January 29, 2012

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

It might be quite a while before we see any full positive effects of the new democracies of Iraq and Afghanistan. One bright sign of hope for the people of Afghanistan was seen in the recent photos from that country that showed young girls attending school, the first time Taliban leaders have allowed women to go to school since the early 1990’s. We know from our own country’s history that it took many years and several internal wars before we were united as 50 states living under one constitution, with women and blacks having full rights! In both our civic and biblical history we humans have searched for a leader to guide us to truth and justice. Yet at the same time we usually reject anyone who acts with authority over our lives. This is the summary of our love/reject relationship with God. We WANT God to lead us to what is good for us…and yet refuse the changes we need to make for our own good.

Our first experience of ‘authority’ comes from our parents. And from there we learn from other adult leaders in our life of whether to trust or resist any ‘authority figure’ that might have ‘power’ over us. Psychologically and spiritually speaking, we all need some forms of authority in our life, from the natural laws of God for morals and ethics, to human laws set up for a just society. But as much as we may tell ourselves of the value of authority, depending on how we were raised, some people really resist the idea of anyone having power over them.

One of the biggest struggles that parents have with teenagers is their rebellion against authority during their adolescent years. During those years, it is extremely painful for the parent feeling rejected… and the teenager thinking they need no one to tell them what to do. Eventually we mature, hopefully, and realize… that rules and someone in authority actually gives us more freedom…as parameters and policies help eliminate some of the chaos of life. This is why God’s Commandments actually give us freedom…and not just restrictions!

One of the first things Jesus does in his ministry is to assert his authority over evil. In Jesus’ day, not much unlike our own, people thought that evil had the upper hand and humanity, like the possessed man in the synagogue, seems helpless against such power. We often want to ‘throw in the towel’ when an addiction or habit seems unconquerable, thinking that we cannot win against evil.

In this story of Jesus healing the possessed man, Jesus' power and authority reveal that God has arrived to help us resist and overcome evil. This exorcism story is visible proof of God's power that we sometimes underestimate or forget about. When the Gospel writer Mark tells us that the people were “amazed at Jesus’ authority,” he wants us to believe that Jesus is more powerful than the demons and un-holy spirits that possess us. The way that Mark says that the man had an ‘unclean spirit’ leaves it open for the reader to name other kinds of evil spirits that enter our lives. There IS evil in the world…but NOT more powerful than God.

The word devil comes from the word ‘diabolic,’ which literally refers to anything that divides a person or group of people. The voice of the diabolic or devil always seeks to tear asunder anything that is united or whole. If a voice unites us to our true self and helps us have selfless integrity in our relationships and other parts of our life, then that voice is holy. If the voice I listen to is causing division in my life – a lack of integrity in my relationships, my work , my family – then that voice is ‘diabolic,’ the work of the devil.

When Jesus’ voice and his teaching become the center of our life, we have a sense of unity and cohesiveness in our life. There are many false voices and authorities in our world that try to convince us to be ‘united’ with them, but only lead to division and pain in our life. What are some of the demons of our times that cause division within ourselves and our communities? Many are the same demons that Jesus himself confronted: individualism, racism, greed, and poverty. These are the causes for which he was willing to die. Jesus uses God’s authority against such demons…and gives that power to US to reject these evils.

The underlying message this gospel story is teaching us is that we have to admit that there are ‘unclean spirits’ in both our personal lives and in our culture that can only be set free by the authority of Jesus Christ. I say this particularly to the young people here who may be questioning if they need God. This step of conversion requires a vulnerability in which we confess anything that has power over us that is not holy. We can act like a rebellious adolescent, thinking that we are in charge of our own life…OR we can submit our life to the power and authority of God to help us experience the FREEDOM for which we long. This requires a deep FAITH that Jesus’ authority - his teachings on forgiveness, love, and outreach to the lost, are what we really NEED in our life. The false powers we give in to will only lead us deeper and further into self destruction… AND division within the Body of Christ. If we dare come forward and accept this covenant with God in the Eucharist, we are admitting that we do indeed NEED the authority of God to rule our lives.

