The Forgotten Advent - Reflection 1st Sunday of Advent - B

The Forgotten Advent

Praise be Jesus Christ. Forever and ever.

My daughters posted a video of my grandchildren as they drove through the Christmas lights in Crossett Ar. My one year old granddaughter giggled and screamed in excitement. My two year old grandson had a look of awe.

Children look forward to Christmas; in their innocence the see the wonder and awe of Christmas. Because of their innocence, they are ready for the coming of the LORD; they don’t know a need for advent.  

Sadly, it seems most people don’t know the need for advent. It is not because of innocence.

Jesus said to his disciples “Be watchful! Be alert!  You do not know when the time will come.”

Advent is the time we make our self-ready for the coming of the Lord.

It is intended to be a time of preparation, emptiness, stillness, and silence; a time to prepare. It is a time to make ready for the experience of being redeemed, recreated, and reborn.

In our world, instead of being a time of stillness and silence, advent gets busier, brighter, and louder. It becomes harder to focus on being watchful and alert for the coming of our savior.

Instead with all our busyness, our hearts are harden to the ways of God. In the pollution of worldliness, we become unconscious of God and our own lives.

We forget, God is our Father; we are the clay and He is the potter: we are all the work of His hands.

We lack reflection and gratitude for the grace God bestows on us. Not realizing this grace, many people live with a smidgen of resentment against everything and everyone and everything. Social media proves it.

All the noise of the world has made it difficult to be in the present moment. It is difficult to realize the riches of God’s grace.  Instead, we focus on the distractions and worries the world throws at us. They consume us. 

We take for granted what is precious.

This advent, with the world fighting against us - forget those distractions.  Thank God for what enriches us; the love and friendships that surround us and the gift of life itself. Remember, the grace God bestowed  in Christ Jesus. In him we are enriched in every way.

The world message is forget God’s grace. It is working as people forget the importance of advent. People do not believe they can be forgiven, redeemed, recreated, and reborn. It puts in the hearts of many resentment against everything and everyone.

That is why we need advent.  In the noisiness of the world telling us: sin is OK; bad is OK; the self is more important than others. It is the message heard 24 hours a day, 365 days a week for years and years. 

And, many have forgotten need and importance of having a time and place empty of all this noise; forgotten Advent.

A place without all that noise is what Advent is about. It is a time to be filled with grace.

Maybe, we can  be like children again full of laughter and awe at the coming of our Lord and savior. Maybe we should be like that all the time, for we do not know when the time will come.

Be good, be holy and preach the good news that is the coming of Jesus Christ by the way you live your life and love one another.

Praise be Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Amen.

Priorities - Reflection Solemnity Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Praise be Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Forever and ever.

That kingship is built on the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Earlier this week, my youngest grandson wakes up in a bad mood, kind of whiney. This was our conversations:

Poppy loves you, do you love poppy? He answered, “no”. Do your love mommy and brother? Again, “no.” Do you love nanny or mamaw? “No.” Do you love your new puppy, Buster? “No.” Well, it’s time for breakfast, do you love pancakes? “Yes.”

It was breakfast time. He was hungry. And, a 2 year old has his priorities.

So does our Lord God and His priority is love.

“I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

I will rescue them from every place they were scattered. I will rescue them from when it was dark and cloudy.

The lost, I will seek out. The strayed, I will bring back. The injured, I will bind up. The sick, I will heal.”

He will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

He will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

We are to judge as righteous by our love of the Lord; in Christ all shall be brought to life.

He said to them, “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.

There is only one King of which that can be true. He is the good shepherd.  He is a king that is in every one of us. He is Christ Jesus, King of the Universe.

His Kingdom is built from the greatest commandment.

His kingdom is a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.

In that he gives us new priorities, a new commandment: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

To be part of the kingdom, to be on the right, we must get our priorities in order.

Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by living a life loving others to love and serve out King.

Praise be Jesus Christ; forever and ever. Praise be Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  Amen

A Talent for Holiness - Homily Reflection - 33rd Sunday OTA

In my job, I work with companies on how they hire, train, and utilize their employees.

I teach them, if you are going to hire someone to operate a shovel, make sure they are fit for the job; hire someone to drive, make sure they are good drivers; or hire someone to handle money, make sure it is the right person.

In other words, make sure the person has the talent for the job.

The word talent in the English language is derived directly from the parable we hear today. In the parable, a talent is a unit of wealth, a lot of money. It has been estimated that the amount of talents given to the servants would be $3 million dollars in today’s money.

In modern English, we understand talent as our unique gifts and abilities. Our talents are our God given riches.

God loves us and has given us all talents. All have some special gift or ability. Jesus tells us we are to do something with it. “Love one another.”

In His wisdom, God gave us the freedom to use our gifts as we see fit. It was true in Jesus’ time and it is true today.

Jesus share that truth in this parable.

The master gives the talents to the servants in amounts according to their ability.

In these gifts, no matter the amount or what they are, we are called to be holy.

We are probably going to stumble; but, get back up and continúe to love. After all, we are all simply sinners who keep on trying to be saints.

How are we using our talents?

Some have a talent for music. They lovingly share it with others. It is a talent used to enrich the world and the lives of others. It is a gift used to give thanks and praise to God, minister to others, teach, bring consolation, and bring peace.

From investing that talent of music, a person can give it back to God doubled or tripled or more in the love shared and the lives touched.

And God will tell them “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Some are given the gift of family. God tells us families are to be fruitful and multiply. A family is a vessel of love. Fruitfulness is sharing that love and faith. Multiplying is the teaching of children, siblings, extended family, and all those they touch God’s love for us.

There is young man on my grandson’s soccer team. He comes from a good Catholic Family. They are a fruitful family of faith with many children. During a soccer game, a child on the opposing team used profanity. This child of God, the product of this fruitful family of faith, immediately said to his team, we need to pray for that guy.

He’s a seven year old boy.

The next week at practice, he told his team they should go to the seven year old girls team practicing on the next field to find girlfriends..

By the gift of family, his parents are sharing their faith. It is a family that shows their love for Jesus and others by example. They teach their children and all those they touch with boldness and joy and praise. Their gift is fruitful and multiplying. Gifts, they return to God.

God will tell them “Well done my good and faithful servants.”

Each and every one of us was given the gift of love. Many instead of sharing it will bury it inside them self. They fail to share God’s love but instead, they keep it in their own fearful heart.

That’s not what God wants from us. That’s not what Jesus teaches us.

God wants us to be Holy.

Jesus tells us we should love others and God by bringing our talents to the world.

Friends, some are given more talent than others; but, all that is asked of us is to use what we have been given.  It does not matter if your gift is music or family or labor or a smile; share it with the love of Jesus.

Don't hide it, put it to work to grow God’s heavenly kingdom in this world; make the world a better place.

And maybe someday by his grace, God will tell us “Well done my good and faithful servants.”

You, me... We are all called to holiness.

Our holiness, our closeness to God will be measured by how we love others through the sharing or our gifts, abilities, and talent. We are called to grow that love.

We will stumble, but get up and continue to share that love. After all, we are all simply sinners who keep on trying to be saints.

Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by sharing your love and your talents with the world. Amen.

A Special Light - Reflection 32nd Sunday OTA

 When I think of this parable of the 10 virgins, I always think of flash light tag.

You played it at night and everyone had a cheap flashlight. If your batteries went dead and you didn’t have spares, you were at the mercy of the dark. We were kids. We didn’t have spare batteries.

So we would try to share. If one flashlight went dead, we would take one good battery out of a flashlight and one dead battery so hopefully both could have light.

If that didn’t work you ran around in the dark running into trees, tripping over roots, stepping in holes, and all the dangers darkness brings.

I told this story in another homily several years ago. After mass, I overheard as an older gentleman looked at his wife of over 60 years and said, “I am so happy God let me find you.”

They had a special light in their relationship, the light of Christ.

That’s like the story of the 10 virgins.

This was a custom of that time, to wait on the wedding party to arrive. Then go out to greet them with shouts of job and jubilation. If you were lucky you were invited to the wedding feast.

But, you never knew exactly when the wedding party would show up. I could be in the middle of the day or the middle of the night. If it was the middle of the night, the dark was dangerous. It was actually a law that you couldn’t go outside without a lamp.

We are all called to have the light in us. It is the light of Christ.

It is a light fueled by faith, hope, and love. Without those our light will dim.

It is a light fueled by faith. Wisdom tells us faith is for those who believe. Faith is found by those who seek. Because of faith, our souls thirst for God. 

The light of Christ is fueled by Hope. St. Paul writes, Hope is more than mere optimism. It is the knowledge of truth that God has something great in store for us.

The light of Christ is fueled by love. If Christ is the light of love in your relationship it will not go out.

Without faith, hope, and love, it is easy to be left darkness.  Those in the darkness call out: Lord, Lord, open the door for us.  We always want to be in the light that is on God’s side of the door.

Life is complicated by the darkness all about us. It is easy to fall asleep and become complaisant with darkness. When the bridegroom comes we begin to scramble to relight our light.

Keep the light of Christ in you. Never let the light go out. For some that may mean they will have to rethink their spiritual life.

Lord Jesus, I am so glad God let me find you those many years ago.

In the next year, there will be two weddings at St. Lawrence. May the light of Christ be in their marriage. We pray in 60 years those two young couples will look at each other and say, I so glad “God let me find you.”

We never know the hour when the bridegroom will come. Be good, be holy, and live the gospel every day. Amen.

Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb? - Reflection All Saints Day

“Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”

He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”

That makes me remember the southern gospel song “Are you washed in Blood of the Lamb?” Are you washed in the blood, in the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? (1878 –Elisha Hoffman)

But it is a fact, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. It was that way with the Saints, those we know and those we don’t know.  St.. Matthew was a tax collector. St. Augustine was a pagan and womanizer. St. Francis was full of vain glory. There are many more stories of the saints and their failures.

But as that hymn goes on, they laid aside their garments that were stained by sin, they washed in the Blood of the Lamb.

Catholics know this cleansing power. Catholics realize the healing manifest in the body and blood of Christ at the Eucharist..

Servant of God, Dorothy Day knew the truth about the blood of Christ. A Priest came to offer mass at mission run by Dorothy Day. The priest went to the kitchen and took a coffee mug to use as a chalice to hold the blood of Christ. After the mass, he placed that former coffee mug in the sink to be washed.

Dorothy Day took the mug outside and proceeded to bury it. Someone asked why she was burying a coffee mug. Her reply was that it was no longer a coffee mug but a holy chalice that had held the Blood of Christ. From that moment on nothing else could worthily be placed in the cup.

Dorothy Day knew the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. She was a American journalist and a social activist who lived a carefree youth before becoming a Catholic Christian. She was an unwed mother. She was an anarchist.

Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.

Pope Benedict XVI said Dorothy Day’s conversion story is an example of how to "journey towards faith ... in a secularized environment." The Church has opened the cause for Day's possible canonization, which was accepted by the Holy See for investigation. For that reason, the Church refers to her as a Servant of God.

My friends, we are like that mug that became a chalice. By our Baptism and by the Eucharist, Christ is in us. We are all God’s children now. What we shall be has not been revealed.

We live in a time, when the Church is persecuted. We live in a time when the public image of being a Christian is looked at with distain by the media and social influencers.

We all make mistakes; but we seek to be better. In our striving for good and Christ’s love, the system that is the world including media, celebrity, and social influencers mock us. 

God is the greatest influencer. He influences the heavens and the earth. By his is all of creation. By his command the winds are stilled and the waters quieted.

To be a saint, He must be the influencer of life. Who are those wearing white robes and where did they come from?

For Jesus said, “blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

Are you washed in the Blood of the Lamb?

Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by the way you live your life and love one another. That is the way of a saint. Amen.