Leaving Bethlehem for Nazareth

 

Deacon David Previtali · Leaving Bethlehem for Nazareth

Homily for the Christmas Feast of the Holy Family, December 26, 2021. Gospel of St. Luke 2:41-52. Theme: Leaving Bethlehem for Nazareth 

It might seem a bit odd that here we are, the day after Christmas, hearing a Gospel story about Jesus already grown into a young boy. It might also seem a bit odd that there is no mention of Bethlehem. Instead, we are told that he is living in a village called Nazareth. And so we might be wondering: Where is the Infant Savior in his manger, heralded by angels and visited by the shepherds? Where did Christmas go? 

Well, it might help to know that in Catholic vocabulary, there are two words that both express the meaning of Christmas, and those two words are Bethlehem and Nazareth. Both of them proclaim the glad tidings of great joy that the long-awaited Savior who is both Christ and Lord has come among us! But each one does so in its own way and from its own perspective. Bethlehem tells us the story of God being born on planet Earth, while Nazareth shows us what God-becoming-flesh looked like as the Christmas story played itself out for 30 years in the everyday life of the Holy Family. They are really just two sides of the same Christmas coin. 

Now, as much as I love the sights and sounds and story of Christmas, I relate much more to Jesus in Nazareth than Bethlehem. I feel more comfortable and at home in Nazareth because it speaks to me about an ordinary life that is more like my own. There are no heavenly angels proclaiming God’s praise to shepherds in Nazareth. There are no mystical gift-bearing Magi following a miraculous star to Nazareth. Those extraordinary things all belonged to magical Bethlehem, but they are so out of place in ordinary Nazareth. 

Nazareth speaks more powerfully to me than Bethlehem about the mystery of God becoming flesh which is the very heart of Christmas. It shows me that when Jesus became man he really emptied himself of his divine power and glory. He wasn’t just acting or pretending to be human. Nazareth means that God went to work and earned a living by the sweat of his brow and not by easy miracles. Nazareth means that God enjoyed meals with family and socializing with friends. Nazareth means that God had to pay taxes to the emperor, deal with bills, and meet with the men of the village to arrange for protection and provisions. 

Because Jesus shared in every aspect of life in the Holy Family of Nazareth, our own everyday lives can be spiritually united with his, and become something beautiful for God. This is possible because through Jesus divinity has embraced and participated in our ordinary way of living. By his sharing in our humanity, Christ has sanctified all the little everyday things we have to do, because he had to do them as well. Nazareth assures us that we don't have to do big or astounding things to give God glory in our lives. Like him, we just need to faithfully do whatever our tasks and duties might be, but to do them well and to carry them out mindfully in spiritual union with him. 

It’s quite simple to intentionally live our daily lives in union with Jesus. No special words are needed. Every morning before beginning the day, we can simply speak to God from the heart and offer all that we will experience and do in union with all that Jesus experienced and did when he lived on earth. That’s the key to transforming our work, our joys and our struggles, indeed, our very lives into a gift of praise to God. Some people find it helpful to do this by using the words that are prayed at Mass when the Eucharist is elevated: “Through Him, With Him, and In Him”. This short and simple prayer can be our way of easily and quickly summarizing the gift of ourselves and all that we do for the glory of God the Father in union with Jesus every morning.  It is also an excellent way of living the meaning of Christmas, of God-becoming flesh and living like us, throughout the year.

Yes, the events of Bethlehem were awesome and we all love hearing and singing about them every year at Christmas, but they were just the preamble to a greater unfolding of the story in Nazareth. It’s the story about a Savior whose ordinary everyday human life makes him truly what we proclaim him to be at Christmas: “Emmanuel”, a God who grew up like each one of us…a God who lived like each one of us…and a God who wants to walk through everyday life with each one of us as Brother, Companion, Savior and Friend.

Bethlehem and Nazareth are two sides 

of the one Christmas Coin...

This is Christmas...

...and this is Christmas.

It just depends on how we ponder

the Word become flesh

and living among us.

The Promised One Has Come!

 

Deacon David Previtali · The Promised One Has Come!

Homily for Christmas Day. The Gospel of St. Luke 2:1-20. Theme: The Promised One Has Come! 

In celebrating Christmas, we rejoice that the Messiah, the Promised One, whose coming was foretold since ancient times, was born into our world. We bow down in spirit before the manger-crib of our God who chose to come among us as one of us, to share our human experience in everything but sin. And we praise God for being a Father who always keeps His promises, especially those that He had made about the coming of his Son as the Savior of mankind. 

Even though millions of people celebrate the Christmas holiday, enjoying the sights and sounds of the season, so many seem to have an historical and religious ignorance about the uniqueness and facts concerning Jesus. They assume that He was simply one spiritual leader among the many who have entered human history. But, if we take the time to investigate the facts, we discover that God prepared the world for his coming for over 1,000 years before it actually took place. He sent prophets who foretold many things about the Messiah, from his miraculous conception to His rising from the dead. 

As a matter of fact, the Scriptures of the Old Testament can be called a “Book of Promises” because they contain over 70 of these prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. This is just one of the many unique things about Jesus and it is something that is not true about any of the other religious leaders in world history. There have never been any prophecies alerting the world to the coming of Muhammad (Islam), Joseph Smith (Mormonism), Charles Russell (Jehovah’s Witnesses), Siddhartha (Buddhism) or any of the other figures in the various religions of the world. 

So, what exactly do these ancient Jewish prophecies foretell about the Promised One, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior? 

* He would be conceived and born of a virgin and would be Emmanuel, which in Hebrew means “God-with-us”; 

* He would be born in Bethlehem, the city of his ancestor King David; 

* A star would announce his birth and foreigners would come to him bearing gifts; 

* He would live for a time in Egypt but return to Israel and become a resident of Nazareth;            

* His mission would be like a light shining in darkness, with great signs of God’s power and presence; 

* He would die a sacrificial death on behalf of the people, a death that would heal us of sin; 

* Finally, and marvelously, He would not remain in the grave but would be raised up and given glory and praise. 

