The simple message of Christmas - God is with us

Homily for Christmas Year A 2013-2014

Vigil Mass: 2 Sam 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16  • Luke 1:67-79

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

Introduction

When people realize that I am from Africa, one of the questions they often ask me around this time is this: “How do you celebrate Christmas in your country?”

Let me give you the short version.  You see Uganda is about 85% Christian, about 10% Muslim and the rest belong to a few other religions.  So in my village, Christmas day is celebrated practically by everybody, even by our Muslim neighbours, with food, drink and music.  Throughout the year families pool their money together to buy a cow for meat and to brew beer for the Christmas party that lasts from Christmas day until about New Year’s Day.

The reason our Muslim neighbours and people of other faiths join us in celebrating Christmas is first of all, because they too want need an excuse to have a party.  But for Muslims especially, a second and more serious reason is that they honour Jesus as a great prophet sent by God, just like Mohammed.  And so they celebrate his birth and honour his mother.  In fact Mary is mentioned more times in the Koran than she is mentioned in the Bible.

What about us here: Why does Christmas attract so many people in the world today?  Why are you and I here today on this Wednesday morning (on this Tuesday evening), and not at work (or at home having dinner)?  There are probably various reasons for which people celebrate Christmas.

·        Some people probably celebrate Christmas as the birth of a great man, in the same way we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King in January or the birthdays of Presidents Washington and Lincoln in February.

·        Others celebrate Christmas as the birthday of a chubby and happy baby Jesus, seeing Christmas as a time for the kids.

·        Others still, like some of my neighbours in Uganda, celebrate Christmas because they want to have a kind of end-of-year party.

Christmas certainly celebrates all these things: the birth of a great man, the birth of the child-Jesus, a festive occasion.

Scripture and Theology

But let me suggest that for Christians, Christmas means something more than a birthday or an anniversary.  What makes Christmas unique is that on this day, God became human, being born as the child of Joseph and Mary.  By celebrating Christmas we Christians make a very radical claim.  Every religion has great prophets, every society has its great men and women, but only Christians claim that Jesus the man is also God.  And Christmas celebrates that great event when 2000 years God left the high heavens and took human form in the man Jesus.

VIGIL: This was the message we heard the angel give Joseph in today’s gospel.  “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.  She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  They shall call him “Emmanuel”, which means “God is with us.”  St. Paul echoes the same message in today’s second reading, reminding us that this Jesus is the Messiah God had promised his people for centuries.

DAY: This was the message we heard in today’s gospel.  John told us that: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  And then he goes on to say: “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” as we say in the Angelus prayer.  The Letter to the Hebrews, our second reading is even more direct saying: “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son . . . .”  God himself has come down.

The Bible, therefore, does not mince its words in telling us what Christmas is all about.  Christmas celebrates the birth of a great prophet as Muslims would say, or the birth of a great man as others would say.  But this man Jesus is God.  We celebrate God coming into our world, for our salvation.  Now I know that some mothers treat their little boys and girls as if they were gods.  Christmas is not the same thing.  For Christmas, the child Jesus was really God.

Christian Life

We celebrate Christmas using a variety of customs and practices, which, rather than obscure this simple Christmas message, can actually bring it to life, if we pay attention to the meaning of these symbols.

1.    That beautiful Christmas tree in your house, a type of tree that does not shed its leaves even in winter, can remind you of God’s everlasting life, a life he sent his Son to share with you and me.

2.    The wreath, which is round and therefore has no discernible beginning or end, can similarly remind us of God’s eternity, an eternity to which he invites us through his Son born on Christmas.

3.    Then you have candy canes, shaped like a shepherd’s staff.  This candy cane reminds us of the lowly shepherds of Bethlehem, the first ones to receive the good news of Christmas, the kind of people Jesus our Good Shepherd draws to the Father, the kind of people we should treat with kindness.

4.    The Christmas lights, even that outrageous display of your neighbour, can remind us of Jesus the Light of world, giving us joy, warmth and direction.

5.    And you have Christmas gifts.  People keep telling me what a hustle gift-giving is, especially for the givers.  Perhaps as you fought back the crowds on Black Friday to buy that special gift for someone or as you battled the traffic (this morning), last night doing some last-minute shopping, you probably were not thinking about spiritual things and may even have been tempted to use a few choice words.  But the Christmas gift can remind us of the perfect gift we receive at Christmas, the gift of salvation in Jesus, given to us by the Father.

6.    Perhaps the most important Christmas practice, even more important than the Christmas tree and wreath, the candy canes and lights, the cards and gifts, is your coming to Mass today.  For what is the Mass, if not coming to receive this Jesus who came into our world, and left us his Word and Sacrament!  In fact, the word Christmas literally means, Christ’s Mass, the Mass of Christ.

And that is why it is important to use the word “Christmas,” which keeps alive this central message that God has come into our world, to bring peace, joy and salvation.  Speaking of Christmas as a holiday, as is often heard in the phrase “Happy Holidays,” has the value of including it among the other holidays celebrated around this time: Thanksgiving, Hanukah and Kwanza.  But it also has the downside of diminishing the unique meaning of this feast for Christians.  Christmas celebrates the birth of Saviour of the world, which none of these other holidays claim to do.  And so that is why we say “Merry Christmas” to each other, because we want to profess our Christian faith in the fact that Christmas is not just a holiday or an excuse for a party; it means something important and serious for my soul and your soul – the birth of our Saviour.

Conclusion

And because this feast means something really important for us, we celebrate it not just for one day, but for Twelve Days, as the famous carol says.  Christmas begins today and continues on!  So don’t be in a hurry to dump the Christmas tree is on the curbside, first thing on Thursday morning.  And for those who did not get to do all their Christmas gifting, well you still have until January 6^th, to spread that Christmas cheer, that Good News which we are going to profess in a few moments, that for us and for our salvation Jesus “came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate [became flesh] of the Virgin Mary, and became man. . . .”  Merry Christmas to you all.

