Can Anybody Help Me?

      Deacon Tom Writes ©

   “Can anybody help me?”

First Sunday of Advent, Year B 

There was a commercial on TV some time ago showing a man riding in circles on his new lawn mower while telling viewers about his financial problems.  It’s not that he was poor, quite the opposite.  He had a lot of money, he just didn’t know how to budget it…  In addition to the new lawn mower he had just purchased, he also complained of having bought a new car that he put in the new house and the list goes on. Now he is “up to his eyeballs in debt”.  As the focus of the camera narrows in on him,  he looks into it with glazy eyes and asks, “Can anybody help me?”  This is a sad but fairly accurate depiction of our human nature at work. We manage to dig quite a deep hole for ourselves before we recognize the trouble we are in and our need to ask for help.

Our spiritual lives can be very similar. In the reading from Isaiah on this First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of our new liturgical year, the prophet begs the Lord to come once more to the aid of His people who now humbly confess their sins… “Why did you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?” the prophet asks.

The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that we have one, like the fellow in the commercial reaching out to “anybody” who might be able to help him with his financial problems. We do well to take this approach with our spiritual shortcomings and reach out to God and ask Him to “rend the heavens and come down” to our rescue.

The image of God as the potter and we the clay is a powerful one for us to explore this Advent. Just like clay in the hands of an artisan, God shapes and molds our lives…if we let Him. And that’s the key; God does not barge into our lives but rather waits for an invitation.  Advent is a time for us to realize that we need to invite Emmanuel into our lives and renew us from the inside out.

Let us invite God into our lives in a deeper and more intimate way this Advent Season so that He can mold us and fashion us into whatever beautiful vessel will be most fulfilling for us to accomplish His will, the plan He has in store for us. On our part, we need to be watchful so that we may recognize how God is constantly shaping us through the events, people and the always-changing circumstances of our lives.  This Advent let us be watchful for the many ways God comes to our rescue…

Enjoy the day and Happy New Year too!

Deacon Tom

The Feast of Christ the King, Year End Review

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Deacon Tom writes ©

"Year End Review"

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Today we celebrate the "Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe", more commonly known as the “Feast of Christ the King”. The gospel we read is from Matthew and is known as “The Judgment of the Nations”. It is an apocryphal reading meaning it has to do with the “end times” and the Final Judgment. Matthew is presenting us with a summation of Christ’s teachings, which is namely this: that there is a direct relationship between our actions in this life and where we will spend our eternal life. This is very appropriate since today marks the end of the liturgical year. It is right that we stop and do our own simple “Year End Review” on how faithful we have been to the gospels and the teachings of Jesus Christ this past year.

Today’s gospel gives us insight into the ordinary call to holiness. Often it seems that the work of the gospel is way beyond us, that we have to be a Saint like St. Francis or St. Martin de Porres to be faithful disciples of Christ. That’s not the case at all. Look at the sheep in our reading today who have done the good works of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, etc. Isn’t it interesting that they were not the lease bit aware of the good they had done for the Lord?  They have to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, or naked, or sick?”  They were “surprised” that what they had done for others was noteworthy. You see, the good that they did for the Lord was the ordinary good they did for everyone and anyone around them. It was not some overwhelming, impossible task. They were not asked to do the impossible. They lived a life of ordinary goodness or holiness, giving of themselves without counting the cost, day in, day out, to friends and strangers alike.

We are called to be just like them. As a matter of fact, that is what God wants most from us…to be ordinary in our love for one another. We have been called by God to live ordinary lives of holiness, to share our love with others by our example, our witness, our smiles and laughter, our words of encouragement and hope, and at times, even our material support and physical presence through which  we become Christ for one another.

May God’s abundant blessings be with you and your families this Thanksgiving weekend.

Deacon Tom 

An Unfailing Prize

                 

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Deacon Tom Writes ©

"An Unfailing Prize"

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Today’s reading from the Book of Proverbs talks about the joy a man has in finding true riches in this life. Oddly enough, the sacred author does not take us on a search for silver or gold or for any material wealth for that matter. Rather he reminds us of the treasures we uncover when we find a worthy wife (or husband as the case may be)….We obtain an unfailing prize.

The marital contract is a sacred one. It is life giving and life sustaining. Like all living things, marriage is subject to the laws of nature that say “grow or die”. In order to grow, relationships must be mutually beneficial. It requires genuine love to make a marriage grow and prosper. It takes self-sacrifice, the ability to defer or abandon one’s own plans and desires, a willingness to be more concerned about the “other” than about “self”. It is a challenge to be successful in building a mutually supportive and lasting relationship. We are all aware, I’m sure, the high percentage of marriages today that end in divorce. Yet, all who are called to this vocation must be prepared for the work of a lifetime.

It is within this relationship of marriage that we participate in the creative work of God. In this sacramental union, we are God’s instruments working in harmony with His divine plan to bring forth new life, a visible sign of His love for us that allows us to participate in the very act of creation itself. This human family that we create is, in itself, a reflection of the divine love that exists within the Most Holy Trinity.

The Gospel today calls us to reflect on how we use the gifts we have received from God. The gift of our family deserves consideration here. Chances are we may have some room to grow in this area. That’s fine, because, no matter how successful we may be, our work in building good relationships with our family, spouses and children is never done. It’s like the ad for one of the airlines that said, “We earn our wings every day”. Being a good husband or wife, father or mother, son or daughter is something we must strive to do every day. Some days we may find ourselves doing better than others. Some days we are colossal failures. We call that the "real world". What’s important to remember is that we see in our husband or wife, in our children, and in our families, the unfailing prize that we are to each other because God’s love abides within.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Holy Space

Lateran Basilica, Rome 

Deacon Tom writes ©

"Holy Space"

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, Year A

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. It is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, and to Jesus Christ, our Savior. It became the Mother Church of Christendom around 313 AD when the Emperor Constantine gave it to the Bishop of Rome. Many Councils, referred to as Lateran Councils, were held within its walls in the early days of the church. It was there that much of the dogma of our faith that we profess today was formulated.

I have seen this beautiful church and indeed it has a lovely edifice. The architecture, the decorations, the adornments are beyond description. This is true for many of our basilicas and cathedrals. Many of our churches are a sight to behold. Yet, what gives them their real beauty is not the adornments. It’s not the gold and silver decorations, nor the renaissance paintings, nor the jeweled sacred vessels. What makes these grand structures so magnificent is the One in whose name and memory these houses of worship were built - the Lord, God Almighty.  

We know from our Old Testament history that David desired to build a house for the Lord and that his son, Solomon, is credited with building the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. But buildings come and go. The temple that God wanted to establish among His people was made of human flesh. It was Christ, the God-Man. Salvation History is the story of God visiting His people and creating within them “holy space” that would be the living, breathing temples of His Holy Spirit.

Whenever we enter into this “holy space”, we come into a communal celebration to share in the banquet Christ has prepared for us through His sacrifice on Calvary. We enter into a mystery that is beyond us and that summons within us a faith that rises above our understanding. Within this “holy space” we are joined by other believers to be nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ and enlivened by the Words of Sacred Scripture. Then, reenergized by God’s love for us, we are commissioned to take our gifts out into the world and share them eagerly with everyone we meet. The gifts we receive inside our “holy spaces” will atrophy and die if we do not bring them to each and every person we encounter; if we do not used them in every situation we find ourselves, if they are not a part of all our decisions and judgments we make in the course of the day. We are the church, the living, breathing, holy spaces God desires to dwell within.

Enjoy the Day!

Deacon Tom