Education without God is an incomplete education. Religion without our relationship with Jesus is an empty set of rules and regulations.

 

FOURTH SUNDAY IN OT  A  2023

 

Today’s Gospel are taken from the beginning of the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount – the oldest teaching of Jesus.  The Gospel Beatitudes are to shape our lives as the disciples of Jesus.  Further, they are to shape our life as a parish community.

 

The Gospel Beatitudes are to be the rule of our life. 

Jesus himself is the prime example of the Beatitudes in practice.  The blessings of the Beatitudes is how Jesus  lived His life.

The Beatitudes constitute a whole. They are eight aspects of Christian discipleship, the Jesus way of being human. There is a movement between the eight so that the full picture of the ideal human being unfolds gradually, one beatitude leading spontaneously to another, until we grasp the entire teaching in its complex harmony.

 

The first Beatitude:  Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.  As we poor in spirit, our lives are not exclusively focused on the dying and the rising of the Dow Jones.  Our lives are to be focused on the dying and the rising of Jesus.  There are many who build bigger barns for their surpluses, ignoring the Christian advice of St. Ambrose, who in the fifth century said that the place to store our surplus is in the mouths of the poor.

 

Jesus says we are to be poor in spirit.  That is, we are to acknowledge our radical dependence on God and place our trust in him. 

 

There is a story of a woman of AIDS.  She asked to be anointed by a priest.

 

“I am lost,” she told the priest.  There is no hope for me.  Even God has given up on me.”

 

The priest saw a framed picture of a pretty girl on the dresser. 

 

“Who is this?” he asked.  The woman brightened: “She is my daughter, the one beautiful thing in my life.” 

 

“And would you help her if she was in trouble, or made a mistake?  Would you forgive her?  Would you still love her?” 

 

“Of course, I would!”  cried the woman, “I would do anything for her!”

 

“Why do you ask such a question?  Because I want you to know,” said the priest, “that God has a picture of you on His dresser.”    He has that same love for you and more so than you have for your daughter.

 

Conversion happens when this woman experiences God’s love in her life. 

 

This too is the story of our conversion when we are in touch with God’s unconditional love for us.  The Beatitudes are to be read by people who have experienced conversion in their lives.

 

This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week in our parish and in our diocese.  To ask the question, what is the value of Catholic education? I strongly suggest that education without God is a radically incomplete education.  Further, religion without a relationship is just an empty set of rules and regulations. The Catholic identity of the education offered at St Joseph’s

School is for us to know God’s unconditional and unending love for us. In terms of the above story, of the woman dealing with AIDS, God has a picture of each of our students on His dresser.  There is a profound truth to this statement.

 

But as a people of faith, we need to experience the love of Jesus in our hearts.  We need to encounter the Lord. The purpose of faith formation at St Joseph’s School is to deepen our relationship with Jesus.

 

Each and every school day begins with prayer.  How important is this spiritual dimension of the educational process for your son or daughter?  How important is the gift of faith to our daily living.  Without question, we need to value the spiritual dimension of life.  We need to live lives filled with the blessings of the Beatitudes.

 

Let me also be clear that I highly value all our parish’s faith formation initiatives in which we form parishioners of all ages in the meaning of Christian discipleship.

 

 Today’s gospel is described by Pope Francis:  The Beatitudes are the new law of Christian discipleship. They highlight attitudes of the heart rather than just a set of rules to be followed.

We do not stay just with the words of Jesus. His life and teaching were a commentary on this sermon. Jesus invites us to watch how the sermon is lived out in his life. All the qualities – being poor in the spirit, able to mourn our losses and work for peace – are qualities of the human person. This is how we know our need for God, our need for each other. Even in his risen life he was the humble one who could listen to the doubts of his disciples and guide them to further faith, each in his or her own way.

The church is called to live these qualities, which lead us to the compassion of Jesus and to bring compassion in our lives.  Compassion and understanding come from listening deeply to others, especially their joys and sorrows.