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January 22, 2012

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

Right here in this church on Friday night an amazing thing happened. Because of the great size and location of our church, it was used by the Archdiocese of St. Louis for a youth rally and Mass for a large group of teenagers who were beginning their trip to the prolife march in Washington, D.C. In your pews were over 1,000 youth who were singing their hearts out about their love of Christ and the value of each human life. Over a thousand teens were here kneeling in prayer asking God to change the hearts of our government leaders to recognize that a baby in the womb IS a human person and has inalienable rights to live. As I concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Rice from St. Louis, it was one of those experiences of feeling super proud to be Catholic, part of a religion that will never back down from its doctrine that every human life is sacred! It was also a proud moment to be a priest as I looked out at this space filled with young people that gave me great confidence that the Catholic faith is very much alive and doing great things with our youth.

As we were praying during the Mass for a change in our leader’s hearts, there were also petitions for all people who still do not buy into the comprehensive prolife issues on which the Catholic Church stands strongly. For example, statistics show that while most Catholics believe abortion is wrong, a large percentage still consider themselves ‘pro-choice’ in that a woman should be able to choose to kill her baby? And while most are against abortion, many Catholics are still in support of the death penalty or euthanasia, which kills an adult instead of a baby. And while human life remains our top ‘life’ issue, the Church teaches that to be ‘prolife’ also means to be a good steward of creation, taking care of God’s earth.

Now I realize that any one of those three issues could be a hot topic for some people in this room and need further explanation as to why the Church is so prolife in all these areas. But my point is that we each need to do an assessment of our ‘prolife’ positions and be willing to study and understand why our Catholic faith calls us to stand up FOR life in all its stages and forms. Many people’s beliefs are formed by what they read or hear in the media without ever thinking about where God stands on the issue. And some people get drawn into someone’s emotional story about their own ‘personal’ rights, without ever considering how that decision affects the life and rights of another person. More than ever we Catholics need to stay updated on what the Church teaches on these sensitive life issues so that we are not swayed by the secular lie that there is no such thing as objective truths, namely the sacredness of every human life! There IS a natural law from God, starting with the value of each human life!

Now I say all of this, not only because it is the anniversary of our nation’s pro-abortion laws, but also in light of the scriptures for today that call us to repentance. In the Gospel today when Jesus begins his ministry with the word “Repent,” we usually think of that word in terms of stop sinning. But the Greek word for repentance, which is ‘metanoia,’ also means a change of one’s mind or way of thinking. In one sense, we all need to change our way of thinking on a regular basis. We get stuck in a particular way of thinking or ideology without ever questioning how we developed that position in the first place.

Jesus is calling people to become his disciples if they are willing to have a ‘metanoia’ change in some of their thinking. Jonah, in our first reading, had to go through his own change of mind before he was willing to do what God asked of him. Throughout the bible there is a consistent theme of God asking people to change their ways and be a spokesperson for him. When Jesus called his first disciples, he continued this pattern of God’s and began to attract large numbers of people who realized that the way they WERE living and thinking was not bringing them the happiness and peace they were looking for.

You see, this is the first step of ‘metanoia’ or repentance – realizing that a part of my present way of thinking and living is not in line with the holiness I want. We have to make a conscious choice to live a life of holiness. Because…holiness is the path to happiness! Yes, that holiness will require some changes in our life that will feel uncomfortable at first, but ultimately holiness is THE way to finding the peace and joy we are looking for!

On this weekend in which our Church highlights our Catholic doctrine of the dignity and rights of every human life, the Scriptures challenge us to think about any metanoia conversion that may need to happen in our heart if we are still struggling with one or more of the prolife issues. Like Jonah and those first disciples, there may be some resistance at first, but they opened their hearts to what GOD was asking of them, willing to let go of their own pre-conceived ‘will’… to a higher calling to follow a new life in Christ.

If a person is already ‘on board’ with all of the Church’s teachings on life issues, then there may be some other area of our life that God is calling to change. The call from God to follow this Gospel of Life comes to us on a daily basis. To be a person who gives and promotes LIFE in everything I say and do will take a daily metanoia, changing from what is good for ME…to what is good for others as well.

