THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH

28 DECEMBER 2014

            When we celebrate this Feast of the Holy Family, we might be tempted to become discouraged.  How can any of our families compete with this family?  Here is a family where the child is the only begotten Son of God, the mother is an immaculate virgin without any sin, and the father learns all kinds of incredible things when he is dreaming!  Other than what we hear today and what we read later in Saint Luke's Gospel about Jesus being lost in the Temple at the age of 12, we know nothing about the details of their family dynamics. 

            There is no way to keep up with this family.  That is why I have always been more than willing to share stories about my own family gatherings at the rectory at Christmas.  To be honest, it was a pretty uneventful Christmas for us this year, and I have no stories to tell.  The reason we celebrate this Feast is to learn lessons from the Holy Family to apply to our own.  In the light of our celebration of the Eternal Word of God taking flesh and dwelling in the midst of our families and their messes, the characters of today's Gospel can give us some helpful hints.

            The first lesson comes from the parents of Jesus.  Saint Luke is careful to tell us that they are following the law of the Lord in presenting their first born child in the Temple.  Because they are dirt poor, they can only afford a pair of turtle doves as a sacrifice.  But this ritual is more than a demand of the law.  They use it to thank God for the gift of a healthy son and commend him to the Lord's service.  Parents today can learn from this lesson.  Parents keep the promises they made when they had their children baptized by bringing them to Mass, teaching them to pray at home, and helping them to understand the ways they can love God and neighbor.

            The second lesson comes from Simeon.  He trusted the Lord's promise that he would not die before seeing the savior.  His trust is rewarded when he recognizes the Christ and proclaims the canticle which we pray every night at Compline, or Night Prayer.  Simeon teaches us how to find joy in each of our families.  In sharing his joy, Simeon is also very realistic.  He does not promise that everything will always be rosy and sweet for this family.  He talks about the sword that will pierce Mary's heart and the suffering which would be endured by her Son.  He reminds us that God's faithfulness and promise will not keep our families from tragedies or even divisions that will tear us apart.  In fact, he realistically states that practicing our faith may get  us into more trouble.  But, he also promises that God will be as faithful to us as God had been to him.

            We know the least about Anna.  She is a daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher, which was the smallest and least significant of the twelve tribes of Israel.  We know that she had only seven years of marriage before her husband died, and she lived as a widow till the age of 84.  Instead of dwelling in the past and becoming bitter about the difficulties of her life, she lived in the present and praised God for this family and the child she encountered.  Her lesson is important.  It is easy to become angry and bitter over the ways in which life might have battered us around.  But Anna teaches us to let go of all that bitterness, to live in the present moment, and to look for ways in which God is revealing himself now.

            No matter what might be happening right now in each of our families, Christmas reminds us that the Lord has taken on human flesh and lives in our human families and lives in this parish family that gathers to celebrate his presence every Sunday.  With Mary and Joseph, we commit ourselves to sharing the riches of our faith as much as possible.  With Simeon, we recognize the Lord's presence in our midst and share the joy, trusting that the Lord will be faithful to us, no matter what difficulties we will endure.  With Anna, we let go of any bitterness we might be holding to give praise for the ways in which God works in and through us now.   

CHRISTMAS

25 DECEMBER 2014

          Imagine the “breaking news stories” on this day if the ancient had our technology and our twenty-four hour news cycle.  The leading stories would feature the complaints of so many citizens that they have to return to their home towns to be counted.  Everyone knew that the government was counting them only to get more taxes out of them.  News from Rome would feature the problems caused by unending deployment of troops, along with problems caused by insurgents in the Middle East.  Local news would feature the continued reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem under King Herod, a real tyrant with ties too close to Rome, but a pretty good builder.

            The news would certainly not include the reason why we are here tonight.  The birth of Jesus Christ would not have been featured at all.  There had been no royal caravans heading to a magnificent palace for the birth of an important person.  Instead, two peasants had walked from Nazareth and had no choice but to give birth in a stable.  The angelic chorus had chosen to announce this birth to a bunch of shepherds.  Today, we tend to romanticize the shepherds.  But in that day, they lived on the fringes of society.  When I was pastor of Saint Paul of the Cross in Columbia City, I learned how shepherds would have been regarded.  In that small town, no one ever locked their doors, except when the carnival came to town at the end of every summer.  The locals did not trust the traveling carnival workers and considered them criminal, just as the residents of Bethlehem would have regarded the transient shepherds as thieves who would steal from them and move to the next town as soon as possible.

            The birth of Jesus was completely unnoticed by most of the culture of the time.  Even today, the twenty-four hour news cycle is interested in other stories.  However, the Mystery we celebrate tonight is just as present now as it was 2,000 years ago.  God has taken on human flesh and dwells in our midst.  God continues to announce this Mystery through the lowly and the insignificant.  The Lord speaks especially through our little children, who can hardly contain themselves with joy and expectation at Christmas.  He speaks the news of this Mystery with ordinary human words just proclaimed in the Scriptures.  He humbles himself by identifying himself with ordinary bread and wine and feeds us with his very Body, as his physical body had lain in a manger in Bethlehem (which means “House of Bread”).  Formed by our encounter with him in these sacramental signs, we more easily recognize the ways in which he dwells with us in our families gathered for Christmas.  We look beyond whatever family conflicts and dysfunctions may be present to see him present in the mess of our family gatherins.  We open our eyes to recognize him in the homeless, the poor, the stranger, and those who live on the margins of our society.

