Saint Margaret Parish

Throughout our year we are accustomed to celebrating many types of holidays and with them we associate different symbols, colors and even cards. From New Year’s Day mistletoe to St. Valentines Day chocolates, St. Patrick’s Day shamrocks to the Thanksgiving Day turkey. In our popular imagination, there are many things we associate with Christmas.

But the most important and enduring sign of this event is captured in its very name, “Christmas” – the Mass of Christ. Often we will hear the saying, “Keep Christ in Christmas”. I would dare to say “Keep the Mass in Christmas”. If we take Mass out of Christmas, then Christ is far removed from you and me, he is a simple idea, a revered figure from history, a figurine in a nativity set. If we take the Mass out of Christmas, all that is left on the day after is an empty box and a dead tree, – both will probably reflect the state of a human soul, a soul that hungers for the bread of life, True Bread from heaven, a soul calling out to be filled.

Of course, we can pray at home, in secret, throughout our day. But here in this place, our religious imagination is enkindled, our souls are touched at a much deeper level. We make connections, not simply with each other – we make connections with God through the carefully chosen words, the signs and sacred symbols we use when we pray together as a Church. In the Mass there is a language that allows our souls, not only to pray, but also to be opened up to reach into the mystery of God who has humbled himself to share in our humanity. By way of our sacred language in this holy ritual of prayer, we are assured through the Mass, that God has indeed visited his people, not simply as a past event, but also now in the present.

In the past, he placed himself in a stable, a place of food and nourishment, in a village called Bethlehem that literally means “House of Bread”. In our mind, we can think of the baby born to declare the love and peace of God – a child vulnerable, a little lamb. And here we see a cross, a man stretched upon it, still vulnerable – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Prince of Peace, born in a stable, placed in a manger (a feeding trough for cattle). And here at this Mass, reaching across the centuries the King of Kings is placed upon the altar of sacrifice, offering his body and blood as the anecdote of death, his risen and glorified body he offers us as the medicine of immortality.

May the words that we hear tonight/today, the images they suggest and the sights and sounds we notice, stir up the longings of our soul to remind us that we are searching, hungry for the face of God. In the sacrament of the Holy Mass we celebrate here tonight/today and every Sunday, God is with us. And when we hear the bell rung, its language will tell us that Jesus Christ has entered into our world and at this altar, the meeting place between heaven and earth, he is as real to us here this hour as he was to the shepherds of Bethlehem two thousand years ago. May we always have the courage to seek, find and look upon the very face of God and live. We welcome Christ in the Mass. O Come let us adore him – Christ the Lord.

From the very beginning of recorded history evidenced by timeless pyramids and the ruins of ancient temples and sacred shrines, the past bares testimony of humanity longing to reach out in the direction of the heavens. But before we could even point to the stars, our Heavenly Father stepped into his own design, creating, fashioning, building humanity up out of the very dirt of the earth. And into these building blocks He breathed His Spirit forming man in the divine image. God was not distant. Our heavenly Father walked with our first parents in that garden, recognizable and distinct from the unspoiled splendor of the universe. In those days, before the foolishness of Adam and Eve, before sin contaminated creation, God was visible.

But because of the arrogance of fallen humanity, our history has seen the attempt of man to either play God or capture the divine. Although King David’s intention to build a temple for God is commendable, he is reminded through the prophet Nathan not to rely on a temple made by human hands. A temple made from bricks and cement will be destructible. God’s Presence, the prophet announces, will instead be enfleshed in a future descendant of King David.

CCC 269 Si Dios es Todopoderoso “en el cielo y en la tierra” (Sal 135,6), es porque él los ha hecho. Por tanto, nada ale es imposible (cf. Jr 32,17; Lc 1,37) y dispone a su voluntad de su obra (cf. Jr 27,5); es el Señor del universo, cuyo orden ha establecido, que le permanece enteramente sometido y disponible; es el Señor de la historia: gobierna los corazones y los acontecimientos según su voluntad (cf. Est 4,17b; Pr 21,1; Tb 13,2): “El actuar con inmenso poder siempre está en tu mano. ¿Quién podrá resistir la fuerza de tu brazo?” (Sb 11,21).

And when the fullness of time would come, as recounted in the Gospel, the creative God is seen at work again, building within the womb of the Virgin Mary, using her cells and DNA as the building blocks, the new bricks and cement forming the new body and blood of an individual that through every instance of his existence and development in her womb, a tiny developing temple of the living God, was being built to endure forever. This embryonic baby of Mary will not be the earthly temple of God made by human hands, or out of human initiative. It will be the very presence of the heavenly God dwelling among His people on earth. In Jesus, God walks again among us as He did with Adam and Eve in a restored creation.

As St. Irenaeus says, “Being obedient Mary became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” “Maria, por su obediencia fue causa de la salvación propia y de la de todo el género humano”: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.” Comparing her with Eve, we call Mary “the Mother of the living” because “Death came through Eve, life through Mary.” “la muerte vino por Eva, la vida por María”. (LG. 56) .c.f. CCC 494

And as creation having now tasted God’s presence again and cries out for the fullness of salvation, bread and wine from the old order of creation, become now the substance of the new order – Jesus Christ. In Holy Communion, our own body becomes a living temple of God, a tabernacle for the Most High. By responding with total openness to her vocation, Mary was the first disciple to receive Holy Communion from God. For this reason, she is our model for how to prepare ourselves, physically as well as spiritually to receive Holy Communion worthily, to make a room ready, to prepare a place for God to dwell in our bodily lives, so that we, like Mother Mary, can also present the savior of all humanity to a waiting world.

Fourth Sunday of Advent (1962 calendar)

…a Isaías, que manda a los cielos nos envíen al Justo en suave rocío de bendición; a Juan Bautista, que nos exhorta a terminar de preparar el camino del Señor; y a María, llena Ella de gracia y llenas sus entrañas con la carga santísima de Jesús. Y puesto que nuestra Madre la Iglesia da hoy por casi terminada su misión de prepararnos para Navidad, ¡examínate, cristiano, si tú estás ya preparado para salir al encuentro del Salvador!

The introit sung by the choir as the procession began petitioned the heavens to send down rain upon the parched earth. It is therefore our prayer that the seed of faith that often remains dormant, now being watered by the heavens, will grow and from the soil of our lives, the Savior will blossom.

But we cannot force Jesus Christ to come forth. And so the first prayer that the priest makes in the collect, the opening prayer, petitions that that God will come to help us and that our sins might be cleared away in his mercy. But too often when we think of sin, we tend to think of the big sins, the mortal sins, the previous sins against God. Opening prayer seems to have in mind those “Little sins” which we often fail to address.

But the first reading, the epistle, seems to be God’s immediate answer to our prayer. We are reminded that we are “stewards of the mysteries of God”. The whole treasurer of Christ’s life and death and resurrection has been unlocked and given to us. The epistle should cause us to reflect on how well we have used the gifts of God given so freely by him to us. We are reminded that the all-knowing God would really the secret of our hearts.

The Psalm that was sung tonight encourages us, to call upon the Lord with a true heart. And the alleluia verse has us asking the Lord to come without delay to release us from our attachments to sin and to all that would prevent us from recognizing Jesus when he comes.

To help us in our preparation John the Baptist, by way of the Gospel, helps us to focus on the one who is to come and to recognize that Christ comes with saving power.

As we prepare the gifts at the altar, the bread and the wine, the sung offertory antiphon will naturally have us turn to Mary whose body and soul was perfectly free of every earthly attachment. She was the one tabernacle on earth fit for the all holy God to dwell in, for she was, is full of Grace. We naturally we look to her to help us in our detachment of the things which crowd are on minds, body and soul.

In the secret prayer of the priest, in other words, the prayer which the priest will make most intimately to God it is therefore fitting that we pray that these offerings may help us in our devotion and in our salvation in the same way as Mary offered for complete self to the will of God.

And so it makes sense that the Communion antiphon will remind us that “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son”–the fruit of her womb. We are also to conceive Christ spiritually in our souls, the fruit of our faith. And therefore, in our prayer after communion like Mary we must find room in our lives. In the same measure as we have made room for him, will be the same measure his grace will take root in out lives.

“El Señor está cerca”. He aquí el anuncio que nos hace hoy la Iglesia, he aquí por qué nos incita hoy a la alegría y por qué se viste Ella misma hoy de fiesta, con ornamentos rosados, con flores en los altares, con acordes del órgano. Está la Iglesia impaciente por recibir al Señor, y nos contagia a nosotros de esta santa ansiedad. ¡El Señor está cerca! Más aun: “Entre nosotros está Uno a quien muchos no conocen”. Esta queja amarga del Bautista desgraciadamente es también hoy verdadera. ¡Un año más llamará a nuestras puertas el que puede remediar nuestras necesidades. Y muchos estarán dormidos!

