The theme this weekend, again, is God’s call and our response, but there is a focus on the urgency of responding…an urgency in building up the Reign of God…NOW! The Gospel tells of the disciple’s response to Jesus’ call, they respond without hesitation, dropping what they were doing and following him immediately. As disciples we too are called and expected to drop everything and follow Jesus…not only proclaiming the Gospel with our words but through our actions. Discipleship is about following “the way”…God’s way. And God’s way is “the way of love”… of being for the other as Jesus is for us…and this truly is the Good News. It seems more than we can do, and it would be without the Holy Spirit right there with us every step of the way, guiding us and gently pushing us along!

There is urgency in discipleship; we are not to tarry and be about many other things but rather to live in such a way that our very lives proclaim God’s amazing love for all people. It is such a monumental task, but we can, each one of us, each in our own way live it out…not perfectly, but with the willingness to listen for the call and respond to the best of our ability at that time, and if we fall, getting back up and trying again. The Good News is preached by our loving of each other, especially by our loving the poor, the marginalized, the immigrants, the “Dreamers” and the refugees, by loving the one who is “other” than us and loving those most in need of being loved…not just with our words but with our actions. We are called, as Pope Francis has said, “to draw close to them”! We are called to work for racial justice we are called to work for an end to white supremacy and white nationalism! We are called to be ambassadors of the Reign of God, where all of those previously mentioned negative realities cannot exist and are antithetical to the Reign of God. We are called to not just preach about it but making it present by how we live our lives…lives of peace-making and justice-building, guided by and built upon the principles, values, words and actions of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in his Gospels.

What Gospel values or principles are most evident in the way I live my life? What other Gospel values or principles might I work on manifesting in my life, so as to more fully proclaim the Good News? What part of the Gospel do I find most difficult to embrace and put into action in my own life?

God’s Blessings,
Fr Tim 

There is a clear theme of being called in today’s readings. In the first reading Samuel is called and called and called even a third time before it is made known to him that it is God who is calling him and finally he responds “speak Lord for your servant is listening.” The psalm, correspondingly, proclaims “here I am Lord; I have come to do your will.” And the Gospel reading we hear today tells of Jesus’ calling of the first disciples. As Jesus walked along the road, John the Baptist saw him and cried out “behold, the Lamb of God.” Several of John’s disciples leave him and begin to follow Jesus asking him where he is staying and Jesus responds “come and you will see”…and they follow him. It is interesting to note that when one of the disciples (Andrew) brings his brother to Jesus, Jesus immediately changes his name from Simon to Peter!

In the Bible when there is a name change, such as Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah or Saul to Paul, it often signals a significant change in the person and their relationship to God. It can also signal that their lives are about to change, that they are about to swerve from the road they are traveling down onto a new path…one specifically chosen for them by God. Peter’s name change is no less significant, he is about to become “the chief” of this, as of yet unformed, band of followers of Jesus. In Jesus’ act of changing Simon’s name he is calling him to come and follow him. If he accepts the name change, then he accepts the invitation to follow Jesus. I often think that it was so much easier for the disciples to hear the call and to follow since Jesus was right there, physically present to them. They could audibly hear his preaching, they could see, and read, his facial expressions and his hand and body gestures…but for those of us who come later to this band of followers…well it’s a little harder for us to know exactly what the call is and where it is leading us.

Sometimes the call is clear and well articulated, but sometimes it is not so clear or well-articulated. Sometimes it seems muffled and downright confusing. So we have to pay close attention and listen carefully…especially as there is so much competition for our attention. There are so many other voices that seem to all speak at the same time -- we can be like Samuel, a bit confused and not sure at first…but if we stay engaged and “make time” to listen for that small still voice of the Holy Spirit that dwells with in each one of us…then, perhaps, we will hear the invitation to “come and follow” and we will find the path we are being called to travel. In the end the invitation is clear, but the many “voices” of our lives and the world around us distract us and gain all of our attention and so we can find ourselves confused and unsure of the path to follow. But by refocusing our attention and making time to listen we can, like Samuel and Simon, “come and follow”.

