The Exodus was deeply engrained on the memory of Israel. The Israelites
surrounded my misery and despair long for a new exodus. For Isaiah in
particular, the judgement of God, the destruction of the wicked, and of joy for
the afflicted, the sick and the poor ones, reveals itself as a new Exodus
towards Zion. In the first reading the prophet Isaiah uses the image of a
desert, made fertile by rain, to portray the confident hope that God would
restore his people crushed by misfortune. The most crippling disabilities
–blindness, deafness, and lameness –will be relieved when God sends salvation
to his people. Isaiah appeals to the people: “Have courage! Do not be
unafraid!”
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American writer. When he died in
1864 he had on his desk the outline of a play he never got a chance to finish.
The play centred around a person who never appeared on stage. Everyone talked
about him. Everyone dreamed about him. Everyone waited for his arrival. But he
never came. All kinds of minor characters described him. They told everybody
what he would do. But the main character never appeared. –The Old Testament is
something like Nathaniel Hawthorne’s play. It too ended without the main
character putting in an appearance. Everyone talked about the Messiah, everyone
awaited his arrival. But he never came. In today’s reading we hear Isaiah
describe what the Messiah would do. We are called to believe that He will come
and fulfill his promise of bringing salvation to us and to all mankind.
Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’
The second reading from James talks of the Second Coming of
Jesus. He urges the kind of patience and hope farmers show in waiting for the
harvest, and which the prophets of old showed as they waited for the promises
to be fulfilled. It is a patience that does not lose hope, no matter how hard
the situation; a patience that is strong and yet at the same time gentle. It is
a patience that is not passive but active. It is a patience that manifests
quiet, every day sort of strength. In the meanwhile we cry out with today’s
response psalm: “Lord come and save us!”
Practicing Patience
“One moment of patience may ward off great distaste, one
moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.” (Chinese Proverb)
There is a story of a man who prayed earnestly for grace to
overcome his besetting sin of impatience. A little later he missed the train by
half a minute and spent half an hour stamping up and down the platform in
furious vexation. Five minutes before the next train came in he suddenly
realized that there had been an answer to his prayer. He had been given an hour
to practice the virtue of patience, he had missed the opportunity and wasted
the hour.
- Bernard Hodgson in ‘Quotes and Anecdotes’
In today’s reading of Matthew’s Gospel, John the Baptist has
his doubts about the identity of Jesus and so we hear him questioning Jesus
through his disciples. “Are you the Messiah, the one who is to come?” John’s
situation was a grim one as he was locked up in a dark dungeon with the threat
of death hanging over him. His faith was being seriously tested. He needed
reassurance and comforting. John had been preparing the people for the coming
of the Messiah. John’s idea of the Messiah was that of a stern, uncompromising
judge. But Jesus was not living up to that image, instead he was acting like a
savior. His radiant friendliness contrasted sharply with the severity of John.
John was an ascetic, who lived apart from the people, Jesus on the other hand
freely mixed with people and ate and drank with sinners. John prophesized
judgement, while Jesus prophesized salvation. John was confused and wanted to
know for sure, so he sent two of his disciples to question Jesus, “Are you the
one who is to come?” Jesus might have replied with a straight forward yes, but
that would have got him into trouble with the authorities. Neither could he
deny that he was the Messiah, for that would be lying. Instead, he chose to
point out the answer through his actions. His actions were exactly the kind
Isaiah had predicted for the Messianic times. Jesus was happy to let his
actions speak for themselves.
Dying in Darkness
The great astronomer, Galileo, was born near Florence, in
the year 1564. He confirmed what Copernicus had said, namely, that the earth
goes round the sun, and not vice versa. His discoveries greatly enlarged our
knowledge of the universe. Yet he spent his last years in darkness. When
summoned before the inquisition he wrote: ‘Alas, poor Galileo, your devoted
servant, totally and incurably blind; so that this heaven, this earth, this
universe, which by my observations and demonstrations, I have enlarged a thousand
fold beyond their previous limits, are now shrivelled for me into such a narrow
compass as is filled by my own bodily sensations.’ –Galileo reminds us of John
the Baptist. Like Galileo he ushered in a new age –the age of Jesus. And like
Galileo he died in darkness.
- Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’
"Today we find John the Baptist shut in a prison – full
of shadows and forebodings. The Messiah whom he believed he recognized does not
behave like a sovereign judge. Nor does he act as the unrelenting executor of
God’s judgement against sinners. Confused and helpless, John sends to Jesus to
enquire: “Are you really the Messiah whom we await – you who are non-violent,
forbearing and forgiving? This question echoes down the centuries and
challenges us today more than ever, faced as we are with God’s silence and
passivity before our own dechristianized society. We expect answers from the
gospel, but instead the gospel seems to pose us further questions! Where we
expected to find ready-made solutions, we find instead an invitation to
formulate our own. We expect to find miracles only to find the gospel following
nature’s process of slow germination. We find it difficult to admit that
Christianity is a matter of liberty and love –hence a matter of faith and risk.
Like John, we need to enter into our spirit and recognize the real face of God
in the countenance of Jesus Christ –the humble and merciful deliverer.”
- Glenstal Sunday Missal
In the second part of the gospel Jesus speaks about John the
Baptist praising him as the greatest of the prophets. Jesus paid handsome
tributes to John calling him a strong personality and an unbending man of
principles. John did not go in for showmanship and did not live a life of
comfort and ease. He was single minded in his purpose and devoted his life
totally to his mission, which was to prepare the way for Jesus. When his task
was done, he moved aside to make way for Jesus. That took greatness. John’s
lifestyle as well as his personal integrity, lent credence to his words. He was
a living example of what he preached. We can draw inspiration from John’s life.
Despite extolling John to the heavens Jesus said that the least in the kingdom
of God was greater than John. Why? Because John, great though he was, did not
fully comprehend Jesus. John preached a God of divine retribution; Jesus
preached a God of divine love. John had his doubts and was confused as to the
identity of Jesus. “Are you the one who is to come, the Messiah?” was the
question troubling him as he lay in the darkness of his dungeon.
Faithful Witness To The Truth
Henry David Thoreau was an American who authored the
renowned essay ‘Civil Disobedience’. He championed the freedom of the
individual over the law of the land. He distinguished between ‘law’ and
‘right’. He wrote: “What the majority passes is the ‘law’ and what the
individual conscience sees is the ‘right’, and what matters most is the ‘right’
not the ‘law’.” Once Thoreau was imprisoned for a night for his refusal to pay
poll-tax as a protest against the government’s support of slavery and its
unjust war against Mexico presumably in support of slave trade intentions. When
he was arrested, he hoped that some of his friends would follow his example and
fill the jails, and in this way persuade the government to change its stance on
the issue of slavery. In this he was disappointed. Not only did his friends not
join him, one friend paid the tax on his behalf and got him released the very
next day. When he was in the prison Emerson, another American writer came to
visit him. He said to Thoreau: “Thoreau, why are you inside?” And Thoreau
replied, “Emerson, Emerson, why are you outside?” Thoreau was a great lover of
the truth. He suffered because he spoke the truth and stood for the truth. Emerson
said in his obituary of Thoreau, “He was a great speaker and actor of truth.”
