Changing So Much More Than Just Water!

 

Deacon Dave · Changing So Much More Than Just Water!

Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Jan. 19, 2025. Gospel of St. John 2:1-11. Theme: Changing So Much More Than Just Water! 

 The Church’s Liturgy has spent the last two Sundays gradually moving us out of the Christmas Season and back into Ordinary Time. In each step along the way, the Gospels of those Sundays unveil Jesus’ true identity. The first of these was 2 weeks ago on the Solemnity of the Epiphany wherein Jesus was manifested as King of Kings to the Magi. The second revelation took place at last Sunday’s Baptism of the Lord, when Jesus was affirmed by the Father’s voice and the Spirit’s visible manifestation as the Anointed Savior of mankind. And now this Sunday’s Gospel with its demonstration of the Lord’s power over the elements brings us a third revelation of Jesus as Lord and Master of Creation, that is, God come in the flesh. 

 On the surface level of factual history, this event is a recounting of the Lord’s first public miracle. But everything that Christ said and did goes so much deeper than surface level. His words and actions have meaning and application to people of all times and places. And so the story of the wedding at Cana isn’t just about the miraculous transformation of elements. It was just the attention-getting opening act, so to speak, that jump-started Christ’s 3-year long public ministry and turned people’s attention to this previously unknown carpenter from Nazareth. 

This miracle is really about so much more than just changing water into wine. It’s a sign that Jesus can change people, can change each one of us, from what we are into what we want to become as His disciples. It’s a sign and a promise that we can experience a personal transformation if we listen to Mary’s words to “do whatever He tells you.” Our Lady at Cana encourages us to turn to Jesus, Who will open up whole new possibilities in our lives. Faith, which is another word for trust, is the foundation of this transformational spiritual experience and if we truly place our trust in Jesus then we will see miracles of grace starting to take place within us as the Lord begins to gradually change us from the inside out. 

The first reading in today’s Liturgy sets us up to receive the transformational story of Cana. In it the prophet Isaiah speaks to the people of Israel who are suffering the humiliation of defeat and exile at the hands of their enemies. He tells them that if they trust in God they will be changed from being “Forsaken” and “Abandoned” into being “Chosen” and “Blessed”. To put this into modern day vocabulary, we can say that they will go from being “Failures” and “Losers” into becoming “Champions” and “Winners” by the grace of God. Isaiah’s prophecy is telling us that the negative and hurtful things we have experienced in life are not the last word and that our present - as well as our future - can be free of what we have suffered in our past. He is encouraging us to be faithful to God Who can and will bring good out of bad if we allow His grace to touch and change the trajectory of our lives. It all depends upon our decision to have confidence in God’s love no matter how things might seem in the present and boldly move forward trusting in His Word. Jesus can change our past into a very different and hopeful future, just as He changed ordinary water into fine and expensive wine. 

 Another example of transformation culled from this story can be seen in Cana itself. Before the Lord’s miracle there, it was just another out-of-the-way backwoods village. Which, like Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, was so insignificant that it wasn’t even on the map. But ever since that unforgettable wedding reception, it has become a place of pilgrimage, a shrine of faith, a sign of hope. So even the transformation of that little town itself teaches us that we don’t have to be awesome and spectacular to attract the attention and miracles of Christ. We don’t have to be great and amazing in the estimation of others to become “somebody” in the eyes of God. He can and will transform our ordinary and often-times humdrum lives by His extraordinary grace if we just trust in Him and follow Mary’s advice to “do whatever He tells you”. 

 And that brings us to another very important lesson of today’s Gospel that we cannot overlook: the presence and role of Mary. St. John emphasizes that she is not just there as one of the wedding guests nor as a witness to her Son’s first miracle. Rather, she is actually the one who brings it about and thus initiates the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. It was at a word from His mother at Cana that Christ recognized that the time had come to reveal Himself and begin the process that would transform His reputation from that of a village carpenter into of the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. The Gospel is showing us that Mary is likewise willing and ready to intercede with Jesus on our behalf about the changes we need in our lives. And it shows that we can be confident that Jesus will be touched by His mother’s concern for us and our needs and work a miracle of grace for us just as He did for her and the Cana newlyweds.

