Today’s Gospel tells the story of a woman who goes to a well for a jug of water and has a life altering encounter with Jesus and is promised a special kind of water with properties far beyond her wildest imaginings.

In the socio-religious context of today’s Gospel story, according to the cultural mores and religious laws, this woman is perhaps the last person to whom “living water” should be given. At least that is what we are supposed to think. After all, she is a woman who, in a male-preferred society, is undeserving of any special privileges. Furthermore, she is a Samaritan, a member of the group that observant Jews considered fallen away from the true religion of Israel, and therefore apostates, and no longer people of the covenant.

On top of that, she is a woman of questionable virtue, even within her own community.

Many scholars believe that is the reason she came all alone to the well, and in the heat of the day, to draw water, rather than in the company of the other women, in the cool of the morning. Because of this, many scholars surmise that she may well have been an outsider in her own village.

In the first reading along with the Israelites, we are told that God will quench our thirst. In the Gospel we discover that Jesus is the source of “living water.” Thus, we may conclude that God’s promise to quench our thirst, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that in all of this, there is no talk of our meriting this life-giving water. The Israelites were undeserving, the Samaritan woman was undeserving, and we too, in our human sinfulness, are undeserving. This life-giving water is not earned or deserved but freely given by the grace and mercy of God.

It is from God’s lavish love that this water flows and our thirst is slaked. What matters is whether we recognize that we are thirsty and know to seek Jesus Christ to have our thirst quenched through him.

I think it is very important to note that this woman at the center of today’s Gospel encounter could easily, particularly through the lens of misogyny, be written off as a sinful person. But that would completely miss the point and the trajectory of her encounter with Jesus. A hugely significant point of the story is not just that she is sinful but that she is a Samaritan woman! And Jesus is a Jewish man and he should know better than to have anything to do with her! So we have a man approaching a woman in an area where they are alone and they are unrelated to each other -- this is very problematic according to 1st Century Middle Eastern social codes of appropriate and acceptable behavior between women and men. Jesus should know better, but he has a plan and his plan is to offer her salvation, regardless of her “outsider religious status,” regardless of her sin. Jesus is the Living Mercy of God.

The trajectory of this encounter that is so important, is that Jesus manifests that God’s plan of salvation is not just for the House of Israel, it is for all people. It is even open to Samaritans, and this reality, while it may be lost on most Christians today, it was surely not lost on the early hearers of this Gospel encounter.

How does this Gospel’s message of the universal mercy of God for all people regardless of their social, political or religious status, inform my review of the political agenda and policies of this administration in Washington D.C., being carried out throughout the nation and around the world?

And what is my response? Will I continue to write to and call members of Congress (both Republican and Democrat) expressing my outrage, shared by Pope Leo and the US Bishop’s Conference, at the brutal and inhumane treatment of immigrants, refugees and people of color by ICE and other Government officials? Because every letter, every call, every protest, every act of resisting unchristian and immoral policies that dehumanize, marginalize and harm human beings, is an
informed statement of Gospel values, and a de facto act of living out our discipleship of Jesus Christ.

May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!

Fr. Tim

When we hear today’s Gospel, we might wonder what actually happened on that mountain? The scene we are presented with is quite dramatic: Jesus is transfigured with an “other worldly” brilliance that glowed like the sun. And two prophets, long dead, appear and converse with Jesus and then suddenly there comes the voice of God…speaking the same words that were heard at Jesus’ baptism… “this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”….but this time, God adds, “listen to him.”

This is clearly an essential moment in the lives of the three disciples who witness this proclamation of Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God. And yet Jesus tells them to “tell no one the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Can you imagine how they must have been just “bursting at the seams” with desire to tell the other disciples?…To share this amazing experience where they had seen long dead prophets and saw Jesus transfigured before their very eyes and then, on top of that, they heard the “voice of God speak, to them”!

Remember it was not just a proclamation of Jesus’ divine identity but also instruction from God directly to them to “listen to him!”

I think that Lent can be a time of honing our listening skills, of taking time to slow down in the midst of our chaotic lives and to listen… just listen for God speaking to us.

In our busyness and preoccupation, we can often miss the word spoken “to us” and spoken “for us” by God. In today’s Gospel Jesus took the three disciples apart up a mountain…a retreat of sorts…and there apart from the others they had an encounter with The Divine.

Taking time apart is certainly not easy in the world in which we live, especially in the midst of this chaos we are currently living in, but in order to remain centered and maintain our sense of being disciples of Jesus we all need to take time apart to sit with Jesus…and listen, listen to where he is calling us in our life.

