January 1st - Mary, the Mother of God  (English)

January 7th - Prerecorded message from the Bishop played....no Homily

January 14th - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (English)

January 21st - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (English)

January 28th - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (English)
 
 
 
 

Mary, the Mother of God 

 If you received a vision or a message from an angel would you trust it?  Instinctively we would say, “Of course!”  But what would that vision look like?  In the television show, Touched By An Angel, the people are visited by angels but often don’t know it.  The angels look like everyone else.  In the scriptures there is the story of Tobit where the angel Raphael comes to assist him and his family, yet no one knows that it is an angel who is with them.  If you were one of the shepherds on the hills and someone came up to you and told you to go to Bethlehem to see something amazing would you?
 I wonder if the shepherds went because they had nothing to lose.  Shepherds typically were people who were outcasts from society.  They were in this profession often because they couldn’t get a job in any other kind of work.  Caring for sheep was hard work.  The animals were dirty and stubborn.  They weren’t very bright, so the shepherd had to watch them constantly so they wouldn’t fall off a cliff or be eaten by wolves.  If it was cold or hot, raining or dry the shepherd had to do his job.  If you are a shepherd and someone tells you to go to Bethlehem to see a child who would be a savior and grant you peace and hope, would you go?  I think so.
 Angels often come to us when we are desperate.  When we have tried everything we know to work and nothing seems to change, it is then that we turn to God pleading, “Do something for me.” This is when God often sends us an angel.  Or maybe it’s the only time we would be ready for the message of an angel.
 When the shepherds heard the message they came to the place where the child was.  Mary and Joseph probably would have been scared seeing these people show up.  Yet, somehow they trusted that these shepherds wouldn’t hurt them or their newborn child.  Maybe they too could trust because they didn’t have anywhere to turn themselves.  They were poor.  They were in a strange place and with a small child.  They probably were quite young and had no idea what to do next.  They turned to God for help.  God sent them shepherds.
 Our lives often seem manageable without God.  We go about our daily business.  We get up each day, go to work or school, take care of the bills, raise our families and do so with only a passing glance God’s way.  But when something occurs that is beyond what we can handle we cry out to God for help.  When bills get to be too much, when family pressures get intense, when sickness comes or death comes too early, we ask for help.
 Our world needs God’s help.  Yet, we wait to the last moment to seek out the power that God can give.  It is appropriate that on the first day of the year we dedicate this day to Mary.  We also pray for peace.  Too many places around the globe and within our homes and hearts do not know peace.  We have tried to do it our own way.  Maybe this year we will strive to do it God’s way.  We come together today to ask God’s help.  We recognize we can’t do it alone.  We ask Him to send his angels of healing to those that are sick or in distress.  We ask for angels dispensing wisdom and insight into the problems that seem too big for solutions.  We ask earnestly for peace, especially in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, Colombia, and in many places in Africa.  Help us Lord to listen to the angels you send.  Let us turn toward you so that we might hear your voice and be saved.  We have tried it our way.  Let us try it your way.  You have promised to be with us until the end of time.  Be with us this new century and bring us peace.  Amen.
 

