1. --
Lanie LeBlanc OP
2. --
Carol & Dennis Keller
3. --
Brian Gleeson CP
4. -- Your
reflection can be here
5. -- (Your
reflection can be here!)
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1.
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Advent 2 C 2021
Times were stressful when today's readings were first
shared and written down. They are stressful now as they are
proclaimed and read once again. The message is still much
needed and very clear: be hopeful because God's got this!
As Baruch wrote, we, too, are bone weary of mourning and
misery, of injustice and fighting of every kind. The
selection from the Gospel of Luke tells us through John the
Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord. We need to be doing
the deeds now that the One who is our salvation Incarnate
will finalize.
So what shall we do this particular Advent Season to
prepare the way of the Lord ? Before a serious mission of
any kind, a wise first step is an inventory of sorts.
Personally, where in our lives do each of us need to look,
repent, and accept the forgiveness of our sins? We need to
pray not only for those we love in Jesus as the letter to
the Philippians suggests, but also for ourselves. We need to
"discern what is of value" in this mission to "make rough
ways smooth" for others as we prepare for and build the
Kingdom of God. We need to pray with joy that the Lord has
provided many partnerships to help us keep the faith and
spread the true Gospel.
This Advent Season finds us still in the midst of this
horrendous pandemic with restrictions coming and going along
with feelings of hope and hopelessness. Re-reading today's
Scriptures can reconnect us to our faithful God of Hope, to
those from whom we feel distanced or for whom we long, and
ourselves. Let us rejoice, even with tears of joy, that our
God's got this!
Blessings,
Dr. Lanie
LeBlanc OP
Southern
Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one
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Second Sunday of Advent December 5 2021
Baruch 5:1-9; Responsorial Psalm 126; Philippians
1:4-6 & 8-11; Gospel Acclamation Luke 3:4 & 6; Luke 3:1-6
For the last three Sundays, we have heard Jesus warning
us again and again. There is a struggle going on in creation
that impacts human living. In the method of apocalyptic
literature, Jesus paints a picture of desperation, of
struggle, of unrelenting violence and despotism. It is
actually a more helpful thought to think of Jesus’ words not
so much as a warning but as an admonition to be real about
what it means to live a just life. He sets expectations and
takes off any rose-colored glasses that are more about
wishful thinking than reality. We should not expect
everything to be wine and roses. We are called to justice in
a culture and a world whose standards of success have more
to do with accumulation of power, wealth, and influence. It
is more about cut-throat competition than it is about
justice. Despite this focus on reality, Jesus insists there
is ultimate success for those who live the Way. Success is
more about what we become as persons than it is about
winning in the skirmishes of daily living. We are not to
fall into acting as though the Kingdom of God is already
completed. The hope in is the message is based on God’s
presence. He says throughout faith driven history, "I am
with you." This is the narrative history of the Mosaic
Covenant and the New Covenant. It is always God speaking, "I
am with you through it all."
Luke’s gospel this Sunday insists the message of his
gospel is real. It takes place in a time and place that
people know. This is no fantasy; this is no mere dream; this
is no fabrication in an effort to control people. That is
often the basis for civil political encouragement of worship
and ritual. Luke tells us this message is about God
intervening in all time and place. This Sunday’s story
brings us to one who prepares us for God’s message. This is
what prophets do. This prophet is one whose message is to
and about us. John, cousin to Jesus and son of Zechariah – a
real person – is moved by the Word of God. He begins
preaching to any who would listen. Soon crowds came from the
cities to hear and learn from him. His words moved their
hearts, and they were washed in a ritual that was a shedding
of the dust and dirt of the ways of the world. The nation
had been prepared for this prophet since the time of Moses
and the liberation from Pharaoh. This time the message is
not shouted at a pharaoh, not against the corruption of a
Herod, not against the mighty armies of Alexander, and not
against the oppression of Roman Legions. The message goes
directly to the people. The Baptist shouts "repent!"
Was John shouting out about the commandments? Were the
people steeped in promiscuity and abuse? Were the people
disrespectful of parents? Were the people liars and thieves?
What is John’s meaning? What is his purpose? The word
"repent" is a weak rendering of the Greek word Metanoia.
Repent is most often thought of as avoidance of bad habits,
terrible thoughts, violence. Metanoia is more about what is
in one’s heart. We think of love as residing and springing
from the heart. St. Paul insists faith takes up residence in
the heart and from there seeks God’s way in mind and in
action. It is from the heart that the mind takes its lead.
It is the heart that is the source of relationships. Empty
hearts hoard the worlds goods, perceives others as lesser
than self because of different skin color, language,
nationality, gender, social standing, and/or wealth. If the
heart is bad, so is the character of that person.
