Homily for Sunday, December 23

Readings for Sunday, December 23 / 4th Sunday of Advent: Micah 5:1-4  |  Psalm 80  |  Hebrews 10:5-10  |  Luke 1:39-45

Homily for Sunday, December 16

Readings for Sunday, December 16 / 3rd Sunday of Advent:  Zephaniah 3:14-18  |  Isaiah 12:2-6  |  Philippians 4:4-7  |  Luke 3:10-18

This weekend the Scriptures invite to us to rejoice - but why? Because we have an alternative to the unquenchable fire!

Homily for Sunday, December 9

Readings for Sunday, December 9 / 2nd Sunday of Advent:  Baruch 5:1-9  |  Psalm 126  |  Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11  |  Luke 3:1-6

You are remembered.

Advent: He Also Will Accomplish It - Homily for December 17

Readings for Sunday, December 17 / 3rd Sunday of Advent:  Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11  |  Luke 1  |  1 Thessalonians 5:16-24  |  John 1:6-8, 19-28

Advent: I Have Not Forgotten You - Homily for December 10

St. John in the Wilderness by Jose Leonardo

Readings for Sunday, December 10 / 2nd Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11  |  Psalm 85  |  2 Peter 3:8-14  |  Mark 1:1-8 

While this season is the 'most wonderful time of the year' it is also a time when we experience in various ways the ache of the human heart. To that ache the Lord comes to comfort us and reassure us 'I have not forgotten you.'

Advent: The Useless Things - Homily for December 3

Readings for Sunday, December 3 / 1st Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7  |  Psalm 80  |  1 Corinthians 1:3-9  |  Mark 13:33-37

The human heart desires to see grand things. "Rend the heavens and come down!" we cry out to God, and yet it is in the little things, sometimes the useless things, that God speaks most clearly. May we be awake and alert to the quiet voice of God this Advent season. 

Advent: With Us, With Him - Homily for December 18

Readings for Sunday, December 18 / 4th Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 7:10-14  |  Psalm 24  |  Romans 1:1-7  |  Matthew 1:18-24

As we begin this fourth Sunday of Advent. this fourth week, this last full week of the Advent season, as we look forward to the day of the coming of the Lord, we continue our reflection on reconciliation. The second Sunday of Advent I spoke on the way in which Christ came among us for the first time, of how the Infant Jesus taking on our flesh began that process of reconciling all of creation with the Lord God, and drawing humanity to Himself by His way of taking on our flesh, but also to join all of creation with us in the same. Last weekend we reflected on the way in which in Christ, creation was waiting for it's reconciliation in completion. And indeed we wait for the last day of the Lord Jesus, the day in which He will come in His glory. in which reconciliation will be completed and fully accomplished. This weekend, I want to reflect on the way in which we come to be with the Lord and prepare ourselves for that last day. Indeed, the entire time, from the day on which Christmas took flesh until the day He comes again in glory, it has one single purpose. We fill it with so many things, but it has one actual purpose: It's to give us an opportunity to encounter Jesus Christ. It's what St. Peter tells us in His letter as well. He says the Lord delays, so that many might come to know Christ Jesus and be saved. So the Lord, waits, for us, to come to know and love Him. Again, we fill it with a lot of things. Necessarily so in the sense, we get caught up with the things of this life; we get caught up with our homes, work, with the things of the world around us. We get caught up doing good and homily things - spending time with our family and our friends. In the Church, we also lose sight of things sometimes, and we get consumed with other things than what is the central reality of things we ought to focus on. So often we simplify our Catholic faith into a system of "do this, don't do that," rules and regulations. The reality is, our life is more than rules and regulations; our faith is more than rules and regulations. It's not about busying ourselves with many things, but about concerning ourselves with one thing just like St. Mary Magdalene - to know Jesus, to encounter Christ. 

In the end, when the Lord comes in His glory on the last day and we are all judged, or if He doesn't come before our death, at the hour of our death, we will stand before the judge, and our salvation for eternal life or eternal death will come basically in conjunction with one simple answer, our own answer. Remember that when Jesus was with His disciples, He was with the twelve after everyone had gone, and He asked them. "Who do people say that I am?". They began to think and respond with the things they had heard, "Some say you are John the Baptist come back again, some say Elijah another one of the great prophets." But then Jesus responds to that question which every single one of us must answer for ourselves, "Who do you say that I am?". Because the answer to that question determines everything, and it manifests to Christ what He already knows, but it manifests to us and to all of creation, something that can often be hidden to us. The answer to the question shows us how much we know God and how much we love Him. That's our entire life. We can have so many things, so many blessings, but if we never know God, we fall short of our purpose; fall short of the reason God created us in the first place. 

There are many ways in which we come to encounter God, to encounter Christ. In our own church, there are a whole variety of symbols and signs that speak to us of God. We can look to the Paschal candle near the Baptismal font, the Paschal candle which is light and consecrate on the Easter Vigil, and a hymn is sung to it, a hymn to Christ. We sing to the candle as Christ - the light come into the world to cast out darkness. The crucifix in the sanctuary that speaks to us of the love of God reminds us of what Christ did for us. In the celebration of the liturgy, the priest acts in the person of Christ. When the priests says, "This is my body ... this is my blood," he says it not himself, but as Christ. It's Christ who speaks these things. And you, the members of the faithful of God, members of the body of Christ, to see one another as Christ, to allow Christ who dwells within you to speak to others and to see Him. These and many others are ways in which we can encounter Jesus in this time, but there are two ways I think, and invite you to reflect upon and take some action on this week, two ways in which Christ is primarily with us: in the scriptures and in the Eucharist. They are the two main parts of the Mass: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. As it is typically described in liturgical books: the Word and the World made Flesh. 

In the first reading today, we hear from the prophet Isaiah and he comes and prophesied a gift from God that a virgin will conceive and bear a son and they will name Him Emanuel, God is with us. We heard the fulfillment of that passage in the Gospel reading as they come and the angel appears to Joseph, and Mary is that one spoken of from of old. Mary, his wife, is the one who is to conceive, though a virgin, and to bear a son - God with Us, Emmanuel. It's the name of Jesus because the name means "God Saves," and God has come to be with us, to save us. 

