Home for Christmas
(A Christmas Story 2008)

Dec. 25, 2008, Christmas Day
Isaiah 52:7-10 Hebrews 1:1-6 John 1:1-5, 9-14

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]

Second reading from Hebrews

Brothers and sisters: In the past God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets. In these last days He has spoken to us through his Son whom He has made heir of all things and through whom He first created the universe. This Son is the reflection of God’s glory. He is the exact likeness of the Father’s being. He sustains all things by his powerful word. When He had cleansed us from our sins, He took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

The Son was made greater than all the angels, just as the name which God gave Him is greater than theirs. For God never said to any of his angels, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.[3]” Or again, “I will be his Father, and He shall be my Son.” And again, when He leads his firstborn into the world He says, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.[4]”

The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be. What came to be through Him was life, and this life was the light of the human race. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through Him, but the world did not know Him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept Him. But to those who did accept Him He gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction
The three Masses of Christmas

Christmas is the only day in the liturgical calendar which has three different Masses assigned it: Mass at Midnight, Mass at Dawn and Mass during the Day. Each has its own scripture readings.


Mass during the Day

The Mass during the day is the oldest of the three. It originated in Rome in the early fourth century and was celebrated at St. Peter Basilica. It seems to mark the very origins of the celebration of the Feast of Christmas. Because the gospel for the Mass during the Day is St. John’s prologue about the Word which was in the beginning and which became flesh, it is also called the Mass of the Divine Word. (Jn 1:1-18)

Mass at Midnight

The Mass at Midnight, which originated in the fifth century, was celebrated in the Basilica of St. Mary Major to which relics of the crib were brought in the seventh century. The midnight tradition seems to be an interpretation of a passage from the Book of Wisdom, “While all things were in quiet silence and the night was in the midst of her course, thy Almighty Word, O Lord, came down from Heaven from thy royal throne.” (Wisdom 18:14-15) Because the gospel for the Mass at Midnight has a heavenly multitude of angels praising God and singing “Glory to God in the highest,” it is also called the Mass of the Angels. (Lk 2:1-14)

Mass at Dawn

The Mass at Dawn was the latest of the three to appear. Celebrated first in the sixth century, it originated in a request from the Byzantine Governor in Rome that a Mass in honour of St. Anastasia (martyred on December 25 ) be celebrated on December 25 and in the church dedicated to her. That Mass was then 'fitted in' at dawn. When Rome ceased to be part of the Byzantine Empire, the tradition of the Dawn Mass remained, but its text was altered into a second Mass of the Nativity.[5] Because the gospel for the Mass at Dawn has an angel appearing to the shepherds and announcing the birth of the Savior in the city of David, it is also called the Mass of the Shepherds. (Lk2:15-20)

The simple (non-theological) gospel readings for both the Mass of the Angels (Lk 2:1-14) and the Mass of the Shepherds (Lk2:15-20) are for the ears of children. Those gospels require nothing more than to be heard, and immediately the child in us is filled with imagery and delight. Those two gospels are also for the eyes of children, for they are painted upon all Christmas cards which are in tune with “the reason for the season.”

On the other hand, the profound (theological) gospel reading for the Mass of the Divine Word is for the ears of adults. “The Word which was in the beginning and which was God” is not easily painted on a Christmas card. It requires more than just hearing; it requires hard work.

The heresy of verbalism

Through the years, many storms over words have nudged me (priest and preacher) to unearth a precious nugget in the Prologue of St. John. That nugget says to me that the Word of God isn’t a word anymore; It is now flesh and blood! It is now a Babe lying in a manger!

In my book, that nugget lays an axe to verbalism[6]. That’s the bad habit we have of putting too much stock in words. Verbalism is living by words and dying by words. What’s worse yet, it is making others, as well, live and die by words. It was verbalism which burned St. Joan of Arc at the stake. (1412-1431) The Inquisitors put her to death as a heretic for not having the right words to their theological questions. Verbalism is as good a heresy as Nestorianism, Monophysitism or Pelagianism, for it denies our bottom line that the Word of God isn’t a word anymore (and much less is it a steady flow of words); It is now flesh and blood! It is now a Babe lying in a manger!

Verbalism alive and well

After Mass, one of the faithful is angry because I did not recite the words of consecration over the bread and wine exactly as found in the Roman missal. She threatens to leave the parish if I do not conform to the prescribed liturgical words. She complains to the pastor of the parish, who directs me to recite the words exactly as they are chiseled into the Roman missal. Another one of the faithful complains that I shortened the reading of the prescribed gospel and omitted the recitation of the Nicene Creed at Mass on a very hot Sunday morning. My nugget from the Prologue wells up in me: the word of God isn’t a word anymore (and much less is it a steady flow of words); It is now flesh and blood! It is a Babe lying in a manger!

If verbalism is alive and well in the faithful that’s because it is alive and well first in the institution of the church. Fr. Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest of 36 years and a courageous Catholic voice for peace and non-violence, is the founder and leader of the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW). Its job is to watch over the School of the Americas (SOA) which trains South and Central American police forces in the techniques of torture, repression, and counter-insurgency. Bourgeois also publicly supports the ordination of woman.

On October 21, 2008, the Vatican sent a letter informing the Maryknoll community that Fr. Bourgeois has 30 days to recant his public words supporting the ordination of women, or he will be automatically excommunicated. The church, which did in St. Joan of Arc, might frown today on burning heretics at the stake, but she still excommunicates them! Again, my nugget from the Prologue of St. John wells up in me: the word of God isn’t a word anymore (and much less is it a steady flow of words); It is now flesh and blood! It is a Babe lying in a manger!

Christmas doesn’t like words

There’s something about Christmas that doesn’t like words. At this time of the rolling year especially, we remind ourselves that when the fullness of time came and God wanted to reveal something very comprehensive and wonderful about Himself, God did not say something; God did something: God did not beget a Bible; God begot a Baby! God did not deliver a sermon; God delivered a Son.

Like our Christmas God, we, too, should be leery about words. We should be leery about the doctrinaire approach of religion which puts too much stock in the right answers from the catechism, and in the careful recitations of creeds, and in the exact mouthing of prescribed liturgical prayers or formulas. Christians should be leery about preachers who have God down pat with a steady flow of words.

Christmas likes stories

There’s something about Christmas that likes stories. At the end of the day, what are stories but words made flesh and blood. At this time of the rolling year, the gospel readings at Mass tell one story after the other: Once upon a time, there was an old priest, Zachariah by name, offering incense before the altar of the Lord in the temple. (Lk 1:5-25) Once upon a time, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her not to be afraid, for she has conceived of the Holy Spirit. (Lk 1:26-38) Once upon a time, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him not to fear to take Mary as his wife. (Mt 1:18-25) Once upon a time, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. (Lk 2:1-14)

At this time of the rolling year, not only scripture but also the media has an irresistible urge to speak not with words but with stories. Every year it features classical favorites like Amahl and the Night Visitors, Miracle on 34th Street, and especially Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The evening news, too, searches for a story bearing tidings of good news to balance off fast-departing 2008 with its heap of bad news about an economic meltdown, a bailout battle for bankrupt businesses, and a scandal about the Governor of Illinois auctioning off the senate seat vacated by the President-elect.

A Christmas story 2008

When editors find a gem of a Christmas story, they anoint their newspaper with it. Such a gem of a story graced the Houston Chronicle for Dec. 3, 2008. Philip Wattenbarger, his wife, Elizabeth and their three daughters are an outdoor bunch. Last summer the family embarked on a cross-country road trip -- a month-long tour of the national parks -- in their 32-foot Coachmen travel-trailer. They rafted in Colorado Springs, hiked in the Grand Tetons, and by early August they reached a campsite in Yellowstone.

Wherever they go, their cats Fluffy and Tiger (both from the pound) go with them. The family has a method: the cats are allowed out of the trailer unfed at campsites. After the cats get the lay of the land and are hungry, they return for dinner. One day Tiger returned, but Fluffy did not! For days, the frantic family searched nearby woods and looked up tall trees for their beloved tabby. But the Wattenbargers are pragmatic people: a housecat on the loose among bears, bobcats, coyotes and wolves isn’t long for this world. Heart-broken they called off their search and returned to Houston.

