December 26, 2010

Friends, as you can see by the date on this homily, I shared it early on in my priesthood, and because we aren’t able to meet this weekend, I am sharing it once again for your reflection. I have included just a bit of update but otherwise its message is much as it was originally written. Peace and love to all—Pastor Kathy

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At face value, this is a beautiful Sunday—it lifts up for each of us the ideal of what it means to be a family, beginning at the crib in Bethlehem.  Mary and Joseph, realistically speaking, were first and foremost people of great faith, but coupled with that, they had to have shared a great love for each other, as we have spoken of in the past, to have given the world Jesus.  The Scriptures tell us that they took Jesus to the temple to fulfill the law, signaling that they wished to raise him according to their beliefs.  Jesus, under his parents’ watchful eyes, grew in strength and wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.

When we look realistically at the life journey of Mary and Joseph, we realize that it isn’t all a Hallmark card depiction of serenity at the crib and life lived happily ever after.  In fact, there are many missing years—from Bethlehem to the boy Jesus in the temple—to Jesus being baptized in the Jordan.  What went on during all those years of “growing in strength and wisdom and grace?”  The grace of God was no doubt upon him, instructing him, little by little, through the loving example of his parents—how to be, “God-with-us.”

So, beginning at the beginning, I believe it is good today to reflect on the real life journey that Mary and Joseph most likely experienced in saying, “yes” to God.  Mary was pregnant, outside of marriage, and she had to carry that shame, because what could she say—“Oh friends, it’s OK, don’t look down on me, it’s the Messiah that I carry!”  She and Joseph had to bear, no doubt, insults and ridicule from family and friends who couldn’t see beyond what their eyes told them to the bigger reality.  The traveling through the hills and across the plains to Bethlehem in her ninth month, to be counted—living their entire lives together knowing that Jesus’ day would come, and that there would be nothing they could do to save him from his inevitable fate.  Truly we see and know in our own lives that loving carries the possibility of deep hurt, but likewise, the possibility of great joy.

Earlier I suggested that Mary and Joseph had to have shared a great love for each and along with their faith, were then able to give the world Jesus, who lived so greatly and taught so clearly how to love, how to love everyone—even the most despised.  He needed this base, the family of love that Mary and Joseph gave him, out of which to give.  “Nothing comes from nothing,” Maria in Sound of Music says.  Where love and selfless giving are present and a desire to rear children to be good people in their world, with an ability to care not just for themselves, but for others, the children that such families give the world are truly gifts.  Wherever love lives, whether in the form of children or in forms of goodness and justice, the gifts given back to people, will always be of love.

The Feast of the Holy Family always causes me to reflect on my own family of birth and be troubled by its message, because of my inability to respond as Sirach challenged coming out of a somewhat dysfunctional family.  My mother found it difficult to love her children, because she felt unloved as a child and was constantly working on getting her needs met rather than meeting the needs of her family.  My siblings and I suffer to this day because we don’t know how, or aren’t able to be a family.  (I can happily say that some of us have grown and become closer over the years, but scars remain for some of us, still).  Now, in an ideal world, everyone should get their needs met, but that sadly, is not always the case.

As an adult, I have found love within my family of marriage and it has been a blessing! So now, as with other New Years, I am going to try and concentrate less on what wasn’t and more on what is, attempting to live love in my own life so as to have it spill over into the lives of others.  And on this day when we remember the Holy Family, it is good to remember that each of our families is holy, made up of young and old and those in between, each with a gift to give—each with potential.  Are we perfect specimens?—no—but all belong to God’s family and deserve to be treated with dignity.

Paul’s reading from Colossians today gives us probably the best resolution as we look toward the New Year:

“Clothe yourselves with heartfelt compassion, with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances you have against one another—forgive as God has forgiven you.  Above all else, put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect.”

I find that when I try to put myself in another’s shoes, even if I don’t agree with their action toward me, it is easier to respond in love rather than with an action in kind.  Do Paul’s words preclude truth-telling or give permission for abuse?  No!—but they do give  us, a wider view–the view that Jesus took and lived in his life.

May each of us be blessed today within our families of origin—if there is strife, give us the strength to make it less this year—if we have been blessed with harmony—let us be most grateful.  It is funny how when all is going well, we take that for granted.  And when something goes wrong amidst so much that goes right, we think we have received such a bad deal; like this week when I got a flat tire on the loner car I was using while mine was in the shop for repairs.  And of course I had left my cell phone at home.

It seemed that nothing had gone right that morning—my computer wouldn’t let me do what I needed to at work, I wanted to visit a shut-in friend, but couldn’t find her house and so on.     It took my dear husband to remind me of the grace of God in this day that I had labeled as “not going right.”  “No one got hurt Kathy,” he said, and that is what counts.”  Even the tow guy said, “A tire can be replaced, not a life.

It was a beautiful day as Robert and I sat in the warm pickup and waited for the tow truck to come.  A neighbor picked me up and took me home after the flat occurred. Earlier, I had a nice visit with my friend and even though my day behind me felt less than good; she felt blessed by my visit.

So friends, as we reflect on family, friends and life—that which is holy in the context of this Holy Family Sunday, let us keep our eyes on the blessings and do all we can to allow Jesus to live through us and thus in our world by being grateful, hope-filled and loving people. Amen? Amen!

 

Dear Friends, wishing you all the very best gifts of Christmas–peace, love and joy! It was great seeing many of you last evening and for those who couldn’t be with us, please know that you are always in our hearts. See below the homily I shared with the community last evening–Pastor Kathy

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My friends—first off, a merry and blessed Christmas time to each one of you!  This is perhaps the one time of year that many people across the world truly open up their closed, busy hearts and love in ways that they don’t the rest of the year—at the least; there is that possibility for this to happen.

During Advent each year I attempt to have us live in the present as much as possible, preparing our hearts for the great gift of the Incarnation, because everything that we anticipate is usually better for having set it aside for a while.

A close friend of Robert and mine and a great supporter from day one of my priestly ordination, Sister Marie Regine Redig, School Sister of Notre Dame for nearly 70 years now, just to let you know of her wisdom in years, recently wrote a reflection on Advent wherein she basically instructed her hearers around the idea that our “Advent Walk to Christmas,” must be about Jesus being reborn in us, for our world.

You may have noticed that her family name is “Redig”—a happy fact we discovered at my ordination when she traveled from Wisconsin to be with us.  And she is actually part of our extended Redig family even though we had never met before this—part of the joy of my call to ministry! Since that day, she receives my weekly homilies and always has a comment for me!  We are now on a first name basis and “Gina” is hers.  I asked her permission, to which she graciously agreed to share some of her thoughts here.

She says in her reflection:  “We are an Advent people.  Winter and Advent bring to us quiet, rest and darkness, a time to ponder Advent stories and invite their meaning into our hearts.  Like Mary, God’s Spirit will overshadow us if we choose to give birth. We can be the cosmic womb destined to be bearers of the universe; to know ourselves and others in Christ Jesus.”

Gina then shows us through several examples of how we can, “be Jesus” to our world reflecting on the Christmas story characters.

• Zechariah and Elizabeth, for instance, unfulfilled physically, they thought, until John came into their lives might be our call to visit an elderly person needing human company and effectively, in the here and now, “be Jesus” to them.
• Likewise the example of Mary, a young girl asked by God to do something astounding—giving birth to Jesus, might be the prodding we need to look with bigger eyes and hearts into the situation of unwed mothers in our world.
• Joseph, a young father-to-be, willing to live out his love for the mother of a child he didn’t help to create, might prompt us to see the plight of those in like situations who are looked down on and criticized in our world through no real fault of their own.
• And finally, Christmas tells the story of a young family running for their lives from persecution and ultimately death, if caught, and Gina invites us to see this holy family in those families coming to our southern border and “be Jesus” to them.

She concludes her reflection this way:  “Mary was told that there is nothing that God cannot do.  She believed and we need to believe that the Spirit of God who over shadows us can inspire us in ways that we can open what is closed, widen what is narrow, and make love large where it is small in our families, communities and countries.

From the womb of your Christmas-self, live with the pain and labor of birthing Christ Jesus into the world.”  She then quotes Angelus Silesius who said, “Christ could be born a thousand times in Galilee—but all in vain until he is born in me.”

I believe my friend Gina has captured well what we need to do about the Good News of Emmanuel, “God-with-us” and because we all love a good story; I would like to end tonight with a good story, one of only two that I have found over the years that is spot-on in describing why it was so important for our God to come into our world, as one of us, so that we can try to know God as one who loves us without end and then allows us to do the same. I haven’t shared it for 5 years so perhaps you will find meaning in it again tonight.

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There was a farmer who struggled with the whole concept of the meaning of Christmas—he just couldn’t quite get his head around the idea that God would send Jesus into the human race to live for a while, suffer as we all do and then die. What was the point? He just didn’t get it!

Well, Christmas time rolled around once again.  The 24^th   of December–Christmas Eve day dawned with the threat of a winter storm. The farmer had been out most of the morning tending the cattle and other animals to make sure that they were well bedded, and had plenty of feed and water to get them through the day and night.  So, when he got in for lunch later than usual; he was exhausted fighting the elements and ready to sit down and be warm and comfortable himself.

In the early afternoon, his wife was planning on heading over to the country church with other neighbor women to help prepare for the late afternoon Christmas Eve service.  The farmer, whom I said struggled with the whole idea of what the Christmas story was about; decided as usual to stay at home where it was warm and rest. His wife understood because she knew that in all other ways he was a very good man and her hope was one day the truth of Christmas would come to him.

The farmer did in fact doze off in his easy chair in front of the crackling fire and slept for a while until he was awakened by some noise in the yard. Jumping up, he worried that perhaps some of his livestock had gotten out and with the storm increasing he knew he needed to get them inside.  He looked out the windows, but with the blowing snow, he couldn’t make out what was in the yard.

He decided that he had to dress up and go out to get a better look.  Once outside, he discovered the source of the noise.  A flock of tundra swans had come into the yard and he could see that they were clearly disoriented. He knew that the swans stayed as long into the season as possible—as long as there was open water, leaving many times just before bad weather hit.  This Christmas Eve storm had come up without much notice, so that the swans must have gotten caught unawares,  and now couldn’t see the stars in the storm to point their way.  It was going to be a bad night—the farmer knew this in his bones and he had deep concern for the swans, knowing that he had to get them some shelter until the storm blew over.

So, he opened the barn door and tried to call them, lead them, direct them—whatever he could do, to the open barn door.  Nothing worked—they were frightened and simply scattered about at every attempt he made.  He finally realized that the swans didn’t know him—they didn’t trust him and were just plain afraid. He then thought if he got down among them, more at their level and moved along the ground, maybe the frightened swans would be more at ease and follow him into the barn. Still they wouldn’t come.

Then, he had an idea—perhaps if I looked like them, talked like them, and moved like them, they wouldn’t be so afraid.  So, he went into the house—found an old light-colored blanket and draped himself in it.  He got down on the ground and moved about near the birds imitating their behavior the best he could, moving his arms up and down, as if “flapping his wings.” The swans seemed to be a bit more relaxed, less frightened. He began to move very slowly in the direction of the barn and to his surprise and joy; he noticed they were beginning to follow.

It took him a long while to move himself slowly across the yard; he didn’t want to rush and as a result, frighten them, but eventually he got them all to the safety and warmth of the barn. He smiled as he regarded his “little ones,” so lost and frightened, that were now safe.  He fed them—gave them water and saw that they were beginning to relax and nest into the warm hay.

Feeling proud and happy about what he was able to do for these beautiful creatures, he secured the barn door and walked back out into the wintry night and just as he did the church bells announcing Christmas began to peel across the countryside and he suddenly realized what he hadn’t been able to before—what Christmas was really all about.  He couldn’t make sense of it before this night—why?—why would God send God’s son?—he just never got it—but struggling all afternoon to get the swans to trust him, the truth and knowledge of God’s great gift finally dawned—until the people saw God as one like them, they couldn’t hear, believe or trust the message.  He fell to his knees praising God for this truth that had been kept from him for so long—Christmas is simple—it’s about “God with us” and we with and for each other!

So, my friends—as we have said here before—and as Gina said so well in her reflection—our God loving us enough to be one-with-us is just the start—that great gift only matters, in the end, if we then respond by becoming “Jesus” in our world.  Amen?  Amen!

