Recognize Him

Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased.  So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.”  Matthew 17:11-12

Piety

Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.  Psalm 80:4

Study

Did you ever turn on a light in a dark room?  At first, you have to keep your eyes closed to adjust to the newfound brightness.  Eventually, you blink a few times and your pupils dilate enough for you to be able to open your eyes.

Maybe that was what it was like when Jesus came into the dark world.  He turned on the light but those around him had adjust to the Light. 

Sometimes – like at his Baptism and at the Transfiguration – his true self was revealed.  However, the world was not ready for him yet.  So, Jesus gradually introduced himself with preaching and teaching, with healing and signs. 

Today’s Good News comes right after one of those flashes of light in the darkness, right after the Transfiguration.  They were coming down from the mountain and Jesus told Peter, James and John what was to come.  They began to understand.  The light did not make it any easier when the arrest and crucifixion happened.  But they began to understand the light flickering in the distance by at least starting to put the story of John the Baptist into context with “the vision” thing that just happened:  “Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.”  (Matthew 17:13)

Action

How is Jesus turning up the light so you can recognize him this season?

Advent is like the dimmer switch to Christmas.  You probably have such a switch in at least one room.  Rather than turning up your lights in full, you can dial back the brightness a little or a lot and slowly bring the lights on to full power.

As each week of Advent passes, we turn up the “dimmer switch” toward Christmas until we see the fullness of the Nativity. 

One purple candle. 

Two purple candles. 

Two purple candles and a pink candle. 

Three purple candles and a pink candle. 

Christmas tree!

How is Jesus turning up the light so you can recognize him this season?

An Affinity the Poor

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

By Colleen O’Sullivan

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion!

See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord.  (Zechariah 2:14)

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace!  The Lord is with you.”  But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.  Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  Behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”  (Luke 1:26-33)

Piety

Jesus, I can see your special love of those who are so often invisible in this world.  You sent your mother to give hope to the poor by appearing to Juan Diego.  Open my heart to fill with compassion for those who are hungry and without dignity.  Grant me the ability to live simply and to see you in the faces of those around me.  (from Creighton University's Online Ministries’ Daily Advent Prayer for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe)

Study   

In our Scripture readings for today and in the feast we celebrate, God powerfully demonstrates his affinity for the poor.  In the first reading, God promises through the prophet Zechariah to come and dwell with his people.  By any worldly measure, the people God has chosen to call his own are nobodies.  Israel was no superpower.  In Zechariah’s time, the Israelites were already home from exile, but they were not an autonomous people; they lived under the rule of Darius the Great of Persia.   

When God finally makes good on his promise centuries later, his Son is born into a world where the Jews lived under the heavy thumb of the Romans.  Mary and Joseph were not people of great means.  Jesus was born in a rude shed meant for someone’s livestock.

In the Gospel reading for today, we have the story of the Annunciation.  Of all the women in the world, God selects an unknown peasant girl to be the mother of his Son.  That must have been a lot for a young girl to ponder!  When Mary later sings the Magnificat, she acknowledges that God has come to her in her lowliness.

When our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in 1531 outside Mexico City, she didn’t show up in a great cathedral or basilica.  It wasn’t a bishop or well-known person to whom she came.  She appeared to a poor, young Indian boy.  She even spoke in his native tongue. 

Whether it’s the people God chose to call his own, the family to whom God entrusted his Son or the teenager to whom God sent Our Lady of Guadalupe, God shows a strong affinity for the poor in the world.

Action

As we continue our journey through Advent, may we, too, show compassion for the poor in our midst by including them on our Christmas gift lists.  There are many worthwhile ways to reach out to the needy. 

One of my favorites is through the scholarship fund at Loyola Retreat House, a Jesuit retreat house in Faulkner, MD.   Scholarships enable the homeless, the unemployed, and the ill as well as elderly priests and sisters who can’t afford the cost of a retreat to have a time of peace and prayer with the Lord.  If you would like to donate to this scholarship fund, please send your donation, marked Retreat Angel Society to:  Loyola Retreat House, P.O. Box 9, Faulkner, MD 20632-0009.  

