Hoping for Blanton's Gold

Second Sunday of Advent

    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]  In October, when I travelled with two other priests and my two barbers down to Kentucky, we had an interesting experience.  It was Wednesday.  My two barbers had gone back to Michigan, because they could only take a couple of days off of work.  So the two other priests, Fr. Brian and Fr. Paul, and I were eating breakfast.  One of the barbers, Zach, texted me to let me know that he had seen that Buffalo Trace was selling Blanton’s Gold, a special kind of Blanton’s bourbon, that day.  It’s often hard enough to find Blanton’s in Michigan, let alone the gold variety.  
    But it was 8:30 a.m., and we three priests were finishing up breakfast in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, about one hour away from Frankfort and Buffalo Trace, and Buffalo Trace opened at 9.  I asked Frs. Brian and Paul if they wanted to try to get some Blanton’s Gold, even though they probably wouldn’t have a lot to sell, there would likely be lots of people already there, or quickly arriving, and we had a 10 a.m. distillery tour that we would have to cancel.  They agreed we should try.
    We got in Fr. Brian’s Jeep, and realized, as we got on the freeway, that we had around 53 miles worth of gas, and Buffalo Trace was around 59 miles away.  So we had to stop and quickly put in 3 gallons of gas, just to make sure we didn’t run out of gas in our effort to get there.  I don’t know how fast Fr. Brian drove, and I didn’t want to know, but we made good time.  When we made it, there was no line, which made me think they were all sold out.  We walked hurriedly into the check-in building, and said we just wanted to go to the gift shop.  The person working the desk said that they had E.H. Taylor and Weller Special Reserve that day.  And then he paused, and continued, “And we also have something else special, but I don’t know if there’s any left.  We just received a red warning, which means that they’ve put out the rest of the supply on the floor, and they won’t be restocking once it’s gone.”  We walked like professional Olympic power-walkers to the gift shop, I almost slipped on the wet floor once I got inside the building, and there, before our eyes, were about 30 more bottles of Blanton’s Gold (limit one per person).  We had hoped that we could get some before it sold out, and we achieved the object of our hope, with all the bottles selling out within 30 minutes of our arrival.

    Advent is a season of hope, not for Blanton’s Gold, but for Christ.  We hear St. Paul tell the Romans today: “Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”  During Advent we enter in to the hope of the Chosen People in those centuries of waiting for the Messiah.  We enter in to the hope that children so wonderfully exemplify as we wait to celebrate Christmas.  We enter in to the hope of Christ’s return in glory at the end of time.  We do a lot of hoping during this Advent season.
    And before us stands the great prophet of hope, St. John the Baptist.  He is the one who prepares the way for the Lord, and informs the people that their hope is about to be fulfilled as the Lamb of God comes to them.  He calls others to repentance so that they are ready to attain the object of their hope, the Messiah.
    But what is hope?  “Hope,” the Catechism tells us, “is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.”  The Catechism continues, 
 

The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration of happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude.

Hope, in its highest form, points us toward heaven and eternal salvation.  Hope keeps us going when the going gets tough.  Hope reminds us that this world is not all there is, but that all will be made right when Christ returns in glory.  
    But hope means that we do not yet possess what we desire.  St. Paul, earlier in his letter to the Romans, writes, “Now hope that sees for itself is not hope.  For who hopes for what one sees?”  I didn’t hope for Blanton’s Gold once I put it in my cart; I possessed it.  Hope carried us on as we traveled I-64 east bound and down, as the song goes.  

    And because we do not yet possess eternal life, we can doubt, which is the vice opposite hope.  We wonder if the waiting is really worth it, and if our reward will ever get here, like a child who wonders if 25 December will ever get here.  Even St. John the Baptist seems to have had some doubts.  After our Lord began His public ministry and Herod had arrested John, John sent messengers to ask Christ: “‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’”  Even while Christ was on earth, the Kingdom was not established in its fulness.  But already, signs were present that it was breaking into the world, and that Christ would install it: “‘The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, [and] the poor have the good news preached to them.’”  
    So, in our own time, there are signs to us of the Kingdom’s approach.  More and more people come to faith and Holy Baptism; they receive strength to walk towards Christ and lead others through Confirmation; God cleans us of sin through confession; God heals our lack of openness to His Word; we rise to new life through Holy Baptism; and those who know they need God do not go away disappointed.  God continues to bring about His kingdom, if we have eyes to see.  St. Theresa of Avila encourages us:
 

Hope, O my soul, hope.  You know neither the day nor the hour.  Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one.  Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.

    So, during this Advent season, may we continue to hope.  May it help us persevere when doubts creep it.  May hope strengthen us to keep walking when the pilgrimage through this vale of tears seems too difficult.  And may our hope be rewarded when, at our death or the return of Christ in glory, we see the object of our hope, God, face to face [the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.  Amen].

Planning and Preparing

 Second Sunday of Advent

    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.].  My best friend often teases me for how much I plan.  Just the other day in a text he said, “nobody plans like you do.”  And I do tend to plan and prepare.  As an example, September 2023 will see (if the Lord tarry) my 40th birthday, and I already have plans on how to celebrate and am preparing to execute those plans.
    Last week I preached about how Advent is a time of waiting.  Advent is also a time of preparing.  St. John the Baptist is the quintessential Advent figure, proclaiming, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”  As a Church, we prepare for three things during Advent: to celebrate Christmas, we prepare for Christ to come into our hearts each day, and we prepare for Christ to return in glory.  As individuals we are probably preparing for family to come over at some point in the next month, perhaps even buying some food now; we clean our house and get it ready for a Christmas tree (real or fake) and the Christmas decorations; we make lists of presents we want and presents we need to get for those we love.  
    Of the three comings of Christ (2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, daily in our hearts, and at the end of time), the one that we probably default to at this time of year is the first Christmas, when Christ was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem.  Perhaps we even think, especially as we just closed out the month of November, about Christ returning in glory and the final judgment.  But today I’d like to focus on preparing for Christ to come into our hearts today, and how we prepare for that.
    Because while the Incarnation was a unique event, as Christ took flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and we could know about that Incarnation when He was born, Christ, in an analogous sense, becomes incarnate every day, as we offer to God ordinary bread and wine, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the ministry of the priest, Christ changes it into His Body and Blood.  Each Sunday is a little Easter, as we celebrate the Resurrection, but each Mass is like a little Christmas, when God miraculously takes flesh before our eyes and we can look upon the God whom the heavens and earth cannot contain.
    Just like preparing for Christmas, there are practical ways that we get ready for Mass.  We get dressed (thank you for not coming to Mass without clothes!), hopefully donning nicer clothes than we would wear to go to a movie or a sporting event.  We make sure we don’t smell too gamey, and maybe comb or brush the hair, and maybe the ladies put on a little make-up.  If we have kids, we try to ensure that the socks match, the shoes are on the correct feet, and they won’t be too cold or too hot.  We leave (or should leave) so that we’re not walking into Mass after it has already begun, allowing a little time in case we catch every red light, or construction makes our detour from our regular route.  Those are all necessary preparations that we personally make for Mass, but which are altogether secular.  But how do we prepare ourselves spiritually?  Do we prepare ourselves spiritually?
    We can prepare for Mass by doing a good examination of conscience, and going to confession.  We especially need to go to confession if we are aware of mortal or grave sins, but we can also go even if we only have venial sins.  Allowing the Lord to cleanse us of our sins removes and obstacles that may get in the way of our reception of the Lord’s grace.  
    Preparation for Mass can also begin six days before Mass even begins.  Thanks to hand missals and the Internet, we probably always know what the readings will be for the following Sunday.  A great way to prepare is to read over the readings for Mass each day before the following Sunday.  Reading the Word of God is a great preparation, as the proclamation of the prophets was the same way the Chosen People were prepared for the Incarnation.  Reading something multiple times also helps us go deeper into the meaning of the sacred text.  And, if you have a child who is a bit squirmy and you have to step out, or if the homily is particularly boring, you can think about what you might say about those readings, and how God has spoken to you through the Word of God.
    Another proximate way of preparing is by fasting.  We are required to fast from all food and drink except water and medicine for 1 hour before receiving Holy Communion.  This means no gum, no walking in with a cup of coffee, or no other little food or drink delights.  The Communion fast prepares our body to hunger for the Eucharist.  It draws our mind and our body to the Body we will be receiving, the Body of our Lord.  Of course, this fast can be modified if our health requires some sustenance (such as those who are hypoglycemic, diabetic, or even simply pregnant).  But it can also be extended as a means of devotion.  Some of you remember when you had to fast for 3 hours before receiving Holy Communion, and a handful of you may even remember requiring the fast to begin at midnight (which is why the first meal of the day was usually had after Mass and was called breakfast–literally, breaking the fast).  I myself try not to eat any food before my first Mass of the day.
    On the day of Mass, proper preparation continues, as much as possible, by arriving at Mass before it’s scheduled to begin.  Again, with kids that can sometimes be tough, and even the best planning and preparation can sometimes give way to the practicalities of getting kids ready who may not always be helpful or enthused when it comes to going to Mass.  But generally, do we plan to arrive a little before Mass begins, or do we wander in sometime during the first reading, or second reading, or homily?
    Having arrived at Mass early, with whom do we spend that time?  There’s nothing wrong with catching up with friends before Mass, but God wants your time as well, and deserves it more than your friends.  Do you take time to quiet your heart, to make space for God’s voice, that so often comes in the silence by silent prayer before Mass?  There are a variety of prayers before Mass that one can say, or perhaps pray a decade of or an entire Rosary.  
    So often I hear the trite phrase, “I don’t get anything out of Mass.”  You might hear it as well.  I would encourage you to respond (of if you say it yourself, think on): “What did you do to get ready for Mass?”  Just like if we are not prepared for an event, we don’t get as much out of it, so with the Mass, if we have not prepared, we may not experience as many of the fruits as God desires for us.  You don’t necessarily have to be a planner like me, but make time to prepare to come to the celebration of the Passion of the Lord [who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is God, for ever and ever.  Amen].

