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On Thanksgiving Day, a good friend woke up completely clueless that he was teetering on the verge of death. The truth be told, as it would be learned later in the day, my friend had one leg fully inserted into his grave and the other leg inserted three-quarters into his grave, and that’s even before he got out of bed! Unbeknownst to himself, my friend might not survive Thanksgiving Day. What my friend found out Thanksgiving evening was that the main artery to his right ventricle was 100% blocked. If that wasn’t bad enough, two other feeder arteries were each more than 70% blocked. Had his daughter, who is an RN, not persisted in convincing her father to let her take him to Lankenaw Hospital later in the day, his wife, family members, and friends would quite likely never experience Thanksgiving again as a day full of happiness, comfort, and joy, but as a sad annual reminder of the day a husband, a father, and a friend died. “We’d like to have him around for a little while longer,” his wife said to me. Due to the miracle God performed through the hands of a skilled cardiologist, however, my friend was home on Tuesday and back at work on Wednesday. “God is with us”—in Hebrew, “Emmanuel”—is how the Gospel of Matthew would explain this miracle. Amazing story, no? So close to death and back at work in six days! To take advantage of this miracle, however, my friend now has to make some substantive changes to his life. Yes, there’s the change in diet and in lifestyle. Healthy food and exercise aren’t suggested but required, no doubt about it. But, more importantly, my friend must see that God has visited him and to allow this miracle to transform how he looks about himself and his life. How long or how short his life will be nobody knows. While change in diet and lifestyle will help in that regard, what’s required is to recognize “God is with me” and to develop greater self-knowledge, self-control, and self-denial so as to breathe and walk and live in the presence of the God who is with him. Greater self-knowledge, self-control, and self-denial will provide the tangible evidence that my friend is truly grateful to God for the miracle He performed through the skilled hands of that cardiologist at Lankenaw Hospital and that he really wants to live in the presence of the God who is with him. Or, as I told my friend when I visited him last Sunday morning at the hospital: “Either do it beginning right now and every day that you have left or write what you want me to say in your funeral homily.” Like many of us do each New Year’s Day, we should be doing today as we start a new Church year on this first Sunday of Advent. As New Year’s Day approaches, we oftentimes will think about those things we need to do with the goal of improving our lives during the course of the New Year…assuming that we will have another year (of which we have no guarantee). Typically, our “New Year’s Resolutions” focus upon improving things that have a direct impact upon our lives in this world, including resolutions about things like health, lifestyle, work, and relationships. Making those New Year’s resolutions is a good thing because all of us in one way or another need to work at improving our lives. “Growth doesn’t come by hoping or osmosis,” I say to myself when I am tested in following through on these particular resolutions. But, as the first Sunday of Advent approaches each year, my guess is that most of us haven’t even given one thought to those things we need to do if we are going to improve our spiritual lives during the upcoming twelve months of the Church’s New Year. These resolutions should focus, in particular, upon how we might improve ourselves for life not in this world but in the next world. Our resolutions should concern three things, namely, developing greater self-knowledge, greater self-control, and greater self-denial. Laziness in this regard really isn’t good for our spiritual lives. “Spiritual growth doesn’t come by hoping or osmosis,” I say to myself when I am tested when following through on these particular resolutions. If you think about it, we don’t find self-knowledge, self-control, and self-denial particularly attractive. Achieving better self-knowledge oftentimes means looking at a picture of ourselves we may not feel all that comfortable with or even like. We’d rather to pretend ourselves to be saints than sinners. Achieving greater self-control oftentimes challenges us to think a lot less about ourselves and a lot more about others. We’d rather pretend that we love God and neighbor than to do what love of God and neighbor require. And, acquiring greater self-denial oftentimes means learning to do without. Like the cartoon character, Garfield the Cat, we say, “What me do without? No, give me more and more and more until I’m delirious and pass out in ecstasy!” Yes, in a culture that teaches us to “Grab for all the gusto” or “Just do it,” we view self-knowledge, self-control, and self-denial as negatives—as very burdensome and bad things—we must avoid at all possible cost because they keep us from “having fun” and being “happy.” So, rather than do those three “negative” things, we decide to seek happiness in three “positive” things. We seek happiness, first, in material things. Just think about your Christmas “wish list” for this year. We seek happiness, second, in consuming bigger and better things. You know what I mean; just think about all of the “latest and greatest” things you want this Christmas to replace all of those old, worn out, or old technology, earlier generation toys and gadgets you wanted so badly for Christmas last year. And, we seek happiness, third, in things that ultimately have nothing to do with God. You know: looking forward to partying hearty on Saturday night and detesting having to go to church on Sunday to the point that we allow ourselves to sleep in so late that we can’t get to the 12:00 noon mass. But, self-knowledge, self-control, and self-denial actually are the pathway upon which we discover our true happiness. As we grow in self-knowledge, self-control, and self-denial, we learn how easily we’ve come to substitute false happiness—in the form of materialism, consumerism, and secularism—for true happiness—in the form of those wonderful things in life that nourish us spiritually, those experiences of the God who is with us—“Emmanuel”—that can never be taken away. Think about it. Which would you rather have this Christmas: a new 2-carat