Watching, Waiting, Anticipating

Homily for the 1st Sunday of Advent
30 November 2014

          Anticipation:

        It’s the feeling that a child has in wanting to open his presents on Christmas day.

        It’s the feeling that a young couple has going on their first date.

        It’s the feeling that a bride and groom share on their wedding day, imaging a lifetime spent together.

        It’s the feeling that a young woman has as she weds herself to Christ as a member of a religious community.

        It’s the feeling that a young man has as he promises celibacy and obedience as an ordained minister of the Church.

        We have all experienced anticipation in our lives. It’s the feeling of a good anxiety that we have, knowing that something is coming, and we become excited for the moment.

        That’s what this season of Advent should be for the Christian: A season of joyous anticipation.

        Unfortunately, we have lost that feeling of anticipation in our society, which has intruded into the life of faith, including that of the Christian. Our society rushes from one event to the next, preparing for the next big (or even small) holiday. How many of us already have the house trimmed to the rafters for Christmas, even though we’re still digesting the food from Thanksgiving? How much has our society rushed through Thanksgiving when Christmas items are put out in the stores before Halloween?

        Joan Jett, the rock guitarist and singer from my youth, is to have once said, “Nobody knows what anticipation is anymore. Everything is so immediate.”

        And she’s right.

        And that includes the celebration of our life of faith.

        Many of us cannot wait for Mass to move on. “C’mon, Father, just finish the homily, gimme Communion, and let’s get outta here.”

        What about the anticipation of encountering our God in Word and in Sacrament? What about the anticipation of gathering with our brothers and sisters in worship? What about the anticipation that this Mass represents? If we have a hard time with our worship in the here-and-now, our eternity will be hell.

        We have allowed our societal influences to sway us away from the excitement that comes with anticipation. We have allowed ourselves to forget what it means and how it feels to watch and wait.

        In our Gospel for this weekend, Jesus reminds us to watch for His return. We are to remain vigilant in our anticipation of His coming. We are to be alert. We are to remain ready.

        Yet we watch for the wrong things, and we anticipate the wrong events. We’ll spend hours on Sunday watching sports, but struggle to spend one hour with our Lord in prayer. We’ll anticipate the celebration of Christmas, but on December 26^th, we pack away the tree because we’ve been celebrating Christmas since October – without really anticipating anything except, “Thank God that’s over!”

        My brothers and sisters, Advent is about watching; it’s about waiting; it’s about anticipation. Advent is that yearly reminder that we must be CONSTANTLY re-orienting our lives, our minds and our hearts to Christ. We must CONSTANTLY be watching and waiting for His return. We must CONSTANTLY be anticipating – with joy! – the end of this world.

        Advent – or these “Pre-Christmas Days” – should not be filled with the anxiety to make everything perfect. Advent should be that time in which we slow down, making sure that we’re able to watch and wait, anticipating the return of our Lord to the Earth. Advent is that period in which we learn how to re-orient our lives to Christ’s.

        Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual author of the Twentieth Century, reminds us, “Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about Him for whom we are waiting.” Our society’s problem is that we don’t want to wait, we don’t want to listen, we don’t want to learn.

        Watching, waiting, anticipating all take a focus and skill that our society has lost over the years. (Remember: Everything is immediate.) This, then, becomes the season in which we learn not only how to watch and wait, but it becomes that time in which we learn more about Christ, Himself. We do this by spending time with Him. We do this by not becoming anxious about the wrong things in life, but anticipating the coming of Him who makes everything in life right.

        The challenge of the Advent season, then, is to learn how to slow down, to watch and wait, to anticipate. The challenge for us is to learn more “about Him for whom we are waiting.” The challenge for our society is to re-orient itself to the Heart of Christ, and to not become anxious about the next thing coming.

        Our job is to watch.

        Our job is to wait.

        Our job is to anticipate.

        Our job is to simply “be” with the Lord, to know about Him, and to know HIM.

        Use this Advent season to challenge yourself – as I challenge myself – to draw closer to our Lord, so that when He comes in His glory, He may find us people watching and waiting in prayer, not anxious about what is to come, but anticipating with joy the fulfillment of the promises He has given to us.

        Let us take heed of a few more words of Henri Nouwen:

“Be alert, be alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in all that you read in the daily newspapers. The Lord is coming, always coming. Be alert to His coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize Him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord . . .

I hope and pray that Advent will . . . be filled with . . . the Spirit of Him who invites us to listen carefully to the sounds of the New Earth that are manifesting themselves in the midst of the old.”

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Enjoy the journey . . .

Being Thankful for What We DON'T Have

Seeing so many posts on social media about how many people are thankful for what they have (which IS a good thing), the thought crossed my mind if we're ever thankful for what we DON'T have.