When Jesus was about to ascent to His heavenly Father at the end of His earthly life, one of the things He told His disciples was that, "I will be with you always." He told the disciples, I believe it was at the Last Supper, "I will not leave you orphans." I will not abandon you, I will be with you always. Again, Christ is with us in so many ways, but most especially and concretely in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist. 

What I invite each of you to do is to spend some time with the Lord this week in those two ways. Again we know it's the Christmas season, some of you may still have some Christmas shopping left to do, some of you may have some decorating to do, some of us have parties and these types of things going on. But we hear all the time that Jesus is the reason for the season, right? Except it's the thing that seems to happen the least, is the time we spend with Jesus. We get consumed with so many other things. So my invitation for you is to come and rest with the Lord, to come and place yourself in the presence of the Eucharist in the church, and to sit with Christ - to know that He is with you and to be with Him. The church of St. Ann is open all day each day, the church here is open various times throughout the week. The church at St. Mary's in New Roads has the adoration chapel where you can go and adore the Lord face to face in the Blessed Sacrament. Whichever of those options works best for you, I encourage you to take one, and to really speak some time. If the best you can do is five minutes, good, it's enough. If you can do more, good because it is about the encounter with Christ. It is about speaking to the Lord and allowing Him to speak to us. As you would go to the chapel or the church, I would invite you to bring along with you a Bible. The written word of God speaks to us; He comes to us and remains with us.

So often as we go before the Lord, we desire to hear the Lord to speak to us, and we desire to speak to Christ. At least we should. What we see in the Eucharist is not just a thing, it's a person - a person who loves us and desires to speak to us. It's Christ our God, Emmanuel. And so, we speak to Him and we look for Him to speak to us. Where is the way He speaks to us most concretely than in the scriptures? A lot of times we think the scriptures are hard to understand and I think more often than not we over-complicate them, we over think things a little bit it seems. But to be able to pick a place and simply read from the Word of God - start in the Gospels maybe and to hear Jesus speak to you. If you want some other place, go to the letter of St. Paul, St. Peter or St. John; those letters written to other communities like us and to hear them speak. Go to the Psalms - St. Augustine said that the Psalms capture every single human emotion, and to come and allow our hearts to be lifted up to the Lord through a psalm that may speak something that we don't even have the words yet but which Christ does. To go and to speak to Him and to listen - to know Jesus. That's the entire purpose. 

On the last day, our judgement will not be a surprise to any of us. If we know Jesus, it shouldn't be a surprise that He knows us. And if we don't know Jesus, it shouldn't be a surprise that He doesn't know us. And so we come. We place ourselves in Him presence. We come to be with Him who is indeed with us. We pray for the grace to love Him more deeply and to seek His face as we go forth from here each day. Come, Lord Jesus. Come O Come, Emmanuel. 

*Check out the 10:45 mark of the audio to see what happens when parishioners think there's a fire in the church during the middle of the homily! 

Are We Really Rejoicing? - Homily for December 11

Readings for Sunday, December 11/ 3rd Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 35:1-6, 10  |  Psalm 146  |  James 5:7-10  |  Matthew 11:2-11

As we come on this Third Sunday of Advent, we come with this rejoicing spirit about us. This Gaudate Sunday as it's often called is where we light the rose colored candle and have the option of wearing the rose colored vestments and things are supposed to seem to have a little extra pep in our step spiritually speaking as we know that the time of the Lord draws near, that Christmas is just a couple of weeks away. The prayers of the Mass also echo that same reality. In fact, the word "gaudate" for Gaudate Sunday draws it's place from the first words of the Mass - the entrance antiphon - quoting St. Paul's letter to the Philippians as he writes to them saying, "Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I say rejoice. Indeed the Lord is near." 

It's good for us to rejoice, but it's that latter part, "for the Lord is near" - for many it's a time of rejoicing, but for many others it's a reality of fear that the Lord is near, a concern of the heart. This came to mind as I was thinking of my own experiences in that same reality. And the memory came to mind from my experiences with my parents. Two instances of when my parents came: one of which where I was rejoicing and another which filled me with fear. Rejoicing - it was a time when I was at the house and still pretty young, and there was nobody else at home. It was at night and things were dark, and I was scared because I had heard a noise and I was pretty sure that noise was someone in the house about to kill me. And so, I grabbed my handy golf club and walked around the house ready to bash whatever it was that was there to attack me. I searched every corner of every closest of every room and nothing was there, but there was still this great concern in my heart. And so when my parents drove up in their car in the drive way, it was this great sigh of relief, "They're back! I'm safe. Good." It was this rejoicing knowing that I was safe in the care of my parents. An opposite time was when my parents went to go to the LSU football game and left me at home saying, "Brent don't invite anyone over and don't go anywhere. Just stay here. Play video games, do whatever." They left, and I figured I at least had about four hours or so, so I called my friend Stephen. Stephen came over, he called some other people who came over. We had a pool party in the backyard, and then we decided to go ride bikes around the subdivision, and so off we went. We were making laps and having a good time, when Stephen's mom walked out of his house as we rode by and said, "Brent! Brent! Come here." So I rode over and Stephen's mom said that my mom said I needed to come home right now and that she was waiting for me. The return of my parents was anything but rejoicing in that moment. 

Rather it was a great a great fear because I know I was about to get torn up. And it was this recognition that both of those instances were very similar: my parents were gone, I was by myself, and depending on what I chose to do, one filled me with rejoicing at their return and the other with fear. It's the same with Christ Jesus. 

Our Lord Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father and reigns in glory now and we await his second coming - whether He comes back and He finds us in rejoicing or fear depends upon us and how we have chosen to live. Last weekend, I spoke about the reality of reconciliation of how the Lord comes to us at Christmas and how He took on our flesh that first Christmas day. A time of rejoicing. A time of being reconciled with God, of not only humanity, but all of creation, is drawn to God, as if pulled by a magnetic. But it hasn't been completed, yet, of course. And so we wait for that final reconciliation, when all things are finally one with the Lord. And that day is the second coming of Christ where the fullness of everything comes to the end - the Last Day.

