First reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm: Ps 95:1-2,6-9
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Gospel: Mark 1:21-28

I am telling you this for your own benefit,
not to impose a restraint upon you,
but for the sake of propriety
and adherence to the Lord without distraction.

The Lord imposes no restraint

When people hear faith, religion, church, God, Jesus, or anything similar, in many instances the reaction is — reaction. Oh, umm, religion, church, not so much for me. I live my life, am a good person, love others, I don’t need anyone telling me how I should live.

The passage in 1 Corinthians 7:35 reflected in today’s readings uses the word —propriety.— Other translations render the passage differently. The RSV renders it:

I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

Propriety or the promotion of good order. One of the antiquated definitions of propriety is ones —true nature.—

Whatever the word, we are to understand Paul as saying that the Lord and His Holy Church have not been given for the sake of restriction, restraint, or an absence of freedom, but rather to call us to good order, to our true nature.

The Lord grants freedom

Truly, the Lord grants us freedom, not restraint.

What is freedom exactly? It is life in accordance with God’s will. It is our call to live as God designed, a design that is integral to us. Living rightly and properly is part of who we are. It is the calling we find in our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies; a call that permeates our lives. Freedom is our call to return to the life we were meant to live, to our true nature. St. Paul refers to this as being undivided, being undistracted.

Of course humanity lives in rebellion, division, and distraction. That part of us is the part which is bound to the way of the world, to sin. Sin is separation from our true nature. Certainly, at first glance, sin can be enticing, whether it be the road to gratuitous fulfillment, or to quick riches. We may think that we can find fulfillment in sin, in self-justification, but we can’t. Every time we choose to walk in that direction we walk away from who we are, we leave our humanity behind, humanity created by and modeled after God.

When we do wrong, whether it be small or large, we feel the breakage that occurs. We find ourselves in the midst of division and distration. Sometimes, we Christians think we are the only ones who feel distress at sin, that the rest of humanity is immune to guilt, to sorrow over sin, over the damage, small and large, that occurs every day.

We are not alone! We are all human, churched and unchurched person. We are as human as the person who doesn’t know God, or who thinks that God is an anachronism, an old fashioned myth.

All of us, all of humanity is called to live in accord with our true nature, possessing the happiness and peace only truth can bring. Every person is called to a destiny that attains to goodness. That is as certain as our adoption as children of God.

When a person accepts Jesus Christ’s revelation, when they are regenerated, they find the path to the fulness of truth. That fulness can only be found by faith.

Faith, belief, the Holy Church and Her teaching grant a better, a fuller understanding of the truth. Life in the Christian community guides us. The Church is given us as mentor and teacher. That is the exact reason Jesus granted the Church His Holy Spirit, His Word, and His body. In attaching himself to Her mankind finds the surest path to redemption, to healing, to unity, to being one with our true nature. Our union with Her provides the means to completeness. In Her we find the way, the truth, and the life — which is Jesus Christ.

True freedom is the fruit of the full truth

To be truly free, to be ourselves we need the whole truth. I don’t know about you, but I consider myself wholly inadequate in my ability to heal brokenness, to reform my life, to live rightly, to discipline myself so that every unworthy passion and desire in me is destroyed. I couldn’t find my way to my true nature with a map, a GPS, and a boatload of good intentions. I need the full truth, the fullness of freedom found in following the path God Himself set for us. He shows me the way. He tells me that my potential, my latent perfection, will grow as I fall into His arms. His Word is my map, my GPS and His Holy Church is the storehouse of prayer and grace — the good intentions I really need.

How silly really, to live in unbelief, to discount God, and the witness of His followers, to rely on oneself. Let us consider our lives. Where would truth come from if not from God? Where is the path of freedom, enlightenment, and righteousness? Does it lie in manmade systems, new age spirituality, politics, trends, sexual licentiousness, in riches, or in worldly power? If there is any truth out there, in the ways of man, its seed is from God – the Father of truth.

The truth and goodness found in each and every person is the call and entryway to the path of truth, the full truth, real freedom, our claim to our true nature. Whatever is apart from this call and entryway is false and apart from our true nature. Those things that are apart from our true nature, the things that are sin, may feel good for a moment, at least until we open up the closet and uncover the bodies, disclose the skeletons, and realize that we are short of perfection and have missed the point.

In accepting the truth of God, His revealed truth, which He delivered to us in person, we embark on the path to the full truth, to complete freedom, and to the perfection found in unity with God.

“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?—¨”

The answer to evil is yes, He came to destroy you.

Truth shuts out and destroys evil. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, crushed evil’s representative. What He did for the man with an unclean spirit, He does for us. He sets us free from bondage to our evil inclinations, our distractedness and division. By setting us free He sets, or re-sets us, on the path to our true nature.

‘Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God,
nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.’
And the LORD said to me, ‘This was well said.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin,
and will put my words into his mouth;
he shall tell them all that I command him.

The great fire is in the Word

Israel was afraid. They gathered at the foot of the mountain. A line was set, that they weren’t to cross. The people were in fear at the Lord’s coming:

Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off,
and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.”

The people were afraid and would not approach God. God came in fire and cloud, speaking to Moses. Now God has come in the manner revealed to Moses. He comes as the new fire and His fire is His Word, the Word that shows us the path to our true nature.

By the fire of the Word we are strengthened and renewed

God’s Word is the fire that clears away falsehood, division, and distraction. In accepting His Word, letting it enter our hearts, allowing the Word to permeate our lives, we become strengthened and renewed. Moreover we renew the world by demonstrating lives lived in accord with humanity’s true nature. Our renewal, our acceptance of God’s fire, burns away all that stands in the way of perfection. The fire of God’s grace changes everything, from the way we cook, clean, cut the grass, and shovel the snow, to the way we work with colleagues and relate to our spouses, parents, children, friends, and strangers.

When the stranger comes to us he sees a people living in holiness and peace. The stranger finds us undivided and undistracted, focused on being the body of Christ, a body that welcomes, loves, cares for, and respects him. The stranger, all those we meet, finds Christ present through us, in our touch, our work, our charity, and ultimately in our ability to treat them as a fellow members of the body of Christ.

on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught

He enters this temple and teaches us. Jesus is here, in His Holy Church. He is here, not to limit, not to restrain, but to set us free. In Him we are freed of sin, we are walking the path that is true to our nature. In Him all are free.—¨ We are undivided and undistracted — focused on adherence to the Lord — Jesus Christ — our freedom. Amen.

First reading: Jonah 3:1-5,10
Psalm: Ps 25:4-9
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Gospel: Mark 1:14-20

“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Or as St. Paul would say, the times they are a changin’.

There are two camps

There are two camps in the world. As Christians we belong to the camp of the other. The rest of the world belongs to the camp of self. That’s not to say people who do not know Christ are totally selfish. Aware or not, they are formed by God and have an innate awareness of the other. At the same time we cannot say that everyone who bears the name Christian lives for the other. Aware or not, they haven’t broken free from the world’s mold. They haven’t repented, they haven’t learned to act as they profess to believe.

