The Stories of Two Faithful Women

December 19th, 2013

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

Judges: 13: 2-7, 24-25a; Luke 1: 5-25

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

Two women- that’s what we hear about this morning.  They had prayed all their life long, and hope was fading.  They were childless, and in the ancient Jewish society, that was considered a disgrace as Elizabeth mentioned candidly in the Gospel.  But their Faith was strong, so they still prayed, and both of them were rewarded for their Faith with a son.  Both of these sons, Samson and John the Baptist became great in the eyes of God and gave honor to their mothers and glory to God.  Samson saved Israel from the Philistines; and John the Baptist heralded the way for Jesus.  These two testaments to Faith are a great example for us all.  We, too, need to keep Faith and never give up on prayer.   

I am pretty sure there is something in your life that you have been praying for and it just seems as if your prayers are not answered- a child, like the women in today’s readings; a healing for an illness; the repair of a relationship; for someone to get out from under an addiction; some relief to a hardship- a new job, a little financial breathing room; the fulfillment of some dream- an accomplishment like a degree or a talent that you want to bear fruit.  And yet, whatever it is, it just doesn’t seem to happen despite your prayers.  But know that God always answers your prayers in your best interests.  The answers are yes, no, and not right now.   

Yes is something we all like to hear- but again, God knows best when “yes right now” is really the best for us.  “No” is a really difficult answer, isn’t it.  But there are reasons for “no”; just like there are reasons we say “no” to our Children.  God has plans for us that we cannot foresee.  Sometimes we only understand as time goes by that our prayers really were answered, but in a different way, and that things turned out better God’s way.   

Then there is “Not right now”, but in God’s time.  That’s a tough answer, too.  And it is the one God gave these two women for most of their lives.  But then, all of a sudden, their prayers were answered and their dreams came true.   

This, after all, is the message of the Advent season.  After waiting through the “not right now” period for so long, Israel’s prayer was answered.  The Jewish people longed and prayed for the coming of the promised Messiah.  They prayed for it for thousands of years- thousands of years!  God answered their prayer as “not right now” for those thousands of years.  But then, all of a sudden, He sent his Son, the Messiah.  It was an answer they didn’t expect, because they were looking for a King, not a helpless baby and so, it wasn’t foreseen as the most wonderful answer to their prayers.  But God answered their prayer by sending His only Son into the world as one of us to show us the way and to give us everlasting life.  We can see now how marvelous that answer to their prayers was.  That’s why we celebrate Christmas each year.   

In less than a week, God comes again in that unexpected way as a helpless child.  But if we take him inside, and listen to him, doing the will God has for us, our prayers will be answered, and just like John the Baptist and Samson great things will happen for us.

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The Three Joys of Advent

December 12th, 2013

Thursday of the Second Week of Advent

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Zech 2: 14-17; Luke 1: 26-38

Dc. Larry Brockman

“Nothing will be impossible for God”!  These are the words from the Angel Gabriel to Mary when Mary asks how the predictions by the angel could happen.  Mary went on to accept God’s will for her and all that the Angel foretold happened because when it truly is God’s will, it will happen as impossible as it may seem to us.  And Mary has appeared to certain worthy persons throughout the History of Christianity pleading with her human brothers and sisters to believe in her son; to pray, to accept God’s will, and to follow Jesus’ Gospel accordingly.   

Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  In 1531, a humble 57 year old Mexican peasant named Juan Diego experienced one of those appearances from Mary.  Mary was acting as a surrogate messenger for her Son Jesus.  She told Juan this simple message:  “My dear little son, I love you.  I desire you to know who I am.  I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence.  He created all things.  He is in all places.  He is Lord of Heaven and Earth.”  Then she told Juan to go to the Bishop and report all he had heard and seen.  Juan did as Mary asked him to do; and Juan followed in Mary’s footsteps and did God’s will for him.  Juan and Mary’s influence on Mexico as a result of that appearance is widely credited with the conversion of Mexico.  Indeed, all things are possible for God.   

Now we are in the middle of Advent.  Advent is the season for us to wait joyfully for the coming the Lord at Christmas.  We celebrate Jesus coming each year; and then continue during the rest of the Church year to complete our commemoration of our salvation history.   

And so, we already know that Jesus really will come this Christmas- just as he has every Christmas of our lives;  we should already be rejoicing, because we know it happened.  Jesus lived amongst us as one of us; suffered and died because he did God’s will; and was raised from the dead into eternal life; a life he promised to share with all of us who believe in him, repent; and follow his Gospel.  And in that certain knowledge that He will come; know also that he will come with a mission for us- the thing which he wills for each one of us to do- God’s will for you.  This is the time to reflect on that and to embrace God’s will for you joyfully just like Mary did in our Gospel and just like Juan Diego did in 1531.   

