December 30, 2012

Bulletin: Holy Family December 30, 2012

1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28; 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24; Luke 2:41-52
What was family life like with Mary, Joseph and Jesus? The custom of the time had their parents living with them; I wonder if Joseph and Mary did? What was my family like? What was the holiness in my family? Every family has God present…and if God is welcomed, there is holiness. So what was holy about my family? Did I accept it or was I concerned with me and what I wanted, most kids are, and I was not an exception. So how much of the holiness was absorbed with me not getting my own way or because of the ‘disputes’ between my sisters and my brother?

Diane Bergant and Fr. JamesWallace CSsR, two noted scholars in “Living the Word” say this,

“If you were to choose an adjective to accompany ‘family,’ what would it be? Holy? Or is it more likely to be ‘dysfunctional’? …

And yet, granting that every family, like every person, is imperfect and on occasion wounds each other in both small and big ways, we do find holiness in families. It is the holiness that we see in Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, who cared for and respected each other, a holiness that witnesses to the power of God’s grace at work in hearts open to it.”
So am I open now to God’s grace working through me to help family, extended family, close friends who are really family to me? The bottom line is that it’s tough to be family. It’s tough to model lives on the Holy Family. As one author said, “In trying to live a life of family love, we are reaching beyond the stars to become like God.” So what is there in me that prevents me from ‘reaching beyond the stars? It’s a simple answer; it’s me! What was that famous Pogo line, I have met the enemy and he is I. The actual quote is, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” And I think the real enemy is that I just don’t love me the way that God loves me…and I might add I don’t think that God could love me when I don’t love me. This is a constant battle I wage within myself.

One author says the Dennis Linn & Matthew Linn‘s book on ‘Healing Life’s Hurts; Healing Memories through the Five stages of Forgiveness’ is the most complete book on inner healing that he has ever read. I quote from the Linn’s book, “All Americans suffer some emotional instability. Some psychologists say that seventeen out of twenty of us are neurotic and one in five will be treated for mental illness because Jung is right. Even illness which seems to be organic, as illness that is hereditary or due to an imbalance of endocrine secretions, is often triggered and prolonged by a lack of self-love.

Unfortunately, when we don’t love ourselves, we behave in a way that makes it harder to love ourselves. We cover our insecurity by broadcasting our success, criticizing whoever isn’t present, renting a dark corner for our shyness, becoming overextended and unable to say ‘no,’ criticizing ourselves to get sympathy, taking no risks that might final, and agreeing with those who like the weather and those who don’t. It’s a vicious circle in which we become less lovable the less we love ourselves.

Lack of self-love is the root of all sin. I get proud and stand on my soapbox when I am frowning at myself inside. When I am angry at myself, I jump down another’s throat. Lust attacks when I need intimacy to assure myself that I am lovable. Sloth anchors me when I feel I have little to give. The graph of when I loved myself most and least in my life matches the graph of when I sinned most and least. When I most need to experience God’s acceptance, I feel He is most distant because of my sin.”
And God absolutely loves me all the time and this was why He sent Jesus: to let me know and each person know that I am loved, that we are loved unconditionally, all of the time. I have a sign in my office given to me by my sister, “Remember … Ask God how much He is loving me right now … “ I have found that I have to repeatedly have to look at this…reflect on it…and be still…so that I can un-busy myself and L I S T E N !!!
So I go and look at Jesus and how He showed His love and how I need to show love in His family of all people:
Mark 6:56…”Whatever villages or towns or countryside He entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might touch only the tassel on His cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.” Do I go to Him when I’m sick over myself and my sins? He does love me.
Mark 10:13…”And people were bringing children to Him that He might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them, When Jesus saw this He became indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.’ Then He embraced them and blessed them, placing His hands on them.” And He does this to me…embracing me in love…so why is it difficult to love me when God loves me?
Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” How can I not come to the Lord who is absolutely this in love with me?
Matthew 6:25-26: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you eat (or drink) or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? ... If God so clothes the grass of the field which grows today and is thrown into the over tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?” This is the God who cares for me all the time; is totally in love with me. What is my problem with me?
Luke 4: 40…”At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to Him. He laid His hands on each of them and cured them.” Each person is important; He’s saying the same of me.
Luke 15:11…The Prodigal son…the lost son “went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” Jesus is telling that this is how the Father looks on each person…sinner or saint; so do I come to receive His love?
John 10: 11ff…”I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.” Every time I say Lord, God knows it is my voice calling and He comes in love…in mercy…in compassion. This is what it means to be in God’s family and how God loves me and all.  

