“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: Rejoice!” How true these words are, especially as we ponder them during this season of Advent. We have every reason to rejoice in the Lord, as we ponder His birth as a man who would live among us and show us a whole new way of living. One that was true to the original commandments, and that did away with the burdens imposed on many by men. A way of truth, love, and justice that provided dignity and security for all.

When Jesus gave us His teaching and showed us how the commandments were to be interpreted and lived, He brought clarity to the original intent, and took to task those who had corrupted it’s meaning for their own ends. Many of those in positions of authority received a sharp rebuke from our Lord for their actions that showed them to be more concerned with worldliness and wealth than with the good of the people whom God had intended for them to guide toward Him.

In our Gospel today, we hear of the instructions that the people received from John the Baptist, to address their own failings and to behave justly toward one another so that they would not be found wanting when Jesus came to them. He instructed them in how to look at their own situations and make the changes needed. He also told them of the one who was to come, when they began to think that perhaps he was the one chosen by God. He not only told them that this was not so, but completely humbled himself in illustrating his own insignificance compared to that of the one who was coming – Jesus. Yet the people still also heard from him the good news about Jesus coming, and how he would bring light and hope to the people who had waited in darkness for so long.

Our own anticipation each year at this time reflects much of these same feelings. We look forward to celebrating Christ’s birth, and to acknowledge His status as our Lord and King who saved us by His own death and resurrection. We too are consoled by hearing of this in our readings and then contemplating what is to come when next Jesus comes to us. If we take the time to really think of these things as we meditate on God’s word during this Advent season as part of our preparation, then we too should have cause to rejoice at the mighty savior who we will celebrate coming into our midst the first time in our humble form, and who we wait for expectantly to return to us in His glory.

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. This was the call that John the Baptist made to the people, and it has not changed. As we prepare for the birth of our Lord in this Advent season, we too need to fill in the valleys and level the peaks to even the path for His coming so that He will find us ready.

The Baptism of John was one of repentance, it called the people to change their ways and to follow God’s law so that they would be found ready when Jesus came to us as man. The baptism that each of us has received is quite different, we have received our Lords spirit, and have been granted the grace of redemption through His sacrifice for all of us on The Cross. The baptism we have been given brought us back to the Father, yet we are still inclined to sin, and so need to prepare ourselves nonetheless so that when our Lord comes again, we are ready. We think of this now in particular because this season of Advent reminds us of our Lords coming among us the first time, and in doing so, also tells us that there will be another coming among us, but this time as King and Judge.

In our first reading we hear of God’s children being gathered from the East and the West and were rejoicing that they were remembered by God. This goes without saying, our Lord never forgets any of His children, even those who do not really know Him yet. This brings me to another call that we have received as brothers and sisters in Christ, the call of evangelization. As we prepare for our Lords coming amongst us, I can think of no greater gift that we could lay at His feet, that that of other souls that have come to a knowledge of Him through our efforts. All other gifts to the infant Christ, would I think, pale in comparison to this. As part of our call to prepare the way of the Lord in this season, I believe we are given plenty of opportunities to draw others closer to Him. When we greet others in this season, do we wish them a merry Christmas, or have we fallen into the pit of societal correctness and say something like happy holidays? Do we openly acknowledge what it is that we celebrate in this season, or do we actually spend more time promoting the idea that it’s about a rotund guy with a white beard, poor taste in winter attire, and an odd mode of transportation? The season is about Jesus Christ, the rest is commercialized and politicized fiction that is great for selling greeting cards and other retail items, but not much else. The closest this comes to any sort of useful depiction is perhaps a loose resemblance to the workings of generosity attributed to Saint Nicholas, but even there we have taken it in directions that I suspect he would be appalled at. His devotion of giving was for the alms needed by the people year-round, in order to fulfill the call of Jesus Christ to care for one another. Remember, the reason for this season is Jesus, and our greatest gift to him is our love for Him, and one another, both with our generosity in the temporal needs of those we encounter, and in our bringing them to know Him through our words, actions, and examples.

