What God has prepared for those who love Him: a choice for authentice Christian freedom.

+ J. M. J +

Homily Template for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

This Sunday, we hear of a choice we are invited to make, and we hear of it from various angles! Our first reading, from the Book of Sirach, echoes language used in Deuteronomy… before us we have fire and water, life and death, good and evil! If we keep the commandments, they will save us, if we trust God and choose that which is good, and true, and beautiful, we shall live!

We all know that the choice isn’t quite that simple… our conscience knows imperfectly on its own, it is often persuaded by ignorance or advantage, or comfort. And even when we know clearly what is right, as we often do, it can be devilishly hard to reach for the good, when the evil is so attractive and easy! To choose God, and truth, and right, is a mystery… only God sees perfectly all the labyrinths and layers of our hearts, and yet He still calls us to choose.

What choice, then, brings us joy and freedom? Mysteriously, it is often the same choice that brings us struggle and challenge but also growth. When we choose truth, when we turn from darkness into light, with all that it costs, peace grows on the deepest level of our hearts, and a light dawns in the shadows of this world. Our psalm refrain states something that we know is not completely true in this life, “Blessed are those who follow the law of the Lord.” The Book of Job is the test case… following God and His Law often embroils us in every sort of difficulty, and then we see those who play along to get along, those who go with the flow, those who ignore God’s law… they often seem to flourish. But, then, there is a bigger scale, a bigger horizon… not just this mortal life with its creature comforts, but even eternity. Our Psalm today is Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the bible, and each section begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet… first aleph, the bethel, then gimmel, and so on, all the letters, each in turn, praising God’s law. We just hear a few of them, and I want to read you two verses that immediately precede the final verses we heard:

I cling to your decrees;
Lord God, do not disappoint me.
I run the way of your commandments
since you have set me free. (Jerusalem Bible)

What is freedom? It is not merely the absence of restraints, the absences of limits. Imagine a hockey game without the boards, imagine a basketball game without the rules? You would have nothing, just a mess. What happens if I ignore the instructions of Volkswagen to put only diesel in my diesel engine? What happens to your bread if you decide that you’d rather not add yeast? Every day we encounter the life and structure and growth and creativity that come from limits and boundaries. These aren’t perfect analogies, but they point us to the truth… authentic freedom comes not when we are completely unrestricted, but rather freedom grows and deepens when we choose the good, the true, and the beautiful, and most mysteriously, freedom comes when we follow what Blessed John Paul the Great called “The Mystery of the Gift:” the deepest fulfillment and the fullest freedom come to the human person in the total gift of self. Who is the freest man in history? Jesus Christ, on the Cross, held there only by the bond of love… no nails could have restrained The Second Person of the Trinity! Who is the freest woman in history? Not Eve, who ignored God’s simple command, but rather Mary, our Blessed Mother, who said Yes to God, Fiat Volunta Tua, may it be done to me according to your word! By her free choice to empty her life into the Father’s hands, infinite fullness and joy burst into the world, hidden in the tiny child in her womb!

This brings us to our Gospel… Jesus came to set us free, but because He came to draw us towards true freedom, that doesn’t mean no rules, no law… rather it means the law is brought to fulfillment in us… not only do we avoid outright murder, but even hatred. Not only do we avoid sleeping with someone who is not our husband or wife, but we even fight against lust in our minds and hearts. Rather than carefully following the procedure for divorce, we struggle to be faithful to our vows even unto death. Not only do we avoid formally making false oaths, but we avoid taking the Lord’s name in vain and all vulgarity. This is a daunting teaching to anyone who carefully examines his or her heart, but it is the invitation from the God who wants to set us free… not free from exterior restraint, but free for that which is best, truest, and most beautiful, free for God and His Law, free to follow Christ, free to imitate the Blessed Mother and say yes to God.

The Enemy has lied to us about freedom from the very beginning, and that lie has never been shouted more loudly or gussied up to seem more attractive than in our own time. Every sort of sin is presented as desirable and even necessary, even as a right in many cases. But no matter how many movies glorify and justify and gild hatred and lust and infidelity and lies, they are still death dealing, and they still bear bitter fruit. But, in Christ, with His grace, no matter how challenging, no matter how counter-cultural, no matter how disparaged or ignored, the battle to live true freedom in virtue, in truth, bears rich fruit, and plants the seed of deep peace in our hearts.