The Lord is calling you - are you listening?

Homily for 4^th Sunday of Advent Year A 2013-2014

Isaiah 7:10-14 Romans 1: 1-7 Matt. 1: 18-24

Introduction

Some friends recently became first-time parents.  I could see their great joy as they shared the news about their newly adopted daughter, especially as they had been waiting for a child for a long time.  But I could also see their anxiety.

·        There was the usual worry about sleepless nights, changing diapers and what to do when the baby was ill.

·        More serious was the anxiety of taking on the commitment to care for another human being for at least the next eighteen years.

And yet they eagerly took up this challenge with joy, trusting in the Lord’s help and guidance.

Scripture and Theology

In today’s gospel we have just heard how God called Joseph for the special task of being the foster-father of his Son.  Like my friends, Joseph was probably anxious at hearing this news.

·        Let us leave aside the usual anxieties that come with having a baby.

·        Let us leave aside the issue of an Angel is talking to him!

·        Let us leave aside the fact that the baby is not even his!

Joseph was taking on the great responsibility of raising the Saviour of the world.  We have to remember that Jesus was truly God and truly human.  That means that as a human being, he had to learn things just like any other human being.

·        It was Joseph’s job to teach him how to walk, talk and eat. It was Joseph’s job to teach him the Jewish prayers, commandments and the Bible.

·        It was Joseph’s job to teach him the trade of carpentry.

·        It was Joseph’s job to teach how to be a man, a Jewish man.

But Joseph is the not first person in the Bible God calls with heavy demands!

·        Seventy-five year old Abraham was going about his business in what is now Iraq, taking care of sheep and goats, and farming the land!  And then God comes and says: “Hey you, leave your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house and go to a land that I will show you. I promise to bless you and make you a great nation.”

·        Then there is Moses whom God calls to liberate his people from Egypt, but to do that he has to pass through the Pharaoh!

·        And then you have the Prophets, whom God calls to speak truth to power and the whole nation, delivering messages that people don’t want to hear.  In today’s reading, for example, King Ahaz does not want to hear Isaiah’s prophecy that a Messiah will be born of a virgin.

And so, as a faithful Jew, Joseph must have been aware of how God operates.  And that is why, even if he is a little reluctant, he takes up the challenging job that God is giving him, taking pregnant Mary as his wife into his home.

And we know that Joseph carried out this mission as a father faithfully, accepting the usual challenges of a new born baby and far more serious ones.

·        It was their luck that Caesar was carrying out the census during Mary’s last trimester!  And they had to travel all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  According to Mapquest, this is a distance of 100 miles and it would take you two hours by car, four and a half hours by public transport and 34 hours on foot!

·        And after going through the ordeal of travel, they get to Bethlehem and the hotels and hospitals are full!  I remember when my youngest brother was born in Uganda!  My mother and father walked to the hospital, thankfully two miles, not 100 miles, but there was no one to care for them.  So they returned home and a neighbour assisted my mother to give birth in our house.  Joseph and Mary did not even have that luxury of giving birth in her own home.  They had to give birth in a cowshed!

·        After the birth of Jesus, their problems did not end.  Now, with a new born child, they had to flee to go Egypt, a foreign country, rather than return to the comfort of their home in Nazareth. Think about the Syrian refugees today or any other refugees for that matter!  That was the call of Joseph!

Christian Life

Friends, God has not stopped calling people for his work, nor has he stopped asking a lot from those he calls.  Like he called Joseph and Mary for their special job of bringing the Saviour into this world, God also calls us too!  I can think of two challenging calls for us today: the call to marriage and the call to priesthood.

The call to Christian marriage is a call from God to lifetime commitment to each other, and to the task of raising children in the faith.  Those of you who are married will surely agree that this is not always an easy task!

·        What do you do when the romance in the marriage has died out?  What do you when you no longer recognize the person you said “Yes” to at the altar all those years ago?  What do you do when your husband or wife is seriously ill for a long time?  Like God demanded much of Joseph and Mary, God demands of you total fidelity and commitment to each other, even in difficult situations.

·        And then there is the commitment to the children.  Like he did to Joseph and Mary, God places a great responsibility in your hands as a mother and father, of raising a child or two or three, not just by feeding, clothing and generally keeping them healthy, but also raising them to know and love God and their neighbour.  This job of parenting, of teaching God’s ways has never been easy, but is made more difficult today by the often competing media messages that glorify materialism, drugs and sex.

And yet you carry on as married people and as parents, knowing that this is a call from God, who always demands much from those he calls.

Sometimes people think that the grass is greener on the other side!  Married people might think that the life of priests, sisters and brothers, who are not married, must be easy!  Well, not exactly.

·        If God calls the married people to be mothers and fathers of two or three or four children, he calls the priest to be the Father of all his parishioners!

·        If God calls the married people to be faithful spouses to each other, he calls the priest to be a faithful bridegroom to his bride, the whole Church.

And so like Joseph, the priest has to take up this challenge and be faithful to it!  He has to respond when one of his spiritual children calls him at three in the morning to go and anoint them in the hospital. He has to respond when his bride the Church asks him to celebrate several masses a day, even when he does not feel like doing so.  The priest like Joseph has to care for children who are not his biological children, feeding them with God’s word and sacrament!  And he does this without the comfort of his own wife and children, because God has provided him with another wife and children!

Conclusion

In a few days we will be celebrating Christmas, because Joseph and Mary did their work, of bringing God’s Son into this world.

The Lord needs more people to do his work for him.  As St.Theresa of Avila reminds us, we are the hands, the eyes, the ears and the feet of Christ.

