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Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent; December 20, 2020
Click here for the Gospel reading.
Some of the great military stories are those that involve a secret mission. Most of these secret missions involve a person or a group of people who are given one goal to accomplish. What they are being called to do is very critical to the overall mission. They are prepped on all the details. They know everything they need to know about their mission. They practice exactly what they are supposed to do. They do it over and over again. They plan for everything that could go wrong and how to react if it does. Sometimes this preparation can take years because it is so important. Once they are ready for the mission, they wait for the word from their commander to carry out this mission. This is what I thought of regarding today's Gospel.
Usually, we hear about Mary’s role. Rarely have I ever considered what it was like for the angel Gabriel. While we don’t have any idea how it happened and everything that led up to it, I would say it was probably one of the most important missions ever given to anyone. I read one Christian preachers' interpretation of how it might have happened. He writes it from the perspective of Gabriel. This is what he wrote. God told me - "Gabriel, you have a most delicate assignment. I am sending my Son to redeem the earth. To do this he must become a human himself. Your mission is to announce this plan to the young woman I have chosen to be his mother. "Her name is Mary. She lives in the village of Nazareth in Galilee. She is betrothed to be married. That means that she is already considered a wife, though she is living at home until the final ceremonies a few months from now. And Gabriel ... she is a virgin." He went on to describe my role and briefed me on the various contingencies, concluding with these words. "Gabriel, by all means, be gentle." I arrived one spring morning as Mary was climbing the path from the well and came to where I was sitting on a large boulder. She's only a child, I thought when I first saw her — only twelve or thirteen. Betrothed at that age? But such were the customs of that place and I was assured that the Father knows what he is doing. As she approached, I stood, dressed as I always dress — long white robe, golden sash, and so forth.
What happens after that is what we heard in the Gospel today. What do you think Gabriel felt when he arrived to ask Mary? I assume he was overjoyed and nervous! Ever since the evil angel Lucifer screwed things up in the Garden of Eden, God’s plan would start to unfold. For centuries, angels would bring messages to God’s people. The prophets did their best to proclaim how this might all play out. They talked about the coming of the Messiah and gave many signs to watch for. Everybody was longing for this day. And it was Gabriel who would be the one to reveal God’s plan. But that is not all. Gabriel had to wait for the answer. Everything depended on Mary’s answer. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, wrote a beautiful homily about waiting for Mary’s response. He wrote that when the angel Gabriel spoke of God’s message to Mary, the angels in Heaven awaited her answer. And not only the angels, but our first parents, Adam and Eve, and the whole mankind of earth, barred from paradise, gazed upon Mary and waited for her most generous response.
Everything hinged on this moment. For centuries, God had been getting His people ready for this moment. All of creation was waiting for Mary’s response. Obviously, we don’t need to hold our breath. We know how she answered. While this is a beautiful image for us to pray with and to be inspired by, there is no doubt that God is waiting for our answer. The fact that you are here today or watching this from somewhere means that you have given God a yes. The “yes” that our God desires is like the yes that Mary gave. Pope Francis referred to Mary’s yes as a full yes. There were no conditions. She didn’t hold back. Throughout her whole life, Mary said yes to God. For us, Pope Francis said, we are experts in the “half-yes”. In other words, we have been known to make excuses. Or we tell God, not today but tomorrow. I will admit that giving our full-yes to God is really difficult. It is hard especially when the culture gives us a completely different message. The culture tells us that we are entitled to certain things or that we can put things off if we have other things that we want to do.
So how do we say yes like Mary? One suggestion that I read was to be the person God created you to be. Obviously, as Catholics, that means staying close to the sacraments and prayer. But one piece of advice given that I thought was extremely important was to let Jesus interrupt you. In other words, be open to the Holy Spirit. If you think about it, how many times does God try to interrupt our day? Those are great moments to say yes to God. Whenever a family member or coworker needs some help, that is an interruption. Whenever we hear of someone who is homebound and is in need, that is an interruption waiting for a yes from us. Whenever we are asked to pray for someone, God wants us to be interrupted to spend time with Him. The more we allow these moments to happen and we give our yes, the more our lives are changed.
