THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

3 JANUARY 2021

 

          When the Prophet Isaiah writes to his people, he knows that they are in a very dark place.  Their excitement about being freed from captivity in Babylon has vanished.  Instead, they find themselves in the ruins of the temple and Jerusalem on Mount Zion with an impossible task of rebuilding.  In the midst of this darkness, Isaiah tells them to rise up in splendor.  “Your light has come,” he tells them, “and the glory of the Lord shines upon you.”  He says that this light of God’s presence is not confined to the residents of Jerusalem and Judah alone.  This light will be manifested as a beacon to draw all people to emerge from the thick clouds that cover them and be drawn to God’s presence in his temple and in his holy city. 

            Saint Matthew sees this promise fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ.  Like a shining star, his birth brings light to a people dwelling in the darkness of a harsh Roman occupation.  They have to endure the cruel rule of the narcissistic King Herod whose insecurity brings him to eliminate anyone whom he perceives to be a threat to him (even his children).  The dynasty of David has disappeared long ago.  Their hopes for a new messiah in his lineage have been plunged into darkness.

            The light of the Savior’s birth draws pagan astrologers from the east to Jerusalem, much as Isaiah had promised.  Ironically, those who are blessed with revelation from Sacred Scripture choose to ignore this manifestation of the Lord’s glory.  King Herod is threatened by the news of a new born king and sends the magi to find the child so that he can kill him.  Herod sets the tone in Matthew’s Gospel with so many religious authorities turning against Jesus, while pagans and foreigners are drawn to him.

            Saint Peter Chrysologus, the fifth century Bishop of Ravenna, says best what they find:  “Today the Magi find crying in a manger the one they have followed as he shone in the sky.  Today the Magi see clearly, in swaddling clothes, the one they have long awaited as he lay hidden among the stars.  Today the Magi gaze in deep wonder at what they have seen:  heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, and one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body.  As they look, they believe and do not question, as their symbolic gifts bear witness:  incense for God, gold for a king, myrrh for one who is to die.”  Saint Matthew tells us that they departed for their country by another way, indicating that they have been transformed by this manifestation of the Lord’s presence.

            The Magi teach us how to recognize the manifestation of the Lord today.  In the Eucharist, we see with the eyes of our bodies what appears to be only bread and wine.  But we know through the eyes of faith that this is the very body and blood of the Lord.  Like the Magi, we kneel before this real presence and bring our own gifts – not gold and frankincense and myrrh, but the gifts of our hearts in praise and thanksgiving.

            Formed by this manifestation of the Lord’s presence, we can recognize how the Lord manifests himself to us, even in the darkness of this strange last year and in this New Year.  The Lord manifests himself in ways that we might expect, and also in ways that will surprise us.  Because everyone in my immediate family could not gather this year, our seminarians living with us in the rectory clearly manifested the Lord’s presence and hope to Fr. Mike, Fr. Nathan, and me.  Even though they are on break, they have given themselves in humble service to the parish.  They have prayed with us, cooked with us, and laughed together with us.  We have become radiant in what we are seeing.  Be sure to look around and see similar manifestations in your own lives, especially if you have not expected them.

 

MARY, THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

1 JANUARY 2021

 

          When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she had been chosen to be the Mother of God, he told her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”  We can only speculate how Mary felt when she faced the consequences of her humble acceptance of that message.  Did she feel highly favored when she had to face the scorn of her neighbors in Nazareth for being pregnant before marriage?  How did she feel when she had to give birth to her child in a smelly stable, or when she and Joseph had to become exiles in Egypt, or even three decades later when she would see her son executed among thieves before a jeering crowd?  Although she certainly could not have felt blessed in these difficult times, she trusted the angel and maintained her firm faith that she truly was blessed:  full of grace.

            Her ancestors in the desert were also favored by God, but they were not without sin.  God had freed them from captivity and chose Moses to lead them through the desert.  When they were confronted with hardships and dangers, they complained and sought blessings from other gods.  That is why Moses reminds them in the first reading that they are truly blessed, truly favored by God’s action in their lives.

            Mary needs no reminder.  Despite the obstacles thrown into her path, she remains mindful of being blessed by God.  She sees through the darkness to trust the angel’s message.  Mary keeps this focus, because she keeps all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.

