REPENT! Prepare the way of the Lord! These words of John the Baptist echo down through the centuries and are as pertinent to us today as they were to those who first heard them in the Judean countryside almost two thousand years ago.

John came from the desert crying out to the people, calling them to a moment of “metanoia”…from the Greek, literally meaning “a turning around” -- changing one’s direction in life. 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.

John the Baptist announces the breaking forth of the Reign of God in our very midst. But can we hear him amid the cacophony and the clamor of our busy and overscheduled lives? I think it is very difficult unless we are willing to step back, to sit down and to spend a moment reflecting on our lives and our relationships…and ask ourselves how are we living our life in Christ?

The Scriptures during Advent speak of a new time for the people of Israel, a time of great hope…a new reign that is breaking forth. In this new world, mercy and justice will flourish and the wicked and unjust ones will be banished forever. But as we look around it seems as if we are a long way off from a “peaceful Reign of God”. Wars rage and political unrest swirl around us like the biting winds of a cold December night. Millions of our sisters and brothers desperately seek refuge, with no home in sight. Terrorists strike the innocent and fill us with fear. It all seems so bleak.

Where is the Reign of God bursting forth? I believe the answer is that the Reign of God is waiting to burst forth from within each one of us! The Reign of God bursts forth each and every time we respond to a person or a situation in a Christ-like manner.

Are we brave enough to “turn around,” to allow ourselves to have that “metanoia moment” and answer the call of John the Baptist; to allow the love of God to soften our hearts and enlighten our minds?

As Christians how do we “live” the Reign of God through our daily actions? What would I have to change in my life for me to be a clearer living sign to others of the bursting forth of the Reign of God…bringing love, mercy and forgiveness into a world so full of anger, violence and fear? Let us prepare the way of the Lord this Advent season by spreading love, mercy and forgiveness in our families, in our schools, in our communities and in the world around us!

Advent Blessings!
Fr. Tim

Happy New Year! No, I’ve not lost it! I say it every year as we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent, which is the beginning of a new church 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 and of the promise of the long-awaited savior.

For me there is something about staring up at the night sky; something awe inspiring and spiritual in nature. It calls us to look beyond ourselves; to look more deeply into the miracle of creation; to look more deeply into the miracle of human life and of this planet we live on, and the awe inspiring, ever
expanding universe that this little blue planet spins within.

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” -- 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 Incarnation: the fact that our God so deeply loves us and that God’s very self became human to manifest 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 very earth itself!

This Advent we find ourselves in the midst of enormous multiple humanitarian crises, as our sisters and brothers flee war and terror around the globe, 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 safety and finding “home,” that they will be taken in.

Let us not allow fear to rule our lives, but rather let the love of Christ rule our lives! 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.

Let us commit ourselves to not rush into Christmas but to “live Advent” and allow ourselves to become the gift that others most need. To become people of peace with open hearts for all
those who suffer and are in need, called and able, by Christ’s grace, to love them as we love ourselves. Then we will truly be ready to celebrate Christmas, when at last it arrives, with hearts full of love for Christ and hearts full of love for the least of our sisters and brothers.

Just as the Holy Family was made refugee by the tyrant Herod, so too, people of Palestine and Israel, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan and Ukraine, all sisters and brothers of ours fleeing violence and war, let us work to make sure they find peace and a free home land! How can I make sure my voice is heard amidst all the vitriolic anti-immigrant hyperbole?

Let us not allow the immensity of the crisis paralyze us and convince us we can do nothing, for in Christ we can do all things. Let us ask ourselves, what can I do this Advent to help those most in need?

As I open my heart to the love of God this Advent season can I also open it to the hungry and the unhoused and speak up on their behalf? How can I reach out to the lonely and forgotten
who have no one to care for them or help them?

This year let our Advent gift to the world be a promise to work for and pray for peace. What could be of greater value for a world plagued by religious and political divisions and torn apart by terrorism and war. Through prayer and action on behalf of the poor, the suffering and the least among us, let us “prepare the way of the Lord”! And in this Advent season let us pray for the grace of Christ to become more loving, kind and generous persons seeking to accept others as they are, just as God accepts them. And let us seek to become instruments of healing in our families, our community, our schools and our world.