For those who have already responded to the call, how are you living out?  For those, especially the young people, are you listening to the call of God, for you to be another Joseph or Mary, being a part of God’s work?

What does it take to be Great in the Kingdom of Heaven?

Homily for 3^rd Sunday of Advent Year A 2013-2014

Isaiah 35:1-6; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Introduction

Until recently, I didn’t know what a backhanded compliment was.  Then a few weeks ago, on my birthday, a friend said to me: “You look good, for your age.”  And a few days later another friend said, “You're smarter than you look.”  Of course my friends were only joking and I hope to get them back at some point.

In today’s gospel, Jesus also seems to give John the Baptist a backhanded compliment.  He praises him, calling John the greatest of all men; but immediately Jesus says that even the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John. Why does Jesus pour cold water on the greatness of John?

Scripture and Theology

It is true that “among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist,” as Jesus says.  For John the Baptist is a prophet, a great prophet, more than a prophet.  In fact Jesus suggests that John is even greater than Moses, who led the people out of Egypt; for John is the last of the prophets, who comes to prepare the way for the Messiah.  There will be no more prophets after him, because when the Messiah comes, he will reveal everything about God to the people.  That is why John holds this very special place in salvation history. 

·        We can see John’s special place in the gospels, where the conception and birth of John the Baptist Jesus, like that of Jesus is told.  They are both miraculous births; in John’s case his mother is beyond child-bearing age; in the case of Jesus, his mother is a virgin, one who by definition cannot give birth.  God intervenes in the birth of these cousins for a purpose: John is born so as to prepare the way, and Jesus to be the Messiah.

·        We know that the first meeting between Jesus and John the Baptist happened when Mary, the mother of Jesus, came down to Jerusalem to take care of her elder cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.  We read in the gospel of Luke that John the Baptist leapt with joy while still in the womb, when Mary showed up; for even then he recognized the arrival of the Messiah.  In fact there is a tradition among the early Fathers of the Church like St. Augustine, that at this first meeting between John and Jesus, John the Baptist was cleansed of original sin.

·        Even the Church gives John the Baptist a very special place in its calendar of saints, second only to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  We celebrate as a feast, not only John’s death on August 29^th, but we also celebrate his birth on June 24^th.  This double honour is accorded only to Blessed Mother.

And so, it should be clear why Jesus so highly praises John the Baptist.  He has been given a special role in God’s plan of salvation, a role he carries out faithfully, even unto giving up his life.

Why then, after making all this fuss about the greatness of John, does Jesus say: “yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he?”

The answer has to do with timing.  As the person preparing for the coming of the Messiah, John did not have the privilege of hearing the saving message of Jesus himself.  John is like Moses who led the people of Israel from Egypt, through the Red Sea and the Sinai desert, but died just before they crossed into the Promised Land.  John the Baptist too does all the preparation, even baptising Jesus, but does not hear and see the work of Jesus.  Those who will come after him and will hear the Messiah’s teaching and see his great works, even the least among this group, Jesus says, will be greater than John.

You probably remember Jesus saying something similar about his family.  When he was informed that his mother and brothers had come to see him, Jesus instead pointed to his followers and said: “Here are my mother and my brothers.  For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”  What counts as true greatness, therefore, is not what place or status you have, not even being the last Prophet; but rather what counts for true greatness is how faithfully you listen to the gospel and put it into action.

Christian Life

This week Pope Francis was named Person of the Year, by Time magazine.  You would think that such a prestigious nomination would have the Vatican officials breaking out the champagne and giving each other hi-fives.  Instead, there was a sober response from the Pope’s spokesman. He began by courteously acknowledging the award, but then hoped that it was a recognition of the pope’s work as “one who proclaims spiritual, religious and moral values in the world, and who speaks effectively in favour of peace and greater justice.”  The spokesman then said that “the Pope, for his part, he does not seek fame and success, since he carries out his service for the proclamation of the Gospel and the love of God for all. If this attracts men and women and gives them hope, the Pope is content.”  In other words, for the Pope, as for all Christians, the award that really counts, the award that grants us greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven, is the award for faithful preaching and faithful living out the gospel.

This week also, the people of South Africa, and indeed the whole world, mourn and bury the beloved former President, Nelson Mandela.  But this massive outpour of grief has little to do with Mandela’s being the first black President of South Africa or the fact that he was unfairly imprisoned for 27 years.  His greatness, which is recognized both in South Africa and beyond, both by white and black South Africans, was because he worked for the reconciliation and harmonious relations among all people, among all races.  Even after his release from prison, even after he became President, there was no bitterness or revenge in him.  His greatness did not come from his status, but from his heart, from his Methodist upbringing, from his Christian faith.

Recently I went to a big banquet, but I could not see my name on the seating list.  As I was about to go away and save myself the embarrassment, someone tapped me on the shoulder and took me to their table up front, where they had reserved a place for me as their guest, and that is why my name was not on the seating chart.

Jesus says that you and I could have a more important place than John the Baptist at the eternal banquet, if we take our privilege of being Catholic Christians very seriously; if we are faithful listeners to the gospel and faithful doers of what the gospel tells us to do.  And it doesn’t matter if you and I are never named Person of the Year by Time magazine or never have 80 heads of state at our funeral.  What matters is if we live up to the demands of the gospel.

Conclusion

My grandmother and I have lived very different lives.

·        She had only a second grade education and never travelled more than 100 miles from her home; I have gone to college and studied theology abroad.

·        My grandmother did not hold any office in the Church; I doubt that she was even an officer in her parish Legion of Mary group.  For my part, I have had the great privilege of being ordained a priest and serving as a pastor, chancery official and now seminary teacher.