            We are more like the ancestors of Mary than we care to admit.  Even though we are truly blessed by being baptized into the Lord Jesus Christ, we can lose hope and turn to other sources of comfort and consolation.  As we conclude the Octave of Christmas today, Mary invites us to renew our faith in the Incarnation, the Mystery of God taking on human flesh.  If God can come amid the shame and straw in a place smelling of dung, then God can come everywhere.  This Mystery does not end with this Solemnity.  God continues to dwell in our midst.

            Mary teaches us how to maintain this faith without getting discouraged.  Like Mary, we must keep all these things in our hearts.  That can be difficult in an era of instant communication and twenty-four hour news coverage.  We need to resist the temptations of responding immediately to Facebook and Twitter.  We need to be sure to separate the truth from so many allegations.  Like Mary, we must reflect on our lives in prayer, not responding immediately to the latest “breaking news,” but reflecting on the events of our lives in our hearts. For months now, we have been asking Mary’s intercession as we face the darkness and uncertainty of this pandemic.  As we enter into this New Year, she will not abandon us, as she shows us how to hope in the Nativity of her Son.  This year is the “Year of Prayer” at Saint Pius.  With prayer, we can see through the darkness to trust that we are blessed by God.

 

 

THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH

27 DECEMBER 2020

 

          In the Gospel, the focus is on Jesus.  Joseph and Mary recognize their son as a gift to them.  But they also regard him as a gift to God and the community.  That is why they present him in the temple.  Too poor to offer the sacrifice of a lamb, they bring two young pigeons to signify the sacrifices they will make to allow their child to grow up to do the will of his Father. 

            Mary and Joseph are not alone.  They are joined by Simeon and Anna.  Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Simeon speaks about the child in contrast to the silence of the shepherds. He gives thanks to God that he has been blessed to live long enough to see the Savior.  He also speaks of the mission of the Savior and the swords that will pierce his mother when her child will allow himself to be sacrificed out of love.  Anna is the old faithful widow who also gives thanks.

We speak of our church as a teaching church.  The Sagrada Familia Church in Spain can teach us about what it means to be a holy family.  From a distance, the four main towers look like giant sandcastles on the beach.  But as you get closer, you discover that they are spindle-shaped, mind-bending masterpieces. Designed by Antoni Gaudi, it has been under construction for more than 135 years.  He labored over this church for 43 years.  During the last 12 years, he focused on nothing else.  In a real sense, he sacrificed his life to the project.  He was killed in a streetcar accident in 1926, as he was walking to the job site.  Gaudi gave his all to God, or at least to the Holy Family, which is what the Spanish phrase “Sagrada Familia” means.  The Church has recognized his holiness, and his cause is being considered for canonization.

            Except for the interruption of work in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, Gaudi’s church has been under construction ever since.  Its architecture is ornamental and grand, filled with geometric shapes and images plucked from nature.  The next step will be the completion of its final spire: a 550 foot high “Tower of Jesus.”  This Jesus Tower will join 17 other towers, named for the 12 apostles and the Virgin Mary.  The Tower of Jesus is scheduled to be completed by 2026, the 100^th anniversary of Gaudi’s death.

            Even though Gaudi was the original architect of the Sagrada Familia, the work on his church has continued for years by many others and will be completed by many more in the next five years.  That is why the towers of the church include 12 apostles and four evangelists along with Joseph and Mary.  Like the construction of the Sagrada Familia Church, our families are not alone in constructing “domestic churches,” forming faith in the home.  Your active membership in this parish community of faith is important.  Supported by the sacrifices made by this parish community, families are constantly “under construction” with the help of others.

            We can never compete with the holiness of the Holy Family of Nazareth.  We know that our human families are not without sin.  Neither is our parish family.  Even with our faults and weaknesses, we can be assured that this connection is necessary.  At the heart of this connection is the Lord Jesus, present even during this pandemic, when we have not been able to gather socially to build our community in visible ways.  Our eyes have been opened to the spirit and courage and efforts of so many people.  That includes friends, relatives, teachers, coaches, colleagues, and mentors.  Like the building of the church of Sagrada Familia, the Lord will continue to be present in our efforts, no matter how imperfect, to build a community of faith, rooted in the human family.  With the presence of the Holy Spirit and supported by many people, we can enter this New Year without fear to give of ourselves freely, as Joseph and Mary did.  Like Antoni Gaudi, we can continue to make sacrifices to construct happy and holy families.  Even when we do not see the results of our sacrifices now, they will endure into the future.