These ancient prophecies began to see their fulfillment on that very first Christmas in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. This Baby in the manger - whose birth was proclaimed by angels and announced by shepherds - was indeed the Promised One, the Savior who is both Christ and Lord. 

Because of this Baby in the manger we no longer need to live in morally dark places or in spiritual blindness, groping and searching for answers to life’s deepest questions. We can each be transformed from the inside out, embracing a new way of thinking, a new way of living, a new way of loving that leads to a sense of wholeness and to real happiness, both here and hereafter.  All we need to do for this to happen is to intentionally turn away from our sins and sincerely express our desire to have Jesus live and reign in our hearts as Lord and Savior, as Messiah and King.

Jesus Living in Mary...and in Us!

 

Deacon David Previtali · Jesus Living in Mary...and in Us!

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 19, 2021.  Gospel of St. Luke 1:39-45. Theme: Jesus Living in Mary...and in Us! 

As we draw closer to Christmas, the liturgy reminds us of the vital and indispensable role that the Blessed Mother had in bringing Jesus into the world. However, unlike most Protestant Christians, we Catholics do not think that Mary was simply a necessary or convenient means to an end and that once Jesus was born and raised her role was over. We do not believe that God simply uses people the way we sometimes do and then discards them once their job is done. We believe that when God chooses someone for a particular mission it is a permanent calling, something that is relevant for all time. Mary’s mission and vocation was to be and to remain the special vessel chosen by God to bring Jesus into the world and to radiate Christ’s powerful presence among others. 

Today’s Gospel illustrates this truth. The preborn Jesus, living in Mary, fills Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit and she cries out with joy that she has been blessed to receive a visit from the Mother of God. The unborn John the Baptist somehow recognizes Jesus living in Mary and leaps in his mother’s womb with excitement. Jesus living in Mary touches their lives and their hearts. Like all stories in the Gospels, this one about the Visitation is not just the recounting of an event. It is a lesson meant to teach us that, like Mary, we are called to become living vessels of Christ’s presence and power, although of course in a different way. We are each called to bring him to those we encounter and to radiate his presence in our everyday lives. 

The great teacher of faith, St. Augustine, tells us that like Mary we can conceive Jesus in our hearts and become His spiritual dwelling places by obedience to His Word. He bases this teaching on a passage of Luke’s gospel where Jesus says that those who hear the Word of God and live it can be blessed like His mother. Before Mary ever conceived Jesus physically in her womb, she had opened her heart to embracing his Word and placed herself generously at His disposal. And so, by faith she received Jesus within her spiritually, which then enabled her to receive him physically. 

We can become like Mary in this regard by forming the practice of reflecting on the Word of God in Scripture, which will then lead us to receiving him into us through the Holy Eucharist. As a matter of fact, this is why the Liturgy of the Word precedes the Liturgy of the Eucharist in our Masses. It’s no accident that the ritual of the Mass was designed this way. And it is actually the very purpose of the homily to take the Scriptures we have heard and help us to ponder them in a way that will open our hearts to receive Christ. If a homily does not in some way help us do this, then no matter how much time a priest or deacon has put into composing it, no matter how much time he spends in speaking it, it has failed in its purpose.  Just as the Holy Spirit came down upon Mary and thus made Jesus physically present within her womb, so does the priest call down the Holy Spirit upon our gifts of bread and wine, changing them into the very body and Blood of the Lord. And then, similar to Mary, we receive Him into us and become His living, walking, breathing vessels. 

So, it seems to me that if we want to truly prepare for and welcome Jesus this Christmas, we should ask Mary to teach us the way. I am confident that she will show each of us how to open our hearts and lives to her Son, and thus allow Him to be born within us spiritually, to radiate from us, to touch others through us, just as He did through his Blessed Mother at the Visitation. Notice that Mary did not 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 the Holy Spirit took over, and Jesus living in Mary touched both of them. 

And that’s how simple it can be for you and for me. In our ordinary everyday life, we can be like Mary with Jesus living within us. We, too, can bring Jesus Christ to a morally sick and spiritually hungry world. We simply need to cherish and nurture our relationship with Him through prayer, through embracing His Word, and through our Eucharistic devotion, so that He can reach out to others through us, blessing and touching those with whom we live, work and socialize.

+++++++++++++++++

Below are two examples of ancient Christian art that illustrate our liturgical reflection.  Blessed Mother Mary is our model for Jesus living within us  so that he can radiate through us to others.   He dwells within us spiritually by faith  and most powerfully by the Eucharist.

Jesus Living in Mary's Womb

Jesus Living in Us Through the Eucharist

Prayer to Jesus Living in Mary

O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in your servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of your power, in the perfection of your ways, in the truth of your virtues, in the communion of your mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in your Spirit,  for the glory of the Father. Amen.  Jean Jacques Olier, S.S. (1608-1657)

The Real Holiday Cheer!

 

Deacon David Previtali · The Real Holiday Cheer!

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, Dec. 12, 2021. Zephaniah 3:1-5; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18. Theme: The Real Holiday Cheer! 

Today is Gaudete Sunday, that is, Rejoicing Sunday, marked by the rose-colored candle we light in our Advent Wreath as we draw closer to Christmas. It’s pretty hard to miss the rejoicing theme throughout our liturgy. The Old Testament reading from the prophet Zephaniah tells us to “shout with joy, the Lord, the mighty savior is in your midst” and St. Paul in the second reading from his letter to the Philippians calls us to “rejoice in the Lord always.” And in case we didn’t hear him the first time he repeats the encouraging message, “I say it again, rejoice!” 

