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Reflection for the First Sunday of Advent

Are you full?
Just fulfilled, thanks.

“The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.”

Oh, to be full! Sometimes overstuffed is a better word. We eat everything on our plate because we don’t want food to go to waste or, because when we were growing up our parents would tell us there were starving children in another country. In the end we may be full but are we fulfilled? 



A typical day for a busy parent: Wake at 5:30am get breakfast, make lunches, get everyone out the door, clean the house, grocery shop, maybe wash a couple loads of laundry, pick kids up from the bus stop, help with homework, make dinner, clean kitchen, bathe kids and put them to bed, and THEN sit down for a few minutes. It was a full day, and tomorrow will be an equally busy and productive day, but are they fulfilling? 



Full is an adjective meaning completely filled; containing all that can be held; filled to the utmost capacity
 or volume. Fulfill is a verb meaning to carry out, or bring to realization, to make complete.

The days of preparation are upon us. These are the days in which we need to move from being filled up with things to finding real fulfillment in Christ. We need to move toward the place and moment where our cup overflows with the joy of being complete in God.

St. Paul exhorts us: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father.

Jesus wants us to be fulfilled, to be complete. It can be great to be full, but we have to be careful not to mistake fullness for fulfillment. We cannot make a full day or full stomach a substitute for a heart fulfilled in Jesus.

This Advent we need to prepare ourselves for fulfillment. We make a start by emptying ourselves of our failures, our sins, and our shortcomings. By doing so we make room for the Holy Spirit who will fill us with new attitudes and motives. Then, with a heart full of love and good, blameless in holiness, we are ready to be fulfilled, completed in Jesus.

Fulfilled in Jesus we become receivers of His promise. In Him we are made free, free to stand erect and raise our heads because our redemption is at hand.

Our hope is set on God’s promise and His fulfillment. He is coming to fulfill our lives. In receiving Him and His promise we become more than full, we are completely fulfilled.

Homilies,

Fourth Sunday of Advent 
 – B

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

To him who can strengthen you,
according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages
but now manifested through the prophetic writings and,
according to the command of the eternal God,
made known to all nations

Secrets

This is the time of year for secrets. If you looked at the reflection I wrote in today’s bulletin, you know what I’m talking about. What am I getting? Where is it hidden? We wonder what might be under the Christmas tree or in our stockings a week from now. Children wonder where their parents might have hidden their gifts. Are they hidden in the closet, the basement, under mom and dad’s bed? As children of God, we are lot like that too. We are filled with questions and tend to see God as a mystery, as hidden.

Used to be hidden

God used to be hidden. He was certainly in contact with His people, but that contact came through burning bushes and other such occurrences. This kind of remote contact lasted for centuries. God was in the mysterious heavens. He was unknowable. Everyone knew that anyone who might happen to see God would die (Exodus 33:20). God revealed Himself to Moses in the bush and on mount Sinai, and in doing so Moses was remarkably changed. Except for Moses, who was given the opportunity to glimpse God, God was still a hidden mystery, a stashed away present.

Then comes

Mary is at home. The angel Gabriel comes to her and makes a great announcement. God is to become incarnate in humanity through her, if she agrees. As we know, she agrees, and in that moment God is incarnate. What does that mean?

It means that God is no longer a mystery. God cannot hide in heaven, or speak though burning bushes. God, in all His reality, in the fullness of His life, is now apparent and living in the world. God lives among us, and is completely joined to our humanity. God is the present that cannot be hidden. Everyone knows where it is.

Presents

Think about that present. That moment with Mary, her saying yes, and God entering our reality. Next Sunday we honor the 2011th plus 9 months anniversary of that present. The box is open, nothing is hidden anymore.

God is known

Jesus often spoke about making His Father known. He always said that if we know Him we know His Father. That was God’s desire — to be known and open with His people. He didn’t want to live in secret or apart from us. He doesn’t want to appear to us through burning bushes or in some fancy or marvelous way — some way that is way beyond belief. Last Sunday we heard that Jesus comes to rummage through our disasters, our sins with us. He is right here with us, to pick us up and to be known to us. God wants nothing else but to be with us. He stays with us, and His messages, His way of life is plain to us. We recognize Him because He even looks like us.

Paul’s message

This is what Paul is talking about. Paul’s message tells us that we need no secret code. We aren’t like the gnostics who thought that knowledge of God comes through understanding some deep, hidden meaning whose true message could only be understood through “secret wisdom.” He’s telling us that God is easily understood and in His incarnation He is fully and completely revealed. The things hidden long ago, the mysteries hidden away in the closet, in the basement, under the bed, aren’t there anymore.

Give glory

So Paul gives glory to God. He praises Him as we would praise that parent, that special someone, who found the exact right gift. It’s the kind of gift a person couldn’t even articulate. It is the gift we couldn’t even describe if we wanted to. It is the gift that the instant we see it, Wow! It fulfills all our expectations. It is everything we ever wanted all wrapped up into one.

Next Sunday that present is ours. Next Sunday the miracle of that present will be in our hands. It is God incarnate. God no longer wants to be hidden, He definitely isn’t a secret. Jesus came to us and revealed all the secrets — and none are that complex. They are simple. Our present is love and community. We know love without bounds and are to live with each other the same way. What a great present.

to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ
be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Homilies,

Reflection for the 4th Sunday of Advent

Don’t look in there… What are they hiding in there away?

St. Paul is writing to the Church at Rome. He tells them:

…the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations

Children wonder, especially at this time of the year, what might be hidden in the closet or basement; perhaps under mom and dad’s bed. We are like children, children of faith. Paul is speaking to us. He’s letting us know that nothing is hidden. God has revealed everything to us. What was once a mystery is now plain. Everything became plain in the life of Jesus.

God isn’t into mystery, or spooky miracles, or suddenly appearing saints. What He is about is clearly understood – He is about relationships founded in deep love, generosity, caring, and the deep desire that we, His people, live in community with Him and each other.

Rather than searching the closets or the basement, let’s search our hearts for the plain meaning in the Gospels. Jesus’ coming has given us all we need to know.

Armed with His gospel of love and community we join in His holy mission – making His Father’s message available to all people.

The miracle is this – there are no secrets – Jesus has opened heaven’s store of dignity and love for all people. He really loves us. Knowing that, we can say with Paul:

to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever.

Homilies

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Advent

Bang, bang, bang… Is that Santa on the roof, or St. Paul?

St. Paul is writing to one of the Churches he founded. He’s rattling off a whole bunch of instructions in short order at the very end of his letter:

Keep awake and be sober. Encourage one another. Build one another up. Respect those who labor among you. Be at peace among yourselves. Admonish idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. Do not repay evil for evil. Always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always. Pray constantly. Give thanks in all circumstances. Do not quench the Spirit. Test everything. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

Paul is literally banging out instructions. If he had a typewriter, we could hear him pounding the message home.

During this time of preparation we need to hear Paul’s message and to share it.

These instructions are not just wise sayings, good things to live by, or smart. They are urgent and necessary for us in our relationships with each other, our Church, and the world. They are the foundation for our journey to heaven.

Jesus’ coming changed life from a series of misfortunes and mishaps that ended in the emptiness of death to a path of holiness, righteousness, and faith that ends in eternal joy.

As we hear the doorbells ring and the guests knock, let us remember Paul banging away at these instructions. Paul ends by blessing us for following these instructions:

May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ coming is near. Let us renew ourselves so that we may be part of the joy that is forever.

May our Lord bless you and yours,

Deacon Jim

PNCC, ,

With hyssop sprinkle me

Here a portion of the antiphon is sung in Latin. I like the way this video was set up. with the falling snow, symbolic of washing, and the whiteness of the snow recalling our desire to be renewed and washed clean, Very appropriate as part of our Advent preparation.

In PNCC usage the Asperges is performed prior to the principal Holy Mass on SundaysFrom Trinity Sunday through Palm Sunday. In Paschaltide the Vidi Aquam is used.. Regardless of the Rite (Traditional, Bishop Hodur, or Contemporary) the format for the Asperges is the same. It may be offered in English or in Polish. The Asperges is intoned at the foot of the Altar. The following is the traditional form used in many of our parishes (in English or Polish):

With hyssop sprinkle me,
O Lord, and I shall be cleansed. Wash me, and I shall be whiter, whiter than the snow.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your great mercy. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
With hyssop sprinkle me, O Lord, and I shall be cleansed. Wash me, and I shall be whiter, whiter than the snow.

P. Show us Your mercy, Lord. [Alleluia]
R. And grant us Your salvation. [Alleluia]

P. Lord, hear our prayer.
R. And let our cry come to You.

P. The Lord be with you.
R. And also with you.

P. Let Us Pray

Father, we call upon You to abide with Your people who are assembled here. Clease us of our sins and make us aware of the promise of Your Son that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is with them. Through this Holy Eucharist we celebrate make us worthy to sit at His table in the kingdom of heaven.
We ask this through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.

R. Amen.

Pokropisz mię.
Panie hyzopem, a będę oczyszczony: obmyjesz mnie, a jako śnieg będę wybielony.
Zmiłuj się nademną, Boże, według wielkiego miłosierdzia Twego. Chwała Ojcu i Synowi i Duchowi Świętemu, jak była na początku, teraz i zawsze i na wieki wieków. Amen.
Pokropisz mię Panie hyzopem, a będę oczyszczony: obmyjesz mnie, a jako śnieg będę wybielony.

K. Okaż nam Panie miłosierdzie Twoje.
O. I daj nam zbawienie Twoje.

K. Panie wysłuchaj modlitwy nasze.
O. A wołanie nasze niech do Ciebie przyjdzie.

K. Pan z wami.
O. I z duchem twoim.

Módlmy się

Wysłuchaj nas, Panie Święty, Ojcze Wszechmocny, wieczny Boże; i racz zesłać świętego anioła Twego z niebios, aby strzegł, osłaniał i bronił wszystkich zgromadzonych w tym przybytku. Niechaj ta święta ofiara, której będziemy świadkami i uczestnikami, umocni w nas wiarę w obecność między nami Jezusa Chrystusa, który powiedział, że gdzie dwu, albo trzech zbierze się w imię Jego, On jest pomiędzy nimi, niech rozpali w sercu żar świętej miłości i wzmoże gorliwość w spełnianiu obowiązków względem Ciebie, Ojcze najłaskawszy, Kościoła Chrystusowego, Ameryki, Polski i wszystkich ludzi bez wyjątku. Przez Jezusa Chrystusa Pana naszego.

O. Amen.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective

Advent or death

A PNCC Pastor asks: “Is this what getting ready for Christmas has come to mean?” in light of death of a Wal-Mart employee in a mad rush on so called “black Friday.” The NY Times article: Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death describes the carnage that occurred at a Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, N.Y. Some excerpts from the article:

Fists banged and shoulders pressed on the sliding-glass double doors, which bowed in with the weight of the assault.

Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him.

Some workers who saw what was happening fought their way through the surge to get to Mr. Damour, but he had been fatally injured, the police said.

Four other people, including a 28-year-old woman who was described as eight months pregnant, were treated at the hospital for minor injuries.

Detective Lt. Michael Fleming… called the scene —utter chaos— and said the —crowd was out of control.— … —I’ve heard other people call this an accident, but it is not,— he said. —Certainly it was a foreseeable act.—

Some shoppers who had seen the stampede said they were shocked. One of them, Kimberly Cribbs of Queens, said the crowd had acted like —savages.— Shoppers behaved badly even as the store was being cleared, she recalled.

—When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ — Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press. —They kept shopping.—

I agree with the Lieutenant, “Certainly it was a foreseeable act.” But isn’t that statement utterly hopeless? Isn’t it is an admission of our failure as people who should be placing compassion and love ahead of material desire? Sadly, we, who call ourselves Christian, are unable to keep to the spirit of Advent preparation. It is an admission of our sinfulness — a sinfulness on steroids. While the Church cannot predict particular results from our sinfulness, it does tell us that sin has consequences, and as scripture tells us, the consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:16).

The Church teaches that we, as Christians, should be involved in continual preparation for Christ’s coming. A one day shopping orgy is not a part of that preparation or the anticipation we should be holding to. A day spent in piling on debt, in serving other masters, is not a valid exercise in preparation for the celebration of incarnation of Christ.

I’m not one for the either/or neither/nor point of view on Advent. Can we shop? Certainly. Can we prepare for the coming celebration with eager anticipation and joy? Yes, but each in proper proportion to our focus on Advent preparation and expectation. Our preparation involves the state of our souls. Our expectation is focused on our joy at the incarnation in light of the fulness of the Kingdom to come. Our earthly preparation and our heavenly preparation are united and in balance if they reflect a life centered on Christ, a life of Christian preparation and anticipation, of Christian repentance, renewal, and joy. Of Advent.

It really is about Christ, about our Advent preparation of fasting and penance. If Advent is focused on proper preparation and joyful anticipation of that time to come, then Advent opposes death. If our Advent is a time of renewal then our joy will be a fuller joy, our giving and sharing will be more joyous, and we will be properly focused.

The folks at Wal-Mart and other retail outlets, most especially the executives who perpetuate false consumerism, the politicians who encourage us to spend, pile on debt, and live beyond our means, and those alleged Christians standing on-line at so many stores bear a share of responsibility for this death and for the death that goes beyond bodily death. It really is Advent or death and the choice is ours. Advent or death – I’ll take AdventXref. Eddie Izzard’s “Cake or Death” comedy routine.

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