But I am constantly aware that in the wider scheme of things, these differences count for zilch.  My privileged status and titles were given to me for service of God’s Church; and by themselves they do not give me a leg up on my grandmother, when it comes to what really matters, getting into heaven.

For when both she and I and even John the Baptist, show up at heaven’s door, asking to be admitted into God’s, we all have the same chances of admission; for we are all judged on our faithful discipleship, on how attentively we have listened to God’s word and how faithfully we have lived it.

Keeping the eye on the goal

Homily for 2^nd Sunday of Advent Year A 2013-2014

Isa 11:1-10 • Rom 15:4-9 • Matthew 3:1-12

Introduction

Coaches tell their players to keep their eyes on the ball, as well as keep their eyes on the goal.  A few weeks ago, I saw the movie Forest Gump again.  Those who have seen this movie might remember that as a young man, Forest was a really fast runner.  So he was recruited by the Alabama Football team.  Unfortunately, all Forest knew was how to run fast with the ball; he did not know where to run with the ball.  At one point in the game, after they have shoved the ball into his hands, he runs really fast towards the goal line.  But then, with the defence on his hills, he turns and runs towards the sidelines and is in danger of going out of bounds, until he is directed by the coach to run towards the goal-line.  Thankfully he crosses into the end-zone and makes a touch-down.  But then he doesn’t stop and just keeps running into stadium tunnel; he is completely oblivious to the goal of the game.

Scripture and Theology

The season of Advent is given to us to remind us of the goal, the goal of why we are Christians at all.  Our goal is life with God; Jesus has promised all those who follow him, that he is coming back to take us with him, to live with God the Father for eternity.  We express our faith in this promise, when every Sunday we say in the Creed, that: “He [Jesus] will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.”  These four weeks of Advent are an exercise in waiting, preparing and hoping for that Second Coming of the Lord.

But how do we wait?  How do we prepare?  How do we hope?  Let us look at what our forefathers in the Bible did, as they waited for the First Coming of Jesus.

We heard in the first reading how Isaiah gave hope to the people of Israel, who were waiting to be saved from their exile.  The Lord promised that a Messiah would come, one who would bring justice, faithfulness and peace.  At that time, “the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb” and “The baby shall play by the cobra’s den.”  With these wonderful images of harmony, Isaiah describes to his listeners what life with God is really like, the kind of life that the Messiah will bring. Isaiah tells them that help is on the way! Hope is on the way!

As for John the Baptist, the immediate forerunner of the Messiah, he prepares the people by preaching to them: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  As a sign that they have repented, the people come to him in droves, asking to be baptized.  But he tells them that the kind of baptism he gives is not the real thing, the baptism that forgives sins.  John’s baptism only prepares the people for the coming of the Lord.  “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance,” he says.  “But the one who is coming after me is mightier than I.  I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  We can think of John’s baptism as the Hors d'oeuvres, the anti-pasti, the appetizers, preparing for the main course, which is being served by Jesus himself.

Why then does John the Baptist get mad at the Pharisees and Sadducees who come to him for baptism?  We heard that when he saw many of them coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”  You can tell from his strong language that these religious leaders have really ticked John off.  But then again, in their defence, he had said, “come to me and be baptised as a sign that you are leaving behind your sins, and getting ready for the coming of the Lord.”  And this is what these Pharisees and Sadducees had done.  It is like they have run with the ball and crossed into the end-zone and made a touch-down; but now, John the referee gives them a penalty, telling them to go back to their ten-yard line and start all over.

The reason for this long penalty is that these religious leaders have not run with the ball as they should.  Yes, they came to be baptised, but only because they wanted to be seen by the people.  What would people say, if they stayed back and did not go through this cleansing ritual?  It would be like today, if everybody is coming to Church to say the rosary and the priests and nuns are the ones staying away.  So the Pharisees and Sadducees also came for the baptism of John, but without any internal conversion on their part.  They had not repented of their old ways at all.  They had only been cleaned externally with the water; but their hearts internally were still very dirty.

That is why John the Baptist challenges them: “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance! . . . [for] every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  In other words, you cannot prepare for the coming of the Lord merely by observing religious rituals; you must prepare for the coming of the Lord by living a life of virtue and charity.  John teaches these leaders and us, that the way to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord, is by participating in both kinds of services: religious services and service to each other.  The Pharisees and Sadducees did the first, but had nothing to show for the second.  And that is why he calls them a brood of vipers, who are not ready for the coming of the Lord.

Christian Life

Like the Israelites, like the Pharisees and Sadducees waited for the Lord to come the first time, we wait for the Lord to come the second time.  That coming of the Lord will find some of us already dead and others still living: both will then be judged and if found worthy, admitted into God’s presence forever.

Can we take some lessons from our forefathers in how to wait?  Can we learn from Isaiah in how to hope for that great banquet, which the Lord has prepared for us when we return to him?

John the Baptist tells us that the best way to wait has three parts: we have to listen to the Word of God which says, “Repent, for the Lord is coming back.”  Then we have participate in a religious ritual which is a sign of that interior repentance in our hearts.  And then thirdly, we have to live out that new life every day of our lives, in charity and virtue.  How well do we wait?

Do we listen to the Word of God, which is read to us and preached to us at Mass?  During this Advent season, perhaps we could read a little more Scripture, especially the Book of Revelation that speaks to us about the Second Coming of the Lord.

After listening to that Word, do we wait by going to John for baptism, which for us means, coming to Mass and regularly celebrating the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Penance?  These religious services are not empty signs.  They are the means through which God gives us his divine help; they are also the means through which we tell God that we are committed to being faithful to him.

