Melting Hearts and Blowing Kisses - Homily for the 4th Sunday in OT

This past week was Catholic Schools week and on Wednesday night here in the church we had a holy hour of adoration. We had a pretty good crowd. During the middle of the hour, we invited the children to come near the sanctuary and to kneel and pray to Jesus. And it was awesome: seeing forty or fifty kids kneeling and closing their eyes and praying with their hearts in total trust to God…. one of the children began to blow kisses to Jesus.

And yeah, my heart pretty much melted right then and there.

And I needed that. I needed my heart to melt.

You see, as a priest, I encounter a lot of troubling things during the course of a week. And those troubling things can really hurt—when someone’s loved one is dying or when a family is breaking apart, I feel that. But sometimes it seems that there is only so much our hearts can take before we start to protect ourselves by putting up defenses and avoiding and letting our hearts grow hard and cold… so that we don’t feel.

When I saw the little children sitting and kneeling and praying and blowing kisses to Jesus, I was brought back the first time when I really began to discover Jesus and to fall in love with him in adoration. I was brought back to that child-like, whole-hearted surrender and innocence which happens in that moment when our hearts melt for the first time.

Taking Our Temperature

In that moment, I was being invited to rediscover Jesus again.

And as I was rediscovering him, I was also discovering that I needed to spend more quality time with my children.

So on Friday I visited the school and during my visit one of the children asked me to pray for one of their family members who was dying. Another student asked me if I would remember his deceased grandfather by getting a plenary indulgence for him. Another simply ran up and gave me a hug around my legs.

How could my heart remain cold?

And how much I was missing by being cold!

Who Is Cold?

In our culture, it is so easy to develop a hardened heart. We are busy. We work too much. And so it is easy to get into a rut and to forget the blessings that we have—precisely like our children.

Have you noticed that they are spending more time on their iPads and iPhones than they are with us? Pope Francis is right when he says that we are raising a generation of orphans. Parents are willfully letting themselves being replaced by electronics. And because of this, not only are our hearts growing cold, but so are the hearts of our children. Homes and families are being destroyed!

And yet when the church says that we need to put aside the busy-ness and to pray as a family, our culture looks at us with a kind of skepticism that says, “What have you to do with us? Are you here to destroy us?”

That’s cold.

Warming Up Our Children

So let’s warm things up a little.

When was the last time we reflected on the cosmic uniqueness and the love incarnate in our children? As a priest, it is so easy to turn my children into projects and tasks—I gotta do this, I gotta do that. But it was only when I was really present to them at that holy hour that my eyes were opened.

As parents, I know that it is so easy to turn home-life into a series of to-do lists and projects. To break out of this, we need to intentionally spend some time individually with each of our children, one-on-one. Yes, spend at least half an hour each month with each individual child.

So, for example: fathers, take your daughter on a date and show her how she should be treated by a gentlemen; mothers, take your son out and show him how he is to treat a lady. Opening doors and pushing in chairs and looking you in the eye and being interested in someone other than their “selfie”.

This will draw the devil from our children like poison from a wound!

Warming Up Our Culture

We need to learn how to play again; how to be silly together; and how to forgive. We need to rediscover each other and this requires that we stop being so darn busy and so wrapped up in our own busy little lives.

This also means that we have to stop training our children to be so wrapped up in their own busy little lives as well.

You see, when children are constantly on the iPad or the computer or the TV or the phone, they are oblivious to the outside world. And because they are oblivious, their hearts are already growing cold. For hours on end they are focused on their lives and their games and their friends—such that when we pull them out of that and ask them to do something generous for us, they get angry. Should we be surprised? I mean, for hours, we have been giving them the very means to practice selfishness—and we are upset when they don’t listen to our call to be otherwise?

Or, how can we be upset when our younger generations lack initiative and are uncreative, preferring to stay locked up in their rooms instead of going out and exploring and being creative? After all, for hours each day, they are growing addicted to devices that passively imagine things for them—why should they have to go out and discover life for themselves? Much less, discover Jesus? … What kind of adults will they become?