The joy we can experience from that kind of Advent reflection is threefold: first, joy over the reality of Jesus coming; and the promise of the second coming at the last Judgment where all of us who are Faithful will be rewarded with Everlasting Life; second, the joy of knowing that each of us was created for a purpose; for a mission; to do God’s will; just like Mary and Juan Diego; and third, the joy of knowing that we can do it.  Because nothing will be impossible for God!

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Preparing For Christ

December 8th, 2013

 

Second Sunday of Advent

Is 11: 1-10; Romans 15: 4-9; Mt 3: 1-12

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

“Prepare the way of the Lord-” that’s what we are all doing for the next 18 days- preparing for the coming of the Lord!  There are cards to be written, gifts to be bought, cooking to be done; decorations to be put up, trees to be trimmed.  And we are all engaged in preparing for the coming of the Lord when we do these things, right?  Not really!  Because as pressing and as important as those things seem to us, that’s not what John meant in this morning’s Gospel about being prepared.   

So, what does John say to do?  He says: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”  That’s John’s real message for us this morning, a message advising us to be ready for the coming of the King.  You see, there are two comings heralded by the season of Advent.  There is the coming of the Christ Child.  But there is also the second coming of Christ, and in these first two weeks of Advent there is a strong hint on the second coming of Christ as well as the coming of the Christ Child.   

That second coming is the one that Isaiah prophesies as well.  And what does Isaiah say?  He says that “with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked”.  Are you ready for that?   

Now many of you probably think about such a second coming as the Last Judgment.  But you know what, there is going to be an encounter with Jesus just like this when you die.  And that could come at any time.  Our readings have been making that point at weekday Masses the last couple of weeks.   

So, just how can we be prepared for the two comings of Christ?  John talks about what not to do, doesn’t he?  He scolds the Pharisees who come forward for Baptism because they were paying lip service to the whole process; they were just there to see what was going on and to be part of the popular activity of the time.  After all, people were coming out from all over Judea and Jerusalem to see John.  These Pharisees and Sadducees were just doing what everyone else was doing.  John implies that this is not what one should do.   

It’s kind of like us putting up Christmas lights and a Christmas Tree; sending out the cards and buying all the gifts.  These things are all part of the “holiday” culture of our time.  Everybody prepares in that way this time of the year.  But that is not what being prepared for Christ means.   

So what does John say to these Pharisees and Sadducees?  He calls them “a brood of vipers”, and says “who warned you to flee from the wrath to come”?  And then he says to them:  “Bear fruit that befits repentance”.  There it is- the message for all of us as clear as a bell.  Our preparation needs to be twofold:  First, we have to confess our sins.  Then, we have to bear fruit that befits repentance.  This is the kind of preparation that we are called to do for both of the comings of Christ.   

Every year, our parish has a Penance Service on a Monday night close to Christmas.  That service is the ideal way to fulfill the first of the two requirements- to confess our sins.  This year the Penance Service will be held on Monday December 16.  Not tomorrow night, but a week from tomorrow.  So all of us have sufficient time to clear our calendars so we can attend.  There are always more than a dozen priests there to hear confession at that service.  Typically, there are only 150 to 200 people there.  200 people in a parish of 3000 active families.  So, there will be room for you.   

Do you suppose that there are only 200 sinners in the parish, and the rest of you are sinless?  In the words of our pop culture Pro-Football commentators:  “C’mon man”!  All of us are sinners; all of us do something over and over again that we need to change.  We all need to first confess that- and so, all of us should be here on Monday night the 16th.   

But there is something else we need to do.  We need to repent as well.  Repentance means a sincere turning away, in both the mind and heart, from the sins of our past and from our self-centeredness, and then to focus on God.  So, John is calling us to bear fruits, that is, to show evidence that such a turning process is happening.  That’s a far cry from cards and decorations, and gifts and a lot of other things we do this time of year to prepare for Christmas.  And we have such precious little time to do it.   

What kind of things can we do to show that we have turned things around?  Paul gives the Romans some good advice this morning that might help.  He says that we can derive hope “by steadfastness and the encouragement of the scriptures”.  Yes, we need to exercise self-control; be steadfast against the temptations of the devil; and to read and practice what we read in the scriptures.  Then he tells us that we are to welcome one another; and to live in harmony in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ.   