Christmas

Bulletin: Christmas 2012

Vigil Readings: Isaiah 62: 1-5; Acts of the Apostles 13:16-17, 22-25; Matthew 1: 1-25

Mass during the Night: Isaiah 9:1-6; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14

Mass at Dawn: Isaiah 62: 11-12; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:15-20

Mass during the Day: Isaiah 52: 7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18

I’m sitting here and remembering. Rarely did I write a message just for Christmas only when the feast fell on a Sunday. I feel a little bit like the Dickens’ mood of Christmas past; Christmas present; and Christmas future.

I’m remembering my very first Christmas in Virginia in 2002 living with Bishop Sullivan at the Cathedral in Richmond. He was so very special to me and to so many others. He always made me feel welcomed, important and special. He didn’t have to pretend, or put on airs, he just was just naturally a good priest and a priest’s priest. So many have shared stories about Bishop Sullivan and I have many myself; I have always valued our friendship and his specialness. Well that first Christmas in Virginia I was far away from family (those who lived in Virginia were quite a distance away). It’s hard being away for the first time from family. I felt a little bit like Mary and Joseph felt, forced to be away from family and having no idea that what happened was the “First Christmas.”

When did Christmas start? The encyclopedia says that it was by the early to mid fourth century, the Western Church had placed the celebration of Christmas on December 25. The original date of the celebration of Christmas in the Eastern Church was January 6.

I remember when I was young one of the priests of the parish said that the loneliest place on Christmas day was the Church; no one came after the masses to Church to visit the crib. In those days the churches were kept open most of the day. I did venture and go to Church twice maybe on Christmas afternoon and it was quiet, eerie even: no one was there, the lights weren’t on even over the crib and it was still except for the wind and snow outside. I left quickly probably because I was afraid, but why should I be afraid at the crib?
I’ve never forgotten that message and maybe have said it once or twice myself; and I always remember the dark, lonely scene in the Church of my youth. But I have tried to remember and celebrate the ‘manger.’ I was fascinated with my first visit to the Holy Land in 2002. It was toward the beginning of January and in every Church we visited the manger scene was up. There was very little difference in the figures but for the most part there wasn’t any ‘cave’ or ‘shed’ where the Holy Family gathered. For the most part the figures were in the open; maybe under an open air shed; the ground was very hilly and rocky with the figures standing at different available spots. And the figures were definitely Eastern in appearance, not northern European.

So how do I celebrate the manger? I now situate the manger in direct sight from ‘my chair’. I look at the figures and whatever one takes my attention, I just let the mind wander. It travels down memory lane to the manger of my youth, to family celebrations, to reflections on who the ‘visitors were’; what they came to see and what they said and did when they left. Many times I just doze off looking at the manger and feel that it’s no problem because I’m sure Joseph did the same. They probably didn’t stay in that place that long, because I’m sure when a more hospitable living quarters came along, Joseph moved Mary and Jesus there. They had to have some spending money since they asked at inns if there was any room. So now I look at the room that I have for them during this season within myself.

The message I give myself is that I give myself permission to let my mind wander on this scene of the first Christmas and go wherever it goes and I give myself permission to reflect on these wanderings. It really turns into a special reflection. There always seems to be time on Christmas Day especially to do some reflection even when I’m at the family gatherings with the many kids ‘doing their own thing.’ It might be involved in watching the presents being opened; or to give thanks at the meal; or listening to the stories and memories of past celebrations and traditions. I don’t have to be involved in the discussions but I do treasure the reflections. And I look and marvel at the homes and their decorations especially the places they have for mementoes and religious figures. It all comes back to God and His love. Of course the love is shown in His being crucified, dying and rising for me and for each person. “Greater love than this….no one has…but to lay His life down….for His friends... (And I love this part a few verses down in John’s gospel) ‘AND YOU ARE MY FRIENDS.”