We come to this altar, now, and if we’re honest, if we know our own hearts, we know that we ALL come as beggars, that we come desiring and hoping to receive Him who we have not always served, Him who we have not always honored. We began with the penitential rite, remembering our need for God’s mercy, and before we receive we will say with one voice, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” It is true, and yet still the Lord comes to us, and still He offers us healing and mercy in confession, healing and nourishment in the Eucharist, where we begin to taste the joy Paul spoke of in our 2nd reading:

What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and what has not entered the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him,
this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

May we know our poverty now, may we cry out to God for mercy, may we be filled with hope and courage as we know that He offers us Himself, and with Him in our hearts, we can choose life and live the joy that flows from authentic Christian freedom.

+ A. M. D. G. +

God working in our hearts... not what we expect!

+ J. M. J. +

 Draft Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

We celebrate today this beautiful Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple. God who is Incarnate in the world becomes known on this feast to two more who have been waiting for him, Simeon and Anna. In Jewish practice, the Holy Family is at the Temple for a sacrifice and purification. As with the Lord’s Baptism which takes place some 30 years later, Jesus doesn’t need to be redeemed by a sacrifice, nor does Mary need to be purified. Jesus continues to humbly take upon Himself our need for expiation, not needing it Himself, and Mary participates in this. Our 2nd Reading form the Letter to the Hebrews echoes this mystery:

Since the children share in blood and flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them… he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way… because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

Jesus takes upon Himself our whole condition, He is with us in radical solidarity in all human experience, except He never Himself sinned. Free from sin, though, He still bore all the consequences of sin for us.

Simeon and Anna have both mysteriously been moved by God to wait and recognize the Messiah. God enters His own Temple, and only these two very humble old people recognize Him! What faith and trust it must have taken for them to wait, to hope in God’s promise, to be available to the movement of the Holy Spirit when He moved their hearts. They see the Holy Family come in, a simple humble family, and yet they had the eyes of faith to recognize that here was the Messiah! Simeon affirms the fulfillment of the prophets when he says:

…my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.

God has entered His Temple, His world, His creation… God has come Himself with light and glory, for the People of Israel, and for ALL people! This is why today’s feast came to be known as Candlemas, and why we bless our candles today… the candle is always a symbol of Jesus, Light of the World! Simeon and Anna’s hearts must have been full to the bursting with praise and thanksgiving… and very likely the people around them must have thought they were batty!

It would have been hard for the people there in the Temple to believe or understand, not because they were ignorant of the prophecies, but precisely because they knew the prophecies and constantly discussed them.  The Jews of Jesus' time were in ferment, longing for the Messiah who would deliver them from the Romans, constantly discussing the prophecies, and many false Messiahs arose and were killed.. God fulfilled the prophecies, He DID come, but not as people had expected! Listen again to what the Prophet Malachi had foretold, 

And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek,…But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, Refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.

The prophet and those who heard him were expecting God to come with force and power, sifting through the people, burning away the impurity. When gold or silver are purified, they are heated until they are molten hot, and all that is impure is burned away or it floats to the surface as dross to be discarded... it's not gentle!

Didn’t God fulfill His promise? Did the prophet or people misunderstand? I would propose to you that God DID keep His promise, but not the way His people expected! Jesus did sift the hearts and lives of those who encountered Him… but quietly, sweetly, gently… Those who encountered Him did have to make a decision… will I follow Him, will I receive Him? However, that choice wasn’t forced upon them with an outward show of force or power, and yet they had to make a choice. Those whose hearts were small and humble, like Mary, like Joseph, like Simeon, like Anna… they were able to receive Him, they were able to respond, they were able to notice God at work and present, a baby child.

