Fr. Rick Spicer

2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Have you ever received a recall notice for a defective product? Well, recently I received this one from a friend.

Regardless of make or year, all units known as “human beings” are being recalled by the Manufacturer. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units, code named “Adam” and “Eve” resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect is technically termed, “Serious Internal Non-morality,” but more commonly known as “SIN.”
 
Some of the symptoms of the SIN defect include loss of direction, lack of peace and joy, depression, foul vocal emissions, selfishness, ingratitude, fearfulness, rebellion, and jealousy.
The Manufacturer is providing factory authorized repair service free of charge to correct the SIN defect. The Repair Technician, Jesus Christ, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs.
To repeat, there is no fee required. The number to call for repair in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R-S.
 
Once connected please upload the burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus Christ, into the heart component of the human unit.
No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Christ will replace it with: Love, Joy, Peace, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Patience, and Self-control.
Please see the operating manual, known as HOLY BIBLE, for further details on the use of these fixes.
 
WARNING: Continuing to operate a human being unit without corrections voids the Manufacturer’s warranty, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list, and will ultimately result in the human unit being incinerated.
Thank you for your immediate attention. Please assist by notifying others of this important recall notice!
 
Recall notices as we know them didn’t exist in biblical times but the need was there. That was why Jesus appeared on the scene, catching the attention of Andrew and his companion. “What are you looking for?” Jesus asked them.
John doesn’t tell us what Andrew said to that question. Instead, we find Andrew asking, “Where are you staying?” and Jesus replies, “Come and you will see.” And so he did, beginning the biggest chain reaction in human history. Andrew then invites his brother, Peter, to come and see for himself who this Jesus of Nazareth is.
 
Jesus extends the same invitation to us, “Come and you will see.” The first challenge of being a disciple is to discern how God is calling us and then respond with prayer so that our lives can be changed. As the recall notice suggest, so that sin and its symptoms can be replaced by those qualities that every heart is ultimately looking for, including love, joy, peace, kindness, and patience.
 
None of us would be here today if someone had not shared the good news of Jesus with us at some point in our lives. Whoever that person was, be it our parents, our spouse, a friend, a teacher or some evangelist, the point was that person hit a chord in our heart by sharing with us their discovery of Jesus. Like Samuel in the first reading, they were willing to listen to the Lord, then like Andrew, who< shared his discovery with Peter, they couldn’t keep their discovery of Jesus a secret, so they shared their awareness of Jesus with you. You could say that by hitting the right notes, they left a lasting impression on you.
 
Speaking of notes, one movie I enjoyed last spring was Ray. Actor Jamie Foxx won the Academy Award last year for his portrayal of Ray Charles in this film. Before filming began, Foxx met with the legendary musician, hoping to receive the blessing of the man whose character he would portray.
 
Charles invited the actor to sit down and play some blues with him. Foxx sang and played on one piano while Ray Charles led the jam session on another piano. Without warning, Charles strayed into the works of Thelonious Monk. 
Foxx didn’t expect such a challenge. Trying to keep up, he hit the wrong note. Charles abruptly stopped playing to ask, “Why did you do that?”
 
Foxx didn’t know what to say. “Look,” Charles said. “The notes are right underneath your fingers. All you have to do is take the time to hit the right notes.”
 
Foxx came away from his jamming with Ray Charles understanding what made him the great musician that he was. Likewise, Andrew and Peter came away from their time with Jesus understanding what made him the great teacher that he was. When we take time to hit the right notes in life, which happens whenever we heed this recall notice, imagine how many others will come to understand what a great teacher Jesus Christ truly is.

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Mary Mother of God

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On the desk in my study, I have a small beautiful clock that Archbishop Brunett gave me for Christmas five years ago. While he offered no explanation for giving his priests such a gift, I thought that receiving a clock was very fitting to the occasion. After all, the mechanical clock was one of the most significant inventions of the past millennium, if not, pardon my pun, of all time. Granted, hourglasses and sundials have been around for centuries, but with the mechanical clock, we were no longer controlled by the sun.
 
Clocks have come a long way since they were first invented. Lacking minute hands, they pealed only on the hour. Originally, they were designed to enable monks to fulfill the
duty of praying at appointed times of the day; the third, the sixth, the ninth hour, and so on. Now we have atomic clocks that measure time in millionths of a second. It seems to me that we value every minute of the day.
 
In the past quarter century, the number of Americans holding two or more jobs has grown significantly. So too have the number of households where both spouses are working full time in order to keep up with the Jones, as the saying goes. Some do this out of dire need; but many do so because they find themselves consuming more. Statistics show that Americans work more hours than ever before, spend nearly four times as many hours shopping as do Western Europeans and vacationing on the average of two weeks a
year less than their European counterparts.
 
The end result is stress, which, literally and figuratively, is killing many of us. Did you know that the three best selling prescription drugs are prescribed for relaxation, high blood
pressure, and ulcers? Doctors have also seen an increase in depression and surmise that its epidemic growth is due to a decline in the belief of God and the afterlife.
 
Other reasons they give include broken families and our fast pace of life, which leaves no time for us to mend ourselves.
 
Since its invention, the clock has taken on a different duty. As I said, the mechanical clock started out intoning the hours for monks to gather in prayer. You could say it has evolved into a giant press determined to squeeze every moment of time out of us. We are trying to cram more into our days then ever before. Can you get through the day without glancing at a clock, a pda, or a watch? Do you feel naked without a watch?
 
Because we are busier than ever before, that leaves me concerned for both our spiritual and physical well-being. Several years ago, first lady Barbara Bush gave an insightful commencement address to some college students. She told the graduates, “As important as your obligation as a doctor, a lawyer, or a business leader may be, your human
connections with your spouse, your children and your friends are the most important investment you will ever make. At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal, but you will regret time not spent with your spouse, your children or your friends.” To her last line, may I add God?
 
As we enter into this New Year, keep in mind that time on this side of death’s door is not infinite. It won’t always be there. The coming year began with 365 days, or 8760 hours, for us to do what? To rush, to acquire, and to ignore loved ones in the pursuit of what we call the better life? Or to be called to prayer, contemplation, and the deepening our relationships with others and God?
 
Much ado was made when we entered the new millennium. Actually, that was an arbitrary point in time, for we don’t know for certain when Jesus was born. Still, it marked a point in time, as does the start of any new year, to remind us that time doesn’t stand still, nor do our lives.
 
Traditionally, many of us make New Year’s resolutions for the sake of breaking bad habits, taking better care of ourselves, or getting certain things done. There is a line in
the gospel that prompts me to suggest one for all of us to make. “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” That her life centered on contemplation shouldn’t
surprise us one bit. Mary was a woman of prayer. What might surprise a fair number of us is the notion that contemplation is really the vocation of every Christian.
 
At the top of your resolutions for the New Year, considering all the time that God has given you, may I suggest that you set aside more time for prayer than you did in the past year?
 
Take time, not just a hurried minute, each day to reflect as Mary did on all that God has done for you. That can be done in any number of ways, including daily Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, praying the rosary, reading scripture, sitting quietly in contemplation, journaling, meditation, or doing the liturgy of the hours. May your resolutions, whatever they are, contribute to a holy and grace-filled year for you. All the time we have is God’s gift to us. How we use that time is our gift to God. With the grace of God, may we make the best use of this gift of time in the New Year, cultivating what really matters in our lives. May this time be filled with love. Just as Mary had much to reflect upon in her heart, so do we, but first we must give ourselves the time to do so.

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Christmas

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In recent years there has been a lively controversy about the secularization of Christmas.  For the sake of being politically correct, many people speak of winter holidays instead of Christmas. In some circles, saying, “Merry Christmas” has become forbidden speech. Whether one regards this debate as being silly or serious, it does raise an important question: what do we celebrate on December 25th?

