Homily for the Week of December 30, 2012

HOMILY: Feast of Holy Family, 2012
1 Samuel 1:30-22; 24-28
1 John 3:1-2, 21-24
Luke 2:41-52

On this last day of the calendar year we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. What’s really great about this feast day is that it’s about something to which we can easily relate. Each of us are members of a family. Families come in many different sizes: traditional family, or a blended family, or a single parent family, or like myself, a member of a parish family. So when we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we also celebrate our own families.

We know very little of Jesus' life between His birth and when he was about 30 years old. We also know little about his family life. Joseph, his foster father, was a carpenter, so it would have been customary that Jesus would follow his father’s trade as a carpenter. Nazareth was a small village of about 300 persons. In the Jewish homes of Jesus' day, until a child was about 12, the mother was the teacher in religion as well as in learning. When a boy was 12 years old the father took over and began to teach him a trade.

The Bible story about Jesus which I just read took place when Jesus was 12 years old. Each year parents and their older children went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. Can you identify with Jesus in this story? Jesus at the age of twelve is on the verge of becoming a man in the Jewish society of his day. He and his parents have traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. After the departure of Mary and Joseph, Jesus remains behind in the Temple. There he amazes the religious teachers with his wisdom and intelligence. When Jesus' parents discover him missing, they are upset. Jesus explains the importance of putting God first in our lives. When we do this, everything else in life will fall into place.

The Church has placed this Feast of the Holy Family in the Christmas Season as an encouragement for all families to be holy. What does that mean? Being HOLY does not mean that we go around all day with our hands folded and our head bowed. Being HOLY means keeping our mind on what it is that the Lord wants us to be and to do. It means having a place in our family for religion and prayer and trying to live the religion and prayer we talk about.

Today's readings remind us that we must care for one another in our family. Even when parents misunderstand or nag, or when children seem not to listen to parents, we cannot say, "That's it. I'm leaving home!" Like Jesus, we go on loving one another and trying to work things out together.

Throughout the ages, the family has been the cradle of the Christian religious spirit. The first places where the Christian communities gathered were not churches, but the homes of families who opened their doors to the Christian way of life. These domestic churches nurtured the spread of Christianity for over two hundred years. And since then the family has been the single most important teacher of Christian virtue and Christian faith.

Many families today are what are known as blended families. This can happen in two ways. A couple practicing different religions get married. Another type of blended family is when a man and a woman who were previously married and both have children, get married a second time. This can be especially challenging when their children become teenagers if their mother and father did not prepare them for this.

The family is the first community we experience where we begin to develop relationships. We all learn the meaning of forgiveness from our experience of being forgiven within the family. We all learn the meaning of thankfulness as we experience thankfulness within the family. These are done in the ordinary moments of daily family life: at mealtimes, household chores, washing dishes, cleaning rooms, workdays, vacations, expressions of love and intimacy, caring for a sick child or elderly parent, or the death of a child. and even at times of conflicts over things like how to celebrate holidays, discipline children or spend money. All of these are threads from which families can weave a pattern of holiness. It is within family that we are either called to God or driven away from God.

This does not mean, however, that family life is always easy. The family photos you receive with Christmas cards show the perfect family. They don't show debts, arguments, times of anger, people who have left their faith, people who are addicted, kids on academic probation,kids with behavior problems. Yet these are the situations of family life. But in the Bible God never really gave us the picture of the ideal family. Consider even the Holy Family of Nazareth. Joseph considers divorcing Mary when he learns she is pregnant. But in all of these God's love overcomes all division. On this feast of the Holy Family, take a inventory of your family. Be generous with thanks and praise for what you do well, ask forgiveness for times you have hurt, and praise God for having given you the gift of marriage and family.

