Feast Of The Holy Family_A - Families On The Run_122919

Deacon Tom Writes,

Families On The Run

          

Matthew’s gospel tells the story of the Holy Family fleeing for their lives as they are pursued by King Herod’s soldiers. When Herod dies, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph letting him know that it is safe to return to Israel. Matthew’s intention was to draw a parallel between the Patriarch Jacob and his family who went to Egypt during a famine and became slaves to the Egyptians. In time God sent Moses to rescue His people and lead them from slavery into the Promised Land, the story we know as the Exodus. In today’s reading Matthew quotes the words of the Prophet Hosea “Out of Egypt I called my son” to signify Christ as fulfilling this ancient prophesy, the one who, like Moses, leads us from death to life.    

Yet, when I read this scripture passage today, I can’t help but think how God did not spare the Holy Family from any of the torments and brutalities of life. Although this story recounts the experience of Joseph and Mary and their new born child fleeing for their lives many years ago, I can’t help think how it has been repeated time and time again throughout the ages and is currently the plight for many across our world today, millions of refuges in dozens of countries. Jesus and his parents, refugees, seeking shelter in a strange land is a disturbing image of the Holy Family., one that should make us restless and perhaps stir us to do something for those who suffer this same plight today

Whatever sufferings and losses we may have in this life, we have them in common with the Holy Family. God’s own divine plan did not shelter them from the hardships of life. No, God’s plan allowed the Holy Family to put their faith and trust in God and gave them the faith to realize that no matter what happened, it would all work out for the good.

Today with the many challenges to family life that we face, let us turn to the

Holy Family for the faith and strength we need to persevere on our journey

through a land where we are truly refugees seeking our way back home. 

Enjoy the Day,

Deacon Tom

Please consider supporting Catholic Relief Services (CRS). They provide essential services around the world to today's refugees.

Fourth Sunday of Advent_A - Everything Is Ready_122219

Deacon Tom Writes,

Everything Is Ready

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A

Saying yes to God is never easy. Somehow, we think that Mary had an easy time saying yes to God when asked by the Angel Gabriel to be the Mother of God. The same goes for Joseph. He was afraid to take Mary as his wife until the angel told him not to fear. We are fearful of many things and that is perhaps why scripture tells us, as we hear today, “Do not be afraid”. 

Fear has governed many aspects of our life. We live in fear of losing our jobs, our health, our loved ones. We are afraid that we won’t have enough….enough success, enough money, enough energy to make it through the day, or enough of the things we need to live comfortable and independent lives. In order to lessen our fears, we work longer or harder. We spend our time and resources continually seeking to improve our station in life. Yet most still live in a persistently fearful state, anxious of the uncertainties that lie ahead. 

Advent is a time to put our fears to rest. That is what saying yes to God really boils down to. Yes, God, I trust you. Yes, God, I know you are with me through the turmoil and uncertainty of my life. Yes, God, you will help me bear the pain, the loss, the loneliness of life that I find myself in now. I know that you will calm my fears and give me all that you see as good for me.  

Mary’s son was born into a dark and harsh world. Yet, he never succumbed to the anxieties and fears of life. Like Mary and Joseph, Jesus did all that His Father asked of Him, saying yes in becoming flesh and born of Mary; saying yes to taking on all the hardships of our human condition; saying yes to suffering the injustice and humility of death on the cross. 

Today on this Fourth Sunday, Everything is ready. We are ready to greet the Child who frees us from our fears.

Have a blessed and joy-filled Christmas!

   and Happy New Year

Deacon Tom

Third Sunday of Advent_A - Rejoice in the Lord, Always_121519

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Rejoice in the Lord Always!”

Third Sunday of Advent, Year A

Today is known as Gaudete Sunday. The word Gaudete is the first word of the Entrance Antiphon for today’s Liturgy. "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice! The Lord is near". One of the symbols of this Joy is the lighting of the rose candle on our Advent wreath.

In our first reading, the Prophet Isaiah tells us that a day will come when God's kingdom will break forth like the desert bloom. If you have ever seen this miracle of nature, you know how breathtaking it is. This barren, desolate and vast expanse gives way to an overabundance of delicate beauty. Water will gush in the desert, burning sand will transform into a bubbling spring. For all those who are twisted, bent and bowed down by their burdens and harsh realities of life, Isaiah prophesies that one day, “they will meet with joy and gladness, [their] sorrow and sighing will flee”.  

