They prostrated themselves and did him homage.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord. This is the day we commemorate the Lord’s appearance, manifestation, and shining forth to the entire human race —“ represented by the Magi, the Three Kings.

A shinning forth; we have all had that experience, that sudden realization, when something long struggled over becomes apparent.

Some refer to that as the moment the light is turned on, the ah-ha moment.

I would like you to place this imagine in your minds. Imagine a group of doctors working in a lab, attempting to develop a cure for a serious disease. They are doing their job. In an instant one of the doctors yells out, —There it is! I found it! It’s the cure!—

So I ask you, keeping those doctors in mind, when did the Magi have that ah-ha moment? When did they realize the totality and complexity of what they encountered? When did the light go on for them?

The Magi are well documented historical figures. The Greek historian Herodotus noted that of the six tribes or castes of the Medes, the Magi were a hereditary caste of priests. They were highly influential in Median society until the unification of the Median and Persian Empires in 550 B.C. The Magi continued to exist in unified Persia, and they became prominent once again between 226 and 650 A.D.

The Magi appear in the book of Jeremiah. The Prophet Daniel may have carried a title specific to the head of the Magi during the Babylonian captivity.

Now let’s think of those doctors once again. Like the doctors the Magi were sitting back home in Iran and they were doing their job. They were searching the world, nature, and the sky for a sign, for an indication of what was to come.

In an instant one or more call out, —There it is! It is the sign! Something great has occurred.—

So the Magi set out and followed the star.

Brothers and sisters,

As the Magi traveled I am sure they discussed the possibilities. What would they see? What would they find? They were trying to do their job. They were focused on figuring it all out. As to faith, they may not have had any. The encounter with Messiah, the King, was yet to come.

The Magi finally arrive —“ not really twelve days after Christ’s birth, probably substantially later. They arrive and see a humble house, a young girl, and a baby.

What happens next?

They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

When they finally got there their eyes were opened. They had their Epiphany. They fell on their faces before the awesome power of God. They came to the realization that this humble child was sent to, as Mary proclaimed:

show mercy to them that fear him;
to scatter the proud in the conceit of their heart;
to put down the mighty from their seat;
to exalt the humble;
to fill the hungry with good things; and
to send the rich empty away.

My friends,

The Magi are like us and we are like them. They were no surer than you or I. They did not fall into a deep and abiding faith in God. Like us they had to take a long journey —“ and by that journey they reached Jesus, the Christ. When they reached Him they had their Epiphany, their ah-ha moment. The light was turned on. They saw.

Some of us are still trying to develop that kind of faith. We are not sure, but we are doing our job. Like the Magi we have set out to find the answer. Like the Magi, what is at the end of the journey is that ah-ha moment, that epiphany.

We will each meet God in our own time, and according to His grace. I urge you to hold to that confidence. I urge you to recognize that your journey will end in the experience Isaiah prophesied:

you shall be radiant at what you see,
your heart shall throb and overflow

Amen.

Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the mark of the covenant between you and me.

Jesus Christ’s incarnation marks a radical change in the manner in which the chosen people relate to God.

As you may recall, there was quite a debate in the early Church over the issue of circumcision.

To the Jewish followers of Jesus circumcision was a fact. It was a sign, in their flesh, marking their relationship with God.

St. Irenaeus states:

Moreover, we learn from the Scripture itself, that God gave circumcision, not as the completer of righteousness, but as a sign, that the race of Abraham might continue recognizable… but the circumcision after the flesh typified that after the Spirit.

This thing, symbolized in the flesh of the Jewish people, was a foretelling of the greater and perfect covenant that was completed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The early Church’s debate ended with the Council of Jerusalem, when the Holy Church, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, determined that circumcision was unnecessary for salvation.

This was the radical change. This was the change that allowed us entry into God’s new reality.

We do not need to carry a sign in our flesh. Our flesh is no longer symbolic of our relationship to God. Rather, the flesh taken on by Jesus, the God-man, bears the symbols of our relationship with God.

His resurrected flesh bears the fleshy symbols of the new covenant.