The Last Day, again, can be a thing of rejoicing in our hearts or it can be a thing of great fear and trepidation. Depends on how we are experiencing our relationship with God in the moment. Where are we with the Lord? This time of year, at the end of Ordinary Time, as well as the beginning of the Advent season, is a time where the Church invites us to reflect upon those things, what the Church calls the "last things" - death, judgement, heaven and hell - the four last things. They are not pleasant for us to reflect upon. Most of us don't take great jot in reflecting on our death and judgement, it's not something we sit and dream about all day looking forward to. Most of us. And yet, it's a reality that every single one of us will face. Jesus Himself tasted death, as did our Blessed Mother. St. John the Baptist, of whom none born of women was greater, he too tasted death - a beheading. Every single one of us, everyone who calls himself a human person will taste death. Whether we are ready for it or not, it will come. And the Church invites us indeed to prepare. Reflecting on that, the Church has said from the beginning, that upon the death of a soul, the death of an individual in this world, they are immediately standing before the judgement of God. They are immediately standing before the Lord and He weighs our life. Were we merciful? Did we show love? Were we forgiving? Did we seek to serve others and the Lord before ourselves? Were we consumed with sin? Were we attached to the things of the world so much that we prefer them to God? And all of these questions will come forward to give us one single answer: Do we desire the Lord above all things or not? And that's the question. 

The answer to that determines where we go. For those who die before the coming of the Lord, there are three options for us at our judgement: heaven, hell or purgatory. Hell is the place of eternal separation from God, eternal isolation, eternal pain because we are not even able to love. We won't be able to love anyone else or concerned with anyone else because we will be so concerned about self, and it's a pain for us, a suffering, and a grievous and it goes for all eternity. In the opposite direction, we have heaven, the place where the righteous are called to enter in the heart of God, where we have the communion of the saints, being joined with others, with the saints and the angels, to be filled with all joy, all peace. Where there is no suffering whatsoever, and it too last for all eternity. The great majority of us, I think or at least I pray, will go through purgatory. The place by which our soul is cleansed, purged, of attachments. It's not God punishing us, per say, but us needing to be cleansed to enter into the One who is all holy Himself, to enter into God. Those three places will be the options before us. Purgatory - everyone who goes through purgatory ultimately winds up in heaven, so even there in the midst of purification, there is still great joy because you know you will one day get to the heavenly gate. 

That's the course of the normal life of each of us who are called to death before the coming of the Lord. But for those who are still living, things will be a little bit different. On the last day, when the Lord God comes in His glory, we know not when, we know not how, but He will come. The scriptures like it to a bolt of lightening that strikes in the sky, as it may strike in one place, but as it goes forth, it's seen all throughout the area. And such the same with Christ. It's been pondered before, who thinking in very earthly terms, have said that if the Lord comes, surely He'll have to come in time zones. He'll come in eastern time, so that I can see it on the news, we can report, and we have at least a good half hour or so to be able to straighten things up before the Lord comes. If only. But no. When the angel blows the trumpet, as Revelations says, the Lord will be made manifest to each and to all at once. And then each of us will stand to be judged, even without tasting death, there will be judgments. It will be the last day. And at that last judgement, things will be a little bit different because for the souls who have died before the coming of Christ, they will stand as souls. Those who are heaven right now, hell, purgatory, are just souls. They don't have a body. But we profess every week in the Creed, "I believe in the resurrection of the body." We are not talking about the body of Christ; we are talking about your body and mind. We will have bodies at the end on the last day. We don't know what they will look like. We don't know if they will be a little leaner. Maybe I have a little more hair on top and a little less grey, who knows. Whatever our body will look like on that day, it will be glorified. It will be different, changed. And then everyone will stand before God. Those who are still living when Christ comes will stand before Him body and soul. Those who have died will be raised up and will receive their body again. They will receive their body again. From dust we were created, to dust we will return, but then God recreates us again from the dust to give us a body. And so everyone will stand before God, the living and the dead, and will be judged once more. Except at that judgement, there is no purgatory. It's heaven or hell. Period. And it's not that there is an option to change. It's not that those who were in hell before of an opportunity to experience contrition and repentance of heart and they can get into heaven now. No. They are simply condemned in their spirit as well as their flesh. And such the same for those in heaven. They can't have done something bad, they couldn't have messed with the angels a little too much, cause a little ruckus in heaven and now merit hell. Rather, they have their salvation in the spirit as well as in the flesh. And in the end, there it will remain. Flesh and blood in heaven. Flesh and blood in hell. Depending on how we experience our Lord's coming, whether with fear or with joy. 

So the Church invites us, challenges us, compels us in a sense, to reflect upon these things, to give them serious attention. All throughout the Church, the saints over and over again have encouraged us to reflect upon the last things because if we don't reflect upon them here and now, we won't be prepared for them when they come. If we don't prepare for death now, when death comes, we feel like we have some work to do. How often it is seen. And so we prepare for the Lord. As we contemplate this second coming of Christ, whether there is fear or rejoicing in heart, if there is rejoicing, good, may it increase - if there is fear, rejoice, because there is time to be reconciled. Again, this time that we have on this earth, however long the Lord permits, is a time to be reconciled with ourselves, to be able to turn away from sin, to be able to detach ourselves from the things that are unhealthy for us, to reconcile ourselves with others, and to be reconciled with our God. 

It's the normal course of the Christian life - to draw more and more into the heart of God, and more and more in union with one another. If we are ready, good. If we are not, get there. It's the call of Christ. He's coming. We called upon Him and He will hear us. Come Lord and save us. Come, o come, Emmanuel.

A New Beginning - Homily for November 27

Readings for Sunday, November 30 / 1st Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 2:1-5  |  Psalm 122  |  Romans 13:11-14  |  Matthew 24:37-44

Happy Advent! We not used to "Happy Advent" necessarily, but it is good that we are here and it is
good that it is Advent. 