So what about you and me? Are we looking for God, paying attention? Do we desire to know His will and work in our midst? Do we desire to cooperate? It is easy for me to be full of my own thoughts and plans and values, such that I don’t even seek God. And if we do seek God, are we only open to His work if it fits our template? Must He strike down the person who disturbs us, or could we let Him soften our hearts? Must the person who has hurt us grovel at our feet, or could we hear an invitation to recognize that we too need to ask forgiveness? Must He eliminate our suffering, or might we recognize an invitation to walk with Christ who walks with us to Calvary? Must God wave His hand and eliminate sickness and sin instantly, or can we hear Him inviting us to be His hands and voice and feet?

In the midst of all the crazy claims about what Pope Francis is doing, listen to his own words from Evangelii Gaudium, the Joy of the Gospel, because I think they fit with our readings today!

3. I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. // No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”. // The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms. // Now is the time to say to Jesus: “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. // Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace”. // How good it feels to come back to him whenever we are lost! // Let me say this once more: God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy. // Christ, who told us to forgive one another “seventy times seven” (Mt 18:22) has given us his example: he has forgiven us seventy times seven. // Time and time again he bears us on his shoulders. // No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love. // With a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew. // Let us not flee from the resurrection of Jesus, let us never give up, come what will. // May nothing inspire more than his life, which impels us onwards!

Simeon and Anna were invited to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, and they held the Baby Jesus in their arms. You and I are invited now to a renewed personal encounter with Christ, and in moments we will receive Him into our hands and onto our tongues. God NEVER tires of forgiving us… No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love! Hearing this beautiful invitation, may we respond with generous love!

 + A. M. D. G. +

 

Octave, Incarnation, Theotokos... Placing ourselves in Mary's hands!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

Today we celebrate many things! First of all, it is the Octave Day of Christmas… as at Easter, the Church extends our joyful celebration through 8 days, and the 8th day is the day of Resurrection, the day of the New Creation. The idea of a Sabbath comes from God resting, and inviting all creation to rest, on the 7th day, but Jesus rose on the first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath, the Eighth Day! So, today, the Octave Day of Christmas, we celebrate the filling up of the joy of Christmas, and the way that God is doing something new and beautiful in our midst! Christmas does not end today, but in a certain sense this first and most intense time of celebration is filled up.

The Church also continues to place before us today the mystery of the Incarnation, God taking on flesh and dwelling among us. God came into the world through the free and loving choice of Mary to cooperate with God’s surprising plan. She pondered all that was happening in her heart, wondering and waiting on God’s initiative. We also hear in our Gospel of Jesus being circumcised, this very fleshly and earthy and human sign of the covenant. God has really come to dwell with us, to live and walk in our midst, to enter into the whole human experience, eventually bearing the whole burden of sin, despite never having sinned.

The sheer paradox and mystery of the Incarnation is captured very elegantly and succinctly in the title of Mary that we celebrate today, Mother of God. In Greek, this title was rendered Theotokos, literally, the God-bearer. In 431, at the Council of Ephesus, this title was rejected by the notorious Nestorius, and by that act he placed himself out of communion with the prayer of the Church, and with the Church itself. The title, though, is less about Mary per se, and very much focused on Christ… in one short phrase, we know that Jesus is both God and man. The God is out in the open, and of course anyone who has a human mother is human… and so when we acclaim Mary Mother of God, we summarize all the deep reasons for joy during this Christmas season!

You may have noticed that I’ve said nothing yet about the reason most people are celebrating this evening! In many ways it is more coincidence than anything else that this feast takes place as the new year begins, but I think it is as fortunate, even a providential coincidence! What better news to receive as one year ends and another begins… God is in our midst, at our side, and we are entrusted into the loving prayers of Jesus’ mother, Mary! It is very fitting that we gather for the Eucharist, the most perfect form of thanksgiving, as we look back on the year past. It was certainly a mix of good and bad for each of us, a combination of sin and grace, and yet God was at our side in the midst of it all, drawing good from all things. As we come to this altar this evening, we can place all that the past year has held there, asking God to transform it.

