Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights

How many of you have alerts on your cell phones?  Depending on how you have it set up, you could be seeing something from the weather app,  maybe something has happened in the world and whatever news app you follow is letting you know, maybe it(the cell phone) is telling you have an email ,text or something.  These alerts can be very helpful, but they can also be annoying.   I want to turn mine off sometimes and tell it to leave me alone…….I just don’t want to know

John the Baptist fills the role of an alert for us.  “Get ready”. Prepare the way” “Something great is about to happen”……and, like the people John preached to, we can either listen or ignore it.  Isaiah, in the first reading, is the alert for the people of Israel in the exile of Babylon. He basically tell the people:  God is about to do something great.  Comfort is coming, freedom is on the horizon, we are going home….A new Exodus is about to happen….God is going to marvelous things…..and the people of Israel had the same choice as the people of John’s day and us…..Listen to the alert and get ready or ignore it, don’t believe it, be pessimistic about it……

In Jesus, God did something great for the world that was never done before….the prophets looked for it and John pointed to it……..God sent His Son to proclaim the freedom of his people…this freedom was not from a foreign invader, but a freedom from sin, hopelessness, despair, even death itself.   God was doing something great….he was taking flesh and walking among us….and showing us the way.  God was stepping outside what was expected and John was the alert telling everyone to get ready….a new day was dawning, a new Exodus was about to happen, and God’s people would be free.   The herald was a wild guy who shocked everyone; and Jesus was not the Messiah who would not restore a Kingdom with weapons and violence; the alert would not be the biggest army or the strongest guy; the alert that the Kingdom of God was here, would be the Cross on a hill outside Jerusalem and a empty tomb……and this alert continues to show us today…..”get ready”  “prepare”, God is here now among us.

God has used the most unlikely through out history to show us the Cross and Tomb……one in particular was Juan Diego…..a poor Aztec Christian who was of no importance…he was a simple man who went out Dec 8 1540 to go to Mass for the Immaculate Conception.  On his way there, the Blessed Mother appeared to him and asked that a chapel be built there.  When he went to the Bishop(who was Spanish), he ignored him…..after going a few times, the Bishop said to bring him some proof…he went back to the Blessed Mother and on that hill, roses bloomed…remember it was December….he wrapped these in his tilma, his cloak, and brought them to the Bishop….when Juan unrolled his tilma…..the roses fell out and there on the tilma was the image of Guadalupe….the image here in church …. And Juan’s tilma still hangs in the basilica in Mexico City…..since 1540….

Juan was the most unlikely person to give an alert about God’s love and care through His Mother….yet, God chose him….the image is also an alert….Mary does not look European, she has the features of an Aztec woman, clothed in the clothes of the poor, and is pregnant…waiting to give birth to the one who John the Baptist told the world to prepare for.

My brothers and sister, it would be great if God would send us a plain text alert that he was here…..but, the alerts are in the people we meet, especially the most vulnerable and in the most unlikely people, and the alerts in the events of our lives when we open up our eyes and see God, no matter what.

So, let us open our hearts this second week of Advent and let God send us a message to be written there…I am always here and now, in and through you, I do something new; I am alive in you.

As we begin the Advent season this weekend, we have to be careful it is not lost in the middle of all the other “stuff” of this time of year. This very brief time of reflection and preparation is a gift. We have all said it and hear it: I am too busy. I don’t have the time to do (Fill in the blank). The trick of the season of Advent is to stop, breath, and realize what is truly important. God! Isn’t He is the reason we have Christmas? Isn’t he the one who was born of the Blessed Mother? Isn’t he the one Saint Joseph protected and cared for?

During this holy time, we look ahead with joy and hope for His Second Coming. As I have said a few times, if we are praying and meeting Christ everyday, the Second Coming is nothing to be afraid of. It will be a meeting of an old friend. What the second coming will be like is seen in Isaiah 11/1-10. The peace of His Presence will wipe away all war, all violence, all hatred and people will live harmony with each other. No one will be judged because of their race, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, sexual orientation, etc.  God will sit in the middle of the great multitude of peace.

We also look back to the First Coming of Christ. In this time, we prepare ourselves by looking back and reflecting on what we would be like without Christ. God would be part of our lives, but, the ancient sin of Adam and Eve would still be in our way. In Christ and through the Cross, the sin of Adam was destroyed and we were restored to the relationship God intended from the beginning. Everything about Christmas points us to Easter: the wood of the stable, the feed box, the Virgin holding the Child, the Angel announcing the Good News, the outcasts (the Shepherds), Herod’s hatred…. Many of our Christmas decorations point us to Calvary: the red of the poinsettia, the wreath, the tree, the holly.

Finally, we celebrate the Jesus who is here among us: Emmanuel, God with us NOW. Jesus is not a babe in the manger nor is he far removed in heaven. Christ is with us every moment of our lives. If we open our eyes and hearts: we will see him in the beauty of the sunrise and sunset, he will be in the darkest night and in the brightest day, in the cry of a baby and in the tears of the grieving, in the child who runs freely and the elderly who have trouble walking, in the joy of a good meal and in the home of the hungry,…..there is no place Jesus is not present. Our task is to open the eyes of our hearts and see.

May the Lord grant us the grace to truly celebrate this Advent time.

I am wondering how much freedom a person has if their leaders are kings and queens. As far as I know, a king and queen is not elected. The throne is passed down. The average person never has a say in who will lead their nation. History teaches us that some royalty have been good and the country has flourished in many ways; others tyrants and still others who ruined their countries on the backs of their people. But, the normal person has no choice. To be a part of the Kingdom of God, however, demands a choice from each one of us. We are not the serfs and subjects of a kingdom where there is no choice. God, the ruler of the universe, invites us everyday to be a part of the Kingdom of heaven. It is not enough to be baptized. We must choose our baptism everyday because in baptism we were invited into the Kingdom of God. But, our baptism also acknowledges our free will. Because of that, we are given the choice to be a part of God’s Kingdom….every single day. Our King is not a tyrant or removed from our lives on a golden throne locked up in a castle. Our King is not sitting in some far away place never interacting with us. Our King walks among us all the time. But, the parable shows us where: In the naked and the sick, in the hungry and thirsty, in the stranger and prisoner, and the naked. As I was looking at the Pieta at St John’s/St Joseph’s during the reading of the Gospel at the four pm Mass, I had a revelation. This image was the Gospel made real. The image of Mary, the image of the Church, holding the bruised and broken Body of Christ, is the reality of the Christian life. She is our model and teaches us to embrace His Wounded and Suffering Body no matter what. Every generation of Christians is called to take care of these people no matter who they are or what they look like because they are Christ among us. “As often as you do this, you do it for me.” In the choice to be a part of the Kingdom of God, it is not option to take care of the most vulnerable of society. Our choice to have Christ our King is also to choose the take of those most people most people would just want to forget. Each generation defines the most needed differently, but, they are still among us. Christ is still among us. This is not an easy choose. Some days, it is just easier to be the person who is afraid of the King so we do the minimal or we just ignore what the King wants and we walk by him or ignore him and not care. As we approach the Advent season next Sunday, let us all reflect on our choice to be a part of the Kingdom. A practice we may want to develop is to wake up every morning and say out loud: Today I choose to have Jesus the King of my life. Today, I choose to life in the Kingdom of heaven. Today I choose Christ. Jesus is the King of all the universe and yet, right among us everyday. May we make the decision to see him and care for him, in the best way we can.

O Lord and Master of the universe Grant me the courage to accept you as the King of my life, right now and every day of my life. Open my eyes to see you in the most vulnerable among us: those with out heat and adequate winter clothing, those who wake up every morning unable to live with alcohol or heroin , those in jail and those imprisoned by mental illness and prejudice, those who no one else cares about. Jesus open my eyes to see you in the most vulnerable among us. May I choose you today and one day may I hear you say: Well done, good and faithful servant, come into the rest of my Kingdom.” Amen

We celebrate on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.  Most of us will gather with family and/or friends and share a meal and company.  In the midst of all our celebrations, we need to aware of the blessings we have all received this past year.  I cannot help but think about the farmers who worked hard in the fields so I could have something to eat.  We cannot forget the migrant workers who worked in the hot sun for little pay so we could eat apples, strawberries,  and many other seasonal foods.  Another group we cannot forget all those who work in the service jobs….those who work in fast foods, waiters and waitresses, people who work in the supermarkets, the people who run the gas stations, the nurses and aids in the hospitals and nursing homes, among many.  We all need to be thankful for our police, firefighters and emergency personnel who everyday keep us safe or get us to the hospital when we are sick.  The Thanksgiving theme this year is not about thankfulness for the material things or the food on the table.  Our thanksgiving needs to be about the people we interact with everyday who we may not see or just assume will be there.   May God bless them all with peace and joy.

The parable of the 10 bridesmaids is a challenge to be aware and alert and ready for Christ’s coming at the end of time, and to be ready today.  In the time of Jesus, the wedding celebration was different than what we do.  The groom would go the bride’s house accompanied by his family and friends, and would jokingly haggle with the father of the bride about the dowery.  The higher the price; the most precious the bride.  At this, of course it was all symbolic, the dowery had already been settled but it could take some time.  When it was all over, the bridegroom would bring the bride to his house for the ceremony and celebration.  However, since no one knew how long the father and groom would spend haggling, people were sent ahead to announce the coming of the bridegroom.  This was the job of the bridesmaids ….they were to light the way for the bride and bridegroom and announce the time of the wedding was near.   They had to be prepared and ready because they didn’t know how long the “haggling” would last. 

We are the bridesmaids……we need to be ready to announce the coming of Christ the Bridegroom.  Our challenge to is to keep the lamp of faith alive, filled with oil of grace, and our faith burning brightly.  How?  By actively engaging the life of faith. 

We need to be actively praying and renewing our spiritual life.

Our weekly attendance at the Eucharist and celebrating the Sacraments,

By reading the Scriptures,  and other spiritual writers

By actively embracing acts of charity and justice

we replenish the oil of our faith. 

The parable is a challenge to realize that our life of faith, our relationship with Christ is an investment.  But it is not a static investment.  It is not a lamp that will keep burning when we do not put oil into it.  The 5 wise bridesmaids put an effort into their work.  They kept their lamps filled with oil and the wicks were trimmed.  They kept awake and alert looking for the bridegroom.  They did not sit around looking for someone else to do the work.  The 5 foolish one expected to keep their lamps lit with someone else’s effort.   They put the minimal amount of work into it. 

Our faith life will not survive on a minimal amount of work.

  To wait for the Bridegroom is to be active…

to keep enough oil on hand….our works of charity , our life of prayer..

to trim the wicks…to be challenged by the Gospel to a constant conversion of our hearts..

to change the behaviors that are in our way of getting closer to Christ….

to be awake….to be alert to Christ’s presence everyday;

even in the places we least expect….

and finally, to announce the coming of the Bridegroom by our actions and by our words.  Doing this things, the second coming of Christ will not be surprise….it will be the welcoming of an old and beloved friend    We will miss him, and end up outside of the wedding feast.

 

O Lord Jesus, Bridegroom of the wedding feast of heaven,

Help me to be ready for your coming.

May the oil of the lamp of my faith be constantly replenished by the Eucharist and prayer

May I be trimmed as a wick to burn brighter by allowing you into the parts of my life that need to be changed and grown

Keep me awake in my faith…may I never grow complacent or tired, but always alert

O Lord Jesus, host of the wedding feast, may I be alert and ready to announce to all the you are here.