To truly grasp the impact of today’s Scriptures, I think it’s important to know what was happening to Zephaniah and Paul as they were proclaiming their messages of joy. When Zephaniah spoke about shouting with joy, the people of Israel were about to undergo the worst time in their history, surrounded by invading enemies who would take them captive as slaves. And St. Paul’s upbeat words about rejoicing were written from a cold dark damp Roman prison cell, where he was in chains, awaiting trial by the Emperor and martyrdom for Christ. I think these facts are important for us to remember during the holidays when all the sights and sounds of the season tell us that we are supposed to be full of cheer and enjoying the happiest time of the year no matter what’s going on around us. 

So how appropriate that immediately after encouraging us to “rejoice always”, St. Paul tells us to “have no anxiety at all”, because for many people anxiety reaches a peak at Christmas time. Trying to attain and maintain our holiday expectations of joy can be emotionally draining and physically exhausting. The “ho ho ho” of jolly old St. Nick can easily end up being silenced by all the planning and rushing, by bracing ourselves for the inevitable family frictions and trying to fit too many things into our already crammed schedules. There can be a great deal of stress that makes it very challenging to be joyful because the preparations for Christmas can get so out of hand. 

Our traditional American Christmas culture too often puts into our heads the false image of a perfect Christmas, as if such a thing exists. It tells us that we must be surrounded by perfect presents, that are all perfectly wrapped and placed under a perfectly decorated tree. Then we are expected to gather with our perfect family in order to eat the perfect meal, while of course enjoying perfect conversation which is shared by all in perfect harmony. This seems to be our popular expectation of holiday cheer, and while we all know it's not realistic, we keep demanding it of ourselves! And so it might be a bit difficult to hear our liturgy today shout out about Christian joy. 

However, the rejoicing that the Scriptures are urging us on to experience is not the elusive and transient “holiday cheer” that we find in Christmas cards or in Hallmark movies. Rather, it's an inner happiness of heart that’s not rooted in our culture’s false optimism or fake expectations. Christian joy doesn’t ignore the obvious reality of difficulties and struggles in our lives, but it encourages us to look beyond these things and see the bigger picture of our existence. You see, the difference is that holiday cheer is something that is beyond our grasp and control. It is created by our surroundings which can change in a moment. 

But Christian joy is rooted in what the prophet Zephaniah says to us today, “God will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you in his love…he will sing joyfully because of you”.    Let the profound reality of those inspired words really sink in. And just in case we find it hard to believe that God truly rejoices over each one of us, Zephaniah goes further and proclaims that God is singing joyfully because of us. Have we ever really stopped to think that this is how God sees our relationship with him? And equally important, is this how we see our relationship with him? If not, we should because he has told us that it is so. God rejoices in you! God sings over you! He himself has told us that this is how he thinks of us when he beholds us. Once we truly grasp this reality we will understand the reason why we should be rejoicing today and always! 

The delight that God finds in us and the song that God sings over us is made manifest in an undeniable and tangible way in the Baby laying in the manger of Bethlehem. It is precisely why we celebrate the Bambinelli custom on Rejoicing Sunday. The figurines of the Christ Child that we bless today remind us that God has loved us so much that he left the glory and grandeur of Heaven, laying aside his divine power, to become a simple, vulnerable and dependent human being for you and for me. 

The Bambinelli figurines, simple as they are, keep telling us the story of Bethlehem year after year, assuring us that since God has become one of us, we no longer have to walk through life alone. We no longer have to wonder if we are indeed each precious and loved by him in a way that can never be undone. Bethlehem reminds us that God delights in us. Bethlehem proclaims that God sings joyfully over us. Bethlehem proves that God has become one of us. This is the true rejoicing of Gaudete Sunday. This is the authentic holiday cheer of Christmas which brings us a joy that can be ours all year long.

A Time to Return, A Time to Reform

 

Deacon David Previtali · A Time to Return, A Time to Reform

Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent, Dec. 5, 2021. First Reading - Baruch 5:1-9; Gospel of St. Luke 3:1-6. Theme: A Time to Return and a Time to Reform 

Today’s first reading from the prophet Baruch gives us a message of hope and of better times ahead for God’s people. On one level, that of history, it’s about the return of the Jews from their forced exile away from their homeland. You see, about 600 years before the birth of Christ, the invading army of the Persians descended upon Israel, destroying everything in their sight and taking much of the population captive. This captivity in exile lasted for about 70 years and during this time many fell away from the full practice of the Jewish faith without the support and encouragement of their families and communities. 

But Baruch’s prophecy today about exiles returning home, can also be heard on another level besides history. It can be received on a spiritual level, reminding us that for many people who have exiled themselves from life with God and his Church, the holiday season can be a time of return home. It’s pretty common in parishes everywhere to see old familiar faces reappear, to see new faces show up, and to have more-than-the-usual numbers of people in the pews at Christmastime. Now, there are some who are critical of those whom they call “CEO Catholics” (Christmas and Easter Only), and yes, they are correct that people should come to Mass weekly and not just on our two biggest holy days. 

But for whatever reason, some people do come back home, back to church, during this holiday season. And it shows that at some level they are still connected with God, still connected with us. In some way they are hearing God’s word of return addressed to them just as the Jews in exile heard it from Baruch. Hopefully they will experience our friendliness and generosity to welcome them back home without judgment but only with rejoicing. Perhaps, if we give them a warm welcome then maybe, just maybe at this year’s Christmas Mass, they will realize that life with God can be so much fuller, so much more meaningful, than living apart from him. Just maybe, on some level, they will open themselves up to the redeeming grace of Christ while they are in his Eucharistic Presence at Mass and feel his hand knocking at the door of their hearts. 

Yes, Baruch reminds us that Advent is a blessed time of return from exile. So why not invite a family member or friend who has been in self-imposed exile from the Church to return with you this Christmas? And while we are at it, let’s not forget that we “regulars” are also in need of return in a different way. For us Advent can be a time of return to a deeper relationship with Jesus especially through the Sacrament of Confession rooted in a real self-inspection as to how we have - or have not - been preparing a place for him in our own hearts. This is the message that St. John the Baptist proclaims to us in today’s Gospel. He calls us to return to a more real and authentic way of living a Christian life. 