The third step in our waiting is by going forth to produce the good fruit, which the Pharisees and Sadducees woefully lacked.  At the end of Mass, the priest sends us forth saying: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”  In other words, now that you have heard the Word of God, now that you have celebrated the religious ritual, go and live out what you have heard and celebrated in your everyday life.

Conclusion

These three ways of attentive listening, reverent celebrating and fruitful living are the ways through which the people of Israel were taught to wait, to expect and to hope for the coming of the Lord, which we celebrate at Christmas.  But the same tools can help us keep our eye on the goal as we journey towards heaven, our eternal home, as we wait for the Lord to come back for us.

We cannot wait in complacency; for if we are complacent, the other side, the Evil One will take the ball from us and we shall lose the goal and the game.  Our goal is heaven; let this Advent season help us to never take our eyes off that goal.

Keep Advent in Advent

Homily for 1^st Sunday of Advent Year A 2013-2014

Isa 2:1-5 • Rom 13:11-14 • Matthew 24:37-44

Introduction

As we begin a new Church year, I would like to reflect on growth.  Whenever I go back home to Uganda every year, I am always amazed at how much my nephew, Raphael, grows.  In just one year he had grown from a helpless baby crying and eating all the time, to an active little person taking their first steps and trying to say a few words.  When I see him next, he will be about three years old, and I cannot wait to play with him and have an actual conversation with him.

The Christian life is also about growing.  We grow spiritually.  We grow in our knowledge of the Lord.  We grow in loving God and our neighbour.  Even Jesus, according to Luke’s gospel, when he returned with his mother and father to Nazareth, after they had lost and then found him in the Temple, we are told that continued to grow in wisdom and age and in favour before God and man.

Scripture and Theology

To grow in wisdom and age, in favour before God and man, we need help.  We need the help of God.  For our spiritual growth is like the growth of a plant, especially a tree.  The really strong trees take years, even decades to grow.  A tiny seed becomes a seedling; the seedling slowly becomes a plant; the plant then grows a stem with branches; and these in turn grow flowers which become the fruit that we harvest.  Of course this plant needs nutrients, especially water and fertilizers.  But the plant also needs a change in seasons: the Spring to germinate, the Summer to grow, the Fall to shed its leaves and the Winter to hibernate.  And then the cycle starts all over again, as the tree grows taller and stronger.  Without the variety of seasons, the tree would remain stunted and would never grow.

That is why we in the Church also have liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time.  As we grow in our Christian faith, each season has something to give us, something to focus our attention, something to help advance on the journey to heaven.

·        In Advent we focus on the Second Coming of Jesus.

·        At Christmas we celebrate the First Coming of Jesus.

·        During Lent we focus on penance and conversion.

·        At Easter and for 50 days after, we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord.

·        And then during the Ordinary Time of the Year, we focus on the general themes of our Christian faith.

Like the different climates of the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter provide plants and trees with different nutrients for their growth, so do the different seasons of our Church year, give us different spiritual nourishments.

Christian Life

Today, we start the season of Advent.  Unfortunately, Advent is given short shrift.  Everybody, even non-Catholics know about Christmas and Easter, they even know about Lent.  But poor Advent is ignored, like the middle child.

On Thanksgiving Day, as I was driving to a friend’s house in Mississippi, I turned on the car radio.  I was surprised to hear my favourite New Orleans station already playing Christmas carols.  “We have not yet even begun Advent, and we are already celebrating Christmas,” I asked myself?  I did not have the courage to visit any stores on Black Friday, but I am reliably informed that in most stores, the Christmas decorations are already up.

To be fair, though, we Catholics cannot impose our Church calendar on non-Catholics radio stations or businesses; they don’t have to celebrate Advent and they can pretty much play whatever music they want, whenever they want.

But we Catholics want to grow in our spiritual life, we cannot just skip over Advent and jump straight to the Christmas joy.  As parents, we don’t let our Children skip over the meat and vegetables and go straight to the cake and ice-cream; if we do they will end-up really happy but quite malnourished children.

Advent has something important for us to think about for four weeks before Christmas.  For while Christmas reminds us of the joy of the First Coming of Jesus, Advent points us to the hope of the Second Coming of Jesus.  Jesus lays it out very clearly, that he is coming back, on a day or an hour you do not expect.  “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”  These people were going about their day to day tasks of eating, drinking and getting married; and then suddenly the Flood came.  Jesus says, so will his return be.  “Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.  Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.”   The advice of Jesus is this: “Therefore, stay awake!  For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”  This second coming will find some already dead and these will rise and get their just desserts.  Those, who will still be living, will get the surprise of their lives, and they too will get their just desserts.

We Christians need such a message of waiting, expectation and hope.  Our lives will better, if we take time to know where we are going.  Our journey to God will have direction, if we take time to consider where it is leading.  These four weeks of Advent, as we prepare for Christmas, tell us where we are going by focusing on the end-times, so that our present times can be lived well.

During these four weeks of the Advent season, we are given many tools to help us focus our minds on this goal of our lives.

·        The readings we hear during this season will keep reminding us: “Jesus is coming back!”  And so will the homilies, which will keep hitting our heads with this message of preparation, waiting and hope.

·        We also change the colour from green to purple, a penitential colour, which reminds us that part of our waiting for the Second Coming is by doing penance and living lives of conversion to the Lord.  In fact many people try to go to confession during this time.

·        Besides, during this time, we do not sing the hymn of the Angels, the Gloria, a reminder that we are still waiting for the full glory of the Lord, at his Second Coming; what we have now is only a glimpse of the real one.

·        And then we have the Advent Wreath, with its circular shape and five candles.  The circular shape represents the eternity of life with Jesus and the Father, for which we hope.  The four candles in the outer circle, lit one after another each week, represent the progressive movement towards the joy and glory of Christmas, represented by the fifth white candle in the middle.

Advent truly has something to offer us, as we grow in the Lord.

