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Homilies are posted no later than during the week
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2
Advent
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A millionaire announced to Mark Twain, "Before I die, I
will go to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read aloud the
Ten Commandments." Twain observed, "I have a better idea. You could
stay home and keep them."
I introduce this homily on sin with an illustration from a
layman precisely because many people do not like priests
speaking on sin. Many Catholics no longer buy into the concept of
personal sin.
We live our lives in an era which has dry cleaned sin
away. How else can one explain that so few of us go to
Confession?
Eg, a university professor was arrested for collecting his
mother's social security for six years after her death. He didn't
understand what was wrong.
Nowadays you must feel guilty about feeling guilty. If you
send people on a guilt trip, God help you! No one else will. You will
be called a killjoy.
There is one serious problem in this scenario. Jesus and
His
main man, John the Baptist, speak more often of sin than of love. There
are more references to sin in the New Testament than to love.
A novelist says love means you never have to say you're
sorry. John the Baptist replies "Rubbish." Why else would John the
Disturber have come in from the desert "proclaiming a baptism of
repentance that led to forgiveness of sin?" The Gospels tell us people
bought his message hook, line, and sinker, repented of their sins, and
were baptized.
Today John the Baptist might well be out of a job. He
might be locked up for upsetting people's peace of mind and forced to
take antidepressant pills.
Young people are being deprived of education in morals by
those who should know better - namely, myself, their parents, and
teachers.
What message are we sending boys and girls when we allow
public school teachers to demonstrate putting condoms on cucumbers and
then present studies of the homosexual lifestyle? They advise students
with an ear-to-ear grin to practice safe sex whatever that is.
A Catholic professor in a private college told freshmen
that in ethics there is no right or wrong, only points of view. Can you
imagine what John the Baptist would have to say to him? Infinitely
worse, what he would say to us who tolerate this nonsense?
To airbrush sin away is to turn religion into cherry
vanilla ice cream. To bury sin with socio-economic buzz words is to sell
Christ out. It makes John the Baptist retch.
Good manners demand that for slight offenses we must say
to God, "Excuse me." For serious offenses we must say, "Pardon me." The
place to find that pardon is on our knees in theconfessional. It
is only when we say,"I have sinned!" that God can say, "I forgive you."
(Joseph Felix)
When Peter denied Christ, he did not say he blew his cool.
He did not blame his defection on bad toilet training. Matthew's Gospel
tells us "he went out and began to weep bitterly." Today, if he was
caught weeping, he would be forced to take a holiday.
Judas took responsibility for his betrayal of Christ. He
did not say, "Hey, give me a break. It's only my first betrayal."
The prodigal son confessed his sins saying, "Father, I
have sinned against God and against you." Check it out in Luke 15:21.
The Gospel of Matthew advises us the first command Jesus
spoke to a live audience was a stark one worder, "Repent!"
Christ must have taken his repentance cue from John
because today's Gospel tells us the first thing the Baptizer said after
walking out of the desert was not "Have a nice day!" but
"Repent!" God wants us to be like John the Baptizer. He wants us to be
a voice and not a whisper, a burning light and not a dying bulb.
Most of us resemble medieval oil paintings. We are
covered with years of dust and grime. Confession is the only way out
forus.
Some say that when God made John the Baptist, He
threw the mold away. This Advent we should pick up our flashlights,
find that mold, and squeeze ourselves into it.
To become a contemporary John the Baptizer would be
a wonderful gift to present the Infant that we shall shortly salute.
Good people are in short supply in our culture.
In this season, we celebrate not what we are nor what we
were but what we could be and want to be. (AU)
Do you get the feeling that Confession should be way up
there on your must-do list this Advent?
John the Baptist says to us today, "If you're not
living on the edge, you're taking up space." |
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
2 Advent
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I love dressing up for Sunday Mass, and I love seeing so many in our
parish who dress up for Church. People are very interesting. Everyone
has his or her own look.
