12/3/2013 – Tuesday 1st week Advent – Isaiah 11:1-10

      We hear from the prophet Isaiah today.  Isaiah is a popular Advent prophet,  as his prophecies foreshadow Christ’s coming into our world.  Today, Isaiah foretells of a new king who will be guided by God's spirit, a king who will sit on the throne of David.  He is not just any king, but a judge without peer.  He will bring new possibilities in the governing of Israel, in the justice that is to be lived out there.   Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann describes Isaiah's vision as the birth of a new innocence in creation in which trust, gentleness, and friendship are not only possible, but are called for.  The peace he will bring is so profound that the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will be with a baby goat, and the calf and lion will co-exist together. 

      If we really believe in the peace that Jesus could bring into our lives and creation through his birth, think of how different our world would be.  While this vision appeals to our imagination, it is so different from the reality of creation today, where it’s often the survival of the fittest.  Isaiah's vision may seem absurd and out of reach in the brokenness in our world today.  In the newspapers and on TV we see so much suffering, turmoil, and violence.  Yet we place our hope in Jesus, from the branch of Jesse, from the lineage of David. Through this branch, we gain wisdom and understanding.  God's hope transforms the impossible into reality. 

     Our saint today St. Francis Xavier, a man who became a friend of St. Ignatius of Loyola and a member of the Jesuits after he finished his studies for the priesthood in Paris in the early 16^th century.  Francis Xavier lived in a world where the Protestant Reformation was taking place – many in the Catholic Church experienced turmoil and confusion rather than hope and peace.  Yet, these young Jesuits dreamed of being loyal to the Pope and to the Church, of spreading this message to the ends of the earth.  Wherever Francis Xavier went as a missisonary to spread God's word, he lived with the very poor, he shared their food, and lived in their simple accommodations. He spent his ministry devoted to the sick and the poor, including lepers.  He always found great joy in truly living out the values and ideals of Christ’s Gospel. He truly built his faith on a solid foundation.  After spending many years preaching in India & Japan, he died on his journey to China, where he dreamed of spreading the Word to the people there.  Francis lived the values of justice and peace that Isaiah foretells, values that are fulfilled in the coming of Jesus.  How do we live them out?

12/2/2013 – Monday – 1st week Advent – Isaiah 2:1-5

        Today, as we begin our first weekday mass in the holy season of Advent, we start our preparations for the coming of Jesus’ birth into the world at Christmas.  Today, we hear a very profound message from the prophet Isaiah.  He issues a challenge for world peace that is addressed to all of us, not just the powerful leaders of the nations of the world.  He uses the image of swords being beaten into plowshares.  The plowshares, for us, symbolize the hard work that it takes to feed the hungry. Our farmers don’t use plowshares anymore, but they work very hard to put food on our table.  We can see this message the Isaiah brings as an admonition to care for the neediest among us.  If you look at the central message of all the prophets in Ancient Israel, it is that God will judge his people by how they care for the neediest in society.  For Israel, this was the widow, the orphan, and the stranger in their midst. 

         Pope Paul VI put this message into other words for us to ponder: “If you want peace, work for justice.”  With the global economic crisis we are still recovering, with our own battered national economy and high unemployment rate, it is easy for us to say that there is not enough money for all the programs that help the poor in our society.  However, we cannot let Isaiah’s admonition fall on deaf ears.

          In some way, I think we can all envision our small part of working for justice. We can all work for peace in our own communities, in our own little part of the world. 
Indeed, all of us have personal “swords” that we need to turn into plowshares.  As we enter the season of Advent, this is the perfect time of year to try to do that.  We all can try to heal the anger and resentment that resides in our hearts, to mend the ruptures in our relationships.   If all of us try to change our small corners of the world even modestly, if we all try to articulate a message of peace and justice and to speak out against the culture of death in our modern world, we may have the power to realize the vision of Isaiah more than we can ever imagine. 



Prayer for Advent - Madeleine L'Engle

I really like this poem written in the spirit of Advent.  She was an American author who passed away in 2007.  She is most well-known for her novel written for children and youth  - A Wrinkle in Time.

First Coming
by Madeleine L’Engle

He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.

He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine.

He did not wait till hearts were pure.
In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.

He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.

We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

Advent Reconciliation Service Prayers

Our Advent Reconciliation service will be held on 12/2/2013 - Monday - at St James Catholic Church in Tupelo, Mississippi.  

These prayer are adapted from the 2010 Magnificat Advent Issue –

Greeting –

Advent is a time of waiting, long, and begging.  It is a time to pray: “Come, Lord Jesus.”