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January 15, 2012

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Jim Deiters

Even though the Denver Broncos faced a big loss last night, their somewhat famous quarterback Tim Tebow has certainly won over many people by his very open and public demonstration of his Christian faith. His praying on the field and his open interviews about wearing a ‘purity ring’ as a sign of his choice to remain chaste before marriage has brought him a host of fans… but also many critics who can’t stand the thought of someone being faithful and pure.

I wonder if some of Jesus’ disciples faced a similar kind of criticism as they started following him and they became ‘one of those kind of guys’ who get ‘religious’ and such. Since humans first started acknowledging a ‘God’ higher than themselves, ‘religion’ has been accused as being for someone who is weak. Believing in something that does not have empirical evidence is hard to explain to someone. Which is why faith is a ‘gift’ that does not automatically come to a person based on how much schooling one has or who you know, like much of life’s successes are based on. This Gospel today, along with the story of Samuel’s calling in our first reading, both highlight what we might call the ‘stages’ of becoming a faithful disciple…to eventually be able to give witness to our faith!

The first step of faith is what one might call ‘searching’ in which a person realizes they are looking for something more in life. In the Gospel today two young people who had been followers of John the Baptist represent each person who is on that search. After John points out to them this new person Jesus whom they should follow, they do so and a very interesting conversation takes place between them.

First, Jesus asks a very important question that he asks each of his disciples…every day: “What are you looking for?” This is the very best ways to start off any prayer time with God by hearing God ask us, “What are you looking for?” After some people’s initial answers, like “I want a job, a loving spouse, and more money,” I am sure Jesus would look at us and ask again, ‘what are you REALLY looking for?” Such a question from God reminds us that in reality, it is not so much we who are seeking God but that God is always in search of US! Interesting enough, the two disciples respond to Jesus with a question themselves, “teacher, where are you staying?”

It is when they went to Jesus’ home and it says they ‘stayed with him’ that they form their deep relationship with him. I invite us to reflect on that one image of “staying with Jesus” for a moment and take it into our prayer this week.

If you had the opportunity to ‘stay with Jesus’…for an hour or a whole day, what would you want to talk about? To ‘stay with Jesus’ first of all means to simply make time for God in prayer, both telling him our concerns… but also making time to listen. To ‘stay with Jesus’ means that we want to learn from him. To ‘stay with him’ means we want a closer relationship with Jesus. To ‘stay with him’ says we want him to make our heart more like his, with a passion for justice. To ‘stay with the Lord’ means we are willing to stick to Gospel values even when our peers might think we are strange.

The challenging part of what happens to a person who ‘stays’ with the Lord…is that you then want to start telling other people about him. The Gospel story tells us that Andrew runs to tell his brother Simon all about this person Jesus. Anyone who becomes blessed with the contagious ‘bug’ of faith cannot keep it to themselves. They become evangelizers of others!

And this might be the very reason that many people shy away from making time to ‘stay’ with the Lord in prayer and get close to Christ. Maybe some people are afraid of what Jesus might ask of them? If Jesus stood before us today, I think a lot of people would admit their love and devotion of Jesus, but would probably say to him, “Just don’t ask me to talk about my faith with others.” I find this amazing since most people are very willing to learn about other things like sports trivia and politics…AND speak boldly about them to others, BUT put their faith development on STOP after eighth grade.

The disciple Andrew then turns out to be one of the first ‘evangelizers’ as he became quite zealous to tell others about his own relationship with Christ. The story then gives us three phases of the faith journey that really ends up being cyclical. First a person responds to God’s seeking them out by doing their own search to get to know Christ. In that search, a person is drawn to spend time with Christ in what the Gospel calls “staying with Christ” to get to know Jesus in a real, personal way. Then as we get to know Christ and develop an actual friendship with him, one becomes inspired to talk to others about their faith and like Andrew, introduce others to Christ. Once a person knows the joy and peace that comes from a relationship with the Lord, you cannot keep it to yourself.

Here in the Word and Eucharist our relationship with Christ grows deeper and we are sent from the liturgy to invite others to know such joy and life that is encountered here. At the end of the Mass one of the new dismissal options that the priest says is this, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” It reminds us that we cannot leave here complacent or unchanged.