Compassion also grows in prayer – by asking for it, and by watching the compassion of Jesus in his life.

Someone once said that ‘an ounce of compassion is worth a ton of exhortation.’ Marriage, friendship and family life are all enriched by the quality of compassionate listening.

 

 

 

 

Again, the value of St Joseph’s School is not just knowing about the words of Jesus.  It is the living out the actions of Jesus.  That each student is loved, is listened, and is call to grow after the mind and heart of Jesus.

At St Joseph’s School, more that learning strategies of how to deal with bullying in school, rather our students learn the Gospel way of living in which we love and respect each and every student.

 

 

The first Beatitude:  Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.  As we poor in spirit, our lives are not exclusively focused on the dying and the rising of the Dow Jones.  Our lives are to be focused on the dying and the rising of Jesus.  There are many who build bigger barns for their surpluses, ignoring the Christian advice of St. Ambrose, who in the fifth century said that the place to store our surplus is in the mouths of the poor.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the day of our Baptism, we receive the life of Christ Jesus.

 

 

Second Sunday of OT  A  2023

 

With this Sunday, we begin the Ordinary Time of the Church Year.  In the Liturgical cycle of year A, we focus on the Gospel of Matthew.  But you will notice today’s Gospel is from the Gospel of John.  The second Sunday of the Church Year is always from John’s Gospel.  At the beginning of the Ordinary Time, the Church in beginning with John’s Gospel wants to orient us with a brief vision of the broader mission of Jesus.  The ultimate mission of Jesus is his passion and resurrection which is symbolized in Jesus as the Lamb of God.  We are also given a moment for us to reflect on the meaning of our own baptism and what it means to be baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus.

 

As I mentioned, the Church begins with John’s Gospel to orient us to the broader mission of Jesus, the ultimate destiny of his passion-resurrection and also to challenge us to live out in daily discipleship the meaning of being baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection.

 

We need to remember our baptism.  Remember your baptism.    It was such an important moment in your journey of faith.

 

For me, my mom and dad, presumably with my older brother and sister brought me to Our Lady of Good Counsel on April 12, 1942. along with my godparents.  I was less than three weeks old.  Father Nolan who was the associate priest at Our Lady of Good Counsel at the time baptized me in a simple ceremony on Sunday afternoon.  As it happens, my mom and dad, the priest who baptized me, my god parents, and my older brother and sister are all deceased. But the grace and the meaning of my baptism is what still enlivens my spirit to this day.

 

In the waters of baptism, I received the life of Christ Jesus.  The words spoken to Jesus from his heavenly Father on the day of his baptism were also spoken to me by God the Father:  “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.  In baptism, I became God’s beloved; I was welcomed into the Church; I became a member of the Community of the Baptized; and I was given a sharing in the mission of Jesus to witness to the love of Jesus to one and all.

 

My first encounter with Jesus was at God’s initiative.  I was the recipient of the unconditional love of Jesus long before reaching the age of reason.  I was created by God, for God.  Understanding the grace and the truth of my baptism and realizing its meaning takes a long time, even a lifetime.  80 years later, I am still seeking to experience more fully the love of God that has continuously been given to me since the moment of my baptism.

 

Today’s first Scripture reading emphasizes that God has first recognized us.  From the first Scripture reading from the prophet Isaiah:  “I, the Lord, have called you.  I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you as a covenant of the people; a light for the nations.”

 

God has first loved us.

 

On the day of my First Communion, the day of Confirmation, the day I was ordained a priest 54 years ago, each time I celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, each time I celebrate the Eucharist, I deepen the life of Christ Jesus that I first received on April 12, 1942. on the day of my baptism.

 

It was my parents who made the decision for me to be baptized but with each sacrament I celebrate it is I who confirm the commitment to my discipleship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Who am I?  I am a child of God.  I am God’s beloved son.  I am a member of the community of the baptized as a Catholic.  I am missioned to proclaim and witness God’s love in the community in which I live.

