As you may recall, the other priests and I have connected
our Advent homilies to Father John Riccardo’s book, Rescued.
Four weeks of Advent, and four questions, and four answers.
We started with God’s glorious Creation. Why did he do it?
Answer: to create a world for us, in which we can respond to his love. To become his partners.
What went wrong? This beautiful world was captured by evil.
Our free choices went wrong and with it, the world.
Then last week, the question was, what did God do to rescue us?
Answer: He came into this world as a human being,
embracing everything we face, even death, death on a Cross.
Now we come to the most personal question:
What is my response to this Creation, to the crisis of our world,
and above all, to God’s bottomless love?
Let’s start with Ahaz, because his response may be confusing.
Ahaz seems holy: he says, I won’t test God!
But God invited Ahaz to do exactly that: to propose a sign.
God was summoning Ahaz’s faith to life.
Remember how Jesus summoned Peter out of the boat, onto the water?
Peter stepped out, but Ahaz refused to.
Lots of people hear the Word of God at Mass,
and they witness the Word of God acting through the Mass,
making Calvary present.
When you really think about it, everything is here for you,
At this, and every Mass!
But so many react like Ahaz.
No, not unless it’s a different priest from the one here, today.
No, not unless there’s different music, I don’t like these songs!
No, not unless certain people stop sitting near me!
Jesus is here for you at every single Mass;
he invites you to respond to him.
And some have the audacity to say, “I didn’t get anything out of Mass.”
Now, let’s consider St. Paul’s response, in his letter to the Romans.
When he describes himself as “called to be an Apostle,”
He is also mindful that he is the “least” –
because he persecuted Jesus’ Church before his conversion.
Paul did not let his sins or sense of unworthiness hold him back.
And he is a powerful sign
of something we miss about what Jesus came to do.
Jesus’ forgiveness and reconciliation is
deeper and more complex than we may at first realize.
And that is something we can see in Paul’s own life.
Forgiveness and reconciliation is not merely, “nevermind.”
A lot of people wrestle with forgiveness precisely because
just saying, “nevermind,” doesn’t seem to address the reality.
Sins, wrongs and crimes do real damage!
This whole world has been scarred by evil; those scars are deep.
Take note that when Jesus rose from the dead,
he still bore his own scars!
Resurrection and restoration don’t mean the wrongs never happened.
God’s way of restoration and healing is different.
Somehow – and only God’s grace can do this – we bear our scars,
but like Jesus’ own wounds, they become about life, not death.
Consider how many people become life to others,
precisely in how they share their own wounds,
and by sharing, they themselves are healed.
St. Paul wouldn’t have been St. Paul without his twisty journey,
and the same is true for you and each of us.
Let’s also learn from the response of St. Joseph.
His actions are often misunderstood, including, for a while, by me!
When it says, he was going to “divorce her quietly,”
That still sounds harsh.
But, in Joseph’s time, there was a betrothal before marriage;
something like what we call engagement, only more formalized.
That’s the stage he and Mary were in when these things happened.
So, instead of “divorce,” try, “withdraw from the engagement.”
Still, we wonder, why would Joseph withdraw?
It is not because he thinks Mary did wrong.
Joseph did not think he was better or holier than Mary –
Quite the opposite! He knew Mary’s immaculate character.
Joseph was prepared to withdraw out of humility.
But the most important thing Joseph did was to listen.
The angel brought God’s invitation to Joseph,
and Joseph “did as the Lord commanded.”
Forgive me for repeating myself, but: Advent is about Eternity.
You and I are not merely preparing for a big party later this week,
But for eternal life, which will be far better than any party!
Jesus invites each of us to that eternal life.
Our Catholic Faith – the habits of prayer and confession
and the sacraments and good works and ongoing conversion –
is the “transportation,” if you will, that gets us there.
That’s the invitation. What’s your response?
One more question:
if you were invited to get on the greatest Party Bus in history,
and you knew there were plenty of seats,
would you really keep this to yourself?
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