We tend to romanticize the story of Christmas, focusing on a baby born in a stable 2000 years ago, greeted by shepherds and angels. Consequently, we could overlook what God had in mind that night. I believe the real message of Christmas is summed up in what happened not in Bethlehem, but in Nazareth, when the angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary the first time. To paraphrase his message, he told her, “You shall bear a son and name him Jesus and he shall be nicknamed Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us.’”

In other words, the message of Christmas is that God deeply desires to be with us. To appreciate God’s passion for us, I would like to share a true story I read years ago of what happened one Christmas Day to a family as they traveled from San Francisco back home to Los Angeles. Along the way, they stopped for lunch at a restaurant that was nearly deserted. They were the only family in the place, definitely, the only family with any children.

While they sat, waiting for their meal to be served, the one-year-old son, Erik, squealed with glee, “Hi there,” pounding his fat baby hands on the high metal chair. His face was alive with excitement. His grin showed his bare gums.  As he giggled, his mother noticed the source of his merriment.

Across the restaurant, near the check out counter, there sat an old man in a tattered, dirty, greasy rag of a coat, with baggy pants, a worn shirt and threadbare shoes, and a face like none other with gums as bare as Erik’s. “Hi there, baby. Hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster.” He said.  Erik’s parents looked at each other, wondering, “What shall we do now?”

Erik continued to laugh and answer “Hi there,” to every line the old man said to him. The guy was obviously drunk and disturbing. Erik’s parents were embarrassed. Even their six-year old son asked, “Why is that old man talking so loud?”

As they were leaving the restaurant after paying the bill, the mother prayed, “Lord, just let me get out of here before that bum speaks to me or Erik.”  Apparently the Lord and Erik had other plans. As she drew close to the old man, the mother tried to sidestep him. As she did so, Erik leaned over, reaching out with both arms in a baby’s pick me up position.  As she tried to balance Erik, the mother came eye to eye with the old man.

His eyes sent the message, “Would you let me hold your baby?” Before she could say anything, Erik propelled himself from her arms to the old man. Suddenly a very old man and a very young baby consummated their love relationship.

Erik laid his tiny head on the old man’s ragged shoulder. Meantime, the old man closed his eyes. As she watched, the mother could see the old man’s tears. His aged hands, full of grime, gently cradled the baby and stroked his back. After cradling Erik in his arms for a moment, he then pried the child from his chest, unwillingly and longingly as though he was in pain. Handing Erik back to his mother, he said, “God bless you, Ma’am. You’ve given me my Christmas gift.”

Leaving the restaurant, the mother found herself crying and holding tightly onto Erik. And saying to herself as she walked toward the car, “My God, forgive me. Forgive me.”

Simply put, in this story, the bum represents us and Erik is God yearning for us ragged bums with our tattered lives, our tattered hurts, our tattered relationships, and our tattered sins.  Like Erik, God is determined to hug the least likely among us. Through thick and thin, as the expression goes, God wants to be with us. Are we yearning for God as much as the bum did for Erik?

If God is not with us and if God has not embraced our tattered lives, then we are lost. There is no hope and there is no light, only darkness and despair. If we won’t allow God to hug us, then we are here out of fruitless hope, pressured routine or empty sentimentality.  But if we are here because of love, God’s unconditional love, then we have caught the meaning of Christmas. Emmanuel, God with us.

What we celebrate on December 25 is the reality that God is with us, not just today, but every day of our lives. For us to realize that, we must do what we can to bring the light of Christ to others in our midst doing our share to dispel the darkness of sin with love, compassion, mercy and a willingness to forgive. God’s presence and love will be experienced when we endeavor to follow Paul’s advice to Titus: reject godless ways and worldly desires, striving instead to live justly, temperately, and devoutly.

What we celebrate, my friends, is the opportunity to know God personally and intimately. May you have a beautiful Christmas, blessed with joy and love beyond your expectations as you celebrate God’s present to you of his presence in your life.

