Wise Men (and Women) Still Seek Him

Christmas Eve Mass During the Night

Cycle C

Is 9:1-6

Ti 2:11-14

Lk 2:1-14

Why are you here? What has compelled you to come out on a cold, snowy night to be here in this place at this time with these people? You don’t have to be here. You could be home snuggled up by the fire with a drink in your hand watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the umpteenth time. But you’re here. You’ve come from all over the world to spend the holidays in Park City, and even if you are not Catholic or have not been to church in a long time, you have chosen to be here in this place, tonight, with us. Why? Why will there be almost 5000 people at the Masses tonight and tomorrow here in the little town of Park City in a parish of only about 1300 families?

What is it about Christmas that makes us want to be in church? What is it that compels us to be here? Is it tradition? Is it something that you have always just done since you were a child? Did your parents drag you to Mass every Christmas even though you’d rather have been home staring at the fireplace, waiting for Santa? And now, through the years those memories have softened so that they live in your mind and heart as warm nostalgia? And so you come? I know of many non-Catholics who go to midnight Mass every year, just because they love the quiet and the smells and the bells of that particular service. They don’t attend their own churches, they come to ours. It wouldn’t be Christmas for them without it. And that’s ok.

Maybe you are here because it means a lot to your spouse, and that’s wonderful. Christmas is all about giving to those we love the most, and the gift of our time is the most precious. You may not fully appreciate how meaningful your presence here is to them, and they may not fully appreciate the magnitude of your gift to them. Thank you for giving of yourself here tonight.

Maybe you’re like the shepherds in tonight’s gospel, who experienced something extraordinary happen in their lives that they did not fully understand, and have come to see what it’s all about. Maybe it’s just curiosity. Has something happened in your life this past year that’s got you thinking? Or are you just following the crowd and are here just because everyone else was coming?

Maybe you’re like the Magi, men of science who witnessed something inexplicable in the sky and left hearth and home to discover its meaning. Maybe you have been searching for the meaning of life for a long time and need to check it all out. Is this where you will find the answers you have been looking for? And when you find them, will you fall down on your knees in homage, and give the gift of yourself in return?

Are you like the innkeeper who stuck Mary and Joseph out in the stable, who are wondering what all the fuss is about? Why all the noise and hubbub? It sure seems like a lot of hype and over-commercialization. You’d sure like them to keep it down a bit so you can get some sleep.

Maybe you’re like the angels, who have been waiting for so very long for a savior to set things right in the world, and now that he is here you cannot contain your joy at his coming? You come here because it is central to your lives, because you understand what Christmas really is all about, and you cannot keep it to yourself. Jesus could not have been born quietly, by himself, without a community around him. We are all born, live, die and are saved together.

I don’t know, maybe you’re all of these or none of these. It doesn’t really matter why those folks came to see the Christ child; they came. And I think that the real reason so many people come to worship at Christmas is that deep down, in spite of all the intense pressure to make Christmas all about Santa and turkey and buying and receiving just the right presents, we all know that that’s not what it’s all about. We all know the true meaning of Christmas. We all know that we all need a savior, and that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son to us to become one of us so that we could become like him.

We come because God wants us to come, and whether we recognize it or acknowledge it, that’s why we also want to come. The need for God is buried within us from our conception, and the important thing is not why we come, but that we come. We can work out the details later.

We know that no matter what we’ve done or what has happened to us this past year, for good or bad, it all comes down to that. I think that we all need to have this time to look at our lives, take stock in our actions and their meaning, and spend a little bit of time with our creator. Here we can escape what the world has done to Christmas and re-root ourselves in what is important. God, our families, and our salvation. Take away all the decorations and music and presents and such, and that’s what is left.

My hope for you is that you can find that meaning in your lives, and that your time here at St. Mary’s will be one of peaceful contemplation of exactly what your God has done for you in giving you the Christmas gift of himself. We often hear the saying, “Keep Christ in Christmas”. My prayer for you is that you keep Christ in yourself.

Promises, Promises

4^th Sunday of Advent

Cycle C

Mi 5:1-4a

Heb 10:5-10

Lk 1:39-45

“Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

What had the angel Gabriel promised to Mary when he announced that she had been chosen to become the mother of the Lord? Did he say that she would be rich and powerful because of her son? Did he promise that life would be easy? Did he promise anything to her at all? All he said to her was that she was highly favored by God and had been chosen to become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. He said nothing else about her. All his promises were not about her but about her son.

He would be the Son of God, and he would save God’s people from their sins. Mary really got nothing out of it, other than the knowledge that she was doing the will of God. No riches, no power, no prestige was promised. In fact, it isn’t until we hear the encounter in today’s gospel that anyone says that this is a good thing for Mary. It is Elizabeth who calls her blessed. It is Elizabeth who says how wonderful it is that she said yes to God’s call. And of course Elizabeth would think this, of course she would know how blessed it is to have received God’s promise. She herself had been blessed with a child, which had been promised to her by God himself. Elizabeth knew God’s blessings firsthand. She had her proof that God was trustworthy, because he had answered her prayers.

Mary did not have that assurance yet. The first thing she did when Gabriel left her was to hurry to check it out for herself. The angel had told her that her cousin who had been barren was with child, and that God himself was responsible. Mary had just conceived, she was not showing yet and she had no early pregnancy test. She hurried off to see if it was all true. If Elizabeth was pregnant then she must be, too, and all the angel had said would come to pass. If not, then who knows what she had experienced.

The promises that Elizabeth says God made to Mary were not just for Mary personally. As a member of the human race Mary would also benefit from the fulfillment of God’s promise, but God’s promises were of old. Beginning with our first parents, who chose to turn away from the will of God, we have been separated from full union with our creator. Because of that there has been untold suffering, misery and death in the world that has affected and will continue to affect us all. Left to our own devices there would be no hope. But God is all about hope, so much so that he chose to be the very instrument of our salvation from ourselves.

God has never given up on us even when we have given up on him. From the very beginning, when we turned away from him, God has promised to set things right again. He sent Abraham, Moses and the prophets to proclaim the promise of hope. Then he himself came to earth to fulfill those promises. Through a lowly peasant girl in a small backwater country, whose hope in the promise overcame her fear and doubt at what was happening to her. Because nothing is impossible for God.

The angel didn’t promise Mary that there would be no more suffering, no more pain, no more war or violence, no more hatred. He just promised that the Lord would come to earth. In fact, his very coming would incite suffering, pain, violence and hatred against him and his disciples. He didn’t promise some utopian vision of a perfect life. He said it would be hard, he said it would entail the cross. But he said it was worth it.

We have turned Christmas into a vision of the perfect time of year, with perfectly dressed and coifed people singing perfect carols around perfect Christmas trees all oohing and ahhing about perfect presents and perfect feasts, because that is what we hope it will be. We celebrate Christmas every year because we need to keep hearing the promise and how it has been fulfilled. For one brief time each year we can escape from the horror and despair of the world with all its violence and suffering, and we can remember that it all turns out right in the end.

The promise of Christmas is not that we will be nice to each other once a year, that “Christmas spirit” we hear so much about. It’s not about a picture perfect day. The promise of Christmas is that no matter what we do to screw it all up every other day of the year, God came to earth to set things right again. For all of us, for all time.

Just the sound of the voice of the Mother of God could make John the Baptist leap for joy in the womb. We will also feel such joy when we are in the presence of our Lord. Blessed are we who also believe that the promises made by the Lord to us would be fulfilled, because hope is the greatest blessing we could ever have. And He shall be called Immanuel, God is With Us. King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace.

If You're Not For Us

26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

Whoever’s not with us is against us.” That seems to be a theme in our society today. We are so polarized these days. Our political parties are divided, we are split by ethnic group, religion, and class. And we think that we have all the right answers and those who disagree with us, well, it’s either us or them. It’s either/or, black and white, good vs. evil. They’re against us so they’re evil so they must either be destroyed or ignored as irrelevant. 

But Jesus didn’t say “whoever’s not with us is against us.” He said, “If someone is not against us they’re for us. It may seem like a subtle difference but it’s really not. It is very different. What Jesus is saying is that his disciples are here, we believe in him and follow him, and that’s good. But there’s this whole other group of people out there who are not actively against us but aren’t exactly fully on the team yet. They don’t go out of their way to harm us but they aren’t fully a part of the community. They may actually believe in the things we believe in, but they haven’t crossed the threshold of full participation yet. 

They are not bad people. They are our sons and daughters who we’ve raised in the faith but have fallen out of practice for whatever reason. They are our friends who used to come to Mass but just stopped and we don’t know why. They are other Christians whose theology or practice is not the exactly the same as ours but they let us be and actually stand with us when we are threatened. 

I think of all the evangelical communities who have joined with the Catholic bishops lately to defend life and religious liberty and sacramental marriage. They might denounce some of our points of difference in their pulpits, but they live the admonition of Jesus to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and heal the sick. I think of what happened right after the earthquake in Haiti. Catholic Relief Services had been serving in Haiti for over twenty years, and had all the distribution systems set up to get the aid through. The LDS Church had huge stockpiles of supplies but no efficient way to distribute them. So the two communities worked together to get the LDS supplies through the Catholic distribution to help the suffering. We differ with the LDS on virtually every theological point you can imagine, but they are not against us, so they must be for us, whether they know it or not.

