11/29 - 1st Week of Advent

Dear Parish Family,

We begin Advent with the simple word: Watch.   Next week we will be told: Stay Awake. The third week we have: Rejoice, and for the fourth week we have: Behold!  Watch!  There are three ways that we need to watch.  The first is to watch for those moments when the Lord is calling on us to reach out to others.  St Teresa of Avila teaches us: Christ has no body now on earth, but yours; no feet, but yours.  It is your eyes through which Christ’s compassion looks out to the world; your feet with which he must walk about doing good; your hands with which he blesses humanity; your voice with which his forgiveness is spoken; your heart with which he now loves. 

Jesus is calling upon us to bring his presence to others.  Sometimes this might be obvious like a proclamation of our faith when we stand up for what is right regardless of what the crowd around us is saying or doing.  Or we might defend the faith when someone comes out with anti-Catholic bigotry such as ”You Catholics don’t read the Bible” (we do), or ”You Catholics worship Mary” (we don’t; we honor her, we pray for her intercession for us with her Son, but we don’t worship her.)   We have to watch for those times that the Lord calls on us to bring His Presence to others by going out of our way to be kind to them.  Sometimes even a smile can pick up someone who is having a bad day.  We need to watch for those times we can be Jesus’ hands and feet and voice.  Of course, we cannot do that if we are so full of ourselves that we do not even notice the plight of others.  If our basic outlook in life is ”It’s all about me,” then we are going to miss the times that it is all about Him.  So you and I need to Watch 

 There is a second way that we need to watch.  We need to watch for those seemingly minor changes or additions to our lives that might change the very direction of our lives. May be you are at a point in your life when you have more time in your hands than before. There could be a volunteer position in your Church or an Organization near you. Watch out to what the Spirit is telling you to do with your life. I have met people who have brought real joy in their life by just joining a charitable organization and moved that organization to greater outreach.

 The third way we need to watch might appear a bit scary, but it is realistic.  The third way we need to watch is for the time that the Lord is calling us to leave this world and be fully united to Him.  We always need to be ready to come before the Lord.  Actually, we need to live as though every day might be both the best day and even the last day of our lives.  This might seem to be a rather morbid thought, but, you know, it is not morbid.  It’s realistic   We all like to think that we are going to live to be a hundred, but what if we don’t live that long?   Will we be ready for Him when we are 80?  How about 50? How about 25?  Growing up I vividly remember going every month to a half-day retreat christened, ‘Exercise for a Happy Death’. I wish they had called it ‘Gym time for the Soul’ to make it sound less scary. We always need to be ready for the Lord.  No matter how old we are, our lives on earth will end much sooner than we expect.  We always need to be ready to hear the Lord say, ”Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of the Father.”

Watch.  Watch for the times to bring Jesus to others.  Watch for the quiet call from the Lord to refine the direction of our lives more towards Him.  And watch for the time when we are called to present our lives to our God.  Watch!  For the Lord has marvelous things in store for us all.

Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O.