One day 79-year-old Shirley Armstrong, who spends part of the year living along the western edge of Yellowstone, noticed a stray cat lurking at her door. From her winter home in Arizona, Armstrong said, “It was getting cold and snowy, so I started feeding her. She wouldn’t come to me, but she would eat.” After a month or so, Armstrong borrowed a trap from the West Yellowstone police and caught the cat. The tag on its collar said “Fluffy.” Below that was a phone number. The plot thickens! Armstrong happened to have a neighbor (a retired flight attendant) who could fly for free. Mind you, the neighbor offered to chauffeur the cat back to Houston! The Wattenbargers met the flight attendant at Bush International Airport and were overcome with joy to be reunited with Fluffy.

Conclusion
Home for Christmas

Christmas isn’t for preaching truth. That tends to put us followers of the Prince of Peace at odds with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and anyone else who has a religious truth other than ours. Christmas isn’t even for preaching morality. That tends to fill us with the self-righteousness of the Pharisee who at prayer in the temple gave thanks that he was “not like the rest of men -- greedy, dishonest and immoral.” (Lk 18:11)

Christmas is for telling stories. For what are stories but words made flesh and blood? When we have a lot of shepherds and sheep, oxen and ass, stable and straw, kings and coffers, and a multitude of angels singing "Gloria in excelsis Deo," then, indeed, we have a lot of flesh and blood. Then, indeed, we have a story.

Christmas is for telling stories. Like the story about the Wattenbargers who lost a beloved cat which a compassionate 79-year-old lady found starving in the winter cold. Like the story about an equally compassionate flight attendant who turned herself into a Santa Claus when she volunteered to chauffeur Fluffy back to Houston, so that the tabby could be home for Christmas.

[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

[3] II Samuel: 7: 14; Psalm 2:7.

[4] Revelation 1:5

[5] Prayers commemorating St Anastasia remain as part of the Mass at Dawn even in the 1962 Missal.

[6] If verbalism isn’t in the dictionary, it should be. That’s how language grows.

Christmas is also for Big Kids

December 21, 2008, 4th Sunday of Advent
II Samuel 7:1-5 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory to you, Lord.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction
Feasts of Light

Today, December 21, 2008, is the fourth and last Sunday of Advent, and also the first day of winter. The Old Farmers' Almanac shows the period between December 17th and 25th as the darkest of the year. These days have fifteen long hours of darkness and only nine short hours of light. No wonder this is the season to light candles! Tomorrow, December 22, 2008, is the first day of Hanukah when the Jewish community will light the first of the eight candles of the menorah. Hanukah is their Feast of Lights. Today, the fourth Sunday of Advent, the Christian community lights the fourth candle on the Advent wreath. All four candles now burning brightly sing that “Soon it will be Christmas Day” -- our Feast of Light.

The season to tell stories

The second part of Advent (called Late Advent or the Novena of Christmas) began last Wednesday, the 17th of December. That part gazes back into the past — to a moment of history when an Infant was born of Mary in a stable in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the King. That part of Advent tells one story after another. It tells the story of the angel Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary that she would conceive of the Holy Spirit. (Lk 1:26-38) It tells the story of Mary’s visitation over hill country to the house of her cousin Elizabeth where the infant in her womb (John the Baptist) leaps for joy at the presence of Jesus in the womb of Mary. (Lk 1:39-45) It tells the story of the inn which had no room for Mary and Joseph, and of the birth of Jesus outside in a stable. (Lk 2:1-7) It tells the story of an angel announcing tidings of great joy to shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night and their finding an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. (Lk 2:8-20) It tells the story of magnificent Magi from the East bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Mt 2:1-12) It tell the story of the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt to escape Herod who was slaughtering all baby boys two years and younger. (Mt.2:13-18)

Because the second part of Advent tells one story after another at Mass, it perks up ours ears and delights the child in us (which the scripture readings of the first part of Advent does not do). It ignites childhood memories in us, and it sets the season doing what it does best: telling stories.

Ears of children and adults

The Book of Ecclesiastes utters that oft-quoted litany that there is a time for everything under God’s sun:

A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to weep and a time to laugh.
A time to embrace and a time to
abstain.
A time for war and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

This time of the rolling year adds to Ecclesiastes’ litany:

A time to be simple about the story of Christmas and a time be profound about it.
A time to take the story of Christmas at its face value and a time to sound it depths.
A time to hear the story of Christmas with the ears of children and a time to hear it with the ears of adults.

That is not to say that the ears of adults are any better than those of children. But growing up into adult bodies means also growing up into adult faith. St. Paul writes, “When I was a child, I heard and heeded as a child. I thought and talked as a child. But now that I am an adult, I have put away the things of a child.” (I Cor 13: 11)

The story of virgin birth

At Mass on this fourth and last Sunday of Advent (cycle b), Dec. 21, 2008, we tell the story of the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary her virginal conception of Jesus. The angel tells her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her, and that the power of the Most High will overshadow her, and that, therefore, the child born of her will be called the Son of God.” (Lk 1:35) And at Mass on Dec. 24 (the Vigil of Christmas), we tell the story of an angel announcing Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus also to Joseph (for a virginal conception takes two).

The story of Mary and Joseph’s virginal conception of Jesus does not fly well in our culture where breasts are bared and bursting, and where torsos are twisting and turning on TV all day long. Such a culture dismisses the virgin birth as not very serious or as quite incomprehensible and even offensive to human nature. That being so, how in the world can teenagers or adults today listen to the story of Christmas without a bit of tongue-in-cheek? How can the story of Mary and Joseph’s virginal conception of Jesus be told in such a way as not to give offence? What’s even more important, how can it be told in such a way as to be resplendent with religious meaning? That’s a task that’s long overdue for centuries.

A positive statement about Jesus

The story of the virgin birth is not a negative statement about sex. It does not say (it cannot say, it may not say) that when the Son of God comes into the world, it’s below His dignity to be conceived in the very same way that all other babies are conceived. What an affront that is to every mother and father and to every child born into the world! At the end of the day, many of us feel down deep that the story of the virgin birth is precisely that: a negative statement about sex.

The story of the virgin birth is a positive statement about Jesus. It says that Jesus is much more than a gift from Joseph and Mary; He is especially a gift from the Father in heaven. It says that Jesus is much more than the conception of man; He is especially the conception of God. At the end of the day, the story of the virgin birth wishes to say that man’s salvation always needs help from outside and from above.

A positive statement about woman

The story of Joseph and Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is also a positive statement about woman. When the Novena of Christmas begins on the 17th of December, the gospel opens with that long male-ridden genealogy from Matthew: "Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. And Judah begot Perez and Zerah.” That genealogy continues through 42 generations of men begetting sons! (Who in the world ever heard of men begetting babies!) That male-ridden genealogy comes to a screeching halt with these words, "And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and it was of her [not of Joseph] that Jesus who is called the Christ was born.” (Mt 1:1-16)

With one powerful stroke the story of the virgin birth puts an ax to the quiet lie that lines up only men behind the great moments of history. Behind an event which divides time into B.C. and A.D., there stands no man at all -- only a woman. Upon the most momentous page of history a woman (and not a man) puts her signature. That’s not a feminist statement; it’s a Christmas statement. It convicts church and society. It challenges both to allow women to write on the pages of history.

A positive statement about man

The story of Joseph and Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is also a positive statement about man – the male. The story has Joseph stepping aside and resigning his sexual prowess. He does so in order to let the message get through that Jesus is not just his and Mary’s gift to us but is also and especially the gift of the Father in heaven. Stepping aside is a big order for men who are used to center stage. Like the Governor of Illinois, men do not resign power easily. At the end of the day, that’s the real but unspoken reason why women never get ordained in the Catholic Church except by an act of disobedience. Joseph is a model to be imitated by a male-ridden church and society.

There are those who defend with all their might the virgin birth as miracle. That’s fine. There are others, who in adult bodies seeking adult faith, concentrate on defending the scriptural story of virgin birth as meaning. That’s better yet.

Conclusion
Christmas is also for big kids

Hearing the stories of Christmas as children and hearing them as adults is not a matter of chronology: first we hear them as children, and then we grow up and hear them as adults. We vacillate between the one and the other at various stages of our journey. Sometimes we stand before the story of Christmas as grown-ups with lost innocence and filled with anger or doubt or even unbelief. Sometimes we stand before it with innocence regained and filled again with childlike faith and excitement. Christmas is for little kids. It’s also for big kids. It’s also for adults who aren’t so grown up that they can’t be turned on by angels bearing messages from God, and by babes leaping for joy in their mother’s wombs and by magnificent magi bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

[1] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

Oh Rosy Candle Burning Bright

Oh Rosy Candle Burning Bright!