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2nd Sunday of Advent

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Maintaining a car is no cheap proposition. Oil changes aren’t too bad, but those occasional lube jobs can be a bit costly to someone on a limited income, yet they are necessary routine expenses if a car is to be kept in optimum condition. They are bargains compared to replacing the timing belt. As one friend learned recently, failing to replace a timing belt in a timely manner can destroy an engine beyond repair. Maintaining our bodies likewise is a necessary investment if we are to remain healthy. Any doctor will tell you the need for a good diet, exercise, and adequate sleep if you want to be healthy. Ignore any of these and sooner or later you could pay the price with a serious illness or an accident. What is true for the well-being of our bodies and cars is true for our souls as well. These readings tell us that repentance is as important for the well-being of our souls as a lube job would be for a car or a good diet for the body. Isaiah calls the Israelites to repentance. “Make straight in the wasteland a highway to our God!” Peter tells his listeners, “All should come to repentance.” John the Baptist appears in the desert with the same message, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Those who heard him firsthand responded by acknowledging their sins. I wouldn’t be surprised if John’s call to repentance doesn’t move a number of you one bit. You might be thinking, “Father, we’re not bad people. Would we even be here listening to you if we were?”

According to US Catholic, there has been a real shift in many Catholics’ attitude toward sin and the sacrament of reconciliation. Nearly half of all those interviewed had never or rarely celebrated the sacrament. They saw no need to do so or they had a litany of excuses. Perhaps it was a matter of convenience. “Father, I am busy on Saturdays.” Another excuse was, “Father, I am not a sinner.” In reply, I would have to say, “Excuse me? You mean to say that you aren’t human?” One trait we all share is that we sin, some more than others. Some of us may be in a state of denial, not seeing a certain act as sinful. Others downplay its harmful potential. “It is just a little sin, Father.” We shouldn’t kid ourselves about the harmful effects of sin in our lives anymore than we would ignore the harmful effects of smoking. A cigarette by itself won’t do much harm but added up over a period of time, cigarettes do pose a grave danger to one’s health. The same could be said for the accumulation of our sins. When left unchecked, they pose a grave danger to our relationship with God and others. Last week, I described small sins like dust particles. The sins of good people are dusty kinds of sin, rarely noticed without a closer look: complacency, smugness, procrastination, envy, taking people for granted, self-preoccupation, chronic complaining, pettiness, rudeness, ingratitude, and laziness.

Those sinful conditions are in need of repentance, much like any other sin for they can keep the presence of God remote to our experience. In biblical times, people knew that they had violated divine laws. Today, people are not so sure that right and wrong exist or that we are responsible for our actions. Sin seems to be a foreign word in our secular culture. It has no meaning for some beyond “something that some people think is bad.” We devote two Sundays each advent to John the Baptist and his call to repentance for one very obvious reason. If we are to truly receive Jesus Christ into our hearts, then first they must be changed and that only happens through repentance. That is best done by celebrating what I call the forgotten sacrament, reconciliation. In his name, Jesus has given power to priests to forgive sins. Sadly, this is one gift that many of us ignore, much like a Christmas present that we don’t appreciate or don’t know how to use. So like the forgotten present tucked away in a closet, we don’t bother to make use of this divine gift.

In case you didn’t know, every sin confessed to a priest remains a secret. We call this the seal of confession. A priest has to guard that secret and usually does by erasing it from his memory. What matters is not how often one celebrates this sacrament but how well. Take time to examine your conscience. Do some soul searching to remind you of your sins. When you come, tell the priest how long it has been since you have been to confession, and then share with him your sins. The sacrament was not designed by God to punish us but to offer us comfort. Reconciliation is an incredible opportunity for us to grow closer to God by wiping clean whatever it is that hinders us from fully knowing his divine love. For those who prefer to confess anonymously, I urge you to either visit a neighboring parish or come to our Advent reconciliation service on Wednesday, December 14th at 7 PM when Fr. Powell from Oak Harbor will be here. Come on this evening and “prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!”