Having given thanks, we can look ahead, with fear, with hope, with uncertainty, with eagerness, to 2014. And again, it is good that we are here in church, about to receive the Lord’s Body and Blood, that which we most need to sustain us in all that lies ahead. Like Mary, God invites us to say “YES” to Him this year, entrusting ourselves into His hands. Like Mary, God invites us to treasure all things in our hearts… His words to us, the people in our lives, the opportunities God gives us to serve Him.

So, tonight, we continue to receive the news of Christ’s birth with joy, we continue to ponder on the deep mystery of God among us, and we cross the threshold from one year into the next with thanksgiving and with faith-filled hope. We place ourselves in Mary’s hands and Mary’s prayers, trusting that she will lead us to her Son, trusting that she will help us to say yes to Him as she did!

+ A. M. D. G. +

We need the Holy Family's help!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Feast of the Holy Family, Year A

The great and central mystery of Christmas, and the entire Christmas season, is the Incarnation: God taking on flesh and dwelling among us. Jesus is fully God and fully man, both the Second Person of the Trinity, AND like us in all things but sin. We refer to this as a mystery for very good reason… we can bring one aspect of that into focus, into view, at a time, but trying to see both at once blurs our vision. God reveals Himself, but since He is infinite, we can never quite grasp all th

at He is and all that He does.

The Christmas season gives us a series of vivid images that point toward this mystery… we have Mary and Joseph making their way to Bethlehem, Mary great with child, Joseph attentive and worried. We have the manger scene, where the Christ Child is both terribly vulnerable, and also aglow with glory and beauty. The wise and learned Magi kneel before Him, as do the smelly poor shepherds. Angel choirs sing Gloria, and the animals also look on.

This Sunday between Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God is dedicated then to the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and here too we have a vivid image that speaks to us of the mystery of who Jesus is… He not only takes on human flesh, but He is born, and raised, and lives in the natural human context, the family. Blessed John Paul II constantly insisted that the family is the basic unit of society, not the individual: no one of us here created ourselves or cared for ourselves. Our families are the soil in which we grew, the soil without which we could not be here. And when God came among us, He came into this part of our human experience as well.

It might surprise you that our feast today only goes back about 90 years as a universal celebration, although devotion to the Holy Family is much older. Pope Leo XIII got the ball rolling in 1892 by declaring the feast, and it became universal in 1921. I think you can see God’s hand very much at work here, because the last century has been particularly challenging for families.

Notice, too, that even though Mary and Jesus were both without sin, and Joseph was a very good man, that didn’t mean their family life was easy! In our Gospel we hear of their precipitous departure from Bethlehem, as Joseph is prompted to rescue his family from King Herod’s brutal slaughter of the Holy Innocents. Can you imagine what Mary must have been thinking? She’s bearing the Son of God, but that’s not enough… first she has to give birth in a strange place, in a stable, and then suddenly they have to head for a foreign country! Jesus experienced the blessing of family life from the beginning, but also many of the hardships.

I think we can all relate to that! As I’ve made reference to several times recently, even our joyful family gatherings during this Christmas season can be fraught with tension… we don’t get to choose our families, and so our ability to love is truly tested and deepened. Not only does our Feast of the Holy Family remind us of the fullness of Jesus’ humanity and human experience, but it also offers the Holy Family to us as a source of inspiration and intercession in our own family journey.

First, Sirach expands on the 4th Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.” Notice how it isn’t conditional, “Honor your parents when they’re right or when they’re reasonable, or when you agree with them!” We’re not called to love and honor and be patient with our parents because they’ve earned it, but because it’s the right thing to do. Even if our relationship with our parents involves deep wounds, God still calls us to offer respect and love. We can’t do this on our own, but we can do it with God’s help!

St. Paul highlights the virtues we need to ask for:

Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.

St. Paul knows what we’re up against, that’s why he names these virtues so specifically! His final paragraph sometimes raises concern that he’s endorsing chauvinism, but if we read it in context of his other passages on this topic, we know that St. Paul is talking about mutual self-giving, mutual dying to self, in Christ. In fact, if anyone is given stricter instructions, it’s the husbands! In Ephesians 5 he echoes this passage, and adds, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church.” Men.. how did Christ love His Church? By going to the Cross for her, for us! Jesus gives us the example in all walks of life, but perhaps especially in marriage… and that example is the example of deep self-sacrifice, deep dying to self and deep giving of self, and that rule holds for parents, children, husbands, and wives, for every Christian.

