• Bulletin Board, Announcements, Calendar
• Editorial - Op Ed
• Welcome and Website Protocol
• Article Archive

Print this page

Article Categories

• Book Reviews
• Open Letter
• Editorials
• Notes, Quotes & Comments
• Pastor's Study
• Project Millstones
• Sidebar Comments
• Weekly Message

Links

Liturgy
This link will keep 'parishioners-at-large' in touch with current creative liturgy sources and resources that respect a variety of 'traditions' within the Church.

COMMONWEAL Magazine
A 'lay' Catholic weekly publication with an accent on an intelligent analysis and commentary on curent issues, trends and concerns of interest to Catholics.

National Catholic Reporter
A national Catholic lay newspaper covering events not usually covered or presented with a clerical bias in the local diocesan press or but of concern and interest to Catholics.

Survivos' Network for those Abused by Priests or Religious
A National Network of self-help support groups for people abused by clergy or religious.

Bishop Accountability
Vital information about the disclosure of sexual abuse and related issues affecting Catholics in the pew and the manner in which Bishops continue to exempt themselves from accountability

Voice of the Faithful
A 'movement' of lay Catholics 'inspired' by the abuse scandal calling for greater accountability of bishops to 'Catholics in the Pew.'

Search

Daily Scripture

+ 21st Week in Ordinary Time

Every day is a gift and a blessing.

Readings: I Corinthians 1:1-9 Psalm 145:2-7 Matthew 24:42-51

I give thanks to my god always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gifts as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [I Cor 1:4-5, 7]

My mother used to say that every day is a gift and a blessing—an opportunity for grace indeed, many graces.

I suppose it’s all according to one’s perspective. The greatest challenge in life is to find something to be thankful for every day. This is particularly difficult during stressful times and certainly during illness of one kind or another.

I think I may have shared difference between a hermit and a nightclub performer. The hermit wakes up at dawn and says, “Thank you, God!” The nightclub entertainer wakes up at noon and says, “Good God, morning?”

There is so much going on in the world at large and in our own particular worlds to bring anxiety and stress. It’s hard work to maintain balance. An active spiritual life based on the confidence that nothing can happen today that can defeat us if we are grounded in the belief that God’s presence is abiding but it’s difficult and sometimes terrifying to let go.

I still remember the first time I road my two-wheeler bike without my dad holding on to the seat. We started off—I, confident that he hand was firmly attached to the seat. I had ridden almost a full block before I realized that he had let go and there I was, gliding down the street. It’s that way with God. We just need to remain conscious that God’s ‘hand’ is not a crutch but that God’s grace within us is real.

Some days it seems as if we are starting all over again.

First Sunday in Advent 'A'

Sunday December 2, 2007

God Will Do The Rest!

In the wake of the events of September 11, there were preachers who took advantage of the attacks to suggest that they were only indicators of dire things to come. They went further in assigning responsibility, at least in part, to the secularism that has dominated our American culture for a generation or two, as if to suggest that God was behind this Armageddon-like experience as a stern warning to teach a lesson. Fortunately, saner minds and words of wisdom prevailed from most pulpits, whatever the religious tradition. They served as a corrective to extreme interpretations of already extreme events.

God is a vindicator not a vindictive warrior. Apocalyptic events have occurred throughout the course of human history and although even Biblical writers have sometimes assigned dire meanings to them and even viewed them as retribution for unfaithfulness, there are also correctives among the biblical preachers themselves such as that of Isaiah in his magnificent oratorio this morning. I might paraphrase his message in this way:

“The days are coming
when God’s mountain will become the most prominent
of all the mountains,
And all the nations will come to the mountain
to listen to the wisdom of God.
God speaks words of peace not of vengeance or retribution.
As devastating as the strife may be
God’s way will become known
and all the people will listen and walk in his path
and war-makers will put down their weapons
and till the soil once more;
there will be enough of everything for everyone.
There will be no more war
because God’s light will illumine the minds and hearts of all people!”

Of course this is a vision of a time yet to come; a vision that energized the people of Israel and which continues to energize people of faith in cataclysmic times. The literary critic, Hugh Kenner wrote: “Whoever can give his people better stories than the ones they live by is like the priest in whose hand common bread and wine become capable of feeding the very soul.”

Saint Paul echoes Isaiah’s theme connecting it with the recognition that in fact the ‘Day of the Lord’ is immanent. Again, a paraphrase:

“Do you know what time it is?
It is the time of our salvation!
Wake up! Wake up!
It’s time to get up;
the day has finally arrived,
God is in our midst
God’s redemptive plan will not be thwarted,
so live as if it were tomorrow.
Live as if the night were day
Faith will make that possible.
Clothe yourselves in Christ
and change your way of life
or rather, let the word of Christ, rich as it is,
take root in your mind and heart
and you will see how your life will change
and you will also see what an impact your life will have on others.”

Most of us think we are awake—at least after the second cup of coffee! Mohammed had another opinion. He said that our usual state is sleep and when we die, we awaken. I suppose that is the eastern way of saying that we live in a stupor most of the time.

Long before Mohammed, Plato said that we are living in a cave, seeing only shadows of reality. But when we go into the light, we see things as they really are. However, Paul is saying much more. We don’t have to die or even leave the comfort of our cave to be in touch with reality. All we have to do is wake up to the grace that is already present within us. Advent is the nudge we need.

Nowhere in his writings is Paul more excited than in the passage we just heard. No yearning for the “good ole days” in Paul’s message. There is no time like the present!

At first glance or reading, Matthew’s gospel seems a bit more threatening. But remember the rainbow at the end of the story of the flood; God promised Noah that he would never resort to such devastation again. Of course Noah’s story and other ‘flood stories’ were tools of the ancient writers to call the people to conversion. It was never God’s intent to drown anyone. Jesus epitomized hope in the midst of despair. Matthew was writing in apocalyptic times after the fall of Jerusalem and its devastating effects on both Jews and Christians. Jesus’ words were uncomplicated. They were nothing more than a wake-up call and a plea to look beyond the present time to a new day. But it was more than a call to look; it was and is a call to act; a challenge to change and to take responsibility for implementing the vision of hope.

Is it too much to read into the commitment of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, a sign that the time has finally arrived for a new attempt at peace?

Recall that there are two kinds of time: chronological and what is called kairos, or the time of opportunity. The scriptures are suggesting again that the time IS opportune—now. Don’t wait for the next news report or even the next preacher.

As mature Christians, we know in our hearts what God is asking of us as individuals and as a community. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t. We just need reinforcement in our commitment to live our Christian vocation more conscientiously and with greater integrity; to put on the Christ we received at baptism; to live as people of hope in the expectation that God’s wisdom will eventually prevail if we live the wisdom of God or rather if we allow the wisdom of God to take hold in our minds and hearts now.

God will do the rest!