12/23/2011- homily for Friday of 4th week of Advent - Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14; Luke 1:57-66

        Today’s psalmist asks the Lord to guide him in the way of truth and teach him his paths.  In many ways, that is the journey most of us as Christ’s disciples have tried to follow during the Advent season.  Here at St. Mary parish in Yazoo City, we have adopted the theme for Advent to follow the signs of this season to help us to prepare for the birth of Christ into our world, to follow the symbols, the rituals, and the devotions of the season to lead us and guide us.  These signs, these rituals, these symbols, help us express our openness to letting God teach us & guide us in our lives, just what the psalmist expresses to us today. 

         The Gospel reading about the birth of John the Baptist describes for us the consequences of Elizabeth’s and Zechariah’s preparation for God will in their lives. Their journey certainly had some twists & some turns for them, but their preparation & their willingness to listen to God enabled them to not only stand up against peer pressure from friends & relatives, but it also enabled them to speak & act in a way that brought others to recognize the presence of God in their lives.  Their son would later grow up to be the man who directly prepared the way for Jesus & his ministry.

         Today’s readings are quite appropriate, preparing us to celebrate our joyful Christmas Eve celebrations tomorrow.  May the Lord lead us & guide us, opening our hearts as we enter the Christmas season with the birth of Christ into our world.  May this upcoming liturgical season of Christmas help us to learn more about God’s truth & laws. 

12/22/2011 – homily - Thursday of 4th week of Advent – Luke 1: 46-55

         We are entering the final days of Advent as we prepare for the birth of our Lord into our world.  During this Advent season, we’ve heard from a lot of prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, just to name a few.  Today, we hear Mary sing the Magnificat while she is visiting her cousin Elizabeth.  If we picture Mary reaching her cousin’s residence, we can imagine this extraordinary scene in which four of Christianity’s greatest prophets are assembled together.  Two of these prophets are Mary and Elizabeth, the two women who come together during their time of pregnancy.  Both are pregnant under extraordinary circumstances: one is with child yet still a virgin, while the other became pregnant after she was well past her child bearing years.  The other two prophets present are in their mothers’ wombs: John the Baptist and Jesus. And, as the Gospels enfold, the people of ancient Israel will learn what Jesus is all about, that he is much more than a prophet.  So, in many ways, this is an extraordinary meeting between Mary & Elizabeth. Yet, in other ways, what takes place is an ordinary event between two women helping each other & reaching out to each other in their time of need. 

         As we hear Mary’s Magnificat this morning, we can see how it still resonates with all of us in the circumstances of our lives, through the lens in which we view the world.  All of us have our own points of view, entrenched in how God is present to us in the particular reality of our lives.  So, I wonder: how would we sing the Magnificat to God in the circumstances of our own lives, in the lived reality in which our journey of faith takes place, in which God meets us in the here & now?  Take someone in our universal Church who is a great example of faith, such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  In many ways, so many people throughout the world admired Mother Teresa because the Magnificat she sang in her life was a song of love and charity toward others, yet, it was not necessarily a song of words. 

         May the words of Mary in the Magnificat enter our hearts & help us to create a place there for the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  

12/20/2011 – Homily for Tuesday of 4th week of Advent – Isaiah 7:10-14

         King Ahaz and the tribe of Judah were terrified about the possibility of being attacked, so they turned to the Lord in their distress.  The Lord himself asks Ahaz to ask him for a sign to show that he is with them, but Ahaz responds that he will not put the Lord to the test.  Isaiah tells Ahaz that as a sign, the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and that Son will be called Emmanuel.  The name Emmanuel means “God is with us.”  We see this prophecy as being fulfilled in the birth of Christ.

         How often do we try to put the Lord to the test?  How often do we ask for a sign from the Lord, a very specific sign that meets our own needs, our own desires, our own selfish whims.  There may be a very specific sign we are asking of the Lord, but that may not be the sign he is wanting to send us.  The season of Advent has a lot of signs that are sent to us – the Advent wreath, the nativity scene, the hymns we sing, the sacrament of reconciliation.  All of these signs are helping us journey through Advent, helping us prepare for the birth of the Lord into our world at Christmastime.  How are we following the signs, the devotions, and the rituals that the Lord is sending our way? 

12/19/2011 –homily - Monday – fourth week of Advent – Psalm 71: 3-6, 16-17 , Luke 1:5-25

         Today's readings give us a lot to think about as we continue our preparations during this Advent season with Christmas less than a week away.  The psalmist prays today, “Lord, be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress. O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.” As we prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ into our world, from what do we need to be rescued, from what do we need safety?  Are we so caught up in the busy whirlwind of the holiday season, in the materialism of our culture, so much so that the stillness and solitude that we can find in our relationship with God may be missing in our lives?  Is the message of hope & salvation that we find in the birth of our Lord so detached from the reality of our daily lives?

         Then we hear about Zechariah's encounter with the Angel Gabriel, about his questioning of Gabriel's announcement regarding the impending birth of Zechariah's son, John the Baptist.  Although he was a holy priest who blamelessly followed God's law, Zechariah  was made silent in order to ponder and reflect upon what the angel had told him.  Today's Gospel concludes with Elizabeth rejoicing at how the Lord has taken away the humiliation she had suffered for having been barren for so many years.  What are those things we need to ponder in our lives?  Is there any barrenness in our life of faith that is in need of God's redemption & grace?

         As we enter the final week of Advent in our preparation for Jesus' birth into our world, may our hearts be filled with joy & gladness, may we find refuge in the Lord & hear his voice crying out to us in the darkness.