 

THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

25 DECEMBER 2020

 

          Christmas teaches us a very important lesson about how the Lord chooses to love us.  He did not choose to love us with power or domination.  The Lord loved us by becoming vulnerable.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he took flesh in the womb of the Virgin.  He was born not in an antiseptic birthing center, but in a stable designed for animals.  He had to have his diapers changed.  He had to be taught how to walk and talk.  He had to be taught the Sacred Scriptures and traditions of his faith.       

At the birth of the Savior, the angels do not proclaim the good news of his birth to the powerful and wealthy.  They proclaim the news to shepherds, vulnerable vagabonds with no standing in the culture.  As an adult, Jesus will choose to become the Good Shepherd and make himself vulnerable to the sheep that were lost.  He will heal the vulnerable and offer miracles not to coerce faith, but to invite people to see his true identity.  He will avoid speaking of his role as messiah in terms of power and might.  Instead, he will remain vulnerable as the suffering servant who will wash the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper.  He will enter into the most vulnerable condition feared by all – death itself.

Christmas invites us to reflect on how the Lord has chosen to love us.  We are celebrating this Christmas in a particularly vulnerable condition.  All of our lives have been changed by a virus that is completely out of our control.  We have been isolated from one another.  We gather to celebrate Christmas in smaller groups.  We wear masks, wash our hands, and maintain social distancing as a way of protecting the most vulnerable from being infected.

The Lord is using our celebration of Christmas this year to teach us to love better by being vulnerable.  We are vulnerable when we admit the truth about ourselves before God.  God has blessed all of us with many talents and abilities.  But we all have weaknesses, and those weaknesses make us more drawn to sin by turning away from God.  We are more vulnerable when we do not put on airs or try to impress others.  True holiness involves being transparent.  Others see what they get in transparent people.  We love those in our families when we refrain from controlling or manipulating them.  We love those who annoy us or treat us badly by giving to them the mercy that the Lord gives to us in our weakness and vulnerability.  We love best when we apologize for the times we have offended others.

In normal times, we gather for Christmas pageants.  Children dress up like shepherds and magi to enact the stories of the birth of Jesus found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.  In the absence of these pageants this year, we can reflect on the images presented in the Prologue of the Gospel of Saint John.  Those images cannot be acted out in school Christmas pageants.  Saint John tells us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  This Word shining in the darkness became flesh and dwells among us.  We see his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son. 

This is the essence of Christmas.  In the Mystery of the Incarnation, that Word continues to dwell in our midst.  The Lord Jesus continues to remain vulnerable, present to us under the ordinary forms of bread and wine.  The Lord Jesus continues to speak to us with ordinary words from Sacred Scripture.  The Lord Jesus invites us to imitate his love, not by resorting to power or greed or dominance, but by being vulnerable in the way we relate to one another.  It is risky to choose to love in this way, because making ourselves more vulnerable opens us to rejection.  However, it also allows the light of Christ to shine more clearly in the darkness of our world.  No darkness can overcome that light.

 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

20 DECEMBER 2020

 

          In the first reading, we meet a prominent and powerful King.  David has conquered his enemies.  He has combined the twelve tribes of Israel and established Jerusalem as the capital of a united nation.  He has built himself a fine palace made of cedar.  He knows that his success is the result of God’s blessing.  As a prominent and powerful king, he wants to construct a suitable temple that will house the ark of God, symbolic of the Lord’s presence.

            Initially, the prophet Nathan agrees with him.  However, Nathan receives a message from the Lord later that night and comes back with a surprise for the King.  Speaking for the Lord, he informs David that he will not build the temple.  Instead, the Lord will do something much greater and much more lasting than a physical temple, which his son Solomon would build.  The Lord will establish a house for David.  The Lord promises that his house and his kingdom will endure forever.  This Covenant is depicted in the center aisle of our church.

