Second Sunday of Advent

There is tremendous foretelling, and instruction in our readings today. The focus is all about the coming birth of our Lord, and the preparation that is appropriate to celebrate this, so it is very proper for the Advent season. For each of us, this season is a time to prepare ourselves for the celebration of when Jesus came into the world as man, and also to ultimately prepare ourselves for when He will come again. In many ways, the spirit of the Advent season is one that should remain with us throughout the year.

The prophet Isaiah describes for us the coming of our Lord, and that He will bring into being a world of justice, light, and truth. The old ways of being, and even those who were traditionally adversaries will find a new way of existing together in peace, hope, and security. There will be no more violence, fear, or strife. The old will pass, but not before a judgement has taken place that will come from the only one destined to judge because He is God who sees, knows, and discerns all rightly. Yet He came to us as man, and experienced all the things that we have, and knows our plight, and our hopes, and so can uniquely dispense His justice with no question of His authority or understanding.

To prepare the way for His coming, we hear of the words of John the Baptist, who came to be His herald, and who counseled the people to amend their ways, and to straighten the paths of their lives in preparation for the coming of the Christ. His message holds true for us today as well, as we immerse ourselves in the season of Advent, and prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of our Lord at Christmas. We too need to make straight the paths of our lives, and to not deceive ourselves that we are somehow exempt from His righteous judgement. To use this season as a time of reflection and self-examination, and to partake of the penance that is needed to make right our transgressions. To humbly acknowledge our own faults and to develop plans to amend our ways in the future. This is the greatest gift we can place before the Christ Child at Christmas – our love, belief and resolve to truly be His followers, in both word and action. To live out His commands, and to then join Him where the wolf and the lamb can live together in peace.

First Sunday of Advent

I will be the first one to admit that I can be a procrastinator. For some things in life there is some tolerance for that bad habit. Yet others require us to be a bit timelier. Little things like paying tickets, sending in our taxes, things like that. Yet there are some things that are even less tolerant, and one of those is having ourselves collected in terms of our belief, and our actions in living out the Gospel message. Unlike things that can be regularly predicted in terms of their cadence, we need to always be ready as believers, because we have no idea when we will be called to be accountable for ourselves.

The parable in today’s Gospel is one that is a good reminder to us. We truly have no idea when we will be called to stand before our Lord. People throughout the generations have known that this day will come, they simply have had no idea when, and neither do we. The only real cure for this, is to live each day as if we will be held accountable that very day. To not put off the living out of Christs words, to live as He lived, and to do our best to be prepared. It truly is, as Saint Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, the time for us to become awake and to realize that the time to make the changes in our lives needed to become true followers of Christ is not some distant loosely defined deadline, but right now.

There is never a wrong time to love, or to show compassion, or to redress our faults. The trick is to simply engage. To pray for the courage and perseverance to do this. To become aware at a fundamental level of the need to make changes and to follow through. Our Lord seeks for each one of us to be with Him, but he is also a God who believes in justice, so He will judge each of us, as is proper, because He paid the price for each of our salvation. The only question is whether we thought enough of His sacrifice to follow His commands and to seek to be with Him. The choice is ours, but it is not one to be taken lightly or put off in any way. Today is the day to begin.

Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

If you’ve never tried to hold your arms above your head for a protracted period, you can’t begin to imagine what Moses was experiencing when he was in this position of supplication while his people went up against Amalek. To my knowledge, this is the first documented instance of isometric exercise. Moses knew what was required of him, to remain in this position invoking God’s help for his people, so his resolve was great, yet despite this, eventually he needed help. Aaron and Hur saw what the results of Moses lowering his arms were. Their people began to be defeated, and so they held Moses arms up and their army prevailed.

This same kind of resolve, and aid is evident in our Gospel today as well, though the message is that we too can receive this kind of help directly from the source of all good things – God. The parable of the widow and the dishonest judge should remind us that God does listen to our prayers and entreaties, and that persistence in prayer is a good means of showing to God our desire for His help, and our confidence that He will provide that. It is not human nature to continue to pursue a course of action unless we are confident that it will produce an outcome.