Dec. 14, 2008, 3rd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 61:10-11 I Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8, 19-28

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]

First reading from the prophet Isaiah

I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels. As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.

The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Second reading from St. Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians

Brothers and sisters: Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it.

The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord.

A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?” He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” So they asked him, What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord!’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

The Gospel of the Lord

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ

Introduction
The rose color candle

Before Vatican II, Advent (like Lent) was strictly a penitential season which frowned upon feasting and celebrating. Because of its somber atmosphere, Advent (like Lent) seemed interminably long in those days. So on the Sunday halfway through both seasons, the opening word of the old Latin Mass cried out “Rejoice!” The church was exclaiming, “Yippy! We’re halfway through our season of penance!”
Today -- mid-Advent Sunday -- the church still cries out “Rejoice! [in Latin Gaudete!]. We’re halfway through Advent, and soon it will be Christmas Day.” On Gaudete Sunday the color of the vestments and the third candle on the Advent wreath is rose which rejoices better than penitential purple.

Fr. Delp’s joy

The German Jesuit, Father Alfred Delp (executed by Hitler on February 2, 1945), sitting in prison and bound with chains, wrote in his diary for Gaudete Sunday, 1944,
Is it possible to rejoice in a prison cell (a space of three paces in each direction)? Is it possible to rejoice when your hands are fettered, and your heart is overwhelmed with longings, and your head is filled with problems and worries? Yes, happiness can happen even under these circumstances. I tell you every now and then my heart can scarcely contain the delirious joy that's in it. Suddenly, not knowing why, my spirits soar and there is no doubt in my mind that all the promises[3] hold good…. [He admits that that might just be an unconscious defense mechanism against depression.] But not always. Sometimes it is due to a wonderful premonition of wonderful things to come. (Prison Meditations of Fr. Alfred Delp)

How is it possible to rejoice when your heart is overwhelmed with longings, and your head is filled with problems and worries? Fr. Delp’s question sooner or later is everyone’s question. It’s a question which confronts us particularly at Christmas which claims to be the most joyful time of the year.

Commanding joy!?

Gaudete Sunday commands us to rejoice. We ask is it possible to command joy or any other internal emotional state? Is it possible to command joy especially when the chips are down? The prophet Zephaniah thinks so. Speaking to refugees in a slum district of Jerusalem he tells them to, "Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel.…The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. "[4] St. Paul, too, commands joy when the chips are down. Sitting in prison and bound with chains, he tells the Philippians to, “Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say, rejoice!”[5]

Joy: not just an outside job.

How is it possible to rejoice when the chips are down? How is it possible to rejoice when you’ve just received a chilling verdict from your doctor or have been plunged into some tragedy? How is it possible to rejoice when you’ve lost your job in the present economic meltdown? How is it possible to rejoice when you’ve lost a pet which taught you what it means to love unconditionally? How, indeed, is it possible to rejoice when you’ve lost a partner of 30, 40, 50, 60 years?

It is possible because joy (the real stuff) isn’t just an “outside job.” It isn’t just a willowy reed at the mercy of life’s favorable winds. It isn’t just some capricious mood at the mercy of life’s benign circumstances.

Joy (the real stuff) isn’t just getting your hands on a $798 Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV, or a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, or a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69, or a DVD such as "The Incredible Hulk" for $9. These were all on sale at a Long Island Wal-Mart store the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 28, 2008, when a crowd broke down the doors at 5. A.M. and stampeded 34-year-old Jamaican Jdimytai Damour to death and injured an eight-month pregnant woman. That crowd was in hot pursuit of joy as an “outside job.”

Joy: an inside job

Joy (the real stuff) is an “inside job.” It is a decision to not get stuck in our pain. To evoke the climate of December, joy is a decision not to be snowbound by anger, self-pity, regret, grief, etc. Joy is a decision not to be snowbound either by unlucky birth or unlucky circumstance. Joy is a decision to break through the snowdrifts above us and rejoice as daffodils do in early spring. They bloom wherever they are.

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady radiates joy as an inside job, as she decides to break through the snowdrift above her and bloom right where she is. She is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock. Her hair is fashionably coifed and her makeup perfectly applied (even though she’s legally blind). She moved to a nursing home. Her 90-year-old husband died recently, and that made the move necessary. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, the nurse in charge gave her a kind of visual description and preview of her tiny room. “Oh, I love it,” she said with the enthusiasm of an eight year old having just received a new puppy as a Christmas gift.

“Oh, but Mrs. Jones,” the nurse replied, “you haven’t seen your room yet. Just wait until you do! You’re going to be so happy.” “That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on what kind of furniture is in it or how it is arranged. It’s what’s in my mind and how that is arranged there that counts. I have already decided to be happy with my room. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice: I can spend the day in bed bemoaning the difficulties I have with parts of my body that no longer work, or I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do work. My recipe for joy and also for a long life is this: a) free your heart from hate; b) free your mind from unnecessary worry; c) live simply.

Joy as a decision is mysterious. Why is it that one person decides to stay in bed and bemoan the difficulties she has with the parts of her body that no longer work, and another makes a decision to get up and coif herself fashionably and be grateful for the parts that do work? Why is it that Dicken’s old Ebenezer Scrooge, who has all the money he needs, decides to grouch out “Bah, Humbug!,” while his nephew, who doesn’t have a penny in his pocket, decides to sing out “Merry Christmas!”? Psychology and physiology have answers to that question.

Sometimes joy is downright mystical. It was mystical, indeed, when Fr. Delp, sitting in prison and bound in chains, every now and then experienced delirious joy. Such joy has no human explanation; it is utterly a gift.

Joy: also an outside job

Joy, indeed, is an inside job -- a personal decision. But it is also an “outside job.” That is to say it often needs help from others. The reality on the ground shows that joy as a decision doesn’t come easily for those who labor under unfortunate birth or circumstances. Then a personal decision for joy will, indeed, be helpful, but it won’t be enough. It will need help from others.

On Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, an emaciated and shackled 17-year-old boy (held captive for nearly a year) climbed out a window in the home of his captors and walked into a nearby gym in Tracy, California, in search of help. He was covered with soot, had a chain on his foot and was wearing only boxer briefs. It’s a good bet that that young man will be eternally scarred and scared. No matter how much he tries, a sheer personal decision for joy on his part will never be enough. Joy for him will always be also an outside job; it will always need help from many people.

Conclusion
Oh Rosy candle burning brightly
Oh rosy candle burning brightly before us today,
we hear you: “Joy is an inside job!”
We don’t have to stampede to get to it!
Oh rosy candle burning brightly before us today,
we hear you: “Joy is an inside job!”
It’s a decision we make,
like the decision the petite blind lady made
as she daily rose and counted her blessings.

Oh rosy candle burning brightly before us today,
we hear you: “Joy is also an outside job!”
It often needs help from others.
The joy of that eternally scarred and scared boy
will always need much help from many others.

Oh rosy candle burning brightly before us today,
we hear you: “Joy every now and then is also a mystical job!”
That was the joy of Fr. Delp whose spirit every now and then soared,
and whose heart could scarcely contain the joy that was in it,
even though he was bound in chains and sitting in prison.

[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

[3] The promise is ”Blessed are they who suffer, they shall be comforted.”

[4]Zeph 3:14‑15 – 1st reading on Gaudete Sunday, cycle c.

[5]Phil 4:4 – 2nd reading on Gaudete Sunday, cycle c
Oh Rosy Candle Burning Bright 3rd Sunday of Advent

Fill the Valleys, Level the Mountains
Make Straight a Highway for Him
(Is 40:3-4)

Dec. 7, 2008, 2nd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 II Peter 3:8-14 Mark 1:1-3

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]

First reading from the prophet Isaiah

"Comfort my people,” says our God. “Comfort them! Encourage the people of Jerusalem. Tell them they have suffered long enough and their sins are now forgiven. I have punished them in full for all their sins.” A voice cries out, “In the wilderness make straight a highway for our God! Fill in all the valleys and level off all the mountains! Turn the hills into plains and make smooth the rough roads! Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all mankind will see it. The Lord Himself has promised this.”

The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory to you, Lord.

