We celebrated the Second Sunday of Advent with great care. During that same week I heard Confessions on Wednesday and Thursday for 2 hours each night. I was exhausted after listening and trying to translate as best I could. We also celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Conception where our Lay Marianists renewed their consecration before a packed Church. It was a very busy week all in all!
My homilies for the Second Sunday of Advent and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception follow:
Second
Sunday of Advent
Morning Church! Advent greetings! Prepare the way of
the Lord! We hear these words in the Gospel and we say these words every
Advent. Prepare the way of the
Lord. What is the way of the Lord? Is the way of the Lord my way? Is the way of the Lord the popular way? Is the way of the Lord a way that leads to
life? Is the way of the Lord a way I want to follow? All of these are great questions for us to ponder
on this Second Sunday of Advent, Amen?
So how do we know the ways of the Lord?
The Word of God gives us a few clues this Sunday. Turn to the person next to you and say, I
want to know the way of the Lord!
The Prophet Isaiah tells us that the way of the Lord
is filled with possibilities. God’s way
is the ways of peace and justice. The
prophet says that the Messiah will have the spirit rest on him and he will be
filled with wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge and fear of the
Lord. The Messiah will judge with
justice and he will be clothed with justice and mercy on his waist and on his
hips. These same qualities are what we
all receive on the day of our Confirmation.
So, in fact, we all do share in the way of the Lord, Amen? The prophet continues to tell us that with
God all things are possible, even common enemies can come together in
peace. The wolf and the lamb, the
leopard and the kid, the calf and the lion, the cow and the bear, the child and
the cobra can all live together in peace with one another. That is a great vision for the way of the
Lord, Amen? So, how do we take this Word
into our hearts and into our homes?
Well, if your family is like my family, I would imagine that there are
enemies within your families. The
Prophet Isaiah says that if these common enemies can live in peace, then all should
be able to live in peace. Maybe this
weekend, if you have an enemy in your family, in this community, at work, you
may want to extend a branch of peace to them.
The way of the Lord is filled with possibilities. It is much easier to extend a hand of peace
then it is to live with an enemy. The
way of the Lord is possibility, justice and peace. Will you live the way of the Lord today?
Repeat after me…. Prepare the way of the Lord!
Saint Paul tells the Romans that the way of the Lord
has to do with endurance, encouragement, hope, and welcoming others. Endurance in remaining steadfast to the
faith, encouragement in helping others when they feel weak in the faith, hope
that what God says can happen will happen, and welcoming new members into the
community. All of these virtues are a
manifestation of who God is….God endures, God encourages, God is hopeful, and
God always welcomes. So, have you
endured in your faith? Do you encourage
others to grow deeper in their faith? Are you a sign of hope for the world? Do
you extend your hand and welcome new members to this community? These are all the way of the Lord. Saint Paul wrote this letter to the Romans
many years ago, but this same letter could be written to this community here in
Queretaro in the year 2016. Will you let
this Advent season help you follow the way of the Lord? Repeat after me…Prepare the way of the Lord!
And finally, the Gospel today tells us that the way of
the Lord is about repentance. Today we
are introduced to John the Baptist who preached about returning to God, turning
away from sin, and following the path of goodness and light. John is the voice that cried out in the
desert, Prepare the way of the Lord. If
we are to prepare the way of the Lord, the first place to start is with our own
lives. We must look at our lives and
honestly access if our actions and thoughts produce good fruit or not. The way of the Lord is about change. It is about becoming more like God and
becoming more loving to our sisters and brothers. Repentance is a very important way for each
of us to reflect on our lives and change what needs to be changed. Sometimes the way of the Lord may be a
gradual change, and sometimes it means a quick and rapid change. For what do you need to repent? In our
baptism our sin was forgiven, but we all know that all of us sin from time to
time, Amen? During this season of Advent, what sin do you need to repent from
in order to produce good fruit? Turn to
the person next to you and say, the way of the Lord is about repentance. Repeat after me, Prepare the way of the Lord!
And so this Sunday we are asked to prepare the way of
the Lord. It starts with ourselves with
repentance and then it extends to others when we act as God acts: full of
possibility, seeking peace and justice, encouraging and welcoming others and
uniting others in peace and harmony.
There are so many possibilities for each of us, all we have to do is to
prepare the way of the Lord, Amen? As we
enter into this weekend, let our hearts and minds be open to the possibilities
of God present and active among us. Do
you want to follow the Lord? Then repeat
after me, Prepare the way of the Lord!!! Amen?