 

I am also an ordained priest that further identifies the mission that I was given at baptism, but I would be quick to say we share much in common as respond to the question WHO AM I?

 

The identity we all share in baptism is huge.  We are God’s beloved; we are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus; and we all given the mission to witness to the mission of Jesus, to witness to the love of God in the world.

 

As we remember the Baptism of Jesus, may we also remember our own baptism.  Even more important, as a community of the baptized, may we missioned to witness to the love of Jesus in all that we say and do.

 

 

 Today’s Gospel speaks of recognition, faith-filled recognition -- recognizing the presence of Jesus in our midst.  John the Baptist affirms his recognition of Jesus:  “I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”  At what level do you recognize Jesus in our lives?  Do we call Jesus by name?  In what situations do we recognize Jesus?  My hunch is that in some situations we recognize Jesus and in other situations we do not recognize His presence.

 

Do we recognize the presence of Jesus in the mystery of the Eucharist we are now celebrating?   Will we recognize the presence of Jesus at our family dinner table today?  Do we recognize the presence of Jesus in whatever I am stressed out about today?  Do I recognize the presence of Jesus in the poor and the immigrants who need my help?

 

As we pray over today’s Gospel, we prayerfully ask how we recognize Jesus who is always present to us, and how do we, like John the Baptist, enable others to recognize Christ?

 

Indeed we are missioned to be John the Baptist in pointing out the presence of Christ to others.  Parents, it is your profound responsibility to help your children recognize the presence of Christ in good times and in bad.  As parishioners, we are missioned to reveal the presence of Christ to each other and to our community and in our world.  We ask for the grace to be John the Baptist for others.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

My hunch is that the Lord is placing a star in our life on this Epiphany day.

 

EPIPHANY 2023

“When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews saying, ‘we saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.’”

In celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany, may the story of the Epiphany be our story as well.  We are today’s magi who come to discover and encounter the Christ child.

The magi symbolize what is restless in the human spirt seeking for a greater depth of meaning and purpose in life.  They left behind what was comfortable and safe and took considerable risk in traveling to another country in search of the Lord.  The magi speak to our restless human spirit seeking to discover the spiritual meaning and longing for that which ultimately satisfies us.

May each of us be in touch with our restless human spirit that is looking for something more in our spiritual journey.  How is the Lord calling us to move beyond our comfort zone and follow a star that will lead us to that deeper relationship with Jesus that we seek?  The grace of Epiphany invites to come to know Jesus in a deeper relationship.

The magi come to the Lord bearing gifts.  In our epiphany story, what gifts do we bring to the Lord?  Much more that gold, frankincense, and myrrh, do we bring and give and share the best instincts of the human spirit:  do we give our love to the Lord, our joy, our compassion?  Do we give our very lives over the Lord?  Is it more important for us to give, rather than to take in our day to day living?

My hunch is that the Lord is placing a star in our life on this Epiphany Day that we are to follow.  That star may not be in the sky but possibly be the star that is in the heart of someone you are called to love and to help and to serve.  That star may be in the hearts of the poor who we are called to reach out to.

The star in our life, strange as it may seem, may be a struggle, a loss, a disappointment we have experienced.  The grace of this experience may make us realize that we are not fully in control of our lives; this star event may lead us to trust more fully in the hand of God for our lives.

 

 

 

Please note the sharp contrast between the Magi and King Herod in the Epiphany Gospel.   Herod sees the promised child as a threat. He is afraid the coming baby will crimp his style, will challenge his power and lower his status.

The Magi see the promised child as wonderful gift. They have humbled themselves to travel a great distance to a strange culture that speaks a different language, in order to embrace this baby who fulfills God's love.

Herod’s selfishness fueled by his fears leads to his downfall. The Magi's worship of the Christ child leads to the salvation of all the nations. Today more than two billion people call themselves Christians, in some way the result of the humility and the seeking spirit of the Magi.

We see the hostility of King Herod to the notion that he would have a rival to his kingship.  Moved by jealousy, he hatched a murderous plot that was foiled by the non-cooperation of the magi.