St. Thomas directly experienced those fleshy symbols when Jesus told him:

“Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side…—

What Thomas saw and touched is the new reality, the new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ.

On this Solemnity of the Circumcision of our Lord we must renew our efforts at recognizing and living within this changed reality. Living with the fact that God’s adoption of our flesh changed everything.

The goal of life is no longer getting through each day, knowing that death awaits us at the end. Rather it is living with our eyes focused on the promise of eternal life. Death is no more.

Brothers and sisters,

Jesus’ perfected and resurrected body bears the signs of our salvation.

As each day passes God sees in His very hands, feet, and side the love He bears for us. In those nail and spear marks He sees us reborn, recognizable not in something that is part of our body, but something that is within us.

He looks within us and sees our adoption. He sees people who by baptism and confirmation have chosen to take up His reality. He sees people willing to walk ever more closely to God, people on the road to perfection in the new and eternal Kingdom.

Look on the symbols borne in the flesh of Jesus Christ. This is the new covenant. This is the new reality. This is our joy and our peace.

Amen.

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen

Consider the shepherds, but do not dwell on their poverty or their hard life. Consider these shepherds – now joyful men. Men whose life just became something altogether different.

Joy!

Consider yourselves. Recall a moment from your life that was exceedingly joyful. A birthday party when you were four or five, your wedding day, the day of your ordination, the birth of a child, a promotion, the moment you first took the love of your life into your arms.

Joy!

What do you remember? What did those shepherds remember?

What we remember from the joyful moments of our lives is the moment itself.

We may recall a detail or two, the lighting of the room, a color, something nondescript. The detail itself is unimportant. Rather when we see a room lit in the same way, or run across that color, or other nondescript item, our joy is recalled.

The shepherds walked away giving no consideration to the details of shepherding or anything else. They were caught up in a moment of pure joy.

As Christians we are often accused of being somber, dwelling on weakness and sin, looking toward the day of our death. But that is not who we are. Rather we are the people Jeremiah describes – people who have been changed:

Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy

Joy!

Brothers and sisters,

It is as simple as that. Jesus Christ is our moment of joy. Jesus Christ is a moment in time as well as the eternal continuous moment.

The joy He brings is real in each moment, like the moment the shepherds found what the angels foretold. His joy is also everlasting.

For that reason our life is not a life of somber woe caught up in the dread of hellfire or eternal loneliness. It is a joyful life – a life changed forever.

Jesus’ entry into the world was meant for all of us – so that like the shepherds we might come to Him and worship Him in a moment of time. Then, like the shepherds, we are to walk away with eternal joy – returning, glorifying and praising God for all they we have heard and seen.

Our Catholic faith as lived and taught in the Polish National Catholic Church is faith that lives in a continuous moment of joy.

The joy we feel eclipses all else. Everything else exists only in relation to this continuous moment of joy.

The fourth of the Eleven Great Principles of the Polish National Catholic Church includes this statement:

The saving work of the Divine Mediator depends on this: that He reveals to man his primary and ultimate goal – eternal happiness; that God in His Divine compassion and righteousness will bind anew the severed ties between him and the Creator

Our joy is complete in this. That Jesus Christ came and bound us back to God.

Thus our journey to God is a journey defined by our renewed relationship with God; defined by eternal happiness which is in our present and in the continuous joy that awaits us.

Today’s psalm states:

The Lord is King; let the earth rejoice

So let us rejoice because our life has been changed into something altogether different. Our life is moving, moment by moment, to the perfection we will know in heaven. Our life is moving, moment by moment, in the continuous presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The hardness of life and all else is of little account. It is of little account because we have joy. Everything we see and do is new because we see it in light of the joy we hold.

Recall this joy at least once each day. Recall, and when you do recall it, glorify and praise God for all you have heard and seen. We are no longer separate or apart from God. The shepherds saw this and they rejoiced.

So we rejoice – Jesus Christ has come. He is our joy and has bound us anew; bound us to God forever.

Amen.

When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.

Tomorrow evening we will gather in this church to remember the incarnation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In preparation we recall, through today’s readings, what it means to ask and to obey.

