Daily HOMILY for December 17, 2012: Monday of 3rd Sunday in Advent, Cycle C

 PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

Monday of 3^rd Advent

St. Luke Institute

December 17, 2012

GOD AND HUMAN ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Matthew and all the evangelists take great pains to insure that their readers believe that Jesus was truly God and truly a human

Ø  This is why John, on the one hand, would say, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” and add immediately, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”

Ø  Today Matthew weighs in with, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”

Ø  By his genealogy Matthew situates Jesus among the families of humanity according to the flesh, while still remaining God

GENEAOLOGY ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø   This reading, a challenge for any lector, mentions the patriarchs and many of the welcomed and unpleasant characters of human history

Ø  Matthew’s point? That Jesus participates in our human generation and in our very nature

Ø  Thus Matthew includes individuals who had shocking carnal relations, for he writes “And Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar” or even plainer yet, “And David became the father of Solomon by Uriah’s wife.”

Ø  So we’ve got in Jesus’ lineage adulterers and murders!

Ø  By this means, the genealogy reveals that it is our very sinful nature that Christ himself comes to heal in the root by being born of it and sharing in it

Ø  It is the very nature – our very nature – that had fallen, revolted and plunged into inordinate desires

ASSURANCES ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  So the genealogy assures me that when my nature flees God, Jesus takes hold of me

Ø  When I dash out and run away from God in revolt, Jesus stops me and holds me close

Ø  When the last thing I may want in my life is God, Jesus’ face in prayer or his words give me pause and enable me to return

Ø  In all these ways I am blocked from the downward spiral that can be my life

CHRISTMAS  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  So what we prepare to celebrate in Christ’s birth is a God who has entered fully into my life

Ø  It is that reality that gives me hope to start again today

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Weekly HOMILY for December 16, 2012: 3rd Sunday of Advent, Cycle C -- Choose Your Savior: John or Jesus?

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

3^rd Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

December 16, 2012

Terranuova Hermitage

 

Choose Your Savior: John or Jesus?

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

John: Not a Disciple

Have you ever wondered why John the Baptist never became a disciple of Jesus?

No question, John respected Jesus.  He humbly said that he wasn’t even worthy to tie Jesus’ sandal straps.

John asserted that he should be baptized by Jesus and not vice versa.  He extolled Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away our sins.”

But with all of this, there is no evidence that John ever became a disciple.  In fact, John even sent someone to Jesus to ask if he really was the promised One of God.

So, again, the question: Why?  Why did John not become a disciple?  

Why?  Kingdom

The answer seems to lie in how John and Jesus each viewed the Kingdom of God.

In one respect, both John and Jesus preached the same message. “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is here in our midst.”

However, their idea of the Kingdom was very different.  John and Jesus both agreed that God would make his presence felt in the near future.

The idea of God becoming personally and immediately involved in the world was a common expectation of the time, but that is where the agreement between John and Jesus seems to end.

John and Kingdom

John the Baptist held a very traditional understanding of God’s Kingdom.

He believed that God would come to his people primarily as a judge, that God would separate the good from the bad – like the wheat from the chaff, as he says in today’s gospel.

God would reward the good and punish the bad.  God would include the good and exclude the bad from his Kingdom. 

And, God would successfully defeat all of the enemies of his people on this earth.  God’s coming and Kingdom would be triumphal and mighty.

Jesus and Kingdom

Now Jesus’ understanding of the Kingdom of God was very different.

In fact, Jesus himself was the Kingdom and so it is in him as a person that we see the difference. 

No question, he would address evil and darkness. No question there would be an accounting for our personal behavior. 

What’s very different is Jesus’ way of accomplishing this and the kingdom is very different from John’s expectation.

For starters, Jesus comes to save, not to condemn.  He comes to invite, not to force by fear.

Jesus tends to understand where others are coming from, and he does not judge.  He relates with others and does not distance them.

In fact, Jesus even has lunch or dinner with those whose behavior or thinking is seen as sinful and wrong.  In short, he includes all and excludes no one.

So Jesus’ approach, his way of being the Kingdom of God, is very different from John’s expectation.  It’s little wonder that John does not become a disciple!

 

What Should We Do?

So, what do we and I do with all of this?

