Almost, But Not Yet, the First Sunday of Advent–Year B

My Sisters and Brothers:

This year, and to my surprise, the first display of Christmas decorations I saw were in a store sometime at the beginning of September.  Santa Claus has already arrived on his throne in the shopping mall, and they have been playing Christmas music there now for at least a month!  With what appears to me to be an over-commercialization of Christmas, it seems that even Thanksgiving Day itself has become a mere footnote to the ever widening “holiday shopping season.”

As we gather together as a community of faith on this First Sunday of Advent, we come to church with a very different perspective than what is offered to us “out there.”  Our observance of Advent stands in stark contrast to the ideas of those who have rushed into an altogether different reality.   Each year, it seems that we must endure this overly secular, commercial and superficial holiday period of time that tends to lend to a kind of premature and collective fatigue (even before the twenty-fifth of December).

However, as we approach the true meaning of the Advent season, we understand that we are actually observing a time of preparation for something that has not yet happened.  Together we come to pray and to ponder as people who are reflecting on the “almost, but not yet” nature of the Season of Advent.

In the Gospel today, Jesus tells us to “be watchful and to be alert,” and he reminds us that we “do not know when the time will come . . . when the Lord of the house is coming” (see Mark 13:33-37).  Jesus is speaking of a moment at the end of time when the Messiah will come to claim the righteous, and he asks us to contemplate whether or not we will be ready for that day.  This is the perspective from which we start the Season of Advent today.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago; the question we have today is: “Will we be ready for him when he comes again?”  May we find delight in the spirit of this time of the year, even out there as we enjoy Christmas parties, Santa Claus, the exchange of gifts, holiday trees and lights, and all that this season offers to us!  May we also be faithful to the Christian message of Advent which challenges us to be watchful and alert, and ready, for the day when the Lord comes!  

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

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Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, 2014

My Sisters and Brothers:

     On November 17th, the Church celebrated Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a great Franciscan saint! It seems like no coincidence to me that she is celebrated so close to the feast we celebrate on this Sunday, the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

     Saint Elizabeth lived eight-hundred years ago. As a wealthy woman with noble blood, and at the same time a Secular Franciscan, she enthusiastically used her power and influence in order to serve the needy. As a Christian, and as a spiritual daughter of Saint Francis, she built hospitals to care for the sick, she served people with leprosy, she gave bread to the poor, and she tirelessly worked for the good of outcasts and those around her who were weak and disadvantaged.

     In today’s Gospel on this Feast of Christ the King, we are told that on the day of judgment “the Son of Man . . . will sit upon his glorious throne . . . and separate the sheep from the goats.” Jesus makes a clear distinction between those who place their lives in service to others and those who do not. On this feast we celebrate our Servant King, one who demands that we always reach out to those in need. He tells us very clearly that if we wish to follow him, we must feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, cloth the naked, care for the sick and visit those imprisoned (see Matthew 25:31-46).

     Today, the warning to us is that those who fail to do these things in service to the needy will be punished. Ultimately, like the metaphorical goats in today’s Gospel, those who neglect to serve others will not be received by Jesus into heaven!

     Our church’s history is full of examples of saints and holy people, who like St. Elizabeth of Hungary, understood the basic Christian call to service. They each understood that when they served the needy, they were actually serving Jesus himself. May we, like them, always place ourselves in service to the least of our sisters and brothers. And let us be confident that someday we too will be welcomed with them into heaven.

     Rejoice my sisters and brothers, as we await that day when Jesus our King proclaims to us: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father,” there is a place for you among the saints in paradise!

 Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

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May We Never Underestimate Ourselves, the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time–Year A

My Sisters and Brothers:

Although a reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is not included in our Scripture lessons for today’s Mass, the message of the Gospel (see Matthew 25:14-30) reminds me of a passage from the letter, which reads: “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up” (see Galatians 6:9).  As a Franciscan, this sentiment reminds me of a favorite quotation from St. Francis of Assisi in which he said: “While we have time, let us do good” (from the Exhortation of our Blessed Father Francis to the Friars).

Doing good, and reaping a harvest as a response to God’s will, is our common calling.  From an eternal perspective, each and every person’s role in that is important and valuable.   Even the most humble and simple people among us have an important role to play in God’s plan.

I think the best illustration of this is the example given to us by our Blessed Mother Mary.  She was a poor and seemingly insignificant young woman from an out of the way, and supposedly unimportant, town called Nazareth.  Even though she was poor, humble and lowly, Mary responded greatly to God's call, and therefore she became the mother of Jesus, the Savior of all of humanity.  We all may know people who, because they are humble and/or not perfect, believe they “count for nothing” and are unable to make a positive contribution to the world in which they live.  That person may just be our very selves.

In the Gospel for today's Mass, Jesus challenges each one of us to use our God given talents, to whatever degree we have them, for some kind of greater good.  He clearly teaches us that we must never minimize our ability to make the best of these.  My sisters and brothers, let us not underestimate ourselves and the good that we can do for others.  We have been given the great gift of faith, and we believe in the power of the Lord Jesus over our lives.