How many young adults use their phones as a distraction to avoid the world and its troubles—after all, the pain of this world is so overwhelming! Young adults, do not let your hearts grow cold! Yes, there is a lot of pain in the world, but putting your nose into a phone all day only makes the pain of this world all the worse! Break free and discover the wonderful world at your feet!

I’m going to say something radical: Perhaps our homes need to have some phone and internet-free nights each week. (There, I said it).

And husbands and wives! You must lead the charge here. You need to start dating each other again. It is so easy to simply become roommates—and sometimes annoying ones at that. So, start dating each other again. Rediscover each other. Go ice skating or bowling or dancing or to the symphony or whatever it was that got you off the ground in the first place. There was a time when your spouse made your heart flutter. It can happen again. And you can melt your spouse’s heart again too.

Finally, I know we have many businesspeople here. So, for those who own a business or those who have people working under them, we need to have our employees home at a decent hour each night. Their families are their first vocation. They need to be home.

Because we need to do puzzles again or draw or paint or play cards or sing or play hide and seek or just…. rediscover being playful and creative again. The world is so serious and so painful and so…. cold. And because it is so, it tempts us to become cold too and to think that Jesus is a threat of destruction instead of seeing who He truly is: He is the source of love and healing and warmth.

Warming Up to Jesus

And maybe that is what God is calling each of us to do now. To go back and discover the beauty of our life in Jesus. If you’ve become cold or dry in the faith, then go back to what first melted your heart. Maybe it was praise music or maybe it was Gregorian chant; maybe it was adoration or maybe it was reading scripture; maybe your heart was melted when you served others; maybe your heart was melted by beauty.

Let us pray to Jesus, asking Him to melt our hearts once again that we may re-discover him and fall in love with Him all over again.

Thank you Jesus, for melting my heart.

*blow a kiss to Him*

There Are No Half-Saints In Heaven - Homily for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

This weekend, the men’s club is hosting its annual Trivia Night and so I have a trivia question for you: When Jesus begins his public ministry, what is the very first thing He tells us to do?

(Can I get the Jeopardy Theme from the band, please…?)

I would think the answer is “to love.” To love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. But, actually, something comes before these. The very first thing Jesus tells us to do is to repent.

Repent?

Let me explain. About a month ago, we celebrated Christmas. And at Christmas, we heard the stories about Jesus the newborn king; how He was born during the reign of King Herod and so on. But we never really heard why. Why was Jesus born? Today, He gives the reason: to put an end to the kingdom of sin and death and to inaugurate a new kingdom—a “Kingdom…[that] is at hand!”

And so, the first thing he tells us to do is “repent.” But, why? What does this have to do with His Kingdom?

Repentance: To Return to Love

When I hear the word “repent”—I think of Lent and fasting and sorrow for sins. But in Hebrew, the word has a double meaning. It means “sorrow as for sin” and it means “returning, as to a new way of life.” So, for example, in the story of the Prodigal Son, the son must not only feel sorrow for his sins, but he must also turn away from sin and embrace a new way of life. But to what end? That the young man might return to the Father and, returning, know Him and love Him.

This helps us to understand the Gospel today. Before Andrew, Peter, James, and John can learn about the Father’s love and His Greatest Commandment, they must first leave everything of their old life and take the first steps of a return to the Father by following Jesus. Only then will their lives find meaning and will they discover the riches of the Father’s love. Only then will they become fishers of men.

Repentance, therefore, leads to love. And it is love that identifies the saints of the heavenly kingdom. Repentance, therefore, is the doorway—the separation, if you will—between the kingdom of this world (which is passing away) and the Kingdom of God.

