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Baptism of the Lord
Fr. Jim Deiters
A few weeks ago when I had a class with our 5th grade students, I asked them to name different types of prayers we have as Catholics. After they named the traditional “Our Father” and “Hail Mary,” I was pleasantly surprised when one of them named “The Sign of the Cross” as one of our prayers. Most of us forget that it is a prayer when we hastily sign ourselves at the beginning of a prayer or when reaching for the holy water of the baptismal font, often forgetting to even say the words that go with it – “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
The ‘Sign of the Cross’ prayer was first said over us at our baptism, which is why it should be a prayer used by ALL Christians and not something exclusively for Catholics. At our baptism, the cross was marked on our forehead and the waters poured upon us with the words “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” The key word in this short prayer is the preposition “in,” which has a two-fold meaning.
First, we are baptized “in” or “into” the Trinity –Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The cross on the forehead and the pouring of water are external signs of something much greater happening, which is that our whole being is ‘transported’ or born again INTO the life of God. Through baptism we are now IN the life of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. We hear this in the baptism ritual when the priest or deacon says to the baby or adult, “God has given you a new birth…” If we really saw our life as being INSIDE of God, imagine how that would bless the way we think about other people and our own self! When we know our life as being IN God, it also changes the way we view and respect all of creation…as the earth’s waters and lands are God’s work of art…that we now cherish and reverently take care of…as part of God’s life!
I love the way St. Hilary makes the connection between Jesus’ Baptism and our own when he writes in the 4th Century, “Everything that happened to Christ at his baptism lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down upon us from heaven and, adopted by the Father’s voice, we become sons and daughters of God.” The Holy Spirit has swooped down upon YOU and me and claims us for God! Oh, if our young people could know how special their life is in God!
The second part of the word “in” tells us that God himself is doing the baptizing or initiating us. The voice of God that declares Jesus as “My Beloved Son” is heard at the same time as the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus as he comes up from the waters. The whole Trinity is present in this powerful scene at the Jordan and prefigures what happens at every baptism…as the Holy Spirit “swoops down” and takes us INTO the life of Blessed Trinity! Or another way of saying it, “In baptism, we are ‘grafted’ onto the life of Christ.” These are powerful images for one’s prayer meditation this week: imagine your self, floating blissfully in the middle of the LOVE between the Father and the Son. Or as you’re getting ready in the morning, keep telling yourself, “My life is IN God.” (+) It changes everything.
Putting all of this baptism theology into practice…means that…whether you are a teenager struggling with depressing thoughts, or an elderly person wondering if your life has made any difference, or someone who feels stuck in a rut, today’s feast shakes us from our slumber and self-centeredness by reminding us who we really ARE – sacred, loved, cherished daughters and sons… IN the life of our Triune God! When my main priority is my life IN God, it puts in perspective all the surface worries of our life.
On a practical level, let’s each be more conscience of the ‘Sign of the Cross’ words we are saying each time we begin a prayer, dip our hand into the font, or sign our self when we genuflect. Let’s pray very slowly these familiar words…maybe with eyes closed and a prayerful awareness that my life is IN God – “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
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Epiphany
Fr. Jim Deiters
When I am teaching or hanging out with the youth, I like to remind them how much the Catholic Church is involved with science and astronomy and I talk to the boys about how it’s possible to be a priest and a scientist. Recently, the Wall Street Journal editor did an interesting interview with the director of the Vatican Observatory and the pope’s chief astronomer. His grew up in Detroit, went to MIT, joined the Jesuits, and in the interview talked about how much he loves working in astronomy and helping people make the connectionbetween science and the Catholic faith. The writer asked the Jesuit scientist to give a brief explanation of a possible Epiphany Star…but then he mostly encouraged people to spend some time each day marveling at the beauty of God’s universe.
I love the Epiphany Feast for various reasons, and one of them is how this gospel story brings together thoughts about science and mysteries of the heavens into our faith conversations about God. The Gospel writer Matthew is hoping that we see the irony in his story: The Magi-astronomers-scientists who spend most of their life looking up into the skies…are now looking ‘down’ to earth by consulting religious leaders for an explanation of this galaxy-star episode. The point is that the places we normally look for God and the beginnings of the universe…are now in a human PERSON, born in a specific time and place in history, Jesus Christ.
The astounding fact of the Christ-Epiphany Event in human history is that Jesus – God in human flesh- is now the starting point of everything – from scientific research to understanding human suffering. For example, when the Catholic astronomer was asked how be studied science as a believer, he said, “Once you have a personal experience of Jesus Christ as I have, my scientific searching and questions about the cosmos are through the lens that God is behind all of this.” Here in the parish, the core of our Catholic school and PSR program and high school youth group is to help our young people have a true encounter, real relationship with Jesus, so that whatever vocation or career they choose, they will see their work and life THROUGH a life in Christ.
This Epiphany Gospel story teaches us that God ‘shows up’ in the most unexpected places – not up in the sky…but in a poor person…in a small rural town…as a migrant looking for a place to live. It really isshocking to think of God this way, but this is how God chose to reveal himself to us! It forces us to re-evaluatewhere we have been thinking or expecting God to be in our world.
I like the poetic way that the prophet Isaiah describes God surprising ways. The prophet writes, “See, there is darkness all around you…but upon you the Lord shines…raise your eyes and look about!” The key word in this sentence is “but.” It is a word of interruption, a contradiction to what has been. Yes, there is darkness in our world, in our Church, and in our country, BUT…upon YOU, God’s light shines! Then Isaiah says, “and others shall walk in your light,” reminding us that God wants to use our life, our light, in this world of darkness. FAITH helps us remember that the Creator can effect a change in what may seem quite dark or gloomy and give us hope we need to get us through. Isaiah says to us, “look around you” for signs of God’s Presence!
Epiphany celebrates how God ‘shows up’ in surprising places just when darkness seems to have an unbreakable grip on our heart and spirit. Epiphany is the feast of travelers and pilgrims; a feast to remember that through us, Christ will continue to be born and revealed in the most unlikely places, using the light of Christ in us for people in places of darkness or gloom.
Our life is a journey home to God. Like the magi’s trip, there will be detours, questions and risk along the way. But, we know where we are going -- to eventual union with God. Even with many ‘unknowns’ of our future, through faith our destination into God is assured. All we need to carry with us is our faith in Christ. Whether we are single, married, young or old, scientist or parent, Jesus Christ is our guiding star for our journey home to God. On the way, we must continue doing the discipleship work of pointing out the Light of Christ to more and more people of the world…especially those living in darkness.
We so need the Light of Jesus in the Eucharist…to help us recognize the surprising ways that God is right in the ‘crux’ of the humble stable of our life. May the Holy Spirit help us see more clearly God’s ever-present light within our self…and in every person we encounter.
Mary Mother of God
Fr. Jim Deiters
We Catholics have a lot of ‘titles’ for Mary…many of them go back to the early centuries of Christianity, when the first disciples of Jesus called her “Virgin Mary.” All of the extra names we give Mother Mary she did not claim for herself, but are directly related to her Son Jesus and the role she played in salvation history. In Early Christianity she quickly became known as “Saint Mary” and many of the early Church Fathers started using titles such as “Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady of Sorrows, Mirror of Justice, Mother of the Poor, Lady of Perpetual Help,” and eventually by the 5th Century she was officially declared at the Council of Ephesus the Mother of God, the title we honor in today’s feast, first given to her in the bible by St. Elizabeth in her Visitation.
But another title with which we honor Mary that I want to highlight today at the start of our New Year is when we call her Queen of Peace. Since she gave birth to Jesus, the Prince of Peace, Mary is our mother and sister in the Lord, who prays for us daily to know of God’s Peace, the heart of her Son.
On a Catholic universal level, it is an annual tradition of each pope to pray for and ask every person of the world to make a concerted effort to do all they can to be people of peace in every situation. We need God’s Peace in every aspect of our life.
On a global level, we need God’s Spirit of Peace to help us see our connectedness to every human person on planet earth. When God’s Peace reigns in our heart we would have compassion and real concern for every person who suffers – from the refugee and migrant looking for a safe place to live, to the millions of starving persons around the world, to the homeless and hungry in our own region. We cannot say we are people of God’s Peace if we do not desire and work for equal peace in the lives of those who suffer.
In our Universal Church, we need God’s Spirit of Peace to help us heal the wounds caused by the sins of some of our leaders. The evil spirit of Satan is trying his best to cause division within our Catholic Church. Only God’s Holy Spirit of Peace can help us forgive one another as a Christian family, as we seek the prayers of Mother Mary and the intervention of her Son’s Spirit of Peace to guide us through the sins of our past and to forge a renewed vision of Jesus’ Gospel.
