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Sunday Readings

Holy Perfect

Many today will be travelling from what this feast celebrates. Many more will be recovering from the very same thing. Christmas is a time for family and, therefore, is all too often a time of great stress for modern Americans. Perhaps then this is really the perfect time to consider the Holy Family so close to the recent and raw memory of our own. We can be fairly certain that most of us will not say that our family is like the Holy Family – and thank God.

Joseph, Mary and Jesus are the most unlikely to be called a ‘model family.’ Their relationships are not the norm. As far as I know, angels, dreams and celestial miracles do not fit into any family’s typical holiday celebration! I can tell you that mine is no exception. When we see the Holy Family we are instantly reminded that they did not follow the script. If our idea of family marriage and home life is based on a script, we’d be doomed to failure from the get-go. Scripts are for television, not real life. Games plays are for games, not living. If we can all agree that no family today is the ‘perfect family’ the question today asks is if there is a possibility of a holy family. The good news is a resounding ‘yes’ – if we are careful about the difference between ‘holy’ and ‘perfect.’

A perfect family is a flawless web of unbreakable bonds that present a unified front of a consistent image. We spend a great deal of time and energy to create this. We assign values to everything from dress to vocabulary to manners in the effort to make it happen. There are some TV shows that can do it. I mean, what family on TV eats two meals a day together without a TV on? What TV family goes unfailingly to Church and religious education every Sunday and makes God a part of their daily life? What TV family regularly spends time with elderly relatives, cantankerous relations, and goes on simple vacations befitting a family of modest means? Well, it’s the Simpsons. For 20 years their family image has been a consistent presentation of a family. But would we call them a holy family? Remember that they go to Church, say their prayers and have a relationship with God!

I don’t think “holy” is what we would call them even with all this. Nor would we call them “perfect” even if they are unified. The truth is, life is more complicated than a half-hour cartoon. A holy family is more simple. It is a family that has one thing more than all the members can do or be. It has God as a part of it. A holy family has one more seat at the dinner table. God’s grace is not something for Church only or centered around a holiday. It is a community of persons who understand that they are bound to each other by natural and super-natural relationships. They are convinced of an eternal destiny and that God has given them each other to help them realize this. And they certainly do not expect more out of each other than they would of God.

Now you might be rolling your eyes when you hear that. It is a little too idealistic for the average person. Really? Is it more attainable to play the perfect family than to pray the holy family? How can any of us get it right when we are constantly changing what it is? The family is under attack from technologies that isolate us and laws that inhibit us. We are told by the moral icons of Hollywood that they do not need marriage to mess up the families that they have already. We are called bigots if we disagree with any law that reduces a family to less than a social nicety. And every disaster ready for their moment on Jerry Springer came from a past that said, “we’ll do it our way, thank you very much!”

Talk about a fantasy world! People abandon their elderly parents to the snake-pits of state nursing homes and somehow or another demand respect from their children. Children who expect life on a silver spoon are befuddled when their own children expect the same and more. People call upon God in the middle of crises their selfishness has created and then blame God for the whole mess. They use the Bible to bash each other while excising the parts they find ‘inconvenient.’ They want their families to do better and not be better – and they will do it by any means, fair or foul.

But none of the supporting or damaging social elements of modern family life will have the impact of real holiness. The dignity of each person is not some generic matter of respect. For us, it is something Divine. The obligation to love is a matter of vocation, not location. Since God is a part of the family, His influence will be seen as it is seen in the influence we have on each other. There’s really no mystical silliness here, just a matter of daily decency. We are struggling to do this in our common life and we fail much as we do in our individual life. But we keep going without drama or shame.

At a wedding rehearsal of parishioners I had never seen in Church before and who I never saw again, the highly stressed mother of the bride asked me to say grace at the reception the next day. It was clear they wanted the whole ‘religious thing’ to impress family and friends. I replied that I was unable to go due to a prior commitment. She nearly had a break-down and asked, “well then who will say grace before the meal?” I told her, “I guess whoever normally does each day in your home.”

I won’t repeat what she said next but if you can imagine it and get a chuckle out of it, then you already know that difference between a perfect family and a holy family.

God bless in living it.

The Christmas Video is posted!
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Sunday Readings

The Wanderer

Congratulations! You have done what the Christmas carols asked you to do. You have come to adore Him. You have heralded the birth of the King who is the Heaven-born Prince of Peace. Whether in the stillness of a silent night or in the glory of the dawn of redeeming grace, you are here because we have reason to offer joy to the world. Or rather, He is here to offer His joy to the world. Immanu-el has come just as on Jordan’s bank the Baptist once cried.

So can we please open the presents NOW? Let get the dinner, check out the holiday haul, and get ready for the returns. Oh, yeah, and Merry Christmas.

