The Hard Work and the Joy of Advent

The first Sunday of Advent
The Hard Work & the Joy of Advent
November 28, 2010, First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:37-44

First reading

This is what Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it; many people shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

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

Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men shall be out in the field; one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord shall come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man shall come.”

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

----------------
Introduction
The Extraordinary Time of Advent

Today we exit Ordinary Time and enter into the Extraordinary Time of Advent in preparation for Christmas 2010. Today is New Year’s Day in the Church. Today we go from liturgical Cycle C to Cycle A for the Scripture readings at Mass. This past church year the gospel readings were from Luke; this new church year they will be from Matthew. The liturgical color of the vestments for Advent is purple -- the color for penance. Before Vatican II, Advent like Lent was strictly a penitential season which frowned upon all partying, gift-giving and decorating before December 24. After Vatican II, Pope Paul VI in 1969 approved a revised Roman liturgical calendar which describes Advent as a “season of joyful expectation,” though not denying its penitential dimension.

Two feasts of lights

The physical darkness of these days is building up to December 21, the shortest day of the year, with only 9 short hours of light and 15 long hours of darkness. The increasing physical darkness of these days is intensified also by hard economic times, never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ever-present threats from Islamic terrorists, and by the recent midterm elections which were blackened by mean-spiritedness and gridlock, instead of being suffused with a burning desire to do the work of the people.

Into this darkness come two Feasts of Lights: Christmas for Christians and Hanukkah[1] for Jews. This Sunday, November28, 2010, we light the first of the four candles on the Advent wreath, as a fourfold genuflection to Christmas - our Feast of Lights. And on Thursday, December 2, 2010, our Jewish brethren at sundown will light the first of the eight candles of Hanukkah - their Feast of Lights. (Jn 10:22)

Hanukkah -- a feast of light gone astray

Johannes Buxtorf (1564 – 1629), an ancient Jewish scholar, writes about how his people have strayed far the original inspirations of their religious feasts. He tells how his fellow-Jews had smothered the Feast of Hanukkah (their Feast of Lights) under a blanket of revelry and busyness:

They celebrate it today 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 candle each day until the eighth night. The candles 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. And they 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. In the observance of our Feast of Lights they are very fussy about the outer light but are not concerned about the great darkness which abides in their hearts.

Christmas – a feast of light gone astray

As we are about to launch off into the Advent-Christmas season, Buxtorf‘s words speak poignantly also to us. They indict us also for having strayed far from the original inspiration of Christmas: “an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”(Lk 2:12) We too smother our Feast of Lights under a blanket of revelry and busyness. Of us Buxtorf would write:

They are busy decorating everything with a million lights for their Feast of Lights, and all the while ”they are not concerned about the great darkness which abides in their hearts.” Their Advent-Christmas season makes them unrelentingly busy. They are busy with parties they have to host or attend. They are busy with Christmas cards they have to write or answer. They are busy with shopping for gifts they have to buy for themselves and others. They are busy with trips they have to make, and with visiting relatives they have to accommodate. They are busy hurrying and scurrying here, there and everywhere, except to the stable where they would find the reason for their season: “an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a
manger.”

Thanksgiving – a feast not gone astray

Last Thursday the Nation celebrated what is perhaps its most cherished feast--Thanksgiving. It is, for sure, the Nation’s purest feast. Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day have deteriorated mostly into picnic days in parks. Thanksgiving, however, has remained true to its original inspiration. It still sends us (loaded down with no other gift but ourselves) “over the river and through the woods” to grandmother’s house, to give thanks for the basic blessings: for family and friends, a roof over our head, a warm bed to sleep in and food aplenty to eat.

A recent trend

Is Advent a season of penance? Or is it “a season of joyful expectation” of the Lord's first coming at Christmas and of His second coming at the end of time? Or is it a season of both penance and joyful expectation? The revised liturgical calendar of Paul VI did not deny that Advent is a season of penance; it simply affirmed that Advent is also a “season of joyful expectation.” Penance doesn’t exclude joy, and joy doesn’t exclude penance. A recent trend, however, turns Advent into a season of joy only, with no price of penance to pay.