In our own country of the United States, we so need the Spirit of God’s Peace to heal the divisions between us. As children of God we are not liberals, conservatives, or any other party. Our first allegiance is to Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and we seek God’s Peace to change anything in our heart, mind, or mouth that is not thinking, acting, or speaking Jesus’ message of peace and reconciliation.
In our own families, at the start of our New Year, we so need God’s Spirit of Peace to heal any hurts of the past…and help us dream of a new year of forgiveness, love, and interior peace. For our children to be true Christians centered in God’s Peace, they must see and hear us adults LIVING as persons of peace and love in all we say and do.
Please pray with me:
Mother Mary, Queen of Jesus’ Peace, help us to see that every person of this world is your daughter and son and our own brother and sister. Pray for us sinners… so that we end divisive thoughts and words about people who are different from us and have so little. Queen of Peace, inspire us to bring Christ’s Peace and Compassion to the most vulnerable and hurting of our world.
Mother Mary, Lady of God’s Peace, help us as a Catholic Church to overcome our past sins and find a new path of holiness. Mother Mary, touch the hearts of all who are away from their Catholic faith…that they may see the beauty of the sacraments and come home to you and your Son Jesus.
Mother Mary Tabernacle of God’s Peace, intercede for us…God’s Peace to cover our country and our leaders. We so need your example of love, gentleness, and humility so that we can better work together for the dignity of each human life.
Mother Mary, Queen of Peace, dwell within our families…, and pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
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Feast of the Holy Family
Fr. Jim Deiters
At our family’s Christmas gathering some of my siblings were talking about how nice it was to have their children grown up and now they get to enjoy the years of being grandparents. One sister said, “I never thought I’d make it through those teenage years with those boys! But it sure is wonderful now with my grandson!” I pray a lot for parents, especially those with teenagers. But our junior high and high school kids also tell me how seriously grateful they are when I tell them, “I pray for you guys, having to deal with your parents!” The beautiful scriptures for our feast of the Holy Family delve us directly into ‘Biblical Parenting 101’. FromHannah deciding to dedicate her son Samuel to God, to Mary and Joseph dealing with their 12-year-old son’s independence, we have much to learn from these parents, even those of us who do not have children of our own.
One of the significant developmental tasks of a person transitioning from childhood, teenage, and into young adulthood is discovering and affirming one’s identity. Many things define one’s identity – such as family, religious experience, sexuality, and one’s dreams or ideals. How a parent supports and encourages a child through these has a big impact. But sometimes, as much as parents do their best, the child becomes a person quite different from what they had imagined.
Joseph and Mary certainly had to adjust their own expectations of what they wanted for their child Jesus. It began in the pregnancy, with angels making pronouncements; and at his birth, dirty, homeless shepherds proclaiming his ‘uniqueness’. We learn from the Gospel today that Jesus formed part of his identity early in his life, as he stakes his independence and announces to his parents that his ‘identity’ is with God his father. At such a young age, Jesus lays out the foundation for ‘holiness’ as recognizing that our life belongs to God. Once you acknowledge God’s claim on your life, you naturally find peace and happiness doing God’s Will.
God’s ‘claim’ or desire for our life may stand in tension or opposition to what family, friends, or social acceptance suggest we should do with our life. And this is where parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, have a significant role…in forming young people to know that their life belongs to God…and their truefulfillment will depend on whether they do his will for their life. Beyond teaching children right from wrong, we must help them make bigger moral decisions as they consider various options for their life that can look equally worthy. There are many ways to live a holy life…but choosing the vocation and career that God knows is best for us is the kind of holiness we are talking about on this feast day. For example, Jesus choosing to live a single, celibate vocation does not make that life more holy than marriage; it was holy for him because he did what God asked of him. Mary and Joseph’s holiness is seen in how they resist the peer pressures of their time regarding their pregnancy and divorce options…and submit to God’s purpose for their life. What made them ‘holy’ is how they listened for God’s wisdom in each of their difficult situations…and taught their child to listen to what God wants to do with his life.
A ‘holy’ family is not about itself; a holy family is a ‘place’ where each person learns to seek out God’s purpose and mission for their life. If we aren’t teaching and modeling for our children to ask God what he wants with their life, they will create their own version of a ‘savior’ to follow… in their favorite pop singer, movie star, or sports figure.
