FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT 2019

I confess that I sometimes make resolutions and too soon after discover how weak and fragile they were. I suspect that I may actually be saying to myself, “Relax! You’re never going to change. This is the way you are. The world won’t end because you’re not perfect. You adjust to other people; allow them to adjust to you…”

That attitude, that act of giving up, of surrendering, has destroyed countless relationships and weakened as many more. It has kept persons who love each other very much from experiencing the unity and harmony that are meant to increase in good times and in bad. It has denied them the joy of witnessing the resurrection that can follow the little “deaths” they endure together on their shared earthly journey.

A disagreement, a violent argument, a misunderstanding can for the moment seem to blot out the love between two persons. They look at one another with near-hatred and wonder how affectionate feelings could ever come back. But if the situation that resulted in such misery is carefully and calmly analyzed by the two of them, and if each is open to alterations in behavior, the apparent death of love gives way to resurrection and the love becomes stronger, purer, and more unselfish than before.

I’ve chosen this approach at the start of Advent because our relationship to God is essentially defined by our relationship to other human beings, especially those who are closest to us and those who are the most disconnected from us. The Jesus whose birth we are memorializing continues to come to us in the person of others.

Of course, we are weak and inconsistent, all of us, to one degree or another. And yes, we are creatures of habit, most good, some bad. We do find it extremely difficult to make significant changes in our patterns of behavior, especially with those we are most intimately bonded to. Yes, we do tend to make peace with a wounded relationship because it seems much too hard to change what needs to be changed, and we are discouraged by our long history of failure.

Human nature, as far as we know, has remained pretty much the same down through the ages, even though our interpretations and understanding of life have constantly evolved. For example, we wouldn’t today blame God for our sinful ways, as the people of Isaiah’s time did. They asked, “Why, O Lord, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts…?” This kind of talk expresses the ancient belief that everything that happens on earth is ultimately, not merely permitted or experienced by God, but actually caused by God – an idea that, unfortunately, still exists among us today in some quarters.

But in general we see things much differently. We know that we have free will, but that we are never alone. The presence and power of the Creative Spirit are in and with us always. Because of that, we can go beyond our human limitations and experience love whose depth and resilience we could not possibly achieve on our own.

On this, the first day of a new liturgical year, Advent again summons us to anticipate the coming of Christ into every aspect of our lives, something that cannot happen unless we allow and welcome it. He is at the door, knocking and waiting for our response.

As we soon celebrate another colorful Christmas, I do hope that we can all say that, as he entered our world two millennia ago, so has he, by our wanting and willing it, moved deeper into our personal lives during these weeks of Advent preparation.

I wish you a happy journey to the stable!

20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, 2017

Some of the answers that Jesus gave to people asking for his help seem unkind, almost cruel; what we just heard is one of them. To understand what was going on between him and the distraught mother, we have to realize that she was a Gentile, therefore looked down upon by the Jews. At first he responds like the Jew that he was, telling her that if she were a faithful Jew he’d honor her request immediately. But since she’s the equivalent of a heathen, for him to help her would be like giving to the dogs the food that should go to the children.

The woman is obviously a bright lady; she doesn’t let Jesus off the hook; she reminds him that the house pets are allowed to eat the food that falls off the family table. Jesus likes that response, and likes her. He grants her request.

Bible experts tell us that in Jesus’ time, that little exchange of clever words would not have sounded insulting at all. It was a common form of conversation — a “thrust & parry” of words and ideas. Jesus was not being uncaring or unkind; he was simply drawing out the conversation in order to make an important point for the woman and us to hold onto.

Remember that she had addressed him as “Lord” and “Son of David” — which means that, even though she wasn’t a Jew, she did have faith in him as a person who seemed to know God well. She expressed faith in him and what he could do for her and her daughter. She’s a believing Gentile — maybe the first he’d ever met. No matter what nation or family or religion she came from, there was undeniable faith in her heart. She may not have recognized God in the temple, but she did see God in the person of Jesus! That had to be a gift of the Holy Spirit.

We Catholics have come from a very rigid tradition in which there was a standard pattern for religious belief and practice for us all. If we traveled to Paris, Peoria or Pakistan, the rules and the rituals would be essentially the same. It was a good feeling to be so united.

But things are different now, as we are fond of saying, and — I would say — much better. We interpret the scriptures differently; many theologies are invited to shed light on the one ancient faith; the creativity and customs of a variety of peoples give uniqueness and individuality to worship. No longer do we regard as enemies to be avoided those who pray or act differently from us. Instead, we recognize them as sisters and brothers in whom the same Spirit of Love and Truth is gently at work.

Some Catholics pine for the “good ol’ days” when everything we Catholics did and said was cut & dried and meant to remain forever unchanged. Not so today. As the famous spirituals say, “The Spirit is a-movin’!” And we must pray, as Jesus always did, not to become narrow-minded and short-sighted. And to recognize true faith and goodness in whatever form they appear.

God calls us to build unity in our families, our communities and our world, not by all wearing the same spiritual clothing, but by praising the Spirit of God in every life-giving word and work that comes from anyone, anywhere!

Be at peace! God loves you wildly exactly as you are!!