As we progress through this season of Advent and make our way toward Christmas when we will celebrate His birth among us as man, we need to be cognizant of our actions as we busy ourselves with preparations. We need to be perhaps a bit less busy with our own tasks, and take a bit more time to look after those around us. To show courtesy, respect, patience, and love to those who we may not even know yet, and in doing so to emulate Jesus. In the sometimes hectic and rushed preparations of this season that we seem to self-impose, this kind of thing does not go un-noticed by others. It can even make for a great segue to a conversation about the real reason for this season, and why we believe and put into practice what we believe. If you can make such an impression on even one person, I think you have already picked up the most important present on your shopping list, the one for our Lord.  

Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, a time of preparation and perhaps change in our lives. A time to reflect on how we are doing with our relationship with God, and to get ourselves ready to celebrate His birth, but also the promise of His coming again to us in the last days. Our readings today couldn’t be more clear on all of this, they are actually laid out in a map of sorts to guide us in this. The first reading from Jeremiah is the foretelling of Jesus coming to us as man and what this was    to bring. The next is from Saint Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, where he exhorts us to look to our conduct in order to be found prepared for Jesus return. The Gospel reading is a new foretelling of Jesus coming, but this time as King and Judge and what we can expect and need to do in order to be found ready.

From Jeremiah we are told that the Lord will fulfill His promise to the house of Israel and Judah, and that justice and security will dwell in the land. One that would bring a new teaching, and a new way of looking at, and treating one another. A fulfillment of what God had promised us, but that we were not yet ready to receive until that time. A Son of David who would fulfill all these things and bring us salvation.

In Saint Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we are cautioned, and exhorted to be found blameless in the sight of the Lord so that we might be ready for His coming. This is not just a message to the people of that time, but to us, that we must remain vigilant and ready for our Lords coming, because we know not the time when this will happen.

In our Gospel from Saint Luke, we hear of the things that will happen when our Lord returns. We are told of the signs and the terror that will accompany some of these things, but that should look at things differently and busy ourselves to be ready and then to look to our redemption and embrace this. We are given again, what we must do to be ready, and also the things we must not do. We must be looking Jesus’ teaching and His commands so that when He comes in glory, we will be able to stand before him with the hope that we will then be with Him forever in His kingdom.

For us, on a practical level, we need to be asking ourselves, as we living in such a way that Jesus would look to us as an example of those fulfilling His commands, or as one who ignores them, or perhaps someone who is somewhere in between? If we fall into either of the two latter categories, we need to ask ourselves first of all, why, and then secondly what we can do to change in order to prepare for our Lord. What do we have in our lives that distracts or perhaps prevents us from following Jesus commands? In particular, the two commandments which He told us were greatest, to love God, and one another. To help figure this out, I have a small checklist that I try to go through.  Is there anyone to whom I owe an apology? I hate to think that there is hurt that I have caused that is unresolved against someone created in His image. Is there anyone who I have not been in touch with, and could benefit from my companionship – especially during this time of isolation for so many? Have I made time for our Lord to show my love for Him through my prayers? These are just starting points, but now is the time to focus on all matters of this type, even if it is not comfortable, because we need to look to change. What tomorrow will be is never known, all of this is a reminder of what we need to do to be ready for that. To be prepared for the next coming of Jesus, as we celebrate His first coming to us as man, God, and Savior.

Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-5ba4u-1140ae5

As we draw near to Advent, it’s an appropriate time for a reminder of Jesus role as our Lord, King, and High Priest. We’re approaching the time when we will celebrate His birth as man in our world, but we need to stay focused on specifically why this is such a cause for celebration. He was born into this world and took on our humble form to allow him to fulfill his role in its entirety, there was no other way for Him to do this than to be born fully man and fully God. What is more, His role continues now, and will continue until on the last day He will come again in His glory to be our judge, He is truly the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning, and the end of all.