"Advent" means "to come to" - In the whole course of the season we hear in the prayers of the Mass of that preparation of the Lord to come to us, as well as for us on the last day to come to Him. Each year we celebrate Advent, we start the new liturgical year, we begin that old familiar cycle as we go through the seasons. And it can seem as if we are kind of on a merry-go-round that we just keep going in circles over and over and over - doing the same prayers, the same rituals, we hear the same readings - and it can seem rather mundane. But rather than a simple merry-go-round, I invite you to think of our liturgical year and our celebration of the liturgy as basically a corkscrew for a good bottle of wine. Rather than simply going in circles, it digs deeper into the cork to go down and down. It goes in the same circle but always deeper. I pray that can be our experience of our relationship with the Lord Jesus - that as we go through the course of our years, each year we find we are a little bit deeper, a little bit closer to Christ than where we were at the same spot last year. It's an opportunity and invitation for us to continue to go deeper and deeper into the heart of God. 

In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus makes no bones about the fact that we ought to be prepared. He says that we must be prepared, "stay awake." In the days of Noah, people were not expecting a flood. There were out in the field, they were in the grain, taking care of things as normal. And out of nowhere, Noah (the fool) becomes a smart man. When no one was expecting anything, Noah is saved and they are washed away. In the same manner, the Lord Jesus says it will be when He comes again in glory. People will be at their normal work, will be out at the fields, be at the store, the house, at church, we'll be wherever, and one of us will be taken and the other will be left He says. It will catch us by surprise, so be prepared. 

But it's hard to be prepared for that, because for 2,000 years we've been here. For 2,000 years the Lord Jesus hasn't come back yet. For 2,000 generation after generation has lived thinking maybe we are the last ones and they were wrong. And because we have such a long track record of being wrong, thinking that maybe this is the time that the Lord Jesus is going to come back, it's easy for us to think that maybe it's next generation. And so we become comfortable. We stay “ok” to be where we are and don't really prepare. Because we've presumed for 2,000 years things have gone as normal. Surely it can't happen in our time now. It's been 2,000 years, what's special about our age. But the Lord says, "Prepare. Stay awake." Those words were spoken for every single generation. 

For the last couple of years my homilies, the focus and push of my homilies, has basically been to try and encourage you (but more often than not, me, because I preach to myself) to encourage us to love the Lord Jesus more deeply, whether it's in love of God, love of the Eucharist, love of the Liturgy, Our Lady, the saints, love of one another, love of virtue, and love of the things of our faith - the scriptures - in love of all of these things, ultimately to come and love Jesus more deeply. But there has been something on my heart that for a while now to make a little bit of a change. A little bit of a tweak in my celebration of the liturgy, particular in the preaching of the homily. And I've been kind of wrestling with it for several months now, but as I was praying with the scriptures in preparation for this homily, it seemed that all of that was confirmed by the Lord and said, "Just do it. Stop fighting. Quit overthinking it. Just do it." And it came from the words of Isaiah the prophet, "Come let us climb to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the Lord, that He might instruct us in His ways and may walk in His paths." Ultimately what I have been trying to do is encourage you to walk in the paths of the Lord. What the Lord Jesus, rather bluntly, showed me was "Brent, you need to also instruct them in the ways." Instruct them in the ways then we walk in the paths. And so what I would like to do is take my homilies and go back to the basics. Not to have every single week a separate homily on some random spiritual topic according to what the scripture says, but rather to have a sort of systematic series of addressing the essentials of our faith. The basics. Not to get caught up in all the big lofty things, which are good and holy and necessary for us, but just to start with the simple things of what it means to be a Christian, what it is to be Catholic, what is the gift of our faith. So many questions that are asked routinely, or at least pondered if not asked directly to the priests, I would like to respond to throughout the course of this year. One of the things I would also like to do in conjunction with that is most of my homilies are stand alone homilies; you come and this weekend you get one message and next weekend you get a different message; sometimes they connect, sometimes not. But I would like to do series of homilies beginning more or less next week, rather than just to come and get one dot here, one dot here and one dot here, but to have two, maybe three or four weeks at a time, where we will have a system where we will address one particular aspect of our life of faith in the Church so that we can go deeper. One thing that may actually happen is the homilies might be a little bit shorter, as I don't have to jam everything into one one single homily. But if I permit myself to stretch it over two, three, four weeks ... so I'm not promising you shorter homilies, but they could be a by-product. 

But all of that is essentially to say that I want to get back to the basics for you, but also for me. I recognize that my love for the Lord is not where it should be either. And as Isaiah simply says, let us go to the house of the Lord, so that He might instruct us in His ways. So I need to learn from my God for myself, and we need to learn from Him as well as He speaks with us, and then we may walk in His paths. 

Anyone who is married, I'm pretty sure you know a little bit more about your spouse today than on the day of your wedding. Hopefully you like them a little bit more now. For those of you with children, much the same. You knew them, but as they grow and develop you learn more and more about them. In any relationship, you come to know more about a particular person, and in doing so, hopefully we learn to love them more. I've experienced that in my experience of the priesthood just on a practical level, a personal level, getting to know so many of you in a more personal way by various means. But one of the ways it has struck me is in the confessional. I've heard a thousand times, and I know I've thought and presumed similar things myself ... "When I go to confession, surely the priest is going to know who I am, especially if face to face, and next time he sees me, he's going to be thinking of my sins. I know it. Next time I see him at the market, the ball field or wherever, he's going to be looking at me thinking 'Uhuh ... it's one of those sinners over there.'" And it's this presumption that the priest looks upon on us with our sins in mind. I'm guilty of it myself, even as a priest. But what I have discovered personally for myself, I've never heard it from another priest, but I presume much could be said the same, is that in the sacrament of Reconciliation, in Confession, there's something strange that happens. I can only gather that it is the grace of the Lord Jesus conforming my heart to be more like a good priest like a should be, and it's whenever you come in and sit before me - I know you and love you on that level for what I see in the normal world - but as you open your heart, I am able to love you not only in your goodness but also in your brokenness, to love more of you. And that's the thing that has struck me, as a priest I learn to love people more on account of their sins, not less. Not to be more judgmental, but to be more compassionate, to be more joyful in the presence of others. That's our desire for the Lord Jesus with this - to be able to come to the Lord and learn more about Him, learn about the richness of our faith, that in the course of it, our love might increase. I can stand up here all day and tell you to love Jesus, but if I don't give you any fuel for the fire, it doesn't really help. And too many times I feel I've been just standing here saying love Jesus, but haven't given fuel haven't helped you to love Jesus as you should. Nor have I given myself the same. So it's my intention for us to enter into this year as an opportunity for catechesis, formation - being formed and shaped by our faith. 

