Homily for the Week of December 22, 2013

The Fourth Sunday in Advent, Year A 2013

Isaiah 7:10-14 Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-24

         We read almost every day about the problems in the Middle East. Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus there were problems in Syria as there are now. Isaiah in our first reading, however, mentioned that God would keep the Jewish people safe. God would give their king a son who would help them to come back to life as usual. Matthew, in the gospel I just read, indicates that this son is really Jesus.  Jesus fulfilled this promise by being born of Mary. 

         Although we are 3 days away from Christmas our gospel really tells us the story so often told about Jesus. Matthew places Joseph in the middle of the whole story. The Gospel is Matthew’s version of how it all happened to Joseph.  Matthew has no description of the birth of Jesus, but after the opening section of the “begots” in which all the family of David is related, all we have is the narration of how Joseph believed the message from an angel as did Mary.

         Often artists or painters picture Joseph as an older man. Yet, in reality  The historical Joseph was a carpenter living in Nazareth, a village of about 200 people. He was most likely a young and vigorous person, excited about a future with a woman he loved. He was also a very religious man and knows what the Law of God prescribes.  Mary is a teenage girl who also lived in Nazareth.  Joseph and Mary had apparently been dating and they had been engaged to get married.   Joseph finds out that Mary was going to have a baby and he knew that he was not the father. In that culture engagement was as much a commitment as  marriage. Being betrothed was just another way of saying that you were engaged. It’s just that couples did not live together until they were formally married. i would think that Mary must have told Joseph that it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that she had conceived a child.  Joseph wanted to end their relationship, but just as he was about to leave her an angel came and made the facts clear to him.  Joseph would take Mary into his home and would be expected to take care of their child. It would also have been common to give Jesus the name Joseph, but Joseph was told to name the boy Jesus which meant saviour since Jesus would save us from our sins.

         Joseph also gave Jesus his social status.  That is, Jesus, like Joseph would have David as one of  his ancestors. That was important because the Jewish people for centuries believed that the Savior would be a descendent of King David.

         As you reflect upon the Bible story you might detect a conflict between love and faith, between Joseph and Mary loving each other and between they believing or trusting each other. These are the very basic conflicts that we have in any relationship including engagement and marriage. However, the doubts of faith and trust find a solution in genuine and spiritiual love. Joseph slowed down by a dream lives through faith into a deeper reality. Joseph is offered the invitation, the gift, to see beyond what is sensibly present. Faith is a way of seeing through what can be blinding. Joseph could see only Mary’s being pregnant and his having to separate from her. The more we love someone, the less we find ourselves satisfied with the gift we offer them as a sign of that love.

         This last week of Advent, with its gift-wrapping, is a prayerful time as well. God wrapped infinite Love within the flesh of Mary. God says to each of us, “I know you; your history and I want to give you the perfect gift.  I have you in mind and all I desire is that you receive the Gift and all that this Gift means.”

         As with Joseph and Mary, we do not know all that this Gift means; we spend our lives unwrapping the meaning. We celebrate our belief that the Giver, the Sender, can not keep love hidden; it has to be offered again and again and that is the nature of time and eternity. We can become blinded by what we expect or perceive a gift to be. We are spending these days of Advent, not exactly asking for signs, but just unwrapping the gift of each day and waiting for its full meaning to be seen and received. As with Joseph and Mary we wait, watch, ponder and receive it all as the gift it is all meant to be.

         With all the evil and suffering in our world, it is a mystery why God would want to be with us. Of course, we know from everyday experience that we want to be with people whom we love.  So that is why God wants to be with us. At times we may find it difficult to figure out God does love us, especially when we don’t  love ourselves very much or when we have to face serious problems or tragedies.  At those times we are tempted to feel that God has forgotten us.But it is precisely at those times of doubt  that we must believe God when he tells us: I am with you always. There is no easy way around the fact that, like Joseph, we too need to have a lot of faith sometimes.  And there is no easy way to have faith then to take time to pray as you are doing right now and hopefully you do every day. 

Homily for the Week of December 15, 2013

The Third Sunday in Advent 2013

Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10

Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10

 James 5:7-10

 Matthew 11:2-11

         A construction worker once told me that he had posted a notice at the entrance to a parking garage indicating a new height restriction. At the same time, he constructed the appropriate barrier at the new height. He then realized that his van, which he had left within the parking garage, was above the approved height. He was imprisoned, unable to get his van out.

