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Homilies are posted no later than during the week
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1 Advent
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First
Sunday of Advent - Cycle C
Luke 21:15-2, 34-36
A story is told of the photographer taking a picture. He says to the
woman, "Smile pretty for the camera." A moment later, "OK, madam, you
can resume your usual face." Whether you and I will have a successful
Advent these next four weeks will depend on the attitude or face we
bring to it today. We must stay awake, as Jesus advises us in this
Gospel, and on top of our game. If affirmative, this first week in a
fresh Liturgical year might quite literally alter our lives.
We would all do well to make our own this season the prayer of the
Jesuit poet Gerard Manly Hopkins: "O thou Lord of life, send my roots
rain."
Scholars trace the season of Advent back to the fifth century. It was
placed in the Liturgical calendar of the Church so that we might purge
out of ourselves all that is wrong. In a word, we have the opportunity
to remake our own selves anew. And we have the luxury of four weeks to
do the job in. Become then a twenty-eight day wonder.
When you look at yourself and your sometimes monumental flaws, do not
become overawed. The Chinese advise us the way to move a mountain is by
beginning to carry small stones. You would do well to bring a pail and
a shovel to this Advent. And the Christ advises us in Matthew 17,
20, "If you have faith..., you will say to this mountain, `Move from
here to there!', and it will move; nothing will prove impossible for
you."
This new season invites each of us to become all that we can be.
The quarry you hunt is yourself. The Greek philosopher Plato, who lived
out his life several centuries before Christ, wrote, "The greatest
victory in the world is the victory of self-conquest." There is no one
who will challenge that wisdom.
The most serious coronary disease in the world is not a blockage of the
arteries but rather hardness of the heart. If you are not willing to
recast yourself into a more attractive Christian this Advent, you do
have a serious heart condition.
While God does not require you to be the best in the several weeks
ahead, He surely wants you to try your best.
This day's Gospel speaks of the "Son of Man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory." When will He come? Many would-be prophets
have given a day, month, and year to that question. As 1000 AD
approached, a number of Christians in many countries were convinced
that the Second Coming was about to occur. So, they settled all their
affairs. Then they just settled back to wait for the Christ. It is
reported that some even starved to death. A celebrated evangelist in
1950 promised that the end of the world would come on January 1st,
1957. It will not surprise you to learn that he stopped reminding his
followers of that prediction on January 2nd, 1957.
Someone has suggested that every day should be considered a day of
judgment. Live, said the prophet, as if Jesus died yesterday, rose this
morning, and is coming back at any moment. We must labor in the now and
here. The question of the Second Coming we must place on the back
burner. The Teacher will plan His own arrival and set up His own
schedule.
If you are looking for an Advent program, you might consider the
following. These admonitions by an unknown author were sent by a
friend. Perhaps she was telling me something. "Smile often. Pray. Tell
those that you love that you do. Rediscover old friends. Make new ones.
Hope. Grow. Give. Give in. Buy some flowers. Share them. Keep a
promise. Laugh often. Reach out. Hug a child. Slow down. See a sunrise.
Listen to rain. Trust life. Have faith. Enjoy. Make some mistakes.
Learn from them. Explore the unknown. Celebrate your own life. Give so
much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to
criticize others."
Perhaps the same author has written the prayer we should recite daily
this Advent. "Help us this day, O Lord, to serve thee devoutly and the
world busily. May we do our work wisely, give help secretly, go to our
meal with appetite and dine moderately. May we please our friends duly,
go to bed merrily and sleep soundly. All of this for the joy of Our
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
1 Advent
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First Advent: Santa and Calvin
The
first two readings for this Sunday, from the prophet Jeremiah and from
Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians, are very, very different from
the Gospel, part of the apocalyptical section of the Gospel of Luke.
Jeremiah ends his book of gloom and doom with today’s reading speaking
about a time of God’s abundant love for his people. Thessalonians
also speaks about love. But the Gospel is full of gloom and
doom. How to put these together? Let’s use Santa and
Calvin.
First Santa. Santa’s sled has followed the Macy’s Day Parade. The
shopping season is in full blast. Actually, I think it started at
the beginning of October, but for us traditionalists, it starts with
Thanksgiving.
So,
what are we looking for this Christmas? What are our hopes?
Maybe the kids want a WII, fat chance. Maybe, the adults want a
new Mercedes. Even less chance. Maybe you want to see the happy
look on your pastor’s face when you buy him a new Jag. Right.