Long before science told us that almost all forms of meditation are beneficial to the whole person -- body, mind and spirit -- Jesus made it clear that whether retreating to a deserted place or just going into our rooms, being apart for quiet prayer is essential. Scripture tells that Jesus took time apart to pray. So too, we are called to take time apart to meditate…not to fill the silence with words but to just sit and listen and to rest in God. And then from that place of silence we can move to a place of informed action, Gospel action!

So let us hone our listening skills this Lent and commit to take time apart to sit with God and allow God to “transfigure us” so that we might go out and transfigure the world! To transfigure the world by standing up with and for the poor and the marginalized, demanding racial justice, and working for fair and just immigration change, and lasting change in the way immigrants and refugees are treated in this country, and standing with all of those who are suffering…wherever we encounter them.

If I am not already meditating, can I add three, five-minute periods of meditation to my day? How can I make time to hear God...and what God might be calling me to? In my prayer life, how is God calling me to respond to the current political chaos, and/or, to whom is God calling me to reach out to?

May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!

​Fr. Tim

In this Sunday’s Gospel we encounter Jesus being tempted by the devil with temptations to power, fame, and pride. Some Scripture scholars have argued that it was through his experience of forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert that Jesus honed the depth of his understanding of his true identity as the Son of God, and his mission here on earth.

As we begin Lent it is appropriate for us to reflect a bit on our own lives, our own desert experiences and our own temptations. Most all of us, as humans, are tempted by pride, arrogance, selfishness, anger and greed…the real question is not whether we have temptations, but rather, do we give in to those temptations?

For some, who give in, they are led to disgraceful acts of greed and ego, with catastrophic results. All we need to do is to read the headlines in the newspapers or listen to the nightly news… think of those associated with the Epstein files, we know who they are and are able to judge the seriousness of their acts.

For most of us, our sins are somewhat more contained…a white lie here and there…perhaps a small theft once in a while…a few carelessly chosen harsh words that wound. Most of us are basically good people, trying to live as God has called us to live.

In the recesses of our hearts we know we’ve been tempted…we’ve stood on the precipice of surrender to our baser desires… enticed by money, recognition, or power to take advantage of situations or people, or to neglect our responsibilities towards others, or treated ourselves or others with disregard and disrespect.

As we reflect on our own personal sins let us not forget the structural sins of our society…racism, greed, arrogance, pride,
and vengeance, which can be feebly masked as justice.

Let us not turn away from the sins of our nation and our government. Let us look honestly at the long history of racism and bigotry that is woven into the very fabric of our nation’s history but is trying to be erased. Let us look directly into the face of the inhumane and brutal treatment of our immigrants and refugees living in our country, seeking a better life and
now being targeted as if they were subhuman, less than worthy of fair and just treatment under the rules of our laws.

Let us look directly into the faces of our sisters and brothers who are denied affordable housing and healthcare, living
wages, access to a good education. Let us look directly at all those who are marginalized by society because of their mental
health or their economic status or their race, or because of their gender, or who they love, or where they were born or
because of their political or religious affiliations.

As Jesus came forth from the wilderness of the desert proclaiming the coming of the Reign of God bursting forth in
the world through the preaching of the Gospel, he forever linked the “Gospel imperative” to love God with our whole
being and our neighbor as ourselves, to the Reign of God.

To the extent that we live out the imperatives of Jesus -- to love one another as he has loved us, to love our enemies, to
actively seek to alleviate the suffering of the poor -- to that same extent we participate in the building up of the Reign of
God.

Lent is meant to be a time of reflection, and a time of action! We are called to a conversion of heart…to turn away from
selfishness and sin and all that gets in the way of our living as true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let us ask ourselves, what can I do, or stop doing this Lent in order to deepen my discipleship of Jesus Christ? What acts of
almsgiving, prayer and fasting can I commit to this Lent that will help build up the Reign of God in the midst of a suffering
and wounded nation and world?

May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!

Fr. Tim

In the first reading the prophet Isiah proclaims: “Thus says the Lord: share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless.”

Psalm 112 says that the just person is a light in the darkness!

In the Gospel, Jesus challenges his disciples to let their light shine, to be like beacons lighting a city on a hillside! And by allowing their light to shine they will lead others to see their good deeds and thus see the glory of God. So, through doing good we both give glory to God and show forth the glory of God to others.

Jesus also uses the metaphor of salt for the lives of the disciples and challenges them to be sure to not let their lives “lose their flavor” and become tasteless. It is interesting to note that in the ancient world, a world without refrigeration, salt was the only way to preserve fish and meat.

Just as light is essential for life to exist, so too salt was crucial for human survival! So, comparing the disciple’s lives to salt
had multiple layers of understanding and significance.

