Listen to an audio version or read the text as a reflection on the gospel, Luke 3: 1-6, for the Second Sunday of Advent, 2018.

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Clear our throats

John the Baptist’s voice,

Stronger than an Alaskan earthquake,

Mightier than a California blaze,

Bolder than a Texas border-wall,

Reverberates beyond generations.

His clear intonation and pure eloquence,

Transmitting from ancient prophets,

With rawness from the lonely desert,

Opens our ears to prepare for the savior from blue heaven.

His life remains unencumbered,

Since he hears what he speaks,

That all the earth shall be healed and forgiven,

Where hills will be made low and valleys filled in,

And those who torment and divide,

Shall hang their heads in repentance.

Our deaf hearts will shout along with John

That Love is mightier than our pain,

When our healed voices speak for the weak,

When our prophetic sentences strung together

Become a safety net for the forgotten.

We herald words as prophets,

To people evacuated from storm and fire,

To foster children lost in bureaucratic systems,

To sisters separated between arguing countries,

Then the voice of the prophet

Shall be shelter stronger than cardboard.

So we clear our throats waiting for the day,

When our Advent longing shall bear fruit,

And our voices ring from the earth in praise.

Cover photo of our Lady of Guadalupe from Sacred Heart Church by John Goddard. 

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Dear Believers in the Messiah,

John the Baptist is my favorite personality in the gospel next to his cousin Jesus. I am drawn to John because he knows entirely who he is in the story of the Christ. Even when he was in the womb, he danced in recognition that he was in the presence of the Savior. How can you beat that? John grew up close to the earth and close to the realization that the world needs salvation. He spent his life pointing into the direction of Christ Jesus and calling people to ready their lives for his promise of salvation.

Today’s gospel, Luke 3:1-6, breaks through the silence of the desert so we may listen to the strong and bold words of John the Baptist. Again, the gospel is not about a cozy, domestic longing for the baby Jesus. Somehow we are afraid to look at Christmas differently from the warm fires of family life. Christmas is not about domestic bliss, rather it is about the realization that the Word of God moves mountains, changes the directions of streams and makes winding roads straight. In other words, there is nothing in our lives that cannot be redeemed, loved and forgiven. This is the journey for us, to open wide our hearts even when we are filled with fear. We seek the glory of God becoming flesh within the world.

John is in the desert in today’s gospel. The wasteland is an important image in the gospels. Here’s why. The coming of Christ reestablishes the full presence of God. This abundant love is viewed in the original image of life in the Garden of Eden. In other words, the desert, which is devoid of lush green and flowing water, will become the second garden of life in the resurrection of Christ Jesus. So John shakes us all up by saying that we must be prepared for something new to happen in the desert. Valleys will be filled in and rough roads made smooth. Lush green will become our home, an image of eternal life.

This image of desert is also about the human heart. There will be no sin or anxiety that will not be forgiven or made new in Christ Jesus. John has quite the task in Advent. He is bold, earthy, strong and sure in his declaration that every human heart must wait for God. We all experience this dry wasteland at some point in our lives. We all know how sin, division and heartache can shrink or decay the potential of life. Our hearts in Advent are laid bare for love to enter them to make them whole.

Our prayer during the Advent season must be inclusive and expansive. We are to pray for all the ways our hearts become withered and small. We are to take the voice of the weak seriously and to walk among the bewildered and the poor with unbelievable hope.

May the blessings of the season fill our weakness and break open our desperate hearts.

Advent Peace,

Fr. Ron

I offered a day of reflection this week for the priests of the Diocese of Pensacola-  Tallahassee at the invitation of Bishop Bill Wack, CSC.

Prayers of the Faithful

First Sunday of Advent

Let us pray for vigilance in Advent, that we may bring optimism to our desperate poor and to people who remain drowsy with fear. Let us all remain awake and watchful. We pray to the Lord.

Let us see with new eyes in Advent, that our leaders within the Church may come to terms with our hurting children who have been abused by power and secrecy. We pray to the Lord.

Let us imagine a new world this Advent where we cease our violent words against one another, where we realize the consequences of hatred in our families and in our neighborhoods and within our politics and religion. We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who are ill during this Advent. That we may seek to help our sick in mind and body, that we may respect the dignity of those who cannot heal themselves. We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people suffocating from the anxieties of daily life, that fear may be replaced with joy in our search for Jesus-made-flesh. Let us lay down our burdens of regret and restlessness in our new liturgical year. We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to lift up our souls to the Lord in Advent. That we may carry the needs of those who grieve, that our dead may find eternal rest in friendship with the Lord. We pray to the Lord.

Last Easter, my radio show came to a conclusion. Now, I want to occasionally offer an audio reflection called, “Fragments from the Word”. This is a title that I used several years ago. This three-minute reflection invites us into the message of the Sunday gospel or some phrase or passage of the liturgy. Today’s reflection is from Luke’s gospel. Hope you enjoy.

Fragments from the Word: Click here for an audio reflection for the First Sunday of Advent.

