Preached for the Third Sunday in Advent, Cycle A - Guadete Sunday, December 10/11 - 4:30p, 8a, 10a

Today's readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/12112016.cfm

I got word a couple days ago from a deacon friend of mine – he and his wife had just returned from the oncologist.  Second oncologist.  Second opinion.  The news is grim – worst fears confirmed - small cell lung cancer.  Since she already has end-stage kidney disease, chemo would be very difficult and unlikely successful.  So she’ll continue to serve in her ministry as an Episcopal deacon until she can’t, and then palliative care, finally hospice care.  Six months or so, tops.

Who among us, especially those of us in middle age, or late middle age, doesn’t know someone who’s had a similar experience?  With a loved one, or friend, co-worker, or maybe we ourselves have sat across the desk from a grim-faced physician.  I can vividly recall the doctor coming into the waiting room after my mom’s surgery – his face said everything we needed to know.

And it’s not just health.  Face it – life is hard.  Broken relationships.  Job loss.  The stress of money worries, stress that’s there when waking up, and still there trying to fall asleep.  And I could go on.

I was watching a clip from the musical Les Mis the other night – the beautiful and haunting song I dreamed a dream.  And a couple of the lines really caught my attention, as a young woman named Fantine sings:

There was a time when love was blind

And the world was a song

And the song was exciting

There was a time

And it all went wrong

Fantine goes on:

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I’m living

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed the dream   I dreamed

Now hopefully very few of us would describe our lives as a “hell” but I’m pretty sure some probably would.  I see it in people’s faces.  In any event I’m willing to bet very few of us can’t relate to what Fantine sings – that life doesn’t turn out to be all we hoped and dreamed it would be.  Who here would really argue with the idea that life is hard.

It’s certainly hard for John, the subject of this evening’s/morning’s Gospel.  He’s been in prison, for quite some time – we’re in the eleventh chapter of Matthew’s gospel here and he was locked up in chapter 4.  And this is no prison like we think of prisons today – more likely it was a cold, dark, damp cell, little or no light, no sanitation, and he was probably in chains.

And John is giving up hope.  Life is not turning out to be what he dreamed, and the Lord is not turning out to be what he expected either.  Just last week we heard him speak of the ax being at the root of the tree, and the winnowing fan is in his hand to clear the threshing floor.  Today – doubts.  Get word to Jesus – are you the One, or is there another coming?

Against this darkness and near despair, Holy Mother Church tells us today “Gaudete!”  “Rejoice”

John, stuck in jail, or you or I burdened by life, might say – “Yeah right.  Rejoice.  Easy for you to say.  What do I have to rejoice about?”

The answer is a simple, single word.  Hope.

Rejoice, because we have hope.  We who are blessed with the gift of faith in Christ Jesus have hope.  I often wonder just how those who have no faith do it – how do they live day to day, where is their consolation standing at a loved one’s grave, where do they find peace driving home from the oncologist’s office? 

But we are blessed for we have confidence, we have His assurance, that the best is yet to come.  That into the darkness, the pain, the burdens of our lives, Christ is already with us, and Christ is coming.  That despite our pain and hardships, we have the hope of unending joy in union with the Trinity.  That is our great hope, and the source of our peace.  The peace of God that surpasses all understanding, St. Paul writes to the Philippians.

To John, despairing in prison, Jesus simply responded with the words of the prophet Isaiah – that the “blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”  In other words, I am the fulfillment of the prophecy.  I am the reason to have hope.  I am the reason to be joyful.  My kingdom is here with you now.

And that is why Holy Mother Church tells us today, “rejoice!”  That because Christ is with us, and coming soon, we can joyfully, even in the storms and difficulties of our lives.  We all know people, I’m sure, who despite very great hardships, great tragedies in their lives, exude peace, exude joy.  That comes from a deep faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that gives a deep sense of hopefulness.

Sisters and brothers, you and I are called to be those people who, despite our own great hardships, great tragedies, exude peace, exude joy.  You and I are called to be witnesses to the world around us of the hope we have found in relationship with Our Blessed Lord.

I saw a beautiful  quote on facebook this week – by the British anthropologist Jane Goodall, who spent 55 years living among and studying the lives of chimpanzees in Kenya – and it was simply this:  “the mission of my life is to give people hope.”

That really struck me.  I thought to myself – isn’t that my mission, too?  Isn’t that the mission of all of us who profess faith in Jesus  Christ?  The mission of my life is to give people hope.

And how?  By sharing the only hope.  The only reason for the advent candles and bright lights and candy canes.  The gifts and the eating and drinking and making merry.  The only hope.  Jesus Christ is with us, and Jesus Christ is coming with salvation for His people.

Gaudete!  Rejoice!