Bryan Owen, writer and poet, takes to task the trend that makes Advent only”a season of joyful expectation” and neglects its penitential dimension. He writes,

Why, then, do we sometimes hear clergy and laypersons so emphatically deny that these themes [of sin and repentance] are an intrinsic part of the Advent season? I don’t want to paint with too broad of a brush, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s because we are increasingly uncomfortable with btheological concepts like “sin” and “repentance,” and perhaps especially at a time of the year when our consumer culture is in high “feel good” gear. It’s just so much easier (and more fun) to go with the path of least resistance and join the party. By contrast, themes of sin and repentance convey the clear message that we need to change, that we need transformation in order to be ready for Christmas, that we need to wait for the celebration in God’s time, and that it’s inappropriate and even unfaithful to jump the gun by celebrating too early without doing the hard work of repentance in the light of God’s grace.

The future tense: promise

The Scripture readings at Mass for Early Advent (till Dec. 17) are especially from the prophet of Advent – Isaiah. He speaks to us about the heavy-duty work that needs to be done, and he promises that better things are to come. Accordingly, the verbs of the Scripture readings for Early Advent are in the future tense, which is the tense of promise.

“In those days they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives. (Is 2:4) "In those days the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." (Is 11:6) “In those days every valley shall be fill in, every mountain and hill shall be made low.” (Is 40:4 & Mt 3:3) Etc.

The past tense: story

When Late Advent (or the Novena of Christmas) begins on the 17th the mood of the Scripture readings at Mass changes dramatically. They no longer speak about the heavy-duty work that needs to be done, like beating swords into plowshares and leveling off mountains. The readings no longer are filled with promises of better things to come; they now speak about the good thing that has already come to pass! Accordingly, the verbs of the Scripture readings for Late Advent are in the past tense, which is the tense of history and story. Late Advent delights the child in us as it tells one story after another:

“Once upon a time an angel named Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, a priest burning incense on the altar and announced that he and his wife Elizabeth in their old age would bear a son, who would announce the coming of the Messiah.” (Lk 1: 5-25) “Once upon a time an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds keeping watch over sheep and announced the birth of a savior in the City of David.”(Lk 2:8-20) “Once upon a time an angel of the Lord named Gabriel appeared to a maiden named Mary, and announced that she would virginally conceive a son whom she shall name Jesus.” (Lk 1:26-38) Etc.

As the readings of Late Advent tell us the many stories that make up the one great Story of Christmas, the mood of Advent changes from heavy-duty work to be done to joyful expectation.

Conclusion
Not jumping the gun

Bryan Owen bids us to not “jump the gun by celebrating too early without doing the hard work” of Advent first. In the past we were forbidden to not jump the gun, and we had to do the hard work first, and to do it right up to Christmas Eve itself! The old Advent made us wait until the 24th to decorate the tree, to open our gifts and to indulge in the tastes and sounds of the season. Now days, Christmas begins the day after Thanksgiving when people rush to shopping malls and trample each other under foot, trying to get into stores and lay hold of a bargain. It’s a scene absolutely obscene to behold, especially at this time of the rolling year. By the 26th their trees are thrown out on the curb, and they are left depressed by the season of “joyful expectation.”’

Early Advent invites us “to not jump the gun,” to hold off with the joy part of Advent and to do its hard work first (beating our swords into plowshares and leveling off our mountains). With the hard work done first, the holiday season won’t leave us depressed but filled with joy, the tree won’t be thrown out on the curb by 26th,, and we will find ourselves clinging on to Christmas at least until the Three Kings arrive on Epiphany.

[1] Hanukkah (a Hebrew word meaning `rededication’) commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek tyrant of the 2nd century B.C. Hanukkah is also known as The Feast of Lights, because of the 8 candles on the menorah (candelabra ) which were lit for the 8 days of rededication.

Christ the King

Pope John XXIII

Nov. 25, 1881–June 3, 1963

King-on-the-hill
according to Jesus and John

November 21, 2010 -- Solemnity of Christ the King
II Samuel 5:1-3 Colossians 1:12-20 Luke 23:35-43

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

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God." Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer Him wine, they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.”Above him an inscription read, "This is the King of the Jews." Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us." The other criminal, however, rebuked him, saying, "Have you no fear of God? We are all under the same sentence. We indeed have been justly condemned; we’re getting what we deserve, but He has done no wrong.” Then the good criminal turned to Jesus and said, "Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

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

----------------
Introduction
The end of the church year

After having celebrated all the feasts of Our Lord and his saints through fifty-two weeks, today we finish off the church year with a feast in honor of Christ the King. Then next Sunday we will celebrate New Year’s Day in the Church with the first Sunday of Advent -- that season which keeps us so busy preparing for Christmas that there is little time to prepare for the birthday of the Lord.

