Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family December 29, 2013 - St. Kateri at (I think) St. Cecilia

            At the corner of Ridge and Stone in Greece there used to be a Howard Johnson’s Restaurant.  It’s long gone now, replaced by an auto parts store.  But the reason I remember the Howard Johnson’s is because that was my earliest memory of today’s Feast of the Holy Family.  My family wasn’t poor but we sure weren’t rich either, and the only time we would ever go out to breakfast was on today’s Feast.  Go to Mass and head over to HoJos for a restaurant breakfast to celebrate the Holy Family.  So my earliest memory of today’s feast is a joyful one.

            But I have all sorts of other memories of my growing up years as well.  While I don’t remember what they were fighting about, I can still remember some of the things - the specific things -  that my parents would say to each other in the heat of an argument.  Or would yell at the seven of us kids.  Mean things.  Stinging things.  Said fifty or so years ago but fresh in my memory as if they were this morning.  And I can remember some of the things I said and did in fights with my siblings.   Time won’t erase every one of the bad memories of growing up.

            And the sad thing is that my own wife, and my own children, are carrying memories of the hurtful things  I’ve said and done during the twenty-five years of our marriage, during the 20-something years of our kids’ lives.  Perhaps because they aren’t reluctant to remind me - regularly !

            So as a result, for most of my life, when the Feast of the Holy Family rolled around, I had a different emotion than joy.  Someplace between fear and embarrassment.  Maybe unworthiness.  You see, on this day the Church holds up THE Holy Family – Jesus, Mary and Joseph - as our model, as our example to emulate, and, well, my family, whether it’s my family of origin, or the family of which I am husband and father, my family has never quite measured up.  Call my family “holy” and these not-so-pleasant memories race into my mind, reminding me of how “unholy” we’ve been, I’ve been.  Even though the Holy Family had their struggles, their difficulties, as today’s Gospel makes clear, how can I really relate to Jesus, Mary and Joseph - THE Holy Family - when two of the three never sinned and when the child was the very Son of God?

            But, God understands this.  God understands that every family has its imperfections.  Difficulties.  Brokenness.  How could they not?  For each of us humans  is imperfect, broken, a sinner!   But imperfect as our families are, there IS holiness in each one.  Blessed Pope John Paul called the family a “School of Love” and it is – for it is the very place where we learn the meaning of self-giving love, the place where children, and adults too, learn the other virtues as well – gentleness, patience, peace, perseverance, forgiveness, obedience, hard work and service, to name a few.

            But the meaning of today’s Feast is that, unholy as we can be, each of our families is called to greater holiness.  The Greek word for “holy” is hagios, which basically translates to “separated unto God.”  We recognize that God is holy, we even say Holy, Holy Holy – we recognize that God is separate from us - God is other.  And if your family and mine heed the call to greater holiness, it means to strive to be other – different than we are now, and different than what this world and this culture say a modern family is supposed to look like.  Another word for holy is sacred.  Each of our families is called to be sacred!

            It starts with marriage – each married couple is called to strive, to work every day, to make decisions every day, with the help of the grace of the Marriage Sacrament – to love each other ever more and more in the image of Christ’s love – a totally self-giving, self-sacrificing love.  To strive to image, in the love of husband and wife, the love of Christ for His Church.

            It means that the marital sexual act BE just that – a marital act - a holy act reserved exclusively to a husband and a wife who are sharing a faithful, permanent union, an act always open to the possibility of co-creating with God new human life.

            It means making choices to build the strongest marriage possible, and to seek help when needed.  It is said that the greatest gift a husband and wife can give to their children is to love each other.

            And a holy family, a sacred family, builds strong loving ties among all its members.  Children are taught to love and obey and respect their parents, and parents learn to respect, and form, and most of all love their children.  And building a holy family means that faith is ever nurtured, through regular participation in the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation, through prayer together and prayer for each other, and by the example of Christian discipleship shown by each of the parents.

            Now I realize that some of what I’ve just said might sound to some of you like a fairy tale, distant and removed perhaps from real life which is often so messy, so difficult, so ugly even.  Perhaps someone’s thinking “Too late for my marriage, Deacon, so whaddya got for me?”  Or someone else might be thinking “I haven’t spoken to my sister in thirty years, Deacon, so thanks but no thanks.”