Homily - Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary - preached Thurs., Dec.8, 2016 - St.Margaret Mary 7p

Today's readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120816.cfm

We gather this evening, as we always gather, to praise and worship the Father through Jesus His Son, and in particular we celebrate the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Mother, Mary.  And a great mystery it is – how among the billions of persons who’ve walked the earth, other than that same Jesus Christ, Mary is the only person ever conceived without sin, without original sin or any tendency to sin, pure and spotless.

It’s a significant day, to be sure, a most significant day in salvation history that we celebrate, for at the Immaculate Conception, God first “intervened,” if you will, God first stepped into time and created in the womb of Mary’s mother a most fitting vessel, a most holy and fitting tabernacle who would eventually carry within her God’s only Son, our Lord and Savior.

And we celebrate that she is “full of grace” which means not only that she is pure and sinless, but also that she is completely fruitful – her entire life has borne fruit, from the moment of her conception, all her life, most especially in her “yes” to God at the Annunciation and her giving birth to our Savior, and yes, even for all eternity.

Quite a mystery, huh?  But we who’ve braved a blustery December evening to come to Mass, might ask – well what exactly does this have to do with me, in my life, here and now?

Now if you were to ask me that, I might be inclined to say we don’t need to have a takeaway from every Mass, from every readings, from every homily?  Isn’t it enough to gather and celebrate, to worship, to rejoice in God’s wondrous gift to us in the Immaculate Conception? 

But understanding Mary’s role in our salvation, and especially this day her role as the Immaculate Conception – this is very practical – very applicable to our lives here and now.

How? Let me tell a little story.  My wife and I spent our late September wedding anniversary a few years back hiking in the Adirondacks.  We set out on a perfect Saturday morning to climb two of the high peaks.  Drinking coffee at a morning campfire and making breakfast, we got a late start on what would be a twenty mile round trip hike.  As the day wore on and we got nearer the first peak, I started to panic, realizing that the sun was already dipping in the western sky, and calculating in my head whether we could make it the ten miles through the woods back to the car.  Only a quarter mile or so from the peak, I said “we’ve got to turn around and go back.  I don’t want to spend the night in the woods.”

Long story short, despite making great time down the trail, we ran out of daylight and soon it was pitch black in the woods, with one headlamp between us, no cell service, no overnight clothes, no tent.  We kept going and going until finally I realized we were on a path we hadn’t been on before.  The trail markers were still blue, but I knew we needed to be going southwest and we were heading straight north. We had missed a turn. I knew we were off course only because the moon was rising behind us.  Thank God it wasn’t a moonless night. 

We turned around and re-traced our path for a mile or so, then turned around again and then again.  Completely dark, completely lost in the woods.  No map. No compass. Very little food.  Getting cold.   We were both starting to panic.

The story has a happy ending, obviously – as I sat down on a bridge to eat a carrot, I happened to notice a sign on a tree that pointed the way out.  And at nearly 10pm we were safely back at the car.

What’s the point of this story?  On this journey, I was unprepared.  No map.  No food.  Most importantly no compass.  It was luck (and many prayers answered) that got us out of the woods that night. 

Life isn’t all that different, is it?  It can be quite frightening, cold, dark and we often can feel very lost.  We can follow the wrong signs along the way, toward the only destination that matters, eternal joy with Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mary, the Immaculate Conception, is our compass on that journey.  A compass always points to one point, true north.  No matter where we are, the compass always points to that one place.  Properly using a compass we can always find our way.

Like a compass, Mary always points to one point, her Son, Jesus Christ.  Her entire life, from the moment of her conception, to His birth in the stable, by His side on Calvary – her entire life was about pointing the way to her Divine Son.  And her entire eternity is about pointing the way to her Divine Son as well.

She is a sure and certain instrument, always pointing us to her Son.  No matter the false signposts this world gives us, no matter the temptations the enemy places before us to distract us and have us lose our way, no matter how lost we are in the woods of life, we can always rely on His mother, Our Mother, to point the way to her Son.

Sure, there’s a chance we’ll find our way to her Son without her to guide us.  Our separated protestant brothers and sisters for the most part claim no devotion to Mary, claim no need of her.  To me that’s like setting out in the woods without a compass.  You might find your way, but why chance it?

And the fact that she is the Immaculate Conception means this – she’s completely reliable.  There is no risk, no chance, of her ever leading us astray by sin or scandal.  If we place our trust in people, we know from experience that we will always, to some extent or another, be let down.  No fear of that with Mary.  If we place our trust in her, we can be assured that she will always lead us to her Son.

Isn’t that cause for rejoicing?  We are so blessed to have the salvation Jesus Christ offers us by His death and resurrection, and we are so blessed to have His Blessed Mother to always lead us back to Him if we only ask her.

So let us rejoice and give thanks to God for His great gift to us - His Immaculate Daughter, our Immaculate Mother, a sure and certain guide to lead us to Jesus, who will lead us to our heavenly homeland.

And let us pray, Hail Mary….