Even as we celebrate Christmas, even as we enjoy the wonder we often call ‘magical’, we look over our shoulders and something odd is there, off in the distance. It’s a bit far off, but we can see a woman riding a donkey and a man standing nearby. Yup, it’s hard to make out, but it seems to be a lot like the picture on the Christmas cards. They are travelers looking for something. But why? Why would they be still wandering about? Today is Christmas and we are celebrating the great Event that happened once they found the stable and placed the Babe in the manger. Don’t they hear the carols? Where are they trying to go?

From the first Christmas to this holy day, Christ is restless. The eternal God-made-man is continuously looking for a home. The Lord who had nowhere to lay His head seems to find rest only in a storm tossed boat or on hillsides with multitudes hanging on His every word. He seems secure only with the friends who betray, deny or abandon Him. He enjoys the company of those whose lives are miserable or whose sin is the best they can do. He knocks on the door of the heart that tells Him there is no room for Him. His mother carries Him in her womb on a donkey much as He would one day ride a donkey to the shouts of ‘Hosanna.’ He travels the roads built by the society that would offer Him only the Way of the Cross. He hears generations singing the songs of Christmas from their homes as He softly wanders from place to place.

Because our God wanders still, we still celebrate Christmas. We love this day because we have a God who loves us so. We come to Church because our Lord came to us. And if there is what the world calls ‘magic’ to this day, it is that knowledge deep in our hearts that He still comes to us. He still wanders through our nights seeking some comfort and even joy. In the coldness of our hatreds He is seeking the warmth of human kindness. And even when our sins tell Him that there is no place for the inconvenience of His ‘type’, He just keeps knocking.

On Christmas we focus so much on the gifts exchanged this day. This is a brighter and more wonderful side to our human nature. We let the joy on our faces confirm the love these things express. The thrill of that first really great gift or the contentment of opening the eternally re-gifted fruitcake are the same. We know how tremendous was that First Christmas Gift that these later ones attempt to imitate.

Secularize it all you want – we are not fooled. Taking the ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas’ is just another door slammed in the Holy Family’s face. Ignoring Him all year except on Christmas is the equivalent to saying, “just take the stable; there’s no place for you in my life. Those Three Kings brought You enough; now you want more from me?” So many love the Babe of Bethlehem but want no more than to give a loving glance to an Infant sleeping in heavenly peace on a mat of hay. For them, once was enough in David’s royal city. That little town of Bethlehem was quaint, but this is New York. Get real!

Get real? That’s why we’re here. The love of God incarnate in this Child is as real as it gets! Christmas began in God the Father’s heart and because we know that, because we have seen the marvels God has done in every age and at every age, it goes on. The Child still wanders until we give Him room. His needs are seen in the needs of those around us and are met by you and I. We have been chosen to make a home for the Christ-Child among us precisely because so many did not and do not. The fluffy and snowy scenes of the ‘Holiday Displays’ cannot mask the stark barrenness of lives lived without the Reason for living.

In wishing each other ‘merry Christmas’ we are praying we all give a place to the wandering Christ. Our Yule-tide wishes are reservations for the indwelling of Jesus in the room of souls. And even as we go in heart and mind to Bethlehem once again, we are going out to meet the Christ who comes to us. This Christmas, don’t leave Christ out in the cold. Welcome Him into your heart by the warmth of faith. Let the Light of the World illuminate your days and nights as our LED Christmas lights beam as brightly as that star of wonder. Follow the shepherds who adored their God rather than the oblivious sheep who couldn’t see into the manger. And offer the new-born King the gift of your heart even if this economic downturn has taken away your gold.

Have a joyful and merry Christmas because our God is joyful in us.

The Christmas Video is posted!
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Sunday Readings

Angel Visit

Well, it’s almost here. Naturally, we think that Christmas is almost here. It is coming as each day moves along the rows of the calendar. What is planned, is planned; what is bought, is bought. There’s not much wiggle room now because there are only three or four days left. We allow ourselves to relax a bit and enjoy what is already in motion.

And then it snows. New Yorkers love snow as they love everything else in life – they love it with certain conditions: not too much, not too wet, easily and quickly removed (with just a few accents here and there), and not bad enough to delay anything. After all, we think anything over half an inch is a blizzard! And we take it personally. Nature is interfering with my plans and, therefore, is bad. And we are annoyed that God would ‘mess’ things up. So even in a time of religious celebration (or something similar to it), we see the hand of God and His action moving in our world.