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January 8, 2012

Epiphany
Fr. Jim Deiters

I was shocked last Tuesday when I walked into the gym I go to and saw it filled with people! Forgetting that it was the start of a new year, I asked the girl at the counter, ‘where did all these people come from?” She just smiled and said, “A new year, new starts!?” I just had to smile as I looked around the large gym with all 45 cardio machines going at full pace, as I really hoped that each of them will stick to their New Year commitment of healthier living.

I always liked the timing of New Year’s with our feast of Epiphany in how they both celebrate new beginnings, new revelations, and new ways of thinking about things. As creatures of habit, it is so easy for us to get stuck in a certain way of living and thinking. Some people just cannot imagine their life being different than the present ‘status quo.’ I would love to hear a story of a family say, “We set a goal for 2012 to be the very best, healthy Catholic family ever…and here are the changes we are making!” I would love to hear a single person, young or old say, “I am changing some patterns in my life to be the very best person I can be!”

Changing our ways and habits is a very difficult thing to do. It takes a conscious choice to change some part of our life… after realizing that the present way of living is not helping us be our very best self as a disciple of Christ.

One could think of Jesus birth and the Epiphany event as God’s way of making a change in his own ways. God tried to communicate his love and mercy first of all through creation; then he tried over and over again to express his covenant of love through Abraham, Moses, and all the prophets. Realizing that was not working all that well, God finally came to earth himself to make it real clear the kind of relationship he was wanting with us. The very word ‘epiphany’ means revelation. God ‘revealed’ all that he wanted to say to the world in the person of Jesus Christ. This is what makes us unique as Christians!

If we really BELIEVE that Jesus is the full revelation and epiphany of everything God thinks and wants of us, then we have no choice but to change our ways to live like Jesus taught us. The only other choice is to write Jesus off as a madman who only claimed to be God’s Son… and we count the bible as book of opinions and good poetry.

But because we are here in this church today, we are saying to God with our bodies at least that we DO want to follow his son Jesus with our lives. This is a great first step – to show up with good intentions…and find out what the expectations are! The challenge comes when we choose to follow through with what is being asked of us in this Word of God!

And this is where the Magi come in. They were like us, going about with their lives, studying, working, paying their bills, and raising their children to be good people. But then a particular ‘star’ struck them that beckoned them to something new for their life! They felt inspired to take a break from their routine lives, maybe burnt out with the old patterns of their life. We do not know all that happened in their visit with Mary, Joseph, and the child Jesus. After their long journey, I imagine they stayed for a week or month in the town trying to figure out WHY this child was so different. Whatever took place in their conversations and the message from the angel, it certainly changed their lives based on the last line in the story.

The author Matthew ends the story with that famous phrase “they went back to their country by another way” to give us a clue that their lives had been changed by their encounter with Jesus. To say they went ‘another way’ represents their turning away, first of all, from the deceitful authority of Herod. ‘Another way’ represents the path a person must take once they experience Jesus Christ. “Another way” represents making a turnabout in one’s life from the old way of doing things.

Every Eucharist is no less an experience of that first Epiphany…as we believe that we encounter the very Presence of Christ in this Word, in the Eucharist, and in the priest and people around us. What we hear, see, and touch in the Mass is a very real meeting of Jesus that calls us to leave here ‘by another way.’ But to go back to our homes and workplaces by ANOTHER way means we have to look at the ‘map of our life’ and see that the path we have been on has probably not been the best route to help me be an excellent disciple of Jesus… on the road to heaven.

Not that any of us are on the road to hell necessarily, but are the daily choices we are presently making truly helping us grow in holiness, in a closer relationship with God? Changing those patterns and habits is NOT an easy turn to take! But instead of thinking that to be a saint is just too much work, or that giving up that sinful habit is just too unattainable, Isaiah the prophet gives us very encouraging words when he wrote, “Rise UP in splendor! Your light has come! The glory of the Lord shines upon you!” We have to imagine our self covered in God’s Glory!