Why Was Jesus Baptized?

 

Deacon Dave · Why Was Jesus Baptized?

Homily for the Baptism of the Lord Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. Gospel of St. Luke 3:15-22. Theme: Why Was Jesus Baptized? 

 Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord brings our Christmas Season officially to an end. And so today’s Liturgy ushers us out of Bethlehem, and moves us forward to the banks of the Jordan River. Jesus is no longer a baby in the manger but now comes to us as a 30-year old man. We encounter Him approaching his cousin, St. John the Baptist, who because of his fiery preaching and devout life, was mistakenly thought by many to be the Messiah. However, John sets them straight, telling them that they had picked the wrong man for the job but were about to meet the Real Deal in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. 

 To understand what’s going on at the Jordan River, it’s important to remember that Jesus was not baptized because He had any sins to be washed away. Even though He shared fully in our human nature He was always the faithful Son of God Who had nothing for which to repent. Rather, Jesus insisted on being baptized to show His solidarity with us sinners as our Savior and to sanctify the element of water which He would use as the sacramental channel for His saving grace. So in short, Jesus was not baptized because He needed it but because we do. The story of Jesus’ Baptism teaches us that what happened to Jesus at his Baptism, is also what happens to each one of us at ours, just in a different way. 

 The first thing we hear about after Jesus comes up out of the water is that Heaven was opened. And this is precisely what Baptism does for us. It re-opens the way to Heaven which was closed to us by the original sin of Adam and Eve. Recall that they were given the choice of living in obedience to their Creator or of going it on their own terms. They freely chose to turn their backs on their intimate relationship with God and the effects of their choice was passed on to all us, their descendants. Jesus came to undo what they had done. He came as Savior to heal the spiritual disability of original sin and to reunite us with God. And so this first step towards Heaven is taken by being cleansed in the Jesus-sanctified waters of Baptism. 

 The next marvelous thing we see happening to Jesus at the Jordan River is the Holy Spirit coming down upon Him under the appearance of a dove. Now, we might wonder why God chose to appear in the form of a dove? Well, because the dove is a biblical symbol of peace and innocence. By the waters of Baptism, we are made innocent through the forgiveness of sin and we make our peace, so to speak, with God. Baptism puts us into a right relationship with God as our Father, with the Son of God as our Savior and with God the Holy Spirit as our Sanctifier. The innocence and peace we receive from this Sacrament remains with us as long as we remain faithful to the baptismal promises to reject sin and Satan, to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and to live what He teaches us through the Bible and his Church. Should we ever fall away from these promises they can become ours once again through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And the Good News is that in God’s rich mercy there is no limit as to how many times this can happen! 

 Finally, the Gospel tells us that God the Father’s voice was audibly heard declaring Jesus to be His Beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. And this is exactly what God the Father thinks about each one of us, about you and about me! We have become spiritually one with Jesus in Baptism and so through Him, with Him and in Him, we become God’s beloved children in whom He finds delight! The Scriptures assure us that God rejoices over you, rejoices over me, rejoices over each one of us personally because He is a Father who unconditionally loves us. And it’s this conscious awareness of God’s personal love that moves us from the inside out to want to live in a way that delights Him in return. 

 So often, too often really, we seem to get that backwards and think that we have to be good and earn God’s love before we can receive His blessings. But it’s not that way it is with God at all. This is not at all what the Gospel of Jesus teaches us. God loves us freely, totally and unconditionally simply because we are his. From all eternity He foresaw each one of us - knowing full well the good and the not so good within us - and He so fell in love with what He saw that He called each one of us into existence at the proper time. And as if that wasn’t already enough, God then sent His very own beloved Son into the world as our Savior so that we could have visible proof of His love, be freed from the spiritual alienation of sin and live with Him forever. 