St. John’s words might make more sense to us if we recall that in ancient times, when a king was coming to pay a visit, a messenger was sent ahead to announce his coming, to help people prepare for his visit. If the people wanted to get the best outcome from the royal visit, they put all of their time and energy into listening to the herald and following his instructions. They literally did a lot of construction work to beautify the landscape and smooth out the roadways because they wanted the king to see how much he meant to them. They wanted him to see how hard they worked to make his visit pleasant. In return they hoped, of course, for many benefits and rewards. 

And how are we supposed to do this? By making crooked roads in our lives straight. By filling in the ditches that sin has caused within us. By smoothing out the pathway for God to enter more easily into our hearts. We have to work hard on actually preparing the way, just like the people did in ancient times for the arrival of their King. And this spiritual construction for renewing and repairing the infrastructure of our lives is the special task of the Sacrament of Confession. 

So, let’s do whatever is needed to level the road and make straight the pathway of Christ to our hearts. Let’s ask for the grace to straighten out whatever is crooked and fill-in whatever is lacking in our relationships with God and others. Let’s really listen to both prophets, Baruch and St. John the Baptist, calling us to return to God with all our hearts and to smooth out the rough edges in our lives so that Christ might find in us a perfect welcome when he comes again.

The Message of the Advent Wreath

 

Deacon David Previtali · The Message of the Advent Wreath

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, November 28, 2021. Readings: Jeremiah 43:14-16; Gospel of St. Luke 21: 25-36. Theme: The Message of the Advent Wreath 

Well, here we are at Advent once again, with our traditional Wreath front and center, calling us to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. You know, most of our beloved Advent and Christmas customs began centuries ago when the vast majority of people were illiterate. So the stories of the Bible had to be taught in appealing and easy-to-remember ways through things like the Advent Wreath, setting up of Nativity Scenes, singing carols and decorating Christmas trees. But these things have become so common-place for us today that we run the risk of taking them for granted. We can easily lose sight of what they symbolize and why we Catholics have been using them for centuries. 

With this in mind, I thought it would be good on this first day of Advent to take a look at the Wreath which we - and Catholic parishes everywhere - set up in our sanctuaries every year. It was originally designed by Christians in Germany centuries ago to pass on the story of our salvation in Christ. The various things that it is composed of were intentionally chosen to teach us about God and how he has reached out to us. The Wreath’s evergreen branches symbolize everlasting life while its circular shape reminds us that God is eternal, without beginning or end. Each candle stands for a particular period in human history and so they are lit week-by-week, visually expressing that God’s intervention into our world was a gradually unfolding process. Even the colors of the candles are meant to deliver a message to us: purple speaks of hope, while pink is the color of rejoicing. And so the Advent Wreath as a whole tells us that we are in a time of hopeful preparation, waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promise to bring joy and gladness into our lives. And don’t we all really need to hear that message today! 

The first purple candle represents the first phase of human history which began with the Creation of Adam and Eve. It reminds us of how God originally created human beings to live in intimacy with him, but that they chose instead to live for themselves apart from their Creator. It calls to mind the promise God made to them in the Garden of Eden, that he would send a Savior, born of a woman. This Savior, called the Messiah, would undo what they had done by offering God obedience in place of their disobedience; by offering the Father love in place of their decision to choose the selfishness of sin. And so, this first candle invites each one of us to join in the story that began in that Garden of Eden. It tells us that we do not have to be part of the problem of sin that began with Adam and Eve. Instead, we can choose to become part of the solution by opening our hearts and giving our lives to Jesus Christ, the Promised One. 

The second purple candle of the Wreath represents the era of history that we call the Old Testament. During that 4,000-year period, God sent prophets to his people Israel who kept the promise of a Messiah alive in the minds and hearts of the people, especially when they were going through terribly difficult times. This candle recalls the prophet Isaiah who spoke of a virgin who would give birth to a son who would be Emmanuel, God-with-us. It calls to mind the words of the prophet Micah who declared that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. And it honors the prophet King David, who foretold that important visitors from afar would travel to see the child and bring him gifts. This candle calls us to lift up our hearts like the Jewish people of old and never forget that no matter how challenging things may seem in our lives, God is a Father who always keeps His promises and that he often delivers even more than we can hope for or imagine. 

The third candle clearly stands out as uniquely different because it represents the era of the New Testament, the time when God’s promise of a Messiah comes to fulfillment. Its pink color symbolizes joy and so we call the Third Sunday when we light it, “Gaudete” or “Rejoicing” Sunday. During that week the Wreath summons us to think about and learn from the great figures of the Gospel who are models of joyful preparation for Christ: the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and St. John the Baptist. It reminds us that the Virgin Mary is called the “Cause of our Joy” because she made it possible for the Messiah to enter into this world and become one of us. It teaches us to trust in God’s plan for our lives like St. Joseph, even when this plan can be so very hard to understand. And it calls us to listen to St. John the Baptist who points us to Jesus and he tells us to prepare a way for the Lord in our hearts. 

Finally, we come to the fourth candle and return to the color purple. This last candle symbolizes the final era of human history, that is, from the present day until that time when Jesus returns to planet Earth as we heard in today’s Gospel. The Wreath urges us to reflect on the reality that Jesus Christ, who first came to us in humility and obscurity in the little town of Bethlehem, will come again in glory and majesty to bring his mission of salvation to its completion. As we heard in the Gospel, his second coming will be preceded by great trials and struggles for the Christian people. But this fourth candle calls us to be strong in spirit and deepen our personal relationship with Christ so that when he comes he will find us ready and worthy, faithful to the end. It encourages us to look forward to that Glorious Day when good will triumph over evil forever, once and for all. From that time on there will be no more suffering, no more struggles and no more tears among God’s people. 