I cannot help but remark that both John’s and Jesus’ approach are present in Christianity today.  In fact, this probably accounts for much of the division and tension both between and within Christian churches of our time.

That’s all I want to say about that.  The real question for us is the one that the people in today’s Gospel ask. “What are we to do?” 

I suggest that whatever our vocation, job, or life situation is, we are all to embrace the Kingdom in basically the same way. 

We are to embrace it as we see it in Jesus.  This means, for example, that we are to draw to God adults who are not formally practicing faith or those whom we see as going in the wrong direction by engaging in respectful conversation about life and faith and not by forcing them with guilt and shame or diminishing them as persons.

We are to view a life of faith not just as fulfilling obligations and agreeing to teachings.  We are to see it also as a matter of relationship, community, empathy, charity and social justice.

We are to reach out and not leave a stone unturned for reconciliation – to forgive or be forgiven.  We are not to get stuck in our having to be right and the other person having to be wrong and therefore their having to come to us.

We are to include and never stop including within our family, our friendships, and even our Church.  We are not to exclude if, for no other reason than that it does no good for others or for ourselves.

Conclusion

One of our Catholic Scripture scholars remarks that John the Baptist urges repentance and conversion as a condition for communion with God.  Jesus practices communion as a prelude to a deep experience of God and God’s love.

All of this is something of the kingdom of God as we see it in Jesus.  Embracing this is what we are to do.        

Daily HOMILY for December 11, 2012: Tuesday of 2nd Sunday in Advent, Cycle C

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

Tuesday of the 2^nd Week of Advent

St. Luke’s Institute

December 11, 2012

DISCOMFORT +++++++++++++++++++

Ø  In the course of our lives, we experience many forms of discomfort

Ø  We may be uncomfortable financially, finding it hard to cover all the bills

Ø  We may be uncomfortable physically, when we have broken a bone or have an intestinal virus

Ø  We may be uncomfortable relationally, as when we cannot resolve some conflict with another person

Ø  And we may be uncomfortable emotionally, as when we are filled with anxiety or overcome with loneliness

THE FEEL OF COMFORT +++++++++++++

Ø  It’s in the face of these human discomforts, the Lord speaks through the prophet Isaiah today: “Comfort, give comfort to my people”

Ø  The Lord brings a message of comfort to his people who have suffered now for too long

Ø  He proclaims that the people who are in exile will now be restored to their homeland, to Jerusalem

Ø  This word “comfort” is warm, consoling, and reassuring

Ø  In the gospel, Jesus shows himself as the source of comfort by tending even a single lost sheep

Ø  No one, not even the least, is unimportant in his eyes

CONCRETE COMFORTS +++++++++++++

Ø  Today, for us, Jesus continues to bring comfort

Ø  Jesus comforts us first by his presence

Ø  He is Emmanuel, God-with-us on each step of the journey of life

Ø  He comforts us by his guidance

Ø  He is the way and shows us the way to live and return to the Father

Ø  Jesus comforts us by his strength

Ø  He nourishes and strengthens us especially through the Eucharist

Ø  And he comforts us by his vision

Ø  He gives us hope that all forms of death can give way to new life

JESUS AS FULFILLMENT +++++++++++++

Ø  So, Isaiah so touchingly proclaims: “Comfort, give comfort to my people.”

Ø  Jesus now is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and our comfort in the journey of life

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Daily HOMILY for December 10, 2012: Monday of 2nd Sunday in Advent, Cycle C

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

Monday of the 2nd Week of Advent

St. Luke’s Institute

December 10, 2012

SINS RATHER THAN HEALING ++++++

·        In gospel, a poor, paralyzed man brought to Jesus by his friends / Cannot move or feel

·        And Jesus looks at him and says, “Your sins are forgiven”

·        Seems as if Jesus has missed the point

·        Friends have brought the man for healing

MISSED POINT? +++++++++++++++++++

·        Has Jesus missed the point?

