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.

A Real Reason to Rejoice!

 

Deacon Dave · A Real Reason to Rejoice!

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, Dec. 15, 2024. Zephaniah 3:1-5; Philippians 4:4-7. 

Theme: A Real Reason to Rejoice!

 

Today is Gaudete Sunday which signals the beginning of the Third Week of Advent. Our liturgical heritage makes use of colors to express our Faith and so today pink makes its Advent appearance symbolizing joy.  The rose-colored candle of the Wreath and the pink vestments worn at Mass are meant to send a visual message announcing that the Lord’s coming draws near. Both the prophet Zephaniah and St. Paul invite us in our readings today to “be not discouraged” but instead to “rejoice in the Lord always.” But it might be a bit difficult for many of us to 

hear our Liturgy today give a shout out to Christian joy.

However, this message might hit home more powerfully if we have an awareness of what was going on in the lives of these men as they proclaimed their encouraging words. When Zephaniah spoke about shouting with joy, the Hebrews were about to undergo one of the most terrifying episodes in their history in which invading enemies would destroy their land, decimate their holy city and take them captive as slaves.  And St. Paul’s upbeat words about rejoicing always were written from a cold dark damp Roman prison cell, where he was in chains, awaiting trial by the Emperor and eventual martyrdom for Christ.  I think that knowing these facts about their situations can be helpful for us during the holiday season which is supposed to be,  as one of our Christmas songs puts it, “the happiest time of the year”.  But is it really?  And is 

it possible to rejoice and be full of cheer no matter what’s going on around us?

Our contemporary culture and Christianity have two very different and in many ways opposing understandings of what “Christmas cheer" means. It's important for us to remember that there is a real difference between "joy" and "happiness" even though we typically use these words interchangeably.  The emotion of  “being happy” as our culture defines it is based on things that are going on around us to make us “feel good”.  It’s dependent upon our surroundings which can flip-flop and change in a moment.  But joy, on the other hand,  is born of the conviction that we are individually and unconditionally loved by God and that nothing — sickness, 

failures, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death — can take that love with its joy away.  You see, Christian joy is rooted in what the prophet Zephaniah says to us today, that “God will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you in his love…he will sing joyfully because of you.”  Do you believe that God Himself rejoices over YOU?  Not because you (or I) have done something marvelous or are outstanding creatures, but simply because we exist.  If you let the profound reality of that infallible Scripture really sink in , I would think it should  bring 

you a deep sense of joy.

So we see that rejoicing can be present even amidst sadness.  And 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 maintain our holiday expectations can be emotionally draining and physically exhausting. The “ho ho ho” of jolly old St. Nick can easily end up sounding like a mockery because of all the planning and rushing.  There can be a great deal of stress that makes it very challenging to be joyful as we brace ourselves for the inevitable family frictions to come or frustrate ourselves by trying  to fit 

too many things into an already crammed schedule.

And on top of all this, our traditional American Christmas culture 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.  And while we all know this is not realistic, for some reason year after year we keep expecting it on some level!   

And so we need to keep reminding ourselves that real “holiday cheer” is not of the kind we find in Christmas cards or Hallmark movies.  Rather, it's an inner happiness that’s not based on false expectations.  We are joyful because of the Baby laying in the manger of Bethlehem and what He grew up to be and to do for us. We cherish the Christmas story year after year because it assures  us that we no longer have to walk through life alone because the Son of God has become and remains one of us; that He delights in us and sings joyfully over us. And 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 for Return & Reform

 

Deacon Dave · A Time for Return & Reform

Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent, Dec. 8, 2024. Baruch 5:1-9; Gospel of St. Luke 3:1-6.  Theme: A Time for Return and Reform

Today’s first reading from the prophet Baruch gives us a message of hope in a prophecy announcing better times ahead for God’s people. On the level of ancient history it’s referring to the Hebrews’ return from their forced exile of 70 years in what is today Iraq. But it can also be heard on another level besides that of history.  It can be interpreted on a spiritual level as saying that the approaching holiday season can be a time of a return home for those who have exiled themselves from life with Christ through his Church.  And we all know that such spiritual exiles exist and are common in parishes everywhere. We see them especially in the more-than-the-usual numbers of people who are in the pews at Christmas Masses. 

There are some who are critical of those whom they jokingly call “CEO Catholics” (Christmas and Easter Only). Now, I agree with them in that people should come to Mass weekly and not just on our two biggest holy days. But I utterly disagree with them in assuming that this is simply a sham expression of a “holiday religion”.  For whatever reason, some people DO come back home to church during the Christmas season but it just might be because they want to and not because they feel like they have to. And I like to think that this means that on some level they are still connected with Christ and the Church even if by the thinnest of threads. And that tiny possibility is all that Jesus needs to pull them closer in. I like to hope that deep within their hearts they are hearing an echo of Baruch’s prophecy of return.  