         There are many forms of imprisonment. Some people are sent to prison by society for crimes committed. Some are "prisoners of conscience" who are locked up behind bars for political reasons or because they have spoken out against corruption.  Some are imprisoned in their homes either because they are elderly  or handicapped and need constant care. Sometimes, too, people are afraid to leave their homes and walk into the street. And many others, like the construction worker, imprison themselves almost without realizing it, until the realization that their life lacks any happiness or peace. More and more persons today become prisoners of their addictions. Some persons can't free themselves from their video games or TV, their ipods or cell phones or shopping malls.

         But we are told today by Isaiah that this does not have to be. Isaiah encourages his friends.  He is encouraging the people to be strong and not be afraid.  God will strengthened the feeble and the weak, restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, movement to  the lame.  Sorrow will turn to joy.  What seemed to be a lifeless desert will bloom with abundant flowers. Isaiah encourages us to believe that God can transform our lives. Isaiah believes deeply that God’s relief would come, but instead of offering hope for returning to what had been, he offered an image of something better, something unexpected. The vision of the blind seeing, the deaf hearing and the lame once again walking was not a about the handicapped being cured. It was a vision of peace. The Jews were captives of war. They had been wounded and maimed. The marginalized and outcast are welcomed back into the community. 

         Finally, in our Gospel, it is John the Baptist who is in need of encouragement. There comes a time in almost everyone’s life when a person wonders whether all the hard work and all the commitments are worth anything. Are you really making any difference in the world? Have you done with your life what you had hoped? Are you missing out on opportunities that you may have passed by? That seems to be John the Baptist’s frame of mind in today’s Gospel.  He had taken up a radical, lifestyle, fasting, praying, calling people to repentance, preparing the way and watching for the Coming One. Was he right? So John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if all his preaching was right on target.

         Jesus replies. Jesus says to the crowds that John was “more than a prophet” and that there has been “none greater than John the Baptist.” Presumably, this assurance is also conveyed to John, giving him heart to be able to quell the doubts and to endure patiently to the end. His sending the disciples with the big question allows Jesus to say simply, “Check it out.” Jesus then makes reference to the prophetic poem we hear from Isaiah in the First Reading. The blind see, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the mute speak and they become evidence for John’s disciples and Matthew’s readers that Jesus is the Messiah.

         We, too, like Isaiah and St. James and John the Baptist should be encouraged by these readings.  They remind us that our lives can also be transformed if we are patient and place our trust in God  The message of Advent is that God is here. present among  us-- not only 2000 years ago in the person of Jesus Christ but here in our everyday lives. We need only be prepared to recognized him.

         With the Advent season more than half over, with Christmas less than 12 days away, it is time for us to deal with the prisons in which we have placed ourselves.  Have we allowed ourselves to think of Jesus as unapproachable, ready to clean up and clear out the useless, powerless, helpless?   Or is this Jesus the loving, forgiving, compassionate, gentle one who still is willing and able to heal the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf and the dead and all in our society who are considered as nuisances.  Is he the sharer of our ups and downs, does he inspire us to do better and greater actions, to heal wounded and hurting hearts, intensely lovable and loving. Most of all , do we see ourselves as poor enough to have Jesus proclaim to us the good news that says we are good because God loves us, and not that God loves us because we are good.

         In our second Bible reading today St. James encourages us to be patient because the coming of the Lord is at hand. But patience is usually difficult for everyone. Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience. Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead. Patience is the companion of wisdom. Patience does not mean sitting back doing nothing. Like John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, a farmer or gardener meticulously tills the soil, clears away the rocks and weeds, and carefully plants the seed. It takes both the hard work of the farmer and the gift of rain, over which one has no control, to produce the anticipated harvest. Patience is doing everything one can, while at the same time, relying utterly on the divine provider. The way to keep a firm heart in the waiting time. We must keep from complaining. Just as Jesus helped John’s disciples to see the evidence of God’s saving presence in their midst, we must look for the sprouts of hope that spring up even in the most parched desert. Expecting to see the desert bloom or roses in December, as did Juan Diego, whom we remember on this feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, we keep hope alive with patient endurance even in the midst of suffering and doubt.

