The spiritual conversion we seek is to ask ourselves what is God's plan for me in 2020?

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

The life of Jesus begins with Mary at the Bethlehem crib.  Therefore it is most appropriate we begin the New Year with a Feast of Mary – Mary the Mother of God.

As a people of faith we gather on this New Year’s Day to honor Mary, the great woman of faith.  We are told, once again, how she used time…to treasure and reflect in her heart all that God had done for her and how God was giving direction to her life.  Her example should speak to us for we also need to take the time to treasure and reflect within our own hearts what God is doing and what God is calling us to do.

It’s the time of year when we roll out the old and bring in the new.  It’s the time for making new resolutions, new promises to ourselves.  We resolve to devote more time to family life; we resolve to work more efficiently; and we decide to become healthier by dieting and exercising.

Our resolutions are filled with our dreams and hopes and goals for the coming year.  But the question that the Scriptures today invite us to reflect on is:  What are God’s plan for us this year?  Instead of focusing on our resolutions for the New Year, may we be open to God’s resolutions for us this year.

This is such a fundamental spiritual conversion the Scriptures call us to.  How do we become more aware of God’s plan for us in 2020?  Instead of naming my resolutions for the coming year, I seek to listen to God’s resolutions for me this coming year.

There is no better model for us than Mary in opening ourselves to God’s plan for our lives.  We know at the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to be the mother of our Savior and Lord, Mary worked through her fear and confusion and said YES to God’s plan for her.  With such an inspiring faith, Mary spoke these powerful words:  “I am the handmaid of the Lord.  Be it done to me according to thy Word.”

Can we with Mary speak these words at the beginning of 2020:  “I am the servant of the Lord.  Be it done to me according to your word.”

In contrast to the frenzy of our celebrations on New Years’ Eve, Mary pondered in silence and stillness in the Bethlehem crib.  “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”

Mary pondered and wondered and discerned about all that had puzzled her in the message of the angels and in the gifts of the magi.  Yes, there was uncertainty and questions for Mary and Joseph as they pondered the messages given to them about their Son.  But her uncertainty about the messages given to her by the shepherds and the Magi did not keep her from reflecting and pondering about God’s plan for her life. 

To ponder means more than thinking, organizing, worrying, doing, procrastinating, scurrying, etc.  To ponder means that we pray with a faith-filled heart over the joys and the struggles and challenges of the day.  It means to meditate, quiet down and know we are surrounded by God’s unending love.  We give thanks for the blessings of the day.  May we commit ourselves again to imitating her openness to God’s will and her love for Christ and His Church.

If we want to celebrate Christmas Season as Mary did, we need to ponder this sign:  the frail simplicity of a tiny newborn child, the meekness with which he is placed in a manger, the tender affection with which he is wrapped in his swaddling clothes.  This is where God is.

What Mary pondered reveals a Gospel paradox.  The Gospel speaks of the emperor, the governor, the high and mighty of those times, yet God does not make himself present there.  He appears not in the splendor of a royal palace, but in the poverty of a stable; not in pomp and show, but in simplicity of life; not in power, but astonishing smallness.  In order to meet him, we need to go where he is.  We need to bow down, to humble ourselves, to make ourselves small.  The newborn Child challenges us.  We need to discover in the simplicity of the divine Child the peace, joy and the luminous meaning of life.

Jesus enters our life to give us His life; He comes into our world to give us His love.  In 2020  through the intercession of Mary, may we be challenged and called by Jesus.  Let us draw close to God who draws close to us.  Let us pause to gaze upon the crib, and relive in our imagination the birth of Jesus: light and peace, dire poverty and rejection.  With the shepherds, let us enter into the real Christmas, bringing to Jesus all that we are, our alienation, our unhealed wounds, our sins.  Then, in Jesus, we will enjoy the taste of the true spirit of Christmas:  the beauty of being loved by God.  With Mary and Joseph, let us pause before the manger, before Jesus who is born as bread for my life.

May the blessing that the Lord said to Moses be the blessing the Lord speaks to each of us:

The Lord bless and keep you.

The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.

Have a blessed day and a blessed New Year.

The mystery of Christmas celebrates that the power of God comes to us in a tiny infant.

CHRISTMAS 2019

Thanksgiving day is a special day for the Schwartz family.  56 of us gather at my brother John and Linda’s home.  After a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the many blessings we enjoy as a family, my brother John shared the announcement that went to the heart of the blessings of our family.  He announced with considerable joy that his daughter Jennifer was pregnant.  The gift of new life is our most precious family blessing.