Truthfully, you have already given me and continually give me much more
and infinitely greater gifts than a luxury car. You continually share
your love with me, and you let me experience your love for each other,
and your love for God. That really means infinitely more to me than
anything anyone could buy.
Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to
strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and
Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.
Amen. That is from Paul’s First Letter to the Christians in
Thessalonica. 1 Thess 13.
What
are we shopping for this Christmas? We can’t settle for
shopping for stuff. We need to find new and even more wonderful ways to
express our love for our family, our friends, for those throughout the
world in need, and, ultimately, for our God. That is really what
Advent is about, searching for gifts of love for our God, being Santas
for each other.
St.
Paul wrote that our love must continually grow so we can stand
blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord.
That
brings us to the quite frightening gospel with its warnings about being
prepared for the end of time or at least, the end of our own personal
time.
It
also brings me to Calvin, Calvin as in the comic strip Calvin and
Hobbes. Calvin, you might remember, is an eight year old with a stuffed
tiger named Hobbes. Hobbes comes to life whenever Calvin is alone with
him. Hobbes is his conscience as well as his secret friend. One
of my favorite strips presented the bane of Calvin’s existence, the
most disliked person in his life, his neighbor eight year old Suzie.
Suzie was walking to the mailbox on a cold, snow-covered December day,
obviously up North. In her hand she had her letter to Santa
Claus. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Calvin, ready
to hurl a big fat snowball right at her head. Now, for you born
and bred Floridians, snow is fun, but snowballs to the head both hurt
and are dangerous. “I see you, Calvin,” Suzie warns, “and you
better not throw that snowball! I’m mailing my letter to Santa
right now.”
“Is
the envelope sealed?” Calvin shouts back.
“Yes, but I can always write a PS on the back of it.”
“Do
you have a pen?”
“As
a matter of fact, I do.”
Calvin then sadly drops the snowball as the triumphant Suzie walks
away. “I bet she’s bluffing,” Calvin says to Hobbes, “but
this isn’t the time of year to tempt fate.”
There is never a time a year to tempt fate.
That
is what the Gospel for today is about. God gives us this lifetime to
discover him and come to know him in the love of others and the
goodness of this world. Every day of our lives is an Advent of
hope, expectation and preparation. This is not a
time to tempt fate. It is a time to seek the ways of God in all
things.
A
day will come, sooner than we expect, when we must stand before the Son
of Man, coming in power. There will be no turning back. No
second chances. No retakes. When our lives are over, they
will be over. Done. Finished. We won’t be given a second
chance like on TV or in the movies to go back to earth to correct our
mistakes. We will simply find ourselves standing before Jesus,
face to face. It will be the Jesus whom we received so many times
in the Eucharist. It will be the One to
whom we profess our belief every Sunday. We will stand before the
One whose very name, Christ, we took on in baptism.
Maybe, contrary to our imaginations, Jesus won’t have a big record book
in front of him, or scales of justice over his shoulder. Maybe,
Jesus won’t say a whole lot. He knows us in the deepest recesses
of our hearts. What is there that needs to be said? Will he
be able to read in our hearts that we did our best. Will He see
that we listened to Paul’s advice and have grown in love? If so, He
will embrace us and welcome us into His eternal love. But , if He
reads in our hearts that the basic attitude of our lives is that we’d
rather not deal with Him and His demands, that our own selfishness
domineered our lives, then He will see that just as we refused the fire
of His Love in this world, we cannot bear the fire of His Love in the
next.
So,
the Gospel reading, instead of frightening us, encourages us to focus
on that second reading and live in the Love of God.
Advent is a time to prepare. Maybe we should look at the things
that busy us in December as an analogy. The frantic shopping and card
writing, and cooking, are just an analogy of the determined effort we
must have to prepare for the Lord. But the finish line is not
December 25th. The finish line is the end of our lives or the end
of the world, whichever comes first. We must be ready to stand
before the Lord.
So,
again, what is it that you, that I am looking for this Christmas?
When it comes right down to it, whether we are shopping in the mall or
dropping an annual note to a friend from years back, what we are
looking for is ways to express our love of Jesus to others, ways to
graciously experience and accept His Love from others, and, ultimately,
ways to grow in the presence of God.
The
greatest Christmas gift that we can give and receive, is the gift of
the Presence of Christ. After all that is why we celebrate
Christmas.