         Let our prayers and our Christmas greetings and our Christmas visits and our Christmas gifts these last days of Advent convince us that indeed Jesus is the one who is to come.   He is the one who comes to feed us spiritually.  Because Jesus is coming and in fact is already here in our midst at this Mass, we know for sure that we do not have to look for another Lord and Savior.  Jesus is enough.  Jesus is all we really need.  Jesus IS the good news that we who are poor need to hear and then in turn proclaim over and over again.

Homily for the Week of December 8, 2013

HOMILY: Second Sunday of Advent, 2013

Isaiah 11:1-10

Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

 Romans 15:4-9

 Matthew 3:1-12

         Within the last few days the news programs have been filled with remembrances of Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa who died on Thursday. He was a person who spent 27 years in jail, then was elected the President of South Africa, and died at the age of 95. His greatest legacy will be his concern for reconciliation. His years of imprisonment exemplified the suffering experienced by so many who seek justice. As president of South Africa, Former President Bill Clinton visited Mandela and asked him why he had invited his jailer to his inauguration and brought white opposition parties into his government. "Tell me the truth: When you were walking down that road, didn't you hate them?" Clinton asked Mandela. "Mandela said: 'I did. I am old enough to tell the truth. 'I felt hatred and fear but I said to myself, if you hate them when you get in that car you will still be their prisoner. I wanted to be free and so I let it go.  That is probably one of the best definitions of reconciliation or forgiveness.

         On this second Sunday of Advent all of our Bible readings empahsize the need for forgiveness and repentance. Isaiah’s passage today is one of the most beautiful in Scripture. It describes a leader sent from God who would bring peace to the world. This was an intensely important image of hope. The Kingdom of Judah had had a succession of kings, one worse than the last. At this point in Isaiah, King Ahaz was on the throne.

         He inherited a kingdom surrounded by powerful enemies and troubled by internal division. He had to made a decision. Would he go along with his enemies or be faithful to God? But Ahaz did not trust God.  So he gives in to his enemies. But along comes Isaiah who triest to give hope to the Jewish people. Isaiah has a dream or a vision of what it might be like in a world that Jesus talked about so often.  In this world the baby will play by the cobra's den. The wolf will be the guest of the lamb. The leopard and the kid will lie down. The calf will eat with the lion, the cow and the bear will be neighbors.  This may sound like a child’s fairy book where animals do simple things together. But the truth is that this is what we long for. We long for a world filled with God or goodness or peace or repentence.  Isaiah gives us a picture of a heaven of universal peace and justice.   

         In our last Bible reading today we hear that God tells us that most of our waiting has ended. God will finally send a person by the name of Jesus.  A preacher by the name of John the Baptist arrives.  He lives in the desert.  John dressed himself in camel hair, and ate locust and honey.  He lived much of his life in the desert.

         John was concerned that those who follow him live a good life. He tells people that they have to repent. Repent means that we are sorry for anything bad we have done.  REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND, he says.  If we are to have a future, he says, we must reform our lives. In this Bible reading John mentions repent three times.

         When we hear that word we may think of some terrible sinner who needs a total makeover spiritually.If we think this message about repentence does not belong to us, we need to hear again what Paul tells us in our second reading: Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction.

         In other words the word repent is meant for all of us, not just for bad people. Originally repent was a word that told us to change our mind. As time went on it meant to change our mind so that we might be a different person, or a better person. John the Baptist is telling us that if we have not been as good as we would like to be, or as good as know God would like us to be, then we need to decide to make a change. Either we need to change our attitudes or to change our behavior. John the Baptist mentions that Every tree that does not bear good fruit must be cut down.It is not enough to avoid evil; we have to be good.

         Just in case we missed the point of John's sermon, we can read a little further in our Gospel and come to the very first sermon that Jesus himself gave.  WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE JESUS PREACHED?  The same point that John the Baptist gave.  Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, Jesus says.

         There is much more that John and Jesus gave us in their sermons. But the message of this weekend in Advent is to Repent.  To Repent is not one of our common expressions. To repent means to improve and renew our lives.  But to repent is not easy.   

         It is part of the normal conversation around this time of the year to ask: Are you ready for Christmas?  We would probably be surprised if we asked someone that question and the responded: I still need to do a few things to make myself better spiritually. That kind of an answer would leave most of us speechless.The news and the advertisements are bombarding overtime telling us how to get ready for Christmas. But leet us also listen to John the Baptist telling us how God wants us to be prepared for the birth of His son Jesus. 