Seek and Be Quenched

Thursday of the Second Week of Advent

By Beth DeCristofaro

The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst.  I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water. (Isaiah 41:17-18)

Jesus said to the crowds: “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. (Matthew 11:11)

Piety

It's when we face for a moment

the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know

the taint in our own selves, that awe

cracks the mind's shell and enters the heart:

not to a flower, not to a dolphin,

to no innocent form

but to this creature vainly sure

it and no other is god-like, God

(out of compassion for our ugly

failure to evolve) entrusts,

as guest, as brother,

the Word.  (“On the Mystery of the Incarnation” Denise Levertov)

Study

John the Baptist recognized the presence of the Lord even before his birth. His vocation was to preach the coming of his cousin and he honored Jesus by advising his disciples to follow Jesus.  His words seem to foretell Jesus’ teaching to the crowds when John told his disciples:   “He must increase; I must decrease.”  (John 3:30)  Although John had nothing he was not parched with thirst.  Rather he was like a fountain watering the desert as he preached and baptized.

When asked who will be the greatest in heaven, Jesus tells his disciples (Matthew 18) that they must be as humble as a little child, dependent on, trusting in, full of faith in God just as a child is to her parents.   Jesus tells us the greatest are those who thirst for God and who search.  He follows in the path of the prophets who again and again warn the powerful that they have strayed.  Indeed, Isaiah uses terms such as maggot and worm against them.  But God does not reject a people who thirst even when they have strayed from God.  Instead, God blesses profusely.

Action

Take a break from competitive gift-giving, perfectionist decorating and world-class entertaining to consider the shuddering wonderment that God holds us so precious.  How can we gift our neighbor with a love that says:  You are cherished by the Word Incarnate?

You Will Find Rest

Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent

[The Lord] gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound.  Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.  Isaiah 40:29-31

Jesus said to the crowds: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

Piety

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will. All I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.  Amen. 

Study

Are you burning the candle at both ends during this holiday season?  You are in luck. The Lord has two gifts for you:  boundless energy and ample rest. Both are in short supply when we are busiest. 

Actually, there are three gifts promised today in scripture – the final being a sense of humor.  Only a Lord who has a sense of humor can ask us to take up our cross daily to follow Him and call his burden light and easy.

Light and easy is a diet.  Light and easy is a steam mop used for cleaning floors.  Light and easy is a low-calorie yogurt.  Picking up a cross seems like anything BUT light and easy unless you have help.  The Lord does not ask us to do anything that he has not already done.  Just like Simon the Cyrenian came to the assistance of Jesus to ease those final steps, the Lord will be there for us to make our last steps easier.

Rev. James Martin, SJ, is a prolific author of many popular books that help explain our faith and its practices to members of the Church and others who have curiosity about all things Catholic.  Lately, however, he also posted several extended comments to Facebook about his Jesuit brother Rev. T.J. Martinez, SJ, in Houston, Texas.  TJ founded Cristo Rey High School and recently passed away after a battle with cancer – a cross that no one would consider light or easy. 

Fr. Martinez was diagnosed with stomach cancer as he was finishing the last stage of his Jesuit formation in East Africa. He had thought that the stomach pain was perhaps the normal side effects of being in an unfamiliar part of the developing world.  From the students, teachers and parents at the high school he founded to all of his Jesuit brothers and friends, no one wanted to believe the news about his diagnosis. Of all people, Fr. Martinez seemed to be unstoppable: a wellspring of energy to all whom he met from former First Lady Laura Bush and bishops to people in the inner city and the poorest places on earth.

I have never met either Fr. Martin or Fr. Martinez yet the stories by and about both men also reveal the combination of the boundless energy and promised rest that the prophet Isaiah promises us this Advent season.

Pardon me for quoting at length.  If you are on the social media platform Facebook, follow Fr. Martin and you can read the whole of several posts about T.J.  For the quotes today, the full text of comments by Fr. Martin is at this link: https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/photos/a.139618381495.120357.46899546495/10152409696941496/?type=1

After his diagnosis, Fr. Martin asked him how he was doing. Here he paraphrases what Fr. Martinez said:

“I just finished with my Long Retreat, and I made my offer of myself to Jesus. In the Spiritual Exercises, the final prayer is the “Take, Lord, Receive” prayer, one of total surrender of all that you have to Jesus: “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will. All I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.”