Experience the real joy of Christmas this year.  It is a joy that comes from knowing that you are ready, you are prepared for the coming of Jesus.  Because you are right with God and ready to meet Him.

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Building a Foundation that Lasts

December 5th, 2013

Thursday of the First Week of Advent

Is 26: 1-6; Mt 7: 21, 24-27

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

The other day, my wife and I began watching a movie.  It was supposed to be a light romantic comedy about a biracial couple.  The girl brought the boyfriend home to meet her family.  The Father was immediately upset over the racial difference.  He looks for anything he can find to validate his prejudice and finds it easily, as this young man is no athlete.  So, he taunts the young man about not being a “real man”.  The young man lies to the father and claims he is into NASCAR to get him off his back.  In the next scene, the girlfriend chastises him for lying as she unpacks a teddy in her bedroom- the room they are assigned to stay in for the night.  So, in the first 5 minutes of the film, we have prejudice, taunting, lying, and living together outside of marriage all imbedded into the story line. 

We just turned the TV off in disgust.  We were simply surfing the free preview of premium movie channels.  This choice looked to us to be the best of the 10 or so channels.  The other films that were playing were movies about drug dealers and murderers, or were horror movies.  This, however, is what our society has to offer on a daily basis on the premium movie channels.  And yet, much of our society lives their lives glued to this type of media on a daily basis, !00 or so mindless channels of secular values that capture more and more of our time.  This is the sand that Jesus warns us not to build our lives on.   

Now Isaiah tells us this morning to: “Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord is an eternal Rock”.  An eternal rock!  That sounds like the foundation that Jesus recommends in the Gospel.  The Lord as the foundation for what we do in our lives rather than the shifting morals and values of secular society as reflected in the media that is front and center in our lives today.   

But just how do we do that?  How do we build our lives around the Lord as our foundation?  How do we avoid our foundations being clogged with the sands of the time.   

The first thing that comes to mind is Isaiah’s advice to keep the faith.  Our faith is important because it says that we really do believe- believe that there is a higher purpose to life than what this world has to offer.  And that God shared his Son with us to earn us a place in his heavenly Kingdom if- if we do his will.  That is what Jesus was talking about in the Gospel- doing the will of the Father.   

Second, we can’t have the Lord as our foundation if we do not know him.  It’s pretty hard to follow the will of someone you do not know.  Knowing the Lord means prayer and some reflection.  And Advent is the perfect time of year for all of us to reflect and get to know the Lord better.  I know it’s tough, because there is so much going on.  But it’s a necessary step that we all need to take to know the Lord.  Maybe we could all turn the TV off- and specifically, those movies that are an affront to our Christian Values, and instead, spend the time getting to know the Lord.  I recommend the perpetual adoration chapel.  Make it your “Advent Resolution” to spend an hour a week between now and Christmas getting to know the Lord.   

The Lord is coming- that’s what Advent is all about.  These readings today are about his second coming at the end of our lives.  Will he find you doing his will?  Or will you be glued to your I-phone, I-pad, TV or X-box absorbed in the culture of the day.  The choice is yours- Sand or Rock. 

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The Greatest Gift

December 4th, 2013

Advent Reflection Service

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

There once was a little boy who lost his mother about this time of year, right before Christmas.  The father was very poor, and was distraught over the loss of his wife.  He didn’t know how he was going to care for his son and work to support the two of them as well.  A wealthy couple came to the father and offered to take the boy for him.  They promised to give the boy everything he wanted or needed.  The father went to his son, and said.  Son, these good people want you to go live with them.  They will give you everything you need.  There will be lots of gifts on Christmas, and you will never have to worry again about your well-being in this world.  But the little boy looked up at his father and said.  “I don’t want to go”.  The father asked why, and the boy responded:  “Because they can’t give me you”.   

We have just heard the story of the Incarnation in the readings.  God’s greatest gift to mankind is wrapped up in the Incarnation.  The Incarnation is how God sent His only Son, Jesus, into the world to live as one of us- God, become man, and as the Church teaches, that means Jesus is fully human and fully divine.  Jesus became the bridge between God and man.  He showed us the way as the Gospels describe.  He showed us how we could be human, and still pleasing to God. 

For Jesus, that meant seeking and finding God’s will for him.  And so, he suffered and died for us, because he talked about God in a different way.  He talked about God’s laws being written into our hearts, and He acted as he preached.  That was God’s will for him, to spread the good news of how God’s law could be written into our hearts and live that way.  People hated him for that- for not living in the ways of the world and the establishment; but rather, living according to the dictates of his conscience; according to the promptings of God’s spirit dwelling within him.   