And I pray that they respond to that interior sensation and give it a chance to grow and blossom in their hearts. Maybe this year’s Nativity Mass will help them realize that life with Christ can be so much fuller, so much more meaningful, than living apart from Him.  Perhaps on some level while they are in the Lord’s Eucharistic Presence at Mass, they will open themselves up to this home-coming grace. All of this is more than possible for God, so let's start praying now for these brothers and sisters of ours. Let’s ask that they respond to Christ knocking at the door of their hearts.  And let’s do our part on the human level to help this happen in whatever ways we can by the manner in which we interact with them, the holiday greeting we bestow upon them and the prayers we offer for them while they are among us.

But today’s Liturgy theme isn’t just about the exiles returning. It’s also about us, the “regulars”,  reforming. Today’s Gospel is calling us to really hear the prophecy of Isaiah which foretells the preaching of St. John the Baptist.  We are urged to prepare a way for the Lord in our lives by embracing a more mindful and authentic manner of following Jesus that goes beyond simply attending Mass on Sundays. St. John the Baptist warns us to repent of our sins, which means to not be content with just expressing sorrow for our wrongdoings, but to intentionally strive for a real change of heart that shows itself in a tangible change of behavior. So,  how are we supposed to do this?

The answer is found in their prophecy. Both Isaiah and St. John direct us to level out the hills and fill in the potholes in our lives.  They were referring to the fact that in ancient times, when a king was coming to pay a visit, a royal messenger was sent ahead to announce his coming.  If the people wanted to get the best outcome from this royal visit, they put all of their time and energy into preparing the path into their town. Isaiah’s words about leveling and filling in were not just empty speech. The people literally did a lot of hard construction work to beautify the landscape and smooth out the roadways.  They wanted the king to see what they had done for him and how much his visit meant to them. They wanted to make his journey smooth and his arrival pleasant. In return they hoped for many generous royal benefits and rewards.

St. John the Baptist calls us to do the same kind of thing in our lives.  We need to get to work in straightening out the “crooked roads” that we have constructed out of our pretenses. We have to fill in the “ditches” that sin has dug into our lives and patch them up with God’s grace.  One of the very best tools for this spiritual construction project for repairing the infrastructure of our lives is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It causes us to pause and ponder as we take a good honest look inside ourselves.  We ask the Holy Spirit to show us what we need to do and where we need to change in order to level the road and make straight the pathway for Christ to our hearts. So, let’s really return and reform this Advent by examining our consciences and confessing our sins to the Lord so that He might find in us a truly welcome place when He makes his royal arrival as our Newborn King this Christmas.

Here is a concrete plan for a real change of heart and life. 

Based on the principles of St. Ignatius Loyola...

Lessons From the Advent Wreath

Deacon Dave · Lessons from the Advent 

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2024. Theme: Lessons from the 

Advent Wreath

 

Well, here we are at Advent once again, ushering in the Christmas holiday season that is so special and unique among our various cultural observances and religious celebrations.  So many of our favorite holiday customs that we now take for granted - like Christmas trees, colorful lights and beloved carols - began centuries ago when the vast majority of people were illiterate.  And so there was a need for creative ways of passing on the story of the coming of Christ in ways that made it easy for the people to learn, remember and retell.

 

Among the most common of these creations is the Advent Wreath which can be found in countless churches and homes at this time of year.  Its evergreen branches symbolize eternal life while its circular shape proclaims the awesome mystery of our Immortal God who has no beginning or end.  The candles speak to us of the passing of time.  This is why they are lit week-by-week instead of all at once, so as to visually emphasize that God's revelation of himself and the unfolding of His plan of salvation was an unfolding process. Even the colors of the candles deliver a message. Purple speaks of royalty, while pink is the color of rejoicing. So, the Wreath tells us that we are preparing for the coming of a King whose arrival will bring tidings of comfort and joy!

 

The first purple candle represents the origins of humanity which  began with the Creation of Adam and Eve. When we light it we call to mind the promise God made to them in the Garden of Eden. After having turned away from their Creator by disobedience, they repented and in turn God promised to send a Redeemer who would undo what they had done. Through perfect love and obedience, this Savior, called the Messiah (in Hebrew) or the Christ (in Greek), would lead the human race back to God.  And so, this first candle of the Wreath invites us to become part of the solution to sin by preparing our hearts and lives to welcome and follow the Promised One. It is the Candle of Hope.