–John the Baptist too spoke and stood for the truth against the king and paid
for it by sacrificing his life.
- John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’
Key Question
Some critics acclaim Shakespeare’s Hamlet as the greatest
play of the modern world. In this tragedy Hamlet is the prince of Denmark who
learns from his father’s ghost that he was murdered by his own brother
Claudius, so that Claudius could take his place as king and marry Hamlet’s
mother. Intent on avenging his father’s assassination, Hamlet ponders what he
should do in a soliloquy: ‘To be or not to be: that’s the question. Whether
‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?’ Hamlet’s
perplexing question has become a Shakespearean classic. Scripture too poses
some key questions about the mysteries of life, and today’s gospel gives us a
good example. John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask the
question: “Are you the one who is to come, or do we look for another?” This is
by no means a casual question of identity, but a critical question whose answer
affects our entire destiny. As such it is a timeless question, a contemporary
question, an ultimate question.
- Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’
***
1. In his book Horns
and Halos
Dr. J. Wallace Hamilton tells about one of the weirdest
auction sales in history; and it was held in Washington, D.C., in 1926, where
150,000 patented models of old inventions were declared obsolete and placed on
the auction block for public auction. Prospective buyers and on-lookers
chuckled as item after item was put up for bid; such as a "bed-bug
buster" or an "illuminated cat" that was designed to scare away
mice. Then there was a device to prevent snoring. It consisted of a trumpet
that reached from the mouth to the ear; and was designed to awaken the snorer
and not the neighbors. And then there was the adjustable pulpit that could be
raised or lowered according to the height of the preacher.
Needless to say, this auction of old patent models was worth at least 150,000 laughs; but if we would look into this situation a little deeper, we would discover that these 150,000 old patent models also represent 150,000 broken dreams. They represented a mountain of disappointments.
It may seem inappropriate to talk about broken dreams and disappointments this close to Christmas. After all, this is the season to be jolly. But it's not jolly for everybody, is it? For those who have lost loved ones this is the loneliest time of the year. And in a world that glorifies materialism, those who are struggling financially may find it to be most disappointing.
Our friend John the Baptist knew about disappointment. John is in prison now and he's looking for a sign - a sign that the long-awaited Messiah has really arrived. That's ironic, don't you think? John the Baptist is the one who first proclaimed his coming. But much has happened to John since we last saw him preaching and baptizing people in the wilderness, and now his heart is cast down.
You'll remember John's message was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." This message burned in John's soul...
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It is one of those moments parents hope for, even dream
about. But it is one of those moments parents are never quite sure will ever
come about. It is the moment when you pick up your child from a play date, or
birthday party, or sleep-over, and the parent hosting the event declares how
well-behaved and polite your child has been.
Suddenly all those countless drills and dramas about saying
"please" and "thank you" or "take turns" or
"share" or "be kind to others" are rewarded. It is good to
know that even when you are NOT looking, even when you are NOT "hand's
on," the long arm of loving influence and life lessons continue to
bear good fruit in the world.
Children are not born with good manners. Children are not
characterized by congenital civility. One of the most common injuries in
toddler day-care centers is of children being bitten by other children.
Reinhold Niebuhr, the great 20th-century theologian, confessed
that an infant, no matter how cute, was infallible proof of the doctrine of
original sin.
It takes years of patience and endurance and constant care
to teach toddlers that instead of snarling and snapping over their crackers and
crayons, they should willingly share them with others. It is a hard lesson to
learn. But it is the first crucial step necessary to create compassionate human
beings out of competitive creatures. And it is a lesson we never can stop
learning, throughout the length of our lives.
As the world both mourned the death and celebrated the life
of Nelson Mandela last week, there were the musings of those who wondered what
more might have been accomplished had he not been imprisoned for those twenty-seven years by his government...
_______________________
2. Knee Deep In
Alligators
Did you ever hear the expression, "When you're
knee-deep in alligators and copperheads, it's hard to remember that your
primary objective was to clean out the swamp?" That's how I imagine John
the Baptist must have felt as he stared at those damp, cold walls of Herod's
dungeon, day after day, knowing in his heart that only a miracle would allow
him to leave this place alive. Wouldn't you be scared in that predicament?
Wouldn't you begin to question your "core beliefs" if you knew that
those very beliefs were responsible for your impending doom?
Johnny Dean
Johnny Dean
__________________________________
3. Timing Is
Everything
I was reading about steamships. It was a wonderful article
in which the author said that the dream of a self-propelled ship had been a
dream of humankind for hundreds of years. Then one day the time came when it
was theoretically possible, but it was still not practically possible. The
dream was kept alive for another hundred years or so by inventors and
experimenters, some of whom were considered to be eccentric. Later on people
looked back and said of them, they were just ahead of their time.
Then the times changed. The next person to come along
wasRobert Fulton. It was not so much that Fulton invented the steamboat, but
that he just happened to be there when the time was right. As the author wrote,
"The inventor's eminence may be more a trick of chronology than anything
else, due to being active at the very moment when fruition was possible."
It's a wonderful statement. It tells you that timing is everything.
That's what we learn from the Bible. Look at our lesson for
this morning. The disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus, and ask,
"Are you the one, or do we look for another?" It is a critical
question for John. John has preached that the time has come. The Messiah, he
said, is about to appear, so repent, get ready, put your lives in order. He has
devoted his whole life to the belief that the time has come. But he is in
prison now. He is about to lose his head. So he sends his disciples to ask
Jesus, "Are you the one that we have been waiting for, or do we still look
for somebody else?"
Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
___________________________________
4. Who Jesus Really
Is
I don't know where life may be defeating you this Advent. I don't know how Jesus may be disappointing you this Advent. But I would suggest to you this Advent that any disillusionment you feel may not necessarily be a bad thing. For what is disillusionment if not, literally, the loss of an illusion? And, in the long run, it is never a bad thing to lose the lies we have mistaken for the truth.
Did Jesus fail to come when you rubbed the lantern?
Then perhaps Jesus is not a genie.
Did Jesus fail to punish your enemies?
Then perhaps Jesus is not a cop.
Did Jesus fail to make everything run smoothly?
Then perhaps Jesus is not a mechanic.
Over and over again, our disappointments draw us deeper and deeper into
who Jesus really is ... and what Jesus really does.
William A. Ritter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
__________________________________________
5. The Controlling Emotion
of Fear
H. A. Williams, one of the leading preachers and theologians
of the Church of England, titled his autobiography, Someday I'll Find You. That
may seem like an unusual title for an autobiography, but if you read the book,
as I did when I was a seminary student, it begins to make sense.
You see, there was a period in Dr. Williams' life when he
was almost totally incapacitated by phobic anxieties. He was afraid to into the
streets and marketplaces, afraid of elevators and escalators, afraid to ride on
trains or buses or subways, afraid of flying - you name it, he was afraid of
it! Eventually he became so overcome with fear that he was partially paralyzed,
and it was only after years of psychoanalysis and treatment that he was able to
conquer his fear and go on with his life.
Fear is one of the most controlling emotions of life. Most
of us don't like to think of ourselves as fearful people. We prefer to think of
ourselves as strong and independent, as though we had the world by the tail and
are just waiting for it to say "uncle," as if we were capable of
taking on all comers. "I am strong, I am invincible," to borrow a
line from one of my all-time least favorite songs. It just ain't so, folks!