TJ had just made that prayer at the end of his retreat.

"So this is the perfect time for this to happen to me," he said. "I was ready.” 

When Fr. Martin asked Fr. Martinez last summer if he thinks about death, his brother said he did.  However, he also said that he did not dwell upon it.    

“Well, Jim, I’m a Jesuit, right? And Jesuits are always given a mission. So if my mission from Jesus right now is to be sick, then I accept it. And if my mission is to die, then I accept that mission, too.” 

In the middle of November, Fr. Martin sent a letter saying goodbye.  He knew that he would not be getting any more calls or messages from Fr. Martinez.  Their next meeting would be “God willing, in the fullness of time.”   Here is what the final message was from Fr. Martinez:   “The last six years of my life have been my best assignment ever,” he said.  “But my next one will be even better.”

Action

May you have the energy to conquer the best assignment ever.  Until the next one. 

Give Comfort to My People

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

By Melanie Rigney

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:1-2)

Sing to the Lord; bless his name; announce his salvation, day after day. (Psalms 96:2)

Jesus said to his disciples: “What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.” (Matthew 18:12-14)

Piety

Lord, help me to give comfort and speak tenderly in Your name to all I encounter today.

Study

There’s always a thread among the Daily Readings, honest. It’s just that some days, it’s harder to find that thread than others. Further, as you likely know from having heard some long, convoluted homilies or sermons in your life, it’s sometimes folly to try to link up all the readings into one message. Conventional wisdom is to focus on the relevance of a single reading to the audience’s lives.

This is one of those other days, those joyous days when the harmony of the readings is so apparent one can’t help but talk about them all.

The God of Isaiah 40 is not an angry, vindictive God. He is a loving, tender God who loves His people and who asks us to do the same, to let the people know they are saved and to comfort them.

The God Jesus speaks of in Matthew 18 is much the same, a God who loves his flock and who goes in search of those who go astray (that would be all of us) and rejoices at our return, whether we were away from His grace for three seconds, three days, three months, three years, or three decades.

That is our God. We are His people. How blessed are we indeed? Why should anything keep us from singing His praise and sharing his Good News non-stop, as the psalmist advises?

Now, stop reading and meditating, and go into the world and do it.

Action

Spend some time today with another lost sheep. Give comfort. 

May It Be Done to Me

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Patronal Feast day of the United States of America

After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”  He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.”  Genesis 3:9-10

And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”  But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.  Luke 1:28-29

Piety

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her. 

St. Ambrose, the 8th century bishop of Milan, in a commentary on the Gospel of Luke, urges us to: 

“Let Mary’s soul be in each of you to proclaim the greatness of the Lord. Let her spirit be in each to rejoice in the Lord. Christ has only one mother in the flesh, but we all bring forth Christ in faith. Every soul receives the Word of God . . . [Our soul] proclaims the greatness of the Lord, just as Mary’s soul magnified the Lord and her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior.”

Study

Sometimes, I look at what is the same in the readings.  However, today, what is striking is how different Adam’s response if from Mary’s. 

Physically, Adam hid himself.  Mary did not even consider hiding from the angel.  The angel came in and they had an exchange.

Emotionally, Adam was afraid.  Mary, while greatly troubled, took the message from Gabriel to heart and was not afraid but sought to come to terms with the message, the meaning and the matter.

Spiritually, Adam was attempting to imitate God.  Spiritually, Mary became the model of the servant leader who accepted her mission from God.  The angel then departed.  Job done.  Mission accomplished.  Mother of God in place.

Part of the answer lies in what was said.  However, the other part lies in what was done.  Rather than accept the Lord’s wishes, Adam went ahead and ate the apple.  Mary, on the other hand, accepted it fully.

This image of a painting by American Henry Ossawa Tanner (1898) is telling.  It is hard to hide from the light.  When the angel appeared with the message from God, Mary did not cower like a bunch of scared disciples in the Upper Room.  She opened her doors just as Elizabeth will open doors to Mary in a short while.

Action

The humility and obedience of Mary stand in stark contrast to the broad-shouldered, muscle-bound image of America.  Yet this humble, poor teenager is the patroness of America.  “How can this be?”  How do we as individuals and as a nation that counts ourselves as second to none become more like this handmaiden to the Lord? 

As we make room for Christmas, we inherently make room for Mary.  Physically, we bring out Nativity scenes and statues of Mary in prayer next to her newborn King.  Her image graces greeting cards.  He name is sung out in praises. 

However, at the end of Christmas, do you also put Mary away – packed up in the boxes and Rubbermaid containers you bought at Target with all the other holiday decorations.  Maybe this Christmas is the season when Mary does not get put away.  Give her a public place to dwell all year long. 

Just like Mary made room for Gabriel, for the message and the mission, what must you move aside to make way for the message the Lord has for you? 

Keep Mary out and visible as a reminder every day of how can this new attitude become manifest in me. “May it be done to me according to your word.”

Prepare

Second Sunday of Advent 2014B

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!  Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!  Isaiah 40:3

And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me.  I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  Mark 1:7-8

Piety

Our Piety of life is seen in all the ways we have prepared for the coming of our Lord.  ”Prepare the way of the Lord,“ is the cry of our piety.  Our piety levels the mountains and the hills that make our journey difficult.  It fills in the valleys with an easier road to travel as our piety has worn a path that brings us to the wonder of the birth of our Savior.  Because we are going toward the Lord, each day of our journey is worth a thousand years to travel.  The Lord feeds us even as we go toward him as he gathers his flock.  The Lord will carry us to make our journey easier.  The glory of the Lord will be revealed as we draw closer to the Birth of our Savior.  John is the ascetic of the desert that shows us the glory of the Lord.  John is the messenger that shows us how to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord.  John speaks of the one mightier than himself whose sandals he is not worthy to loosen the throngs.  John will recognize his Lord as the baby in the womb of Mary.

Study

The history of the Jewish people is one of preparation for the Messiah.  Their expectations took many forms.  The suffering servant Messiah was the last one expected.  They would gladly have run to a mighty king.  It would be the lowly shepherds who would recognize him in the cave.  But it is Mary who would make his coming possible.  She was destined to be the handmaid of the Lord.  Her “Yes” would bring fulfillment to all that the prophets foretold.  It is her “Yes” that we are echoing in all we do to make ready the coming of the Lord.

Action

Action speaks louder than words.  What we do each day to prepare for the birth of Christ requires prayer to uncover what the plan of God is for us.  Our prayer is an action as we recite our agreement with the will of God for us.  Discernment is prayer where we put before God the words of the Baptist and ask in prayer “What is the best we can do today?”  Preparation is the watchword for these days of Advent.  Opening our hearts to the value each moment and living each moment as the purpose of our lives bring into play love which is the giving of our lives for another.  How we offer ourselves takes us into the surrender of more than what we need.  How we surrender some of the necessities of our lives for others makes a big difference in sacrifice because we are giving of ourselves when it is not merely extras that we offer.  How we reach out to those who will not know the source of their gift is what the Christ friend is all about.

You Shall See

Saturday of the First Week of Advent

No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: “This is the way; walk in it,” when you would turn to the right or to the left.  Isaiah 30:20B-21

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”  Matthew 9:36-38

Piety

Lord, we pray we never find ourselves without hope, without a glimpse of the empty tomb each time we happen upon a cross. Help us begin our daily journey expecting both crosses and empty tombs and rejoicing when we encounter either because we know you are with us. Amen. - Adapted from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Study

There is a popular (but unfounded) image that God, in the stories of the Hebrew Bible, was violent and vengeful.  Certainly there are war stories in the books of the Hebrew Bible but the Jews were as often on the losing side as they were on the winning side.

However, it was not Jesus who ushered in the image of a compassionate Lord.  Isaiah – and prophets before him – introduces us to the loving, merciful, compassionate God who guides us to walk in his ways.  How can a God described with these words be seen as a God of vengeance?  Consider the loving and pastoral image painted by the prophet Isaiah:

…gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you.
…give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst.
…with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher.
…that the soil produces will be rich and abundant.
…your flock will be given pasture and the lamb will graze in spacious meadows.
…there will be streams of running water.
…he will heal the bruises left by his blows.

Jesus did not change everything – despite what the Lighthouse Keeper might have written in these reflections a few years ago.  No, Jesus brought out the qualities of a loving God with of which his people had lost sight when they turned to the right or to the left. (Or when they had not studied the entire Old Testament).

Make no mistake.  Jesus was a change agent.  He was not changing God.  He was asking us to change. Why bother?  Because the laborers who walk in His way are few.  Jesus needs more to heal, proclaim and teach in this world.

Action

The poet Rose Marie Berger quoted scholar Ched Myers on her web site/blog yesterday and it relates to the change Jesus wants to see in us.

If we are to be followers of that Jesus, we must also make choices in the conflicted terrain of our world about what prophetic traditions we apprentice to and what social movements of liberation we help build as individuals and as church. However controversial or consequential such choices may be, such is what it means to be a disciple of the Great Disciple of God’s Kingdom.”–Ched Myers

What choices are you making during these fresh new days of Advent?  Did you choose to participate more in Cyber Monday over Giving Tuesday?  However, one day does not a laborer make.  “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

To what events of this week have you been paying attention? The Ferguson-Staten Island-Cleveland controversies over deaths of unarmed black men?  The rising to near record levels of the stock market and its effect (if any) on your lifestyle? The Bill Cosby allegations?  The UVA-Rolling Stone rape controversy?  The run-up to the first ever college football playoff? 

Sometimes, I want to crawl into a hole and hide from the realities of our divided society.  But how would that increase the laborers in the field? 

We have to make choices in the conflicted terrain of our world.  To what tradition will you apprentice?  What will help you build up our church and society?

Their Eyes Were Opened

Friday of the First Week of Advent

By Melanie Rigney

On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; and out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29:18-19)

The Lord is my light and my salvation. (Psalms 27:1)

When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. (Matthew 9:28-30)

Piety

Shackled by a heavy burden ‘neath a load of guilt and shame. Then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same. He touched me, Oh He touched me, and oh the joy that floods my soul! Something happened and now I know, He touched me and made me whole. (Written by Bill and Gloria Gaither)

Study

Jesus didn’t have to touch the two blind men to heal them, of course. All they had to do was believe, and it would have been done. He told them as much. But Jesus, being both fully God and fully human, knew the power of human touch. He knew that two blind men probably hadn’t experienced that touch often. And so he touched them, because that sort of human connection is something we all crave. A Psychology Today article notes:

More recent studies have found that seemingly insignificant touches yield bigger tips for waitresses, that people shop and buy more if they’re touched by a store greeter, and that strangers are more likely to help someone if a touch accompanies the request. Call it the human touch, a brief reminder that we are, at our core, social animals.

Jesus often touched those he healed and healed those he touched who had not even asked for healing. By touching them, he said, “I acknowledge your existence.” It was something many Gentiles had never heard from a Jew. It was something that prostitutes, tax collectors, and others had never heard from someone outside their own circles. And that acknowledgment opened their hearts and souls to allow the healing.

Action

Do something in Jesus’ name today that involves touching someone you typically don’t. Shake hands with the homeless person to whom you give a dollar. Hug a friend you don’t see often. Pat a coworker on the shoulder. 

Footsteps of the Poor

Thursday of the First Week of Advent

He humbles those in high places, and the lofty city he brings down; He tumbles it to the ground, levels it with the dust.  It is trampled underfoot by the needy, by the footsteps of the poor.  Isaiah 26:5-6

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”  Matthew 7:21

Piety

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.  For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.”  Luke 1: 46-49

Study

Matthew shows the relationship not between saying and doing (as is the case with the “false prophets”), but between hearing and doing.  These words of Jesus are applied to everyone – or at least to every Christian who listens.

Listening is an activity that is much featured and praised in the Good News.  

Mary listens to the angel.  The disciples listen to the call.  When Jesus is baptized, the voice of God proclaims His beloved son.  When we next hear the voice of God at the Transfiguration, it is punctuated with a special instruction: “Listen to him!”

In fact, one of the first acts we encounter with the young Jesus is listening – modelling for us the behavior that he wants us to replicate.  When he got separated from his parents, Joseph and Mary looked all over for their son.  “After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” (Luke 2:46)

Jesus’ friends Mary and Martha actually have a disagreement over this.  Martha is busy with the hospitality and wants help.  But she does not get help.  “And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” (Luke 10:39)

Jesus makes clear that listening is not an end in and of itself.  The end result of listening to the word in our piety and study is and must be action. 

Action

As we enter the holy seasons of Advent and Christmas, if we listen, we will hear the footsteps of the poor.  What will we do about them?  If we turn on our heels and walk the other way, then all that time in church or Bible study is for naught. 

Recently a story in Fort Lauderdale, Florida caught the nation’s attention.  The city recently passed a law about requirements for programs feeding the homeless.  That law led to no less than three citations since November 2 for a 90-year old man who was feeding the homeless.

For the time being, it is no longer illegal to feed the homeless in Fort Lauderdale.

The Washington Post reported:  On Tuesday, a Florida circuit court judge temporarily halted a controversial ordinance that restricts charities from feeding the homeless in public. The ruling arrived several days after the most recent arrest of Arnold Abbott, a 90-year-old World War II veteran who has for years run a nonprofit devoted to feeding the city’s homeless population.

Arnold Abbot was not going to back down even if he faced a night in jail.  For considerably less risk, how will you respond to the footsteps of the poor this week?

God's Abundance

Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest

By Colleen O’Sullivan

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.  On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever.  The Lord God with wipe away the tears from all faces; The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken.  (Isaiah 25:6-8)

At that time:  Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there.  Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others.  They placed them at his feet and he cured them…  He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.  Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.  They all ate and were satisfied.  They picked up the fragments left over – seven baskets full.  (Matthew 15: 29-30, 35-37)

Piety

Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life;

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.

(Psalm 23:6)

Study   

The prophet Isaiah paints a beautiful picture of our future with God – an unending table of plenty, no more dying, no more tears.  There is no end to what God wants to bestow upon us out of love and generosity.  This is the salvation God’s holds out to you and me – life without sorrow, anger, or fear; no more poverty or hunger; life without end with our Lord.  The abundance of God offered to every one of God’s children.

All the promise we see on the canvas Isaiah unfurls becomes reality in Jesus.  In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus transforms the lives of the people brought into his presence.  Where there is brokenness, he brings healing and wholeness.  Jesus has compassion on this crowd that has gone without food for days just to be with him.  He takes the few items of food still left among the people, gives thanks over them and, amazingly, there is more than enough to go around.  The abundance of God broken and shared that we might have life.

Where do we find ourselves this Advent?  Somewhere between the breaking in of God’s Kingdom and its fulfillment.  Having had a foretaste of God’s abundance and longing for the heavenly banquet mentioned in both our first reading and our psalm for today, Psalm 23.

Action

While we’re waiting and longing for the Lord, why not make a list?  No, not the type you’d send to Santa Claus.  The gratitude kind.  Take a few minutes to list all the ways in which you’ve been the recipient of God’s abundant love.  Once you get started, I think you’ll find you can write for hours.

Once you’ve got it down in black and white, I think you’ll be amazed at how blessed and how rich you will feel.  Don’t keep all that abundant love to yourself.  Be like the saint we remember today.  St. Francis Xavier was one of the seven original Jesuits.  He had the Word of God in his heart.  He had something to share and so, when asked, he left his friends (he and his close friend and mentor, St. Ignatius of Loyola, never saw each other again) and traveled to India and points beyond to preach and teach the Word to others. 

Take something on your gratitude list and come up with a concrete way to share that blessing with a brother or sister in need.  If you’re short on ideas, try picking a person or family off the Christmas wish tree that virtually every parish has and make that wish come true.  You’re rich; you can afford it!

I Give You Praise, Father

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

By Beth Decristofaro

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. (Isaiah 11:1)

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. (Luke 10:21)

Piety

Two little eyes to look at God. Two little ears to hear His word. Two little lips to sing His praise. Two little feet to walk His ways. Two little hands to do His will. One little heart to love Him still. Amen.  (http://www.prayerbook.com/Prayers/Children/children.htm)

Study

As a little girl my daughter did not like to play games that she did not already know how to play.  Of course, that made it hard to learn new ones.  She told us that she did not like it when she did not “know all the rules” because she liked to win!  As backwards as this seemed, I knew where she got it from.  How many times had I nodded “yes” or played along as if I knew the “rules” or what was expected of me in a given situation because I did not want to admit that I did not know.  It has taken many years for me to figure out that asking is not admitting to stupidity!  (Well, I think that I’ve learned it, at least in part).  In fact, learning new things, re-learning old and worn out or even wrong things can leave me open to revelations and connections with people, myself and to information.

Time and time again the Chosen People had to learn and relearn.  God shows an infinite patience as God sprouts new shoots from a stump.  Jesus knew that some hearts were hardened into prideful egotism.  He tells his followers that divine explanations require new hearing, new seeing, new hearts prepared by God. 

Action

In what way might I be childlike today, open to the wonder of God at every opportunity especially when I am most uncertain or intimidated?  Give praise at opening up eyes, ears and heart to the messages and presence of God.   

I Will Come

Monday of the First Week of Advent

They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.  O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!  Isaiah 2:4B-5

He said to him, “I will come and cure him.”  The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.  Matthew 8:7-8

Piety

Lord, we are already seem so busy with everything else.  Now we have the added stress of the holiday season.  Parties at home or at work to plan and/or attend.  Gifts to buy and wrap and ship.  Houses to clean and get ready for guests.  Special meals to prepare.  Cookies to bake.  Travels to arrange.  Yet you, Lord, have other plans for us.  Come.  Let us walk (not run) through these holy days of preparation and waiting with you.  Come.  Let us walk (not run) through these 24 days of advent with you. Help let us allow the power of the most high to overshadow us and all the pop-up ads for Home Depot that threaten to derail our days of preparation. Amen.

Study

Capernaum is a site for many healing scenes in the Gospels.  Jesus drove out the unclean spirit from one man.  He cured the fever afflicting Peter’s mother-in-law.  Today, we read of his curing the servant of the Roman centurion.  Not only that, but Jesus also offered the commentary that this foreigner, this belligerent soldier occupying the holy land, had greater faith than Jesus had found anywhere else among the so-called “chosen” people.  This military officer was already beating his swords into plowshares and his spears into pruning hooks. 

Action

Of all the readings, why would these be chosen for our first week of Advent? 

Maybe as a reminder of the “reason” for the “season.”  Isaiah inspires us to “walk in the light of the Lord.”  Not in the light of the Best Buy sign or the Target logo or the Walmart parking lot.  The centurion reminds us that we are not in search of the best bargain – even though the Monday of the First Week of Advent is also called Cyber Monday by the merchant class.

Maybe this Gospel reading was chosen for the words spoken by Jesus about Himself.  “I will come.”  Not, let me check my Outlook Calendar.  Not, check with my executive officer staff about a site visit next month.  When the centurion approaches Jesus, there is no hesitation.  There is no fear that the centurion may be leading him into a trap.  There is only a positive, willing response to the request delivered by a man of power in the spirit of humility and obedience.  That is the kind of response the Lord is hoping that we will give to him.

Humility and obedience.  Maybe there is a better image for us to reflect upon this week and this season than the one sent around the world yesterday of Bartholomew I giving a blessing to Pope Francis and the Church of Rome.  If there is, I cannot think of what it would be.

As Fr. James Martin, SJ, recounted:

Pope Francis has done many amazing things during his visit to Turkey, among them, praying "in silent adoration" alongside the Grand Mufti of Istanbul in the Blue Mosque; meeting with the chief rabbi of Turkey; and speaking with young refugees from Syria, Iraq and other countries. But for me the most moving was his encounter with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians. (The two major branches of Christianity split in 1054 over questions about the papacy.) Francis and Bartholomew signed a joint declaration calling for a "constructive dialogue" with Islam based on "mutual respect and friendship," and reaffirming Francis's and Bartholomew's desire for Christian unity. But it was the extraordinary gesture captured in this photo which was perhaps the most powerful sign of Christian unity yet. After the Pope asked the Patriarch to "bless me and the Church of Rome," this was Bartholomew's response. (CNS Photo/Paul Haring)