December 29, 2013

Bulletin December 29, 2013

Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Colossians 3: 12-21; Matthew 2: 13-15, 19-23.
I like so many, have celebrated Christmas with my family. I have been privileged that in all the Christmas’s of my life, I have always been with family. Its wonderful being with family, but at times, it’s trying. Today is the Feast of the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In first century Israel they would have called this the family of Joseph or if they included all the names, a definite rarity, they would say the family of Joseph, his wife Mary and their child Jesus.
Donald Spoto in The Hidden Jesus, A New Life, puts it this way: “Jesus was really born; He was and is a real human being. He is also, once and forever, God’s ultimate self-disclosure. How this can be defies comprehension. But the words of the angel are as good as anyone’s: the struggling believer is promised, with Mary, that the power of the Most High will overshadow us, so that the one who is born in our lives may indeed be the Holy One of God.” And this Holy Family certainly had trying times. But they had each other; just as I am blessed to have ‘each other’ in my family and extended family. So how do I live in family, realizing that God is to be the center of the family?
This quote might sound strange coming from Mother Teresa but it is her meditation for the 1^st Sunday after Christmas; she entitles this No Time To Enjoy. “I think the world today is upside down, and is suffering so much, because there is so very little love in the homes and in family life. We have no time for our children, we have no time for each other; there is no time to enjoy each other. If we could only bring back into our lives the life that Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, it we could make our homes another Nazareth, I think that peace and joy would reign in the world.”
On this feast of the Holy Family the Church unrolls for us the beautiful tapestry on the worth and meaning of the family in the Old and New Testament. The author of the book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus is Ben Sira. He shares the wisdom that he has gleaned from his family and personal experience on God’s action in everyday life. Now even though life at that time was patriarchal the author still emphasized values that are very important: reverence for parents, both father and mother (it was unusual to include the mother) and the obedience that children owe to their parents. The children he is referring to are the adult children; and they are to take care and show kindness to their father (mother included) in their old age. Being the youngest and watching both my parents in their last days...my dad with Alzheimer’s and my mom with congestive heart failure; also two sisters, their husbands and another brother-in-law and one sister-in-law, watching them in their frailty and suffering brought me even closer to family. Why? How?
Paul really describes this in writing to the Colossians; he calls Christians, “God’s chosen ones” and this brings responsibilities. He shares that realizing that each one is loved and forgiven by God demands that each follower of Jesus relate to the people who are in their lives and come into their lives in the same way. This was still the patriarchal ages yet Paul emphasized love, forgiveness and peacemaking within the intimate context of family. Each one of these words can be very easy and yet ridiculously hard living in family. So what do I have to do to ‘transform’ myself to do this; Paul says it is by love, gentleness and obedience which were a challenge in Paul’s time and today. It’s very important for me, sometimes before family gatherings to reflect on Paul’s message today. “Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, being with one another and forgiving one another. If one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so much you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.” Yes it is very important that I reflect on these words when family is wonderful and when family is trying.
Now Matthew in recounting this scene in the Holy Family’s life, instead of giving a list of duties, recounts a harrowing tale of their escape from the murderous intent of Herod. Was everything nice and holy in this family? Well they were afraid, looking over the shoulders and running and hiding; not a pretty picture. They had each other. The shadows of the cross certainly hovered over the crib of Jesus. Living the Word says “The danger, in which the child Jesus finds Himself drives home for us the way in God, in the Incarnation, identifies with our human condition. Many families today live in precarious and dangerous situations, whether this as a result of political violence or economic deprivation. Many have to flee their homes, never knowing whether they will be able to return. Some are simply victims of circumstance; others are paying the price of one or more family members standing up for justice. Whatever the reason for their hardship, in Jesus Christ God becomes one with them. Matthew’s story of the trials of the Holy Family reminds us that holiness does not ensure that one’s life will never contain uncertainty. Indeed, if we take the Holy Family as our model, then it seems that holiness—whole-hearted dedication to God’s will for the world—is likely to make one’s life more uncertain, not less. Yet doing the will of God is of such surpassing worth that we should be willing to embrace such uncertainty for its sake.”
So I reflect on:

• Can I see the Holy Family in the homeless and the strangers I come across? How?
  
