Saint + Elizabeth + Ann + Seton + Parish

What we learn from Job and what we learn from Saint Paul is that, in those difficult struggles of life—when we are facing the anguish of a faltering faith, when we find it hard to believe in God, when we find it painful to face a prayer that appears unanswered, when our hopes are dashed—we do not suffer this way alone. Rather, the Church prevails for us. We pray for each other. We hold each other up. This is what it means to belong to the Church, to be a member of the Body of Christ. 

What kind of friend are you? The friend who sits like Job’s friends—commiserates but really does nothing—or the kind of friend who brings one who is not well . . . not healthy . . . not in a good place . . . brings that person to Jesus. 

Realistic optimism is the fact that, truth be told, sometimes life is not fair. Sometimes innocent people suffer. Sometimes things you don’t deserve come to you in life. Sometimes sickness and pain you don’t deserve comes to you. That is reality. That is the reality of life. But the optimisim is that we believe there is hope, because we are fundamentally a people of hope. And so for us as Christians, pain does not define life. Suffering does not define life. 

What caused people to realize that with Jesus and the kingdom he proclaimed there was a distinctive power and authority? By all external observations he was an ordinary man, even a nobody. But when he talked, people were amazed. When he acted, people were astounded. And as he talked and acted, people could not help but be attracted.Download Transcript

What Jonah learned [in today’s readings] is that those prejudices often are false. And if we leave the door open—if we leave the possibilities in place, if we make the effort, and if we are prompted by the Spirit and we go with that prompt—as absurd as it may seem, then suddenly what we imagined to be impossible becomes reality. And not only are those who we make an appeal to, transformed, but we are transformed ourselves in the process, and our lives are open to new possibilities by learning from those unlike us. 

 Let’s be honest: in a merely human sense, these “wise ones” had to have been disappointed at first in what they found. Theirs was a dream of finding a new world order, a solution to the troubling times of their world, but they found a poor couple rejected by their family and society, nursing and protecting an infant among animals.Download Transcript

By affirming Mary as Mother of God, we affirm Jesus as Emmanuel, God With Us, God born as a fellow human being. How this dignifies humanity. How this dignifies womanhood. How this dignifies motherhood. This is just what Christmas and Christianity and the Church is all about. This is the essence of the Gospel. 

If you’ve been looking in your life for fulfillment, run to the Lord, pick Him up, and hold Him close to yourself. And there, close to your heart, recognize—in the longings, the hurts, the hungers, the loneliness of the human heart—there is only One who will fulfill. That is the person of Jesus Christ.Download Transcript

We don’t live in a world where all is calm and all is bright. We live in a world of constant tension and strife . . . . But still, there is something about this feast that every year draws us in, and draws from us hope, peace, prayers—a vision of what could be, and what we want so much to be, in this world. 

 What are you expecting God to do in your life because he sent his Son? It seems the world at large hardly expects to see Christians living from day to day any differently from anyone else.  Maybe we think our sins disqualify us from God using us. If that idea comes into your mind, think of David. Maybe we think we are too insignificant––as Mary would have appeared to be. But the story is true and our Faith is true: on this fourth Sunday of Advent we live our days in the presence of the God who, through the angel, told Mary: nothing will be impossible for God. Download Transcript

 The fact that God Himself has taken human flesh means that you and I have now been dignified in the image and in the likeness of God. The very fact of the Incarnation simply means that God—the light of God—now shines in the human experience. We are now a people of hope. We are now a people of joy. 

Regardless of what circumstances you may find yourself in right now, or what emotions Christmas might evoke in you, I’ve got a word for all of us this morning. The word is that the Lord God now ministers to your heart this morning, and ministers to my heart—and speaks the word of peace, the word of comfort, the word of courage. 

When we feel needy, empty, lonely, crushed—remember, “There is a Messiah.” And then when the gifts come in plenty, when we’re at the top of our game—remember, “I am not He.” My response is not pride. My response is not egotism. “There is a Messiah. And I am not He."

We possess our full potential, our full personhood, from the first moment of our conception. Furthermore, we retain the dignity of personhood until the last moment of our natural death. We never lose our personhood—not with age, or disability, or incapacity, or dementia 

The invitation this morning calls us to three things. Number one, keep your eyes on the things that matter in life. Number two, let your Christian love continue to burn every day; Christian love has no break, has no vacation. And finally, the right time to do that is now. 

Watch Jesus. Watch what He does. Watch how He interacts with people, with everyone whom He meets. And then place yourself in that scene and watch how He interacts with you. Watch Jesus every day. 

 Above and beyond every person on this earth who has the prerogative of any power over others, we have a Good Shepherd who has promised: I myself will look after and tend my sheep (Ez 34:11).Download Transcript

You will have noticed that, as we come close to the end of the liturgical year, the Church begins to place before us readings that remind us of the need to be spiritually awake, the need for us to continue to take a step back and look at how we can deepen our relationship with God…. So the question is, what are you ready to change in your life today, in your relationship with Christ? 

Remember what is often said in athletics, ‘There’s no”I” in church.’ Okay, so that’s not often said in athletics, but it’s true. Jesus began His public ministry by calling together a group who would work together, pray together, learn together, and walk through the joys and sorrows of life together. Jesus hasn’t stopped calling His little flock, and that’s why we’re here together. There truly is no ‘I’ in church, and the witness we give to others (especially the kiddos who are at Mass) by our example goes a long way toward helping each person learn and walk with Jesus.Download Transcript

‘No’ is not the answer we expect. We expect generosity. We expect outstanding generosity: ‘Yes, please, take all the oil you want.’ The disturbing part of this is that the parable is not about generosity. The parable is about the end of time and the return of the Lord.