            When we leave Mass tonight, we will return to a world that really has not changed much.  But we leave with changed minds and transformed hearts.  We leave more convinced than ever that God so loved the world that he sent his only Begotten Son.  That Son dwells in the midst of our messy world.  He has shared in our humanity, so that we can share in his divinity.  There is no better news that that!

           

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

21 DECEMBER 2014

          King David was a powerful man with ambitious plans.  He had united the tribes of Israel into a stable nation and established Jerusalem as its capital.  He had defeated the enemies and brought peace.  He had built himself a nice house.  Now he wanted to build a proper house for the Lord who had given him his success.  At first, Nathan the prophet agreed.  But the Lord spoke through Nathan and told David to scrap his plans.  God had greater plan than a physical temple, which would be built by David's son, Solomon.  God told David to trust that he would build of his line of descendants a house that would endure forever.

            One thousand years later, we meet a teenage girl living in a remote village 90 miles north of Jerusalem.  We have no idea of what Mary was planning, because she had none of the fame or power of King David.  We can only speculate that she was planning to settle down with her betrothed, Joseph, have children, and raise a family.  However, the Angel Gabriel startles her to announce that the promises made to David would be fulfilled in her.  Like the Spirit of God hovering over the void at the time of creation, the Holy Spirit would come upon her.  Her body would become the Ark of the New Covenant, bearing God's only begotten Son.

            When the 15th century artist, Fra Angelico, painted this scene, he used a device to help us understand what the Angel's message did to Mary's plans.  In his painting, Gabriel is leaning in toward Mary.  The artist linked them by writing the words of their conversation between them.  The Angel's declaration that the Holy Spirit will come upon her is straight forward.  But Mary's response, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word" is written upside down and backward.  By doing this, Fra Angelico shows us that Mary's plans are reversed, and her world is turned upside down.  In agreeing to be the handmaid of the Lord, Mary enters into a certain darkness that comes with uncertainty and unexpected change.

            Today is the darkest day of the year.  Not only do we experience a short period of light today, but cloud cover around here makes this time of the year gloomier.  This darkness is a sign of the deeper darkness which is experienced by those who have had their worlds turned upside down and their plans reversed.  Those who have lost loved ones to death and are facing their first Christmas without them know the darkness of having their world turned upside down.  The same is true of those who are suffering from any kind of illness or depression or even the flu.  Others bring the darkness of broken relationships and dysfunctional family dynamics to this week.  Many dwell in the darkness of being alone. 

            When we find ourselves in any kind of darkness, we are tempted to believe that God is distant from us.  But, in fact, the opposite is true.  God's presence is much more profound than an emotional feeling of warmth or happiness.  When our world gets turned upside down and our plans are reversed, God keeps his promise to us, just as certainly as God kept his promise to King David and to Mary, the Mother of God.  It took 1,000 years before God's promise to David was fulfilled in Mary's response.  Mary continued to ponder all these things in her heart as she faced the darkness of her new and unexpected condition.  Mary trusted that the Lord's promise to her would be fulfilled, even when the village gossiped about her pregnancy, even when the child was born in a stable, even when they were exiled in Egypt, and even as her Song hung on the cross.

            It is Mary's faith that sustains us in these final days before Christmas.  Of course, we need to do the work of preparing for our celebration.  But, if we prepare in a way that allows God to surprise us, even in turning our lives upside down and backwards, then we can also say with Mary, "Let it be done to me according to your word."

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

14 DECEMBER 2014

          The words of Isaiah the prophet are filled with hope and promise.  Standing on the ruins of Jerusalem after the return of his people from their fifty year captivity in Babylon, he is filled with the spirit of the Lord and makes some bold promises to save his people.  500 years later, when expectations for the coming of the Savior were very high, many people identified John the Baptist as the one who would fulfill these promises.  He fits Isaiah's job description well.  The spirit of God is definitely upon him.  He announces glad tidings to the poor.  His words heal the brokenhearted, and all the other duties assigned by Isaiah.  His bold words in the desert raise the question about who is the Messiah – John or Jesus.  Both proclaimed the Kingdom of God.  Because John came first and baptized Jesus, some thought that Jesus was a disciple of John.

            But John the Baptist is very secure in his identity and in his role.  When the religious authorities start grilling him, he defines himself in terms of who he is not.  He is not the Christ.  He is not Elijah come back again.  He is not the prophet described by Moses.  He is the one who points to the one who identifies himself as "I am" in the rest of John's Gospel.  Jesus uses that term, "I am," to identify himself with God who revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  He is the vine.  He is the Light of the world.  He is the way, the truth, and the life.  John's role is to point to him and tell people the truth about him.