We look forward to celebrating the 1^st coming of Jesus at Christmas.  We look forward with hope to the 2^nd coming of Jesus in his glory.  We seek out Jesus here and now in the mass, when he comes to us in the Eucharist.  We seek out Jesus in the people and events of our lives, when he comes to us in ordinary ways.  Today, as we examine our conscience and confess our sins, we ask Jesus to come us in his compassion and mercy.  Jesus offers us a true experience of salvation in the here and now through the forgiveness of our sins.

Opening prayer:

Let us pray:

God our Father, out of loving obedience to you, and out of love for all that you created through him, your only begotten Son became human and dwelt among us.  He was born as a baby just like us.  He went through the joys and sufferings of life just like us.  He suffered and died and rose again – just for you.  Give us hearts of repentance and conversion, so that we may weep for the one who was pierced for our sins and rejoice as our sins and impurities are washed away.  We ask this through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Closing prayer:

Let us pray:

God our Father, open to us your promised fountain of mercy, the Word mad flesh, to wash our sins and impurities away.  Prepare us to welcome our Savior who dwells among us.  Pour forth, we beseech you, Father, your grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ your Son is to be made known anew through the sacrament of reconciliation may by his passion and cross be brought to the glory of his resurrection through the same Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

12/1/2013 - 1st Sunday in Advent – Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:37-44

     Today is the 1st Sunday of Advent and the start of our new liturgical year.  In many ways, the meaning of Advent is very different from message we receive from our secular society this time of year.  We’ve just celebrated our bountiful Thanksgiving feast; many started their Xmas shopping on “Black Friday;” many are already putting up their Christmas decorations and listening to Christmas carols. In our secular world, the message is of celebrating, eating, shopping, and putting up joyful decorations.  However, in our Catholic faith, Advent is all about preparation and waiting and getting ready.  As a priest, this upcoming first week of Advent, I am starting off the week having Advent reconciliation services at 3 different parishes, helping the faithful prepare during this Holy season for the coming of our Lord.   

      Perhaps the Gospel we hear today is not what we expect for the 1^st Sunday of Advent.  We don’t hear a story about Mary or Joseph or Elizabeth getting us ready for the coming of Jesus, but instead hear a message from Jesus himself from one of the last chapters in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus tells us how people of Noah’s day were not preparing for what was to come, but, instead they were eating, drinking and having a good time.  Up to the time of Noah and the great flood, most of the people of Israel didn’t realize what was happening. Jesus recalls this event to alert us to stay awake, to be prepared. That is the message we need to hear on this 1^st Sunday of Advent. Paul brings us a similar message from his letter to the Romans.  Paul announces that it is the hour to awaken from sleep, to throw off the works of darkness, and to put on armor of light.  Paul tells us that as baptized Christians, we can’t complacently go through the mere motions of our faith; we must live out our baptismal promises with joy, enthusiasm, and energy.

      We prepare for the Jesus of the past, of the present, and of the future during our Advent preparations.  In Advent, we recognize how Jesus was present to us in the past, how he arrived in the manager in Bethlehem as the Word of God made flesh to dwell among us.  In Advent, we recognize Jesus' presence with us in the present day, how he lives in our hearts and in the Body of Christ still present here on earth.  And in Advent, we place our hope in the future, when Jesus will come again, when the fullness of God’s kingdom will come to fruition.          
       Today, the one word I would use to characterize this first Sunday of Advent is “hope.”  We put our hope is the promise that Jesus gives us in the Gospel today, the promise that he will come again. And while we look forward to our Christmas celebrations to come, to brightly wrapped presents under a Christmas tree, to celebrations with family and friends, to good food and good fellowship, and to time away from work and school, that is not to be our primary focus. We focus on Christ – on his coming into the world as a tiny baby into a humble manager, as he enters our hearts to bring renewal and gladness.  This Monday, we have the Advent Reconciliation service at 6:30 pm here at St James.  This Sacrament is a wonderful way to start our preparations for the Advent season, of turning our hearts to God in this special encounter with him.  There will be 5 priests here to hear your confessions – Father Albeen, Father Anthony, Father Henry, and Father Tim will be joining us here at St James. We would like to have a wonderful showing of children, youth, and adults to kick off our Advent season with this very meaningful sacrament.  In Advent, in our time of thoughtful preparation, we also reach out to others in need, and so in this spirit, we have our Care Tree.  There are items that will help needy families, the elderly at nursing homes, patients at the hospital and their families, and Catholic prisoners.  Take a slip of paper off the Care Tree, and perform an act of charity and mercy as part of your Advent preparations.                                        We wait and hope during Advent.  We do so actively and with purpose, as our hope is in our Lord, our Savior and Redeemer. May this holy time of preparation during the next 4 weeks of Advent help us on our journey of faith. May it challenge us in the ways we live out our faith. May it provide us a time of renewal and recommitment in the faith we profess. 

