Finding What’s Missing (2022-12-04, Advent-02)

 __ Click Here for Audio of Homily___ 

__ Click Here for Video of Mass ____  

2022-12-04  /  2^nd Advent    ● Isaiah 11:1-10  ● ● Psalm 72 ●● Romans 15:4-9 ● ● + Matthew 3:1-12 ● ●     

Title:  Finding What’s Missing

 [__01__]       Recently I had the experience of cleaning out a room and finding something that I did not know was missing. Have you ever found an object - or been handed something - that you did not know was missing?

          This an aspect of the Gospel Good News and birth and Incarnation of the 2^nd Person of the Trinity, Jesus, in Bethlehem.

          They come and adore him, they came – all ye faithful – and the world is changed. But, Jesus is also found by those who did not know what the world was missing.

          Jesus was found repeatedly by those who did not know the Messiah had been missing from the world – all those years before His birth.  There were surprising episodes of his absence/presence during His life. When Jesus was 12 years old and wandered away from the family caravan between his hometown of Nazareth and Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph did not know he was missing. Then, they searched everywhere but the most obvious place, in the Temple where he is easily discovered.

[__01.01__]       The birth of a child has an effect on a family, reminding us who is present and significant. As the oldest of 4, I can recall the birth of 2 of my siblings, especially, the youngest who was born when I was 13.  So, I can remember before my sister was born. But, as an elder sibling or a parent of a child would say, the addition of child to your life, demonstrates that you gained someone whom you did not know was missing.

          Tragically, the unspeakable death or dying of a child or any young person brings to mind that a parent or grandparent – the family – is one of their own – truly a part of the body is missing physically.   Yet, I have also seen your testimony your faith in such trials, in your belief in eternal life and heavenly protection. To God, no child is left behind.

[__01.02__]       John the Baptist comes to us in Advent. Every year in Advent, it's the exact same chronology of themes. 1^st Sunday of Advent = 2^nd Coming of Jesus;  2^nd: John the Baptist arrives on the scene. 3^rd: John the Baptist leaves the scene and makes way for Jesus. 4^th: Announcement of the Incarnation to Mary.

[__02__]       John the Baptist – as a prophet – is also trying to be a friend to you and to me. He is making friends with you and with me and preparing us for friendship with Jesus Christ. His friendship may be REBELLIOUS …but it is not RANDOM. There is a plan.

          C.S. Lewis writes:

“For a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances [i.e., nothing ‘random’].  A secret Master of Ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends, ‘You have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.’

     [I think this also applies to our friendships within our parish family .. for those we worship  with , serve with and come to know… and not to mention it is also a call to me in my mission and ministry as a priest…  ]

          [And to recognize that God has chosen the Lourdes parish family for me, i.e., you were chosen for me. On the other hand, you may not think God chose me for – maybe that is a stretch for you. The Archbishop chose me for you. But in any case, I am grateful for you as God's gift to me.]

     This Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others.“   (C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, “Ch. 4 Friendship”, New York: Harper Collins, 1960, p. 114)    

[__03__]       It was also traditional in the church for a long time, that the season of Advent led up to baptism. Now we associate lent the 40 days of Lent leading up to baptism.

          And, isn’t it BAPTISM about the welcoming and discovering the child whom we did not know was missing from our lives?

But for many years in the Church, Advent led up to baptism which took place on the Feast of the baptism of the Lord, which is shortly after Christmas.

So, now is a time of repentance and mortification or sacrifice. What is mortification? Is that a good thing? It is a good thing because it allows us to draw closer to God even while we are drawn or tempted to sin or sinfulness.

For example – in a crisis or difficulty - to smile when things are not going your way.  At such times, you may feel – I may feel – that my patience is “lost” or “missing”.

[A smile is not -- to use a popular term these days, - a form of disinformation. To smile is a discipline. The smile is not a form of lying. That smile is a form of laying down your life or me laying down my life for another.]

The attempt to smile – even superficially – is a way to take up your cross, to unite your suffering to Christ whom we sometimes lose or forget about. He has not forgotten about you.

Also, prayer for someone who has wronged you or hurt you is a way for you to find what you may not be aware is missing.

I recall several years ago, consciously praying for someone with whom I was having difficulty. At the end of about a month of this, I noticed the other person had not really changed, but I had changed.

When I saw the person after several weeks, I said to myself, “I am supposed to be upset with you…but I was not anymore”

I had found a certain peace that I did not know was missing.

John the Baptist also urges us to do this know, to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight his paths.

St. Paul said if you are insulted, return a blessing. Instead, pray for those who persecute you love your enemies.

These are also ways in which we are called to turn away from sin, to repent and believe the Gospel, to find Jesus of whom we are often not fully aware that he missing from our daily agenda. [__END__]