4th Sunday of Advent (C) - Mary and the Method of Evangelization

What is our “mission statement” as Christians?  What is our mission statement as a parish?  It’s not complicated.  It is not something we have to make up.  Jesus gave us our mission statement before he ascended into heaven when he said to the disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit…” (Mt. 28:19).  We receive the same commission when we are baptized.  But our “mission field” is not usually a far-away land or nation.  Rather, it is for most of us the culture in which we live - to the people closest to us.  Christmas, for which we are preparing in this Advent season, is the “dawn” of our salvation - when Christ the light of the world came into the world.  Christ was born at this time of the year because it is starting on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, that the days begin to get longer - the light begins to grow and the dark of night decreases.  Yesterday, in fact, December 21, was the winter solstice.  So our work is to bring the light of Christ to others, and the model disciple - the one who shows us the method of evangelization - is the Blessed Mother.  And we have the perfect example of this method in action in today’s Gospel of the Visitation.  Mary has just received the news of the Annunciation of the angel Gabriel.  She has just conceived through faith and the power of the Holy Spirit the Son of God in her womb.  The Word has become flesh in her.  She is the new “Ark of the Covenant” - the dwelling place of God.  What greater privilege could there be - to be the mother of the Savior.  Filled with the life of God, this great privilege, Mary does not keep this privilege to herself but is moved to share the gift.  She is told by the angel that her elderly cousin Elizabeth who was barren has now conceived in her old age and is now in her sixth month.  Mary goes “in haste” to see her - there is an urgency to her visit.  The love of Christ impels her.  Loved by God in this remarkable way, she is moved to share that love.  We too, when moved by a great love - by an encounter with the divine, are transformed so that everything we say and do is touched by His presence and becomes a sign of His presence.  I’ve heard it many times, for example, when a young women comes home from a first date having met this man she knows in her heart she is going to marry, all she needs to do is say, “Hi, I’m home” and her mother knows right away, “You’ve met someone special, haven’t you?”  She can tell from the sound of her voice and the twinkle in her eye.  And this is what we see in the Visitation.  Before Mary does anything - simply by the sound of her voice, Elizabeth knows that Mary is bringing with her God’s presence.  She is bearing the Son of God.  At the moment Mary’s greeting reached Elizabeth’s ears, the infant in her womb leaped for joy.  In the presence of Mary, Elizabeth experiences an interior movement of joy - a profound and startling interior joy.  This is the sign that God has visited her.  The real presence of Christ is known and communicated through the Holy Spirit when Mary comes into the room.  It is certain that Mary was a great help to Elizabeth in the last months of her pregnancy and did many things around the house to make life easier for Elizabeth, but this charitable work has its roots in Mary’s encounter with the living God.  Charity and good works motivated by the love of God in the flesh communicates the presence of Jesus.  Elizabeth is surprised by the visit - by the unexpected privilege she has received.  “How does it happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  The surprise of Mary at the Annunciation  - “How can this be?” - is repeated in her encounter with Elizabeth.  She is surprised by joy - joy that is a sign of the presence of God. 

          How and when do we see this method of the Visitation alive today?  A friend of mine has been the director of outreach services for her parish for more than 30 years.  When she was a young mother, her pastor asked her to help him to run a “welcome center” out of the ground floor of the rectory where homeless men in the area could find a warm cup of coffee, a hot lunch, and a warm smile.  Over the years this outreach mission has grown and developed to include a medical clinic, a food cupboard, immigration services, a pre-school readiness program for immigrant children, and a hot lunch program that feeds more than 100 guests a day.  But every day begins in the same way with the director going to the morning Mass, hearing the word of God, receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, praying morning prayer with her staff of volunteers, and begging the Lord that they be the presence of Christ for all who come through the doors that day - that they reveal His face to them.  This time of year, there are many donations and gift baskets that are prepared and given away to needy families, and it often happens that the local paper will do a feature story on the Outreach Center to highlight the “Spirit of the Season.”  After the director was interviewed recently, the reporter confided in her that he, who had always considered himself a non-religious person, was seriously considering becoming Christian and asking for baptism in the Church.  “That’s wonderful!”, she said, and then asked why: “What changed you and your way of thinking?”  He said he was struck by the joy he experienced every time he came to the outreach center.  He didn’t expect there to be such happiness in this place serving meals to the poor, the homeless, and the immigrant.  How could these people in such need and those serving them be so joyful?  The joy he saw and the joy he experienced inside himself in this place was a sign of Christ’s presence.  It moved him to believe that God was real and to want to stay with and to know even more the source of this joy.  The director, recounting this story to me, was amazed by the privilege she has to do this work - that she is doing it without a degree in or any formal training in social work, nursing, education, or nutritional development.  But that is how the Lord always works.  He calls those like Mary who are “too small” in the eyes of the world  - the lowly and the humble - to do his work and to reveal his presence.  God doesn’t need us to have degrees or for us to be formally trained to do the work of evangelization; he just needs our “yes” like that of Mary.