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http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/
* available in Spanish - see
Spanish homilies
1 Advent
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Fulfill
the Promise
(November 29, 2009)
Bottom line: In a world and Church full of stress, we need to hear
Jesus: "Stand erect, raise you heads, your redemption is at hand." God
will fulfill his promise.
In today's first reading, the Lord says, "I will fulfill the promise I
made to the house of Israel and Judah." Jesus comes as the fulfillment
of God's promise: Yes, he tells us, cosmic and global disasters will
occur - and they will frighten many. Nonetheless, says Jesus, "stand
erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand." God
will fulfill his promise.
We need that reassurance today. Many worry about what is happening in
our world. Are we like renters who thoughtlessly trash a home, making
it unlivable for other? Less and less people see themselves as
stewards; more and more seem grasp whatever they can. And even though
totalitarian regimes have receded in recent decades, new threats have
taken their place. Here at home, we see our own society unravelling at
an alarming rate. In our Church many feel stress because their children
have abandoned the faith - at least any apparent practice of the faith.
With such stress in our world, society and Church, we need to hear
Jesus: "Stand erect, raise you heads, your redemption is at hand." God
will fulfill his promise.
This Sunday I would like to present an encouraging reason for hope. God
has inspired some people not just to complain about the state of
things, but to do something about it. In this case, to use the same
media of communication to reach those who have fallen from the faith.
In Lent of 2010 we will use local television networks to air
commercials inviting Catholics to "Come Home."* At the end of this
homily I will present one of the commercials. They showed them on
television in the diocese of Phoenix and got an overwhelming response.
It seems that many people, especially young people, simply need to hear
a positive, upbeat invitation.
We of course have to ready to receive them. Our parish staff has taken
some training and I will be communicating to you ways that we can be a
more welcoming community. I ask you now to give your full attention to
this commercial. I think you will agree that the message gives a good
reason to lift up our heads and stand erect. God will fulfill the
promise he made to us.
(After watching the commercial, we will profess our faith and then at
the end of the Prayers of the Faithful, I will bless the Advent Wreath
- another powerful symbol that, yes, God will fullfill the promise.)
************
*The commercial will be shown in Western Washington during Lent 2010
and nation-wide during Advent 2010. To preview the commercials, please
go to: http://www.catholicscomehome.org/
General Intercessions for First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C (from Priests
for Life)
Spanish Version
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http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
1 Advent
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Background:
Advent and Christmas represent a very special intervention
of God in the human condition, a revolution indeed because it revealed
to us just how much God loves us, one that, as G.K. Chesterton said,
turned the world upside down and, astonishingly, when viewed from that
perspective the world made sense. God, in the words of the Irish
Dominican poet, Paul Murray, loves us so much that if we should cease
to exist, he would die of sadness. The Christmas stories reveal to us
that God loved Her human children so much that He took on human form so
that he could show us how to live and how to die, even walking with us
down to the valley of death itself. The stories today tell us that even
from the beginning it was not easy to be the special light of the
world. Jesus was under threat all his life. The threats would finally
catch up with Him as they catch up with all of us. But from Christmas
we learn that finally the darkness can never put out the light.
Story:
When Mollie Whuppi and her friends were in eighth grade, they
discovered at one of the parks in their neighborhood a game called
women’s softball. It wasn’t really sixteen inch softball like we play
in Chicago but smaller softball which is played in most of the rest of
the country which is not as civilized as Chicago. Anyway, they liked
the game and decided that there should be a women’s team at Mother Mary
High School So the first week of their Freshman year in high school
Mollie walked into the principal’s office and demanded that their be a
team. The principal had yet to learn that Mollie was the boss, so she
said. Go organized your team Mollie. We don’t have money for coaches or
uniforms or a team bus but we can buy a couple of bats for you. Mollie
said that was just fine. She’d be manager and coach too and they’d save
money to buy their own uniforms. So, even though she was busy with
other things like being class president and president of the
chess club and chairman of the social action committee – and lots
of other things besides, she organized the softball team. Now as
everyone knows young women are much more serious about sports
then young men so they practice very hard. Mollie told them it
would take three years of experience before they could win city.
The first year, they were terrible, the second year they were
pretty good and the third year they surprised everyone by getting to
the city finals. They had to ride across town in their parents’
SUVs and the reception was very unfriendly. The crowd booed them.