Here begins the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Isaiah the prophet it is written, “I send my messenger before you to prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the desert, `Get the Lord’s road ready for Him. Make a straight highway for Him to travel on!’” (Mark 1:1-3)

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
Good imagery

Every year on the Second Sunday of Advent, whether the Gospel reading is from Matthew, Mark or Luke, John the Baptist appears in the desert, quoting the prophet Isaiah who commands us to,

Prepare in the wilderness a highway for the Lord!
Clear a path in the desert for our God!
Fill the valleys and level the mountains.
Turn the hills into plains and make rough ways smooth.
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed
and all mankind will see it.
(Is 40:3-5, Lk 3:4-5)

There’s good imagery here. It suggests the preparation made for a visit from royalty in the ancient world. In the days leading up to an official visit from the Pharaoh of Egypt, teams of workers would be sent out to get the roads in shape. They straightened out sharp curves and leveled off hills. They filled in potholes and cleared away litter, so that the litter carrying the Pharaoh might freely move on.

When the Council of Nicea (which gave us the creed we recite at Mass) was held in 360 A.D. near what is today Istanbul Turkey, bishops from Ireland attended. How did they get from Ireland to Turkey? They walked! That’s a long walk. It took them almost a year to get there because there weren’t any trains or planes in those days, and there weren’t any bulldozers to fill in the valleys and level off the mountains. Naturally the bishops stayed for eight or nine months once they got there, conversing with other bishops and theologians from across the continent. We who enjoy the luxury of driving everywhere on perfectly paved super-highways can appreciate the imagery.

Early & Late Advent

Advent is traditionally divided into a first and second part. The second part (called Late Advent or the Novena of Christmas) runs from the 17th of December to Christmas Eve. Late Advent joyfully turns our gaze back to a moment of history when Jesus was born of Mary in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King. The first part (called Early Advent) runs from the beginning of Advent to 17th of December. Before gazing joyfully upon Bethlehem, Advent seriously assigns us a hefty job to do: “Fill the valleys, level the mountains and make a straight path for Him to travel on! Hasten the day of His coming!”

Hastening or road-blocking the Messiah

On the 17th of December, the church chants the first of the great Latin O Antiphons. The antiphon for the 19th exclaims, “O radix Jesse! Oh Sprout from the stump of Jesse! Veni et noli tardare!” Stop your delaying and come!” All the O Antiphons are filled with a strong feeling of Advent impatience. This one is steeped in it. It seems to cry out, “Oh Sprout from the stump of Jesse, for God’s sake hurry up and come! What in the world is keeping you!?”

There is, indeed, something that's keeping the Messiah. A rabbi, who no doubt had indelible and personal thoughts of the Holocaust haunting him writes,
If more people in the world were filled with love and compassion and tolerance we would enable the Messiah to come so much sooner. I often kid my synagogue that I visualize the Messiah about to be sent down to the world by G-d,[3] but looking at all the violence, hatred, inhumanity, especially in the name of religion, the Messiah beseeches G-d not to send him down to earth! We either hasten or road-block the Messiah’s coming.

A Samaritan hastening the Messiah.

One day a man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and was waylaid by robbers who left him half-dead. Along came a Jewish priest, who saw the poor man and passed him by. Along came a Levite who also saw the dying man and passed him by. Finally, a Samaritan came upon this pothole in the road and patched it up. He poured the oil of compassion into the poor man’s wounds, hoisted him on his beast of burden and hurried him off to the nearest inn where he provided for his care and cure. (Lk 10:25-37)

The Good Samaritan had leveled off the mountains and filled in the valleys. He had made a straight highway for the Messiah to travel on. In his person he had hastened Messiah’s coming to a victimized human being. Restored to health, the man went to the Temple to give thanks, for the glory of the Lord had been revealed to him in the person of a despised Samaritan loving a wounded Jew on the road to Jericho! (Is 40:5)

What’s more, when the rabbi’s reluctant Messiah (holed up in heaven) heard about the great compassion of a despised Samaritan towards a wounded Jew on the road to Jericho, he changed his mind and beseeched God to swiftly send him down to the good earth.

The Advent command is “Fill the valleys, level the mountains and make a straight path for Him to travel on! Hasten the day of His coming!” That’s just what the Samaritan did.

Church hastening the Messiah

Sometime ago the Anglican Communion had its foundations shaken with the consecration of a gay bishop. That ruffled also the Russian Orthodox Church. One Anglican Church leader said, “The church will never be the same again!” By going on record for being gung-ho on sexual moralism, [4] the Anglican and Orthodox Church (and all the other churches) were simply doing what they always do, and what they always do best.

Worldwide there are 37 million adults and 2.5 million children living with HIV, and half of them will be dead before they are 35. In the United States there are 40,000 new HIV infections diagnosed every year. The day the church (Anglican, Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant) does not put herself squarely and whole heartedly behind sexual moralism but rather behind a morality of compassion for sick people and poor people and lonely people, that’s the day the church “will never be the same again!” That’s the day the church will shine like a city built upon a hill for all to see. (Mt 5:14) That’s the day a sea of HIV victims will give thanks for having seen the glory of the Lord. (Is 40:5)

What’s more, the day the rabbi’s reluctant Messiah (holed up in heaven) sees the church as a shining city built upon a hill, that’s the day the Messiah will change his mind and beseech God to swiftly send him down to the good earth.

The Advent command is “Fill the valleys, level the hills and make a straight path for Him to travel on! Hasten the day of His coming!” That’s a command not only to anyone on the road to Jericho but also and above all to the church. She, if anyone, must hasten the day of His coming. She, if anyone, must fill in the potholes impeding His coming, especially if the potholes are of her own making!

Church road-blocking the Messiah

We are recently confronted with a very huge pothole created by the church herself. On October 21, 2008, the Vatican sent a letter to the Maryknoll community stating that Fr. Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest of 36 years, has 30 days to recant his statement of public support of women's ordination or he will be automatically excommunicated.

Fr. Bourgeois isn't just any priest. Like Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, he is a very courageous Catholic voice for peace and non-violence. There is an organization called the School of the Americas (SOA). That’s a United States Department of Defense facility at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia. It trains South and Central American police forces in the techniques of torture, repression, and counter-insurgency. Fr. Bourgeois is the founder and leader of the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW). Its task is to watch over the School of the Americas and expose its torture and repression.

On November 7, 2008, Fr. Bourgeois replied to his threatened excommunication. His response reads in part,

To the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:

I was very saddened by your letter dated October 21, 2008, giving me 30 days to recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or I will be excommunicated. I have been a Catholic priest for 36 years and have a deep love for my Church and ministry.

When I was a young man in the military, I felt God was calling me to the priesthood. I entered Maryknoll and was ordained in 1972. Over the years I have met a number of women in our Church who, like me, feel called by God to the priesthood. You, our Church leaders at the Vatican, tell us that women cannot be ordained. With all due respect, I believe our Catholic Church’s teaching on this issue is wrong and does not stand up to scrutiny. A 1976 report by the Pontifical Biblical Commission supports the research of Scripture scholars, canon lawyers and many faithful Catholics who have studied and pondered the Scriptures and have concluded that there is no justification in the Bible for excluding women from the priesthood.

Conscience is very sacred. Conscience gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to do the right thing. Conscience is what compelled Franz Jaegerstatter, a humble Austrian farmer, husband and father of four young children, to refuse to join Hitler’s army, which led to his execution. Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus. Conscience is what compels women in our Church to say they cannot be silent and deny their call from God to the priesthood. Conscience is what compelled my dear mother and father, now 95, to always strive to do the right things as faithful Catholics raising four children. And after much prayer, reflection and discernment, it is my conscience that compels me to do the right thing. I cannot recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church.

The Advent command is “Fill the valleys, level the hills and make a straight path for Him to travel on. Hasten the day of His coming.” It’s directed especially to the church. She, if anyone, should hasten the day of His coming. Instead, when the rabbi’s reluctant Messiah heard of the earthly church’s threat of excommunication upon the good Fr. Bourgeois, he beseeched God not to send him down to the bad earth.

A CEO hastening Messiah

Aaron Feuerstein is CEO and owner of Malden Mills, a fabric factory in Methuen, Massachusetts. He is also a devout Jew who reads Shakespeare and the Talmud (a rich treasury of rabbinical tradition). On the night of December 11, 1995 (six days before the beginning of Hanukah on the 17th that year), a surprise party was held for his seventieth birthday. During the party a boiler exploded and a devastating fire broke out which demolished a good part of his factory.

He didn’t grab the insurance money and run as a good man of business would do. Instead the morning after the fire he assured all his 2400 employees that with God's help they would all get through that tragedy together. Then he gave them their pay checks plus a $275 Christmas bonus and a $20 food coupon. Three days later on the night of Dec 14th in the gym of the Catholic High School where 1000 of his employees gathered to learn their fate, he made a startling announcement.