So, as we can hopefully now see, the Advent Wreath is so much more than simply a seasonal decoration for our church sanctuary. As the days of Advent unfold, bringing us to Christmas, it calls us to take a good honest look at ourselves - at who we are on the inside and at how we are living - and to open our hearts to the transforming presence of the Savior, the Messiah, the Promised One, who came to us in history and who wants to come into our hearts today to bring hope, peace, joy and love into the lives of those who trust in him.

 

It is Right to Give Him Thanks and Praise!

 

Deacon David Previtali · It is Right to Give Him Thanks and Praise!

Homily for Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2021. Gospel of St. Luke 17:11-19. Theme: It is Right to Give Him Thanks and Praise! 

As most everyone knows, the event which we call the first Thanksgiving Day was celebrated by English Pilgrims in October of 1621. The backstory to it was that they had wanted to reach the colony of Virginia, but poor planning and navigation brought them to instead to the uninhabited land of what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was November of 1620 and they were on their own with precious little food and supplies. Nearly half of their number passed away that first frightful winter. When spring arrived, the survivors set to work plowing and planting. Fortunately for them, the native people, and most especially an Indian named Squanto, came to their assistance. The pilgrims were taught how to plant and fish and ended up being blessed with better health and an abundant harvest that autumn. Their leader, William Bradford, announced the convocation of a festival of gratitude to God for the harvest. In other words, a celebration of thanksgiving for preserving and enriching the gift of life. 

Of the original 102 pilgrims, only 50 survived to that first Thanksgiving Day. And of the 18 women who landed at Plymouth Rock, only four were still alive when they gathered to give praise to their Almighty and Provident Father. And yet, they all gave thanks. They all could focus on the blessings and not the troubles. They all had a confident faith and trust in Christ which enabled them to look beyond the uncertainties and suffering and be grateful that they had endured. 

Like those pilgrims we all know that it is right to give God thanks and praise for the many blessings we have received. But if we focus just on the material things we lose sight of what really matters: the life we have received from God, even if it’s not the most ideal kind of life. And Heaven knows that the past year has been one that we would have ever chosen for ourselves. Yet here we are once again, on this last Thursday of November, giving thanks in the American tradition of the pilgrims. I hope this is because like them we realize that whatever we’ve had to experience over the past many months and are still enduring today, is only a small short part of the entire package that is the gift of our life. And for this, I hope and pray, we are all truly grateful from the inside out. 

The deep abiding faith in God that permeates the spirit and the story of the Pilgrims is part of the national heritage of us all, no matter where we were born. This is why “In God We Trust” is on our currency. This firm faith in God, together with gratitude for His gift of life even amidst hardships, struggles and setbacks encouraged the pilgrims in their thirst for religious freedom. A firm faith in God, together with gratitude for His gift of life, are the very bedrock of this country and have contributed to make its character what it is. If we abandon these things we betray who we are and have been and are meant to be as Americans. 

The Judeo-Christian foundation of our nation is beyond any historical doubt. Yet it has become very vogue and “enlightened” in many academic and elite circles to ridicule the pilgrim experience and denigrate the story of the first Thanksgiving. It’s not because Plymouth Rock, Squanto, William Bradford or any aspect of the pilgrim story was a fable. Rather, it’s because the story reminds us that everything we have or are as individuals and as a nation comes to us from God. There is an intentional crusade to erase God from our national heritage and eradicate the vital role that religious freedom and faith played in the building of America. 

It’s so very important that we preserve and protect the true meaning of Thanksgiving which has the distinction of being our only nationally sanctioned religious holiday. Unique to it also is its ecumenical spirit in which all people of every faith offer their gratitude to God as they understand him to be, thus uniting us all as one people under God. And so, rightly should we pray today in the prayer offered at that first Thanksgiving by William Bradford on behalf of all:

“From small beginnings greater things have come, produced by the hand of God, who has made all things from nothing…and, as one small candle first gives light to a thousand, so the light here kindled today among us will shine to many, even to our whole nation. Let the glorious name of the Lord our God be forever praised.”

Viva Cristo Rey!

 

Deacon David Previtali · Viva Cristo Rey!

Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, November 21, 2021. Gospel of St. John 18:33-37. Theme: Viva Cristo Rey! 

At 10AM on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 1927, a 36-year old Jesuit priest who had become one of the most wanted men in Mexico, was taken from his jail cell and marched across the prison yard. As he walked he held a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other. One of the guards approached him and with tears in his eyes begged forgiveness for his participation in what was about to happen. Upon arrival at a stone wall that was riddled with bullet holes, the priest asked permission to pray before being executed. Then extending his arms in the form of a cross and, facing the firing squad, cried out in a loud voice, “¡Viva Cristo Rey!”, that is, “Long live Christ the King!” 

Shots rang out and the priest fell to the ground. To the surprise and frustration of the government authorities - and despite the dangers of police repercussions - 60,000 Catholics attended this heroic priest’s funeral. And throughout the ceremony they proudly and defiantly repeated over and over again the last words of the martyr : “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” “Long live Christ the King!” 

The priest was Father Miguel Pro, whom we honor as a martyr and saint. Living amidst the bloody religious persecution of Catholics in Mexico in the 1920’s, he actually came to California for a short time and stayed not too far from here in Los Gatos. He had become the most wanted man in Mexico precisely because he believed with all his heart in the importance and meaning of the Solemnity we are celebrating today: that Christ the King is Lord of all things including politics and public social life, and that no earthly government, no civil authority, has the power to deny people their human, civil and religious rights. 