None of us are "invincible," male or female. Every one of us, at one
time or another has felt the cold grip of fear and felt helpless to do anything
about it.
Johnny Dean, www.Sermons.com
_____________________
6. We Can't See What
Is Before Us, We Are Never Content
In a Peanuts comic strip Lucy is speaking with Linus at the
base of a hill. She says, "Someday I'm going over that hill and find the
answer to my dreams.... Someday I'm going over that hill and find hope and
fulfillment. I think, for me, all the answers to life lie beyond these clouds
and over the grassy slopes of that hill!"
Linus removes his thumb from his mouth, points toward the
hill, and responds: "Perhaps there's another little kid on the other side
of that hill who is looking this way and thinking that all the answers to life
lie on this side of the hill." Lucy looks at Linus, then turns toward the
hill and yells, "Forget it, kid!"
Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com
__________________
7. Where Is the Fire?
We get this comforting idea that if we follow the Messiah
life will somehow be smoother, or at least all fit together in some
"good" way. Then we run smack into the reality that the only
guarantee Jesus made to us had to do with the activities that come after this
life. In fact, Jesus very clearly expected that his followers would have a
harder time getting through this life than those who walked away. But we still
have these expectations of a "Savior" and when Jesus doesn't meet
them we begin to wonder if he is really who we thought he was. There are
thousands of empty church pews that used to be full of people who believed in
Jesus Christ. But then he didn't live up to their expectations and they went
home. Their families still fought, they still had some frightening decisions to
make, and they still couldn't make ends meet on a budget. They began to wonder
if they had made a mistake with Jesus.
Maybe that's what happened to John. He said that he had come to baptize with water, and that the one following him would baptize with "fire from heaven." So where was the fire? So far there wasn't even smoke. So far, the Pharisees and Sadducees were still in charge of the faith, and Rome was still in charge of the government. In fact, instead of bringing in the kingdom, Jesus had kept pretty quiet up north while John got himself arrested and thrown into one of Herod's dungeons on a mountaintop down by the Dead Sea. That might make a person ask some questions. Is this any way for a Messiah to behave?
At least I hope that's what happened with John. If John the Baptist, as high up as he ranked, still had some questions, maybe there is room for me and mine.
Maybe that's what happened to John. He said that he had come to baptize with water, and that the one following him would baptize with "fire from heaven." So where was the fire? So far there wasn't even smoke. So far, the Pharisees and Sadducees were still in charge of the faith, and Rome was still in charge of the government. In fact, instead of bringing in the kingdom, Jesus had kept pretty quiet up north while John got himself arrested and thrown into one of Herod's dungeons on a mountaintop down by the Dead Sea. That might make a person ask some questions. Is this any way for a Messiah to behave?
At least I hope that's what happened with John. If John the Baptist, as high up as he ranked, still had some questions, maybe there is room for me and mine.
John B. Jamison, Time's Up!, CSS Publishing Company
_____________________________
_____________________________
8. Only Jesus
An anonymous author made this striking comparison:
"Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus
for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ's 3-year ministry infinitely transcends
the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men, who were
among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity.
Jesus painted no pictures yet some of the finest paintings
of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from
him. Jesus wrote no poetry but Dante, Milton, and scores of the world's
greatest poets were inspired by him. Jesus composed no music still Haydn,
Handel, Beethoven, Bach, and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of
melody in the hymns, symphonies, and oratorios they composed in his praise.
Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble Carpenter of
Nazareth.
His unique contribution to humanity is the salvation of the soul! Philosophy could not accomplish that. Nor art. Nor literature. Nor music. Only Jesus Christ can break the enslaving chains of sin. He alone can speak peace to the human heart, strengthen the weak, and give life to those who are spiritually dead."
9. Doubt
This is a good sermon opener:
In the semantics of the church, doubt has been a negative
word. It is rarely used in a favorable way. Faith, not doubt, is the great word
of the church. As I stand here every Sunday morning and look into your
up-lifted faces, you look so proper, so content, so believing. You seem to be
so certain, so full of faith, and so free of doubt.
But, I have a suspicion that the way you look is not the way
you are. Beneath the skins of many of you there is planted the seed of honest
doubt. Perhaps you do not share these feelings with anyone; but your doubts are
there, and they are real. Your worship does not express your doubts,
uncertainties, and skepticism. In facing this situation, all of us at times cry
out with the man in the Gospel, "Lord, I believe; help thou my
unbelief." This capacity to doubt can often lead to some of life's most
profound questions.
Such was the case with John the Baptizer. His question
-"Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?"- grew not
out of his uncertainty, but out of his doubt. John the Baptizer had heard about
the words and deeds of Jesus, but what he had heard did not square with his
expectation of the Messiah.
After all, Jesus was born not to royalty, but to a peasant
woman. He functioned not as a military ruler, but as a servant. He came not as
a judge, but as a forgiving redeemer. He did not bring heavenly condemnation;
he brought divine love. He did not associate with the religious establishment,
but he went from village to village associating with the rubbish heap of
humanity. He spent his time and energy with the least and the lost. He was most
concerned with the powerless: the blind and the lame, the lepers and the deaf,
and the poor and the out-cast. And Jesus dared to teach that the weak occupied
the most important place in the Kingdom of God.
John the Baptizer became confused about the way in which
Jesus acted out his messiahship. He had doubts about the validity of his
contemporary, Jesus of Nazareth. His skepticism caused him to send one of his
buddies to Jesus with the question: "Are you he who is to come, or shall
we look for another?" Like others in the New Testament, John the Baptizer
was not positive. Oh, to be sure, there were fleeting moments of recognition.
Mary thought Jesus was a gardener. Those on the road to Emmaus never did
recognize him. Even his closest disciples were not certain if he was or was not
the true Messiah.
That John the Baptizer had doubts about the messiahship of
Jesus is revealed in his question: "Are you the one who is to come, or
shall we look for another?" His question is not clear, either in what is
being asked or why. But like all good questions, it shoves the reader into
deeper regions of thought.
Joe E. Pennell Jr., From Anticipation to Transfiguration,
CSS Publishing Company, 23-24.
______________________
10. It Doesn't Get Any Better
In 1964 my boyhood home burned. We were on our way to spend
Christmas with my mother and father, and the word reached us that the flames
had engulfed most of the home, although the structure was standing. When we
arrived at Texarkana, it was late in the afternoon, and the December sun was
already on the horizon. I entered the house with a cousin to inspect the
damage and became aware of the fact that it was difficult to see. I said to
her, "I think I shall wait and come back in the morning when the light
will be better." I shall never forget her reply: "Bill," she
said, "it doesn't get any better!" At first, I did not know what she
meant; only later I realized that the fire had brought to the inside panes of
the windows a kind of smoke and resin film which very effectively shut out most
of the light, even when the sun was shining brightly.
Those words have been burned into my consciousness ever
since...
*******************
From Fr. Tony Kadavil's Collection:
1: Unfinished Play: Nathaniel Hawthorne
(1804-1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. When he died in
1864, he had on his desk the outline of a play he never got a chance to finish.