 And so it’s good that we move on from the Nativity of the Lord because that was just the beginning of the story of Jesus of Nazareth. If we compare the life of Christ to a book, we could say that staying at Christmas would be like never getting past the first chapter. Never getting caught up in its dramatic plot of interesting characters, miraculous cures, and powerful teachings. Never reaching the exciting apex of its conclusion with the stunning events of Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday. So you see, the Baptism of Jesus follows upon the heels of Christmas because it sets us up for the rest of the story. Through the Gospels proclaimed at the Liturgy over the following weeks and months, we will learn more and more about the marvelous and awesome things that God has done for us and still does through the Christmas Gift that is Jesus Christ.

What is My Epiphany Response?

 

Deacon Dave · What is My Epiphany Response?

Homily for Epiphany Sunday, January 5, 2025. Gospel of St. Matthew 2:1-12. Theme: What is My Epiphany Response? 

 The Christmas Season has two major feasts, each of which proclaims that the Savior has been born for us, but each with its own particular slant. The first of these is Christmas Day itself when the birth of Jesus is revealed to the Jewish shepherds of Bethlehem as the fulfilment of God’s promise of a Messiah in Israel. The second is today’s feast of the Epiphany to the Magi wherein the mission of Jesus as Messiah is expanded to include those who are outside the confines of Judaism. As the early Church grew and spread throughout the Roman Empire, the Epiphany became a very important celebration because of its joyful message that all peoples can receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life through Jesus, Who is Lord and Messiah. 

 That Jesus is the Universal Savior of the world is nothing new for us to hear today. But in first century Israel the very idea that the Messiah had come for the good of all peoples and nations was utterly revolutionary and controversial! The Hebrews had been raised and taught to believe that only Israel was God’s Chosen flock and that the Gentiles were spiritually unclean and alienated from all that was holy. There were bitter arguments and fiery disagreements over it among the first Christians. who were by and large Jewish converts, but the truth won out. We hear it from St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians which is the second reading of today’s Liturgy, “the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and co-partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” 

 And so in response to this controversy the Apostle St. Matthew included the Epiphany in his Gospel to show that from the very beginning, Jesus revealed Himself to the Gentiles as well as to Israel. But another important thing that St. Matthew teaches us in his retelling of the story is that people can have very different responses to learning about Jesus Christ. The Epiphany story has intriguing and intense drama seen in the various ways in which people can respond to the Good News that God has sent his Son into the world as its Savior. As we start off the New Year, which is typically a time to evaluate our lives and make resolutions for improvement, let’s take a look at these characters and see if they can help us to identify and, if need be readjust, our own response to Jesus. 

 The first type of response can be found in the reaction of Herod when he learns about the birth of the Newborn King of the Jews. Now, Herod was a very wicked man whose jealousy to rule over his kingdom had led him to kill one of his wives and several of his own sons whom he saw as threats to his throne. So, it’s no surprise that he would order the slaughter of the little boys of Bethlehem in an attempt to get rid of the Christ Child. Herod saw Jesus as a threat and wanted Him out of his life at any cost. He cared only about his own status and situation with prestige and power being the false gods he worshiped in his life. His response to the news about Jesus was that of fear, the fear of losing what he possessed and this led to rejecting Christ. 

 A second type of response can be found in the Jewish scholars whom Herod called to advise him about the Messiah’s birthplace. They knew the Scriptures very well and were aware of the prophecies about the Messiah. They were, after all, the professional Bible experts of their day. Yet when the news of His birth reached them they did nothing at all. They stayed put in Jerusalem rather than go to Bethlehem (which is only 5 miles away) to see for themselves if their long-hoped-for dreams about the Savior of Israel had indeed come true. But their response to Jesus was apathy, a complacent yawn. They were comfortable and happy with life as they knew it, and they didn’t want a Messiah and his teachings to disturb their status quo. 

 The third type of response is the one we find in the Magi themselves. They were utterly consumed, totally captivated, by the quest to find the One whom the star proclaimed. They had invested a lot of themselves, their time and energy, in studying the prophecies and charting the constellations concerning the Messiah. They spent long hours mapping out their route to Jerusalem, gathering up supplies for the trip, and selecting precious gifts to properly pay Him homage. Stories tell us that later in life they heard the Gospel of Jesus from early Christian missionaries, they gave up their pagan religious practices to serve Christ as their God and Savior. The response of the Magi was one of faith which brought them the joy of new life in Christ. 