I think it is sometimes difficult for us to grasp and keep in mind Jesus roles in their entirety when we ponder Him during this season, because we are so focused on His birth and coming into our world as a precious infant. Yet, even as an infant, His purpose had been foretold, and was ancient in its origins because it had always been Gods plan to redeem us since the time of Adam. Remember for our Lord, past, present, and future are all one, and so really the awareness of this need, and plan goes back even beyond that for God, because He has always known. God’s essence certainly has not changed either, He has always been a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus has always existed as the Son, even though we only perceived Him as God and Man beginning on that night in Bethlehem two thousand years ago.

He came to us in our lowly form for the express purpose of our salvation. He taught us and walked among us to give us a new way of understanding Gods wishes for us, and His laws that we had been viewing through the eyes of an infant people for so long without a clearer understanding of what His intent for us truly was. Why, you might ask? Simply because we were not ready yet, and our Lord who knows us better than we know ourselves was fully aware of this. Yet at the appointed time in His plan, our Lord brought His Son among us to save us through both what He taught us, and through His sacrifice for our sake as the willing and perfect sacrificial offering to allow us to be redeemed before God and have hope of life with Him in eternity. That small child king born to us in that manger in Bethlehem was to do all this, and that is just the beginning.

That same small child is our Lord today, and we look to Him for our guidance and salvation. We pray to Him with our needs, and we who believe try to obey His commands and his truth so that we might be found acceptable to Him on that last day that will eventually come. This is when He will appear again in His glory, as Judge and King, for His kingdom will come to full realization on that day when what is beyond this world as we know it will be revealed. All this from that lowly human birth and life among us, as one of us, yet rooted in forever as our God – this is the Jesus whose birth we will celebrate, and who we are now preparing for in this coming season of Advent. We look upon a child in a manger with His mother Mary, and his earthly father Joseph watching over Him, but we need to look with eyes also knowing that He has, is, and will always, be looking upon us to guide us to Him as our God.

Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-9p5ky-113865c

Our readings today seem appropriate as we approach the Advent season, a time of preparation for the birth of our Lord. We are admonished to be prepared, for we do not know the day or the hour when He next will come, any more than those who lived in Israel knew when he would be born in terms of an exact date. They knew that there would be certain signs that would precede and manifest at the time of His birth, but that was all they had. We are not so very different in that regard, as we do not know the day or the hour when He next will come, only the signs to look for that will precede and manifest when He will come.

Even though we do not know the day or the hour, we do know what we need to be doing in preparation for our Lords coming. To be truly faithful followers of Christ means to be always prepared by doing our part to manifest His kingdom even before He comes again. To be a model to others that will show them what can be expected in God’s kingdom, and to help them draw closer to Christ and to follow Him so that they too can be saved. This is the expectation that our Lord has, to be always prepared, not to be slacking just because we think we can get away with it for a while. The fact is, when dealing with the God of the universe there is no such thing as there being any good time to be slacking, because whether He is here for his next coming, or whether we continue to wait in expectation, He still knows our minds and hearts and will judge us based on what is in them, and not just on what can be externally observed. There is no hiding our actions, thoughts, words, or even feelings from God, there never has been. To anyone who would say that they think they can do something without God’s full knowledge, I would say – wake up, because you have no idea with whom you are dealing.

The thing is, none of this is new, and yet each generation seems to think that they have some unique situation that places them out of the scope of God’s laws, or that they have some level of sophistication that places them beyond their relevance. We are obviously still as stiff necked a people as the ones that our Lord was dealing with when He called them such (Exodus 32:9).

If anything, I would say in many respects our situation has gotten worse, not only are we still just as stiff necked, we now seem to have a sense of self entitlement that goes beyond anything seen in previous generations. We have no compunction whatsoever about kicking God out of our places of work, learning, government, etc. and we then have the audacity to complain that if there really were a god he would not allow things to happen that we perceive as tragic. To be perfectly blunt – if He were actually ignoring us completely (and by the way, He is not), I don’t know that I would really blame him. If there is one thing that I cannot abide, it is spoiled behavior, and as a people, we have become a bunch of brats.