The Gospel message is surely “the call”. It records Jesus’ words and actions, what he called his disciples to do, how to live, how to love one another and to welcome and love the one who was “other” and the one who was “the stranger”, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, to reach out to the poor and the marginalized. The Gospels are the “lens” through which we are called to view the world around us and through which we can judge and decide upon what action we are called to take. The Gospel is the Word of God and it seeks to speak to us, to call us to the path that we, as disciples, are called to follow.

With all the violence and chaos that has erupted in our nation, and around the world, and here at home that threatens to get worse in the coming days we need to hold strong to the Word of God that has been spoken to us through the Gospels and to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us to respond to it. Let us remember “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (Jn 1:5) In the midst of the pandemic and all of the political turmoil there is so much darkness, but The Light shines, and it shines within you and me, it shines within all of us as the community of The Light! Let us listen to the call of the Holy Spirit and let us use the Gospels as our guide for our response to the chaos swirling around us and let us not give up hope for a brighter day! Let our light shine by standing up against and working to root out the sins of systemic racism, white supremacy and nationalism! Let us live up the to clarion call of the Gospels to love God with our whole being and our neighbor as ourselves, fighting the great lie that one group of people is worth more or better than another! And let us pray for and work towards a more peaceful and just nation!

What are the competing voices of my life that make it difficult for me to really listen for God’s call to me? How can I best stand up to and fight against systemic racism, white supremacy and nationalism?

God’s Blessings,
Fr Tim 

The Christmas Season officially comes to a close with the celebration of the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. In the Jewish tradition water was seen as purifying and healing but John brings to the waters of baptism the concept of baptism as “an act of repentance”, and thus Jesus in choosing to be baptized by John identifies himself with the sinfulness of humanity when he accepts this “baptism of repentance”.

And it is in this very human act of Jesus humbling himself in repentance that his divinity is exposed. It is in this moment that Jesus hears the voice of God say you are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased! Who among us doesn’t long to hear those words…to be proclaimed “my beloved…in whom I am well pleased?” And the fact of the matter is that we are at our truest selves the “beloved of God”. And yet we struggle with accepting that identity, perhaps because we feel unworthy, too broken or too unimportant in the scheme of things to truly be “the beloved of God”. We live our lives based on who we think we are. We make decisions and choose to do or not to do, based on who and how we identify ourselves in relation to the world around us. So coming to embrace the reality that you are the “beloved of God” greatly impacts your life. It is in and through our identity as the “beloved of God” that we become “grace” to the world around us.

In accepting this identity we are transformed and all our relationships are transformed as well. When we begin to live out of the identity of being the “beloved of God” we begin to see the world differently and we begin to act toward ourselves and others differently…with less judgment, less selfishness and with more mercy. We begin to live with more openness to self and others and we become filled with more gratitude and generosity.

Embracing that we are the “beloved of God” changes not only how we see ourselves and how we see others, but changes what we give value to in life and what we believe to be important or unimportant in life; what we are willing to live for and what we are willing to die for.

In the midst of all of the hatred and division, the racism and misogyny, the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee and white supremacy that swirls throughout our nation, it is so vitally important to come to terms with who we are at our core, who God created us to be! Only then can we move away from the hatred and division, the racism and misogyny, the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee and white supremacy that cripples us as individuals and as a nation.

Standing in that place of grace, being the “beloved of God” changes everything! Do I accept my true identify as God’s beloved child? What self-image might I have to let go of to more fully accept being the “beloved of God”…and how might it change my life? And after the mayhem and death that we saw happen at the Capitol this past week, may each of us pray for the grace to accept our truest identity as a beloved child of God, and by this may we be the change this nation and the world so desperately needs!

God’s most abundant blessings to you all in this New Year!

Fr. Tim

The word epiphany comes from the Greek; meaning to “appear”…or to be “revealed”. In some cultures the feast of Epiphany is referred to as “Little Christmas” or “the Feast of the Three Kings”, and is a day of exchanging gifts with friends and loved ones. Regardless of what we call it, it is a day on which we tell the story of the arrival of the magi, or the three kings, who have come from afar to see the newborn king and to offer gifts.

Epiphany is a time of celebrating the acknowledgement of “a new beginning”…a time to celebrate the Reign of God bursting forth in the midst of creation! For sure we dwell for a while on the visit of the magi and the wonder of their journey, led only by a star that shown brightly in the deepest of the night sky. It is a time of wonder and awe…a time to allow ourselves to enter into the story and reflect on our own journey…our spiritual journey.