Here we have Joseph, the righteous. To the best of his knowledge he’d been cheated on. His betrothed was pregnant.

I cannot imagine Joseph just falling into a deep sleep. He was troubled by this news. It is likely that he was tossing and turning, asking over and over, —What should I do? What should I do?—

Joseph was asking. Should he expose Mary? She would be stoned to death. In Deuteronomy 22 we read:

“If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.—

He decided that he would divorce her quietly.

It was a practical decision. Stoning was falling out of favor. The Rabbis were concerned with the credibility of witnesses and the extent to which capital punishment had been used.

Joseph was asking, and had reached a decision based on the knowledge that was available to him.

God had other plans.

Brothers and sisters,

We hear the word of God quite often, at least weekly. The readings for the week are posted in the bulletin. The ambitious among you might try reading those. The really ambitious might pray Vespers each day.

We hear and we study. The Sacrament of God’s word is provided for us.

Based on the knowledge available to us, how do we react?

The reading from Isaiah tells of Ahaz:

The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky!

Ahaz received the word first hand. What was his response?

But Ahaz answered,
—I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!—

Was Ahaz afraid?

He most certainly was. Ahaz was the King of Judah. He saw the balance of the Northern Kingdoms falling. He himself had fallen into idol worship. He reigned for sixteen years, afraid and looking for answers.

But when God told him to ask, when God told him to be unafraid he refused to ask.

Ahaz had it figured, and he wouldn’t ask, because he was afraid, because he thought he had the answers.

Contrast Joseph. Joseph already had his answer, but when the Lord came to him he responded in the way the Lord asked. Joseph received the sign and he listened.

Ahaz sought answers. He asked and did not obey. Joseph sought answers. He asked and obeyed.

St. Paul tells us:

Through [Jesus Christ our Lord] we have received the grace of apostleship,
to bring about the obedience of faith,
for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles,
among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ

Paul is talking to us. He is telling us to ask and to be obedient to what has been given. Our chosen reaction is to be one of faith.

Regardless of the obstacles, our fear, our preplanning, we are to ask and to obey as true apostles of Jesus Christ.

Ahaz wouldn’t ask, but God gave the sign anyway. Ahaz was long dead, but the sign was given.

Now we have to live with that sign —“ and in conformity with that sign.

Annie Dillard in Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters wroteThank you to Ben Meyers at the Faith and Theology Blog through which I located this quote.:

—Why do people in church seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? … Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us to where we can never return.—

We have been taken to that place. By God’s mercy we can sit here, invoke his name, and in spite of our sinfulness He sees us washed in the blood of His Son. The ceiling will not fall in, only grace will fall down upon us. He sees us as apostles —“ bearing the message of the Kingdom.

We are at a place from which we can never return —“ we are changed. So, we are to ask every day. We are to obey His teachings. Ask, obey, and we will live forever.

Amen.

Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!

Brothers and sisters,

If we believe the new age mystics and the statistics, Christianity is dying.

Look around you. Even here, we are not packing ’em in.

What we are experiencing in the United States is something that occurred in Western Europe around thirty years ago.

Barbara Pym’s book, Quartet in Autumn, pegged the phenomenon back in 1978. She wrote of Edwin, loyally faithful, almost obsessed with the Church of England. Edwin attends on Sundays and Holy Days. He knows all the parishes in his locale and their forms of worship. He knows all the pastors. He knows every bit of clerical and liturgical ephemera.

Edwin comments on how empty the churches are, sometimes its only the vicar and Edwin at services.

At one point in the book Edwin works with one parish’s ladies guild, seeking to help one of his co-workers. The ladies are well into their golden years, the oldest well into her eighties. There’s no young blood.

Depressing, because Edwin remembers the good days, the packed churches, the grand worship of God. He has a Christianity of memory.

Most Americans consider themselves to be believers. That has to be good, right?

Unfortunately that really equates to very little.

People define themselves as spiritual, but not religious. They don’t go to church. In another generation their children will have no concept of church other than it being an odd looking building they run across from time-to-time.