A recent feast

The feast of Christ the King was instituted as recently as 1925 by Pope Pius XI.[1] At that time, the Pope was battling various kings of this world. He was fighting anticlericalism in Mexico and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. In his own backyard, he was fighting the Kingdom of Italy which had confiscated papal territories. With the newly instituted feast the Pope was saying, “We have a King who is greater than all you kings. 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, the Church celebrates Christ as King as she cries out on Palm Sunday, “God bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God!” (Lk 19:38) Holy Week is a better context for proclaiming the kingship of Christ. It sets Jesus upon a donkey 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. On Palm Sunday Jesus sets matters straight for all those who are busy building kingdoms and mega-churches in this world for Him; He tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” (Jn 18:36)

A scriptural feast

However we sons and daughters of the American Revolution might feel about kings, Scripture is clear: Jesus 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 His ancestor King David, and that His kingdom would have no end. (Lk 1:32-33) At his trial, Pontius Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you a king?”He answers, “Yes, for this I was born, and for this I came into the world.”(Jn 18:37) Accordingly, a gang of Roman soldiers wove 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 which Pilate hung a notice written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. (Jn 19:19)

Christians play King-on-the-hill.

In the old days when kids didn’t have money to buy hi-tech toys, they used to play `Hop-scotch,’ `Kick-the-can’ or `King-on-the-hill.’ Those games didn’t cost a penny. `King-on-the-hill’ required only a hill on which to stand and knock someone down.

Not only kids but also adults play King-on-the-hill. St. Cyprian (d.258), a Church Father of the third century, is famous for his dictum that “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” In the course of time, Cyprian’s dictum deteriorated into a mumbled and half-examined belief that only Christians (or worse yet, only Catholics) made it to the top of the hill in the Kingdom of Heaven. If there were others besides Christians (or Catholics) in heaven that was because they had snuck in through a `backdoor’ called `the baptism of desire’ or `the baptism of blood.’

On August 6, 2000, Cardinal Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI), as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reinvigorated St. Cyprian’s dictum that made Catholics King-on-the-hill. In a document entitled Dominus Iesus, the Pope warned Catholics to not water down the extraordinary uniqueness of Jesus, when dealing with Buddhism and Hinduism. He also warned them to not water down the extraordinary uniqueness of the Catholic Church when dialoguing with non-Catholic Christian churches, The document, heavy with ponderous theology, was disheartening for ecumenists who for thirty years were working hard to build bridges. On July 10, 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 that there was nothing new in the new document, and that she didn’t know what motivated the Pope to write it in the first place. She pointed out, however, that there is the official position of the Church which likes to play `lonely King-on-the-hill,’ and that there is also an unofficial position which is infused with the great good will of Pope John XXIII.

What does Jesus do whenever Christians try to play King-on-the-hill in His name? After the multiplication of the loaves and fishes when the fervent crowds wanted to make Him king, Scripture says, “He fled from them and hid Himself up in the mountains.” (Jn 6: 15)

Muslims play King-on-the-hill.

Not only Christians but Muslims also like to play King-on-the-hill.
The world’s most wanted Islamic terrorist, Osama bin Laden, who believes that only Shari'a[2] (Islamic religious law) can set things right in this world, inspired, master-minded and plotted the apocalyptic day of September 11, 2001. On that unspeakable day, two 747s brought down two signature towers in Lower Manhattan, and three thousand innocent “infidels.”

One year ago on November 5, 2009, another Islamic terrorist, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 and wounding 29 infidels, as he cried out, “Allahu Akbar!” “God is great!” Both unspeakable events were, at heart, more religious than political. At the end of the day, both events were stout proclamations that “Outside the Mosque there is no salvation.”

What does Allah do when Islamic extremists try to play King-on-the-hill in His name? He flees from them, and with Jesus hides Himself up in the mountains.

Judaism does not play King-on-the-hill.

