Advent Reflection, Fourth Sunday, 2016

Bishop Robert Barron recently wrote that if we take an honest look at the Biblical texts dealing with Christmas, we will find that they have precious little to do with sentimentality. Bishop Barron writes of the visiting Magi from the East looking for the newborn king. Their search was not met with excitement or enthusiasm. Matthew tells us: “When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”  King Herod saw this newborn baby as a threat to his position.  Herod asked the Magi to return to him with news of this newborn king, When the Magi returned home by a different route King Herod became furious. To protect his kingship, Herod ordered that every boy in Bethlehem the age of two and under be killed. Herod does not sound like someone excited about the Christmas season.

Why would a newborn be such a threat to King Herod?  The Gospel reading for this Fourth Sunday reminds us of the mission Jesus is given. The Angel of the Lord tells Joseph during a dream about the child Mary is carrying; "She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This newborn king could be the messiah who liberates the Israelites from the Romans and thus from King Herod's rule.

We have to remember that the Incarnation was just the first part of God’s plan.  The Advent season allows us the time to look beyond the birth of Jesus and make the connection to his death and resurrection. It is through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we are redeemed.

The Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent helps us do this.  In the Collect we pray that God’s grace be put in our heart so that through his Passion (the suffering of Jesus Christ up to his death) we will move to the glory of his resurrection. The Collect reminds us the Incarnation is just the beginning of God’s plan for our redemption.

The birth of Jesus is a challenge to each of us. It is a call to conversion and a call for self examination.  Just as Herod did, some of us may not want to let go of those things that distance us from God. That distance can keep us from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Use these final days of Advent as a time for reflecting on the life of Jesus.  Have we let go of everything that is keeping us from the saving power of his resurrection?

This Christmas celebrate the infant Jesus in the manger. Join the angels in giving glory to God. Give glory to his birth and give glory to his resurrection.

Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord,
your grace into our hearts,
that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son
was made known by the message of an Angel,
may by his Passion and Cross
be brought to the glory of his Resurrection.

Our Hope in God

Sometimes the things we enjoy doing the most are pushed back for what we consider more important matters. This blog is one of those things. I enjoy writing for it but there always seems to be something to do with a higher priority.  I will try to do better in posting to this blog.

I have just returned from our annual diocese Diaconate retreat. This year it was at the Subiaco Abbey in Arkansas. It is a very beautiful place. If you have never visited the Abbey, it is definitely worth the drive.  Our very own Bishop Duca was the retreat master and I think this was one of the better retreats I have attended since being ordained a Deacon.

The Bishop had a different topic for each of our sessions but they all related to one common theme. That theme was that each and everyone of us has been called to a vocation.  The deacons at our retreat have been called to the Sacrament of Holy Orders, more specifically to the order of the Diaconate.

The Diaconate which we have been called to is a twenty four hour vocation. We cannot step away from it at any time of the day. As ordained clergy we represent both the Church and most importantly the hope we have in God.  We show our hope in God by the way we treat others. We must show and give that hope to everyone we meet regardless of the time of day or our own personal thoughts, attitude or feelings.

This same hope in God is something everyone can show. It is not just the domain of the clergy. Remember as a Christian, you represent the risen Lord to others. Your actions are a reflection of your hope in an eternal life with God that the risen Lord has given us. Think of the old cliché; actions speak louder than words.  Let us make sure that our actions express our hope in God to others.

There is a prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours that sums up my thoughts on this very good:

Father, creator of unfailing light, give that same light to those who call to you. May our lips praise you; our lives proclaim your goodness; our work give you honor, and our voices celebrate you for ever.