Happy New Year, Mary the Mother of God, and Epiphany!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  2011 Begins with two wonderful Solemnities:  The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and the Epiphany of the Lord!  Both are feasts of amazing import as they continue to unwrap for us the great gift of Christmas-Jesus the Lord.  First our attention is focused on The Blessed Virgin Mary.  The fact of Jesus being the incarnate word of God means that Mary in giving birth to Jesus is the mother of God!  She did not create God, but through her God came into the world as a human being!  This feast is really about Jesus and what can happen when we cooperate with God's grace.  We are to be like the Blessed Mother and allow ourselves both to receive God's life in us and to deliver HIM to everyone we meet!  This year we are getting ready to implement the new translation of the Roman Missal.  I've been sharing the current Eucharistic prayers with our Candidates for full communion with the Catholic Church.  You may gain renewed faith and deeper insight this year by praying with the words of the Eucharistic prayers and then looking at the changes that will come next Advent.

The Epiphany celebrates Jesus as Lord and Savior of all peoples!  The magi's arrival from the East reveals to us another dimension of the gift of Christmas!  The ONE we worship is in fact the light of all nations!  "Where is the newborn king of the the Jews?  We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage."  The magi announce the great Christmas message!  It is as though we are not able to fully grasp the mystery of Jesus until it is presented to us from the vantage point of the world.  "Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem!  Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.  See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory.  Nations shall walk in your light, and kings by your shining radiance...Then you shall be radiant at what you see, you heart shall throb and overflow, for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of the nations shall be brought to you."  Isaiah the prophet articulates the events that happen liturgically this weekend!  "Your hearts shall throb and overflow."  What an image!  Does my heart throb and overflow at the Christmas message?  Is our parish more fully aware than ever of the nearness of God?   

The full cast is set before us this weekend:  The Christ child, the parents of Jesus, King Herod and all of Jerusalem, the magi, St. Paul, the Gentiles, and our parish family.  What is offered to us anew, is the chance to receive into our lives and our community, the greatest gift of all, "Jesus, the newborn King!"

Merry Christmas! Living the mystery!

Merry Christmas!  We are now into the 4th day of the Octave of Christmas!  To most of the world, despite vacation from school, Christmas is passed and we are getting ready for New Year's day.  Yet the Christ Child continues to beckon to us to be with HIM!  We are invited into greater union with the mystery of Emmanuel, God with Us!  The challenge is to allow ourselves to be like Mary, "ponder(ing) these things in her (our) hearts."  This is my first Christmas with you as a Pastor.  I am very blessed by the gift of Christ allowing me to journey with you on pilgrimage to holiness. 

Holiness is a difficult thing to keep our eyes on if we allow it to remain an abstraction.  Just as the Incarnation forces and encounter with a person, the child held in the arms of Mary, so too does holiness require of us the capacity to recognize God's presence in our daily lives.  Attention to personal prayer, to members of our family, to our parish family, and to our community are the places of encounter with Christ.  This is the crucible of conversion as the promise of redemption and the work of conversion are impressed upon us. 

Like sheep we have to attune our ears to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit with greater clarity that we may respond with greater alacrity.  Jesus declared that we are called to enter through the narrow gate.  There is nothing childish about holiness!  Jesus was clear that the road to holiness is narrow and few travel upon it.  We are constantly challenged to joyfully apprehend the NOW of the kingdom and to prioritize the value system of the Kingdom of God in all areas of our lives.  This is a time of great HOPE as we respond to the promise of Jesus to "make all things new."  There are three major mysteries remaining in the Christmas season:  January 1: Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, The Epiphany, and the Baptism of the Lord.  All three mysteries evidence the transformative power of God's love concretely affecting humanity and human history.  It is for us to enter like little children more confidently and trustingly into the arms of this season of grace!

On Final Approach...