Their concept of God, if they should even have one, will be one in which God is kind, loving, and forgiving. God who really doesn’t bother much with what a person does. As a matter of fact, that particular god has no requirements at all. You can do as you please as long as you are —nice.— You can even forget him.

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,

—What did you go out to the desert to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?—¨

The people went to see John because he was a rock. He proclaimed God’s word and didn’t soften it for anyone. Remember last week when John called out to the Pharisees and Sadducees saying to them, —You brood of vipers!”

John told of repentance and he spoke of a faith that was grounded in the eternal truth of God; truth that does not bend to the will and desires of man, but truth that requires us to bend and to be humble. It is that truth that supersedes all we see, all we think we know.

My friends,

The call must be made.

I opened by restating Isaiah

Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!

That is our job. Your job and my job.

We need to fill these pews, and not just these. We need to fill the pews of the churches in every village, town, and city. We need to get God’s people in attendance at this banquet. We need to make them strong because their faith is weak or non-existent. Their course is frightening.

Its the Holiday season. Cards are being sent, calls are being made, little gifts are being prepared for co-workers, neighbors, the postman, teachers, bus drivers, delivery men, and pretty much anyone of those special folks you run across all year.

When you make that call, send that card, or drop off that gift, issue the invitation.

If you are a little taken aback at verbal communication then write it.

Dear Jane,

Thank you for all you have done this year.

I would be very happy to have you join me at my church on Christmas Eve. We have a Christmas concert at 9pm on Christmas Eve and Holy Mass follows at 9:30pm. We are located at 250 Maxwell Road in Latham, next to the Times Union Building off Wolf Road. If you cannot make it I will keep you in my prayers.

Brothers and sisters,

Think of what you do when you arrange for those all important events in your life. Your children’s wedding, graduations, birthdays and anniversaries. Think of the expense and the work.

For all the expense and work people only come because you ask. People come because you care enough to ask.

We need to ask. All the events, all the specials, all the press about the Good News of Jesus Christ is worthless unless you and I ask. Not someone else, not your husband or wife, or pastor, or deacon – but you. Not only on Christmas, but extend that invitation every week.

Call the kids on Thursday night. Tell them that you will pick them up. Ask the elderly neighbor who cannot get around so well, —Will you go with me?— Ask the family who’s so busy, harried, and stressed out. Ask the immigrant. Ask the rich. Ask them all.

Afraid that they might become a burden – and start asking you too often? The objective truth is this. People need this moment. People need this grace. People need this foundation – the Rock of Ages, Jesus Christ. You and I need to offer them an entryway to this moment.

John was not moved. He stood strong with God’s word as his assurance. We need to stand strong, give that assurance, and pass on the strength the world desperately needs.

Jesus said:

—Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.—

Every soul that hears the word of God and comes to believe will be greater than John the Baptist. He or she will be born into the Kingdom of God.

Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes to save you.

You have those words and work to do. Go and do it.

Amen.

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom.

As we look about the world we see little more than the bad.

We see evil, poverty, despair, ruthlessness, greed, lust, envy, sloth. It looks like the seven deadly sins on steroids. Evil seems to be pumped up.

Then we look at our lowly Church.

It is small. A couple hundred congregants here, forty or fifty somewhere else.

We see fewer children in church, more elderly. Almost no one present on weekdays or Holy Days of obligation, fewer and fewer on Sundays.

We wonder, how can the Holy Church survive against the ways of the world? How can the Holy Church compete against basketball, baseball, football, soccer, late night partying, or exhaustion from work? How can the truth – which can only be found in the teaching of Jesus Christ as passed down through the Church – compete against a society where people would rather find their own way, their own truth, their own definitions?

Whenever we feel a bit glum, depressed, and whenever we feel our hope is fading, think of Jesse.

Brothers and sisters,

Literally, the stump of Jesse is Jesse’s inability to produce.

His line of descendants was dying off. Jesse’s line was dried up and had lain dormant for 600 years. There was no holy king descended from David on Israel’s throne, only a pawn of Rome.

The king was an Edomite, a convert to Judaism, and a Hellenist at heart. He was corrupt and cruel. He literally killed off the Hasmonean Dynasty and after Jesus’ birth tried to kill off the last shoot from Jesse, the heir to David’s throne.

The Jews of that day certainly could empathize with the way we feel.

They saw people working on their own terms. The Chief Priests and Pharisees laid burdens on people, and as Jesus said, they themselves will not move them with their finger. Holiness was in short supply, and truth – as Pilate said – Truth, what does that mean?

When John showed up and said:

—Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!—

Could anyone possibly have believed him? Would anyone jump up and say that they were going to be victorious. Wouldn’t your average normal Israelite, and especially their leaders, think John either insane or subversive?

Brothers and sisters,

What most people missed was that the shoot did sprout, and that shoot is the Lord, the promised Messiah and Son of God.

By lineage Jesus came as the son of David. In reality He came as true God and true man. He is the promised one who changes everything.

We get all warm and fuzzy when we hear about lions and lambs, children and vipers. Those phrases are symbolic of how Jesus’ coming changed the world.

So when we look at the world and feel hope slipping we must remember that the the world has been changed in Jesus’ coming and that the Holy Church lives. It lives even in the face of the world because it is holy. It is filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaims every truth necessary for salvation.

It lives in the promise Jesus gave:

—lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

Those who enter the doors of the Holy Church through baptism are made its sons and daughters and are grafted onto the vine, the Body of Christ.

As the Body of Christ the Holy Church lives, grows, and maintains hope. She is true to who she is.

The Holy Church lives as the beacon of the one, true, holy, and universal faith, taught without compromise or error.

Friends,

Our message is one and it is subversive.

The world does not want to hear that there is one truth, one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those tied to the world would rather live in the lonely desperation of crafting their own system of belief, or adopting any one that might be convient at the moment. The world does not want to play by the rules of a God who would die for it. The world balks at saying:

`We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’

The world does not want to face the one who Isaiah described as follows:

Not by appearance shall he judge,—¨
nor by hearsay shall he decide,—¨
but he shall judge the poor with justice,—¨
and decide aright for the land’s afflicted.—¨
He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,—¨
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.—¨
Justice shall be the band around his waist,—¨
and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.—¨

Jesus has come!

In this Advent season we recall that the would is filled with hopelessness. We stand against that hopelessness. We are here to celebrate our hope and to prepare ourselves, members of His Holy Church, to carry out His mission.

Go out there today and every day going forward. Tell of our hope.

Tell everyone you meet, I am a Catholic, a child of the Holy Church, committed to be a servant of God, His adopted son, his adopted daughter. Regardless of looks, regardless of appearances, regardless of the world’s direction, the truth is simply this – Jesus has come and has given us the truth. The Church lives this and I intend to live it. Join me at St. Paul in saying:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Amen.

Gospel: John 20:11-18

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” —¨

You might very well ask yourselves, Jim, why are you here, dressed like that, providing a Catholic funeral service for a man who considered himself an atheist?

Seems a bit odd, don’t you think?

I will give you an answer a little later.

First, I want to reflect on *********’s life. On the remarkable traits ********* displayed.

********* lived a life of note, and he lived it as a man. He stood for what he believed in, Country, family, hard work, brotherhood. A real man’s man.

When I remember *********, I remember a man of remarkable dignity and elegance.

He was well read, a dashing figure. He loved history, the news, sports, his community, and the things of the earth like his garden and nature.

Certain events illustrate the kind of man ********* was.

Think of family dinners, especially dinner on Easter Sunday. ********* would come to the dinning room table, well dressed. He sat at the end of the table. He never needed to speak loudly. He never demanded anything. He was perfectly polite, calm, and dignified.

More than that he watched his family around him. He took pleasure in their interaction, especially that of the children. He watched them eat the steak he had grilled, with his own special blend of marinade. He watched his family as it blossomed and grew. He didn’t interject himself into the process of seating arrangements, or getting grandma to sit down.

A lot of men would try to control the events going on around them. ********* never needed to, because he was in control of himself.

In the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 21 we read:

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

I recall too the look on *********’s face as his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and assorted nieces and nephews would sit around him in the sun porch, in the living room, or out at a restaurant.