             So to you, I would propose this. 

            The real meaning of today’s Feast, the reason it appears during the Christmas season, is that Jesus can heal us, can heal our families.  Can heal my family, and yours.  The other day I was preparing this homily and I said a little prayer – “Lord, what do you want me to tell them this weekend?”  And immediately popped into my head was this – “tell them I can heal them.”  It’s the reason He came among us, it’s why became an infant 2000 years ago, why He was born into a human family.  To heal us.  To forgive us and restore us.

            To heal each of us individually, our habits, our addictions, our sinfulness, our brokenness.  With His infinite tenderness and love and mercy.  No matter what we’ve done, no matter the hurtful things we’ve said, He smiles at us and welcomes us with open arms, bidding us to come to Him.  Christ doesn’t know how to stop loving us!

            And He came to heal our broken relationships.  Once we’ve felt the love and mercy of Christ, we begin to extend that love and mercy to those who’ve hurt us, or to humbly beg forgiveness of those we’ve hurt.  He came to open just a crack in the walls we’ve built around ourselves to let in the light of peace and joy where there’s been only darkness.

            My sisters and brothers, you and I are called to live in a community of love and the most basic community of love is the family.  By God’s grace, by the presence of the newborn Jesus in our lives, may each of our families grow in love, and in faith, and in holiness.

Christmas Eve homily - 4pm (Children's Mass) St Kateri at St Margaret Mary

Good evening boys and girls –

Excited for Christmas?!

Anybody having a party – getting together with family to celebrate Christmas?

So let me ask you a question – WHAT is the BIG DEAL about Christmas?  Why the party?

Jesus is born – right.  It’s Jesus’ birthday party – exactly.  So when you get home, make sure everybody in your family, your moms, dads, brothers and sisters – make everybody sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  Will you do that?

But let me ask you this – why do we celebrate Jesus’ birthday anyways?  Who is this Jesus dude?

The Son of God.  The Savior.  He is God.  All great answers.

Let me explain it a little bit – has anybody here ever been lost?   Maybe at an amusement park, or the zoo or at the mall – you got separated from your parents and were lost?

How’d that feel?  Pretty scary, huh? 

You see, everybody gets lost at times.  Even grown-ups.  My wife and I were out hiking up in the mountains a couple years ago and missed a turn in the trail and got lost after dark.  We couldn’t find our way, and even our cell phone wasn’t working – let me tell you we were REALLY SCARED.  We were hoping the park ranger would come looking for us, but nobody knew we were out there in the woods.

And sometimes it’s a different kind of lost – we lose our way, we do things we aren’t supposed to do, we do stuff that we know God doesn’t want us to.  And sometimes we feel hurt, or lonely, or abandoned.

Now God knows all of this – God is always watching us – not to catch us doing something wrong but because God loves us and cares for us and wants to help us.  You see, God didn’t just make you and me and then go tend his garden or go to his computer to play video games.  No, God cares for you every second of your life, every breath that you take. 

So God who is our Father knows when we are lost, and what do parents do when their kids are lost?

They go looking for them!  And that is what Christmas is all about.  God loves you and me so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to come looking for us, to find us, to bring us to safety.  To walk with us when we feel lonely.  To heal us when we feel hurt.  Emmanuel means “God with us” – Jesus was born this night 2000 years ago, a little tiny baby, and He lived and died and rose again and lives with us even today, right this moment!  That’s worth a party, don’t you think – that God is with us!?!

So there are three things I want you to remember from coming to Church tonight –

1.        God really loves us.  God loves me, and God loves each of you and God loves Father English and now turn around and look at everybody here – God loves every person here.  God loves us so much that He sent His Son to be with us.

2.       Jesus wants to be your friend.  He wants you to get to know Him, and to talk to Him.  To tell Him everything that’s going on in your life – share with Him that you scored a goal in the soccer game.  Or that you’re going to have a new baby sister or brother – whatever it is that brings you joy. 