The point of coming to the Eucharist time and again is to be reminded that cannot make the changes needed in our life on our own. For most of us, the changes we need to make can only be accomplished with God’s Grace! But are we willing to believe that God’s Grace can help us go back to our daily life ‘by another way?”

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January 1, 2012
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God
Fr. Jim Deiters

Moms are amazing people. While I want to acknowledge that not everyone had a loving mother growing up, most people are quite proud and fond of the mother they have or is now deceased. At almost every funeral I have had for a mother, the grown children are eager to boast that she was the best mom one could ever want.

It is a wonderful gift then that the Church gives us this feast of Mary as our Mother to begin our new year. Since New Years and this feast of Mary rarely fall on a Sunday, many people are often not here for such a great solemnity that blends two significant days. The pope also sets this day aside for us to pray for world peace, so desperately needed.

While it may seem like having the three together is a lot, there is actually a great connection between the three if you think about it: a new year, our Mother Mary, and prayers for peace. Let’s look at these three in light of the Scriptures for today as we begin a new year of grace and mercy from God. The Gospel sets the theme for us with a particular image of Mary ‘reflecting’ on the amazing things that God has done. The Gospel writer Luke tells us that in the midst of angels and shepherds shockingly appearing at Jesus’ birth in the country stable of Bethlehem, Mary “reflected on” all these things in her heart.

I think this simple image of Mary as being reflective is one thing we can all set as a goal for our new year. The author portrays Mary as a contemplative sort of person, observing and listening to what was being said about her and her child...announcements from angels, shepherds, and wise men – lots to reflect on!

Like any parent, Mary experienced difficult challenges of raising a child and had many joyful and proud moments as well. But the beautiful thing that Mary does is that she makes time to reflect on all her life experiences. Mary does not know exactly what these events mean, so she reflects on them in her heart. Mary is a guide for us when things happen in our life and we don’t know what to make of them. Mary is not reactive or impatient, which suggests she trusts that the fuller meaning of it all will be revealed in God’s time. Good prayer requires us to spend some time actually reflecting on our daily experiences in light of how God is working in our life. In ‘Church language’ we call this ‘theological reflection,’ in which a person steps back from a situation he or she has experienced and asks questions like, “what does God want me to learn from this event? What did I learn about myself…and the other person involved?” Or “how was God present in what I experienced?” Theological reflection is a great form of prayer to do what Mary did and reflect on the amazing way that God is actively engaged in our life, in both good times and our challenges.

Whether that reflection time is by our self early in the morning, late at night, or driving in the car, it can be a great spiritual practice to simply find ten minutes a day to think about the ways that God is active and involved in our life. Mary, like a good mother, teaches us WHAT to reflect ON – namely the significance of Jesus in our life. Do we keep Jesus at a distance, thinking of him only as a great person who had good ideas? Do we think of him simply as a ‘rule maker’ who judges us? OR do we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior and reflect daily on his great love and forgiveness? As we begin a new year, our Mother Mary invites us to make Jesus more central in our life and our family.

Our honoring of Mary, on any of her feast days, is about recognizing how she always points us back to Jesus. As Mary and Jesus model for us how to live in peace…, with our self, with God, and with others, the more we each choose to live in a state of peace internally, the more we contribute to peace in the world! Mary was not only the Mother of Christ; she was also his most faithful disciple. As she taught Jesus as a child to be a person of peace, she eventually learned from her son what it means to be an agent of peace in every situation and with every single person. As Mary became Mother of God when the Holy Spirit touched her womb with Divinity, she became our Mother when Jesus said on the Cross, “Behold your Mother.” In one of her motherly roles she teaches us to daily reflect on God’s Presence in our life.

Through the Eucharist… in one sense we can know the joy that Mary experienced… as we carry within us the very Presence of God. This presence of God inside of us gives us a sacred place to ‘go to’ for reflection as Mary did.

May we receive Jesus in this Eucharist with renewed reverence and AWE as we become aware that we now carry within us the Presence of God…and then let us make TIME to reflect on what that means!