 

The second candle represents the next phase of salvation history that we call the Old Testament.  During this 4,000-year period, God built up and guided his people Israel through such leaders as Abraham, Moses and King David.  He sent prophets who kept the promise of the Messiah alive in the minds and hearts of the people especially when they were going through difficulties and suffering.  This candle calls us to never forget that, no matter how things may seem in our lives, God is a Father who always keeps His promises and this truth brings serenity into our lives.  It is the Candle of Peace.

 

The third candle stands out from among the rest for its pink color that symbolizes gladness. Since we light it on the Third Sunday of Advent, we call that day, “Gaudete” or “Rejoicing” Sunday. It recalls and proclaims that the fulfillment of God’s promise dawns upon us. It represents the era of the New Testament that began with Mary’s “yes” to God’s invitation to become the Mother of his Son. This third candle of the Wreath invites us to turn to Our Lady as the celebration of Christmas draws nearer, asking her to help us prepare for the coming of the Lord into our lives by opening our hearts  up to His grace. It is the Candle of Joy.

 

At lastly, we come to the fourth and final candle. It is purple once again because we are once more looking forward to the arrival of our King.  Not in the recalling of His first coming in Bethlehem, but in the expectation of looking forward in time to His second coming.  It symbolizes the last era of humanity on planet Earth which will come to its end when Jesus returns in glory as King and Judge.  It beckons us to look forward to that Last Day when good will triumph over evil forever, when sin and suffering will be vanquished once and for all.  It will be the time when God unites all His faithful people into His eternal Kingdom of Charity and Justice, so we call it the Candle of Love.

 

The Advent Wreath, then, reminds us that as its increasing light brightens the way Christmas, so should our lives enlighten those around us. We are each called to be like “living candles of Christ”, so to speak, who bring hope, peace, joy and love to those who are still in darkness.  By our words and example we can help others to unwrap and open the Gift of God's Son in their lives.  We do this best by first of all by taking a good honest look at ourselves - at who we are and at how we are living - and see where we need to better open our hearts to the transforming presence of the Messiah, the Promised One.  Then, once those around us see what a difference Christ has made in our lives, then they turn to Him themselves with hope and become eager to welcome the arrival of Christ as their King and Savior.

¡Viva Cristo Rey!

 

Deacon Dave · ¡Viva Cristo Rey

Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, November 24, 

2024. 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 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, he cried out in a loud voice, “¡Viva Cristo Rey!”, that is,  “Long live Christ the King!”  Shots rang out and the priest fell dead to the ground.  

That priest was Father Miguel Pro, who lived amidst the intense and bloody religious persecution of Catholics in Mexico in the 1920’s, when simply wearing a cross in public or being caught attending Mass could lead to imprisonment or worse. He escaped to California for a very short time and lived in Los Gatos. So, our Archdiocese actually has a bit of a connection with him. But how had he become one of the most-wanted men in Mexico? What horrendous crime deserving of the death penalty did he commit?  His capital offense was due to the fact that he was a priest faithful in carrying out the mission of Jesus Christ.  And what was that mission? Well, we heard the Lord himself define it in today’s Gospel: to testify to the truth.  

Fr. Pro’s martyrdom came about because he courageously stood up for the truth. With a joyful sense of humor and through clever tactics, he secretly carried out his ministry by using a series of ever-changing disguises such as pretending to be a businessman or a taxi driver, or a beggar, and even once by impersonating a policeman and walking right into their precincts in order to bring Holy Communion to imprisoned Catholics. He did whatever he could, in whatever way he could, to extend the Kingship of Christ over all things and to uphold the people’s right to religious freedom. And he kept doing this despite peril to himself in the face of a government that was hostile to faith and that sought to banish God from any and all aspects of public life.

I think that God has something to say to us through Fr. Pro on this Solemnity of Christ the King because he had such a very close connection with it.  It was a brand new liturgical celebration when he was ordained a priest in 1925 and its theme of the primacy of Jesus as Lord was the impetus for his dangerous covert ministry. And it's no coincidence that Blessed Miquel was martyred within days of Christ the King Sunday and that his dying words, proclaimed with conviction, echoed that of the Christian martyrs throughout history, professing Christ as King above all earthly powers. The president of Mexico had Fr. Pro’s execution photographed and publicized, thinking that this would instill fear in the people and suppress the Catholic Faith. But instead, it had the opposite effect and his dying words became a rallying cry, inspiring thousands to continue proclaiming their Faith and honoring him as a martyr.

His example reminds us that God’s Word, His Truth, has been entrusted to us for a reason, and it isn’t to just keep it to ourselves.  It’s for all the world to know and we have a responsibility to testify to this truth and bring it to others by our words and example. This task can be quite challenging in a culture such as ours in which truth is seen as something subjective, something that is adaptable and changeable. We can hear echoes of this train of thought in those who say such things as “let me speak my truth” or “that might be true for you but not for me.” However, such phrases are nothing new.  They are simply a modern rehashing of the infamous and scornful words we heard Pilate say to Jesus in today’s gospel, “What is truth?”  