Every one of us belongs to some version of a ‘family.’ Helping each other find their God-given mission is what makes a family holy. Too often we underestimate our influence on one another and miss the opportunities we have to help and encourage one another to keep discerning God’s Will in our life…whether we are 12 or 72. Holiness happens one day at a time…learning or re-learning that our life belongs to God…meant for love…and service of others.
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Christmas
Fr. Jim Deiters
Growing up in a small town and small Catholic School had many blessings. One of those was the way the Sisters in school taught us the bible stories through the use of plays and musicals in which we became the characters. I especially remember one of the Christmas plays, not because I played the tallest king, but because of my mischievous classmate who was in charge of the dove that represented the Holy Spirit coming down upon Mary. The paper bird was attached to a string on a long pole and he was supposed to let it hover over the head of the young girl playing Mary. Instead, he would intentionally bob the dove too much and make it look like it was pecking on the girls head. Sr. Barbara did not find it amusing. But sometimes that image comes to mind when I revisit certain scripture passages like the ones we have for Christmas that emphasize the significant role of the Holy Spirit in this miracle of the Incarnation - God becoming a human in the person of Jesus! While we may like to think of the Holy Spirit arriving peacefully… we just heard in the story of Joseph’s dream that the Spirit actually crashed into his plans with some pretty serious ‘pecking’ on his heart to change Joseph’s thinking.
Before we can talk about the baby Jesus, we need to get clear on who this Holy Spirit IS…since the Spirit was the reason Mary got pregnant in the first place. Simply put, the Holy Spirit is God’s LOVE. It was God’s LOVE that entered the womb of the Virgin Mary. It was God’s LOVE that influenced Joseph to change his heart to take Mary as his wife and become the stepfather of Jesus. In a sense then, the ‘biological’ father of Jesus is God’s LOVE – the Holy Spirit! This is why Jesus could speak so intimately of God as his “Abba-Father” and often said, “The Father and I are one.”
Everything that God wanted to say to the world is revealed in what Jesus teaches by his words and actions. That is why we process and incense this Gospel Book of Jesus’ words; this very Word of God forms our Catholic Social Teaching about caring for the poor, the migrant and the unborn; and when we consume his Body and Blood, we are digesting the Holy Spirit, God’s Love, into our own flesh and bones!
But the same Holy Spirit that shook up Joseph and Mary’s plans, ALSO wants to make a helpful commotion in our own life if we let the fullness of God’s Love possess our heart and mind through prayer and the Eucharist. Of course, the Holy Spirit already dwells within our being since the Love of God first entered us at baptism. Why daily prayer and weekly Sunday Eucharist are so important is that they help dispose our self to let God’s Spirit-Love direct our lives toward God’s Will for our peace and happiness. Without daily prayer, we too easily forget that we HAVE the POWER of God’s Love, Peace and Wisdom already within us!
Why this talk of the Holy Spirit on Christmas? Jesus’ whole birth story is centered on the Spirit. I especially love how St. Paul describes Jesus’ Birth as God’s way of giving the world a “bath of rebirth” and a “renewal by the Holy Spirit… richly poured out on us.” These beautiful images invite us to think of this Christmas 2018 and our New Year as God giving us a “bath of rebirth!” God’s Spirit of Love wants to wash away any sins, hurts, angers, grief, or loneliness…and give us a new birth, a new beginning! Jesus came to give the world a ‘new beginning,’ a new way of seeing our humanity! Once Jesus embraced our human condition…and brought the Spirit of God’s Love into every human person, we are no longer meant for sin and death, but rather are daughters and sons of God, with Mary and Joseph, tabernacles of God’s Love!
In order for Jesus’ Birth to be more personal for us, let us meditate throughout our week on the miracle of the Holy Spirit, God’s Love, being richly poured upon you.