We understand that there are two camps, and we know that we, as Christians, must live our call, our mission, and our life in accord with Jesus’ call, His mission, and His life. Jesus’ way is the way of perfection. Jesus’ way calls us out of our protective shell, away from selfishness, and into a life that is other-centered.

Jonah emerges but missed the point

Jonah is a pretty bad example. He’s placed in today’s readings for that very reason, so we can learn from his bad example. In Jonah 2:10 we see the fish literally spew Jonah back on shore:

And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

God had asked Jonah to go to Nin’evah, to preach to that city. God wanted Jonah to spare no effort in bringing Nin’eveh to repentance. Jonah didn’t much care for the Ninevites and ran in the other direction. Jonah focused on himself. He was self-centered, running from God, from God’s direction, and from God’s call to serve this people.

Here’s Jonah, back on dry land, promising God that he had learned his lesson. God tells him to go to Nin’evah, to do what God had asked, to bring a message of repentance to these people. Jonah did it and was successful. Seeing his success Jonah was — now wait for this — angry. Jonah was so ticked that he literally asked God to kill him. Jonah was angry because God loves, because God forgave the repentant Ninevites, because God used him to minister to others.

Jonah emerged from the fish, knowing that he had to carry out God’s will, yet he never saw the purpose. He didn’t understand that carrying out God’s will means that we love, serve, and consider others because God values them.

Jesus calls the fishers of men

As Jesus walks along He makes His picks: Simon and his brother Andrew, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. He asks them to follow Him and they get up and leave everything behind. That message gets repeated over and over again, and is often repeated in very blunt terms as in Matthew 10:37-38:

He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Or in addressing the rich young man in Mark 10:21

And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Jesus asked them to detach themselves, not from people per-se, but from everything that kept them from serving others to the fullest. Remember what He said in Luke 9:2-3

—Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.—

Through Jesus’ instruction eleven of the twelve that were called came to see what Jonah missed. Their work was for others, for others even to the giving of their lives for others. Jesus taught them to detach, to take nothing, have nothing, to detach even from father and mother, son and daughter, house and home. Detach from what you have, want, need, or desire and focus on others. Do this and be happy, live forever.

Paul says: The times they are a changin’

St. Paul emphasizes this message in telling us that the times have changed. Christians can no longer count on their personal perception of what is. As people we are limited in our focus. We see the here and the now. Paul tells us to look beyond the current state of things. We have to act outside of ourselves and our desires, our personal feelings, our state and status in life. We have to act on a greater and larger plane, at the level of the coming kingdom.

In that kingdom we do not own or posses, we do not marry or give in marriage, we are not Jew of Greek, slave or free, wealthy or debtor, we all live outside ourselves, in a state of love and union, united with all our brothers and sisters.

By Christ’s coming life has changed, time has changed, our perspective has changed. What was inwardly focused is now outwardly focused. We give, not just money or time, but of ourselves, of our being, of all that we are, because we bear the name Christian. Because we follow Christ we do not count the cost.

OK, how much?

We ask ourselves, —Ok, how much?— How much do I have to give? How much is enough? Where’s the cut-off point?

There is one simple answer to that, —Our lives.— That is why calling oneself Christian is so radical, so different from the world.

Certainly worldly people give. The rich give. They give when it is convenient and to a level that feels comfortable. Anyone can charge a $50 donation to the Red Cross, Heart Association, the PAL, or the local firehouse. It isn’t all that difficult, volunteering a few hours at a soup kitchen or at a Habitat for Humanity site. That kind of giving is certainly good, but all too often it is done to make the giver feel good, to please the giver and help them a little on their tax return.

No, for us the question is very different. For us nothing counts, not even our lives. Like the apostles we are to be present, laying down our lives, all of our time and treasure, for the good of others. That’s why we have priests, who forego so much to serve, who leave their families at dinner, on Christmas morning, in the middle of the night, because someone is in need. That is why we have firemen and police officers who lay their lives on the line for others. That is why we have nurses and doctors who tend to the sick and dying, not just with medicine and science, but with compassion and care. That is why we have faithful husbands and wives who live their marriage vows, who don’t check out when the going gets tough. That’s why we have parents who accept God’s gift of children without a thought as to ‘choice.’

A Christian man or woman counts nothing as valuable accept to live as Jesus Christ taught. In so doing we attain everything. St. Paul, addressing the Philippians, explains it in this way (Philippians 3:17-21):

Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us.
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself.

What is fulfillment

Jesus said: “This is the time of fulfillment.—

That doesn’t mean that it is time to cash in those coupons, or redeem those rebates. This isn’t the time for relying on an earthly definition of fulfillment. We are detached from those worldly worries, worries over our bellies, the worldly things we think we hunger and thirst for. As Christians we have decided that we will not live like horses, chasing a carrot on the end of a stick, a carrot we will never reach. We will not chase the carrots of personal fulfillment, personal gain, personal happiness, personal choice, only to be sorely disappointed.

Christ’s fulfillment is different. It exists in recognizing the Kingdom at hand, in repenting and believing in the gospel. That gospel sets us apart from the world, the carrot chasers, the give while it feels good crowd. It differentiates us from Jonah — who missed the point. It puts us in line with the apostles, the disciples, the saints and martyrs, the holy confessors, all of whom saw the other — serving them even to the cost of their lives. In setting ourselves aside, in sacrificing our desires for God’s way and our brother’s need, we live radically different lives. Doing so we reach for the gift only God can give, the gift of fulfillment.

So repent and believe

Repent and believe — what powerfully misunderstood words. If we consider our sin to be a list of occasional wrongdoings we can attept to make ammends, to fix the core problem. Yet somehow we, like Jonah, miss out on the core problem. I eat too much, I’m gluttonous, I need more discipline, I’m sorry for that sin. Now if I get thin I’ll show that I’ve repented. That, my friends, is the road to a perpetual diet, and we will never get thin. Recognizing that the sin is deeper, and involves thinking inwardly, will lead us to lives lived for others, it will lead us to love for all from greatest to the least. It will take us off the road to a perpetual diet and put us on the road to perpetual life.

Repent and believe — the times have changed because the gospel calls us to live for others, to live radically as witnesses to a giving that goes beyond what we can count. We are to live the witness that says: I live in the camp that is for the other. My life is for you because God loves you.

First reading: 1 Samuel 3:3-10,19
Psalm: Ps 40:2,4,7-10
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 6:13-15,17-20
Gospel: John 1:35-42

—Here I am.  You called me.——¨

Isn’t that interesting. —Here I am.  You called me.— Usually we say something like —Here I am.  You called me?— Samuel was sure of the call. Samuel had certainty and that’s our message for today. In faith we have certainty.—¨

The world is uncertainty

If we approach everything from the world’s point of view we live in a state of perpetual doubt. Worldly doubt plays our inner conflicts and opposes our need for certainty and stability. Worldly doubt weakens us and we begin to question everything. That, my friends, is occasion to sin. We doubt fidelity in marriages and in social relationships. We doubt the honesty of people. We doubt ourselves and our decisions. We face the future with fear and trepidation, with doubt and uncertainty.