 

And share with Him the bad stuff too.  Somebody’s picking on you, bullying you – let Him know that.  He will feel the pain you feel.  Maybe your parents are having an argument and you’re scared – bring that to Jesus.  Or your grandma is sick and you’re worried – let Him know that.

 

You see, the cool thing about Jesus is that He is God but He was born a baby just like you and me, and He had to grow up, He had to eat His vegetables and He got to know just what it was like to be a kid, and also to be an adult.  He knew what it was like to lose a loved one, He knew what it was like to get picked on, He even got beat up and crucified.  So He understands you and me.  He wants to be our friend.

3.       And this is the really great thing – He wants to be your friend FOREVER!  Even after you grow old and you’re 120 years old and it’s time to go to heaven – there He will be with each of us FOREVER!  He wants to take each of us by the hand and approach His Father and say, “this is my friend Mary or my friend Joe.  I’ve brought them to live with us forever!”  And there you and I will feel all the joy we feel at Christmas, only like 100X as much!  Every day.  For ever!

So – God loves us.  Jesus wants to be your friend.  Jesus wants to be your friend forever!  THAT’S the meaning of Christmas.  That’s why we’re all having a big party!

Now one more thing – if we’re going to be His friend, we have to spend time with Him.  We need to talk to Him in prayer.  We need to let Him know what’s happening in our lives all the time.  And we need to come here to Church because right here we meet Jesus in a very special way in the Eucharist.  We do this every single weekend here, and this is where we come to listen to His word and feed on Him – this is where we grow in His friendship.  So your homework is to go home and make sure you bring your parents back with you this Sunday!  Will you do that? 

Thanks for listening and have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!  For today we receive the greatest gift of all – Jesus Christ the Lord!

Preached Sat/Sun - November 2/3 - St. Kateri/St. Cecilia

Today's Mass Readings:   http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110313.cfm

            There was a banker in a small town, a very wealthy man, and everyone knew he was wealthy.  One day the head of a local charity came by and said – “sir, I’m aware that you’re very wealthy, you make a lot of money and I notice that you’ve never given in our annual fund drive to help the poor.  So I’m hoping that you’ll make a very generous donation this year!”

            “Well…you probably aren’t aware,” the banker replied, “that my mother is very sick with astronomical medical bills.”

            “Oh, I didn’t know that,” said the man.

            “And you probably don’t know that my brother died recently leaving his wife a widow with six kids and little money and she doesn’t work,” the banker continued.

            “No, I didn’t know that” said the man.

            “And my sister has a child with a severe disability and it’s very expensive to take care of her.”

            “Oh, I’m sorry” said the man.

            “So I ask you” said the banker, “if I don’t give any money to any of them, why would I give any money to you?!”

* * * * * *

            I heard that joke at Mass up near Albany last weekend – we were up visiting our daughter there and heard that and said to myself “I have to tell that one next week because it fits with the Gospel - it reminds me of Zacchaeus!

            This Zacchaeus, after all, was probably just about as popular in Jericho as this banker must have been in his little town.  Chief tax collector and very wealthy.  Tax collectors in general were seen as symbols of the hated Romans, and Zacchaeus was the “chief” tax collector!  We get a glimpse into how everyone felt about him when they all began to grumble at Jesus saying “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner!”  They are all sitting in judgment of this man.  They all began to grumble – including, we presume, the disciples who were accompanying Jesus.

            But Our Lord, as He so often does, surprises - perhaps “dismays” is a better word – this crowd.  He stops and speaks to Zacchaeus, calls out to him, calls him down from this sycamore tree, and invites Himself to go and stay at Zacchaeus’ house! 

            And what happens?  This encounter with Jesus results in a change of heart…Zacchaeus promises to give half his possessions to the poor and repay anyone he’s extorted four times over.  Zacchaeus has repented and has been saved.  “Today salvation has come to this house” the Lord tells Him.  Jesus has initiated a personal encounter with this man and by that encounter, Zacchaeus has been saved. 

            Now, notice what the Lord didn’t say.  Jesus didn’t point at Him and call Him a sinner.  He didn’t announce what everyone seemed to know – that Zacchaeus was one of those sinners, a tax collector!  In fact, He didn’t even talk about his sins.    And Jesus doesn’t demand that Zacchaeus repents before He stays at his house, has supper with him.

            No.  Jesus first invites Zacchaeus.  Invites him into a personal encounter and it is by that encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus repents and is saved.

            My sisters and brothers, you and I can take away quite a bit from this Gospel.  In terms of our own attitudes, and in terms of the kind of Church community we’re building here. 

            This Gospel brings to mind the interview with Pope Francis from a couple months ago that was published in Italy and then in America Magazine.  In that article, the Pope said that the Church is a “field hospital for sinners.”  And in the same article, when asked “who is Jorge Maria Bergoglio?” the new Pope paused and reflected for a moment and then simply said “I am a sinner. “  He went on to recall the moment he was elected pontiff, when asked if he would accept, and he said “I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and I accept in a spirit of penance.”  I found the Holy Father’s words and humility inspiring – for who thinks of the pope as a sinner?  But aren’t we all? 

            You see, there is this perception, right or wrong, that the Church is a place for perfect people.  That the order of things is that people need to recognize their sinfulness, repent and then be welcome in Church.  Rightly or wrongly, we Church people are perceived as too often focusing on the sins of people, the sins of the world.  Perhaps not intentionally, but perhaps acting to keep people from seeing the Lord.

            But in our Gospel, Our Blessed Lord’s focus is on the person, not the sin – on Zacchaeus, whom he calls down from the tree and looks upon with love, even when everyone else is looking upon him with scorn.

            In that same interview, Pope Francis dreams of a Church he calls quote ”the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people.”  The Pope says “I see clearly, that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful.” He says the Church is to be a field hospital for sinners. “The most important thing, said Francis, “is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you. And the ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all.”

            My brothers and sisters, you and I are here today precisely because we are sinners who experience here, in an encounter with the living Lord, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation!  Anyone without sin has no need of a Savior, has no need of Church! 

            And if we find here forgiveness and mercy, if we experience here the infinite love and tenderness of Our Lord, how can we not go forth from here to share that good news?!  Nourished here by the Body and Blood of Our Lord, to go forth into the world, into our families, communities, workplaces, and schools, and share that good news?  By our words and by our lives, by our joy!  Jesus Christ has saved us, each of us, and is saving us!  How can we not be joyful about that and not want to spread that good news!?

            If we find here our salvation, not in following rules, but in an encounter with a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loves us more than we can know, if we find Him here, then let us go forth from this place and be His presence out in the world around us, so that in each one of us, in our open arms and open hearts, our world will come to know Him, Jesus Christ, who is Lord forever and ever.  Amen.

 

Preached Tuesday October 29 - 6:30a and 8a - St. Kateri at Christ the King

Today's Readings:   http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102913.cfm

 

            I don’t do a lot of the cooking at home, but Sunday night is usually my night to cook, and my wife’s and my kids’ favorite seems to be my homemade pizza.  I make my own scratch dough, using a breadmaker which mixes the ingredients and warms the dough as it rises.  Often I’ll mix the ingredients, start the timer and we’ll go out for a walk.

            One day I came back from the walk and checked on the dough and there at the bottom of the breadmaker was a well-mixed but lifeless ball of dough.  Just sitting there, not rising at all.  I knew immediately that I had missed a rather important ingredient – the yeast, the leavening!

            Another time I came in and checked and realized I’d put in a bit too much yeast, or a bit too much water, or something, because the dough was pushing the top of the breadmaker open.  Bursting right out of the breadmaker!

            And so it is with the Kingdom of God.  Where the Kingdom is at work, where the Gospel is preached and reaches people’s hearts, the Word of God is like leaven, expanding and even perhaps bursting out!  But the converse is true also – where the Gospel is not preached and heard, where the values of today’s culture are too strong, there is no growth, no expansion, no transformation.

            We live in what some call a post-Christian culture.  Never before has our world been so in need of the leaven of the Kingdom of God.  You and I, my sisters and brothers, are called by our baptism to BE that leaven in our world.  That nourished at the table of the Lord, nourished by His Body and Blood, we go forth to be the presence of Christ in the world around us, in our homes, our community, our nation.  So that by our word and example, yours and mine, Christ may transform our world and continue to bring about His Kingdom.