“There is one among you whom you do not recognize”. These are the words of St. John the Baptist. He sparks curiosity, even a hint of excitement that the Lord is near, that he is actually here, but he is, for the time being, hidden. “There is one among you whom you do not recognize”. Although, St. John the Baptist, knowing that the Messiah is soon to be revealed, is delighted with this prospect, a number of those whom he shares his joy with, are not very much moved, nor very concerned.

If we were to be informed that the Lord was somewhere in our vicinity, walking among us, in disguise, and was about to stand out from the crowd and lift back his hood and reveal himself – would that generate in us a sense of excitement, joyful anticipation. Or might there be fear, that we are not ready to face our Lord. Rather than welcoming him as our savior, some of us would perhaps fear him as our judge. This would mean that we have not taken to heart the earlier call of St. John the Baptist that we prepare a place for the Lord. The Lord is near. Do you have your place ready? And place is, your soul. Is your soul a good place for the Lord to enter into?

How we answer this question might be best reflected in how we approach Holy Communion. The Lord is near. He is our salvation, he is the one who we ultimately hunger and thirst for. If we recognize him as the one who comes to save us, then we will make our soul a worthy place for our encounter with him. St. John the Baptist has reminded us to “get our household in order”. Through careful preparation, an examination of conscience, confession of grave sins and the priestly assurance of forgiveness – only then will we sense the true joy, not fear, of Christ approaching us, to heal, not to harm – to free us, not to hinder us – to reward us, not to threaten us. He comes to bring a springtime, not a dark winter (c.f. First Reading).

“There is one among you whom you do not recognize”. We know who the One is – the one and only Lord. Some are indifferent, because underneath it all, they really don’t believe that God can approach us and reach out to you and me personally. Some are afraid of God, and maybe rightly so, because of sins committed and commandments broken. But during the time of Holy Communion the Church will chant the words of the prophet Isaiah who reminds us all to liven up, not to be afraid. Yes, the Lord is coming but he does so to save his people and to give himself to them. “Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us.”

This is indeed a reason to join our hearts to Our Blessed Mother Mary, who, when she found out that the God would visit and save his people, there was no indifference or panic. We have sung this Sunday as our psalm her words and must seek to make them our own, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”.

Much of the attractiveness of our Catholic Faith comes from its deep beauty. I say “deep” because of its richness. Our Catholic faith draws us deeper and deeper into the dynamics of the divine mystery of God and how he relates to his creation and his creatures. Since its beginning, God has unfolded so much beauty in the universe, not only in what we can see around us, but also from what is being gradually unveiled to us of distant stars, clusters of galaxies and distant worlds. For millions and millions of years they were unseen by man, and only now, as their light has become visible traveling for millions of years towards us over such vast distances, we are given a real-time glimpse into the secret depths and the beginnings of God’s vast universe. This has only been possible today because of worthy advances in science and technology.

In the same way, as the beauty of God’s distant universe can be brought closer, so too can the inner universe of the sacred sanctuary of the human body. CAT scans, an MRI and 3D imaging can show the wonderful complexity of the human body, its organs, muscles, blood vessels, the human brain and pumping heart. Incredibly we can now see blood cells, atoms and molecules as we never saw them before.

However, in the unseen universe, the most wonderful and beautiful image captured in amazement is a real life image of the very moment of conception. In that very instant, when a new human life begins, everything about this newly created human being is determined and set in place. Whereas in the field of biology and science, we have only of late come to appreciate this as scientific truth, the Church has always known this and defended the sacredness and beauty of human life, from this first moment. Why? Because at the very beginning, at the moment of conception, not only does a human being exist and their genetic makeup is determined, but God has also determined who this unique person truly is, what kind of person this individual will be, and what their role in the universe will be. At the first moment of conception, regardless, of the circumstances, what the biologist calls fertilization, not even waiting for implantation in the lining of the womb, a unique individual human being has been conceived, and God brings into existence someone who he has loved before time began.

On December 8th, we celebrate the great revealed truth when God brought the universe into existence, millions and millions of years ago, in his divine mind, along with everyone who has walked this earth, you and me, and all future generations – before the first instance of creation, he was especially thinking of the Virgin Mary. Why? She is the one who would, on behalf of all of future humanity signal the readiness of mankind to be saved.