11/27/2013 – Wednesday of 34th week in ordinary time – Luke 21:12-19

     Today's Gospel is a continuation of yesterday’s Gospel in which we heard Jesus warning about the end times to come.  This was written in Luke’s Gospel at a time of great persecutions in the Early Church.  Today’s message can be very disturbing, since it foretells that those who follow Jesus will be despised and subjected to many trials and tribulations all because of their faith.  It warns that even those closest family members and loved ones will turn against us. Living as disciples of Christ does not promise us the easiest journey through life here on earth.  Some of our youth have been studying these end times messages in their CYO group Bible studies, and some of them have been very disturbed by these messages, especially in the context in which some of their Evangelical Christian friends interpret them. I don’t think this message is meant to provide us with all the answers, to when the end times are coming. Instead, we are called to pray for and to reach out to those fellow believers who are persecuted or discriminated against for their faith. We are to think about what it really means to live out a life of discipleship, to be willing to speak out from the perspective of faith in an increasingly secular world that can be particularly hostile to the message we bring. From today’s Gospel, may we feel encouragement from the message Jesus give to us, empowering us to live out our faith and to bring our message to the world.

11/26/2013 – Tuesday of 34th week in Ordinary Time – Luke 21:5-11

      Earlier this month I read an article on the internet about a dispute over which is the tallest building in the United States.  That distinction was held by a building in Chicago that most of us have known as the Sears Tower, but is now called the Willis Tower.  However, the New World Trade Center in New York was hoping to capture that honor.  A committee of expert architects had to decide if the tower on top of the New World Trade Center was an actual part of the building, or if it should be considered as a part that was added onto the building structure, sort of like a radio antenna.  The committee in architects ruled in favor of the New World Trade Center.  There is always a lot of pride and bragging rights for a city to claim the tallest building in the country.  We try to build bigger and better and taller structures, but ultimately they will be like the Temple in Jerusalem – doomed to fall, doomed to be destroyed.  The one eternal aspect of our lives here on earth is our faith.   Our faith can last until eternity if we foster it and nurture it and let it grow and develop.   Life will challenge us in many different ways, but our faith will get us through.  May we cling to that hope, may we endure in our faith.

12/1/2013 – el Primer Domingo del Adviento – Romanos 13:11-14; Mateo 24:37-44

       Hoy es el primer domingo de adviento.  Empezamos un año nuevo en la liturgia de nuestra Iglesia.  Hoy, la Palabra de Dios anuncia que necesitamos estar despiertos para reconocer la presencia de nuestro Señor en nuestra vida.  Para estar preparados cuando el niño Jesús llega en nuestro mundo, necesitamos estar despiertos.  No podemos quedarnos dormidos; no podemos estar indiferentes en la vida de nuestra fe. 

         ¿Qué significa – estar dormidos?  Estamos dormidos si vivimos según nuestra propia voluntad en lugar de la voluntad de Dios.  Estamos dormidos si Dios queda a los margines de nuestra vida, si el no entra nuestros corazones y queda a la superficie. 

         Pero no podemos estar despiertos solo con la realidad del nuestro mundo. Necesitamos estar despiertos a la presencia de Dios que está con nosotros.  Hay mensajes y vientos y voces muy fuertes en nuestro mundo que son contra la Palabra de Dios. 

         Debemos estar despiertos porque el Niño Jesús llegará en cuatro semanas en la fiesta de Navidad.  Debemos estar despiertos porque no sabemos cuándo vendrá el Señor otra vez, porque no sabemos cuándo llega el momento que necesitamos presentarnos ante Él. En verdad, sabemos que Jesucristo vendrá, pero no sabemos cuándo.  Entonces, hay la urgencia de estar siempre expectantes en su venida.

         Hoy, estamos juntos en la presencia de Dios en la santa Misa, en la presencia verdadera en la Eucaristía. Necesitamos estar despiertos para ver al Señor en la Misa – es una responsabilidad y un privilegio que tenemos como católicos. También, para estar despiertos, necesitamos escuchar a Jesús en su Palabra, necesitamos reconocer su presencia en los rostros y las voces de los pobres de nuestro mundo y de nuestra comunidad, necesitamos reconocer su voz en el interior de nosotros mismos, y necesitamos oír a las voces de los santos y los profetas que están con nosotros. 

         En nuestras preparaciones de adviento, necesitamos contestar esta pregunta – ¿En que situaciones estamos dormidos en nuestra vida de fe, y como podemos despertarnos?