This weekend we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent…the beginning of the church’s liturgical year…so Happy New Year! Advent is truly a “wonder-filled” season. We look to the dark, 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. There is something about staring up at the night sky… something awe inspiring and spiritual in nature; it calls us to look beyond ourselves.

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”, we are called 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 and for the earth itself!

This Advent we find ourselves in the midst of one the largest humanitarian crises in recent memory, as our sisters and brothers flee war and terror, they wander the earth in search of a home. And here in our own country many immigrants, people of color, women, Jews, Muslims, people of the LGBTQ community and refugees are fearful of being targets of hate crimes. 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 act in ways to make sure that all of our sisters and brothers feel respected and safe. Let us not allow this national moral crisis to paralyze us and convince us we can do nothing, for in Christ we can do all things.

What can I do this Advent to help those feeling particularly vulnerable and fearful? How can I reach out to build bridges across the chasm of those who seek an inclusive and kind society and those who seek to exclude and demean “the other”? Let us “prepare the way of the Lord” through prayer and action!

Advent Blessings,
Fr. Tim

Given the current state of our national politics as well as the state of politics around the globe we may be filled with anxiety and fear, not sure what to do or where to turn. Our sisters and brothers of color, Muslims, immigrants, refugees and women and many others all feel vulnerable and at risk in the rising tide of racist, misogynistic and bigoted violence and rhetoric, and the fear of the enactment of laws that may force them from their homes and tear apart their families. Many feel they are no longer safe to simply walk down the street or take public transport.

We are called by our discipleship to stand with them and make sure that all those who feel vulnerable and threatened know that they are safe with us and that we stand with them. We are called to reach out to and to raise up all those who feel threatened. It is our Baptismal call. Just as Jesus went to the margins, so too we must guard the most vulnerable in every way we can. We need to make known our stance and we need to do so bravely and peaceably. Whether we do this through public protest, through legal actions, through prayer or through personal reaching out to those who are being targeted, we must, each one of us, find ways to stand up and against all forms of racism, bigotry, xenophobia and misogyny.

Today we celebrate Jesus Christ as the Sovereign of the Universe. So let us not despair, let us recall that regardless of how
corrupt the world might look Christ is at work in the world…and that Christ works in and through US! Let us take his earthly life as the model for our lives and follow his command to build up the Reign of God by loving and protecting all of our sisters and brothers as well as the earth itself! Filled with the Holy Spirit what concrete action can I take this week to show my support for all those who are feeling fearful and vulnerable? What movement or organization can I join with to
fight against racism, bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia? How will I live my discipleship of Jesus Christ this week?

God’s Blessings,
Fr. Tim

If I was ever to be accused of being a Christian could I be convicted? Would anyone recognize me as a disciple of Jesus by the way I live my life….would I ever be handed over to be imprisoned and tortured because people thought I was a disciple of Jesus…? Jesus clearly tells his disciples that it will not be easy for them…for us! Jesus tells them that they need to be prepared because some of them will be hated and handed over and some put to death, all because of his name! But not a hair on their heads will be destroyed because He will secure them! And he said to them that by perseverance they would secure their lives! So Jesus tells the disciples that they have an active role to play…they have to preserver in the struggle of their discipleship and their proclamation of the Good News! Jesus makes it clear that it is no easy thing to be a disciple! The costs are great…even one’s life may be demanded of them!

How do I live my discipleship…how is it evident in my daily life that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ? How far am I willing to
go in living out my discipleship? In “Matt 25” Jesus lays out what discipleship really means…and what the costs really are! So as we, as a nation, debate healthcare, WIC, SNAP, immigration reform, DACA and a multitude of other social issues where are my priorities as a disciple of Jesus Christ? Does my discipleship shake me from my “comfortableness?”

God’s Blessings,
Fr. Tim

“For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes.” I chose this quote from Dag Hammarskjold to be on the memory card from my religious profession. It speaks of a profound gratitude to God and an openness toward God and towards whatever lies ahead in life and in death. November is traditionally a time in which we remember the dead. In some cultures people set up little home altars on which they place photos and mementos of their loved ones who have died and gone ahead of us 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 and towards Advent, 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 knows 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! Down through history this belief of the resurrection has motivated many people to stand up and resist oppression and evil, not unlike in the first reading.

What do I believe 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? What oppression and evil do I need to stand up to?

God’s Blessings,
Fr. Tim

Have you ever noticed how in the Gospels Jesus seeks out social outcasts and religious losers? Zacchaeus is despised by his neighbors because he has “cozied” up with the Roman occupiers and was extracting excessive taxes from his own people. He was not a popular man in town. But Zacchaeus wasn’t beyond being saved…beneath all his greed, beneath all his sinfulness…Zacchaeus was open to the presence of God when it walked by! While the Pharisees and town’s people had “written him off”…God had not! God came to his house!

Think about that for just a minute…God sought out this sinner and offered him a new life…and he took it! It is so easy to write people off…because of what they do or have done…the country they come from….how they look…the color of their skin…or who they love. There are all kinds of reasons we “write people off”…but God doesn’t! Who have I “written off”…why? Who are the people that I disdain or distance myself from…why? When was the last time I climbed a tree to get a better look at God passing by?

Blessings,
Fr Tim