Homily for the Week of December 23, 2012

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year C, 2012
Mi 5:1-4a
Heb 10:5-10
Lk 1:39-45

Catholics and Christians associate Christmas, not only with the birthday of Jesus, but also with Christmas trees and decorations, gift giving, family gatherings and Christmas cards and Christmas Carols. While each of us may have one or two favorite Christmas carols, O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM is mone of the most popular. It was composed by a young Protestant minister from Philadelphia named Phillips Brooks, The minister had gotten tired out so he needed to do something or go somewhere to get refreshed. He took some time off and decided to go to the Holy Land. He traveled by horse through much of the Holy Land, and on Christmas Eve, he arrived on a hilltop outside the small city of Bethlehem, six miles southwest of Jerusalem. This was the city of David and the birthplace of Jesus. He was struck by its smallness. It was so small it was hardly a town, but it still stirred Rev. Brook’s imagination. As he gazed at the village from the hilltop in the evening light, he was inspired to write a poem.
O little town of Bethlehem,
how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep,
the silent stars go by.

Lewis Henry Redner, the church organist wrote the music for ''Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.''

Our first reading by Micah today mentions Bethlehem. It is interesting that at his time Syria, like today, was being at war. This time the Syrians were invading Israel. But they never destroyed Jerusalem. However, the Syrians appointed corrupt leaders who cheated the Jewish people and also required them to worship strange gods. Micah preached hope for those who still loved God. The poor and the lowly had struggled to remain faithful, and God would rescue them. From a village too small to rank as a clan of Judah, from the poor, would come the one who “shall be peace.” Micah mentions that this village is Bethlehem.

Bethlehem was a very small town, more a village really, a short distance from Jerusalem. It was a one-industry town: it produced bread for sale in Jerusalem. The name ''Bethlehem'' actually means ''little house of bread.'' Its only claim to fame was that it was the birthplace of David, thus it is sometimes identified as ''The City of David.'' Beyond this, it was just another overlooked village among many small villages near Jerusalem. ' If Jesus had not been born there, it might even not exist today. It is an irony that such a small, insignificant place would play such an enormous role in history. It is a reminder to us that those who might seem insignificant -- the poor, the elderly, today's ''widows and orphans'' -- are not insignificant in the eyes of God.

Our Gospel which I just read is the story of two pregnant women meeting each other. Mary, a young woman who had just become pregnant goes to visit Elizabeth, her older cousin who was in her six month of pregnancy with her first child. Both of their pregnancies had unusual circumstances. Mary, a young girl, conceived her son Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah, was expecting her child as an older person. When Mary met Elizabeth they hugged each other and her infant leaped, as the Bible mentions. Mary went to see Elizabeth because she trusted her, and she wanted to talk with her about becoming a Mother. Elizabeth also may have needed some comfort. She was a pregnant older woman who must have been tired. Both women needed caring and comfort. Elizabeth provided comfort to Mary whose son Jesus would provide comfort for the whole world.

Like the village of Bethlehem Mary herself was a relatively insignificant person. She was a young girl from another small village. Her responses to the angel Gabriel and even to Elizabeth let us know that even Mary considered herself insignificant. By no means she did suffer from ''poor self-esteem.'' She was just simply humble knowing that she was from a poor family in a poor village.

Mary teaches us a lesson: being from insignificant families in insignificant places does not make us insignificant. We are reminded that idea of significance does not come from places or families. Our significance comes from God. All human life is significant. This was the message of God's choice to become human and enter our world. There were those in Nazareth who tried to put Jesus down by reminding everyone that He was just a carpenter's son, the son of Mary, and everybody knew His family -- meaning no one thought the carpenter's family was anything special. In this context Micah's words take on deep meaning when we ponder how God uses what we might consider insignificant: ''You, Bethlehem, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.''

Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, gives a sense of what we can do for those who are alone or feel abandoned or suffer at this time of year. Elizabeth made clear that she recognized that her young cousin from Nowheresville was significant. Those of you who are parents know first hand that Little babies and children depend entirely on their mother and father. Many of us do not have the experience of pregnancy, but we do not need that experience to understand, to comfort, to reassure, to encourage someone who comes to us. On this Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day, in fact on every day, our greeting must be so full of peaceful love that, like Mary, our greeting will move people to acknowledge Jesus Christ within them. Maybe first all, let us acknowledge that Jesus is in our heart and our faith.