Today’s readings prompt us to be people of expectant hope and who claim God’s promise as if we already possessed it, as if we were already living in this ultimate reality! Today we all claim as our own the gladness and joy Isaiah tells us will chase away our sorrows and sadness. Look closely at our readings today. Look around today at the litany of people who, although cast aside by the world, marginalized by poverty and ignorance, sadness and disease, refugees from war and famine; these are the very one who have a special claim on God’s love, mercy, and compassion. Look carefully at those Isaiah says have a very special reason to rejoice today: those with feeble hands and weak knees, those with frightened hearts, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute, the oppressed, the hungry, the captives, the bowed down, the strangers, the orphans, the widows, the poor, the lepers, and the dead. To be numbered among them…. is to be specially chosen by God!!!!! To be number among those who serve these little ones is to be faithful to Christ’s call to serve these, the least of our sisters and brothers.

On this day of Rejoicing, it is good to recall the times in our lives when we have been the forgotten, the alienated or hungry one. Let us resolve this Advent to be a source of strength, encouragement and support to those who have yet to claim God’s promise of gladness and joy.

Make this a joy-filled day!

Deacon Tom

Image credit: REJOICE! By Sarah Brush, Discipleship Ministries

Second Sunday of Advent_A - Getting Right With God_120819

Deacon Tom Writes,

Advent: Getting Right With God

Second Sunday of Advent, Year A

“Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand,” (MT 3:2 ) John tells us. Repent from what? There was a book out in the ’70s that was very popular. It was called, “I’m OK, You’re OK” by Dr. Thomas Harris. Catchy title isn’t it! It gives us the sense that all is well; I don’t need any fixing. And, by the way, you are OK too! Oh, if only that were true. I think we know in our hearts that nothing could be further from the truth.

We are all sinners. As St. Paul penned, “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God”. Rom 3:23 We carry the scars and wounds of those numerous times when we have wronged God, others and ourselves by not living up to the to the high standards Jesus taught us. The memory of those failures festers deep within our innermost being. Our psyches are damaged as a consequence of the guilt those sins have spawned with us. We have much need to repent, but our pride often gets in the way and prevents us from coming to grips with the sinfulness of our thoughts, words and deeds, and even for those things that we should have done but failed to do.

In search of a remedy to their troubled consciences, the people of antiquity went out into the desert to hear John preach and to be baptized. In the solitude and isolation of the stark desert, people were able to grasp the notion that they needed to repent, to change the direction and focus of their lives in order to experience a spiritual rebirth as children of God.

This awareness of our sinfulness for the wrongs we have done or the good that we have failed to do is a prerequisite for us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Christ Child into our lives. We need to be like John who testified, “He must increase; I must increase”. John 3:30 That is, we must empty ourselves of our own self-centeredness, ambitions and desires in order that we may be filled with the desire, the willingness and the passion to do God’s Will, to be the instrument of his joy, peace and hope in our world today.

These few remaining weeks of Advent are a special time to reflect on the way we treat others and ourselves. It is a time to get right with God, to turn away from sinful behavior and await the new life that God has in store for us, an abundant life and one promised to last forever.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Available on line at deacontomwrites.com

First Sunday of Advent_A - An Advent Journey_120119

Deacon Tom Writes,

“An Advent Journey”

First Sunday of Advent, Year A

Advent is traditionally a time of waiting, expectation and preparation. Expectation is what the Prophet Isaiah envisions as he looks forward to the days when people from every nation will make their way to Jerusalem where their journey finally ends as they “…climb the mountain of the Lord and arrive at the house of the God of Jacob, where they learn his ways and walk in his paths”.

For many people today the Advent journey is drudgery. It is a time of going to the malls and wandering through a maze of stores and kiosks. For the tech savvy, it is endless hours of searching on-line and calling upon Amazon for overnight delivery of our digital shopping tour. Any wonder that the real meaning of the season is lost in the busyness of buying gifts and preparing for the “Holidays”. The sheer exhaustion from the pace leaves little energy or time for any reflection on the profound meaning of the Incarnation and the gift from God most highthat is eager to enter our world and the recesses of our hearts from God most high.

The words of the Prophet Isaiah invite us to go on a journey this Advent. No, we don’t have to pack our bags and head off to Jerusalem and climb Mount Zion, although that would be a wonderful experience. We can stay right at home and be engaged in just as challenging an experience. We can use this Season of Advent as a spiritual ascent, a time of reflection to identify and resolve to overcome the obstacles that limit our growing closer to Our Lord, surmounting the mountains, if your will, that keep us from experiencing the depth and totality of God’s love for us. The journey to overcome the hurts and scars others have caused us and forgive them may be more difficult than climbing the highest mountains. How very difficult is it for us to change our mindsets and be opened to the ways of peace as Jesus taught throughout His ministry.