With similar joy, one of the great blessings on my priesthood is the Sacrament of Baptism.  To experience and to share in the joy that parents have in the birth of their child celebrates again and again the miracle of God’s love in the lives of a family.  It changes dramatically the meaning and the way of life of young parents. Their child is now the center of their world.

The mystery of Christmas celebrates that the power of God comes to us in a tiny infant.

In one simple unassuming sentence, the Christmas mystery is revealed.  From the evangelist Luke:  “While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son.”  The power of God comes to us in a tiny infant.  God is with us in the Bethlehem infant born to Mary and Joseph.

This night of mystery had its origins on the darkened hills of Judea.  In the dark of night, an angel proclaimed to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid.  For behold, I proclaim to you good news of a great joy to be shared by all.  Today in David’s city, a Savior has been born to you who is Christ and Lord.  And this will be a sign for you; you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

“She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  No room in the inn is not simply a description of the housing situation in Bethlehem at the time.  It is a probing statement that is meant for us to continually reflect upon as we retell the Christmas story.

 And so, may I ask you what is the housing situation in the inn of your heart?   Is there room in the inn of our hearts for the birth of the Savior?    Is there room in the inn of your heart for the family member for whom you have difficulty getting along with?  Is there room in the inn of your heart for people who think differently than you -- politically, religiously, or in any way whatsoever?  Is there room in the inn of our hearts for Jesus who lives in the hearts of the poor, the immigrants, and children of all cultures and of all ways of life?

The mystery of Christmas happens for us when we connect the story of our lives with the story of Christmas.  Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus.  The Christmas message is the story of God’s unconditional love for us.  As his disciples we are to fill this world with many other stories that mirror and give witness to God’s love for us.  That is the meaning and wonder of the Incarnation.

Our exterior Christmas decorations are up and they are beautiful.  What about our interior Christmas decorations?  May we allow the peace of Christ to enter once again into our lives, calming all of our anxieties and filling us with all that is good.

Many of us support the theme to “Keep Christ in Christmas.”   This is a great idea as far as it goes, but it just doesn’t say enough.  What about Christ are we keeping in Christmas?  The fact of his birth?  That’s not enough.  We need also to keep in Christmas the humility and simplicity of his birth.  We need to keep in Christmas the message that all are welcome at the Bethlehem crib.  We need to keep in Christmas the compassion and love and joy and the light that shines through all the dark places of life.   

Christmas is not simply about Mary and Joseph and the baby.  It is about God becoming part of our daily struggle, transforming the world through us.  We are the people who walk in darkness – the darkness of sin, the darkness of war, the darkness of relationships that are broken, and the darkness of the threat of violence and terrorism.  How many people in our world today experience “no room in the inn” because of race, color, religion, gender, or sexuality?  What attitude and actions of ours communicate to people in need that there is no room for them in the inn of our hearts?  Do we ever in our parish life make people feel unwelcome and there is no room for them?  The message of Christmas is that Jesus comes for people in dark places.  The real, lasting and deep joy of Christmas is that light shines in the darkness.

 

You may be sure that to whatever area of our life we allow the Christ child to enter, the darkness recedes.  The mystery of Christmas is allowing the person of Jesus to enter the inn of our hearts.  It is an invitation to look at our present moment through a different lens, the mystery of the nativity of Jesus, the wonder of the Incarnation.  This new lens enables us to see a new and radiant vision, a light for people who walk in darkness.

The story of Bethlehem points to a vision of hope, one that relies not on the exercise of military power but an on appeal to the common instincts of the human heart.  These common instincts of the human heart are very spiritual – a spirit of peace, a spirit of joy, a spirit of family, a spirit of love, the spirit of Christmas.

In the inn of our own hearts, there is an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.  We are missioned to be the keepers of the mystery of Christmas – God is with us. We give birth to Christ when we allow the light that is within us to extend to our family, and our parish family, and to all of creation.

The meaning of Christmas is to be found in the presence of Jesus among us and in our love for one another.  This is the time to celebrate and strive for the ideals that are the best of who God calls us to be.  May God give you peace and may we share this peace with one and all.

May you cherish every moment and every person in your life.

Have a Blessed Day and Merry Christmas.

When we are in touch with our spiritual center, Advent waiting is characterized by joy and not impatience and by hope rather than anxiety.

Second Sunday of Advent A  2019

We light the second candle of the Advent season today.  The countdown to Christmas is moving on.  The media, and especially advertisements, remind us constantly that the time is drawing short.  Of course, the reminder is too often in terms of how many shopping days till Christmas.