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December 25, 2011

Christmas
Fr. Jim Deiters

It was one of those laugh-out-loud moments when I was driving and heard it on the radio. It was an advertisement for an exclusive jewelry store in St. Louis that was promoting the need for everyone to have a big brilliant diamond for Christmas. While I wasn’t paying much attention to it at first, the announcer was going on and on about how their diamonds are perfectly cut, and how the best way to express your love to someone is by buying them a diamond. The irony and humor of it was that while all of this was being ‘blabbed’ about into my ears, I noticed that the main thing I was paying attention to and singing along with was the background instrumental music of the ad which was my absolute favorite song “Away in a Manger!” Honestly, I could not make this up! I started laughing to myself once I realized what they were advertising while I was singing about Jesus “asleep on the hay.” I humored myself by imagining how the company had hired this expensive marketing company who happened to assign a new, young ‘Jewish’ associate on the project who just grabbed some generic instrumental song he pulled out of a ‘Christmas’ file, clueless that it was about the poverty of Jesus born in a feeding trough! It was the funniest, most paradoxical Christmas commercial one could ever imagine!

But the incongruity of that advertisement may just give us a clue into the paradox of our own lives as Christians living in a secular world. The conflicting words of the announcer with the words of the background song give us a reflection on our own tension between the ‘words’ of our lives on the surface… and THE Word of God that is the source of our being.

It is very significant in how St. John describes Jesus’ beginning by defining him as ‘the Word’- the Word of God that is! Let’s listen again to that famous opening line that gives us a deeper insight into the significance of who this Jesus person really is: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” If we think about ‘words’ that come from our mouths – words of truth, words of lies, words of encouragement, words of cynicism and hate, words of peace and forgiveness – our life in one sense could be summed up by the words that come out of us. The words people will say about us at our funeral will define what kind of difference we made in the world.

Words can be very powerful. They announce a pregnancy and they can start a war. Words can heal or divide. They can connect us to God and words can misguide us into living a lie. So when John describes Jesus as The Word, it challenges us to think about the words in our own life and how they relate to THIS Word of God, Jesus, the ultimate expression of all that God wanted to say to the world.

While this reading on Christmas may seem quite deep and theological, it does force us to realize the significance of this feast beyond the idyllic, sometimes ‘cutesy’ images of Jesus’ birth we see on Christmas cards or sing about in carols. Those can be very helpful in explaining to children what we celebrate, but we adults are challenged to delve deeper into the mystery of Christmas. The great Medieval and Renaissance painters tried to imbue some of John’s theology into their masterpieces with light rays beaming from the sky or baby Jesus holding a scepter and globe of the earth, but none of them were able to portray what it really means to say that Jesus is the Word of GOD – the same Word that created the world before time existed; the same Word that spoke through the prophets, the same Word that continues to inspire scientists to search for the Word’s beginnings.

Yes, we are talking about an adult kind of Christmas here that most of us never think about since we get so caught up in making sure Christmas is all about our children. As magical as Christmas is for the little ones, this feast is about so much more than presents, sheep, a twinkling star, and exotically dressed wise men. This Gospel invites us to return to the real MYSTERY of what it means that God came to live in human flesh!

We must gradually invite our children to delve into the Christmas mystery of how, through Jesus, our humanity is now permeated with God’s Divinity! If not, our young people will and ARE, searching out other mysteries, like how to hack into the intrigues of a computer and top secret government records. Our wonderful human minds keep hungering for ‘more’ and if we could channel that energy into our search for God…and the beauty of our own humanity, then this mystery of Jesus raising our humanity into divinity would motivate us to BECOME what Jesus modeled for us – a higher ‘level’ of being human!

As Christmas invites us to be in awe at this Word of God who teaches us about what it means to BE fully human, it would be helpful in our prayer to think about what ‘words’ we live by… and what words would people use to describe us. Like an incongruous advertisement, we may just realize that the words of our life are not quite in line with THE Word of God. But so as not to lose hope, we come to this Eucharist where Jesus loves even our broken humanity… and sees within us the potential to become divine with him! In this Eucharist, will we allow ourselves to be raised to such glory…and allow His Word and life of Love to become ours?