What John shouts out to the curious crowds that come to
him is a complicated message. It is not so much about
individual sins, bad thoughts, actions that harm others.
Even so these misconceived denials of what is true
encourages injustice. John speaks to the crowds, warning
them of the consequences of hearts that are empty caverns of
echoing noise. The character of those unfortunates contains
no treasure. When hatred conquers the heart, there is chaos,
there is warfare, there is violence, there is manipulation
of truth. So, John shouts to the people to change their
hearts. Look to what is of God and treasure his creation.
Turn your hearts around and see what is true.
What happens when communities have a change of heart?
What happens to human existence when the hearts perceived
every person and thing as an expression of God and of what
God is? Ah, then the way, the rough goat path, becomes a
superhighway, smooth and direct. The trail of the world
gives way to expressways. Gorges and ravines are filled in
or bridged, mountains are leveled or tunneled, rough ways
are paved. Then the preaching of Baruch is realized. Family
once far way come home from the east and the west, the north
and the south. Then the city of Peace, that hoped for city
Jerusalem, is adorned with festivals and celebrations. What
separated us from our children is overcome. What terrorizes
us and forces us to resort to violence is subdued. Then the
Kingdom of God is revealed and lived. That is the goal. The
way to that goal is begun with a change of heart. When the
heart is opened to the Word made flesh, then comes a
beginning of peace and joy.
This second Sunday of Advent urges us to clean the houses
of our hearts. Truth, caring for others and creation,
healing and positive relationships become possible.
Christmas in our hemisphere is about light. We have
passed the shortest day of long darkness. The 21st day, the
winter solstice is past, and the daylight time begins to
grow. That is the time we celebrate the coming of a child
who will lead us. In the light of this child who comes to
birth as we did – this child who grows as we did – this
adolescent who experienced its challenges – this young man
who practiced a trade – this preacher who came to the
Baptist not out of need for washing but out of need for
confirmation of mission and to model for us: in that light
we become what it is we were made for.
The responsorial psalm has two verses this Sunday that
are clearly applicable. "Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like
the torrents in the southern desert. Those who sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing. Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown, they shall come back
rejoicing, carrying their sheaves." This Advent we begin the
planting, committing to the soil of life what little we
possess in the hopes of an uncertain harvest. As we turn
away our hearts from what darkens our spirits, we will
discover in the infant born in poverty the shepherd who
brings hope to a troubled and violent world. When our hearts
are right, ravines are filled, and mountains leveled. The
rough way is made smooth, and the way is shaded by the
wonder of fragrant trees lining our pathway through life.
The struggle continues but is doable.
As the prophets and Jesus warn us; the way though life is
a struggle. We are tempted to commit to the way of the world
which leads to nothingness. The fruits of the way of the
world are perishable and soon lost. The Way of the Christ
provides us with treasures no one, no thing can ever steal
from us.
This time of Advent is set aside to prepare, to sweep
clean our houses, to examine the movements of our hearts. It
is a time to turn around our spirits to the Creator who
loves us with the immensity only God possesses. Let us sweep
away any idolatry that resides in our hearts so as to make
straight the Way of the Lord.
There is a common thought in all three readings this
Sunday. That thought is carried by a single word, "justice."
Justice is something we think of as belonging to civil
society’s courts. Culturally, there is a lack of trust in
their outcomes. Expensive lawyers seem to find
technicalities that free lawbreakers from receiving their
due. The principle of justice is that persons – and creation
– receives what is due it. There are at least three levels
of this. The first is what is due a person because of what
they are. All persons are due dignity because of the gift of
life that gives them time and presence. The second is what
is due them because of their presence in society. What is
due each is a share in the common good of society. The third
is what is due persons for the choices they make, the
efforts they expend, and the associations they choose. God’s
acting justice is always for what is due his creation and
especially the persons who uniquely reflect who and what God
is.
Part of our house cleaning this advent has to do with
justice and what is due others. There is a common theme in
our culture that the poor are somehow undeserving of justice
because they are lazy, are drunkards, are lacking in
motivation, are just low-class people who should get a job.
It has been a practice of our faith tradition going all the
way back to the Hebrew nation during their 40 years of
wandering in the desert that the poor are deserving of
respect; that is their due. Society, and we are participants
in society, often blame the poor for their plight. Their
plight is not to be accepted because there is a faith
concern regarding them. God favors the poor because the poor
have no other resource for help. We blame the poor, we
scapegoat the poor, for their lack of education, for their
poor health because they lack access to quality health care,
for how they dress, for the terrible dietary choices they
seem to make. Justice that Baruch praises in the first
reading this Sunday is that all persons, including the poor,
receive their due. This is not an easy thought for we are
accustomed to blaming the poor for their plight. Yet social
systems continually work to keep the disadvantaged poor.
Projects to provide what is due to each person is most often
the project of faith-based groups.
This can easily be one of the ways in which we clean our
house to make way for the coming of the Lord. Let us get
beyond the culture and way of the world that judges and
values those who conquer and accumulate. Let us work to get
beyond appearances to the core of our faith.
Carol & Dennis
Keller
dkeller002@nc.rr.com
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GOD IS COMING TO CHANGE US: 2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT C
Baruch 5:1-9; Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11: Luke 3:1-6
When someone is brave enough or rude enough to point out
something wrong with us, we may admit that it’s true, but do
nothing about it. Like the father who said to his daughter,
‘we must have a little chat’, to which she replied ‘the only
time we ever have a little chat is when you want to lecture
me about something.’
We know from experience that admitting the truth doesn’t
force us to change our ways. When our self-esteem takes a
big beating from the truth, the truth may paralyse us. We’re
too old, we think, or too set in our ways to be born again
as a better person. Not now, we think, or at least not yet.
Just like St Augustine who once prayed to God: ‘Give me
chastity, but not yet.’ But that was before he changed his
ways completely for the better!
In today’s readings, four messengers of God encourage us
to imagine that better future that God intends for us, and
to live and act accordingly. Thus, the prophet Baruch
assures people that God has not forgotten them. So, he urges
them to swap their garments of sorrow and distress for the
cloak of God’s goodness and integrity. The psalmist asks
people to imagine a time when they will be exiles and slaves
no longer, but go back home with joy, carrying the sheaves
of grain they harvest along the way. In his letter to the
Philippians, Paul praises them for how they have helped him
in his work, and urges them to prepare for the day ‘when you
will reach the perfect goodness’ that Jesus will produce in
them. Finally, John the Baptist urges his hearers to
‘prepare a way for the Lord’, and get ready for the days
when all human beings will finally ‘see the salvation of
God.’
Notice that none of those four speakers confronts the
people with the bare, unvarnished truth of what’s wrong with
them. Each messenger speaks a message of hope,
encouragement, and affirmation. ‘The times they are
a-changing,’ they say. God is nearby, and is coming to
change things, is coming to give you a brand-new start. ‘So,
seize the day,’ God’s messengers say, ‘that brand-new day
that God is offering you now. You can do it because your God
is right beside you.’
So, all our Readings today share this wonderful insight:
- We begin to change when others encourage us to see the
best in ourselves, not when we are urged to dwell on the
worst in ourselves. Simply telling people what’s wrong with
them may leave them a train-wreck - feeling helpless,
hopeless, and isolated, and with no one to care whether they
change or not. If we are to leave behind our bad and hurtful
ways, we don’t need someone pouring poison and vitriol onto
our wounds. We need acceptance and encouragement, to imagine
ourselves differently, and to imagine the good influence we
will have on others when we become better persons ourselves.
So, we need to reflect on what kind of person God wants us
to be. We also need greater faith in the power and love of
God working in us to change us into the best people we can
be. We also need to go on believing with Paul, then, ‘that
the One who began this good work in you will see that it is
finished’.
In our life project of becoming the best persons we can
be, we need others to keep spurring us on, to keep urging us
with the message, ‘Go on! You can do it!’ Just like the
apostle Paul did with the people in his life. He was a
‘wounded healer’ himself, and had to make big changes in his
own performance. The people he mixed with gave him so much
encouragement and support that he became both a great human
being and a great friend of Jesus. Not all at once, I might
add, but gradually - one step at a time, slowly but surely!
‘How the mighty have fallen!’ we sometimes hear. That’s
certainly what we heard a while back about the world’s
greatest golfer then - Tiger Woods. But to his credit, he
owned up and took responsibility for what he called his
‘transgressions’. He also spoke clearly of his determination
to change: ‘I will strive to be a better person,’ he wrote
on his website, ‘and the husband and father my family
deserves.’
If our parish community is to be constantly converted to
Christ, all of us have to both breathe in encouragement from
others and breathe out encouragement to them. In our
determination to become the best persons we can be, it may
help to remember those famous words of Saint John Henry
Newman: ‘To be human is to change. To be perfect is to have
changed often.’
May the passion of Jesus Christ and his everlasting love
be always in our hearts!
"Brian
Gleeson CP" <bgleesoncp@gmail.com>
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5.
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Volume 2 is for you. Your thoughts, reflections,
and insights on the next Sundays readings can influence the
preaching you hear. Send them to
preacherexchange@att.net. Deadline is
Wednesday Noon. Include your Name, and Email Address.
-- Fr. John Boll, OP