Before we simply reject the treachery of Herod, we need to acknowledge that there is a Herod within each of us that keeps from following Christ more fully.  What are the demons within us that make more self-centered than Christ-centered?  How radically do I share with those in need?  What keeps me from listening more fully to another’s point of view?  Do I make time for God in the way that I live?

Yes, we all need to confess that we are sinners, and there is a bit of King Herod in all of us.  But thanks be to God, the Bethlehem infant has come to be our Savior and Lord.  We seek the grace of allowing ourselves to be loved by the Christ child.

In our discipleship of the Lord Jesus, we are the magi – seeking to encounter the Lord Jesus more fully in our lives.  In seeking to encounter the Christ child, we come to a universal truth that brings great promise to us all.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s revealed that there no outsiders at the Bethlehem crib.  There was no racism.  All were welcome.  Jesus welcomed everyone – the ox and the ass, the shepherds and magi, poor and rich, the Jews and Gentiles.  He came for us all.  He would reject no one, as he would accept the unique gifts of each.  As we pray over this epiphany account, we too are to affirm that are no outsiders in our Church and in our world.  All are welcome.  We are to love our neighbor, no exceptions.

The magi did not come to the Bethlehem empty handed.  The Gospel tells us:  they opened their treasures.  Like the magi, each of us has a treasure to offer the Christ.  The prayerful question we should ask ourselves this Sunday is:  What is it?  What do we have to give?

Notice well, the magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they departed for their country by another way.  Of course, they would return by another route.  Their lives have been changed by their encounter with Jesus.  May we too with God’s grace have our lives changed by our encounter with Jesus.  We cannot go back to our old way of living -- with our fears, our anxieties, our addictions, our grudges, our pettiness.  We are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

A final thought: in the Christmas mystery it is not just the magi who are seekers.  God is a seeker.  We are sought by a God who has become one of us and who hunts us down with His love.  In the Epiphany mystery, we need to allow ourselves to be found by the love of the Christ child.

Have a Blessed Epiphany Day.

 

 

 

 

The life of Jesus begins with Mary at the Bethlehem crib. Therefore, it is most appropriate that we begin this New Year with the Feast of Mary.

 

New Year’s Day  2023

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.

We listen best when we make the effort to go to that quiet place to hear God speaking to us.  We take the side of God in the battle between hope and fear, between light and darkness.

 

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 2023:  “I am the servant of the Lord.  Be it done to me according to your word.”

In contrast to the usual frenzy of our celebrations on New Years’ Eve, Mary pondered in silence and stillness in the Bethlehem crib.  “Mary kept all these things, pondering on them in her heart.”  Her heart becomes the place of discovering Jesus, and who He truly is.

May we too ponder in our hearts who that child now born to us really is. 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.

 As Mary spent her life pondering the visible Word of God that was and is her Son, we too must ponder that Word in scripture, that Word in each other, that Word in the created world around us.  We too are asked to incarnate Jesus in our lives.

As we begin 2023, we ask for the grace to use the gift of time that is given in this New Year.  As we name our resolutions for the New Year, we get sense of how we wish to use the gift and what are our priorities for the year.

 

For myself, I hope to part with a few more pounds this year, to spend more time with family and friends, to live more fully with an attitude of gratitude, and to spend more time with the Lord in quiet prayer.

These are noble goals, are they not. 

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 is 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 2023?  Instead of naming my resolutions for the coming year, I seek to listen to God’s resolutions for me this coming year.

Reflecting on the Christmas mystery, imagine yourself as the inn keeper who decides if there is room in the inn of your heart for Jesus?  I invite you to ponder this resolution question again and again in 2023?  Does the way I live my life reflect there is room for Jesus within me.

Do I make time for daily prayer?  Is there is room in the inn of my heart for Jesus if I am too busy to pray even for a few minutes each day?