A couple of weeks ago or maybe last week, I mentioned the FORMED.org online program. I know a handful of you have already made use of it and I am delighted at that. But I really want to encourage each and everyone of you, if you have internet access at all, go to formed.org and check it out. I saw that because there are audio, books, videos, movie programs, Bible study, small groups, prayer groups, everything under the sun is there. But there are two special things that I think would be helpful for us immediately today: one of them is that they have a scripture reflection on the main page so that you can go and listen to reflections breaking open the word of God in the scriptures each week but they also have an Advent video program on reflections for the Advent season. I am mentioning that as a way of kind of holding myself accountable, that if I am saying I'm going to do it and telling you to do it, I have to actually do it. I've been wanting to do it, but need an extra push. So, I'm going to ask you to hold me accountable to make sure I'm actually keeping up with it myself. 

Again, we are called to enter into the season, to begin again. To look forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus, to look forward to the day where He comes to us at Christmas, on the Last Day as well as each day in the encounter of our Christian life. I encourage myself and each of you with the words of Isaiah, "O house of Jacob, [Church of God,] come let us walk in the light of the Lord." Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Preparing by Receiving

Readings for Sunday, December 20/ 4th Sunday of Advent:
Micah 5:1-4
Psalm 80
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45

In the past three weeks we’ve looked at preparing for the Lord’s coming by singing and lifting up our hearts, seeking reconciliation with God and others, and by giving of the gifts we’ve received. As we celebrate this last weekend of Advent, the way of preparation I invite you to join me in is reflecting on how we respond when He comes to us here at Mass. It’s been said that each Mass is like a mini-Christmas, with the Christ coming in flesh and blood her on the altar, surrounded by swaddling altar cloths and receiving the song of the angels as on the night of His birth.

The Gospel is the continuation of the story of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her the plan of God and her place in it. Some have said that Mary goes out in haste to Elizabeth’s house because she’s afraid of what Gabriel revealed to her, but that doesn’t sound like the Blessed Mother who joins her Son in crushing the head of Satan. Instead of hastening in fear, she does so filled with a heart of charity. Having given her ‘yes’ to the Lord through the angel, she conceived the Lord God in her womb and having contact with Christ, she is compelled by charity to reach out to her cousin Elizabeth, who will most certainly be in need of assistance. Upon her arrival, St. John the Baptist leaps in the womb of Elizabeth and the proclamation of the Savior begins. St. Elizabeth, being filled with the Holy Spirit, cries out in a loud voice praising God and acknowledging Mary as the mother of her Lord. What strikes me is that each of these three people encounters Christ and responds immediately with some physical response – hastening to the countryside, leaping in the womb, crying out in praise. So how do we respond?

Before we look at how we respond, let’s look at how we prepare. The Church invites us to prepare for Holy Communion in specific ways. First is to be able to fast for one hour before receiving Holy Communion (this includes gum!). Some of you may remember a time when you were prohibited from eating or drinking anything other than water after midnight. The point of that was to have a little bit of hunger in the stomach to remind us that we ought to hunger for Christ above all things and that he alone is the one who can satisfy the longings of our hearts. The current practice of a one hour fast doesn’t give us the hunger pangs in our stomach, but it can provide us the chance to simply be mindful about preparing ourselves to receive Our Lord. A second thing the Church invites us to do in preparing for Holy Communion is ensuring that we’re in a state of grace. If we are in a state of mortal sin (from having intentionally skipped Sunday Mass or some other serious sin), then the Church advises us not to receive Holy Communion because we have separated ourselves from the Lord by sin and so what is done in our body (Communion) is not the reality in our soul (separation). Being in these two states, the Church further advises (but doesn’t mandate) that we spend some time actually preparing our mind and heart for the encounter with Jesus Christ by observing silence, spending some moments in prayer, and entering into the prayer of the Mass.

The preparation leads to the encounter itself: the joy of receiving Holy Communion. Prior to the 1970’s Holy Communion was received kneeling and on the tongue exclusively. Since then the practice has become rather widespread to receive standing and in the hand. Interestingly, the Church never said we should change the posture of receiving Holy Communion and still sees reception standing and in the hand as a permission in certain conditions, but not a universal norm. The reason is because the Most Blessed Sacrament is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ our God and we are invited to acknowledge such in our actions, much like Mary, John & Elizabeth. Kneeling to receive Holy Communion forces one to be humbled before the Lord and experience it as a unique moment. When else do we kneel down in the course of our daily life to celebrate the arrival of a particular person? Never. Not only that, but the reception on the tongue also has spiritual and practical implications. The spiritual aspect is that in simply opening our mouth to receive the Host, we acknowledge that it is the Lord who feeds us our daily bread – including the Eucharist – and increases our trust in Him. We can call to mind the words of Psalm 81 when the Lord says to us “Open your mouth and I will feed you.” Practically, it helps to reverence the Blessed Sacrament. Some of you may have noticed that after consecrating the Sacred Host I keep my thumb and forefinger together for the rest of the prayers until the vessels are purified. This is because I know that the bread for the hosts isn’t entirely crumb-free, but that there are small pieces of the Blessed Sacrament on my hands and I don’t want them to be lost in the book, on the altar, the floor, my microphone or any other place. My invitation to you is that if you do choose to receive Holy Communion in the hand, then be mindful of what you’re doing. Bow before you come forward to receive, but then after receiving, look at your hand to see if any small pieces remain. The Council of Trent in the 1500’s clearly stated that if a particle of the Consecrated Host can be seen, it contains the fullness of Divine Life. So…please, look at your hands. Notice if there is even the smallest of pieces and consume it rather than letting it fall to who-knows-where. If we held the Infant Lord in our hands, we would reverence Him with great care and love. Why not honor the Eucharist the same?

