My our commitment to a life of stewardship not be a burden, but rather an opportunity to serve and make a difference our parish life.

Sister Jodie Kearney was telling the story of her giving spiritual direction to a woman who had had a rough childhood – considerable family issues and some abuse.  This person happened to be a student of St Joseph’s school in her elementary years.  When Sister Jodie asked how she made it through her difficult childhood, she said that each morning on the way to school, when she turned the corner, she saw her classroom light on.  Then she knew all would be well.  She experienced at St Joseph’s school the strength, the faith, and the love that helped her become the woman she is today.

To me this such a telling story of the value of St. Joseph’s School.

The education of our children involves more than reading, writing, and arithmetic.  The education of our youth involves touching into the spiritual hunger and thirst for faith, hope, and love that enables then to value the spiritual dimension of life and a source of their inner self-esteem.

In the first Scripture reading today from the prophet Isaiah as well as from today’s Gospel, we read:  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”  The light referred to is not just the light from an electric light bulb; rather the light we seek is the light of our faith, the light of the person of Jesus.

We are grateful for the light of Christ that illumines all that we do.  This is true at St Joseph’s School, and it is equally in all the ministries of our parish life.

In today’s Gospel, we reflect on the call of the first disciples – Peter and Andrew, James and John.  “Come after me.”  Jesus speaks these words to Peter, Andrew, James and John.  He speaks that same invitation to you and me.  The first disciples left behind their fishing nets and followed Jesus.  As we reflect on the call of the first disciples and how they left everything with no strings attached, we are invited to reflect on the call of God in our lives.  The disciples embraced the mission of teaching others what they have learned from Jesus.  The disciples are being called to become conscious of a deeper dimension of life, the spiritual sea in which all people swim.

In considering the call of the first followers of Jesus, we find the opportunity for rethinking and reclaiming the varied calls that have made us who we are.

Jesus’ inaugural address to the apostles was rather brief:  “Follow me.”

In choosing Peter and Andrew and James and John, Jesus wasn’t choosing the best and the brightest, but Jesus was developing a team, a team that he would collaborate with.  The first apostles trusted completely in the Lord and were willing to leave everything to follow Jesus.

As we reflect on the call of the first apostles, this leads us to pray over the call each of us receives to be a disciple of Jesus.  In asking ourselves what our level of commitment to follow Jesus is, I share Pope Francis' dream. I dream that we will give Jesus first place in our lives. That we will hear him say, "Follow me." And that we will do our part in gathering God’s people together as the faith community of St. Joseph’s: including those who have become discouraged, those who have drifted from the faith, and families with small children, high school students and young adults.

Today we celebrate in our parish Stewardship Commitment Sunday.  Our spirituality of stewardship calls us to a deeper awareness of how we respond to the call of God in our lives.  Our commitment to stewardship is holistic and all-embracing.  This includes a stewardship of time, a stewardship of talent, and a stewardship of treasure.

Our stewardship of time is our prayer life.   Our prayer is our conversation with God in which we speak to God from our hearts and, even more, we listen to God’s call and God’s plan for our life.  In our stewardship of time, we live life with an attitude of gratitude thanking God for the blessings of life.  We also confess that we are sinners who stand in need of the healing forgiveness of God.

Our stewardship of talents calls to use our God-given talents in the service of others and for the building up of our faith community.  More than volunteers who help out with our parish ministries, we are stewards who are missioned by Christ to serve, to help, and to love others.

Our stewardship of treasure calls to share from our financial resources for the building of our parish life.  It’s not heresy to say that our check book is part of our spirituality.  My prayer is that sharing is not a burden but an opportunity to serve and make a difference in our parish.  I intend to increase my tithing this year as I very much believe in the mission of St Joseph’s School and in the mission and the ministry of our parish.