So I’m grateful and I reflect:

• What Christmas hymns or carols touch me most deeply this season? Am I taking a few moments to reflect on them? This could be Jesus’ message to me this year?
  
• One image I read says, “Jesus is like a present with packaging that makes you expect something very different from what is actually there.” Do I let God surprise me?
  
• There a lot of powerful words at this time, ‘I love you…I’m sorry…Let’s try again…Don’t worry about it’…That was beautiful…You are precious’. Do I use these or more importantly do I avoid any of these? Why? The answer to that question can help me get in touch with Christmas.

Sacred Space 2013 says:

• The Word lives among us. I let this truth sink in more deeply, giving time to allow joy and gratitude to be my response to God’s act of faith in me.
• Among all the lights of this Christmas, I cherish the light that prayer brings to me. I am reassured by the assertion that darkness does not overcome the light, and pray that all who celebrate this feast may experience light and joy.”    

December 23, 2012

Bulletin December 23, 2012 4^th Sunday Advent C

Micah 5:1-4; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-47

What a wonderful set of readings to prepare for the great feast of Christmas: “God with us.” Not only is God with me and each person every second of our lives; everything works out in accordance with His plan. So am I conscious of God’s movements or am I hung up on the way I want things? I remember a former bishop once giving me some advice when a certain set of people were very controlling … he said, “It’s like when we were kids and playing with some friends…everyone was having fun…but one said, “I want to do this…if we don’t I’m going to take my ball and go home.’ So the bishop said, let them go home with their ball and you enjoy the people you’re with, not those who only want it their way.”
In being ‘tuned in’…‘aware’…’open’ to look at things that happen in my life with eyes on God’s presence and providence, I can see how He is always drawing me closer to Himself and His love and leading me closer to the person He created me to be.
I see in the readings today how God ‘surprised’ the Jewish people with His plans for the coming Messiah. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah; very little is known about him but that he came from a very obscure village in the foothills. The introduction to his writing says “With burning eloquence he attacked the rich exploiters of the poor, fraudulent merchants, venal judges, corrupt priests and prophets.” His writing is short: seven chapters, seven pages. His prophecy today shares how the messiah will come from an insignificant village rather that the Royal City of Jerusalem. This new ruler will rule like a shepherd who leads, protects and provides for those in his care. I look back at my life and the many directions it has taken and the times that I thought, ‘I’ll just never get through this?’ And I did…God was so present…yet how often I just complained and didn’t express my gratitude. Now I look at His way…and it was definitely right…and He led me, protected me and cared for me each step of the way. God’s way enabled me even in the hurts and sufferings to be strong and to touch others with ‘I know how you feel.’
Reginald H. Fuller’s acclaimed work ‘Preaching the Lectionary’ beautifully explains Paul’s epistle today: “This reading is also used on the feast of the Annunciation (March 25), a day with which this Sunday has much in common. It is one of the most important passages in Hebrews, for it defines Christ’s sacrifice as the offering of His body (that is, the instrument of His will) in obedience to His Father. This, says, the author of Hebrews, building upon Psalm 40), is the whole raison d’être of the incarnation. Christ took a body so as to have an instrument by which to offer this perfect obedience to the will of God. The choice of this reading today is a salutary reminder, needed particularly at this time of year, not to dissociate the incarnation from its supreme goal, the atonement. Bethlehem was the prelude to Golgotha.” Paul is telling me that doing God’s will is supreme in my life. Jesus came into the world to do His Father’s will. So what is God’s will for me… to be in heaven forever with Him. How do I accomplish this…by living, by loving, by being Jesus to each person and situation that God places me in? God is where I am at now…the present is the way I am brought to salvation; not the way I would like it to be. And the ultimate example of this is Mary.