What is clear is that Jesus is calling the disciples to be on guard to make sure that the manner in which they live their lives
“shine” with the “light of the Gospel values,” that their lives were to be lived in such a manner that they have the “flavor of
the Gospel.”

So, we too, as disciples of Jesus, are called to the same, to let our lives “shine” and to be sure that our lives “taste” of the
values of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As is so often said, the call to discipleship is no easy call; it is difficult and challenging. But we do not respond alone because by virtue of our Baptism we are strengthened by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and by the community of believers.

It is this Spirit, the Spirit of God, living within each one of us, that emboldens us and impels us to go forth into the darkness and chaos of our world and to let our light shine, to share our bread with the hungry and to shelter the homeless, the oppressed, the immigrant and refugee.

Filled with the holy Spirit, let us to stand up and call out systemic racism in all its forms and in all the places it dwells and creates and allows for violence against the lives and bodies of our black and brown sisters and brothers, against our immigrant and refugee sisters and brothers! And may we all fight to create freedom from violence and poverty, let us raise our voices together, that all may live like children of the Light!

As I have asked for in the past, please write to Congress, both Republicans and Democrats. As American citizens, they are “OUR” federal legislative body and we all have a right to make our voices heard as they legislate and make laws and as they fail to legislate and make laws! We must call for fair and just immigration reform and an immediate end to the cruel and brutal ICE actions against our immigrant sisters and brothers.

As his disciples, Jesus Christ has called us to welcome the stranger, to house the homeless, to feed the hungry and to love our neighbor as ourselves. These were not suggestions but rather the hallmarks of how we, as his disciples, are to live our lives!

May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!
​
Fr. Tim

In the first reading the prophet Isiah proclaims: “Thus says the Lord: share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless.”

Psalm 112 says that the just person is a light in the darkness!

In the Gospel, Jesus challenges his disciples to let their light shine, to be like beacons lighting a city on a hillside! And by allowing their light to shine they will lead others to see their good deeds and thus see the glory of God. So, through doing good we both give glory to God and show forth the glory of God to others.

Jesus also uses the metaphor of salt for the lives of the disciples and challenges them to be sure to not let their lives “lose their flavor” and become tasteless. It is interesting to note that in the ancient world, a world without refrigeration, salt was the only way to preserve fish and meat.

Just as light is essential for life to exist, so too salt was crucial for human survival! So, comparing the disciple’s lives to salt had multiple layers of understanding and significance.

What is clear is that Jesus is calling the disciples to be on guard to make sure that the manner in which they live their lives “shine” with the “light of the Gospel values,” that their lives were to be lived in such a manner that they have the “flavor of the Gospel.”

So, we too, as disciples of Jesus, are called to the same, to let our lives “shine” and to be sure that our lives “taste” of the values of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As is so often said, the call to discipleship is no easy call; it is  difficult and challenging. But we do not respond alone because by virtue of our Baptism we are strengthened by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and by the community of believers.

It is this Spirit, the Spirit of God, living within each one of us, that emboldens us and impels us to go forth into the darkness and chaos of our world and to let our light shine, to share our bread with the hungry and to shelter the homeless, the op-
pressed, the immigrant and refugee.

Filled with the holy Spirit, let us to stand up and call out systemic racism in all its forms and in all the places it dwells and
creates and allows for violence against the lives and bodies of our black and brown sisters and brothers, against our immigrant and refugee sisters and brothers! And may we all fight to create freedom from violence and poverty, let us raise our voices together, that all may live like children of the Light!

As I have asked for in the past, please write to Congress, both Republicans and Democrats. As American citizens, they are
“OUR” federal legislative body and we all have a right to make our voices heard as they legislate and make laws and as they
fail to legislate and make laws! We must call for fair and just immigration reform and an immediate end to the cruel and
brutal ICE actions against our immigrant sisters and brothers.

As his disciples, Jesus Christ has called us to welcome the stranger, to house the homeless, to feed the hungry and to love our neighbor as ourselves. These were not suggestions but rather the hallmarks of how we, as his disciples, are to live our lives!

May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!
Fr. Tim

This Sunday we hear Matthew’s account of Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount.” We’ve heard it over and over since we were children and are hardly shocked by Jesus’ description of the reign of God. Undoubtedly some of those who gathered on that slope to listen to Jesus were shocked by the picture he painted of the Reign of God. It made no sense and ran contrary to the sociopolitical reality of their lives.

