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.

First reading: Ezekiel 34:11-12,15-17
Psalm: Ps 23:1-3,5,6
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:20-26,28
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46

For I was hungry and you gave me food

I have a question. Where does bread come from?

Our answers are certainly correct. Bread comes from Freihoffers, another bakery, Mr. Meyers around the corner, from mom or dad, from the gifts of the earth, from farmers who plant, grow, and harvest the wheat, and rye, and oats, and flax. Perhaps we should consider the miller, the store clerks, the delivery people, an entire litany of people and places that have a hand in the making of bread —“ from seed to our tables.

It is a natural instinct to see things as they are, to digest the evidence that’s in front of us and report on it.

Today we are confronted with truth —“ a truth we discern through the eyes of faith. Our bread comes from God. Our bread comes from the King.

Let’s consider that. We get our bread from the King. More than bread we receive all we need from God. This is best summed up in the words of Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

The King provides bread for us.

God is different than human government, and more so, He is a King that loves, cares for, and looks after His flock. God provides for us, giving us bread beyond the bread that feeds our mortal bodies. Ezekiel saw that in telling us that God will look after and tend us, He will feed us, He will give us rest, He will bring back the lost and the strayed, He will bind up the injured and heal the sick.

What an amazing concept. What an awesome King is our Lord, caring for us, looking after all that we need.

Brothers and sisters,

When we say that God gives us bread that goes beyond our bodily needs we understand that His food is more than what we put on our plates each day, more than the stuff needed for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He gives us three essential things: His Kingship, His Word, and our daily bread.

Of course God is responsible for our daily bread. We pray that every time we say the Our Father. His gifts, the skills we have been endowed with, the balance and perfection in nature, all come from the hand of God. He sees to our needs. Jesus showed this in the way He cared for the everyday needs of those around Him. This was exemplified when He fed the multitudes, when He showed compassion for the sorrowful and the sick. Jesus also spoke of the Father’s watchful eye, comparing the creatures and fields under God’s care to the greater love He shows toward us:

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin;
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?

God gives us more than the bread we need for daily life, He gives us the Word – which is necessary for eternal life. By endowing us with His Gospel God provides us with the measuring stick by which we are judge the rightness of our relationship with Him and our neighbor. By giving us His word He gives us the very thing we need to carry out His mandate. We take up that word as bread for our daily lives and as food for our relationships.

In the end God gives us His kingship, but in a most remarkable way. He comes to us as the servant King, the King who is Priest and Sacrifice. God gives us His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We can have our daily bread – the basics we need to live. We can have God’s word, and live by it, yet even with all that our King had to crush our bondage to sin, to eternal death.

God’s overwhelming love moved Him to intervention in the history of man. He wanted us to know that life was more than the evidence that is in front of us. He wanted us to see and know the eternal, to know Him, so He chose to break down the enmity we create through sin. He sent His Son to show the Father’s love, to overcome sin and to destroy death. In the end we gained a new beginning – Jesus opened the doors to the heavenly kingdom. St. Paul reminds us of this when he says:

Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through man,
the resurrection of the dead came also through man.
For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life

Our King provides for all that we need, and best of all He gives us His very presence, His life, and the gift of eternal glory. In turn we honor and praise Him with due worship and adoration.

My friends,

Worship and adoration for the King translates into action. It is key that we see to the needs of our brothers and sisters, who, along with us, are provided for by God. God provides for them through us, and He makes no separation between their dignity and value and our dignity and value. In the simplest terms we are to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the ill, and visit those in prison. When we do that we recognize the King who gives bread to each of us, who gives His word to all mankind, and Who saves us.

Jesus tells us :

‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

The King is with us and in us. He is the giver and the recipient. May we give Him praise and thanksgiving, may we serve Him in serving the least among us. Amen.

First reading: Proverbs 31:10-13,19-20,30-31
Psalm: Ps 128:1-5
Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30

When one finds a worthy wife,
her value is far beyond pearls.

Who is this worthy wife? It is none other than our Holy Polish National Catholic Church. In instituting the Holy Church our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ joined Himself to a spouse whose value is beyond pearls.

Her husband, entrusting his heart to her,
has an unfailing prize.

Jesus entrusted us with His heart and receives in return our unfailing acts of adoration and praise. Far more than that, you and I, as members of His Holy Church, set to work in proclaiming His kingdom, in bringing souls to salvation, in ministering to the strong and the weak, because all are in need.

She reaches out her hands to the poor,
and extends her arms to the needy.

Jesus Christ provides us with a vivid description of faithful servants in His parable of the talents. In our imaginations we picture those servants as men. After-all, in that day and age a master would have entrusted his male servants with talents and would have expected a return on his investment. Yet today, the Holy Church asks us to look beyond the story, men working for another man, to the bride of Christ, our Holy Church, working in unison with her spouse, her Master, Jesus Christ.

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.

What a beautiful picture, what a wonderfully blessed relationship. Our Holy Church sits in the recesses of the Lord’s house. Her children, you and I, surround the Lord’s table. As olive plants grow and produce abundant fruit, so we grow and produce abundant fruit. The fruit we produce is the blessings that come from our relationship with our Lord. It is this very relationship that is open and encompassing to all who enter these doors.

The fruit we produce is based on the gifts, the talents, we have been given. Each of us has been given a share of gifts: oration, handicraft, healing, song, contemplation, a listening ear, a gentle hand. Those gifts become all-in-all in unison with each other and with our Lord. Unison comes from the Holy Church, the storehouse of graces, where the Holy Spirit dwells. The Spirit gives its gifts individually and draws them back together in community — in life lived together. Not a life where people live side-by-side, but a life where all are one body.

Brothers and sisters,

Our unity, our community perfected in the Holy Polish National Catholic Church, is a community in longing. We long for those who are lost and distant, who do not know the love of the Lord. We long for the weak and the hurting, those in need of the Spirit’s touch and healing.

the day of the Lord will come
like a thief at night.
like labor pains upon a pregnant woman

We are pregnant, awaiting, and ready to bring forth new life. This new life is the Gospel. This new life is life in Jesus Christ, by our regeneration we are re-created, new men, new women, people of skill and determination, people prepared and standing with open arms — arms open to all, with love and concern.

My friends,

Our Holy Polish National Catholic Church is the bride of Christ. It is the good, faithful, and devoted wife. It is the good wife who prepares a home, a lodging place, for all men and women.

We are not the spouse of grand public pronouncements on matters of politics. We are not fasters who do not wash their faces, or charity givers ringing a bell before them as they give (Matthew 6:2,16). We do not legislate the Lord and His gifts. We do not tell one man that he may receive the Lord while another may not. We are not a stumbling block on the road to heaven, throwing up man made doctrines, laws, offices, and absolutes, because we know our Spouse. His grace is overflowing, His offering of talents is for all.

The Spouse and the bride call to all. Come through these doors, for there is love. Our hearts have been changed, and yours will be as well. For the Lord has promised (Ezekiel 11:19-20):

I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Go forth today, with the store of talents you have been given, and make the call. Tell of the place where the gift of talents flows without measure, where community, energized by the Spirit, builds its members up, not with pronouncements, but through faithfulness and loving care. Tell of the place where men and women grow like olive plants around the table of the Spouse — the Spouse Who loves without end. Amen.

First reading: Wisdom 6:12-16
Psalm: Ps 63:2-8
Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13

Wisdom is radiant and unfading,
and she is easily discerned by those who love her,
and is found by those who seek her.
She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.
He who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty,
for he will find her sitting at his gates.

We are people who seek. Like explorers of old in search of land and routes beyond the horizon we set out in search of life that is beyond the things we see. And here is the glory and love of our God – He stands before us, in plain sight, not out of reach or cold like stone, but in reach of all who seek. Our God is not a mysterious distant deity beyond the horizon. Our God lives with us.

Solomon wrote what he experienced. Remember that after David’s death Solomon was left among many heirs in competition for the throne. He was young, inexperienced, fearful. God came to him and asked Solomon to declare his desire. Solomon asked for wisdom. Wisdom to rule, to make proper judgments, to be a good king for Israel.

Solomon experienced God as the source and summit of wisdom. He also knew that the source of wisdom was not far away and uncaring, but was God who came to him when he sought. God made Himself apparent – clear to Solomon who sought after God’s help.

Brothers and sisters,

What is wisdom? For us wisdom is this: finding God present among us, and having the faith to build a relationship with Him. Like Solomon we find God apparent and clear because we seek after Him. In our seeking we connect with God in very real ways, ways that touch every aspect of our lives. In recognizing God we prepare an oil stock that will keep our lamps lit forever.

That oil stock is the supply of grace that we carry with us. It is the energy that supplies the light that is in us. That light is our Christian faith. That light is the way we live in testimony to Christ, to His Gospel, and to a relationship that lasts through eternity.

Jesus knew that His love, His presence, His sacrifice, and all His teachings were out of reach for those who refused to listen to Him, to those who failed to seek the wisdom that was right in front of them. Jesus was present to them in the here and now and they missed it. Like the five foolish maidens they met Him unprepared. Their supply of oil — of grace — was empty because they treated people like subjects of the law rather than as God’s people. They hardened their hearts and cast burdens on men’s shoulders, with God as an excuse. They had the law, but came to Christ empty because they only knew the words and the excuses. Knowing the words, they failed to recognize the meaning and power of those words — the Christ that stood in their midst.

Like the five wide maidens we prepare ourselves, not just for the someday, for the end of time, but for the bridegroom who is already here with us. He has asked us to bring our supply of grace and turn it into lives lived in witness to His reality and presence.

With our light before us we are to live lives of faith, lives touched by God, and endowed with a wisdom that surpasses human wisdom. We have cause to be thankful because we have the wisdom to recognize God and to meet Him as a people willing to be energized and on fire with His love, a people working to share His light with those who do not have it.

We know that God comes to us, not because our words and gestures are perfect, but because those words and gestures are an expression of hearts on fire with His grace, hearts set on serving Him in accord with His Gospel.

My friends,

Our hearts yearn for Jesus. We want Him to come to us. We want Him to fill our oil stocks with an everlasting supply of grace. God answers that desire. He is here, ready, apparent, in plain view. God is not far off and He is ready to fill us with His grace. With that grace we take up our lamps, the light of Christ in us, and teach others about Him. We represent Him in all we do, from the way we pray, to the way we live each day. We value His Gospel and we share it, unashamed in bowing our heads, setting our shoulders, and working consistently in hope of life everlasting.

Our work and worship recognize Jesus’ presence. He is here, today. From the doors of this parish we carry the light, energized by grace, into our homes, to the people we meet at work, in our clubs, and in our families. We lives lives built on prayer, scripture, the Holy Sacraments, all of which re-energizing and re-connect us to God. In turn He recognizes our faith and our work, granting us the wisdom and grace necessary to carry the message of His Christ to the whole world.

Let us give testimony to the relationship that lasts through eternity. Let us hold forth our lamps which are at the ready. Let us go forth in joy, with our oil stocks filled, sharing our light. Tell the world: the bridegroom is here, among us — He is the love of God that has forged the new and eternal Jerusalem where we will live in joy and peace in the presence of the Eternal Wisdom. That is His promise to us and His promise is real. Amen.

First reading: Malachi 1:14-2:2,8-10
Psalm: Ps 131:1-3
Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9,13
Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12

They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.

For weeks now, as I reflect on the scriptures, I kept bumping up against the notion of gift. The idea of gift has been the primary focus, the primary call, out of the gospels we have proclaimed.

I suppose it is fitting. After all, as I have mentioned, these are Jesus’ discourses in the temple precincts, made shortly before the Last Supper, His agony in the garden, and His trial and death. These messages are Jesus’ gift to us. They are core to the way we are to behave as Christians.

Brothers and sisters,

Faith has been given to us as a gift. That gift came at baptism. It marked our inclusion in the people of God. That faith was nurtured by our parents, godparents, SOCL teachers, and the fine priests that pointed the way to God. It was simple faith to be sure — an indelible mark and a simple faith. Jesus’ challenge to us is to move beyond simple faith to a life lived in conformity to the gospel. We are to grow in faith, grow in love, grow in witness.

This is illustrative of the fact that faith alone, no matter how strong, remains simple unless it has an environment that fosters its growth. Faith alone cannot assist us in maturing. Think of the parable of the sower. He casts seed here and there, and unless that seed falls on good soil, it will not grow to maturity. In order to mature our faith needs that good soil – and it must be a rich soil.

The rich soil, the firm foundation upon which our faith is built is the Church. The Church is God’s living gift. It is a living gift intended to be a gift.

Certainly our Holy Polish National Catholic Church is the constant that assists us in becoming spiritually mature, that connects us to the lived history of faith, and that acts each day as the place where the decisions of men are directed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But beyond those of us sitting here today, is our Holy Church what God intended, a gift to all mankind?

Friends,

Faith is a gift. Our Holy Church is a gift. Both convey Jesus’ on-going action in the world.

Our personal faith, when we choose to give ourselves over to Christ, will grow into something that surpasses us as individuals. The Church as the community of believers, and guided by the Holy Spirit, is the authentic teacher working to guide us on the way to full union with God. Our faith, and the teaching of the Church, work to form us into mature followers of Christ, true witnesses to God among us. Together we work diligently to represent what God wants — that we become the gift God intends us to be.

Jesus shows us that the Jewish leaders fell in their hypocrisy. We see that in certain Churches even to this day. Jesus noted:

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat”

Likewise, some Church leaders sit on thrones making heavy pronouncements, forgetting who established their seat. They talk of politics, property ownership, rights and wrongs to the exclusion of love, and in doing so they forget their role, their part as God’s on-going gift.

Those leaders write tomes of laws and they make very detailed analyses of sin. They can diagnose a sin to its minutest detail and prescribe the proper antidote, and that from six thousand miles away. They forget the presence of the Holy Spirit, or demand gifts from the Spirit, or see the Spirit as a vehicle for self aggrandizement.

It must not be so with us. Let it never be said of us that:

you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction

Rather we must be like Paul speaking to the Thessalonians:

But we were gentle among you, like a nurse taking care of her children.
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

Our Holy Polish National Catholic Church is a gift to those hurt by the religion of worldly princes and kings. It is a gem of a Church, a gem that is not out of reach, or only for the rich, only for the suburbs, only for the perfect, only for the sinless and obedient. Our Holy Church is a gem that is available to all. It is a gift. As with Paul’s teaching among the Thessalonians people will receive and hear what we teach, accepting it in proportion to the way they see God working through us.

Brothers and sisters,

The gift we proclaim is this: God loves each and every person, without regard to yesterday’s problem. Jesus calls all, and came to show us the Father’s love. He established a community to be His gift of love in the world. He loves us so much that He gives all we need to reach our fullest potential as part of a home, a community of love and support, and most importantly as a place where we can learn to be faithful Christ followers.

Jesus sat in the temple precincts and told us how we are to live. We aren’t transformed into those perfect Christ followers overnight, but there is a way to get there. We hold a beautiful gem in our hands and everyone can have it. We offer this gem to those who are hurting, to those who feel alone, who see the Church as an impediment to God. Bishop Hodur broke down those barriers. The path is here.

In closing let us remember the words spoken in the 2nd century’s Epistle to Diognetus in which a disciple – a Christ follower – describes the Christian life in this way:

They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men… They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all

Amen.