FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

27 NOVEMBER 2016

          After years of study, planning, running a capital campaign, and choosing contractors, we broke ground for our new church in the spring of 2015.  At that time, we chose a date for the dedication of the new church:  just before Thanksgiving of 2016.  According to this plan, we could use the new church during Advent and be ready for Christmas.  We were so confident of our plans that Bishop Rhoades blessed a cornerstone with the year 2016 etched on it.

            As time went on, we began to understand the old saying that “we plan, and God laughs.”  We ran into all kinds of delays – partly due to the weather, partly due to construction materials and laborers committed to other construction projects, and partly due to God’s sense of humor.  So, we came up with a new plan.  In this plan, we will dedicate the new church on March 25, 2017.  Those who are performing their daily tasks in the church have their eyes set on that date.

            On this First Sunday of Advent, our Scripture readings remind us that God also makes plans.  Isaiah speaks to a people who have suffered many bruising military defeats against the Assyrian Empire.  He tells them God’s plans for Mount Zion, where the temple is built in Jerusalem.  That mountain will be the highest place drawing people from all over the world to come and find peace.  At that time, he says, no one will need weapons of war.  Those weapons will be turned into instruments of agriculture.  But he does not say when that plan will happen.

            In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of God’s plan for the end of the world.  He uses the Greek word parousia as an image.  Just as villagers would prepare for the coming (parousia) of an important ruler into their area, so his followers must prepare for his coming at the end of time.  That coming will fulfill all that he had accomplished through the Mysteries of his Incarnation and Paschal Mystery.  His Parousia will bring judgment and peace.  But, like Isaiah before him, he does not say when that plan will happen.

            God’s plan is at the heart of the Season of Advent.  The four weeks of Advent remind us that God is always faithful to his plan. Advent prepares us to celebrate the Lord’s first coming at Christmas.  God was faithful to his plan in a way that no one could have expected.  God took on human flesh as a baby and was born into poverty.  Advent also reminds us that the Lord will be faithful to his plan for the Parousia, his coming at the end of time.  Because we do not know the timing of that plan, we need to follow the advice of Saint Paul.  Paul points out that we passed from darkness into light in Baptism.  As baptized disciples, we put on Christ and wear our baptismal garments, allowing our actions to carry the light of Christ into a darkened world.  Like those hard workers in our new church, we wear our baptismal garments with eyes fixed on the day when the Lord will accomplish his plan. 

Paul gives some practical examples of how to wear those garments.  There is nothing wrong with going to parties, as long as the goal is to interact with people and enjoy each other’s company.  Paul does not dismiss sexual relationships.  But he insists that our gift of sexuality be connected with giving ourselves in love.  Paul knows that Christians will not always agree.  But we have to avoid egoism and ambition.  These three simple examples help us understand that waiting and being watchful are not about fear and trembling, but about living in the light.

            Use this Season of Advent as a time to enter more deeply into understanding God’s plan.  We catch glimpses of that plan in silence and prayer.  Come to the Tuesday night liturgies.  Resist the temptation to celebrate the “holiday season” now.  If we learn to be watchful and alert during this Season, we will be watchful and alert at Christmas in four weeks and at the Parousia when God’s plan will be completely revealed.

OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE

20 NOVEMBER 2016

            On most Sundays during this Liturgical Year, we have heard from the Gospel of Saint Luke.  Throughout the year, we heard Jesus speak often of the Kingdom of God.  He announced the coming of the Kingdom of God through his teaching and parables.  He demonstrated the power of the Kingdom of God through his miracles.  He has invited all to become part of that Kingdom.  But as much as he called our attention to the presence of the Kingdom of God in our midst, he never identified the word “king” with himself.

            On this final Sunday of this Liturgical Year, he is identified as a king.  Pilate places the inscription “This is the King of the Jews” above his body hanging in shame and utter pain not to honor him, but to mock him.  He is placating the religious leaders who had demanded that Jesus be crucified, and he is warning other potential enemies of Rome not to become a zealot.

            There is a great irony in this situation.  The mockery of Pilate and the negative reactions of those surrounding the cross actually speak truth in a way that they never would have intended.  The rulers sneer at him and tell him to save himself if he is the chosen, the Christ of God.  Jesus is the chosen one, the Christ of God.  But he has not come to save himself.  He has come to give himself to others.  The soldiers jeer and say the same thing.  But Jesus has dedicated himself to serving others and dying to himself.  Even one of the criminals speaks in contempt and wants Jesus to fix this mess like the world fixes things.  He wants Jesus rescue him from the cross.  But Jesus has always insisted that the first will be last and the last will be first.  He is willing to put himself last, trusting in the Father’s promise that he would be the firstborn of all creation.

            The only person who sees the truth in this horrible spectacle is the other criminal.  We know him as the “good thief.”  He sees the truth of the Kingdom which Jesus had proclaimed.  He understands that he is suffering the results of very bad choices he has made.  He is dying because of his sins.  He sees through the mockery of Pilate and the crowds.  He recognizes the image of the invisible God and asks to be remembered when he comes into his kingdom.  At the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, the angels had announced to the shepherds that “today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.”  Now, at the end of the Gospel, Jesus responds that “today you will be with me in Paradise.”

            The “good thief” helps us understand the ways in which Jesus has become king in the line of King David.  A thousand years before the birth of Christ, David united the tribes of Judah and Israel into one kingdom.  Christ the King is the source of the unity found only in the kingdom of God.  David had been the warrior who had defeated the enemies of his kingdom.  Christ the King is the warrior who has defeated the power of sin and death and transfers us from one dimension of reality to another.  David had ruled from his royal throne.  Christ the King rules from the throne of a cross, holding all things together.

            If we understand these realities about the Kingdom of God and Christ’s central place in that kingdom, then we can begin another Liturgical Year next Sunday with great hope.  The Kingdom of God is not about the realities of Pilate, or the rulers, or the soldiers, or the other criminal.  The Kingdom of God belongs to us when we take care of others, when we die to ourselves, and when we put others first.  Even more importantly, the Kingdom of God belongs to us when we have failed to do these things and ask the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness.  As Saint Paul reminds the Colossians, Christ the King has delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of Light.

THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

13NOVEMBER 2016

          By the time Saint Luke had recorded these words of Jesus, the reality he describes had already happened.  The Romans had torn down the Temple when they destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70 AD.  There was not one stone upon another in that magnificent House of God.  All that was left of Judaism were the scrolls that contained the Word of God.  But, as those words were proclaimed in synagogues, the followers of Jesus were thrown out, and those who claimed Christ as their Savior were being persecuted.  In the wake of destruction and chaos, many of them were confused, because the Lord had not come again.  To add to the confusion, there were some who were claiming that Christ had already returned in glory.

            When Jesus speaks through the Gospel of Luke to his followers in the first century, he also speaks to us in the 21^st century.  He speaks to us at the conclusion of a long and bitter political campaign that divided families and friendships.  He speaks to us as we face the threats of terrorism and hatred.  He warns us that those most precious possessions of our lives will not last.  He says the same thing to us that he had said to them.  Don’t worry about what we should say.  Trust that the Lord will continue to be the source of our strength and hope.  Continue to persevere in faith, allowing our actions to speak stronger than our words.

            That is the same advice that Saint Paul gives to the Thessalonians.  Some of the members of that community had quit their jobs, because they were convinced that they were already living in the end times.  In their idleness, they were busy talking about everyone else.  Paul tells them to get back to work, because they were a burden on the rest of the Christian community.  He seems to be bragging when he tells them to do what he did.  But, in fact, he is simply reminding them that his hard work brought the Gospel to them in the first place, and that they need to continue the hard work of making a living and bringing it to others.

            The Church wisely presents readings like these to us every year in November, as we come to the end of the Liturgical Year.  It may be disturbing to be reminded of the end of the world and the end of our lives.  But, it is also good news.  In praying for our deceased loved ones, we pray that the fire of God’s love will burn away whatever separates them from God and the Communion of Saints.  We pray that those who surround the throne of God and allow the fire of God’s love to shine through them will intercede for us.  In being reminded of our own mortality and the certainty of the end in each of our lives, the Word of God invites us to submit whatever priorities keep us from loving God and one another to the fire of God’s love.

