IT WAS ABOUT FOUR O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON

Second Sunday in Ordinary

Saint Patrick Parish

January 13-14, 2018

Link to USCCB Lectionary Readings

Holy Scripture is absolutely full of very memorable lines. Each of us, if we have a little bit of time to think, I would imagine could kind of come up with a list of - if not exact lines at least scenes from Sacred Scripture that speak particularly to us. I had an opportunity to ask Deacon Scott what his favorite scripture verse is before Mass this morning. It kind of caught him off guard a little bit but he thought a little and he said a line from 1 Peter that says if you teach, teach well, if you preach, preach well, but do so for the greater glory of God. Now, I'm not going to put Father Oz on the spot, because I didn't get a chance to ask him, but I'm certain that he could come up with some lines as well. Of the many memorable lines we might think of, we heard one today, John the Baptist saying “Behold the Lamb of God.” Others might be “This is my body.” “This is my blood.” “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son.” “Jesus wept.” The shortest verse in the Bible, when Jesus was there with Mary at the tomb of Lazarus her brother. My personal favorite - a line that comes shortly thereafter, as Lazarus is coming out of the tomb: “Unbind him and set him free.” Each of us, in our own way, could surely find something that speaks to us in a particular way. 

The Gospel of Saint John

But today we have something different. A little bit of a different sort of line in Scripture, one that few I would imagine would point to directly and say “that's the line that speaks to me!” That line is: “it was about four o'clock in the afternoon.” Why does it matter? Why in the world was this even included? In some ways this line speaks to the truth of Scripture - just by the mere fact that it's there. If the writer of The Gospel of John was intent on fooling people, tricking people into believing something that he himself did not believe, why would he have added such an insignificant line? Why wouldn't he have spent time writing that? “It was about four o'clock in the afternoon” doesn’t seem, like the kind of line one would add if they were being deceptive. What this line does for us is it points to exactly how meaningful this experience was for not only Andrew, but also for John - the other disciple that we assume was with Andrew. 

John the Baptist "Behold, the Lamb of God!"

Let’s set up the scene. John and Andrew, disciples of John the Baptist before they became disciples of Jesus Christ, had been with John for some time now. They had become accustomed to the odd way that the Baptist spoke - often hinting at the one who was to come. This day was different, John the Baptist, kind of out of nowhere says “behold, the lamb of God!” Look here he is! This is the one I've been talking about! They've been with John the Baptist for a while. They've gotten used to his strange style and kind of just blurting out things every now and then, but this though, this was different, this was present, this was there. The Lamb of God is here, this one, this one is the one I've been telling you about. And so they went after him,the one John had pointed out. They went after him and Jesus turns and says “what are you looking for” - what do you want? And they said “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Now, if you ask me, this is another one of those awkward lines that might not get too much attention. But isn't that the kind of thing that someone would say if they're really looking to get to know someone? Think of a new best friend perhaps, or in another situation a romantic interest. Where are you staying? Tell me something about you? Let me get to know you a little bit. Open up. I want to know you. And so he did. He said follow me. And they did. They went and spent some time in his home in Capernaum. They spent some time together. They sat in the presence of God-made-man. And if we can only imagine what that must have been like! To have his eyes look into their eyes, to have those words enter their ears, to be in the presence of the one that they had been waiting for! They had followed John the Baptist for a while. John said he is coming, then pointed him out, and there he was! The time had finally arrived. They were there in God's presence. It made such an impact on them that they remembered awkward kind of details. It was about 4 in the afternoon. 

"Rabbi, where are you staying?"
"Come and see."

Many of us, all of us, in one way or another. No matter how old or young we are have moments like this in our lives. For many of us, especially those of us 15 years or older, 9/11 is certainly one of those incidences. For those who are a little bit older than that, the Challenger explosion. Many can point and say this is exactly where I was, what I was doing, what time of day it was, how it felt... All of us can point back and say that's about when it happened. We have these large events that affect many of us, natural disasters things like that, maybe even the death of a celebrity or a politician. Tomorrow we remember Martin Luther King Jr. Those of an older generation can probably tell you exactly where they were when they learned that he had been assassinated. Moments like this etched their way into our being and we can't shake them, as much as we may want to. 

These events, they happen to us in personal ways as well, both joyful and sad. For instance, I'm sure that most mothers here could tell you exactly when their child was born. Details like that etch themselves into our hearts. Mothers and the birth of their children, the moment when family members pass, gathered together in their hospital room. I certainly will never forget many of the details when I got the phone call from my father letting me know that they had found my brother and that he was dead. These moments, these moments find their way into our hearts - and they stay. That's exactly what John and Andrew are describing. It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. It meant the world to them. In many ways they didn't know how to describe it, it was just so powerful. Isn’t it really the small details that stick anyways? When they leave, they leave forever changes, they can't stay the same. They encountered a presence. They sat in the presence of the Divine. Andrew goes and tells his brother Simon, and Simon agrees, perhaps reluctantly, to go with him. They go to the house that Jesus is staying in and what's the first thing that Jesus says when he sees Simon? He gives him a new name... and the crazy thing is Simon still stayed! He accepted the name Peter because that moment must have meant something to him. I don't know about you but if I meet somebody new for the first time and he says Adam from now on your name is going to be Edward I’m gonna be like alright... nice to meet you... I'll see you later. But Peter accepted that name, this encounter, it changed his life. It changed who he was. It changed everything about him. It was a momentous occasion. It all started at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

Life and Death

Returning to motherhood for a moment, as an aside, I want to point to our first reading. Those many moments when a child wakes up their parent at night. That's the vision I get when Samuel keeps coming to Eli. You called me and he responded like no no I didn't call you. Maybe perhaps the next time your children wake you up in the middle of the night you can say the Lord is calling you say Speak Lord your servant is listening. Go back to bed. Go back to bed. Point is Eli is sacrificing. He has been called, he has encountered something that has changed his life, and he is willing to have this other kid wake him up numerous times throughout the night. He is willing to sacrifice, his life is different, he is willing to open up and to be present to others. And in the same way we're called to have a similar encounter with Jesus Christ. An encounter that changes us, that calls us to sacrifice, that calls us to a new way of life. 

Many of our Protestant brothers and sisters they will speak of the moment when they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Oftentimes they will look at us and say we don't really have that. When they say: what moment was that for you? My response is that we as Catholics don't just have that one moment, that one experience. Now this is not to discount the very powerful moments in prayer that we might have, not to discount moments of revelation when encountering Sacred Scripture, or sitting alone before Mass praying. Those are important. But as Catholics we encounter God communally as well. We call these communal encounters Sacraments. There's one sacrament in particular, this is going to be a trick question. One sacrament in particular where we get to say ‘this is the moment when I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior’ a moment to accept an adult faith if you will, a faith where adults live out their faith in a personal manner and say ‘this, this is the one who I live for. Many of us I would imagine, would assume that I'm talking about Confirmation, and in some ways that may be true, but not quite. Some, especially those who are going through RCIA, who were baptized later in life, they may say Baptism, and again, sort of right, but not quite there. 

Saint Therese's Camp - Alaska

What I am talking about is the Eucharist - that moment when you come forward and the minister presents to you the body of Christ, and you say amen, you say yes - this is my God! It is an opportunity that we have, not just once, not a moment that we can go back to and say oh this second on this day 20, 30 years ago, rather it is a moment that we have every week, every day if you so choose. A moment, a routine that is powerful. A moment to look at Christ, and see Christ gazing back at you, and say yes this is a moment, this is a moment that will change my life, this is a moment where I have encountered God, and God has called me to a new way of life! Simon Peter, John, Andrew, they all left their lives from before, they didn't hold on to what they had in the past. They were new people! One even had a new name! They were different. They had encountered something that would not allow them to stay the same and they didn't stay the same - they followed him. If anything speaks to the truth of the Gospel it is that: that these ordinary men, these fishermen left everything because they encountered... encountered something profound. They encountered him. Today encounter him in the Eucharist, and for the next couple of days, for the next week look back and say ‘that was my moment.’ Until you meet him again in the Eucharist, until you meet him again in your brother and sister, and you will encounter him again, you encounter him today. Open your hearts to that. Allow that presence to call you to a new way of life.

Four Years Sober

Five years ago I would have told you that this would be a ridiculous and unnecessary idea, a stupid idea really; that I certainly didn't have a problem with alcohol and that I was just fine thank you very much! Four years ago I would have told you that my life was practically ruined and that it didn't matter if I drank again or not.

That was then, this is now. Now I am so thankful that God has given me the grace to resist the urge, an urge that comes and goes to this day, an urge to run, to escape into the bottle. God has given this grace by placing people in my life that have stood by me in the ups and downs of these past five years. God has also done this by giving me a sense of purpose, by helping me to see that my struggles with addiction, mental illness, and suicide can all help call people to a deeper understanding of Christ's love for them in (not in spite of) their brokenness. I could see my story as a humiliation, something to be avoided at all cost, but I cherish the opportunities that I have to tell my story, to open up to others about my humanity as well as the reality of what Christ is able, and willing, to work with.

Link to Sirach, Chapter 2, NRSVCE

If you, or someone you love struggles with addiction, mental illness, or thoughts of suicide please know that I am more than happy to talk with you; to listen about the darkness in your life and help you look for help and signs of Christ's abundant light. You are not alone. God bless!

Be Salt and Light!

Fifth Sunday in ordinary Time

Saint Patrick Parish, Louisville, Ky.

Link to the Readings ~ Link to Listen to the Homily

Now I’m not a chemist or geologist, but I am pretty sure that by itself salt cannot lose its taste. The only way I can think of for salt to become less salty is for it to be diluted, say for instance that I put a small amount of salt into a large amount of water – the salt would lose its taste. The same goes for light, the only way to stop light from being light is to hide it, to prevent it from being seen. Our Gospel reading for today challenges us to think of our faith in the same way that we think of salt and light, either we let it be truly what it is, or we hide and or dilute it. To either be salt and light for the world or not. 

I have a story that I’d like to share that may help to make this hiding and diluting faith more clear; it just so happens that today is Scout Sunday because my story takes place at Philmont Scout Ranch in Northeastern New Mexico. Now Philmont is an enormous place that employs more than a thousand people and hosts tens of thousands of young people every year. Over the summer of 2011, I had the opportunity to be one of the Catholic chaplains at Philmont. While I was there, I also participated in the Saint George Trek which happens every two years and brings together young Catholics, both boys, and girls, from across the nation to hike Philmont for 11 days. It is an opportunity for these young men and women to discern their vocation and possibly pray about becoming a priest or a religious sister. So, there we were, my crew and I, out in the middle of this wilderness and we had already hiked 15 miles that day, our itinerary had gotten messed up, and we unexpectedly had to hike a lot more than the previous days. It was getting late, and we decided to stop and quickly eat our dinner before continuing down the trail. It was already starting to get dark by the time we got on our way for the last several miles, and we knew, we knew what was going to happen. There is even a video out there of one of the guys going from person to person asking who they wanted to play them in the Hollywood reenactment of the very much foreseeable outcome of these unfortunate events. I insisted that I be played by Matt Damon. After critically evaluating Matt Damon’s decisions it is obvious that he should have had the crew make camp right where they were. You need to understand that hiking in the dark not only has the dangers of tripping over something in the pitch-black, but there are wild animals out there – big wild animals. 

Sure enough, just as we expected, with a couple of miles and several hours of hiking left, we began to be stalked by a mountain lion. Now I was in the back of our line, and I have never, ever, been so scared in my entire life! All I had was a little knife and a dinky pathetic flashlight for safety. We must have made quite a sight walking as closely together as possible and singing random songs, like Row Row Row Your Boat, as loudly as we could trying our best to do what we had been trained to do if this scenario ever arose. I never saw the creature, but I heard him move from one side of us, around the back, to the other side, back and forth always following us! Now, this was by far not the proudest moment of my life but one of the boys was bigger than I was and I was in a near panic after the first mile or so. I kept thinking ‘it’s going to attack my legs,’ ‘it’s going to attack my neck,’ ‘it’s going to attack my legs’ … over and over. And so, I am ashamed to say; I asked this larger boy to take my place at the back – I told him ‘if anything happens I’m going to be right there, don’t worry!’ It was at that instant that my salt lost some of its flavor – my faith was shaken, and I did something that I still regret. 

Halfway through we remembered that one of the guys, we’ll say his name was Tim, we remembered that Tim had this awesome flashlight that had a strobe feature that was bright enough, and fast enough, to disorient a human, and we hoped it would be the same with a mountain lion. So we called up to Tim, ‘hey Tim, let us have your flashlight.’ And do you know what Tim said? He said ‘only if you replace the battery when we get to the next camp.’ I said ‘Tim! Give us your flashlight!’ It was at that instant that Tim’s salt lost some of its flavor – his faith was diluted by fear, and he did something that looking back he probably would be a bit embarrassed. 

I hope these two humbling examples help to illustrate how fear, fear above all emotions, can dilute and hide faith. Fear takes away a bit of the flavor, a bit of the taste of our faith. The Church in her teachings, in her traditions, in Sacred Scripture, has made it clear how far we are to take loving our neighbor and our enemy. Our first readings from the prophet Isaiah today is quite clear:

Share your bread with the hungry,

shelter the oppressed and the homeless;

clothe the naked when you see them,

and do not turn your back on your own.

~ Isaiah 58:7

Now you might say to me ‘but Father, it says to look after our own’ to which I would remind you that it does say that, only after saying shelter the oppressed and the homeless. I truly fear that politics in our nation is diluting our Christianity. This cannot be the case; we are not called to be Catholic Christians through the eyes of our political leaning! We must view our politics through Christian eyes! Otherwise, politics will dilute, without a doubt, will dilute our faith. There are people is our world who are suffering greatly, and we have the opportunity to help them, to see them worthy of our care and love, but we will be unable to do so if we let fear dilute or hide our faith. 

We as Catholic Christians cannot sit comfortably in either political party if we are faithful and support life from the womb to the tomb, all life long, we cannot be comfortable in either political party. There is a great debate going on in our country as to what we should do with the world’s refugee crisis. If we close our eyes to their plight we would be hiding our light under a bushel basket; we would be diluting the salt of our faith. We, my brothers and sisters, are called to be a light on a lamp stand, to not live a diluted form of Christianity. To be true to what makes us God’s people we must welcome the unfortunate. We say yes, with courage, and with the help of God, to being salt and light for a world in need!

A Renewed Vision of Church

Feast of Saint Angela Merici 

Sacred Heart Academy, Louisville Ky.

January 27, 2017

Link to Readings

Have you heard that a week ago, we had an Inaugurated a new President of the United States? Did you also hear that there were millions of women, and men, but mostly women who participated in the Women’s March in Washington DC, throughout the United States, and across the world? Some might say it is foolish for me to speak about the Women’s March, others may say it would be cowardly for me not to speak about it, and I have spent too many years of my life being a coward. There were many good and genuine reasons for these women to band together in solidarity; a few of those reasons were equal pay for equal work, respect for women the world over, and a call for safeguards against sexual harassment. These are issues that the Catholic Church is fully behind. There were other issues, life issues, that the Church has another take on, in fact, there is another March, the March for Life, happening today were equally large crowds will march for the sanctity of life. The Catholic Church holds that all life is sacred and everyone deserves to have the natural dignity inherent to the human person recognized from the womb to the tomb. 

Our first reading today speaks of not turning back, of holding fast to the mission we have received. When the Letter to the Hebrews instructs us that “we are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life” I believe it is telling us to hold firm to our foundations. It is my fear that Christians and Catholics alike have forgotten where we come from, that we have forgotten how the early Church spread like wildfire amongst the slaves, the poor, women, and others who felt disenfranchised. This is where we come from – a Church for those who felt they belonged nowhere else. 

This is the vision of Church that Saint Angela Merici held when she looked upon the poverty-stricken girls of her hometown and decided that they were worth a decent education. Saint Angela may have begun the first religious community of sisters to work outside the cloister, but the heart of her mission was an ideal to serve the less fortunate that dated back to the very beginnings of the Church. Saint Angela did not see the poverty, and she did not see them as just girls, she looked upon them and saw the human dignity that they posed and loved them for it. 

We have all undoubtedly heard the parable of the mustard seed, we probably have heard about how something so small can create something so big, but we may be blind to another aspect of this parable that deserves mentioning. If we look at this parable with the eyes of a first century Jew, we will realize that the Jewish people of that time had no use whatsoever for mustard, none. It was a weed and when we take it a step further the idea of planting a weed in your field where it will grow and take up a lot of space was lunacy. A Jew who planted mustard in his field would undoubtedly face mockery from his friends and neighbors for the ridiculous nature of his actions. That is what Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to – a mustard seed (us) growing into a huge bush (the Church.) The Church must never lose sight of this fundamental fact concerning the Christian life that we are to remain open, no matter what, to all people who may feel marginalized or left out. Whether that is the poor, the immigrant, someone who is gay or lesbian, people of color, people questioning their gender identity, it doesn’t matter – they are all birds of the sky welcome under the one protective bush that is the Church. This is the way the early Christians saw the Church, and this is the way Saint Angela saw the Church, this is the way we are called to see the Church.

Mary our Mother of the Church

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Saint Patrick’s Parish

December 31 / January 1, 2017

Link to the Sunday Readings

I want to begin today with a little logic syllogism – a logic equation; don’t worry it won’t be too difficult. If we believe that Christ is truly God-made-man, that will make his mother the mother of God. We also hold that Jesus Christ, God-made-man came in the flesh to set us free from sin, not to make us his slaves (in the way that we are otherwise slaves to sin) but rather, as Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians, we are made adoptive brothers and sisters of Jesus. So, if we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, and Jesus is the son of Mary, the mother of God, that makes Mary our mother as well. Now, my mother will be the first one to tell you that she isn’t perfect, that she is just as human as you and me, but I also have no doubt that she loves all her children very much. Mary, having been conceived without sin is the perfect mother, the ideal mother; and this doesn’t lessen the love that our mothers have for us, it is simply a perfection of that love. Likewise, God the Father is the perfect father, an example for all fathers to follow. 

The importance of Mary Mother of God does not end with her example of loving motherhood; she is also a stand-in for the Church. We have heard a lot from the beginnings of the Gospels, but if we go to the end of John’s Gospel we have the scene of Christ on the cross with the beloved Apostle, John, there at the foot of the cross along with Mary. We hear in Sacred Scripture that they were the only two brave enough to be there for the crucifixion, and as they are there witnessing the horrors of the cross Jesus tells John, behold your mother, and to Mary, behold your son. One of Jesus’ final acts before he died was to make Mary the adoptive mother of John and in this way we see Mary not only as our adoptive mother but also the mother of the Church. Indeed, when thinking of the Church it is almost always possible for Mary, the mother of God, and the Catholic Church to be interchangeable. In fact, the Church is often referred to in the feminine; we speak of she and her when referencing the Church. We see this especially in the Eucharistic prayer, listen carefully, and you will hear the feminine pronouns. The Church loves her children as much as Mary, the perfect mother, loves all her children. The Church is not some cold human institution but a mother with warmth, kindness, love and mercy. The Church doesn’t want to tell her children no; instead, like any true mother, she wants to say yes to our efforts to fully live the lives we called to lead. 

Comparison of Bouguereau's
Mary with child Jesus and Mary Mother of Sorrows

I believe we hear of this love in our first reading, a reading from the Book of Numbers. Now the Book of Numbers is not known to be the most, well, lively of the books in Sacred Scripture – you might guess that from the title; but within that sometimes tedious book is the section we hear from today. This section is God’s instructions to Moses to tell Aaron, the first Jewish priest, on what they as priests are to say to the people. As a Catholic priest, I not only consider myself to be part of an unbroken line down from the Apostles, but also a continuation of the priesthood of Aaron and the Jewish priesthood that had come before. So as a continuation of that priesthood I think of these words as instruction on how I am to speak to the people of God: 

Say to them:
      The Lord bless you and keep you!
      The Lord let his face shine upon you,
      and be gracious to you!
      The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!
            ~ Number 3:23-26

If you ask me these are the words of a mother for her children, these are words that speak of love, compassion, kindness, and grace. These are the words that God speaks to his people through their mother, the Church. The Church is sometimes referred to as the bride of Christ, and her priests, acting in the person of Christ, also take her as their bride – that is how close the connection is between priests and the Church, our vocation is to her. 

On this great Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God I think it might be a good time to make the New Year’s resolution to spend a little bit more time with your mother, the Church. Perhaps there is a teaching of the Church with which you are not sure if you agree. Perhaps you might want to look into a bit more, see why the Church teaches what she teaches; you may find that you have a preconceived notion about what the Church teaches upon investigating the deeper truths of the Catholic faith. The Church as our mother is a great gift from God, spend time with her, allow her love for you the chance to shine through.

Belonging, Yet Not Belonging

Christmas Night Mass
Saint Patrick’s Parish

Dec. 24/25, 2016

Link to Readings

I don’t believe I can even begin to count the number of times in my life when I felt like I didn’t belong, like I was out of place. Growing up I was a goofy kid, in many ways I’m still a goofy kid, but back then I was definitely a goofy kid. It’s a terrible feeling but a feeling that is all too human. One of the worst aspects of this feeling was the dread that someone else would also notice, that someone else might point out that I didn’t belong. If I were to pick one such episode from my life, it would be high school lunch. I was right where I belonged, according to my schedule that is, but there was frequently a large amount of anxiety over who I might sit with this time? How might I fit in today? I am all but certain that I wasn’t the only one to feel this way, but it felt like it. 

Our Gospel today is full of examples of this tension between belonging and not belonging; of being exactly where one is supposed to be but not fitting into one’s surroundings. The first of these examples is Mary and Joseph. We hear about how in those days the great Emperor Caesar Augustus ordered that the entire Roman world be numbered, and so Joseph left his home in Nazareth and traveled to his ancestral homeland of Bethlehem. He arrived exactly where tradition told him he was supposed to be, but there was no room, no place for them to stay. They belonged there, but they were still out of place. 

A second example is the shepherds, the first people, the only ones to whom the angels went to announce the birth of the Christ. Now I believe we often have an overly romantic vision regarding the shepherds of the ancient world. You can see evidence of this way of viewing the shepherds in our nativity scene. They just look so… nice, but believe me shepherds of that period were not nice. They were anything but nice. These were hard men who lived their lives out in nature. When people worried about night-time traveling they weren’t just concerned about robbers and killers, they were on the lookout for the shepherds as well. These men were often criminals, and they were often feared. 

All the parents out there, I want you to think back to the birth of your first child. I want you to imagine a big guy coming to the door; perhaps he has tattoos on his face and even a large knife on his belt, and this intimidating stranger says that he wants to see your baby and that a bunch of angels has sent him no less! Just imagine! He doesn’t belong, and yet he does belong because the angels went to them and invited them, some of the lowliest and most feared people of that time. Saturday Night Live has often done a great job with their Christmas sketches and this year that had one of Mary and Joseph right after the birth of Jesus. Mary is, of course, exhausted after giving birth, but Joseph is more than happy to let anyone, and everyone, who comes to the door in to see the child while the whole scene dramatically embarrasses Mary. I believe this sketch helps to point out the tension between those who don’t belong and yet do belong. 

The greatest example of this tension between belonging and not belonging is Jesus Christ himself. Amid all the tension surrounding his birth, God-made-man leaves the safety of the womb and enters the world. If anyone doesn’t belong in this scene, it would be him. There are of course aspects of a child being born in a stable which do not fit but much deeper than that the almighty God has decided to send his word to take on human flesh – the infinite and the finite have mixed. After 2,000 plus years of Christian worship, I think we miss the total audacity which is the Incarnation: God becoming man, perfectly God and yet also perfectly human. He doesn’t belong here, and yet he does all because he decided to, only God can make the impossible possible. 

I believe this tension between not belonging and yet somehow belonging is near universal to the human experience. Just like in my example many of us wouldn’t have to think outside our experience of high school, either current or years ago, to recall that feels, that terrible feeling of not belonging even though you are right where you’re supposed to be. I have a term for this tension between belonging and yet not belonging and I want to take a second to see if you guess what I’m thinking of… my term for this tension is church, yes, church. None of us belong here; if we take an honest look at ourselves, we’ll see that we are all hypocrites and sinners. I know I am. There are also those ‘out there’ the ones out in the world who might look in and say ‘who do they think are? They’re just a bunch of sinners like the rest of us!’ I says that’s the point, that’s why we’re here, because we’re not perfect and just like the baby Jesus didn’t belong in that manger, and he certainly doesn’t belong among as flesh and blood; that same God-made-man who decided to belong where he didn’t belong makes the same decision to dwell in our hearts. God goes out of his way defying preconceived notions about where and with whom he belongs or doesn’t belong. My brothers and sisters, we belong exactly where we are, amongst other sinners and hypocrites just like us, and our God meets us right where we are.

Rejoice to Keep the Faith

Third (Gaudete) Sunday of Advent

Link to the Readings

Saint Patrick Parish

December 10/11, 2016

“Way back” at the end of November I ordered a computer, and I’ve been waiting for it to be shipped ever since. At first, they said it would be here by the 9th, then they updated it and said it would be here by the 14th, but I was skeptical that they would hold to that date. It turns out I was right to doubt them – I checked this morning (yes I’m that interested that I checked this morning) and now they are saying it will be here by the 25th. Not only that but the Federal Trade Commission stepped in and required me to accept this change or decline the order – I’m guessing it has something to do with receiving Christmas presents in time for Christmas. Either way, I am beginning to doubt that I’ll ever get the computer. Will it now come when they say it will, or will it be delayed again? My interest in this computer isn’t purely selfish, by the way, I am planning to give my old computer to my sister, so this is sort of for her… sort of.

We are in the season of waiting, namely waiting for the coming of the Lord at Christmas time, but I cannot help but see within my situation one of the dangers of waiting. That danger is the connection between waiting and becoming impatient, which can easily lead to doubt. Waiting, it seems, can feel like an eternity and it is not difficult to imagine giving up altogether. The virtue that is the opposite of impatience is obviously patience and the virtue that counteracts doubt is of course faith. In this season of waiting are we in danger of losing our patience, or our faith?

Our Advent wreath can be a symbol of waiting. From the time we are old enough to count, I am willing to bet each and every one of us has seen the pink candle burning and thought ‘halfway to Christmas!’ Some may also become impatient with the waiting; I know as a child I did; I would think about how soon it would be until the fourth candle was light and then Christmas would be right around the corner, oh but all the while it seemed so far away! Waiting can lead to impatience which can lead to doubt.

John Linnell, Saint John the Baptist, 1867

No one, it seems, is safe from the possibility of becoming impatient and losing faith. Just look at the example of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel. This is John the Baptist we are talking about, the man whose entire life pointed to Jesus as the Messiah. We now find him sitting in prison, and in prison he has time to think and doubt. While he is imprisoned, he seems to be growing impatient, or even losing faith that Jesus is the Christ. Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel John the Baptist tells Jesus that he should not be baptizing him; instead, Jesus should be the one doing the baptizing. John is convinced, however, and soon after hears the voice of God coming down from the heavens “this is my son in whom I am well pleased.” This is the same John the Baptist who, in the Gospel of Luke, leaped in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth at the very presence of the unborn Jesus. John the Baptist has encountered Jesus and revealed his faith in him and yet here he is sitting in prison seemingly growing impatient and perhaps even losing faith in Jesus.

If John the Baptist can have a moment of weakness how safe are we? How quickly we can become impatient with our God, who leaves us waiting for him! The answer to this difficulty, I believe, lies in today’s celebration of Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for rejoice, and so I say we are called to rejoice while we wait. Our God who is all loving would not leave us waiting unless there is some good to be found in waiting. In what are we to rejoice? I say rejoice in the fact that God is not done with you yet. No matter how old or how young you are God is not finished with you yet – there is still more yet to be revealed. We must accept the patience and faith that God provides to sit in the tension of waiting, the tension of soon but not yet, the tension that calls us to something greater than ourselves.  

We might at times grow impatient, or even begin to lose faith, but we can rejoice in the fact that Jesus never loses his patience with us, he simply calls us time and again to come closer to him. In an even greater way, God cannot lose faith in us, for God is faith itself, and God cannot betray what he is. God remains constant and we for our part can ever more prepare our hearts to receive him.