Now considering that we still have no clue as to when He will return to us to be our judge, and to render a verdict that will last for all eternity for each and every one of us, I’d say we have a bit of work to do. We could start with simple acknowledgement and respect, that there is someone greater than any of us, that absolutely deserves our reverence, awe, love, and respect. We can place ourselves way back in the driver’s seat for once and instead place Him first, our brothers and sisters of this planet next, and ourselves last. We can start showing an acknowledgement of laws greater than any of those that we craft to address our petty issues, and instead follow those that He laid down, and that are absolutely as relevant today as they ever were, and realize that whether we like them or not, agree with them (not that anyone asked our opinion) or not, we WILL be judged on them. I do not pretend to know the time when this judgement will take place any more than anyone else, what I do know is that it will take place at some point, and that I and everyone else will be answerable for all our actions. Even those who claim not to acknowledge God, must still know through natural experience that our actions pretty much all have consequences and reactions to each of them, and that being the case, why would we not expect there to be the same for those that violate God’s commands – how can we continue to be that blind? If we look about us, we can see the signs that show our Lords hands at work in our reality, they are in plain sight, and yet so often we choose to ignore them because they are not convenient to think about as go about trying to do things our way. I think it’s long past time to wake up, to see the signs around us, to look at that branch on the fig tree as it grows greener and more supple, and to begin to make ready.

Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-jhdw6-112ec18

Our readings today show us many examples of selfless giving, both in terms of material goods, but also of self. We are in fact called to give fully in both respects, because there are different needs of those around us that need to be addressed. We cannot as followers of Christ, who gave himself completely for us, ignore those created in His image who are in need.

For a woman of biblical times, to be a widow meant losing one’s protection as well as the loss of their spouse. They no longer had a male figure to shield them in a patriarchal society, nor to provide for them with income, and so in many cases, especially if there was no other family present to take them in, they were left to fend for themselves in whatever way they could get by. This was especially difficult if they also had children to look out for. For a widow in a land where famine was present, and who had a son to feed, the situation was already precarious. To then agree to help someone else in need, especially someone who was a relative stranger, was a huge leap of faith. This woman did not exaggerate when she said she and her son expected to die after exhausting the last of their meager resources, and yet, she was willing to give some of even that little she had to help another. This is not terribly different than the widow whom Jesus observed in the temple putting her last small coin into the offerings knowing she had nothing more to live on. In each case, they were willing to give up the very things that would keep them physically alive in order to further God’s purposes. We are still called to this, each one of us.

Our Lord thought that we were worth saving to the point that He gave up his own physical life, by enduring a passion and death that left Him with nothing more that He could physically give in His human form to atone for our sins and bring us back to the Father. He gave all for God’s purpose, and for our own salvation. This is how we were each purchased at a price. We in turn are called to show the same caring for Him, and for those created in His image. Our restoration of hope to be reunited to the Father places us in debt, and we are each of us called to fulfill that obligation out of love, just as Jesus did.

To truly show our love for our Lord means to accept our own role as those who must give without counting the cost, and if necessary to suffer and to be more closely united to our Lord through that suffering that is then tied to His own. It means placing ourselves much lower in the equation and instead living as those whose desire is to put God’s purposes first to the point that it hurts, whether that be in terms of our giving of material goods or uniting our own personal sufferings through prayer to our Lord’s. It is a change in mindset, and priority, to put Him first, and yet when we are honest with ourselves, we realize it is what we have been called to do all along. The question is, can we now hear that call? Can we hear those around us who need our help, and who if we look closely bear the face of the creator? Can we hear our Lord’s voice and His cries as He suffered for us? It is all one in the message; We must make the choice as to whether we will turn to it, or turn our backs on it.

Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-uyszm-1124ad0

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

This is what we are each of us charged with, to love God above all else. Our own preferences, opinions, ideas, philosophies, etc. all take a back seat to this command. What our Lord has commanded us, is what we are to try to fulfill to the best of our ability – period. This is how we show love for the Lord. This is how we show our trust in His guidance and loving plan.

I find it interesting how each successive generation thinks that their situation is unique, and that the things that they deal with are somehow new and therefore beyond God’s planning and commands, thereby rendering them somewhat obsolete. People have been thinking this way, and trying to develop their own solutions and philosophies throughout history. It’s a bit of a joke really. The creator of the universe, the very fabric of what we call reality somehow missed some items that needed to be covered in His plan for us – I hardly think so. The reality is we simply don’t want to follow His plan because we find it inconvenient or incompatible with our own ideas. In other words, we are lazy and spoiled.

Think about this for a moment, if we actually followed just the first two of the ten commandments that God gave us – what would our world then look like? If we actually showed love for Him, and for our fellow man, and made these our first priority, what would our worlds situation be? We couldn’t very well go around killing each other or treating each other with contempt. We couldn’t ignore the balance of God’s commandments. We’d stop behaving like we alone are the only ones to consider. We wouldn’t covet what others have, or hoard the resources that exist selfishly. Instead, we would actually care for one another. We would seek ways to help those who were in need. We would concern ourselves with pleasing God and would demonstrate that concern by caring for all his creations out of respect and love. Our first thoughts would be for the well-being of all, because we would realize at a core level that we really are all family. I think it is safe to say that the problems, social dilemmas, and petty squabbles we seem to think so important would dry up rather quickly. We would be so concerned with welfare of all, that want, need, and poverty would not be able to exist. We would have in other words, a true foretaste of what we can only now look forward to in heaven.

The thing is, to get to heaven, we are actually called to begin creating a little bit of it here. We can’t sit back and think to ourselves that life eternal is something we can just wait for, and subsequently coast while we in this life. Nope, we’re not getting off that easy. Instead, we are called to begin, perhaps in small ways, but begin nonetheless, to change things in the here and now, so that God’s people (and by that I mean EVERYONE) do not suffer so much in this life. We are called to be kind, to look on even people we currently would define as strangers, with compassion and love, because the reality is, they are anything but strangers. We all have one Father. You can’t very easily pass someone by when they are in obvious need, if you are really embracing this way of thinking. It begins small for most of us, kind of like what happens around Christmas when all of a sudden we decide we might need to start being a bit more kind to the people asking for alms at the street corner, or in the parking lot. The thing is once it starts, it doesn’t, and shouldn’t have to stop after the holiday is over. The holiday of Christmas is never over unless we omit Christ from our lives, and thereby the Father. We live now in a time of great need, both in terms of material goods, and just plain caring. There are so many who are lonely and afraid. What does it cost us to show simple kindness?  A few minutes of our time? If we look closely enough, and through the right eyes, Christ is there in everyone we meet, and we can actually show our Lord compassion, and perhaps place our own shoulders with His under that cross, and each bear a bit of its weight. That is the love we are called to show our God.

Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-9jbxx-111b2d5

When we ponder the self-centeredness and self-entitlement that seems to permeate our society today, I think it seems staggering to us that our Lord selflessly took our humble form for the express purpose of saving us through His passion, death, and resurrection. It’s almost as if our own lack of willingness to sacrifice, and that same lacking we sometimes observe in others somehow makes it even harder for us to conceive of our Lord being able to do this for us. I suspect that is part of impetus for the warning that he provided us about becoming too focused on this world, to the point that we lose sight of what is actually important. It not only leads us away from following His commands, I think it also sometimes blinds our belief in what He did for us by making such an act of love seem so alien to the way we live that we can almost no longer conceive of his doing this for us – it makes belief that much more difficult.

