Category: Sermons

3rd Sunday of Advent Gaudete Sunday

Cycle B/2020

Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11; Psalm: Luke 1:46-50, 53-54; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28

We have all heard of the recent extension of the COVID “lockdown” here in BC. This is affecting everyone … everyone in some way. This is something that – whether you agree or disagree with what has happened – we are going through together.

When it comes to Christmas (keeping it, sharing time with others) people are struggling with being down in the dumps, stressed, concerned perhaps even scarred (for a whole host of reasons). To make matters even more challenging we know that the lockdown is extended to January 8th of next year. So – how are we do deal with this? How are we to respond? There are – no doubt – many answers to this but as Joshua told his people in the Old Testament “I’m with the Lord” so I will convey to you that “I’m looking to Scripture (God’s word) to both guide and teach me how to respond to this whole situation.

I want to focus on St Paul’s 1st Letter to the Thessalonians. Now – this was just read a few minutes ago. If this section of St Paul’s Letter did not make you a little uneasy or have you scratching your head or wondering “how the heck can I do that” or “are you serious” then I would submit you were not paying attention OR you are paying the Apostle a kind of ‘lip service’ — giving a polite nod to what he is saying. I will focus in on these three verses: “…Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1st Thess 5: 16-18). This is our answer – all the way from God – as to how to deal with COVID. To further this teaching from the Apostle it applies to pre-COVID and Post-COVID times. Listen again:

1. Rejoice always,
2. pray constantly,
3. give thanks in all circumstances;
4. for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you

You should be asking “really!” or “how can you expect me to do take that seriously?” If St Paul was here he would repeat it back to you — “I meant every word that I said.” It should unsettle you and give you assurance at the same time. This is not Paul writing from some “ivory tower,” removed from the day to day living that people have to experience. Paul was in prison and was pretty sure he was going to be put to death. So – his circumstances are NOT ideal by any standards … except, except … by the standards of a Christian and child of God!

St Paul knows exactly what this world can throw at someone … because it threw its worst at him. Did he run? No! Did he ignore it? No! Did he become depressed? He might have been tempted to this but he did not give in to it. What did he do? He did what he has written to us – he followed these three steps to true and lasting happiness. Rejoicing is not a request – it is an imperative. Paul did not just teach this, he lived it on a day to day basis, even in the midst of severe persecution, ostracization and isolation. How did he do this? He trusted the power of the Holy Spirit in his life and in the lives of Christians who would trust that same Spirit. Paul knew that the Lord was near him and this had a real effect on him. It stabilized his day to day living.

He prayed constantly. If this doesn’t make you question (how this is possible) then again I say you are not listening to what Paul is challenging you to. It has challenged great saints as to how this is possible. St Augustine admits that it is impossible to pray unceasingly if we restrict ourselves to formalized prayers. But there is, Augustine claims, “another inward kind of prayer without ceasing, which is the desire of the heart.” If you long for God, you do not cease to pray, for “the continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.” To be sure this is not just some whimsical thinking about God but a deep longing for him that is nurtured by formal prayer.

The great St Thomas Aquinas gives his own answer to this question by drawing on the opinions of many who preceded him. He says that it is possible to pray without ceasing in three ways.

First, we do so by praying at the appointed times during the day.

Second, following Augustine, Thomas says that we pray when we desire God and God’s will.

Third, drawing on the biblical idea that gifts for the poor are gifts for God (e.g., Phil 4:18), Thomas teaches that almsgiving sets off a cascade of prayer that continues unceasingly, because “the one who receives your gift prays for you even while you are asleep.”

Last – give thanks in all circumstances. Not some, not those that are favorable, not when you have time but in ALL circumstances. If you are not centered in Christ then I would submit this is not possible nor does it even sound reasonable. If Jesus is the centre of your life then it is possible and what in fact makes THE difference in everything. I don’t pretend to have this 100% perfect in my life but I know that God sees all things – has seen all things – and has prepared all the grace I need to deal with whatever comes at me. It doesn’t mean I will always respond well but that is what repentance and contrition and restarting are for!

St Paul concludes – this is the will of God for you and me in Christ Jesus! It is God’s will and God knows everything – more than you or I could ever know. If you and I pray God will help us begin to “see” this with his eyes and heart and we will experience a reality that helps us deal with whatever the world and life throws at us. The outcome is that rather than dragging us down we will have strength and trust to rejoice — because the Lord is near and for you and me these are not just words but a reality that changes everything!

Our concept of what we refer to as the “spiritual life” is all too often communicated by a “mountain that we need to climb.” This is not a bad image but as with all metaphors it can be easily misunderstood. It can all too easily give us the idea that God is somehow “out there” or “up there” waiting for us to ascend to him.  

This image while not wrong is really not the biblical view of our relationship with God (what is also called “the spiritual life”). The biblical view refers to the primacy of grace. Namely that God’s initiative is always first. In our overly independent society we tend to think we have to make ourselves appealing to God. This is completely wrong and upside down. The bible is clear that it is always God’s initiative; God is always the one who is approaching us. We do not and in fact cannot approach God on our own initiative; God is the one who approaches us!  