What was he thinking?…The meek will inherit the land? We all know that it is the powerful who control the land; it is the powerful who decide who enters the land and who gets to stay in the land…and the “peace-makers,” well, they usually get run over by the armies and the people with the biggest weapons! And what was he saying about the “poor in spirit”?…Theirs is the Kingdom of God? Wait a minute, I thought the Kingdom belonged to the righteous and those who followed The Law down to the letter.

Well, the truth is that Jesus had a different take on the whole matter. The beatitudes name the ways in which peoples’ lives and wellbeings are threatened: by grinding poverty, grief, landlessness, hunger, war, and the open and active persecution of the people by the Roman occupation.

Jesus does not advise that those so afflicted simply wait for a reversal of fortune in the here-after, although the final verse does speak of great reward in heaven.
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Jesus calls for attitudes and actions that will more fully bring about the reign of God. The poor in spirit are the humble whose wealth is found in God and not in gold…any wealth they do have is to be shared with the materially poor. The meek are not to be “shrinking violets” who accept injustices, but rather, those who know their proper place as children of God, and who stand up and resist repression, to insure that all people are treated with dignity and as full heirs to God’s Reign.

The beatitudes are really “Be - Attitudes”…they call us to holiness through reaching out to all who suffer in this world, and promise us that to the extent that we reach out to, and work on the behalf of the suffering, to the extent we work to right injustices against immigrants and migrants, when we work to end all forms of systemic racism, misogyny and all policies that marginalize, silence and demean the human dignity of our sisters and brothers, then we will become more fully the “blessed of God” and through that resistance we are actively building up the Reign of God!

As we take time this week to reflect on this Gospel in light of all of the violence and intimidation against immigrants across our nation by Federal Authorities, let us ask ourselves: in what concrete ways will I live out the “Be – Attitudes” this week and show my resistance to the anti-immigrant violence? Will I join local prayer protests, and stand in solidarity with my immigrant sisters and brothers? Will I write and call multiple members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat, to share my thoughts on the brutality of ICE actions in cities around the country like in Minneapolis? Can I call the White House and register my opinion on the brutal and inhumane tactics and policies towards immigrants and immigration that this Administration is undertaking? Remembering that every prayer, every phone call, every letter, every act of resistance matters because we are a people of light living in a time of growing darkness. And, we need to let our light shine, as individuals, as communities and as a nation by our words and by our actions.

May the Holy Spirit that dwells within each one of us, guide us and guard us as we seek to resist hatred and evil and seek to
be builders of peace and makers of justice as we pursue to build up the Reign of God in the here and now.

May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!
Fr. Tim

The theme this weekend is God’s call and our response, but there is a focus on the urgency of responding to that call…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 if not for the Holy Spirit being right there with us every step of the way, guiding us and gently pushing us forward! That Divine indwelling is what guides us in living out our discipleship of Jesus Christ in our daily lives, through our words and actions.

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 peoples in all places. It is 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 to the call of the Gospel, the call of Christ, and respond to the best of our ability at that time and in that place, and if we fall, get back up and answer the call again.

The Good News is preached by our loving of each other, especially by our loving of the poor, the marginalized, the immigrants, the “Dreamers” and the refugees. By loving the one who is “other” than “me” and loving those most in  need of being loved…not just with our words but with our actions.

It means that we must speak out and act out against the unethical and anti-Gospel methods being taken by our government against immigrants, migrants and even foreign students here legally on visas. It violates our rule of law! This cruel treatment of immigrants and migrants violates their human dignity and is fundamentally anti-Christian.

We are called, as Pope Francis 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 “Christian” nationalism…which is truly anything but Christian. It is completely antithetical to the life, words and actions of Jesus Christ! We must recognize it and call it out for what it is!

We are called to be ambassadors of the Reign of God and must stand up against all of those previously mentioned destructive, unjust and anti-Gospel political realities, which cannot exist in and are hostile to the Reign of God.

We are called to not just preach about the Reign of God, but making it present by how we live our lives…lives of peace-making and justice-building, guided by and built up-on the principles, values, words and actions of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in his Gospels!

May we not let the political chaos and darkness overwhelm us, for Christ is our peace and our light, which no chaos or darkness can overcome!

May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!
​
Fr. Tim

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. One of the most frequently asked questions is why did Jesus have to be baptized since he was God? I think that that question comes from a place of a primary understanding of baptism as the sacrament that removes original sin; clearly a central tenant of the theology of the Sacrament of Baptism. But prior to Vatican 2, it was the core understanding of baptism.