On a practical note, we invite you to place your commitment card that you received in the mail in the collection today.  There is only one collection; so place the commitment card and your offering in the collection.  If you have forgotten to bring your commitment card with you; not to worry, there are extras in the pew and we will give you a couple of minutes after the homily to fill out the stewardship commitment card.

Be assured that your stewardship commitment is not a legal contract.   If your financial circumstances change, you are welcome to alter your level of giving.  Your commitment is your response to the call of God in your life. 

I bring you back to the woman who was receiving spiritual direction from Sister Jodie and was describing her rough childhood.  She as a child was a student at St. Joseph’s School.   When Sister Jodie asked how she made it through her difficult childhood, she said that each morning on the way to school, when she turned the corner, she saw her classroom light on.  Then she knew all would be well.

When we experience the love and compassion of others, when we experience and are in touch with the spiritual dimension of our lives, when we embrace the light of Christ and allow ourselves to be loved by our God, we will always know that all will be well, very, very well.

Have a blessed day and we will pause for a couple of minutes to fill out the commitments if you wish.

Like John the Baptist, how do we help others recognize the presence of Christ in their lives?

SECOND SUNDAY OF OT A 2020

As I look out on you today, I’m aware we know each other on various levels.  You who are with family members obviously know each other very well.  You who sit in the same pew each week often know the parishioners immediately around you.  I know the names of many of you as we have shared ministries and life experiences and friendship with each other.  I must confess I recognize almost all of you but unfortunately I don’t know everyone’s name.

The more time I am privileged to serve as your pastor gives me the opportunity for greater recognition.  The greater recognition comes from more experiences we share in common.  I always value the opportunity of getting to know you better.

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.

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?

As important as these two questions are, we need to be immersed in the prior issue that God has 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.”

The Gospel recounts the Baptism of Jesus in the Gospel of John.  The Baptism of the Lord invites us to reflect on the meaning of our Baptism.  In baptism, God has first recognized us.  God has graced us.  We are a people loved by our God even before we recognize Christ in our lives.  God has first loved us.

As we are steeped in the awareness of God’s love for us, we ask ourselves how do we recognize Christ in our lives?

How do we help each other to recognize the presence of Christ Jesus in our lives?  We are to be John the Baptist for each other – to point the way to recognize the presence of Jesus.

As it happens, I have presided at four funeral liturgies  parishioners this past week – Don Maggio, Joan Montgomery, Marjorie Edmeston, and Bob Burns.  I was inspired by their family members that even in their immense grief, they trusted that their love ones were with God and experiencing the fullness of God’s eternal life.  They helped me believe in the profound truth that in dying we are born to eternal life.

I am inspired by you as you live out a spirituality of stewardship in living out your discipleship of Christ Jesus.—a stewardship of time, talent and treasure.  Our stewardship of time leads us to a life of prayerfulness in which we live life with an attitude of gratitude, aware that the blessings of our lives are a gift of God.  Our prayer is our conversation with God as we listen and are open to God’s plan for our lives. May we even value silence in the way we pray and still ourselves in God’s presence.  In the words of the psalmist:  “Be still and know that I am God.”

A stewardship of talent affirms our commitment to use our God given talents in the service and love of one another. We are at our best as a parish community when we are proactive in our service and sharing with one another.

Our stewardship of treasure in which we share from our financial resources for the building of our parish ministries. Yes, our check book is part of our spirituality.  What we do what we have speaks volumes our discipleship of Jesus. For example, we are at 99% of our CMA goal of $230,000 to serve the needs of our diocese.  That is a testament to our generosity. 

Next weekend is our Stewardship Commitment Sunday in which we ask you to place in the second collection the stewardship commitment card you received in the mail this week.  May our giving not be a burden but an opportunity to serve and make a difference in our parish life.   As we have been the recipients of the generosity of parishioners who have preceded us, may we do our part in witnessing to the love of God in all the ways we share ourselves with each other.