• Can I see the Holy Family in my own family? How?
  
• In what ways is my own life now, or the life of my family, uncertain or anxious?
  

I found this in The Gospel for Kids and it really applies:

“Are you filled with great joy? Are you happy because you know God loves you? Are you happy because you know the Baby born in Bethlehem lived for you and gave His life in your place so you could live forever with Him? Are you happy because you know Jesus is with you today?

If you are happy today because Jesus is your Savior, you have a clue from God. God’s angel promised joy to all people who heard the good news about the Savior. God knew that His gift to us was a good gift. He knew that Jesus could and would do what had to be done to save all people from their sin.

When you feel joy today because Christ is your Savior, you have a clue from God. You know the gift you have came from Him.”

Gratitude...gratitude...gratitude...if no gratitude, pride sets in!

December 22, 2013

Bulletin December 22, 2013

4^th Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24
These are the days of frenzied chaotic excitement. That’s a mouthful of words and emotions. I, just like all the Christmas believers, am trying to find a few moments of ‘peace’; a few precious moments when I can just sit, be still and reflect on this feast.
One of the great books on Jesus is The Lord written by Romano Guardini in 1954. Pope Benedict who was then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinzer wrote this, “Guardini’s book The Lord has not grown old, precisely because it still leads us to that which is essential, to that which is truly real, Jesus Christ Himself. That is why today this book still has a great mission.’ I have recommended this book for years and now am in my third reading of it; it is a priceless classic and still in print.
Msgr. Guardini has such beautiful words to get me to those areas of peace that this season is all about. He starts out Chapter 3 entitled The Incarnation in this way: “The Christmas liturgy includes these beautiful verses from the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Wisdom: ‘For while all things were in quiet silence and the night was in the midst of her course, thy almighty word leapt down from heaven from thy royal throne...’ The passage, brimming with the mystery of the Incarnation, is wonderfully expressive of the infinite stillness that hovered over Christ’s birth. For the greatest things are accomplished in silence—not in the clamor and display of superficial eventfulness, but in the deep clarity of inner vision; in the almost imperceptive start of decision, in quiet overcoming and hidden sacrifice. Spiritual conception happens when the heart is quickened by love, and the free will stirs to action. The silent forces are the strong forces. Let us turn now to the stillest event of all, stillest because it came from the remoteness beyond the noise of any possible intrusion –from God.”
It comes down to how I view God...and somehow I say that God is ‘up there’ and our faith says that God ‘came down’ to be with us; to be one of us; to show each of us how special we are; to die for us; so that we may forever be with God. This is God’s plan, always has been. How can I comprehend this...I can’t. How did God do this...I read the readings, but again, I have no way of comprehending this. Msgr. Guardini says this that seems to hit the nail right on the head: “...a friend gave me a clue that helped my understanding more than any measure of bare reason. He said: ‘But love does such things!’”
It’s all about God’s love...all the time...to every single person...in every situation that happens...and this is the love that is drawing each person to ‘Love’ Msgr. Guardini says, “None of the great things in human life springs from the intellect, every one of them issues from the heart and its love. If even human love has its own reasoning, comprehensible only to the heart that is open to it, how much truer must this be of God’s love! When it is the depth and power of God that stirs, is there anything of which love is incapable? The glory of it is so overwhelming that to all who do not accept love as an absolute point of departure, its manifestations must seem the most senseless folly.”
‘Love does such things.’ Yes it does. On 11/12/13, a simple day to remember, I was in Target and two very little kids eyed in the back of the store the Christmas decorations. And their faces were radiant: ‘Mommy Christmas...Christmas Mommy.’ I thought, ‘Oh I’m not so sure Mommy was ready for this.’ The kids were...and I reflected on where my excitement was? Am I preparing? Am I thinking about God’s love for me? Am I sharing God’s love of me? ‘But love does such things!’ And God’s love never stops. So where am I in my life and what am I doing?
Christmas is a time for me to focus my attention on this mystery of the Word made flesh, Emmanuel, God-with-us. Can people see God in me? Gerard Manley Hopkins stated it wonderfully, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God” because it is filled with the Spirit of Jesus. But do people see the Spirit of Jesus in me?
Paul gave me direction for my life when he said in the second Reading to the Romans, “Paul, (and I insert my name into these words...Peter) called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God...called to belong to Jesus Christ....called to be holy...” Do I have the eyes of faith of Joseph in the Gospel?
I am called to be Jesus; I am not called to be passive. The special little ones in Target recognized the season...hopefully were aware of Jesus in the crib...in their eyes they saw love. Well in my hectic schedule these next days and today...am I aware that love is happening all around me? Am I aware that many need just the type of love that I am capable of giving? I must take time to look at Christmas through the eyes of the little ones. I must take time to look at Christmas through the eyes of the people still recovering from the Typhoon Haiyan. I must take time to look at Christmas past in my own life and Christmas present too. To do this I must take some precious moments today and Monday and Tuesday, Christmas Eve, and even Wednesday, Christmas Day itself to reflect on God in my life...and...’But love does such things.’ AND BE GRATEFUL AND PRAISE GOD! ! !
So I reflect on:

• Since I know God loves me and needs me to love, do I believe that God will ask of me only what I can do?
  
• Do I react when I feel God is asking me to do more than I can handle; or maybe am I not realizing how God is stretching me and already filling me with His grace to do these things?
  
• Do I trust that God is with me through everything?
  
• Joseph certainly was faced with much that he was unprepared to do, what does his faith and trust show me?
  

Sacred Space 2014 says:

“When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.

• The humility of Joseph was not something weak or wilting. He followed the word of the Lord and became Mary’s husband. I allow the richness of that word to show me how Joseph was a disciple and see what I might learn from him.
• Attending to his dreams, Joseph took care not to ignore how God was communicating with him. I look to God for a way forward in my problems.” 
  

Bulletin December 15, 2013

3^rd Sunday in Advent A cycle

Isaiah 35:1-6, 10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
It is ten days to Christmas. When I was young I counted every day and at the same time I knew that I had to be ready but also to be good. Being ready was all the preparation: helping with decorating, doing whatever shopping a little guy would do, paying attention to the Advent Tree and the necessary spiritual preparations especially with going to Confession, as it was known then. I did these but I also was highly charged up but there always was that ‘caveat’: don’t be too anxious, and too ‘rambunctious’ as my mom would say. Well needless to say a few times when the stockings were hung by the fireplace, I had some coal in mine, just a little reminder of my need for living within the moment, my huge need for patience. Today’s readings are about patience from the spiritual perspective which is a call for me to ‘pay attention.’
Isaiah uses patience through the gift of nature by showing the contrast between parched lands and fields blooming with abundant flowers. Carmel and Sharon were noted for their beautiful forest and gorgeous flowers. This contrasts with the desert sands and their exile experiences. Everything seemed bleak to them but Isaiah wants the people to look beyond the exile. One day they will be free, they will return to their homeland, one day they will again realize that they have been formed as God’s people and the experience of the deprivation will make them so much wiser. How many times when I look at what is happening in my life I have that same feeling of bleakness. Thoughts of: Is there any way out, will things change, why am I so negative come to mind. I push out hope and as a result I’m no ‘fun to be around’. I definitely am not exuding the joy of the Lord. Isaiah says God is always present, doesn’t that thought enliven me? I think I don’t want it to, but think if I allow it to be so.
James the author of the second reading today was not one of the two members of the Twelve. He is identified as a “slave of God and of the Lord Jesus.” This probably refers to the third New Testament personage name James, a relative of Jesus who is usually called “brother of the Lord and was a leader of the Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem. Paul said he was one of the “pillars” of the church and is seen in the Acts of the Apostles as the authorized spokesman for the Jewish Christian position in the early Church. Today he is advising ‘patience “until the coming of the Lord.” The newly-baptized Christians were anxiously anticipating Jesus’ return as a king. Five times he uses the word ‘patient’. It is interesting that the English word ‘patient’ comes for the Latin word for suffering. As a little kid waiting for Christmas, waiting for Santa, it was almost like I was suffering. James is urging the people and every Christian to have patience with one another. He is very astute for he recognizes that impatience leads to bad feelings, which jeopardize the very peace that people were working to establish. If I am looked at as being a person who brings Jesus, how can I do this if I come without peace in my life?
In the Gospel, John the Baptist is in prison. It is evident that his confidence has begun to fade. Why isn’t Jesus doing something? There is no evidence that John was a patient man. He spoke ‘point blank’, directly, telling people how to reform their lives. He told this to everyone, tax collectors, soldiers even Herod himself. When Jesus came to him, he declared that Jesus was the ‘Lamb of God.’ Now he was anxious. He was positive that he would soon be put to death. So was Jesus ‘the man’ or is another coming?
Jesus allows His deeds to speak for themselves: what He is doing is what Isaiah prophesized: Faith Catholic describes it in this way “Jesus is the face of God, allowing the blind to see the Father through Him, the deaf to hear God’s saving word through Jesus’ human lips, the lame can walk with our Lord along His way of the cross, the lepers are untouchable no more as Jesus reaches out to them, the Good News is preened and the hope of the Resurrection is strengthened.” What a message for me. Believing in Jesus means that God is accomplishing His work, however slowly it seems to me. Perhaps I am the one that is slowly being Jesus to people who come each day in my life in need of healing, compassion, forgiveness and love. So am I the impatient one like John the Baptist, or am I asking the Spirit for the grace to bring God’s gifts to others?

Fr. Henri Nouwen wrote this in Bread for the World, “Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for His coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.

Waiting for God is an active, alert—yes, joyful---waiting. As we wait we remember Him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember Him we create a community ready to welcome Him when He comes.” So if I am part of creating I must be active in building a body of believers to spread the Good News of God’s love. Am I doing this? So I reflect on:

• How patient am I? How do I develop patience?
  
• How do I encourage and reassure someone who comes to me all worn out?
  
• “Why does Jesus say that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist? Do we feel Jesus was speaking about us, as well?
  
• Am I as much a herald of Jesus’ coming as John was? Am I afraid of being too vocal and demonstrative about Jesus and His part in my life? Why? What might happen if I really announced His presence to my world?
  

Sacred Space 20134 summarizes the gospel so succinctly: “Great as John was, we see that he did not live with pure certainty. He followed in faith even as he allowed good questions to be asked. I pray that I may ask the right questions and, like John the Baptist, always direct them to Jesus.

Jesus does not answer with a statement of authority but points to His actions. I show who Jesus is to me by the way I live, by how I affirm and help the weak and poor.”

Bulletin December 8, 2013

2^nd Sunday of Advent A

Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3: 1-12
Today is the patronal feast of the United States that of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Because today is a Sunday in Advent, this feast of Mary is transferred to tomorrow, Monday. Today the readings are preparing each person for letting God through Jesus and the Spirit reign in each person’s heart. Am I letting this happen?
John the Baptist starts this off like a glass of ice water hitting me in the face or to the world, like a meteor slamming into earth. He shouts at me: ‘The Messiah is here! The Reign of God is at hand! Wake up! Change! Get moving! Do something!’ So in astonishment I ask, ‘What is happening?’ Why the hurry? Who is this Messiah?’ And if I was saying this to the Baptist he would say, ‘What world are you living in? Haven’t you been paying attention? Forever it has been promised us through the prophets that the Messiah, the Promised One, would come and the time in NOW.’ How would I respond to this? These same readings have been proclaimed every three years in cycle A. So that means that I have been hearing these readings about twenty times during my 70 + years. Am I taking them seriously? Let me look at these readings in a very serious tone that will help me this season.
The first reading from Isaiah is one of my favorite Old Testament Readings and one of the great messianic prophecies. Now the people were expecting the messiah who would be from the family of David. Now Isaiah’s experience with the kings of his day left much to be desired. King Ahaz didn’t trust what God said even when Isaiah offered to confirm what God was saying with any sign that the king suggested. King Hezekiah looked on the Bible favorably but he had a real problem in his loyalty to God. Knowing that these two kings certainly didn’t have any messianic qualities, Isaiah had to look to a brighter future which is what he does in prophesying the messiah, an ideal king rising within the dynasty of David. What makes this future king so ideal is that “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.” As the New Jerome Biblical Commentary says, “Yahweh’s spirit was a divine force given to individuals to enable them to fulfill missions otherwise beyond them, as in the case of Moses (Numbers 11:17), the judges (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29), prophets (Micah 3:8), David (1 Samuel 16:13), and others this king would represent a return to the charismatic tradition so long an ideal in Israel.” AND WHAT gifts would the Spirit give...the same gifts that are bestowed in the Sacrament of Confirmation. They are mentioned in pairs in Isaiah: intellectual gifts – wisdom and understanding; practical gifts – counsel and strength; and religious gifts – spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord. The last gift is listed as piety but literally ‘fear of the Lord’, so this is listed twice. THIS IS THE ORIGIN OF THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
What is the importance of these to me? Well what makes this prophetic new king so ideal to Isaiah is his total cooperation with the Spirit of God, as seen in the acceptance of the gifts received from that Spirit. This king will not be swayed by appearances and hearsay. His decision will be guided by justice and righteousness. Now these gifts I have been given in Confirmation...the gifts are present...have I accepted them? Am I living like I am in possession of these gifts? Am I aware that as a result of my Baptism I have been called and chosen to use my Spirit gifts and all the other gifts that the Spirit has loaded on me through the years to be Jesus and draw people closer to God?

Jesus said that you will ‘know a healthy tree by the fruit that it bears’. So in letting the Spirit work in me and in accepting the gifts so graciously given means that if I exercise these gifts, if I use these gifts people should be able to see in my life their FRUITS. So what are the fruits of the Holy Spirit? The Catholic Catechism says,

“The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: charity...joy...peace... patience...kindness...goodness...generosity...

gentleness...faithfulness...modesty...self-control...chastity.”
So what do I have to wake up and do? Live the gifts ... do I see their fruits in my life? Am I more charitable than I was five years ago? Am I more joyful in being alive and seeing that it is by God’s power and grace that life is worth living? Am I more at peace...if not, what am I allowing to take my peace away? Am I more patient or is in ‘my way or the highway’...I never saw this attitude in Jesus. Am I more kind to the ‘difficult people’; am I more understanding to them’? Do I see that I have gifts to help or do I close myself off? Do people see deep down goodness in me; which means that I have to be satisfied in what God has given me and grateful too. Am I gentle? It is very easy to ‘fly off the handle’ but what good does this do to the person who is watching? Am I faithful in my faith journey and to my religious obligations? Am I faithful to my God? Am I modest in my life style, in my attitude, in my working as ‘God’s helper’? Do I have control over those areas that ‘set me off’ or where I have a ‘thin skin’? What good does it do for people to see in me what they never have seen Jesus do in His life? Am I chaste?
Are these practical YES! Do they need my attention YES! Is this what John the Baptist means when he says, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” YES it is...I can say, ‘I’m, sorry’ but what good is that if I do not change what I was wrong in doing? Is this what Isaiah means when I am to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths” Yes it is because the person in front of me is the person in need and if I am not preparing them then I’m not a follower of Jesus. I am negligent in loving.
Fr. David Knight in Living God’s Word says “St. Paul teaches that the source of our unity as a community is our common effort and encouragement of each other to live out what we believer. We will neither always agree on what we should do nor succeed in doing it; but if we have patience and encourage one another, we will be able to live in harmony ‘in accordance with Christ Jesus.’ To accept our humanness means accepting ourselves as imperfect and incomplete yet intended to grow toward perfection. Jesus, this shoot growing up from the ‘stump of Jesse,’ represents God’s power acting in human events; this gives us hope.’”

So I reflect on Sacred Space 2013:

• “I may feel uncomfortable when confronted with John’s call to repentance, but I let myself listen, acknowledging that I am a sinner in need of God’s mercy. If I cannot admit this, Advent is not for me.
• God does not want me to passively receive the Word. I work with God, preparing the way in my life, expectant and hopefully watching for God’s approach.”