For the next 30 days, and it might be more, all our employees will be paid their full salaries. I think you already have been advised that your health insurance has been paid for the next 90 days. But over and above the money, the most important thing Malden Mills can do for our workers is to get you all back to work. By January 2, 1996, we will restart operations, and within 90 days, God willing, we will be 100 percent operational

There was a moment of stunned disbelief, and then the workers rose to their feet cheering and hugging each other and also weeping.

What a bright shining star is CEO Feuerstein in the darkness of the corporate greed and economical meltdown which are bringing the curtains down on fast-departing 2008! Time magazine for January 8, 1996 reported that Feuerstein was true to his word; he continued to pay his employees in full, at a cost of one and a half million dollars a week and at an average wage of twelve and a half dollars an hour. Later that same year, corporate America, stunned by such fiscal insanity and half-hearted capitalism, named him CEO of the Year!

What’s more, when the rabbi’s reluctant Messiah (holed up in heaven) heard about such stunning magnanimity of a CEO who had no private jet of his own to take him to congressional meetings on the terrible state of the economy and on the plight of the people on Main Street, he was flabbergasted. The Messiah changed his mind and beseeched God to swiftly send him down to the good earth.

The Advent command is “Fill the valleys, level the hills and make a straight path for Him to travel on! Hasten the day of His coming!” That’s just what Aaron Feuerstein did.

Conclusion
A huge cloud of witnesses calling him to come down

When the rabbi’s reluctant Messiah looked down on earth and saw a huge crowd of people filling in the potholes, especially those created by the church herself, he was delighted. He saw Archbishop Hunthausen of Seattle giving gays a place to worship in his cathedral. He saw Bishop Untener of Saginaw, MI, courageously inviting the church to open a brand new discussion on birth control. He saw Auxiliary Bishop Gumbleton of Detroit audaciously predicting there will one day be priestesses in the church. He saw Sr. Joan Chittister gently speaking truth to church and civil power. He saw Fr. Farrow and Fr. Bourgeois bravely putting their necks on the chopping block as both obeyed their conscience. When the reluctant Messiah saw such a huge cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) calling him to come down, he changed his mind and earnestly besought God to send him down upon the good earth.

Bailing out Christmas 2008 - 1st Sunday of Advent

Bailing out Christmas 2008
Nov. 30, 2008, 1st Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 45:8; 63:19 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13: 33-37

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]

First reading from the prophet Isaiah
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One.[3] Oh, that You, oh Lord, would tear the heavens open and come down, as the mountains quake before You.

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 13:33-37
Glory to you, Lord.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Introduction
The church’s new year

Today we exit Ordinary Time and enter into the Extraordinary Time of Advent in preparation for Christmas 2008. Today is New Years Day in the church. Today we go from liturgical cycle A (which takes the gospel readings from Matthew) to cycle B (which takes the readings from Mark). Today we also change the color of the liturgical vestments from the green of Ordinary Time to purple – the liturgical color for penance. (In some places, blue vestments instead of purple are worn in honor of mother Mary and baby-boy Jesus.) The purple is a leftover from pre-Vatican II days when Advent, like Lent, was strictly a penitential season which frowned upon all partying, gift-giving and decorating before the 24th of December. In this new day after Vatican II, Advent is now declared to be “a season of joyful expectation. “

How is it possible that a season, declared penitential for centuries, is now suddenly declared to be “a season of joyful expectation”? It’s not really a matter of either or: either a penitential spirit or joyful expectation. Rather it is a mix of both. Let the first part of Advent be imbued with a somber, thoughtful and prayerful spirit, as are the scriptural readings at Mass these days. Then let the second part which begins with the Novena of Christmas on the 17th of December be a season of joyful expectation. Then let the partying and gift-giving begin.

The darkness of December 2008

Here it is the 30th of November, 2008. In this hemisphere, winter begins on the 21st of December which will be the 4th Sunday of Advent this year. December 21st is the shortest day of the year, having only nine hours of light and fifteen long hours of darkness. The darkness of winter always magnifies all our worries and fears, which are reduced to size by a bright summer day. And the cold of winter always intensifies our aches and pains, which are soothed by the kind kiss of the summer sun.

The physical darkness of winter is compounded these days by the psychological darkness caused by the never-ending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and by the threat of terrorism hanging over our heads 24/7. Added to all that is the present economic meltdown which is bringing this old year of 2008 to a very dismal close. People are worried about their 401(k) s.[4] Some economists are telling us we’re at the beginning of a depression like the Great Depression of the 1930s.

For some the darkness of winter and the gloom of the economy are overshadowed at this time of the rolling year by some deep personal fear, suffering or loss. Some, for example, have received a chilling verdict from their doctor. Some have been plunged into an inconsolable grief by a sudden and senseless tragedy. Still others grieve over the loss of a pet which loved them unconditionally as no human being ever loved them, and which they, in turn, loved as much as they loved any family member. And then there are those who grieve over the recent loss of a beloved spouse of 30, 40, 50 years, and who now feel that half of themselves is gone. You hear it said and sung these days, “It’s the jolliest time of the year.” I always swim upstream on that one. For a good number of people it’s also the saddest time of the year.

Lamp- lighting time for Christians and Jews

No wonder the human family, in the darkness of the human situation lights lamps with a kind of vengeance at this time of the rolling year. Today, the 30th of November, 2008, the first Sunday of Advent, the Christian community lights the first of the four candles on the Advent wreath. Each week we light another candle to dispel the darkness (particularly intense this year) and to grow the light. Christmas is our Feast of Lights.

This year on 22nd of December, 2008, the Jewish community lights the first of the eight candles on their menorah candelabra, as they begin to celebrate Hanukkah. In Hebrew Hanukkah simply means rededication. The feast commemorates the purification of the temple in Jerusalem and its rededication, after the Greek tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated it in 161 B. C. On the site of the altar of holocausts he had built a pagan altar and offered a pagan sacrifice to the Greek god Zeus Olympios. The prophet Daniel and St. Matthew refer to this profanation as "the horrible abomination standing in the holy place.” (Dn 9:27; Mt 24:15) Three years later, Judas Maccabeus purified the sanctuary, erected a new altar, and undertook to rededicate the temple.

According to a story told and retold in the Jewish community no consecrated olive oil could be found to keep the temple menorah burning through the eight days of rededication. The temple menorah is the seven branch candelabra prescribed by Moses as temple furniture (Exodus 25:31-32). After diligently scouring the temple, Judas Maccabeus finally found a small jug of oil still with the high priest's seal intact, and therefore not contaminated by the enemy. But there wasn’t enough oil in the jug to last through the eight days of rededication.

Then a miracle happened! God caused the little amount of oil in the jug to continue supplying fuel for the temple menorah throughout the long rite of rededication. In gratitude, Judas Maccabeus, his brothers and all people of Israel decided that the rededication of the temple should be commemorated yearly for eight days with joy and thanksgiving (I Mc 4:59; II Mc 10:5) St. John is referring to Hanukkah when he writes, “The time came to celebrate the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.” (Jn 10:22) Through eight days the Jewish community lights one candle after the other. Hanukkah[5] is their Feast of Lights.

Hanukah gone astray

Johannes Buxtorf II (1599-1664), a Protestant Hebrew scholar, who perhaps was tainted with a good dab of anti-Semitism, often criticized the way the Jewish community celebrated their feast days. Writing of Hanukkah he describes how they strayed far from the feast’s original inspiration, and overlaid it with superstition and pettiness. He writes,

They celebrate Hanukkah more by eating, drinking and having fun than by giving
thanks to God for their victory over the enemy. They prepare a seven-branch
menorah and then light one light each day until the eighth night. The lights
are not allowed to burn all night long. While they are burning no one is allowed
to do any work in the house. The menorah itself must stand on the right side of
the door, not less than ten paces from the ground, and not higher than twenty.
The Jews often hold subtle and futile discussions on how long the lights should
burn, who should light them, whether or not it is permitted to light one light
with the other, and similar things.

Buxtorf concludes his criticism of their observance of their Feast of Lights, saying,

“They are very fussy about the outer light but are not concerned about the great
darkness which abides in their hearts!”[6] The feast celebrating the rededication of the temple was
itself in need of a rededication!