Repentance: To Enter the Kingdom of God

What strikes me about the Gospel is how Andrew and the others respond with such totality and with such immediacy. Who told them that “no one can serve two masters” and that “[y]ou will either hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other” (Mt 6:24)? Who told them that the “world … is passing away” and that their time to make a decision “is running out”?

Perhaps they felt an emptiness in them, an emptiness which I felt this week when our nation’s media focused not on the half-million people marching in DC to protest the killing of innocents (do you hear about this?)—but instead, our nation’s attention was focused on deflated footballs. And the reason why the nation’s attention was focused on footballs is because of “fairness.”

This is The Issue of our day? The fairness of footballs? I don’t know about  you, but I find it exceedingly unfair for children to be killed. I would think that this would be our priority… But, footballs.

I turn away from that culture; I repent of it! I wish today’s Nineveh would do the same!

Yes, I think Andrew and the apostles felt something deep within them that came to life when they met Jesus. And they realized that following him would either mean everything or nothing—and not something in-between, just as St. Therese of Lisieux would say: “You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all.” There are no half-saints in heaven.

The King invites us to go all in. Go big or go home. You can’t serve two masters. You can’t "kind-of be" in the kingdom of God. You’re either in or you’re out.

Raising the Bar on Holiness.

That’s all well and good. But let me put some flesh on this.

As a priest, one of the joys of my priesthood is to prepare couples for holy marriage. During our conversations, I ask the lovebirds to tell me how holy a priest should be. And they always place the bar way up here. For the most part, our culture, even after the recent scandals, still holds us priests to a very high standard—as they should: after all, what is a priest if he doesn’t pray and offer sacrifice for his spiritual family or of what worth is he if doesn’t preach or lead by example? After all, he has given his life totally to God. We would expect a total commitment, right?

But then I turn the tables on them. I say to them, where does the culture place your bar? How holy does it expect marriages and families to be? The couples say that the bar isn't even way down here—there simply is no bar.

And so I ask them The Question: What if I told you that someday you may have a priest or a religious sister in your home? No, I don’t mean having Father Holway over for dinner. I mean: what if your future seven-year-old who is sitting at your feet is a future priest? or what if your daughter sitting at your table is a future religious sister? Would your practice of the faith make them ready for the total commitment which the Church expects of them?

And this leads to other questions....

Will your marriage and your discipline teach your future priest or your future sister to be affectionate or to be cold? forgiving or harsh? angry or gentle? present or aloof? wise or foolish? sacrificial or selfish? totally committed or only partially so? Will your marriage teach your children to courageously raise the bar and to go all in when it comes to holiness or to find excuses and other priorities and so lower it? Will they be fishers of men or just mending their nets like everyone else? When Jesus comes, will they have been so prepared that they could drop everything—including a comfortable lifestyle—and follow Him?

And if they are called to marriage, will they have learned to be so holy in their marriage?

Practical Suggestions on How to Fish

Let’s sit with that for a moment…

This is Catholic Schools Week and so I want to give two very practical suggestions on how to live this all out.

First: we must teach our children that confession isn’t limited to the times when they go at school. If confession is just a thing done only at school, then our children’s practice of confession will end when their Catholic school ends. We must all go to confession often, not just at Advent and Lent, and we must bring our children with us.

Second: let us teach our children that prayer isn’t limited to mealtime and bedtime. If prayer is something that we only do at meals and at bed, then our children’s practice of prayer will end when those things end—that is, with childhood. So, we must mature them in prayer, showing them that prayer is not just a kid’s thing, but a mature person’s thing. We must mature the prayer life of our children by praying as a family not only at set times like meals and bed, but when it is tough or dry and especially “just because.” Because love doesn’t love only at meals and at bed, but always and often “just because.”

That’s the call today. The Lord is asking us to leave our nets, to repent if you will, and so follow Him to the Kingdom of God. Our response must be immediate and total or not at all.

So, let us pray.