          We will make many visits this Christmas season to or be visited by friends and family, not all who are believers - those who do not know Christ.  They come to believe not by what we say or what we do for them but by the joyful presence with which we do it and the joy that fills the words we speak.  May the word of God we hear today and the real presence of Christ that we receive in the Eucharist, through Mary’s intercession, help us to live out our mission to share the light of Christ and to bring the joy of the Gospel to others this Christmas.

3rd Sunday of Advent (C) - Rejoice, the Lord is near!  He has removed the judgment against us!

As we get closer to the coming of Chist at Christmas, our expectation builds.  We begin to rejoice because he is near.  Zephaniah is preaching at a time when Israel was worshipping false gods - when the chosen people, having been influenced by the surrounding nations and cultures, had let their faith lives become corrupted.  Zephaniah predicts a day of judgement against the enemies of Israel.  He promises that a remnant of Israel will survive this “day of doom” - those who are humble and lowly and who take refuge in the Lord - those who receive His mercy.  This will be a time of joy when the Lord will remove the judgment against them and vanquish their enemies.  “On that day… the Lord will rejoice over you… and renew you in his love,” says the prophet.  This prophecy comes to fulfillment in Christ who, by his coming in the flesh and his death for the forgiveness of our sins, has removed the judgment against us.  By his resurrection and the outpouring of his mercy which continues in the sacraments through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are renewed in his love.

          Today’s Gospel passage features John the Baptist, the precursor of the Lord.  He is preparing the way and letting us know that the Lord is near as well as the judgment that the Lord will bring - the judgment on sin.  Right before today’s Gospel passage, we hear John speak of this imminent judgment when he says, “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  John’s preaching about judgment and the necessity of producing good fruit prompts the question from the crowds, “What should we do?”  They are asking, “How do we produce good fruits in our lives?”  Tax collectors and soldiers and others who recognized their need for repentance and conversion came to John with the same question: “What should we do?”  John’s answer is first to be charitable and to stop doing what is bad, but if conversion was just about knowing the right thing to do, having the commandments or the law or the right teaching would be enough.  But it is not.  Most people, i.e., most sinners, like the tax collectors, find themselves “stuck” in a sinful lifestyle.  They may want to stop, i.e., live differently, but they can’t or don’t believe it is possible to change.  It is this feeling of being stuck or helpless and at the same time desiring something more to life - something more for their life - something they see in John, that moves them to ask for and to seek a savior.  They knew they needed to be saved and that they could not save themselves.  This expectation for salvation has been awakened by John, and they are wondering if he is the Messiah. 

          John can only say what to do or not to do, but it is the Lord, the one mightier who is coming, who makes conversion possible and will fulfill the expectation of freedom from sin.  John can only baptize with water but the Christ will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.  Here John uses the image of the “winnowing fan”.  The winnowing fan was an instrument used in the harvesting of wheat.  First the sheaves of wheat would be placed on the threshing floor where they would be beaten or trampled on to separate the kernel of wheat from the chaff.  Then the farmer would use the winnowing fan to scoop up and to throw the wheat up into the air.  The chaff which was lighter would be blown away by the wind and the kernels of wheat would fall back to the floor.  He would then use the winnowing fan to gather the wheat together. 

