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With the presidential election one month behind us, I read yesterday
morning that 4000+ people have applied for the 400+ political
appointee jobs that will be available and need to be filled in the
new administration. While many of those 4000+ people believe they
are competent and qualified for the positions for which each has
applied and also feel confident they soon will hold positions of
prominence and power in Washington, DC, the simple fact is that many
of them will be cut down in their prime, before they have any chance
of dashing off an official memo on government stationery that has
their names emblazoned on it.
What will strike these applicants down? Dread disease? No.
Untimely demise? No. Terrorism? No.
What will strike down most of these applicants is that much-dreaded
Washington affliction known as the “personal background check.” When
the FBI and IRS finish rummaging through each applicant’s financial,
employment, political, and personal history, it’s quite likely most
will not be nominated for any position by the new administration and
may very well wish they had never applied in the first place.
However, for those who do survive, well let’s just state as the
aphorism does, “There’s no guarantees in life.” Some of those who
do survive will face a Congressional “grilling” (called a
“confirmation hearing”) where political enemies will bring to the
light of day confidential information they have received from
professional investigators and have kept hidden “up the sleeve” to
strike down the unprepared witness (now, a
“victim”). As we all know, it’s not at all
uncommon for a political enemy’s vendetta to be unveiled at a
confirmation hearing and much to one’s
personal chagrin and
embarrassment.
Think about it this way: how might each of us fare in our quest for
appointive public office if the FBI and IRS had been invited to
scrutinize our personal, employment, and financial history going all
the way back to our elementary school years? For myself, I could
only imagine what Sr. Gerald Francis, OP, would have to say about my
fellow 7th graders who were in her homeroom and had her
for Latin and Religion class and me, in particular!
If that wasn’t enough to doom our aspirations for appointive public
office, how might each of us fare if all of those whom we have hurt
over the years (or, more likely, who misinterpreted what we did or
said that was good, but believed us to have been malicious) were
called to testify under oath about us and our intentions?
Would any of us be able to withstand this level of scrutiny and come
out unscathed? Quite likely not.
The section of the second letter of St. Peter which served as
today’s epistle describes the coming of the day of the Lord in
similar terms. On this day “the heavens will pass away with a
mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the
earth and everything done on it will be found out” (italics
added). In light of this admonition, the epistle warns, “since you
await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish
before him….”
Forget Congress and any political appointment that lasts only until
the election of the next administration, this is the ultimate
“background check” each and every one of us is certain to undergo.
It will be more detailed than any background check the FBI or the
IRS could conduct. It will be more accurate than any political
enemy’s dirt that could be hidden “up the sleeve.” Why? God knows
the whole, entire, unvarnished, and unblemished truth about each and
every one of us. On the day of the last judgment, there will be no
room for any excuses or rationalizations. All we will do is simply
to face the facts.
Talk about being backed into a corner!
So many people today—perhaps many of us—live in fear of the last
judgment and have little or no peace in their lives. They don’t
want anyone rummaging around and examining the facts of their lives
or learning about their deeds, rationalizations, and cover-ups.
Looking very good on the “outside,” they know that they are rotting
on the “inside.” For months, years, and perhaps even decades, their
defenses have worked very well, keeping everyone else at bay. No
one else knows anything of the truth.
But, at what cost?
Think of the weight of the burden these people bear! Think not just
about the psychological and spiritual burden. Worse yet, think
about the burden of knowing they have forsaken the only life God has
given them. These people have never really lived one day of life
since they decided to cover up the truth!
Yes, God knows us better than we know ourselves. God sees into our
hearts and knows everything behind all of the elaborate defenses
we’ve erected to hide our sinful actions and the true intentions
motivating them. We’re naked as jaybirds in God’s eyes, just as
Adam and Eve were when they tried, first, to hid behind those fig
leaves and, second, when they tried to hid themselves in the bushes.
What gave the dynamic duo away was the
“cover-up.”
What scares the bejeezes out of people who attempt to hide their
sinful actions and the true intentions motivating them is that
someone else will find out the truth. There’s nothing that
engenders more fear and dread in people suffering from this
psychologically and spiritually debilitating disease than being
“found out” and having no plausible excuses that explain away, cover
up, or hide the truth. That’s why they fabricate all of those
elaborate defenses. Most would rather be dead than to suffer
humiliation by having the truth come out in public.