And the establishment thought they had gotten rid of Jesus when they crucified him.  But they were wrong- because God raised Jesus from the dead, showing us the path to everlasting life.  And so, He became our bridge between time and eternity as well.   

Yes, Jesus is God’s greatest gift to man, and so, we celebrate His coming amongst us each Christmas by exchanging gifts, a symbol of the gift that we all received from God on that first Christmas.  God the Father gave us a gift from His heart, the gift of himself.  It was the kind of gift that the son in our story sought.  Because things, wealth, power, and comfort, as much of a blessing as these things can seem for us, they are not what give us lasting joy.  Happiness from these things is temporary, and it is an external happiness, not an internal one.   

At this time of year, when we gear up to get each other gifts   We need to consider the real meaning of Gifts and giving at Christmas.  There is much to be learned from our readings today about gifts.   

In our first reading, Bible scholars tell us that  Ahaz was quite content with his own situation at the time even though his people were complacent and gthey were thresatened by an invasion..  People were well off; and so, the Israeli Kingdom and it’s people were content with the world   And so, Ahaz is not asking for a gift, or a sign.  He is on a spiritual plateau, and is quite “happy” with it.  But God recognized that growth is necessary for all of us.  And so, he tried to wake Ahaz up because there is more to life than contentment in this world.  And so, God promises Ahaz the coming of the real Messiah.  Lesson 1 then is this:  If you are content with your life, what gift might God be trying to give you to shake you out of your contentment and motivate you to grow?   

In the second reading, we find that the long awaited coming of Jesus will occur at Bethlehem.  Bethlehem was a small, insignificant shepherd town at the time.  Certainly, Bethlehem was not the place that anyone expected the Messiah to come forward from at that time..  But God works in His own unique way.  Out of humble beginnings, the King of Heaven emerged.  So, lesson two might be this.  The most significant gift in our lives may come from the least expected source.  It is something that blossoms forth from the depths of our hearts under the inspiration of the Spirit.   

Then, Paul talks about the gift of faith, which leads us to apostleship.  Yes, our Faith is one of the most endearing gifts that we have.  Unlike many people born into this world, most of us didn’t have to struggle to find the Lord.  It was gifted to us by our parents when they brought us forward to be Baptized and promised to bring us up in the faith.  We were infused with the Holy Spirit and became members of the Church- the gift of Faith.   

Then came Mary, the mother of God, and the story of the Visitation.  Mary was gifted with a mission by God.  Mary takes the gift of her call and accepts it- accepting God’s will for her, sacrificing her own wants and desires to do God’s will for her.  This is another great lesson about God’s gift to us.  We are all called by God to do something;  it is written in our hearts and in our consciences.  And it calls out to us constantly like the voice of the angel to Mary.  The challenge is to accept that gift and do God’s will.   

The nativity story is next, along with the visit by the shepherds.  The long awaited promise of the coming of the Messiah is fulfilled.  It happens in the most humble of circumstances as predicted.  Most people of the time would have been horrified.  They would have thought- “This can’t be it, this can’t be the fulfillment of the covenant”.  But the shepherds show us another way.  They experience the glory of God and leave with a sense of joy.  The lesson in that for us is simple.  Were hear this story each year, and are called upon to be joyful people.  We are called upon to be joyful over God’s greatest gift, Jesus Christ, and what it all means for us who believe- everlasting life. 

But are we joyful?  Usually, life catches us up into the trap of worldly concerns.  And we don’t really appreciate the peace and joy that Christmas brings.  That’s because joy is a spiritual experience.  We need to take the time; make the time; this Advent and Christmas season to recognize God’s greatest gift and make it a priority to change our lives to capture the joy.   

The last reading is known as the Last Gospel.  It summarizes everything I’ve been talking about-  the story of God’s greatest gift to man.  And St. John summarizes the effect of that greatest gift this way.  That “Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ”.  Grace and Truth.  These are the gifts, the lasting gifts that Jesus brought with him.  Grace is the presence of God within us that the Holy Spirit brings.  It is a gift; but Faith and acceptance of that Faith coupled with our resolve to do God’s will for us, these enable the graces that God offers us.   

Lastly, truth.  We all need the gift of Truth; the ability to discern what is true.  Jesus Christ brought the truth.  And this truth is different from the truth that the world proclaims.  The Church safeguards the truth through the Magisterium.  Truth is God’s revelation to us through Jesus Christ, the Bible; the saints; the popes, the doctors of the Church, and the great councils of the Church.  These have all helped to give us the fullness of truth.  Our Catechism is a testament to the truth that has been assembled from Jesus Christ.  Like the little boy in the story, the world cannot give us the Father.  Rather, we must seek the Father in our hearts. 

God gives us himself this Christmas.  He does that in his unique way.  He comes to us bringing us grace and truth to fill our hearts with joy- a joy that lasts forever. 

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Waking Up Spiritually

December 1st, 2013

First Sunday of Advent

Is 2:1-5; Col1:1-12; Rom 13:1-14; Mt 24: 37-44

Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Are you asleep?  Now you may be thinking to yourself that’s silly because you are all physically awake or you wouldn’t be here.  But what about spiritually?  Are you spiritually asleep?  St. Paul was talking about people who were spiritually asleep.  He tells them the time is right for them to awake from their sleep.  Paul is acting as a prophet- warning people to mend their lives because their day of salvation is near.  He advises the Romans to put aside the things of the world, and to “put on the armor of light” so they will be ready for that day of Salvation.   

Jesus is also talking about people who are spiritually asleep.  He uses the analogy of Noah and the flood to make that point.  Now this is interesting, because there wasn’t any prophet in Noah’s day like Paul in his day. .There was just Noah- Noah read the signs and prepared for the flood.  But he was all by himself.  Everyone else thought he was crazy.  They were eating and drinking and marrying.  In other words, they were just living life, enjoying the good life.   

So, the question for us is this:  Is that so wrong- just living our life and enjoying the good things of life?  Paul was talking about deeds of darkness, and he lists them- drunken parties, sensual pleasures, sexual immorality, quarreling, and jealousy.  But Jesus was just talking about eating and drinking and marrying.  These are things we all do, just like two men working in the field, or two women grinding some meal for a dinner.  These people were doing the ordinary things of life, not the dark things that Paul mentioned.  That’s why spiritually asleep seems to me to be such a good description for what Jesus is warning us about. 

Most of us don’t go through life spiritually dead- consciously doing evil and seeking pleasure; denying the existence of God and the coming of the kingdom of God. But we are often spiritually asleep- preoccupied with basic things of this world; unconcerned with the fact that some day we will die; unprepared for the fact that at any time we could be called by God.  Yes, we could be the person in the field or the woman grinding flour.  In today’s world, we could be the person in the path of a Tsunami or Hurricane or Tornedo; a bystander along the street of the Boston Marathon; the victim of a heart attack or stroke or tragic auto accident.  And life is suddenly over for us, and we are standing before Christ the King in Judgment.     

It’s not so much that there is anything wrong with living life, but rather, it is foolhardy to be spiritually asleep while we live our lives.  We need to be prepared and ready for the Coming of Christ at any time.     

That’s what Advent is all about, the four weeks before Christmas.  It is our time to wake up spiritually, and train ourselves to be constantly aware of our mortality, of our first priorities; and of our relationship with God so that we will be prepared at any time for the coming of Christ.   

The preparation is twofold.  While we live, we need to walk in the light of Christ, living our lives to the fullest, but in the pattern laid out for us by Jesus in the Gospels.  And secondly, we need to be constantly aware of our calling to a higher life, a life in the kingdom of God.  Isaiah describes this hope for us in very poetic terms, the heavenly Jerusalem on Mount Zion; the house of the Lord, where there is no more war or strife, only the peace of God.   

So, this morning, let us resolve to use this next four weeks of Advent to awaken spiritually to get ready for the coming of Christ.  We may be shopping and decorating and feasting and visiting and doing all the other rituals of the season at the same time.  But, let us be constantly aware and ready spiritually of the coming of Christ.

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Pondering the Kingdom of God

November 24th, 2013

Christ the King

2 Sam 5: 1-3; Col `1: 1-12; Luke 23: 35-43

Deacon Larry Brockman

 

You know what?  Heaven is not run by the people!  There won’t be any politicians running for office or campaign promises there.  There aren’t going to be any elections either.  We are not going to get to vote for anyone or anything if we make it there.  We will have to just settle with whatever we get from God.  Heaven is after all a Kingdom- and Kingdoms have Kings not elected presidents.  Heaven is the Kingdom of God; and that Kingdom lasts forever- and forever is a long time.

God has already chosen His King, His anointed one- Jesus Christ.  That’s what today’s readings are all about- Christ the King.  We hear that Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God”.  We know that Jesus came before all of us and made everything.  Heaven has angels and saints in it but they are subjects, not voters.  God wills that things be handled by His King Jesus the Christ; and it will always be that way- forever.