 So, today’s liturgy might be placing before each one of us a very important and personal question: What is my own response to the Epiphany of Jesus as King, God and Savior? Like Herod, does part of me find Christ and His teachings to somehow be a threat to my present lifestyle? Would I rather have Him out of my life rather than change my behavior? Or perhaps do I respond more like the religious scholars by thinking that Christ and Christianity are a disturbance to my comfort zone? Does following Jesus’ Gospel demand too much of a change from me? Finally of course, St. Matthew’s Epiphany story hopes to inspire us by the example of the Magi. They were totally committed to following the star, to finding the Newborn King and pledging their fidelity to Him. Encountering Jesus changed their lives forever. They had discovered in Him everything for which they had been longing and searching. Is that how Jesus is for me? Is this my response to Him? 

 There’s probably a tiny trace of Herod and a little bit of the Jewish scholars in all of us now and then. But as we begin this new year, let’s ask the Lord for the grace to respond wholeheartedly to the Epiphany more like the Magi. Let’s be willing to do whatever it takes to personally encounter Christ in our lives. Let’s take up the journey to Jesus and not be afraid of what might lay ahead. If we walk by the light of faith, like the Magi following the star, we will surely discover Jesus in a newer and deeper personal way just as they did.

Keep Mary in Your Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart

 

Deacon Dave · Keep Mary in Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart

Homily for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, Jan.1, 2025. Galatians 4:4-7; Gospel of St. Luke 2:16-21. Theme: Keep Mary in Your Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart. 

 The figure of the Madonna and Child has been a favorite subject of artists and sculptors for centuries. I think it’s because it’s an image that captures the heart, warms the soul, and directs the mind to that special bond that exists between mother and child in every culture. Our Catholic devotion, too, has always considered the intimate bond between Jesus and Mary to be something precious and vital. As a matter of fact, the most ancient title given to Mary by Christians is the one that honors this relationship and that we are celebrating today: Mother of God. 

 Isn’t it an amazing thing to think about? God the Son, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Eternal Word through whom all things were created, became a man and had a mother who carried Him in her womb, nursed Him, raised Him, taught Him, loved Him, was always there for Him. She pondered her memories of Him throughout her life as all mothers do and as today’s Gospel reminds us. But at the same time, it’s important to remember that in calling Mary the Mother of God we do not mean that she pre-existed God or is greater than God as some people erroneously think. 

 Instead, this beautiful title of Mary attests to the fact that she made it possible for God to come to earth as our Beloved Brother and Savior. She made it possible for the God of Creation to actually and personally experience His creation as a real man, living in every way as we do except for sin. Her motherhood made it possible for Jesus to truly be Emmanuel, God-with-us, and so heal and transform our humanity by participating in it and blessing it with His divinity. Calling Mary the Mother of God tells us why she is so very important to the story and mission of Jesus. But it also tells us that she is very important to the stories and lives of everyday Christians like you and me. Without her there would be no Christmas. Without her we would not be Christians. Without her we would not be the adopted sons and daughters of God. 

 St. Paul emphasizes this truth about Mary in our second reading. He reminds us that God the Son came to earth and made possible our divine adoption as children of the Father precisely because of a woman, Mary. And so the blessings of her motherhood have also been extended to us and have become an important part of our own story as Christians. But Jesus didn’t just use Mary as a means to an end and then disregard her. He didn’t toss her aside once she served the purpose of enabling him to come in the flesh to planet Earth. Her mission as Mother of God, Mother of Christ and Mother of Christians is meant to continue forever. And so, we should strive to have a bond with Mary and open our hearts to her love just as Jesus did. 

Jesus and Mary lived in a deep and mutual relationship of love, a life-long relationship as Mother and Child. Imagine what this must have been like for two people who, because they are both free from sin, were able to love perfectly, to love unselfishly. Consider the deep emotion, the heartfelt joy in each other’s presence, the unbreakable bond between them, from the first-time Mary held that precious Infant in her arms on that first Christmas until the last time she held Him, bloody and lifeless, on Good Friday. As Christians who are called to have the same attitude and outlook as Jesus, this should be the inspiration for our own personal love for and devotion to Mary, Mother of God and our own spiritual Mother. 

