HOMILY – 2nd Sunday of Advent – Waiting, Expectantly

                     _______________________________________________________

Are you prepared for Christmas?  I know that’s a loaded question this time of year.

The word “prepare” is the one word that pops to mind when reflecting on this weekend’s readings. Our Church calls us to spiritually prepare for the birth of the Christ child -- as we wait expectant yet hopeful.

Our spiritual preparation requires a healthy dose of humility if it is to be successful this Advent season.

This passage Morning Prayer caught my eye:

“Prepare a path in our hearts for the coming of (Christ)… 

Bring low the mountains of our pride, and fill up the valleys of our weakness.”

In other words, we all probably have some work to do to prepare for Christmas. And this preparation has nothing to do with the Christmas shopping, or other Holiday to-do list.  

Perhaps the best way to understand how God wants us to prepare for what’s to come is to be like first-time parents awaiting the birth of their own firstborn child.

No doubt Mary and Joseph, and John the Baptist’s parents Elizabeth and Zechariah all experienced this preparation and waiting, expectant yet hopeful.

I’m reminded of the Christmas 1990.  My wife Mary and I were expecting our first child, with a due date one week before Christmas.

We’d moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, earlier in the year for a job managing a radio station. Mary was less than enthusiastic about our time spent living in the South. She was a real trooper for leaving family and friends behind to go to a place unknown to have our first child.

In the months leading up to December, we did all the things first time parents do to prepare for the blessed event.

We prepared a bedroom for the baby. We prepared the car to be able to transport the baby. We prepared for childbirth with Lamaze classes. We prepared to be Christian parents by taking baptism classes at our local parish. We prepared to have family come to visit once the baby was born.

We were all consumed with preparation as we waited expectant yet hopeful of the big change coming to our lives.

And shouldn’t we all be spiritually preparing for the big change coming to our lives this Christmas?

If we listen to the cry of John the Baptist, we’re all called to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his path.”   

We’re about to celebrate the greatest event of all human history, the birth of Jesus. Our hearts need to ready to meet the Christ child.

            On our due date, my wife thought she was going into labor and called me home from work. She was so happy and had big smile on her face as we drove to see her doctor. She was convinced the time was now!

            Dr. Eddie walked into the exam room, took one look at my wife’s beaming smile, and said, “Mary, you’re smiling. You’re not in labor yet. If you were, you wouldn’t be smiling.”

            So, we returned home to wait expectant yet hopeful, and we prepared some more.

            I had to work on Christmas morning.

            As the shift was coming to an end, the phone rang.

            It was Mary calling (with distress in her voice) to say “I’ve been in pain all morning. Please come home quickly.”

            So, I jumped in the car and headed home.

            When I got there, the smile was gone.

            Yep, we were now officially in labor.  But contractions were still 10-to-12-minutes apart and we were told to wait until contractions were five-minutes apart before going to the hospital.  

            So, we spent Christmas Day 1990, all by ourselves, far away from family and friends, experiencing childbirth for the very first time. We were waiting expectant yet hopeful, albeit a little stressed that Christmas day.

            The truth is nothing can truly prepare us for such a blessed event. We did all we could to prepare. But the rest was left to the grace of God. 

Mary gave birth to our first born son Sean Michael Kelly 30 hours after going into labor. The bouncing baby boy arrived one day after Christmas 1990, on the Feast of St. Stephen, first Christian martyr and a deacon.

            For a 29-year-old struggling with his faith, the experience helped seal the deal between God and me. After witnessing a miracle, faith was real in ways it had never been before. I had never felt love like that before.

We’d experienced a true God moment together. Our lives would be forever changed.

            And this is what God is calling us to do as we prepare the way of the Lord this Christmas. Make paths straight, fill in every valley and make low every mountain and hill.

            Everything in our world had changed with one miracle: the birth of a child.  

And so, our story is God’s story for us all.

We are called by John the Baptist to prepare a way for the Lord in our hearts and change everything as we orient our lives to Christ.

As we baptized our son one week later, with family finally in town, our pastor Monsignor Gaston Herbert reminded me of something stupid he heard me say on the radio shortly after the baby was born.

            When asked by a fellow radio host on the air, “What was the experience like, DK?”  Yours truly said the following fateful words, (and I quote) “It was fun and easy.”

Monsignor Herbert howled as he repeated my careless words, and then baptized our first child.

The people living in the time of Mark’s Gospel were awaiting the second coming of our savior Jesus Christ. They were waiting expectant yet hopeful. Today we’re reading the very beginning of Mark’s Gospel.

            Bible scholars agree. Mark’s was the first written Gospel, probably between 65-70 AD. This was nearly a generation after the death of Christ. It’s believed Mark’s community lived in Rome.

This early Christian community faced persecutions, betrayals, denials and many conflicts. Mark’s Gospel helped keep this community focused on the expected and hopeful Second Coming of Jesus. Many at this time believed the generation that witnessed Jesus in the flesh would not completely pass away without Jesus coming again.

The action in Mark’s Gospel is fast-paced and designed to get all its readers caught up in the drama, and begin to see ourselves as a continuation of the story of Jesus Christ.

The belief was Jesus is returning soon.  So, prepare.  And so, we, too, are called to prepare while we wait expectant yet hopeful. 

         My sisters and brothers, the Lord is coming soon! 

Let us prepare our hearts to welcome a child who changed our world forever.

 

HOMILY – Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Sounds a little like the title of a Marvel Superhero movie. And in some ways it is.

Jesus is talking about Divine Judgment in today’s scripture Parable of the Sheep and Goats. This is the final public teaching of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel and has one of the most important lessons for all Christian believers.

Jesus is reminding us that judgment will be based on the acts of charity or what the Church calls Corporal Works of Mercy.

  We heard a few weeks back the Greatest Commandment. This week we hear about how to put the Greatest Commandment into action by showing our love for our creator and for our neighbor.

A few weeks back I heard about a person experiencing homelessness setting up shop outside St. Patrick. Mass was about to start and people didn’t know what to do about the poor soul living outside our Church door.

I said, not a problem, I’d be happy to talk to him. As I stepped outside to chat with the man, we instantly recognized each other. It was my friend Robert who we had worked with for the past few years with our MercyWatch outreach in Snohomish County.

When he saw me, he broke into tears and embraced me and we got caught up on what was going on in his life.

Some parishioners were shocked to see the deacon hugging a homeless person. One of our new parishioners witnessing all of this said, “What’s the deal people? So, the deacon knows a homeless guy.”

Yes, I know him, know his story, know his many struggles. He was a regular at Mass in Everett. Robert is a devout Catholic who attended Catholic schools. And now he lives on the streets of Seattle and is using our front porch to keep out of the rain.

He’s been attending Sunday Mass each week since our encounter and our MercyWatch team has been making special trips to St. Pat’s weekly to give Robert food, water, socks, blankets and other needed survival items.

We walk by these poor unhoused souls every day. Homelessness is exploding in our fair city. What are we Christians supposed to do? 

We are to show love to our neighbor. And by doing so we show love for God.

In doing so, we encounter the sacred through our works of mercy and charity. This is what distinguishes holy Christian service from secular acts of kindness.

In this week’s parable, Jesus opens our eyes so we can recognize His presence in the “distressing disguise of the poor”, as St. Teresa of Calcutta described it, and know Him, love Him, and serve Him.

Such a new awareness should motivate us to readily demonstrate heroic generosity and compassion for others who are struggling on the margins. Especially in this time of pandemic.

Jesus also reveals something important about what the Church now calls the preferential option for the poor. These are “the least of these sisters and brothers” in the world in need of our care.

So, how can we provide this care as a paired parish community?

Beginning in the new year, we begin formation for a team of outreach workers to learn about how best to provide the ministry of presence and service to our unsheltered friends.

Once formed, this group will head out every Wednesday at Noon to provide needed emergency supplies to our street friends experiencing homelessness.

What do they most need? Besides food and water, the most requested items are socks, blankets… and rosaries. Yes, rosaries. Folks on the streets need faith, too, to sustain them in their plight and we have found rosaries in hot demand.

You can help simply by supporting our efforts: making sandwiches for our team, providing bottled water, socks, blankets, hats, gloves and handwarmers. All of these items will be needed for this effort. And everyone in the two parish communities can do their part to keep us in good supply.

Jesus reminds us today: 

 

“For 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…”          

           The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe was established by Pope Pius the Eleventh in 1925 to remind people that one person alone has a claim on our lives: Jesus Christ. We follow his lead always.

           In the 1920’s authoritarian dictatorships were becoming common in Europe. The Pope wanted to counter this emerging popularity among the Catholic faithful.

           The Popes encyclical announcing the Solemnity said this:

“Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ. It will call to their minds the thought of the last judgment, wherein Christ, Who has been cast out of public life, despised, neglected and ignored, will most severely avenge these insults…”

           As we grow deeper in our faith, deeper in holiness, I invite you to become a part of the Sacred Encounters team as we together better put our faith into action and bring the love to Jesus to everyone.

  

HOMILY – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Be Prepared

_______________________________________________________

If you knew today was your final day on earth, how would you spend the time you had left? 

Would you do anything differently?

Who would you want to talk to?  What would you want to say?

Would go to confession to unburden yourself of any baggage you might be carrying?

Are you ready today to meet Jesus face to face?

Saint Benedict’s Rule for Monks encourages they think about their death every day: “Keep death daily before your eyes. This is part of a wisdom tradition. If we realize that this might be our last day, we generally will try to make good decisions about how we are living.”