There are times that most of us have experienced, for a lack of a better term – “a dryness” in our prayer lives. It may at times feel like there may not be anyone listening. This happens to everyone, and believe it or not, there is a distinct purpose behind it. For one thing, it is a reminder that God is not a “Pez dispenser” for things that we desire and even pray for. Sometimes these things may not be what are best for us according to God’s plan. It may seem to us at the time like what we ask in prayer is both reasonable, and beneficial, the trouble is that we do not always have the complete picture and so may not understand why these things are not granted to us. It is at this point that we need to exercise a bit of trust. The same God who has given us so many good things in our lives, does hear us, but may have an even better idea in mind. It’s not always easy to do this, we like to think we are in control, but the reality is that we are anything but. Even the Saints struggled with this. If you read the accounts of many of their lives, there usually comes a point when they experience what they perceive as a distancing in their relationship with God, and His willingness to hear them. This is often referred to as the “Dark night of the Soul”. It is a time of testing, and of purification. The purification is one designed to take them from being somewhat blindly reliant, and to force them to really ponder their depth of belief, and ultimately their actual trust and reliance on God. We too, as we develop in our personal relationship with God are often subjected to the same thing as we mature in that. This is where that persistence that we heard about in our Gospel comes into play. Will we continue to pray? Will we ultimately rely on God, even when our perception is that He seems distant? Will we take our relationship of trust in Him to the level where we can honestly say we will seek Him no matter what the circumstance, or how much it might test our limited understanding? These are hard questions, and are the ones that define our purity of belief and faith. God has always sought our love with an unwavering level of commitment and sacrifice, now it is our turn to do the same.

Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Every person you have ever met, or ever will meet is desired by God to be drawn close with Him, and is deemed worthy of praying, praising, and loving Him. It matters not at all where they are from, what they look like, or what language they speak.

In our first reading we hear of how Naaman took the direction of Elisha and was healed of his leprosy. This was incredibly unusual for someone who was an Asyrian military commander, from a totally different culture, and system of beliefs. Yet his desperation for healing took him in a direction that led him to the one source of healing that could actually accomplish this. He even obtained not only the blessing of his King who worshipped other gods, and expected his followers to do the same, but also a letter from his king asking the king of Israel for his hospitality for this subject of his. This was remarkably bold since Naaman was effectively eclipsing the gods that he and his king worshipped, and opting to put his faith in the God of Israel. This was what was required for him to be cleansed. Naaman was willing to take a chance and make that defining leap of faith that God was looking for.

In our Gospel today we hear of others who were healed. Jesus cures ten lepers of their illness, that same illness that Naaman had been healed of by Elisha. Yet when they have been healed, only one has the gratitude to return and give thanks to Jesus for his healing. That one that returned was the most unlikely of the ten, because he too was a foreigner, a Samaritan. He was of a people that detested the Jews and had been in conflict with them for generations. Yet he knew what had taken place, and despite his differences, returned and gave thanks in a most profound way, he fell at Jesus feet, and glorified God. Jesus understood well the profound nature of the faith and humility this man displayed to come to Him for healing, and even more so to return to acknowledge this and thank Him in such a manner.

For each of us, the question is, how often do we have enough faith in our creator to truly lay our problems at His feet, and with complete confidence ask him for healing or resolution? What is more, how often when we receive graces from God, whether it be healing, spiritual insight, or help with our problems, do we then recognize and give thanks that God helped us? There is never a time that God does not care, and that he does not listen to us. If we ask something of Him in faith, he will hear us. If what we ask for is best for us, in that it aligns with His plan for salvation, we too can be confident of His help.

Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

I don’t think that too many people would argue, especially after the events of the last month or so, that we live in a world that can prove challenging to people of faith. Our readings today are incredibly apropos in that respect.

When we hear of acts of senseless violence and the manifest frustration and hatred that spawns them, we can be tempted to cry out, just as the prophet Habakkuk did, and complain to God about the violence of our world. We can ask the usual questions that inevitably are brought out when people are needlessly killed or violated – How God, can you allow this? Why do you not intervene? Why are we subjected to this misery and fear? All around us things seem to be falling apart, and what we are ultimately asking is – do you care?

It is that last question that is ultimately so unfair of us when we are faced with the evil that is sometimes present in this world. God does care. He cares greatly, just as any father would. What we need to understand, and to keep in mind though, is that He cares enough about us overall, to not program things, or be some sort of puppet master to us, and to instead imbue us with the dignity of free will. What we choose to with that free will, is the real question, and the one that needs to levelled at us, not at God. Our Lord told us plainly on many occasions we would have trouble in this life, He did not hide this, or even try to sugar coat the matter. He instead gave us what we needed to deal with it as children of God. We have an intellect, we have learned of what it means to combat evil with love through God’s own words, and we have FAITH.

It is faith that ultimately will give us the buttress that will shield us when things become overwhelming, if we allow it. The same God who told us we would have trouble, also told us to believe in Him when we are faced with such things. To trust, and to understand through His words that while these things will inevitably happen, there are two fundamental truths that we need to embrace. The first is that we are charged with working toward making a better world – us, the ones to whom God gave this world as a place to live. We need to effect change, we need to manifest love and caring, we need to guide others who have so little hope that they lash out like children and do unspeakable evil in the process. We need to teach them of God’s truth, we need to give them a reason to believe that they do not need to resort to evil, just to be recognized. The second is, we need to be brave enough, held up by our faith in God’s plan to do these things, and so to preserve others. We need to let the faith we profess each Sunday permeate us to the point that we are willing to put ourselves out there to reach others before it is too late. This does not mean that there will still not be evil. That is something we will always battle, both within, and without. What it does mean is that we will stay focused on God’s promises, and trust in His love, and remember that no matter how grotesque things may seem in this world at times, while on the cross, He has already endured and triumphed over a far greater evil.

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our society of “acceptance” the concept of discipline is not a popular one. The word itself seems to draw immediate loathing from many who seem to think it is an outdated concept, and one that reeks of actual commitment to an ideal or position. The more comfortable path, the wider path most often chosen, is to commit to nothing at all. To live a life of accepting anything that anyone else says, so as to avoid any possibility of offending their sensibilities. The trouble is, there are some seriously misguided folks out there, and the ideas they purvey as new “truths” are fit more for spreading in your garden, than being spoken to anyone else, except perhaps in jest. To show commitment, or to discipline oneself to speaking the truth no matter how unpopular it might be at times, is now looked upon as being hurtful, hateful, or somehow motivated by some deliberate bias against some group of individuals.

The reality is that if you have any intellect at all, and especially if you are committed as part of your intellectual and moral stance to a set of standards which guide your behavior, you are now seen as a target of ignorant contempt by the masses who would rather exist in comfortable, vacuous lives that require no courage whatsoever to live out. Yet as followers of Christ, we are called to hold to His teachings. We are called to live our lives in this way, and to absolutely not do so in convenient silence, but rather to proclaim our stance to others in such a way that there can be no mistaking our position. This does not ever mean doing so out of any sort of malice or self-aggrandizing motivation, but rather to humbly, yet persistently cling to our beliefs. To share them in such a way that any view of our actions cannot be misinterpreted except by the most polarized of individuals who adhere to morally corruptive stances only believed by a super-minority of humanity. To do this, is to live and walk toward the narrow gate as our path and goal. This requires both fortitude and discipline to see us through situations that will inevitably arise as a result. Make no mistake, we are incapable of doing any of this on our own. The fortitude and discipline of which I spoke can only come in sufficient intensity from a source outside ourselves, and will require prayer to ask for these graces. To ask to be strong enough to endure the initial pains that come from this kind of living, and to hold out until we have matured enough to reinterpret these manifestations as a joyful event, because we then know that God is truly with us and guiding us, and loving us in our efforts. We are then blessed, not with comfort, but with strength to endure. We are no longer lame in our walk through life. We have chosen to be recognized by God, so that when the day comes for each of us, He will not tell us to depart and say “I do not know where you are from”. Rather, we will be counted among the prophets who will be gathered together in His flock.

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

When we think of Jesus, division and conflict are not usually the first things that come to mind. Rather, we think more of a message of peace, love, and healing to all of us who are so much in need because of our brokenness. Yet, in todays Gospel the message sounds very different, and for good reason, because our Lord seeks to guard us from the dangers of a lack of commitment, and a “lukewarm” faith which can so easily occur when we don’t have a firm commitment to Christ.

Whenever I hear this Gospel, the first thing that springs to mind is the sacrifice and conflict that so many of the people who come to our OCIA classes experience because they want to truly embrace Jesus’ message through the fullness of truth found in the Catholic Church. They come from many different backgrounds – some Protestant, some from other faiths, some from environments where they were never part of any faith oriented beliefs at all. Yet in all of these instances, they risk not just a new way of thinking for themselves that they must come to terms with, but also the possible lack of acceptance, if not outright rejection that sometimes can come from friends and family members. They risk so much, all in the name of drawing closer to Jesus. Yet, this is exactly what Jesus is talking about in todays Gospel, it is in fact what we are all called to do, especially as Catholics. We are called to fully embrace His teaching, and to still proclaim His message to those who will sometimes reject it and potentially reject us as well.

It’s not an easy thing to say the truth, and yet that was Jesus’ purpose, to open the eyes of ALL to the truth. He did this in His teaching, in the way He lived, and ultimately in the way He suffered, and died for our sake. There was a fire within Him that consumed all things that would distract Him from this purpose, and He wills the same fire to be within each of us. The prophet Jeremiah experienced this same fire and endured being lowered into the cistern by those who could not bear to hear his words. Saint Paul in his letter to the Hebrews calls them, and us, to rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us (meaning all the things that distract us from Christ, because those are true burdens to us).

The reality is simply this, if our Lord was willing to endure his passion and death for our sake, all of which came about because of the adherence to the truth which He lived out, then He has every right to expect the same of us. We are not called to be comfortable, we are in fact called to set fire to those comforts that distract us, let them burn to ash, and then sweep them from our minds and hearts. Only then can we fully embrace our mission and live out and evangelize Christs message of truth. The cost is steep, but the rewards are beyond our imagining. Strike the spark and let it begin.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our Gospel today, there are two key questions asked. The first is the one asked by the scholar of the law, and one that I think we all ask at some point (at least I hope so), and that is, “What do I need to do to one day enter God’s kingdom?”. Jesus answers with His own question – “What is in the law?”. That is kind of like asking us today, “What have you read in the bible about my teachings, and what have I told you is important?”. The answer has not changed – love God, and your neighbor. Yet, as direct an answer as that may seem, the scholar presses the question a bit further – “Who is my neighbor”? This is not a silly question. What he is really asking is, “do I really need to love all of those around me?”.

I think this is where we struggle today as well, probably more often than we even realize. Are we truly called to love EVERYONE? It’s so easy to come up with reasons to exclude people from this command, and whether we want to admit it or not, we are all victims of our own prejudice. No matter how much we may try to keep an open mind about those around us, our natural inclination is to categorize, and to label. This is in part a cognitive characteristic that helps us process information about those around us, but it also is a facet of our spiritual makeup (residual from the fall) that the enemy exploits. The categories we place others in are sometimes less than flattering in their affiliations and definitions, no matter how much we may struggle to keep that from happening, and this is where the enemy leverages this to his advantage.

When Jesus told the scholar the parable of the good Samaritan, there is more there than simply showing off someone who did kindly deeds at his own trouble and expense. The Jewish people hated the Samaritans. They looked a bit different, they dressed differently, their language sounded different, and their beliefs about God were not aligned with the Jewish teachings. In other words there were many different things that any Jew could point to as reasons not to associate with or care about these folks. Yet our Lord demonstrates in the parable that even those seen as the highest in Jewish cultural circles – the Priest and the Levite, could be eclipsed in their righteousness by this outcast who was generally loathed by this culture. This would have been a very tough message to swallow, and yet our Lord is specific in His direction about the Samaritans actions – “Go and do likewise”. He does not mention any exceptions, He does not allow for any personal interpretation, He is not going to let our human weaknesses from original sin be used as a way to exclude. We are to treat everyone as a neighbor, as someone to be loved, cared for, and helped along their way in this life, and as people worthy of being guided toward the truths that we know will help them on their way to eternal life. No matter how they look, no matter what their social or religious beliefs, no matter what their attitude toward us is, they are all – every one of them worthy of this effort from us for exactly one reason – God created them, and loves, and desires them in His kingdom. To love Him, we must love all of them.

