2017

Christmas is a special time to be with family. Ideally, it is also a special time for evaluating the life of your family for most likely, no other group of people shaped you more than the family in which you grew up. This is also a time for parents to examine their need for more and deeper wisdom.

We are grateful when family life is an actual picture of comfort and joy. When households are at their best, family life is holy. The peace and grace lived out among family members reveal the peace and grace of God. Alas, not every family brings joy to the world or knows the peace of silent night.

For some, the family is the setting in which the most cruel and unloving things occur. Even in families where there is a measure of warmth and affection, some members begin to take each other for granted. Sometimes the words, “I love you,” spoken by a spouse, can mean, “I want to exploit you, I want to use you.” Sometimes the words, “I love you,” spoken by a parent to a child, can mean, “I want you to do as I say so you won’t embarrass me.” And, we know that sometimes when a child says, “I love you” to a parent, it can mean, “I want something.”

The story in today’s gospel is one of the few episodes in the Bible in which Jesus, Mary and Joseph are seen together as a family. Mary and Joseph are following the prescribed religious ritual of presenting their Child, Jesus, at the Temple and offering sacrifice to God. And in this context of family togetherness, Luke concludes the story with these words:

“When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”

Today’s feast reminds us that God works through created things to convey divine love and challenges us to seek God’s love anew through our loved ones. Such is the advice that we hear from both Sirach and Paul. If you do good, then good things happen to you; if you do evil, then evil befalls you. We know that isn’t always the outcome. Even though Mary and Joseph did good things, their family still experienced pain and suffering; they were refugees for a while in Egypt but that did not stop them from living as a respecting, encouraging, affirming and loving family. As Paul points out, love desires good for others, just as God does for us.

Blood ties alone do not create the family. What transforms a group of people into a family is love, the virtue that binds the other virtues listed by Paul such as compassion, kindness, humility and patience together. In a truly holy family all members are respected and cherished, nurtured and supported, united to one another through the bond of love.

Family life never runs smoothly all the time and today it is more difficult and trying than ever before. For a family to thrive and become holy, it needs a Christian home. So what makes a Christian home? I hope you agree that…

It is a place of love, consideration and understanding. It is a place where they pray for the homeless. It is a place of family fun and enjoyment. It is a place where children are welcome. It is a place of hospitality. It is not just a home for family.

It is a place where the stranger can feel at home. It is a place where God is given thanks for all things. It is a place where the family can bring their friends. It is a place where parents pray for their family. It is a place where children learn to pray.

It is not just a clean respectable house. It is a place where Jesus would feel at ease; a place where Jesus lives. And callers who come with doubts, fears, and sorrows will meet him. There they will find faith, hope, love, company and understanding.

A family, like any garden, needs time, attention and cultivation if it is to thrive; the sunshine of laughter and affirmation; the rains of difficulties, tense moments of anxieties along with serious discussions on critical matters. It needs areas of hardness, like bitterness, envy, anger, or unforgiven hurts to be turned over. As any green thumb knows, if a garden is not maintained, weeds flourish so as we enter into a new year, resolve to plant in your family garden, these17 rows:

5 rows of P’s: perseverance, politeness, praise, peace making and prayer

4 rows of “let us”: Let us be faithful in word and deed; let us be unselfish with our resources; let us be loyal; let us love one another.

3 rows of squash: squash gossip, squash criticism, and squash indifference.

5 rows of “turn ups”: Turn up on time for school events, turn up for family gatherings, turn up with a better attitude, turn up with new ideas and the determination to carry them out and turn up with a smile.

Nurture these values in your family garden and you will bring about a bountiful harvest of a real family where everyone is respected, encouraged, affirmed, and loved, thus a holy family, bringing forth a harvest of an abundant family life.

Some folks yearn for rather extravagant gifts on Christmas day or at least companies like Lexus and Toyota think so with ads that show their SUV’s sitting in a driveway with a nice red bow ribbon. Perhaps that is what prompted one wife to say to her husband, “On Christmas day there had better be something in the driveway that goes from zero to 200 in ten seconds flat.” That morning, she found a small package in the driveway. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale. By the way, funeral arrangements for the husband have been set for next Saturday.

Much has happened since that first Christmas in Bethlehem so long ago. In the past century, we have commercialized this feast and sanitized it. The typical Christmas card image of the nativity often depicts a scene of angelic choirs, a babe in a manger, Mary and Joseph in clean clothes, humble shepherds with well-behaved sheep nearby or three kings presenting fabulous gifts. I venture to say that what we often imagine is not an accurate portrayal of the first Christmas.

Consider the shepherds. They were the dregs of the earth, men who couldn’t find a better job. Many were conniving thieves, much like our own proverbial used car salesmen. They were considered irreligious by the self-righteous because they did not participate in regular worship.