Consider me. I have my own look. And it takes a lot of time for me to
get this look. The washing, the primping, the Just for Men, the
combing; it takes a lot of time. Then there’s the picking out the right
outfit for the day. "Let’s see should I go with black, or black, or my
favorite, black?" A teenager once asked me why priests wear black. I
told him, "school colors." Anyway, having primped and chosen my
wardrobe, my day starts with me making the proper appearance as a
priest.
I hope you appreciate it.
Because God, certainly, does not care.
"Not by appearance shall he judge," we just heard in the first reading
from Isaiah. He is not impressed by our coiffure, our wardrobe, or even
our demeanor. He doesn’t care if someone has a pietistic attitude that
makes you wonder if he or she is a model for a plastic sculpture of a
saint. He doesn’t care if someone does not appear different than any
one else. He doesn’t care.
There was no missing the Pharisees and Sadducees when they came before
John the Baptist in today’s Gospel. Both groups had distinctive garb to
demonstrate their holiness. John, reflecting God’s attitude, was not
impressed. He called them a "Brood of Vipers." Definitely not impressed.
Nor does God care what anyone says about someone else. You know, "She
is really a saint," or "He is such a loser." No, God doesn’t judge by
hearsay either, according to Isaiah.
So, how does God judge? And why was John so negative regarding the
Pharisees and Sadducees who came to be baptized? According to Isaiah,
God judges by actions. He judges by justice. The way people live, the
way they treat others is what matters. He judges by justice. The
biblical concept of justice is deeper than the legal connotation of
justice. In the Bible, justice is the correct relationship with the
Lord. Evidence of this relationship is seen in every action of a just
person’s life. We call a person a "Godly Man or a Godly Woman" because
the love of God is seen in the way he or she treats others. The Godly
Man is a Just Man. The Godly Woman is a Just Woman.
That’s why John was furious with the Pharisees and Sadducees. There was
nothing Godly about these self styled paradigms of holiness. They were
more concerned that others respected them than they were about how they
treated others. They looked down at people as though they were dirt.
But they were the ones whose bellies were in the dirt. So, John called
them by their just name, Brood of Vipers. If they wanted to prove John
wrong, they could. He told them they could. What they needed to do was
produce good fruit as evidence of their commitment to God, of their
repentance. That’s why John didn’t kick them out. He baptized them too.
Have you mastered proper, plastic, pietism? Can you get your heads
tilted at the proper slant so that all around you will expect you to be
swooped up into heaven at any moment? I hope not. That is not what this
Kingdom that John proclaimed is all about.
What the Kingdom of God is about is wisdom and understanding, and
counsel and courage and reverence for the Presence of God. The cardinal
virtues are first found here in the reading from Isaiah. Each virtue
speaks about seeing God in others and in the world and acting according
to that vision. Each virtue leads us to make justice the band around
our waists.
Imagine what a beautiful world we would live in if people were truly
Godly. It would be a world where there was no hatred, or fear, or war,
or suffering. Isaiah became quite poetic when he considered this world:
the wolf shall be the guest of the lamb, the leopard shall lie down
with the baby goat, (kid actually), the calf and the lion shall bowse
together and the lion won’t have veal for lunch. The cow and the bear
will get along. And children would no longer die. The baby will play in
the cobra’s den and not be bitten. The child will put his hand in the
adder’s lair and not be hurt. "There shall be no harm or ruin on my
holy mountain," the song we love to sing for Advent comes from here,
Isaiah 11.
The ideal is upon us. The Kingdom of God is transforming the world. And
we can be part of this transformation. We can change the world by being
Godly people. We can change the world by being people of justice and
love.
The manner that we treat others has far deeper implications than our
relationship to this or that individual. When we are kind to someone,
we are making the Kingdom a reality in that person’s life. When we
treat someone with justice, we are providing the world with an
experience of God’s presence.
For example, let say that a retired person’s adult children have been
rather unapproachable during the year. They have not bothered about the
family. Their own lives were too important and too busy to call to Mom
or Dad. Now they want to come to visit for Christmas. Mom and Dad may
feel that they have a right to treat them coldly, but if, instead, they
are kind and loving, forgetting their absence in past and enjoying
their presence, than those children will know what it is like to be
welcomed back home not just by their parents, but by God. They will
have an experience of the Kingdom of God in the justice of their Godly
parents.
