Christmas Traditions - presents!

Audio - click here (9:30am)

We have many Christmas traditions around the world, but some of the more common ones are full of symbolic meaning, even if you might not have noticed it.

Christmas tree:  Ps. 96 – “Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the Lord, for He comes.” The Christmas tree is one way that we in our faith try to make these words a reality.  Trees don’t have voices, but with their lights and decorations they are crying out, in the midst of the world’s darkness, that the Light of the World is here to cover us in His Light. This is even more fitting for us who have just gone through the longest night of the year a few days ago – the night is passing away, the day conquers.

Cookies: Joel’s prophetic book ends with a prophecy about God dwelling in Zion (Jerusalem) and also says in v 3:18 “In that day, the mountains will drip sweetness, and the rivers flow with milk.”  The promised land, which symbolizes for us our Heavenly homeland, was always described as a land flowing with milk and honey.  Jesus is born today to lead us to that promised land, and yet we begin a foretaste of that even now, where he feeds us with the bread from Heaven, having all sweetness within it.” When Jesus is present among His people, all bitterness disappears, for God shares His honey and milk with us, the signs of his peace, concord, and joy.”

Presents:  I went out for a few presents for my family.  I was trying to pick something that would be really good for them.  You more you love someone, the more you want to give them a great gift.  Because the more you love someone, the more you want to show it in all kinds of ways, and a nice gift is one way of showing it.

But the greatest gift you can give, actually isn’t something, it’s someone.  Because the greatest gift you can give someone is yourself.  You give them your time, your energy, your attention, your forgiveness when they need it, your apologies when you need it, your love.  That’s the greatest gift.

God, who loves us infinitely, gives us the best gift we could ever ask for, something we wouldn’t even dare to ask for.  Christmas is where we see that gift for the first time.  Because God wanted to show His love.  He had always loved us, and had showed it in many ways, but now He shows it in the biggest way, through this special gift that is now visible to us.

That gift is Jesus.  Jesus is like a gift, a present, because He is God giving Himself to us.  Jesus’ entire life is the biggest way God shows His love for you.  He gives you Himself because Jesus is God.

What is always on the outside of the presents we get?  The stuff we have to tear off as fast as possible…?  Yes – the gift wrap also has religious symbolism, when we think about the gift of Jesus.  God in His divinity is behind the human nature of this little baby.  We don’t see his glory, but it is there hidden just beneath the surface – hidden so that we aren’t afraid to draw close to Him.

The gift of Christmas isn’t fully unwrapped until Easter.  It is then that we see everything that God wanted to give us.  But here, now, we already know that God has given us everything, even if we don’t know what that means, because here we see that God gives Himself to us.  He comes this close to us.  He isn’t afraid of our messiness.  He doesn’t wait for us to heal ourselves before He comes close.  He wants to heal us Himself, and so He must come close to us, so close that he wraps His glory beneath the veil of human flesh.  

Join the shepherds who run to adore this newborn king, this Messiah who redeems captive Israel from its enemies by shedding His own blood for us on the cross.  The shepherds didn’t take hours getting ready, washing their faces and doing their laundry and looking all prim and proper.  Rather, they went straightaway to see this King of Love, the heavenly Shepherd.  Let the human face of God unwrap its mystery to you, and thus find your healing in the light that he brings.  Then, with the shepherds, carry that light into the darkness that is fading but still present in the brokenness of our world.

Testimony.  I wish to invite forward ____________ to share about their own journey of unpacking the greatest gift that God has given her.  May it help us all to remember that God invites us to draw close to Him and give Him ourselves after His own example of self-gift.

Sunday 12/22/19 - Are we listening for God?

Audio: click here (11:30am)

Ahaz and Joseph have very different degrees of openness to God.

Ahaz has a sign from God right in front of him, and he refuses to give his attention to it.  Isaiah, God’s prophet, says “ask a sign from God,” and he says “NO THANKS.”

For Joseph, He can find God’s voice even in the less likely places – his dreams.  A vision is a vision, but it would have been easy to write it off as a dream.   But he doesn’t.