Homily for the Week of December 16, 2012

3rd Sunday of Advent, C 2012 Zephaniah 3:14-18 Phil 4:4-7 Luke 3:10-18 St. Rose of Lima is the Catholic Church in Newtown, Connecticut where yesterday the terrible school shooting took place at Sandy Hook elementary school. Tonight there was to be a Nativity pageant put on by the children of the Parish. The child who was to be the angel Gabriel died in the school massacre yesterday. The pastor of the parish said the pageant will still be held this evening. He said that tonight we now have 20 angels in heaven. One 1st grade boy who survived will light the star of Bethlehem. He was one of those who hid in the bathroom with their teacher. He told his teacher I do not want to die. I want to have Christmas. While many of us may question why this happened, what is far more in need of hope is for the parents who last night did not have their little daughter or son with them, and now must prepare for wakes and funerals. With only one more Sunday before Christmas our Church Bible readings today takes on a more eager and urgent sense of anticipation. You have noticed that today we lighted the rose colored candle in the Advent wreath. We did not do this just because we got tired of purple. We did it because this Sunday is called Caudate Sunday. Caudate is a Latin word that means rejoice as in the entrance antiphon Rejoice, again I say to you rejoice! Our first Bible reading is from the book of the prophet Zephaniah. Zephaniah comes on the scene in a time of darkness. The people had had awful presidents. In order to stop other countries from taking them over the presidents had made agreements with their neighbors. The Jewish people did not like these agreements which required that they give up their religion and join another religion. That religion would require mothers to abort their children. But fortunately a new president changes all of this. Zephaniah tells the people that they can rejoice again and they need not be afraid. The Lord will rejoice over them in gladness, and renew them in love. St. Paul echoes the same message. Paul writes to the Christians of Phillippi that the Lord is near and that his peace will guard their minds and hearts. Have no anxiety he tells them. The Gospel continues the story of John the Baptist we had last weekend. John the Baptist tells his friends about the coming of the Saviour. They ask him: What shall we do? John tells them to act with justice, charity and honesty so that their lives will reflect the life of Jesus. The Lord is in your midst...Fear not..be not discouraged. The joy of the Church today is in the coming of Jesus who brings us peace and joy and gladness and love. The joy of this Sunday comes in jumbo size. But how do we express it? Do we really feel it? We may feel awkward and embarrassed at expressing joy in a church. After all this is a Mass and not a hockey or basketball game where such expressions of joy are encouraged and expected especially if our team is winning. John the Baptist today dedicates his preaching and teaching to talking about a joyful God. Too often we can get the image of God as a sober God ready to do us in when we do something wrong; a God who gets upset over our failures to live what we believe. We can imagine him planning new punishments for our sins. Rather, God is a joyful God and wants us to catch that joy also. God made us in his own image and likeness. God doesn't make junk. God has to be happy with us. Someone once said: Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same. Jesus and John were such persons, and they can be such persons for us here today. This Advent we are invited to stop what we are doing for a while and listen to our hearts. It is part of our human nature to get caught up in individual anxieties. Twinges of pain, money worries, and family concerns all jostle within us to drain our time and energy as we try to meet demands for immediate attention and solution. We may go in for vigorous exercise, take tranquilizers, diet, or seek out the latest fashion in self-help or positive thinking. And these solutions may work for a time. But, as with physical diseases, the stresses and strains of human life have an incredible capacity to reinvent themselves in different shapes and sizes. As Christians, our belief is that ultimately we have to get in touch with the inner peace that only comes from God. But God's presence and peace began six months ago, or 6 years or 16 years or 60 years, when water was poured over our heads at Baptism. It is ongoing. That water of baptism is not just cleansing but also nourishing and refreshing. It gives us the ability to live at a level of serenity, whatever life throws at us. Preparing for the coming of Christ at Christmas, we need to find time to allow that understanding of our need and Christ's response to take deeper root within us. What are we preparing for as we approach his coming? Surely it is the fullness of peace so often mentioned on Christmas cards and Christmas hymns. John the Baptist prepares the crowd for Christ's coming through baptism and a change of heart and behavior. It is only through God's presence that we will find true life and peace. As Christmas approaches we trust in God's loving presence rather than in self-help. Take a look this week of the progress of your Advent preparations so far, especially your spiritual preparations and not just Christmas gifts and Christmas cards. What would John the Baptist say to us today if we asked him what we ought to do? He would undoubtedly tell us to prepare ourselves the best we can for the coming of Jesus.