Isaiah invites us to do just that in this image he presents today of recasting spears into pruning hooks. Can we use this holy time to seek all that is necessary to find interior peace within ourselves for all that is troubling us? Can we find the time this holy season to consult and listen to the Holy Spirit to direct our lives and heal our troubled consciences for all the wrongs we have done, and all the hurts we have caused others? I doubt there is a more difficult uphill climb than this: finding peace by yielding our thought and ways to the One who came to dwell among us. 

A  very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones also.

Enjoy the day,

Deacon Tom

Find this blog on the web at www.deacontomwrites.com

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year C_112419

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Christ the King”

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

Pope Pius XI established the Feast of Christ the King in 1925 in response to the growing sense of secularism that arose in the early 20th century. Germany was experiencing the rise of Nazism and exaggerated nationalism. There were populist movements toward Communism, atheism and totalitarian governments elsewhere that demanded total sovereignty over people, substituting a nation or an ideology in place of God. This led Pius XI to institute today’s Feast, as a way to make us aware that nations can never replace God in claiming sovereignty over the people.

Yet, we know from Sacred Scripture that Jesus rejected the notion of being an earthly king. St. John tells us that when asked by Pilate if he was a King, Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” (John 18:36)

So, just what does Jesus’ kingdom that is “not of this earth” look like and how do we show our fidelity to it? The answer to this may be hidden in the choice of today’s gospel that is taken from St. Luke’s account of Jesus’ death on Calvary. (Luke 23:35-43) In Jesus’ perfect surrender of himself on the cross, we get a glimpse of the kingdom to which we have been called along with a sense of the nature of the Christ’s Kingship. His is a kingship of suffering the insufferable, a kingship of forgiveness in the face of terrible injustice, a kingship of surrendering self and any authority or power we may have in this life into the hands of God the Father. Christ is king for those who live the beatitudes; he is king for everyone who suffers with those who suffer injustice, persecution, victimization, or deprivation; he is king for those who side with the immigrants, refugees, widows, the powerless, afflicted, disenfranchised; he is king for anyone who attempts to bring a sliver of hope to our world where hope is so desperately needed. 

It is fitting that the Feast of Christ the King marks the end of our liturgical year. It enables us to move into the Season of Advent anticipating the day when God’s justice and peace will break forth upon the earth. That time when all the kings and prime ministers, chancellors, presidents and all who have ever ruled this world, will pay homage and tribute to the one from whom they have received their power and their authority and to whom they too must one day render an account. 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image credit: inapenafrancia360.weebly.com/

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Days to Come_111719

Deacon Tom Writes,

“The Days to Come’”

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Seeing Christmas decorations in the stores and hearing the countdown to Christmas is a sure sign that our Liturgical Year is drawing to a close. As it does, Sacred Scripture invites us to consider “the days to come”. Today we hear the first of several prophetic warnings about the judgment that will take place in “the days to come”. The Prophet Malachi issues a warning that the proud and evildoers will be punished, and those who fear the Lord and follow his ways will be rewarded in “the days to come”.

Jesus, too, sees that in “the days to come” there will be a judgment rendered upon Jerusalem, a day when the magnificent Temple standing before him will be leveled…. “so that not one stone will be left upon another”, a painful image for the people of his day.

What Malachi and Jesus both envision for us today is that the days of this world are numbered. The clock is running… History, with its wars, famines, revolutions and plagues will give way to a new chapter in the Creator’s plan in “the days to come”. These readings remind us that everything around us is temporary. The world and all that has been developed over the ages in the course of human achievement and progress will one day fade away. What will not fade away, however, is God’s judgment!

In these last several weeks of our Liturgical Year, we are challenged to prepare ourselves for “the days to come” by setting our hearts and minds on Jesus whose teachings need to be the foundation upon which we model our lives. We are invited to have a healthy and mature spiritual life that leads to a deeper relationship with God; we are encouraged to develop a discerning spirit so that we know how to make the right choices for ourselves and our families; we are asked to conform our lives to Christ’s so that we live and act justly and do what we can to comfort and help the poor and the needy.

Following Christ’s example can be costly, as Jesus makes clear in the gospel today. Being a witness of the gospel can cause us hardship, suffering, and distress. Just try speaking out against capital punishment or advocating the principles of our Catholic Social Teaching. That’s because the gospel stands in contrast to the world around us, a world that is often indifferent, wasteful, unjust and, oh, by the way, passing.

As our Liturgical Year ends, we look forward to “the days to come”, when all that is temporary and lacking gives way to the plans that God has in mind for those who persevere in following his ways. We wait in hope for the Lord to come and rule the earth with justice.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom