The Second Sunday of Advent 2020: Bulletin Art and Column

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Second Sunday of Advent

December 6, 2020

Dear Believers in the Christ,

Mark 1: 1-8 reveals the forerunner of Jesus. John the Baptist, a cousin of Jesus cries out on behalf of the Kingdom. His voice echoes across generations. Be ready. Be prepared. Remain open-hearted. Our salvation is at hand. Baptism becomes our new identity. Our sin melts away in the forgiveness of Christ.

John spends his life facing into the direction of the Kingdom of God. His very soul points to Jesus, the Messiah. He knows and feels the Light.  He wants the best for us as well, his mighty hand points toward love. The Kingdom is close upon us. I love John because he knows who he is and what his life is all about. He lives a selfless life. His simplicity speaks in the hot desert. His clothing and food are both for sheer survival and nothing else. John speaks to me even more in my aging. His hot breath proclaims the Kingdom. His strong voice washes over valleys and desert mountains even in our time when society is drenched with corruption, insincerity and injustice.

John’s voice is a hot torch. His manner challenges the rich and comfortable. His tenacity stretches for generations. John becomes the spokesperson for Kingdom riches. In his simplicity, he has no room in his heart for duplicity and dishonesty. John, the first New Testament prophet, is mightier than corruption, and stronger than hatred. John is my favorite scriptural super-hero.

John rattles our notions of Advent. Advent is the time when we muster the courage to pray and work for all that is unjust and unsettled. We rouse such hope because the Incarnation changes everything. God-with-us, the meaning of the Incarnation, summons us to find God in all things. It is only our sin that separates people. The Incarnation is a reminder that all people are one. All people are united in this unbelievable gift on the earth.

Advent is the time we pray for justice in our world and Church. Christmas, that is the Incarnation, is meant for all people in equal measure. This is why we pray for the hungry, the abused and the uneducated. This is why our hearts go out to those who have been abused or who have to fight for their place in the Church.  This is why we give gifts, because we have been given the gift of God’s Son from heaven. Justice is an expression of love that is the Kingdom we celebrate at Christmas.

Our task is to model our lives after John. We need to point to those who most need acceptance, forgiveness and hope. If we are to read this gospel in Advent, then we are to live this reality far into a new year. We have been bombarded with illness, injustice and violence during this past year. I pray that we can cling to John’s camel hair garment and learn to follow him in the heat of the deserts we face in our world.

On every Second Sunday of Advent, the gospels invite us to consider John. However, this year feels different to me. We need him more than ever. We need a steady ride on this rollercoaster of pandemic and racial violence and political divides. John must speak out louder this year, because we just don’t seem to hear him rumble the forests with sounds of reform, repentance, and remorse for wrongdoing. 

John does not present a childish Advent. His presence in the scriptures does not console at first glance. There is no Hallmark Christmas card that bears his image or no meme of his on social media. John is not a cozy winter fire. He is a fire of pure love for the marginalized and those who experience injustice and hate. He is not waiting for a child to be born. His is waiting for all the brokenness of the world to be united in the coming of the Savior. John’s voice is hoarse in his crying out. He is exhausted by his challenge.  

John says to us that he is not worthy to untie the sandals of the Master. His humility sends chills down my spine. I so desperately want to see what he saw. I want to see the face of the Messiah, Jesus, who is the Christ. If we can repent and believe, we shall hear the voice of the One who loves us beyond imagining. When justice flourishes in our world, upon the globe on which we all live, we shall see the miracle of Christ redeeming us. We shall find ourselves at the end of John’s finger, touching the face of the Beloved. And that, shall be called, Christmas!

God give you peace,

Fr. Ron

Thanksgiving Day 2020

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He returned, glorifying God! Painting by: Ronald Raab, CSC 2020

CLICK HERE for today’s scripture readings for Thanksgiving Day.

God of Miracles,

You do not distance yourself

From our raw humanity.

We are yours,

No matter the art form of our language

Or the shades of our skin color

Or the chaos on our streets

Or the places we call home.

As we experience our common mortality

In this year of pandemic,

We look out from our isolation

To view your presence,

In the ICU unit with overwhelmed caregivers,

In the technology that brings to focus the faces we love,

In the ingenuity of small business owners,

In the grief, yes, even in the grief from illness and death.

