Happy New Year! ...no, I’ve not lost it…I say it every year as today we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent…the beginning of the church’s liturgical year. Advent is truly a “wonder-filled” season. We look to the deep blue night sky…shimmering with a million stars, each one a reminder of the dawn of creation…of the promise of the long awaited savior. For me there is something about gazing up at the night sky…something awe inspiring and spiritual in nature. It calls us to look beyond ourselves, to the vastness of the universe, of all creation!

Advent is a time to “make time”…in the midst of all the commercialism, in the midst of all of chaos that we call “the holiday rush”, it is a time to slow down, to stand back and to reflect…to take time to allow the wonder of the Great Christmas Event to settle into our souls…to shake us loose from the ordinariness of our daily lives and allow ourselves to be wrapped up in the awe and wonder of the Incarnation -- the fact that our God so deeply loves us and that God’s very self became human to prove that love to us. That love is for you just as you are! This amazing love is for all of God’s creation, for all peoples of the earth and for the earth itself!

This Advent we find ourselves in the midst of one of the largest humanitarian crisis in recent memory as we struggle through this pandemic; while at the same time, our sisters and brothers flee war and terror around the globe and they wander the earth in search of a home. As we reflect on the wonder and awe of God’s amazing love for the earth and all humanity, let us raise our voices and work to make sure that these immigrants and refugees, and all who wander the earth in search of finding “home”, be taken in.

Let us hold in our hearts in our prayer all of those suffering from COVID-19, for all of those on the front lines -- the nurses and doctors and cleaning staff and all of the “essential employees” who put themselves at risk by showing up for work so that we can have the basic needs of our lives met.

Let us not allow fear to rule our lives, but rather the love of Christ! Let us together make our Advent preparation time, a time of work and prayer for peace, for an end to all forms of violence and assaults on human dignity and racial injustice. Let us commit ourselves to not rush into Christmas but to “live Advent” and allow ourselves to become the gift that our sisters and brothers most need. To become people of peace with open hearts for all those who suffer and are in need; able to love them as we love ourselves.

Even though we may be fearful and anxious, lonely and de-pressed because of the pandemic let us take time to sit with Jesus the Christ and ask for the gifts of peace and gratitude in our hearts…in the very midst of the terrible chaos of this pandemic. Then we will truly be ready to celebrate Christmas when at last it arrives with hearts full of love for Christ and full of love for the least of our sisters and brothers. Happy Advent!

Advent Blessings,
Fr. Tim

As we celebrate the final Sunday in the liturgical year, we celebrate the feast of The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe….a title ripe with patriarchal overtones…yet today throughout the church we will focus on Jesus’ love for each of us…not so much on his power over us.

The first reading recasts "the king", not as a controlling or ruthless overlord, but rather as a gentle shepherd who seeks out the lost and lame, binding up their wounds. And that image of the "good shepherd" is the subtext for Jesus' rather harsh words in today’s Gospel. Jesus' frustration with the people's lack of acceptance of himself and of his message of love is apparent by the tone of his warning. Jesus had clearly outlined what was required of those who would be his disciples...feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty, visit the sick and imprisoned, shelter the homeless and welcome the stranger, and by loving God with our whole being and our neighbor as our self...by these actions or failure to do them, we will be judged. The bottom line is that while we may cry out " Lord, Lord", we will not be recognized by what we say, but rather, by how we have lived our lives! No one wants to be singled out as one of the "goats", so the message is follow Jesus -- not by what you say, but by how you live.

The reality is that we are free to choose to live as Jesus taught or we can choose to live as if he had never been born. Remember those "WWJD" bracelets...more of a marketing gimmick than a religious statement as evidenced by how quickly they faded from all the major stores. Why did they fade so quickly? Perhaps because it was asking too much -- did people really want to know the answer to that question? And now as we, as a nation, struggle to take on systemic racism and racial inequality and to deal justly and lovingly with immigrants and refugees, and to house the homeless and help the chronically unemployed and underemployed…and the list goes on…but in each of these situations, we are called to seriously ask ourselves, "what would Jesus do?" What will I do?

As I open up myself to the love of Christ will I allow it to transform my stony heart into the heart of Christ? As I encounter challenging situations in my own life am I willing to risk asking myself: What would Jesus do in this situation? And then try to respond with the love of Christ regardless of the cost to me?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

As we continue to move to the end of the liturgical year our readings remind us that one day the world will end...Christ will return…but when? Some Christians routinely (and wrongly) announce the return of Christ…they seem to forget that Jesus clearly said that no one, not even “He” knew when it would happen! And yet there are those who continue to claim to know the date and time.