The play centered around a person who never appeared on stage. Everyone talked
about him. Everyone dreamed about him. Everyone waited for his arrival. But he
never came. All kinds of minor characters described him. They told everybody
what he would do. But the main character never appeared. –The Old Testament is
something like Nathaniel Hawthorne’s play. It too ended without the main
character’s appearing on the stage. Everyone talked about the Messiah, everyone
awaited his arrival. But he never came in the Old Testament period. In today’s
reading, we hear Isaiah describing what the Messiah would do by bringing
salvation to all mankind. Today’s Gospel tells us that when the real Messiah
came, even the last prophet and the Messiah’s herald, John the Baptist, could
not believe that he was the expected Messiah. (Mark Link S. J. in Sunday
Homilies)
2: Gaudete Sunday smile: A
number of years ago, a young college student was working as an intern at his
college’s Museum of Natural History. One day while working at the cash register
in the gift shop, he saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in a
wheelchair. As he looked more closely at this girl, he saw that she was kind of
perched on her chair. The student realized that she had no arms or legs, just a
head, neck and torso. She was wearing a little white dress with red polka dots.
As the couple wheeled her up to the checkout counter, he turned his head toward
the girl and gave her a wink. Meanwhile, he took the money from her
grandparents and looked back at the girl, who was giving him the cutest and the
largest smile he had ever seen. All of a sudden, her handicap was gone, and all
that the college student saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted
him and almost instantly gave him a completely new sense of what life is all
about. She took him from being an unhappy college student and brought him into
her world – a world of smiles, love and warmth. With the lighting of the rose
candle, the third of the Advent Wreath, among the purple candles, and the
priest’s wearing the rose vestments, we are reminded that we are called to live
with joy in our world of sorrows and pain. (Fr. James Farfaglia)
3: “Buddhist gives a Jew a Christmas gift made by a
Hindu!” Under a cultural exchange program, a rabbi from Russia was
visiting a Christian family in Texas. Since it was Christmas, the family wanted
to take him to some of the finest places in Houston, so they all went to a
favorite Chinese restaurant. Throughout the meal the rabbi extolled the wonders
of America in comparison to the bleak conditions of his homeland. When they had
finished eating, the waiter brought the check, a fortune cookie, and a small
brass Christmas tree ornament as a present for the rabbi. They all laughed when
the rabbi pointed out that the ornaments were stamped “made in India.” But the
laughter soon subsided when they saw that the rabbi was quietly crying. They
all thought that the rabbi must have been offended by receiving a Christmas tree
as a gift. But no, he smiled and shook his head and said, “Nyet, I was shedding
tears of joy to be in a wonderful country, in a Chinese restaurant in which a
Buddhist gives a Jew a Christmas gift made by a Hindu!”
4. “I am John the Baptist! A man who thought he
was John the Baptist was disturbing the neighborhood, so for public safety, he
was committed. He was put in a room with another crazy one. The new
inmate immediately began his routine, “I am John the Baptist! Jesus Christ has
sent me!” The other guy looked at him and declared, “I did not!”
5. A Politically Correct Christmas Greeting? Best
wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress,
non-addictive, gender-neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the
most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with
respect for the religious persuasions of others who choose to practice their
own religion as well as for those who choose not to practice a religion at all.
(Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It
implies no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings
may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.)
6. What happens when the pastor’s mom lives in the rectory as
his housekeeper? On a Sunday morning, he couldn’t get out of bed. His
mother tried to get him out of bed but to little avail. She shouted up the
stairs, “Get up!” and he shouted down the stairs, “No!” Then she shouted again,
“Get up!” and he shouted down, “Why should I?” She said, “Well, first of all, your breakfast is ready, secondly this is the third Sunday of Advent, and
thirdly you’re the Pastor and you have to say two Masses today!”
27 Additional anecdotes:
1) “Joy to the World!” Consider the story of one
young man. He was often sick as a baby. He was always small, and puny some would
say. As a youth, he was always frail and delicate. He was not able to play
sports with the other boys his age. Eventually, he entered the ministry. But his
health was so fragile, he was unable to serve his growing congregation.
Amazingly, he did not dwell on his troubles. In fact, his spirit soared. His
only real complaint was the poor quality of the hymns of his day. He felt they
did not convey hope and joy. Someone challenged him to write better ones. He
did. He wrote over 600 hymns, most of them hymns of praise. When his health
collapsed completely in 1748, he left one of the most remarkable collections of
hymns the world has ever known. His name was Isaac Watts. In a few weeks we
will be singing one of his most famous hymns, “Joy to the World!” Isaac Watts
discovered joy in his life because he knew that God would never desert him. He
was able to live his life with all sorts of health problems, feeling close to
God and Jesus. He had joy deep in his heart. (Timothy J. Smith; quoted by
Fr. T. Kayala).
2) Encouraging others with facial paralysis: The
Reader’s Digest once reported the story of an attractive and
successful business woman who noticed a small lump behind her ear as she was
brushing her hair one morning. As the days went on, she noticed that the lump
was getting larger. So, she decided to see her doctor. Her worst fears
were confirmed. The doctor told her that the lump was a large tumor that
would require immediate surgery. When she awoke following the
surgery, she found her entire head wrapped like that of a mummy. She could see
herself in a mirror only through two tiny holes cut into the wrapping.
When the bandages were removed after a week she was shocked to see that her
once attractive features had become disfigured by a facial paralysis
caused perhaps by damage to facial nerves during the
removal of the tumor. Standing before the mirror, she told herself that
she had to make a choice whether to laugh or to cry. She decided to laugh.
Although the various therapies tried were unsuccessful in alleviating
the facial paralysis, the decision to laugh in the face of adversity
allowed this woman to carry on with her life with joy, giving encouragement to
those with similar paralysis. Today’s Gospel tells us how Jesus
encouraged the imprisoned John the Baptist by dispelling his doubts about the
role of the Messiah and making him strong enough to face martyrdom.
2) “Sweetheart, you’re the answer to my prayers.” A
few years ago in Reader’s Digest, a lady named Barbara
Bartocci reported searching for the perfect birthday card for her husband. She
came across a promising one. On the outside it read: “Sweetheart, you’re the
answer to my prayers.” Then she turned to the inside, which was inscribed,
“You’re not what I prayed for exactly, but apparently you are the answer.” In a
strange way, something like that was running through John’s mind as he sat
there in that prison. He and his people had hoped and prayed for years for a
Messiah, one anointed by God to lead the nation, a deliverer who would vanquish
occupying forces, conquer all enemies, establish a great Kingdom, and usher in
an era of peace and prosperity. In time past, and not that long ago, John had
come to believe that the prayers had been answered. The Messiah was none other
than his own cousin, Jesus of Nazareth. But Jesus’ mission was spiritual.
3) “Down with Khrushchev!” There was a joke that
came out of the Soviet Union many years ago about a Russian who stood on the
street corner in Moscow, and shouted, “Down with Khrushchev!” He was arrested
and sent to prison camp for ten years. While he was in prison, he had a change
of heart, and came to see that Khrushchev was a great leader after all. The
only problem was, while he was in prison the times changed, and Khrushchev was
deposed from office and publicly denounced. When the man was released, he went
back to that same street corner in Moscow. He wanted to give a public testimony
to his rehabilitation. This time he shouted, “Hooray for Khrushchev!” and got
ten more years. Timing is everything! Look at our lesson for this morning. The
disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus, and ask, “Are you the one, or do
we look for another?” It is a critical question for John. John has preached
that the time has come. The Messiah, he said, is about to appear, so repent,
get ready, put your lives in order. He has devoted his whole life to the belief
that the time has come. But he is in prison now. Though he is unaware of it,
John is about to lose his head. So he sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are
you the one that we have been waiting for, or do we still look for somebody
else?”
4) Broken dreams of a warrior Messiah: In his
book Horns and Halos, Dr. J. Wallace Hamilton tells about one of
the weirdest auction sales in history, held in Washington, D.C., in 1926. At
the auction, 150,000 patented models of old inventions were declared obsolete
and placed on the block for public auction. Prospective buyers and on-lookers
chuckled as item after item was put up for bid; such as a “bed-bug buster” or
an “illuminated cat” that was designed to scare away mice. Then there was a
device to prevent snoring. It consisted of a trumpet that reached from the
mouth to the ear; and was designed to awaken the snorer and not the neighbors.
And then there was the adjustable pulpit that could be raised or lowered
according to the height of the preacher. Needless to say, this auction of old
patent models was worth at least 150,000 laughs; but if we would look into this
situation a little more deeply, we would discover that these 150,000 old patent
models also represent 150,000 broken dreams. Today’s Gospel shows us John the
Baptist’s broken dreams of a warrior Messiah.
5) John expected better treatment from a Messiah: Glen
was nearly 90 years old and had not been sick more than a few hours of those 90
years. Then the doctor mentioned cancer. At first Glen nodded and said that for
90 good years he had no complaints. But as days passed he grew quiet, the smile
left his face, and the love left his eyes. He worried constantly, and
complained just a bit more than that. “I’ve tried to do good,” Glen said one
morning, “but I just don’t see why God would do this to me. This isn’t what I
expected at all. Maybe I’ve been wasting my time.” In the same way, John the
Baptist expected better treatment from a Messiah.
6) Greek, and Jewish civilization: The first
great civilization in the West was the Greek civilization. It provided a
universal language. Three hundred years before Jesus, Alexander the Great
conquered the world. The Greeks followed him with a kind of missionary zeal to
spread Greek language and culture. By Jesus’ time, Greek was the universal
language of the Mediterranean world, which made it possible for a new kind of communication
in the world that did not exist before that time. People could speak the same
language. Thus, three hundred years before Jesus, the Old Testament was
translated into Greek because more Jews could speak Greek than could speak
Hebrew. For the first time, Jew and Greek, Egyptian and Roman, all spoke the
same language, shared the same culture, and they all became familiar with one
another’s traditional cultures. The second great civilization was the Jewish
civilization. Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved
Civilization, also wrote The Gifts of the Jews, a
wonderful book, with the subtitle, “How A Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the
Way Everyone Thinks and Feels.” The great contribution of the Jews, claims
Cahill, was to see history as moving toward a goal that they called the Kingdom
of God. That meant that, for the first time, history had a purpose. We owe that
to the Jews, as well as the conviction that someday the world will be renewed.
Each week in Advent we read these beautiful visions of what the world will be
in the future. “The wilderness shall be glad…the desert shall rejoice and
blossom. …Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come…and save you. The
ears of the deaf unstopped…the lame shall leap like a deer…the tongue of the
speechless shall sing.”
7) “The only Christ I ever knew” Myra had worked
for many years in a large, downtown business office. Many different things were
said about Myra, but on one point all her colleagues agreed: Myra was a hateful
person. She had a way of quickly turning off anyone who tried to befriend her.
She was a loner, a disagreeable one at that. Consequently, whenever a new
employee was hired, the warning went out, “Stay away from Myra.” This situation
lasted for years until a new employee, whom we shall call Margaret, arrived on
the scene. Disregarding all the friendly warnings, Margaret made a special
effort to let Myra know that now there was someone in that office who really
cared about her. Amazingly, this initial expression of kindness eventually
began to bear fruit. Myra was breaking out of her shell. She was communicating
more easily. She even was developing a friendship or two. Then, early one
morning, the entire office staff was shocked to learn that Margaret had died
suddenly the night before. When Myra heard the news she cried and cried and
said over and over again, “Margaret was the only Christ I ever knew, she was
the only Christ I ever knew.”
8) Dreams for sale: There is a wonderful parable
that tells us what “prophecy actualized” might look like in our lives. There
was once a woman who was disappointed, who was disillusioned and depressed. She
wanted a good world, a peaceful world, and she wanted to be a good person. But
the newspaper and television showed her how far we were from such a reality. So
she decided to go shopping. She went to the mall and wandered into a new store
– where the person behind the counter looked strangely like Jesus. Gathering up
her courage she went up to the counter and asked, “Are you Jesus?” “Well, yes,
I am,” the man answered. “Do you work here?” “Actually,” Jesus responded, “I
own the store. You are free to wander up and down the aisles, see what it is I
sell, and then make a list of what you want. When you are finished, come back
here, and we’ll see what we can do for you.” So, the woman did just that. And
what she saw thrilled her. There was peace on earth, no more war, no hunger or
poverty, peace in families, no more drugs, harmony, clean air. She wrote
furiously and finally approached the counter, handing a long list to Jesus. He
skimmed the paper, and then smiling at her said, “No problem.” Reaching under
the counter, he grabbed some packets and laid them out on the counter. Confused,
she asked, “What are these?” Jesus replied: “These are seed packets. Surprised
the woman blurted out, “You mean I don’t get the finished product?” “No,” Jesus
gently responded. “This is a place of dreams. You come and see what it looks
like, and I give you the seeds. Then you plant the seeds. You go home and
nurture them and help them to grow and someone else reaps the benefits.” “Oh,”
she said, deeply disappointed in Jesus. Then she turned around and left the
store without buying anything. [F. and M. Brussat, editors, Spiritual
Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life (New York:
Scribner, 1996), p. 359.] Our Gospel passage for today speaks to us about our
calling as Christians in a world of violence, increasing poverty, terrorism and
intolerance. As disciples of Jesus, our text for today is calling us to
actualize Jesus’ passionate dream of a whole and healed world. So, my friends,
let’s pick up those packets of seeds. And let’s plant them – for the sake of
our children and all the children of the world.
9) “Look, this was Elijah’s face that night.” One
Hasidic story tells of a pious Jew who asked his rabbi, “For about forty years
I have opened the door for Elijah every Seder night, waiting for him to come,
but he never does. What is the reason?” The rabbi answered, “In your
neighborhood, there lives a very poor family with many children. Call on the
man and propose to him that you and your family celebrate the next Passover at
his house, and for this purpose provide him and his whole family with everything
necessary for the eight days of Passover. Then on the Seder night Elijah will
certainly come.” The man did as the rabbi told him, but after Passover he came
back and claimed that again he had waited in vain to see Elijah. The rabbi
answered, “I know very well that Elijah came on the Seder night to the house of
your poor neighbor. But, of course, you could not see him.” And the rabbi held
a mirror before the face of the man and said, “Look, this was Elijah’s face
that night.” This leads me to the question John asked: “Are you the one
who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
10) No Sea Gull came: During World War II, there
was an event which occurred in the Pacific which still is vivid in my memory.
Eddie Rickenbacker and some colleagues on an aircraft were shot down and
managed to inflate a raft. The food and water were soon expended, and all hope
for their rescue seemed to fade. As they related the story later, they
described how together they had formed a prayer band and had prayed earnestly
for deliverance. It was just at that time that a seemingly miraculous
circumstance occurred. A seagull, clearly far off course, began to circle the
raft, came lower and lower until at last they were able to capture it. They
drank its blood and ate its flesh and were strengthened and sustained. The next
day they were found and brought safely to shore. They told the story, and there
was spread across the pages of the newspapers of the United States this answer
to prayer. But there were hundreds of other young fliers during World War II
who had gone off to the Pacific, had been shot down, and were never seen again.
While the seagull episode is certainly a token that deliverance is always
possible, there is no indication in the New Testament that such deliverance on
its own terms is promised. John was beheaded in the prison without being freed
by Jesus, the Messiah, as he may have hoped. In the same way, there were many
sick people in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria in the time of Jesus who were
not healed by Jesus. Today’s Gospel tells us that God has His own plans for us,
and our duty is to accept them and do His will as John did.
11) “She can’t sing while she plays.” One woman
was talking about her parents who had recently retired. Her mom had always
wanted to learn to play the piano, so her dad bought her mom a piano for her
birthday. A few weeks later, the woman asked how her mom was doing with it.
“Oh, we returned the piano,” said her dad, “I persuaded her to switch to a
clarinet instead.” “How come?” the woman asked. “Well,” he answered, “because
with a clarinet, she can’t sing while she plays.” We’re not all great singers.
That’s all right. We can still make a joyful noise. (Robert Allred,
Th.D., http://www.bobssermons.com/sermons/archive/041212.htm.)
12) “I wasn’t sure which song God would like better.” I’m
reminded of the story of a Catholic Church in which the choir director had gone
to a great deal of trouble preparing an excellent soprano for a solo for Sunday
Mass. As the soloist’s beautiful voice soared through the church, she was suddenly
joined by a bedraggled “street person” who had wandered in and taken a seat
near the choir. The newcomer’s voice had seen better days, and it quavered
along, slightly off-key, through the entire song. The choir members kept
looking frantically at the director, who made no move to interrupt the
intruder. Afterward, some of the members of the choir asked the director why he
hadn’t stopped her. “Because,” he replied, “I wasn’t sure which song God would
like better.” (Kate Kellogg, The Catholic Digest, September 1992,
p. 65.)
13) Michael Jordan playing with country kids? One
evening at the country park, a group of teenage boys was playing basketball. A
tall, bald, African-American man strolled up. The man watched for a few
minutes, then asked if he might play with them. He made three point jump shots
and lay-ups and hooks with the ease of a pro. The stranger played for about
fifteen minutes with the teenagers, gave them some pointers, thanked them for
letting him play, and disappeared. The stranger didn’t tell the teenagers his
name. They’d seen Michael Jordan on TV, and he looked like him. But could this
stranger who came to a remote village actually be Michael Jordan? In today’s
Gospel, John the Baptist asks the same kind of question about Jesus. Could this
gentle Jesus with a band of fishermen as his disciples be the real Messiah, the
long awaited Anointed One of God, while the Messiah he had heralded was a
firebrand?
14) Tom Sawyer Finds Light in the Darkness: You
may remember the famous final chapters of Mark Twain’s classic novel, Tom
Sawyer. Tom and his friend Becky have been exploring a cave, just for
adventure’s sake. But the cave is full of dark caverns and twisting passages,
and as they explore, they end up getting lost. Fear sets in. They start to
panic. Their candles – the only light they have – are running low. An entire
day goes by. Their candles are spent. They lose track of time. They are
becoming desperate. They keep wandering through the darkness, looking for the
smallest glimpse of daylight. But they don’t even know if it’s night or day any
longer, so they are afraid that they may pass right by a passageway that leads
out of the cave, because if it’s nighttime outside, they won’t see any light at
the end of the tunnel. Finally, they spot a pinprick of light far in the
distance, and they follow it to freedom. The fallen human race is like Tom and
Becky, lost in the dark caverns of a fallen world. We light little
candles – like money, pleasure, power, fame, philosophy, comfort, but they all
waver and burn out. But Christ, the eternal Son of God, is the everlasting
light that has conquered the darkness. He has given us a glimpse of
everlasting life. His revelation is the pinprick of light that is the
source of true, lasting joy, not the anemic joy that is inspired by the passing
flicker of a fragile candle. (E-Priest).
15) “Why are you outside?” – Not involved: Henry
David Thoreau was an American writer who authored the renowned essay “Civil
Disobedience.” He championed the freedom of the individual over the law of the
land. He distinguished between ”law” and “right.” He wrote: ”What the majority
passes is the ‘law’ and what the individual conscience sees is the ‘right’, and
what matters most is the ‘right’ and not the ‘law.’” Once Thoreau was
imprisoned for a night for his refusal to pay the poll-tax as a protest against
the government’s support of slavery and its unjust war against Mexico
presumably in support of slave trade intentions. When he was arrested, he hoped
that some of his friends would follow his example and fill the jails, and in
this way persuade the government to change its stance on the issue of slavery.
In this he was disappointed. Not only did his friends not join him, one friend
paid the tax on his behalf and got him released the very next day. When he was
in the prison, Emerson, another American writer, came to visit him. He said to
Thoreau: “Thoreau, Thoreau, why are you inside (jail)?” And Thoreau replied,
“Emerson, Emerson, why are you outside?” Thoreau was a great lover of truth. He
suffered because he spoke and stood for truth. Emerson said in his obituary of
Thoreau, “He was a great speaker and actor of truth.” (John Rose in John’s
Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
16) Disillusioned or determined: In her book,
Return to Love, Marianne Williamson points out that a friend said to her,
“Marianne, I’m so depressed by world hunger!” Marianne replied: “Do you give
five dollars a week to one of the organizations that feed the hungry?” She goes
on to say she asks this question because she has noticed how people who
participate in solving problems don’t seem to be as depressed as those standing
on the sidelines doing nothing. Application: Have we recently gone out of our
way to help someone? (Gerard Fuller in Stories for all Seasons; quoted by Fr.
Botelho)
17) “Buddhist gives a Jew a Christmas gift made by a
Hindu!” Under a cultural exchange program, a rabbi from Russia was visiting
with a Christian family in Texas. Since it was Christmas, the family wanted to
take him to some of the finest places in Houston, so they all went to a
favorite Chinese restaurant. Throughout the meal the rabbi extolled the wonders
of America in comparison to the bleak conditions of his homeland. When they had
finished eating the waiter brought the check, a fortune cookie, and a small
brass Christmas tree ornament as a present for the rabbi. They all laughed when
the rabbi pointed out that the ornaments were stamped “made in India.” But the
laughter soon subsided when they saw that the rabbi was quietly crying. They
all thought that the rabbi must have been offended by receiving a Christmas
tree as a gift. But no, he smiled and shook his head and said, “Nyet, I was
shedding tears of joy to be in a wonderful country, in a Chinese restaurant in
which a Buddhist gives a Jew a Christmas gift made by a Hindu!”
18) Walking among the reeds: You’re working
60 to 70 hours a week; you’re lucky if you get six hours of sleep a
night. Making income cover expenses is becoming a bigger challenge every
month — and, in the meantime, your spouse and children — the people you live
for — are becoming strangers. What did you go out to the desert to see?
You juggle a wide network of acquaintances. The e-mails never stop;
there’s not an empty line in your calendar book; your cell phone is permanently
clipped to your ear. But you can’t seem to shake the loneliness you feel
in the most crowded rooms. While you maintain contact with a host of
business associates and colleagues, precious few of them do you consider friends
and no one close to being special. What did you go out to the desert to
see? Every semester you scan the course offerings: This course I need to
graduate . . . this class meets at a good time . . . this professor is a
nightmare . . . this lecturer is an easy A . . . God, look at this reading list
— no way! What did you go out to the desert to see? What did you go out
to the desert to see? What are you looking for? Jesus’ question
takes on particular urgency in the Advent of our lives: As we struggle to
make ends meet, have the means become an end in themselves? (Connections).
19) Facilitating God’s Coming – Will you hold me? A
soldier was on duty one Christmas morning during World War II. It had been his
custom to go to Church each Christmas with his family, but now stationed in an
outlying district of London, that was impossible. So, with some of his soldier
buddies he walked down the road as dawn was breaking. Along the way they came
upon an old grey stone building over the main door were carved the words,
“Queen Ann’s Orphanage.” They decided to enter to find out what kind of
Christmas might be taking place. After knocking the soldiers went in just as
the orphan children were tumbling out of bed. There was no Christmas tree in
the corner. There were no presents. The soldiers went around the room wishing
the children ‘Merry Christmas,’ and giving them whatever they had in their
pockets: a stick of gum, a piece of candy, a nickel, a dime, a pencil, a
pocketknife, a good luck charm. Then the soldier who had gotten his buddies
together noticed a little fellow alone in the corner. The little fellow looked
an awful lot like his nephew back home, so he approached him and said, “And
you, little guy, what do you want for Christmas?” The child replied, “Will you
hold me?” The soldier, with tears in his eyes, picked up the little boy and
held him in his arms, very close. The soldier experienced the joy that love and
Jesus brings into our life, no matter what the situation is around us! (William
Bausch in The Word –In and Out of Season; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
20) Be a lamplighter: Several parents were
sitting on a neighbor’s porch discussing their children. They were talking
about the negative environment in which their kids had to grow up and were
wondering how they could bring any light into their children’s world since it
seemed so dark and hopeless. Could they be enough of a positive influence to
change the world around them? One of the parents, a science teacher remarked,
“I think we can make a difference in our children’s lives if we become
lamplighters.” “Lamplighters? What do you mean?” the others asked. She
explained. “Around the turn of the century a lamplighter went around the
streets lighting the street lamps. He carried a long pole that had a small
candle on top with which he would reach up to light the kerosene-fed lamps,
“she said. “But from a distance you could not see the lamplighter very well.
The light from one small candle was not very bright in the surrounding darkness
of night.” “However,” she continued, “you could follow the progress of the
lamplighter as he went along a street. The presence of his candle was barely
visible until it joined with the flame of the street lamp being newly lit. A
radiant glow erased a portion of the darkness and looking down the street, you
could see the light from the glowing lamps made the entire street bright as
day. The darkness was held at bay.” “That’s it” exclaimed the parents. “We’ll
be lamplighters for our children. We’ll share from our own flame in order to
light each child’s individual lamp of wisdom. (Brian Cavanaugh in The Sower’s
Seeds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
21) Waiting for God in joyful hope. Ingrid
was a South American woman who was admitted to a Catholic Hospice in the U.S.
She had full-blown aids and steroid-induced diabetes. One day she, not a
Catholic at the time, asked the nun why she went to church every day. “Because
God loves me, and I want to return his love.” replied the nun. Ingrid replied,
“I don’t think I like God.” Naturally, she wouldn’t. Sister reassured her that
while this was understandable, God really liked her. As she grew weaker with
each passing day, with the love and care of those around her, she experienced a
quiet hope and then illumination. As the moment of her death she whispered:
“I’m so tired; I want to go home.” Asked what she meant by that she replied: “I
want to go to God.” She had learned to wait in joyful hope for the coming of
her Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Quoted by Fr. Botelho).
22) Are You Swapping Heaven? The evangelist,
Dwight L. Moody, used to tell a legend about a beautiful swan that alighted one
day by the banks of the water in which a crane was wading about seeking snails.
For a few moments, the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder and then inquired:
“Where do you come from?” I come from heaven!” replied the swan. “And where is
heaven?” asked the crane. “Heaven!” said the swan, “Heaven! have you never
heard of heaven?” And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur of
the Eternal City. She told of streets of gold, and the gates and walls made of
precious stones; of the river of life, pure as crystal, upon whose banks is the
tree whose leaves shall be for the healing of the nations. In eloquent terms
the swan sought to describe the hosts who live in the other world, but without
arousing the slightest interest on the part of the crane. Finally, the crane
asked: “Are there any snails there?” “Snails!” repeated the swan, “No! Of
course, there are not.” “Then,” said the crane, as it continued its search
along the slimy banks of the pool, “you can have your heaven. I want snails!”
“This fable,” said Moody, “has a deep truth underlying it. How many a young
person to whom God has granted the advantages of a Christian home, has turned
his back upon it and searched for snails! How many a man will sacrifice his
wife, his family, his all, for the snails of sin! How many a girl has
deliberately turned from the love of parents and home to learn too late that
heaven has been forfeited for snails!” Moody spoke those words a century ago,
but people are still swapping heaven for snails. How about you? John the
Baptist’s words are for each of us: Are there some changes that need to be made
in your life? (Moody’s Anecdotes, Page 125-126, adapted by King Duncan. Quoted
by Fr. Kayala.)
23) It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Snoopy of
Charlie Brown comic strip fame is typing a novel. He begins his story, “It was
a dark and stormy night …” Snoopy always starts his stories in this manner.
Lucy looks at what Snoopy has written. She goes into a tirade, putting down
Snoopy for such a silly beginning. Doesn’t Snoopy know that any good story
starts with the words, “Once upon a time …” The last frame of the comic strip
has Snoopy starting his story again. Now he is ready. He types, “Once upon a
time, it was a dark and stormy night.” Do you feel like Snoopy sometimes? No
matter how you begin your story you somehow revert to “a dark and stormy
night.” If you feel that way today you are not alone. Most of us are struggling
in one way or another to overcome the dark side of our existence. The Advent
season leading to Christmas should be a time of joy, anticipation and hope. But
the very fact that it is supposed to be such an upbeat time only compounds the
problem.(Richard A. Hasler, Empowered by the Light, CSS Publishing
Company. Quoted by Fr. Kayala).