To be sure, it took quite a while for His own disciples to come around to His way of thinking and conducting themselves. We hear multiple references to them being caught up in concerns over who among them would be looked upon as the most esteemed. I think our Lord must have been a bit frustrated with them at times trying to get them to understand that His purpose was to serve and not to be served, and that their purpose should be the same, and in doing this  demonstrate a whole new way of living to all. Of course, what the disciples could not know at that point, was that this new way of living placed more of its emphasis on living for eternal life, than for being caught up in this one.

Our high priest, Jesus, came in the form of a humble servant, and experienced all of our infirmities except sin, so that He would be able to completely empathize with our situations, and so be fully able to be our merciful judge. There was simply no other way for this to happen, He became one of us, in order to fully experience us, so that He could save us in His mercy. It’s because of this, that we can count on being able to approach our Lord in humility with all our baggage, all our weaknesses, deficiencies, and sins, without fear of rejection. He loves us and understands us better than we understand ourselves since he lived as one of us in His human form and can read the mind and heart because He is God.

As part of our recognizing all this, we do need to ask ourselves though, what do we focus on most in our daily lives? Are we still hung up on the petty vanities and desires of humanity – the money, position, and status that we are told is supposed to be so important if we wish to be considered successful? Or do we have enough functional knowledge, and more importantly functional desire, for our Lord, to pass those things by and take the way that leads us well off the beaten path, and into the seeming wilderness of true human love for fellow man that is capable of humbly serving others so that we fulfill the potential that each of our lives is meant for? We weren’t meant for spiritual suburbia; we were meant to strike out into the wilderness of the spirit and take the barely used paths that lead to salvation. We were meant to trade in giving our order at the local Starbucks for being happy to stoop down at a running stream to take our refreshment from there and then give thanks to our Lord for it. To be willing to kneel before others, and our Lord, so that we too can give of ourselves to the point that we have crushed any pretense of status or position and be fully satisfied to emulate our Lord in service to others. To travel about humbly yielding to others on the road and so demonstrate a new way of living to all, to trade in job satisfaction for life satisfaction in Christ, to take the time to spend in sharing the truths of our faith with our sons and daughters as a priority rather than an afterthought between commuting to their activities. These are the beginnings of the perfection we are each called to, and that goes completely against everything that this world has tried to engrain in us for the sake of our ruin. There is perfection only in the way of Christ, and that perfection comes at a cost, but it is one that once paid, will yield peace in this life, and hope for eternal life.   

Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-5jkp6-1107557

I am always moved on a very personal level by the readings we heard today. Perhaps that is because I have been very blessed in my life with meeting people who were true holders of wisdom, prudence, and selflessness. The interesting thing, is that the two greatest examples of this that come to my mind, were also people who would have been considered the poorest from a material standpoint. Not that this seemed to bother them much, because in both cases they seemed to thoroughly enjoy their wealth of caring for others and the affection of the many people they touched. Truly, they had discovered some of the wealth that our Lord saw as important, they grew rich by giving of themselves to those who needed it more.

When I was in grade school, I met the first of these individuals in the person of our school janitor, Mr. Wilson. He was a tall sturdily built man who walked with a quiet dignity and presence, whether he was strolling along the halls, or carrying a pail and mop. It made no difference to him that his job was considered menial by some and was perhaps not the most lucrative. You see, he had us kids who all looked up to him, and that seemed to be enough. Without exception, every child in our school thought Mr. Wilson was simply amazing because of the way that he carried himself as he worked and the caring for us that he displayed so often. He simply possessed a set of priorities that in retrospect seemed to transcend the more conventional definitions of success.