Remember the “Jesus is coming on May 21st” billboards that dotted the highways a few years ago? In today’s 2nd reading, St Paul warns that the end will come like a “thief in the night,” and “knowing” when Christ will come is not the point…but rather it is all about being ready when Christ returns! Am I ready?

At the center of the readings is a message of total reliance upon the unbelievable mercy and boundless love of God. It is about keeping our hearts and minds open to God’s presence in our daily lives and in the world around us! The psalmist reminds us that God is our portion and cup, our inherence and therefore our hearts are glad and our souls rejoice…for we are God’s beloved! By keeping God at the center of our daily lives we indeed will be ready if the world were to end in our times. Because of the love and mercy of our God we need not fear “the end” for we will be transformed into beings that shine like the stars in the heavens! Through Christ we have inherited eternal life and each of us is a part of “the great cloud of witnesses” who give glory to God.

I cannot fail to mention that we find ourselves in a moment of a report of outrageous, inappropriate and unacceptable abuse by the former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick who joins other clerics and lay men who used their positions of power to abuse women, children and even other men. Part of “being ready” is standing up to injustices, speaking out against all forms of abuse, misogyny, racism and bigotry, recognizing the dignity of all women, children and men of all colors and races and creeds! And I believe we best can do that when we keep God at the center of our daily lives. When we stand with our sisters, our children and our brothers who have been abused and exploited, we actively build up the Reign of God in the here and now, “we stand ready”, we more fully live out our identity as the Body of Christ!

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

The Gospel calls us to be ready for when the “bridegroom” comes! It is an obvious metaphor for the second coming of Christ. And the message is to live our lives “ready” for that day! As I was getting ready to make my final vows in the Spiritan Community I was expected to make a “memory card”, a card not unlike the ones made for funerals! But it is meant to mark a special occasion and for the front of the card I chose a quote from Dag Hammarskjold; “For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes.” I chose it because I believe it speaks of a profound gratitude to God for all that has been in life and of an openness towards God and towards whatever lies ahead in life and in death.

November is traditionally a time in which we remember the dead. In Latin America many of the people set up little home altars on which they place photos and mementos of their loved ones who have died and gone ahead of them to that which we call the afterlife, heaven. We do not know what lies ahead but yet we are part of it, promised resurrection through our Baptism. As we careen towards the end of the liturgical year our readings turn toward “the last things”. This is not meant to cause us to be gloomy or sad; on the contrary, it is meant to offer us an opportunity to reflect on the transitory reality of this life in the context of the gift of the promise of eternal life. While none of us really know what it will be like, and the speculation has made for good reading over the centuries, some theologians today talk of it as something analogous to a glorious and knowable uniting, a joining with God in a new and spectacular way, beyond our wildest hopes and dreams! Heaven!

What do I think about heaven and the afterlife? Do I fear death or dying? If I built a little home altar, whose photos and mementos would I place on it? In the midst of all the chaos that we are living in, what are the things that I can find gratitude for in my life? And what are the things in which I can find openness to God and to what lies ahead in life and in death, believing that God journeys with me through it all?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

“All Saint’s Day” is a generally thought of as a celebration of all the great women and men of faith and action who have gone before us and continue to live on in eternity with the One who made them and called them into being. According to St. Paul we are all caught up in this great cloud of witnesses, “the friends of God and prophets” who we call “the saints”. In a very real way we too are part of “the Communion of Saints”. St. Augustine says; “from generation to generation She (Holy Wisdom) passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets”, thus connecting us one to the other and engendering in us the desire, strength and courage to actively live out our discipleship in our daily lives. The saints are not people who were perfect; on the contrary some of them were quite irascible and difficult to live with while others are remembered for their kindness and charity. It’s their relationship with God and their openness to God’s Spirit that shaped their lives and emboldened them to live faith-filled lives that stand out for which they are remembered to this day. But we too, by the same Spirit, are part of this great cloud of witnesses and are, right now, in the midst of the terrible chaos around us, we are being called forth to be vehicles of God’s love and mercy to a wounded world around us. How can I deepen my relationship with God? How do I share God’s love and mercy with others in the midst of this chaos? How is God shaping my life today that I might know how to respond to the chaos in the world today?

Remember Holy Wisdom has passed into your hearts and made of you “friends of God and prophets” and given you the strength and courage to live out your discipleship of Jesus Christ in your daily lives, precisely in the midst of all that is going on in the world around us!

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

In the readings this weekend we hear from the book of Exodos, God reminding us that we were once aliens…..lest we forget and treat the immigrant, migrant or refugee poorly. If we do, we risk the very wrath of God! If we treat our poor neighbors badly their cries to God will not go unheard….God makes sure we have been warned. And in the Gospel, Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to love God with our whole being and our neighbor as our very selves! All of the Law and the Prophets depend on these two realities. Or are they three realities, love of God, love of neighbor and love of self.

