FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
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HOMILY BY DEACON JOHN GOMEZ
How are you going to make this right today?
One of the most important life skills a parent can teach their child is the virtue of justice to build and maintain right relationships with others. Making amends when we do something wrong is one way justice is practiced. We probably look on with approval when we see a parent telling their young child, “Go say you’re sorry” when they accidentally hurt a playmate. Similarly, when a friend’s toy is broken or lost, the parent taking the child to the store to replace it is an important lesson in responsibility. Hopefully, they are able to move beyond simple reparative justice to a more proactive justice. For example, teaching their child to share what they have with others and helping them realize they can give it away and not lose anything in the process. Or opposing bullying of others at school or in social situations. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a parent trying to teach their child what Zephaniah is calling on the people of Judah to do: to atone for their ancestors’ sins.
The prophet Zephaniah lived during the early years of King Josiah in the last half of the 7th century BC. As the great grandson of King Hezekiah, Zephaniah may have felt like a parent to the king trying to teach him the virtue of justice. King Josiah was recognized as the most righteous of the kings descended from King David, his reign was a time of religious reform across the land of Judah. Some may think Zephaniah crossed the line calling on King Josiah to undo the foreign policies and influence of his predecessor, King Manasseh, and the widespread idolatry and lack of faith that had crept into the kingdom of Judah. These were not the sinful practices of King Josiah yet the prophet called on the king to seek justice and take the right and just action before God. Zephaniah is asking, “How are you going to make this right today?” He warned about the coming “Day of the Lord” when God would drastically intervene against those who lacked humility and a just spirit. You can be sure that many of the people exclaimed, “What a request! We can’t live up to this unreasonable expectation. It’s not our responsibility.” Zephaniah understood the people could not merely maintain the status quo, they had to correct the injustices of the past. Because of his attention to social injustice, one could be tempted to call him the first woke prophet. That wouldn’t be accurate because all the prophets called the people to justice regardless of how far they or their ancestors had drifted from the will of God.
In his master work the Summa Theologica, Saint Thomas Aquinas noted the special nature of the virtue of justice. All the other virtues become vices if we have too little or too much. For example, a lack of courage becomes the vice of cowardice while an excess of courage is foolhardiness. Likewise, a lack of justice becomes injustice. But Aquinas noted there is no such thing as too much justice. How can our relationship with others be too right!?
Jesus gave us the clearest role model of working for justice in society. He was always concerned with the poor, widowed, sick, children, and foreigners. Instead of simply acknowledging their difficulty, He showed them care and compassion. Repentant sinners were shown that mercy is at the heart of God’s justice. Jesus relied on the love of our heavenly Father to sustain Him in His ministry. And he knew we would need to be sustained as well. When we come here to this altar, He offers us His Body and Blood so that we can become what we receive: an unflinching voice for the marginalized despite our personal cost.
My pursuit of social justice led me to become a Catholic Relief Services Global Fellow. CRS is the official international aid agency of the US Catholic Church. That means CRS is your international aid agency, I work for you. Part of my inspiration to become a Global Fellow came from the generous support of our parish for the CRS Rice Bowl campaign during Lent. I saw so many families seeking justice for the marginalized they would never meet and yet loved all the same. I want to say thank you and encourage your support again this year. You are making a real difference. The Rice Bowl and donations through our crs.org website are a major source of funding supporting CRS missions in over 100 countries in South America, Africa, the Middle East, eastern Europe, and Asia. CRS programming promotes integral human development by:
In October of last year, CRS began a new campaign focused on climate change. Like the parent who takes their child to the doctor at the first sign of an illness, CRS recognized the prudence of acting before all the details of climate change are known. The longer we wait to act, the more harm is done. No country is immune to climate change. We have only to look at the recent catastrophic flooding in California or last summer’s floods in northeastern India and Bangladesh. Justice calls us to look to the common good. We must look beyond how climate change affects us individually to how it affects people around the world. We must also recognize that our impoverished brothers and sisters who live in developing countries have contributed the least to climate change and are suffering the most.
This Tuesday, I will join a CRS delegation traveling on mission to Zambia in southern Africa. Climate change has nearly destroyed their corn crop which is greatly affected by drought. CRS is helping farmers there grow pigeon peas instead—a much more drought tolerant crop that is also nutrient rich. We will also visit programs supporting early childhood development, food security, and the empowerment of women to contribute more to society. Zambia has the unfortunate distinction of suffering the third worst deforestation of any country in the world. We will witness a program that is replanting hundreds of trees each year. And we will celebrate Mass with them to renew our commitment in support for them, for our earth, and for justice.