Preached Friday, October 25 - 6:30 and 8am at St. Kateri / Christ the King

Today's Readings:   http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102513.cfm

            Nine weeks ago, Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, editor of the Italian journal LaCivilta Cattolica, sat down with our Holy Father, Pope Francis, to interview the new pope.  Father Spadaro’s first question was this - “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” Father Spadaro wrote: “The pope stares at me in silence. I ask him if this is a question that I am allowed to ask.... He nods that it is, and he tells me: “I do not know what might be the most fitting description.... I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”

            I was struck by this direct and humble and honest answer.  Francis is a sinner, and so, apparently, was Paul.  For in this morning’s first readings from the seventh chapter of his letter to the Romans, Paul is describing his struggle with temptation, as well as his apparent failures in that struggle.  There is an internal battle, Paul says, a war between the flesh and the will, between the inner self and what he calls his other members.  The flesh is prone to give in when tempted, even so far as to overcome the rational will, and when that happens, we call it sin.

            Now Paul is very distressed by this internal battle, this struggle against temptation.  We know how well Paul was thought of, how he lived a virtuous and exemplary life.  Yet he writes of his pain and distress over this struggle – “miserable one that I am,” he says.

            Here’s the thing – we know that we Christians are neither immune from temptation or from sin.  In fact, I think we’re prone to experience temptation even more acutely, with more pain, than someone without faith, as did Paul.  Many without faith go about life oblivious of their sinfulness, unaware of whether their lives are pleasing to God, glorifying God.  But as you and I progress in our faith journey, as we grow in holiness, the Lord shines an ever brighter light inside us, in our conscience.  One commentator I read used this little metaphor – he asked what happens when you replace one or two light bulbs in the bathroom – you see the dirt much more easily!  We become more aware of our imperfections, of the temptations we face, and of our sins, and as Paul was, more miserable, more frustrated, with our human weakness.  For we desire more and more to truly be holy.

            This is an important part of our sanctification, of our purification – and it is the working of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us because of the death and resurrection of Our Lord, for when are more aware of temptation and sin, and more grieved by our failures, we have no choice but to rely on the strength that comes only from Christ.  We, realize, like Paul, that we cannot win this battle on our own.  Only by the power of Christ, by His indwelling Spirit, will we achieve victory over temptation, sin and death. 

            Victory only if we remain close to Him, close in prayer, in Sacrament and the service of our lives, and only if we call upon Him in our time of need, in our time of distress.

Preached Thursday, December 12 - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe - St. Kateri at Christ the King (6:30/8)

Mass readings - http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121213.cfm

What a beautiful Gospel selection for this very special feast day.  Here we have the pregnant Virgin Mother Mary, carrying within her Our Blessed Lord Jesus, visiting her kinswoman, Elizabeth, herself pregnant with the herald of Christ, John the Baptist.  In a time and culture where expecting a child, where child-bearing, was looked on not as a burden or a punishment, but as a singular blessing from God.

            Fast forward 1500 years to the new world, where the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire in what is now Mexico was in its twentieth or so year.  Where Spanish missionaries had set out to convert the natives, but had met with very little success.  Where the native Aztec culture, and its worship of many gods called for routine human sacrifice, of adults but mostly of children and babies.  Thousands upon thousands sacrificed, offered up to these Aztec gods year after year. 

            But then this same Virgin Mother Mary we hear proclaimed in today’s Gospel appeared to the humble peasant Juan Diego, and by her intercession Juan’s uncle was cured of a life-threatening disease, and by the miracle of Juan Diego’s shawl, his tilma, on which the Virgin’s image was miraculously found, millions upon millions of the natives were baptized as Christians in the next few years.  The human sacrifices largely stopped.  By the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe there came to be a new reverence for, respect for, human life.  And Mexico became one of the most Catholic nations on earth. 

            So it is no surprise that Blessed Pope John Paul II, during his 1999 visit to Mexico, entrusted the cause of human life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born, naming Our Lady of Guadalupe as the patroness of the unborn as well as all of the Americas.