            In knowing his true identity and mission, John displays true humility.  He is in sharp contrast to the frog in one of Aesop's Tales.  The frog is tired of the muddy pond where he spends his life.  He wants to see the world.  So, he talks a stork into allowing him to hold onto his leg to fly above the earth's beauty and diversity.  But the frog's small hands are too small and slimy.  Every time the stork takes off, the frog loses his grip and falls back into the water.  Finally, the frog decides to attach himself with his mouth.  It works.  As the stork flies high with the frog attached to his leg, some bird watchers marvel at the incredible sight of these two creatures working so well together.  They say, "How ingenious these two animals are!  I wonder which of them came up with this idea."  Swelling with pride at their compliments and wanting to take credit for his cleverness, the frog blurted out, "I did."  And he fell to his death.

            It is with the humility of John the Baptist that we enter into these final two weeks to prepare to celebrate the first coming of Christ at Christmas.  Instead of pointing to himself and giving in to the adulation of the crowds, John keeps his gaze fixed on Jesus Christ.  He invites us to do the same.  We may be preparing to celebrate his first coming and waiting for him to come again, but he is already in our midst.  He invites us to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, who tells us over and over again that we can recognize him in the least among us.  Formed by our contact with him in the Sacramental life of the Church, we humbly recognize him in our Latino brothers and sisters of our sister parish of Saint Adalbert and in the poor served by the Giving Tree.  We humbly dedicate ourselves to serving others, without worrying whether or not we get credit or whether or not people give us credit for our good work.  We recognize him in those people who annoy us most in our lives with a humility that reminds us of the ways we are probably annoying them also. 

            With the humility of John the Baptist, we can also be honest about the ways in which we have not shown the face of Jesus Christ in our words and actions or recognized him in others.  Come to the Advent Penance Service.  There, we can be honest about our failures to imitate the example of John the Baptist.  There God's mercy will allow that light to shine through us in a world filled with too much darkness, as these rose vestments shine in the purple of Advent.

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

7 DECEMBER 2014

          By the time the Second Letter of Saint Peter was written, it was clear that the Lord Jesus would not be coming back any time soon.  As a result, some began preaching that the Lord would not come again and that there would be no final judgment.  To that error, the author, writing in the name of the Apostle, responded that the Lord will definitely come again.  He has not delayed his promise.  Instead, he has delayed his second coming.

            Using the metaphor that one day with the Lord is a thousand years, it has been two "days" since the Paschal Mystery.  In our day, we are also tempted to live as if the Lord will not come again and as if there will be no judgment at the end of time.  For that reason, we need to hear the author telling us to be vigilant, a lesson we learned two times on our Pilgrimage last summer.  Had we been more vigilant in Lucca, our bicycles would not have been stolen.  Had we been more vigilant in Rome, thieves would not have taken all the rest of our belongings.  If we could go back in time, we would have behaved differently.  We would have walked our bikes through the streets of Lucca and taken turns sitting with the bikes while visiting local churches.  We would have unloaded our luggage first in Rome and then gone to Saint Peter's Square to celebrate our arrival after 1,200 miles.  But, we cannot go back in time.  We can only learn from those lessons and do things differently if we ever do something like this again.

            The author of the Second Letter of Saint Peter knows that we cannot go back in time.  Instead, he provides a reason for the Lord delaying his second coming.  By delaying his second coming, the Lord is providing us valuable time to look back on ways we have not been vigilant and to use the time remaining as a gift to change our ways.  To use the image of the Prophet Isaiah, the Season of Advent gives us time to make straight the way of the Lord, so that he can come directly into our lives.  We can remove the mountains that have become obstacles and fill in the valleys which have become pitfalls for the Lord to come to us in an intimate way.

            John the Baptist provides ways of using the time in this Season of Advent.  John's father was a priest in the Temple of Jerusalem.  He helped people to prepare the paschal lambs for sacrifice to ask God for reconciliation.  That is not where John speaks in today's Gospel.  John has gone to the wilderness, to the quiet of the desert. where his ancestors had found God in their Exodus from Egypt.  From that barren place, he points to the coming of God's only begotten Son, who will become the real Lamb of God sacrificed, not in a sacred Temple, but on a hill where criminals were executed outside the city walls.  That sacrifice will become the perfect sacrifice which reconciles us with the Father.  As recipients of that sacrifice, we are formed into a living Temple guided by the gift of the Holy Spirit given to us when we were baptized.

            John the Baptist eats locusts which speak of God's judgment and honey which speaks of God's mercy.  John invites us to take some time from the craziness of our culture's holiday season to use Advent as a time to look back on ways in which we have not been vigilant and aware of the Lord's presence and change those patterns of behavior in the time given to us by the Lord.  One very real way of using this gift of time is to make a good confession.  Come to the Advent Penance Service a week from Tuesday.  There will be 17 priests.  Together, we hear the Word of God which can open our eyes to God's judgment on our failures.  Individually, we encounter the Lord's mercy in the Sacrament.  As we wait for others to do the same, we sit in the quiet to be with the Lord.  Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the fire of the Lord's love burns away our sins.  In experiencing the fire of that love, we can face the fire of the Lord's Second Coming with vigilance and without fear.