·        Instead of healing, he’s communicating that there are things far worse and more crippling than physical ailments

·        Things like brokenness of our inner spirit

·        The alienation from God and from one another

·        The paralysis of not being able to hope

·        The blindness of not being able to see the goodness in others

·        The crippling of fear and anxiety

·        The lameness of self-rejection and lack of self-esteem

·        These afflictions are equally burdensome and, Jesus would say to us, far worse than the physical afflictions

NO RESTORE SPIRITS ++++++++++++++

·        Jesus comes to restore spirit to wholeness

·        To give us the unconditional love of God and assure us of our worth,

·        To break down the walls between US and others that our humanity can create

·        To bridge the gap between God and us that we alone cannot mend

·        To give inner peace based on union w/ G

·        To give vision, meaning & hope to our lives

ADVENT +++++++++++++++++++++++++

·        This is the Jesus whom Advent calls us to wait for and expect

·        This is the Jesus who’s breaking in our lives in our hearing

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Weekly HOMILY for December 9, 2012: 2nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle C -- All Humanity Will See the Salvation of God

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

2^nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

December 9, 2012

Terranuova Hermitage, Airville, PA

 

“All Humanity Will See the Salvation of God.”

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato  

Introductions

Hear ye, hear ye … In the days when Mr. A was Secretary-General of the United Nations, in Mr. B’s seventh year as President of the United States, when Mrs. C was Governor of Maryland, and Mr. D was County Executive of Harford County, in the fifth year of the pontificate of Pope E, and while Archbishop F was Archbishop of Baltimore – a man named John felt God calling him.

“John was a Marylander.  He began talking about repentance.”

Imagine a person being introduced publicly in this way:

Such an introduction gives us a sense of how Saint Luke is introducing John the Baptist in today’s gospel.  He wants us to know very precisely where John fits in history.

And so, Luke names the civil and religious leaders of the day.  But, notice, he makes absolutely no comment about them.

Not Others but Us

The fact is that Luke could say some very critical and negative things about the leaders of the time, but he does not.

Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, and Herod are secular rulers leading a secular government.  Notice Luke does not blame all the troubles of the world on them because they are not religious or they are not spiritual persons.

Nor are Annas and Caiphas the best of religious leaders.  But again, Luke does not bash them as being too progressive or too reactionary or too wishy-washy.

He simply names them to get to his real point and that is John the Baptist and us.  John calls us, personally and individually, to prepare for the coming of the One sent by God.

He calls us to do this by dealing with the “stuff” in ourselves.  He wants us to look at how we live, the choices we make, the kind of persons we are.

And in this noticing we can make way for the Lord to be more fully alive in us, not by being negative about our leaders or anyone else for that matter. 

To guide us in that looking, John uses the vivid images of the prophets who went before him.

Preparing the Way of the Lord

First, John says, “Every valley shall be filled in.”  So, do we have a bit of a valley that comes from being caught up in our culture of consumerism?

Is there an emptiness in us that we try to fill by buying things we do not need and by allowing mere desires to become needs? 

In this Advent season what is the valley I have to fill with the person of Jesus Christ by being more reflective and prayerful in the midst of all the busiyness?

Then John says, “Every mountain shall be made low.”  Do we have a mountain of rugged individualism?

Do we live with the attitude that we made it on our own and everyone else should be able to do that? 

Advent then could be a time to thank God for the talents, opportunities, and people placed in our lives that helped us achieve and that we are part of community that wants to be there for others to have some of those same blessings.

Next, John says, “The winding ways shall be made straight.” Do we create winding ways by pushing and twisting others to think or do things only my way?

Are we so insistent on getting our way that we don’t really consider what this does to those around us? 

Advent then could be a time to be more respectful and talk things through with others and arrive at a goal together that all may feel better about?

And finally, John says, “The rough ways shall be made smooth.” 

Do we have a roughness about us that both Saint Luke and John the Baptist avoid in today’s gospel? Are we caught up in blaming and bashing others with angry and demeaning words? 

In this Advent season do we need to be more reflective, less confrontational, and work at understanding things from the perspective of others especially those whom we may dislike?

Conclusion

“Hear ye, hear ye…” Saint Luke introduces John the Baptist to us today.

And we remember he says nothing negative about the civil and religious leaders of the day.  John wants us to look more at ourselves, not at others.

With a self-critical eye we turn our attention to our valleys and mountains, our winding and rough ways and in the process prepare the way of the Lord. 

That sort of preparation has a real impact on society. That is how the sacred can emerge from within the secular and bring to birth the reality of which John speaks: “All humanity will see the salvation of God.” 