You see, the Solemnity of Christ the King was made a liturgical celebration in the Church in 1925, just 2 years before Fr. Pro’s death. What brought it about was the rise in Socialist and Totalitarian political parties and governments that were hostile to faith and sought to banish God from public life. So Pope Pius XI hoped that Christ the King Sunday would remind Christians that faith must influence our political and social lives, that Christ must reign in our hearts before anything or anyone else, and that we have a duty to spread the Gospel and the Kingdom of Christ by building a culture rooted in peace, justice and mercy. 

Just as the celebration of Christ the King had so much to say to Blessed Miguel Pro about the relationship between faith and politics, so does it have much to say to us in our day. Today in our own nation many government officials ignore our inalienable right to freedom of religion and seek to banish God from public life. There are those who seek to limit and in some cases illegally prosecute the full free practice of faith even in private business and private education. There are those who reinterpret truth and twist its meaning in regards to the sanctity of human life, the nature of marriage and even the scientific evidence of basic human anatomy and biology. These social militants against faith and justice want religion to stay within the confines of the church building or within the limited arena of personal private life. 

Blessed Miquel Pro is a very meaningful and powerful witness and intercessor for us today. He knew that faith in Christ is not meant to be kept within the walls of a church or confined politely to our private lives. He ministered amidst constant danger in a land whose laws forbid people to express and display their faith in public. He preached by his life and testified by his death that our relationship with Christ and our commitment to live his Gospel must be a priority in all that we do. If our faith is truly an integral part of who we are then it must influence and guide us just as much in our civil life and our politics, as it does in our private lives. Our decisions and behavior must reflect our relationship with Jesus in all that we are and do, at home and at work, in business and in the trades, in law and in politics, in education and in entertainment.

If we truly wish for a spiritual renewal of our nation then we must live and act and work so that Christ the King can influence every aspect of our American culture, of our California culture, or our Marin County culture. This can only happen through people of faith, people like you and me. And since our nation is a democratic republic, this means that we must bring our faith into the ballot box which is where social and political decisions originate. Our faith in Christ must inform our politics and not the other way around! What a glaring difference this is from some politicians these days who on one hand declare quite openly that they are devout Catholics and yet, on the other hand mock the Gospel of Christ by their actions, and boast that they will not allow faith to have influence over their public service and legal decisions! 

And so, we cannot be silent, we will not be silent, even if our media and our culture tell us to be quiet and keep our faith to ourselves. The Solemnity of Jesus Christ the King tells us otherwise. It reminds us that as Christians, we have a solemn duty to bring the light and truth of the Gospel into the public arena. And so we must live and act in such a way that his final words of Blessed Miguel Pro and countless other martyrs of political oppression and religious persecution, ring true in our own hearts and lives: “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” “Long live Christ the King!”

Not a Threat, But a Promise

 

Deacon David Previtali · Not a Threat, But a Promise

The Catholic Liturgy for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Nov. 14, 2021. Readings: Daniel 12:1-3; Gospel of St. Mark 13:24-32. Theme: Not a Threat, But a Promise. 

I want to start off by saying that there's a very important fact about the Bible which we must keep in mind if we want to truly understand our readings today and in the next couple of weeks. And it’s this: God’s Word was written in ancient Middle-Eastern style and we’re not going to readily grasp its message if we treat it as modern day literature. This means that we need to know the mindset of the ancient Hebrew people and how they described things in order to properly understand what God is saying to us. Failure to do so is the # 1 reason why people come up with some quite odd and at times even spiritually dangerous interpretations of Scripture. 

For example, today we hear Jesus foretelling things that seem quite incredible and frightening such as the elements of nature going berserk, and the universe itself falling into some kind of death-dealing chaos. Hearing all this as 21st century Americans we tend to think of some kind of horrible cosmic cataclysm that would make for a fantastic special effects sci-fi movie! But St. Mark’s 1st century audience were quite familiar with this kind of highly symbolic religious language and so they understood these words of Jesus correctly. His message filled them with hope not fear. 

They knew that Jesus was saying that sometime in the future there’s going to be a spectacular, world-shaking, never-seen-before event in human history. And this event would show once and for all, to every human being, God’s glory and power, his justice and mercy. In our Christian tradition we have come to call this event the Second Coming of Christ. After judgment by Jesus, every human being will rise up from the dead as the prophet Daniel foretells in our first reading. Those who have been faithful to God will receive a new and glorious eternal existence, while those who have lived selfishly and intentionally apart from God will experience eternal shame and horror. We profess this belief and remind ourselves of this message every Sunday in the closing words of the Creed. 

Both the prophet Daniel and the Lord Jesus are using dramatic language to wake us up out of our complacency and get our attention. They want us to look at the bigger picture of our total existence and never forget that planet Earth is only the starting point of our story. Life in this world as we know it is only a very small part of who we are and of what we shall become. This message might shake up a few people or even frighten others, but we have to remember that Jesus' words are always “Gospel” which means “good news” and so his words are not not a doom-and-gloom threat, but rather a threefold hopeful promise. 

The first promise is that Christ will, indeed, return to planet Earth. Unlike when he came the first time in the quiet and stillness of Bethlehem, this Second Coming will be powerful and public. All peoples will recognize what is happening at the same time no matter who they are or where they live. 

The second promise is that we who belong to Christ shall be safe from all spiritual harm when this all comes to pass. Daniel prophesied for us that St. Michael the Archangel, who has been charged with the mission of being the Guardian of God’s People, will defend us in the battle, protect us from harm and lead us in our escape from evil and into the Presence of God. 

The third and final promise is that this will be the time when good finally claims its ultimate and total triumph over evil. We who have struggled to remain faithful to God shall all be vindicated and, as Daniel tells us, we shall live forever in shining glory. This is when everything will be made right and payback will be given to those who thought they were so very clever in manipulating others. They defrauded the poor, took advantage of the lowly, ignored the sanctity of human life, and did so many other injustices to their brothers and sisters in the human family. But we are promised that hatred and division, sin and suffering will all end and evil shall never more be known among those who live on forever with one another in the Kingdom of God. 