Today’s Scripture readings give us a different point of view.  “John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’  It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:  A voice of one crying out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”

John’s message is direct and to the point.  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Repentance is a fundamental change of heart that results in abandoning sin and embracing God’s freely shared life and love.  John the Baptist had no trouble preaching about the reality of sin in our lives. 

To us who are still searching for the deepest truths of our lives, John the Baptist speaks to our spiritual journey.

Before we fast forward to the joy of Christmas, we need to repent.  Coming to terms with the gravity of our sinfulness and our need for repentance can be enlightening and life giving.  There is a school of thought that would like us to forget about the reality and even the possibility of sin.   John the Baptist did not belong to this school of thought.  John’s preaching challenged us to confront the demons of our lives.

We need to more aware of the wilderness that is in our lives and in our world.   We need to repent of all that keeps us from placing God at the center of our lives and in this Advent season we need to find our way back to God. 

The repentance we seek is a fundamental change of heart which results in leaving sin behind and embracing God’s freely shared life and love.  The prophet Isaiah promises that the Savior will usher in a new era of relationships.  Then the wolf shall be the guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together…There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain.  Woody Allen’s comment to this was:  The lamb and the wolf shall lie down together – but the lamb won’t get any sleep.’’

Could it be that we make this season so hectic that we haven’t got time to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ.  It is the spiritual wilderness that we live in -- a wilderness in which the spiritual dimension is too far underground.

May we use the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a way of letting go of the sinfulness of our lives, of experiencing repentance, of turning away from sinfulness?

Legend has it that there was an island in the Pacific Ocean with a monastery in which there were 1000 bells that produced the most beautiful sound on the face of the earth.  Regrettably there was a volcano sank the island into the ocean and the monastery with its beautiful bells ended up on the bottom on the ocean.

Legend has it that you could visit the neighboring island and if you listened very carefully, you could still hear the sound of the monastery’s bells.  So this adventuresome gentleman went on a two week vacation to this island with the hope of being able to hear the sound of the bells of the monastery.

So he went to the edge of the island at sunrise to listen for the bells.  But all he could hear was noise -- noise from the birds, noise of the ocean’s waves, and the noise of the strong winds.  For two weeks, each day he tried in vain to hear the bells of the monastery.  He was confronted by the distractions of the birds, the wind, and the waves.  At the end of the two weeks, just before he was to leave, he went to the edge of the island to say goodbye to the birds and to the ocean.  In saying goodbye, he listened to the sound of the birds rather than seeing them as a distraction.  Then something happened.  As he listened with a spirit of openness to the sound of the birds, he heard the sound of the first bell.  As he listened for the sound of the waves, he heard the sound of the second bell.  As he listened for the wind, he heard the third bell and then he heard the sound of all 1000 bells and the monastery became alive again.

The message here when we notice the beauty of all that is around us, we will come to be aware of our spiritual center.  We will put on the Lord Jesus Christ who in the mystery of the Incarnation became one of us.  The mystery of the Incarnation continues until this day in the humanness of daily life.

In this Advent season, may we know the mystery of the Incarnation in the beauty of Christmas trees, of candles that reveal the light of Christ overcomes all darkness, the meaning of gifts and presents, the joy of children, the joy of the parties and the family gatherings that are such a wonderful dimension of this festive season.  May we listen to the sound of our children in a way that we hear the mystery of God’s love that is in them.

When we are in touch with our spiritual center, Advent waiting is characterized by joy and not impatience and by hope rather than anxiety, for we know the One for whom we wait.

rrow we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception this.  Mary said:  “I am the servant of the Lord.  Be it done to me according to your Word.”

Mary is our example of John the Baptist’s call of repentance.  When Mary said yes to the plan of God for her life, she made the decision to live out God’s plan for her life, rather than providing for her security and comfort. 

Each year the church marks the season of Advent as a time to nourish hope in God’s kingdom.  During these four weeks, we open the Word of God to hear anew God’s dream.  Advent is a wonderful time of hope and trusting in God’s promise that a Savior will be born to us who is Christ the Lord.   But for us to make room in our hearts for the Savior, we must heed the call to repentance from John the Baptist.

Advent, like discipleship, calls us to firmer conversion and deeper commitment.  The spirituality of the Advent season calls us to repentance of all that keeps us from placing at the center of our lives.  When we embrace the call to repentance, we experience the joy, the beauty of the presence of Jesus in our lives and in our world.

Have a Blessed Day.

If you cannot recognize in another's face the face of your brother or sister, the darkness has not begun to lift, and the light has not yet come.

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT A 2019

So, Advent begins! A new liturgical year begins! A new Lectionary year begins anchored in the Gospel according to Matthew.

