Archive for December 4th, 2022

Prepare for Christmas

December 4, 2022

2nd Sunday of Advent
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

On my way to Bloomer, I see pretty lights in windows and houses, in the trees, and even Christmas trees through windows. The streets in Bloomer and the stores are beautiful as well. We are preparing for Christmas. St. John the Baptist is also telling us to prepare for the coming of Christ. All the pretty decorations are getting us ready externally for Christmas, so we must prepare ourselves internally.

Sin entered into the world through Adam and Eve. In the beginning, God was already preparing to send His Son for our salvation. “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.” (Gen 3: 15) God knew our weaknesses but loved us so much that He did not want to lose us.

God prepared Joachim and Anne for the birth of our Blessed Mother. Her Immaculate Conception occurred in their later years, but their faith in God was strong, and they prayed for a child. God was forming them.

Mother Mary was free from original sin as part of God’s plan for the redemption of humanity. The Blessed Mary was living an ordinary life as a young girl and did not know man. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Mother Mary and said “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” (Luke 1: 30) Through their conversation, the Angel of the Lord prepared Mother Mary to receive Jesus. God was preparing her.

St. Joseph was a just man and he was betrothed to Mother Mary. Before they came together she was found to be with child. He did not want to cause her any shame or embarrassment and planned to send her quietly. “The Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary for your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” ( Matthew 1:20) When Joseph awoke, he knew that he was OK to take Mother Mary as his wife. God was preparing him.

In Luke, we have the prodigal son, who collected all his inheritance from his father and left home. He squandered all of his wealth. A great famine arose in that country and he had nothing. He realized that he needed to go back home and ask for his father’s forgiveness. “Father I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servant’s.” (Luke 15:19) The prodigal son prepared himself to meet his father.

Zacchaeus was a rich tax collector. He wanted to see Jesus. “He ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.” (Luke 19: 4)He was not embarrassed by climbing the tree in spite of his high position in society. Zacchaeus prepared himself to meet Jesus.

We prepare ourselves for so many material things in life, like for school tests, for our jobs, for parties, for marriages, for building homes, and for raising children. We are so busy getting ready for Christmas with gifts and decorations. More important than these are our spiritual needs.

St. John the Baptist asks us to prepare a way for the Lord and make his paths straight. What does this mean for us today? When people heard John speak, they confessed their sins and were baptized. An important part of our Advent Journey is acknowledging sins and confessing them. Let us not forget to prepare a place in our hearts to welcome Jesus!

God made sure to prepare for the birth of Jesus Joachim and Anne, Mother Mary and St. Joseph for their roles in the Incarnation of God’s only begotten Son. The prodigal son and Zacchaeus had to focus their lives towards God and His Mercy. These are all internal preparations to meet the Lord. What are your internal preparations? If you have not started, maybe it’s time for you to prepare to meet the Lord.

Posted in Homily, Salvation History, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

The Allegory of the Jordan River

December 4, 2022

2nd Sunday of Advent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Preceding Jesus’ public ministry, St. John the Baptist appeared preaching in the Judean wilderness. People from Jerusalem, all Judea, and the Jordan River region were going out to see him. John said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” The crowds regarded him as a prophet and were being baptized by him as they acknowledged their sins. Like a bath which cleanses one’s outer self of dirt and odor, John’s baptism was an appeal to God for an inner self cleansed from sin. John’s ministry prepared for Jesus Christ and foreshadowed Christian baptism. The Jordan River in which John baptized embodies an allegory whose symbolism remains important for us today.

The fresh waters of the Jordan River originate in the north from the living Sea of Galilee, a large lake full of fish and ringed by trees. The Jordan’s waters flow south and come to one of either two notable ends. Most of the river’s water just goes with the flow. It flows downhill (as all rivers naturally do) ultimately descending seven hundred vertical feet. These waters remain on the edge of the Promised Land without entering in. And at the end of their journey, they empty out into the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on the face of the earth. After the river drains there, the water has nowhere else to go. As it evaporates to nothingness, the water leaves behind trace amounts of salt which over many, many millennia has made that sea ten times saltier than the oceans. In this oppressive saltiness, no plants nor fish can live. The Dead Sea is thoroughly dead.

Some of the Jordan River’s water, however, does not simply go with the flow downhill. This water escapes the fate of the Dead Sea, by giving itself to the Promised Land. This water enables life and generates fruit among many trees in an otherwise arid place. Jeremiah the Prophet writes of a tree planted beside the stream: “It does not fear heat when it comes; its leaves stay green. In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still produces fruit.” And the 1st Psalm likewise says: “a tree planted near streams of water… yields its fruit in due season; its leaves never wither.” These baptismal waters are willed by God to give life and bear fruit for the Promised Land.

Most of John the Baptist’s contemporaries were convinced he was a prophet, yet the Jewish religious leaders disbelieved. When John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he admonished them: “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance! … Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire!” It would not be enough (for them or us) to just say the right things and go through the motions. Our faith and repentance must be real, producing of good fruit.

As the life-giving Sea of Galilee is the River Jordan’s source, so God above is the source of every spiritual grace and good thing in creation here below. Having received Christian baptism, we can respond in one of two ways on this life’s journey. In this world, we can go with the natural flow of things, descending more and more, ending in the dead abyss without entering the Promised Land. But that is not Jesus’ will for us. As G.K. Chesterton once observed: “A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” Jesus wills for us to cooperate with him, to be changed, and to change the world around us. So believe in the Lord, acknowledge your sins and repent, and bear good fruit with Christ. What is one area — just one thing — one habit or virtue, you can acknowledge today and grow in throughout this Advent season with the grace of God?

Posted in Faith, G.K. Chesterton, Homily, Parables, Repentance, Salvation History, St. John the Baptist, Sunday Homilies | 1 Comment »