Maybe it’s not the children of a retired person, but a brother or
sister who has hurt a sibling and now wants to be warm and friendly for
Christmas. Perhaps, they did the same thing last year and the year
before, then restored hostilities shortly after the tree came down. It
makes no difference. No one can hold a grudge and be a Christian. The
conquest of the Kingdom is more important than the rationale for an
argument. When people are genuinely welcoming, when people are warm,
then they are Godly people working to transform the world, one person,
one grudge at a time.
Perhaps it’s the Teen in school who has invented new ways to be nasty
to others. He or she is the least popular person in the class, a
distinction he or she has earned by saying things about others, by
making others’ lives difficult, by just plain being mean. Shock him or
her. Give this Teen a Christmas card and truly wish that he or she has
a beautiful Christmas. You will be giving the Teen a great Christmas
present, an experience of God.
You and I need to do this and similar actions, because we have the
blessing of being called into the Kingdom of God.
Not by appearances does the Lord judge, but by justice, and kindness,
and the determination to let the presence of God prepare others to
enter His Kingdom. This is justice. And this justice will transform the
world.
That is our Advent Hope.
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http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/
* available in Spanish - see Spanish
homilies
2 Advent
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Bottom line: To live our lives, we need hope. To encourage our young
people, we need to be able to explain our hope.
Our Holy Father has given us an early Christmas present. He was written
an encyclical letter titled "Spe Salvi" - in hope we are saved. (Rom
8:24) We live in a world of so much hopelessness, despair and
depression. It is important to ask what is the basis for our hope. Why
do we hope?
People can use the word hope in a lot of different ways: "I hope that I
get a certain present for Christmas. I hope that my candidate wins the
election. I hope that scientists will find a cure for Alzheimers." We
all have different hopes, but what does it mean to have Christian hope?
Pope Benedict uses a striking example to illustrate the meaning of
Christian hope. He tells about an African girl named Josephine Bahkita.
When she was about nine years old, slave traders kidnapped her and sold
her in the slave markets of Sudan. The wife of a general bought her and
treated her cruelly. She was flogged so often that for her entire life
she had 144 scars on her body. Eventually an Italian merchant bought
her and she found herself in a family that treated her kindly - and
introduced her to the God of Jesus Christ. She discovered what it means
to be a free child of God. She said, “I am definitively loved and
whatever happens to me - I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is
good.” This, says Pope Benedict, is Christian hope. It is not just the
thought that things might get better - but that no matter what happens,
a person knows that God loves him - and that God awaits him.
We are so used to hearing that God loves us that it doesn't register
anymore. "OK, God loves me. That's nice. What's on TV?" The romantic
misadventures of the famous interest us more than the romance that
endures. That was not the case for Josephine Bahkita. She went from
being unloved, a mere commodity, to the realization that she was loved
in a radical and definitive way. You may wonder what happened to her
after this realization. On December 8, 1896, Josephine Bahkita took
vows as religious sister. For the next fifty years she served various
roles in her community. She became known for her gentleness, calming
voice and ever-present smile. The mother superior noticed her sanctity
and instructed her to write about her experiences. She began giving
talks which made her famous throughout Italy.
Sickness and pain racked her final years. The extremity of her last
days drew her mind back to the years of slavery. In her delirium she
cried out, "Please, loosen the chains...they are so heavy." God did
free her from her chains. She met the Love that awaited her. On
February 8, 1947 Josephine Bahkita gave herself into the hands of God.
Calls for her canonization began immediately. In 1992 Pope John Paul
declared her Blessed and in the year 2000, he canonized her. A modern
African saint, Josephine Bahkita illustrates the depths of Christian
hope - and how Christian hope can transform a person's life.
St. Paul tells us today that everything in the Bible was written so
that we might have hope. By hope we become new men and women. In hope
we are saved. This Advent I am determined to set aside time, not only
to read the Pope's encyclical on hope, but to spend time reflecting and
praying about his message. To live our lives, we need hope. To
encourage our young people, we need to be able to explain our hope. How
beautiful it would be if we could appreciate the experience of St.
Josephine Bahkita: "I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me
- I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good."
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Spanish Version
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http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
2 Advent
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
2 Advent
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A fierce man with an uncompromising message, John the Baptist must have
been formidable indeed. Just look at that little interplay with the
Pharisees and Sadducees in the Gospel reading. Why did John condemn
them so violently when, after all, they were coming for baptism?
We can answer this by simply saying that John could see they were not
sincere. But if they were not sincere why should they ask for Baptism
in the first place? We can only infer that John must have been so
highly regarded by the population and his message of repentance had
found broad acceptance. So much so that the Pharisees and Sadducees
felt that they were socially obliged to seek Baptism. Otherwise, they
would have looked as though they were spurning something that was so
obviously of God.
This is something that finds a clear parallel today, so often we have
questions about why people bring their children for baptism when they
clearly have no intention of bringing the child up in the faith that
they are baptised into. Our approach is not to go in for condemnations
like John the Baptist, but to hope and pray that in due time these
parents see the need to bring their children up to practice the faith
they are baptised into. We always keep a welcoming door open.
To go back to John, we can see from this little incident with the
Pharisees that John's message must have been heard by a great many
people and found wide acceptance. It seems clear that most of those who
approached John were conscious of the need for change and repentance in
their lives. Notice that these two things are inseparable, repentance
and change. It was the Pharisees reluctance to change that brought
about John's indignation.
It seems that we have three distinct groups;
· those who had already given up and did not respond to John's
call;
· those who heard him but whose hearts were hardened and were
reluctant to change, just like the Pharisees;
· and the third group who came to John full of hope and with a
real preparedness to change.
We must ask ourselves: to which group do we belong?
Change is central to the Christian life. Yet in our world committed
Christians are often considered to be conservative and reactionary,
implying a resistance to change. This seems a bit of a paradox, but I
think that it is something we should examine carefully. In order to
have a correct understanding it is necessary to draw some distinctions.
The one thing that Christians are really conservative about is the
teaching of Christ. We accept the message Christ presents to us through
the Gospels and we accept the authentic developments of the early
Church, which we regard as specially guided by the Holy Spirit because
it was under the leadership of those personally given the task by
Christ himself and experience the Holy Spirit in a special way at
Pentecost.
This is why Papal pronouncements are often regarded as conservative. No
Pope or Bishop is prepared to deviate materially from the teachings of
Christ as handed down to us through tradition. And if we are to look at
things from this point of view, purely on the content of the teachings
of Christ, then Christians are resistant to change and are therefore in
this one particular area very conservative indeed.
However this is only one narrowly defined aspect of the question. If we
now look at the content of Jesus' message we find that it is entirely
about change. It demands change in the person and in society. What
Jesus calls us to is conversion and he invites us to become a new
person in him. We are called to leave off the things of this world and
to model our lives according to the values of the Kingdom.
This is not easy to do, it involves us leaving behind all our natural
inclinations to self-interest, it involves us turning the other cheek,
it involves us in going out to those in need.
Our Lord himself is the one on whom we chose to model our lives. And
the life that he lived was one of self sacrifice, but it was also a
life which was lived with such a degree of personal integrity that his
very presence could inspire those around him to do good.
The French think that they discovered revolution; the Marxists think
that they are today's revolutionaries. History has proved them both
wrong. One of today's real revolutionaries is the Christian. Why?
Because he is prepared to change himself.
And by changing himself he changes the world. And it is in this way
that the world becomes transformed, gradually changed from a world
which serves purely human interests to a world which reflects the love
of God and gives glory to him who is the creator and Lord of all.
Advent is one of those times in the year, along with Lent, when we
especially think of this personal change we have been talking about. It
is a time when we make special use of the sacrament of reconciliation.
Lots of people have difficulties with this sacrament, but it is a
sacrament that has undergone a good deal of renewal and transformation,
change I believe which has made it much more user-friendly.
It is a sacrament which an increasing number of people are finding much
more relevant in their lives. Maybe they don't use it the old way,
every other Saturday, a quick in and out—but when they use it they find
it of real value.
My experience is that especially during Lent and Advent people take a
little time out and look seriously at their lives and in that special
encounter with Christ through the priest in the sacrament they express
their need for forgiveness and healing.
I also know from my own personal experience as a priest working for a
number of years in secondary schools that not a few young people are
finding the sacrament of reconciliation something quite relevant in
their lives. Certainly not on a weekly basis, but perhaps once or twice
a year. This is a development which is certainly to be encouraged, and
praised.
I cannot urge you strongly enough to make use of the sacrament of
reconciliation yourself this Advent. Take the message of John seriously
and Repent, for the kingdom of God is close at hand. And I say, perhaps
a little more gently than John: Come to the Lord in reconciliation,
experience his love and healing in your life, it is the greatest gift
that you will receive this Christmas.
We will of course be holding a special service of reconciliation for
Advent; I hope that as many people will come as possible and so prepare
for the celebration of Christmas in a truly spiritual way.
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
2 Advent
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Dec, 09, 2007: Matthew 3: 1-12
Second Sunday of Advent
Gospel Summary
Today we hear once again the impatient voice of John the Baptist urging us to
change so that we may be worthy to receive the Lord as he continues to come into
our world. Crooked ways must be made straight; bad habits need to be corrected;
conversion must continue. This message comes straight from God and that is why
John proclaims it in the desert--a place that has always been associated with
divine mystery and freedom. (See how this is portrayed in the relationship between
Ahab and Elijah: 1 Kings 18:7ff). Human control has no place in the symbolic
wilderness of divine freedom.
John wears the garments that identify him with the great prophet Elijah. Just
as Elijah challenged the sinful king Ahab, so does John demand a break with a
past of sinful human control to make room for a future where God's will is honored
and obeyed. This will not be easy. And so John uses very strong language to scold
those who are not interested in change that goes deeper than appearances. True
conversion and true readiness for the coming of Jesus requires a conversion that
touches our hearts and our deepest values.
Life Implications
God very much wants to come to us. We also want to receive him. However, it is
usually only on our own terms. We wish to remain attached to habits and attitudes,
which are unworthy of us and hurtful to others. Like St. Augustine, we are inclined
to say, "Change me, Lord…but not yet." Such hesitation is most unfortunate
because an unqualified reception of the Lord can provide far more happiness and
peace than all the objects of our sinful attachments.
What is called for is repentance and we must be careful not to confuse that with
remorse. Remorse is simply a temporary regret about our unworthy behavior. It
usually lasts a very short time and then we return to our old habits. By contrast,
repentance means that we have found something better and more promising than
our sinfulness. This discovery is the love and goodness of God. If we could only
realize how much God loves us, we would be able to resist every temptation. We
make this discovery primarily through earnest prayer and a deep yearning to become
better persons
Today's gospel urges us to make room in our hearts for the love of God, not as
a theoretical fact or on someone else's word, but in our own experience. The
Eucharist reminds us every Sunday that God loves us and has given his only Son
to die for us. This means that we are very precious in God's sight. This also
means that God is more than ready to enter our hearts and to lead us to true
repentance.
We are asked to put aside selfish and defensive behavior so that God's love can
give us the freedom to be what God wants us to be--confident and responsible
human beings. In this regard, we are reminded of the words of the Book of Revelation: "Listen!
I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door,
I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me" (3:20). This readiness
of the Lord to become our best friend is true at all times, but never more so
than in the season of Advent.
Demetrius R. Dumm, O.S.B
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html
Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
2 Advent
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Isaiah 11, 1-10; Psalm 72; Rom 15, 4-9; Matthew 3, 1-12
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"Reform your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand." These words of
John the Baptist warn us against sleeping our lives away, against
spiritual laziness. Like headlines about a disaster on the front page
of the newspaper, the Gospel of Jesus, made manifest in the words and
actions of St. John, are urgent and sometimes frightening. Our Lord
makes it clear that we cannot afford confusion about where we are
heading. We must realize that our words and actions of each day, of
every moment, have eternal significance. Christianity is not a science
of escaping as much punishment as possible in the hands of an angry
God. Christianity is a relationship, important above all others. Our
faith should be our very life, more precious than all other things. If
we cannot say this is true, then we are not the Christians our Lord
calls us to be. If we realize that the stakes are eternal, than the
words of Christ will not be lost upon us. We will take his words and
teachings to heart, as spirit and life.
The Catechism instructs about the role of St. John.
St John the Baptist is the Lord's immediate precursor or forerunner,
sent to prepare his way. (Mt 3:3) "Prophet of the Most High," John
surpasses all the prophets, of whom he is the last. (Lk 1:76) He
inaugurates the Gospel, already from his mother's womb welcomes the
coming of Christ, and rejoices in being "the friend of the bridegroom,"
whom he points out as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world." (Jn 1:29) Going before Jesus "in the spirit and power of
Elijah," John bears witness to Christ in his preaching, by his Baptism
of conversion, and through his martyrdom. (Lk 1:17) (CCC 523)
This kingdom proclaimed and lived by St. John is for us also. Our faith
is one of reaching out, proclaiming Christ to others, inviting others
to share the life of Christ. "Come after me and I will make you fishers
of men." Preaching, teaching and proclaiming the fantastic news about
the kingdom is not just for the apostles, the pope, bishops, and
priests, but for all. Our life, first given in baptism, by its nature
seeks to share itself with others. Faith will not satisfy, will not
bring more life and grow, if we are content to keep it inside. True
faith seeks generously to be shared with all of the brothers and
sisters we meet. Share your faith, be "fishers of men", and your
faith-life will overflow in joy and will surely grow, welling up to
eternal life.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we
"meet Christ in the liturgy," Father Cusick
(Publish with permission.) http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
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Contact Father at cbonar@cfl.rr.com; information about his book of homilies is available at www.clydebonar.com.
2 Advent |
Readings: Isaiah 11: 1-10; Romans 15: 4-9; Matthew 3: 1-12
Producing Good Fruits While We Wait
Introduction
All around us we see preparations for
Christmas. Christmas cards from friends and family arrive in our mail
boxes. In our neighborhoods, homes adorned with bright, colorful
lights. Some have their Christmas trees up and decorated.
We make our trips to the shopping mall. There,
lights twinkle, cash registers ring as we fret over our shopping list.
Perhaps a digital camera or camcorder, or that favorite perfume, or
perhaps just cash for the college student.
Each year Christmas, and each year we go into
a flurry of activity getting ready for Christmas.
Two Experiences Of Waiting
But, as Christians, we wait for something more
important than the presents we open on Christmas morning. We wait for
Christ. Today is the Second Sunday of Advent. Christ is coming, and we
wait.
Advent finds us waiting in two different ways.
We wait the birth of Jesus, the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid
in a manager. And, we wait for the second coming, Christ coming again,
in glory, clothed in light.
Most often we think of the birth of Jesus. The
kind of waiting Mary did after the angel Gabriel told her God wanted
her to be the mother of His Son. Nine months to wait. To wait for her
baby to be born. An experience women know so well. The joys, the pains
of pregnancy. Hours of joy-filled expectation, days of discomfort.
Waiting till the day Mary would hold her son in her arms, cradle him,
care for him.
Then, the day of birth arrives, her baby is
born. Jesus, born of Mary. She looks into the eyes of Jesus, hears him
cry, holds his shivering flesh. This is what Mary waits for. And what
we await. For Jesus to be born.
A second experience of waiting, quite
different. The waiting for someone who is absent to return. Military
families know this. I remember homecoming for our Navy ship, after a
deployment. There, waiting on the pier, wives, husbands, and children.
Watching with anticipation as the ship appears in the harbor. The
excitement growing as the ship docks. Hands waving for a loved husband
or wife to see. The crew lines the rail, waving back. Shouted words of
greeting lost among all the joy-filled noise. The ship is back, the
sailors home again.
This is the kind of waiting we do as we await
the Second Coming of Christ. Our Creed states, "we believe Christ will
come again." We wait, for Christ again to walk among us.
In Advent we re-live the waiting. Both kinds
of waiting. Waiting with Mary for the birth of Jesus. And, we await for
Christ to come again in glory the Second Coming.