 So, let’s ask Jesus today for the grace to love and honor Mary like He did. And let’s ask Mary to mother us as she mothered Him; to form us through her prayers and her active spiritual presence in our lives into living images of Jesus, her Beloved Son and our Beloved Brother. You know, there’s a saying in Catholicism which goes like this: “Keep Mary in your mind and Jesus will grow in your heart.” I think this would make an excellent New Year’s resolution for us all!

Unwrapping the Christmas Gift from God

 

Deacon Dave · Unwrapping the Christmas Gift from God

Homily for Holy Family Sunday, December 29, 2024. Gospel of St. Luke 2:41-52. Theme: Unwrapping the Christmas Gift from God 

 Unlike the culture around us, we Catholics make a big deal about Christmas by observing it as an Octave which means 8 days of celebration. And so today is the 5th Day of Christmas. but during this Octave our Liturgy doesn’t keep us in Bethlehem repeating the story of the Nativity story over and over again. It has us move on to other aspects of Jesus’ childhood and family life because Christmas isn't just about one event that had significance for just one day. Rather, it was the starting point to the unfolding of the great mystery of God becoming man. The rest of what Christmas means was played out over the ensuing years as the Holy Family carried on with their everyday lives in the obscure backwoods village of Nazareth, as today’s Gospel informs us. 

 Both Bethlehem and Nazareth are important in the Christmas story. But while Bethlehem proclaims the coming of God as man, Nazareth shows us what it looked like for God to live as one of us on planet Earth. And since everything Jesus did was for our instruction and salvation, we need to stop and ask ourselves: What is He saying to us in the fact that 90% of His life, that is, 30 of His 33 years were lived in obscurity, in spending His days doing the usual and the ordinary? What message does Nazareth hold out to us in the Christmas story of God becoming human? I think the message of Nazareth is that we are mistaken if we look for God and holiness only in the extraordinary and the miraculous. He is present and active in every single aspect of life no matter how insignificant or trivial it may seem. He knew that this is how most of us live and so He wanted to show us and teach us that loving and serving God can be accomplished even in those everyday things that we don’t think are all that special. And so as much as I love the Bethlehem part of the Christmas story, with all of its miraculous marvels and wonders, I relate much more to Jesus in Nazareth where He lived like you and me. 

 Nazareth means that the Baby in the Bethlehem manger had to learn to walk and talk and navigate His way through life as we all must do. It means that He went to synagogue school and asked a lot of questions as He grew in age and wisdom. It means that as a young man He had to wake up every morning, pack up His tool bag and grab His lunch before taking off for work. Nazareth shows us that the Creator of the universe didn’t live by miracles with angels serving Him, but earned His living by the sweat of his brow and the hard work of His hands as a laborer in wood and stone. He had good days and bad days just as we all do. In other words, He was exactly like us in every way and in all things, except for sin. 

 And because He lived and worked as we all do, Jesus made it possible for our own ordinary everyday lives to become something beautiful for God like His. You see, since Christ was fully God as well as man, when He participated in our human experiences He sanctified them. This means that they have been blessed and graced by the touch of His divinity. By living as we all live and by doing what we all do, Jesus as God elevated the dignity of human activity, enabling our daily routine to become a pathway to holiness for us and not just be something that we have to do in order to to get by and exist. It’s kind of like a twist on the ancient Greek fable of King Midas and his Golden Touch which you might recall, except for Jesus that Touch was fact and not fiction. And He invites each one of us to benefit from this Divine Touch and sanctify our own daily activities by carrying them out in solidarity with Him. 

 And we can truly do this because of our existing relationship with Christ by Baptism. We are already spiritually united with Him so we can easily link everything we do in our day with what He did when He lived on earth. We can make this offering without words, but a great short prayer to use is the doxology from the Mass which goes, “Through Him, With Him and In Him”. It can be as simple as that to unite what we offer up to God with what Jesus offered up to Him and continues to offer to the Father in the Eucharist today. This spirituality of the daily offering enables us to give deeper meaning to all that we do and allows us to become partners with our Savior in consecrating the world to God. It actually has the capacity and potential to make us into saints. 