Our minds and souls call out, they struggle, searching for the certain. If we can’t find it we try to dull the pain of uncertainty, to fill the gaps in our lives with the world’s ready solutions. By the time we see the reality of what the world represents, we realize we have been lost in a morass of uncertainty. We face the end of life knowing that our direction has come from within, and has not risen above ourselves. We pass from this world questioning a direction we invented from our needs and wants. We question whether we have made a real difference in the world.

People without faith often comment on the fact that a person can be ‘nice’ without God. I am certain that they are mistaken. Niceness is little more than self-fulfillment without objective goodness; it felt good so I did it. We’ve all been there and we know the skeletons in our closets, the bodies we left behind, with hurt and tears; the broken relationships that fell to our whims. If one lives by one’s own code there is nothing, no touchstone, against which one may judge the goodness, the rightness of one’s actions. Sure, without faith we could say that we judge niceness by how it makes us and others feel. I am sure any one of us could make ourselves and others feel nice, all the while doing more harm than good.

Simply, there is no niceness, no goodness, no rightness without an objective measure. The objective measure is perfection in love and goodness. That objective cannot be the laws of men – laws which allow for killing, war, and theft. It cannot be some unattributed internal compass. It can only be God.

God is certainty

In baptism we receive a gift, an opening into a world of certainty. How opportune that John the Baptist would point the way to certainty.

—Behold, the Lamb of God.——¨

Our post baptismal life of faith defines the road we follow, the path of faith and relationship with God. This is the path of certainty, of absolute assurance. We see ourselves, we who have been regenerated in water and the Spirit, as assured. The path we follow has an absolute outcome which is eternal life. That is an awesome thought, that eternity awaits us. Greater still is fact that more than eternity awaits. What awaits is an eternity of absolute love and perfect assurance; the assurance of God’s grace, compassion, and mercy.

We could talk about sin, and create devils, with horns and pitchforks, living in fire and brimstone. We could use those images as a method to force faith through fear. If we take that approach our faith is little more than a transaction. I give God faith because the alternative is horrible. That method is used in many Churches and in other faiths. That path appeals to base instincts, and sadly is used by men who believe that people are uneducated, unable to see the truth, to understand it, and to live it.

Our Holy Polish National Catholic Church teaches us that faith is the door to assurance. God leads us to the door we can open with our intellect, our prayer, and our labor. Faith is the path we follow, a path created by God Himself, who is perfection. It is not a path reserved for theologians, bishops, and popes, but the path for all who come with a sincere heart, in search of the certainty that is God. It is the path where we set ourselves and our desires aside, giving up the false certainties of the world for the objective good that is God. God is absolute certainty and the call we feel, the draw to certainty, comes from Him. Recognizing this we can state, with certainty, —Here I am. You called me.——¨

Was Andrew the crazy brother?

Reading today’s Gospel we see St. Andrew, known as the first called. Now think on this a bit. Peter was at home, with a wife, mother-in-law, a boat, nets, and a business to run. His brother Andrew is hanging out with John the Baptist, listening to him tell of the One that will come after him, One who was before him.

Peter had to wonder. Was Andrew crazy, running off to the dessert with a locust and honey, hair shirt wearing baptizer who confused the past and future tense? Where was Andrew’s responsibility? Why wasn’t he in tune with the practicalities of life?

Now it gets worse. On a word Andrew runs after a new preacher. Andrew asks the Teacher: —where are you staying?—

They went to see

Andrew and the other disciple went to see Jesus’ place. I can assure you, it wasn’t a Hilton Garden Inn. On another occasion, when a prospective disciple asked Jesus if he might follow Him, Jesus replied:

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Andrew chose to go along for the ride, knowing well that worldly comfort and self-directed fulfillment weren’t to be had. Andrew went along for the ride, and asked Peter to join him, because he knew that there was something more, something really vital, something greater than worldly fulfillment and comfort.

Yes, in the eyes of the world, Andrew was crazy, but Andrew had something.

Why was Andrew certain

Andrew had certainty. That certainty came from faith and the call. Andrew had faith, faith in God, faith in the certainty that exists beyond the moment. That faith helped him in recognizing the call when it came, the call that moved him and moves us to recognize God as our ultimate end and the means to true happiness and fulfillment. Recognizing the call Andrew responded like Samuel did: —Here I am.  You called me.—

This is a senseless proposition. The world says that this makes no sense. Andrew should have been at home, working alongside his brother, perhaps competing with him. Andrew should have relied on himself, and he should have abandoned his childish — some would say child like (Mark 10:13-16) — search for certainty. Andrew should have run when Jesus showed him His place. If Andrew was foolish enough to go along he should have abandoned the quest when Jesus pointed to Calvary. Yet, Andrew, Peter, John, James Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Jude-Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot, plus Matthias, Paul, and the seventy all knew that they were called to act with the certainty that comes from faith.

Our faith grows to certainty

My friends,

Do not mistake moments of uncertainty, moments of doubt, with a lack of faith. The path to heaven is a challenge and the world continues its temptation. In those moments recall that we are on the path of faith that began at our baptism — a path that many have trod, supported by community, and lived in prayer and hard work. Our Lord and Savior gives us all that we need to come to absolute certainty, to recognize His call with certainty. We can rely on Him. Our beloved organizer, Bishop Hodur, told us that:

…the happiness of humankind depends on knowing the Highest Being and entering into a close sincere relationship with Him through faith, prayer and the noble deeds flowing from this faith.

Our coming into certainty has begun. We are enabled. We have the call to wake, like Samuel, in the middle of the night and say: —Here I am.  You called me.— We prepare for this moment as we sit here, in prayer, listening to God’s sacred Word. We are given the grace to follow Him, setting aside the world and its ways for His way. Bishop Hodur went on to say:

The Christian religion gives us the most perfect convictions of the unity of the human spirit with the first cause of existence, with the inexpressible cause of everything, with God. In this adheres the principle of the endless tendency towards learning the truth, the progress of the soul and life. This is a state of the dynamic development of the human soul, the perfecting of the individual person, the nation and all humankind.

We grow to perfection if we rely upon our Christian faith. If we cling to our faith, pray over it, learn from it, and put its teachings into action we grow to certainty. Through our journey we encounter our Lord and Savior. Through our faith we become one with Him as St. Paul tells us: —whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.—

It may seem crazy and the world certainly doesn’t like it, but let us resolve to live in faith, and above all to show our faith as a living example of God’s love, mercy, and compassion. Christ certainly lives in us when we live in Him. Through our faith we stand in certainty saying: —Here I am. You called me.— Yes, He called you, he called me. Of that we are certain. Amen.