God is waiting for our yes. Not just once but every day and every moment we are interrupted. In these final days of Advent, we will be interrupted. May no one have to hold their breath and wait for our yes. Let us follow the example of Mary with our generous yes. And for every yes we give, know that Christ is alive and in our midst.
Click HERE to go to Deacond Rod's homily for this same weekend.
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Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent; December 13, 2020
Click here for the Gospel reading.
What is there to rejoice about? I don’t need to give you the details of what the past 9 months have been like. In addition to the pandemic and how it has impacted so many people, there are the other struggles in life that don’t stop with a pandemic. You come here today, on this Gaudete Sunday and the Church tells you to rejoice. Our entrance antiphon says - Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice. The prophet Isaiah says - I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul. Our psalm says - my soul rejoices in my God. St. Paul in the 2nd reading says - rejoice always.
It’s to the point where it is almost annoying. I get it. The Church wants us to rejoice. Pope Francis, in a homily, said that "when we think of Jesus, we are accustomed to imagining him preaching, healing, walking through the streets speaking to people, or even being raised upon the Cross." Yet, “we are not accustomed to think of Jesus smiling, or joyful.” But, he added, “Jesus was full of joy.” If you think about it, we don’t often see Jesus portrayed as joyful. In the many movies made about Jesus, he is seen to be kind of somber and serious. In most paintings, rarely do we see him with a smile or a joyful expression. Obviously, when it comes to his persecution and death, I am not expecting him to look joyful. But that is just a small part of his earthly ministry.
I think we need to take it seriously what Pope Francis said - Jesus was full of joy! If that is the case, which I believe it is, what does that mean for us? It means that we too must be filled with joy. Because if we are not filled with joy, chances are we are a sourpuss Christian or a crabby Christian. I think for many people, the question they have is this - what is there to rejoice about? I would agree with you that if this is all there is to life, then yes, there is nothing to rejoice about. Why would you rejoice in pain and suffering if this is all there is? If my life is simply about getting up each day and going through my routines only to do it again the next day, I would agree that is nothing to rejoice about.
But as Christians, we rejoice for different reasons. We can only rejoice if we believe and hope that there is a life after this one. A life after this one that is filled with glory and joy and wonder and beauty. If there is nothing after this life, then go ahead and be a sourpuss. I will join you. Yet, we know there is something great waiting for us. But what do we do instead? We try to find joy through things of this world. Maybe we focus on money. Maybe it is through a career. It could be through vacations and travel. Maybe it is that new technology. All of those pleasures will go away. Only joy endures.
This is important for us as we prepare for Christmas because many of us spend so much time shopping for Christmas presents for those we love. But in doing this, most often we give them something that will give them pleasure for some time. Rarely though does it help them become joyful. Eventually the gift we give will no longer be that exciting and they will move on to something else that is new. There is nothing wrong with getting gifts for people. But maybe in addition to those gifts, give them something that might lead them to joy. Maybe a religious item that will help them grow spiritually. Maybe it is the gift of yourself so that they can spend time with someone who is seeking the Lord. Assuming we are joyful, know that our joy is contagious.
I think we sometimes confuse joy with happiness. I am happy when I eat bacon. I am happy when the Vikings win and the Packers lose. I am happy when I paid off a loan. But none of these things will give us joy. If joy is something we feel, it will never last. Instead, joy is deeper. Joy is having that conviction that we are loved by God. Even though we are sinners, God never gives up on us. God is always ready to give us mercy. We have nothing to be afraid of because God will always be there to guide us. Joy is so essential especially when we are in the midst of suffering and struggles. God will be there to sustain us.
I think it is good for us to ask ourselves - how do people perceive me? Am I a good witness? When people run into me, do they think - wow, you God is great! Your God is so merciful and loving. Or do they think - if that is what it means to be a Christian, I think I will pass. Curtis Martin, an evangelist writes, “That’s why it’s essential that we manifest this joy to those around us! If the people we seek to evangelize see us as angry, pessimistic, and unduly aggravated by problems within and without the Church, why should they want to become Catholic? No. We must show those around us that, because of Christ, we are joyful, undaunted, and hopeful, in spite of the problems and obstacles that may surround us.”
We sometimes see the Catholic faith portrayed in a negative way. It gives the impression that to be Catholic is a burden. I am here to tell you that being Catholic is anything but that. It does not take away our joy. Our Catholic faith, our faith in Jesus and the Church He gave to us, is our foundation. It gives meaning to my life. Everyone of us should be able - I love being Catholic!