In his book What Went Wrong (with Islam) Bernard Lewis [3] speaks of a `triumphalist approach’ to religion. That’s the approach of Christianity and Islam, which claims that outside the Church or Mosque there is no salvation. Lewis says the `triumphalist approach’ has Christianity and Islam shouting at each other: “I’m right, you’re wrong, go to hell!” Such triumphalism, however, is increasingly under attack in Christianity and is rejected now by many preachers and theologians. There is very little sign, however, that triumphalism is being rejected in Islam.

On the other hand, Lewis speaks of a `relativist approach’ to religion, which says, “I have my faith, you have your faith, and others have their faith.” He says that’s the approach of Judaism. To its great credit, Judaism does not boast that “Outside the Synagogue there is no salvation.” In the Babylonian Talmud Judaism teaches that Gentiles can receive a share in "the world to come.”

A Pope who didn’t play King-on-the-hill

This coming Thursday, November 25, is a doubleheader: besides being Thanksgiving it’s also the birthday of a very beloved man. Many of us were fortunate enough to be his contemporaries, and remember him with deep affection. Like Jesus he was born poor, on November 25, 1881. His name was Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli. Born in a little Italian village called Bergamo Sotto il Monte (Bergamo at the Foot of the Hill), he managed to make it to the top of the hill. 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 crown was placed upon his head. In his homily that day, the new Pope said that he had in mind the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be waited upon as kings are, but to serve.

The day after his `coronation,’ John sped off through elaborate Vatican gates to put his money where his mouth was. 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. John had revived the rite of foot-washing fallen into disuse for centuries – a disuse which was symptomatic of a prevailing institutional attitude.

An example for Morris West

John’s wonderful example emanating from the lofty height of the Petrine throne drew the whole Church and world. 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,[4] 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.

Conclusion
King-on-the-hill according to Jesus and John

When Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, born in Bergamo at the Foot of the Mountain, made it to the top of the hill as John XXIII, he, like Jesus, played a completely new game of King-on-the-hill. In the old game, when you got to the top, you drove everyone down. In the new game when Jesus got to the top -- when He was lifted up on the Hill of Calvary -- He drew everyone up to Himself. (Jn 12:32) Like Jesus, when John got to the top of the hill he, too, played the game in an entirely new way. From the lofty height of the Petrine throne he showed the Church and all of us how much more blessed, how much more effective, and yes, how much more fun it is to draw people than to drive them.

[1] In his encyclical Quas Primas (December 11, 1925)
[2] Shari'a literally means "the path to a watering hole."
[3] British-American historian, Orientalist and political commentator
[4] 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.

Now-Time and End-Time

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 14, 2010
Malachi 3:19-20a 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 Luke 21:5-11, 25-28

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be rubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts. But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

Gospel
The end of the Temple (Lk 21:5-11)

When some were admiring how the Temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “I tell you the day is coming when not a single stone will be left on top of another; it will all become one vast heap of rubble.” Then some asked him," Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be that these things are about to happen?" He answered, “Do not let anyone mislead you. For many will come in my name, saying, `'I am he,’ and `The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them further: “Nations and kingdoms will wage war against each other. And there will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues everywhere; and fearful events and great signs from the sky.”

The end of time (Lk 21:25-28)

There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. On earth, countries will be in great distress. Nations will be frightened by roaring seas and raging tides. Men will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth; for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory . When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.”

Introduction
33rd Sunday -- end of the church year

The Western World ends its old year on New Year’s Eve, the last day of December. For all practical purposes this 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Church is the end of the church year. The Scripture readings this Sunday are about the End-time. Next Sunday, Nov. 21, the Church will celebrate the feast of Christ the King, as a triumphant finale to the church year. In response to the growing nationalism and secularism of the day, the feast of Christ the King, instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925, was sandwiched in between the last Sunday of the church year and the first Sunday of Advent.

This year November 28 will be the first Sunday of Advent in preparation for Christmas 2010. Already in many city squares a towering Christmas tree has been constructed -- aglow with a thousand lights to ignite the spirit of holiday shopping in us, but especially to lighten up a world darkened by unending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a bad economy stressing many, ugly midterm elections dividing the nation, and political parties paralyzed by gridlock.