May our faith inspire us to greatness, and may we never be overcome by fear because we are not perfect and/or because we are sinners.  I believe it is in just such people, the humble and weak, that our God places his greatest hope!  My friends, “while we have time, let us do good.” 

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

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"Go, and Repair My House," the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran

My Sisters and Brothers:

Today, we celebrate a great temple on this “Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran.”  This ancient church, located in Rome, Italy, has forever been known as the “mother and head of all churches on earth.” It was the ancient seat, or “cathedra,” of the Bishop of Rome, and continues to hold that distinction today.  With this in mind, and reflecting on the words of Jesus in the Gospel today, we are taught that the “temple of God” consists of something more ethereal than simply a building constructed by human hands (see John 2:13-22).  And so, the question we might pose on this feast is:  “Do we simply celebrate a uniquely historical church building, made of bricks, stones and mortar much like any other, or is there some deeper, more significant, reality upon which to reflect?”

My answer to this takes my thoughts to the beautiful and charming medieval town of Assisi, located a little more than a hundred miles away from Rome.  About eight hundred years ago, a very young man named Francis lived there, and at that time he was earnestly trying to discern, and to understand, what God wanted him to do with his life.  While things bustled in Rome, the young Francis was drawn to pray inside of a small, nearly ruined, and certainly insignificant church near Assisi called San Damiano.  Alone there, and in quiet prayer before an image of the crucified Jesus, Francis of Assisi heard the Lord say to him, “go and repair my house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins.”  These words were a catalyst to the conversion, work, and ministry of Francis, and they have inspired his spiritual sons and daughters ever since.

Although Francis at first imagined he was simply called to rebuild that small chapel, he and his followers eventually came to realize that they were really called to “rebuild the church, another kind of temple known as the people of God.”  This profound calling was symbolically depicted by the famous Italian artist Giotto, who many years later painted many of the frescoes in the newly constructed Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.  In one of Giotto’s frescoes, the saint is seen holding upon his shoulders the Roman Basilica of St. John Lateran, the church we celebrate today.

  

It seems to me that another “Francis” (one who we have come to know and to love in our own time) has been called to repair the house of God, to rebuild it, and even perhaps to refashion it in ways we never before imagined.  Today, as we celebrate the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the church and “cathedra” of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishop of Rome, let us join our prayers to those of his.
  

May we strive together, in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, to repair, to support and to rebuild the church–that is, to renew the community of the faithful, the true temple, the Body of Christ and the people of God.  

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

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“El Día de los Muertos,” All Souls Day

My Sisters and Brothers:

A few years ago, and as an October ended and another November arrived, I had the opportunity spend a week of vacation in the beautiful sea-side city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  From the town, and looking out upon the bay called the Bahía de Banderas, and further out to the Pacific Ocean, the view is very breathtaking!   I very much enjoyed my time there, mostly because I was able to spend a lot of time relaxing on the beach, but also because I took advantage of the opportunity to explore some of the local culture of the Mexican State of Jalisco in which the town is located.

Mexican people, like those of other nationalities and from other places of the world, are very proud of their culture, their traditions, and their Catholic faith.  Because of the time frame of my visit to Puerto Vallarta, I had the fortune of being there when the faithful were observing el Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead).

On one of my tours that week, I had the opportunity to visit a local cemetery and I saw how, with great reverence and faith, the people had spent many, many hours cleaning and then adorning the graves of their deceased loved ones with candles, flowers, balloons and even toys, food and candies.  Even though I was a stranger to that place, the show of affection for those who had died, so very obvious there, moved me to tears.  There was no doubt to me those who were buried in that cemetery were very much loved and missed greatly by their families and friends.

What we do today, as we observe the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, also known as All Souls Day, is rooted in the exact same traditions and sentiments of those faithful people in Jalisco, Mexico–like them, we wish to remember in prayer, and to show reverence and to honor the memories of our deceased loved ones.  We do this today because we have loved them so much, and we continue to do so.  Although we always pray with fervent devotion that our deceased family members and friends may be received into the loving arms of God, we do so in a special way on this day, el Día de los Muertos.

Let us have great hope for them, and hold on to the same confidence expressed in first reading of today’s Mass: we believe “the souls of the just are in the hands of God, and no torment shall touch them, and although it seems, in the view of the foolish, that they are dead, and their passing away thought an affliction and utter destruction, we know and believe that they are in peace” (see Wisdom 3:1-3).

It’s quite possible we may not have the opportunity to adorn the graves of our deceased loved ones, as is done by our sisters and brothers in Jalisco, Mexico, and in other places throughout the world, but we may still do so within our hearts and through our prayers.  And so, with devotion and great love for those who have been very dear to us in  this life, let us pray and have confidence that “one day, we shall joyfully greet them again, when the love of Christ, which conquers all things, destroys even death itself” (from the Order of Christian Funerals). 

Fidelium Animae Per Misericordiam Dei Requiescant In Pace.

May the Souls of the Faithful Departed, through the Mercy of God, Rest in Peace.

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

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