diamond ring or a loving and faithful marriage? a new IPod Nano or parents who love each other? an Xbox 360 or a Mom and Dad who respect you? a 50-inch flat panel HDTV or having the courage to do what’s right? A loving marriage, parents who love each other, a Mom and Dad who respect you, and having the courage to do right things don’t just happen by hoping or osmosis. Just as a healthy diet and exercise strengthen the heart muscles so that we can experience a “happy body,” so too developing self-knowledge, exercising self-control, and practicing self-denial strengthen us so that we can experience a “happy soul.” Sorry, none of this comes by hoping or osmosis. Unfortunately, the only time many of us realize that we’ve gone too far in trying to find happiness in the things of this world is when we’re confronted by a crisis. Surrounding ourselves with creature comforts that anesthetize our deeper spiritual yearnings and needs, our happiness vanishes at the very moment events conspire in such ways that we’re suddenly forced to deal with a crisis. We’d rather not “Stay awake” and “Be prepared,” as we heard Jesus remind his disciples in today’s gospel. No, we say to ourselves, “Let tomorrow take care of itself, I’m having too much fun today.” However, when crises like the birth of a baby with multiple birth defects, teen drug addiction, a serious coronary episode, divorce, terminal illness, and death visit us or the people we love, we find ourselves neither awake nor prepared. “Watchfulness”—the word Jesus used in instructing his disciples how to prepare for the advent of God—is learned through self-knowledge, self-control, and self-denial and provides the hope we need if we are to discover that exact place where our true happiness is to be found. It’s not found in increasing our wealth of things—which leads to an impoverished soul—but in increasing our wealth of soul—that awareness of the God who is with us—“Emmanuel”—which can never be taken away even if we are materially destitute. With this new Church year, we begin reading the Gospel of Matthew. The question at the heart of this particular gospel is: “When is God coming to save us from the mess we’ve created?” The answer Matthew keeps giving in each section of his gospel is: “God is with us. Emmanuel.” But, if we are to see the advent of God, Matthew teaches, we first have to make the necessary personal and spiritual changes in light of the awareness that God indeed is with us and ready to save us from the messes we’ve created. As we read Matthew’s gospel each Sunday during the coming Church year, we will meet characters who are in conflict with themselves and yet who blame everyone else but themselves for all of the messes they’ve created for themselves and others. While these characters may profess how desperate they are for God to come into their lives, they act in ways that contradict their stated desire. In short, even though God is already present in the lives of these people, they neither see nor do they experience the advent of God. How said is that? To desire God but to seek happiness in material things is to be a fraud. It’s like professing that you want to be healthy, but you continuously overeat and don’t do the exercise that’s required to be healthy. It’s like professing that you want a happy family, but you don’t do the very hard work it takes to change yourself if you are to improve your relationship with your spouse and your relationships with your kids. It’s like professing that you respect yourself and others while dabbling in drugs or in promiscuous behavior and illicit sexuality activity. People who seek to find God in these things are crafting idols that make them feel happy but which ultimately rob them of true happiness. Matthew’s question this coming year is: Will we see God evidencing Himself? Or, will we miss the advent of God for yet another whole year—coming to Mass on the First Sunday of Advent 2008—because we haven’t developed the self-knowledge, self-control, and self-denial it takes to see how God is with us? That is, in this New Spiritual Year, will we see God’s advent or forsake this wonderful opportunity for momentary happiness and, perhaps, die without ever having experienced the advent of our God? When will God be with us? Matthew responds: “Emmanuel. God is with us.” Hopefully, we will make resolutions for this new Church year—to develop self-knowledge, to grow in self-control, and to exercise self-denial—but, more importantly, will follow through on these spiritual resolutions so that, if events conspire in such ways that we must confront a traumatic crisis, we see God is present there for us.Let us not forget Matthew’s basic premise: “Emmanuel”...“God is with us.”
In preparation for Christmas, some Catholic trivia... A student asked me the other day for suggestions about where she might get an Advent wreath. The answer I gave was a good one but, upon reflection, not the best answer. In fact, upon completing a little bit of research, I found even most parishes and pastors don't practice the best answer. The best advent wreath (and Christmas wreath, by the way) is made of holly not evergreen. The elements of holly (the holly itself and the red berries) recall the crucifixion of Christ. He was crowned with thorns. The thorns bit into his brow, causing red drops of blood to flow. No color is more associated with Christmas than red, the color of Good Friday. This symbolism is consistent with scripture: "By the Lord's stripes we are healed." So, the holly is green, a color associated with life and hope—reminding us of the birth of the Savior—and the berries are red—reminding us of how the gift of eternal life has been won for us through the blood of Christ. I don't think it's easy to find holly wreathes, but then, I've never looked for one. I do know that a round metal wire holder and plastic holly branches can be purchased at Michael's. That would do the trick. Then remember: three purple and one pink candle. And, don't forget to place the Advent calendar on the front of the refrigerator. After the student received and read my comments, she responded: "I wish parishes would be more communicative about these sorts of things. It would make it easier to pass on the religious traditions to children because you're not just saying, 'This is just what we do as Catholics.' But you would reveal the 'why we do it,' which I find is very effective with the kids with whom I work."
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HOMILY