For the magi the signs were in the heavens…a star that led them to Bethlehem, to a shabby little stable…where our God came among us as one of us. Perhaps the magi’s real wisdom was that they knew that they didn’t know everything… they valued learning, they looked for signs, they paid attention to dreams…they expected God to talk to them… they believed that they encountered God in their daily lives.

Ultimately the story of the magi is a story of encounter, an encounter of the greatest kind…an encounter with God. So we must ask ourselves, am I open to “following a star”…to paying attention to the signs of God’s presence in my daily life? Where do I encounter God in the ordinary routine of my daily life, even in the midst of all the chaos of our national and international life, in the midst of this pandemic?

The magi came bearing gifts…what gift of self might I offer to God and others? Do I see and accept the gifts of those coming from foreign lands, like the magi who came from afar to honor the birth of Jesus?

I pray you all a most healthy and blessed New Year!

Fr. Tim

Merry Christmas!

Certain images inspire wonder. They’re powerful beyond the simple contents of the scene.

In the nativity scene we have such an image: a serene new mother, a concerned father, and a vulnerable newborn child. Beleaguered travelers, forced to take refuge in a stable, and the child is carefully laid in a manger—a food trough. The crude surroundings leave the new family barely protected from the elements, open to any and all who come their way. And yet it inspires wonder! I believe that the purpose of wonder is to open our hearts. It’s to help us to see that there is more to life than we have come to expect. It tells us that coursing through human life there are elements of the divine. The manger scene is both an invitation and a promise. The invitation is to leave our pursuit of worldly things behind and instead to enter into the Mystery. To be as vulnerable as this child and these parents. To be as open as these shepherds and as generous of heart as the three kings. To praise like the angels and pay attention like the townspeople. The resulting promise is that we will encounter God. We will discover not only that Jesus is God, but that we too share in God’s life—not only in the afterlife, but right here and right now.

AND SO, HERE’S A CHRISTMAS INVITATION -- it’s an invitation in the very midst of this pandemic, in the midst of all the fear and suffering and loss...to open our hearts to the wonder of this Christmas moment. Let us all say a prayer of gratitude for the gift of love that God has for each and everyone of us…just as we are! Let us not squander this moment of wonder. Let us open our hearts to the poor and the marginalized, to the voiceless and the ignored, to women who are victims of assault and harassment, to the victims of racism and bigotry and hatred, to open our hearts to the immigrants and refugees. Let us reach out to the brokenhearted and lost. Let us not forget in the rush of the gift giving that this is not about gifts but it is about our God becoming flesh, becoming our salvation and the salvation of the all world! Let us allow the wonder of the Incarnation to settle into our hearts and transform us, to give us new eyes to see the world.

I pray that each and every one of you have a “wonder-filled” Christmas and pray you come to know how deeply and passionately you are loved by God…just as you are!

Merry Christmas
Fr. Tim 

This is the time of year when it seems that everyone sings of peace on earth and good will toward all! Pope Paul VI proclaimed that if we want peace we need to work for justice. In this season of dreams of peace and good will…we are called to work for justice!

Advent is a strange season…a season of hopes and dreams…a season of promises fulfilled and of promises yet to be fulfilled…a season of the Reign of God, that which is bursting forth and at the same time not yet fully here. Advent is counter cultural on so many levels. In a season when it seems the whole world begins to spin ever faster we are called to slow down, to spend time in prayer and reflection, to spend time thinking about the deeper realities of our lives in the midst of the pandemic.

Part of this season’s story is about a young girl living in a male dominated world where women were treated as property. But, she breaks free from the bonds of obscurity and insignificance and becomes the heroine. A young girl named Mary said “yes” to an impossible proposition. ”Yes” to what must have seemed totally absurd. Imagine yourself in Mary’s place: a heavenly visitor telling you that God, The Creator of all things -- visible and invisible -- was “asking” you to be the mother of the long awaited Messiah. The whole idea that God would choose to become human -- one like us -- and enter into our world as a vulnerable and innocent child is almost too much to comprehend. And yet she said “yes”. And, her yes changed the world forever! To this very day… right now…her yes is still changing the world because the Risen Christ is in our midst! Because of her yes we can profess “we are the Body of Christ!”

What is God calling me to say yes to as a member of the Body of Christ? As I say yes to God, can I say yes to the immigrants and refugees, yes to the women and girls assaulted and abused by the misogyny that is the very fabric of almost every culture in every country? Can I say yes to refusing to participate in racism and bigotry in my words, actions and thoughts? Can I say yes to reaching out in love to even those who have hurt me or whom I have hurt?

Am I brave enough to risk it all like that young girl, from a dusty little backwater town, some two thousand years ago and say yes to God and to what God has in mind for me? Am I willing to risk, like Mary, and say “yes” to God, in the midst of the chaos, fear and sorrow of this pandemic, not knowing where it will lead me…just trusting that God will walk with me on the journey?

Advent blessings,
Fr Tim 

Today is Gaudete Sunday -- we add a new dimension to our waiting….joyfulness!! We hear Mary’s message, “My spirit rejoices in God my savior because the One Who was, Who is and Who is yet to come is on His way! In Mary’s case she was carrying the long awaited One for his first appearance amongst us as one of us, but for us, our spirits rejoice in God our savior for Christ has come and will come again!

But, how can we rejoice in the midst of all the problems of our own lives, not to mention the immense suffering and tragedies unfolding in the world around us in the midst of this pandemic that is ravaging the world?! Joy in the midst of the sorrow and suffering of those grieving the loss of their loved ones? It all seems a bit much! Yet that is precisely what scripture is calling us to -- to be joyful in the midst of our anger, in the midst of our fear and trembling, to trust in God, understanding that in the midst of it all God is present with us in the midst of our suffering, loving us through it!

John the Baptist proclaims the coming of the Messiah. But, not the one they all thought was coming -- One much greater…God’s very self…in flesh… Emmanuel…God with us! And for that we rejoice because in the midst of all of our brokenness and suffering and grief and fear we are deeply and passionately loved by God, just as we are!

And so we rejoice in being perfectly loved and perfectly forgiven! How can I share this “good news” with others?

Advent blessings,
Fr Tim 

REPENT! Prepare the way of the Lord! These words of John the Baptist echo down through the centuries…and are as pertinent to us as they were to those who first heard them. John came from the desert crying out to the people, calling them to a moment of “metanoia”…literally meaning “a turning around”. The voice of John the Baptist cries out to us in the midst of the rush and chaos of the Advent season, calling us to a conversion of heart. He announces the breaking forth of the Reign of God in our very midst. The Scriptures for this Sunday speak of a great hope…a new heavens and a new earth. Yes even in the very midst of this pandemic, there is HOPE in God!

Jesus preached the breaking forth of the Reign of God…a new world order that is breaking forth in and through his preaching. In this new world, justice and peace will flourish and the wicked and unjust ones will be banished.

But as we look around it seems as if we are a long way off from the “peaceable kingdom”. Wars rage and rumors of genocide swirl around us like the biting winds of a cold December night. Our sisters and brothers in Syrian, Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia, the Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh, all of them continue to suffer and it seems there is no end in sight. The Black Lives Matter protesters march and where is racial justice? Where is the Reign of God bursting forth? It is waiting to burst forth from within each one of us!

The Reign of God bursts forth every time we respond to a person or a situation in a Christ-like manner. Christ calls us to “be alert”, to “stay watchful” for we know not the day nor the time of his return. But the time of the Reign of God is NOW, we need to wake up to be the prophets we were anointed to be, to speak up, “to be silence breakers”, to speak out on behalf of all the women, children and men who are sexually harassed and abused. To speak out against racism and bigotry and white supremacy, to speak up for the ones who’s voices are silenced or ignored!

Now is the time!...let us find our prophetic voice, let us not be silent in the face of evil when we see it. Let us prepare the way of the Lord by living prophetic lives that call out injustices, war and evil whenever and wherever we see it! Let us be alert!...let us prepare the way of the Lord…let us lean into Advent, take up our mantle of prophet and put all the abusers and harassers and war mongers on notice and proclaim the Reign of God is bursting forth and speak the truth of the Gospel to power!

Advent Blessings,
Fr. Tim

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