The end of the Temple

The Temple in Jerusalem was a marvelous human creation. It took 10,000 men to build it, 1000 priests as masons to construct its sacred sections, and 46 years to complete. Imagine then how shocked were some people when Jesus told them, as they were admiring the Temple before them, that, “The day is coming when not a single stone will be left on top of another; it will all become one vast heap of rubble.” (Lk. 21: 6) That was like standing in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and telling Italian people that their marvelous creation which took 120 years to build was going to be destroyed.

Jesus’ prediction about the Temple’s destruction came true. In 66 AD, Jewish zealots began a revolt against the power of Rome. On the day of Passover, 70 AD, Roman legions surrounded the city and cut off all food and water supplies. After a siege of five months, Roman forces stormed Jerusalem and burned down the Temple. As Jesus predicted, not one stone was left on another; the only part of Herod’s Temple that remains standing today is a section of the western wall called the Wailing Wall.

Apocalypse – a literary genre

The second part of today’s gospel reading is an apocalypse -- a literary genre which appeared two centuries before and three centuries after Christ. An apocalypse paints a picture about an imminent End. It describes a stunning and momentous event which brings on the Messiah, who once and for all will fix everything that’s wrong with this world, but which man hasn’t been able to fix. That momentous event which brings on the age of the Messiah will occur in the near future, and will be accompanied by all kinds of signs:

There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars.
On earth, countries will be in great distress.
Nations will be frightened by roaring seas and raging tides.
Men will faint from fear as they wait
for what is coming over the whole earth;
for the powers in space will be driven from their courses.
Then the Son of Man will appear,
coming in a cloud with great power and glory.
When these things begin to happen,
stand up and raise your heads,
because your salvation is near.”
(Dan 7:13-14; Lk 21:25-28)

Challenged to wait as they were

For most of us an apocalypse is a strange and esoteric genre. Who of us are hoping and waiting for an End to the world which will fix once and for all everything that we couldn’t fix for ourselves? Who of us, in fact, are hoping and waiting for Christ’s second coming “in a cloud with great power and glory” to be our great Fixer. Teilhard de Chardin (that great mystic theologian of the End-time) writes, albeit with a tone of complaint,”We persist in saying that we wait in hopeful expectation of the coming of the Master. In reality we must admit, if we are sincere, that we no longer wait for anything!” (Divine Milieu)

We are undoubtedly different from Luke’s audience. At the same time, however, we are as much challenged as they were to wait for an event greatly longed for, but disappointingly delayed in coming. We might be waiting for a national or global event like economic recovery or an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Or we might be waiting for an event on a personal level like the results of a biopsy, a letter from an estranged child, or the safe return of a loved one from a tour of duty. Whatever the case, we, like Luke’s audience, know the challenge, the stress and the anxiety of waiting.

Despair of & belief in human endeavor

An apocalypse foretells that “Men will faint from fright as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth.” Strange to say, an apocalypse was written not to frighten people but to console them. It was written because human conditions were felt to be beyond human fixing, and in great need of nothing less than divine intervention. Strange to say, an apocalypse was inspired by a hope based upon despair: despair of human effort leads to hope in divine effort.

Some religious sects despair that human endeavor can fix what’s wrong with this world. They put all their trust in an End-time God who on the last day will do for them what they feel they can’t do for themselves. These `other-worldly’ people betake themselves not to action to fix things up, but to prayer that God will hasten the day of the Great Fixer, and that God will enable them to hold on until that great day comes. That‘s a light year away from the `this-worldly’ spirit of Teilhard de Chardin, who again writes in Divine Milieu, “Our faith imposes on us the right and the duty to throw ourselves into the things of this world.”

Most of us, however, believe in human endeavor, and are so busy trying to fix what needs fixing in this world that we have little room or need for an apocalyptic God to step in and do the job for us. We are not preoccupied with apocalyptic thoughts about “the Son of man coming in a cloud with great power and glory” to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves.

The culture of the instantaneous

Teilhard is, indeed, right when he says that if we’re sincere we must admit that we no longer wait for anything!” We are woefully blighted by a culture of the instantaneous which can’t bear waiting for anything. We don’t wait for food (by preparing a good healthy meal); we get it instantly at a McDonald’s drive-through. We don’t wait for mail; we get it instantly through e-mail. That is a light year away from the old days when the stagecoach or the pony express used to deliver the mail. It is even a light years away from the mailman today delivering his `snail mail.’