Father Mychal Judge lived his life this way. The Franciscan friar was as a Catholic priest for 40 years, serving his final nine years as chaplain to the New York City Fire Department.

During his long ministry, Fr. Mychal battled alcoholism and found his sobriety thanks to AA.

He was very well known in New York City for ministering to the homeless, the hungry, recovering alcoholics, people with AIDS, the sick, injured and grieving, immigrants, and those who felt alienated by the Church and society.

A dear friend remembers giving him a jacket as winter was approaching.  Fr. Mychal didn’t have a jacket at the time.  But on the way home after receiving the gift, Fr. Mychal saw a homeless person lying in the cold and gave it to him. He sheepishly told his friend, “He needed it more than me.”

When anointing a man dying with AIDS -- a man who asked friends “Do you think God hates me?” -- Fr. Mychal just picked up the frail man, kissed him and silently rocked him in his arms.

Fr. Judge was considered by many to be a living saint for his extraordinary works of charity and his deep spirituality.

On the morning of September 11^th, 2001, Fr. Mychal heard the news of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. He quickly changed out of his Franciscan brown habit, put on his Fire Department chaplain’s uniform, and rushed to the scene. 

He was met by Mayor Rudy Giuliani who asked him to pray for the city and the victims.

Fr. Mychal was spotted by many in the early moments of the tragedy consoling the injured and traumatized, and praying his rosary. 

When the South Tower collapsed at 10:59am local time, Fr. Mychal was among those killed by the debris that went flying through the North Tower lobby.

Shortly after his death, an N.Y.P.D. lieutenant found the priest’s body. He and two firemen, an emergency med tech and one civilian bystander carried Judge’s body out of the North Tower, a moment captured in a breathtaking photograph by a Reuters photographer.

The Philadelphia Weekly called the photograph “an American Pieta.”  Judge’s body was laid before the altar of St. Peter’s Catholic Church.

Fr. Mychal Judge was designated the first official victim of 9/11. 3000 people attended his funeral. His fire helmet was presented to Pope John Paul The Second.

Fr. Mychal Judge’s spiritual lamp was found burning brightly as he met Jesus in the rubble of the World Trade Center.

We Christians are called to live in such a way as to always be ready for Jesus’ arrival.

This weekend’s readings speak of this readiness by highlighting the importance of wisdom.  The wise prepare. The foolish do not. And when the door to the wedding banquet is locked, the foolish won’t be allowed to enter. 

We are called to always be ready to meet Jesus and live our lives like we could our Savior at any moment.

After all, we know neither the day nor the hour when He will return just as we know neither the day nor hour when our journey in this life will end.

As we come to the close of the liturgical year, our Church turns to Matthew 25. Matthew is using themes drawn from Jewish Apocalyptic literature.

These readings are designed to get us thinking about end times.  For our evangelical sisters and brothers, this is a conversation about Rapture and the end of the world. That's not what the Catholic Church teaches. For Catholics, this conversation is more personal. It’s all about becoming our best selves before meeting Jesus face-to-face.

When the Lord comes, all that will matter is the kind of person we are, not what we have achieved or what we have amassed in this life.  But who we are and what we’ve done to build up the Kingdom by serving others -- especially the poor and marginalized.

What if we should be caught unprepared, with little or no oil in our spiritual lamps?

This is an important question for reflection.
_____________________________________________________

We are called to keep our lamps burning brightly. There are 5 easy ways to do this:

1. Pray.

Pray daily and grow in your relationship with Jesus. This is the most important relationship and we should want Christ to be our best and closest companion on this road we call life.

2. Give to the needy.

By serving the marginalized and outcast, you will be building up the Kingdom and preparing for the Lord’s return by being Jesus to others.

3. Examine your conscience.

Is there someone I’ve harmed?  Is there someone I need to ask for their forgiveness?  Is there someone God is calling me to forgive?  Is there something I need to change about myself in order to be better prepared to meet Jesus?

4. Confess.

Use the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is a powerful way to unburden oneself from any sinful baggage we might be carrying.  

5. Be joy-filled.

We are a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation.”  We have been called out of darkness into his wonderful light.  So, rejoice.

          ______________________________________________

True wisdom means living a life centered on the divine, on following God’s will in our lives, on loving God by loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Then and only then will we be prepared for the coming of the Lord. Then and only then will our spiritual lamps be burning brightly for Jesus to find us. Then and only then will St. Paul’s words today be fulfilled, and, “we shall always be with the Lord.”

Fr. Mychal Judge wrote a special prayer. I think it’s fitting as we reflect on how best to live our lives as if it were our last day:

          “Lord, take me where You want me to go; Let me meet who You want me to meet; Tell me what You want me to say, and keep me out of Your way.”