Finally, I’d just like to say a word about a family topic that I know is on many of our hearts… the sadness we often feel as we see our family members drifting away from the Faith, or abandoning it outright. Once or twice I’ve had someone come up to me and say, “Father, you’ve got to get my son back to church!” I appreciate the vote of confidence, but this isn’t a contract service that you can outsource to me! In fact, it’s a basic duty that flows directly from our baptism for EVERY one of us here. How does God intend to draw our spouses or children or parents or grandchildren or cousins back to our parish and back to Himself? I am certain that you and I are right at the heart of that plan. Every one of you here probably knows at least 5 people LOCALLY who could and should be with us at this Mass… and there’s no better way for God to reach out to them than through you!

How are we to bring them back, to draw them back to the fire? Listen once more to St. Paul’s instructions:

Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.

Our invitation and desire becomes fruitful when it is rooted in our own struggle for conversion and holiness, when daily prayer and Sunday Eucharist and regular confession are at the heart of our lives. May the Holy Family intercede for us and inspire us as we approach this altar now, and may we bring everyone we love to this altar in our hearts!

+ A. M. D. G. +

God has been at work... Now He Comes!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for Christmas Mass at Dawn

It is a joy and a privilege to be with you on this Holy Day, and to proclaim this beautiful gospel to you! Merry Christmas! Christ is born in Bethlehem!

Our celebration this morning has been a long time in coming, and it has involved a lot of preparation: we’ve been in the midst of the Advent Season for almost a whole month, abstaining from the Gloria so it could burst forth this morning! Many of us have made a good Advent confession to prepare for today. Our choir has practiced, our decorations have been hung, and many of us have completed our Christmas shopping! I am proud to say that I have at least begun! Our readings today, though, indicate that the preparation for this feast goes back much farther than the beginning of Advent…Our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah foretold the joy of this dawn many long centuries before Jesus was born, words much needed by a people weighed down by failure and sin and exile:

See, the LORD proclaims to the ends of the earth: say to daughter Zion, your savior comes! Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD, and you shall be called “Frequented,” a city that is not forsaken!

God promises His people that He will bring them unity and peace, mercy and justice, and He brought this about through Jesus Christ. God was preparing His people all through those long centuries for this most precious and unexpected gift. In our 2nd reading St. Paul speaks of this fulfillment and grace bursting into the world:

When the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, He saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.

This, then, is what is happening in all the time of waiting: God has been persistently calling us even though we so often turn away. That was true for the Tribe of Israel, in their sin and in their exile, it was true during Jesus’ life on earth, and it has been true of us, the Church, down through ages. God calls, persistently calls, and sometimes we respond!

Having prepared His people, having sent John the Baptist as the last of the prophets and the forerunner of Christ, in the fullness of time, some 2000 years ago, God came Himself. He invited a young and obscure woman from a backwards hilltown to be His Vessel, and Mary said yes. Her fiancé, who must have felt all his plans crash down around him when he discovered his bride to be was pregnant, Joseph also decides to cooperate. And the Lord took on flesh and dwelt among us, God came among us as a tiny baby child.

During this Christmas season, so many of us gather with family, or we think of them if they are far away… and our families are like the families in Scripture, like our ancestors in the faith… it’s messy! Some of our ancestors we’d rather not remember at times! But God has been at work in our families, too. God has been preparing us for His coming, during this Advent, and during our whole lives. He has brought us to this Mass, to this moment, to this Christmas Eve, desiring to fill us with joy and peace, desiring to fill us with Himself. Perhaps we have wandered, perhaps we have been far away, whether visibly and publicly or in the silence of our hearts… in all those times and in all those places, God has been at work.

God was at work when he sent the glad tidings of Jesus’ birth not to Caesar Augustus, nor to any of the rich and powerful, but first to the shepherds. These lonely smelly men were out by themselves in the fields trying to make a living the only way they knew how, and God’s joy and truth burst in amongst them. They were first afraid, both because of the angels’ glory, but also probably because of their own brokenness, but the angels told them not to be afraid, and told them of their joyful and glorious news! And the shepherds responded, made an act of faith, and said, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” Then they went in haste! And those same glad tidings given to the shepherds come to us this morning!