There is a time and a place to debate the finer points of theology and it’s good that we do so. There is truth and we’re all in search of it. Theology is faith seeking understanding, and it’s important that we get as close to understanding that truth as humanly possible. But if someone or some organization is not actively working to hurt us or destroy us or limit our search for that truth then there is hope that someday and somehow we can be united in our search. Sometimes prophets can be found outside the camp. If they are not against us, they are for us. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m the first guy to say that the Catholic Church is the fullness of the revelation of God’s truth, and I also don’t believe that all faiths are equal, but we can’t just slough off the millions of people who aren’t Catholic and say we can’t work with them for the Kingdom of God just because we differ on some issues. And we can’t just ignore our friends and family who have stopped practicing their faith or who disagree with this or that teaching of the Church. We are called to search out the lost sheep and bring them back into the flock.

It’s easy sometimes to get caught up in our own little pius worlds and think that our way of devotion is the only way or the best way. The apostles were like that to a certain extent. They had Jesus all to themselves, and they got jealous when someone else came to him by a way different than theirs. Catholics do the same thing all the time. We get upset or look down on folks who don’t pray the way we do or don’t dress properly for Mass. We get hung up on whether or not the Latin Mass or the vernacular is the best or if we should receive communion in the hand or on the tongue. And don’t even get into the protestant thing. We can tend to think that those who disagree with us are actually against us, and it’s us or them, right or wrong, good vs. evil.

And then we wonder why so many folks have left the Church.

I used to score myself as a deacon against other deacons and even against certain priests. I would get a twinge of jealously whenever I heard someone who was a better preacher than I am or gave more time to work with the poor than I do or seemed holier than I am. But then one day it hit me. So what if they’re better than I am. Wouldn’t it be great if every preacher was spellbinding every Sunday. Wouldn’t it be great if every Catholic was compassionate to the poor. Would that all God’s people were prophets. What a wonderful world it would be if everyone was a prophet! Isn’t that what the Kingdom of God is all about? It’s not about me and my abilities, because no matter how good I am I will never be as good as I could be if I joined my abilities and faith with the rest of the people of God. 

Pope Benedict has announced “The year of Faith” beginning October 11. That date is the 50^th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II as well as the 20^th anniversary of the new Catechism of the Catholic Faith. The pope has called the Church to a new evangelization of the world. We hear these things and probably just shrug our shoulders and move one. So what? Another year for this or that theme. But this is different. 

How are we called to evangelize? We are all called to be prophets. When we were baptized we were anointed with sacred chrism and told that “As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.” We have all been anointed prophets through our baptism, and making disciples is not optional for us. Jesus told the disciples to go and make disciples of all the earth. He linked prophesying to being a member of his body and with eternal life. No prophets, no church. No church, no salvation. Not optional. And years like this help us to focus on this most basic calling we have all received.

But where to start? Most of us can’t or won’t go knocking on doors or travel as missionaries to foreign lands. And we don’t need to. A new study shows that only 23% of professed Catholics attend Mass regularly, while 77% identify themselves strongly as Catholics. What better way to make disciples than to begin by evangelizing those people who identify as being Catholic but do not see the value of practicing it? We need to identify the disconnect and work to reconnect.

And we need to start with ourselves. What is our commitment to our faith? Are we living as true disciples? Do we understand what we truly believe? When was the last time you picked up a bible or the catechism and studied your faith? When was the last time you read a sensational headline about how out of touch the Church is on some issue and then actually studied what your Church really stands for on that issue? When was the last time you went to confession to clear the decks so your soul could be open to the truth? When was the last time you prayed?

If we are not educated on what we believe, how can we form our own consciences? And if we don’t really know what we believe, how can we ever explain it to others who have questions? And if we don’t live our discipleship, how can we ever make disciples of all the nations? Anything less is the highest form of hypocrisy. 

I used to be really hard-nosed about being Catholic. If people didn’t come to Mass, fine, that’s their problem. I’m tired of beating my head against the wall of indifference. But then I remembered all those parables of the lost sheep and the Good Shepherd, and how there is more joy in heaven when the one is found than over the 99 who remained, and I thought, the 99 are fine, go find the lost. 

So why don’t we start there? It’s a rule in business that it’s always easier to sell to those customers who have already bought in the past. It’s hardest to make new customers, but easier to build repeat customers. Why don’t we focus this year on our fellow Catholics? Those 77% who say strongly that they’re Catholic but don’t come to Mass? Let’s get that 23% up to 25%. 

Here’s a plan of action. First of all, pray. Pray every day for the grace to carry out this evangelization. Spend time praying before the Blessed Sacrament. Then study. Bone up on your faith so you can reasonably explain it. Then think of one person you could help come back home. Pray daily for that person. Then actually invite them back. That’s the hard part. It’s easy to pray for someone. It’s easy to have your own interior faith. But if you don’t actually talk to that person, how will they ever know what you have? If you think that someone is going to see how you live your life and actually come up to you on the street and ask you to come to Mass, you’re fooling yourself.