An icon of St. John the Baptist from the place where he was hidden during the slaughter of the Holy Innocents

What We Are Called

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
    There are numbers of things that we can be called during our life time, and some of them can even be said in church!  My grandparents and their generation called me Tony; among my elementary and middle school friends I was TJ; in high school I was AJ; Bishop Mengeling liked Anthony, which is what I started to be called in seminary.  In seminary I developed the nickname Strohs, after the cheap beer, since my last name was similar.  In the State Police I have developed the nicknames Padre and Chap (short for chaplain).  I’m sure there are others about which I don’t know because people don't say them to my face!
    Today we hear a few names or titles.  In the first reading: “my servant” and “my chosen one,” and in the Gospel, “‘my beloved Son.”  Each, too, comes with longer descriptions about the identity of the one about whom God is speaking.  Isaiah talks about the servant and chosen one as “upon whom I have put my spirit.”  He goes on to say about this person, “I…have called you for the victory of justice, I…set you as a…light for the nations.”  Isaiah probably didn’t know it, but God was speaking to Isaiah about Jesus.    In the Gospel, the name is without doubt about Jesus, and John and the people hear it clearly.  As Jesus is coming up from the water, God the Father, who had sent the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, says that Jesus is the beloved Son, “‘with whom I am well pleased.’”  What an identity!  What an expression of love from the Father!
    And yet, in Baptism, both of those things now apply to us.  Let’s look at the Gospel first.  In Baptism, we become a child of God in the Son of God.  God does not simply cover us up with His grace, as snow covered dung (to paraphrase an alleged phrase of Martin Luther).  In  Baptism, He changes our soul and makes us like Himself, so that, when God looks at us, He truly sees His beloved Son.  We are configured to Christ, with an indelible mark, a seal, a character, that forever wants us to be like Christ in our daily choices.  Preface VII of the Sundays in Ordinary Time says it this way: “so that you might love in us what you loved in your Son.”  That’s no small thing!  God is not blind, so it’s not like He cannot see our sins, but at our soul, since we are baptized, He sees Jesus, His beloved Son.
    And then, turning to our first reading, because of our new identity in Baptism, our path is changed.  Before Baptism, we are not likely on the road to heaven.  The road to heaven is narrow, and the only way to it is through Christ.  In fact, the Church goes so far as to say that for those who do not know Christ or His Church through no fault of their own, if they are seeking God with all their heart and doing their best to follow their conscience, it is possible that they can be saved.  Possible.  It can happen, but the pre-requisites (not knowing Jesus through true ignorance, doing everything possible to try to know God, and following the conscience) are pretty tough. 