Mary and Joseph were not physical models of perfection either. Remember, they were poor peasants, clad in travel-worn, dusty, dirty clothes. They had traveled 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a scruffy village south of Jerusalem. Unable to find a place to stay, they were lodged amid livestock. The stable animals were no different than what you would find in a local barn. And the manger? We aren’t talking about a nice crib from Babies R Us, but a feeding trough for animals, likely dripping with slop. By creating a scene to look like one from a Hollywood set, we miss the point of this feast, namely the incarnation of God’s son.

God came into human existence with all its limitations and flaws. God desired then and there to embrace us in spite of our brokenness. From the very start, his son mingled with the poorest of the poor among people like the shepherds and poor peasant parents. He came into our lives to nourish our brokenness too and feed our hungry souls.

That child, born in a manger, grew up and didn’t change one bit. He was later criticized for socializing with the outcasts of society; tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, the marginalized. He broke bread to feed sinners, telling his critics, “I come to call sinners, not the just.” In due time, he died between two thieves, who had likely been shepherds. From the cradle to the grave, Jesus, the Son of God and the son of Mary, dwelt among us, reaching out to anyone and everyone.

The big question for Christmas that we often overlook is why don’t we pay attention to all this? Instead, we allow ourselves to fall for the commercial sentimentality of this season and be smitten by whatever gifts we find or don’t find under the tree. By becoming incarnate in his son, Jesus, God echoes the reality that love is a harsh and dreadful thing. Harsh is being born among the scum of the earth, and dreadful is dying naked on a cross with holes in your body.

What we too easily overlook is that God lives every day among us. In practice, we ignore that. We think that we are beyond his concern, his care, his love. We portray Jesus in royal trappings and place him beyond our reach, much like a resident in England would place the queen. Consequently, we don’t experience his care and embrace. How can we think this about a God who aches so badly to be among us?

Christmas isn’t a day; it’s a season. I suggest that the only way we will find the true meaning of Christmas is to discard the pretty Christmas card images of the birth of Jesus and rediscover that Christ is here where he has always wanted to be: among the small and ordinary folks, like you and me. That is why of all places, he chose to be born in such a lowly setting. The Son of God became flesh so that he could be close to us and empathize with our personal struggles.

If he had no reservations to mingle among the dregs of biblical society so long ago in a dank, smelly cave, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in a manger, then be assured that he has no qualms being welcomed into your life, however you judge yourself to be in his sight. Jesus wants to be close to you; bringing his love into your lives.

Love is what the stable scene is all about, what Christmas is all about. But to hear that message, we have to get close and find our place among the shepherds, the wise men, the animals, and all the other outcasts Jesus came to save. We have to go to the trough, to the feeding station.

It comes down to this: if you look to the media and to popular culture, there is no way that you will find anything other than a tinseled image of the first Christmas. But gathered in a faith community where Jesus still humbly comes in the spoken word and in a small piece of bread, we know he is here for the shepherds, the outcasts, the downtrodden. In Christmas he has fulfilled his desire to be with us, offering us the most precious present we could yearn for, himself.

Remember, Christmas isn’t a display in a store window. Christmas is the celebration of the Son of God coming into our lives, not just to celebrate his birth, but also to celebrate love in the midst of our broken lives.

This weekend, we celebrate what is traditionally known as “Gaudete” Sunday, a time of joy, anticipation and hope, reminding us that Christmas is near. I imagine many of you are now caught up in the joy of the season, but are our hearts filled with joy of the good news that John proclaims?

The first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah is a song of joy. We heard, “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul.” In the responsorial psalm, we heard Mary proclaim, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Paul urges us to rejoice always and pray without ceasing.

This joy is the result of God’s love and care for the human family. God’s unconditional love brings freedom, justice and peace to all, especially the poor, the suffering and the forgotten ones. Yes, rejoicing is the message we hear today.

There once lived an old man in New Guinea who rejoiced in the message we just heard. He made his living by cutting firewood for the local hospital. Everybody called him One Tooth, because his upper jaw contained only one tooth. Besides cutting firewood, One Tooth spent time each day reading the Gospel to patients sitting in the hospital waiting room. Day after day he shared his faith in Jesus with them.

One day, the old man noticed that he was having trouble reading. When the problem persisted, he went to see the doctor who told him, “I have some sad news for you. You are going blind and there is nothing we can do for you.” One Tooth exclaimed, “Oh no! I’m already old. Now I’ll be blind and useless too.”

The next day, One Tooth didn’t show up at the hospital nor did he show up the day after that. He had vanished and no one knew where he was. Later, the doctor learned that One Tooth was living alone in a deserted part of the island. A boy who brought the old man food told the doctor where he was living, so the doctor went to see One Tooth.