For some loving God is doable and loving neighbor is doable, but loving self is tough. While for others it’s loving neighbor that is tough and for still others it’s loving anyone that is tough. But this is what Jesus is calling us to do if we assume that we are all working on our love of God then we need to be working on our love of neighbor and our love of self too!

Many times things from our past make it difficult for us to reach out, to allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable before God, before others or even to be open and vulnerable with ourselves! And yet this is what Jesus is calling us to do: to let go of the past, to forget who is a Samaritan or a Canaanite or a leper, and to love the person as they are, as we encounter them, regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social economic status, immigration status, political party affiliation...all of us sisters and brothers, the children of God!

Perhaps in doing that we may come to be better able to love ourselves in the midst of our own brokenness, just as we are, just a God loves us! By being willing to try and love the one who has hurt us, or let us down or who scares us because they are different or because they don’t act the way we think they should or the way we want them to…by loving them as they are, we are being changed, becoming more and more Christ like!

When we step out of our comfort zone and risk to welcome the stranger, the immigrant, the refugee, “the other”, in truth we are welcoming Jesus. So in the coming months as we find new ways to “share the journey” with our sisters and brothers of color marching for racial justice and an end to white supremacy, and as we journey with our sister and brother immigrants, migrants and refugees, let us remember that we are sharing the journey with Jesus! Let us ask ourselves who do I need to work on loving better? How does this commandment of Jesus to love my neighbor as myself impact how I view and what I will do about systemic racism, DACA, ACA, limits on refugees, the struggle of the poor and unemployed and underemployed and so much of our pending legislation?

Jesus challenges us to live a different way of life, and Pope Francis has challenged us to love and care for all life…from the unborn, the elderly and the sick to the homeless, the imprisoned, the marginalized and the refugee, to caring for our common home, the earth. It is a tall order and truly a way of living on this planet, a way of being in relationship with all of creation. Falling in love with God and with “the other” and with the earth it-self! It is nothing less than inhabiting life afire with the love of the Holy Spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to possess you and guide your every thought and action.

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

I believe that today’s Gospel seems to be a cautionary tale meant to warn us not to turn down the sacred invitation to the “Great Banquet” and at the same time it also challenges us in our ideas of just who is “good enough” to be invited. Clearly Jesus is giving the religious leaders a harsh warning, following on the last few week’s parables doing the same. The warning is twofold: they need to mend their ways and turn their minds and hearts to God, and that God’s invitation is broader than they think -- that the sinner, the tax collector and the prostitute are part of God’s reign as well! Jesus uses these parables to try and get across to the religious leaders that while they may be keeping the letter of the law they were missing keeping the spirit of the law. They were missing the point that all of the law and the prophets rests on loving God with our whole being and our neighbor as ourselves!

We as disciples of Jesus are called to reach out in love to all peoples without exception! We have to ask ourselves, as a nation to whom are we denying racial justice, good healthcare, quality education, a just wage, citizenship, a safe community, safe and adequate housing? Is there any person or group of people I tend to exclude or look down upon as having less value than myself? Based on this Gospel message, if I threw a dinner party who might I invite?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

God has entrusted the vineyard to us to care for and cultivate, and to produce fine wine! And in the sense of the parable, the fine wine is not just for ourselves but for the owner of the vineyard too. Yet how do we care for the vineyard, and with whom do we share the fruit of the earth? Do we recognize who “owns” the earth and all it contains? Do we see ourselves as entrusted with a sacred trust or do we see the earth as something to be exploited for our own good, for our use without care of future generations without care of how the Creator/Owner feels for the land we abuse? Many questions! But at the core of them all I believe seems to be one of identity and relationship. Understanding our identity as the beloved of God, God’s daughters and sons, ALL of US and understanding from that identity flows our relationship! And it is this reality that then is to inform all of the actions in our lives….to live as the beloved of God!

But we find ourselves living in a vineyard filled with hatred and division, a place where everyone is out for themselves and what they can get out of life without any concern for how it hurts the other. Many businesses around the world overwork and underpay their employees forcing them to work in subhuman conditions for less money than it is humanly possible to live on. As a nation we proliferate the arms race and threaten war rather than sit down to talk of peace and mutual cooperation. We reel once again from gun violence, the largest mass shooting in our country, and already begin to fight against stricter gun laws to prevent such senseless acts of mass gun violence.

We claim that we value the dignity of all life and yet we imprison more people than any other developed nation, we own more guns per capita than any other nation and procure more abortions. We put more people to death and continue to deny basic healthcare to the most needy in our society while we round up productive, tax paying, undocumented women and men to send them back to countries where their chances of leading successful lives are far less than here.