The difference between Ahaz and Joseph likely stems from their very different images of who God is.

Perhaps Ahaz sees God as a tyrant, who really doesn’t care about us. Or, maybe God is someone who will only take care of us in very rare circumstances, if we first are living a holy and upright life or do other specific things to win his favor.  Maybe for Ahaz God is someone who wants us to take care of everything on our own, and is very distant from us, refusing to get involved.

For Joseph, God is present and active in his life. God is Emmanuel - “God with us”

Do we expect God to be present and active in our lives?

Do we think God is with us?  Or more like He was with us?

Time-freeze

Audio: click here! (8pm)


If you are close to God, time is always short.

Have you ever had an experience where it seems like time froze?  That things started going so slow because your mind was moving so fast?  Some people say that in a car accident or some other close call, that their whole life flashes before their eyes.  Time may roll on at a steady pace, but it doesn’t always feel that way to us.  It may seem like some things take forever to get finished, like high school.  Or perhaps a bad meeting.  On the other hand, “time flies when you’re having fun.”

For God, time is very different.  It seems to him that everything is flashing by quite quickly.  For example, the prophet Isaiah gives this beautiful testimony about the coming of the Messiah “on that day” – but “that day” is going to be almost 600 years later.  God is speaking hope to the people of Israel, six centuries in advance.  That’s a long time, for us. 

But if you are in tune with God, time is short, or rather always urgent.  Like the prophet Isaiah did in the first reading, John the Baptist shows us this quite clearly in today’s Gospel.  He makes it clear that there is no time for dilly-dallying.

 “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (within reach)

“The ax lies at the root of the trees.”

“Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”

Baby Jesus may be coming at Christmas, but we are challenged to be ready for the presence of Jesus the Messiah, the new King of David’s line, who will “judge the poor with justice” and “slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.”  When a just king comes to power, the only people that need to fear are the unjust.

If we haven’t been living as we should, (like the Pharisees and Sadducees) we hear the call from John to “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.”

So are we going through life as if there’s all the time in the world?  Are we finding ourselves “sleepwalking” like spiritual zombies? John the Baptist or Isaiah have some good advice for us: Spend some time drawing close to the Lord and you will realize that time is precious, it flies away from us, and we need to make the choice now to give ourselves completely to Jesus.  He will be your king.  It makes all the difference if we live that way freely now, or if we live as if we are king.

One final note:  “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”  This theme also unites the reading from Isaiah to the Gospel passage.  The Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is also yours by Baptism.  Ask that Spirit to stir up in you, to keep you awake, and to deepen your choice for Christ the King.  For time is urgent, and our time here is short.

Homily 12-1-2019

Audio!  9:00am Mass

11:30am Mass

“Let us go to God’s house”   (“run to meet Christ”)

Lots of things to be busy about.  Pulled in many directions.  Family, friends, co-workers, shopping, wrapping, baking cookies or other yummies, decorations, etc.  Easy to feel overwhelmed.

Don’t forget the more important things which should also be on that list: prayer; quiet; quality conversations that don’t take long but are the best way to say “I love you”; and going to Mass.

(“run to meet Christ” with righteous deeds)

Keep first things first and second things second.  Don’t lose your priorities in the midst of all the noise. Let’s do Advent right so that Christmas is really a joy for us.

In some ways the message of Christmas flips the image of today’s readings - God is coming to our house.

“Cleaning” the house for guests.  - The coat closet under the stairs.  The top of the stairs.

Never really dealt with the mess.  The house appeared perfect but certainly wasn’t, and things came back out eventually.

Advent resolutions (“new year”).  Let’s do Advent God’s way, not our own.  Let’s get our spiritual house truly prepared.  What are the first things you are called to keep first?  Ask God during this Mass what He wants you to focus on this Advent. 

Sunday Homily

Jesus prediction seems pretty frightening.  In the 1^st reading, God sounds mean and/or angry.

He’s not mean.  He might be angry, in an okay and holy way. 

Anger (my advice during Confession).

Have you ever noticed how people “go off” on social media nowadays about some perceived injustice or whatever other thing makes them angry, and they are praised for it?  I find that an interesting contrast to the times in Scripture when God appears angry (for the right reasons and the right causes) and yet we might be quick to write it off or brush it away.

God wants to set things right.  God will set things right.  We will like it (or not like it) inasmuch as we have been doing things right.  If we are, then there’s nothing to be afraid of, but rather only something to rejoice in: But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

The final exam of life is an open-book test.  St. Teresa of Kolkata (“Mama T” as we called her in college) puts the answer “in our hands” we might say, with these 5-words from the parable of the sheep and the goats: “You did it to me”

But it’s not about knowing the answers, it’s about living them.

The saints are great examples for us.  They lived the answers of the final exam.   (2^nd reading):  Brothers and sisters: You know how one must imitate us. For we did not act in a disorderly way among you... we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us.

For Advent, you are invited to study our patroness.  Please consider learning from her how to love like Jesus in our world today.  The book is phenomenal.  I was actually reading it when Bishop Rhoades met with me to ask me to be pastor here.  It was a sign to me of God’s hand at work.

Get ready for the final exam, for we know not the day nor the hour.  You know the anwers to the test (you did it to me).  Let Jesus consume you when you receive Him today in the Eucharist.  Then you have nothing to fear in this life.

Sunday Homily - Zacchaeus and Identity

Audio:

9:30am - click here

11:30am - click here

8pm - click here

Jericho – the oldest city continually-inhabited.

If you seek the Lord who is already seeking you, you will not be passed by. Your desire for God can even change His plans.

living from your identity.

World: what you do defines your identity. Your value comes from your productivity.

God: “If you remain in me, you will bear much fruit.” (Identity defines you, then living from that identity produces good works)

All of our sin comes from a corruption of our sense of identity. We forget who we are and whose we are. If we do it long enough we can even seem to lose our identity. We feel disconnected and isolated.

Jesus as the great healer of our souls comes to re-establish our identity and reconnect us with God (the original meaning of the word religion) and with each other.

God wants us. It’s all about this relationship.

Prayer is that daily relationship.

Praying in Humility with "the Jesus Prayer"

Audio: 
Sat 5pm click here

Sun 9am click here

Sun 11am click here

HOMILY NOTES-OUTLINE

Sirach: The one who serves God willingly is heard; The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds;

As we mentioned last week in our homily, humility is a prerequisite for all prayer.  The words of the Pharisee today, although they appear to be a prayer, really is not.

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. –Therese of Lisieux

The Pharisee isn’t looking toward heaven – he’s looking at himself.  It’s the sin of Narcissus, falling in love with his own reflection.

Confession heals, confession justifies, confession grant pardon of sin. All hope consists in confession. – Saint Isidore of Seville

A great path to prayer and to humility is the Jesus prayer.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

The Jesus Prayer has two important purposes. The first is worship as with all prayer. The second is a discipline to help our soul gain control our overactive brains and create stillness so the Holy Spirit can work through us and help us live the virtues in union with God.

three stages of progress in its practice. You begin praying the Jesus Prayer by repeating the words of the prayer out loud or at least moving the lips. This is called verbal prayer. After some time saying of the Jesus Prayer becomes silent or mental and is repeated only in the mind. This is mental prayer. Finally, the Jesus Prayer becomes a continuous prayer in the heart, the inner core of our being. We begin with vocal prayer and do not force the move to mental prayer. This will happen naturally

In praying the Jesus Prayer, our holy Fathers tell us, we say it over and over hundreds of times as part of our daily prayer rule. It is best to add the Jesus Prayer to your morning prayers as this is when the mind is the quietest. Begin by saying the Jesus Prayer verbally focusing on each word. Repeat the Jesus Prayer continually for some time and then expand to longer. You will experience the challenge of dealing with your thoughts, the tendency for you mind to wander. Attention when praying the Jesus Prayer is important. Be sincere in your prayer and repeat it with contrition.