And while all of us aspire to be part of God’s Kingdom,  It would be naïve of us to think that we will all be the same.  We are all loved by God equally, but each of us is unique, and is loved for our uniqueness.  And each of us will have our own unique place in Heaven if- if we follow Jesus as the Gospel calls for.  Let us ponder things about such a heavenly Kingdom :

First, we are each given gifts from God in this life.  If we don’t learn to be happy with what is ours in this life, it will be difficult to be happy in the Kingdom of God forever.  Life here is our opportunity to learn to accept the gifts that God has chosen for us.  But to appreciate these gifts to the utmost, we have to do God’s will for us because all of our gifts were especially chosen for us.  The closer we are to doing God’s will, the easier it will be for us to use our gifts.  If we try having it our way rather than God’s way there is going to be a problem- a disconnect between our gifts and our lives.  That can result in pain for us; and it will be the same in the next life as well- it will be Heaven or Hell for us.

The more we are given; the more God expects from us as stewards of those gifts.  Some of us were gifted with fame, money, power, special talents, or good looks as viewed by the world’s standards.  Others were entrusted with more ordinary things in life here.  We are white, black, yellow or red; and we are male and female.  But that doesn’t make any of us better than the other- just different and destined for our own special role in the Kingdom of God.  God loves all of us the same; and He is interested in how well we accept what He gives us.  Life here is like the tip of an iceberg compared to eternity, where we will experience the rest of our gifts.

Our greatest gift is life itself.  God wants us to cherish that above all other things.  He has gifted us with instincts that motivate us in exactly that way- to defend and preserve our lives no matter what.  If we don’t respect our life and the life of others in this world, why would we be expected to value life in the next?  And so, no matter what our quality of life, we simply must learn to love life itself.  After all, if we want to live an eternity with God, we must value life forever.

Next, all of us were born with limitations; but these also are gifts.  None of us could be perfect as only God is perfect.  If we can’t learn to live and be happy with our limitations in this life; how can we expect to be satisfied with our limitations in the next life forever?  But, even in the next life we will not be perfect; otherwise we would be God, and we are not God.

One of the biggest problems we have in this life is our tendency to have expectations.  We hope for, and expect that things will go our way.  But they don’t- they go God’s way.  Jesus the Christ is our King and so, we need to learn to be obedient to the King.  God, like all kings, is really big on obedience.  A house divided against itself cannot stand.  And so, God demands our obedience in His Kingdom- forever.  So, it is important for us to learn obedience in this life.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus promises the good thief Paradise.  From that we learn that the kingdom of God is paradise- a place of eternal happiness.  Why does he promise this thief paradise?   Because this man recognized his limitations; accepted them, and recognized himself for what he was; promising to learn from his mistakes.   He just wanted a chance to be remembered by the King.  All of us are called to do the same.

The other thief was arrogant and cynical, presuming to judge Jesus on his terms and according to his standards, as were the rulers and soldiers who sneered at Jesus.  These are people who are in control in this world; but the lessons we just outlined for the Kingdom of God escaped them.

And so, take the opportunity today to think about the coming of the King who will lead us into eternal happiness in His Kingdom.  Love life; accept your gifts and limitations, learn the King’s will for you, and be obedient.  Then you will enjoy the good life of the kingdom of God forever.

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Real Peace

November 21st, 2013

Thursday of 33rd Week in Ordinary Time

   Presentation of Mary

1 Mac 2: 15-29; Luke 19: 41-44

Deacon Larry Brockman

 

“If this day you only knew what makes for peace”!  That’s what Jesus tells his contemporaries in our Gospel.  First, he grieves over the pending doom of Jerusalem and its temple, symbols of the Israeli nation and Jewish Faith.  He says they “will be encircled on all sides and smashed to the ground with their children”.  Why? Because “you did not recognize the time of your visitation”.

I wonder whether Jesus would tell us the same if he were in this Church today?  We are at the end of the Church year and will begin Advent shortly.  That’s the time in the Church Year when we are promised our visitation by the Lord.  During each Church year, we are first challenged to welcome Jesus as our savior during Advent and Christmas, by waiting for, and then rejoicing that God became man and showed us the way.   Then, we are called upon to witness the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the Cross as a saving act for our salvation during Lent; only to celebrate the promise of salvation to all of us who follow Jesus during Easter.  Yes, we are asked to accept our own crosses and to do as Jesus did- bearing our hardships with Faith and dignity because of that promise of salvation and the Kingdom of God.  And then for a half a year, during the many weeks of Ordinary Time, we go through the Old Testament, the Gospel and the stories of the Apostles and learn from these parables and stories just what it means to put our Faith into practice.  We have a year to recognize the time of our visitation and to learn what it means before the process repeats itself.