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December 18, 2011

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Fourth Sunday of Advent
Fr. Jim Deiters

While all of you are trying to get used to the new responses of Mass, we priests are working on lots of changes in our own prayers during the Mass as well. One of the interesting additions you may have noticed comes in the “Preface” prayer which the priest prays right before we sing the Holy, Holy. The prayer restored the original Latin text which names various choirs of angels who join us in praising God around the Altar. The specific mention of Thrones and Dominions – two ‘kinds’ of angels – is meant to help remind us that we are taking part in something heavenly, beyond this world we see. Now of course we do not see these angels…which might be just as well!

According to the bible, if an angel appears to you, you can be pretty sure that your life is about to be turned upside down with some significant request from God. And IF an angel does speak, pay close attention to the details! In our Gospel story, it must have been shocking enough for Mary to first of all experience an angel standing before her; then it tell her she is pregnant – without being in a relationship with a man; then the details are revealed that this will be no ordinary child. The angel said that “this child will take over the throne of David!” Now that ‘final detail’ may not be that shocking to you and me, but for Mary, being a good Jewish girl, that last part of the message may have been more startling than the first since she would have known from her bible studies that the One to take over the ‘throne of David’ would be the long-awaited Messiah. It is one miracle to be pregnant without relations with a man…but to be a simple girl from a no-where place like Nazareth…and give birth to the Messiah is a whole other request most people would not want an angel telling you!

This Annunciation story, with beautiful details that are only found in Luke’s Gospel, sets the stage for the great significance of Christmas day when Jesus – the fulfillment of King David - is born. The importance of this will only make sense to us if we do a short review of who King David was in salvation history.

In a sense, the very first ‘king’ that God set up was Adam at the beginning of the world. Adam was created in God’s Image to rule the world with perfect love. The book of Genesis says that God told Adam to “have dominion over all the earth.” Note that to have ‘dominion’ is very different than practicing ‘domination.’ Adam, representing all humanity, was given a ‘kingly’ mission, not to dominate, but to rule with a stewardship kind of kingship of caring for the earth. But Adam turned into a bad king, allowing sin, represented by the serpent, to take over his thoughts and actions, instead of living in pure love as he was created.

God continued to desire that the Garden of Eden would someday be restored in which all people live in love and peace. Centuries later, God chooses David to be a king for his Chosen people to restore what was lost by Adam. God made an extravagant promise to David that his reign would last forever, in a sense that Eden would be recreated in the line of David’s family. But for those who remember the story, David, God’s hope for a perfect king, sinned and failed. However, the Chosen people of Israel did not forget God’s amazing promise that somewhere in David’s line of royalty, a true King would come.

And this is where the angel’s message to Mary would have been shocking to her. YOUR Son will be “given the throne of David” and he will finally bring God’s order back to the earth. The angel proclaimed that THIS child will fulfill David’s “kingdom that will have no end.” Any good Jew would have heard the angel’s message, put the pieces together, and probably be overwhelmed with joy that God’s promise to David was about to be fulfilled! We cannot imagine what was all going on in Mary’s mind at the sound and import of this message!

And then with almost comic relief to the significance of it all, Mary asks a pretty mundane yet essential question as a woman …and ‘how can this be without relations with a man?” This brings us back to the role of angels – to help foster a connection between God and humans.

The angels, including Gabriel who had this conversation with Mary, gather with us around the Altar to praise God in the Mass. Singing with us in the Eucharist, the angels invite us to see how our lives are connected to the kingly lives of Adam, David, and Jesus. Through Jesus, we the Church are grafted on to this royal line of Adam and David. The sin passed on through Adam is forgiven by Christ and we are made royal heirs to God’s restored Kingdom. The challenge of now being a part of Christ’s royalty through our baptism is that we are commissioned to work with Christ to create a true ‘kingdom’ in which the Garden of Eden is restored – where humans have a SACRED dominion over creation with stewardship and reverence …and every person is treated like royalty!