            In reading the Gospel about the beauty of the temple, my mind turned to the beauty of our new church.  The contractors are working hard for the dedication on March 25.  As you can see from the completed outside, it will be a beautiful and fitting temple for our parish.  Even though we are careful to build it solidly and carefully, we can never predict how long this physical structure will last.  Even though we hope it will serve this parish for many years, the building of that church reminds us that we are living stones, being formed into a beautiful structure that will endure beyond death and beyond the end of the world.  With that in mind, it is time to renew our faith in Jesus Christ, work for the sake of the Kingdom of God in humble service, and persevere in holding fast to those realities that cannot be destroyed. 

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

6 NOVEMBER 2016

          The Second Book of Maccabees takes us back to a very difficult time in the history of Israel.  Two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Seleucid Greeks had occupied Israel.  The King, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, decided that he could control a united kingdom by forcing everyone to embrace the same religion.  So, he desecrated the Temple of Jerusalem and demanded that everyone submit to the gods which he worshiped (mostly himself, to be honest).  Anyone who chose to resist would be executed.

            That is the context for today’s first reading.  The king dragged a mother and her seven sons and put them to the test.  If they would eat pork, forbidden by the Law of Moses, their lives would be spared.  However, each son adamantly refused, and each son was brutally tortured and finally executed, along with their mother.  It is a good thing that we are spared those horrible details, because our assembly includes lots of small children. 

            All seven sons resisted, along with their mother, because their faith was incredibly important to them.  They knew in their hearts that the false gods of the Greeks did not exist, and they could not compromise their consciences.  More importantly, they resisted because they believed that death was not the end.  They believed that the true God whom they worshipped would bring justice to those who murdered them and eternal life to all who remained faithful.

            Unfortunately, what happened to the children of Israel two hundred years before the birth of Christ continues in our world today.  We continue to see horrifying images of Christians being executed for their faith.  Last year, the Islamic State marched a group of Chaldean Christians in Libya to a beach on the Mediterranean Sea in orange jump suits.  When the Christians refused to deny their faith, the Islamic militants beheaded them.  Pope Francis recently canonized a 14 year old Mexican boy who refused to deny his faith at the beginning of the 20^th century when the secular Mexican government banned Catholicism.  He was brutally tortured and ultimately shot when he continued to shout “viva, Christo Rey!” (Long live Christ the King).  Father Sryian is at the Mass in the church telling about the persecutions against his religious order as they try to evangelize the people of Sri Lanka.

            The witness of these martyrs reminds us of the critical importance of our faith in Jesus Christ and the need to express it in our daily lives.  But it also reminds us that death will not be the end for us.  As Saint Paul says, the Lord is faithful to us and will share his resurrection with us, if we share his dying on a daily basis.  As the Lord himself reminds us in the Gospel, the risen life is a transformed life.  That is what the Sadducees did not understand.  They saw eternal life as ridiculous, because they imagined it as this same old life which continues in eternity.

            During this month of November, we remember our loved ones who have already passed into death, praying for them and asking the Lord to purify them and share with them the fullness of his resurrection.  In doing so, we reinforce our own faith in the Paschal Mystery for ourselves. If we die to ourselves, we will live with Christ – not in the same familiar patterns of our daily lives, but in the transformed life of the Saints surrounding God’s throne.

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

30 OCTOBER 2016

          The Book of Wisdom was written 60 years before the birth of Christ to those who have much in common with us.  We struggle to understand the truths of our faith in a very secular culture.  The same is true for those Jews in Alexandria living in a Hellenistic culture.  Like our secular culture, the Hellenistic culture offered a lot of good things which improved the daily lives of the people.  But, like our culture, the Hellenistic culture posed challenges to believers.

            Hellenists were dualistic in the way they looked at the world.  Matter was seen as evil and spirits as good.  The world was formed by gods who needed to be appeased.  Success depended on appeasing certain gods and accepting the fates.  The Book of Wisdom disputes that claim.  The Book of Wisdom reaffirms what Genesis says:  God created the world as an act of pure love.  Any defect in creation and in human beings is a result of our rejection of God’s plan.  God loves us, even when we sin, and gives us many chances to turn back to him “little by little.” 