Christmas gone astray

Christians should talk! Our Christmas, like Buxtorf’s Hanukkah, has also strayed. It also is in need of a rededication to its original inspiration -- a Babe born in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. (Lk 2:10-12) Many of us feel in our hearts of hearts that our observance of Christmas has become an overkill and needs a rededication. The overkill is about a series of Christmas parties to throw, a number of pricey gifts to buy, a long list of cards to write, an expensive holiday trip to take and sumptuous holiday tables to set. The overkill is about a whole list of stuff which entraps the credit-card holder and makes Christmas not only a very jolly time of the year but also a very expensive one, which many can’t afford. This is particularly true these days, as a great economical meltdown is bringing the curtains down on the last hours of 2008.

The meltdown could be the providentially appointed moment to turn ourselves and those around us, especially our kids, to a rededication of Christmas. It could actually prove to be a blessing; it could help lead us and our kids out of Christmas as an orgy and brings us back to Bethlehem where a Babe is born, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. At the end of the day, Christmas as an orgy (which begins even before Thanksgiving Day itself!) leaves us feeling empty and even depressed as we defrock the tree on Dec. 26 and throw it out on the curb.

Thanksgiving on course

Last Thursday the nation celebrated its most cherished feast --Thanksgiving. While Hanukkah and Christmas have gone astray, Thanksgiving, on the other hand, has always been on course. It has always remained faithful to its original and simple inspiration: giving thanks at the family table. Thanksgiving still sends us over the river and through the woods to grandma’s house, loaded down with no other gift than ourselves. It still gathers sons and daughter around the paternal table to give thanks not for hi-tech toys but for the basic blessings of life: family and friends to embrace us, a roof over our heads to shelter us, a warm bed to sleep in and food aplenty to eat. Thanksgiving remains true even to the traditional menu itself: turkey (whether you like turkey or not), cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes.

A story to bailout Christmas 2008

As the curtain goes down on the dark days of 2008, people are worried about a depression like that of the 1930s, and they feel constrained now to tighten their belts for the lean Christmas and new year ahead. Top congressional hearings are being held at this moment to determine which sectors of the economy should or should not be bailed out with $700,000,000,000 of the people’s money.[7]

This is the season for telling stories. Here is a story to bail us and our kids out of these dark days and the lean Christmas ahead. It was written by a Presbyterian missionary lady, and it appeared in a Presbyterian magazine a good quarter of a century ago. Its poignancy makes it easy to recall every holiday season.

Once I was in a remote village of India and the congregation was gathered in a
schoolroom for worship. From one wall a faded picture of Ghandi smiled down
benignly. There was no minister. The school teacher read the Scriptures and led
in the long, long Tamil hymns. At the end of the service there was a stir in the
rear of the room and a young woman slipped forward -- a girl she was really - -
thin and shy. She carried a tiny baby, surely not more than a day old. As she
approached the battered desk that served as an altar table, she reached into the
folds of her sari and drew out a single egg. With utmost care she laid it on the
table and bowed her head. "For the birth of her child," whispered the teacher to
me. "It's her thank-offering to God."

An egg! Not a coin, but a life-sustaining egg! The diet of the Indian villager is notoriously deficient in protein. This woman needs this egg, I thought. In the economy of her village, this one egg costs a woman like her about three hours on the road or in the fields. Even if she is lucky enough to own hens, she sells their few eggs and buys rice to fill the stomachs of her family. A single egg -- a worthy and
sacrificial offering.

Conclusion
A solitary egg!

That missionary lady continued,

So this holiday season, as we prepare our 18 pound turkey, stuffing, sweet
potatoes, peas, cranberry sauce and mincemeat pie at Thanksgiving, as we festoon
the trees with tinsel and lights or wearily shop for gifts or scowl at the
assault of canned Christmas carols on our ears, [as we walk through the shopping
malls with crests fallen because of the economic meltdown], I shall remember a
solitary egg [and I shall count my blessings even in these hard times]. (A.D.
Magazine for Dec. 1974)

[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

[3] The Latin is: Rorate caeli desuper et nubes pluant Justum (Isaiah 45:8). That is the opening line of an ancient Gregorian hymn. Its melody is second to none, and its lyrics put everyone in a good frame of mind in preparation for Christmas.

[4] A 401(k) plan allows a worker to save for retirement while deferring income taxes on the saved money and earnings until withdrawal.

[5] While the temple menorah had seven candles, the Hanukkah menorah has nine. It has eight candles for the eight days of Rededication, and then it has a ninth candle -- a taller central candle called the Shamash. The central candle is used for profane purposes like lighting other lamps throughout the house or lighting the fire in the hearth. Israeli Jews call the nine-branch menorah a hanukkiah.

[6] Synagoga Judaica by Johannes Buxtorf II

[7] The 7 hundred billion dollar US Treasury bailout is called TARP: Troubled Assets Relief Program.

Feast of Christ the King

(Pope John XX1II, b. Nov. 25, 1881 -- d. June 3, 1963)

King According to John XXIII

November 23, 2008, Feast of Christ the King
Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17 I Cor. 15:20-26, 28 Matthew 25:31-46

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Glory to you, Lord.

Jesus said to his disciples: When the Son of Man comes in his glory,and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”

Then the righteous will answer him and say, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?” And the king will say to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.” Then they will answer and say, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?” He will answer them, “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction
The end of the year

Today we arrive at the end of the church’s liturgical year. After having celebrated all the feasts of Our Lord and His saints through 52 weeks, the church crowns her fast-departing old year with a feast in honor of Christ the King. Next Sunday is New Years Day in the church with the arrival of the first Sunday of Advent in preparation for Christmas 2008.

A recent feast

Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King as recently as 1925.[3] At that time, the pope was battling various kings and kingdoms. He was fighting anticlericalism in Mexico and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. In his own backyard, he was contending with the Italian State which had wrested Italy back from the popes. The newly instituted feast seemed to say, “We have a King who is greater than all kings, and whose kingdom is more blessed than theirs. He is Jesus of Nazareth -- the ‘King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.’” (Rev 19:26)

This late November feast might be a bit superfluous. Already in early spring, there’s a feast honoring Christ as King. On Palm Sunday, the church cries out, "Hosanna to the Son of David! O King of Israel, hosanna in the highest!" Holy Week is a better context for the kingship of Christ. It sets Jesus upon an ass and not upon a throne. It places a palm branch in his hand and not a scepter. It plants a wreath of thorns upon his head and not a tiara. The Passion read on Palm Sunday sets the records straight for anyone who wants to build an earthly kingdom for Jesus. "My kingdom,” Jesus tells them, “is not of this world." (Jn 18:36)

A long list of rogue kings

The human race has a long history of rogue kings and dictators who exercised lethal authority over others. Back in Jesus’ day, King Herod, leery about Jesus the new-born king of the Jews, slew all baby boys two years and younger to make sure he had eliminated a threat to his throne. (Mt 2:2-16) In the first half of the twentieth century, Hitler gassed and starved to death six million Jews in the concentration camps of Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald. In the second half of the twentieth century Saddam Hussein, who lived as a king in eight palaces before he ended up hiding in a hole in the ground, dotted the landscape of Iraq with kingly statues of himself, and he filled the dumps with the remains of people who did not want him as king. At the moment, the Islamic president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ominously promises that “Israel must be wiped off the map.”

However we might feel about kings, Scripture is clear: Jesus is a king. He is a king as He comes into the world and as He leaves it. At His conception the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that the Lord God would give her Son the throne of David, His father, and His kingdom would have no end. (Lk 1:33) At His trial the Roman governor Pontius Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you a king?” Jesus answers, “Yes, for this I was born, and for this I came into the world.” (Jn 18:37) Accordingly, a gang of Roman soldiers concocted a crown of thorns and pressed it down on Jesus’ head (Mt 27:29). Then they forced Him to climb the hill of Calvary and nailed Him to a cross. On it they hung an inscription over head written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

King on the Hill in the early church

Before the days when kids had money to buy hi-tech games, they had to invent their own games. They invented Hop-scotch, Kick the Can and King on the Hill. This last game fed into our innate yen to overcome and lord it over others. In that game you stood on top of a raft or a mound or any kind of a height, and you drove down anyone trying to get to the top. Whoever managed to get to the top and unseat the occupant proclaimed himself king.