First reading: Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7
Psalm: Ps 29:1-4,9-10
Epistle: 1 John 5:1-9
Gospel: Mark 1:7-11

for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

Our baptism

Today we reclaim our baptismal promise. In commemoration of our Lord’s baptism in the Jordan, we stood this morning, proclaiming our faith and our resolve to live by those promises.

What were those promises? Simply they were the renunciation of evil and a statement of belief in God as He has been revealed to us, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Further, we state that we believe in the Holy Church and the effects of our participation in the Holy Church: an eternal communion of saints, of which we are a part, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of our bodies, and life everlasting in God.

In our baptism we reject the things that destroy human life — all of which is precious and beautiful, and we accept new life, the fullness of life, in Christ Jesus. We offer ourselves as those begotten by God.

The door to truth

Being begotten of God in baptism, my friends, is the door to truth.

It is hard to acknowledge when one has the truth. We may be embarrassed, or shy about that knowledge, reticent to say: ‘I have the truth,’ but isn’t that who we are as baptized believers, people who bear the truth to all men?

St. John says an interesting thing:

If we accept human testimony,
the testimony of God is surely greater.
Now the testimony of God is this,
that he has testified on behalf of his Son.

Don’t we accept human testimony? We easily offer ascent to the words of parents, spouses, witnesses, teachers, scientists, even government officials and salespeople. We believe that their words are true witness to what they have seen and done, to what they know. Today we see God Himself bear witness, as the heavens open and the Spirit descends on Jesus, we hear His words: —You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.—

The Father and Spirit show their unity with Jesus Christ as God. Do we believe God’s words? If we do, if we know these words to be true, as recorded by the witnesses who stood along the banks of the Jordan, the witness of John’s disciples and the men who would become Jesus’ apostles and disciples, then we must acknowledge that we have the truth — Jesus is God.

Jesus brought God’s truth, and He passed it on to His apostles, the men He commissioned to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They in turn have passed that knowledge to us through an unbroken line of bishops who preserve and teach the Apostolic truth. It is surety, God came to dwell among us and assured us that in following Him we have the truth. God’s sure truth.

Our promise gives us hope

Thus, knowing and relying upon the truth given us, truth we have claimed in our baptism, we are heirs and beneficiaries of Christ’s promises. He has gone to prepare a place for us, where we will dwell with Him forever. Yet, He is not apart from us, simply waiting for us to show up. He lives with us in our earthly sojourn and continually strengthens us in hope.

To make hope real we must claim the regeneration of baptism. We must claim the change that has taken place in us, not simply the explanation that a change has occurred, but the reality of that change. Doing so, we take up the mantle of our regeneration putting that regeneration into practice.

The first step on that path is to say clearly what Jesus Christ knows of us — we are valuable, of worth, to Him. He claims us as He claimed Paul on the road to Damascus, as He claimed Andrew upon coming up out of the Jordan. He calls to us and tells us that He loves us and needs us.

Knowing this and knowing that His promise is true, causes us to change. This is the second step — to live in the knowledge of our regeneration. In every situation we see the same factors, the same evidence others see, yet for us it is different, because all things point to God and reveal God. Even the saddest moments, in which our grief seems inconsolable, are different, because our eye is on heaven. Our perspective has been changed so that hope is always before us.

This my friends is real change and real hope. In our journey we have a taste of the change that awaits us and hope for its fulfillment.

Our promise is a guarantee

The change that awaits us and our hope for its fulfillment comes to life in serving the Lord, serving each other, and calling all to new life in water and the Holy Spirit.

The saints lived this, the smiling saints who saw the joy that awaits them.

When we look to the saints we see heroic, unimaginable deeds, and deaths — no matter how awful — as peaceful and joy-filled experiences. We see the saints that bore witness, the confessors who suffered for their witness and the martyrs who died for theirs. Their eyes were continually focused on the promise they made and the way they had to live that promise. We see saints who ministered to the sick and the dying, contracting horrible diseases, yet who comforted their bothers and sisters because of their promise. We see saints who gave and gave, ministering to the poor, the crippled, prostitutes, the homeless, prisoners, captives, on the battlefield, and in cities that wanted nothing to do with God. Yet they spoke God’s word of comfort and love. They touched and they healed. They saw Jesus Christ in their midst because of their promise. Their promise made real what Isaiah had foretold: He shall bring forth justice to the nations, He establishes justice on the earth; opens the eyes of the blind, brings out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

Because of our baptismal promise there is no cost too high, no witness too difficult, no sacrifice we would be unwilling to make. All, because we are those saints and those saints are us. We know the joy that God has guaranteed for us, we who live out the baptismal promise.

Our promise seals us

We know that we are begotten of God in our baptism. We know that we have the truth of God. We know that our baptism gives us hope, as long as we live out our regeneration. We know that by living our promise we are guaranteed a treasure of inestimable value (Matthew 13:45-46). Thus we are sealed in a new birth by water and the Spirit, living in truth, with hope, and taking action with an eye to eternal life in Christ Jesus. These things seal us, they mark us as people who live the Christian life — the life of Christ among us.

As we stood to state our promises, we asked all to see the seal with which we are sealed. We didn’t do this in a closet or behind closed doors, but in the community, with doors open to all.

We are the people who live this life, who show forth the seal of the Lamb, who bring Christ to the friend, the enemy, and the stranger.

Making our promise real in today’s world

To be begotten by God, to be sealed with Him, means that our lives have become purposeful. The commitment, the purpose to which we are set, is the proclamation of righteousness in God.

Our proclamation is twofold. It takes shape in our doing and in our being. By this I mean that what we do is not done as mere niceness, as something invented by man, but goodness and love as created by God. Our doing takes shape in the way we place the Gospel into action. Anyone can be nice to those who are nice to them. Anyone can love those who love them.

We are different, the sealed bearers of Christ in the world. Because of our baptism we act with goodness and love toward all. We often develop this into a dichotomy. We compare love of friends to love of enemies. But it is more. Certainly we are to love our friends and our enemies, but there is more. The next step is to love the unexpected, the stranger who is neither friend nor enemy. That’s where we can see our earthly ways fighting us. We recoil at the unknown. We hold back from the uncategorized. If one doesn’t fit into the friend or enemy category we crawl back into ourselves and wait. By baptism we are called out of that wait. The wall between us and the friend, enemy, or stranger no longer exists. What exists is our call to connect with all, to live with all and relate with all in a bond of love.

In this doing, in this building of bonds defined by goodness and love, we become. Our doing becomes our being. We are no longer the old man; our presence transformed into the presence of Christ in goodness and love (Romans 6:6).

When our doing translates into His presence we are approaching the perfection we are called to in baptism. Doing as God commands transforms us into the people Christ has called, a righteous and holy people, a people of the truth, living in the Sprit, overflowing with goodness and love.