“What are you doing here?” the doctor asked. One Tooth replied, “Ever since you told me I was going blind, I’ve been memorizing the most important parts of the gospel. I’ve already memorized Jesus’ birth, several of his miracles and parables, and his death and resurrection. I’ve been repeating these over and over to the boy to make sure I’ve got them right. In about a week, I’ll be back at the hospital again telling the patients about Jesus.”

I couldn’t resist sharing that story for One Tooth personified the opening line from Isaiah, “The spirit of the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly.” That same spirit came upon One Tooth who then felt the call to bring the good news to the patients in the waiting room. He certainly didn’t stifle the spirit. Even in the face of going blind, he did what he could to let the Spirit speak through him to those nearby.

If One Tooth could do that, why not us? Do we share with others the joy that Jesus Christ brings into our lives? Maybe you are thinking, “But isn’t that your job, Father?” Actually, sharing the good news is every Christian’s mission in life.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you as well as me. We have all been anointed to bring the glad tidings of Jesus to the lowly. Like John the Baptist and One Tooth, we must proclaim God’s word to others by what we say and do.

Advent reminds us that as the Church, we exist, as John did, to be a voice in the world announcing the coming of Jesus. We often forget that. We get bogged down in our own concerns or issues that we might be having with the Church or our parish. But Advent asks us, “As a result, are you forgetting that you are a voice too, perhaps the only voice someone will hear, which announces the coming of Jesus?

The joy of Advent comes from striving to follow the wisdom of Isaiah’s mission. When Isaiah speaks of the lowly, he is speaking of those who are spiritually poor, not those in poverty. We live in one of the most unchurched states in our country, so the odds are, you know someone who has yet to experience the same joy you find in Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought to personally invite that person to discover firsthand the joy of knowing Christ and what it means to you to follow him as a Catholic?

Look around. Some once familiar faces are now missing. Perhaps they have gone south for the winter but if you know they haven’t, why not tell them that you miss their presence? Many who drift away from coming to Mass return because a friend or a relative invited them to come back. Like a youngster gleefully sharing a secret, you are most apt to find yourself rejoicing by sharing the good news of Jesus then by keeping it to yourself.

Some of us are hesitant to do that but we can still find discrete ways to share our faith. For example, many Christmas cards give no hint of whose birthday we are celebrating as they wish us “season’s greetings” or “happy holidays.” With cards that proclaim the good news that Jesus is the reason for the season, we can remind others of the joy, peace and holiness that Christ brings into our lives.

Like John the Baptist and One Tooth, we witness to someone far greater than us. The world will be a brighter place for others if we would dare to share the light of Christ.

Children can say the oddest things at times, can’t they? As a four-year-old boy was helping his father one morning put the decorations on their Christmas tree, he asked him many questions. “Daddy, why are there so many lights? What do all the colors mean? Did you help your daddy when you were big like me?”

As he as sorting out the ornaments, he then asked his father, “Daddy, what does ignore mean?” His father explained, “Ignore means not to pay attention to people when they call you.” Immediately, the little boy said, “I don’t think we should ignore Jesus.”

Puzzled, his father knelt closer to his animated son and replied, “I don’t think we should ignore Jesus either, son. I think we should give Jesus our full attention. Why do you say that we ignore him?” The boy responded, “But Daddy, that’s what the Christmas carol says, ‘O come let us ignore him.’”

As the young father said, ignore means not paying attention to someone, and yet as we look at the world around us, how readily have we ignored what Jesus said so long ago?

In the opening story of his gospel, Mark quotes the prophet, Isaiah, “I send my messenger ahead of you to prepare your way: a herald’s voice in the desert, crying, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, clear him a straight path.’” Mark uses John the Baptist to introduce the star of his gospel, Jesus Christ.

We encounter John as a voice crying out in the desert, calling his listeners to prepare the way of the Lord through repentance. He did this in a manner that caught everyone’s attention. Then and now, one could easily go along with the crowds, believing that socially acceptable behaviors are also morally right. John felt otherwise, so he confronted the people of his times, urging them to take a second look at themselves. They responded by acknowledging their sins and coming forth to be baptized.

We are urged to do the same by going to confession. Doing so will provide the comfort, forgiveness and pardon that we crave whenever we have offended God and others. When we refuse to honestly deal with our sins, we continue to be mastered by sin. In the disguise of many addictions, sin can remain the center of our lives, rather than God.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we should strive to be holy yet why do we feel that becoming holy is a nearly impossible mission in this lifetime? Well, to become holy, we must first admit that we do ignore Jesus at times and sin. So long as we make excuses for our sins, we can’t be holy, any more than hot water can remain hot if we keep adding ice to it.

