FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

1 DECEMBER 2024

 

          The prophet Jeremiah speaks to a people dwelling in the darkness of their captivity in Babylon.  Both Jerusalem and the temple have been destroyed, and they cannot see much hope for the future.  However, Jeremiah gives them hope.  Even though he admits that their lack of fidelity to the Covenant was a primary cause for their present condition, he assures them that God has not abandoned them.  God will keep his promise to King David and raise up for them a just shoot.  He promises that Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure.

            We too are dwelling in our share of darkness.  The darkness is not only this time of the year in the northern hemisphere, with shorter days and the onslaught of winter.  We dwell in the darkness of dangerous wars, a lack of respect for the dignity of human life at all levels, and a terrible plague of division and distrust in our country and in our world.  We begin the Season of Advent in the darkness of this world.  And our scripture readings encourage us to dwell in this darkness with a real sense of hope.  In these four weeks of Advent, we prepare to celebrate the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s promise.  We prepare to celebrate the first coming of that just shoot, Jesus Christ, at Christmas.

            But Advent also prepares us for his second coming at the end of time.  The Lord’s description of that coming in the Gospel may be frightening.  But it is also hopeful, because it reveals the honest truth that our lives and our world as we know them will come to an end.  For that reason, Jesus tells us who believe in his Incarnate presence to be vigilant at all times.  The Greek word for being vigilant means “to be sleepless, to keep awake,” the way a soldier on guard keeps alert for the coming of an enemy.  Being vigilant or watchful does not mean that we need to cower in fear or dread, any more than a soldier or a guard would cower in fear.

            A modern equivalent of being vigilant and not becoming drowsy might be a paramedic.  Paramedics are trained to respond immediately when they are called to an emergency.  They receive training and continuously practice life-saving techniques and knowledge.  They do not live in a state of vigilance.  But when they are called to an emergency, they are prepared to deal with their own fear and distress and the distress of those who have called them to stabilize a patient and get that person to the hospital.

            In being alert and watchful for the second coming of Jesus Christ, either at the end of our lives or at the end of the world, we who are disciples of Jesus Christ are not passive.  We prepare by living out the Christian life.  We foster a relationship with God and with this Christian community.  We worship Jesus Christ and serve the needs of others.  We encounter Christ in the face of the poor and witness to the faith in the lives we live.  We recognize the presence of the Lord in every human being, even in those with whom we disagree and who drive us crazy.  We acknowledge our sins and receive the Lord’s mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive the grace to extend the Lord’s mercy to those who offend us.  If we practice recognizing the Lord’s presence in those we encounter, we will recognize him at the end.

            In actively living the Christian life, we receive training, practice life-saving techniques, and knowledge.  Like paramedics, we can become a calming presence when the earth falls into disarray, panic, and fear.  Or like sentries on duty, we continue to receive direction from our Commander in the Word of God spoken to us each Sunday.  We are aware of the activity of the enemy.  We are ready to fulfill our responsibilities.  As we now prepare ourselves to receive the real presence of the Lord in this Eucharist, may we prepare ourselves for his Second Coming in such a way that we can embrace, encounter, and enjoy that moment when it does come.

 

OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE

24 NOVEMBER 2024

 

            On this last Sunday of the liturgical year, we look back on how we have been invited to deepen our relationship with God.  We began the year with the Advent message to prepare for the coming of Christ.  We celebrated his first coming at Christmas.  During Lent, we admitted that we have not always put Christ at the center of our lives.  We embraced fasting, prayer, and almsgiving to renew our baptismal promises at Easter.  In the Sacred Paschal Triduum, we entered into the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Impelled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the end of the Easter Season, we have listened to the Gospel of Mark challenging us to recognize the Kingdom of God in our midst.  Today, our second reading from the Book of Revelation reflects on Christ, seated on his throne as King of Kings and Lord of lords.  It tells us the truth about Jesus Christ, the truth that Pilate did not grasp. 

            The Book of Revelation reminds us that Jesus Christ is the faithful witness.  He is not a witness in the sense of being an eyewitness to an important event.  Rather, the root word for “witness” is “martyr.”  Over the centuries, the martyrs of the Church have given witness to the faith by surrendering their lives for Christ.  Jesus is the first and faithful witness in the sense that he has given his life totally and completely out of love for us.  He voluntarily laid down his life, not just for good and holy people.  He laid down his life for all of us sinners, even the most notorious ones.

            Second, the Book of Revelation says that he is the first born of the dead.  When Jesus took on our human nature in the Mystery of the Nativity, he embraced the reality of death.  He destroyed death by entering into it.  In defeating death, he shares with us the mystery of his resurrection.  Just as death was not the end for him, death is not the end for us. 

            Third, the Book of Revelation tells us that he is coming on the clouds.  Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.  When Pilate asks Jesus about his kingship, Jesus responds that his kingdom does not belong to this world.  The kingdom of Pilate involves domination, privilege, power, and prestige.  The kingdom of Jesus Christ consists of love, justice, and service.  As we know from our own experience of this world’s kingdom, so much of our culture in caught up in Pilate’s kingdom of domination, privilege, power, and prestige.  It is easy to become discouraged and give up in frustration.  But as members of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, we must continue to do all we can to make the kingdom of Jesus Christ more visible.  And even when we fail, we know that Pilate’s kingdom will not prevail.  The Lord will come again.