 So, yes, the extraordinary events surrounding the Lord’s Nativity were truly spectacular and awesome and I look forward to celebrating Christmas every year! But Bethlehem was just the starting point. It was where God’s Christmas Gift of His only Son was first given. However, it was in Nazareth, where this Gift was unwrapped, so to speak, revealing to us what it meant, what it looked like, for God to become a man. For it’s in Nazareth that we truly discover a Messiah and Lord whose ordinary everyday life made Him truly what we proclaim Him to be at Christmas, that is, “Emmanuel” which means “God-with-us”.

Christmas: Do I Have Room for Christ?

 

Deacon Dave · Do I Have Room for Christ?

Homily for the Solemnity of Christmas. Gospel of St. Luke 2:1-14. Theme: Do I Have Room for Christ? 

 We all know the Christmas story as recorded in St. Luke's Gospel and many of us can probably recite it by heart. Leading up to the story, Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea so that they could be counted in a census ordered by the Roman Empire. This meant that they journeyed 90 miles in about 4 days, with an uncomfortable Mary ready to deliver her Child at any moment. Most likely she was on a donkey while Joseph walked, leading the way. And then we enter the part of the story that we just heard from St. Luke: “While they were there…she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” 

 Joseph was from Bethlehem, so when he got there he would have naturally gone to his family home to claim a place to stay. The Greek word that Luke uses for "inn" really means a place to the home where one received and housed visiting guests. So, Joseph would have certainly expected to be welcomed there. But Mary and Joseph didn’t get that welcome. They were relegated to a rustic segment, of the property where their animals lived, and that’s where the Baby Jesus was born. We’re not quite sure why that happened. Maybe there were other relatives from other places who had also come for the census and they claimed the available spaces first? But if that’s true then consider what else this might mean: that those relatives looked at Mary, who was nine months pregnant, and decided not to give up their place for her. Not a one of them. This would have been a great affront to Jewish hospitality. I think this rude action would only make sense, so to speak, if Mary and Joseph were being shunned by his devout Jewish family because of their premature pregnancy. 

 Recall that the Gospel of St. Matthew informs us that Mary miraculously conceived Christ while she and Joseph were betrothed but not yet living together as husband and wife. And while this meant they were legally married, it did not yet grant them in Jewish law the right to physical intimacy. So without knowing the truth of how it happened, maybe Joseph’s relatives decided not to have “that kind of girl” in their house. Remember, only Joseph and Mary knew how Jesus came to be within her…the others simply assumed what most of us would have also presumed. 

 So perhaps that is how the Son of God was first received into our world. As St. John puts it in the beginning of his Gospel, “He came to his own people and his own did not receive him.” The late Pope Benedict XVI wrote about this rejection of Jesus by his own relatives and thought that this story should be a challenge for all of us. He urged each one of us to ask ourselves, “What would happen if Mary and Joseph were to knock at my door. That is, the door of my heart? Would there be room for them to bring Jesus into me? Would I have room for Christ when He seeks to enter under my roof? Would I make space for Him in my life?” Or am I more like those who refused Him entrance and shelter? Just as Jesus' untimely conception brought out the self-righteousness of his relatives, do He and His Gospel of love cause me to falter as well? Am I scandalized by His commands to take responsibility for the poor, to forgive my enemies and put myself in the last place in life? Does that make me not want to welcome ”that kind of Messiah” into my heart, into my home? 

 The Birth of Jesus is fun to observe what with all the food and parties, the lights and decorations, the sights and sounds of the Season. But the first Christmas was not a time for sentimental celebrations. It was a time for making a decision that would reveal what was within the heart. Christmas offers a choice for each one of us. It can be an invitation a brand new life or it can come and go without changing us whatsoever. The decision is totally ours because God always respects our free will power to choose. 