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Fourth Sunday of Advent
Fr. Jim Deiters
One the great joys of my week was the annual Christmas program at our Good Shepherd Pre-school. In addition to the beauty of the little children doing their best to remember the words and actions of the songs, there is something powerful about hearing them sing out the traditional songs of our timeless Christmas story of Jesus’ Birth. I complimented the director and teachers for keeping the program focused on the traditional bible stories and hymns from our Catholic traditions. The children are being spiritually formed by simply learning the words to “Away in the Manger,” “We Three Kings,” and belting out with their loudest voices, “Go Tell It on The Mountain!” Especially in St. Luke’s version of Jesus birth narrative, we are drawn up into the details of a complicated ‘drama’that God creates with us mere humans. Legend has it that Luke probably interviewed Mary to get all these details that we don’t have in the three other Gospels.
The contemporary evangelist, Bishop Robert Barron, describes the whole Incarnation story of God becoming human as a “Theo-drama,” in which God gets humans to cooperate with his dramatic plan to become one of us. Today’s Gospel highlights two great women, Elizabeth and Mary, who are examples of faithful cooperators with God as key figures in this “Theo-drama”.
Both powerful women obviously had a deep scriptural and spiritual background that prepared them to say “yes - Fiat” to God’s invitation to be a part of his “script.” They obviously knew all the Old Testament Scriptures that proclaimed over and over that God would eventually send a Messiah. No one knew when or how…but these two women opened their hearts and minds to the possibility of the very surprising way that God was going to do thiscomplicated idea of mixing divinity with our humanity.
The opposite of cooperating in God’s “Theo-drama” could be called our own ‘ego-drama’ where the planning of my life is based primarily on what’s good for ME. Our false ego convinces us that we have the ‘right’ to run ourown life and that we should be ‘center stage.’ We are heavily influenced by our culture that proclaims a differentgospel called “my choice…” to do what I want with my body and my life, without first considering what GODwants to do with my life…or God’s plans for a baby in the womb. When we get caught up in our ego-drama we think we can make all kinds of ‘private’ choices without consideration of God’s will for me or how my decisions affect others.
Elizabeth and Mary become the first saints in our New Testament scriptures because they humbly submit to howGod wants to use their lives for key roles in his “Theo-drama” for the salvation of the world. And I say this particularly to the youth and young adults here today: what makes life thrilling is to discover and discern your rolein God’s story! Each of us is already an important character in God’s ‘real-life drama’ since we were privileged to be baptized into the cast! The path to happiness must include an ongoing conversation with God about how he wants to use your life, your career, your retirement to bless the lives of others.
What Mary and Elizabeth model for us is that no matter how old we are or what our past has been or whatever chaos we might be in right now, we each have an important place in God’s story…right now! The Eucharist is meant to help us let go of our ego-drama of thinking we can run our own life…which never ends well. If we dare to come forward to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus and the gifts of the Holy Spirit… we must submit our own will to being more open and engaged in God’s beautiful will and ‘plot’ for our joy, peace, and love. As Elizabeth said, “Blessed are you who believe!”
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THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
FR. JIM DEITERS
It might fall into one of my top ten quotes from a young stressed-out mom. When I asked her in a casual conversation about how her Christmas plans were going, she looked exasperated and said, “I was fine until I bought that ‘advent calendar’ with the little symbols the kids pull off one day at a time. Each day my little girl has a need to remind me how few days are left until Christmas! Mom, just 20 days left…mom, just 19 days left; 18 days left...” She was able to laugh at herself when she asked me how she turned something spiritual into something stressful. But she found it helpful when I asked, “What if the excitement in your daughter’s ‘daily reminder’ was actually a gift from God?”
This Third Sunday of Advent and the Scriptures for today are meant to be a surprising gift of JOYfrom God in the midst of our anxieties, especially in our preparations for Christmas. In the middle of so much going on, and so many things to worry about, sometimes it becomes difficult to notice the very Presence of God in our midst, even in the simple excitement of children. And for some people, depending on what they are going through, ‘joy’ is the last thing they would use to describe how they are feeling right now.
As Christians, our sense of JOY is much deeper than how we ‘feel’ in the moment. Chris-centered joy is based on what we actually BELIEVE about what God has all done for us! If we REFLECT onthe ways that God is at our side in each moment, it would help us remain ‘joyful’ about how NEARGod is to us. The prophet Zephaniah in our first reading today says this so clearly in his encouraging words we heard, “Fear not and do not be discouraged! Your God is IN your midst… and will renew you in his love.” Zephaniah is trying to get us to become aware of howclose God IS to us, even when it may feel like much of life is caving in on us. I especially like that word ‘midst,’ which comes from the ‘old English’ meaning middle. God is in the ‘middle’ of all that’s going on in your life! Or Zephaniah might ask us, “What part of your ‘midst’ have you not let God get into yet?”