Feast
of the Immaculate Conception
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria
Ave, Ave, Maria
Good evening Church! Are you ready to celebrate? Turn
to the person next to you and say: Any day we celebrate Mary is a good day!
Yes, Church, today we celebrate Mary in the title Immaculate Conception. The readings help us understand who Mary is
for us as a people of faith. She is the
one who chooses good over evil, the one who exists for the praise and glory of
God, and the one who said yes to God.
Yes, Mary did all of these things in her life and they make her special
and loved by all of us, but these things are not exclusively reserved for
Mary. We are all called to choose good
over evil, to praise God with our lives, and to say yes to God when we are
asked to do something. Mary shows us how
to respond to God. She shows us how to
live our lives in good times and bad times.
She shows us how to say yes even when we do not know all the
details. For this we honor Mary this
day, Amen? Repeat after me, Nothing is impossible for God
The Book of Genesis recalls the story of temptation
and choosing evil over good. The story
is old, but is very real in everyday life.
Every day we are presented with choices.
And once we reach the age of reason, we know good from bad, Amen? So if we know good from bad, why do we
continue to choose bad things in our life? Herein lies the concept of sin. We know what is right. We know what is good, and still we choose
what is not right and what is not good.
That is sin. The Church provides
us with this image so that we can look at Mary as the one who always chose good
over bad. In her Immaculate Conception
she was able to only choose the good. I
want to choose the good in my life and I find it hard. Do you find it hard? Say Amen if you know what I mean! Mary is the
new Eve. Eve chose sin. Eve chose the bad. Mary chose grace. Mary chose the good. Turn to the person next to you and say, chose
the Good. And so repeat after me,
Nothing is impossible for God.
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria
Ave, Ave, Maria
In the letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians he
encourages the community to remember that “we exist for the praise of his
glory”. God gave us the gift of
life. What we make of our life is our
gift back to God. Everything we do in
life should praise our God the Creator. Mary
realized the preciousness of her life and how God had smiled upon her. She sang her Magnificat as a response to the
goodness of God. Her life became a song
of praise to God who had done mighty things for her. And so I wonder, what song would you sing to
God for the gift of your life? Would it
be a song of praise? A song of
hope? A song of gratitude? A song of
gratitude? Or would it be a song of
lament? A song of despair? A song of
anger? A song of complaint? We all get one life. Mary chose to live her life in praise even
when she encountered hardship, despair and obstacles. What will you choose? Mary chose praise. Will you chose praise? Repeat after me, Nothing is impossible for
God.
The Gospel reading reminds us that this young woman,
who did not know many things in life, said yes to God. Like many of us when presented with a
difficult decision, Mary said to the angel, “How can this be?” I am sure all of us have said this phrase at
least once in our own lives, Amen? How
can this be? Or in other words, Why me? Because of her belief in God, Mary did
not let fear, or the unknown, prevent her from saying yes to God.
And Mary said yes….and the world changed. I wonder how many times the world could have
changed even more if you and I said yes more often to God? Saying yes is an act
of faith. Saying yes unites us to Mary
in a very special way. Mary was given a
special purpose, but all of us have a special purpose in our life. Saying yes helps us to discover that purpose. We do not need to know all the answers in
order to make a decision in faith, Amen?
All of us are called to discover our special purpose in this world. In our families, our faith community, our
religious community and our world. Mary,
Woman of Faith, shows us the way to discovering our special purpose. And so repeat after me, Nothing is impossible
for God.
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria
Ave, Ave, Maria
So, we celebrate this great feast of Mary this
night. Tonight we also witness and
celebrate the renewal of consecration of our Lay Marianists. Like Mary, these men and women try to choose
good over evil, try to live their life in praise of God, and try to say yes to
God with their lives. They too realize
that Nothing is impossible for God. By living their life as a Lay Marianist,
they are trying to discover their special purpose in life. They are not perfect….believe me I know! But
they are on the journey. Maybe they have
even said in their own life before making their consecration, How can this be? But, they did respond to the call of God and
Mary. Maybe God might be calling you to
consider making this special consecration that unites the vowed Marianist
Brothers and the Lay Marianists in a very special relationship. Maybe God is inviting you to say yes to this
invitation? Tonight as they renew their
consecration maybe you may wonder if this too could be you some day.
We have much to celebrate tonight, Amen? United with
Mary we choose good, praise our God and say Yes to Gods will, Amen? Turn to the
person next to you and say, Nothing is impossible for God. Do you believe it? In a loud voice say, I believe…Amen?
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria
Ave, Ave, Maria
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