My friends, with today’s feast; we come to the official end of our Church Year, 2018.  I think it is significant that the official Church Year runs to its own beat, not keeping time with the calendar year, January 1—December 31, or the fiscal year for some businesses, October 1—September 30, but to its own tune—the First Sunday in Advent, usually the last Sunday in November or the first in December through its end with today’s feast.

Our model, Jesus, our brother was counter-culture from the beginning so it is appropriate that the yearly reminder and renewal of his life among us wound be counter-culture too. Unfortunately, in many respects, that counter-culture aspect often ends here.  What do I mean? Let’s start with the official name of this feast, “The Solemnity of Christ the King.” By careful look at today’s gospel from John; we see that the title of “king” was not something that Jesus aspired to, but something Pilate gave to him.  Jesus’ response to Pilate’s question, “So, you are a king?” is, “You say that I am a king.” Jesus goes on to say that what he is about is, “truth”—that is why he came!

And friends, we know that the “truth” is about God loving us so much so as to become one of us. Paul states in Philippians 2, “His state was divine, yet he did not cling to that, but humbled himself and became like humans are.”

So if that was God’s intent, to be one of us and with us, why did the Church inaugurate this feast that really removes Jesus, putting him on a pedestal away from us, rather than with us?

Upon checking; we see that this feast is only a little less than a hundred years old being proclaimed by Pius XI in 1925.  It was a time in our Catholic history when Church fathers feared that God wasn’t being given due respect, so it seemed to them appropriate to inaugurate such a feast.  Too bad they didn’t look back to Jesus’ words to see what God truly wanted from and with humans—not a top-down relationship, king to subjects, but a “one-with” relationship, friend to friend.  So, it is for that reason that I suggest the name of this feast be changed to Jesus, Our Brother and Friend. 

When we pick up on the discussion between Jesus and Pilate in today’s gospel and realize that Jesus isn’t about being a “king” and claiming an earthly crown, but about sharing the “truth” with us humans that we are loved by our God, nothing more, nothing less, than we can come to the truth that this feast is all wrong!

In truth, this proclaimed feast is really more about whom we as humans are—concerned with power, than whom our God is.  Further, and more distinctly, this reflects who Church Fathers are more than who God is!

If we are looking for real answers to the problems in our Church today, we would have to name clericalism among our clergy as a significant part of the problems—the notion that they are better than the people they serve—that they must be listened to and obeyed with no discussion among the people into the most serious and vital notions of our faith.

The Diocese of Winona/Rochester has filed for bankruptcy this past week as you all know.  The bishop has stated that this is being done for the victims of clergy sex abuse so that they can be adequately compensated for the abuse they received at the hands of those who were ordained to serve them.  At face value, this may seem like a good step, but we must remember that it is being taken now only because they are being forced into it.  Where was this concern 10 years ago when John Quinn was first made bishop of Winona? At that time he would have been made aware of the cover-up and passing on of abusive priests in this diocese. Where was the concern then?

Clericalism is the reason that these crimes have been covered up for so long because   clericalism sees controlling the power of the Church, held by so-called celibate men more important than the safety of its children. Until these same clerics, and for us, Bishop John Quinn can tell us that he has walked away from this powerful tool to control his subjects, it does not matter how many programs he puts in place to protect the children, the abuse will continue because there are no checks and balances.

This bishop and all bishops need to have listening sessions and truly hear the concerns on peoples’ hearts and together and this is important, TOGETHER, come to solutions that will truly protect and care for the most vulnerable among us.

We, as the People of God look forward with hope to the meeting that Pope Francis has called for the bishops of the Catholic world to address this most grievous of crimes.  It is the hope of many that he will jump-start real change within our Church. He, at least has named the sin of clericalism and of how these so-called leaders must move away from this distinction—we can only pray that this time, true change can happen!

I find too, many similarities to clericalism as I look at the present administration in Washington. Politics aside; I believe that as citizens of this country that we love, for us to tolerate a president who is apparently above the law, self-protecting, greedy and amoral in his behavior, is clearly wrong. It would be one thing for a person of power, and here I mean in Church or State, to act amorally, but when the fall-out affects others, then it is time that people of conscience speak up. As I have said before, wrong is wrong whether it comes from the common human, the president or the pope. Jesus calls us to no less than to speak the truth as we know it.

Jesus-with-us, Emmanuel, as we will celebrate in a few short weeks calls us to truth, justice, mercy and compassion.  Sometimes, to act thusly can bring us upset and fear that we stand alone.  At that time, we must remember the messages coming from the 1^st and 2^nd readings today—basically that Jesus, the Christ, our brother and friend in our humanity is eternal, is forever! Also, that this eternal brother and friend sends us grace and peace through the Spirit of God to do that which we must do.

So friends, as we move toward the beautiful and holy season of Advent beginning next Sunday, let us focus on the One who came to be one-with-us, keeping our eyes on him and receive the strength we need to be his true followers.  Amen? Amen!

My friends, times away, as Robert and I experienced these last three weeks are good, reflective experiences as the time away from daily tasks and concerns, allows us to focus on the perhaps, deeper meanings of what each of us takes for granted in the comfort of our own homes.  Even this aspect, “the comfort of our own homes” was called into question for us as we traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to check out what was happening there.  Our intent was not to be active, but just to observe.

The fact that became clear to me after going through several check points in our country near the border was that we would never be detained, because of course; we had the right color of skin!  The questioning from the very cordial border patrol people went something like this:  “Hello folks, are you both U.S. citizens? Our response—“Yes.” Where are you heading?”  We usually said we were from Minnesota and heading home, just here vacationing.  We were then asked if we had anyone in back to which we answered, “No.” Now, we could have had the whole back of our camper full of immigrants (which we didn’t), but they didn’t ask to look, nor did we have to actually prove that we were U.S. citizens.  But again; we had the right color of skin! I had to believe that if I was dark-skinned; I would have had to show my papers and our car would have been searched—we saw as much at these stops when dark-skinned individuals came through.

But amid events like this that were a bit disconcerting; we did experience many wonderful days marveling at the grandeur of this beautiful country that we call home.  In the midst of gigantic, sequoia trees one can only look up and say, “Wow!” Trees that tower above you more than 200 feet, that have lived thousands of years makes my own life seem, minuscule in the face of that!

We saw cliff sides in Yosemite National Park in California that again, left us speechless in their grandeur.  Arches in stone in Utah in the Arches National Park carved beautifully by Mother Nature over eons, deserts that go on and on in their dryness, yet muted, beautiful colors.

We even took some time to visit a sister of Robert’s and her husband in Arizona as part of our trek south and west spending time sharing life memories and of how those experiences made them who they are—they smiled remembering, we laughed and enjoyed each other.

I can’t do justice to all we saw, experienced, thought about, meditated on in our time away, but I can say, gratitude is a great part of what I feel as I look back on these days—gratitude to those who cared for our doggie, and other things around home and church and gratitude for the opportunity just to be away.

This time of year in the Church calendar calls us as well to this deep kind of reflection, something that is good to do whether we can leave our homes for a time or not.  Today’s readings bring us to the end of our Church Year, a good time to look back, assess our times of faith and living out of that faith as well as  a time to look forward, with hope to a new season, Advent, in just two weeks. Next Sunday we will celebrate in a very special way, Jesus, our brother, our model, our friend and with gratitude, look to him in thanksgiving for showing us the way, the truth and the life.

Today’s readings speak of “end times” and without proper understanding of the true meaning of these readings, they can be disturbing.  First, we have to understand that the ancient Israelite people had a concept of two different times—the “end times” and “the end of time.”  The end times were thought to be a time of transition, when suffering and hard times would be no more, when the Chosen One, whom Christians believe is Jesus, the Christ, will come again in glory to make all things right and the kin-dom will be celebrated before the face of God, in that wonderful reality.  It is a tremendously hope-filled image that is attractive to many people. The cinema has played into this image of a time of justice when good, will reign—in the epic series, The Lord of the Rings, and in the Star Wars movies.

The “end of time” is another time, and when that time will come, none of us knows, or in fact understands just how it will be—it would appear that Jesus, in his humanity didn’t even know. We will just have to trust that all will unfold according to God’s loving plan. The reading from Hebrews today says as much—that in fact, in Jesus, all will be well.

So why, we might ask,  are we given frightening images—of the sun and moon going dark—of stars falling from the sky?  The reading from Mark has an apocalyptic tone, and part of that, the exegetes tell us, was a way to cover the subversive tone of these writings from the enemies of the people.

The Israelites were told overtime, that what they were suffering would come to an end—the Chosen One would come to alleviate their sufferings—this was their hope.   This knowledge that their God did hear their cries and would come to save them, gave them the will to go on.  In faith, we must believe the same, especially in these times of mass murders through firearms that we as a people can do something about.  Through cataclysmic fires and storms brought on by climate change, also within our power to fix.

It has been thought that the reference to the “heavens and earth passing away” referred to the destruction of Jerusalem.  It encouraged fidelity when the people’s world seemed to be crumbling around them.  And for each of us, this type of reading gives us courage in our struggles through life because there is reason to hope—we are not alone, our God is with us.  Mark tells us today that “the heavens and the earth may pass away, but not Jesus’ words”—God will always be with us.

The placing of the “end times” reading on this weekend is appropriate as our Church Year is winding down, setting the stage for the wonderful season of Advent.  This weekend’s readings serve then as a beginning to a time of transition in our Church Year, but also in our personal lives.  They also remind us of the end of time, whenever and however that might come to be.  The end of time—our personal time, when our life as we know it, comes to a close, need not frighten us if we strive in our lives to do our best, always keeping our eyes on Jesus, who truly shows us the way.  The thought then of our God—Jesus, the Christ, coming “in the clouds,” with great power and glory,” should bring us joy and anticipation, not fear and dread.

Many people over time, from those people who were the first Christians, followers of Jesus, thought that the “end times” were inaugurated with Jesus and that the end of time would follow shortly.  Jesus, they thought, had come to make all things right, get us on the path of goodness—mercy, love, justice, compassion and once we got it, Jesus would return and take us all, the faithful, with him, to heavenly glory.  It seems it has taken us all, collectively, longer to “get it” then those first Christians thought.  It is evident, if we look around our world that there is still much that we as a nation need “to get” our heads, but mostly, our hearts around, and at the same time, much to be hopeful about as well. And when the end of time will come, no one knows, and perhaps it is not something we need worry about, but rather, to concentrate on the transition in our own lives.

As we look around our world, the culture in both Church and State seems to be in need of some deep reflection and transition—from a culture that seems to be about the individual more than about the collective, especially those most in need.  In Daniel’s first reading; we read also about, “a time of turmoil,” and Daniel’s counsel that, “the wise will shine like the bright heavens.”  Friends, let us pray today and each day that we will find within ourselves the strength, the will, to be those “bright lights” doing the piece that is ours to do.

This week then, as we ever so relentlessly move toward the end of our Church Year, anticipating the beautiful season of Advent, recalling that our brother Jesus is always with us, showing us the way, let us pray for each other that we might let his example of truth, goodness and justice for all seep into our hearts in order that our encounters with others might more regularly move from the surface to become empathic encounters, true communions with them, and through them, with our loving God. Amen? Amen!