24) I Will Be There: In her wonderful children’s
picture book, We Were There: A Nativity Story, (Illustrator:
Wendell Minor), Eve Bunting turns Christmas upside down for us in ways that are
revealing. The simple story shows us first a slithering snake, then a warty
toad, a scary scorpion, a shiny cockroach, a swooping bat, a hairy spider, and
a furry rat all on a journey. Each creature introduces itself and then
concludes with the words “I will be there.” As the book ends, we are shown more
common nativity creatures: fuzzy lambs, doe-eyed donkeys, gentle cows. But as
those traditional figures in the stable stand around the manger in which the
Babe has been laid by his mother Mary, we see in the corner, unnoticed, that
small gathering of the snake, toad, scorpion, cockroach, bat, spider, and rat.
Bunting has found a lyric way to remind us that the coming of the Christ is not
all about the traditional and cozy trappings in which we have for too long
ensconced the Christmas story but that this is a story for all creatures and
that Jesus came to embrace and renew the good, the bad, the ugly; the expected
and the unexpected. A simple children’s story like this reminds us of the
paradoxes and unexpected twists of the season, rather the way John the Baptist
can shake things up for us if only we take time to listen to his message.
(Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations; quoted by Fr. Kayala).
25) “When a child finds such joy in learning, then it is
my joy to help her learn! “When Einstein fled Nazi Germany, he
came to America and bought an old two-story house within walking distance of
Princeton University. There he entertained some of the most distinguished
people of his day and discussed with them issues as far ranging as physics to
human rights. But Einstein had another frequent visitor. She was not, in the
world’s eyes, an important person like his other guests. She was a ten-year-old
girl named Emmy. Emmy heard that a very kind man who knew a lot about
mathematics had moved into her neighborhood. Since she was having trouble with
her fifth-grade arithmetic, she decided to visit the man down the block and see
if he would help her with her problems. Einstein was very willing and explained
everything to her so that she could understand it. He also told her she was
welcome to come anytime she needed help. A few weeks later, one of the
neighbors told Emmy’s mother that Emmy was often seen entering the house of the
world-famous physicist. Horrified, she told her daughter that Einstein was a
very important man, whose time was very valuable, and he couldn’t be bothered
with the problems of a little schoolgirl. And then she rushed over to
Einstein’s house, and when Einstein answered the door, she started trying to
blurt out an apology for her daughter’s intrusion – for being such a bother.
But Einstein cut her off. He said, “She has not been bothering
me! When a child finds such joy in learning, then it is my joy to help her
learn! Please don’t stop Emmy from coming to me with her school problems.
She is welcome in this house anytime.” Yes, if it is joy for us to welcome
Jesus into our hearts today, then it is Jesus’ joy to welcome us into his Father’s
house at the end of times. (Fr. Lakra).
26) What are the ten major Faith and Church struggles of
our time?
Several years ago in an interview, John Allen (journalist
who travels the world as the Vatican analyst for both CNN television and the
National Catholic Reporter) asked me to draw up a list of what I considered to
be the ten major Faith and Church struggles of our time. I took this as a
healthy challenge and the list that follows, no doubt less global in
perspective than Allen’s ten trends (My vision, I fear, speaks more for Western
and secularized cultures than for the world at large), is my own attempt to
name the key Faith and Ecclesial struggles we deal with today. What are the ten
major Faith and Church struggles of our time, at least as manifest within the
more highly secularized parts of our world?
a) The struggle with the
atheism of our everyday consciousness, that is, the struggle to have a vital
sense of God within a secular culture which, for good and for bad, is the most
powerful narcotic ever perpetrated on this planet … the struggle to be
conscious of God outside of Church and explicit religious activity.
b) The struggle to live in torn,
divided, and highly-polarized communities, as wounded persons ourselves, and
carry that tension without resentment and without giving it back in kind … the
struggle inside of our own wounded selves to be healers and peace-makers rather
than ourselves contributing to the tension.
c) The struggle to live, love,
and forgive beyond the infectious ideologies that we daily inhale, that is, the
struggle for true sincerity, to genuinely know and follow our own hearts and
minds beyond what is prescribed to us by the right and the left … the struggle
to be neither liberal or conservative but rather men and women of true
compassion.
d) The struggle to carry our
sexuality without undue frigidity and without irresponsibility, the struggle
for a healthy sexuality that can both properly revere and properly delight in
this great power … the struggle to carry our sexuality in such a way so as to
radiate both chastity and passion.
e) The struggle for interiority
and prayer inside of a culture that in its thirst for information and
distraction constitutes a virtual conspiracy against depth and solitude, the
eclipse of silence in our world … the struggle to move our eyes beyond our digital
screens towards a deeper horizon.
f) The struggle to deal
healthily with “the dragon” of personal grandiosity, ambition, and pathological
restlessness, inside of a culture that daily over-stimulates them, the struggle
to healthily cope with both affirmation and rejection … the struggle inside of
a restless and over-stimulated environment to habitually find the delicate
balance between depression and inflation.
g) The struggle to not be motivated
by paranoia, fear, narrowness, and over-protectionism in the face of terrorism
and overpowering complexity … the struggle to not let our need for clarity and
security trump compassion and truth.
h) The struggle with moral loneliness
inside a religious, cultural, political, and moral Diaspora … the struggle to
find soul mate who will meet us and sleep with us inside our moral center.
i) The struggle to link
Faith to Justice … the struggle to get a letter of reference from the poor, to
institutionally connect the gospel to the streets, to remain on the side of the
poor.
j) The struggle for
community and Church, the struggle inside a culture of excessive individuality
to find the healthy line between individuality and community, spirituality and
ecclesiology … the struggle as adult children of the Enlightenment to be both
mature and committed, spiritual and ecclesial.
k) What’s the value in a list of this
sort? It’s important to name things and to name them properly; although,
admittedly, simply naming a disease doesn’t of itself bring about a cure.
However, as James Hillman used to quip, a symptom suffers most when it doesn’t
know where it belongs. Fr. Ron Rolheiser.
27) Marian pilgrimage center at Velankanni,
India: Sometime during the sixteenth century, in Velankanni, India,
our Lady with her infant son appeared to a Hindu boy carrying milk to a
customer’s home. Our Lady asked for milk for her Son and the boy gave her some.
On reaching the customer’s home, the boy related the incident that occurred on
his way and apologized for his being late, and the reduced amount of milk. But
the man found the milk pot to be full and realized that something miraculous
had happened. That man wanted to see the place where the apparition occurred.
When they reached the tank, Our Lady appeared once again. On learning that Our
Lady appeared to the boy, the residents of the local Catholic community became
ecstatic. Hearing about the miracle thousands of people visited to see the
place, and the boy. About two thousand years ago a message spread in Galilee
that a man among them, Jesus of Nazareth, was performing miracles. The news
became a sensation in and around Galilee. Thousands of people flocked around
him, probably out of curiosity, to see him giving sight to the blind, making
the deaf hear, helping the lame walk and curing the lepers. This has already
been announced by Prophet Isaiah about 740 before the birth of Jesus. “Look
your God is coming. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the
deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongues of the
dumb sing for joy.” There is a story about St Thomas Aquinas. After he
had finished Summa Theologica, being pleased with his meritorious work Jesus
asked him what he desired. St Thomas replied, “Only you Lord. Only you”. When
the word of God reaches our very essence, we will be able to give up everything
and declare with St Thomas, I want nothing but you Lord! (Fr. Bobby Jose). /19