I am a huge fan of flying and of the Space program.  As a plane gets near its destination the pilot will come on the loud speaker and announce that the flight is nearing its end, and the plane is on its decent toward the airport.  When the plane is near the airport the pilot will call out that the plane is on final approach and then the plane lands.  Well we as a Church are on final approach to the celebration of the Nativity of Our Savior Jesus Christ.  I just got back from a penance service in Thermopolis.  There are three penance services left in our deanery prior to Christmas.  I also witnessed one of the three final practices of our children who will be prayerfully leading us in our reflection upon the Christmas story.  I'm reminded of many parish plays where the practices leave parents, teachers, directors, and pastors thinking, "This isn't going to work!  I hope a disaster is not looming!"  It has been my experience that kids and youth always rise to the occasion and it goes well.  We are called to make final preparation for our decent into the mystery of Jesus' incarnation and birth!  Like passengers on a plane fastening their seat belts, stowing their trays, turning off electronic devices (which by the way is good advice for every mass and event at church!) and putting their seat backs in the upright position; we are called to do all we can to dispose ourselves of the graces that God is seeking to grant us during the Christmas season and all year.  There is still time for us to make things ready.  There is still time to sit in silence and reflect upon our desire for union with God and reconciliation with others.  We can still implore God's mercy and forgiveness for our world and our country.  What a joy to know that God is with us in the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit that unify us to our Father in heaven!  Yet, the empty creche in the manger scene is still a call to us to make room for HIM in our hearts and in every relationship!  "This is your pastor...We are on Final Approach, please prepare yourself for Christmas!" 

"When you believe..."

Last night I attended the Winter Concert at the Worland Middle School performed by the Worland High School Concert Choir, Worland High School Treblesome Nine, and the Worland High School Marshazz Choir.  I was taken by the lyrics of the song "When you believe" by Stephen Schwartz:

        In this time of fear
        When prayer so often proves in vain
        Hope seemed like the summer birds
        Too swiftly flown away
        Yet now I'm standing here
        My heart's so full, I can't explain
        Seeking faith and speaking words
        I'd never thought I'd say

        There can be miracles
        When you believe
        Though hope if frail
        It's hard to kill
        Who knows what miracles
        You can achieve
        When you believe

        So in times when all you hope is gone
        and you go through life afraid
        In your heart there lies a hopeful song
        that is there to guide the way
        and all the hurt and all the pain
        you'll soon learn was not in vain
        for all your prayers, they will be heard
        they'll come to pass through faith...

There are only 11 days left in Advent!  This season of hope and promise is not yet complete.  God can still work great healing in us and in our world if our faith is translated into action.  The action Advent calls for is repentance and service to others.  Repentance is turning away from our selfishness and allowing ourselves to be present to the deepest of our longings for union with God and others. 

The songs that resound in concerts and on the radio have the power to point to sentimental thoughts of yesteryear or to all but fairytale images of illusory happiness.  Yet I was taken by the profound promise that in a few of the songs, and especially the finale, our world is reminded of THE GREATEST GIFT:  Jesus Christ!  Christmas is really about US receiving HIM anew into our lives and then living in service to Him in Others!  This is where the fairytale and all the tinsel fade and either leave us disappointed and sad or the fruit of our Advent expectations and prayers leave us an enduring sense of gratitude, humility, and resolution to be like HIM! 



God "can do miracles, if when we believe..."  The work of redemption is hard fought and may not be obvious to us.  Jesus was not the King in the way that anyone had expected, despite the prophecies which told of a child that would be born.  Even in our daily lives it can be hard to perceive the steady and certain work of God.  It can also be difficult for us to see the fruit of our labors as we endeavor to live our faith in service to others.  Like a concert choir or band, we have to make sure to get the notes right and to proclaim with confidence the miracle that happened in Bethlehem and on Calvary and to allow the grace to touch us and our world anew!  There can be miracles still, we just need to believe! 

Practice makes perfect!

As we enter into the third week of Advent and focus ourselves more pointedly toward the celebration of the Birth of our Savior, we're called to, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."  So much of our world and even our community is doing really well at decorating our homes with lights and trees and writing cards and Christmas letters.  This can be a really good metaphor for what we need to be doing with our relationship with God and our relationships with others.  Just as much as we are concerned with the dignity and beauty of our our physical houses this season, so we ought to put even more effort at the luminosity of our faith, hope, and love.  Have we made more room for quality prayer this advent?  Have we felt the call to penance in any area of our life?  Have we taken occasion to just rest in the presence of our family and friends?  Advent is a time to prepare with joyful expectation for the coming of Jesus in glory!