The Gospel today is one of those moments. God reaches out to Mary and fulfills a promise made in the distant past to David. And He does it in much the same way. Dreams and angels are the vehicles of the Bible to convey the wonders of God into the ordinary lives of human beings. Simply put, God gets involved. And while this always begins with God’s sovereign choice, we can find it unsettling. We know it means that things will change and despite all the slogans, we are usually not ready for change. Human beings have a naturally tendency to accept things as they are – good, bad, and indifferent - and that stability gives a sense that things are going well with the world. Newton said the body that is at rest tends to stay at rest. Sure other people, especially the saints and heroes of history, go through changes but we are very comfortable with leaving that to them. The angel declares unto Mary and that is nice. We, on the other hand, are fine without one.

But life teaches us something different. Things do change whether we want them to or not. God does act in our lives and not only in Gospel accounts from long ago. He allows things to happen that are inexplicable or even unreasonable. And try as we might, we cannot couch these in stories of angels and dreams.

Our artwork for the Gospel today of the Annunciation is always very pleasant, serene, and devout. The experience is quite different. There is an apprehension of what may follow – especially in a world where unwed mothers faced a future of unremitting penalties. There is the personal doubt that all this is really happening. And there is the awesome Presence of the living God that goes so far beyond all that was previously experienced or conceived. So art tries to make it easier to grasp. And yet, even with all the uncertainly and fear, Mary says – of her own free will – ‘yes’ to God. And because she did then, we are here now.

Among all the changes we find in life, we have to ask if we are finding God as their reason and the reference. Yes, God surprises us with personal, real, and significant moments when He breaks through into our days. And each time He does so, He extends an invitation to accept or reject Him. God urges, but never forces, our free will. He allows situations and conditions but never demands us to throw ourselves aside for them. Christmas – with or without snow – is one of them. So are all the ‘Big Moments’ like weddings, holidays and funerals. But today is no different. The Lord comes to us in grace and we are free to choose Him or not. And in His abundance, we are not limited to one opportunity per customer.

Over the next few days, we will see and be a part of all that makes up the Christmas celebration. We can do what we always do or do it in a new way. But none of this is actually new. It is the surprising Presence of God presenting Him self to mere mortals who have the freedom to turn to it or not. Keep your eyes open for it. Look forward to it as you would to opening that long-expected gift you’ve hoped for.

God is ever ready to surprise us. We can call it a blessing or not, a disaster or a grace. But God always has the element of surprise and the subtle quiet of falling snow. He respects our free will that He gave us and desires us to answer just the way Mary did.

As the angel declared unto Mary, so His angels declare unto us that Christ is among us. May the same be done unto us according to His Word.

The Christmas Video is posted!
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Sunday Readings

Taking Credit

There is a wonderful word for what John the Baptist was not. We use it today to describe some one who plays the role but doesn’t have the goods to match it. We call them ‘posers.’ A poser looks, talks and even mimics what they are pretending to be. For example, some one could wear the clothes, the jewelry, and use the expressions of a surfer but never step foot in the ocean. We laugh because it’s a kind of a perpetual Halloween for them. But there is a deeper form of poser who not only acts the part, but take the credit as well. We know this type from work, school, and so many other areas of life. Let’s say I have a beautiful framed photograph there every thinks I took but I never correct them. We take credit for something we didn’t do and who we are not.

Taking credit has two elements. The first is a similarity to the original artist. The second is opportunity. John looked like a prophet and spoke of a revolutionary light that would dawn and change the world. And he clearly had the opportunity to take advantage of the people coming out to him and claim that he was the Messiah. But John did not. The privileged son of a Temple priest could have grabbed the moment as the greatest poser of all time, but he didn’t. Opportunity knocked, and John told him, “wrong door.”

Okay, we should expect a prophet would at least be honest. But there is a deeper message in his example. In fact, it was the deepest message of all. John knew the reality of what was coming. He knew that he was not able to pretend as if he could embody it. And the energy of the Gospel in Christ went to the core of John. He had what we call ‘integrity.’

Integrity is more than honesty. It is an honesty that we have fit in our souls and in our minds. We realize the truth and adjust everything in our personality to it. We perceive a wisdom and a rightness and let that be our definition and meaning. When it comes to faith, it is not only a moral thing that lines up our behavior with our beliefs; it is a reason for living that constantly refers to the One in whom we have faith.

Obviously this is a life-long effort and we, as human beings, do not anticipate or even expect perfection. And that is why we once again in Advent consider the Prophet in the Wilderness. He shouts his familiar message and his life of integrity. His example both inspires and convicts us to ask how have we taken to heart the arrival of Immanuel even these many centuries later.

The stores and commercials are pushing Christmas like never before. The retailers are not seeing the maddening crowds and play their musak carols even louder. And the, like a mirage, it all disappears on the 26th of December. The same can happen to us. We can mark Jesus’ arrival in Bethlehem and go about life without much consideration of what has happened. Integrity calls us to something different. John did not claim the credit for what he was not; we as Christians have a vocation to live what we are. The Christmas message is not magical, shiny or frosty; the message is that God is with us in the person of the Christ. Our integrity will be seen only insofar as that good news becomes our reason for life.

The purple of Advent is similar to the purple of Lent. It is a reminder that to celebrate the great feast of the Incarnation we have to be ready by turning more and more to God. Lent emphasizes the sins we commit that keep us from Christ; Advent asks us how close we are to Him. In the poetic language of the soul, Advent speaks of the Just One raining down from Heaven and the blossoming of grace. John, taking no credit for himself, refers all to Jesus and defers to Him as the Christ.

We can get lost in the preparation for Christmas and with all that there is to do, it’s rather easy. But now, more than half-way through Advent, we can hear the call to rejoice that the Feast is near and ask again how close are we? Have we gone to Confession, have we prayed a bit more, or spent some time before the Blessed Sacrament?

In these last two weeks or so before Christmas, many will see or put up themselves a Nativity Scene. Here in the sanctuary, under a tree, or outside the home, there will be one. Take some time to sit in silence before it. Look at the empty manger and see yourself waiting to hold the presence of God. See the adoration of the shepherds and their oblivious sheep. Notice the look of loving anticipation on the face of Mary and Joseph. All of the wonderful and colorful things of this season point to the greatest of Gifts – and it is within you. The same God who appeared among us remains, by grace, in your soul. Take this short season to make Him a part of your life and your day.

And then, with integrity, you will come, as one who is faithful, to adore Him with the angels.

The Christmas Video is posted!
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Sunday Readings

Radical Man

Experience often shows that we are known by the company we keep. We say ‘show me your friends and I’ll know who you are.’ And most of the time that is correct. A best man or a maid of honor usually reflects the bride or groom they are standing up for.

Today is Act II of the Advent season. For a good majority of our church’s history, the second Sunday of Advent is John the Baptist Sunday. We honor this last prophet of the Old Testament because he was the friend of the New. He demonstrated to all who would listen the arrival of Christ. And he did this in a shockingly radical way that keeps him in our memory all these centuries later. Think about the Gospel description of him: he ate bugs and wore a fur coat in the desert. He preached a fiery message that alerted his listeners to the immediate appearance of the Messiah. He gathered around him a large following from which many of Jesus’ first disciples came.

But today is not a history lesson on the foundation of the Church. It is a chance to hear the words of the Baptist as if we were the first to hear them. Celebrating Advent brings that same message to contemporary ears. John, by word and life, stills calls out to us. He still says ‘prepare the way of the Lord.’

But how can we if Jesus has already come into history? Well, we can’t. That’s not the point anyway. But Christ does come to the human heart by grace. He looks for us, urges us and even sets up situations that move us closer to Him out of necessity. And while the first arrival 2000 years ago in the Holy Land was wonderful, it is no less so today. And much like back then, we need a wake-up call to see it. We need some one to stand up for Christ who knows Him and will do anything to make Him known.

John is still heard today. We have prophets still speaking all around. We have the witness of people living radically different lives as a testimony to the presence of grace in the darkened human heart. But be careful here. It’s easy to look for the radical as if we were looking for a hippie from the 60’s. We can easily spot that far-off look in the cult leader’s eyes. We can hear the smooth confidence of a social reformer’s speech. We can find it in the swelling masses of those caught up in the spirit of it all. What we do, innocently enough, is we pigeon-hole the prophet to the fringe of sanity. We set them far enough apart that what they say maybe true but it has little to do with us. We keep the prophet in the desert and far from our home.

That’s just not the right place for John. John is all around. It is the prophetic voice from a parent calling us to living more rightly. It is the loud silence of some one who living the Gospel, convicts us to choose better. It is the strong care of a stranger who heralds the possibility of Christian kindness. Oh no, John is not out there but right here. He is not by the side of the Jordan anymore because he lives on beside us. John saw the face of the Son of God and still shows it to us. He prepares us to recognize it in the manger at Bethlehem and in the person on the subway. He shows Christ because he knows Christ.

All Christians have the same radical vocation even if they are not called to live it in the same way. Not every disciple of Jesus got a fur coat, a bag of bugs and went off to the desert. They saw the way John pointed out and kept going. They met the Christ and proclaimed Him. That is what we do in our lives, our homes, our schools, our work and anywhere else God calls us to be.

So make some noise, will you? Shout with your lives that the Lord is near to all who call upon Him. Announce that comfort is available for all who are tired and worn-out. And hear those same messages yourself. When some who knows Christ says He is not far off, know He is near to you.

And to have ears open to listen, and lives ready to proclaim, we say today: St. John the Baptist, pray for us.