Trust in God, trust in Me

Making the promise is serious stuff, living the promise is immensely difficult. I imagine that this is what Jesus meant when He spoke of those things that seemed impossible — camels passing through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24). But, there is hope and there is help. We have made the promise and are sealed. We have the truth and sure hope — a guarantee. Now it is time for our doing and our becoming. None of this is done on our own, but first and foremost in prayer. Let us cast ourselves at Jesus’ feet in our prayer and ask that He give us the strength we need for our work.

Jesus asked us to trust in God and to trust also in Him (John 14:1). Trusting in Him we will do all we are called to do, and more. Like the saints, living their baptismal promise, seeing their regeneration in the forefront, we will bring the comfort and freedom of God to all mankind. We will live our baptism. Amen.

First reading: Sirach 3:2-6,12-14
Psalm: Ps 128:1-5
Epistle: Colossians 3:12-21
Gospel: Luke 2:22-40

And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.—¨

1. Love is difficult

I don’t know about you, but isn’t that one of the most difficult things to understand. Loving someone… Where does that come from and how do we define it?

There are a lot of definitions out there, and society tends to market the most shallow of the definitions. Is loving the romantic Prince Machiabelli commercial, with the beautiful woman, long blond hair flying in the wind as she rides a white horse across golden fields soon to encounter her prince? It’s funny, but a fragrance company now markets Prince Machiavelli perfume. It is the perfume that says the ends justify the means.

We regularly see love being portrayed as just that, an exchange, and as a rush of feelings and emotions. That sort of love is love at face value, love that fades, love that is little more then a passing moment, soon to fade, just like any momentary rush of pleasure.

Love is difficult to define, especially when the messages are conflicted and confusing. We’ve come to the point where we simply accept the words ‘I love you’ as proof positive. We’re afraid to challenge a presumptive statement of love. If we look a little closer we will find that the statement is built on a foundation of sand. The statement has no more gravity than the words themselves; words that fade into the wind.

2. Haven’t families changed

Certainly families must define love, but we aren’t so sure of our definitions anymore. What is a family? How do we define it today? Remember, back in school. We had extended family. A lot of us who grew up in ethnic neighborhoods, or in the country, knew that definition. It was grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, mom, dad, brothers and sisters. We also learned of the nuclear family. That seemed so neat and efficient: mom and dad with two point five children. That was the family of the suburbs.

Now we’re not so sure. If anyone steps up and says: ‘This is my family’ we accept those words as proof positive. If we look a little closer we will find that the statement is built on a foundation of sand. The statement has no more gravity than the words themselves; words that fade into the wind.

3. Annoying relatives, tough family members

Let’s make this a little more real. My father-in-law frequently recounts the old adage: You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your relatives. We can look at some of the people we are related to and wonder if they’re from the same gene pool. The aunt that re-gifts every holiday. How many times has that salt and pepper shaker moved through the family? There’s that odd cousin with the annoying habits, the eccentric uncle, and of course the occasional black sheep. Family members, the relatives that come to us like a bunch of grapes, all grown together, some sweet, some sour, some big, some small, can be annoying or tough, sweet or sour, but they are a presence in our lives. They are family, familia, rodzina. Because of the relationship, in blood, they are something more than just words.

4. Scripture emphasizes family.

The Old Testament sets the pattern for family. More so, it sets the pattern for behavior within the family. Sirach tells us:

God sets a father in honor over his children;
a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.
Whoever honors his father atones for sins,
and preserves himself from them.
When he prays, he is heard;
he stores up riches who reveres his mother.

Honor, authority, and the benefits that we derive from our right relationship with family are part of God’s design. The word family is mentioned over 430 times in the Bible, and that doesn’t include references to variants of the word like families, familial, etc.

Recall the statement in Exodus 12:3-4

Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household;
and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.

Another word for household is family. Israel consisted of families and neighbors. They were bound together by relationships and tribal heritage. That wasn’t an accident of culture. That relationship, family and neighbors, the tribe, was God’s design. Israel was from the seed of one man, Abraham. God set a plan in motion, that salvation would come from the heart of a family.

5. Paul’s shows the key elements

St. Paul elaborates on the Old testament’s understanding of family. Under the new covenant family was redefined. Christians do not come from one tribe, from one genealogical line. Rather, we are joined as family in a new kind of love. It is the love of Christ, love defined as agapao. Paul tells us, we who are chosen, holy and beloved, that our love is to be distinctive and marked by the following traits: heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, forbearance and forgiveness, peace, unity in the one body, thankfulness, gratitude, subordination, avoidance of bitterness, obedience.

Paul tells us that these signs are signs of Christian love, agapao, love being the bond of perfection.—¨

6. Christ brings it all together, sacrificial love.

As Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple they had a specific duty in mind. They were consecrating their Son to the Lord.

They took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord

Jesus teaches us that this new love, agapao, is dependent on just that. Like Christ we are consecrated to the Lord. In that consecration, through our Baptism and fulfilled in our Confirmation, we are to live a new kind of love. Jesus’ teaching is that we, as members of this new family, are the object of God’s perfect love, and are on mission to share that love.

Agapao is exactly this: The divine love of God toward His Son, human beings in general and believers. It is the outwardly focused love God gives to us, and in turn God expects us to have for all mankind. God’s love isn’t impulsive, or based on feelings, nor does it rest upon undefined statements like ‘I love you’ or ‘We are family.’ What it is exactly is the way we live out Christ’s total giving, his total self sacrifice, His offer, which is open to all.

7. Who is my family

In Luke 6:47-48 we hear Jesus say:

Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:
he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock

As Christians we have a foundation built on solid rock, more than just words, words that will fade into the wind.

God’s design is that we love as He loves. Loving means to live the definition of agapao. We are to love without limit or barrier, outwardly. Our love extends to all humanity, and brings a new level of meaning to the word family. It is more than the Old Testament definition of family, neighbor, and tribe, and it is far greater, because the Son of God changed that. By the salvation He brought He links each one of us, one-to-the-other, as family.

So who is my family? It is all of us, past, present, and future. God’s love is that inclusive and welcoming because it calls us to live outside of ourselves, at a level beyond mere feelings. Love for the family of God, mankind, demands no less than our Christ like sacrifice. Our family is without boundary, without classification, and is more than words. All are welcome to meet Christ, and to face, along with us, the challenge of living agapao, of giving up words, phrases, wants, and desires built on sand, and living as Christians should. As family. Amen.

First reading: Jeremiah 31:10-14
Psalm: Ps 97:1,6,11-12
Epistle: Titus 3:4-7
Gospel: Luke 2:15-20

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

As it had been told to them. On this beautiful Solemnity, given to us by our Holy Church, let’s focus on that phrase — as it had been told them.

Consider the shepherds. There was, and is nothing fancy about shepherds. They see things as they are — and they accept them. The shepherds, gathered on the hillside that evening, were prepared for the dangers that exist out there. They guarded the sheep. They guarded themselves against the cold. When day would come, they would point their sheep toward the pasture, the available grass. There is the grass, go and graze. Shepherds don’t worry about the grass that isn’t or the wolves that aren’t. They need to face reality. They were forced to accept reality, or the sheep would not eat, and their livelihood would be destroyed.