            That is what is happening to Zacchaeus.  Like last Sunday’s tax collector, Zacchaeus has done a lot of damage.  He has cooperated with the hated Romans and ripped off his own people.  While most languish under the strain of unfair taxes, he lives a comfortable life.  As the chief tax collector, he is hated even more by the people of Jericho for his despicable actions.  There is no doubt that they equate his shortness in stature with his shortness in morality.  But, like the tax collector in last Sunday’s Gospel, something must be happening in the heart of Zacchaeus.  Little by little, he seems to realize the damage he is doing. 

He must have heard about Jesus.  When Jesus comes to town, Zacchaeus wants to see him.  The nasty little man humiliates himself by climbing a sycamore tree to see him.  Jesus sees the potential goodness in this man who has ripped off so many people and invites himself to stay at his house.  In all of his sinfulness, the chief tax collector is a descendant of Abraham.  Coming down from his humiliating perch, he allows Jesus to lift him up with mercy and forgiveness.  When the people of Jericho object, the chief tax collector demonstrates his intentions to make amends.  He will give away half of his income to the poor.  He will also go well beyond the demands of the Law of Moses.  The Law requires a thief to return the stolen goods along with another one fifth when he voluntarily admits his sin.  Zacchaeus is willing to pay back what the Law requires of a thief forced to make restitution – four times the amount he has stolen.

Each one of us can identify with the chief tax collector of Jericho.  Like Zacchaeus, we have stooped to being short in moral stature.  Whether our sins have been as serious as those of the chief tax collector, they have done damage.  Jesus does not pretend that our actions have not caused damage and pain.  But, he has continued to love us and given us many chances to see our sinfulness little by little.  When we humble ourselves to climb the sycamore tree of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, he lifts us up with his mercy and graces us with the courage to make amends and face the consequences of our bad choices.

If the mercy of Jesus Christ can do this for us, then we can do the same for those who are doing damage to us.  We have to resist the tendency in our secular culture to divide everyone into good and bad people.  With the wisdom of the Gospel, we have to find ways to love those who do us harm, not in terms of having warm feelings toward them, but in terms of wanting the best for them.  We need to provide as many opportunities as possible for them to see their sins little by little.  We need to trust God’s mercy, leaving the judging to God.  

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

23 OCTOBER 2016

          When we hear this parable with 21^st century ears, we tend to identify with the tax collector.  We remember the Gospel stories from Mark and Matthew depicting Pharisees as hypocrites always in opposition to Jesus.  However, first century listeners would have heard something very different.  While the Pharisees certainly used the law and their interpretation of the law for their own benefit, this Pharisee belongs in the Temple.  He is part of a movement which has taken the holiness of the Temple and moved it into people’s families and lives.  More than likely, he is a deeply religious person who does the things he mentions in his prayer.  In fasting twice a week, he shows that he is serious about practicing his faith.  He has embraced the message of stewardship and tithes 10% of his income.  He probably is honest in his business dealings and is completely faithful to his wife.  He is a decent religious man.

            That is not true of the tax collector.  He is not a decent person.  He works for the hated Romans to collect outrageous amounts of taxes to fund their oppressive occupation of the Jewish homeland.  While his fellow Jews become more impoverished under the weight of unfair taxation, he lives a comfortable life.  He and his fellow tax collectors are traitors who enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.  Although he does not mention his sins in his prayer, the Pharisee is probably correct in judging him to be greedy, dishonest, and adulterous.  More than likely, the weight of his sins brought him to his knees to consider how his lifestyle and his actions have ruined his relationship with God and with other people.  He can only repeat the words of Psalm 51:  “Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

            Jesus says that the tax collector goes home justified.  Weighed down by sinfulness and shame, the tax collector addresses God directly.  He trusts that God welcomes and loves every honest and contrite heart.  He experiences the incredible mercy received by the prodigal son.  God justifies him in a way that he could never have earned.  In this Year of Mercy, the tax collector helps us to understand what Pope Francis is talking about when he speaks of mercy.