She certainly didn’t plan on being the mother of God; she certainly didn’t envision the circumstances around His birth. I’m sure she thought they would live in this nice little house in Nazareth around family and friends. Going to Bethlehem, giving birth surrounded by animals with no creature comforts, and then having to pull up roots and run away from a tyrant who was jealous and watching out only for himself wasn’t part of her thoughts. The predictions by Simeon of the pain and horribleness of what would be offered no comfort I’m sure. But she knew and trusted that God would not desert her; would not embarrass her; would be leading, protecting and caring for her, Joseph and Jesus every step of the way. She comes to Elizabeth to shout out her joy and gratitude to God. Elizabeth is so inspired that she proclaims her faith in the child that Mary is carrying. She realizes that she is in the presence of God and she expresses her joy. How often do I realize that I am in the presence of God? I could say that it happens in church or in joyful celebrations or in the amazing beauty of God that surrounds me. But God is just as present in the street person holding up a cardboard asking for money. He’s in the leper I saw in Haiti that I had such a hard time in embracing; He’s in the beautiful great grand niece that I just christened; He’s in Jesus on the cross with his bloodied body and dying for me and all.

Mary asked for help every day to keep her focus on God and His plan. Did she understand it…NO…did she want to peek in to the future…maybe…but she stayed focused on the now where God showed Himself. These next day’s I’m entering into the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus. God’s Son came into the lives of ordinary people and transformed them. God made these people part of His plan for the salvation of the world. Somehow I’m a part of that plan too; that’s the only way life makes sense. God’s loving plan continues to be worked out in and through me. Am I open to God’s plan? Am I asking for the help that I need to live through each moment of His plan? Do I trust as Mary trusted that God will not desert me, will not embarrass me, but will be leading, protecting and caring for me? So I reflect on thoughts from Sacred Space 2013:

• Do I realize that God is with me each moment but even more importantly God is within me?
  
• So I have the ability and giftedness to share God’s life-giving presence in my body, in my mind, in my heart and in my interaction with others. This is how I envision Mary…do I do this or do I hold more of myself in just for me?
  
• God loves me just the way I am now. Do I love others that come into my life just the way they are ‘now’? What do I need from the Spirit to let this happen?
  
• “When I encounter someone for the first time, do I perceive and respect that person as a son or daughter of God? What about the people I meet on a day-today basis?
  

Sandy Hook Elementary School disaster

A Blog on the Sandy Hook Elementary School disaster

The Catholic Church this weekend is celebrating what is called Gaudate or Rejoice weekend. In looking at the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I’m not very joyful at all. Just imagining the scene with the pain, suffering and the deep losses puts me in another mode with Christmas around the corner. And it seems that the first question that comes out of people’s mouths is ‘Why’; why did God allow this to happen? Why, when we hear the cries of the little ones repeated, ‘I don’t want to die; I just want to have Christmas.’
As I look back on my life I see that God just doesn’t seem to answer ‘why’ questions. He asks ‘what’ questions: What do you believe? What do you need from Me? What do you want Me to do for you? Do you trust Me? And my trust is shaken. On the God side, God has enveloped each precious one who died in His loving arms in heaven where there is no more pain; no more suffering…just love with God forever. I know this but I am still confused.

And I have trouble with why questions myself: why did I fly off the handle; why did I get mad; why do I want to get even; why am I the one that is stepped on? In reflecting on these I see that somehow there is always a failure to love: either, ‘I’m not being loved’; or ‘I’m not loving’; and just about always, ‘I’m just thinking just of me.’

And God loves me…and God loves each person…all the time and He sent His Son to show that love...and He died in a horrific way too. His death showed God’s love. And I continue to struggle in loving and am constantly learning love. And God is patient, persistent and loving. I must continually get out of myself and love; this is probably one of the most important lessons I have learned from the many ‘Christmases’ of my life.

What am I do when I see people so desperately suffering and in need? Definitely pray. The people asked John the Baptist this question and he said to give and share and be conscious to others. Paul told his readers ‘to rejoice in the Lord always’ and then says, “Everyone should see how unselfish you are.” When I am in touch with how God loves me, I open myself to loving those God loves, which is everyone.

I love the story Mother Teresa tells, “One night a man came to our house and told me, ‘There is a family with eight children. They have not eaten for days.’ I took some food with me and went. When I came to that family, I saw the faces of those little children disfigured by hunger. There was no sorrow or sadness in their faces, just the deep pain of hunger. I gave the rice to the mother. She divided the rice in two and went out, carrying half the rice. When she came back, I asked her, ‘where did you go?’ She gave me this simple answer, ‘To my neighbors; they are hungry also!’ I was not surprised that she gave…poor people are really very generous. I was surprised that she knew they were hungry. As a rule, when we are suffering, we are so focused on ourselves; we have no time for others.”