FULL bulletin here

Dear Believers in the Messiah,

Advent stirs up our desire for God. Advent does not begin with sentimental notions of chocolate covered Christianity or gingerbread prayers. Notice that our Sunday gospels would not make the cut for glittered greeting cards or catchy holiday songs. These gospels are hardly romantic. Instead, Advent compels our wakefulness to a world that is hurting and in need of love, tenderness and redemption. Advent becomes a profound and deep hope that everything in our world will be brought back to what is good, caring and wise. Advent is meant to get us on our feet and keep us moving until every aspect of our human condition is made whole.

We begin the Christian story all over again in this First Sunday of Advent. We wait for the coming of the Messiah. We long for a worldview that cultivates hopefulness for people on earth. Amazingly, the gospel in this New Year of Grace does not start off with a quaint or sentimental notion of Christmas. In fact, it is just the opposite.

Advent takes us by the shoulders and shakes us out of complacency. These four weeks, just as an alarm clock, wake us to the Messiah’s coming. Luke 21:25-28, 34-36, which is read today, takes us to the extreme of letting go of everything to which we cling, including our addictions, our apathy and our hatred. Our hearts are challenged to stay awake beyond our own ego. We have become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life. The world is longing for something new, including our lives that have centered on dividing people, the accusations of our slander and the sleepiness of our moral complacency.

Our vigilance to stay awake in Advent takes many forms. We are to become vulnerable for God. So much of what we do in our world does not work, especially when it is based on power, authority and unkindness. When we look at so much of how the world works, it is truly based on fear.

The season of Advent is meant to humble us once again. This humility is not a human put-down, but is meant for us to finally realize that God is God and we are not. We stand gazing at the stars in the darkness of Advent. We bend down to raise up the ill and those tied down with failure and hopelessness. We extend our hearts to people who shelter themselves in tears and fear during the nighttime.

Advent cultivates our desire for the richness of God’s love and mercy. Without us coming to realize that we need God and God’s people, Christmas will only be a time of tinsel and self-reliance. Advent’s four-week preparation to the celebration of Christ’s birth is dramatic and grace-filled. However, we realize that we do not wait in our day for this child to be born. We wait instead for us to be amazed at God’s breakthrough in our heartache and in our broken Church to bring us the glory and love of Christ Jesus today.

Advent Peace,

Fr. Ron

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CLICK HERE TO listen to today’s interview about my book, The Unsheltered Heart: An Advent At-Home Retreat

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Sunday November 25, 2018

Let us pray to seek gospel love for people surviving prejudice, isolation and hatred in our world and within our Church. That we may live the message of Christ the King, that all things shall find their home in love.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for leaders and bishops within our Church, that they may continue with courage to end cover-ups and let go of false power concerning the crimes committed on our children.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for those who weep at their loss from the California fires, for those who hold their heads down in wonder about loved ones killed this week. For people still trying to claim their lives from hurricanes, storms and violence.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for the dignity of family life, for those united in hardship as well as harmony that families may thrive in faith and kindness reflective of Christ Jesus.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray that we may bare truth in our speech and actions and that we may work for justice on this earth as it reflects the beauty and bounty of heaven.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who have buried a loved one this week, that all life and death may be in union with Christ our King.

We pray to the Lord.

Dear Believers in the Christ,

Today is the last Sunday of our liturgical year. The title of today, “The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe” seems imposing if not completely overwhelming. For most people in our society to use the name king or anything similar seems a bit much. Yet, for the last Sunday of our year, this title of Christ Jesus is just the beginning. This King will lead us into a new land well beyond the grave.

I love the notion of Christ the King. I like it because it names the rhythm of our year, that in the end everything is going to be all right. Imagine, that Jesus is the King of not only our personal piety, but in the end, the one who will shepherd all people to his side.

He becomes the King of not only wayward folks but of all the issues in life that seem unredeemable. He is King over all people, including those drugged out by cocaine and heroin. He is shepherd and King to all people who on this side of the grave cannot help themselves or who cannot afford housing. He is the dominant one over those with throat cancer who will finally sing his praise. He is the one who welcomes everyone around the table in the Kingdom, especially those who have never felt welcomed at their family table. Jesus is the kind-one who will bring all who have been abused into new and vital healing relationships. He will bring home the ones who fret and worry, those who are too stubborn to believe on earth and those who cannot wait to get out of prison. Jesus the King is the servant for all people.

I am excited again to read in the Mass texts from Revelation, “Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the people of the earth will lament him. Amen.” I am refreshed that those who come to our Food Pantry will be full of love and food with his help and our work. I know that those who live in nursing homes will be able to get out of bed and look at the clouds and leap for joy at his coming. I understand with my full heart that our lost relatives will get a call from him on the last day and invite us all into reconciliation.

I know this title of Jesus seems rather imposing and certainly seems “churchy.” Yet if we examine closely the liturgical year and how we praise God, how we worship and how the community is formed by the structure and grace of the year, our hearts should skip a beat and we should dance in Old Colorado City at the thought of him coming in the high-top clouds.

The amazing thing is that as soon as we celebrate The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe this week, we will start the story all over again at the beginning of Advent. Then we shall sing at the top of our lungs that the child we wait for at Christmas will eventually become King over everything that is broken in our human hearts. The One we worship is amazing, the great King.

Peace to you,

Fr. Ron

Thanksgiving Day 2018: Priests, Brothers and Novices of the Congregation of Holy, Sacred Heart Church.