In a culture of the instantaneous we don’t wait until we have enough cash to buy the things we want or think we need; we now have a wallet full of credit cards to take care of that. In a culture of the instantaneous, we don’t even wait for Christmas anymore. Now days it arrives on the very Friday after Thanksgiving Thursday. Already a tall fully decorated Christmas tree stands at the entrance of a Wal-Mart Store. That, too, is a light year away from the old days when Christmas was religiously held off until Dec. 24. And yes, in a culture of the instantaneous, it was to be expected that the nation would have no patience whatsoever to wait for economic recovery; through the recent midterm elections it chose to `throw the bums out.’

End-time already & always upon us

The second part of today’s gospel is about the End-time. But does the End-time come only at the very end, or is it already and always upon us? Haven’t we already experienced “men fainting from fear” in the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Dachau, Buchenwald, etc., during the Nazi reign of terror? In 12 short years (1933-1945 VE Day) the Nazis systematically murdered 6,025,000 Jews and roughly 6,667,000 non-Jews, to make a grand total 12,692,000 people!
Isn’t the End-time already upon us? Haven’t we already experienced “nations and kingdoms waging war against each other” on our planet? The first half of the twentieth century was devastated by two horrific World Wars. The estimated total casualties of World War I is 18 million plus! The estimated total casualties of World War II is 22 million plus!

Isn’t the End-time already upon us in those two apocalyptic days of August 6 and 9, 1945, when two atomic bombs exploded upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing World War II to an end, and ushering in an utterly foreboding age? In those two blasts between 130,000 and 200,000 were killed, injured, or simply disappeared in atomic dust.

Isn’t the End-time already upon us? On September 11, 2001, we saw “men fainting from fear.”The scene of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, plumed in black billowing smoke, is indelibly burned into our imagination. On that day Islamic terrorists drove two 747s into the Twin Towers, killing 2,752 victims, among whom were 343 firefighters and 60 police officers. How more apocalyptic than that can life on earth get!

Conclusion
Both now-Time & End-Time people

We are Now-Time people who are called to roll up our sleeves and labor to fix the things we can fix, and to build a new heaven and earth. (Rev. 21:1) Our faith imposes that on us. We are also End-Time people “who have no permanent city here on earth, and who go in search of that city which is to come.” (Heb 13:14) Only there will the fruits of our labor be “freed of stain, burnished and transfigured, when Christ hands over to the Father `a kingdom eternal and universal, a kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace. ’"

When we are Now-Time people only, we place too much hope in human endeavor. When we are End-Time only, we despair of human effort and place too much hope in God. The Church’s dismissal to us on this 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (her End-time Sunday) is to go forth and be both.

Raising up Dead Men & Dead God

Franciscan Fr. Mychal Judge

Raising up Dead Men & Dead God

November 7,, 2010, 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time
2Mac 7: 1-2, 9-14 2Thess 2:16-3:5 Luke 20:27-40

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

Then some Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, approached Jesus with a wily question: “The Law of Moses states that if a man dies without children, the man’s brother shall marry the widow in order to procreate children who will legally carry on the man’s name.[1] We know of a family of seven brothers. The oldest married and then died without any children. And so it went, one after the other, until each of the seven had married her and died, leaving no children. Finally the woman died also. Now we have a question we want to ask you: whose wife will she be in your `supposed resurrection‘of the dead? Remember all seven of them were married to her!”

Jesus answered them, “How wrong you are! It is because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power. For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven who have no bodies and do not marry. Now, as for the dead rising to life: have you not read what God said to Moses when He appeared to him in the burning bush? He said, `I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’[2] If God said He is their God, then these men are not really dead, for God is a God of living, not dead, people. ” When the people heard this, they were amazed at Jesus' teaching. Some of the Scribes (who do believe in the resurrection of the dead) responded, “Well, said, Teacher.” After that the Sadducees didn’t dare ask Him any more questions.

The Word of Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

----------------
Introduction
Seasonal light and darkness

On this first Sunday of November 7th 2010, Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 AM, and we return to Standard Time. Today we set our clocks back: 6 AM becomes 5 AM. It’s lighter now when we get up at 6 AM. With Standard Time 4 PM becomes 3PM, and it’s darker now when we go home from work or school. It’s that season of the year when the light and darkness impinge themselves noticeably upon our psyches.