Listen to how Isaiah the prophet speaks to his people (and keep in mind this is God speaking to you and me in our day): “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low…”  God is telling his people that he is coming to them … it is not they who are going to him. And so they must make a straight way for God to come to them. For the people of Isaiah’s day this was very real as the way between Babylon and Jerusalem was not a smooth journey. They had to clear things along the way. This is the image that God presents to us on this 2^nd Sunday of Advent. We are now in the thick of Advent and those messages I spoke about last Sunday are turning up their volume: Fear all things COVID; Buy more than you need or even want because it makes you feel better; Watch and prepare for the “Coming One.”  

Think of God not as some one on the top of a mountain that we have to climb up to in order to get to him but rather think of God as a helicopter who wants to land in your area and rescue you from your enemy and He is unable to because there is so much debris that a landing isn’t possible. You and I need to clear the landing area, make it a place where it can land — a place where God can land and do what he wants to do —— come to you and rescue you and me. The work that the Reading’s remind us we need to do during this season of Advent come through clear with Isaiah and John the Baptist – “make straight the way of the Lord” which is the Bible’s way of telling us that we need to get rid of the obstacles preventing God from being with us. This is where what we call detachment comes in. This word is not understood by many and perhaps turns others off but it is not all that scary once we spend a little time thinking about it and unpacking it.  

The first thing to be said is that we do not initiate and in fact do really cannot – God initiates, God comes to us, God wants to be with us. We have to do our part but the real fruitfulness of it is “done by the Lord.”   

The second thing we need to focus on is what does it mean to “clearing the land” so that the helicopter (God) can land and rescue us? This is where it might get a little scary for some people but if you just persevere a little you realize how freeing it is.  

St Theresa of Avila gives some very wise advice about clearing the land – I will focus on just one of them. She says: we need to have detachment from all that the soul holds worthwhile, because unless we are willing do this our lives are going to ruled by fear, and fear is the chief activator of our faults. What are examples of this? What are ways that we can clear the ground so God can land and comes to us – being liked too much, being in charge, being praised, liking food or our own opinion too much. Think of how these things can clutter our heart, enslave us, keep us down and choke off freedom. If we are willing to really think about it (and this is where we can examine our conscience so we can really see what needs to be cleared away for the great landing of God) we will see how they prevent God’s grace from rushing into our lives and giving us the freedom that only God can give and wants to give us.  

The wise St Theresa is not about getting rid of things or people or distancing ourselves from them but rather of allowing the primacy of God’s grace to be present in our lives. This is the only way that Advent is going to be a spiritually fruitful time for us. And here’s the thing: the messages that I spoke about last week “Fear and Buy” – if we clear the ground then fear goes away and buy is put in check. We have more peace in our lives and a readiness for God. End result — is that we are MORE HUMAN and much happier. We want to make time for Mass (these days) in real time when it is streamed, for confession when we can go or private prayer we can enter into every day in our homes. We are looking for ways to help and assist others – we are intentional about it — again, The Door Is Open or Covenant House here in Vancouver or other worthy charities for the poor and street people.  

Advent – let us see where we can clear our landing area (our hearts) so that God can land and you just see … how much happier you and I will be! 

March 31, 2020
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
John 8:21-30

Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

Our Lord is stating very clearly that he knows what is going to happen and where he is going. If we step back this will, hopefully, instill in us confidence and hope that he was not the victim of circumstances. You and I might feel this way (and sometimes it is very hard to change those feelings) but Jesus knows – he knows what is going to happen to him and he knows the same thing when it comes to you and me. This in no way impinges (takes away or diminishes) free will. It is – to be honest – a mystery but if it was not true then God would not be God by the very definition of what it means to be God (Omniscient being one of his attributes).

This is both a statement of comfort and one that is (I’m not sure any other word than) scary. Jesus states – and he is addressing these Pharisees but all those who knowingly reject him because they do not – they at some point refuse – to be open to him (and God knows this and the person would know it – at some point – as well) … that these individuals if they do not use their precious time well and refuse to repent then this will what is said of them: “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”

So – to knowingly reject Jesus … to reject his grace that calls us to God … will result in our eternal loss. Like I said – scary words but they are also meant to, in a sense, shock us out of our complacency, out of our refusal to make a decision or just put things off.

We need to look at life in all of its aspects and not just settle for a “horizontal view” of everything … meaning that we live as if we are just going along this world and then … then … what??? Nothing? No – there is something and someone who awaits us and it is a binary option: God or Satan.

You and I are called to use our time well – while we are here in this world. This teaching of Jesus should not lead us to try and force anyone to accept him but rather (no one can be or should forced to accept anything) but rather we (believers) are challenged to be authentic witnesses to Jesus Christ and his Catholic Church.

Then all we can do is leave the rest to God. God will resolve all things — in the meantime it is for you and me to be good examples, the best examples to those around us.