 

 

My friends, with this weekend, we are drawing ever closer to our celebration, in memory, of the greatest act of love ever—our God choosing to be one-with-us and the name for this gift is, Emmanuel!

Our Scriptures for this week, tell us in no uncertain terms, from the very beginning that this is not a static thing—God coming among us, but one that calls for a response from each one of us who say that we believe.

Isaiah instructs the Israelites to basically ask God for a sign to know that God indeed is involved in their lives—a sign that will give them hope to persevere even when they are put down by enemies, all around, as was the case at this time.

Whether the Israelites fear getting involved with God, we don’t know, but we see that they are reluctant to ask for the sign that will confirm that indeed, “God is with them!” Asking for a sign seems to indicate a willingness to do something and Isaiah’s irritation seems to be about that reluctance.  He almost seems to be saying, “Don’t complain if you aren’t willing to do anything!”

Perhaps we can understand their reluctance if we reflect on our own lives and our reluctance at times, to draw closer to God.  If we become involved with God, does it then mean that a response will be expected of us?  It would seem so.

Isaiah, in his frustration with the people says, “ I will give you a sign,” then,  so that you will see, will know, and will believe, how much our God does love you—“a young woman will be with child” [give birth and name the child, “God-with-us!”]

Matthew, in today’s gospel, through an angel to Joseph, says the child will be called Jesus, a name that means, “savior.”

If we do accept this testimony on faith, of those before us—of prophets, of Mary and Joseph, then Paul’s letter to the Romans says to us as it did to them, that we are to be “favored as apostles.”  And Paul clearly sees being an apostle as a good thing and spent his life after his conversion demonstrating it.  For him it included shipwrecks, imprisonment, misunderstandings, but also the sense, at the end of his life, that he had, “fought the good fight.”

At this time of year, as we ponder the story of Mary and Joseph and their “yeses” to God; we realize that their calls to be prophets; followers of a dream bigger than themselves, was also not without cost.  They are both wonderful models for us of people of faith and of people who responded in love to having first been loved by God.

And what about us?  Does our faith, our belief in Jesus call us to love, to action beyond ourselves?  Paul tells the Romans, and us by extension, that we are, “beloved of God and called [thus] to holiness.”

And what does holiness consist of?

• Standing up for those on the margins of our society who can’t stand for themselves—doing what we can, realizing that but for the grace of God, that could be us?
• Standing up for values that reflect the true spiritual natures a part of each of us—values like truth and justice in a society at present, in some sectors, that is pushing toward the lowest common denominator?
• Being willing to stand alone, if need be, to speak truth to power wherever we find that power?
• Being willing to reflect on our lives, searching for the answers to local, national and international problems that shine a light on, and uplift—in the end, the answers that are about goodness, kindness, truth, fair play, justice, and ultimately, love, regardless of any impediments that may stand in the way?

Yes, yes, yes and yes to all of the above!

Advent and Christmas time call each of us to truly be holy and holiness is not about following hollow rules and regulations devoid of love, but about the “messy stuff” of life—risking friendships and family relationships perhaps to finally, finally, at the end of the day, do the right thing!

That is why the Incarnation is such an awesome thing!  Our God, in human form, chose to come among us for no other reason than that we would finally understand that we are loved!  Think of people you have known in your life or have heard of whose lives didn’t go well for any number of reasons.  Many times the disconnections, the inability to live productively and become their best selves can be traced back to a lack of love at key times in life.

So friends, as we move through these last days of Advent-waiting, let us try and perhaps consider who those people are in our lives or maybe those who need some extra love at this time and then be the one who gives it! Maybe these people are those in our own families who we may have been separated from in the past over a misunderstanding—maybe even because of a down-right hurt inflicted upon us.

Maybe during this great season of love; we can attempt an act of love that may not be appreciated or acknowledged except by God, but we will know we have done the right thing because it was motivated by love.

Christmas time calls each of us to our best and this “best” is so needed today, in our world, here and now. It has been said, “When you are deciding what to do in a particular situation and you aren’t sure of the right way to go,  decide with your heart as the heart is much wiser than the head.”  Amen? Amen!