarnation as it reveals to us how God incarnates among us, taking on a human form through Jesus. Using first-century language that may seem complex to us twenty-first-century Christians, John tells us about Jesus, the Word of God: “In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God" (1 : 1).   In referring to Jesus, John continues proclaiming him as the light that comes to illuminate...

  Fourth Sunday of Advent 2024 Luke 1:39-55     Rev. Neli Miranda   The Good news of the Fourth Sunday of Advent come to us from a humble home in Judea, Elizabeth & Zechariah’s home. Here, perhaps at the entrance of the house or within the inviting warmth of the kitchen two pregnant women, Mary and Elizabeth talk about “women things”, about life, about God among them. They are not in a public space, nor in the temple or the synagogue; they are in an intimate, domestic sphere, that space where God’s visitation continually occurs. Mary and Elizabeth are faithful believers who have awaited God’s manifestation to the people. Now, both have been graced with the visit of Life and God is coming to the people through their very wombs. Elizabeth is about six months pregnant with John the Baptist, and Mary has recently received the annunciation that she bears a son, the Son of God. The womb, traditionally considered only a reproductive organ, is now a sacred spac...

  Third Sunday of Advent 2024 Zephaniah 3:14-20 , Isaiah 12:2-6, Philippians 4:4-7 , Luke 3:7-18 Rev. Neli Miranda   Rejoice in the Lord. Gaudete in Domino! Today, we celebrate the third Sunday of Advent known as “Gaudete Sunday” or the Sunday of Joy. Gaudete , derived from the Latin word for “rejoice,” appropriately names this Sunday, where the readings resonate with the joy of God’s visitation. “Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!” proclaims the prophet Zephaniah, heralding God’s visitation (3:14). A century before, the prophet Isaiah had proclaimed the glorious presence of God among the people of Israel, “Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel” (12:6). These passages invite us to look back to the past and encounter the joy and hope of those who experienced the divine presence. They also invite us to remember the glor...