In response to such an outlook, we Christians affirm that objective truth does indeed exist and that it is not reached by majority opinion nor based upon one's personal viewpoint. It describes reality as it truly is and not how we might feel about it nor how we might want it to be. And furthermore, we proclaim that Truth itself became personified in Jesus of Nazareth, Who has entrusted to us the task of shining its light upon all aspects of human life, private and public, personal and social.

And this is where the Kingdom of Christ comes up against the kingdom of darkness, which kicks and screams against the light.  Those in power try to extinguish this light of faith because it exposes the lies and corruption upon which their political prestige and positions are built. This was true in Fr. Pro’s Mexico and it’s still true for those in power today, even in our own nation. And this is why there are voices in our government and media who try to denigrate and minimize religious freedom. They seek to redefine and restrict it to mean that we can believe or say whatever we want in private, but once we enter the public arena we may not speak of our Catholic faith nor seek to enact laws based upon Gospel principles. And to impose this view upon society they often resort to ridicule and intimidation as their tools of choice for their modern-day version of religious persecution. 

And sadly, under the weight of such social bullying and harassment some Christians cave in to peer pressure and compartmentalize their faith. This means that they confine their Christianity to the safety of church grounds or only speak the truth freely when they are with like-minded people.  But this is a spiritually dangerous road to travel for a Christian because it’s an inconsistent and dishonest thing to be loyal to Jesus as Lord in our private lives, but then shrink from acknowledging His Kingship over us in our public and social lives. 

The only way to remain spiritually strong and not give in to the temptation to become a “closet Catholic”, so to speak, is to work on developing our personal relationship with Jesus.  Through a habit of daily prayer from the heart, along with thoughtfully reading the Gospels and receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist with mindfulness and devotion, we will get to know Him better and fall more in love with Him. And the more we fall in love with Christ, the more we will remain loyal and true to Him, standing up and speaking out for the One Whom we love when anyone disrespects Him. This is precisely what enabled Blessed Miquel Pro to remain faithful despite persecution and to boldly shout out with his very last breath: “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” “Long live Christ the King!” 

The End of the World (As We Know It)

 

Deacon Dave · The End of the world (As We Know It)

Homily for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Nov. 17, 2024. Readings: Daniel 12:1-3; Gospel of St. Mark 13:24-32. Theme: The End of the world (As We Know It) 

 A very important fact we need to recall about today’s Gospel and really about Sacred Scripture in general, is something that I mention to people frequently: that it’s written in ancient Middle-Eastern style and so we’re not going to readily grasp its message if we treat it as modern day literature. You see, God’s Word was written according to the customs and language of the ancient Middle-East which is vastly different from 21st century America. Bible scholars help us to get a grasp of ancient culture and style so that we can properly understand what God is saying to us. Failure to acknowledge the vital difference between modern-us and ancient-them is the #1 reason why people come up with some quite odd and at times even spiritually dangerous interpretations of the Bible. 

 For example, in today’s Gospel we hear Jesus foretelling things that seem quite incredible and frightening! He speaks of 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 symbolic religious language. It was what they knew and so they understood these words of Jesus correctly. His message was not one of fear and trembling but of hope and joyful expectation! 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. At that time 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 remind ourselves of this message every Sunday in the closing words of the Creed where we profess faith in the resurrection of the dead and in the life of the world to come. 

 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 drop in the bucket of our total existence; it’s only a small and blurry picture of who we really are and of what we shall one day become. This message might shake up a few people or even frighten others, but it is “Good News” to those who trust in Christ as a Merciful Savior and walk with God through life. To them His words are not not of doom-and-gloom, but rather a hopeful threefold 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, glorious, awe-inspiring and public. All people will recognize what is happening at the same time and in the same way no matter who they are or where they live or what they do or do not believe. 

 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. This is why many people say the St. Michael Prayer. They are in effect preparing for that day and asking for the grace to remain a part of God’s people who have safe passage through the struggle. 

 The Third Promise is that this will be the arrival of the long-awaited 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 and trampling upon others. These faithless ones defrauded the poor, took advantage of the lowly, ignored the truth, spit upon the sanctity of human life, and did so many other injustices to their brothers and sisters in the human family. 

 But we who did our best to follow Christ and his Great Commandment of Love are promised something so very wonderful. It will be the beginning of a glorious joyful and eternal existence with one another. And in this very real new world of the resurrected, there will never again be any hatred and division, no more sickness and suffering, and evil of any kind shall never more be known in the Kingdom of God. So, yes, big changes are coming for humanity and while we await them we must never forget that God is a Father who loves his children and always keeps his promises.