Do I have time to be present to my family, to friends, to neighbors?  Is there room in the inn of my heart for Jesus if I am too busy to be present and really listen to people?

Do I use and share the God-given talents and resources that I have to serve and minister in the lives of others?  Is there in the inn of my heart to serve Jesus as HE is discovered in the lives of those around us?

How do I make a difference in the lives of the poor and people in need both in our community and in our world?  Is there room in the inn of my heart for Jesus if I do not reach out in service to people in need?

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.”

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 Son of God was born as an outcast in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God.

 

CHRISTMAS 2022

 “Keep Christ in Christmas.”    This is a very familiar Christmas mantra.

My question for our prayer today is: “What about Christ are we keeping in Christmas?”  I suggest that Bethlehem crib is a school where Jesus chooses to teach a lot of lessons.

The first lesson Jesus teaches us that we need to keep in Christmas the humility and simplicity of his birth in the Bethlehem crib. It is not insignificant that the Son of God chooses to come into the world in a stable in the tiny town of Bethlehem.   Do our exterior Christmas decorations obscure how we are to discover the presence of Christ in our lives in 2022?   Do we pay as much attention to the simplicity of the Bethlehem crib as we do to the impressiveness of our Christmas trees?  Are we able to get in touch with the simple, the ordinary, the humble moments of our day and to know in that simplicity we will best discover the Bethlehem crib in our lives? 

Let us ask ourselves: can we accept God’s way of doing things? This is the challenge of Christmas: God reveals himself, but men and women fail to understand. He makes himself little in the eyes of the world, while we continue to seek grandeur in the eyes of the world, perhaps even in his name. God lowers himself and we try to become great. The Most High goes in search of shepherds, the unseen in our midst, and we look for visibility, to be seen. Jesus is born in order to serve, and we spend a lifetime pursuing success. God does not seek power and might; he asks for tender love and interior littleness. 

 

A second lesson:  we need to keep in Christmas the message that all are welcome at the Bethlehem crib.  What is the housing situation in the inn of your own heart?  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?    How many people in our world today experience “no room in the inn” because of race, color, religion, gender, or sexuality?  The Son of God was born an as an outcast in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God.

This Christmas, Jesus is still looking for shelter in your heart.

Third lesson:  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.  Keeping Christ in Christmas happens when we are to be immersed in the merciful love of Jesus.

It also means that Christmas is to be found in the presence of Jesus among us and in our love for one another.  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

The real meaning of Christmas is that God is with us.  In the inn of our own hearts, there is an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. 

Yes, we are celebrating the birth of Christ to Mary and Joseph in the Bethlehem crib.  But even the fact of celebrating his birth, is that enough?  As we celebrate Christmas in 2022, 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. Tonight, love has conquered fear; new hope has arrived.  God’s light has over the darkness.   Celebrating Keeping Christ in Christmas in welcoming the birth of Christ in the inn of our hearts in 2022.

It means also we need to keep in Christmas the compassion and love and joy and the light of Christ that shines through all the dark places of life, 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.   The message of Christmas is that Jesus comes for people like us in dark places.  The real, lasting, and deep joy of Christmas is that light shines in the darkness.

We recognize on this Holy Night that even after centuries of knowing Jesus Christ, our world still wanders in darkness.  Even after proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, our hearts are not yet converted completely to Him and our world even less so.  We humans are a broken people and each of us is broken.

Therefore, 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 Christmas mystery happens when we allow ourselves to be loved by God.

Let us return to Bethlehem.

Yes, we are to keep in Christ in all the ways we welcome God to become part of our daily struggle and to transform these struggles by allowing the love of God into our lives.   we need to keep Christ in Christmas in all the ways we communicate that all are welcome at the Bethlehem crib.  We are to love our neighbor, no exception.  We are to connect our story with the story of Christmas.  We are to keep Christ in Christmas through our faith-filled awareness that God is within us.  In the inn of our hearts, there is infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

 

 

Have a blessed Christmas day.

 

Doing it my way needs to give way to doing it God's way.

