Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for December 5, 2004
Liturgical Year A-Cycle I
2nd Sunday of Advent

by Dcn. Ray Alcouffe
Topic: Changing our Lives as Children of God
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Gospel :
Mt 3: 1-12
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. John wore clothing made of camel's hair  and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordanwere going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.

When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you,  God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit  will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance,  but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor  and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
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Christmas is coming.  We have snow, skiing is available on our mountain so early in December, the sky is blue, and our vistas are sparkling white.  Life is Good!  Moreover, as we enter the second week of Advent, we are reminded by our scripture readings that this is the season of hope.  I don't mean that we are just hoping that in three weeks we will get all the Christmas presents we wish for. This hope is deeper than that.  Isaiah describes the coming of a savior who brings peace and justice to his people.  The earth itself is radically changed such that natural enemies live in peace where no harm comes to any of them since, "The earth is filled with knowledge of the Lord."  What Isaiah is describing is the hope for Heaven on earth or even more, Heaven in creation, which is the creator God's goal and is our goal, also.  The coming of our savior, Jesus Christ, gives us the means to achieve that goal. He has reconciled us and creation with God.  But that reconciliation doesn't mean that we don't have a part to play in getting to the goal. From John the Baptist and Jesus, himself, a little later, we hear the exhortation, "Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" REPENT that is used here is a strong term. It is not just to be sorry for your sins, but change, radically change yourself, change your orientation, change your heart, your opinions, your vision.  On top of that, he tells us, "Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentances."  So, it's not a passive change that gets us to the goal.  It is a change that produces good actions in harmony with God's creation. 

There is a part of me, a big part of me that wants to stubbornly resist any call to change--especially one this momentous.  God being God and me being me, I am reluctant to change what has been working pretty well for me. As I said above, “Life is Good” and even if there are at times pains and upsets there is nothing so drastic there that motivates me to any big changes.  God loves me the way I am.  Right? Yet, God loves me so much that God won't let me stay that way.  Still, I like the course I am on and I don't see myself giving it all up--sell all my possessions and become a missionary to some far off place.  I am scared to death that God may be asking that or something similar of me.  I think God can more than adequately achieve the goal without my having to make so radical a change. 

On the other hand, perhaps it's like the captain of a battleship who had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days.  The visibility was poor with patchy fog.  So, the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.  Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light bearing on the starboard bow."  "Is it steady or moving astern?"  "Steady Captain," which meant it was on a dangerous collision course with their ship.  The captain then shouted to the signal man,  "Signal that ship: ‘We are on a collision course.  Advise you change course 20 degrees.’ "  Back came a signal: "Advisable you change course 20 Degrees."  In reply the Captain said, "I am a ships Captain.  Change course 20 degrees, now!"  " I am a seaman second class.  You had better change course 20 degrees, now!"  By that time the Captain was furious.  He spit out a command: "This is a battleship.  Change your course immediately!" Back came the flashing lights reply, "This is a Lighthouse!"  The battleship changed course. 

So, given the right circumstances and motivation, even the most stubborn of us will change.  But, how should I change Lord? What really is it that will prepare me for the kingdom of Heaven?

Henri Nouwen has, I think, an answer, that for many goes a long way to show us the direction we need to take. He says, "During our short lives the question that guides most of our behavior is 'Who are we?. . . '  The answers that we generally live - not necessarily give are: we are what we do, we are what others say about us and we are what we have.”  Thus, the things that motivate us the most are to be successful at what we do. To seek after popularity and not be the outcast and to acquire things that will enhance our prestige and thus, our power over others. Thus, success, popularity and power are our normal day-to-day pursuits.  Now these are not in themselves bad pursuits; but if you think about it, if these things are the only ones that define who I am, then I am on shaky ground.  Losing our job, our fame, or our wealth is often caused by things way beyond our control. So, when we depend upon them to define who we are, we have sold ourselves to the work -- because then we are what the world gives us and what the world gives, death takes away -- "When we are what the world makes us, then we cannot be after we have left the world." (Nouwen)

Can't you see me standing before the Lord when he asks me, "Who are you?" and my saying, "Well, I am a scientist, and a deacon; I get along with people pretty well, I have a great wife and kids, and I have this big house and my Lexus." I can almost feel the sadness that would come over Him.  Jesus suffered and died to give us our true identity -- We are children of God.  That makes all the difference in the world and in Heaven.

A child of God knows in his innermost being that he is loved. That she doesn't have to prove herself worth and that he/she has the freedom to get in touch with the person that God made them to be and to be that person in the world. We get in touch with that person through prayer – prayer, which is listening to the one who love us.  We need this discipline of prayer both in the privacy of our hearts in the church, gathered together to celebrate God's love for us.  Without prayer we become deaf to the voice of love and become confused by the many competing voices in the world asking for our attention and setting our priorities. 

This identification of me as a child of God, then impacts all my other self-identifications.  My job is important but I don't have to sell my soul or all my time in doing it.  My friends are important but my choice of them is for mutual support as children of God rather than enhancing my own status; and the things that I acquire are good insofar as I can let them go if necessary to share with others -- they don't own me or define me.  When our orientation is toward being a child of God then we can be like Johanne Sebastian Bach, who on almost all his musical manuscripts placed two sets of initials.  At the beginning he wrote: “J. J.” – “Jesu Juvet” – “Jesus help me.”  At the end he wrote the letters, “S. D. G.” – “Soli Deo Gloria”-- “To God alone be the glory.”  Would that our daily work begin and end on such a note!

We may have heard much of this before said in various ways.  I think it is important to say them again in this time of advent, this season of hope.  We see that John's call to "Repent, the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” is not a negative but a positive call to change our lives as children of God.