Advent Blessings!
Fr. Tim

As we celebrate the final Sunday in the 2023 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 a title.

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 the 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 him 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, love 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" in today’s Gospel, so the message is: Follow Jesus, not by what you say, but by how you live your life.

The reality is that we are free to choose to live as Jesus taught us 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. I have often wondered, why did they fade so quickly? Perhaps because it was asking too much -- did people really want to know the answer to that question?… “What would Jesus do?”

And as we, as a nation, still struggle to take on systemic racism and racial inequality and to deal justly and lovingly with immigrants and refugees, and to house the unhoused 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?

And I think we must ask ourselves, what will I do? As I open myself to the love of Christ will I allow it to transform my 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, and let Christ’s love reign supreme within 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 incorrectly) 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 billboards “Jesus is coming on May 21st” that dotted the highways five or ten 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?
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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 living presence within us and running, like a river, through our daily lives and filling 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 days.

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.

And part of “being ready” is standing up to injustices, speaking out against all forms of abuse, misogyny, racism and bigotry, and recognizing the dignity of all women, children and men of all colors and races and religious beliefs! And I believe we best can do that when we keep God at the center of our daily lives. We can stand with our sisters, our children and our brothers who are bullied, abused and exploited. When we do this, we actively build up the Reign of God in the here and now. “We stand ready” and we more fully live out our identity as the “beloved of God”!

Let us all go forth embracing our identity as the beloved of God. Allow that identity to transform our lives and for us to transform the world around us into a more peace-filled, more just and all-embracing world!

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 parts of Latin America and in other parts of the world, 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 fear or make us 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 amazing gift of the promise of eternal life. 

While none of us really know what it will be like --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…far beyond our wildest hopes and dreams! 

Heaven! What do I think about heaven and the afterlife? Do I fear death, or dying…realizing they are not the same thing? 

If I built a little home altar, whose photos and mementos would I place on it? 

In the midst of all the chaos in the world that we are living in, what are the things in my life for which I am grateful? 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?
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Blessings,
Fr. Tim

Pope Francis has talked about the priests who walk around looking like they just came from a funeral… he asks, where is their joy? He seems to wonder about their inner life and their outer life.

Jesus’ harsh words for his religious leaders are because he felt that they were frauds. They made, in perfect fashion, all the outward pious signs but the signs were empty for inside; they were mean and cruel men. They made life difficult for their followers and did nothing to help them.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is challenging his disciples not to become the pious frauds that he has called out some of the religious leaders to be. Just like the prophet Malachi in the first reading, Jesus calls out the hypocrisy of those who are supposed to be the leaders of the people and who are called to lead by example but do not.

And today it is no different. In the church and in our nation some leaders fail. I include myself in the group for I am far from sinless. We have priests and bishops who have covered up the sinful behavior of other priests and bishops and our political leaders, who claim to be people of faith, whose trade is fraud and whose goals are to mislead the people for personal gain. Our most senior politicians lie without hesitation and their actions show they care nothing for the poor and most vulnerable of our sisters and brothers.

Jesus challenged the integrity of the religious leaders of his day, he challenged them to live up to the call they had received from God! Pope Francis has challenged us to do the same, and for that, some plot against him or ignore him, sure that their pious acts alone will save them.

But Pope Francis has heard the call of Jesus -- it is not the perfectly performed pious act that God desires of us, but rather LOVE! Lavish love for the immigrant, for refugees and for the poor and the abandoned, for the one who is “other” from me.

As I have asked many times, am I willing to open myself up to dangers by living as a disciple of Jesus Christ? Am I willing to risk being a disciple of Jesus Christ knowing what it led to for him and for some of his closest followers? Can I open my heart wide enough to allow myself to be the beloved of God and to live from that identity, and risk my life for God? What can I do so as to better let God transform my inner self so as to match my outer actions of charity and love?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim