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.

God is Never Outdone in Generosity

 

Deacon Dave · God is Never Outdone in Generosity

Homily for the 32nd Sunday of OrdinaryTIme, November 10, 2024. Readings: 1 Kings 17:10-16; Gospel of St. Mark 12:38-41. Theme: God is Never Outdone in Generosity 

 The stars of our readings this Sunday are both widows who are extremely generous in giving what little they have for the needs of others. Now in order for us 21st century Americans to truly appreciate why Jesus would elevate these widows as examples of trust and generosity in his Gospel stories, we need to know something about the culture of those times. In ancient Israel widows had no right to inheritance. They had no social standing nor recourse in their needs if they did not have an adult son or son in-law to take them in. A widow without a male protector and provider was often unhoused and unfed, wholly dependent upon the mercy of others. 

 In the first reading, we encounter a widow in the village of Zarephath who is on the brink of consuming her last morsels of food. Years of drought have taken their toll and she has next to nothing left in her pantry. Resigned to her fate, she then encounters the prophet Elijah who begs for something to drink and eat. And so she has a choice to make: ignore the suffering of another or relieve his hunger at a risk to herself and her little son. She is obviously a woman of faith who trusts that God will keep His promise of plenty through the words that Elijah has spoken to her. How would we respond in this situation? Like her, do we truly believe in our hearts and not just with our minds, that God knows us, cares about us as individuals and is attentive to our needs? It is this trust that frees her to be generous. 

 In the Gospel, Jesus praises a poor widow who puts all that she has to live on into the temple treasury for the poor. We are not told any other details about her but all we really need to know is that she is a widow, because that says it all, at least to those who first heard this story. They knew what those few coins meant for the woman. But we can deduce that she must not have had anyone to support her because Jesus says she gave all that she had to live on. And yet this widow wasn’t focused on herself and her situation. The Gospel shows us that she had compassion on others who were like her in their poverty. With a free and generous heart she contributed to their survival and trusted that God would somehow provide for her own needs. 

 So, we see that in these stories neither widow is focused on herself to the extent that she ignores the needs of others. And neither widow is greedy and fearful, clinging desperately to what little they have for their own needs. Instead, 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 by the ongoing miracle of the jar of flour and jug of oil that never become empty! We do not know the specific material reward, if any, that the Gospel widow received, but we do know that her trust in God and generosity to others has earned her a public spot as an all-star in the Gospels and Liturgy of the Church for 2,000 years! 

 The Bible teaches us that generosity is really more about trust and sacrifice than it is about particular sums of money. It is measured by the amount of love we have for God which shows itself in the amount of mercy we extend to others. A wealthy person can give vast amounts of money but yet still not be truly generous in God’s eyes because it is measured by the degree of mercy we have on the poor rather than by what particular dollar amount we write on a check. And no matter one’s income level, we can all fall prey to the temptation to hoard our resources and justify closing in ourselves and our own needs. 

 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. The more we give to God - and by extension that means to our neighbor in need - the more He will bless us and provide us with what we truly need. The trouble is that oftentimes what we consider necessary is in actuality superfluous. We so often misidentify and confuse our wants with our actual needs. Slick advertising tells us to “buy, buy, buy” if we want to find happiness. But the Word of God tells us to “give, give, give” and we will experience the ultimate joy that never ends and receive what we truly need in return.

Love Divine All Loves Excelling

 

Deacon Dave · Love Divine All Loves Excelling

Homily for the 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, November 3, 2024. Gospel of St. Mark 22:28-34. Theme: Love Divine All Loves Excelling 

 It’s so appropriate that we are hearing today’s Gospel about the Great Commandment of Love right after having celebrated All Saints Day on November 1, because holiness, that is, sainthood, is 100% all about love. Or more precisely, it’s about the purification and perfection of love in our lives. But as you know, love is a word that we throw around a lot. We use it in so many different ways to describe our feelings about so many different kinds of things, from the sublime to the mundane. Our free and easy use of the word can make it challenging for any of us to precisely define what we mean by it. 

 So, I started doing some research about it in the lives of the saints because they are our all-stars in our endeavor to love. 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. Why? Because He is the Love Divine All Loves Excelling (as one of our hymns puts it) who became flesh precisely to show us what it looks like for a human being to love the Lord with all one’s heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. What this means is that if we want to learn how to love in our everyday lives then we need to turn to the example of Jesus. This was precisely what every single one of the saints did. Now of course, 

I’m not talking here about a literal imitation of Christ. And the New Testament doesn’t expect us to “mimic” Him in that sense either. Rather we are urged to become like Jesus - or as St. Paul puts it, to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14) - which means to take on His attitude, to absorb the sentiments of His heart, and to look to Him and learn from Him as our most important role model. And this is exactly what every single one of the saints did no matter who they were or when or where they lived. So often when the stories of the saints are retold, we get a mistaken idea that they always were perfect in every way and some few were even as children. 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! 

 More than just a few of them had originally been greedy business people, conniving ladder-climbers, hedonistic self-seekers, crooked politicians, convicted criminals or corrupt clergy. But, at some point in their lives they had a deeply profound spiritual experience of the love of Jesus Christ and that’s when everything began to change for them. 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. The trajectories of their varied lives 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 being transformed by love: the Gospels and the Eucharist. 

 The Gospels are vital for modeling ourselves after the pattern of Jesus Christ because where else would we go to learn about Him? All four editions of the Gospel hand on to us what Jesus really did and said when he lived on planet Earth. And then the other texts of the New Testament, mostly those written by St. Paul, take up where the Gospels leave off and help us to actually put into practice what we learn in the Gospels. This is the reason why Pope Francis frequently urges us to read and really ponder the Gospels and allow ourselves to be formed by them. Unlike ordinary human literature, the Scriptures have the power of God within them and this power which we call “grace” can reach deep down inside us to touch, soften our hearts, and teach us how to love. 

 And as for the importance of the Holy Eucharist in our efforts of becoming more like Jesus, well that just makes total sense to me! 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? He enters into us and if we welcome Him with truly open and sincere hearts, He can get to work in changing us from the inside out! The more we receive Christ with intentional faith and conscious devotion, the more we can open ourselves up to Him and the more He can love others through us. This is why the saints were profoundly committed to receiving the Eucharist frequently. Each one of them knew that without Christ living in them, they were just one step away from becoming again what they once used to be. 

By turning to Jesus in the Gospels and the Eucharist, we can more easily and readily make the sentiments of his Sacred Heart our own. And this will enable us to make love more real and effective in tangible ways in our everyday lives, which is after all, the very goal of the Christian life. This isn’t easy, but it is possible by the grace of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who leads and empowers us. We need to be more conscious of His Divine Presence within us and more aware of what an astounding power this gives us! Let’s learn to hold our hands out to Him every morning and pray, “Holy Spirit of Love, come, visit and fill me. Make me more like Jesus by helping me to hear and follow Your holy inspirations. Amen.”