One person who experienced huge challenges and could have easily given up was St. Paul. In our second reading today Paul is writing this letter of ‘joy’ to the Philippians from a prison cell! Here is Paul, locked in a cell and beaten up badly for his preaching of the Gospel and yet he has the audacity to write this: “Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again, rejoice! The Lord is near.”
In the midst of his own sufferings, Paul challenges and invites us to know true joy based on an awareness that, "The Lord… is… near." Nothing can take Christ’s Presence out of our lives…when we recognize God in our midst…with the eyes of faith. Of course it is easier to be aware of God’s presence when things are going well in our life. But often things are not going well for us! We cannot ‘create’ a spirit of joy on our own. Paul knows that and so he encourages us to PRAY to God for what we need. Prayer reminds us how close God is to us! Prayer may not bring about immediate changes in our situation, but we can still have reason to know JOY because… in prayer we experience that "The Lord is near."
When it sometimes feels like God is distant…or there isn’t much to be joyful about…the virtue of faithhelps us to remember that it is not GOD who has ‘pulled back;’ Rather, it is usually us who have not made the prayer time to sit quietly and remember how very NEAR God really is to us. We have toinvite God into the midst of whatever situation has been creating anxiety for us: a relationship, a situation at work, or our family …and ask God into that place in my heart that has been feeling worn out and not very joy-centered.
Ever since Jesus came physically into our world, born of Mary some 2000 years ago, our God has never left our side. God is truly NEAR… in this Word, in the people around us, and in the Eucharist we are about to receive. Let us bring to God any anxieties, worries, or fears…and hear the voice of Zephaniah say to us over and over, “Fear not and do not be discouraged! Your God is IN your midst… and will renew you in his love.”
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SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
FR. JIM DEITERS
This past week’s two significant events – the funeral for President Bush and the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor – gave us as a country the opportunity to step back and reflect on important moments of our history and those who served. It is so important to know one’s history - of our country, of our global community, and the history of our Christian religion so that we learn from past mistakes… and use those lessons for a better future. From a bible perspective, the scriptures usually challenge us to do some very personal soul searching… as to where we began, what path we are presently on, and clarify where we are going. These Advent readings today do just that if we can see the connection between these scriptures and our life.
Think about what we just heard. The prophet Baruch gives a brief historical overview of the Jewish people returning home after exile and the new place to where God is leading them. He calls people to leave the past behind and “take off a robe of misery.” And John the Baptist cries out for us to turn away from old ways of sin and forge new paths toward God. But I want to give particular attention as to how St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians gives us very encouraging words about whatever struggles we might be going through in life right now.
Listen again to these beautiful, hope-filled words and try to hear them as if Paul is speaking directly to you: “I am confident, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it…until the day of Christ Jesus.” Take notice that in this one brief sentence, he addresses our past, present, and future -- God “began, will continue, until…!” Just when we may wonder what purpose our life has, the author assures us…that Godbegan a good thing with our life. God began a ‘good work’ in your life the moment you were conceived in your mother’s womb. The ‘good work’ of God bringing you into existence was made especially holy at yourbaptism…when God specifically placed the Holy Spirit into your heart, mind, and soul…for a particular purpose in his Kingdom.
Paul goes on to say that God will CONTNUE that work until the day of Christ Jesus, meaning, the day we meet Jesus face to face. Basically, the text challenges us to see the holiness of our life right now (!) ….as God is continually working in our life at every moment. God never stops ‘continuing’ the good work he began at our conception and baptism.
How God’s creative work plays out, depends of course on whether we are cooperating with the work that God is doing in us. God never stops ‘continuing’ his work with our life, but he also does not force us to follow his plan for us to be happy and holy. The Good News is that even as we stray from God’s Will and Commands in our selfishness, God keeps on working in our life…doing his best to ‘re-create’ what we sometimes mess up.
Over and over, God is ‘picking up the pieces’ of our broken vessel, our wounded heart, our shattered plans…continually re-envisioning our future to be better than our past. THIS is our Advent HOPE! Our Creator, the Author of our life, keeps re-working our story and the canvas of our life…into a new chapter and a restored art piece…until we finally see and know our original beauty of what God started in the first place.