And after encountering our Lord…we ask ourselves ‘what should we do?’ like the people last weekend. We should pause for a moment and speak the Lord. In the silence of our heart we respond to the fact that our Lord is not an impersonal Lord but a person who desires to speak and be spoken to. In the encounter we speak the desires and needs of our hearts, we lift up praise like Elizabeth for the good things He’s done. Then having conversed with Our Lord we then go out and share the good news of the God who love us.

So how do we prepare for the coming of the Lord? Celebrate Him well each week and draw nearer to Him each day. What better way to honor ‘God with us’.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come, Source of Eternal Life. Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Reconciliation

One of the books I’m readings currently is a novel by Michael O’Brien, Plague Journal, written as if it were a journal. One section that grabbed my attention was his reflection on a recent art exhibit in the town. The selections of art were all done by the children of the community and he noted that most were images of pop stars, some of new age spiritualities, others were depictions of chaotic events around the world at the time, and lastly there was a simply painting of some horses. He recounts his frustration that while the painting of the horses was deserving of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards all together on account of the beauty, detail, richness, and technique of the child. It was truly a work of art. And yet it received none of the above and not even an honorable mention because the judges came in and quickly passed it over to come to things that were more interesting to them, things that fit their personal agendas and mindsets.

This comes to mind because what we encounter in the Gospel of St. Luke is a wonderful work of art, parts of which can easily be passed over as one tries to get to the part they want to hear. Luke’s was the third Gospel written (it’s not for no reason that the Gospel are ordered Matthew-Mark-Luke-John…that’s the order they were composed) and had the advantage of bring Matthew and Mark together with his own sources to compile a profound work of art in recounting the Gospel of Our Lord. We see this in the great detail that he employs at the introduction to today’s section on St. John the Baptist – a whole list of names, places, and a time cue to bring it all home. This brilliant structure from St. Luke draws one into the truth that the Gospel of Christ is not ‘Once upon a time…” but rather a story that is true, filled with people, plans, and dates that all are fresh in the minds of the first hearers. The reality of it emphasizes that St. John’s words are not just a nice story but are a call to actual conversion of life, to preparing the way because Christ is coming into the world.

The prophets Baruch and Isaiah both speak of preparing the way and the temptation for us today is always a spiritual thought process, but they speak also of a physical preparation. When a king was coming to a town outside the city they would often level the hills, fill the valleys, and straighten and fill the roads so he could come quickly, lest he be delayed and ambushed along the journey. To prepare the way is to be able to clear all obstacles away so as to enable the King to come and come quickly. Thy Kingdom come now, Lord.

Last weekend I proposed to you a practical suggestion for preparing the way for the Lord to come to us, and that was singing. This weekend the Lord invites us to prepare the way in the manner noted by the prophets and removing those things from our lives that prevent encounters with our King. We’re invited to be reconciled.

The first point of reconciliation is with others, horizontal reconciliation. To offer forgiveness to someone who has hurt you or to ask forgiveness of someone you may have hurt. Over and over I’ve heard retreat talks drive this point home of reconciling with others, even if only in small issues. I wrote a note to someone once forgiving them for something that I was holding against them and they were quite surprised to find that I was upset with them at all! But in the moment I opened up the conversation and we had a really great talk and were even closer than before at the end. By reaching out to another person and seeking reconciliation and greater unity, we clear the roadways and level things to be able to encounter Christ in them and for them to encounter Christ in us. It also has the bonus of building us up in virtue, such as those of humility, patience, charity, and courage.

The second point is the most important one because it is our reconciliation with the Lord God Himself. This is the main call of the prophets, when we get down to it. It’s the invitation to set our sins aside and to allow the holiness of God to sanctify us. The great thing about this act of reconciliation with God is that it is largely done by him. Whereas in human relationships there are risks that we may not be forgiven or the other person may not be sorry they hurt us, in our relationship with God we are assured that if we seek reconciliation it will be done. God will clear the way, level the mountains and fill the valleys for us! The reality is that our sins – great and small alike – make it difficult for us to encounter the Lord because our desires are disordered, our ability to hear His voice is weakened, and we struggle to have the courage to do His will because we’re accustomed to seeking our own. There are countless reasons why we avoid going to confession to be reconciled with God, but there is one reason to go that trumps them all and that is the love of God for us, His beloved children. Don’t be afraid – come to confession! Be thorough, holding nothing back and giving all to Christ, allowing Him to heal us.

The last piece in reconciliation is being reconciled with our self. We can receive and give forgiveness to others. We can receive and even give forgiveness to God. But the hardest part is forgiving ourselves. We cling to our guilt and pain, not wanting to let them go. We believe ourselves unable to ‘really’ be forgiven. And, interestingly enough, we can hold ourselves to a higher level of perfection than God actually requires of us in that moment. He knows we are but little children trying to make our way home to Heaven, fumbling and bumbling along the way at times. And yet in those moments it is we ourselves, who refuse to acknowledge our own weakness but rather demand greater strength than we ourselves are able to muster. Forgiveness of self is vital in the life of the Christian. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to live out the call of the prophets to ‘take off your robe of mourning and misery and put on the splendor of glory from God forever’!

Come, Lord Jesus. Come, Prince of Peace. Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Sing!

...Jesus is Coming..