Perhaps that is the reason the angels called the shepherds. Shepherds tell the sheep like it is. The shepherds, by their very nature, bear witness to reality. Hearing the message the shepherds ran off to the city, leaving their flocks behind. They went to see this new reality, announced by the angels. The Gospel goes on to tell us:

And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child;
and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

Acceptance. They saw and they accepted the reality of what they had been told: for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Not only wonderful, but wonderfully perfect, that men who lived lives based in reality should be the first to go about proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. I can just hear them: It is what it is. He has come. Real, perfect, the testimony of men so grounded in truth that there could be no doubt.

Brothers and sisters,

The prophet Jeremiah alludes to this when he says:

“Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands afar off—

Like the shepherds we are to hear the very same words: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Sometimes, we can be drawn to think of faith as an intellectual exercise, or an emotional experience. Who doesn’t shudder during that moment on Good Friday, when we fall prostrate before the empty altar. Christ has given over his spirit. Who doesn’t shed a tear at the thought of Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus in the stable. The perfection of God among us in pure innocence and light. At other times we think through our faith. If I do ‘x’ then ‘y’ will happen. We think through the Holy Mass, the forgiveness of sins, the power of God’s Holy Word, the bread and wine becoming body and blood. It is recitation, almost process like. We must break the mold, and trade off emotion and intellectualism for prayer and witness based on reality, the reality of shepherds.

My friends,

If we believe, acknowledging God’s reality, Christ’s coming, all He did and said, and His death, resurrection, and ascension, to be as real as the book in our hands, the coat on our backs, and the shoes on our feet, then we will have become like those shepherds, who saw and believed.

Like the shepherds we are to go out and tell the world what we have heard, what we have seen, and what we know for a fact.

Now is the moment. Confronted with these all so real men, we are forced to change our perspective. Jesus is not an option, someone a person might or might not choose to believe in. He is real. He has been seen and witnessed to. The world must come to the reality of God among us. Jesus Christ is real and lives. He is the Son of God, He is all the things the Holy Church says of Him, and more. Believing the reality we must say: He is real.

St. Paul reminds Titus that we are: heirs in hope of eternal life. We are heirs with the same measure of reality you would find in a surrogates court. We can prove our claim to eternal life. The proof, the reality of Christ’s coming, is as real as the grass in the shepherd’s pasture. We can point to it, just as the shepherds point their sheep to the grass. When we point to it, we point to ourselves. We, by our faith, manifested in our testimony, in our work, in our charity, in our service, in our witness to the living, real, and eternal God, are the proof of Christ’s coming.

Make no mistake. The world has been changed. As the shepherds lives were changed, so the life of the world has been changed. We have a new reality, a perfected, eternal reality. As the shepherds heralded the reality of Christ’s coming, let us go forth, as we step into a new year, proclaiming through steadfast witness, through unbreakable certainty: Christ is real. The world will believe, because we are grounded in the reality that matters. They will believe, as we have shown them, as it had been told them. Christ has come. Alleluia. Amen.

First reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16
Psalm: Ps 89:2-5,27,29
Epistle: Romans 16:25-27
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

‘Thus says the LORD:
Should you build me a house to dwell in?’

Let us consider David’s ambitious plan. David, chosen by God as King, anointed by Samuel, proclaimed by the elders of the tribes of Israel, blessed with victory, strong cities, wives and children. David paused to look back at all the Lord had done for him and felt a sort of regret. He saw that he was blessed by God while the Ark of God dwelt in a tent. David decided that he had to fix that, to raise God up to his level. Let me say that again, David wanted to raise God to his level.

I suppose we could say that David’s reaction was very human. God did a lot for him and he wanted to honor and glorify God. He wanted to do something tangible, well noticed. A temple fit that bill.

Much of Christianity is like that as well. We are thankful for the blessings we have received. We want to honor and praise God, so we build great edifices to His glorious and All Holy Name.

In both instances, with David and with us, God reaches out and says: ‘what are you doing?’

God reminds David:

—It was I who took you from the pasture
I have been with you wherever you went,
and I have destroyed all your enemies before you.
And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth.—

God didn’t need a temple to accomplish those things. God wasn’t aggrieved because His Ark dwelt in a tent. God only gets upset when people fail to render the one thing He really desires — faithfulness. This is where David slipped up.

When you read through Samuel you see David acting in faithfulness to God. When he was about to slay Goliath he said:

“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down…
and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and he will give you into our hand.”

David relied on God, God whose Ark dwelt in a tent. He proclaimed his faithfulness and trust in God before Goliath and the Philistine army.

When David was presented with an opportunity to kill Saul, who had taken up arms against David, and had sought to kill David, David stood before Saul and said:

Lo, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave; and some bade me kill you, but I spared you. I said, `I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’S anointed.’

David trusted in God’s providence, in God’s blessing, in God’s way. David was faithful to God, God whose Ark dwelt in a tent. He didn’t need to take matters into his own hands. Rather he decided to rely upon God.

Consider David’s acts of faithfulness. God didn’t bless David because David was a keen architect or a great temple builder. God blessed David because David was faithful. David tripped in wanting to build this temple because he missed that very point. He was comfortable and did not recognize that God, Whose Spirit had been upon him since Samuel’s anointing, did not need to dwell as David dwelt. God had no need for a temple, or for sacrifices, but only desired faithfulness. David couldn’t match God’s heavenly dwelling, but he could give God the dwelling God wanted, a faithful heart.

Temples and churches are fine places and they are necessary places. We rightly glorify God in our use of these places, but they are ultimately useless unless we enter in faithfulness.

Brothers and sisters,

Today we see a proper example of faithfulness. The Blessed Virgin’s response to Gabriel’s message is the definition of faithfulness:

—Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.——¨

May it be done to me according to Your word is an amazing example of accepting all God wants of us. Mary didn’t enter into negotiations, she didn’t have ideas as to the how, when, and where. She asked, God told her, it was enough. Her response was —Amen.— Mary simply accepted and kept faith.

My friends,

As we approach our celebration of the Incarnation let us focus on the necessity of faithfulness. Paul says it very simply when he calls on us to glorify “Him who can strengthen you.”

Paul tells us that God has revealed Himself and —is made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith.—

The obedience of faith is faithfulness. Christ’s coming challenges us. We must step outside of what we know. We must throw away everything that binds us, that might cause us to think that we need to raise God to our level. God does not need our help in that respect. God has built His temple among us – it is the body of Christ.

David took the wrong path in attempting to please God. He couldn’t build a house of stone as God’s dwelling. That house of stone was only stone, for worship of something other. God must be at home in our hearts and in our works. We must show forth God’s presence in faithfulness. Having turned ourselves over to God and God’s desires we can stand and worship Him, in His Holy Church, in spirit and truth (John 4:24).

The right path is to be faithful to God, to His commands, and to His Gospel. If we do those things, if we pray that God use us as He sees fit, if we turn it all over to Him in complete trust, then God will honor and bless us. God will not ask us: ‘what are you doing?’ He will simply say:

‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:23).

Amen.

First reading: Isaiah 61:1-2,10-11
Canticle: Luke 1:46-50,53-54
Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Gospel: John 1:6-8,19-28

I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
—¨in my God is the joy of my soul

Today we recall that Advent is more than a time set aside for penance. We recall that it is also a time that has been set aside for joy.

As we reflect on today’s readings and Gospel we recall John’s testimony to the Christ. John knew that the time was right, the moment was near. He did not know the exact place, the exact face, nor could he predict the moment of revelation, but he knew. Nevertheless he knew.

We too. We know that the time is near. When we reflect on John’s work as the herald for Christ, when we reflect on Jesus’ instruction to His disciples, we know that our message must be one of joy and of immanence. Our message is a living message. It exhibits itself in the way we gather, here in Church, and the way we live each and every day. Our message is a message of salvation. We are inching along, and we know, without knowing the exact place, the exactness of Christ’s face, nor the exact moment of the His ultimate revelation, that He is near.

Like John we have been commissioned as heralds. Our job as heralds is to proclaim this awesome message. We are to tell the world, and to spread that message joyfully. —¨Jesus is the way, truth, and life (John 14:6). That is not a message of sadness and dread. It is not a message of pain, fiery furnaces, and separation, but one of unity and fulfillment.

We all feel great when we hear Isaiah say:

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,—¨
because the LORD has anointed me;—¨
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
—¨to heal the brokenhearted,—¨
to proclaim liberty to the captives—¨
and release to the prisoners,—¨
to announce a year of favor from the LORD—¨
and a day of vindication by our God.—¨

Wow, wouldn’t that be wonderful. If only Isaiah or John were here today. If it would just happen…

Brothers and sisters,

You and I are the anointed. We are John and Isaiah in today’s world. Isaiah’s message is just as relevant today. The way John heralded its immanent reality is just as real today. We are to make the message of salvation real in the lives of our brothers and sisters, because the time is near. We are to be those things to the world. Our Christian duty, and obligation, is to bring glad tidings, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to all held captive — regardless of the type of captivity, and to announce an eternity of favor from God.

St. Paul prayed for the members of the Church at Thessalonica. In equal measure he prays for us. He knew that those who bear the name Christian can accomplish all these things. He knew that our dedication to spreading the joyful message of salvation in Jesus Christ would win over the world. Most of all, he knew that God would accomplish all this through us:

The one who calls you is faithful,—¨
and he will also accomplish it. —¨

My friends,

When we look at ourselves, what do we see? Do we see “the voice of one crying out in the desert?” We regard the PNCC as a small Church, and may see ourselves as a small parish in a small city. We believe that other Churches, whether they be of the Roman variety, or the humongous mega-churches we see on television, have what it takes to win over the world. Certainly they have their role in salvation history. But we must not regard, and pay deference to, demographics and statistics. If we do, we fail to understand the power of our mission and the adequacy of God’s grace. We are heralds for the very reasons laid out by St. Paul:

Test everything; retain what is good.—¨
Refrain from every kind of evil.—¨

Our Holy Church does just that. We have tested everything and have retained what is good, proper, and right. We retain, in our Holy Church, the fullness of Christ’s message — and what a powerful message. We are saved. By faith and by the reason God has endowed us with, we can make the ascent to Christ. We can meet Him and walk with Him. Lives are changed because of Him.

Our message is a joyful message because it describes God and man in a relationship. It tells of God living among us, part of our history, part of our timeline, part of our daily life. There is no moment that escapes His loving care. Even in the midst of sin, He is there to call us back. Even in the midst of poverty, He makes us rich. Even in the midst of sorrow, He is there to lift us up. Even in prison, He is there to set us free.

He is there because we are there. We can make all these things real. We have His Holy Spirit which empowers and guides us. Knowing all that, knowing He is here, that we are his heralds, and that we have a message of great joy, we can say, along with Mary: My soul rejoices in my God.

Our souls rejoice in God. Let us set to work. May our work and our lives herald the Lord. May we bear the message of joy, of salvation in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

First reading: Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11
Psalm: Ps 85:9-14
Epistle: 2 Peter 3:8-14
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8

—Prepare the way of the Lord,—¨
make straight his paths.——¨

By water, the Holy Chrism, and the decent of the Holy Spirit we are consecrated, each and every one of us, to proclaim the Lord, to prepare the world so that each and every person might desire to receive Him. It is an awesome and formidable task and I think we are a little afraid of it. Our fears might be related to having a particularly low opinion of our abilities. They may even relate to the ultimate fear, the fear that Jesus is right.

As to our low opinion of our abilities, that’s probably a good thing. If we fail in humility we just might think that that we can move forward, saying whatever we will, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Church. That, of course, is a big problem in this day and age. We lack in humility, in thinking that it is some sort of insult to subject ourselves to the guidance of the Church, of Holy Scripture, and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. If we truly think ourselves unworthy we step out of false pride, out of self-reliance. We cast our hope on the Lord and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah gives us God’s command:

Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:—¨
Here is your God!—¨
Here comes with power—¨
the Lord GOD,—¨
who rules by his strong arm;—¨
here is his reward with him,—¨
his recompense before him.—¨

We must not fear. We have to place our reliance on God and trust in the Gospel of His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have to take up Jesus’ charge to us and we have to get out there, knowing we ourselves are incapable, but that God will give us the strength and the words we need.

We sit here week after week, many of us since childhood, and we listen to the Gospel. We know the things we are to proclaim. Love God, love each other, come to God through our Lord and Savior for He is the way, truth, and life.

Jesus has given us numerous examples in regard to fear. We must not fear living our lives as faithful witnesses. We are not to fear the consequences of our witness, but are to rejoice in them, because the consequence of witness is eternal life. So do not fear. Listen to these words, words which we will hear in the coming Christmas season. Jesus tells us:

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechari’ah, for your prayer is heard— (Luke 1:13)

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary— (Luke 1:30)

An angel of the Lord appeared to [Joseph] in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear (Matthew 1:20)

And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people (Luke 2:10)

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.”
And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:10-11)

Do not be afraid, but get up and do as the Lord asks. Like Simon Peter, Andrew the First Called, and the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John, we have to take up the mantle, casting ourselves entirely into the hands of Jesus. He will give us all we need so that His word might be proclaimed.

Brothers and sisters,

We may fear that Jesus is right. That thought, that truth, which is an ultimate truth, forces us to face the reality of our lives, and our bodily death. The Holy Apostles continually urged their flocks to focus on the ultimate reality. Now some people got lazy, thinking they wouldn’t have to do anything because Jesus’ second coming was right around the corner. We still have those people with us, the ones awaiting the rapture, the millennialists, the doomsday cults. Saint Peter was speaking to those people, reminding them:

Do not ignore this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years
and a thousand years like one day.—¨
The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard —delay,——¨
but he is patient with you,—¨
not wishing that any should perish—¨
but that all should come to repentance.

He goes on to remind them that:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,—¨
and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar—¨
and the elements will be dissolved by fire,—¨
and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.

Because that day will come we cannot wait. We must set aside time each and every day to focus on our advent. We are in a constant state of preparation, a state of waiting. In that state we must live as the Apostle details when he says:

what sort of persons ought you to be,—¨
conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,—¨
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God

With Peter, we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.—¨

Friends,

We await the new heaves and the new earth, the new and eternal Jerusalem. In our waiting, our anticipation, in the midst of this on-going advent, we need to focus on our mission. We must reach each and every person, without fear, and with the words the Holy Spirit will give us. We must reach out to those who do not know Christ, who hate Him, who run from Him, who think they have been hurt by Him and His people. We must do so, not through criticism and demands, but in the love of Christ Jesus. We must reach them in their homes and businesses. We must be the first to open the door of welcome.

When we reach out, when we minister, when we follow the example of John and go out into the wilderness of a world that does not know or love God, we are doing what God asks of us:

Go up on to a high mountain,—¨
Zion, herald of glad tidings;—¨
cry out at the top of your voice,—¨
Jerusalem, herald of good news!—¨
Fear not to cry out—¨
and say to the cities of Judah:—¨
Here is your God!—¨

Go forth without fear, with a sense of immediacy — living in our on-going advent. Do not despair and leave apathy behind. Go and tell. Here is our God. He waits for you. Come to Him and find all you need.

Amen.

First reading: Isaiah 63:16-17,19, Isaiah 64:2-7
Psalm: Ps. 80:2-3,15-16,18-19
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Gospel: Mark 13:33-37

we are sinful;—¨
all of us have become like unclean people,—¨
all our good deeds are like polluted rags;—¨
we have all withered like leaves,—¨
and our guilt carries us away like the wind.

Our first reading from Isaiah is key to understanding that we must be people of expectation, but not only.

Isaiah describes his expectation. Isaiah wanted his people to know and experience that expectation. If only they could feel my longing. I know it and feel it. If only they would know it and feel it. He knew that everything was wrong and that his people were a people of rejection. The people were apart from God. Isaiah describes their desolation. They have wandered away. They had shut God out of their hearts and minds. Their hearts had no feel for God and for His ways. In fact they considered God to be a sort of formless concept. Something you might think about from time to time, but life is just too busy, too complex, too short for a far off, distant, formless concept. Isaiah goes on to say of God: we fear you not.

Isaiah wanted his expectation to end. He wanted to experience God first hand. He wanted the people to see God, to experience Him. If he, and the people, could experience God surely they would come back. With those great deeds, the heavens rent and the mountains shaking like jello, everyone would certainly say:

No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you—¨
doing such deeds for those who wait for him.

In the middle of all that mess, in the middle of an unfaithful people and a God who wouldn’t send flaming bolts and fiery chariots from heaven as a convincing sign, Isaiah recalls we cannot escape God.

O LORD, you are our father;—¨
we are the clay and you the potter:—¨
we are all the work of your hands.

Brothers and sisters.

Let me ask you, can we escape our maker? Artists and craftsman leave their mark on what they make. Do you have grandma’s china at home? Turn it over and you’ll see the makers mark. I have lovely carvings and handcrafted items from all over the world. Each bears its makers mark. We too. Isaiah knew that, and that is our hope. Because of that indelible mark, that longing for God that is built into our very being, no matter our wandering, no matter our distance or the hardness of our hearts, God is near. He calls after us and is willing to welcome us back.

What a wonderful sign and symbol of love! Isaiah started by asking God to come in an amazing, God like, spectacle. Flames, heavens rent, quakes, chariots, angels, and powers. He ends by stating that we are the work of God’s hands. Because we are the work of His hands He is in us.

Even if we separate ourselves through sin, through intentional laziness toward our relationship with God — putting him in the background, or forbid through outright rejection of God, we do not have to wait for the fiery spectacle to come back. All we need know is that we must get back to work.

If we are separate there is a road home, there is the grace of repentance. God loves us so much that He waits with open arms — and those open arms are for everyone:

But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

My friends,

We have every right to be a people of expectation and a people focused on the last things — a people awaiting the consummation of everything in Christ, but that expectation does not outweigh the fact that we must act and we must act urgently. We must repent of our sins, and set to work today. Isaiah wanted the people to see God, to experience Him. We have to make that happen in our own lives and in the lives of others. That is our job.

Jesus notes that the master put his servants in charge and told the gatekeeper to keep watch. The servants had work to do. We are those servants and we have work to do. That work begins here and now — in real and practical ways.

Our world, for all its advancements, is the same world that Isaiah lived in. People don’t recognize God and they don’t acknowledge Him. We live in a world of rejection. People’s hearts are hard and they ignore God. Most of all they turn their backs to Him, piling on excuses for staying away. If they have a concept of God it is a god that is to their liking, that has no requirements, that likes whatever they like, and for the most part can be ignored.

Can that be changed? Of course! God has written Himself into our very being and we are incomplete without Him. That image, that is in all of us, is the image of the real God.

To change the world, to help it in recognizing God, we must first set to examining ourselves: How do we treat each other, our neighbors, the pesky aunt or cousin, the unfriendly cashier at the supermarket or department store? How do we manage our money — are we free of debt? How do we treat the foreigner, the homeless, the prisoner, the drug addict, the ex-con, or the AIDS patient? How does God’s Church act? How do we live as God’s people?

We can run through a lengthy examination of conscience, but that exam is not focused on the past alone. That examination needs to be prospective, forward looking, and encompasses tomorrow and every day thereafter.

What’s so different about us? What’s so great about faith — true faith in God? The greatness of faith can only be shown through us. It won’t come in rent heavens and quaking mountains. It depends on us. That is the real work — making God real in our lives and the lives of others. Showing God to others by our words, looks, hands, actions, and way-of-life so that they might experience Him in their lives. So that they might experience the reality of God — that the seed that is already in them might grow.

Brothers and sisters,

We are His servants and we have a huge obligation — but more so — we have an even greater amount of help. St. Paul tells us:

for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,—¨
that in him you were enriched in every way,—¨
with all discourse and all knowledge,—¨
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,—¨
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift—¨
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.—¨

That means you. That means me. We are His servants and we lack nothing. We can do everything He needs us to do. We can bring back the most distant. All of us, together, gathered in the Holy Church, have all the gifts necessary for the work that needs doing. While we wait in expectation, while we reform our lives, while we draw closer to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we work, drawing all into a life of joyful work and expectation. Let us tell the world by our thoughts, words, actions, and work that we await, but not only. Rather that we await and we know. God is in the world. God is among us. God wants all us all to enter into His joy. For He said:

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Amen.