I take a few moments and ask for the grace to be focused on the gifts God has blessed me with and my need to love as God loves; that will get me in touch with the peace and love of God.
And then I reflect on:

• Are there times when Christianity seems inconvenient? Why? Do I give in to the dictates of what the world wants me to do?
  

• Do I really understand the true value of the gift that I have been given this Christmas season, the gift of God Himself each moment of each day?
  

• How important is my faith in my life at this tragic time?
  

• What will be uppermost in my heart these next days and on Christmas itself? Does this involve that I am to be more active in my loving? Shouldn’t I do this each day?
  

• Share the wonderful gift of Jesus…Lord help me with this!
  

December 16, 2012

Bulletin: December 16, 2012

3^rd Sunday of Advent C Readings

Zephaniah 3:14-18; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:10-16
“What should we do?” This question was asked of John the Baptist by the people who came to see this prophet. The buzz in the crowd was this strange man might be the Messiah or at least a prophet; he talked that way. How many times have I asked this question? I asked numerous times: I asked this to instructors in Pastoral Counseling classes so I could learn how to help people who come with difficulties. I’ve asked this of Chancery officials down through the years; I asked this of people in the Marriage Tribunal to help with people with their Annulments.
Today the people came to John asking how they are can apply his teaching in their lives. So what did John teach them before this passage? In verses 7-10, “He said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers? Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruits as evidenced of your repentance; and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Now John was not unknown to the people. Some had heard the wonderful things connected with his birth; his father Zachary and mother Elizabeth were too prominent for this to be forgotten. And he went to the desert, not following in his father’s footsteps. He was a hermit and a prophet who spoke with new and independent authority. He told people that they could turn their lives over by repenting for the past and to bring religion back into their life. He took the old baptism ceremony of sorrow, forgiveness and reform and gave it a fresh significance. Now his words were direct, forceful, to the point. For John, there was a war on with the evil forces and with those who made religion a soft practice and who did not understand the commands that God gave Moses.
The group that came to hear him today were a motley collection: people not overly religion, common people, tax collectors who were looked down upon, soldiers who were restless and discontented yet whose position gave them the opportunity for every kind of evil; poor Bedouin people from the countryside, not very intelligent, yet who wanted to know; people who lived hard lives working the land and even those who were rejected by most. They wanted to be better and they came to John for hope and to be appreciated maybe even loved; and they had heard that he ‘said it as it is.’ John did that: he changed his tone; he spoke to them as ‘sheep without a shepherd’ and imposed on them no burden heavier than they could handle. He said to follow the duties of their state in life: to be generous with others, to shape up their business practices and to be content with their pay.
What am I to do? Do I add, ‘What is enough?’ John’s injunction is to give my extra coat. Well how many coats do I need? Do I collect and accumulate or am I generous and compassionate? Do I qualify my giving thinking, these people should have worked for what they need…maybe there just lazy and depend on me? So what if they do; does that prevent me from being helpful and aware of their need? No matter what their circumstances are, I have more than they do.
These self discovery questions lead me to deeper introspective questions about my spiritual development. What obstacles do I place within myself in finding this God who loves me always and wants me to love? What reluctances do I place in my daily life in reaching out to others to be Jesus to them? The first step toward removing obstacles is discovering them. I have to name what is happening to me. I have to see that I am not the ‘be all and end all’; it is not about me, it’s about God and how I am being Jesus to those God places in my life. I have to see my life as an instrument for God and of God. To do this I have to change from the old—my way—and live the new way—God. So how do I do this?

John Shea a wonderful author and spiritual guide shared these thoughts: “The crowds asked him, ‘What should we do? Glad you asked. Pick a value. It must be a transcendent value, one that is grounded in God. Not one of those contemporary whims that pass as values, like ‘keeping in touch.’ I mean a real value, like compassion or forgiveness or reconciliation or peace or justice. Something that has some bite in it and will be around long after you’re gone. Something moths and rust cannot consume and thieves cannot break in and steal. For example, let’s take compassion.

