Second Sunday of Advent: Painting, Ronald Raab,CSC

My painting of John the Baptist is the cover of this week’s parish bulletin. Below is also my column for this Sunday. Read the bulletin by clicking the link. I also included today’s gospel. 

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Dear Believers in the Merciful Christ,

I am often criticized for preaching about people’s needs, especially people who have minimal financial resources. I do so realizing that we all need God. In fact, this season of Advent is designed for us to cultivate a desire for God. This need means growing in a true and lasting awareness that we require God in order to live, to breathe and to make honest decisions in our world. We need God in our pain, our grief and to see the real beauty of life itself.

Our prayer is not a pious notion that if we say the right prayers, God will love us. Our prayer is a radical posture of prayer, breaking open our hearts to lay bare the awesome nature of God’s forgiveness and kindness to form us into a people of peace and non-violence.

Advent cracks open our hardened attitudes and cranky opinions. When we take Advent seriously, we are exposed to God, who waits for us to finally come to the conclusion that we cannot live without his mercy, love and compassion. So often, the least among us, show us how faith really works. They show us how to need God.

Today’s gospel (Matthew 3:1-12) tells us of a person who shows us how to need God. This person is Jesus’ cousin, John. John the Baptist is my hero. Even in the womb, he recognized Jesus. He spent his entire life pointing to the direction of Jesus. In most depictions and paintings of John, he is pointing his finger to the direction of the coming of the Kingdom, to the direction of Jesus’ forgiveness and peace.

John steps out of the wilderness, smelly and hungry. His strong will and presence command attention from us. He emerges from the dust in order for us to find our true selves. I wonder if you have the courage to pray with him in Advent? I will warn you, he is very demanding of our hearts! I have often said that Hallmark Cards would certainly go out of business if they relied on images of John the Baptist preparing us for Christmas. John is earthy, focused, and brutally honest about his place in life. I wonder if you could capture such prayer and focus in your own life?

John is the master of calling us to repentance. Why would we do such a thing in Advent? We do so because we always need to come back to the reason why we need God in the first place. We need to shave away our shame, sort through our sin, and simmer down our selfishness. John shows us how to need God.

This is why I speak of people who need God. They show the rest of us, who are so burdened by many things and cannot admit it, how to need God. When we admit our own spiritual poverty, then we can help others in real poverty. John shows us the path to Jesus, our redemption. He shows us how to celebrate the real and loving person of Jesus with a full heart.

Advent blessings,

Fr. Ron

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On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

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Second Sunday of Advent, December 4, 2016

John the Baptist points his life and hope into the direction of Jesus, the Messiah. In these Advent days, we wait for God’s life to open our hearts, lives and actions. We wait for the coming of Jesus in our lives today!

“Blind Man” Pastel: Ronald Raab, CSC

Gospel Mt 9:27-31

As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out,
“Son of David, have pity on us!”
When he entered the house,
the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,
“Do you believe that I can do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they said to him.
Then he touched their eyes and said,
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.”
And their eyes were opened.
Jesus warned them sternly,
“See that no one knows about this.”
But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

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I was interviewed today about my Advent book, The Unsheltered Heart: An At-Home Retreat. Cycle A. Listen to On Call with Wendy Wiese from Relevant Radio, Parkridge, IL. I am in the second half-hour.

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“Saint Andrew” Oil Pastel: Ronald Raab,CSC

Gospel Mt 4:18-22

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.

“The Servant” Matthew 8:5-11 Drawing: Ronald Raab, CSC

Monday of the First Week in Advent
MT 8:5-11

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.”

The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”

When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven.”

“Stay Awake” Painting: Ronald Raab, CSC (Bulletin cover, 11-27-16)

Our parish bulletin is now in full color. My painting here is the first cover. This is my column for this weekend. 

Dear Believers in the Awaited Christ,

Welcome to this New Year of Grace, 2017! We begin the liturgical cycle again. We start with profound longing for Christ as the gospel settles into our ears and expectations that God will set us free and bring peace to his people.

Matthew’s Gospel (24:37-44) begins this season with a wake-up call. “Therefore, stay awake!” We need to take this plea seriously. However, what are we to wake up to? Or to whom do we wake up? We wake up to the person of Jesus.

In these dark days of Advent in the northern hemisphere, we set our focus on the Light of Christ. This focus is so difficult in our complicated world. We live in a 24-hour world with many things competing to get our attention even in the night. We are bombarded with news events, stock market results, and decisions from world and political leaders all night long. We are never far from the Internet to rouse compulsion and addiction. We are always close to being disturbed by constant noise of battles, brutalities and bad choices. The gospel tells us to be careful about our attachments, even our marriages and our sobriety. Everything can be taken from us. Jesus will come when we least expect. Listen cautiously. Do not be distracted. Let go of your hardened heart. Learn to pray anew.

Notice that Advent begins with yanking us out of our daily concerns and not setting us up for the coming of the Christ Child. We are not waiting for the baby in Advent. Christ is here already; salvation has come, not only the birth of Christ but in his passion, death and resurrection.

Advent is a fleeting time given cultural expectations of how we are to live in these days before Christmas. Decorations are hung before Halloween. Presents are wrapped be even before Labor Day. Cookies are baked and meals are planned. However, what about your spiritual life? How is your heart prepared again for Christ? I cringe at most of the cultural Christmas stuff. It is not that I am a curmudgeon, but that I know how much disappointment and loss also settles into this season. I want us to focus on the children whose parents’ divorced this year; to see the old woman in the fetal position in the nursing home whose family lives out of state; to be with the widower in the parish who just needs a kind ear; to reflect on the true gifts of your family, the real presence of love and faith. Live differently in Advent and don’t worry about staying home with your kids during the office party. Don’t take stock what you purchase for your children when they really need is you. Wake up! Stay alert to the real stuff.

Use the Advent night to pray, to cuddle with your children or call your adult children in a different time zone. Pray for a lasting peace for immigrants, foster children, people addicted to selfishness, and offer your life to the adult Christ who wants to live in your heart and the lives of those you love. “Therefore, wake up!”

Advent blessings,

Fr. Ron