The vineyard is not ours. It belongs to the Creator and we need to recognize that how we live on the earth and how we treat one another matters deeply to the One who made us and who made the vineyard!

On this opening Sunday of Respect Life Month let us pray for an end to all forms of violence and disrespect of human life from conception to natural death. Let us pray an end to systemic racism and bigotry, an end to misogyny and xenophobia and all actions that disrespect the dignity and sacredness of human life.

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

At first glance Jesus’ parable of the workers who come late to the field and receive a full day’s pay seems “unjust”…why should those who didn’t work a full day be paid a full day’s wages…especially when those who worked a full day receive the same pay? God’s mercy and love falls, like a gentle rain, on the just and the unjust! No one is left out of God’s Reign, no one is left unloved! While that sounds all warm and fuzzy the truth is that a whole lot of “Christians” don’t buy it and don’t like it! I believe that if we really understood this parable, and Jesus’ point, we would be having a very different debate on many social and political issues like: racial justice and white supremacy, immigration reform, refugees, universal access to healthcare, the national budget, war, a just wage….and the list goes on.

We are called to love as Jesus loved us…to build up the Reign of God…and in the Reign of God even the latecomer gets the same love. As Christians we are called to try and look at these issues through the lens of God’s justice, not human justice. God’s justice challenges our own sense of what is fair. While we know we are not to live by “an eye for an eye”, in fact, far too often it is very much how we in deed define “justice”. Far too often we seek retribution, not justice.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus shows us that justice is about repairing damaged relationships, about making sure that the poor, the immigrant, the marginalized, and all those who are left out -- that they are included…regardless of when they arrive, regardless of what color their skin is or where they were born.

What is my own sense of what is “just” or “fair” in light of this Gospel? How “just” are my relationships? How does this Gospel call me to respond to current social issues such as the demand for racial justice and an end to systemic racism, fair and just immigration reform, the refugee crisis, a just wage and access to decent healthcare?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

Revenge versus forgiveness, kindness and compassion – Today’s first reading from Sirach reminds me of “The Our Father”. It ties God’s forgiveness of our sins to our forgiveness of our neighbor’s sins against us. As we forgive so too shall we be forgiven!

Today’s Gospel speaks to us about forgiveness from the heart. Not a walking away from a wrong done to us, not a “simple letting it go”, but a deep decision to forgive. This is more than simply “moving on”…this is about a way of being in the world…a way of living. Forgiveness is a decision of the heart, one that we must live into, one that takes time when the wound has been great.

We live in a society that often confuses justice with revenge. We seek “an eye for an eye” and we call it justice! And yet that is precisely what Jesus warned us against…he calls his disciples beyond the usual standards of conduct, beyond just loving your neighbor to loving your enemy! This is the crux of the matter! How can I forgive someone who has wronged me, someone who has hurt me, made me look foolish, how do I forgive someone who has taken away something I wanted or worse, someone I loved?

I think that in the parable we hear in the Gospel it is a case of the forgiveness received not having been allowed to transform the heart of the one who had been forgiven. For, if he had truly accepted this gift of forgiveness and taken it into his heart, he surely would not have treated his coworker as he did, but would have reacted with the kindness and forgiveness that had been shown to him. This issue was not about whether the money was owed or not. It was about passing on the kindness, compassion and forgiveness that had been shown to the man who owed the large sum to his master who had forgiven his debt.
   
It is about acknowledging the recklessness of the kindness, compassion and forgiveness that God so lavishly showers upon us in the midst of our sin…and our response to that lavishness is to shower it in turn upon each of our sisters and brothers regardless of the size of their sins against us!

Who most stands in need of my lavish forgiveness today? To whom do I need to seek forgiveness, from God, from sister or brother? How can I let go of my desire for revenge and seek reconciliation and forgiveness instead, and repair relationships?

The current national reckoning for racial justice, is really about this very topic, isn’t it? It is about lavishing kindness, justice and compassion on all of my Black and Brown sisters and brothers. It is about repairing broken relationships. It is about standing up and speaking out against all forms systemic racism and White supremacy in our government and in our institutions both secular and sacred! Let us stand up with the Black Lives Matter movement and demand change; not ask for it -- demand it! Let us march, let us write letters, let us make phone calls and let us VOTE, to end systemic racism and bring about racial equality in our nation! Let us be bold enough to have challenging conversations about racism and biases with family and friends. Let us take time to look deeply into our own hearts and acknowledge our own biases and as the African American, lawyer turned activist, Verna Myers says “walk boldly towards our biases”…because then when we have named them and claimed them, only then, can we change them! And it’s WAY past time for change my sisters and brothers, way past time!

Blessings,
Fr. Tim