Because of all the things that cause us to be insecure and not be able to see our inner goodness and holiness, St. Paul says to us, “I am going to pray for you.” St. Paul is praying for you …right now! What is he praying for? Paul says, “I pray that you grow in love…to discern what is of value…and to be pure.” THESE, he knows, are what will help us prepare to meet Jesus face to face…at the hour of our death and at his Second Coming.
While our personal past or present life situation may make us feel isolated or left out, God is continually working on us to be united as one Body of Christ. Through Jesus Body and Blood, God takes the good work he began in us…and keeps re-working us toward holiness. Will we let God shape and “complete” us into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ?
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FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
FR. JIM DEITERS
I had an extremely sad funeral in October when my 44-year-old cousin committed suicide, leaving two grown children and her husband. While joyful and faith-filled on the outside, Kristie suffered from depression and anxiety. The saddest part was talking to my aunt Jean, her mother, who has now lost three of her eight children. As you can imagine, my aunt sat through the funeral with a blank look of utter despair. Afterwards, she said to me with an overwhelmed heart, “I guess all I can do is wait to die to be with my three babies in heaven.” While I have been praying a lot for Aunt Jeanie, I keep thinking about how she described her grief as a time of ‘waiting.’
In one sense, our whole life is a holy time of waiting. We wait for a baby to be born; we wait to grow up and mature; we wait for God to help us choose our vocation; we wait for a fulfilling job; we wait for retirement; and we eventually wait to die. On a more cosmic level, in our Christian-Advent language… we wait for the Second Coming of Christ. At that time, as we pray in the Our Father, “thy kingdom come” will be a fulfilled reality. But until then…we wait for…and work toward… such a glorious kingdom of justice and peace!
However, we of the developed world, find waiting to be a waste of time and we get fidgety if we have nothing to do but wait. “Waiting,” in the different stages of our life, often causes our fears to rise to the surface. Maybe that is why we fill our lives with busy-ness, so those fears can stay down below the surface, and we can go about our daily lives containing our inner anxieties. On a proximate level there are fears about family, finances, or health. More globally, many share fears about international conflicts, the refugee crisis, and the demise of our earth’s environment. It can be frustrating to ‘wait’ for answers to our fears. But instead of just ‘waiting to die,’ what if we used our ‘waiting time’ as something sacred?
Suppose we embrace our waiting – and develop a spirituality of waiting? Advent gives us time to do just that and we get help in the Advent Scriptures so that our fears do not get the upper hand and diminish our hope. The Advent readings, prayers, and hymns help us develop a new attitude towards our waiting… and direct our prayers away from fear and towards hope.
For example, the prophet Jeremiah wrote this text during a very anxious time between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Like us, the people waited and hoped for a unity among nations. The prophet promises that God will send an ideal king, whom he poetically names as a “just shoot” off the branch of David, who will give the world a vision for true peace and justice. Of course this promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who brings about God’s Kingdom as a time and place where everyone shares what they have, forgives and loves one another, creation is reverenced, and the dignity of every human life is treated as sacred. But of course we still wait…since this kingdom that Jesus inaugurated is not yet fulfilled!
And thus in addition to ‘waiting,’ there is a penitential aspect to Advent in the sense that we must examine our lives as to what we are doing or not doing with the ‘waiting time’ we are given as a gift to prepare for Jesus’ return? In a sense, God is waiting for US to continue and fulfill what Jesus started in terms of care for the poor and marginalized… and creating a place of justice for all people. In other words, if Jesus’ Second Coming was tonight, how would you respond to his question, “what did you do with the waiting time I gave you?” Did you wait in fear or hope? Did you wait by actively caring for those in need…or by a busy-ness centered on yourself?
In the Gospel today Jesus says that instead of letting our hearts become “drowsy” with anxieties, we must “pray” and stay “vigilant” in order to be prepared at any moment for what may be our final day. Part of my ‘waiting’ in this life is the immense joy of presiding at Mass and praying the Eucharistic Prayer with you. As I’m praying with you, I can feel the anxieties and fears and hopes of everyone in the room being raised up to God like incense…as we let God’s Spirit of Peace to descend upon our hearts and minds. In our Catholic Church Year, today begins a new year; a new day; new possibilities, new hope! May these Advent days help us reinterpret our life of waiting… as a holy time of getting prepared to meet Jesus face to face.