          The winnowing fan is an image of how the Lord separates us from our sins.  We come to the Lord with a crushed or “contrite” heart.  The Holy Spirit needs to blow over us to take away the sins.   There will be a judgment against all sin.  All sin will be sent into the unquenchable fire.  Only if we are separated from our sins will we be saved from the fire.  The Good News that John proclaims is that we can be “unstuck” from our sinful ways - we can be separated from our sins.  The grace of freedom from sin is available in the sacrament of confession.  In the prayer of absolution, the priest calls down the Holy Spirit, and we are absolved or freed from our sins.  Our sins are “wiped away”.  If you feel stuck in sin, beaten down by sin, or crushed by your sin, and feel you are not producing “good fruit” in your life, do not despair.  The Lord is near.  Ask for a contrite heart.  Sorrow or contrition for our sins is a gift of God - a sign of his nearness to us.  We may have some apprehension about going to confession if it has been a long time, but as St. Paul says, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.”  Let the Lord lift you up by the “winnowing fan” of the sacrament of confession, free you from your sins, and renew you in his love.  Paul goes on to describe the fruit of the forgiveness of sins and a good confession: “Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”  As this season of Advent reminds us, especially with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe this past week, Mary, the Blessed Mother, prepares the way for us who are stuck in a “culture of death” to receive her Son.  Ask Mary for help in making a good confession.  She brings us, her children, near to Jesus.  I  know this is true.  This past Monday, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and on Thursday, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I heard some amazing confessions.  Those who were away from the Church for many years, who found themselves stuck in a place where they did not want to be, came with contrition for their sins.  They were aware of an impending judgment, and they knew they needed God.  People often ask, “what should I do?” but the answer is not what we need to do but what God needs to do in us.  We need to let him work in us.  We need to stay near to the Lord.  Zephaniah says about the Lord, “he will rejoice over you with gladness… he will sing joyfully over you…”  As a priest hearing confession, I experience that joy and gladness when someone returns to the sacraments.  Jesus says, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance” (Lk 15:7).  I get a foretaste of that heavenly joy when I hear confession.  If you feel stuck, fear not, be not discouraged!  The Lord is in your midst.  Come to Him and make a good confession.  Then you will know joy and peace - Christ’s real gift to us that we celebrate at Christmas.

3er domingo de Adviento (C) - ¡Alegraos, el Señor está cerca! ¡Él ha quitado el juicio contra nosotros!

Mis queridos hermanos en Cristo… A medida que nos acercamos a la llegada de Cristo en Navidad, nuestra expectativa aumenta. Comenzamos a regocijarnos porque él Señor está cerca. Sofonías está predicando en un tiempo en el que Israel adoraba a dioses falsos, cuando el pueblo elegido, habiendo sido influenciado por las naciones y culturas circundantes, había dejado que su vida de fe se corrompiera. Sofonías predice un día de juicio contra los enemigos de Israel. Promete que un remanente de Israel sobrevivirá a este "día de perdición": aquellos que son humildes y modestos y se refugian en el Señor, aquellos que reciben Su misericordia. Este será un tiempo de alegría cuando el Señor levantará la sentencia del juicio contra ellos y expulsará a sus enemigos. "En aquel día ... el Señor se goza y se complace en ti; él te ama y se llenará de júbilo por tu causa", dice el profeta. Esta profecía llega a su cumplimiento en Cristo quien, por su venida en la carne y su muerte para el perdón de nuestros pecados, ha levantado su sentencia contra nosotros. Por su resurrección y la efusión de su misericordia que continúa en los sacramentos por el poder del Espíritu Santo, somos renovados en su amor.

          El pasaje del Evangelio de hoy presenta a Juan el Bautista, el precursor del Señor. Él está preparando el camino y haciéndonos saber que el Señor está cerca, así como el juicio que el Señor traerá: el juicio sobre el pecado. Inmediatamente antes del pasaje del Evangelio de hoy, escuchamos a Juan hablar de este juicio inminente cuando dice: “El hacha ya está puesta a la raíz de los árboles, y todo árbol que no dé buen fruto será cortado y arrojado al fuego” (3, 9). La predicación de Juan sobre el juicio y la necesidad de producir buen fruto provoca la pregunta de las multitudes: "¿Qué debemos hacer?" Se preguntan: "¿Cómo producimos buenos frutos en nuestras vidas?" Los recaudadores de impuestos y los soldados y otros que reconocían su necesidad de arrepentimiento y conversión acudieron a Juan con la misma pregunta: "¿Qué debemos hacer?" La respuesta de Juan es, en primer lugar, que tienen que ser caritativos y dejar de hacer lo que es malo, pero si la conversión consistiera sólo en saber qué es lo correcto que hay que hacer, bastaría con tener los mandamientos o la ley o la enseñanza correcta. Pero no es así. La mayoría de las personas, es decir, la mayoría de los pecadores, como los publicanos, se encuentran “atrapados” en un estilo de vida pecaminoso. Es posible que quieran dejar de hacerlo, es decir, vivir de manera diferente, pero no pueden o no creen que sea posible cambiar. Es este sentimiento de estar estancados o desamparados y, al mismo tiempo, desear algo más en la vida, algo más para su vida, algo que ven en Juan, lo que los mueve a pedir y buscar un salvador. Sabían que necesitaban ser salvados y que no podían salvarse a sí mismos. Esta expectativa de salvación ha sido despertada por Juan, y se preguntan si él es el Mesías.  Juan sólo puede decir lo que hay que hacer o no hacer, pero es el Señor, el más poderoso que viene, quien hace posible la conversión y cumplirá la expectativa de liberación del pecado. Juan sólo puede bautizar con agua, pero el Cristo bautizará con Espíritu Santo y con fuego. Aquí Juan utiliza la imagen del bieldo. El bieldo era un instrumento utilizado en la cosecha del trigo. Primero se colocaban las gavillas de trigo en la era donde se golpeaban o pisoteaban para separar el grano de trigo de la paja. Luego el agricultor usaba el bieldo para recoger y lanzar el trigo al aire. La paja, que era más liviana, era arrastrada por el viento y los granos de trigo caían al suelo. Luego usaba el bieldo para juntar el trigo.