Now take ten minutes a day in the morning and meditate on it. Clear your mind of others thoughts and distractions. If they continue to intrude, just notice them and let them go. Return to compassion. It is good to have a phrase to repeat silently and mindfully. Some Buddhists think equality is the path to compassion, and they suggest a phrase like ‘Everyone wants to be happy and doesn't want to suffer,’ As you slowly and silently repeat this phrase that makes you equal with everyone else, pictures of people you know may enter your mind. Simply use their name in the next phrase, ‘Joan wants to be happy and doesn't want to suffer…Frank wants to be happy and doesn't want to suffer,” and every so often say, ‘I want to be happy and don’t want to suffer.’ Now you are in the human mess with everyone else. When you have done this for about ten minutes, get on with the day. Don’t evaluate how the meditation is going. Dismiss all questions like ‘did I do it right? Why am I doing this? Did I waste my time?’ Just continue to do it.

Also you should read some stuff on compassion. Meditation is not enough. Over the long haul it will heighten your awareness of opportunities for compassionate action. But, in itself, it won’t make you much smarter about compassion. You need to read and ponder, to reflect on what you are reading.” And I must work and work each day on my spiritual values to continue to convert and be aware of God leading me closer to Himself. So I reflect on”

• How serious do I feel is John’s scolding to share what I have with the poor and unfortunate? Should what I share come from my excess or from my own need?
• Why do I say that Jesus is the Good News? How important is it for me to reach out to others and share Jesus with them? How can I best do this?
• Do I feel prepared for Christmas? What within me is blocking me?
• Oprah Winfrey has encouraged her viewers to keep a gratitude journal and each day list five things for which they are grateful. She has kept one herself and says that it has changed her life? What am I doing with gratitude?
• Sacred Space 2013 says, “Preparing the way for the Messiah is not simply a matter of belonging to the Jewish nation, John insists. It comes about through repentance: changing the way one thinks and changing one’s lifestyle in practical ways.” How am I doing?
  

December 9, 2012

Bulletin: December 9, 2012

2^nd Sunday of Advent C Readings

Baruch 5:1-9; Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11; Luke 3:1-6
The Lord is bringing each person, each day closer to Himself. Today’s readings help me see that this journey is one that is dependent on me. What am I doing? How am I preparing? Where am I pleased with myself? Where do I find myself lacking? What does God feel about where I am at and how am I progressing? It is so easy to beat myself up for lack of direction and progress. But the Lord isn't ;  He’s just always present; always caring, inspiring, leading, affirming waiting for whatever openings I allow Him to make Himself known.
Jeremiah introduces his secretary, Baruch: “In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, in the days of Josiah, until today. Perhaps, when the house of Judah hears all the evil I have in mind to do to them, they will turn back each from his evil way, so that I may forgive their wickedness and their sin. ‘So Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah, who wrote down on a scroll, as Jeremiah dictated, all the words which the Lord had spoken to him.” (Jeremiah 36:1-4)
Like Jeremiah, Baruch would have witnessed the collapse of the kingdom and the destruction of Jerusalem. I’m sure he had thought that if only the King and the people had listened to the prophets, they would have been spared such a tragedy. They didn't. Now I would have imagined that Baruch’s message would be full of doom and gloom but it isn't. As the Reading guide in the Catholic Study Bible says, “Baruch, like Tobit and Wisdom, turns out to be the book for people who are separated or lost, physically or emotionally, from their normal environment. True, many aspects of life today in alien or foreign territory are too unique to our own time to find a witness in Baruch. Yet Baruch helps people, displaced physically or mentally, to get established and going in the right way at pace with God and their neighbors.” What a wonderful message for this season. Baruch is reminding the people that God has not forgotten them; God would bring their sons and daughters back from exile. He would level out a highway to facilitate their return. This promise was fulfilled in Jesus.
Sometimes it seems with all my busyness and craziness that God just isn’t around for me. Not true, I know this; but where is God. God has not forgotten…God remembers me always. It’s nice to be remembered, even in a small way. This is a beautiful thing that someone cares and God cares about me and every person. Not only does God care, but I matter to Him because I am His precious son; each person is a precious son or daughter. This is the good news of God that John the Baptist was sent to announce.
John the Baptist was a fascinating individual. He came from a priestly family and we never hear about his home life; he appears in the desert wilderness. He did his preaching where Moses had ended his journey and Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan to the Promised Land. This crossing became a symbol of their entrance into a new land and new life. God had been with them each and every day of their journey; and so often they ‘did their own thing’ and rejected God. How easy it is to ‘do my own thing’ and not realize God’s presence and love. How easy it is to say that I know what Scripture says and I know and preach God but at the same time I can fail to recognize God when He reveals Himself. God’s own Chosen People believed that they would recognize the Messiah when He came but most of them did not. The name ‘Christian’ means ‘believers in Christ’ yet I and many others can be skeptical when we hear of miraculous happenings or messages from prophetic people. So the reflection for today is how can I recognize God’s presence and action in my life today?
Baruch and John the Baptism help today with this; in reality they are telling me to ‘dress myself up’. This is an unusual but effective way to describe their messages. Baruch tells the captivity people to take off their robes of mourning and misery and put on the ‘splendor of glory’. They have been mourning long enough. Now is the time to put on garments more festive and appropriate. He doesn’t mean to put on ‘your Sunday best’, but show others the splendor of God that is ever so present in my life and each person’s life. God has lifted me up countless times; He has put the right people in my life at the right time to get me back on the right track. He has corrected me and honored me; and loved me at all times. Do I celebrate this? Do others see this in me? Do I show this God who loves me? Am I grateful and do I tell God this?