"Repent, The Kingdom of Heaven Is At Hand"
Knowing Christ is coming, we'd better get
ready. John the Baptist warns us, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand!" In our opening prayer for this Mass, we prayed, "Open our
hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving
Christ with joy." We ask, What does hinder us? Why do we need
repentance?
Let me tell you about some newly weds arguing
over Christmas presents. The issue, how much to spend on each gift. In
the family where the husband grew up, gifts at Christmas never cost
very much. A pair of socks, a notebook for school, a new football. Each
gift given and received with great love. By contrast, in the family
where the wife grew up, gifts cost a lot. Ten, twenty times what her
husband thought should be spent.
The newly weds feud: buy the simple gift, or
break the family budget buying expensive Christmas gifts. What do we
need to repent? We’re told, it's the thought that counts.
What hinders us from receiving Christ with
joy?
How about repentance? Let me tell you about a young grandson visiting
his grandparents. They decided to rent a movie. The grandson picked out
an "R" rated movie. The grandparents suggested a "PG" movie. The
grandson pops up, "This movie is great, I've seen it four times." And,
sure enough, he knew the dialogue of the "R" rated movie by heart, even
cautioned his grandparents when to look away. That's a twelve year old
grandson.
But, come Sunday, and the young grandson does
not want to go to church with his grandparents. Says he doesn't
understand what's going on at Mass. What needs repentance? Parents
allowing their son to know more about "R" rated movies than about their
Catholic faith.
John the Baptist shouts, "Repent, the kingdom
of heaven is at hand." John's right. We've got some habits that need
mending.
"Produce Good Fruits As Evidence of Your Repentance"
Then the Baptist gives us some more advice.
John tells us, "Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance." We
do get caught in some bad, but we also do good. Let's list some "good
fruits" we produce.
I like a story about a New York City taxi
driver. In prayer, he asked God how he might help the homeless, the
forgotten people of the streets. As the cab driver tells it, "God told
me to make eight pounds of spaghetti, go to 103rd street and Broadway,
and feed the street people." And, he did. The taxi driver cooked the
spaghetti, covered it with a tasty meat sauce, went to 103rd and
Broadway, and started passing out paper plates pilled high with his
spaghetti. He fed the poor. The taxi driver produced good fruits.
Another example, we take from our own parish.
We do bring Christ to our brothers and sisters with a helping hand.1
The most obvious example is the gifts we all brought to Mass last
Sunday and today. Our Angel Tree Program – a family takes a name tag
from the Angel Tree, and returns a gift wrapped in Christmas colors.
Gifts for the needy.
Our parish collected goods for new moms at the
J.M.J. Crisis Pregnancy Center. Diapers, socks, layette sets, pajamas,
tooth brushes, toys. Gifts to the needy, these are good fruits. Each
month, you bring food to feed the homeless.
And we Christians pray. At one monastery a
monk picks out the very worst story in the newspaper and spends the day
praying for God's help. Looking at the monk we see his hands pealing
potatoes. His mind is turned to God in prayer.
To produce good fruits, we need prayer. A
priest friend always prays the Rosary while driving. He'll tell you the
distance in terms of how many Rosaries he prays while driving there.
The hospital, it’s close, he can pray one Rosary en route to the
hospital; his mother's house, a little farther, that's a three Rosary
trip.
Advent calls us to be a better Christian. John
the Baptist tells us, "Produce good fruits as evidence of your
repentance." We try to produce "good fruits." We give to the needy, we
pray.
Conclusion
With his advice, John the Baptist also gives a
warning. He says, "every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut
down and thrown into the fire."
It's Advent. We wait for Jesus to be born, we
wait for the Second Coming of Christ.
On Christmas morning let us do more than "ooh"
and "ah" at our presents. On Christmas morning, let us rejoice that we
did look at our lives, and did some repenting. Rejoice for all the
times we have brought a real presence of Christ into the life of
someone else. Rejoice that we did produce good fruit.
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These
homilies may be copied and adapted for your own use; however, they may
not be
commercially published without permission of the author.
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