In these final weeks Advent, maybe we can be more intentional about practicing joy in our life. The National Catholic Register had an article about 5 ways to find greater joy. These are things we can all do. First, stop complaining. Second, count your blessings. Third, read scripture. Fourth, live in the moment And finally, stay close to Jesus. Let us be reminded that Jesus was joyful! Let us pray for the grace to rejoice.
Go to Fr. Matt's Homily page.
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Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent; December 6, 2020
Click here for the Gospel reading.
I think it is easy for us to get comfortable as Catholics. For most of us, we have been through Advent before. We know we are supposed to prepare ourselves. It is very tempting and easy to go through the motions. But is that enough? John the Baptist was obviously not going through the motions. He was zealous. There was a fire burning in him You knew he was committed. He obviously did not care what people thought of him. Look at how he dressed. Look at what he ate. He surely was not into comfort. He knew his mission and because he loved God, he said yes and did it with great passion. This is what we remember about John the Baptist.
I think for most people, we would agree with John the Baptist's message that we all need repentance. That’s not the debate. The problem is that we sometimes fail to make the connection between repentance and changing our lives. Repentance means a change of life. It was John who called the Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers because they had talked about repentance but their lives did not back it up. We can go to the sacrament of reconciliation but still not be repentant. Repentance is not just saying you are sorry. Repentance is not just stopping the sinful behavior or bad habits. Repentance is a change of mind and heart and then the fruit of that is changed behavior.
Let me give you some examples. We can desire to repent of being greedy and still not be generous. For this repentance to happen in our lives it means we first recognize how much our God has given us and our only response is to be generous. Our actions will show this change of heart by being generous. The goal is to have a generous attitude and to become generous. It is not enough just to stop being greedy. We can also repent of watching too much TV. We begin by recognizing that some of the time in front of the TV could be used to help promote God’s kingdom. As far as I know, watching TV is not going to further the kingdom of God. It is hard to become virtuous simply by watching TV. When we decide to make this change, we not only turn away from TV watching but we turn towards something that is good. We have an attitude of being good stewards of our time.
Often when we think of repentance, we associate it with the negative. It is simply about stopping some behavior. But repentance is more about redirecting our life. It is moving towards Christ. An important question to be asking ourselves is - what are we preparing for? What are we waiting for? Are we just waiting to get out of quarantine? Do we really want to go back to the way things were? Or instead, are we waiting for Christ to come? Are we preparing for him?
So often the question we will hear during Advent is - are you ready for Christmas? The better question is - are you ready for Jesus? If we simply focus on being ready for Christmas, we are just getting ready for a day. Getting ready for Jesus means that I am getting ready for right now. One bishop put it this way - Advent is also a preparation for His coming to judge the living and the dead. His coming in glory. His second coming. He will come again. Not in the lowly flesh of an infant, but in the glorified flesh of the Risen Lord of Glory. When we prepare for Jesus, it is not something that I put off or something that points me to a certain day. It is living for Christ today. Sometimes we forget that in preparing for Jesus, we forget about all that Jesus wants to offer us. In a time like we are living in right now where we sometimes feel abandoned by God, Advent is a great time to remember. What does Jesus want to offer us? Peace, joy, compassion, mercy and hope. Who of us does not want that in our life?
The problem is that we need to make room for Christ. That’s why we prepare a path. Here are some ways to do that. The first one is simple. Say no. We say yes to far too many things in our life. Unless the pastor is asking something of you, you have my permission to say no. We are far too busy in our lives. The pandemic has forced us to say no. Will we continue once it is over? A second way is to try a different way to pray. Sometimes we get stuck in our routines. By opening ourselves up in this way, we can experience God‘s grace and be renewed in our time spent with God. Maybe a walking rosary or a gratitude walk. How about scripture or a devotional? The final thing is to choose joy. Maybe we can be a bit more optimistic even in tough times. Maybe we can give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe we can be grateful for the many small blessings each day. These are choices we can make which can make us more joyful because we are choosing to be like Christ.
Let us listen to the words of John the Baptist. Repent and prepare. Make a path for Christ. Let us NOT ONLY turn away from things in our life that are sinful. But turn to Christ who is the source of all that is good.
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Homily for the First Sunday of Advent; November 29, 2020
Click here for the Gospel reading.
The prophet Isaiah in our first reading says - why do you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways? It is interesting the prophet is not saying that God abandons us. It is just that God loves us so much that God will allow us to go on a path different than the one planned for us. And then God waits. How would you describe this moment in your life? I don’t mean right now at this moment in the church. But rather, as you look at the path that you are currently traveling, would you be content if God called you to eternal life tonight? Probably a better way to ask this question would be - do you feel like you have become who God wants to be? That’s a tough question because if we are going to be honest, most of us would say - no. I am not who God wants me to be right now at this point in my life.
Well, I have some good news for you. We are starting Advent today. Advent is different than Lent. I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves during Lent. Advent just has a different feel to it. It is a time where we can look at the direction we are going in life. If necessary, we can make some redirections. The simple commands that Jesus gives us in the Gospel are - be watchful . Be alert. This doesn’t have to be complicated.
One way to see these commands is simply as a call from God to NOT live in fear as to what might happen but to live in the present moment. Jesus is just asking us to live in the present so that we can recognize the Lord when he appears in our life. There is this temptation to want to live in the past, to try and relive it, where we reenact the past in our mind. Or we focus on the future. We ask those what if questions. What if this happens or what if that happens. Almost being afraid of all the worst possible scenarios. But the Lord can’t love us in the past and in the future. The Lord can only love us in the present moment. Each moment is a sign of the Lord’s coming. And in each moment, the Lord is waiting for our response of love and gratitude.
Here is a story, I may have told it before but it is good enough to be told again. "A university professor tells this story of being invited to speak at a military base and meeting an unforgettable soldier named Ralph. Ralph had been sent to meet him at the airport; and after they had introduced themselves, they headed toward the baggage claim. As they walked down the concourse, Ralph kept disappearing -- once to help an older woman whose suitcase had fallen open, once to lift two toddlers up to where they could see Santa Claus, and again to give directions to someone who was lost. "'Where did you learn to do that?' The professor asked. "'Do what?' Ralph said. “'To be so helpful and considerate to others.' "'Oh,' Ralph said, 'during the war, I guess.' Then he told the professor about his tour of duty in Vietnam, about how it was his job to clear minefields, and how he watched his friends die right before his eyes, one after another. 'I learned to live between steps,' he said. 'I never knew whether the next one would be my last, so I learned to get everything I could out of the moment between when I picked up my foot and when I put it down again. Every step I took was a whole new world, and I guess I've just been that way ever since.'
When Jesus calls us to be watchful and to be alert, he does not tell us that so we can be afraid and worry about his coming. Instead, it is to be aware of his constant presence in our lives. At the end of our first readings, Isaiah tells us that “we are the clay. God is the potter. We are all the work of His hands.” Each one of us in the hands of our God. There is no one that loves us more than our God. This Advent Season, I want you to seriously consider ways to be watchful and be alert. There are some simple ways to do that.
Why not consider going electronic free for a day or in the evenings? Somehow, we will survive. Carve out an hour each night to read scripture or a devotional. Come here to the church. Go for a walk. Spend an afternoon with grandma or grandpa. As a family, make a meal or bake something for someone in need. Please don’t say – I will get to this later. Those are words to do not come from Jesus. That is from the devil.
This holy season of Advent is a great time for each one of us to look into our life and see how we stand with God. Advent begins with a wake-up call - "be watchful, be alert" - inviting and challenging us to ask, "How watchful have I been for the Lord in my daily life?" We know we are waiting for the Lord’s future coming, but in the meanwhile, how alert have I been to his presence here and now in my life? What about right now at Mass? Do you realize how profound it is that God is here with us? We come to listen to his Word and to receive his Body and Blood. That alone should help us stay vigilant and wake us up if we have been dozing.
The challenge is to stay awake every day and to recognize the presence of Christ in our lives. If you lived in such a way knowing that God was loving you at every moment, it surely might change how you love. Imagine how you would treat your family, friends, coworkers and even strangers if you knew that God was loving you at every moment. It bet it would even change how you pray. I believe it could change how we live this Advent Season.
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