            Finally, the Book of Revelation reveals Jesus Christ as the alpha and the omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and the beginning and the end of everything.  As the beginning and the end, he is the unchanging foundation upon which all creation rests.  No matter what happens in our world, Jesus Christ remains the source of our hope and our faith.  That is the truth that sustains us. 

            Jesus offers Pilate a chance to see the truth in his kingship.  Out of fear, Pilate refuses to embrace the truth and continues to exercise the violence of his kingdom.  Jesus offers us the same choice today.  He invites us to fix our eyes on him, the Martyr of the faith, the death-defying conqueror, the Coming King, and the Alpha and the Omega.  In him, we find the source of our hope, the anchor of our souls, and the assurance of our salvation.  In him we find the truth.  And the root Hebrew word for truth is that it is reliable, factual, constant, certain, secure, permanent, and honest.

 

 

THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

17 NOVEMBER 2024

 

          As we come to the end of this liturgical year, our Scripture readings speak of the end of the world and the Second Coming.  They use apocalyptic images.  They are usually extravagant visons of things we have never experienced on this earth and often come with destruction and fear.  The Prophet Daniel uses apocalyptic images to speak of how “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.”  Mark also uses apocalyptic images to speak of the end.  The sun will darken, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky.  Most spectacularly, the Son of Man will come in the clouds.  Then, as often happens with these apocalyptic visions, we are told to be on the lookout for the end.  But, we are also told that we know not the time or the hour.  Only God can know the time or the hour.

            Too many times, those instructions are ignored.  People continue to look for the signs that the end is near.  For centuries, predictions of the end have failed to materialize.  So, instead of trying to determine when the end will occur, we can examine what the word “apocalypse” really means.  While apocalypse does involve the destruction and end of the world as we know it, the word actually means the uncovering or revealing of heavenly mysteries.  Instead of trying to determine the time when the Lord will come again, we can find our role in this uncovering or revealing in the fig tree that Jesus mentions.  Throughout the Old Testament, the fig tree is used to symbolize the Israelites, God’s chosen people.  In just a few chapters prior to today’s Gospel, Jesus curses the fig tree for not bearing fruit.  As baptized members of the Body of Christ, the image applies to us, because we are God’s chosen people.  Fig trees are supposed to be tellers of time.  Because they signal when the seasons are changing, we are called to be signalers for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  We are the fig tree that others can look at to see the coming of Christ.  We are able to do this when we produce leaves and bear good fruit.

            The Mysteries of the Kingdom of God have been revealed to us in many ways, especially in the readings from Sacred Scripture and in the teachings of the Church.  We are called to be heralds of those Mysteries by the way we live our lives, especially in this time of deep division and conflict, both in our society and in our Church.  We reveal these Mysteries when we cultivate good leaves by taking time to visit the sick or respond to the needs of the poor and the vulnerable, or when we show compassion to friends or family who are having a rough time.  We bear good fruit when we learn to respect the image of Jesus Christ in those who drive us crazy or in those who disagree strongly with us.  We bear good fruit when we offer ourselves in humble service, especially in the wonderful way that this parish feeds the hungry and homeless on Thanksgiving Day.

            In these last two weeks of this Liturgical Year, the Lord is not trying to frighten us into being good.  Nor does he want us to speculate when the end will come, either the end of our own lives or the end of the world.  Instead, he gives us a foretaste of the heavenly mysteries at this Mass.  He nourishes us to make sure that that we sprout good leaves on our fig tree and produce good fruit.  The Lord will come again at a time we cannot predict.  We can be a sign of that to others in ways we cannot imagine.  Even when this current Liturgical Year will end with the Solemnity of Christ the King next Sunday, a new year will begin on the First Sunday of Advent.  As fig trees, we have no reason to worry or be discouraged.

 

 

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

10 NOVEMBER 2024

 

          We meet two widows in today’s Scripture readings.  The first is a pagan widow living several centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ.  She is suffering from the severe drought that has ravaged her region, the home of Queen Jezebel’s father.  As she gathers some sticks to build a fire to cook a final meal for herself and her son, a strange man approaches and asks her to make a little cake for him.  This is no ordinary stranger.  He is Elijah, the enemy of Queen Jezebel, who had called on God to bring about this drought in punishment for the sins of her and King Ahab.  The widow acknowledges that Elijah’s God is not her god in telling him that the Lord, YOUR God knows that she has no more food.  Elijah promises that if she uses the last of her flour and oil to make him a little cake, she will have plenty to feed herself and her son until it rains again.  He tells her not to be afraid.  She risks everything to trust this word of the stranger on behalf of his God.  Her incredible faith is rewarded, just as Elijah has promised. 