            In the Gospel, we meet a young teenage girl in a remote village in Galilee.  Mary is neither prominent nor powerful.  She is betrothed to a local carpenter from the house of David.  She certainly knows about the Covenant made with King David and looks for that time when the promise will be fulfilled.   Like David, Mary is surprised by a messenger sent by the Lord.  The angel Gabriel informs her that God has chosen her to play a critical role in the fulfillment of this ancient promise.  She will become the new ark of God.  The promised Messiah will be conceived in her womb not as an ordinary human person, but as the Son of God.

            Just as David is granted much more than he could ever have imagined, the same is true of Mary.  Earlier, the angel Gabriel had announced to Zechariah in the sacred temple in Jerusalem that he and his wife Elizabeth would conceive a son, even though they had been barren for many years.  Zechariah was surprised and asked for proof.  The only proof offered to him was that he was struck dumb, unable to speak.  In contrast, the humble virgin in the remote town of Nazareth asks for instruction.  “How can this be?” she asks.  Even though she could not understand what is happening, she trusts the angel’s words that the same Spirit who had hovered over the formless earth in the Book of Genesis would hover over her and form the child in her womb.  Even though she had not asked for it, she receives from the angel proof anyway.  Her barren cousin Elizabeth had conceived a child in her old age.  With humility, Mary agrees to be the handmaid of the Lord.  “May it be done to me according to your word,” she says.

            Both King David and the humble virgin of Nazareth trusted that nothing will be impossible for God.  David did not live to see the fulfillment of the promise made to him.  However, Mary continued to trust that nothing would be impossible for God as she witnessed all that happened in her life.  She kept that trust when she wrapped her newborn son in swaddling clothes in a stable in Bethlehem.  She continued to trust in her exile in Egypt.  She did not lose that trust when she wrapped the dead body of her son in burial cloths after his execution.

            We ask Mary’s intercession to maintain that same trust in our lives.  We will celebrate Christmas this year in ways we could never have imagined.  We will be stripped away of so many traditions and customs of the season.  But stripping away can also help us focus better on the actual Mystery that we celebrate.  The consent of the humble virgin opened the way for God to become like us in all things but sin.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit hovering over us, we can trust that our more simple celebration of Christmas will draw us more closely into the Mystery of God dwelling in our midst in ways that might surprise us.  We can trust that nothing will be impossible for God as we face the darkness of our world together.       

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

13 DECEMBER 2020

 

          The Prophet Isaiah speaks to a people who are in a very dark place.  They had just returned to their homeland from exile in Babylon to find Jerusalem and their temple in ruins.  In this darkness, it is easy for them to be discouraged.  But Isaiah gives them hope.  He tells them that the spirit of the Lord has anointed him to bring glad tidings to the poor.  As God’s servant, he will heal the brokenhearted; proclaim liberty to captives, release to the prisoners, and a year of favor from the Lord.  Isaiah promises them a day of vindication by our God.

            This passage is familiar to us who are familiar with the Gospel according to Saint Luke.  Early in that Gospel, Jesus reads this passage from a scroll in the Synagogue in Nazareth.  He rolls up the scroll and announces that this prophecy has been fulfilled in him.  That is what Saint John tells us in the beginning of his Gospel.  John proclaims that Jesus is the light shining a world created by God but darkened by rejection, rebellion, and sin. 

            John the Baptist is the first witness of this light shining in the darkness.  Throughout the course of this Gospel, Jesus will repeatedly assert his identity by proclaiming “I am,” as God had told Moses that “I am” when Moses asked his identity in the burning bush.  When John the Baptist is questioned about his identity, he says what he is not:  I am not the Christ; I am not Elijah; I am not the Prophet.  Instead, he is the one making straight the way to the Lord, who is the Light of the World, who is the Good Shepherd, who is the bread of life for whom we wait.

            We know our share of the darkness of this world.  We find ourselves in the midst of this pandemic that has changed our lives in ways we could never have imagined.  We dwell in the darkness of division, anger, hatred, and violence.  We inhabit the darkness of confusion about what is true and what is false.  We huddle in the darkness of fear about our future.

            The Baptist’s proclamation of the coming of the Messiah provides hope that this darkness will not last.  We wear rose vestments to express our conviction that the Lord has already come to save us.  In celebrating that first coming at Christmas, we can heed Saint Paul’s words to the Thessalonians.  In his letter, he gives the three basic attitudes which serve as the foundation of Christian hope and holiness.