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 

 Did you know that Madonna got married a couple of weeks ago?  Madonna got married in a small town in Scotland.  You weren’t invited?  Actually not many people were.  Her wedding was purposely designed to be hidden away in a Scottish castle with armed guards to keep the photographers and fans away.  Maybe that was necessary in our crazy world where crazed people would do strange things.  But, that wedding is typical of many weddings these days.  Most are private events.  There is something of an assumption that a wedding is between two families and nothing more.  That wasn’t the case at the time of Jesus.
 In the first century in Palestine it was common for the whole town to celebrate a wedding.  The feasting and visiting would go on for a week.  People would come from all over to wish the new couple well.  It probably was common for food and drink to run out eventually.  It happened at this feast in Cana.  The wine ran out.
 Mary, who was assisting the family with the hospitality, noticed that the wine had run out.  She mentions this to Jesus.  He tells her that his hour of glory has not yet come.  That hour would not be known until the crucifixion and resurrection.  Only then would the whole world see that the power of God had won the victory over sin and death.  Yet, Mary is confident that Jesus will do something.  With great faith she tells the stewards to, “do whatever he tells you.”
 Jesus works a great miracle on that day.  He takes water, the most basic substance of life, and turns it into wine.  He does this by using jars that would have been normally used for ritual washing.  Jesus takes a basic part of the Jewish Law and transforms it with his powerful deed.  From now on this would be a sign that the hope of Israel had come.  The time for rejoicing had arrived.  Jesus signals that the end of time has begun.  Jesus could have provided enough wine to make it through this celebration.  Perhaps another five or ten gallons would have been enough.  Instead of that, Jesus transforms 120 gallons of water into wine.  Jesus has come to show that the bounty of God is overflowing.  This wine is of the finest quality.  When God does something it is done well.
 There is another quality about this miracle that is noteworthy.  Jesus could have chosen to let everyone at this wedding know that he did a great miracle.  Instead, only a few people know it: the servers, Mary, and the apostles.  In fact, it says that Jesus did this miracle for his apostles.  He wanted them to get a taste of the glory that was to come.  He wanted them to know that they were joining their lives to something fantastic.  He wanted them to know that even though they would experience his hour of glory in the suffering and pain of the cross, their joy would know no bounds.  They had nothing to fear, no matter what came.
 The miracles of Jesus often happen in public places.  He would heal the sick and lame on the hillside.  He cured the paralytic in the midst of a huge crowd.  But on other occasions Jesus’ miracles were done quietly.  Many times Jesus would tell those who were cured not to tell anyone about it.  He didn’t want people to believe only in the miracle.  He wanted them to place their faith in God.  The same is true with this miracle.  Jesus was concerned that his disciples would become his followers only because of the fame or fortune that would come with doing miracles.  He wanted instead for them to realize that God was doing a marvelous thing in their midst.  Could they trust that God would come through in the quiet times and in the difficult times?  Maybe if they remembered back to this wedding they would know.
 Sometimes faith is difficult for us too.  We want to have assurances that God is still with us.  We look for signs that amaze or defy nature.  But even when we receive them it is easy to forget as time goes on.  It is much harder to see God working in and through our lives as we serve the poor or do ministry in the Church.  God is transforming our lives by the work of the Holy Spirit.  The many gifts that we see among the members and in ourselves don’t seem so incredible, yet they build up the Body of Christ.  The Spirit of God works within marriage and family to bring unity and harmony.  These are gifts of God.  When people who were estranged come together the grace of forgiveness from God is made known.
 Many of the miracles in our lives will happen in the ordinary course of life.  Others will not know them, but they will signal that God is with us.  Keep your eyes open to notice where God is working.  He will surprise you.
 
 

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 

 About 20 years ago there was a man named Jim Jones.  He gathered followers in the San Francisco Bay area.  He told these followers that he would show them the way to peace and fulfillment.  He told them that if they trusted him they would be happy.  Many people joined up with him.  After running into some difficulty with people in San Francisco he got his followers to move with him to Guyana in Central America.  There, he said, he would set up the Kingdom on earth.  There everyone would share in the bounty and wealth of the land.  Each person would have more than what they needed.  The children would be educated and cared for at no cost.  Essentially, he was promising them heaven.  Virtually all of those who were his followers in California boarded the planes for Guyana.
 In Guyana Jim Jones established himself as something of a king.  He determined work camps.  He put armed guards around the camp so that no one could wander off into the jungle.  He set up strict controls over who could visit and how information would come in and out of the camp.  When a message did get out of what was happening in Guyana a congressman came down with a delegation to check it out.  While he was there Jim Jones had his men gun down the congressman and the aides that were with him.
 Knowing that this death would not go unnoticed he told his followers that it was time for them to attain everlasting life.  He mixed up a batch of Kool-Aid laced with Arsenic for all to drink.  He told the parents to give the Kool-aid to the children first and then take it themselves.  Virtually everyone in the camp followed Jim Jones to their death.  When the camp was discovered there were hundreds of bodies lying everywhere they fell from the poison.  Jim Jones had a bullet in his head, either from suicide or from one of his followers killing him.
 You might ask yourself, how could this happen?  How could rational people be led to this point?  What brought them to believe that Jim Jones could carry through on the promises he made?  Hope.  People want to believe that their lives will be better.  There is much pain and suffering in this life.  They want to believe that they will not have to endure so much suffering.  If someone seems like they have the inside track in providing that kind of peace and security people will follow.
 It sounds like Jesus was promising the same thing.  He said that the promises of Isaiah and all the prophets of the Messiah coming was being fulfilled in their midst.  Jesus was telling them that he was the agent to bring forth hope to the people.  The people responded favorably, at first.  You will hear next Sunday that what started out well didn’t end so well for Jesus.
 What made Jesus different from everyone that came before him or after him promising hope and salvation?  Many people today wonder if it makes any sense to follow Christ.  They wonder why they should go to Mass or services.  They figure that God hasn’t done much to change the world, so maybe it’s a hoax.  Maybe Jesus was a wonderful person, but not the Messiah.  Or maybe, God doesn’t care about us.
 The ironic part about Christianity is that the truth is found not in searching for happiness or peace.  It is found in living out life in the midst of its pain and suffering.  It’s not escaping the reality of the world.  It is embracing it.  By doing that we discover that God is present. By caring for those around us we discover that God cares for us.  We become the agents of hope for others one person at a time.  By being hopeful we find hope.  By being loving we find we are loved.  We belong to one another.  Our search for peace and meaning happens when we realize that we make up one body that has many members.  Each of us has a place and a role to play.  When we do so eagerly and with faithfulness we find that life is meaningful.
 I am reminded of the story of how street lighting came to be in the United States.  At the time of the Revolutionary War most people thought it foolish to have streetlights.  Benjamin Franklin tried to convince people that it was worthwhile.  He couldn’t convince people until he started lighting a lantern and placing it outside his home each night.  As people would walk by at night they discovered they could see the rough cobblestones much better in front of Franklin’s home.  Eventually other homeowners started putting lanterns outside their home.  The idea took off and cities realized that it was smart to have street lighting.
 Franklin realized that he couldn’t change the world, just his part of it.  By doing what he could he made a difference in people’s lives.  You and I have been enlightened by Christ.  We can make a difference to others one person at a time.
 