Now John tells me to ‘dress up’ the inside of me; that’s what his baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins means. ‘Repentance’ is the translation of the Greek work metanoia; which literally means ‘going beyond the mind.’ What does this mean? When I look at my sins, there is something in my mind that wants me to ‘hold on to’ certain sins; my ‘favorite’ sins that I like to call on when I’m angry or lonely or disturbed or when things didn’t happen the way I wanted them to; so I can ‘strike back’ with ‘my sin’. In fact these are the sins that I ‘love’. John is saying that I am preparing for the Lord; I’m on a mission and I have things to do. I have to look directly at my sinfulness and stop, with God’s grace and help, and ‘change’ me. John Shea, a popular writer and theologian, puts it this way, “There is an adhesive quality about sinful experiences. They stick. We remember the beatings, the humiliations, the hateful glances, and the mocking words. The wronged done to us are available to memory in a way neutral and even positive experiences are not. Although the experience of sin begins with being sinned against, we are quick learners in this way of being human. We soon learn to wound others. We engage in hitting, lying, cheating, betraying, etc. We need to protect and promote ourselves at all costs.” The mind focuses on all these things and how do I react; often in the negative. The other side of this is the unconditional forgiveness of God. I have to let God forgive me and help me forgive myself. So what do I have to let go of? So I reflect on:

• I must go beyond the question ‘Will God forgive me? To “How can I go beyond the mind that clings to sin, even though God has forgiven me?
• How do I ‘dress up’ this Advent for Christmas? What needs to be taken off? What needs to be put on?
• My life is full, is it fulfilling? What is overwhelming me? How do I work on my yearning for peace, wholeness and simplicity?
• What does it mean for me to put on the glory of God? How would I be different?   

December 2, 2012

Bulletin December 2, 2012

1^st Sunday of Advent C Readings

Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21: 25-28
Today is the beginning of the Advent season and the gospels this season are taken from Luke. He starts out by defending Christianity against false accusations before a sympathetic audience. Luke’s goal is to put his writing into a more historical perspective, which is all of salvation history. God’s divine plan for the salvation of the world was accomplished by Jesus who fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies; and now in His death and resurrection He saved everyone. Luke emphasizes that Christianity is a legitimate form of worship in the Roman world, a religion that is capable of meeting the spiritual needs of the Roman Empire. In this light he depicts Pilate declaring Jesus innocent of any wrongdoing three times. At the same time he argues in his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, that Christianity is deserving of the same toleration and freedom that Judaism received from Rome.
Now the people at the time of Luke’s gospel were waiting for the second coming of Christ which would usher in the end of the world. They had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and so many had fled. They thought this was the beginning of the end. Luke wants to shift everyone’s attention away from this ‘doom and gloom’ thinking. He wants people “each day”, a phrase he uses frequently, to be concerned in living the Christian life. He tells me and each person to do this by identifying with Jesus, who is “caring and tender toward the poor and lowly, the outcast, the sinner, and the afflicted, toward all those who recognize their dependence on God but who is severe toward the proud and self-righteous, and particularly toward those who place their material wealth before the service of God and His people.” (Introduction of Luke found in the Catholic Study Bible).
This has helped me put today’s gospel into perspective. Luke still expects the Parousia will be a reality but he is much more concerned in how I am acting and living as a Christian. The previous verses to today’s reading have this comment in the footnotes, “The actual destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in A.D. 70 upon which Luke and his community look back provides the assurance, that, just as Jesus’ prediction of Jerusalem’s destruction was fulfilled, so too will be His announcement of their final redemption.”
I was reflecting as I was meditating on this gospel what the people who witnessed the horrors of hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and New York and places near to the eye of the storm were thinking. I was especially trying to place myself with the street people who live under bridges and in alleyways and then the so very poor who live in conditions that I have seen but would never be able to live in. Did they think this was the end? Did they think that they could possibly survive? What about when those whose ‘life packages’ were wrenched from their arms and they had no more belongings, did they have hope? What about the horror of having babies blown away or trampled or swept away in the raging wind, rain and waters? This gospel was for them ‘here and now’; where did they feel their God was? Or what was God doing and why? Questions that came to me and I’m sure there are many more. I was so thankful being spared the fury; I was blessed. Others lost loved ones, their possessions, homes and hope. This gospel is for me to be present to them.
I think that so often I concentrate on my weaknesses, failings and sins instead of concentrating on that I was created in love to be love. I was created to make a difference to those who are in need and that could simply be the one, of any age, who comes in front of me crying, misunderstood, lonely, abandoned, lifeless, hopeless etc. What do I do, worry about the future or reach out and in my stumbled response? So very often when I do this, I am given direct help from God in the words, gestures and care that I give to help these unfortunate people. And I had no idea where it came from; it wasn’t from me…and God cares for every one of His creation, and gifts me to do the same. How blessed I am by God; how grateful I must continue to be.
I read this in ‘Living the Word’ which gives a scriptural reflection for today’s readings: “In Thornton Wilder’s play The Skin of our Teeth, Mrs. Antrobus tells her husband George, that she didn’t marry him because he was perfect, that she didn’t even marry him because she loved him; she married him because he gave her a promise. And she gave one to him. And over the years, as their children were growing up, that mutual promise protected all of them, moving them into the future together.

A promise can open up into an unexpected future, marked by new life. God’s promise spoken in today’s first reading offered hope to a people who had little reason to hope. The hope of a restored Jerusalem, of a descendent of David who would do what is right and just—such promises began to be fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

With Jesus a new age began that promised to bring the old order of chaos and destruction to an end. With His birth a new power entered the world, making it possible to live in love, and allowing men and women to ‘increase and abound in love for each other and for all,’ as Paul writes to the Thessalonians. Total fulfillment of God’s promises remains in the future.

But beginnings offer hope. A new church year calls on us to live as a people of hope in what God can do in our own day. Advent invites us to renew our relationship with the promises of God made visible in the person of Jesus Christ.”
So I reflect on

• If the world would end today, what would be my priorities in those last hours?
  
• What would be important and critical for me to accomplish in the time that was left?
  
• Would part of this be spent on reconciling any anger harbored towards anyone? If so, why did I wait this long? Have I ever asked God to help in this?
  
• How do I contribute through my words and actions to the goodness and harmony of the world in which God placed me? Have I thanked God for His gifts in doing this?
  

Fr. Anthony Kadavil sums it up in this way “Advent is a season of anticipation --- as we await and pray for our God to come to us in a new way this Christmas, transforming us and accompanying us on our journey --- each and every day until we meet Him face to face at the end of time. Now that doesn’t sound so scary, does it?”