For those with eyes of faith, the presence of angels is very real here in our Eucharist as we are transported from our mundane lives of worrying about earthly things…into a glimpse of heaven where this Eucharistic celebration reminds us that we are a part of something much greater than the world we see around us. Here we are to imagine and believe that we are already a part of the NEW Garden of Eden, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ! The question these angels with us at the Altar may ask us is “Do you see yourself as an active part of God’s heavenly Kingdom?”

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December 11, 2011

Third Sunday of Advent
Fr. Jim Deiters

Sometimes it can be confusing when you come to church and the Scripture readings do not make sense or they are not in a chronological order with the previous week or season of the year. For example, it is just two weeks before Christmas and the Gospel assigned today is about an adult Jesus who is about to be introduced to the world by John the Baptist.

In our lives of timelines and having things in order, it SEEMS it would make more sense during these Advent days of setting up a manger and baby Jesus in our home to have a story about the Nativity. However, it reminds us that the bible is not a history book to give us a precise timeline of Jesus’ life. Rather, the bible is more like a ‘library’ of different genres of writing by very different authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to convey God’s mercy and love.

The fact that the Gospel for last Sunday and today both focus on John the Baptist remind us of how significant he was in Jesus’ life. John’s purpose was to prepare people for Jesus by calling them to conversion. It is no coincidence then that Mother Church has us reflecting on this Gospel right before Christmas, not simply about Jesus as a baby in a manger, but preparing for Jesus in our life in the fullest sense… as our Savior!

While it is sweet to think about Jesus as a baby, it is much more challenging to welcome Christ into our lives as our Lord and Savior! This is why John the Baptist’s message is so important for us in preparing for Christmas. John keeps talking about repentance and forgiveness of sin… to prepare us for a Savior – which is what Christmas is all about! However, we do not NEED a Savior if we do not admit our sinfulness! When John talks about acknowledging our sins, the purpose is not to beat ourselves up to think that we are bad people. Rather, we are simply admitting to our self and to God that we have made mistakes…and that God alone can set us free from the guilt and shame that comes from sin. Therefore, Christmas- the coming of a Savior - will only make sense and have meaning for us if we admit to our self how much we NEED a Savior.

Because we are immersed in a culture that has lost a sense of sin, many people prefer to blame others for their problems without taking responsibility for the consequences of our own choices. Without an awareness of my own sins, there is no need for a Savior. And if we cannot see how much we need set free from our sins, then Christmas will pass away simply as a day of kitschy decorations and spending money on gifts. Do our children really know the true PURPOSE of Christmas? Since the Scriptures remind us that the reason of Jesus’ Coming was to “save us from our sins,” Christmas will only have a spiritual meaning if we acknowledge that we do indeed NEED set free of our sins…and the shame that comes from them.

John the Baptist and Jesus both saw that people were weighed down with feeling bad about themselves from their sin. They shared a common vision of wanting people to know of God’s mercy that sets us free from self-degradation. We are to live as people of LIGHT! Every sin, whether great or small, is another weave in the basket that covers up our light.

As the Church invites us to make a good confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it is like a loving mother who knows what is best for us…as the sacrament is the tangible sign of God setting us free. What the sacrament of Penance and John the Baptist remind us of is that we cannot save ourselves! John said what we all need to humbly say to our self, “I am not the Christ.” And “there is one mightier than I.”

The Nineteenth Century philosophy of “Enlightenment” still casts its shadow on our culture in thinking of our self as the center of the universe…with no need for God or religion. This is why some people, including teenagers, have a hard time coming to Mass since here we admit we are NOT the center of the world and GOD is! If we raise our children to think they are at the center of everything they will see no need for God or the Eucharist. True enlightenment and wisdom comes when we recognize ourselves as ‘creatures’ under a Creator, a God much greater than our self.

While John baptized with water…and Jesus baptized the world with the Holy Spirit, the Eucharist is Christ’s ongoing baptism of forgiveness and love. The Communion ritual of processing to the Altar, bowing our head, and holding out our hand in need, represents our humble acknowledgement of our need for a Savior! One gift we can give to our self and our children before Christmas day is to spend some quiet time in front of Jesus, either here in the tabernacle or represented as a baby in a manger, naming the darkness and sin that bind us… and thanking God for coming to set us free!

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