Not only kids but also full-grown people, even great religions like Christianity and Islam like to play the game. The Christian church started playing King on the Hill already in the early third century when St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, claimed that “extra ecclesiam nulla salus” – that “outside the church there is no salvation.” Cyrian’s famous dictum was probably not much more than a comment made off the top of his head, but it stuck. And for centuries it launched the church off into a vigorous but dubitable pursuit of man’s salvation.

It is noteworthy that Judaism does not claim that outside the synagogue there is no salvation. The Talmud, for example, says that all righteous people of any religion, who observe the basic laws of morality, are saved. That’s a relativist approach to religion. It says, “I have my faith, you have your faith, and others have their faith.” On the other hand, there is the triumphalist approach to religion. That’s the approach of Christianity claiming outside the church there is no salvation. That’s also the approach of Islam claiming outside the mosque there is no salvation. Bernard Lewis[4] says that that approach has Christianity and Islam shouting at each other, “I’m right, you’re wrong, go to hell!”

Lewis admits, however, that the triumphalist approach is increasingly under attack in Christendom and is rejected now by many Christian clergymen. But there is very little sign that anything like that is happening in Islam. The apocalyptic event of 9/11, 2001, in which two 747s brought down the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan and three thousand innocent human beings was not politically motivated; it was religiously motivated. It was a stout proclamation that “Outside the mosque there is no salvation!”

King on the hill in the church today

In 2000, Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a 36-page document entitled Dominus Iesus (Jesus the Lord). It warned Catholics not to water down the very extraordinary uniqueness of Jesus when dealing with Buddhism and Hinduism. In dialoguing with non-Catholic Christian churches, the document also warned Catholics not to water down the extraordinary uniqueness of the Catholic Church. The document, heavy with ponderous theology, was disheartening for ecumenists who for thirty years were laboriously building bridges. At times it seemed arrogant and condescending in such remarks as, “Though non-Catholic churches suffer from defects, they by no means have been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation.”

In 2007, Pope Benedict approved a document which restated the key sections of Dominus Iesus. The Rev. Sara MacVane of the Anglican Center in Rome said there was nothing new in the new document, and she did not know what motivated it. She pointed out, however, that there is the official position which likes to play king, and there is also an unofficial position which is infused with a spirit of fellowship with others, and which even worships with others. This is certainly true, she said, between Anglicans and Catholics and also between other groups and Catholics.

Do you know what Jesus does every time we try to play King on the Hill in His name? He hides Himself from us! After He multiplied the loaves and fishes, the fervent crowds wanted to seize Jesus and make Him king. Scripture says, “Jesus fled from them and went alone into the mountains and hid himself.” (Jn 6: 15)

The birthday of a great man

Next Tuesday, November 25, is the birthday of a great man who was born poor like Jesus, 107 years ago in 1881. Many of us senior citizens were his contemporaries and remember him with very deep affection. His name was Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli. He was born in a little Italian village called Bergamo Sotto il Monte (Bergamo at the Foot of the Mountain). Though born at the foot of the hill, he made it to the top. On October 28, 1958, Cardinal Roncalli was elected pope and took the name of John XXIII. On November 4, the day of his coronation, a tiara was placed upon his head. In his homily that day the new pope said that he had in mind for his pontificate the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served as kings are served but to serve.

The next day after his coronation, he sped off through elaborate Vatican gates to serve. He visited aging brother priests in nursing homes. He visited inmates in the nearby Regina Coeli Prison along the Tiber. “I come to you,” he told them, “because you couldn’t come to me.” When he celebrated his first Holy Thursday as pope, he revived an ancient custom of the church. Like Jesus John girded himself with a towel and bent down to wash the feet of 13 young priests. That rite had fallen into disuse for many centuries, and the disuse itself was symptomatic of a prevailing institutional attitude.

Conclusion
We remain in the church

Pope John’s example emanating from the lofty throne of Peter drew the whole church and world. It evidently drew Patricia Sitkins of Linden, California, who speaks of herself and her family as Catholics “who have drifted away from the church since the death of Pope John XXIII.” It drew Morris West, an Australian writer (1916-1999) famous especially for his books The Devil’s Advocate and The Shoes of the Fisherman. In A View from the Ridge he writes, “I believe I can say with certainty that I remained in communion with the Church even when the Church itself excluded me[5], and I remain there still, principally because of the presence of John XXIII, the Good Pastor, whom I never met, though I did meet his predecessor (Pius XII) and his successor (John Paul II). Goodness went out from this man to me. I acknowledged it then. I acknowledge it again.”

Many of us feel the same as Morris West did. We joyfully and hopefully remain in the church because of the witness of Pope John, the Good Pastor. And we remain in the church also because of a great cloud of other witnesses (Heb 12:1) like St. Francis of Assisi, Father Damien of Molokai, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Archbishop Hunthausen of Seattle, Bishop Kenneth Untener of Saginaw, Auxiliary Bishop Gumbleton of Detroit, Swiss theologian Father Hans Küng, Sister Joan Chittister, Father Geoffrey Farrow and a whole constellation of other witnesses.
All of them are true sons and daughters of the church. All of them were mysteriously begotten by the very church they took to task. “Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a great cloud of witnesses, we lay aside every weight and sin that easily entangles our feet. And we run with patient endurance the race that lies before us.” (Hebrew 12:1)

[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

[3] In his encyclical Quas Primas (December 11, 1925) Pope Pius XI promulgated the Feast of Christ the King.

[4] Bernard Lewis (born May 31, 1916 in London, England) is a British-American historian, Orientalist, and political commentator.

[5] Though West was and always remained a Catholic, his various writings contain a good deal of criticism about the church, and the church was not always pleased with him.

Dedication of St. John Lateran

Dedication of St. John Lateran
OMNIUM ECCLESIARUM MATER ET CAPUT
"Mother and Head of All the Churches”

Nov. 9, 2008, Feast of St. John Lateran
Ezekiel 47:1-12 I Corinthians 3:9-17 John 2:13-22

To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord.

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.In the temple area there were merchants selling oxen, sheep, and doves. There were also the money-changers at their stalls. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and He scattered the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He yelled at those selling doves and commanded them saying, “Get them out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and Jesus’ words.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Introduction
History of the feast

St. John Lateran was once a royal palace and basilica which belonged to the Roman Emperor Constantine and his family. After his conversion to Christianity in 313 A. D., the Emperor gave the palace and adjacent basilica to Pope Miltiades (311-314). His successor, Pope Sylvester I (314-335), as bishop of Rome, dedicated the basilica as his cathedral church on November 9, 324.

The palace and adjacent basilica became the cathedral church and residence of the popes from the fourth to the fourteen century, when the popes went into exile in Avignon, France (1304-1377). Built on land owned by the Laterani family and dedicated to John the Baptist, the basilica was called St. John Lateran. In the course of time, it became the venue for five ecumenical councils.

When, however, the popes returned from exile in Avignon, they found St. John Lateran in such disrepair they decided to move to St. Peter's Basilica (also a gift from Constantine) which until then had served primarily as a pilgrimage church. The popes now reside at the Vatican, and since the fifteenth century, St. Peter's Basilica hosts almost all important papal ceremonies. Every year, however, the pope goes back to his cathedral church, St. John Lateran, to celebrate the feast of the Lord’s Last Supper on Holy Thursday.

As the cathedral church of the pope (who is the bishop of Rome) St. John Lateran ranks first among the great basilicas of Rome, even before St. Peter’s. A Latin inscription on its facade proudly proclaims:

Omnium Urbis et Orbis Ecclesiarum Mater et Caput
Mother and Head of all the Churches in the City [Rome] and the World.

That lengthy explanation is for many of us who wonder why the church proposes that we celebrate the dedication of a church which most of us have never seen and will never see -- a dedication which took place sixteen hundred years ago in far-off Rome.

Since Nov. 9 (the date of the ancient dedication) lands this year on a Sunday, the feast of John Lateran replaces what would normally be the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time.