For example, I'm thankful that I don't have:

- massive debt
- estranged family
- serious health problems
- major problems in my job / vocation

And the list could go on.


It's easy at times to be able to rattle off a list of things that we have that we're grateful for. And we should be able to do that. But sometimes we need to know what we're grateful for that we don't have in our lives. It may take us a little longer to compile the list, and that list will be shorter, but it's important to recognize those items as well.

Just a little thought that I had.

To you and yours, a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.



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Enjoy the journey . . .    

"Royal Charity" and the Test of Life

Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
23 November 2014

        Life, as many people have postulated, is a test.

        Yet the questions and answers have been given to us today, just a few moments ago.

        Were you paying attention?

        We celebrate today the great Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. It sounds like quite a lofty celebration. But, in reality, it’s quite the opposite.

        While this feast celebrates and notes the end of another liturgical year, the anticipation that the Church Universal holds for the glorious Second Coming of Christ, and our eagerness to behold the fullness of the glory of God, we celebrate something that is much more “plain” at the same time.

        In the grand celebration of today, we recognize that the greatness of sovereignty is truly rooted in the practice of humility and charity.

        In my office, on the wall facing my desk, I have a copy of a painting called Christ, the High Priest. It is a picture depicting Jesus sitting on the floor with a bowl of water and towel, preparing to wash the feet of His disciples at the Last Supper. It is a wonderful reflection of the words that Jesus presented to us earlier in the Gospel: All who exalt themselves will be humbled; the humble shall be exalted.

        Yet, the Priesthood of Jesus is related to His Kingship.

        And having been anointed priest, prophet and king in baptism, we have the promise to share in the glory of our Lord.

        Through our baptism, we are promised heirs of the Kingdom of God. Yet, as Jesus teaches us and examples for us, only those who humble themselves within the virtue of charity will we found worthy to share in the fullness of the Kingdom. As we practice charity throughout our lives, we enter into the Priesthood of Jesus by giving – or, better yet, by sacrificing – our lives for the good of others. As we practice charity throughout our lives, we enter into the Kingship of Christ by recognizing that sovereignty is not obtained by power or position, but, rather, through humility and compassion.

        Yes, our life is a test. And the questions and the answers are summed up in one word: Charity.

        When the time comes for the Lord to take us home – both individually and collectively –, He will evaluate how we lorded over people our prestige and power as well as how we humbled ourselves to practice charity and compassion. Saint Robert Bellarmine reminds us: "The school of Christ is the school of charity. On the last day, when the general examination takes place, there will be no question at all on the text of Aristotle, the aphorisms of Hippocrates, or the paragraphs of Justinian. Charity will be the whole syllabus."

        So, if the syllabus, school, questions and answers of life are charity, what would be our grade right now? How would you grade yourself? How would you grade society?

        While multiple people in our society do good things – charitable things – for others, they do it because “it makes them feel good.” That’s really not a reason to practice charity, especially for the Christian. We are to be practicing what I like to think of as “royal charity”, for the practice is rooted in the example of Christ our King, and followed through because of the promise of our being heirs of the Kingdom of God. This “royal charity” moves us from being simply “good people” to becoming holy people; it helps us in the struggle to be just and righteous like our Lord and King. This “royal charity” helps prepare us for our eventual judgment.

        Yes, my brothers and sisters, we will be judged by our God. Both our First Reading and Gospel point to that fact. There’s no escaping it. We will be separated between the sheep and the goats. And while we do rightfully proclaim the mercy of God, we must also proclaim and remember the proclamation that Christ “will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead” – and we must be ready for that day.

        Think for a moment of the great hymn, Dies Irae, used in the Requiem Masses in the Church for hundreds of years. It is the great hymn that we, in certain ways espouse today, for it speaks of our impending judgment as well as the mercy of God. Listen to the beautiful starkness of the following strophes:

Day of wrath and doom impending.
David's word with Sibyl's blending,
Heaven and earth in ashes ending.

Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth,
When from heaven the Judge descendeth,
On whose sentence all dependeth.

What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
When the just are mercy needing?

With Thy sheep a place provide me,
From the goats afar divide me,
To Thy right hand do Thou guide me.

Ah! that day of tears and mourning,
From the dust of earth returning
Man for judgment must prepare him, 

Spare, O God, in mercy spare him.

        Yes, we will be judged! But which side will we be on? Can we be like the sheep and be humble and compassionate and practice “royal charity”, or will we be like the goats and lord over others our power and prestige? Do we trust in the mercy of God, or do we believe ourselves to be “good enough” or even too good for God?