Yes, big changes are coming for humanity but this should not surprise us. But what remains for us always as a constant is the love and mercy of God. When we hear messages such as those proclaimed to us in today’s liturgy, we must never forget that God is not a Lord of threats but rather a Father who loves his children and always keeps his promises

"And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, 

and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, 

from the end of the earth to the end of the sky." (Gospel of St. Mark)

God is Never Outdone in Generosity

 

Deacon David Previtali · God is Never Outdone in Generosity

Homily for the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, November 7, 2021. Readings: 1 Kings 17:10-16; Gospel of St. Mark 12:38-41. Theme: God is Never Outdone in Generosity 

The stars of today’s main liturgical readings are both widows and they teach us a very important but difficult lesson to learn: that God will never ever be outdone in generosity. The reason it's a hard lesson to learn is because it rests upon trust and the degree of our trust rests upon the strength of our relationship with God as a provident Father. In both the first reading and in the Gospel, we hear about two widows who have nothing but who are nevertheless extremely generous and trusting in giving what little they have for the needs of others. 

In the first reading, we see how the widow of Zarephath is on the brink of consuming her last morsels of food. Years of drought have taken their toll and she has little to nothing left in her pantry for her and her son. Resigned to her fate, she encounters the prophet Elijah asking for some food. And so she has a choice to make: ignore the hunger of a holy man of God so that she and her son can have one last meal or relieve his hunger at the risk of increasing her own. How would we respond in this situation? 

In the Gospel, Jesus tells us about a poor widow who puts all that she has to live on in the temple treasury. This treasury was a collection of monetary gifts the Jews made for the upkeep of the temple, for the offering of sacrifices to God, and for charitable works. It would be very similar to donation boxes in Catholic churches today by which we support both parish worship needs and parish ministries for the needy. We are not told any details about this widow: Is she young or old? A mother or childless? It is doubtful that she has any living male relatives to support her because Jesus says she gave all she had to live on. These are important questions because back in those days a woman was utterly powerless and socially invisible unless she was connected to an adult male in some way. 

But here is the amazing moral to both stories: neither widow is focused on herself to the extent that she ignores the needs of others. And neither widow is greedy and fearful, holding onto what little she has for her own needs. Instead, both of them manifest a living trust in God that enables them to take a huge leap of faith. And both of them receive a reward from the God whom they love, trust and honor. The widow of Zarephath has her generosity returned to her a hundredfold by the ongoing miracle of the jar of flour and jug of oil that never runs out! We do not know the specific reward of the Gospel widow, but we do know that her unselfish action has earned her a public spot in the Gospels and Liturgy of the Church. For a woman who lived in a culture where she did not count for anything, she has become an immemorial example of trustful generosity for billions of believers for 2,000 years! 

The Scriptures and the saints are all unanimous in telling us that God will never ever be outdone in generosity. And this is the fundamental lesson that today’s two widows teach us. What this means is that the more we give to him - and by extension to our neighbor in need - the more he will bless us with what we truly need to live. We will never, ever, be without what we need to sustain our lives. The trouble is that oftentimes what we consider necessary is in actuality superfluous, because in our hyper-materialistic consumer society we are led to confuse our wants with our actual needs. Slick advertising tells us to “buy, buy, buy” and we will find happiness. The Word of God tells us to “give, give, give” and we will experience the ultimate joy that never ends. 

So what might this all mean for you and me today? Perhaps it's that generosity requires trust, not money. No one can live generously without trusting the Lord. A wealthy person can give vast amounts of money but true generosity requires sacrificial giving. Generosity pushes us further into knowing and trusting the love of God. No matter my income level, if I don’t trust God to provide for me, it will lead to hoarding my resources and closing in on myself and my own needs. To avoid this we must trust that God is truly a good Father who will indeed provide for us and really believe that every aspect of our lives - no matter how seemingly insignificant they may seem to us- matter a lot to Him.

The Widow of Zarephath

The Widow's Mite

The Widow's Mite

 

Deacon David Previtali · The Widow's Mite

Homily for the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, November 7, 2021. Gospel of St. Mark 12:38-41. Theme: The Widow’s Mite 

The teaching Jesus gives us about the Widow's Mite, as this story is traditionally called, can be an important lesson for us when it comes to making the gift of ourselves and our money at the Offertory of the Mass. In case you need a short refresher on its meaning, the Offertory of the Mass is, as its name implies, when we offer God the gifts of bread and wine so that they can become for us the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also called the Presentation of the Gifts and includes the giving of our donations for Church ministries. 

And as you well know, the Offertory is when we take up the collection and this isn’t just for convenience sake! It’s intentional that the collection happens at this moment of the Mass because our gift of money is meant to represent the gift of ourselves. This is because it is the fruit of the labor of our hands and our heads, it’s the sustenance of our material lives and as such it represents who we are. Ideally, the amount we donate is meant to reflect the degree of gratitude which we have in our hearts for having been blessed with these talents. It is also a thanksgiving for the employment we have which enables us to live a decent life and provides for the needs of our poorer neighbors. 

I think that our modern day grasp of what the Offertory means has been tainted by the fact that we give money rather than the actual goods we have labored to produce. For most of church history, people gave actual gifts of food, drink, and clothing, and sometimes money, though that was rare back then. This is still the case in many Masses celebrated in Third-World nations where most of the people don’t have money to give. So they give the actual fruit of their handiwork: hunted game, woven blankets, handmade utensils, cooked dinners. These gifts help both the local clergy to live and provide needed sustenance for the poor of their villages and towns. It is a more visible connection and direct link between the gifts given and the Giver who is praised in the giving. 

With the importance and meaning of the Offertory in mind, let's see how the poor widow of the Gospel can help us give our gifts at Mass with a good spirit. It seems to me that she teaches us two important things. 