Heavenly Father, make us worthy of this earth: in what we plant and what we prune, in the justice we sow and peace we reap. So that when the Day of the Lord--that final harvest--comes, when we are called to stand before you, it may once more be said of this people: “He saw that it was very good.” Amen
THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
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HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
My mom says it was simply a ‘miracle,’ but I give a lot of credit to her and my dad in how they got us 8 kids to live and work together as a family team. Looking back, I think our unity centered on three things: doing chores together, eating together, and praying together. While there was plenty of arguing and fighting along the way, our parents taught us to work out our differences with respect…and any bickering had to end by the time we got to the dinner table and prayed together. Required to help daily with the household chores of cleaning, cooking, and yardwork, we kids had to figure out a way to turn selfishness into teamwork. Family life is meant to prepare children for being members of a larger community. The very word “community” means “with unity.” We can see the correlation between a breakdown in family life with a decline of community in our country.
While the bible makes no reference to St. Paul ever being married with children, he uses some ‘parenting skills’ in several of his letters in which he emphasizes how the community needs to work, eat, and pray together. Today and for the next several weeks, our second reading comes from St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, a Christian community along the coast of Greece, not far from Athens. In two different letters to this group, Paul keeps reprimanding them for divisions, envy, lack of love for one another. In today’s passage he “urges” Christians to be of the “same mind,” and stop thinking you are better than others – a message we still need as one hears fellow Catholics derogatory comments about our pope or other members of Christ’s Body. Are my words and what I watch or listen to helping create unity within the Church? Of course Paul is echoing the teachings of Jesus’ own call for unity and care for others that distinguishes Christians from a secular world of individualism and selfishness.
While it could be easy to get sucked into negative thinking about our world’s divisiveness, more than ever, we Christians have an opportunity to perhaps be the only ‘oasis’ of unity and peace on our planet…that could draw more people to seek out this unique ‘group of people’ who seem to… love one another and work together for the good of all? Could this possibly BE the one gift to humanity that our generation can give to a world of darkness? Think about how we can help make happen Isaiah’s prophesy in 700 BC that “a people walking in darkness…finally see a great light?”
Ultimately, Jesus Christ IS the Light of God that broke into our dark world. And the reason he started calling disciple to follow him, there by the Sea of Galilee…and still calling US today…is that he gives us the PRIVILEGE of joining his Mission of slowly spreading God’s LIGHT and LOVE to every crevice of the human race. But this Call from Jesus to each of us, can seem a bit overwhelming if we only look at the ‘end product’ of world peace…and miss all the single moments in our day when we can BE Christ’s example of unity, peace, and love.
This is the power of the message in the book we gave you at Christmas called Holy Moments. It is such a simple way to BE Jesus’ Followers…one moment at a time. And every moment that we choose to make it a ‘holy’ moment, rather than an unholy one, we are expanding Jesus’ vision for all people to be united in love and peace. I can’t save the world, or convert every hateful, selfish person, but I CAN CHOOSE in THIS moment, to do the right thing, the holy thing, which WILL add to the world more of God’s love and unity…one moment at a time.
This is a POWER that we Christians have and we underestimate the influence we can have on the world. This unique way of living that Jesus started… took a hold of those first disciples hearts; and the way they lived as a community… that cared for the poor, gave dignity to women, and centered themselves in the Eucharist, gradually drew people to this holy way of living that grew from these first four disciples of Galilee…to 2.2 billion followers of Christ today…one Holy Moment at a time.
As we each commit to choosing holy moments throughout each day…we always come back to THIS Holy Moment of the Mass…in which the Holy Spirit replenishes our mind and body with God’s vision for unity, peace, light, and love…among all God’s children. Oh Holy Spirit, help us!
SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
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HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
Sometimes to better understand the scriptures, you have to do an historical and cultural deep dive. And so, put on your seatbelts, as I am going to jump right into a brief explanation of the Jewish temple floor plan...to help make a connection to John the Baptist calling Jesus the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Actually, the Temple design was a precursor to the layout of a Catholic church building. First, was the general area where the ‘non-priest/rabbis’ prayed; then there were steps leading to a large altar area where the sacrifice of animals took place; behind that is the section for the priests praying for the people; behind that was an altar for the incense; then a veil in front of another space called the “Holy of Holies” for the Ark of the Covenant. The people would bring in their animal through a side gate, and before turning it over to the priest for sacrifice, they would place their hand on the animal, symbolically putting their sins ‘on’ the lamb to be sacrificed asking God’s forgiveness. The blood was smeared on the walls, and parts of the sacrifice was eaten by the priest and the people making the offering. Can you see where we are going here? Depending on the Jewish feast day, there were different kinds of sacrifices and animals used, but needless to say, our Catholic religion is steeped in our Jewish heritage of sacrifices, blood, and a lamb…language used throughout the Mass.
John the Baptist was the first one to describe Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” referencing ancient Jewish ritual language to introduce the significance of who Jesus IS and what he was going to DO with his life – offering himself up as a “Lamb…to take away the sin of the world.” God decided to turn upside down the ancient human practices of animal sacrifice for forgiveness…and send his SON as a new ‘kind’ of Lamb – God himself – who would be sacrificed on the Altar of the Cross…as the ultimate forgiveness of sins…once and for all.
Because Jesus is GOD’S Lamb, the human race no longer has a need to offer other ‘lambs’ for their sins. Bear with me…and follow this history and thought into understanding the power of what happens at our Holy Mass.
The image of Jesus as the “Lamb of God” hangs above us in the Crucifix to remind us that the sacrifice of HIS life is our ongoing forgiveness of sins by God. When we place our offering of bread and wine on the Altar, IN IT, we place both our sins and gratitude…to be united to Jesus as the “Lamb” offered to God the Father. The Holy Spirit (imposition of hands) then changes OUR sacrifices INTO the “Lamb of God” for us to consume God’s Love and Mercy into our bodies. We use the word “mystery” several times during the Mass since it is hard to wrap our minds around this great Act of God; It is a glorious ‘mystery’ indeed that we no longer have to ‘earn’ God’s forgiveness by our own efforts, but humbly let Jesus do it for us! And at the same time, it is a marvelous Mystery that God would desire to mix His Divinity into our humanity.
Now, if I haven’t lost you yet trying to briefly explain this great mystery of how we are saved by Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” it is so important for us Catholics to know what distinguishes the Mass from the singing prayer services of other denominations. We are not here to simply sing songs that make us feel good, but to reverently enter into the great Mystery of Jesus offering Himself as the “Lamb of God” for the sin of the world. Our offering of the Mass is our GIFT to the world for the whole human race to be redeemed by Jesus’ Saving Love for us.
I want to close by using this short overview of the Mass as a plug for vocations to the priesthood for our young men. It is such an overwhelmingly humble, incredibly rewarding life…to be asked by God to offer the great Mystery of the Mass for the world’s salvation -To hole the “Lamb of God” in your hands. We need more parents and grandparents to encourage their son to listen for God calling them to be a priest; and to the young men here today, think about how awesome it would be.. to be a priest ‘standing in’ for the “Lamb of God” at the Altar everyday…with a joy-filled ‘job’ of connecting people to Jesus. I cannot think of a ‘career’ in the world more powerful than the Priesthood.
In a few minutes, when the Sacred Host is raised and we hear those words, “Behold the Lamb of God,” let Jesus take away all your sins into himself… and feel a little joyfully overwhelmed that GOD is right here in our midst…and wants to come into your body and soul.
EPIPHANY
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HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
The highlight of my week was attending the annual Catholic SEEK conference that was held in St. Louis these past days, where 17,000(!) college students and young adults gathered to deepen their Catholic faith. Witnessing 17,000 young people at Eucharistic Adoration and processing forward for Holy Communion and going to confession…is beyond words. Regardless of how it is often portrayed in the media, and the reality of a more secular culture where many no longer go to church, our Catholic faith is very alive! One of the visual highlights of the conference was watching the processions…that turned a secular sports stadium into a place of prayer…of people literally walking toward the sacraments.