And so, we come to this Christmas Morning, and we proclaim Christ born once again! We come to this manger scene and gaze upon it with awe and wonder and nostalgia and memory. Some of those memories are joy-filled, and perhaps many of them are difficult… but God has been at work, and He continues to work among us, in our midst, in and through us.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem… perhaps you’ve heard it said before, but Bethlehem was not only the city of David, but it’s name means something special in Hebrew… “House of Bread.” And in that town, in that stable, Jesus was laid in a manger, where the food of animals was typically stored. God came in humility, and God still comes to us in humility, to feed us, to nurture us, to draw us to Himself. God comes to us now on this altar, just as surely as He lay before Mary and Joseph, and before the shepherds! May we receive Him with faith and joy, confident that He has been at work in our past, that He is at work in our present, and that He will lead us to eternal life. May we receive the Lord Jesus today with great joy and go forth from here like the shepherds, glorifying and praising God!

+ A. M. D. G. +

The Source of True Giving, or, "How I bought the same gift twice!"

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “Christmas is a season of giving.” Unlike a lot of catch phrases, I think that’s actually right on target, but I also think we can deepen what we understand and mean by it. Many of us are in the midst of getting gifts to give, but it doesn't always go as planned!  4 or 5 years ago I was trying to decide what to get my brother-in-law, John. My dad had introduced him to hunting as soon as he met him, so I decided to get John a classic hunting book that I had read growing up, “The Old Man and the Boy.” I was able to find a used copy online of the very same edition I had read. I thought to myself, “Aha, this is the perfect gift!!!” I ordered it and had it sent to him, content that I had done my Christmas duty. Some weeks later, I was talking to my sister Becky, and she said, “Ben, do you realize that’s exactly the same gift you got John last year?” I was flabbergasted, but then I remembered! I had very carefully selected the same gift two years in a row… completely oblivious!

Some of you, like me, may have most of your Christmas shopping still to do! Yikes! Obviously it’s possible to go overboard and to allow Christmas to become all about the gifts, but the thing itself, gift-giving, is good. Why do we give gifts on Christmas? Part of it is the echo of the Three Kings, who we’ll hear about in a couple weeks when we celebrate Epiphany, but I would propose to you that there’s an even deeper motive. We give gifts at Christmas to imitate the one who gave us the most perfect gift, His only Son! It is God’s gift that came first, and makes possible all the celebration, all the cookies, praise God!, and all the gifts!

In our Gospel today we hear of what led up to Christmas from the Gospel of Matthew. This Gospel focuses on St. Joseph. We barely hear about the Annunciation, but we do hear in more detail about what Joseph had to navigate… suddenly his betrothed and beloved Mary is with child, and it’s not his! She has received a precious gift, but it looks to Joseph, in all good will, like he has been sadly betrayed.

God’s gifts are deeper, purer, but also more complicated than the gifts we often give each other. Receiving God’s gifts often involves being stretched and moved in directions and in ways we would never have imagined on our own. It seems clear that Joseph desired the great and God-given blessing of marriage and family. It seems likely that he eagerly anticipated sharing a life and a home and a bed and a family with Mary. Those hopes seemed to be crashing down around him. We could empathize with him if he had been filled with bitter anger and despair… maybe he did struggle with those destructive urges in his heart. And, yet, Joseph is open to God’s justice and mercy, and he decides not to harm Mary, even though she has apparently harmed him. He decides not to throw the book at her, not to open her up to public abuse and shame and judgment. Just think for a moment… what would you encourage your son or friend to do if their fiancé was suddenly pregnant by someone else? How would you feel in such a situation?

This struggle, this choice not to respond to apparent betrayal with violence, opens the door in Joseph’s heart, and the angel comes to him in a dream, and reveals God’s VERY surprising work… the child has been conceived through the Holy Spirit, the child is the fulfillment of God’s promise, a promise Joseph would have been familiar with. Unlike Ahaz, who we heard reject God’s promise in our first reading, Joseph doesn’t turn away from God’s surprising initiative, but he acts on God’s instructions. A simple sentence, but so much is packed in there: “When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.”

God gives us life, and breath, and every good thing, and astonishingly, He offers us even Himself. In response to our betrayal and self-destruction, our confusion and wandering, God comes Himself in infinite humility and vulnerability, as a tiny baby child. That child comes into the world through two people who allow God’s gift into their lives, even though it means reconfiguring everything they had hoped for and planned for.

So… here’s the challenge for you and me. First… can we receive the Gift God offers us this Christmas? No one can give what they have not received… we cannot give of ourselves, we cannot give love or mercy, unless we have first received all that we are, all that we have, as the gift that it is. Are we filled with profound and heart-overflowing gratitude for life and faith and family, however difficult each of those may be for us right now? St. Paul describes the gift of being called and set apart for God, and he speaks of us as those “called to belong to Jesus Christ.” God gives us everything, and dealing with reality involves acknowledging that.

And if we will receive -- if like Mary and Joseph we will say yes to God’s plan, even as it restructures everything we had thought or planned -- if we will receive, then we can give truly and authentically. Some of us priests were able to meet with our new bishop-elect, Fr. John Doerfler, this past Tuesday. My impression is that he is a very good, a faithful, a prayerful man, and I could see in his face and hear in his voice that he is still very much coming to grips with leaving his very busy vocation as vicar general of Green Bay and coming to a new place, to take on a yet deeper responsibility. His call didn’t come in a dream, but as a phone call from the Apostolic Nuncio! Pray for him… he is in the midst of imitating Mary and Joseph.

Physical gifts are fine, often good… we should give money and time to those in need, we should give good gifts to our children and friends… but these are not the gifts that matter, unless they serve as symbols and tokens of what does matter… do we give of ourselves? Can we call someone we need to be reconciled with, or who needs a word of encouragement from us? Can we spend time with the family members and friends that we struggle to like even as we choose to love? Can we give the gift of patience, presence, kindness, and encouragement? Can we make the sacrifice and take the risk of reaching out to those who are lonely, or afraid, or sick, or hurting during these festive days?

God’s gift comes first, and it empowers us to give in return. This is infinitely present and true now as we turn to this altar where God will transform the simple bread and wine into Jesus own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. May we receive this gift and be transformed. May we receive God, and then give from all that we have received.

+ A. M. D. G. +

Wake up to... JOY! GROWTH! CHRIST!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 1st Sunday of Advent, Year A

We begin today this precious season of Advent, a time of preparation and making ready, not yet a time of celebration, but the time of excitement that comes before the celebration!  The world around us is already celebrating Christmas, and then on the 26th will forget about it... as Catholics we are called to a different rhythm... now is the time to make ready!  The very word “Advent” means coming, arrival. And who is coming? Who is about to arrive? It is the Lord Jesus! You heard that very beautifully in the collect, that is, the opening prayer, perhaps one of the most beautiful prayers in the Missal:

Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom....

That is such a beautiful prayer… it captures our eager waiting, our desire for Christ’s coming… we want to run out and meet Him! And when we meet Him, we want to be able to offer Him our lives lived according to Him, so that we can be gathered in as a fruitful harvest, gathered into the joy of His Kingdom!

Did you notice that neither this prayer nor any of our readings today make any particular reference to the Nativity? Advent is truly a time of preparation for the Christmas feast, but first it continues the theme we have been seeing as this past liturgical year ended… the theme of Christ’s coming at the end of time! Christ’s second coming, is the time of harvest, the time of being gathered in, the time when the wheat is separated from the tares, the weeds. We continue to anticipate and prepare for God’s coming into His world in glory for judgment and restoration and full joy.

Maybe it's corny, but I find this moment in the film, when Gandalf arrives at dawn, as a powerful image of Christ's coming!

In light of that coming, then, the Church calls us above all to BE AWAKE, to be ready, indeed, to be already seeking the Lord and moving forward to meet Him, to be ready to welcome and receive Him. We are pilgrims on a journey, and the sense of brokenness and sadness we often experience in our very beautiful world is a constant reminder that this is not our lasting home, that our citizenship is in heaven. We are wayfarers on a journey, pilgrims seeking our destination. In our first reading we heard, “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” In our psalm, “We will go up to the house of the Lord.” In our 2nd reading, “...it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now that when we first believed…” And in our Gospel, “Stay awake!

This wakefulness and preparation and journeying is not easy! As Jesus loves us perfectly at this moment, He loves us too much to leave us where we are, wherever that may be… He loves us to much to leave us mired in sin and sadness and bitterness. It's true that Jesus loves us unconditionally, but not if by that we mean that He leaves us where we are... He loves us too much, out of that love He calls us always to deeper conversion.  We are called to once again wake up, look around, and notice that we are not yet in the promised land, and thus to go up, to climb, to make ready. Paul says it dramatically to the Romans:

Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

As Christians we are called to freedom in Christ, rather than being ruled by the urges and passions of the flesh. Being awake and being prepared means evaluating where we are at, recognizing it is not yet heaven, and then setting out towards Christ.



I have begun reading Pope Francis’ new Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, which means, “The Joy of the Gospel.” There is a lot there, and I hope to be thinking and praying and unpacking it myself and with you for weeks and months to come. One thing I would heartily encourage you to do is to read it for yourself, because just as with Jesus Himself, the crowds, and especially the media, are reporting a lot of hogwash! Several times a week people tell me they are excited about Pope Francis, but then as I listen to why, I discover not infrequently it is because they imagine he is going to make the Gospel easy and comfortable to live, especially by changing Jesus’ own moral teachings! It is hard to imagine a perception less connected to reality, although it certainly represents a great deal of the reporting on Pope Francis, and perhaps he himself has left himself open to this perception.  Pope Francis is not calling us to Catholic Lite, he is calling us to deeper conversion, calling us first of all who are trying to practice our faith, you and me!

What is his authentic message, then?  One piece of it, is not unlike the theme of this Sunday… Be Awake! Wake up from the slumber of apathy and routine and vice and consumption! Wake up to Jesus who always calls us forward, deeper, into conversion! Wake up to the beauty and joy of the Gospel!  Listen to his words from the third paragraph:

I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”. The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms.

Every single one of us is called to this ongoing and constantly renewed and deepened encounter with our Lord Jesus.  There is a risk involved, there is a price, but it is worth it... the Lord is waiting for us!

Again, a little further on, (paragraph #12) the Holy Father again deepens the call:

The life of the Church should always reveal clearly that God takes the initiative, that “he has loved us first” (1 Jn 4:19) and that he alone “gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). This conviction enables us to maintain a spirit of joy in the midst of a task so demanding and challenging that it engages our entire life. God asks everything of us, yet at the same time he offers everything to us.

To follow Christ, the embrace the Joy of the Gospel is "so demanding and challenging that it engages our entire life" !  If we are awake, we can attend to the Lord's voice, the Lord's initiative, calling us deeper.

How can you live this concretely during this Advent we begin together today?  Go back to the basics... seek the Lord in prayer each day. I think this is the place where most of us who try to practice our faith can grow the most.  I encourage you and call you to prayer, even as I struggle myself, even though I'm "paid to pray!"  If you pray some days, make time for God every day, however simple that prayer may be.  If by God's grace you pray every day, open up some more time for Him, read one of the daily Mass readings, or pray a decade of the rosary... give God a little more space! You won't outdo Him in generosity!

Along with prayer... keep seeking the Eucharist.  Up the ante... if you make it to Mass some Sundays, make it every Sunday. If you make it every Sunday, consider coming to a daily Mass from time to time, or stopping by the church to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.

Make a good confession this Advent... there is not better way to wake up, wipe the slate clean, and make a new start with God's healing and help!

We prepare now to receive our Lord Jesus on this altar, where He offers us Himself once again, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, hidden under the appearance of bread and wine.  Jesus not only challenges and calls us, He offers us the power and grace we need in the Eucharist.  Let us receive Him now with deep JOY!

+ A. M. D. G. +