Boys shouted bad words at them. The other team snarled and made fun of
their uniforms. But with Mollie on the mound Mother held the others
scoreless and hitless for six innings. In the first half of the seventh
Mollie hit a home run so going into the last of the seventh (softball
games last only seven innings) Mother Mary was up 1-0. Mollie struck
out the first two batters. Then she pitched three straight strikes to
the last batter. But the umpire, who made no secret of which side he
was on, called them balls. Everyone knew that Mollie’s four pitch was a
strike too, but the ump waved the batter down to first based. Then the
next batter hit a long foul ball – everyone knew it was a foul ball,
but the ump called it fair. The tying run scored. The throw from right
field was slow but Mollie caught it and ran to the plate to tag the
hitter out by a mile. The ump called her safe. The crowds went
wild with laugher. The winners stalked off the field. The Mother Mary
players didn’t curse, they didn’t shout. They just cried. All except
Mollie. Chill out, she shouted, we’re still on our game plan. Next year
we will play them at home and we’ll win, just like we planned.
The players from Mother Mary stalked out of the field chanting, “wait
till next year” the battle cry of defeated sports teams and political
parties – a hint of the Christian Hope that next year will be better
even when this year is the last year of our life.
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
1 Advent
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Nov,
29, 2009
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
Campion P. Gavaler, O.S.B.
First Sunday of Advent
Gospel Summary
Luke places Jesus' discourse about the destruction of the temple and
his coming at the end of the world immediately before the narrative of
his death and resurrection. In the present passage Jesus uses cosmic
symbolic images of the prophetic tradition to indicate the final divine
action in history at the end of the world. Before the Son of Man comes
in a cloud with power and glory, there will be signs in the sun, the
moon, and the stars. The coming of the Son of Man in power and glory
means that the final redemption is at hand. Jesus then issues a warning
lest our hearts become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness or from
anxieties of daily life. If we are not vigilant, the final day will
catch us by surprise like a trap. Jesus tells us to pray for the
strength to escape the ever-imminent tribulation so that we may stand
erect with raised heads at his coming.
Life Implications
The gospel passage addresses the terrifying experience of one's world
coming to an end -- not only the final end of world, but also of our
individual worlds such as our financial security, our marriage, our
health, our life in dying. These are terrifying experiences not only
because of the physical suffering they may entail, but because the
tribulation may lead to despair about the meaning of life itself.
Friedrich Nietzsche (d. 1900) anticipated that total loss of meaning
which now seems to be so pervasive in our culture when he proclaimed:
"God is dead...Do we not wander through an endless nothingness?" Ernest
Hemingway (d. 1961) in one of his short stories has a character express
the despair of the loss of meaning in a prayer without meaning: "Our
nada (Spanish word for "nothing') who art in nada, nada be thy name..."
and "Hail Nothing, full of nothing, nothing is with thee..." Steven
Weinberg, a 1979 Nobel Prize winner for physics, writes: "...this
present universe has evolved from an unspeakably unfamiliar early
condition, and faces a future extinction of endless cold or intolerable
heat. The more the universe seems comprehensible the more it also seems
pointless" (The First Three Minutes).
Jesus, too, had the experience of his own world coming to an end -- his
arrest, suffering and death were imminent. He, however, had the courage
to face the loss of his life in hope because he trusted that God would
not abandon his beloved Son to the meaningless nothing of death. Jesus,
identifying himself with all creation as God's dwelling place, realized
that with his death would also come the end of the temple and the
world. In the biblical tradition temple and the universe were
inseparably joined. God created the universe as a temple for his
children to enjoy and for worship on the seventh day. In turn, the
temple was the universe in miniature also created for Sabbath worship
and joy. We fallen creatures, however, had turned his Father's house of
prayer --the temple and the universe -- into a den of thieves.
The old creation of temple and world in a sense would already come to
an end with the death of Jesus. The Romans in response to a Jewish
revolt in fact destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in the year 70. The
end, however, in the mystery of God's creative love would at the same
time be the beginning of a new creation -- first in the resurrection of
Jesus, and then in the creation of a new spiritual temple, a New
Jerusalem, a new heaven, and a new earth (Rev 21).