Processions have been a part of our liturgy and prayer life since the first days of Christianity when the early disciples processed toward the holy places of Jesus’ Birth and Resurrection for prayer, as well as processions to the tombs of the early Martyrs to have Mass in the cemeteries. Our own St. Clare Church was designed around the spiritual concept of processions, including the rows of trees coming up the boulevard and the stone cross patterns in the floors… outside the church, through the Gathering Space, and down the aisle toward the Altar.
We hear this idea of holy processions in two of our scriptures for this celebration of Epiphany. If you notice, most of the Gospel story we just heard centers around how the Magi got there – a ‘procession’ led by a star as their compass and meeting a few people along the way who helped with directions. Then they had a change in ‘procession’ plans home as it says “they went home by a different way” after their Epiphany Encounter with this “newborn king.” And in the first reading, Isaiah speaks of “nations walking toward and gathering around God’s radiance.”
We must remember that whenever the Old Testament scriptures speak of “Jerusalem” and people “going up to the holy city,” we ‘translate’ those as the “Church” being the new Jerusalem, and the “holy city” is US, the community of all the baptized. Therefore, all the ancient processions to Jerusalem…were a foreshadowing of all humanity ‘moving toward’ and ‘processing’ to Jesus as the Son of God, the world’s Savior and King. The “Church,” with Jesus as the Head, is meant to be a HOME for everyone to process toward and come home to.
The Magi-Astrologist-scientists come from the “east” to represent how expansive is God’s vision of who are all meant to be included in this procession of salvation. The word “epiphany” actually means “revelation,” which highlights that Jesus came to REVEAL that God’s salvation goes beyond the limits of our human thinking. It was truly an “epiphany” that God sent Jesus to extend his saving love further than the Jewish race. St. Paul was extremely excited about this and shouts in his letter, “Can you believe it? That Gentiles (non-Jews) are now co-heirs in salvation!” Jesus wants to be an ‘epiphany-revelation’ to our own sometimes limited, prejudicial thinking about who is holy enough or included in God’s ‘manger scene’ of the Church. In this sense, maybe this feast is meant to make us feel a little uncomfortable… as Jesus’ Epiphany expands our way of reasoning.
One thing the author Matthew wants to highlight is the way he ends the story by telling us that the Magi went home “by another way.” You see, once you encounter Jesus, and really get to know him through prayer and study, you can’t go back to living or thinking the way you used to.
Every procession to Holy Communion…IS an ‘epiphany’ encounter with Jesus, meant to then send us back into world “by another way,” a new way of thinking and living that is more like Jesus’ thinking of inclusive, compassionate love. That is why I often say that coming forward for the Eucharist is a RISK…since it means I have to be willing to change some old habits or thinking once Jesus resides in me. Our procession to Jesus in the Eucharist represents our ultimate procession toward heaven, our final destination.
What most inspired me about the conference this past week with so many young people, is that out of the 17,000 attendees, only 1,000 of them were actually FOCUS young adult Catholic missionaries who work at many college campuses…who invited 16,000 other people to make the journey to get closer to Jesus!
I think that if those original Magi, who made their own procession to Jesus, were here today, they would ask us, “who and how many have you invited to join in the Church’s procession to Jesus and heaven?”
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD SOLEMNITY
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HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
As our Universal Church prays for and honors Pope Benedict XVI at his passing, so many of his books and quotes have been coming to my mind this past week. In his gift of prolific writing in both philosophical and theological topics, the one that stood out for me and many people, was his first encyclical titled, “God is Love.” It really surprised the world since before he became pope, for much of his priesthood, his job at the Vatican was the “rule enforcer,” sort like our head of the Supreme Court or FBI. People assumed that his papacy would start off by announcing more rules and reprimands for those who don’t follow them since that is how he was perceived. But instead, his first official teaching rooted itself in the core of Christianity’s profoundly simple doctrine, “God is Love.”
Pope Benedict released the encyclical on Christmas Day 2005, to help all peoples of the world re-ground themselves in the Truth of what Christmas really means as a feast of God’s Love coming into the world in the Person of Jesus Christ. Pope Benedict sort of ‘surprised’ the world by writing about God surprising the world by entering our material universe as a baby born from a woman’s womb…to simply reveal who God IS as LOVE. I’m not sure what image or idea of God you have in your mind when you pray, but in this New Year, think of God simply as LOVE.
For thousands of years the human race had its own expectations of who God was and how he would save the world, assuming a Messiah would come as an emperor or royal monarch. No one ever expected God’s definition of a ‘Messiah’ would simply be LOVE. And God’s other big surprise was that he chose to enter the world through a woman and her womb. This was shocking to a patriarchal world. So that this radical miracle of the Holy Spirit never gets forgotten, the Catholic Church set up this feast day in 431 AD, to always remember Jesus’ humble beginnings with a human mom named Mary of Nazareth. It sounds obvious to us to call Mary the Mother of God, but in the early centuries of Christianity, they were still trying to wrap their minds around this miracle that GOD became a human…who now has a Mother. Once the Church defined the Son of God as also being human at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, it made sense to also call Mary the Mother of God. We give Mary a lot of different titles like Queen of Peace, but her specific role as the Mother of God is the most unique since it is meant to emphasize that Jesus is fully human as well as being God.
This brings us back to this ‘surprise’ that God dropped into our universe by announcing to humanity that he is simply LOVE. And to reveal God’s Self as LOVE, he chose to become a human “…born of a woman,” as St. Paul wrote in our second reading from Galatians.
When someone from a different denomination asks us Catholics “why do you honor Mary so much?” the best response is simply, “because GOD chose to give her great honor by letting her be the Mother of His Son.” The Holy Spirit of Love entered into the womb of Mary…so that God’s Love could infuse human flesh with divine love. Or more precisely, that God’s Love, embodied in Mary’s child Jesus, could teach us humans what true love really IS.
I love how this feast day is placed at the beginning of our New Year…to help us re-center ourselves in God’s Love throughout 2023. Jesus’ Mother Mary is OUR Mother as well…and so we always ask her to help us stay rooted in Jesus’ example of selfless love.
I want to close with a quote from Pope Benedict’s encyclical as he wrote about Mary as a model of God’s Love. “Mary is the woman of hope, a woman of faith, and a woman who loves. She is the Mother of all believers…who must turn to her motherly kindness…in all their needs, joys, and sorrows, in their moments of loneliness and in their hopes. We can experience her unfailing love for us which she pours out from the depths of her heart.”
Mary, Mother of God and Our Mother…pray for us.
FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
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HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
I was pleasantly surprised to read this beautiful pro-life article on the front page of the secular newspaper this past week. It was a story of this couple in Missouri who, over the years, have been foster parents for 23 different children. In the interview, they spoke about the joy they experience in their care for children but also how there is a great need for more foster parents and parents willing to adopt so many children who are in need of a stable family.
Other people I know who have been foster parents speak about both the many challenges of caring for these children but also the reward they experience. I am inspired by people who choose to foster or adopt children as it is such a powerful way to be “pro-life.” As one foster parent told me, “caring for these children in need makes me realize that my life is much bigger than my own…and being a foster parent calls me out of myself.”
No one ever did an ‘interview’ with St. Joseph about his experience of being a foster parent for Jesus…but it is easy to imagine from the gospel we just heard his questions, fears, and doubts. Imagine Joseph’s predicament: finding out that your fiancé is pregnant, but not by you; cultural and family pressure to divorce her; and an angel from God arriving at your home to tell you she got pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Needless to say, Joseph proves that there is no easy path to sainthood.
In this final week of Advent, I want to briefly highlight two main virtues that we learn from St. Joseph…especially how he handled his calling to be a foster parent. The two virtues that Joseph lives that we must all strive for are: obedience and making sacrifices.
Obedience actually comes from a Latin word meaning “to listen.” Obedience, in the Christian sense, is about LISTENING daily to what God is asking of us. Joseph’s obedience came from listening to what the angel spoke to him in the dream. Now, in scriptural language, the word ‘dream’ usually refers to a prayer experience or meditation. During prayer and meditation, we must practice LISTENING…for something new or challenging that God will ask of us.
But listening in obedience is a big risk…since it often means being asked to do something that doesn’t fit neatly into our own plans…or what everyone else is doing. Joseph models how to listen in prayer…and then obediently changing his own plans to do what God needed of him -- to be a foster parent for a child that was created in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit.