First, she reminds us to avoid making a show of what we give. She simply dropped two little coins into the treasury box without fanfare. She stands in stark contrast to the Jewish leaders whom Jesus criticized in the beginning of the story as examples of giving or doing religious things for the sake of being noticed, thanked and praised. Now, most of us don’t make a show of what we put into the basket, but we still need to be careful that we aren’t praising ourselves in our minds, thinking of how good and generous we are, or looking forward to seeing our names on a “generous donors” list. 

Second, the poor widow teaches us that truly generous giving means donating from our wants and not simply from our surplus. Jesus praised her contribution as having much more significance than the large sums of the wealthy because she herself was needy. She gave more, we would say, “than she could afford”. Now, it is good and ordinary to give from our surplus, and it is what most of us probably do. That’s not being contested or condemned here by Jesus. What he is saying is that it is better, it is holy and praiseworthy, to give out of one’s need because that is how love works. As Mother St. Teresa of Calcutta used to say, “real love hurts.” 

This was true about Jesus Crucified who loved us and so gave the total gift of himself for us on the cross. And it must be true about us as Christians, people marked by the cross, as well. Sacrificial love should be the motivation of our giving. And it should be done for the love of God which is shown in the love we have for our neighbor, a love that just might hurt. With this in mind, the Offertory of the Mass should be something very meaningful to us. When the deacon is preparing the altar with the Gifts and the priest is blessing God for them, we should prayerfully and mindfully place the gift of ourselves, of every aspect of our lives, on that paten along with the bread and in that chalice along with the wine, to be offered along with Christ, to the glory of God the Father and for the relief of our neighbor’s needs

All That Matters is Love

 

Deacon David Previtali · All that Matters is Love

Homily for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, October 31, 2021. Gospel of St. Mark 22:28-34. Theme: All That Matters is Love 

It’s so appropriate that we are hearing today’s Gospel about the Great Commandment of Love as we prepare to celebrate All Saints Day on Monday, November 1. Because holiness, sainthood, is 100% all about love. But as you know, love is a word that we speak so easily and throw around a lot in the English language. We use it in so many different ways and about so many different kinds of things that it can be hard to explain just exactly what we mean by it. 

So, I started doing some research about it in the lives of the saints. And in doing so, I discovered that instead of describing or defining love, they simply tell us that it looks and acts like Jesus of Nazareth. And you know, that makes a lot of sense to me because the Scriptures inform us that God is love and that Jesus was this God of love present among us in visible bodily form. So, this means that if we want to know how to love, if we want to learn how to practice love in what we say and what we do, then we need to turn to the example of Jesus. 

Now of course his life was very different from ours, so we’re not talking about a literal imitation of Christ. But to become like Jesus - or as St. Paul puts it, to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” - means to take on his attitude, to get into the sentiments of his heart, and to look up to him as our most important role model. And this is exactly what every single one of the saints did. So often when the stories of the saints are told, we get a mistaken idea that they always were perfect in every way. But honestly, nothing could be further from the truth. Because the reality is that they were just like you and me and many of them started off even worse than we are in many ways! 

Most of them were ordinary everyday Christians with their fair share of triumphs and struggles, joys and sorrows, good days and bad days. But we can also find among them those who were drug addicts, prostitutes, murderers and thieves. More than just a few had originally been greedy business people, conniving lawyers, crooked politicians, or corrupt clergy. 

Here I tell brief stories about St. Vincent de Paul, St. Philip Howard, and St. Mary of Egypt. 

They are available only on the audio version of this reflection.

But, at some point in their lives, every saint, no matter who they were or what they were, encountered Jesus Christ up close and personal in some dynamic way. And that’s when everything began to change. Bit by bit, day by day, the heart of Jesus, the mind of Jesus, the outlook of Jesus began to be gradually formed within each and every one of them. They show us that the power of God’s grace can turn a person around from being a skeptic into a believer, from living the lifestyle of a sinner into that of a saint. And their conversion experiences teach us that two things are indispensable in this process of transformation: the Gospels and the Eucharist. 

It makes a lot of sense to me that the Gospels are vital for the modeling of ourselves after Jesus Christ because where else would we go to learn about him? All four of the Gospels hand on to us what Jesus really did and said when he lived on planet Earth. And then the other books of the New Testament take up the task where the Gospels leave off and help us to actually put into practice what we learn in the Gospels. Just this morning at his Mass, Pope Francis said this very same thing in his homily. He urged Catholics to read, reread, and be passionate about the Gospel because when we do this Jesus, the Word of the Father, enters into our hearts, he becomes intimate with us and we bear fruit in Him. 

What he is saying is that when we read the Scriptures with faith, and that's the key - with faith - they have the power to change us if we allow it because, unlike ordinary human literature, they have the power of God within them. God’s Word can reach down inside us to touch and soften even the most selfish of hearts. For example, the once-egotistical and extremely-hedonistic St. Augustine was converted to Christ after 30 years of wayward living by simply reading and pondering just one verse from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans. 

And as for the importance of the Holy Eucharist, well that makes total sense to me as well! I mean, how can we hope to grow in love if we don’t go as often as we can to receive the God of Love, who is truly present in Holy Communion? The more we receive Christ the more we become like him and the more he can love others through us. This is why the saints found any way they could to receive the Eucharist frequently. Each of them knew that without Christ living in them, they were just one step away from becoming again what they used to be. I know that on those days when I cannot receive the Lord in Holy Communion, I really feel the lack of spiritual strength within me. I find it more challenging at those times to love God and others as well as I should. 

The great mystic, St. John of the Cross, tells us that when we finally come before God at the end of our earthly lives, the only thing that will matter to him is how much and how well we have loved. In other words, our eternity will depend upon how much and how well we have sought to become more and more like Jesus in this life, so that we can enter the Kingdom of God to be with him and those we love forever in the next.

St. Vincent de Paul
 

St. Philip Howard

St. Mary of Egypt