 

Fourth Sunday of Advent  A   2022

 

If I had the voice of Bing Crosby, I would begin this homily singing:  “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas just like the ones I used to know.”  Dreams are part of the wonder and awe of Christmas.  Part of the wonder and the awe of the Schwartz family at Christmas is that my mom and dad had convinced the six of us that we were very special and that on Christmas eve Santa Claus would bring our family Christmas tree down the chimney and decorate it and we would see it for the first time on Christmas morning.  Awe and wonder filled our Christmas dreams.

What are your dreams?   What are your Christmas dreams today?  On a grander scale we dream that there will be:

                        Peace on earth.

                        Peace in our lives.

 

In the Gospel today, Joseph was a dreamer.  “The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.  She will bear a Son and you are to name him Jesus.’’

Joseph thought this dream could become a nightmare for initially he was going to divorce her quietly not knowing how her Son was conceived.

The angel of the Lord said to Joseph:  “Do not be afraid.”

God has a dream too.  God has a dream for the world.

                                    That the poor are fed

                                    Justice is experienced by all people.

                                    The unborn are treasured.

                                    The elderly are protected.

 

The Scriptures tell us that Joseph was a righteous man.  That meant he was “law-abiding.”  Tell me what the rules are, and I will be a faithful rule keeper.  The laws in Joseph’s time were very strict.  If you found out that the woman you were engaged to was pregnant and you were not the other party to the pregnancy, you were to cancel the engagement, and the woman might be stoned to death.  Did I mention that the laws in Joseph’s time were quite strict!

With a compassionate heart, Joseph was unwilling to expose Mary to shame, and so he wanted to divorce her quietly.

It was then that the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: “Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”

“When Joseph awoke from the dream, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do.”

In a word, Joseph did it God’s ways.  Unlike Frank Sinatra who prided himself “that I did it my way.”  Joseph chose to do it God’s ways.

It is worth reflecting on the discernment-conversion process that took place in Joseph and then to wonder how and if we are to model this discernment in our own lives.

  Joseph’s dream is God’s dream for us all. It is of the child who will save all people, who is Emmanuel, God with all of us.

God has a dream for you.  That you will experience in the inn of your heart the birth of the Savior this Christmas.   God has a dream that we will speak the language of love to one another.

The Buddha website says: Never give up on your dreams: ‘If you work hard enough and do all of the necessary planning, you can achieve any goal that you set yourself.’

Joseph’s dream is God’s dream for his life.    Joseph’s dream is of pure gift. It is realized in a child who offers us everything, for free.

Like Joseph, we need to be open to the mystery of life, however life challenges us and calls us.  True religion is open to mystery.  We need a Church lit with the light of God, as Joseph was.  His burden was lifted when he was open to God, to take Mary home as his wife, no matter what others might think.

Pope Francis has captured the imagination of the world and breathed new life into the Church as he has extended the compassionate love of Jesus to one and all.  For Pope Francis, more than keeping rules, we are to be faithful to the commandment of love that Jesus has given us.

Going back to the Gospel, the angel of the Lord led Joseph to be open to God’s plan for his life.

How does that play out in our lives?  When does "doing it my way” need to give way to “doing it God’s way,” even when this requires us to trust in God’s grace for us?

 How do you share your unconditional love for your children and the merciful love of Jesus for your children even when they are not keeping the rules you would like them to keep?  Are all of your children and grandchildren and extended family members going to Church Sunday after Sunday after Sunday?  So, with the mantra of seeking to do it God’s way, how do we witness to the love of Jesus in the lives of all your family members?

What would be an example of letting go of my way in order to be open to God’s plan for us?  This was the life and commitment of Joseph in today’s Gospel?    When did or do have you have deal will illness in your life or someone you love, when you have to deal with death in the life of someone you love, how is it for you when you need to let go of your children in their growth and development process, and what happens for you when someone you love betrays your trust?

For me, the two great teachers of God’s plan are found either in love or pain or both.

