Saint + Elizabeth + Ann + Seton + Parish

On this final Sunday of Advent, the readings invite us to think through how we can become intentional in bringing the peace of Christ to our homes and our families, how we can ask for the grace to be able to heal broken relationships in our homes and our families, how you and I can become instruments that make functional all of the dysfunctional relationships in our homes and in our families. That's the heart of our readings today.

The daily news is not our guidebook. A lot of people depend on that, and the result is confusion, wonder, and rage. Jesus was right in telling us that the world would be in dismay and people would be consumed by fright if all they look at is the troubled world. There is a solution, however — a guide for the journey through troubled times — and Saint Paul tells us what it is, or better, who it is: YOU!Download Transcript

In Advent we are called to wait for the Lord. We believe that Jesus came to fulfill Jeremiah's promise of the righteous branch. He fed the hungry, he healed the sick, and gave himself a ransom for our sins. Jesus wants us to know that this world still belongs to God. Nothing must shake our faith nor weaken our resolve that God is in charge and that Jesus is coming again.Download Transcript

As recipients of the Lord’s mercy, we are to be a kingdom and priests to God––we are called to model the life of Jesus in us. What happens when we do that? Other people find out who God is. What happens when other people find out who God really is? The whole world is transformed into the glory of God! That's what Daniel saw in his vision. It’s the goal towards which all of human history is progressing.Download Transcript

Jesus talks mostly about how his disciples should respond to the events going on around them. This is a wisdom that focuses on what we can do something about, not on the things beyond our control. We cannot do too much about the big catastrophes or way the world will end; the one thing you and I can do something about is our own response to the things that happen in and around our lives. How shall we respond to our world––even when it seems that it is falling apart? It is normal to fear for our comfort, our happiness, our security, and to wonder what might happen to us and our children.Download Transcript

Why do people sometimes do bad things to one another? There is no single answer to that. And I do not pretend that I have the answers. But tonight I would just like to explore one single explanation, what I sometimes call the triangle of sights. What is this triangle of sights? How you see the neighbor. How you see yourself. How you see God.

We need a deep, pervasive, transformational conversion in the hearts and minds of people. We have the antidote for the strife and suspicion and mutual recriminations here before us tonight in the example of the saints.

 We need to know that prayer is not merely “asking God for something.” Prayer is not a formula to learn and master. Prayer and true desire are intimately connected. How often do we really ask Jesus for our heart’s desire? When we ask for something half-heartedly, we are not asking out of desire. When we ask, but do not continue to ask, are we not showing that we are not desperate? And if we are passionate, is it for the right things? Download Transcript

Here we are at Mass. Each of us has voices that speak to us through the day—voices that may tell us of our sins and remind us of our failings, voices that may keep us small and hobbled, voices that tell us we’re not worthy or fill us with fears, voices that keep us from voicing the desire of our heart. But here, here at Mass, every voice in our prayers and our singing says to the people around us, “Have no fear, the Master is calling you.” 

 We cannot know our hearts by ourselves. We rationalize too easily for our own advantage. So the Hebrews reading tells us that God gives us his Word, which is able to discern reflections and thought of the heart. That is one reason the Scriptures are read and proclaimed when Christians gather. We need to be taken beyond our own limited perspectives. Only in going beyond ourselves will we inherit eternal life.Download Transcript

If Wisdom is the practical application of Knowledge, then what is it that we know? Well, there’s a Scripture in the book of Proverbs that says that the knowledge of God is the beginning of wisdom. The first thing that we know is that God will not disappoint us. Where God is, there is ultimate goodness. And so we begin with that knowledge. Our trust is in God and not in structures that are under the guidance of human beings. 

 Today the readings would like us to reflect on and appreciate all the gifts of love and marriage that God has placed in our lives. The readings would like us to be grateful to God for the gift of your spouses, the gift of family, the gift of your brothers and sisters, of your children, your grandchildren. And so this is a special day that we reflect and also show gratitude to God for all the beautiful things that happen in our families. 

 I know that the issue of our sexuality has been a cause of major struggle and guilt for many, many people––especially in the Church. I remind us all of something John declares in his Gospel: God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him (3:17). What God tells us about something so basic as our sexuality is always for our good. Knowing that we fall short and need his mercy and grace, we have forgiveness through God’s Son. We should always remember: God forgives us so he can heal us and make us holy. Salvation is a whole package!Download Transcript

God’s gift is abundant, and He gives it to whoever He wills. Joshua and John forgot to realize that God’s gift is inviolable; God’s gift is immeasurable; God’s gift is incalculable. In other words, we cannot use the metrics of supply-and-demand to calculate the value of what God has put in your heart and put in my heart. Because only God has it, and He gives it to you and gives it to me freely. 

Jesus was preparing the disciples for his coming death, and all the while they were selfishly discussing among themselves who was the greatest…. It’s easier to be like the disciples that day than to be like Jesus. We are too easily aware of our status with one another. We can too easily keep record of how many times we have been asked to do the dirty work. We can too easily gravitate towards those who are most like us. We can too easily use our opinions selfishly. It is popular opinion—not Jesus—that says, “Take care of Number One.” Download Transcript

The word of God is that power that makes even the wilderness to blossom. And that’s the message that all of the readings want us to hold onto this morning: the message of hope, the message of healing, the message of restoration in Christ Jesus. 

All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them and guides them into all truth. Catholicism is in and with the Faithful, who have received the Holy Spirit. Catholicism hasn’t been lost, stolen, broken, or hidden away. It is alive and well in the People of God!Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church citations online HERE.Download Homily Transcript

The work of our hands is where we are called to be Christ-like. And one mark of being Christ-like through the work of our hands is to be Messianic—just like Jesus, who was sent to bring freedom to those who are captured, to bring sight to those who are blind, to bring liberty to those who have been held down by burdens. So you and I, through the labors of our hands, are called to be agents of freedom, agents of joy, agents of gladness. 

What is religion? To have pure and undefiled religion is to recognize the dignity of every person and to cherish all our relationships—not striving and competing and trying to one-up the other, and trying to crawl or grab your way to the top. Instead, you’re just living as a pure person in relationship to God and with others. And this is who the widows and orphans teach us to be—to have that kind of simplicity in our experience as a human person. 

You as Christians, you as Catholics, can indeed flourish in the wounded body of Christ because, fundamentally, our journey as Christians is an interior life with Christ. We all can flourish regardless of the woundedness, because our life with Christ is deeply and fundamentally interior. And it is that interior life that the Holy Spirit revives again and again.