We can find the path to holiness when we make the time and effort to listen to Jesus. If you have a bible, read it. Use the Word Among Us as a tool to help you develop the practice of reflecting on God’s wisdom. That in turn motivates us to engage in concrete acts of love and mercy. Becoming holy can be challenging especially if our efforts in the past at deepening our relationship with God has been lukewarm. Keep in mind that it is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.

Instead of ignoring Jesus, we must, like Jerusalem’s inhabitants in the gospel, seek to be reconciled with God, repenting our sins, all the laziness and self-indulgences that make our lives a spiritual wasteland. We have to straighten out our lives, so that everything we do will lead us back to him. On Monday, four priests will be on hand to hear confessions, a big step forward in our quest for holiness.

As I look around, I know there are a few things we all have in common. For starters, we are all alive. Beyond breathing, eating, and sleeping, what else do we have in common? I doubt that everyone here is an American citizen, or Catholic, much less a Christian. What we all have in common is that God unconditionally loves us. We are here in response to God’s love. The question that this gospel brings to mind is do we in turn love God, and if so, how?

In this parable, Jesus speaks of some day separating us, “one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Even today in the Holy Land, a shepherd will often herd sheep and goats together but come nightfall, they have to be separated. To be kept warm, Goats need to be sheltered. Sheep, however, do not need to be pampered.

Comparing those being judged with sheep and goats, Jesus proceeds to contrasts the good from the bad, leaving both groups somewhat surprised by the outcome. Nowhere does Jesus speak of evil or sin. Nor is anyone accused of doing anything bad. Rather, the lesson here is about neglect. Those who reach out to the least of his brothers and sisters will be blessed with eternal life while those who neglected them will be sent off to eternal punishment.

The basis of his judgment will be our response to the poor and the needy. Those who sought to meet their needs will be saved. Those who neglected them will be condemned. That may sound rather harsh but how can we claim to love God if we deliberately choose to ignore God? Yet that is where Jesus said that he could be found. “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

When we go to confession, we admit that we have sinned, but then some will say, “I can’t think of anything I’ve done that is seriously wrong.” Perhaps that is true. Most of us mean well and want to do the right thing, but often we tend to overlook what could be called sins of omission or neglect. Do we ever think to confess the times when we refuse, as did the goats in this parable, to extend a helping hand to those in need or to give of our time, talent, or treasure?

Think back to the gospel parable from last Sunday. Recall how each servant had to account for his use of the talents entrusted to him. Like those servants, God has blessed us with a share of the world’s goods and when the time comes, we will have to explain how we used them. Until then, like the goats, do we insist on pampering ourselves or do we invest our gifts wisely by sharing what we have with those in need of our help?

Even many saints were slow in learning this critical lesson of life. By her own admission, it was only after she had been a nun for twenty years that St. Teresa of Avila experienced a true conversion to Jesus. Thereafter, she spent her energy in serving others, fully aware that, as the parable implies, God is counting on us to build his kingdom. In one of her prayers, she wrote, “Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he is to look out; Christ’s compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless now.”

Jesus is giving us fair warning. The verdict of our judgment is ultimately in our hands. In the cathedral in Lubeck, Germany, there is a plaque that reads, “Thus speaks Christ our Lord to us; you call me master and obey me not; you call me light and see me not; you call me the way and walk me not; you call me the life and live me not; you call me wise and follow me not; you call me fair and love me not; you call me rich and ask me not; you call me eternal and see me not. If I condemn thee, blame me not.”

Each of us will be held personally accountable when we meet Christ at our last judgment. Do our deeds demonstrate the commitment we profess today as Christians to Christ our King? If there is a gap between the ideals we profess and the values we live by, then today would be a good time to recommit ourselves to Christ and his mission. We must take his message to heart and allow him to be our king, not just in name but in fact as well.

Our gospel passage today is full of examples where we can reach out. We can give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty. The opportunity is always there for us to make a donation to our Outreach program, filling their bins or making a monetary gift to support Good Cheer, our local food bank. We can welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, and visit the sick or the imprisoned, if not in person then by mail. These examples are called the corporal works of mercy.

The only real joy in this world comes from helping others. When we choose not to, then we choose not to love, and so long as we refuse to love, we blind ourselves to God’s unconditional love. As followers of Christ, we are called to make God’s kingdom a reality in whatever place we are and in whatever time we live. God’s reign is brought about by the simple acts of compassion, reconciliation, and justice. Only then can we see the face of Christ in every man, woman and child.

C.S. Lewis once said, “The normal state of humanity is barbarism, just as the normal surface of our planet is salt water.” Our mission is to prove otherwise, namely that the normal state of humanity is love.