In this new year of grace, the Church contemplates Mary, the Mother of God. The virgin Mary was born to be a mother. This vocation is made holy for all mothers as they live their lives dedicated to their husbands and to their children. The supreme consolation that Mary receives at the cross of her Son is the assurance that this vocation as Mother does not end with Christ’s death.

Jesus commands the world, you and me, “Behold your mother.” Mary then is eternally bonded to us and we to her “behold your mother.”Mary leads us to Christ, and Christ leads us back to Mary, for without Mary’s motherhood, the incarnation would be a mere concept and abstraction.

The Lord wills to ‘let his face shine upon us’ through the face of the Mother of God. May the Church, who is Christ, ever be mindful and respectful of motherhood through Mary’s faithful and joyous prayer for us. May we who are her children, lead others to Christ in this New Year through Mary.

I want to welcome you here tonight. This is our spiritual home, built with many sacrifices. Here children are born to new life, here we perform the burial rites for those who die. Here every Sunday God gives us new life and a love that will never pass away.

In the 1947 film, The Bishop’s Wife, the Bishop tells his congregation, “Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking. 

Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child’s cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts.

We haven’t forgotten that night down the centuries; we celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts, but especially with gifts. You give me a book, I give you a sweater, Aunt Kathy has always wanted an IPad and Uncle Henry can do with a new Keuric Coffee Maker.

We don’t forget anybody, adult or child.

All the stockings are filled, all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up, the stocking for the child born in a manger.

It’s his birthday we’re celebrating after all. Don’t let us ever forget that. 
But let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most. And then, let each one of us put in his share: charity, joy, peace, patience, loving kindness, goodness, patient suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, contentment, chastity and warm hearts that can stretch out and embrace even those who are alien to us. All the shinning gifts that make peace on earth and goodwill toward men.”

My friends, these are the things that matter, not the book, or the sweater or the IPod.

Look in the manger. See there the poverty of the Child Jesus and ask yourselves tonight, do I need these material things to be like Him?

With all the things I worry about. With all the anxiety and impatience that surrounds me. What is it I really need to take his place in this cave of poverty, peace and serenity?

This day, Jesus is calling you to discover the gifts within you like wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. With these we may not have gifts to fill stockings but we will have gifts to fill hearts – and aren’t they the most important gifts of all.

Merry Christmas to you all, and may your hearts beam with the Light of this humbled Child who comes for you this night to show you the dawn of a new day.

 

Today is Gaudete Sunday!

The Scriptures proclaim it as do we; “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul.”
Today the Church moves from preparation into expectation. “Lord Jesus, come!

Paul reminds us to ‘pray without ceasing’, ‘give thanks,’ ‘refrain from every kind of evil’ and ‘do not quench the Spirit.’ This message, though we hear it again and again, never gets old. It has become however, like a ‘voice crying out from the wilderness.’ We hear it, we recognize it but as we run the race of our present life, do we open our hearts to a more solid faith, joyful in hope and active in charity?

Gueric of Igny writes “we must greet Jesus’ coming with hearts straining with desire and leaping with joy!

My dear friends, when the Gospel of Mark says, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” he is referring not to the beginning of time, but to our beginning in Jesus; the first time we encountered Christ and changed our lives forever, made us different people than we were.

Advent is a time to remember the whole history of God among His People. We share with St. Peter today his own experience with Christ when he says, ‘according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth; and in that waiting we are eager to be found pure and holy before him.

In these days of Advent, as we look to Mary, our waiting Mother. How does she wait; anxious, fearful, ignorant perhaps, indifferent? Not at all. Mary is active in her waiting. She is prayerful; she adopts the virtue of humility and reflection. She remembers the promise made to us by Christ to be faithful, to be kind and to be our way to salvation.

We too can remember our own covenant with God and in that memory of Him allow his glory to be revealed for our whole parish and for our community. People who come here, who visit us, who roam our mall and shopping centers. All of them wait for the coming of Jesus in their lives. “Isaiah says it: Be not afraid to cry out: Here is your God, He is like a shepherd who leads his ewes with care!”

John baptized with water, but you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit. Remember that in your homes and on the streets, in your schools, in the mall, in the shopping centers and in the work places of your lives. Advent is the time to remember the whole history of God among His People including today.

May our sharing in this holy mystery teach us to judge wisely the things of earth and to love better the things of heaven. Amen.

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