            First, he tells us to rejoice always.  Saint Paul knew from his own experience that the emotion of happiness is not always possible.  In fact, he knew times of great sorrow and loss.  But he knew the joy of the Lord’s presence in his life.  We can rejoice at the ways in which the Lord extends his loving mercy, especially when we find ourselves embracing the darkness of this world with our pride, arrogance, vanity, and destructive habits.  Please come to our Advent Penance Service.  You can participate in the virtual Service on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings at 6:00.  Then come to the church between 7-8 each night for confession and absolution.  There will be ten priests each evening, with socially distanced and mask wearing.

            Second, he urges us to pray without ceasing.  During this year of prayer for our parish, we offer many online opportunities to teach us new ways of praying and reinforcing old ways we may have forgotten.  Nourished by the Eucharist, the source and summit of our life of prayer, we can work at making prayer a daily habit in our lives.

            Finally, we need to give thanks in all circumstances.  Knowing the joy of the Lord’s presence and sustaining it in prayer, we can give thanks for all those blessings that we take for granted.  A deep sense of gratitude keeps us from being discouraged.  Expressing our gratitude reminds us that even in the worst of times; the Lord has not abandoned us, any more than he had abandoned his people at the time of Isaiah the Prophet.

 

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

6 DECEMBER 2020

 

          In this section of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the prophet speaks to his people in exile in Babylon.  They know that this calamity was a result of their bad choices.  They had ignored their Covenant with God.  They had made disastrous treaties with kings they should not have trusted.  They had ignored the poor.  Their halfhearted desire to be in union with God had been reflected in their haphazard sacrifices in the temple.  But instead of rubbing their sins in their faces, God speaks through the prophet to offer comfort.  The people can take comfort in what God had done in the past.  God had rescued their ancestors from slavery in Egypt.  Led by Moses through harsh desert of the Sinai Peninsula, they encountered the locusts of their bad choices.  In that harsh desert, there were few distractions.  In the desert, God had taught them how to put together a new life, how to leave behind their slavery, and how to behave as free people in the land promised to their ancestor Abraham.  Having learned those lessons in the desert, they followed the leadership of Joshua and crossed the Jordan River into the Land of milk and honey.

            Assuring his people of the comfort of God’s love, the prophet today proclaims the glad tidings and good news that God will save his people again.  God will reveal his glory by using the pagan king Cyrus to free them and lead them through another desert back to their promised land.  They will rebuild their city and temple on Mount Zion.

            Today, we hear the beginning of the Gospel according to Saint Mark, a Gospel we will hear on most Sundays during this liturgical year.  Saint Mark makes it clear that the prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled in ways that no one could ever have imagined.  Saint Mark proclaims the good news of a new creation. Just as God had begun the work of creation in the Book of Genesis, God is beginning a new creation in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ.

            These glad tidings are announced by John the Baptist, who lives in a barren desert to encounter God without distraction.  John proclaims to everyone their need to repent.  His diet is symbolic.  He invites them to repent of the locusts of God’s judgment and enter the Jordan River to be baptized, much as their ancestors had entered that same river at the end of their journey through the desert, to accept the honey of God’s mercy.  John is humble in his mission.  He is the one who points the way to the Messiah.  Those who embrace the Good News of Jesus Christ will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, guiding us on our way to salvation.

            These same words are addressed to us.  When we began this year, none of us could have imagined the ways our lives have changed in these last ten months.  We could not have predicted the harsh desert of this pandemic and all our divisions and the darkness in which we now dwell.  We know for sure that this pandemic is not God’s punishment for our sins. Instead, we peer through this darkness to recognize the comfort of God’s love in the midst of this mess.

Isaiah invites us to look at the ways God has comforted us in the past and to recognize the comforts of God’s love now.  The Lord has not abandoned us, and Advent invites us to see his comfort now in unexpected ways.  As the Letter of Saint Peter says, we live between his first coming at Christmas and his second coming at the end of time, when he will come like a thief.  One of the ways that the Lord comes to us now is in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  In this Sacrament, the Lord comforts us with the honey of his mercy.  Knowing that we have little control over so much chaos these days, we can bring our own darkness, our own locusts of turning away from God and each other, to the honey of God’s mercy.  Please consider coming to the Sacrament during this Advent Season.  It is a powerful tool to turn more completely to the Lord, reconciling us and bringing us a peace the world cannot give.