It is easy to see then, that by actively listening for what God wants of our life…it is also going to require SACRIFICE, a virtue that is much lacking in our world today. We adults need to be better at teaching our children and teens more about the value of making sacrifices…for some greater good. Young people do understand small sacrifices like studying for an exam or practicing a lot to be good at sports, dance or playing an instrument well. If we challenge ourselves and them to stick to the hard work and sacrifices it takes to do and BE our best, it will lead to much greater things such as life-long marriages, more young men saying “yes” to the priesthood, more young women taking leadership roles in the Church, and more Christians evangelizing others about what Jesus and the sacraments mean to them. When some of the young guy thinking about the priesthood say to me, “I’m not sure I want to give up being married,” I say, “the rewards and blessings are 100 times greater than the sacrifice.” And then I share my perspective with them that being married and raising children takes a lot more sacrifices than being a priest!
Obedience… and sacrifice -- two main things that Jesus taught us…which he obviously learned from his parents. At every Mass we worship Jesus for the sacrifices he made for us, especially giving up his life that we may have Eternal Life in heaven.
In your prayer this week, offer to God for the sacrifices you have made and are making that bless the lives of others. And then ask God what other sacrifices he needs you to make for some greater good in his Kingdom. Next in prayer, practice LISTENING/obedience; simply sitting in silence and hear God’s whispering his love for you.
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
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HOMILY BY FR. JIM DEITERS
One of the many unique parts of being Catholic is having a pope as our leader. In our 2000-year history, we have had 265 popes, each one in apostolic succession connecting directly to St. Peter, whom Christ named to lead the Church. Each of them have had their own strengths and weaknesses, and in their unique ways, like John the Baptist, try to keep pointing us to Jesus. Pope Francis revealed to the world once again this week that his greatest strength is modeling Christ’s compassion. Perhaps you saw the story in the news, that when he made his annual visit across Rome to the statue of the Immaculate Conception on the feast day; he started a prayer for the people of Ukraine, but suddenly went silent and broke down crying, as he became overwhelmed with emotions over the suffering of our brothers and sisters there. When I saw our Holy Father crying, I got tears in my own eyes as I have never seen a pope so visibly expressing such compassion for God’s people. He is truly a blessing to us and our world in many ways…as he embodies Jesus’ love and compassion for the suffering.
In the Gospel we just heard, Jesus distinguishes himself from all the other prophets and rabbis by describing his mission to be extra compassionate and concerned about those who are suffering. We know that many people in the First Century were expecting a ‘kind of messiah’ who would take down the Roman Empire and basically get rid of all the bad people. Even John the Baptist seemed to wonder about Jesus when he sent his disciples to ask him, “are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” In other words, John is saying, “You sure don’t meet out expectations, but are you the one?”
Jesus, along with the help of his parents I am sure, creates his Mission from what he learned in studying the prophet Isaiah, who spoke of a day when God would come down and prioritize the needs of those who suffer. Instead of following all the rules of his religion, Jesus radically went out into the streets and revealed who God IS…as one who lives among the poor. We really do have an outrageous God…One who is crazy in love with everyone…but especially for those who suffer and are poor.
This is part of the reason why so many people walked away from Jesus…since he did not meet their expectations of what kind of messiah ‘they’ wanted. Still today, many people are sort of disappointed in the kind of Messiah Jesus is. This is part of the reason that many no longer call themselves Christian or don’t make time for Mass and the sacraments. Many create their own expectations of ‘god’ who should stop all suffering and eliminate all the mean people. Instead, the true Messiah we follow and believe is God’s Son, came from heaven to be a God who walks WITH the poor and suffering…and calls us to care for them WITH Him.
John the Baptist asks this question that still hovers in many people’s minds, especially teenagers and young adults: “Is Jesus the One, or should we look for another?” If we really do believe that Jesus is THE One sent from God, then we have no option but to choose daily…to follow his teachings and his example of love and compassion…, since Jesus is God’s very Self!
To prepare us for Christmas, John the Baptist calls us to reflect deeply about this Truth…that Jesus really IS the One. And if we truly believe this in our heart and mind, are we ready to give up looking for other paths to happiness. When we really accept Jesus as the only One who can save us and fulfill our inner desires, it helps us to be set free from our addictions to our false ego, materialism, and whatever else we thought we needed for happiness.
In these holy days of Advent and Christmas, we need the Holy Spirit to convert any of our own expectations of God… to line up more closely with how Jesus revealed God’s compassion and love for all. May the Holy Spirit in this Eucharist guide our relationships and all aspects of our life…to be centered on Jesus as THE ONE whom I call my Messiah. THIS belief brings us Christmas Peace and Joy!