Daily HOMILY for December 5, 2012: Wednesday of 1st Sunday in Advent, Cycle C

Wednesday 1^st Week of Advent
St. Luke’s Institute
December 5, 2012

THE POOR & BLESSING OF SHARING ++++++++++++++

Ø  A poor woman carrying a small pail came to Mother Teresa’s soup kitchen to beg for rise for her children

Ø  Mother Teresa took her small pail and filled it with rice from the kitchen’s bin

Ø  After thanking Mother for her kindness, the woman took out a second container and poured half of the rice into it

Ø  “Why did she do that?” Mother Teresa was asked by a visitor

Ø  Mother explained that the second container was for another family near the woman’s home who could not make the long trek to the soup kitchen

Ø  The saint was asked why, then, did she not offer to fill the second container for the woman

Ø  Mather Teresa answered, “Because I did not want to deprive her of the blessing of sharing”

THE APOSTLES & BLESSING OF SHARING ++++++++++

Ø  The miracle recounted in today’s Gospel is a miracle about sharing

Ø  When confronted with the needs of the crowds, Jesus takes all that the apostles have managed to collect – seven loaves of bread and a few fist, according to Matthew’s version, and manages to feed everyone

Ø  We have begun the season of sharing and gift-giving

Ø  Advent anticipates God’s greatest gift to his people – the gift of himself in the person of Christ

Ø  At this table, we celebrate that gift in the simple blessings of bread and wine

Ø  All that God asks of us is that we be willing to become bread and wine – Eucharist – in the compassion and forgiveness we are able to extend to one another

CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  May the Lord take the bread and fish that we are able to give and transform them into vehicles of God’s compassion for those we encounter today

Ø  May the blessings of this Advent Season be, for us, the blessing of sharing many times over

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Daily HOMILY for December 4, 2012: Tuesday of 1st Sunday in Advent, Cycle C

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

Tuesday 1^st Week of Advent
St. Luke’s Institute
December 4, 2012

CHILDLIKE FOLLOWERS THEN ++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  The time of fulfillment is coming and today we find Jesus rejoicing that his disciples are out in the world, working wonders – just as he has commissioned them to do

Ø  They have been casting out demons, healing the sick, preaching the good news of Christ

Ø  More than this, Jesus is rejoicing that his Father’s will is being done by these disciples and that the Kingdom of God is being established

Ø  Notice all of this is being done through the anointed work of ordinary folks – not scholars, presidents, kings, archbishops, military leaders, doctors, lawyers, or Nobel Prize winners, but by a “childlike” band of fishermen and everyday folk

CHILDLIKE FOLLOWERS NOW ++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  We see Jesus praising his Father that he has “hidden these things – the mysteries of the kingdom – M from the wise and the learned,” but “revealed them to the childlike”

Ø  And so this is a day all of us can feel worthy – and anointed – to do God’s work of building the kingdom

Ø  We don’t need to be Scripture scholars, theologians, members of the Church’s magisterium, or “higher ups” in any way whatsoever

Ø  What we need to be is a people who are open, ready, eager, willing, curious, alive, alert – just as “little people” (children) are

Ø  In this way, the mysteries of the kingdom will be revealed to us, the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be handed over to us, and we will be proudly boasting that, thanks be to God, “even the demons are subject to us.”

GOD ENTERING IN HISTORY THROUGH CHILDLIKE +++++++

Ø  Yes, at Advent we celebrate the fact that God continues to be about to enter history, is about to intervene, about to change things, about to heal someone brokenness, about to bestow hope upon someone who is hopeless, about to reveal the Father’s infinite love

Ø  And all of us “ordinary folks,” who are childlike enough to want to be part of it, will be given major roles in the action

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Daily HOMILY for December 3, 2012: Monday of 1st Sunday in Advent, Cycle C

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen 

Monday of 1^st Advent

St. Luke’s Institute

December 3, 2012

BOY IN NEED +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  For his birthday, a nine-year-old receives what he has wanted for months: a radio-controlled model airplane

Ø  That very afternoon, he begins assembling the plane for its maiden flight, but setup is a little more than the young pilot can handle

Ø  Things are not quite falling into place the way the instruction booklet outlines

Ø  He struggles mightily to put the parts together and make all of the connections necessary for flight, but it's no use - he needs Dad