They would ask questions or tell stories. He would listen attentively, providing little glimpses into his life; the things that would interest a child.

He told them of his childhood, his love for his family, a love he lived in looking after family members. He told them about the one room school house he attended, and about the farm where he was raised.

If you had a chance to look at his face during these times with children you would see a smile, a smile of pure joy.

In the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 18 we read:

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

In these passages we hear of Jesus the teacher, Jesus the fisherman, and in the Gospel passage, I read of Mary Magdalene seeing Jesus as the gardener.

All traits that ********* possessed. All the things he loved in his life. All these things were images of God, and ********* carried them well.

So that is why I am here. I am here to attest to the fact that ********* carried the image of Jesus Christ within himself.

Now of course he was not perfect. He had weaknesses like any man. But isn’t that our hope.

It is the hope in which we all share. That even in our imperfection, even with our foibles and mistakes, we still carry the hope of everlasting life.

The Christian religion, regardless of the brand of Christianity, gives us the opportunity to put into practice the things we know we believe. It connects us in a regular pattern of practice to the figure upon which our humanity is modeled, Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, family,

********* has been called home.

He will stand before Jesus and he will see Jesus the fisherman, Jesus the carpenter, Jesus the teacher, Jesus the gardener.

********* will recognize in Jesus all the things he was. Most assuredly, he will recognize in Jesus the hope to which he has always been called. When he sees that hope in Jesus he will enter the heavenly kingdom.

When Mary met Jesus in the garden beside His tomb she was not meeting a ghost. She met the resurrected Jesus. She met Jesus in whose image she, *********, and all of us will be resurrected.

Jesus told her:

—go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

********* has gone up to God. He has gone up to his God and our God, to his Father and our Father.

So I am here to tell you that news. To reassure you, in the Christian faith we all share. To let you know that you carry *********’s legacy within you just as you carry Jesus’ image within you.

Remember our brother *********, and remember to develop the image of God that is within you; to practice the faith that assures us of our hope.

*********’s life has not ended, it has been perfected. By our hope our lives will not end, they will be perfected. Amen.

For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed;
the night is advanced, the day is at hand.

It is tough being a Catholic. I have to hand it to each of you.

You sit here year after year. You listen to the readings and the Gospel.

After Easter you hear readings from the book of Revelation. Before Advent we read from Daniel. This First Sunday of Advent we hear that the day of the Lord is neigh, He is coming, be prepared.

These readings, these books, and these words all point to the last things. So we wonder, when are they coming?

With the growth in Evangelical Churches in the United States, and with their economic power, we find the religion section at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Borders, as well as our local library shelves filled with all sorts of books that want to give us clues about the last days.

We hear about Millenialists in all their shades, premillennialist and postmillennialist, the folks who like the Left Behind series. These are the folks who talk about the rapture and the time of tribulation.

We hear about dispensationalism, and Evangelical Christian support of Israel, not for any political reason, but for the sole fact that by their support of Israel they will cause a cataclysmic Middle Eastern war, the war of Armageddon. They tell us that that war will bring about the second coming of Christ.

And here we sit, Catholics, not all so sure about such things.

Its tough being Catholic, you know, leaving things like that to God. Always being prepared, thinking that we will never be sure about what the next moment will bring.

Evangelical Christianity draws people because it is so self assured, so right on, and inerrant about things. People like certainty.

Of course none of that is true. Within Protestant Christianity there are “over 33,000 denominations” and every year there is a net increase of around 270 to 300 denominations. No one among them can agree on what the Holy Scripture teaches, so all that biblical certainty isn’t so certain.

Even among some Catholics you have tales of visionaries and apparitions foretelling the end of things; the sun spinning out of the sky right toward earth.

As Polish National Catholics we teach Scripture as enlightened by the Fathers, Holy Tradition, and the Unified Councils of the Church. Still in all, that leads to the next honest question: For all the Fathers, Tradition, and Councils, why are we so unsure about the last things?

It is tough to admit, that we do not know, but remember, Jesus admitted the same:

In Matthew 24:36 He is recounted as saying:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

St. Mark records this statement in Chapter 13, Verse 32

—But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.—

My friends,

As Catholics we know no certainty other than the certainty of our hope.