But do we get it?  Do we understand that the promise of salvation and the Kingdom of God depends on our commitment to our Faith?  Yes, we have to show we believe by putting our faith into practice.  And not only that, we have an obligation to work together as a people, as a church, to spread that Kingdom and to defend it.  Our Faith is not a private thing that is between us and God.  It needs to be a public thing.  We need to be committed to our Faith and Jesus

Now the story in our first reading is an interesting lesson about this this whole process.  You see, the Greeks had conquered the Jews, and were imposing their culture and lifestyle on Israel.  As long as everyone cooperated, everything would be OK.  But cooperating meant publically recognizing the Greek Gods and placing emphasis on loyalty to the state and it’s King.   Most of the people decided to go along with the Greeks.  After all, they could make a public display of support for the King, and then privately believe what they wanted.  But the point is, that isn’t good enough.

Mattathias was a holdout, a person who rallied his family and a remnant of the Jews to stick to their religion and the Covenant with the Lord.  And while he is making his impassioned speech in defense of that position, someone has the gall to come up to the altar, and cave in to the state.  This evokes a strong impassioned response by Mattathias.  The message is simply this:  We cannot compromise our Faith; we cannot coexist with the forces of evil.

I can see many signs of the same thing happening in our society.  We have politicians who say that privately they follow what the Church teaches; but they have a public duty to follow the wishes of our secular government.  We have folks who come to Church to satisfy their Sunday obligation; but then walk out of the Church and put their faith on hold while they live their daily lives, behaving as society expects them to; being part of the in crowd.  And we have people that believe that peace is the absence of confrontation, and so, whatever happens they remain passive and in the background because they don’t want to make waves, don’t want to cause trouble.  But you see, none of that will not do in the eyes of the Lord because like the Jews of Jesus time, such people do not recognize the time of their visitation.

This is the time of our visitation.  The question is, do we recognize it, and are we making the most of it?  Peace is what we all want.  But the peace that God provides is a different kind of peace.  Jesus might say to us_ “If only we knew what makes for that peace.”  But for us Christians, it is not hidden.  Our faith and living the Gospel without compromise, that’s what makes for real peace- the peace of God.

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Finding the Kingdom of God

November 14th, 2013

Thursday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

Wisdom7:22b – 8:1; Luke 17: 20-25

Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Have you ever had the experience of looking for something and not being able to find it?  Frustrating, isn’t it.  Especially when you think you know where to look for it.  But that, you see, might be the problem.  We all have expectations of where to find a missing article, and those expectations can cloud our minds; they blind us to the reality and so, we can miss what we are looking for even when it is right under our noses.

The Pharisees were like that.  They were looking for the Kingdom of God in earthly terms.  They were hoping and waiting for the return of the mighty earthly Kingdom like the one that Kings David and Solomon presided over.  They were not looking for the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached, a heavenly Kingdom, one where the joy and happiness are inside the person, rather than a result of worldly affluence.  What kind of a Kingdom of God are you looking for?

Now in the first reading we have a very poetic and beautiful description that tells us what it is like when a person is filled with the Wisdom of God.  The wisdom of God, we are told, “…Is a spirit: intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, never harmful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing, and pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.”  Wow!

Can you just close your mind for a moment to everything else, and just think about what it would be like if you were filled with such a spirit?  Just imagine being filled with a spirit possessing all those qualities at the same time.  Because that is what it would be like to be filled with the Spirit of God.  And if we were so filled with such a spirit, we would have arrived; we would have somehow achieved a harmony between ourselves and God.  So we would be experiencing the Kingdom of God.

But I suspect that this is not what most of are looking for, and it is not what we are thinking about when we think of the Kingdom of God, because we are looking elsewhere.  Most of us are looking for our dream of eternal happiness, a dream which is unfortunately clouded by some ignorance, limited sight, harmful inclinations, and self-centeredness.  To achieve the wisdom of God, we would have to defer to the Spirit of God, by purging ourselves of all that interferes with such perfection, and this is very difficult to do.  And so, we can miss the real Kingdom of God.

