Fourth Sunday of Advent


Advent 4B.12; 2Sam 7;1-16; Rom 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38
Today we hear powerful words,
“The power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Lk 1:35
(Homily aid: Looking at a hand held statue of Mary/Madonna or a picture of OLGadalupe)

She stands before us this Sunday of Advent. A pregnant woman, her hand protectively covering her womb.  She is a symbolic rendering of the young Mary, mother of Jesus, who is introduced to us in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel.   In this Advent season, in the middle of a culture that fills it with more things to do than any “angel singing o’er the plains” ever imagined, what does Luke tell us about Mary that can shape our Advent?
      
Face to face with the mighty angel Gabriel, Mary was “greatly troubled”.  Gabriel announced God’s plan for her to conceive through the Holy Spirit & bear a son who would inherit the throne of David and rule forever.  
And Mary, despite not having all the answers, was able to say:
“May it be done to me according to your word”.
The words are so simple, so faith filled, that we might miss out on what was behind them.  By saying “yes” to the angel, Mary also said “no” to many things. She closed the door on an alternative life that had its own attractions: a life of quiet contemplation, out of the limelight, surrounded by friends & family, a life of simple joys & everyday challenges.  And yet with just a few words, she put aside all her dreams to embrace God’s dreams instead.  
In other words, Mary trusted in her God’s dreams ….
      
We can read the gospel passage & marvel at Mary’s faith. Maybe we even envy that kind of faith.  But it’s important to see that when he greeted her, Gabriel called Mary full of grace, not full of faith.  Mary’s “yes” to God was the result of the grace God had given her, not the result of her own will power and forceful personality. And Mary will need this grace,
… this power flowing within & through her.
The consequences of being unmarried & pregnant in the Jewish culture of the time were life threatening (being stoned to death).  Mary had a radical trust to accept Gabriel’s breathtaking but scary message.  Each of us has a calling just as Mary did maybe not as momentous … but just as real.  
God chose to depend on Mary; likewise, God chooses to depend on us.

Mary was not just speaking the lines that God gave her, nor was she compelled to accept the scenario Gabriel described.  Gabriel’s message began with “The Lord is with you” & concluded with “Nothing is
2  impossible with God.”  Good words to remember when we’re confronted with a seemingly impossible task.
     The key point for all of us is that in the final analysis, faith is not something we develop on our own.  Faith is a gift given to us by a gracious, generous God.  It’s a grace that God pours into us, a seed that is waiting to be plunged into the soil of our hearts. God sets us up “for” success.
My friends ….
    an authentic life begins with the simple desire to be who God created us to be & to cooperate with God by playing the part God has designed for us in human history.  The adventure of salvation begins when we stop asking.  “What’s in it for me?” and turn knowingly humbly to God in our hearts and ask,  “How may I serve?    What work do you wish for me to do with my life?  What is your will for my life?”  This is how we become who we are.

We wait in joyful anticipation of the feast of Christmas.  We know that the spark of divine life is within each of us, is yearning to reach out in acceptance, openness, & availability.  God will give to each of us what is needed.  At this Advent Liturgy, the last candle has been lit. The feast of Christmas is calling us to make space for this God of unconditional, endless, love. Christmas is calling us to live, to love,
        … and to extend love to all others.

We may think we have weak faith,
but the truth is, like Mary before us, God has given us all the faith we will ever need.  We just have to learn how to yield to this great gift.
So what do you think?  
Can you say “yes” to God today?  
Can you be a part of the Christmas Miracle?
Yes, you can.  
God’s gift of grace, God’s Word guarantees it!
“The power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Lk 1:35
  


(Sources: Celebration, 12/11, God was with Her; The Word Among Us, 12/11; Rediscover Advent, Kelly)

Third Sunday of Advent


Advent 3B.12; Isa 61:1-11; 1 Thess 5:16-24; John 1:6-28
Today is Gaudete Sunday (Latin/“rejoice”).  The readings overflow with joy.  
“I rejoice heartily in the Lord,” we read in Isaiah.  
 “Rejoice always,” urges Paul.  
Today’s gospel seems, in some ways, not to fit.  John the Baptist’s speech is full of negations: “I am not the Messiah…not Elijah…not the Prophet” but rather, “the voice of one crying out in the desert.”
Yet in that solitary, lowly task there is joy. There’s the comfort & assurance of knowing who you are & what you are doing.  There’s the joy of anticipation, of preparing the way, of looking forward to the one who is to come.  John may seem like a negative figure, but in some ways he’s like a child waiting for Christmas with a sense of anticipation, a certainty that something, no Someone wonderful … is coming.  We share in this anticipated joy.  It’s not always clear what we are waiting for or should be happy about.  But as Christians, we know that there is more than this life-there is something yet to come.  (Adapted; Living With Christ, 12/11)
How do we do this?

A story is told of a monastery that had fallen on hard times.  The monks did not talk with one another; there are no new, young monks; & people had stopped coming for spiritual direction.  In the woods that surrounded the monastery a rabbi lived in a small hut.  Occasionally, the monks would see the rabbi walking in the woods &, almost hypnotically, they would say to one another, “The rabbi walks in the woods.”
     The abbot was greatly distraught at the decline of the monastery.  He had prayed & pondered over the situation. He admonished the mood & behavior of the monks.  All to no avail.  One day he saw the rabbi walking in the woods & decided to ask his advice.  He walked up behind the rabbi.  The rabbi turned, and when the abbot & the rabbi faced one another, both began to weep.  The sorrow of the situation affected them deeply.  The abbot knew he did not have to explain the decline of the monastery.  He merely asked, “Can you give me some direction so the monastery will thrive again?”
The rabbi said, “One of you is the Messiah.”
Then he turned & continued to walk in the woods.
The abbot returned to the monastery.  The monks had seen him talking to the rabbi who walks in the woods.  They asked, “What did the rabbi say?”
     “One of us is the Messiah,” the abbot said the words slowly, almost incredulously.  The monks began talking to one another.  “One of us?  Who?  Brother John, Brother Andrew?  Could it even be the abbot?”  
2  Slowly, things began to change at the monastery.  The monks began to look for the Messiah in each other & listen to each other’s words for the
Messiah’s voice.  Soon new, younger monks joined, & people returned to the monastery for spiritual solace & direction. (Story: /Eating with the Bridegroom; Shea p.32)
     The truth of the story was not in the objective fact of whether one of the monks was the Messiah.  The truth was at the level of consciousness, the increased awareness that the story created in the monks, & maybe you, too.

We are waiting on the future.  Did you know that the Hebrew prophets define “future” differently than we do?  The Hebrew word is aharit.  This is unusual because it literally means “afterward, backwards or after part”. So, how can it be about the future?  Imagine sitting in a rowboat & you see where you have been while you are moving forward. You can see how it can be better & then, suddenly, you arrive there, the distant shore of the future.  
Back to the gospel….
He was not the light but came to testify to the light.
John the Baptist came to testify to the light. This sounds like a good posture for ministry & for life to me. We point to Jesus. Our witness is never about us.  This witness is about God’s love & about experiencing his saving grace.  
How can we witness to the Messiah?   Remember the monks…..
What if we looked back at ourselves & each other seeking the best, the truthful, the just, the loving parts of our lives?    
The past does not have the last word.
Nothing is as difficult as really accepting our own life.  More often then not the present is denied, the past becomes a source of complaints, and the future is looked upon as a reason for despair or apathy.
     
At this Advent Liturgy, remember that Jesus came to redeem us, to free us from the boundaries of time.  Through him it became clear not only that God is with us wherever we are but also that our past can be remembered & forgiven, and that we are still waiting for him to come back and reveal to us what remains unseen. What hidden beauty lies within you?

Celebration is also filled with expectations for the future.  
Seek the Messiah, you might just find him!