The nation is about to celebrate the birthday of a national hero – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  On Monday, we celebrate the liberation of our whole nation from our enslavement to injustice, prejudice, and hate.  We must confess that King’s dream “we are free at last” has not been fully realized but Monday’s observance will help us keep hope alive.  In the words of Dr. King’s constant message:  “There is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.”

We need to recommit ourselves to God’s original plan in creation.  We have a solidarity with all people.  In the deepest sense, there are no foreigners and immigrants among us.  We are all God’s people.  We are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

As we prayer over the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, as we celebrate the grace of our baptism – that grace which is lifelong and forever, as we anticipate our participation in Stewardship Commitment Sunday next weekend, may the memorable words of Dr. King inspire our faith journey:  “There is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.”  In fact knowing that the spirit of Jesus is still very much our spiritual center, that the baptismal grace of God’s love still enlivens our spirit, the hope of a brighter tomorrow is God’s promise to us.

Have a Blessed Day.

When the song of the angels is stilled, when the shepherds have returned to their flock, when the Christmas decorations are put away, the work of Christmas begins: to bring peace among people and to make music in the heart.

BAPTISM OF THE LORD  A  2020

When the song of the angels at Bethlehem is stilled, when the star in the sky that guided the magi is gone, when the magi have returned to the East, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins:  to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among people and to make music in the heart.

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord which we celebrate today concludes the Christmas season.  The Baptism of the Lord and our own baptism as well reminds that the gift of the Christmas season remains with us every day of our lives.  Jesus, the beloved Son of God, came to earth to save all people from sin and to show us the way to the Father.

Today’s feast celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.   As Jesus was baptized, the Spirit, like a dove, descended upon Him.  And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  His baptismal identity was that He was the Father’s beloved Son.  His baptismal mission was to teach, to heal, to forgive, to love, to save us from our sins, and to give us share in His Risen Life.  In the Lord’s baptism his identity and mission were given.  The meaning of the Christmas season began at the Bethlehem crib but the grace and meaning of the Lord’s Christmas gift to us is lifelong and forever.

This feast invites us to see the connection between the Baptism of Jesus and our own baptism.  In our Baptism, we too become God’s beloved son and God’s beloved daughter in whom the Father is well pleased.  Such an incredible grace we receive in Baptism, and the grace of Baptism is lifelong.  In the spiritual journey of each of us, we need to ask ourselves the question:  Do we claim our own baptismal identity as a beloved child of God?   When I am stressed out, when I am fearful and a bit anxious, am I claiming my baptismal identity as God’s beloved?   The words spoken to Jesus are words that are spoken to us as part of our baptismal identity.

May you hear this day and every day these words spoken to you by our loving God: “This is my beloved son, this is my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased.”  These are spoken not because of our worthiness; rather these words are spoken because of God’s unconditional love for us.  May you always be able to recognize this voice of God in your life.

Now it is true that throughout all our lives, a cacophony of voices will attempt to drown our attentiveness to the voice of God.  There’s the voice of Wall Street calling us to find our security in stocks, bonds and mutual funds.  There’s the voice of Madison Avenue alerting us to unnecessary needs and undue desires.  There’s the voice of Rodeo Drive warning us not to be out of style, and the voice of Broadway luring us to the superficial aspects of contemporary entertainment.

Amid the clamor of all these voices, it may be difficult to hear the voice of God and grasp the hand of God.  Nevertheless, that voice and that hand are ever near, and God’s grace is ever at the ready to keep our hearing acute and our understanding full and clear.  The question for our prayerful reflection this day is: Whose voice will you listen to?  Whose is the hand you will grasp?

In today’s Gospel, after the baptism of Jesus, a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son: with you I am well pleased.”    As we pray over these words, may we ask ourselves:  What actions of ours this past week is our heavenly Father well pleased with?

The grace of baptism is lifelong.  We are always and forever the community of the baptized.  We are always and forever missioned to give witness to the love of Jesus in our lives.  A sobering, accountability question to be asked of each of us is:  Would we be convicted in a court of law for being Christian?  Is it obvious by the way we live our lives that we are the disciples of Jesus?  Is it obvious by how we live that we believe that love is the first requirement of being a Christian?

 May we pay attention to both our baptismal identity and to our baptismal mission.  What is our baptismal mission?  Your baptismal mission is to serve the needs of one another.   It is in our love for one another that we become more aware that God remains in us.  This baptismal mission very much embraces a life and spirituality of stewardship.

In a spirituality of stewardship, we are to share of our time, of our talent, and or out treasure in carrying the mission of the Church – in our love for one another, in our service of people, and in leading all people to encounter Christ more deeply in their lives.

Next weekend is our stewardship commitment Sunday relative to the stewardship of treasure.  You will receive in the mail this week a brochure and a stewardship commitment card.  We ask that you pray over your tithing commitment to the parish in 2020.  Then there will a special collection next weekend in which we ask you to return your commitment card.  I intend to use this opportunity to increase my tithing to the parish.  If you are able to increase your tithing, your generosity will be greatly blessed.  Equally, if you are not able to increase your tithing, you will still be very much blessed as God’s beloved.  No matter at what level you are able to give, we ask that you return the commitment card as we seek 100% commitment from our parish.

At his baptism, Jesus experienced divine love with new intensity; he responded to that gift with such fierce passion that his subsequent life and death transformed the world.  At our Baptism, perhaps many moons ago, we too experienced divine love – a grace that goes with us to this day and always.  May we too embrace our baptismal mission and a spirituality of stewardship that transforms the vibrancy of our parish life.

Our baptismal mission is to keep alive the gift of Christmas always and forever.

When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the magi have returned to the East, when the shepherds are back their flocks, when the Christmas decorations are put away, the work of Christmas begins:  to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among people, and to make music in the heart.

Have a Blessed Day.

We are today's Magi who come to discover and encounter the Christ child.

EPIPHANY  2020  

“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?

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 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.

As a parish community, that star may be in the ways the Lord is calling to collaborate with St Joseph’s so that each parish community can help each other discover the Lord more fully in our lives.

We are also left wondering why we as a Church have failed to be the star that brings more people into our pews.  We all know many former Catholics even family members who no longer belong to the Church.

Can this lead us to reflect on the sharp contrast between the Magi and King Herod in the Epiphany Gospel.   Herod sees the promised child as a threat. He's 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've 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 2 billion people call themselves Christians, in some way the result of the humility and the seeking spirit of the Magi.

The role of King Herod in the Epiphany story symbolizes for us is that we need to expect opposition in the spiritual journey at times.  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.

As we celebrate this beautiful feast of the Epiphany, we seek the grace to leave behind the Herod that is within us and to put on the humble seeking spirit of the magi as we discover and encounter the Lord more fully in our lives, as we seek to deepen our relationship with the Lord Jesus.  Some of these seekers are men and women at the end of their rope, longing for deliverance from poverty, some addiction, human trafficking, mental illness, war, violence, or injustice.  Some are seekers of another sort, seeking a life worth living, a life with meaning and depth with purpose and love.

In our discipleship of the Lord Jesus, we are the magi – seeking to encounter the Lord Jesus more fully in our lives.

May I suggest in 2020 we seek to deepen our relationship with Jesus – by taking time each day to pause, to reflect, to ponder, to pray in gratitude that we are continuously recipients of the merciful love of Jesus.  We are the recipients of the merciful love both in the joys and the challenges of each and every day.

May we in 2020 be conscious of the simplicity of the Bethlehem crib as the way the God of the universe chose to reveal Himself to us in the Bethlehem infant and we welcome the magi into the inn of our hearts.  Who are the magi?  They may the strangers whom we meet this coming year who have followed a star in search of the Christ child that is within each of us.  May we welcome that strangers with the hospitality that the magi received at the Bethlehem crib.

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.

Have a Blessed Epiphany Day.

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.