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

 Jesus went to the synagogue, as he was in the habit of doing, and read from the prophet Isaiah.  That prophecy spoke of the Messiah of God who would come to bring glad tidings to the poor, free the captives, bring sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free, and proclaim a Jubilee Year from God.  This is a very hopeful reading.  It is one Israel would read many times through the centuries.  Jesus proclaimed that this passage is now to be fulfilled!
 Naturally those gathered in the synagogue would have been pleased to hear that.  So, why did they turn on Jesus so quickly?  They realized two things that challenged them greatly.  The first thing they heard was that Jesus was proclaiming himself to be the Messiah of God who was to fulfill the promises of the prophet.  That was a bold claim that the people were not ready to agree to.  Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah, they thought.  He was a hometown boy.  They had seen him grow up.  They knew his mother and father.  Jesus was too ordinary for them.  Somehow they expected the Messiah to be someone else.  It had to be someone famous.  It had to be someone who looked or sounded regal.  Maybe it should be someone born in a royal palace, not someone that lived in Nazareth and worked in a carpenter shop.  I suppose that would be like having someone you work with claim they were the Messiah.  You would look at them as though they were crazy.  That’s how the crowd reacted to Jesus.
 The second reason they were skeptical was that the Messiah was to come to bring justice to the people…all of the people.  He would be a Messiah even for foreigners.  Jesus was upsetting those who had grown up with their hatreds and biases against Romans, Samaritans, tax collectors, and others outside of the Law.  Jesus was challenging them to drop their biases and accept the reign of God.  This was too much to ask.  They couldn’t do that.  It was easier to kick Jesus out of town, maybe even do him violence than upset the apple cart.
 I think we often take our faith in just the same way.  We know that Jesus has come into the world to bring justice to the oppressed.  We know that God never rests as long as there is injustice in the land.  But changing those structures takes time and effort.  It might mean sacrifice and pain.  We would rather not go through that struggle.  It’s a lot easier to accept the status quo.  So, we easily come to worship and hear soothing music.  We come to accept peace and joy from the Lord.  Just don’t challenge us Lord.  Don’t ask us to change.  Don’t ask us to give up our prejudices.  We know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.  We like it that way.  Please don’t tell us that we should love those bad guys.  Don’t tell us that we need to work with you in bringing justice to the land.  That might mean that we will be persecuted or ostracized.  We really can’t deal with that now.
 Maybe in our day we don’t kill prophets.  We just don’t listen to them.  Today is the time of fulfillment.  Christ has come to let us see that we can be truly free, but only if we are willing to accept His reign in our lives and in our world.  We can be agents to bring hope and justice.  It may be difficult.  We may face trial and distress.  But know that God never abandons His faithful followers.  We can let everyone know that God loves them.  Christ came not to tell others how to live.  He came as a prophet that we might know how we should live.  Our lives can be a vibrant sign that the Lord lives and reigns forever and ever.