         I started by mentioning the way of forgiveness of Nelson Mandela. I remember , however, a story story told to me by an uncle who was a soldier in the Second World War. It was Christmas eve in the occupied Netherlands. The military commander of the town lifted the curfew to allow persons to go to Midnight Mass. Just before Mass a group of German soldiers marched into the church to celebrate with us. No Dutch or American would ever associate, let alone eat with them. Even when these soldiers gave candy to children they would spit in their face. But at this Christmas eve, American, Dutch and German soldiers came to receive Holy Communion, and no one objected. For a brief moment all was well; enemies talked. Jesus lives here and now. So must we.

        

Homily for the Week of December 1, 2013

First Sunday in Advent, 2013

Isaiah 2:1-5

Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Romans 13:11-14

Matthew 24:37-44

         There was a time when great effort was spent going to a Christmas tree lot, picking out a tree, getting it home and into a stand, and finally getting lights and decorations on it. Eventually the cost of a real Christmas tree and the amount of time it took to get it in a stand and decorate it made it popular to purchase artificial pre-lit trees.

         There was a time, too, and in recent memory, when there was no such thing as pre-tied bows and stretchy ribbon that does not require cutting and tying. Choices in paper were few. You do not have to be too old to remember when we had to actually wrap a present, cut and tie the ribbon and make the bow ourselves. Now many people grab a stack of decorated sacks, throw in some Christmas colored tissue, and “Behold, a present!”

         Children can surprise us with their observations of the world as they see it. Without memories of how things used to be, they live a life of fast food, impatience, and not much discipline when it comes to anything requiring the investment of time. Even as adults we can be so anxious to celebrate Christmas that we begin celebrating even before the day arrives. There is little chance to anticipate and savor. Not only children beg to open presents early! The truth is that most of us very much look forward to Christmas, but many of us also very much dread the stress of Christmas.

         Advent is a wonderful time in our church year, yet all too often it is overwhelmed by the race to Christmas. We should see Advent as a very precious gift to us — a gift that gives an opportunity to focus on what lies ahead, keeping us from racing to Christmas then failing to enjoy it because at our breakneck speed we rushed through Christmas and hardly noticed it. Advent enables us to put on the brakes. It is a gift that teaches us to wait. It is a gift that teaches us patience. It is a gift that gives us the opportunity to remember Christmases long ago and lets us make new memories while savoring the old. The stories of Advent are of stories of thrilling expectation, stories of hope, stories of joy.

         The word advent means “coming.” What is coming? What is coming is the completion of the Kingdom of God when Christ returns. As is the case today, in the beginning of Advent we are not called to look directly at Christmas but to look beyond it. Our readings, especially the first reading from Isaiah, offer us a vision of what Christmas made possible. The Preface for Mass today refers to Christ’s first coming, then continues by saying that the first coming “opened for us the way to eternal salvation, that, when He comes again in glory and majesty and all is at last made manifest, we who watch for that day may inherit the great promise.” The promise is in the first reading: On that day we will live on “the mountain of the Lord’s house.”

         But as we enter into Advent once again, we are not preparing for the coming of the Christ Child; that already happened more than 2,000 years ago. Rather, in Advent, we break our normal routine and move into heightened alert to perceive more intensely the ways in Jesus and God is with us.

         Advent might well be for many of us a time for which we have waited. It can be a time when we do spiritual housecleaning.  Advent is a time when we clear out of our personal closet the soiled and worn out habits that no longer fit us as a followers of Jesus.   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. Indeed, the whole season of Advent is a time for looking at the wider picture -- not just in order to prepare celebrating the birth of the Savior, but for us to be prepared for his coming on our last day.

         Isaiah was dealing with the fact that Jerusalem had faced attack by former allies and had ended up a vassal of Assyria. People were living in the pain and fear of a violent world of uprisings and conquests, not entirely unlike what is happening in the Holy Land today. Isaiah’s point was that, despite appearances to the contrary, God is still in charge. Jerusalem is built on top of a hill which Isaiah refers to as the “mountain of the Lord’s house.” After the years of war, fighting and bloodshed, God’s power will eventually cause people to learn to live together and forget the ways of war.

         Advent is a gift that allows us to look at our frightening world, yet still have confidence and hope. Isaiah speaks of a world without war and violence. We look past Christmas now so that when we do focus on Christmas, it will mean much, much more. The trees and wrapping are not bad things, but they must be used to help us build anticipation while living in patience, waiting for our God who has not only come once but will come again. If we race too fast through Advent, it too will be artificial.