          El bieldo es una imagen de cómo el Señor nos separa de nuestros pecados. Venimos al Señor con un corazón contrito o quebrantado. El Espíritu Santo necesita soplar sobre nosotros para quitar los pecados. Habrá un juicio contra todo pecado. Todo pecado será enviado al fuego inextinguible. Solo si nos separamos de nuestros pecados seremos salvados del fuego. La Buena Nueva que proclama Juan es que podemos “despegarnos” de nuestros caminos pecaminosos; podemos separarnos de nuestros pecados. La gracia de la libertad del pecado está disponible en el sacramento de la confesión. En la oración de absolución, el sacerdote invoca al Espíritu Santo y somos absueltos o liberados de nuestros pecados. Nuestros pecados son “borrados”. Si te sientes estancado en el pecado, abatido por el pecado o aplastado por tu pecado, y sientes que no estás produciendo “buenos frutos” en tu vida, no te desesperes. El Señor está cerca. Pide un corazón contrito. El dolor o la contrición por nuestros pecados es un don de Dios, un signo de su cercanía a nosotros. Podemos tener cierta aprensión acerca de ir a confesarnos si ha pasado mucho tiempo, pero como dice San Pablo: “No se inquieten por nada, más bien presenten en toda ocasión sus peticiones a Dios en la oración  y la súplica, llenos de gratitud.”. Dejen que el Señor los levante con el “bieldo” del sacramento de la confesión, los libere de sus pecados y los renueve en su amor. Pablo continúa describiendo el fruto del perdón de los pecados y de una buena confesión: “Que la paz de Dios, que sobrepasa toda inteligencia, custodie sus corazones y sus pensamientos en Cristo Jesús”. Como nos recuerda esta temporada de Adviento, especialmente con la Fiesta de la Inmaculada Concepción y la Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe la semana pasada, María, la Madre de Dios, prepara el camino para que nosotros, que estamos atrapados en una “cultura de muerte”, recibamos a su Hijo.  Pídanle ayuda a María para hacer una buena confesión. Ella nos acerca a Jesús, sus hijos. Sé que esto es verdad. El pasado lunes, en la fiesta de la Inmaculada Concepción, y el jueves, en la fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, escuché algunas confesiones asombrosas. Aquellos que habían estado alejados de la Iglesia durante muchos años, que se encontraban atrapados en un lugar donde no querían estar, vinieron con contrición por sus pecados. Eran conscientes de un juicio inminente y sabían que necesitaban a Dios. La gente a menudo pregunta: “¿Qué debo hacer?”, pero la respuesta no es lo que debemos hacer, sino lo que Dios debe hacer en nosotros. Necesitamos dejar que Él obre en nosotros. Necesitamos permanecer cerca del Señor. Sofonías dice acerca del Señor: “Él se goza y se complace en ti; él te ama y se llenará de júbilo por tu causa…” Como sacerdote que escucha confesiones, experimento esa alegría y ese regocijo cuando alguien regresa a los sacramentos. Jesús dice: “habrá más alegría en el cielo por un solo pecador que vuelve a Dios que por noventa y nueve justos que no tienen necesidad de convertirse” (Lc 15:7). Recibo un anticipo de ese gozo celestial cuando oigo la confesión. Si te sientes estancado, no temas, no te desanimes. El Señor está en medio de ti. Ven a Él y haz una buena confesión. Entonces conocerás el gozo y la paz, el verdadero regalo de Cristo para nosotros que celebramos en Navidad.  ¡Que Dios los bendiga!