Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:2-3-3a,
5-6
Matthew 2:1-12
I have a favorite TV commercial right now. It has a funny, smart-alecky guy interviewing
a bunch of kids.
He’s asks, “Is it better to be more reliable or less reliable? “
The kids answer in unison, “More!”
To which he asks, “Why?”
One kid says, “So you can keep your New Year’s revolution.”
“A New Year’s revolution.
Oh no, what are you gonna do?” the guy asks.
To which the kid says, “I would have more jelly beans this
year.”
Then the smart-alecky guy says, “Oh, so it’s not much of a
revolt. Just like you eating things that
are bad for you.”
The kid answers, “Yea.”
“I can deal with that,” the man says.
It’s that time a year again when we ponder whether to make or
keep a New Year’s resolution. Or should we be thinking about making and keeping
a New Year’s revolution?
In our world today, our cynical culture would have us acting
in ways that are not in keeping with the Gospel values.
Perhaps we should consider revolting against our culture and
embrace New Year’s resolutions that are truly aligned with God’s plan for each
of us.
Pope Francis is known for his frank, daily advice on living
the life of Christ in the modern world.
What lessons can we learn from our new Pope?
I would like to offer these New Year’s Resolutions – Pope
Francis Edition for us all to consider in the coming year.
The first resolution:
Don’t Gossip or Judge.
We all do it. Yes,
even this deacon. After all, we’re
human. But is it what God would have us
do? Is it what Jesus would have us do?
Pope Francis says when we gossip, we
“are doing what Judas did,” and “begin to tear the other person to pieces.”
“Every time we judge our brothers
(and sisters) in our hearts or worse when we speak badly of them with others,
we are murdering Christians… There is no such thing as innocent slander.”
The next Pope Francis inspired New
Year’s resolution: Choose the more
humble purchase.
Remember, this guy drives in a
29-year-old car instead of a brand new Mercedes limo. He rails against
materialism in all forms (the urge to have the latest high tech gadget, the desire
to live in a bigger home or drive a luxury car, etc., etc., etc.), saying, “Certainly
possessions, money, and power can give a momentary thrill, the illusion of
being happy, but they end up possessing us and making us always want more,
never satisfied.”
Cars are necessary, he says, but buy
a more humble one and dedicate the savings to helping the poor. That’s his advice.
He urges us all to live a “sober and
essential lifestyle.”
Another
resolution to consider: Make time for
others.
Pope Francis does this every day
when he carves time out of his busy schedule to call people who have just lost
a loved one or suffered some tragedy to offer his love and prayers. Or he does this every time he pens a
handwritten letter to someone he doesn’t know.
It’s a part of his daily
routine. We should make it a part of
ours, too… to reach out and spend time helping and encouraging others.
Every Monday and Wednesday, and
every other Saturday, many of our parishioners do that very thing by serving at
the St. Vincent de Paul food banks in our two parishes.
A hundred parishioners did it on
Christmas Eve Day, when they assembled and then delivered stockings for the
homeless living at Everett Gospel Mission.
Just listen to the stories of their encounters. These stories bring tears to the eyes of many
participants for what “the least of our brothers” said to them in gratitude.
Commitment to the poor must be “person
to person” and “in the flesh.”
Sure, we have institutions that are
there to help people in need, but, Pope Francis says, “They do not excuse us
from our establishing personal contact with the needy.”
Pope Francis says this MUST be “a
long term commitment.” Not just a
one-time act of charity.
Don’t be afraid to say, “Forever.” In a world riddled with crumbling marriages,
Pope Francis asked young people at World Youth Day in Rio this summer to
embrace “forever” commitments like marriage and Holy Orders.
He told the young people, “I ask
you, instead, to be revolutionaries (there’s that word again: revolution).” He encouraged young people “to swim against
the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees
everything as temporary and ultimately believes that you are incapable of
responsibility, that you are incapable of true love.”
This “true love” can extend to a
young man becoming a priest or a young woman becoming a nun.
Who can forget one of the most poignant
pictures from World Youth Day when a young boy broke through a security barrier
and ran toward the Papal vehicle, jumped in and whispered in Pope Francis’ ear
something that would move the Pontiff to tears?
The boy told the Pope, “I am going to be a priest.” In a
tearful embrace, Pope Francis told the boy, “I’ll pray for you, please pray for
me, too.”
As the boy walked away from the
encounter, he buried his face in his hands and sobbed.
I would encourage you to Google this
moment online and see the pictures for yourself. They will move you to tears, too.
Story on the boy Nathan de Brito
Another resolution: Make it a habit to ask the Lord.
Make time for prayer in our daily lives and ask God for help,
ask God for advice, ask God what to do about a difficult situation, and then in
the stillness of your heart, listen. You
might be surprised by what you hear.
And one final Pope Francis inspired New Year’s resolution: Be happy.
Pope Francis has said a lot about a true Christian exuding
great joy always. He says joy cannot be
held in, it must be let out.
In the first major document of his Papacy, Evangelii Gaudium
(The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis says this joy should always remind us of
loving our neighbor.
He actually scolds “melancholy Christian faces” as having
“more in common with pickled peppers than the joy of having a beautiful life.”
The epiphany of all these Pope Francis inspired New Year’s resolutions
(oh, you knew I had to go there on this the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the
Lord), the epiphany in all these resolutions is it’s exactly what Christ did
during his earthly ministry.
Don’t Gossip or Judge
Choose the more humble purchase
Make time for others
Meet the poor “in the flesh”
Make Commitments, such as marriage (and Holy Orders)
Make it a habit to ask the Lord
Meet the poor “in the flesh”
Make Commitments, such as marriage (and Holy Orders)
Make it a habit to ask the Lord
Be happy
The epiphany is Christ did all these
things two-thousand years ago. This is
why Pope Francis rings so true in our world today.
Maybe there is one or two of these
that ring true in your heart. I would
encourage you to have the courage to make them your New Year’s Revolution.
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