Second Sunday of Advent


Advent 2B.12; Isa 40:1-11; 2Pet 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8
A voice cries out in the desert …..
To hear that voice we must listen.
What is that voice saying to us?
More than ever, people are sending you/me a message.  Though they are probably not aware of it, they are indirectly giving witness to the Gospel.  For within the message the people of our time are sending us, there is a profound challenge for you & me to embrace a life rooted more fully in the example & teachings of Jesus. Their message is clear, unmistakable, and disarmingly simple.  Our siblings, parents, & children are sending us this message, as are our friends, neighbors, colleagues and enemies.  
They are saying, whispering, crying out, “Don’t tell me-show me!”
Their plea comes from a longing deep within them.  They don’t want to see another television evangelist, they don’t want to read another book or hear another CD about Christianity, & they don’t want to hear your amazing story of conversion. They want the real thing.
       They want to witness someone, anyone, living an authentic life;  someone whose words are supported by the authority of their actions.  Someone striving, humbly but heroically, to live by what is good, true, & noble in their world, where they live.
       They are not sending us this message merely to sound the childish cry of “Hypocrite!”  Rather, theirs is a natural cry, a cry for help.  They are saying to us, “Don’t tell me-show me!” because they hunger for a courageous example of the authentic life, a life lived to the fullest,
… in this day & age. (Source: Rediscover Advent, Kelly)

  Advent is a time to … “Prepare the way of the Lord.”   How?
Rev. Billy Graham, who     has often played the 20th century role of John the Baptizer, had these comments about the disease running rampant in our world: "We're suffering from only one disease in the world. Our basic problem is not a race problem. Our basic problem is not a poverty problem. Our basic problem is not a war problem. Our basic problem is a heart problem. We need to get the heart changed, the heart transformed."                                                 (Source: esermons.com)
Where are our hearts today?  In accordance with God’s promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.  Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish. 2 Pet 3:13-14
Consider this, what is most striking about the visions of the world’s future is that they are independent of Christian thinking which is preeminently future 2 oriented.   Those powers which are gaining ground in a hardened world, which cry out for a new age, a new world, can find no roots in Christianity.  Many Christians were so were so preoccupied with themselves, they lost sight of a growing need for salvation outside of Christianity.  This suggestion, Christians, often regarded as merely naïve, lawless & immature.   
And yet, Fr. H. Nouwen, suggests that  “you are Christian only …
so long as you look forward to a new world,
so long as you constantly pose critical questions to your society,
so long as you emphasize the need of conversion for yourself & the world,
so long as you stay unsatisfied with the status quo & work for a world  yet to come.  
You are a Christian only when you believe that you have a role to play in the realization of this new kingdom, & when you urge everyone you meet with a holy unrest to make haste so that the promise might soon be fulfilled.  So long as you live as a Christian you keep looking for a new order, a new structure, a new live.”  (Source: The Lord is Near, Nouwen)
Listen to the voice in the desert.  They did:
Gandhi, through nonviolent resistance, defeated British Imperialism.  
Dr. M.L. King, Jr., dreamed of a nation where people would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Archbp. O. Romero in El Salvador heard the cry of the poor & acted to bring hope & justice to a society dominated by wealth and power.
Nelson Mandella & Bishop Tutu in South Africa lead their nation out of the nightmare of apartheid to freedom, not revenge for all citizens.
Like, John the Baptist, they made straight the way of the Lord.
There is more to do, yet … The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay”, but he is patient with you….”
Does our life reflect that we believe in the Good News?  
What is our witness?  Do we show the world an authentic & loving life?
Are we living a hope filled future?
My friends, the path is being blazed …. (Parish: mention local projects)

         At this Advent Liturgy, let us listen & act for our God who asks us to Comfort, give comfort to my people, and in doing so transform ourselves into prophets of hope making a straight path ready for the Messiah.
Let us build Love, let us build Justice, let us build the City of God!