One year, one person. Just one. For the next year, just encourage one Catholic to attend Mass every week. I guarantee you, if you do that it will change their life. It will change your life. And just think what would happen to the world if every practicing Catholic in the world did the same thing.

Hope Springs Eternal

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

Is 35:4-7a

Jas 2: 1-5

Mt 7:31-37

Human beings are creatures of hope. It’s inbred into us. Hope is what keeps us alive in a hostile world. Hope is the only thing that keeps us sane in this insane world. We look at all the pain in the world and say, there has to be more than this. Without hope our lives would lack any meaning whatsoever. Without hope we would not even bother.

The Israelites were in a very dangerous position. The Assyrians were threatening to wipe them off the face of the earth because they stood between them and the Egyptian empire. Israel could never match the Assyrians militarily, and they did not know where to turn for help.

The prophet Isaiah offered the Israelites hope. He tells them today not to fear, because the Lord would deliver them. But you know, it didn’t work out so well for the Israelites. They were wiped out by the Assyrians. Thousands were slain and the rest taken away, never to return to their homeland.

It seems like Isaiah was whistling past the graveyard, giving them false hope. They called upon the Lord and trusted in him, but it didn’t stop the Assyrians. It seems that many times humanity overrides the salvation of God and causes suffering and pain anyway. It seems futile and naïve to rely upon God to save us.  

It’s easy to become cynical. I know of all the individuals suffering in the parish. Cancer and death and broken marriages and economic hardship. I see families all the time who pray and pray for a cure for this or that disease, only to have their loved one die anyway. I know people who have been praying for years for a job but are still unemployed. The prophets say that the Lord will save us but they don’t say when. Are we fated to suffer here on earth and only see the fulfillment of our prayers when we get to heaven? 

When I first read today’s psalm I said to myself, “Yeah, right. God doesn’t intervene in the lives of men that intimately today.” There are millions of poor and suffering people in the world today. Nothing ever changes. But then I realized that I was too far away from it. I was thinking of statistics and not of individuals.

Jesus never healed crowds, he healed individuals. Crowds do not experience conversion, individuals do. Miracles do not happen to crowds, but to individuals. Jesus takes the deaf mute away from the crowd and gets really personal with him.

People are smart. Crowds can be stupid. People are good. Crowds can be evil and cruel. There’s something about being in a crowd that can easily make it into a mob. Individuals didn’t condemn Jesus, the mob did. 

Crowds don’t suffer. Individuals suffer. Suffering is the most personal experience we can ever have. We can share joy, but it is really impossible for anyone else to truly understand and share in your individual suffering. 

Salvation is such a personal thing. It is ultimately between you and God. I have never seen entire nations turn back to the Lord, but I have seen individuals do so. I have not seen miracles happen to societies, but I have seen miracles happen in individuals’ lives. 

Jesus is the perfect man. He showed us how we are to live if we are to be truly human. He was able to heal the sick and turn men’s hearts to the truth. He took care of people’s physical suffering and hunger because he was able to work miracles. He knew that he had to alleviate physical suffering before people could be open to salvation. 

But now he’s gone back to heaven and we are left here to our own devices. Jesus destroyed death, but death is still with us. Jesus healed the sick, but we still suffer. Jesus left us with a message of hope, but still we despair. We hope, but is it all just a coping mechanism. Do we just cling to a thread of hope in a hopeless world because we cannot deal with the alternative?

Hope is such a personal thing also, but hope can be multiplied and sustained in and by the community of the Church. And so what if Jesus is no longer here on the earth, we are. Jesus Christ is still present in his Church. We are called to continue what he started. The gospel is hope itself. We cannot be cynical about life. We can and must be individuals of hope, and together as the Body of Christ we can bring that hope to the world. But it must start in your own heart. The Church cannot bring hope to the world if you do not have hope in your own heart first.

Take the words of the psalmist today and switch them around a bit. 

The God of Jacob keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, when we ourselves are faithful to the teachings of Jesus, work for justice for all, and take care of the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of all those in need among us.

The LORD sets captives free when we turn away from the slavery of sin in our own lives and live as we were created to live.

The LORD gives sight to the blind when we first open our own eyes and then help those who are living the lies of society to see the truth;

The LORD raises up those who are bowed down when we lift them up, help them get back on their feet, and stand tall with dignity.

The LORD loves the just when we love justice; the LORD protects strangers when we show hospitality to the strangers among us.

The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains when we strengthen the family,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts when we make those thousands of small choices every day to do what we know to be good and right.

The LORD shall reign forever; your God, O Zion, through all generations, when we make God the king and center of our lives.

We are a people of hope because we are the people of God. Our hope springs up in us as individuals, and our hope combines with people of faith the world over to bring hope to all of humanity. Hope is what binds us all together and it is hope that draws us all to God. And that truly is good news.