Ø  “Dad has built models himself and he's really good with electronic stuff,” the boy figures, “he'll know what to do”

ADVENT FOR DAD ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  And so begins the "advent" - waiting for Dad to come home from work

Ø  It seems like an eternity, but finally Dad's car pulls up

Ø  After supper, father and son work together on the plane

Ø  The elder explains what this direction means . . . how this hook-up is made . . . the proper settings to relay signals from radio to airplane antenna

Ø  And before long, in an open field near their home, the plane soars into the evening sky

PRESENCE +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Advent calls us to acknowledge our need for help to make sense out of life, our need for guidance in understanding why we are where we are

Ø  Christ comes to show us how to put the pieces together, how to make the connections between the things of God and the things of my own humanity, how to make our lives what God created them to be

CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  We live each day in a constant state of Advent: expectation, waiting, struggling with this life in anticipation of a new life bursting forth within us

Ø  May our prayer be: “Come Lord, set us free, be our light, give us hope, help us understand and see”

Ø  There are greater things at stake than a model airplane!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Weekly HOMILY for December 2, 2012: 1st Sunday of Advent, Cycle C -- 3 Advent Habits

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

1^st Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

Terranuova Hermitage

December 2, 2012

 

3 Advent Habits

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

 

3 Habits for Advent

Most of us have heard of the now famous book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Steven Covey wrote it back in 1989 and it has been a national bestseller ever since.  Recently, I heard a corporate psychologist refer to it as a classic in helping businessmen and women become more effective.

Covey’s insights can help us in any walk of life and even in our relationships.  He cites 7 habits as crucial in our being effective and the first three of deal with our interior dispositions. 

Highly effective people are, first of all, proactive.  Second, they live with the end in mind. 

And third, they put first things first.  These three habits express well what today’s Advent readings are saying. 

1^st Be Proactive

Highly effective people are proactive, that is, they take the initiative. 

For example, in the business world, the merger of one bank with another is a proactive way to grow and to offer services more efficiently. 

In today’s second reading, Saint Paul expresses his pleasure with the way the people in Thessalonica are living the faith, but he wants them to do even more, to live even better, to be proactive – that is be the first to move – as persons of faith.

So for us, this may mean that we pray not just when we need something or feel overwhelmed by a situation.  Rather, being proactive means that we pray every day so we have a thriving vibrant relationship and a real deep communion with the Lord.

2^nd Live with the End in Mind

Second, Steven Covey says that highly effective people live each day with the end in mind. That is to say that they are goal-oriented. 

An example in the business world might be McDonald’s who has the goal of a high market share and so they are always testing food preferences and trying new things like salads and specialty coffees.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is trying to get us to live with the end or goal in mind.  He speaks of omens in the universe and disasters that will threaten us.

Jesus is speaking in what is called an apocalyptic style so these words are not to be taken literally, but rather as more of a scare tactic to get us to live right now with the end in mind.

Would that would mean for us is that we not get swallowed up in the rush of day-to-day living or in the consumer culture of needing the latest gadget to be happy. 

Instead, living with the end in mind means that we stay aware that someday there will be an accounting of our life to God and that our eternal status will to a great extent depend on how we live right now.

3^rd Put First Things First

Finally, Covey says that highly effective people are able to put first things first. In other words, they live with a sense of priorities. 

A business world example that comes to mind is a car dealership that knows that quality service and repair is crucial, so they make this a priority in their entire operation. 

The focus in the Scripture today is to live, whatever or vocation or state-of-life is, the way God would want me to live it.  Make this our priority above any other motives or objectives. 

Concretely, if I am a parent, you give priority to my spouse and children.  Putting first things first may mean making sure my family has dinner together as many evenings as possible, knowing it is in that time together that the most valuable communication can happen.

Conclusion

I end as I began. The first three of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People touch the heart of what Advent invites us to do.

And all three habits are connected.  If I am proactive, but don’t have the end in mind, I will probably be going in many directions.

If I have the end in mind but am not proactive, I will be going nowhere.  And if I have both of those habits but don’t put first things first, I will easily get caught up in the glitter of the world’s values.

Yes, we need all three habits to be highly effective as disciples of Jesus.  We need all three to grow spiritually and be close to the Lord.