The second person that comes to mind is friend Andy, whom I worked with back in the early 90’s when I was first getting into the technology field. Andy was one of the technicians at our shop, and a good one, but that is not what made him stand out. In those days, computer techs didn’t make a lot of money, and since we were collectively thought of as nerds, didn’t really get much in the way of career admiration compared with the more upwardly mobile professions. Yet everyone that he encountered seemed to find him remarkable because they sensed a unique peace and humility that seemed to emanate from him. He was small of physical stature, but huge in persona, and was uniquely approachable by all. He never hesitated to take on the most unpleasant tasks and to help others wherever he could, even if that meant losing his own personal time or convenience. There is one day in particular that stands out for me in my memory. We had just had a huge snowfall the night before, and the air was bitterly cold and windy that morning, so much so that the snow was blowing around the parking lot in huge swirls. One of the junior techs was going into DC that day and needed help with some gear he was unfamiliar with, and Andy had planned to meet him there. The trouble was that his old car was not running properly, and I watched as he lay down in the blowing snow and proceeded to fix it that morning, so that he could still make it into town to help. That would have been a difficult task for anyone, but as I later learned, it was probably monumental for Andy, you see I found out later that he was suffering from AID’s and Hepatitis. This still never slowed down his enthusiasm to help, and to be of service to others, because I believe he found a loving bond with those around him through this service that sustained him. I can still remember one of the last times that I saw him before he died, sitting in our shop workroom helping out our bench techs after hours. By all rights he should have been home resting, but that was not what brought him joy.

There is peace and reward that comes to those who quietly and humbly serve others that cannot be measured in material wealth, and that does not mire us down with its attachment to temporal things. No anchor of wealth, no binding of the soul by being overly attached to the trappings of this world can bring true satisfaction. No inclination to compromise what we know to be right because of a need to obtain worldly praise or definition of success can bring us comfort. Through the true wisdom and prudence that transcends the temporal, the soul is free to cling more closely to our Lord when we escape the snares that try to attract and distract us. Contentment and peace which come from God become our reward here, and the promise of moving toward our heavenly home our reward in the true life that is to come.

Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-gngya-10fe2f2

When I first started to look at the readings for today, it was easy enough to tie together our first reading from Genesis, and our Gospel from Saint Mark, as they both dealt with the relationship between a man and a woman, and ultimately the union of marriage. Then I got to Saint Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, and its discussion of the suffering that Christ endured to be made perfect by the Father. It took finally dawned on me that this suffering actually ties into the earlier theme of marriage that I mentioned, but before I ruffle too many feathers with that comment, perhaps a bit of explanation is in order.

Every so often I get to see an older couple come to Church and celebrate their anniversary during the Mass, and it’s really awe inspiring to see the two of them standing there being honored and knowing all the ups and downs that they must both have endured over those many years. The looks shared between them bely a peace, strength, and dignity that can only come through shared trials, and leaning on one another to get through them. It’s the only way.

It was also the only way for our Lord to be made perfect, He had to share in the suffering that is part of humanity in order to become our perfect leader as both God and man. It would not have been possible for Him to represent us perfectly as our High Priest before God without this intimacy through suffering and living and dying as man.

It is appropriate therefore, that when we marry, we are part of covenant between three parties, not just the husband and wife, Jesus is also part of this covenant, and because of His presence within the covenant agreement, along with the intimate bond formed between man and woman, we consider it to be inviolable. That is why as Catholics we believe that a marriage is until the end of our earthly lives.

A marriage is a good model of the closeness we seek with Christ, and to hopefully draw closer to His perfection. In the course of any marriage, there will be trials and challenges that if endured, will draw a husband and wife closer to one another, and strengthen their bond of unselfish love. This is the same bond that we are called to share with Christ and with His children who are created in His image.

This is not to say that this kind of closeness and following of our Lord is reserved for married couples, the union between any man or woman and Christ can achieve the same spiritual intimacy, and the same fruits of that intimacy can manifest within the Church as we each serve our brothers and sisters in our own vocations. We are all called to intimacy with Christ, there are no exceptions, He desires and longs for each one of us. It is up to us to accept this invitation and to desire Him as well.

PodCast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-qv327-10f5046