    But with Baptism, the road becomes a bit easier, because we have a well-spring of grace flowing up within us, urging us on towards the divine life of holiness.  Which is why Isaiah can say, “I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice.”  We are not baptized into failure.  We are baptized for victory, for greatness.  Ours is not meant to be the mediocre life.  Ours is meant to be a heroic life, even if not many people know about our heroism.  For January 12, listen to the saints that are honored on this day (even if not in the general calendar): St. Marguerite Bourgeoys; St. Aelred of Rievaulx; St. Anthony Mary Pucci; St. Arcadius; St. Bartholomew Alvarez; St. Benedict Biscop; St. Caesaria; The Ephesian Martyrs; St. John of Ravenna; St. Martina; St. Martin of Leon; St. Salvius; St. Satyrus; St. Tatiana of Rome; Sts. Tigrius and Eutropius; St. Victorian of Asan; and St. Zoticus.  Have any of you heard of any of them?  I haven’t!  But they’re all canonized saints.  And beyond them, think of the others who are in heaven who lived heroic lives but not well-known lives.  All of that was a response to baptism, to that call for the victory of justice. 
    What does that look like?  For parents of young children, it means doing all you can to pass on the faith to them and help them to develop their relationship with Jesus.  For young children it means obeying parents and being loving even when your young siblings maybe aren’t showing that love to you.  For older couples, it means putting up with your spouse’s idiosyncrasies (which you see much more as retired), and caring for each other in illness.  For widows and widowers it means turning to the Lord in times of loneliness and sorrow.  For all of us it means donating our time to the Lord, avoiding gossip and speaking ill of others, and making our relationship with Jesus the most important part of each day. 
    In Baptism, we were chosen by the Lord as His servant and chosen one.  In Baptism we became a son or daughter in the Son of God.  In Baptism we were made for the victory of justice.  Let’s not forget those names and titles, and, by the grace of God, work to make them even more true each day. 

'Twas the Night of Little Giants

Second Sunday of Advent

Two weeks ago we ended our Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.  Maybe after hearing today’s Gospel we feel like we have begun the Year of Divine Wrath!  St. John the Baptist certainly did not pull any punches.  To those who were open to him, he was preaching, “‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’”  To those who weren’t open to him, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, he was even harsher: “‘You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce good fruit as evidence as your repentance.  […] His winnowing fan is in his hand.  He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn in unquenchable fire.”

An icon of St. John the Baptist
from outside Ein Kerem, Israel

I often wonder about how St. John the Baptist drew so many people.  He definitely had positive things to say, but a lot of what he said was somewhat harsh and critical.  Who gathers to hear the message: you are sinners and you need to shape up!?  And yet we hear about the large crowds who came to him to be baptized.  I remember walking back from the MSU-Notre Dame game (the famous one with the Little Giants play), and there was a street preacher along one of the sidewalks yelling at people to repent from their sexual immorality, their drinking, and their sinfulness in general.  I was in my collar, and as I looked at him, he said, “And don’t think you are safe because you work in the church!” or some such thing.  But people weren’t lining up to listen to him; in fact, they just walked on by. 

St. Matthew tells us that St. John the Baptist was the one who was preparing the way for the Lord.  God prepares the way for the public ministry of His Son, Jesus, by having a guy who eats locusts and honey tell people that they are sinners.  Hmmm…not the first approach I would think of if I wanted to get ready for the Messiah.

But, as Isaiah says elsewhere, God’s ways are not our ways.  And if we stop to think about it, it actually makes sense (except for the locust and honey part; I’m still not sure I get that).  We did just end the Year of Mercy, and we were rightly focused on God’s generous love which forgives us.  But love cannot be forced or faked.  God does not force His love on us (nor His mercy), and God does not give His forgiveness to those who are not sorry.  And so as odd as we may feel it is, the call to repentance is an important one.

Certainly, God’s grace starts the process.  We cannot be sorry without God enlightening us about our sins and the ways we have separated ourselves from Him.  But then we have to take the second step and acknowledge that we are wrong.  It’s one thing to think, “Maybe I shouldn’t have done X;” it’s another thing altogether to say, “I sinned when I did X.”  And it is only after we say “I sinned when I did X” and are sorry for whatever X is and make a resolution to not do X again that God can forgive us, because it is only after recognizing our sinfulness and our need for being forgiven that we will be open enough to receive God’s forgiveness.

The call to repentance and to admitting we have sinned is vitally important, of eternal importance, because only when we admit we have sinned and repent are we able to be forgiven.  Without someone to remind us that we are not perfect, that we don’t have everything figured out in our life, that we are sinners, we are not in a disposition to receive the mercy of God which we just focused on for the past year.  We need people in our life like St. John the Baptist to tell us we are sinners, not to beat us up, not to make us despair, but to prepare the road that Jesus wants to take to our hearts.  

Is it hard to admit that we’re wrong?  I’m a perfectionist, and it’s hard for me.  But it’s the truth.  I am a sinner.  And I don’t have to be Hitler or Stalin to accuse myself of sin.  We are all sinners, and we all need to repent.  We all have things in our life that are not of God and which have damaged or even severed our relationship with God.  Maybe we are afraid of guilt; maybe we don’t like that feeling.  But feeling guilty is a sign that our conscience, the voice of God in our hearts, is working properly and is properly formed by the Word of God and the teaching of the Church.  I don’t worry about the kid who cries after being caught doing something wrong in our school; I worry about the kid who feels nothing after being caught doing something wrong.

But God does not intend for us to remain in our guilt.  Guilt is meant to move us to repentance and the Sacrament of Penance.  How long has it been since you confessed your sins in the Sacrament of Penance, the way Jesus taught us to receive His forgiveness?  A month? Six months? A year? Five years? Ten years? Twenty years?  No matter how long it has been, do not let it last one more month.  God wants to shower His mercy upon you, and is waiting for you to respond to His grace to go to the Sacrament.  I’ll be glad to help you through the process if you’ve forgotten how to celebrate the sacrament or your Act of Contrition.  Or we’ll have other priests here on Sunday, 18 December at 3 p.m. to hear your confession.  The Year of Mercy is over, but God’s mercy endure for ever.  “‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’”

Exams and Heaven

Second Sunday of Advent

            Now for a little note: in this new liturgical year, I want to shift my focus a little bit in the homilies I preach.  Last year I tried to focus on the gift of faith and spreading the Gospel.  That certainly will still come up in my homilies, as it is a perennial aspect of our faith.  But this year I want to focus more on the prayers that I say in your name during the Mass as a way of encouraging us to participate more fully in the Divine Mysteries in which we partake, and challenging us to take that participation outside the doors of this church.

Final exams week: I remember it well.  I remember the stress, the anxiety, hoping to keep a good grade, or maybe to bump the grade up a bit with a final good grade.  Plus, getting ready, maybe, to move back home for a little while.  And, there’s still Christmas presents and cards to buy.  No big deal, right?  But, imagine this added aspect: when Bishop Boyea was academic dean at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, during exam week he would walk up and down the hallways singing, “It’s the Most Wonderful time of the Year.”  Honestly, I’m surprised there wasn’t a freak “accident” at least once.

            Our first reading sets a picturesque view of the coming of the Messiah:

the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him…not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted.  Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.  Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.  The cow and the bear shall be neighbors…There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain.

Maybe to this we might add: the professor will stop giving exams, and class participation shall be 100% of the grade.  Surely there are no final exams in paradise!!

            The prayer that opened our Mass, the Collect (so called because the priest collects all our silent prayers and merges them into a prayer that he says on all the people’s behalf) said: “Almighty and merciful God, may no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet your Son, but may our learning of heavenly wisdom gain us admittance to his company.”  God doesn’t want us to be distracted right now by any earthly undertaking, including exams.  So, everybody take a deep breath, and whatever it is that has got you wound up tighter than a watch, let it go.  Because, while most things we do are important—in school, in work, with family—nothing is more important than our time right here, right now with the Lord. 

           

Our Gospel passage introduces us for the first time on a Sunday this Advent to St. John the Baptist.  And he sounds quite different than the first reading.  Whereas the first reading seems all nice, warm, and cozy, St. John the Baptist seems more like an angry preacher.  He calling people broods of vipers, telling them the axe is at the foot of the tree to chop it down, and calling everyone to repent.  And yet he is the messenger that Isaiah, the same Isaiah as our first reading, prophesied as “A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”  That seems a bit odd.

            But what John is pointing out is that we are all sinners: each and every one of us.  I am a sinner.  You are all sinners.  That sounds harsh!  That sounds downright mean to our yuppy culture (to use a Duck Dynasty term).  But it’s true, and in order for us to prepare for Jesus’ coming, we have to recognize our sins.  We have to turn away from them.  Because otherwise, if we do not recognize that we are sinners, then we don’t need a savior.  If you are not lost, then you don’t need saving.  And if you don’t need saving, then Jesus is not for you, because He came to seek and to save what was lost.

            Our prayers try to remind us that we need a redeemer, too.  Our Prayer over the Offerings says: “Be pleased, O Lord, with our humble prayers and offerings, and, since we have no merits to plead our cause, come, we pray, to our rescue with the protection of your mercy.”  What we’re giving God is the best we have, hopefully, but even that isn’t so great.  We don’t have anything that we have done that could put us back into right relationship with God.  Because we owe God everything, nothing that we could ever pay back would work at paying down the principle of the debt we incurred by sin.  When we recognize that, then Jesus becomes all the more important, because we recognize we can’t do it on our own.  We cannot heal ourselves, but need to be healed by the mercy of God. 

            And God gives us His mercy when we ask for it.  He gives it to us under sacramental signs.  He gives us mercy for all our sins when we come to Him in the Sacrament of Penance (and we’ll have our communal Penance Liturgy next Sunday), and He gives us mercy for our venial or small sins when we celebrate His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension under the sacramental signs of bread and wine which are also truly the Body and Blood of Jesus.  Our Prayer after Communion reaffirms this: “Replenished by the food of spiritual nourishment, we humbly beseech you, O Lord, that, through our partaking in this mystery, you may teach us to judge wisely the things of earth and hold firm to the things of heaven.”  When we worthily receive the Eucharist, we are spiritually fed, and as we partake in the Paschal Mystery, that Death, Resurrection, and Ascension that won for us eternal life, we understand better and are given strength to live out better our call to be disciples of Jesus who try to make our life like His as much as we can.

            Yes, Advent is a crazy time of year as we prepare for Christmas because of exams, parties, family coming over, work, buying gifts.  But in the midst of the craziness, don’t let it consume you.  Don’t let these earthly undertakings get in the way of what Advent truly prepares for: the celebration of the birth of Christ, the second coming of Christ, and the ways that Christ comes to our hearts each day.

Mistaken for the Father

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

            It’s a pretty common occurrence, I think, that happens to many young men and women during adolescence.  It has certainly happened to me a number of times.  The phone rings.  “Hello?”  “Hi Rob, how you doing?”  “Actually this is Anthony.”  “Oh, sorry, you sound just like your dad!”  I know it also happened a at least a few times with my sisters picking up the phone, and the person on the other line thinking it was my mom.  While it can be frustrating for the young man or woman, there is a certain fittingness to the fact that the child sounds like his or her parent.

             As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord today, we notice a similar series of events taking shape, albeit without the telephone, in our readings.  As we listen to the words of the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading, we hear God the Father promising to send a servant who will bring justice to the nations.  The servant will open the eyes of the blind, bring out prisoners from confinement, and bring those in darkness out from the dungeon.  This servant will be one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rests, and with whom God the Father is pleased.

            To those who had ears to hear and eyes to see at the Jordan River, to those who had remembered this passage from Isaiah, Jesus’ baptism would have been a jaw-dropping moment.  Because just as Jesus came up from the water, the Spirit of God, in the form of a dove, came upon Jesus, and a voice from heaven said, “‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”  The prophecy from Isaiah was fulfilled in their hearing, and it is reaffirmed for us in our hearing today. 

But if you notice, God does not simply fulfill the prophecy.  No, he goes beyond its fulfillment.  He does not simply send the Spirit upon Jesus in a nebulous, invisible form, but allows the Spirit to take the form of a dove, so that all might see it.  And Jesus is not just the servant with whom the Lord is pleased, but Jesus is the servant who is the beloved Son of God, with whom God the Father is well pleased.  God’s abundant love is seen here, going beyond what the Chosen People were taught to hope for.  God outdoes His own promises, out of love for the people He has made His own.  And Jesus’ public ministry, the proof that He is the servant and Son of God, is Jesus opening the eyes of the blind, freeing prisoners from the slavery of sin, and bringing the light of truth and grace to those who were kept in.

Brothers and sisters, if we have been baptized, then we have been joined to the Body of Christ, and this prophecy, which was fulfilled in its fullest form in Jesus, also is meant to speak of us.  If Christ is the Son and servant of God who is called to open the eyes of the blind, free prisoners, and bring light to those in darkness, and if we are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, through our baptism, then we are also called to do the same.  When people hear our voices, they should hear the voice of Christ, the revelation of the Father; when they see our good deeds, they should see Christ present, and in seeing Christ, know of the Father’s love in action; when they hear us proclaiming the Gospel, and telling people to repent and believe because the Kingdom of God is at hand, they should recognize Christ, and in recognizing Christ recognize the Father, because Jesus is the manifestation of the Father in the world.

It is as if we were on the telephone, and because we are so like Christ, who is the full revelation of the Father, people mistake us for the Father’s beloved Son, not by the treble of our voice, or by the way we look physically, but because we are continuing the proclamation of the Good News: that God loves us so much, that He sent His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life.  Just as can happen with young men and women on the telephone, people should confuse us for Jesus when they come into contact with us because of our devotion as disciples to the Master.

Now, certainly this is a tall order.  But you have what it takes.  It is not limited to a particular race, gender, or those with good speaking abilities, or priests, or religious.  No, as St. Peter said in the second reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, “‘God shows no partiality.  Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.’”  We have the ability because we were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, and we have a fountain of graces, ready to flow, if only we would accept it, and let it flow, rather than blocking it by embarrassment of seeming “extreme;” by false humility of thinking, “I can’t spread the Gospel because I don’t know enough;” or by sin which separates us from God.  Certainly we do have to work at presenting the truth of the Gospel in Love, and we must know Him about whom we preach, and all of us need to return to the Lord for forgiveness for those times when we have fallen into sin, but God has already given us all we need to spread the Gospel to all nations, so that they can be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and become members of the Body of Christ, and co-heirs of eternal life. 

We have a mandate from our Lord to preach the Gospel to all nations, and we must use both our words and actions.  We cannot hide behind an alleged saying of St. Francis that we only need to act.  We need both words and deeds, so that when people hear our words proclaiming Jesus as Lord by what we say and how we say it; so that when people see our kind deeds to the least brothers and sisters of the Lord by the actions of our daily lives, they do not see us so much, as see Christ.  I pray that all of us, by the graces given to us in our baptism, are so like Christ, that we can be known as the continuation of the His ministry, the manifestation of the Father’s love, even more than, when the kids are at their parents home, they can be confused over the phone for their parents.