Lord, I hear you calling me to a deeper relationship with you, a deeper commitment. Strengthen me by your grace that I may leave the nets of this world and so follow you wherever you go. For, Lord,  I know that my time is short and your love too great to let it pass me by. 

A Procession with the Kings - Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany

Sorry it has been a little while. My Christmas homilies were of a more personal and evangelical nature and, as such, I refrained from publishing them publicly online. So, back to our regularly scheduled program..... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

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Epiphany is one of my favorite solemnities. I especially love the story of the three kings.

There are many traditions about who the three kings were: that they were kings from an area of Persia; or philosophers; or astronomers hailing from the city of Babylon (which would have been in present-day Iraq, between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf). Whoever they were and wherever they had come from, the fact is that they have come and have traveled a long distance.

Wonder in the Three Kings’ Story

I mention this because it is easy to take this detail for granted. I’ve heard this story so many times that I just presume that everyone who saw the star were immediately compelled to embark on a thousand-mile journey through the desert—which is how far it was from Babylon to Jerusalem.

But look at King Herod. The star is shining right above him, but he doesn’t travel the four miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Four miles.

I also find it easy to overlook what happens at the meeting between the three kings and Herod. The three kings arrive in Jerusalem, pull up to Herod’s place, and say, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star...” This begs the question: how did the three kings know that the star was connected to a newborn king? And notice: they pulled up to Herod’s place expecting that he would know.

In the ancient world, there were prophecies that had spoken about the coming of a Messiah from the land of Judah—which is where Jerusalem and Bethlehem are. But these prophecies weren’t just circulating in the local area; nor where they coming only from the Old Testament prophets. Similar prophecies were circulating in the pagan lands surrounding Israel—including in such lands as Persia where the kings were from. Even the poet Virgil from across the Mediterranean in Italy, forty years before Jesus’ birth—even he waxed poetic about a coming savior. The whole world was receiving word that something big was about to happen. Virgil knew about it. The three kings knew about it. But Herod did not.

And that’s really odd. Because this is the most important prophecy ever—and it has to do with his kingdom! I mean, how could he have forgotten or overlooked the most important prophecy of his kingdom?

So he calls in the priests and scribes and of course they know the answer: namely, that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem.

But hang on a second! The chief priests and the scribes knew where the Messiah was to be born? They know and they see the star?!? If they knew and they saw, then why weren’t they all already in Bethlehem?

Don’t we find all of this… odd?

Here we have three kings. Foreign kings. Kings that aren’t even a part of our religion. And they are the ones with the wonder to travel all this way to ask what our prophecies mean?

Shouldn’t this have woken up the chief priests? Shouldn’t this have alerted the scribes? And Herod? And inspired in them a deep desire to go with the three kings—instead of just telling them to go on ahead without them?

RCIA and the Three Kings

As a priest here at St. Joe’s, I am the director of the RCIA—the program of formation for those who are interested in joining the Catholic Church. This year, we have thirty-three people seeking to join us in the faith. As I have gotten to know them, I have been re-awakened to the beauty of our faith and to the fact that there are many people—yes, many people—who are seeking and who are longing to receive what we receive.

This wakes me up. It inspires me to renew my search for Jesus and to fight against the complacency that finds it so easy to tell others to search for Jesus while I stay comfortable where I’m at. It inspires me—and it also softens my heart for those who are searching.

Anyone, no matter what religion they are—if they are a Buddhist, a New Ager, a Muslim, a Protestant, or even an Agnostic Scientist—no matter what religion they are, if they are genuinely searching for the Truth—genuinely seeking—then they are walking in a great procession behind the three kings who come to us today.

And notice: their search does not bring them firstly to Bethlehem. Their search takes them to Jerusalem: the place of the temple and the palace and the prophets. There in Jerusalem, the three kings first discover the sacred religion of God who has called them there by his star. And it is only when the three kings encounter the scriptures—albeit through blind and bumbling Herod and his scribes—only when the kings encounter this religion are they then pointed to Bethlehem. In other words, without this initial encounter with the sacred religion of Israel, the three kings and their New Age spirituality and science would still be searching. This alerts us to the reality that until science and New Agers and all the rest discover the light of faith, they will continue to search. It is this light that has brought many to our RCIA. Praise God!

The Holy Mass and the Three Kings

What can we say from here?

After that initial discovery of the faith, the three kings then begin a humble procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. It is a kind of new Exodus away from an old kind of Pharaoh. It was a procession that would have included Herod and all of Jerusalem, but instead it is a very small procession—like that which we see at the beginning of Holy Mass or in the middle when the gifts are brought forward.

The kings come in procession to Bethlehem—which means “House of Bread.” There, they present to Jesus their gifts—sacrifices and offerings which they pray will be acceptable to God the Almighty Father. But they do not just give. They receive something in return. In that House of Bread and from the manger which was a feeding trough, they receive Jesus, the Bread of Life, God Himself. The three kings, recognizing the great gift they have received, quickly run for the doors. No, they do Him homage. They adore. They know that they have received more than they have given.

Their gratitude overflows and a new procession is taken up. Just as our altar servers take up their candles once more and process from the Mass, the three kings return to their country by another route. What does this mean? It means that their lives will never be the same. Having met Jesus, they will never go back to Herod. And their country is not simply Persia. Their country is now the kingdom of heaven.

I hope you see then, that there is a great connection between the story of the three kings and what goes on here at the Holy Mass: from the procession to the altar, beckoning us to journey in faith to Bethlehem; to the procession of the kingly gifts at the offertory; to the final procession is the journey home by another route—a new kind of living having been changed by who we have received here at Holy Mass. All of these simple actions are not simply movement from here to there, but are truly full of meaning and wonder!

Becoming One of the Kings

Seek and you shall find, says the Lord. Enter into the procession of faith with the kings today. Seek with hopefulness, even if you have been disappointed in the past. Our Lord promises that you will find. Do not give up the search. Because one day you will see. And in that moment you will adore. I pray that that moment is today. And then, having adored, our lives will be changed. We will experience our own Epiphany: we will realize that we have become one of the kings in the great procession that leads to heaven!

Behold, This is Christmas - Homily Notes for the 4th Sunday in Advent (B)

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, jack frost nipping at your nose… There have been candy canes in the classrooms and days of baking cookies. Music on the radio, untangling Christmas lights; Santa Claus, and maybe that treasured, quiet moment by the fireplace where you snuggle with your beloved as snow lightly falls. Ah, Christmas.

But this Advent season started with an exhortation to “stay awake” and to “watch”—exhortations that warned us of danger. The danger was that we might miss Christmas because of our busy-ness; today the danger is that we might miss it by making Christmas… sentimental. All of the Christmas trappings, lulling us to sleep, tempt us to see today’s visit from an Archangel as a kind of dream-sequence of blurred trees and soft voices. Yes, Christmas can become a kind of sentimental thing where, in the end, the baby Jesus is reduced to a precious moments doll that is “nice” and “cute” … but that is all.

Surely, there is more to Christmas than that.

The Final Battle

J.R.R. Tolkien, a Catholic author who lived through the First and Second World Wars and who was a daily communicant, wrote metaphorically about the Catholic life and its struggles through a series of fantasy books entitled The Lord of the Rings. These books, later adapted to film, drew from the entirety of the Catholic heritage (including the Old Testament) and told of battle after battle between men and goblins and other evils, battles that are waged around the ultimate of weapons (a ring of power) that could cover the world in a suffocating darkness. The books are the ultimate in the good-versus-evil genre.

For ancient Israel, this good-versus-evil battle played out literally through many wars with the nations surrounding her. Today’s reading, however, announces a time of peace—a peace that has come from God Himself. He says:

I have been with you wherever you went, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you.

A few of Israel’s victories had come when the Ark of the Covenant preceded her in battle. The Ark of the Covenant (think: Indiana Jones) was a sacred treasure of Israel that held the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the miraculous manna-bread from the desert, and the rod of Aaron that had turned the Nile to blood. The Lord overshadowed the Ark, as like a cloud, and wherever it went, there was the mighty God.

In this moment of remembrance, God makes a promise to David: He says:

I will give you rest from all your enemies.

From all your enemies. But what other enemies were there that had not been destroyed? Paul answers us when he says:

The final enemy to be destroyed is death.

This presumes that the enemy which has brought death—namely, the devil—will also be destroyed. This is precisely what begins to happens when Jesus dies on the Cross on “Good Friday.” On that day, the enemy-- not Jesus-- but the enemy is vanquished and the dawn of victory begins. Hence, we call Good Friday “good.” And on the third day, when dawn breaks the darkness, we see that Jesus, the Light of the World, is victorious.

In the ancient church, it was traditionally held that Good Friday happened on March 25^th-- the same date of the Annunciation. 

The Secret of the Annunciation

J.R.R. Tolkien, realizing this historical fact, sees that there is a connection between Good Friday and the Annunciation. That is, if Good Friday is the day of victory, the Annunciation is the day that God paratroops behind enemy lines, all secret-ops like, and begins the final assault against the ancient tyrant of this world. Tolkien, therefore, orchestrates his book in such a way that the greatest victory and the destruction of evil—namely, the ring of power—happens on March 25^th.

This changes everything.

The Annunciation is not just some nice Taster’s Choice moment between a humble Israelite girl and an distant angel. This is a secret council behind enemy lines wherein Gabriel reveals to Mary the secret weapon: Mary is to become the New Ark of the Covenant, the one who will proceed the New Israel, the Church, into the victorious battle against Satan. As the New Ark, she will not be carrying the Ten Commandments or the manna or the rod, but within her will dwell the very author of the Law, the very Bread of Life, the very Blood of Salvation, Jesus Christ, which the Old Ark and its contents prefigured.

In this moment, Mary is more than a poor peasant girl. The Archangel Gabriel greets her by saying, “Hail!” This is a crucial point. You see, Gabriel could have greeted Mary in the common tongue of Aramaic or Hebrew—shalom—but he says the Greek word “Chaire!”—Hail! This is an elevated greeting which means “rejoice” and whose root is the same for “grace.” Grace and joy are related. But more, this word, “Hail!” is a greeting for royalty. Kings and Queens are greeted in such ways—not peasant girls.

And so Mary ponders what this greeting may mean: how can she, so humble and poor, be greeted in such exalted ways?

It reminds me of Tolkien’s small, humble characters called Hobbits. Of them, he says “Even the smallest person can change the course of the world.” In Tolkien’s books, it is the smallest and most unnoticed who draws the wars to an end.

Behold.

In this moment, Mary has a decision. Does she agree to this battle? Does she agree to this exalted vocation—a calling beyond anything anyone may have imagined for her? In this moment, God’s plan is laid out. All creation waits. Gabriel waits. What will she say?

In this moment, Mary’s YES will be like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains. Mary’s YES will conquer Eve’s NO. If Mary says yes, she will have obtained in that moment a victory more decisive than any battle waged on earth.

And so she says: Behold.

We have heard this word before. It means to see deeply, almost beyond appearances, and to the mysterious. Gabriel has said “Behold, Elizabeth has conceived…” See the mysterious at work!

Even on Good Friday, Pontius Pilate says, “Behold, the man.” See, your king! (Of course, the people respond not by beholding, but by shouting all the louder: Crucify Him!)

From the Cross on the same day, Jesus says to us, “Behold, your mother.” See… bring her into your home and to your heart! See the mysteries at work!

So, when Mary says “Behold!” her yes is so total that it echoes the very plan of God: His plan becomes her plan.

Nine months after that March 25^th day, the world would celebrate Christmas.

Victory in Battle

Let us conclude with the last words of today’s Gospel. It says,

And the angel departed from her.

This may seem like a throw-away line, easily dismissed as a transition to the next part of the story. But it tells us something profound: after all of this is revealed and Mary says yes, the angel leaves and Mary is alone.

But she is not alone. While the world resumes its daily activities, within Mary is Jesus Himself. In the coming months, she would hold her belly and ponder upon the words Gabriel proclaimed to her: Hail, my queen … I have been with you wherever you went … I will give you rest from all your enemies…

Her interiority and her prayerful pondering will aid her when she hears the words of Simeon the priest-prophet when he tells her that a “sword will pierce your heart also”—swords that are used in battles. She will need to hear again and again in the depths of her heart the command to rejoice—that first command of the Gospel—as her Son is taken from her and scourged and crucified.  Yes, as the battle comes for her and her Son, Mary will find victory as she ponders about the Jesus that grows within her.

What can we take from this?

The Church wants us to consider this battle and this victory. Just like Mary who ponders, the Church once more ponders the Annunciation so as to prepare ourselves for Christmas. Even the opening prayer to today's Holy Mass is the very same prayer used on the feast day of the Annunciation!

So, Behold! Behold your Savior and His Mother in these last days before Christmas.

And let’s be honest: this is such a battle! Yes, it is such a battle to pray sometimes—especially when prayer can be dry or we’re tired. It is such a battle to not give up when we have so much else to do. Or, if we know we are to go to confession, it is so easy to say “not this year.” No! Fight! Battle! This is the year! This is the day! The victory is now. This is where we prove our valor—prove ourselves worthy of the victory that God brings us this Christmas. Prove that this isn’t just a sentimental holiday that ends in the Returns line at Target. Behold that this is the day in which the light breaks through the darkness and is victorious over it forever! This is Christmas. Behold!

A Joyful Preparation - Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Advent (B)

(From Handel's Messiah. One of my favorite songs-- which literally sings the readings for today's Holy Mass....)

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It was a dark time in Israel’s history. Long gone were the days of Moses and of David. Nearly lost from memory were the triumphant entry into the Promised Land and the days of peace and the joys of home in the Temple. All had been destroyed and Israel was enslaved again; her most noble of people taken in chains to the land of Babylon; her poor left behind. It was there, by the waters of Babylon, that Israel sat down and wept (Ps 137), the pain of being so far from the Lord, so deep, that she hung up her harps on the trees; unable to sing—for who can sing when there is no hope?

We’ve all been there. All of us have examined our life at one point or another and realized how far we are from good. I’ve been impatient. Or I’ve been impure. Or I’ve lost sight of what life is about and I’ve done the same silly thing over and over again. How can I ever get back what was lost? How can I move forward from here? (Because I want to do better. I want to be holy). And maybe for a time we are holy… but then we fall again. And the hope that we had… that hope seems lost.

The Return of the Exiles

To you, dear soul, our Lord speaks. “Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.”

What does this mean? It means that the time of your exile is over! Those who walked in darkness shall see a great light. The captives in Babylon shall return home; those enslaved to sin shall be set free. For “Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”

I imagine here, that Jesus is coming toward me; Jesus the Good Shepherd carrying the lost sheep on his shoulders-- that lost sheep who has so often been… me.

Yes, dear soul, there is hope!

From the Other Side of the Confessional

I feel like Isaiah today. Or St. John the Baptist. Proclaiming a day of jubilee, a season of hope, a time for forgiveness and of light.

One of the greatest privileges in my priesthood is to experience this moment of homecoming—when the exile returns to the Promised Land, when the Prodigal Son returns to the Father, the lost sheep carried home.

Second to the Holy Mass, there is no greater privilege than to be in the confessional when a soul comes in, a soul who has pondered walking through that door for years, debated it, pondered it, struggled with it, wondering what to say, ashamed to say what has been done. And then they come in and they kneel down, and they say “Father... Father, it has been so long…. And I’m sure I’ve broken every commandment in the book…”

And they don’t know how much I admire them in this moment, how much I admire their courage, and how joyful I am on the other side of the confessional: because the first of the exiles is returning, the lost sheep has been found, my son or daughter is home again! My child was dead! And is now alive!

Little does that soul know, as it is crying because of its sins, that I am crying too—but for joy!

A Hope Fulfilled

There is so much hope in that decision to go to confession. The soul that resolves to go has entered into that deep hope that believes the promises that our Lord gives will be fulfilled: that those who come to Him and repent will not perish, but will have eternal life in heaven. Yes, going to confession is one of the few places in this world where we actually obtain what it is we hope for. We hope for forgiveness, we hope for a new beginning—and this is exactly what we receive!

So, I want to make an appeal to you, dear soul, especially you who have been a long time away from the confessional. Come. The Lord does not delay his promise. He has been patient with you. But do not ignore this one fact, beloved: his delay is short and the day of the Lord will come like a thief. I want you to be prepared.

There are some who have forgotten how to come to confession. Do not be ashamed, the priest is there to help you. There are some who do not know where to begin; don’t worry, we will help you there too. (After all, I’ve been on that side of the confessional too). There are some who say, “Father, I’ve done the same things as I always do.”—to which I say,  thanks be to God you’ve only done the same old things and nothing new! In military terms, you’ve been holding the line. And thanks be to God for that! And our Lord is calling you too, because He wants to give you some victories now.

A Christmas Joy

Yes, brothers and sisters, there is a great joy in returning home. It is the joy of Christmas.

You see, this is why we celebrate Christmas. The people who dwelled in darkness were in darkness. They needed a Savior. We do too. We needed a Good Shepherd who would go in search for this little lost lamb and bring us home on his shoulders.

This is precisely why God became one of us. This is why we celebrate Christmas: our Savior has come—and come to free us from the exile of our sins!

As a priest, I am so honored that I get to participate in this.

[Some may wonder why we need a priest to be forgiven….  Consider Noah. God could have saved Noah’s family by Himself-- for God is God. But God used Noah. So too, God could have saved Israel on by Himself, but God sends Moses. And then David. And then the Prophets. And then the Apostles. Time after time, God asks weak, sinful men to be the conduit of grace. He could have done it Himself, but He asks us to come to the priest. This is where He has become one of us. Like at the manger, this is not where some would expect to find God. But this is precisely where He is!

So, let Jesus be Jesus.]

Yes, dear friends, that dark cave and manger where Jesus was born—that was the first confessional. We have been the animals, the ox and the ass, but now we come to Him asking for forgiveness.

This is the preparation that John proclaims, this is how we are to make His paths straight: to ask for forgiveness is the straightest way to His heart. And ours.

Today is a day of return—a season of hopeful jubilee. This is our joy. This is why we sing.

Joy to the World

And so, I want to sing to you another Christmas song that we typically associate with Christmas, but which I would like you to consider in light of the confessional. When a soul comes out of the confessional, they have been given new life and a new beginning, such that Jesus says the angels and saints rejoice—all of heaven and earth is in song-- when a sinner returns. So, when you come out of the confessional, you can sing this song—because it is for this very moment that Christ has come!

                       

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

                        Let earth receive her King!

                        Let every heart prepare Him room.

                        And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing.

                        And heaven and nature sing!

On Wednesday night of this week, our parish will have ten priests for confession. Come to confession. And enjoy Christmas a couple weeks early!

(Visit the YouTube site and read the historical details of Joy to the World -- they are quite interesting! ... Summarized: Joy to the World was written firstly as a hymn singing about Jesus' Second Coming; what we sing is actually only the second half of the hymn; and the tune is taken from Handel's first few bars of... wait for it.... "Comfort Ye" and other selections of his "Messiah." So, there you go.)