When my nephew Robert was in High School, he attended karate classes several times.  On one occasion I went with him and my dad and was taken with something that the coach said, "The way you practice is the way you are going to compete."  Last Tuesday our boys and girls basketball teams from freshmen to varsity had a scrimmage for the parents so that we could get a preview of what to expect.  This was a way for us to see the fruit of all the practices to this point.  I had RCIA that night so I was only able to stay for half an hour but was impressed by how many Catholics we have on the teams and how many parents were there.  What would it look like if we were able to do something like that with our faith?  What if it were possible to witness what each of us is doing in the community, in our schools, at work, and at home and to see what our faith practices have yielded?  Actually this happens all the time.  I am so like a happy father or a proud mother when I am made aware of the concrete contributions so many of us at this parish are doing around town and even for one another!

I am also aware that there is so much more to experience and to share with God and with those in our community who don't come to mass regularly or do not get involved.  I found out the other day that only about half of the members of the last confirmation class are still involved.  Unfortunately this is not atypical.  What would have to happen in order for this to change?  What kind of a community must we be in order for all of our family members, our parish "team", to be supported in the discipline of discipleship?  Today we as a parish will make another payment, $1,100, toward the bishop's appeal.  The reason this is necessary is that only 67% of our parish goal was pledged.  My prayer is that we meet our goal next year, that everyone not only contribute of their financial resources but of their time and talent as well.  I also pray that we are able to effectively reach out to those who come to mass only at Christmas and Easter. 

What an amazing gift to be Catholic!  What an incredible message we get to experience and proclaim!  The Son of God, eternal and all powerful, was born utterly helpless and poor!  He grew up in all but obscurity, sharing our human condition, the plight of the refugee, the depressed, the lonely, homeless, then in His public ministry knew ambivalence, confrontation, adversity, doubt, cynicism, and ultimately died a violent death.  Three days later, He rose from the dead and in so doing changed everything!  We are now the heralds of that good news!  Like an effective athletic team, we have to pull together, train hard, communicate, and witness to the profound power of God's redemptive love.  Practice makes perfect, let us practice hard!

Advent: a great opportunity!

I ran across this great reflection about advent last Monday and want to share it with you.  It is an excerpt from a pastoral letter by St. Charles Borromeo, bishop:

"Beloved, now is the acceptable time spoken of by the Spirit, the day of salvation, peace and reconciliation: the great season of Advent.  This is the time eagerly awaited by the patriarchs and prophets, the time that holy Simeon  rejoiced at last to see.  This is the season that the Church has always celebrated with special solemnity.  We too should  always observe it with faith and love, offering praise and thanksgiving to the Father for the mercy and love he has shown us in this mystery.  In his infinite love for us, though we were sinners, he sent his only Son to free us from the tyranny of Satan, to summon us to heaven, to welcome us into its innermost recesses, to show us truth itself, to train us in right conduct, to plant within us seeds of virtue, to enrich us with the treasures of his grace, and to make us children of God and heirs of eternal life.

Each year, as the Church recalls the mystery, she urges us to renew the memory of the great love God has shown us.  This holy season teaches us that Christ's coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all.  We shall share his power, if, through holy faith and the sacraments, we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us, and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ.

The Church asks us to understand that Christ, who came once in the flesh, is prepared to come again.  When we remove all obstacles to his presence he will come, at any hour and moment, to dwell spiritually in our hearts, bringing with him the riches of his grace. 

In her concern for our salvation, our loving mother the Church uses this holy season to teach us through hymns, canticles and other forms of expression, of voice or ritual, used by the Holy Spirit.  She shows us how grateful we should be for so great a blessing, and how to gain its benefit:  our hearts should be as much prepared for the coming of Christ as if he were still to come into this world.  The same lesson is given us for our imitation by the words and example of the holy men of the Old testament." 

This Advent season, let us not be afraid to look for God to work a great healing in us, in our families, in our parish, and in our world.  Let us strive these remaining days to do all we can to till the soil of our souls and lives to prepare a place for Jesus and for others!