Homily for First Sunday of Advent (Year A)

The readings for the First Sunday of Advent (Year A) May be found at:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120119.cfm

Life is busy isn’t it?  So much to do. So little time.  

There’s always something going on, always something to plan for, always something to do, always more items on our ever growing to-do lists.  

This past week was a perfect example.  

We planned and prepared for Thanksgiving.  

Whether we were home or travelled to be with friends or family, chances are we spent many hours thinking about and preparing for Thanksgiving.  

Meal plans were prepared.  

Impromptu trips to the grocery store happened for that one item we forgot on our list.  

Then it became about getting the house ready, doing the cleaning, preparing the table, cooking the meal.   

I heard something earlier this week that caught my attention.  Basically it went like this...we spend 10 hours preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, twenty minutes eating it and 3 hours cleaning up after it.  That’s thirteen hours of a lot going on there for a twenty minute meal!  

And no sooner than when Thanksgiving was over we were already on to the next thing - making lists, reading circulars, drinking ginormous cups of coffee and heading out for Black Friday shopping.  

Because Thanksgiving was so late this year, there are even less days to prepare for Christmas.  So much to do. So little time.

That’s exactly what the gospel for the First Week of Advent is all about.  

So much to do.

So little time.

Unlike Thanksgiving and Black Friday and Christmas, which we have had marked on the calendar, we don’t know when we will meet our Lord.  

Whether we meet Him as part of His Second Coming or because of the unexpected end of our own lives, that day will come.  The days of preparation, the planning, the list making, all the activity will come to an end. It’ll happen.  

No matter how hard we try to control our day-to-day lives, ultimately events will overtake us.  And that is why we need to be prepared.  

In today’s gospel, our Lord’s message is simple.  Prepare for the unexpected through faith. Trust in the Lord daily and when disaster strikes, you will have the where-with-all to survive.

Now, Our Lord does not want us unable to sleep, anxious, constantly worried about whether today could be the day for us or those that we love.  But He does want us to prepare for the inevitable.  

He calls us to be prepared.  Today is not just any day.  

Today is where eternal happiness or eternal punishment is decided.  

That’s scary isn’t it?   I’ll say that again.

Today is where eternal happiness or eternal punishment is decided.  

We don’t know when our earthly pilgrimage will come to an end, but if we thought it could come today, how could that change the way we live our lives?

To be saved we don’t have to meet any special conditions, or to be in a special position in life; we simply have to be faithful to the Lord in the middle of ordinary, everyday life.  To live in a way where we are conscious of our souls and of being in a state of grace.

Our Lord calls us to be prepared and like a good Father, he has given us some guidelines to help.  He has given us the commandments and has given us the pathway to ensure we are in a state of grace in the Sacrament of Penance.  

Examine your Conscience.  Go to confession. Do it as soon as you possibly can.  

If you are too embarrassed to go to your parish priest, go somewhere else.  If the schedule for confessions doesn’t work for you, call the parish office.  They will gladly accommodate your request for a sacramental confession. Go to Our Lady’s Chapel downtown.  Find a priest that may be a little hard of hearing if that helps.  

That one has worked for me in the past.  

As you work through your list in preparation for Christmas, make sure making a good sacramental confession is on it - if not at the top of it.  

As we begin this Advent journey, let us be mindful of our eternal lives and that caring for it be somewhere on our ever-growing to-do list - if not at the top.

After all,

We have so much to do 

and less time to do it in 

than we can possibly know.

Homily for Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C)

The readings for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) May be found at:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111019.cfm

You only live once.  We’ve all heard this phrase before, haven’t we?  At times, we use these words to justify a purchase, a trip or a decision we know we probably shouldn’t make, because after all…you only live once.

But life, at least in terms of our immortal soul is a long one and in today’s gospel, we hear the promise of eternal life.    An eternal life that we are meant to spend with our Lord in heaven.

But how often do we really think about heaven?  How often do we think about the alternative? If we thought more about it, would that change the way we think about our life now?  

In heaven, we will love everybody, but more perfectly than we do now.  In fact, if our enemy makes it to heaven, we will love them more than we love our spouse or family or friends now.   That should fill us with great hope.

And that’s what today’s readings are about - hope.

All the boys that died in the first reading - they talked about the hope of the resurrection, and that was before Jesus came and proved there was a resurrection by rising from the dead.   That’s hope!

They said you may take my life now, but God will give it back for eternity. That’s hope! 

St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians to reinforce the strength that God would give them so that they could be hope-filled.

So, we need to be a people of hope. 

That means no matter how dark things seem, no matter what happens in the Church, in this collaborative, no matter what happens to those that we love, no matter who says what about whom, no matter who gets elected, no matter what, we need hope!   

The hope that no matter what - God is with us and strengthens us. 

Regardless of what happens in this life, as followers of Jesus, we are people of hope and that means that God always wins.  Always.  

And being people of hope, we need to make sure we live not just for this life, but for eternal life.  And that’s not always easy. Speaking for myself, I can get so caught up in day to day life and my “to do” list, that I can often forget what’s important and that’s heaven.

So as people of hope, our ultimate goal is to keep our eyes on eternal life in heaven, which is a place of love.

When you and I go beyond ourselves, in little and big ways every day, and live for others, we are preparing for what heaven is going to be like.  Those in heaven already learned this while they were on earth - that the purpose of life is to love and take care of others.

In a way, that’s what we focus on in the Church in November.

One of the ways we love others is to pray for the immortal souls of those who passed from this life before us.  Sometimes, we don’t pray for them because we assume they’re already in heaven, which can be a mistake. We need to show them love  too, by praying for them, having Masses said for them and helping them along in their journey to heaven.

This is what hope is all about. 

And so, if you have a quiet moment this week I’d ask you to have a think about how you’re doing in this life in preparing for eternal life.  Ask yourself -

Am I more concerned about others than myself? 

Do I make sure that I take care of those in need on a consistent basis, not just when I can fit it into my schedule? 

Do I lay down my life for others? 

Am I just living for now, next week or next year, or am I living for eternity? 

Whether we like it or not, every one of our mortal bodies is going to die.  Jesus’ mortal body died and we know we don’t measure up to Jesus. But his resurrection from the dead that we’ll proclaim in the Celebration of the Eucharist in just a few moments - gives us hope.

While our bodies will die, our souls are immortal and we need to protect them by loving and caring for others.  

We may only live once – but if we do it right, with hope and love for others and our eternal soul – once is enough.