            To be honest, we are more like the Pharisee than the tax collector.  We care enough about our faith to gather together in this Temple to praise and thank God for all we have.  We are serious about religious practices when we fast during the season of Lent and listen to talks about stewardship.  We work at giving back to God a portion of what God has given to us.  We try to be honest in our business dealings and faithful to our spouses.  But, we can also be like the Pharisee in making judgments.  We can always find someone less faithful and more sinful than ourselves.  We can look down on a neighbor whose car never leaves the garage on Sunday morning and who will show up for First Communion.  When we move into the new church, we might resent that some who have never sacrificed for the capital campaign will be just as welcome as those who have made great sacrifices.

            The parable warns us against making these kinds of comparisons.  The parable tells us to address our prayers to God, and not just speak prayers to ourselves.  The parable invites us to acknowledge the ways in which we have failed and to ask for God’s mercy.  That is what Saint Paul does when he writes to his friend, Timothy.  Paul had been a Pharisee.  Paul speaks of the successes he has enjoyed and the faithful ways in which he has run the race.  But Paul addresses his prayer directly to God.  Paul knows his accomplishments are not a result of his own efforts, but because of God’s grace working through his actions.  That needs to be our prayer.  We can also focus on running the good race and keeping the faith.  We leave the judgment of those who do not run as well as we do to God and trust in his merciful love for everyone.

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

9 OCTOBER 2016

          The parables of Jesus speak to our imaginations.  In today’s parable, Jesus invites us to imagine a poor widow with no power pestering an unjust judge with lots of power.  There is nothing good about this judge, since he has no respect for God or for anyone else.  But, this widow keeps pestering him until he finally gives in to her.  He rules in her favor, not because there is anything good about him, but because he is afraid that she will beat him up!  Those who heard this parable from the mouth of Jesus must have laughed.

            This parable is about persistence.  The widow succeeds, because she is persistent and will not quit.  But we cannot imagine that God grants our requests only when he gets tired of hearing from us.  Unlike the unjust judge, God is love and complete goodness.  We do not change God’s mind through our persistence in prayer.  Instead, persistent prayer changes us!  If we continue to bring our needs persistently in prayer before God and continue to trust in God’s love for us, our prayer will open us more completely to the way God looks at things.  Once we become more aware of God’s will and plan for the world, persistent prayer brings a deeper assurance that justice will eventually triumph.  The battle between good and evil has already been won by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Like Moses, we raise our hands in prayer confident of that victory.  But, we tend to get discouraged when we experience the effects of sin and evil.  We need to support one another in prayer and trust in the power of that prayer, just as Aaron supported Moses and kept his hands raised in prayer.  The battle won by Jesus Christ over sin and death will triumph, just as Joshua and his army defeated the forces of Amalek. 

            There is another way to look at this parable.  Instead of seeing God as the unjust judge, we can see God as the poor widow.  If God is the poor widow, then we become the unjust judge.  God persistently pursues us to draw us more closely to him and make us more faithful and intentional disciples.  That is what Saint Paul says to his friend, Timothy.  The Lord first pursued Timothy through the faith of his mother and grandmother.  When he passed through the waters of baptism, he was incorporated into the mystery of Jesus Christ.  The Lord continued to pursue him when Paul laid hands on him and appointed him as leader of the Christian community.  He became discouraged in that role.  So, Paul tells Timothy to read the Scriptures and preach their truth.  Just as the Lord has been persistent in forming him as an intentional disciple, Timothy must persist in trusting that God is in charge.

            The Lord is persistent in pursuing us.  He has incorporated us to himself when we were baptized.  If we look closely at the events of our lives, we can see how the Lord pursues us to take our baptismal promises seriously.  He speaks to us in his Word at this Mass and when we open the Scriptures in our private prayers.  He feeds us with his Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  He uses the ordinary experiences of our lives to form us into more intentional disciples.  He pursues us though retreats like Christ Renews His Parish and through involvement with various ministries in the parish to become more intentional disciples.  He never gives up on us, because he wants us to know the fullness of his victory over sin and death in the New and Eternal Jerusalem.

            It is sometimes tempting to give up, especially when things are not going well, or when it seems that the Lord does not answer our prayers.  The Lord continues to persistently pursue us at every level.  He invites us to pray with persistence in response, trusting that the victory has been won and will be fully realized in God’s time.