Readings for Sunday, November 29/ 1st Sunday of Advent:
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25
1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28, 24-26

Happy Advent! What joy to come to this blessed time of year when we begin again, a time of rejoicing at the things God has done and looking forward to the new things He has in store for us. As we begin a new liturgical year today, I want to start by changing things up a bit and inviting you all to stand up for a moment. Now I want you to repeat after me: I love the Lord! [Congregation responds] Now I’ve heard y’all talking after Mass, so I know you can get a little louder than that: I love the Lord! [Congregation responds louder] That’s much better, but I know we have some Italians in the congregation and just being good Louisiana people, we have to use our hands when we talk, so lets make sure to use our hands this time: I love the Lord! [Congregation responds, with hand gestures!] Beautiful! I’m glad y’all love the Lord! I love Him too. Y’all can sit now.

So, Advent has arrived once again, that season when Mother Church invites us to reflect upon what she calls the ‘twofold coming of Christ’ – the expectation of His arrival at Christmas, as well as the final coming of the Lord in glory that will take place on the Last Day, whenever that might be. It’s a time when we don once more the penitential purple and prepare our hearts for the Lord to come, but it is a penance that is marked with joy at the nearness of the Lord to us. Much like Lent, it is easy to have Advent simply pass us by and miss the great gift that it can be. I find for myself also that it is easy to get caught up in reflections that are rather spiritual rather than practical in my own ‘preparing the way’ for the Lord. So my intention for these four weeks of Advent is to provide practical, concrete ways for us to prepare our hearts, homes, and lives for the coming of Christ Jesus. I hope they are helpful for you as I pray they will be for me.

A few years back I went with some friends who were still in seminary to Houston over Christmas break for a ‘Chant Intensive’ workshop on how to read, understand, sing, and (somewhat) direct Gregorian Chant. When we arrived they split us into our groups and sent us to our practice rooms. My friends and I went to our assigned room with all of our books in hand ready to chant to our hearts content. The director arrived and, after a brief introduction and overview of the workshop, he asked us to stand. We all listened and he did with us the same exact activity I just did with y’all. At the end of it he asked us to be seated and said, “Alright, so now I know how loud y’all can sang.” So… *grins* … now I know how loud y’all can sing. Which brings me to practical point number one: sing!

It is scientifically proven that music has a profound impact on the human mind and body, that playing music has short-term and long-term effects on our brain, and that singing has a way of changing our mind and body both, but especially our heart. Johnny Cash once sang “Get rhythm when you get the blues” and with that he reminds us that music is able to move us. It moves our hearts and if there is anything in the time of preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus, it is most certainly our hearts.

Rock the Mic!

In the Gospel passage we just heard, Jesus warns us not to let our hearts become drowsy with worldly pleasure. Having experienced every aspect of human life but sin, He knows well how easy it is to get caught up in the pleasures of the world, in festivities, in the mundane things, and to lose the burning fire of love for God that is given us at our baptism. And so we come to this Advent season and we do that which brings life to a fire or brings flames from a burning ember – we breathe out life, we sing. The experience of singing is one in which we are able to pray not only with our voice but with our whole self and in the process of inhaling and exhaling the fire of our soul can be ignited and renewed. So we sing – at Mass, in the car, at home, in the shower, at work, wherever. All the time I hear it said ‘Father, you don’t want me to sing…or them to sing’ but the thing is that I do. If everyone sings it will be a beautiful noise! So I invite you to do one little thing at different times through the week and to sing.

Sing like this little guy.

As I said at the beginning, Advent is a time when we can begin again and bring new resolutions to our own life. For Advent this year I want to invite you to join with me in a new piece in the liturgy. In case you’ve not beaten me to the punch yet – it involves singing. Every day priests and religious brothers and sisters across the world stop at various times of day to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, a collection of psalms, scripture readings, hymns and intercessions. There are five different times it is done at the day, mostly in the same format. The last prayer of the day is a bit different though because after the concluding prayer and blessing, a hymn is sung to the Blessed Mother. A sort of goodnight lullaby where the tables are turned and rather than our mother singing to us, we sing to our mother. The first time I heard this done was when I was at the seminary in Covington. I went to the monks’ Night Prayer with a friend and at the end they all processed out in silence to the rear of the church and the lights were turned out. They wrapped around the rear of the church and came down the side aisle to the image of the Blessed Mother, which was illuminated by the only light in the church. And in that moment of darkness and quiet the Abbot intoned the hymn and the monks joined with him in solemn song. I got goosebumps then as I have them right now thinking about it. It is that same loving devotion to Our Lady that I hope to bring into our Masses here at St. Ann & St. Vincent. There are four different hymns through the course of the whole year, each one being sung for 2-4 months. I know it will be tough to learn them initially, but know that it will be well worth the effort and will great joy to Mary’s heart – and to mine and hopefully yours too. May Mary, who is ever watchful of us, her children, fill us with joy in this blessed season and may she bring to completion that great mission of bringing us closer to the Heart of Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Just Sit There

Readings for Sunday, December 21/ 4th Sunday of Advent:
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16
Psalm 89:2-5, 27-29
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38

The first time I remember holding a baby was when I was 12 years old. Being the baby of the family, both among my siblings and my cousins, there weren’t many little ones around for me to have dealt with, so when my sister was due to have a baby girl, I had to start learning how to handle little ones. The day my niece was born we all went to the hospital and everyone got a chance to hold the little girl. When it was my chance, my mom (knowing I was nervous about holding her) told me to sit down in the chair. So I hopped in, got settled, got my arms in place to cradle a baby, and then I sat there. They brought her over and placed her in my arms and I sat there marveling at the little person in my arms. After a few moments of my nervously holding her, they took her back and passed her to the next person. This story came to mind because this weekend we are invited to stop doing so much and simply prepare to receive a little child.

The past few weeks have been all about preparing for Christmas. We’ve all been to a bunch of parties and gatherings, we’ve been working on preparing the churches, preparing for liturgies, decorating our own homes, and probably a little bit of shopping too. And this is in addition to the spiritual movements encouraged by this season – that of being watchful, of repenting and trying to turn away from our sins, and of being a people constantly seeking the face of God in prayer, thanksgiving, and rejoicing. But this weekend the readings make a dramatic turn from all of that doing to an attitude of receptivity because as Psalm 127 puts it, “Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain do the builders labor. Unless the Lord watch over the city, in vain do the watchmen keep vigil.” We can do all sorts of things and prepare in so many ways, but it is ultimately the work of God that makes it all fruitful.