Our hope lies in this alone: We will live with God forever in the Kingdom of heaven. We will rise as Jesus did, and we will be transfigured. We will worship the Lord forever in His eternal kingdom.

Certainty is not a story about Armageddon, fantasies of rapture, scary books, or the fear of getting left behind. Certainty is knowing one thing only.

Brothers and Sisters,

Here is the secret.

Our Holy Church, the Polish National Catholic Church, teaches hope. The Holy Catholic Church teaches hope.

Jesus Christ opened the door for us. He crushed Satan under His feet. We are His children, by our baptism and by our adult acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

We need only this, to accept our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Based on our acceptance our life is changed. We live in accord and unity with the One we have accepted as our hope.

With Jesus there is no fear of the end. That is why we pray so universally Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.

We have prayed it since we were children: Thy Kingdom come; Przyjdz Krolestwo Twoje; venga a nosotros tu reino.

The prophet Isaiah saw this hope when he proclaimed:

many peoples shall come and say:
—Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.—

So I tell you. You are here, in the house of the Lord. Listen to His teachings and walk in His paths. Do not be unsure, never loose hope, the Lord will not be long in coming.

Amen.

“Amen, I say to you,—¨today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Behold the power of the impossible.

There was a criminal hanging on a cross. He was naked, with nails driven through His hands and feet. He was alone, abandoned by those who were His friends.

This criminal was charged with undermining governmental authority.

—Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”

A criminal, crucified along side other criminals, seditionists, thieves, murderers.

This criminal to whom another criminal, a thief turned and said:

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”—¨

Jesus the criminal who told Pilate:

“My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants (would) be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”

Pilate questioned Jesus, looking for an answer in his questions. The answer was given, Pilate ignored it.

The Chief Priests and elders, the soldiers, and the other thief reviled Jesus. They verbally abused Him while he was dying, all looking for a sign, for proof that He was the Messiah, the Christ. Only the cross was given, they looked right at the sign and missed it.

St. Dismas, the —good thief— wasn’t looking for a sign. He didn’t have any questions. He simply asked:

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

The cross is the sign of the impossible.

That God would join His immortality to humanity and offer Himself as a sacrifice, a sacrifice offered in the most horrific way, is impossible. That God who has and is all would deign to love us that much is impossible. That this criminal dying on a cross is our immortal, eternal King and God is impossible.

Yet, we are here.

Yet we kneel and pray in the manner He taught.

Yet we build churches and spread His Gospel.

My friends, brothers and sisters,

We are impossible. Our mere existence as a people of faith and our acceptance of all this is impossible.

But St. Paul tells us:

Let us give thanks to the Father,—¨who has made you fit to share—¨in the inheritance of the holy ones in light. —¨He delivered us from the power of darkness—¨and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,—¨in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Today we celebrate this Solemnity. We look into the eyes of our public servants, our government, our employers, our families and say, this criminal, on the cross, is our King.

We say that what is impossible has been made possible. The Father has done this.

We say that Jesus is the Everlasting of Ages, the One through Whom and by Whom everything came into being. He is the one in Whose image we are fashioned. He is our beginning and our destiny.

Brothers and sisters,

If you wear a cross, if you have one on the lapel of your jacket, look at it in the mirror tonight. Look at the cross on the wall of your kitchen, or living room, or bedroom and say out loud, You are my King and my God.

It will be hard at first, saying it out loud. But persist. Saying it out loud is the first step to proclaiming it out loud.

Doing good works and acts of charity is perfectly in keeping with our character as Christians. More than this however, we must engage in active proclamation, the preaching and teaching of Jesus Christ through our words.

Tell all that you meet: He is our King. His Kingdom is not of this world. Rather it is eternal and perfect. Beautiful and magnificent. God came to us, died for us; all so we could live with Him forever. Come join us.

Jesus answered Pilate:

“You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

We proclaim Him our King.

If we believe what we say then listen to His voice, proclaim His truth, tell of Him, teach others about Him, and follow Him.

Amen.