Homily for the Week of December 9, 2012

2nd Sunday of Advent, 2012 Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 Luke 3:1-6 Each year the Academy of Motion Pictures awards an Oscar for the best supporting actor and actress. Supporting roles are seldom given the recognition they deserve. The Bible reading which I just completed tells about a person who is in a supporting role in the history of Christianity. Today we are given the story of John the Baptist, the main supporting actor in the life of Jesus. To me John the Baptist is certainly the best and most willing supporting actor in Luke’s gospel. He is an announcer of good news; and an advance man for Jesus. He doesn’t pretend to be anything else. He is happy to fulfill this simple role as a supporting actor. And when given the chance to receive the best actor award, he simply states: I am a voice in the desert crying out: make ready the way of the Lord, clear him a straight path. John the Baptist was the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, challenging people to prepare the way of the Lord. But this preparation was not literally about smoothing roads, filling in potholes, or sprucing up the buildings. It was about repenting and preparing our hearts and actions to welcome the person who was to come. And we know now that this person was Jesus. John’s preaching must have sounded strange to the listeners, as does the voice of all persons who try to make significant changes in our society or even in our own personal life.. Who would dare to say: Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill be leveled. For religious Jews this was not all that strange. About 300 years before Jesus was born Baruch wrote about the same promise. The words of John the Baptist are nearly Xerox copies of those of Baruch. But John is different from other supporting actors. Instead of playing the part, he lives the part. He is real; he is humble; he is truthful; and he is faithful. Although the gospel reading for today does not mention it, his truthfulness cost him his life at the hands of Herod. Though our lives are much less dramatic than that of John the Baptist, he is the example of all us who truly and honestly commit themselves to Jesus and the way of life which Jesus showed us. Here in our parish family, in your own families, we are invited to be humble persons making breakthroughs on behalf of Jesus. We can do this only when we allow Jesus to form and transform our lives, so that we might then help others to transform their lives. John the Baptist knew what most of us know but do not want to admit. On the roads of life most of the barriers are those we have put there ourselves. We spend loads of time stating or proving an opinion for ourselves. We set up boundaries, authority, chains of command. As a result we get so absorbed in our work that we create a valley and cannot see beyond it. Or we make the roads crooked. We keep focusing on the future rather than living the here and now. How many of us are focusing on Christmas when we are just at the second Sunday of Advent? We have also encountered and even made rough roads. We find that our moral decisions do not always reflect our Catholic teachings and way of life. Do we give priority to what is good for those with whom we live, our family and school, or what is good just for me? Advent is a time of renewal of our faith and our life. It is a time for us to welcome Jesus more closely and fully in our lives that he might transform all of our actions. Clearing the way of the Lord is not an easy task. To smooth out the roads of our lives takes a lot of work and a lot of change. What personality bumps need smoothing? But this renewal is not something which can be satisfactorily completed by changing a few minor details of daily living. After all, flattening out mountains, filling in valleys and making rough roads smooth are not easy tasks. God has in mind something radical: the coming of a new heaven and a new earth, a new kingdom of peace, of forgiveness, of a clear conscience and blameless conduct, When we do this we might value the things that really matter as Paul wrote to the Philippians. That day will be for each of us our graduation day when we have grown up. The message is clear: Jesus has come to those of us who accept him as did John the Baptist. Acceptance requires of us humility, faith and honesty so that we might remove the mountains of selfishness, valleys of weakness, and crooked roads of sin. We also learn today something new. The Greek and Roman gods did not walk among the people. They kept themselves separate. But the true God in which we believe was not only going to walk among the people — He was actually going to become one of them! Often we might find ourselves still in the wilderness unsure of what we ought to do. But the wilderness is where John the Baptist found Jesus, and where we too we can meet Jesus. The Lord who desires to meet us and lead us through the wilderness is here at this table. Let’s not try to leave our wilderness behind; let’s bring it it to this table where our healing Lord awaits us. We must be made ready for Jesus so that his coming into our lives may be as easy as possible for Him.