First Sunday of Advent

Advent 1B.12; Isa 63:16b-64:7; 1Cor 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37
Happy New Year!  …. And let’s emphasize “happy”.
This year is full of promise.  This year is full of potential.
This year is full of “sacred possibility”.
A potter does not create a clay vessel without a clear vision for its use & beauty. Isaiah saw this: Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are clay and you the potter: we are the work of your hands.  We love what we create.
Now, let us consider Advent: a time to watch, a time to prepare.
Yet, WHO is really waiting in this season?
It’s hard for us to understand God’s way of creating.  Where is Jesus?  Why the delay in returning?   God's clock is certainly out of sync with ours as Little Jimmy learned one day laying on a hill in the middle of a meadow on a warm spring day. Watching the white clouds roll by, he marveled at their shape, and soon began to think about God.
"God? Are you really there?" Jimmy said out loud.  To his astonishment a voice came from the clouds. "Yes, Jimmy?  What can I do for you?"Seizing the opportunity, Jimmy asked, "God? What is a million years like to you?"  Knowing that Jimmy could not understand the concept of infinity, God responded in a manner to which Jimmy could relate. "A million years to me, Jimmy, is like a minute."  "Oh," said Jimmy. "Well, then, what's a million dollars like to you?" "A million dollars to me, Jimmy, is like a penny." "Wow!" remarked Jimmy, getting an idea. "You're so generous... can I have one of your pennies?"
                  God replied, "Sure thing, Jimmy!  Just a minute."
Little Jimmy wasn't ready for that response was he?  
      Our gospel seems an unlikely scripture for Advent. It has nothing to do with Mary & Joseph, Magi, or shepherds.  Instead it’s story about a wealthy landowner going on a trip.  The servants left behind were given charge of the estate & when the master returned he would check on their stewardship. This is a story about being prepared. In that sense then this is an Advent story, for this is  the season of preparedness.
Consider with me a moment that God Identifies with us & that Advent is a time to get ready for the Return of Christ. (Story: esermons.com)
First Paul tells us an incredible truth:  I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him … so that you are not
lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Cor 1:4-8     Every gift already? … could this be true?
     With every fiber of my being I believe God wants us to be happy.  I believe God gave us this yearning for happiness that constantly preoccupies 2  our hearts.  It seems God has placed this yearning within each human heart as a spiritual “GPS”  designed to lead us to our destiny.  
God is the author of our desire for happiness.
“The modern search for happiness is often governed by individualism, hedonism, minimalism - with the usual results of greed, selfishness, exploitation, & deception.  And yet, as these philosophies become more & more the focus of modern lifestyles, people seem to be filled with a greater discontent & unhappiness with every passing day.
      As a parent who takes a sincere & active interest in the lives of their children, God sent his only Son to respond to humanity’s yearning for happiness, & to teach us how to satisfy that yearning.  God sent his Son into the world to reconcile us with divinity, certainly, but (and never forget this)  
…God also sent Jesus to show us how to live.
The philosophy of Christ is the ultimate philosophy of human happiness. It isn’t just a way of life, it is the way of life. And, the philosophy of Christ is one of self donation.  This is the great paradox of God’s teaching.  In our misguided adventures, we may catch glimpses of  happiness as we live outside of Christ.  You may even taste happiness for a moment living a life contrary to Christ, but these are stolen moments.  (Source: Rediscover Advent, Kelley)
They are just shadows of something … infinitely greater.”
Questions for Advent:
Where do I look for happiness in my life?  
How much of my search is directed toward what God has to give, and how much is directed toward what the world has to give?  
Does the balance need to shift?
Sue Monk Kidd tells about when her daughter was small & got the dubious part of the Bethlehem star in a Christmas play. After her first rehearsal, she burst through the door with her costume, a 5-pointed star lined in shiny gold tinsel designed to drape over her like a sandwich board.
"What exactly will you be doing in the play?" her mother asked her.
"I just stand there and shine," her daughter answered. (Story: esermons.com/Ritz)
At this Advent Liturgy remember WHO is waiting.   
What shall we do with this eternity in time?  The servants continued to work as they anticipated the master’s return & the gatekeeper continued to watch. Working & watching imply each other: if every moment in history draws meaning from God, then nothing is negligible & every thread is a part of the pattern God weaves.  Authentic action already is divine encounter.  Paying attention is both a religious duty & a sacred possibility.    
Let the sacred possibility shine through you today.
God is waiting for you to be ready.  
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