Gracious God,

We learn from the scriptures about

These socially isolated men

Without work

Without respect

Without love and human touch.

In the face of your Son, Jesus

All were healed.

All ten where overwhelmed with joy

Because now their bodies did not hurt

And their loved ones could be near again.

One healed man

Came back grateful

To behold again the face of Jesus,

The face we long for even today.

In these days of chaos

And isolation

Help us all rejoice

As a nation and as individuals.

No matter our uncertainty.

We reach beyond bitterness today

To be grateful.

This hope is for today

And forever.

Amen

First Sunday of Advent 2020:Bulletin Art and Column

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First Sunday of Advent

November 29, 2020

Dear Followers of the Messiah,

So, we start a new liturgical year. We take a deep breath and learn again to rely on the love Jesus has for his people. We sing, still with masks covering our mouths, but with a new desire in our bodies to welcome the Incarnate Savior. I pray we can pay attention to Jesus this year and keep our focus on love. Much healing needs to happen. Our children have experienced the clumsiness of our world, the inappropriate manner in which we have treated people, and the offensive language of our political lives. This Advent can be different. This Advent, we can focus on the mystery that love is born in our world even when we feel we have misplaced such a gift.

I pray for the world this Advent, that we may bear the unbelievable mystery of God. We are caretakes of love. Our skin colors may be different, our accents not easily understood, but we are all children of God. We don’t have all the answers to the pandemic. We struggle to care for the earth upon which we live. We are caretakers of the fact that Jesus became flesh for all people. In this mystery, I hold fast.

We carry much baggage with us into this new liturgical year. We still can’t easily gather in groups.  Our children don’t know from week to week how they will be educated. Our parents have delt with job loss and financial uncertainty. The one thing we have learned however in this pandemic is that we need God. Jesus can no longer be a stranger in our households. The baby Jesus does not remain in a manger scene. He has to grow up. We begin with the adult Jesus in the Advent gospels. He is a sign to us to get our acts together, to grow up, and to explore our adult faith. He advises us to get moving.

Today’s gospel, Mark 13:33-37 is short but packs a real punch. Jesus tells a simple story of a man traveling abroad. He leaves home.  His servants are in charge. Jesus commands, “Stay awake…Be alert…Watch!” Those commands compel us. What are we watching for? What shall we be alert to? If we don’t, what will happen?

The servant is asked to protect the property from disaster, from theft, and from those who would destroy the owner’s goods.  We are asked to care for all that God has left us on earth. In other words, God has left everything for us to hold as treasure. I think this is really important for us to acknowledge. Sometimes we think that world peace is not our worry or that the ground we stand on is not our responsibility. We often live the sin of entitlement, that we have earned our place standing on the earth. The earth, and even our lives, are not throw-a-way.  The earth is ours for which to care. Every day is sheer gift. Every aspect of raising children or burying our parents and everything in-between becomes an opportunity to hold the mystery of God’s presence within us.

This gospel helps us expand our view of life and faith. It penetrates our hearts toward the care of people who need us to stay awake. This new liturgical year gives us an opportunity to open a new door to our own selfishness, our obstinance toward others, and our apathy toward people who are different from our selves. We are called to stay awake and to live with expectation of the Lord’s coming.

We must learn to live differently in Advent. We are asked to stay awake through all the turmoil of racial violence, to stand among the marginalized, to ask deeper questions to those who abuse their power. Waking up is not passive. We are challenged to hold the light of faith boldly in the world. Our actions in the world declare our faith.

Advent does not begin by waiting for the cozy scene of childbirth with red and green accessories. This is not what we are waiting for in the first weeks of this season. We are waiting for a fresh breeze in our hearts that wakes us from slumber so we may get to work. Our faith in God is serious, life changing, and full of compassion toward all people.

Advent holds a three-dimensional understanding of God’s presence. We wait in the past, along with our ancestors who longed for the Messiah. We wait in the future for Jesus’ Second Coming. However, the third may be more important for us. We wait for God to crack open our stubborn and callused hearts. Today is the day to wake up.

If life in these past months of pandemic and all of the events in our world have not showed us that we need God, I am not sure what will. So, together, let’s remain awake.

God give you peace,

Fr. Ron