In the Gospel, Jesus talks about the Son of man “in his day”.  He says, “Just like the Lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of man be in His day.”  So, how can you look for such a thing?  The answer is that you can’t look for it in a conventional sense.  You can’t say to yourself: “I want to see Lightning right now”, and go outside and scan the sky looking for it and expect to find it; rather, you have to be open to it all the time in a predisposition toward the spontaneous without being in control of exactly when and where you see it.  It’s making a conscious effort to always be on the lookout for the right thing and the right thing is to follow the urgings of that right spirit whose qualities we just listed a moment ago.

When you do that, let go and just be open to the urgings of the spirit then, you will find the Kingdom of God.

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On Being an Involved Catholic

November 10th, 2013

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Mac 7: 1-2, 9-14; 2 Thes 2: 16 – 3:5; Luke 20-27-28

Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Can you imagine how much Faith it must have taken for the young men in today’s first reading to do what they did, to sacrifice everything, their lives included, in order to keep the tenets of their faith?  All they had to do was eat pork, and they would have been spared.  But they believed in the law; they believed in their Faith; and their allegiance was to God and that Jewish Faith not the secular morality of the government of the time.  And you know, for all of us who eat pork, it might sound silly.  But it is the principle that matters.  Today, our government is trying to force Catholic business people and the Church and it’s institutions to accept the provisions of the HHS mandate for health care.  It’s just like eating pork for the Jews in our first reading.  And so, it is a matter of who we owe our allegiance; and it is time for all of us to stand up and be counted.

Now all of us are gathered here this morning for a reason.  And I hope that the reason is our commitment to Christ and his Church.  It is not so much a mater of what the Church can do for you; but rather, what you can do for your Church.  Clearly, the more committed our members are to the church; the more we pray together as a community; and the more we act together in unison as a church and individuals; then the more likely it is that we will prevail in the never ending battle we face against secular society and the attempts to force its standards on our Church.  But it takes all of us, not just some of us.

We had Matthew Kelly here some months ago, a very prominent Catholic lecturer who, among other things, studied involvement statistics.  One of the surprising results of his study is that only 7% of Catholics are really involved, whether it is as significant financial contributors or active members in Church organizations.  Amazingly, this statistic has been confirmed in parishes throughout the country.  But it runs counter to everyone else’s studies that say that it is the same 20 % of the people who do 80 % of the work in any conventional organization.  So the question is this: are you part of our 7% that is involved and makes a difference, or are you part of the other 93 %?

Our parish is devoting the next couple of weeks to a Stewardship campaign.  That means we are asking for your help in time, talent, and treasure.  It is called a stewardship campaign because all of us, no matter who we are, are stewards of the time, talent, and treasure that we possess because we receive all these as gifts from God; we are just His stewards.  Now you’ll hear people talk about tithing and 10%- they say that is the requirement.  But that seems like the wrong criteria- just meeting some financial threshold and then leaving it at that.  Rather, we are not asking for 10%; but we are asking for your involvement because, you see, everything you have is a gift.  God is most generous to those who are generous with what is theirs- whether it is time, talent, or treasure.  And everything we do should be in concert with being a good steward if all of us recognize that everything belongs to God and we are just His stewards.  Our Gospel readings over the last couple of months have emphasized this over and over.  So what we are asking for is 100% involvement, because that’s what God expects of us- He expects all of us to be involved.

How do you get involved?  Well we need CCD and Prep Teachers, Readers and Eucharistic Ministers, Ushers, Musicians and Singers, and Helpers with St. Vincent de Paul.   We need Pro Life helpers in many different activities; and people to help with bereavement.  We need people devoted to prayer groups and Bible Study; people who give their time in perpetual adoration.  We need men’s club, KOC, and Ladies Association members who serve as volunteers at their many activities.  We need people to write their representatives often and consistently about issues like abortion and Catholic Social Teaching.  We need people to start and lead new activities- a hospitality ministry, a Respite Ministry for caretakers; and other social justice activities.  And of course, we need money as well to support all of the facilities and the fine programs this parish is involved in.

And when you get involved, it will mean two things:  First, it will mean you have to give something up.  If your involvement doesn’t mean you are giving something up, like the widow a couple of weeks ago in the Gospel, then you are not giving from the heart; you are not really committed.  Secondly, it will mean that you have to trust God that your efforts will bear fruit.  Sometimes, there will be an immediate reward, like the satisfaction a minister of the sick sees when a hospitalized person receives the body of Christ; but more often than not, the rewards are longer term and a surprise, like when a CCD student comes up to a teacher 10 years later and tells them how much they helped them.  And after all, we are committed members of the Church for the long term “The Kingdom of God”.

So, how about it?  How about joining the 7%?

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