What I do know for myself and for you is that God has a plan for us.  The problem is that sometimes God’s plan doesn’t look like a gift we like to receive.  It requires far more trust to accept what God gives that what Santa gives.   May we pray for the openness to listen with a trusting heart and then to live out God’s plan for us.  Doing it “my way” needs to give way to “doing it God’s way.”

Have a blessed day.

Before we fast forward to the joy of Christmas, we need to repent.

 

Second Sunday of Advent  A  2022

We light the second candle of the Advent season today. 

In the first Scripture reading, 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.

In my way of thinking, the lamb and the wolf shall lie down together – but the lamb won’t get any sleep.

We haven’t yet arrived on the Lord’s holy mountain in which there will be no harm or ruin.  This points to the need and the meaning of the Advent season.

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 is clear and direct: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.”  There is passion in the words of John the Baptist; not the passion about the number of shopping days left but a passion about us preparing for the coming of the Lord into our hearts and our world.  The passion of John was a call to repentance.

In today’s Gospel, we are to enroll in the school of John the Baptist, hear his message and put it into action.  John the Baptist is our model for advent preparation preaching a baptism of repentance.  John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness to give us a wake-up call.  Before we fast forward to the joy of Christmas, we need to repent.

 

What does this say about the human condition?  Do we really need to hear the call to repentance in this advent season?  In truth, all of us are flawed pilgrims on a journey through life, doing our heartfelt best to love God and neighbor.

The Advent question I have for myself and for all of us is do we have the passion of John the Baptist in recognizing our need for repentance and conversion in our lives?  What are the habits, the addictions, the sinfulness that we need to confess?  Humbly may we seek the grace of God to help us leave behind all that keeps us from putting Christ at the center of our lives.  All of us, including and especially myself, need to seek the conversion of our lives whereby God is our true North Star in all we say and do.

We need to more aware of the wilderness that is in our lives and in our world.

 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.  Advent has more to offer us, however, than that.  Advent has a Savior for us.  Beyond our own efforts to recognize sin and failure in our lives, beyond our confessions and admissions that lead us to repent, Advent presents us with what we truly need – a Savior.  For if we’re honest with ourselves we will admit that we cannot deal with sin, repentance, and conversion all on our own.  We can’t manage our lives all by ourselves.

The Advent season calls us to be a disciple of Jesus.  He is the true teacher, the authentic “life coach,” the personal mentor we ought to seek.  We seek to revisit the meaning of our baptismal vocation to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus.

I invite you to consider the first three steps of the famous Twelve Steps in Alcoholic Anonymous.   Of the twelve, the first three are the most vital and critical.  They deal with what John the Baptist is talking about in the call to repentance.  So, substituting the word sin for the word alcohol the steps are:

1 – We admit we are powerless over sin – that our lives have become unmanageable.  As Pope Francis himself acknowledges very freely, we confess that we are all sinners.  We need more than what our will power provides us.  The truth of our lives is that we are not lone rangers.  Left to ourselves, we become entangled in demons that keep us from placing Christ at the center of our lives.

2 – Came to believe in a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.  That power is the merciful love of Jesus of which we are the generous recipients.  May we all value the grace offered to us in the sacrament of reconciliation.  May this Advent be all about our journey back to God.

3 – Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand him.   God’s grace is freely offered to each and every one of us, but we need to make the decision to say yes to the plan for our lives.  We have the wonderful example of Mary who we celebrate in a special way on 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. 

In our Catholic liturgical tradition, we are richly blessed in our sacramental life.  God still illumines our eyes through the light of baptism.  God still opens our ears through His Word.  God frees from what holds us bound in reconciliation.  God feeds us at the table of the Eucharist.  In these ways and many others, we come to experience something of God’s vision for us, and we are empowered to take that vision into the world through acts of justice and mercy.

Advent, like discipleship, calls us to firmer conversion and deeper commitment. It calls us also, and in equal measure, to Christ-like compassion even as we extend God’s mercy to all.  May God give you peace.