            In the Gospel, we meet another remarkable widow.  Jesus is been in the temple and criticizes the scribes.  They take advantage of the respect due to their office by parading in long robes, accepting greetings in the marketplaces, taking seats of honor in the synagogues, and places of honor at banquets.  They recite lengthy prayers as they devour the houses of widows, entrusted to their care.  Sitting down opposite the treasury, he watches rich people deposit large sums of money into the thirteen trumpet-shaped containers.  Those large copper coins would make a lot of noise and attract a lot of intention.  But he sees a poor widow who deposited two small coins worth a few cents.  No one would have noticed her contribution.  But Jesus does.  Like the widow of Zarephath, she risks everything.  She gives all that she has trusting that God will provide for what she needs, even when the greedy scribes who should have taken care of her did not.  Jesus contrasts her authentic piety and trust in God with the false piety of the scribes.

            The disciples must have remembered this incident in the temple.  Just a few days later, Jesus did exactly what that poor widow has done.  As the Letter to the Hebrews says, Jesus became both priest and victim.  Unlike the priests who offer sacrifices every day in the temple, Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross only once.  Jesus trusted the Father that death will not be the end.  By his sacrifice, Jesus took away our sins and reconciled us with the Father.

            Jesus invites us to imitate the faith of these two widows.  We need to trust that we can risk everything and receive more back than we can imagine.  We can trust his word, just as the widow of Zarephath trusted the word of God given by Elijah.  Fed by the Sacrifice of Jesus made present here as we remember it, we too can give of ourselves over and over again, risking everything in complete trust that we will receive back more than we could ever have given.

            At the time of Jesus, King Herod was renovating and enlarging the temple.  He must have depended on the wealthy to finance the construction.  Sadly, over the years, I have had to raise significant sums of money to build stuff.  In every fundraising effort, we had to hire professional consultants.  They wisely told us to do what Herod probably did:  approach those who were more financially endowed to begin the process.  We heeded their advice and raised the funds necessary to build lots of buildings, including a new church.  But we never forgot those who gave what they could.  We listed all givers on a public wall, not by advertising what they gave, but by listing them in alphabetic order, no matter what they were able to give.  The Lord knows the sacrifices of all of us, especially the more important sacrifices that do not involve money.  He accepts our risks and offers great returns on those investments.

 

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

3 NOVEMBER 2024

 

In the Gospel of Saint Mark, scribes and religious leaders usually ask Jesus.  They want to trip him up and expose this self-taught rabbi from Galilee as a fraud.  However, this scribe is not hostile.  He understands that keeping the commandments shows reverence for God and involves the correct act of a believer seeking to respond to God’s covenant of love.

Knowing that the Pharisees have developed 613 different laws from the Torah, he seems genuine in asking Jesus his opinion.  Of all those laws, he wants to know which commandment is the greatest.  Jesus does not hesitate.  He quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (our first reading today) and recites the Shema, Israel, the prayer prayed by all faithful Jews every morning and evening: “Hear, O Israel!  The Lord our God is Lord alone!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

Without skipping a beat, he then quotes Leviticus 91:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Neither of these commandments are original.  Both are widely known by the faithful.  However, Jesus is the first to join them in such a radical way.  They cannot be separated from one another.  It is impossible to love God (and keep the first three commandments) without loving neighbor (the last seven commandments).

The scribe confirms the correctness of Jesus’ answer.  He also adds a statement that is remarkable for a scribe: “loving God and neighbor is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”  Scribes are closely connected with the temple and temple worship.  They work with the priests who would offer the animals in sacrifice on the altar in the temple.  Animal sacrifices and the burnt offerings are part of worship in the temple.  People would bring them on a daily basis.  But the scribe understands that these offerings are merely external manifestations of an internal desire to be in union with God.  Jesus affirms his correct understanding and tells the scribe that he is not far from the kingdom of God.

We who are disciples of Jesus Christ know that his perfect sacrifice of self out of love for us has replaced the sacrifices and burnt offerings of the ancient temple in Jerusalem.  As the Letter to the Hebrews tell us, he is both priest and victim.  His once and perfect sacrifice on the altar of the cross accomplished what all the former sacrifices had hoped for.  His sacrifice has reconciled us with the Father and has opened for us the kingdom of God.

To imitate that sacrifice, we must love God and neighbor with our heart.  We must love with all our heart.  For ancient people, the heart signified the depths of the person. We must love with our soul, which signifies our whole self.  We must love with our mind, submitting our thoughts and all our intellectual efforts to the love of God.  We must love with out strength.  When we love with all our strength, we realize that love is not just a strong emotion.  It is a decision to commit all our external achievements in the service of God and neighbor. Loving neighbor is never easy, as Jesus explains in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Neighbors are anyone we meet, including enemies and those who drive us crazy.

It is important that the Lord reminds us of these two central commandments of love on this weekend prior to the election.  No matter what happens in Tuesday’s election, and no matter which candidates will win, it is the love of God that remains at the center of our lives.  When we open ourselves to this incredible love, then we can trust more deeply in our great high priest, Jesus Christ.  He knows our fears and failings, because he shares our human nature with us.  But he is interceding for us.  Unlike us, he is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and higher than the heavens.