Sad to say, but think about this: they are prisoners of their own
making!
This is scary stuff, to be sure. But, to stop there would be to
neglect the fact that today’s epistle is “sandwiched” between the
first reading and gospel, both of which speak of repentance,
forgiveness, and peace. Even though none of us blameless in God’s
sight, God offers forgiveness to every human being who repents of
sin. And, in the experience of God’s forgiveness, the peace of God
(which St. Paul says is “beyond all understanding” [Philippians
4:7]) breaks the chains of sin’s burden and, freed of it, fills us
with God’s gift of peace. Those who have experienced this know
exactly what St. Paul describes as the peace which is “beyond all
understanding.”
For those who have not experienced forgiveness or that peace which
St. Paul describes as beyond all understanding, “A voice cries out
again: In the desert of your life prepare the way of the Lord. Make
straight in the wasteland a highway for our God.”
Advent is the time for each of us to look at the wasteland we have
created of our lives: 1) reflect upon those messes that we’ve
created; 2) reflect upon those relationships that we’ve broken; and,
3) reflect upon all of that which we’d rather not be discovered by
the FBI, the IRS, or a Congressional committee. Then, consider: 1)
how we live in fear as a result of our bad choices; 2) how we truly
are prisoners of our own making; and, 3) how we’ve made a desert of
our lives.
Now is the time—the season of Advent—to repent of all
that by “clearing a straight path” for God to come into our lives.
His coming will mark a new beginning. It will be the new reality
that changes everything, as we leave the death of sin behind and
allow the God’s saving power to remake that desert we’ve created
into an oasis called the Garden of Eden. Freed of the past and
its weighty burdens, we move into the future, experiencing for once
what it means to live each day in the freedom and peace experienced
by God’s sons and daughters.
A brief
commercial break...
As
Catholics, we prepare for Christ's coming by celebrating the season
of Advent. During those four weeks, we prepare the way for Christ
to come into our own lives each and every day not just on Christmas
day. For Catholic families, let me suggest five practical ways to
prepare for Christ's coming:
1. Place
an advent wreath in the center of your dinner table. Each
evening before sitting down for dinner, have one member offer a
prayer of thanksgiving to God for His presence in the life of your
family and light the appropriate candle(s).
Looking for an
advent wreath?
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.
2. Use
an Advent calendar.
Hang an
advent calendar on the refrigerator door beginning on December 1st.
Each morning, before everyone scatters for the day, have one member
of the family open one door and read the scripture verse or describe
the biblical scene behind the door. This is a great way for family
members to keep focused on the coming of Christ for the rest of the
day.
3. Make
a Jesse tree. The Jesse tree is the traditional way that
Catholics recall Jesus' heritage, coming from the line of King
David, the son of Jesse. Have members of the family make a symbol
for each day of Advent that marks an important moment in Israel's
history (e.g., Noah's ark, Jacob's ladder, Moses' stone tablets,
David's harp). Then, each evening before everyone goes to bed,
gather the family around the Jesse tree, have the family member
explain the symbol, and hang it on the tree.
4.
Celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas on December 6th. One way to
"put Christ back into Christmas" is to reclaim the faith-filled life
of heroic virtue revealed in the great Christian saint, St. Nicholas
of Myra. Besides sharing simple gifts with family members, like
placing candy in shoes that have been left outside of the bedroom
door, share some time with people who are alone, in the hospital,
convalescing, etc.
5.
Celebrate God's mercy. Advent is a particularly fitting time
for every member of the family to welcome the light of God's
forgiveness into the dark places of family life. Gather the family
together and go to church to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance
together. Then, go out for pizza to celebrate God's mercy and a new
beginning free from sin.
By
participating in these five practical activities to prepare for
Christmas day, Catholic families will not only have contemplated
their need for God and God's self-revelation through salvation
history. In addition, they will have experienced God present and
active in their family's life. Then, on Christmas day, when family
members greet one another by saying, "Merry Christmas," they all
will truly be prepared to celebrate the Mass wherein Christ will
strengthen and nourish them with his body and blood to bring Christ
to the world. |
HOMILY
