December 15, 2024 (Third Sunday of Advent)
Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
This Sunday is Gaudete Sunday or Rejoice Sunday. It takes its name from the readings for today, particularly the second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, rejoice.” One way of looking at this Sunday is to focus on the joy that Christmas is only ten days away.
Considering the events of the last number of years, I would like to look at another facet of today’s readings. And that facet has this warning: “Don’t listen to Chicken Little.” We have been so besieged with negativity. A few years ago, we heard that the world was coming to an end due to the pandemic. Sometimes we hear that the world as we know it is coming to an end because the enemies of our country have an upper hand against us. During the election we heard that the world would be coming to an end if this party remains in power, or that party resumes power. Chicken Little has a full-time job in cable News. Sadly, too many people have listened to the feathered fowl of distress and believe that he is correct.
When Chicken Little’s rantings are added to the normal difficulties of life, people coming down with cancer, heart problems, dying in car accidents, elderly relatives dying, financial difficulties, marital difficulties, etc., we can easily see ourselves as victim to circumstances.
Gaudete Sunday reminds us that this line of thinking is incorrect. We are not victims, flapping our wings trying to fly to no avail, because chickens don’t fly. No, we are not Chicken Littles. We are not victims of whatever we think is happening around us. No, we are not victims, we are victors.
Our God loves us so much that He became One of us and One with us. He has showered us with Grace. We sing “Joy to the World,” not just as a pleasant Christmas carol, but as a statement of our faith. We believe that God has brought joy to the world. We cannot allow anything, any circumstance, to steal this joy from us. Instead of succumbing to the “Woe is Me” attitude, focusing on the negatives of our lives, we need to see the bigger picture, the infinitely bigger picture. We may not be full of Grace as Mary was, we are not immaculately conceived, but we have received a great deal of Grace. We have been made children of God. Jesus calls us his brothers and sisters. We have received so much Grace that God has transformed even the worst circumstances of our lives into avenues of growth. How often at funerals have I heard people share how their loved one grew closer to God throughout their illness. I once anointed a man whose death was imminent. His wife told me that his last words were, “I love God.” Those were only his last words here in this life. Through the Grace of God, he will have much to say for all eternity.
I recently heard the story of a young mother who was a medic in the navy in Iraq. She was caring for a marine on the battlefield when she took a bullet to the head. The marines pulled her out of the battle zone, and the doctors were able to save her life, but she ended up paralyzed on one side. She was determined to get herself back to the best health she could because she had a daughter to raise. She declared, “I am not a hero. I was just doing my job. I am not a victim either. I am who I am, a mother who has to raise my baby girl.” And she had joy, the joy of the Lord. She shows us what Gaudete Sunday is all about. This Sunday reminds us that no matter what is going on in the world, or in our lives, God is in control. Knowing that He is in control brings us joy.
The sky is falling. We are all going to die of Covid or the next pandemic. The sky is falling. The democrats are in control. The sky is falling; the republicans are going to take control. Nonsense. The only thing that matters is that which comes from God and that which returns to God.
Jesus Christ is the Victor. He is in control of our lives, if we let Him take control of our lives. And yes, this physical life will load us with challenge after challenge, but with Jesus Christ, we can meet each challenge with the joy of knowing that He is with us.
Peace,
Fr. Steve
December 8, 2024 (Second Sunday of Advent)
Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
Have you ever driven on a road with ruts? I don‘t mean a bumpy road, or a road with a hole or two. I mean a road with long deep ruts made, perhaps, by cars, trucks or even tractors too heavy for the road. Ruts are like crevices caused by an earthquake. You cannot drive over them; you have to drive next to them, doing your best to keep the wheels of your car on the road.
Today’s readings tell us that God is coming, but he sees that the road to our hearts is loaded with horrible ruts. John the Baptist calls upon us in the spirit of Isaiah the prophet: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.” Advent is the season of personal road work. We need to recognize where we have allowed ruts to occur in our lives. Now I don’t mean a few holes here and there, but long deep fissures in our souls caused by our allowing heavy equipment to destroy us.
What heavy equipment? That heavy equipment could be our desire to go along with the crowd around us. It is not just that we join them in doing bad things, it is that we have made these actions part of our lifestyle. “This is what we do, I do,” we say. We have allowed our desire to be accepted by some others to determine our lifestyle. That is a rut in God’s road to our heart.
Sometimes the heavy equipment that causes our own personal ruts is our pride. Perhaps we have been involved in a disagreement with another person or even an out and out argument. We feel our resentment at that person boiling up every time that person’s name is mentioned, let alone when we see him or her. We are angry. What is worse, we want to be angry. We do not have the humility to forgive him or her. “Who does he think he is?”, we say to ourselves over and over. We might say to others that we forgive that other person, but we really don’t. We are too proud to forgive him or her. Our pride has caused a rut in God’s road to our heart.
Sometimes the heavy equipment that causes our personal ruts is our selfishness. We may have formed an attitude in life that puts ourselves as the center of existence. We use others for our own gain. We tend to form friendship with those from whom we can profit. Like the politician who glad hands everyone before the election and few people after the election, we tend to treat people according to what they can do for us, whatever we can get out of them. This may even take place within our immediate families. Sadly, many times a husband or wife has left a marriage because they no longer felt they were getting anything out of it. The “what’s in it for me” attitude in life causes serious ruts in God’s road to our hearts.
I mentioned before that we may have a few holes here and there that we need to fill in. And most of the time when we go to confession, we do just that. We look at those things we may have done or failed to do and seek forgiveness from God. This is good, but is it good enough? We need to be more thorough. We need to ask ourselves why we do the things that formed those holes. We need to ask if we have attitudes in life that are the reasons why we commit this or that sin. Did we do these things because we lack the determination to be our best selves and would rather join in and be like everyone else? Did we do these things out of pride? Are many of our actions motivated by our selfishness?
During Advent we need to prepare the way of the Lord. During Advent we need to do the serious road work, the work of recognizing what ruts have ingrained themselves in our lives. It is interesting that we will often use the expression, “I’m in a rut,” referring to our doing the same thing over and over again. It is sad that we often refuse to recognize the attitudes in our lives that lead us to do the same things over and over again.
During Advent we need to “Prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight his paths.” During Advent we need to make a good confession, a truly good confession, and ask God to help us recognize if there are ruts in our lives and to fill them in with his way, the way of love. God is not done with any of us yet. Paul tells his beloved Philippians, and us, in the second reading: I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Peace,
Fr. Steve
December 1, 2024 (First Sunday of Advent)
Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
How quickly we go from Thanksgiving to the Christmas season in our culture. Actually the real quick switch is from Halloween to Christmas. Every store out there is decorated with evergreens and tinsel. There is Christmas music wherever you go. And then you come to Church and what do you see? Well, you don’t see Christmas trees in the sanctuary. You don’t see poinsettias or Christmas lights. Instead of the green, red, and gold that you see everywhere else, in here you are welcomed with the color violet, a jarringly different color. And violet is most appropriate for this time of year. Violet is the color of the sky just after the darkest hour of night that offers a hint that dawn is nearing the horizon. In addition to the color violet, we have a wreath with four candles with only one lit this weekend, which means we are clearly keeping vigil, and we have 3 weeks yet to go.
Instead of launching straight into Christmas after Thanksgiving, we recognize there is another season in between, a forgotten season, the season of Advent. And there are two themes the Season of Advent explores. The first theme unites our hearts with the ancient Hebrews who kept vigil for centuries awaiting the coming of the Messiah. You see this theme clearly in our first reading from Jeremiah. Jeremiah proclaims, “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land.” The second theme of Advent calls us all to keep vigil for the return of Jesus at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. We can see that theme in our Gospel reading. Jesus says that at the end of time, after many tribulations, “They will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”
The rest of our society this weekend went straight from Thanksgiving to Christmas day even before the turkey made it to the fridge. As wonderful as Christmas will be this year, and I pray it will be a wonderful season for us all, I think there is something really spiritually healthy about the Advent season, of uniting our hearts with the ancient Hebrews who longed for centuries for the birth of Christ. There is something spiritually healthy about keeping vigil for the return of Christ at the end of time, to live our lives accordingly because we don’t have all the time in the world, and we will be held to account. I think the invitation this first weekend of Advent offers us is to give ourselves enough time in the coming weeks to truly experience this liturgical season before launching headlong into Christmas. Even if you have already put up your Christmas decorations, it is still possible to celebrate Advent by simply spending more time in prayer each day. Along those lines, families can have an advent wreath of their own on their dining room table to incorporate the lighting of the candles into their mealtime prayers together. We can also make the effort at some point during Advent to prayerfully read the Christmas story as found in the Gospel of St. Luke, as we enter this new liturgical year. We can also find ways to be more charitable to the people in need in our community during this season of Advent, or just by reaching out to those who are lonely or in need in our neighborhoods. There are so many ways to celebrate the Advent season so to keep vigil for Christ in meaningful ways.
St. Paul encourages us to open our hearts to Advent this year when he says, “Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.” The revelation the Gospel reminds us that every soul matters to God. Every soul in this parish boundary should matter to us, especially those who live on the periphery of society, as Pope Francis says so well.
We have lit the first candle. We have begun our solemn vigil. And even though Christmas lights are going up everywhere, as fun as all of that is, during Advent we are sincerely invited to not lose sight of the light that is beginning to appear just beyond the horizon. As we journey towards Christmas, we await the return of the light of the world and may he come soon, for he lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
Peace,
Fr. Steve