This is the lesson that God seeks to teach King David in our first reading today from Second Samuel. David notices that he lives in a nice house and the dwelling place of God is basically a tent out in the yard and so he decides to make a temple for the Lord. In response the Lord gives His own plan and while we can hear the things that God has done or will do, what strikes me is just how many time God speaks in the first person ‘I’. “I took you from the pasture… I have been with you… I have destroyed your enemies…I will make you famous… I will fix a place for my people… I will plant them… I appointed judges… I will give you rest… I will raise up your heir… I will make his kingdom firm… I will be a father to him.” Eleven times the Lord drives the point home that it is His work that makes things happen. We have to do our share, but ultimately it is the Lord that makes these things happen.

He does a similar thing and gives us a perfect model to follow the account of the Annunciation we just heard. Mary receives the good news that she is to bear the savior of mankind. The first thought in my mind would be “Okay, what do I have to do?” But Mary’s doesn’t have to do anything. It is the all the work of God as she hears “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you.” She doesn’t have to do anything other than say ‘yes’ - “May it be done to me.” And the same goes for us. We’ve done much in the way of preparation for Christmas. Now it’s time to rest and the let the Lord move.

Since school is out now, I figured I’d make up for the lack of homework and give some here at church. I’m inviting each of you to make a little time before Christmas and simply sit before a nativity scene. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to say anything. Just sit in front of the scene, ready for the coming of a little baby to you.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  

Always.

Readings for Sunday, December 14/ Gaudete Sunday:
Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11

Luke 1:46-50, 53-54
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

As most of you likely know, my previous parish assignment was to the River Road communities of Convent, Paulina, and Gramercy. One weekend we had a high school retreat with the students and parents in attendance at Most Sacred Heart in Gramercy and we had decided to speak about the church architecture and all the stuff one normally finds in a church as a means to praying. Fr. Vincent and I would go back and forth noting the things that struck us most about the church and at one point he asked if anyone had ever noticed the windows. Of course, everyone started looking from side to side at the large stained glass windows all along the sides of the church. He point out that the accents in the windows on one side were all images of wheat and the other side was all images of grapes. He then began to speak about the Eucharist and the community as the Body of Christ. I started to feel bad about myself since I had been there for almost two years by then and hadn’t even noticed the pattern. That was, until after we concluded and some of the parents came up to me and mentioned that they had been here for 40 or 50 years and had never noticed it either! This story came to mind as I was sitting by our own stained glass of the Blessed Virgin receiving the Holy Spirit and noticed for the first time in almost six months that the artist’s name was etched into the glass at the bottom, right next to where I normally rest my arm. These stories got me to thinking of how easy it is to miss something when our eyes aren’t looking for it and I began to wonder how aware I am of God’s activity in my own life? How many things is God doing – or waiting to do – but I’m totally oblivious to it?

This is what the season of Advent continues to draw our attention to: the activity of God in our midst. In the Gospel we see the priests and leaders of the community going out to find the Messiah. This was their whole mission, to find the one that was to save the people of Israel and fulfill all of the ancient prophecies. And so they went to John the Baptist and start asking questions: Are you the Messiah? Elijah? The Prophet? Who are you? When John gives his reply, he doesn’t just stop there but point out that “there is one among you whom you do not recognize.” How interesting that the leaders come out seeking the Messiah and they are so focused on John that they’re standing side-by-side with the Lord Himself and fail to recognize Him!

In this blessed season we hear and work to put into practice the call of habitual readiness for the Lord’s coming. That was the obvious tone of the First Sunday’s gospel call to “Be watchful!” The subsequent weeks help direct us the way of being habitually ready for the coming of Christ in His glory. Last week we were reminded that the most important and effective way to prepare for the Lord’s coming is repentance. John the Baptist’s call to turn from sin, confess one’s faults, and receive a baptism of repentance invite us to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where we do the exact same thing. There we find the means to breaking the chains of sin and experiencing the freedom to follow the Lord when He comes.

This week, with the freedom from sin established, the next step to be always ready is found in the passage from St. Paul and his three other ‘always’ type statements: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances, give thanks.”

It begins with ‘pray without ceasing,’ which we know isn’t walking around praying rote prayers all day long. Prayer is simply a dialogue or relationship with the Lord, so to pray without ceasing is to go through our day doing our best to keep in mind that God isn’t just up in Heaven and He isn’t just in the tabernacle at the Church, but that He is right there with us and is actively involved in our life. Sometimes we have tangible experiences of His presence and sometimes we can started putting clues together that our prayers are being answered or that God is leading us in a certain direction. That is the unceasing prayer that St. Paul invites us to, because it is then that we see the Lord working, speaking, and moving in, through, and around us.

As we start to recognize the Lord among us throughout the day, we will begin to express more deeply our gratitude. We will give thanks in all circumstances because we will be able to see the Lord in all circumstances. And as we allow our hearts to give joyful praise to the Lord the ways that He is working in our lives, we are led to that third piece of rejoicing always.

Rejoicing isn’t having warm emotions of happiness, feeling good about things, or the result of positive events taking place in our life. Rejoicing is the spontaneous reaction of our heart to the presence of the Lord. Why does Isaiah rejoice in our first reading? Because God placed on him the robe of salvation and the mantle of justice; God came to him in his brokenness and he encountered the God of love and mercy. Why does Mary rejoice in the responsorial? Because the Lord looked upon the lowliness of His handmaid and done great things for her – because she had a profound encounter with the Lord and His messenger Gabriel. Why does St. Paul call us to rejoice always? Because He first was knocked off of his horse by the Lord and filled with the Light of His Presence. And us? Why should we rejoice? Because just like Isaiah and Mary and Paul, God has come to us too. He came 2000 years ago, He comes daily in the Eucharist, and He comes to us in the course of our daily lives over and over and over again.

So where is God acting in your life today? Where is the Lord inviting us to find Him today? And are we ready to experience His presence and be filled with rejoicing?

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come, O Come, Emmanuel.