The theme of today’s Gospel can be summed in two words:  STAY AWAKE.

Stay Awake – we preachers like to give this good advice to you who listen to us.

In some ways, this Advent theme to stay awake is counterintuitive.  It doesn’t mean “don’t get any sleep.”  Stay awake is certainly not the advice parents give to children when it is time to go to bed.  Staying awake doesn’t mean setting your alarm clock to anticipate this major religious event of the coming of the Day of the Lord.  It can’t have this meaning as the Gospel tells us we do not know the day nor the hour.

To stay awake is to stay awake to the spiritual center that is within each one of us.  To stay awake is to pay attention to that which matters in life, paying attention to the relationships of our lives, paying attention to our relationship with God.  Within us, there is a deeper longing that never goes away.  It is the longing for love.  It is the longing to experience the mystery of God’s love in our life.

The scripture readings for the first Sunday of Advent always look to history’s end.  We look forward to the second coming of Christ.  We are to direct our minds to the Day of Judgment.  Today’s readings invite to focus on the end, not to emphasize our vulnerability but to remember where we are going.

The invitation of Advent is to remember our future so that it will transform our present.  As we look forward to the Second Coming of Christ at history’s end and the end of our lives, we are to stay awake in the present moment for the ways we encounter the Lord.

Thus, Advent is also about now, the present moment.  Stay awake.

In the Gospel, the evangelist Matthew sharpens our awareness that if we live our daily lives actively waiting for the Lord, we will not be caught off-guard when Jesus makes his appearance.  “For at the hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

We are getting better and better at protecting ourselves and our property from would-be intruders.  Does your home have a burglar alarm?   Our schools are becoming more and more vigilant in protecting our students from those who would harm them.  Getting on an airplane is becoming more and more of a security event to provide for our safety.  We spend millions, perhaps billions of dollars, for the Department of Homeland Security for the safety we seek to protect ourselves against unwelcome intruders who could come like a thief in the night.

The Advent season is our spiritual Department of Homeland Security to help us recognize the Lord in our midst coming at a time we least expect.  In fact, Advent is more that a season of four weeks.  Advent is a spiritual way of life lived in watchfulness to the God who comes – not just on Christmas but everyday.  The best way to get ready for the coming of the Lord is simply to be ready. 

We are to say awake – not just for the next crisis that may or may not appear in our lives.  We are to stay awake to the God who is relentlessly pursuing us in every situation and in every relationship of our lives.

On this Thanksgiving weekend, we gathered with family and celebrated the blessings of our family life.  Indeed, it is a precious God moment when we recognize the presence of our loving God in the life of each and every member of our family.  We affirm our family as our school of love. We are to stay awake as to the many ways God reveals himself to us in our family life.

I am blessed with a family of siblings, many nieces and nephews, even more grand nephews and grandnieces, and my niece Jennifer is pregnant and so we look forward to another precious gift of God to our family life.

I am also blessed in looking forward to coming to work each and every day as your pastor.  May all of us continue to stay awake to the many God reveals God’s self to us in our parish life and ministry.

We are not to bucket God’s presence to the heavens; rather, in the ups and downs of our daily life, may we experience the presence of God with us.  May we have an inner resource which speaks to us the mystery of God’s love that is within each one of us.

It goes without saying that the run-up to Christmas is a busy time.  We as a parish hesitate to schedule activities during the Advent season because everyone is too busy.  There are the Christmas cards, Christmas shopping, Christmas parties and decorating the Christmas tree.  There is nothing wrong with this Christmas run-up except that it is all consuming.  In fact, the demands of the Christmas season can be merciless.  There is always more to do and not enough time to do it.

Unfortunately, this busyness can put us asleep spiritually.  The rush of the season works against the message of the season.  It is what T. S. Eliot calls living and partly living.

I have heard the story of a wise old Rabbi who instructed his students by asking questions.  He asked: “How can a person tell when the darkness ends, and the day begins?”  After thinking for a moment, one student replied, “It is when there is enough light to see an animal in the distance and to know if it is a sheep or a goat.  Another student ventured, “It is when there is enough light to see a tree, and to tell whether it is a fig or an oak tree.

The old Rabbi gently said: “No, it is when you can look into a person’s face and recognize him as your brother.  For if you cannot recognize in another’s face the face of your brother or sister, the darkness has not begun to lift, and the light has not yet come.

As the old Rabbi suggests, we are to stay awake to the ways that indeed we are all brothers and sisters to each other.  In so doing, we are staying awake to the presence of the Lord in our midst.

God give you peace and have a Blessed Day.