Pharisees playing gotcha

In the scripture passage immediately preceding today's gospel some Scribes [3] were playing 'gotcha' with Jesus.

He had just told a parable which was aimed against them. That angered them, but they were too afraid to do anything openly against Jesus, for they feared the people with whom He was popular. So they sent some agents who were to try to catch Jesus in saying something against the authority of Rome which occupied their land. The agents asked Him a wily question:”Master, we know you always tell the truth. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Rome or not?” If He said “no” it is not right to pay taxes to Rome, that would anger the Romans. If He said “yes” it is right to pay taxes to Rome, that would enrage His fellow-Jews. Jesus answered then, “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” His clever answer outwitted the wily question of the Scribes (most of whom were Pharisees[4]). ”Unable to trap Jesus and astonished by His answer, they fell silent.” (Lk 20: 19-26) At the end of the day, the passage is more about gotcha than about whether or not it is OK for a Jew to pay taxes to Roman occupiers.

Sadducees playing gotcha

Immediately following the “Render to Caesar” Scripture is today’s gospel in which the Sadducees,

[5] are also playing `gotcha’ with Jesus. The Sadducees (who don’t believe in the resurrection of the dead) approach Jesus with a `serious question.’ A woman whom they knew had gone through seven husbands (all of them brothers), who one by one died. Now they ask Jesus whose wife will she be in His `so-called resurrection of the dead’? The Sadducees were simply out to stump Jesus, and show how foolish was His idea of a resurrection of the dead. If they could stump Him (a reputable itinerant preacher), that would indeed be a big feather in their hat. At the end of the day, today’s gospel is more about gotcha than about whether men do or do not rise from the dead.

Murderers of God

Down through the ages we humans have always been plagued by the problem of dead men; do they really rise from their graves? Christian faith settles that doubt for us. In the Apostles’ Creed we profess belief “in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” That in turn is predicated on the belief that “on the third day He rose again from the dead,” and that He has now become “the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.” (I Cor. 15:20)

However, the problem of dead men which has plagued us down through the ages has been superseded in the present age by a strange new problem: that of a dead God! The expression "God is dead” is a famous quote from the German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844–1900).

[6] In his work, The Madman, he places the expression in the mouth of a demented man who declares,

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed Him. How shall we (murderers of all murderers) comfort ourselves? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has known has bled to death under our knifes. Who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to cleanse ourselves? (The Madman)

God murdered by `religious’ people

Jesus crafted a great parable about God murdered by `religious’ people. A man going from Jerusalem to Jericho was waylaid by robbers and was left dying by the side of the road. Along came a Jewish priest and Levite who passed the poor man by, leaving him to die by the side of the road. Those `religious’ people murdered God for the poor man waylaid by robbers. And it was `an irreligious’ good-for-nothing

[7] Good Samaritan who brought God came back to life for the poor man. Nietzsche was right about man’s power to murder God. And strange to say, it is `religious’ people who far more effectively murder God than irreligious people!

God murdered by Nazis

72 years ago this coming Tuesday, 2010, on November 9, 1938, the Nazis rampaged through Germany and in one night destroyed 7000 Jewish businesses and torched 191 synagogues. That night goes down in history as Krystallnach.

[8] It marks the beginning in earnest of the Holocaust. By the time the German Nazis had accomplished their 'final solution of the Jewish problem' they had murdered six million Jews.

But the Nazis had murdered not only Jews, but also and especially murdered God Himself; the most prominent fatality of the Holocaust was God Himself! Elie Weisel, the Holocaust’s most noted Jewish survivor, recounts in his little volume entitled Night his first evening in the concentration camp of Buchenwald. There he saw the bodies of little children going up in smoke from the crematories. He writes, “That was the night which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams into dust. Never shall I forget it, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never!“ Nietzsche was right about man’s great power to murder God.

God murdered by empty ritualists

Even ritualists can murder Him. Karl Jung, the father of modern psychology and the son of a minister described the day of his First Holy Communion for which he had great expectations.