Conclusion

There is a campaign with the slogan, “Put Christ back into Christmas.”  I have another campaign and of course a slogan to go with it.  My slogan is “Put Advent back into Advent.”  Please join me in my campaign, the campaign of the Church, by not glossing over these four weeks of Advent or by not turning them prematurely into a prolonged Christmas season.

Even as we go about our Christmas shopping, Christmas card mailing, let us focus on preparation, waiting and hoping for the Second Coming.  Let us do as the prayer, which we shall hear the priest say over the next four weeks, says: that the Lord “may teach us to judge wisely the things of earth, and hold firm to the things of heaven.”  Let us judge wisely the things of earth, and hold firm to the things of heaven.

Who is King of your Life?

Homily for Christ the King Sunday Year C 2013

 2 SM 5:1-3, COL 1:12-20, LK 23:35-43

Introduction

If I were to suggest that, in this country, rather than elect our leaders, we should return to having kings rule over us, you probably would drive me out of here.  No more kings, you would say.  The only kings we keep around are the Prom King and Queen, the kings of the Mardi Gras Krewes, and of course the King, the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.

So, why call Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe?  Why have Christ the King Sunday?  Why use this image of king that has lots of baggage?  On the one hand kings are associated with oppression; on the other hand kings are associated with the sentimental and frivolous side of life.

There is a story in the Bible, in the book of Judges 9:8-14, about the trees looking for a king, somebody to be the boss of the forest.

·        The trees first went to the olive tree and asked him: “Be our King.”  But the olive tree declined saying, “Must I give up my rich oil, whereby gods and human beings are honoured” to be king over the trees?

·        Next they tried the fig tree; he also refused the position, saying: “‘Must I give up my sweetness and my sweet fruit,” to be king over you?

·        Third time is a charm, they thought and they said to the vine, “Come you, reign over us.”  And he too declined, saying: “Must I give up my wine that cheers gods and human beings” to become your king?

·        Finally and perhaps in despair, they went to ask the thorntree: “Come; you reign over us!”  He said, “sure; I will be your king on one condition.  You must come and be in my shade.”

This story ends there and doesn’t tell us what happened next.  But surely, the moral of the story is that having the thornbush as king, swaying over the other trees would be a terrible idea.  His thorns would scorch them to death.

Unfortunately, more often than not, the kings of the Israel turned out to be like thornbushes that scorch and oppress, rather than like olives, figs and vines that nourish and care.  Reading the history of the kings of Israel is like reading the “Who is who” of tyrants and dictators:

·        Saul, Solomon, Ahaz; even King David had someone killed so as to take his wife.

·        In the New Testament we have the Herods: the elder Herod tried to kill the infant Jesus and indeed killed all the infants born around that time.  His son, Herod, was involved in the killing of both John the Baptist and Jesus.

What these kings did, is similar to what the American Declaration of Independence says of the English King George: “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.”

Scripture and Theology

And yet, despite this bad history, all is not lost for the image of king. We can salvage something from this metaphor, to help us understand our relationship with God.  That is why Pope Pius XI, back in 1925, instituted this feast of Christ the King, to remind us who is really the King of Christians.

First, Jesus himself is always talking about kings, kingship and the Kingdom.

·        “Repent and believe, for the Kingdom of God is at hand,” Jesus says, as he begins his ministry.

·        And then towards the end of his ministry he teaches that, on Judgement day, the Son of Man will appear as a King seated on a throne.

·        And as we heard in today’s gospel, even as Jesus is about to die, the good thief recognized him as king, and asked him: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Jesus is indeed a true King.  He is the perfect King.  He defines what a true king really is; all other kings, are only poor imitations.  Jesus uses his power as King, for good, rather than for oppression.  In the second reading St. Paul told us that we should be really grateful to God, because he has taken us from being under the oppression of the King of darkness “and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

·        King Jesus uses his power to restore us to the love of the Father.

·        King Jesus gives himself up on the cross to pay our debt of sin.

·        King Jesus pays our ransom, unlike earthly kings who only collect heavy taxes and ransoms from their subjects.

Jesus shows that a king has power, only so that he can serve, so that he can save, so that he can care.

At the top of every cross, you have the letters “INRI.”  Those initials stand for the Latin words, Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum, which means, “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews.”  Pilate put those words on the cross to mock Jesus.  What he did not know, was that Jesus is indeed the King of the world; and his Kingship is most obvious when he is hanging on the cross, to take away the sins of his subjects.  He is the kind of king that dies for his people.

We heard in the first reading that King David, in his good days, was asked by the elders of Jerusalem, to become their King.  This is because even in the old days when Saul was their king, it was David who really led them, united them and cared for them.  That is what a king does, that is why they want him for king.  What David did for the people’s physical security and needs, Jesus does for the people’s spiritual needs, uniting them with himself and the Father in friendship.

Christian Life

Let me suggest three lessons we can take from today’s feast of Christ the King.

First, like the good thief on the cross, let us recognize that Christ is indeed a king, our king.  Let him reign over our lives.  Let us subject ourselves to his true kingship, rather than the kingship of beauty, prestige and materialism of the High School kings and queens, of the Mardi Gras Kings and of Rock and Roll.  His kingship is not one of oppression, but one in which he proposes to us the way of salvation, in his Word and in his Sacraments.

That brings us to the second lesson.  Jesus, while remaining King over us, allows us each of us to be kings also.  He shares his kingship with us.  He wants us to be small kings in our own ways.  Unlike the olive tree, the fig tree and the vine tree that, in the story of the trees, which refused to share what they had with the other trees, Jesus expects us to be kings for others, sharing the savour of our oil, the sweetness of our fruit and the cheer of our wine.  In other words, we exercise our kingship, by doing for others, what Jesus the King does for us, by using our power for good rather than for evil.

The third lesson is that if we too are kings, we must also be kings over our own lives.  Under the kingship of Jesus and with his help, we should try to be masters of our domain, who are in control of our passions, our tongue and our actions.  We must use the kingly power he shares with us, for the good of our souls.

Conclusion

Yes, the image of King has a bad rap, a truly sad history. But the kingship of Jesus is different and can perhaps teach the world and us, what kingship truly means.  The true king has power and control, so that he can serve, he can do good.  As we worship Christ, our King, let us imitate his kingship, being good stewards of his power, as we build the Kingdom of God, that starts here on earth and will reach completion in heaven.

Thou shalt not be a Catholic busbody!

Homily for 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C

November 17, 2013

Mal 3:19-20 • 2 Thess 3:7-12 • Luke 21:5-19

Introduction

Nobody likes a busybody, because they are sometimes a nuisance, always annoying and often dangerous.  You will know the busybody, when you see them. 

·        They will eavesdrop on your private conversation, sometimes offering unsolicited opinions.

·        They will usually have pieces of juicy gossip to pass around.

·        They will report you for child abuse, because they see you discipline your child at the mall.

Scripture and Theology

No wonder then, that St. Paul in today’s second reading, expresses his dislike for busybodies, in very stern terms.  In fact, he has quite a harsh judgement for them, saying, that they should be denied food.

Why is St. Paul so angry with these people?  After all every society has such people; it is just part of living in a community.

Well, Paul is particularly ticked off because the damage they are causing the Church of Thessalonica was far more serious than that of your everyday busybody.  These particular busybodies spent most of their time agitating about the end of the world, like the doomsday people you often hear about.  “The end is near” they probably shouted.  “The Lord is coming back tomorrow,” they taught.  And so, they decided that working was a waste of time.

·        Why plant crops that take months to grow, if Jesus may return before the harvest?

·        Why go to school and study hard, if Jesus may come before graduation?

·        Why work on my career, if the Lord’s coming will happen before my next promotion?

So they just stopped working and spent their time interfering in the lives of the others who were earning a living as well trying to live their Christian life quietly. 

And so Paul tells the Christians of Thessalonica, that “that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.”  His message is that no one should have a free ride in the name of waiting for the return of Jesus.  And as for the busybodies themselves, his advice is simple: they are to work quietly and eat their own food.

In the gospel, Jesus too warns Christians to be aware of people who will come saying: “’I am he,’ and 'The time has come.’”  Jesus says: “Do not follow them!”  They are false prophets; for as Jesus teaches elsewhere, nobody knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man will return.  Those who claim to know it are busybodies who get their kick from such excitement rather than from doing their duty.

And so, both Jesus and Paul tell us that the life of a busybody, who lives in excitement and agitation, is not the way to wait for the Coming of the Lord.

1.    The busybody sins against the community by failing to do their fair share of gainful work and by being a burden to the rest.

2.    The busybody sins against their neighbour by interfering with everybody’s business and even causing damage by their meddling.

3.    But the most serious damage by the busybody is that he focuses on the less important things rather than on living a relationship of love of God and his neighbour.

Rather, Jesus wants us to wait and prepare for his coming by being committed Christians, living in faith, hope and love.

Christian Life

We Christians of today are not protected from the temptation to be busybodies.  Remember that the busybody often has very good intentions; they want to be good; they want to helpful; they want to do something, just like us.  Their problem, our problem, is that if we are not careful, we can focus on the wrong thing, so that when the Lord really comes, he will find not find us at our station.

When I was growing up, because I was the first born child, my mother would leave me in charge of my siblings when she had to go out on errands.  Now naturally, like any other teenager, I really loved this opportunity to be king of the court, the master of the house, top dog, for a while.  As the saying goes, when the cat is away, the mice play.  And so I could do what I wanted, without any adult supervision or reprimand.  For example, I could boss my siblings around, I could invite friends over to play or I could go over to their house.  Now sometimes my mother returned unexpectedly and I was in some serious trouble.  This happened enough times for me to realize the folly of my actions.  Soon I came to the conclusion that life would be much easier, much less anxious, much less stressful, if I just did the right thing, regardless of when the cat would return. In that way, whenever she returned, she would find me at my job.

Is that perhaps the way we can wait for the coming of the Lord?  We just go about our business of being Christians, living faithfully according to his will.  Should he come at the ninth hour, he will find us ready!  Should he come at the tenth hour, he will find us ready!  Should he come at the eleventh hour, he will find us ready working on his Word, Sacraments and Service.

·        Let the return of Jesus find us believing in his Word, contained in the Bible and in the teaching of his instrument, the Church, the Word that leads us to heaven.

·        Let Jesus find us celebrating the sacraments of the Church, especially the Eucharist that maintains our friendship with him, and confession that restores that friendship when we break it.

·        Finally, let Jesus’ coming find us living out what we believe and what we celebrate in our daily life, in service to our neighbour  Should he return when we are at work, no problem – for we shall be doing his will at our place of work.  Should he find us on the street, no problem – for we shall be doing his will even as we drive.  Should he find us at home, no problem – even in carrying out our domestic duties, we shall be reflecting our faith and love.

Conclusion

In the classic movie Fiddler on the Roof, there is this matchmaker called Yenta, who meddles in everybody’s life, trying to help everybody marry off their children.  In fact in popular culture today, a Yenta is another word for a busybody.

As we prepare for the Second Coming of the Lord, we can choose to be Catholic Yentas or Catholic Christians!  Catholic Yentas chase the latest religious craze or devotion that promises us a short-cut to heaven and in the process drive everybody crazy with our misplaced zeal.  Catholic Christians on the other hand, live their lives, by seeking to be fed first by the meat and potatoes of our faith: God’s Word and Sacraments and only then do they turn to the desserts, the other things as well.

Resurrection or Reincarnation?

Homily for 32^nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C 2013

2 Macc 7:1-2, 9-14 • 2 Thess 2:16-3:5 • Luke 20:27-38 or 20:27, 34-38

Introduction

My grandfather had a sure fire way of telling which kids had only book knowledge and which also had common sense.  "There are ten birds on a tree,” he would say.  Then he would ask: “After I shoot and kill one, how many birds remain?"

The smart kids quickly did the math and came up with the answer, “nine birds remain on the tree.”  But the wise students, after giving the question a little thought, answered “zero.”  Surely no bird is going to remain a sitting duck, when the life of one their own has just been taken.

Preserving one’s life is perhaps the one thing all animals treasure.  This is true especially of human beings, supposedly the smartest and wisest of all animals.  One wonders then; if life, especially our own, is so important to us, what in the world would make somebody ready to give up their life, whether it is the seven brothers we have just read about in the first reading or all those men and women of the armed forces, whom we remember this weekend?

Scripture and Theology

Men and women put their life on the line in the military, for sake of something greater, their nation.  The seven brothers and their mother gladly give up their earthly lives, for the sake of something greater, eternal life.  “You are depriving us of this present life,” they said, “but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever.”  Unlike the nine birds in the story, which take off at the first sign of danger, these seven brothers remained steadfast in their hope for eternal life, even as they saw the others being butchered and tortured.

But not all Jewish people believed in the resurrection.  The Sadducees, who were a Jewish movement like the Pharisees, denied the resurrection.  They believed that only the first five books of the Bible were the Word of God; and since they did not say anything about the resurrection, it must not be true.

And so, in our gospel passage, they challenge Jesus, by setting before him a situation of seven brothers who, one after another, married the same woman.  They married her to raise up descendants for their deceased brother, who had died childless. Perhaps also, because their society lacked the social security net of our times, they married the widow so that she could be supported, financially and socially.  And so the Sadducees use this scenario to trap Jesus with this apparently difficult question: “Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?”  If Jesus says that she will be the wife of all seven brothers, he will be suggesting a ridiculous and impossible situation.  And in that way, they will win the argument, by showing that belief in the resurrection is silly.

But like a good debater, Jesus answers them by demolishing the question itself.  He points out that their question meaningless when it comes to things of the other world; resurrected life is entirely different from our life here on earth.

·        In this life we die, like the seven brothers and the woman did.  And that is why in this life, we need to marry, so as to replace those who die.  Death and marriage are part of the human condition on this side of heaven.

·        But life on the other side is quite different.  In that life, we do not die anymore; and that is why we don’t need to marry and beget children.  Those seven brothers and their wife, after death, had no more need for descendants; for had reached the highest form of life, where, as St. John tells us, we shall be like God and we shall see him as he really is.

With this answer, the score is, Jesus 1, Sadducees 0.  Jesus goes on to score another goal, by showing that God at the burning bush, called himself, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, using the present rather than past tense, to show that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, although deceased were still alive.

And so, both sets of seven brothers and the woman in their life, have something to teach us about the resurrection.  The first set of seven brothers and their mother, who died rather than disobey God’s laws, teach us to believe steadfastly in the resurrection.  The story of the second family of seven brothers and their wife, who do not die and marry again in the afterlife, give us a picture of what life after death is really like.

Christian Life

In a few moments, and I promise it will be only a few more moments, we shall be professing our faith in the creed.  And we shall say: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

Do we really mean these words, that is, do we really look forward to that other life with God?  Do we live this life, like we are preparing for that other life, or do we live like this is the only life we have, enjoying it to the fullest, regardless of whether we obey God’s law or not?

Earlier this week a friend sent me a link to a youtube video.  Now, probably like you, I usually delete these kind of messages; for they are usually silly videos of cats or emails that threaten misfortune if I do not forward them to ten people.  But I decided to click on this link and see what it was all about.  It was the video of a nun at a hospice for children, interviewing an eleven-year terminally ill boy.  This was Garvan Byrne’s last interview, before died.  He admits that when he first learnt that he was going to die, he was quite frightened.  But over time he felt much better, because he believed in a life after death. 

And then Sr. Francis Dominica asks him: “What do you think happens to your body when you die?”

“I will leave it behind” he says.  “This is only a reflection, a tag to say this is Garvan.  . . . When I die . . . the real me . . . will go up to God. And I always believe that it is just like . . . as though God says to you, ‘shut your eyes’ and you just go to sleep. And the next minute you open your eyes and you find that you are in a lovely place, just so beautiful that you want to stay there and be with Jesus forever.  And all my friends, most of my friends who I knew down on this earth, that I believe have gone to God; and I hope that when my time will come, I shall see them and go up and say hello to everyone that I lost.  Like I never saw my grandma, grandma Doherty, I hope to see her in heaven, and my grandpa, some of my aunties, and my uncle Christy who I used to know down here very well.  I will meet all those people back up there.”

Conclusion

I am sorry that in transcribing his words and even in reading them, I could not express his sincerity, passion and emotion, and of course his cute twelve-year old Irish accent.  But this little boy expressed his belief in the resurrection and in the afterlife very clearly, just like the seven brothers and their mother.

What about you and me?  Do we really believe in the resurrection?  Of course the cynic in you and me might say: “Well, they Garvan and the seven brothers had such clarity of their faith, because they were about to die.  But I still have a long way to go.”

That may be the case.  But still, none of us knows the day or the hour, when the Lord will make a claim for my soul.  I better be ready with a clear answer, when he knocks on my door.  Or even better, let me take the Lord at his word, when he says: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.  I will raise him up on the last day.”