 Ultimately, Christmas asks us if we want Christ as Lord and Messiah of our lives. May our celebration of Christmas this year become the time when we really and truly ask the Lord for the grace to welcome Him with open arms when He comes knocking at the door of our hearts. May we hear St. Joseph knocking and welcome the Blessed Mother,. They bring us the Holy Child and asks us to make room for Him within ourselves, within the our lives.

Jesus-Living-in-Mary & Jesus-Living-in-Us

 

Deacon Dave · Jesus-Living-in-Mary & Jesus-Living-in-Us

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 22, 2024. Gospel of St. Luke 1:39-45. Theme: Jesus-Living-in-Mary & Jesus-Living-in-Us
 

As we draw closer to Christmas, the Liturgy reminds us of the indispensable role that the Blessed Mother had in bringing Jesus into the world.  You see, we Catholics don’t look at Mary simply as a necessary means to an end and think that once Jesus was born and raised her role was over. The reason for this is that we do not believe in a God Who simply uses people (as we sometimes do) and then discards them once their task is done. Rather, we hold that when God chooses someone for a particular mission it’s a permanent personal calling, a lifelong mission. And so we believe that in addition to being the physical Mother of Christ she is also the spiritual Mother of Christians, of we who form the Mystical Body of Christ on earth. She was called to be and to remain the special vessel chosen by God to bring Jesus to the world, both physically as His Mother and spiritually as His instrument.

Today’s Gospel illustrates this mission.  The Divine Presence of the preborn Jesus-living-in-Mary filled Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit and she cried out with joy that she had been blessed to receive a visit from the Mother of God.  And the unborn John the Baptist somehow recognized Jesus-living-in-Mary and leapt in his mother’s womb with excitement.  Jesus-living-in-Mary touched both their lives and their hearts. Through the instrumentality of Mary, the power of Christ’s Presence, even though hidden and unseen, touched and sanctified both Elizabeth and pre-born John.  This Gospel shows us that like Mary we too can become living vessels of Christ’s presence and power to those who come into contact with us.

Through our participation in Holy Mass we can have Jesus-living-in-us if we welcome Him by faith into our hearts through His Word and receive Him with mindfulness in Holy Communion.  Both of these expressions of Christ's Presence, in Word and Sacrament, make it possible for Him to live in us and for us to grow in Mary-like discipleship and holiness.   She first received Jesus the Word of God by opening her heart to Him at the Annunciation.  And after having first done this, she then consented to welcoming Him into her womb, as flesh of her flesh.  She became a living tabernacle of the Lord’s Divine Presence.

This can be seen as a kind of reflection of how we, too, might become living tabernacles.  First we open our hearts to His Word proclaimed in Scripture and afterwards we allow His flesh to mingle with ours through reception of His Very Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  When we leave Mass and go about our various tasks, we can be like Mary who carried Jesus-living-in-her to Elizabth’s home and bestowed His blessing. Do you see the connection and how simple it really is?  It’s the very same Jesus that Mary received into her with the only difference being in the ways in which this happens.  But what really matters is our intention and attitude. Are we willing to do this and place ourselves at the service of God and neighbor as she did?

So, it seems to me that if we want to truly prepare for and welcome Jesus and then live what Christmas means throughout the coming year, we should mindfully turn to Mary and ask her to show us the way. I am confident that she will help us open our hearts and lives to her Son, and thus allow Him to live within us and to bless others through us just as He did through her.  Notice that Mary didn’t do anything unusual or extraordinary towards Elizabeth or John to bring about their spiritual experience of Jesus. She simply “rang the doorbell” so to speak, and when it was answered Jesus-living-in-Mary touched them both and did the rest.

And that’s how simple it can be for you and for me. In our ordinary everyday lives, we can be like Mary with Jesus-living-in-us. Like Mary, we can bring Christ to others who are in need of Him as they traverse through our morally dark and spiritually hungry world. We simply need to cherish and nurture our faith-relationship with Jesus through an intentional spiritual life of union with Him by both Word and Sacrament. And then, as we go about the various duties of our day, He can reach out to others through us, blessing and touching them through His Divine Presence living and acting within us.