Pentecost Sunday

Celebrating Pentecost is an exciting time for all Christians, it marks the fundamental change that took place in Jesus’ disciples that took them from being frightened individuals, to being a bold collective force for spreading the Gospel message.

When the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples as they were in the upper room behind locked doors for fear of the Jewish authorities, there descended upon each of them tongues of flame that kindled within them an unquenchable passion to spread God’s word to all the people, and to hold nothing back in fear. In the space of those moments that this took place, the transformation from saturating fearfulness to fearlessness was achieved, and no more thought was given to what others thought of them, or what human beings could do to them. Human authority and status took their rightful place relative to God. All that mattered was the fulfillment of Jesus’ command. This is the power of the Holy Spirit at work, and it can be powerfully at work in us as well.

The transformative effect of the Spirit descending upon a person who is willing to receive it as God’s grace is profound. The question is whether we are willing to open ourselves to its power. God will not force his grace upon anyone. We need to truly long to be close to Him for this gift of the Spirit to be granted to us.

Let us assume for the moment that we are open to receiving Gods gift, what then? Will we too be transformed into someone who will boldly proclaim his word? Perhaps, or perhaps he will grant us through the same Spirit other gifts. Knowledge, wisdom, speaking in tongues, discernment, or any other grace that He chooses to render for the purpose of using us as part of His salvific plan. It could be anything that will benefit His will and plan to draw others closer to himself. We don’t know what He will choose for us, or when it will manifest, we need to instead trust that it will come when needed and in the exact amount that is required to accomplish what He has in mind to do.

In this season, when those who were in our RCIA class have now received the Sacraments, the next step is finding out where they functionally fit into their Church – this is the Mystagogy that is part of their journey, and in fact is part of each of ours. To figure out where we fit in and use the gifts that God gives us to serve Him more completely.

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus back to his Father in heaven, and the beginning of a new mission for His Church here on earth. To spread the Gospel message to all peoples.

Jesus told his disciples plainly that he would be ascending back to the Father, yet he also told them that they would not be left alone, but instead that the promise of the Father would be with them. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, would be with them always to guide and protect them, and to make their mission possible. The same is true for us, we are not left alone at all, The Holy Spirit guides us, and we have the true physical presence of Jesus still with us in the Eucharist. In each case we have help from heaven to guide us on our way, and to sustain us with the true bread which came down from heaven – Jesus himself.

Yet there was a time of ‘in between” or uncertainty that had to be dealt with by the Apostles. This is something that we sometimes deal with as well. When Jesus ascended bodily back to heaven, the disciples were instructed to return to Jerusalem and to wait there. This could not have been an easy message to accept since that was the very place where those who had crucified Jesus were still very much in authority and were actively looking for anyone who followed Jesus and whom they considered a threat. Yet they had to return there to this great uncertainty and wait. It would be ten days before they would receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and at which time all doubts would be dispelled and replaced by boldness of spirit and the wisdom of God placed upon their lips. In some respects, ten days may not seem like much, but for anyone waiting for something important to take place, such as a promise to be fulfilled, or an important word given, it can seem like an eternity.

It was during this time that the Apostles stayed together while they waited. They were in hiding, but they spent that desperate time in reflection, in contemplation, and in prayer. How often have we retreated into our own hiding when faced with uncertainty in our lives, how often has it taken such an event to make us realize our desperate need for God’s closeness and protection. It should not come to that, and yet it so often does, because outside of that we become too caught up in daily distractions. Such times are powerful reminders to us, that we too need to rely on God’s love, wisdom, and protection to deal with life’s challenges. We too need to wait and receive God’s strengthening Spirit that will sustain us and allow us to navigate anything that comes our way. God is faithful always, and just as He sent us his Son to teach us, and to save us, He will also send us what we need to not only make our way through this life, but to do so in such a way as to complete our own mission of spreading His word to all, in our speech, and in how we live.