I awaited the day with eager anticipation, and the day finally dawned. There behind the altar stood my father in his familiar robes. He read prayers from the liturgy. On the white cloth covering the altar lay large trays filled with small pieces of bread which came from the local baker whose goods were nothing to brag about. I watched my father eat a piece of the bread and then sip the wine which came from the local tavern. He then passed the cup to one of the old men. All were stiff, solemn, and it seemed to me, uninterested. I looked on in suspense, but could not see nor guess whether anything unusual was going on inside the old men. I saw no sadness and no joy in them. Then came my turn to eat the bread which tasted flat, and to sip the wine which tasted sour. After the final prayer the people all pealed out of church, neither depressed nor illumined with joy. Rather their faces seemed to say. "Well, that's that." In a minute or two the whole church was emptied.

Like that first night in the concentration camp of Buchenwald which had murdered God for Elie Weisel, the day of Jung’s First Holy Communion had in its own way soundly murdered God for Jung. Only gradually in the course of the following days did it dawn on Jung that nothing had happened on that long anticipated day. And he found himself saying, “I must never go back there again, for there I experienced not life but death.” He never returned; his First Communion proved to be so fatal that it became his very last! (Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Jung) Nietzsche was right about man’s great power to murder God.

A murdered God raised up from the dead

If man murders God, man also raises Him from the dead. On 9/11, 2001, Islamic terrorists soundly murdered God for New Yorkers and for the whole nation. The story of Franciscan Fr. Mychal Judge, a celibate gay man, a recovering alcoholic, and a chaplain for the New York Fire Dept. was one of the first to come out of the apocalyptic event of 9/11. He had taken off his helmet to give the last rites to a dying fireman when suddenly debris came crashing down upon him. He died there on the spot, and his body was carried off to a nearby church, and there was laid upon the altar.

Fr. Mychal was a legend in N. Y. City. He was famous for his encyclopedic memory for people’s names, birthdays and passions. He knew everyone from the homeless to the Mayor. Though he was a true New Yorker, born and raised in the city, he lived on an entirely different plain of priorities than most New Yorkers. He wasn’t acquisitive or grabby; he was utterly unselfish and uncomplaining. He was the `saint of the streets of New York City.’ He’d tell drunkards lying in those streets that they weren’t bad people -- that they simply have a disease that makes them think they’re bad, and that’s going to foul them up.

No wonder then that when the Mass of Christian Burial was held for him (September 15, 2001,) it was presided over by Cardinal Edward Egan,

and was attended by a throng of more than 2,800 people. And when a Month's Mind Memorial was held for Fr. Judge, ( October 11, 2001), an endless flow of priests, nuns, lawyers, cops, firefighters, homeless people, rock-and-rollers, recovering alcoholics, local politicians and middle-age couples from the suburbs streamed into Good Shepherd Chapel on Ninth Ave in Manhattan to memorialize a Roman Catholic priest in an Anglican church. Fr. Mychal’s generous life which was always giving, and his selfless death in which he gave everything, raised up for New Yorkers and the nation a God murdered by Islamic extremists on 9/11.

Conclusion
Man’s mighty power

The murderers of God come in all shapes and forms. They are Jewish priests and Levites, `religious’ people, who walked right by a man in great need. They are Nazis who incinerated human beings in the crematories of Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dachau. They are empty ritualists who made the bread and wine taste flat, and who sent the congregation swiftly pealing out of church “neither depressed nor illumined with joy,” and with faces which seemed to say, "Well, that's that."

Nietzsche was right about man’s deadly power to murder God. He was also wrong; he neglected to speak of man’s mighty power to raise up God murdered by man. That’s the power of the Good Samaritan, who raised up a God murdered by `religious’ people walking right by. That’s the mighty power of people like Fr. Mychal Judge who, for N.Y. City and the entire nation, raised up a God soundly murdered on 9/11.

[1] Dt. 25:5-6
[2] Exodus 3:6
[3]` The Scribes were not a religious party but a profession; they were copyists of Scripture (paid by the line,) and some were also teachers of the Law.
[4] Pharisees were a religious party, strict in observing the Law of Moses, to which they added a huge accretion of rules and regulations of their own.
[5] Sadducees were a small Jewish religious sect composed mostly of priests, who believed only in the first five books of the Old Testament. They did not believe in the resurrection, and they rejected the many accretions of the Pharisees.
[6] In the middle of the 20th century; there rose a group called the `Death of God Theologians.” Their message: God is dead! The movement quickly passed.
[7] Samaritans were considered as half-breeds and heretics by Jews.
[8] The Night of the Shattered Crystal