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1st Sunday of Advent

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Years ago I attended a seminar in Bellingham. I forget what the topic was, but I never forgot the speaker’s opening line. He made the rather bold claim that there are only two statements using the verb, “must,” that are true. He then asked us to name them. I spoke up and said, “What goes up must come down.” Throwing his keys up in the air to demonstrate the point, he agreed. Others offered their ideas but one by one he refuted them. Finally, someone said, “You must breathe.” “Not necessarily,” the speaker replied, “But if I quit breathing, what would happen to me?” We then realized that the other true statement is we must die. That is one reality we cannot escape.

Someday we will all die, but as Jesus notes, we do not know when. This passage from Mark’s gospel is seen by many as his parable on the second coming of Christ but our odds of witnessing that event in our lifetime is rather slim. The lesson Jesus shares becomes more practical when we keep in mind that some day our lives will end and when that day comes, will Jesus find us “sleeping” or being watchful?

It is easy for us to be lulled into a routine that can draw us away from being watchful in the manner that Jesus is calling us to be, that is, living each day as though the next sunrise we see may be our last.

Be on guard is Mark’s Advent message, but it is a message that the world we live in tends to ignore. How ready are you to die? I suspect a fair number of us would beg for a reprieve. Not so for one man, named Foster Walker, who walked into a store while a hold up was taking place. The gunman pointed his pistol at him and demanded his money. Walker said, “Go ahead and shoot. I just got through reading my Bible and I’ve already said my prayers.” The robber was dumbfounded and Walker just walked away.

I don’t know if I would have been courageous had I been in his shoes yet that is what Jesus is telling us to do. Prepare yourself. Be alert. Be watchful. Be ready to cross that threshold for you and I do not know when he will come. This Sunday I want to help you capture that sense of urgency that Mark is presenting in the gospel. Because we live in a “feel good” culture, we cannot imagine how people in biblical times felt about meeting God. For them, the thought of meeting God caused awe. They recognized a plain fact that many of us ignore about ourselves. Namely, we are sinners. We have distanced ourselves from God, even telling him that he is not welcomed in certain parts of our lives. Be honest with yourself. Just how important is God in the course of any given day?

The odds are, you and I have not turned away from God in dramatic ways. We may not have committed adultery or abortion, or denied Jesus or renounced our faith. Still, we have done smaller things that when added up; they could amount to a subtle denial of God in our lives. I am thinking of the small sins we commit that can have enormous consequences: the little lies, the resentments that fester, the unchecked temper, impulsive decisions, a certain laziness, a lack of courage to stand up for what you believe in. Alone, these sins are like dust particles. Hardly noticeable, but when left unchecked, they can leave behind a dirty sight. As CS Lewis said, “The surest road to hell is the gradual one.”

Face it, we are creatures of habit and quite likely some of our habits are not all that healthy. When it comes to our physical well being, doctors urge us not to smoke, watch what we eat and to exercise more. For some of us, that means breaking old habits that would otherwise kill us.

Taking on new healthy habits, however, doesn’t come easy. The same could be said for our spiritual well being. Many of us have become creatures of habit with our faith. Over the years, the dust of routine has been falling silently. Perhaps we are only going through the motions, taking part in rituals that have somehow lost freshness and meaning. We don’t hear the gospel anymore, as though it goes in one ear and out the other. How meaningful is our relationship with God?

Advent calls us to wake up and shake off the dust from our routine and let Christ come alive in our lives once more. We should reflect back on the past year and evaluate our daily habits and routines and ask ourselves if they have drawn us closer to God or away from God. There is no reason why we cannot make New Year’s resolutions right now, for this weekend marks the start of a new liturgical year. We should ask ourselves what we can do to make our relationship with God even more intimate than it has been, and then resolve to make that our new habit.

Each of us is the gatekeeper of the house of our souls. This is why Jesus is warning us to watch out for his coming at the end of the world or at the end of our lives, whichever comes first. He is warning us that his coming could catch us off guard. Since our remaining time is precious and limited, he is urging us to begin living in such a way that if he came tonight, we would be ready and prepared.

This could be your last Advent. What I say to you, I say to all: be watchful! Be alert! The moment God has in store for your divine encounter may come when you least expect, but when it does, may you be ready!

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