A spiritual twist

St. John Lateran, like St. Peter’s Basilica, is a marvelous temple built by human hands working in stone, brick and mortar. The prayer and readings today, however, give a strange spiritual twist to the idea of temple; they speak of a temple not built by human hands. In the opening prayer we pray, “God, our Father, from us as living stones you built an eternal temple to your glory.” In the second reading Paul writes, “Brother and sisters, do you not know you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (I Cor. 3:9, 16)

Jesus and the temple

The spiritualization of the temple continues in the gospel today. With zeal for His Father's house in His heart and a whip of cord in His hand, Jesus drives the money‑changers and vendors out of the temple built by human hands. When asked by what authority He does such things, He cryptically replies, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will rebuild it." (Jn 2:19) Rebuild it in three days! My gosh! It took l0, 000 men to build the temple. It took 1000 priests as masons to construct its sacred sections. It took 46 years to complete it.[3] How could Jesus possibly rebuild it in three days! Scripture says He was not speaking about a temple made by human hands but about the temple of his body. (Jn 2:23‑21)

Jesus again spiritualizes the idea of temple when He and the Samaritan woman are having an argument about whose temple was better: her temple built on Mt Gerizim or His built in Jerusalem. Jesus assures her, “Believe me, woman, the time is coming and is already here, when real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. (Jn 4:1-42)

St. Stephen and the temple

That same spiritual twist to the idea of temple is found also in Acts. Just before being stoned to death, St. Stephen concludes a long hefty speech to the High Priest, saying,
King David found favor with God and asked God to allow him to build a house for the God of Jacob, though it was not David who actually built a house for God but Solomon. However, I tell you [ High Priest] the Most High God does not live in a house built by human hands; for as the prophet says, “The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What house could you possibly build Me?” (Acts 7:48‑49; Is 66:1)]

At the end of the day, Scripture’s spiritual twist to the temple betrays a dissatisfaction with all temples and churches built by human hands – a dissatisfaction with the basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, Italy and with the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.

Reformers and the church

The Reformers of the 16th century were not only dissatisfied with the church built by Rome, they were also downright angry at it. They were angry at it for its money‑changers and vendors. More theologically, they were angry at it for selling good works instead of the saving blood of Jesus. So the Reformers, like Jesus Himself, spiritualized the idea of church. The true church of Christ, they said, is not some visible institution built by human hands. It is not constructed out of human teachings, creeds and laws. At heart, they said, it is the assembly of all those who believe they are saved not by good works but by the precious blood of Jesus. That, of course, spiritualizes the church, for belief is invisible and spiritual.

Others, less attached to Reformation theology, spiritualize the church as simply the assembly of those who believe in the blessed words and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth. It is not necessary for them go to a church built by human hands. Many of them, in fact, do not go regularly to any church. Many of our sons and daughters, who no longer sit with us at Sunday Mass, belong to that invisible and spiritual church. If they go to church at all, it is at Christmas and Easter, and with that they are for the time being content.

The prophet Archbishop Hunthausen

The synagogue built by human hands persecuted the prophets of old. Jesus complained, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God sent you!” (Mt. 23:37) The church built by human hands also persecutes the prophets.

It persecuted Raymond Hunthausen, Archbishop of Seattle from 1975 to 1991. When he became Archbishop, he moved out of the Episcopal mansion into an ordinary house in town. He is remembered most for his support of the poor and disenfranchised. He was an inveterate pacifist and anti-nuclear protestor. He disagreed with the Vatican over various issues. In a letter on July 1, 1977, he publicly defended the rights of gays and lesbians. One of Hunthausen's most controversial acts was to permit a militant homosexual group, Dignity, to hold its own Mass in his cathedral. “They're Catholics too,” he explained. "They need a place to pray.” In 1985, Pope John Paul, supreme head of the church built by human hands, stripped prophet Hunthausen of his authority, because “his lack of clarity about homosexuality had confused the faithful.”

The prophet Bishop Untener

The church built by human hands also persecuted now deceased Kenneth Untener, the Bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, from 1980 to 2004. 1993 was the 25th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (1993) which reaffirmed the Church's stand against artificial birth control. Bishop Untener seized the occasion to urge the church to start a new, honest and open discussion on birth control. That was a courageous and prophetic invitation, because for the past twenty-five years Humanae Vitae had become a litmus test of Catholic loyalty. Untener’s daring invitation quietly infuriated Rome and assured prophet Untener that he would never and could never become a Cardinal.

The prophet Gumbleton

The church built by human hands understandably persecuted Thomas Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit from 1968 to 2006. In a letter to America magazine, November 20, 1963, he wrote, "I can vouch for the fact that very many bishops share the same conviction [that not every contraceptive act is intrinsically evil]. However, sadly enough, fewer and fewer are willing to say this publicly.” The bishop also predicted that, “Priestesses will inevitably come. Already, female parochial administrators are proving their competency and laying the groundwork for the ordination of women.”

Gumbleton has a brother Dan who is gay, was married and has four children. At first the bishop found it hard to accept. So did his mother who asked him one day whether her son -- his brother -- was going to hell. In 1997 he initiated and co-authored a pastoral letter of the US Catholic Bishops entitled Always Our Children. It is a pastoral message to the parents of homosexual children with suggestions for pastoral ministers. In a presentation in Lexington, MA, Gumbleton said, “We must further the steps we took in our pastoral letter Always Our Children to overcome the homophobia within our culture and within the Church. We must be a truly welcoming community for homosexual people.... Always Our Children pointed out that homosexuals are a gift to the Church, and we should not marginalize them and push them aside.”

What! A gift to the Church! When Gumbleton reached mandatory retirement age in 2006, his very good health prompted him to ask permission to continue on as Auxiliary Bishop to Detroit. His request was given to the head of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Giovanni Re, and he denied it. Gumbleton served as pastor to a number of parishes in Detroit, including St. Leo's. In 2007 when he asked permission to remain a part of St. Leo's community, the Archdiosese of Detroit denied it.

The Prophet Father Farrow

As we speak, the church built by human hands has struck again. On Sunday, October 5, 2008, Father Geoffrey Farrow, 50, chaplain of the St. Paul Newman Center (which primarily serves students and faculty at Cal State Fresno) delivered a sermon which criticized church leadership for supporting California Proposition 8 -- a ballot measure that would make it unconstitutional for same-sex couples to marry. In his sermon Farrow said,

Recently, I was speaking with some of our parishioners who advocate for the
ordination of women. In the course of our conversation, a question arose which
has haunted me: At what point do you cease to be an agent for healing and growth
and become an accomplice of injustice? By asking all of the pastors of the
Diocese of Fresno to promote Catholics to vote ”Yes” on Proposition 8, the
bishop has placed me in a moral predicament.

In a well-thought-out, not-off-the-top-of-his-head homily, Farrow continued,

In directing the faithful to vote “Yes” on Proposition 8, the California bishops
are not only entering the political arena, they are [also] ignoring the advances
and insights of neurology, psychology, and the very statements by the church
itself that homosexuality is [an] innate [orientation]…. When the hierarchy
prohibited artificial birth control, most of the faithful in the United States,
Canada and Europe scratched their heads in wonderment and proceeded to ignore
them. There is an expression in theology: “The voice of the people is the voice
of God.” If your son or daughter is gay/lesbian let them know that you love them
unconditionally. Let them know that you are not ashamed or embarrassed by them.
Guide them as you would your other children to finding true and abiding love.

Farrow ended his fatal homily saying,

I know these words of truth will cost me dearly. But to withhold them would be
far more costly, and I would become an accomplice to a moral evil that strips
gay and lesbian people not only of their civil rights but of their human dignity
as well. Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.” He didn't promise that it
would be easy or without personal cost to speak that truth.

On Thursday, October 9, that personal cost came crashing down upon prophet Farrow. The church built by human hands struck again. Fresno Bishop John T. Steinbock removed Farrow as chaplain of the Newman Center saying,"Your statement contradicted the teaching of the Catholic Church and has brought scandal to your parish community as well as the whole Church." In a disciplinary letter he also admonished Farrow against "using the Internet as a means of continuing your conflict.”

Hunthausen, Untener, Gumbleton, Farrow, and many others are a great cloud of witnesses for us. They call to mind the words from Hebrews, “Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin that easily entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance the race that lies before us. (Hebrew 12:1)

Conclusion
Also in need of a temple built by human hands

This great cloud of witnesses of bishops and priests do not call us to wallow in negativity. In fact, on this feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran, they call us to be positive about the temple built by human hands. For we are human beings who need to come together and worship in a structure made of stone, brick and mortar. We are human beings who need to worship with flesh and blood – especially the Eucharistic flesh and blood of Jesus. We are human beings who need to hear the proclamation of Good News in a world filled with bad news. We are human beings who, in the dark and gloomy days of November and December, need to see God’s beauty carved out in the marvelous marble of our cathedrals and basilicas, and see God’s glory shining forth from their stain-glass windows. We are human beings also in need of a temple built with human hands.

[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24

[3]It took 120 years to build St. Peter’s. Construction began on April 18, 1506 and was completed in 1626.