        Today we trust in the Lord to know that our life is a test; we remember that the syllabus, the school, the questions and answers are summed up in charity, and, like the sheep, we pray to be shepherded into that Eternal Glory, to be with our King forever. But we do so recognizing that, in following the example of Christ our King, our greatness doesn’t come from our power and prestige, but through humility and compassion – practicing that “royal charity” that He teaches us today.

        And so we pray:

You are a surprise, O Jesus!
Everything You say,
everything You do,
all that You are
has a twist!

The last are first,
the least are great,
the weak are strong,
the wise are foolish,
the sinner is saint!

You surprise us, O Lord!
God’s ways are not our ways:
the ways of our world,
the ways of our times,
the ways of our forebears,
the ways of war and blood,
of pettiness and bigotry,
of greed and treachery,
of exclusion and exile.

  

You welcome in.
You draw together.
You gather up.
You embrace all.

You are full of surprises, O Christ!
Even on [the] night
before You are to die,
You give us to eat,
You give us to drink,
You wash our trembling feet
and charge us to do the same.

O Great One,
in Your divine humility
twist us still
and – bedazzled –
may we delight
in Your surprises!

 


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Enjoy the journey . . .

Using Our Talents

Homily for the 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
16 November 2014

We need saints without cassocks, without veils – we need saints with jeans and tennis shoes. We need saints that go to the movies, that listen to music, that hang out with their friends. We need saints that place God in first place ahead of succeeding in any career. We need saints that look for time to pray every day and who know how to be in love with purity, chastity and all good things. We need saints – saints for the 21^st century with a spirituality appropriate for our new time. We need saints that have a commitment to helping the poor and to make the needed social change. We need saints to live in the world, to sanctify the world and to not be afraid of living in the world by their presence in it. We need saints that drink Coca-Cola, that eat hot dogs, that surf the internet and that listen to their iPods. We need saints that love the Eucharist, that are not embarrassed to eat a pizza or drink a beer with their friends. We need saints who love the movies, dance, sports, theater. We need saints that are open, sociable, normal happy companions. We need saints who are in this world and who know how to enjoy this world without being callous or mundane.
WE NEED SAINTS.

        These words, found on a bookmark, bring together the words and thoughts of Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Francis. And they cut to the chase of our readings for this weekend: Use the gifts and talents God has given you responsibly to build up the Kingdom of God.

        Often we think of the saints as those whose piety and way of life is so far beyond our own. Not so! The saints were normal, everyday women and men who were like the first two servants in the Gospel: Individuals who used wisely the talents God gave them, and, by the grace of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, were able to effect change by not burying their talents in the ground.

        So it must be with us.

        God gives us talents in our lives – gifts, people and events – to use for our own sanctification and for the sanctification of the world. It is in the use of these talents that we struggle and strive for holiness; it is in the use of these talents that we surrender our will to God’s; it is in the use of these talents that we make holy the ordinary way we live our lives.

        Christ is calling on each one of us, then, that as we enjoy the movies, the theater, the times we share the pizza and beer with friends, the times when we’re listening to our iPods or surfing the internet, we do so to build up and strengthen our talents so that they may be used for the glory of God. And we use these normal talents so that we may place God first in our lives, so that we may commit to helping the poor, and learn how to be in love with purity, chastity and all good things. We use and develop these talents so that, as we strive for holiness, we learn how to become saints – “saints for the 21^st century with a spirituality appropriate to our new time;” saints “to live in the world, to sanctify the world and not to be afraid of living in the world by [our] presence in it.”

        We are not to bury our talents.

        We are not to shy away from the life God has given to us.

        God gives us our talents in this life for not only our sanctification, but as gifts to be treasured. These talents are to be shown to the world as an extension of the invitation to encounter Jesus Christ. Our treasured talents are not to be buried in the ground where they do no good for anyone. And we are not to bury our head in the sand like an ostrich, allowing life to pass us by.

        This is not why God gave us our talents.

        This is not why God gave us life.

        God gave us talents, God gave us life so that we may know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this world, so that we may be happy with Him forever in Heaven. And these talents, this life is not to be kept to ourselves, buried in the ground.

        We are called to be saints! And to work on and perfect our sanctification, we use the talents God has given to us. Yet we are not called to strive to use these talents in extraordinary ways; we are called to be saints in jeans and tennis shoes, being in this world and knowing how to live in this world without being callous or mundane.

        We strive to live fully in this life so that the fullness of life may be ours in the next. Saint Irenaeus reminds us, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive; and to be alive consists in beholding God.” – We are not to wait to behold God; we are not to wait in being alive. Through the use of our talents, we become alive; we behold our God. Nevertheless, it is in the midst of living in the day-to-day ways that we not only draw closer to God, but we invite others to come to know Him, as well.

        My brothers and sisters, be saints.

        Be holy.

        Be normal.

        Be alive.

        Be God’s.

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Enjoy the journey . . .