The Urgency of Advent

Second Sunday of Advent

            Have you ever noticed how the urgency, or even the lack thereof, can change the way we communicate?  Say you have tons of time, but you still want someone to get something done.  What do we usually say?  “If you wouldn’t mind, could you…” or “When you get a chance might you…”.  On the flip side, if we’re rushed, if we feel that something has to happen quickly, then we tend to forego the formalities, and just get to the point: “I need to you to do…” or even “Do…”. 

            In our first reading from Isaiah, we might think that he’s taking a more laid back approach.  After all, compared to the way John the Baptist was preaching in our Gospel, anything would seem laid back.  But listen again to the images Isaiah uses. 

            First we have a shoot sprouting from a stump.  That’s pretty drastic.  And this shoot is really a man, who will be filled with the Spirit of the Lord.  But not just the general Spirit of the Lord, but a spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, fear of the Lord.  This is part of the common list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  This shoot is not going to judge by hearsay or appearance (sort of an allusion to the way the judges in the time of Isaiah were judging), but “shall judge the poor with justice.”  Then we get really drastic.

            This just judge “shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.”  That’s pretty intense!  And then, we get what we think of as a very bucolic scene: “the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them” but which in reality means that a major change is going to take place.  No longer will predator/prey be the main relationship, as it is now, but all will be at peace.  But of course, you need someone to instill that peace: the just judge, the shoot from Jesse’s stump.  Even this is a pretty extreme scenario.

            This makes John the Baptist not seem so different from the line of the prophets.  His words, as harsh as they sound in today’s Gospel, are just as intense as Isaiah’s were.  But, for John, there is even more urgency, because he knows that he is on “a mission from God” to quote a famous movie, “‘A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’”

A statue of St. John the Baptist from his
home town of Ein Keren in Israel

            John the Baptist knows that his mission is to bring the people to repentance, because it is by repentance that they will recognize the Messiah.  And when he doesn’t see that repentance, the urgency of the message leads him to say some pretty amazing things: “‘Your brood of vipers!” he says to the Pharisees and Sadducees.  And John continues: “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees.  Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire…His winnowing fan is in his hand.  He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  In other words, repent, or it’s going to be really bad for you.

            Brothers and sisters, we should have the same urgency about us.  Jesus is coming back.  For all we know, He could return tomorrow.  And yet what is the tone in our hearts and in our voice when it comes to repentance to prepare for Jesus’ return?  Is it, “It would be nice if I were a better disciple” or “If I get around to it I’ll change my life to more conform with the Gospel”?  That’s probably true for each of us, some of us at times, others of us for much of our lives.  We need John the Baptist to communicate to us the urgency of turning back to Christ.  We need him yelling in the wilderness, “‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

            And this time, Jesus will not come as a tiny baby, seemingly powerless.  When He comes again He will come to judge the living and the dead, as we profess each solemnity in the creed, to separate the sheep from the goats.  And if we’re goats, there’s nothing but eternal torment in the fires of hell to look forward to.  He will come as a conquering King to bring a final end to Satan, and all his demons, and all those who by their actions tell God that they would rather “reign in hell than serve in heaven.”

            The time is near.  It is urgent that we convert.  So how do we repent?  How do we more configure our lives to Christ?  We begin and end with God’s grace, with our cooperation in the middle.  We first ask God for forgiveness for those times that we have sinned, especially through sacramental confession and absolution.  We take time to be honest with God and tell Him the areas of our life that still need conversion.  And God never rejects those who honestly come to Him asking for His help.  And then we use that grace that we receive from sacramental reconciliation to change real actions in our life, to truly stop sinful actions, and replace them with acts of charity, acts of benevolence, acts of faith and trust in God.  And then God crowns those gifts with more grace, so that we can continue in our response to the love which God first showered upon us.

            We should not put off our conversion.  We should not delay in conforming our lives more to Christ.  The time is now.  It is urgent.  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”