Homily for the Week of December 2, 2012

First Sunday of Advent (C) 2012 Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thes 3:12-4:2 Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36 This is a great time of year! We have so many enjoyable things to do, and have many warm memories of Christmases past, and we enjoy the effort to make new Christmas memories. If this is the happiest season of all, then why does the Church give us such a bleak Gospel on the First Sunday of Advent. We want to celebrate, but today’s Gospel speaks of the frightening experience of the end of time. Perhaps one of the best reasons for being given our Gospel selection today can be found in the popular Christmas song, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year made famous by Andy Williams. The song is a description of activities associated with family get-togethers and gatherings of friends during the holiday season. It captures what many describe as the “spirit of the season.” While the song is full of merriment and fun, what is absent from the song is God. What the song does not acknowledge is that not everyone is happy at this time of year. Some families have relatives serving in military. Some families have loved ones who are critically ill or in hospice care. Many families are living in poverty. Many parents suffer anxiety because they cannot provide the kind of Christmas for their children that our culture says children should have. Many people have a job, a place to live, and no worries — except they are alone and lonely. Why does the Church give us a vision of the apocalypse on the First Sunday of Advent? It is because Christmas will make no sense unless we ponder how much we still need God. Today’s first reading describes Jeremiah as he witnessed the death throes of his nation. Judah and its capital Jerusalem had been conquered. The able-bodied intelligentsia had been taken into exile in Babylon. The leadership had been executed. And even more destruction loomed. Jeremiah placed the reason for Judah’s demise on one factor: It had lost its religious center; it had forgotten God. Through the years of domination, especially by Assyria, the Jews had gradually given up their faith, beliefs and identity in order to accommodate their oppressors. After almost 40 years of calling Judah back to its truths of faith and religious practices that had real meaning, Jeremiah had begun to realize that staying the course with Yahweh was humanly impossible. Earlier, Jeremiah had experienced some success and religious reform, but for every step forward in faith the nation seemed to take two steps back. Jeremiah deeply understood how desperately his people needed God. His story serves to remind us that although the people of Judah had lost their way and stood defeated and suffering, God’s promise to be faithful to them remained. God would restore from the stump of Jesse a new hope and a new relationship. The good news of Jeremiah was that God would help His people remember who they were. We must remember that the birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise. We must be very careful that, unlike the people of Judah, we don’t gradually surrender our faith, beliefs or religious celebrations in favor of secular replacements. We must remember what happens when people give up their faith and beliefs in order to accommodate other gods. We cannot afford to overlook Advent and zoom straight into Christmas. And, this year, Advent is more important than ever. It is in Advent that Paul tells us that we must “learn to make greater progress still.” Not only do we need our faith — the world needs our faith. We must remind ourselves how badly we need God. Or have our “spirits become bloated with indulgence and worldly cares” so that we no longer think we need God? Advent is our time to “be on the watch.” Advent is a message of encouragement to those for whom this is not the happiest season of all. Advent reminds us that each of us still needs God, and that with Him there is hope. Perhaps we should be a little somber in Advent so that the great joy of Christ’s birth makes more sense. Patience is a word or a quality that most of us would like to have more of, especially as we prepare for Christmas. In 23 days many of you will be gathered here in church for Christmas Mass. When the Bible mentions patience, it usually means active waiting and hoping. As we begin a new church year, as we will soon bless the Advent wreath and light one of its candles, let us focus for the next 23 days on the Advent virtues of patience, hope, joy and fidelity. Advent is a time of waiting and hoping, of renewing our trust in God’s merciful love and care and of reflecting on the several comings of Christ in our lives. The key New Testament word for Advent is “watching"— of keeping careful watch of ourselves and conducting our lives in such a way that we may be found blameless and holy before God. Advent is also a time for proclaiming an end to the actions of our life that prevent us from giving birth. And because death is so difficult and so much to be avoided, then Advent, in a spiritual sense, can be considered as a time of suffering and self-denial. Advent comes at the shortest days of the year, the darkest of days almost as a reminder that we must take an honest look at how our lives can easily be filled with darkness. Advent is a time for us to admit that the coldness within us can hurt as much as the coldness our bodies sense from the outside. But the hope of Advent is not that Jesus will come at the end of time -- it is not that Jesus will come some time in the future --not even as far away as tomorrow - but right now. Advent is taking place right now. But we must stay awake or we will miss His coming. This Advent, as we wait for Christmas, let each of us try to accept delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.