But in Vatican II, theologically speaking, a much deeper dive was done into the history and the historical theological breadth of the sacrament of baptism. In addition to the concept of the removal of the ancient stain of original sin, one of the jewels that became a centerpiece of the post Vatican II theology of baptism was a refocusing on baptism as the sacrament of initiation into the community of believers and discipleship of Jesus Christ. So not only is one washed clean from original sin and made a new creation, but one is brought into the Body of Christ and made a disciple of Jesus!

So, back to the question of why did Jesus receive baptism from John? Many scripture scholars agree that it served as a moment to mark his entry into his public ministry. In a way it was a moment of John the Baptist presenting Jesus to the crowds as the long awaited Mesiah, and John testifies that Jesus is the Son of God.

And in allowing himself to be baptized, like all of those who had rushed out to the Jordan to be baptized, Jesus aligns himself with humanity in all of its brokenness, even though he is Divine.

Many scholars will point out that since John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance for one’s sins, and since Jesus was sinless, what did this baptism of repentance then mean? It meant that Jesus was showing his willingness to take on our sins…perhaps a foreshadowing of the cross, where he would open wide his arms and surrender himself for the salvation of the world. 

So as we consider the powerful message and meaning behind the baptism of the Lord, what does our baptism mean for us and how we live out our daily lives? The truth is that my baptism has made me a new creation, joined me to the Body of Christ and made me a disciple of Jesus Christ! So that means that having been baptized I have been named and called to live a very specific way of life, which Jesus has carefully laid out for us in his words and action handed down to us in the Gospels.

He commanded us to love one another as he has loved us. He commanded us to welcome the stranger, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and give water to the thirsty. He commanded us as his disciples to visit the sick and the imprisoned. He called us to be good Samaritans, to care for the injured and the needy. These weren’t suggestion…Jesus tells us that when we do these things to the least of our sisters and brothers, we do them to him! And when we fail to do them to the least of our sisters and brothers, we fail to do them to him.

It seems like many baptized Christians in our nation and certainly many of our elected political leaders have missed this part of our baptismal call to discipleship and to living out our membership in the Body of Christ! When we make budget cuts that take food away from the hungry, we take food away from Christ himself -- his very words!

When we make healthcare unavailable and unaffordable for the most vulnerable, we do the same to Christ! When we fail to house the unhoused, we fail to house Christ. When we reject the stranger, we reject Christ himself!

Jesus’ words and actions had consequences; our words and actions have consequences.

Jesus’ call for actions of loving and caring for the other, they are the actions which will decide the division of the sheep from the goats, in the final judgement. This is how critical Jesus saw it was to live our discipleship following in his footsteps: loving as he loved, embracing the stranger and the outcast as he did, eating and sharing time with those society marginalizes, embracing them as sister and brother, being open to encountering the divine that dwells within them, and thus, having our own encounter with God.

Let us pray that filled with the Holy Spirit we may continue to boldly live out our discipleship each day, and to continue to stand up for and with those most in need, in our families, in our community, in our nation and in the world.

Blessings in the New Year,
Fr. Tim 

The word epiphany comes from the Greek, meaning: to “appear” or to be “revealed”. In some cultures the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord is referred to as “Little Christmas” or “the Feast of the Three Kings,” and is the 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 -- bursting forth even in the midst of the chaos and suffering of our times!

For sure we dwell for a while on the visit of the magi and the wonder of their journey, led by only 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 humble little stable where our God took on human flesh and 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, and they paid attention to their dreams…they expected that God would 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!

And so the Feast of the Epiphany is a time to ask ourselves, am I open to “following a star,” am I open to paying attention to the signs of God’s presence in my daily life?

Even in the midst of all the political and social chaos, how do I make time to listen for God’s words spoken to me in my life? Where and when do I most often encounter God in the ordinary routine of my daily life?

The magi came bearing gifts…what gift of self or of my life might I offer to God, and to my sisters and brothers, especially those most in need?

I pray you all a most happy, healthy and blessed New Year. One filled with sacred encounters!

Christmas blessings,
Fr. Tim

This is the time of year when we sing songs of peace on earth and good will toward all! St. Pope Paul VI proclaimed that if we want peace we need to work for justice.
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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, a reality 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 even 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 chaos that swirls around us.

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 for a moment in Mary’s place: you are going along in your normal day and suddenly an angel, a heavenly visitor, appears out of nowhere, 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 calls me to in my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Am I willing to risk, like Mary, and say “yes?” Am I willing to risk like Joseph and say “yes” to God, in the midst of the chaos, fear and sorrow of wars, famine, and political upheaval, and economic insecurity, not knowing where my yes will lead me…just trusting that God will walk with me on the journey of my life and never leave my side…and knowing that…that will make all the difference in the journey?

Advent blessings,
Fr. Tim