Advent is a time of vigilance and prayer. We ask for the gift of
sharing the hope and courage of Christ so that we can with his trust
face the terrifying experience of our own world falling apart. Jesus is
the leader and perfector of our faith. Following him, for the sake of
the joy that is before us, we will endure the cross, despising its
shame (Heb 12:2). The universe and our human existence in it are not
pointless. We do not wander through an endless nothingness. Advent is
also a celebration of the good news that the Risen Lord comes to be
with us now -- in the Eucharist, in the words of Scripture, in the
Church, in the least of our brothers and sisters, in all our joys and
sorrows. We will stand erect with raised heads at his coming because
our redemption is at hand. " 'Yes, I am coming soon.' Amen! Come, Lord
Jesus" (Rev 22:21)!
Campion P. Gavaler, OSB
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
1 Advent
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First
Sunday of Advent
Jeremiah 33. 14-16; Psalm 25. 4-5, 8-10, 14; 1 Thessalonians 3. 12-4.
2; Luke 21. 25-28, 34-36
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Archbishop Wuerl of Washington, in recent public comments, made the
humorous observation that “one knows it’s time for Halloween when the
Christmas decorations come out” in the stores. This sad
commentary on the power of merchandising over the proper and meaningful
celebration of the seasons of life and the mysteries of our Faith is
all too true. We are reminded of this every year as we observe
once again the clash of colors between Advent violet in our churches
and Christmas red splashed liberally beyond the doors of our places of
worship. And, again, the temptation arises for some to complain
about the situation or to see this phenomenon as another in a growing
list of reasons to turn away from the world.
Advent, the season of preparation in the Church, provides a dramatic
counterpoint over against a world that ends the celebration of the
Savior’s birth precisely on the day it should begin, having begun it
months prematurely. Such superficial “cheer” spurs us all the
more to love and embrace the yet unredeemed world that stills lacks,
and waits unknowingly, for what it most truly needs.
Advent, with its very name, “the coming”, is a yearly season of the
Church’s life that invites us to explore once again the important
virtue of patience accompanied by prayer. For the faithful there
is not a simple “waiting” but rather an active anticipation by prayer,
penance and almsgiving. The Lord engages with the world through
His Body to work out the salvation of all creation. The
Holy Spirit, our companion on the way of faith, is the Divine person
who “inspires” us to return again and again to the truth that salvation
is not something for which we passively wait in this world, but a
reality that has begun already for us in the Church.
The Holy Spirit, the holy “animator”, or soul of, and divine
Indweller of Jesus’ Body the Church, guarantees for us that we
live now already the very life and mysteries of the Savior. This
takes place liturgically, in the living proclamation of the Word in our
liturgy.
“For this reason the Church, especially during Advent and Lent and
above all at the Easter Vigil, re-reads and re-lives the great events
of salvation history in the "today" of her liturgy. But this also
demands that catechesis help the faithful to open themselves to this
spiritual understanding of the economy of salvation as the Church's
liturgy reveals it and enables us to live it.” (CCC 1095)
The Word of God is “living and active” and nowhere more so than when it
is proclaimed in the most “living” way at holy Mass. The presence
of the Holy Spirit in the Church makes real and effective, once again,
the historical events of salvation history. The Advent mysteries
of the Lord’s incarnation are thus re-presented so that we can take a
living and active part in them. The preparation for His coming
with this season no less:
“When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes
present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the
long preparation for the Savior's first coming, the faithful renew
their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the
precursor's birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his
desire: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’" (CCC 524)
How important for us is His coming? No less important for us then
the preparation for the “advent” of so great a divine Savior. It
is the reasonableness of this truth that is our privilege to live and
teach the world in Advent. We are thus as a leaven so that all of
society and every human person may “rise” with the Bread of Life who
really and truly became present among us and ever comes among us again
the His Eucharist as the Risen One. He became incarnate to become
Sacrifice. He is present among us to save us.
Our Advent violet is a calling to joy for the world, for one must truly
prepare for what one hopes to truly receive. The Church lives as
a sign of hope in this Advent season once again in the midst of a world
in need of redemption. Let us go forth to celebrate the real joy
that Advent brings, the authentic coming of the Lord and Savior, as one
who will live in our hearts and minds by grace upon His coming at
Christmas. If we would do that, we must prepare the way.
"Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths!"
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we
"meet Christ in the liturgy"---Father Cusick
Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
(Publish with permission.) http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
1 Advent
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First Sunday of Advent –2009, Kirkcaldy
Today we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent and begin a whole New
Year in the liturgical calendar. The only slight puzzle is why the
Gospel we are given is all about the End of the World!
I suppose it must be because right at the start of the year we are
given a glimpse of the end. This is surely one way to set our sights on
our goal so that we can lay out our priorities for the coming year.
This is very much in line with the themes of the Advent season which
are about preparing for the comings of Christ. I say comings not coming
because there are more than one of them
We prepare to celebrate the anniversary of the Coming of Christ on the
first Christmas Day and we look back into history and reacquaint
ourselves with the stories of how Jesus came to be born. You could call
this his First Coming.
We also look forward to Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time and
that’s what our Gospel text today points to. And we are encouraged to
put our lives in order and be ready to face judgement.
But there is another coming and that is the coming of Christ each day
into our hearts. This depends upon our personal disposition, whether we
are open to Christ each day or not.
Each day as we rise in the morning we ought to take a brief moment to
pray, to pause and to consciously invite the Lord into our hearts. And
from time to time during the day we can turn to him reminding ourselves
of his constant presence.
It is in these simple ways that we prepare ourselves to be ready to
meet Christ when our hour eventually comes.
I came here today principally to say a few words about the Salvatorians
and to introduce you to the Lay Salvatorians. You will by now have
become acquainted with us through the good work of Father Edward and
Father Wojciech.
You will already know that we are a missionary order with the aim of
helping everyone to come to a greater knowledge and love of Our Divine
Saviour. But this is not a task merely for priests and brothers and
religious sisters, which is why we have a branch consisting entirely of
lay people.
It is with the hope of, in due time, setting up a branch of the Lay
Salvatorians here in Scotland that I am here to speak to you.
There are about four hundred Lay Salvatorians across the globe. Down in
England we already have three groups of Lay Salvatorians with about
twenty-five members: Two in the London area and one in Bristol where I
live.
As you are aware this parish is in the care of the Polish Province but
it wouldn’t make much sense to be connected to the Lay Salvatorians in
Poland, unless you are all fluent in Polish!
A lot of people ask me what the Lay Salvatorians do? But I think that
this is the wrong question because there is no specific task that they
carry out.
Who they are is a better question. They are lay people who want to
become associated with our Salvatorian spirituality, they meet monthly
to learn about our order and its spirit and to pray together and share
ideas.
There is, however, one thing that they all do. Each one has what we
call an apostolate –an apostolic task. But this could be different for
every member; some are Eucharistic ministers or readers in their
parish, others visit a sick person or support someone in difficulties.
A number are responsible for teaching catechism or running convert
programmes in their parishes and yet others support the work of the
Church through the apostolate of prayer.
We are hoping to recruit people of all ages to join the Lay
Salvatorians. And as a special outreach to young people we are in the
process of setting up a programme for those who wish to spend a year
working in the foreign missions.
We have just sponsored a young man who has gone to Tanzania for a month
to train our young priests and brothers in information technology and
graphic design so that they can make more use of the media to promote
the work of the Church in Africa.
Most Lay People simply get along with their own lives; they say their
prayers, they do good whenever they can and try hard to bring up their
children in the faith. And this is excellent and right and perfectly
acceptable.
But there are others who appreciate the support that comes from
belonging to a group totally committed to the Christian way of life.
They like to feel part of something bigger with a coherent spirituality
and particular approach to life.
This is where the Lay Salvatorians come in. If you feel you would wish
to experience a stronger link with the priests here in your parish and
with a group of lay people who are already represented in ten or twelve
different countries then the Lay Salvatorians might be for you.
I will be available after the masses today to talk to anyone who would
like to know more about the Lay Salvatorians. Perhaps we can meet
together and if there is sufficient support we can surely establish a
group here in Scotland.
I know that Father Edward and Father Wojciech would be very happy as it
will go a long way to helping them consolidate their ministry here in
Fife.
Today we begin a New Year in the life of the Church, there could be no
better time to make a fresh start and begin something new. There could
be no better time to begin something that will be a positive benefit to
achieving the goals that Christ sets before us today.
No one knows when the End of the World will come; no one knows the day
that they will be called by God into eternal life. What we do know is
that that day will surely come and it is vitally important to prepare
for it.
Maybe the support of such a group as the Lay Salvatorians will be just
what we need to assist us make progress on that great pilgrimage of
faith we call life.
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Father Bonar will not be posting homilies for Cycle B to allow himself
time for other projects. His collection of homilies (including homilies
for Cycle B) is available at www.clydebonar.com.
1 Advent |
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These
homilies may be copied and adapted for your own use;
however, they may not be commercially published without permission of
the author. |
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