            My sisters and brothers, the culture throughout our hemisphere is again hostile to human life in all stages and all forms, from the unborn, to the poor, the immigrant, the infirm, the elderly.  Child bearing is seen as a burden or even as a disease to be treated by our healthcare system.  And just like the Spanish missionaries were unsuccessful in their efforts until Mary appeared to Juan Diego, we will not see the protection of the unborn without a work of God.  We can and should implore the Virgin of Guadalupe to intercede for us, for the conversion of our culture, and to strengthen us to advocate for protection and care of all human life. 

            Our Holy Father, Pope Francis spoke to each of us in the Americas in his noontime address just yesterday, when he said the following:

“Mary’s embrace showed what America – North and South – is called to be: a land where different peoples come together; a land prepared to accept human life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age; a land which welcomes immigrants, and the poor and the marginalized, in every age. A land of generosity.  That is the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and it is also my message, the message of the Church. I ask all the people of the Americas to open wide their arms, like the Virgin, with love and tenderness. I pray for all of you, dear brothers and sisters, and I ask you to pray for me! May the joy of the Gospel always abide in your hearts.  May the Lord bless you, and may Our Lady be ever at your side.”  Amen.

Preached Friday, Dec 6 - St. Kateri at Christ the King 6:30a and 8 - Friday of the First Week of Advent

Mass readings - http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120613.cfm

I’ve never been blind, so I don’t know what it’s like to suddenly be able to see, but sometimes what we see is so new to us, so beautiful, so amazing, that it gives us a glimpse of what it must be like to suddenly be able to see.

            I recall the first time I drove into Yosemite Valley in California – you start out about 3000 feet above the valley, up near the tops of the mountains that surround the valley, and as you drive down down down into the valley the sheer walls of granite appear to rise about you, towering over you on every side, rising in some place more than a mile into the sky.  It’s an awe-inspiring thing to see and leaves you with your eyes wide open, mouth wide open in awe at God’s grandeur.

            Or the birth of a baby – I remember the first time I saw our daughter Lauren, emerge from my wife’s body, this little tiny brand new person, helpless and crying but also magnificent and beautiful – it was like seeing with brand new eyes the glory of God.

            And then there are the very real times when our spiritual eyes are opened as well, when we see spiritually in a new and different way.  I recall a time when I was really struggling with the Church’s teaching on the death penalty, and then one day over at St. Margaret Mary, meditating and gazing on the majestic crucifix, and it dawned on me that there is Our Blessed Lord, dying a horrible death from capital punishment, unjustly and cruelly killed, and my eyes and heart were opened.  I realized that the Lord I love and worship died that way, so how could I, as His disciple, support such a thing?

            Now I don’t think any of us here are physically blind, but as fallen human beings, as sinful people, you and I all spiritually blind in one way or another, or at least we have blind spots.  At least I do.  Where my paradigm, my way of looking at the world, is maybe faulty, in error, where I’m not seeing the truth.  Or where I’m just not keeping my eyes open to what is going on all around me.  Or perhaps where I’m deliberately closing my eyes to what’s going on around me.

            Perhaps it’s closing my eyes and putting out of my mind what’s going on at the Planned Parenthood on University Avenue.  Or ignoring, putting out of my mind, the plight of the poor and outcast, whether here in our own town, or starving in places like Haiti.  Ignoring the poor, the elderly, the homeless, the immigrant – this is a spiritual blindness that truth-be-told often afflicts me.

            This Advent season is a time of preparation for the Lord’s coming anew – it’s the time now for us to ask the Lord to open our eyes.  To open our hearts.  To see what He sees.  And we have His assurance that He can and will do it.  “Do you believe that I can do this?” He asks us. 

            The only question is this – do we really want our eyes opened?  For when He opens our eyes and our hearts, mine and yours, we will never be the same.

 

Preached Nov30/Dec1 - St. Kateri at Christ the King - First Sunday of Advent

Mass readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120113.cfm

She was only about 4 or 5 years old.  My wife and I had just put her and her sisters to bed and were sitting downstairs in the living room, reading or watching TV before going to bed ourselves, and our middle daughter, like I said 4 or 5 years old, appeared in the room.  She wandered across the room and my wife said “Colleen what are you doing up?”  No response.  She just kept walking.  “I don’t think she hears you,” I said.  “I think she’s asleep.”  This despite her eyes being wide open, but the blank look on her face clued me in.

            “Colleen, wake up,” I called to her.  Still nothing.  So I went over and picked her up.  Carried her upstairs, kissed her and put her back in bed and she closed her eyes and rolled over.  

            Colleen was, of course, sleepwalking, and had no recollection of this the next morning.  She actually did this a number of times and thankfully, eventually outgrew it.  Well sleepwalking is what came to mind as I was meditating on these readings for this First Sunday of Advent.

            As an aside, I was looking for a sleepwalking joke to begin this homily in honor of Father Jack Rosse, who usually began his homilies with a joke or funny story, and the only one I could find went something like this – what do you call a sleepwalking nun?  A Roamin’ Catholic.  Get it? Roaming!  Sorry about that.

            But while googling to find this little joke, I read quite a bit about sleepwalking and learned that it’s no laughing matter.  All kinds of stories about people wandering off, sound asleep, getting lost, or hurt, or worse.  Dangerous thing, sleepwalking.

            And in our spiritual lives, sleepwalking is dangerous, too. 

            Many of us are sort of sleepwalking in our spiritual lives some of the time, some of us most of the time, and we may wind up lost, or hurt or worse.  It may look like we’re awake but we’re going through the motions.  We may claim to be Christians, to be Catholic, to be disciples of Jesus Christ, but there’s really nothing in our lives that looks any different than anyone else.  Than anyone who’s not a disciple of Jesus Christ.

            Or perhaps we’re not exactly asleep but we’re listless and without energy in our faith.  You see, you and I run the very real risk of becoming complacent in our spiritual lives, of not being intentional in our faith, not being intentional disciples of Jesus Christ.  And what happens is we let ourselves take on the worldly culture around us.  We may take on the attitudes of rampant consumerism and greed, or perhaps the sexual mores, or the maybe negativity of the secular world around us.  Perhaps very subtly, very slowly over time, until we don’t even realize how we’ve changed.  Kind of like a frog in a pot of water.  If a frog is plunged into boiling hot water it will have the good sense to hop out.  But if the frog is placed in cold water and it’s steadily heated to boiling, the frog will boil too, not even realizing that the water’s gotten hot.

            So it is with you and with me, my sisters and brothers.  As an example, our Holy Father, Pope Francis wrote this week that you and I may not even realize that we’ve become pervaded by consumerism, afflicted with, quote, “the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverous pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.” Unquote In this Apostolic Exhortation, Pope Francis joins with the loud and clear call of both St. Paul and Our Blessed Lord in today’s readings:  “Wake Up!”  Wake up.  And if we’re awake – stay awake.  Don’t become complacent, don’t go back to sleep.  

            “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep,” St. Paul writes to the Romans.  “for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand.  Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”        Indeed, on this first day of the new liturgical year, this first Sunday of Advent, you and I are being called to wake from whatever spiritual sleep envelopes us.  To prepare our hearts to receive Him anew and come into our hearts once again. 

            A time, a season to become more intentional disciples of Jesus Christ.  And what does that look like?  It means that every decision in your life and in mine is ordered toward Him and Him alone, who is Lord and Savior.  Ordered toward my relationship with Jesus Christ and informed by the teaching of His Church.  Every decision – what I do with my time, what I watch on TV or the internet, what I do with the talents and treasure God has given me.  It means taking fuller advantage of the sacraments – getting to confession regularly or maybe getting to Mass during the week.  If definitely means carving time out of each day to pray.

            If you and I are intentional disciples of Jesus Christ, your life and mine will look very different to everyone around us than if we did not believe in Him.  We will live more in peace, and much more joyfully, and our faith, our lives, will attract others to the Lord.

            This New Years Day in the Church is a wonderful day to make some spiritual resolutions.  A time to wake from our spiritual sleep.  To recognize all the ways in which that pot of water has become boiling around us and make a decision to hop out of that pot, out of the boiling water.

            For the Lord is coming.  He’s coming on Christmas morn.  He’s coming at the end of time.  And He’s coming at the end of your and my days here on earth. 

            My brothers and sisters, let us be truly prepared to meet Him when He comes.