That signal for God to initialize his plan of rescue and salvation of humanity had to be pure, signal, worthy, without any attachment or influence of sin. That signal that announced to the waiting heavens that we were ready for salvation was the very existence of Mary. And when did Mary come into existence? Not when she was born. Not four months before her birth or not even when she was the smallest little embryo. Her existence, her whole complete life, began at the moment of fertilization, the instant she was herself conceived in the body of her own mother.

Unknown to her own parents, when her mother Anne conceived and became pregnant, they were not aware that this small little embryo was resonating perfect holiness. At the first instant of her existence, knowing of the salvation Christ would bring to all creation (including time), God made it so that Mary was brought into existence without being touched by original sin. Her existence was in itself such a delight to God. She was perfect, as Eve was before sin. Mary was brought into existence as the New Eve. And of course, her Son, the new Adam! Paradise lost would be paradise restored. She was in that perfect state of humanity, as if we never had fallen. On our behalf she calls out to God, “come and save your people.” She calls out, because she does so perfectly, and God listens and responds. Her prayer is a perfect prayer. Because of her perfection and perfect prayer, God sent his only Son.

The Immaculate Conception which brought into existence the most prefect and immaculately pure Mary most holy, is a reminder to us of how much we are in need of being cleansed from sin. Of course, when we were baptized we were returned to a state of being sinless. But we know ourselves influenced by sin that we need to be continuously cleansed in order to enter into God’s presence. We beg the most perfect Virgin to pray for us so that the wounds of sin in our own lives will heal and God will find in us a worthy place to reside.

(The Entrance Antiphon and Collect)

The entrance antiphon, the verse of scripture sung, chanted or even read at the beginning of the Mass, sets the tone of the message the Church asks us to meditate on. “..behold the Lord will come to save the nations, and the Lord will make the glory of his voice hear, in the joy of your heart”

He will come to save the nations. That is something very public – it affects the whole structure of society, the way we conduct our affairs. By calling upon the Lord who will “save the nations”, we are asked to reflect on what our nation needs to be saved from. Only in our arrogance would be maintain that our system of government, our laws and our way of life have been perfected to the point that we do not need God. We are not speaking about what is commonly called, the “separation of church and state”. Instead, we must reflect on how far our nation is willing to abandon the principal, that religious faith and spiritual values should be protected, because they do in fact contribute to the common good of our nation. Our public prayer, during this Holy Season of Advent, wedded to the cries of the prophet Isaiah, cannot ignore that our various values and society at large is in need of salvation.

At that same time, the Entrance Antiphon reminds us, that God will save us all, not simply in a forced destruction of what displeases him. We are told, “the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard in the joy of your heart”. Here is where the Advent of God begins, in our heart, in our own conversion – in our ability, even in the darkness, to recognize his voice. And even though we may at times feel as if our hands are tied, our mouth is gagged and our eyes are blindfolded, “if today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”!

This is how we prepare for the Lord to come and “save the nations”. It begins with a truthful examination of our own conscience and attitudes in the light of the teachings of Christ’s holy Church, what the Collect prayer might call the, ”learning of heavenly wisdom” (cf. CCC 1798). To help us to get our own household in order, the Church’s liturgy offers us the guidance of St. John the Baptist.

St. John the Baptist is given to us as an interior designer! We bring him in as a consultant to help us make a place ready for the King of Kings when he arrives into our home. What does John say when he inspects our interiors? Pointing to this and that, he might say, “this has to go. And, you need to take this down and throw this out. While you are at it, you need to rip this out too. This has to change. You have to update this, replace this and redesign this. You need new wallpaper and a fresh lick of paint, you need better lighting and this here has to be brought up to code. Oh, and here’s how much it will cost!!” It’s easier to judge our society and the state of our nation and the spirit of our elected bodies than it is to assess the state of the union between our own body and soul.

The description of John the Baptist, living in the desert, clothed in animal skins, living on locusts and wild honey might seem at first extreme – in comparisons to our own standards of living. (St. John Chrysostom here allows us to reflect the depiction.) But if we allow the eyes of our soul to see through the dust, St. John the Baptist becomes strangely symbolic of what humanity will be restored back to, with advent of Christ.

In a way, like Adam and Eve before their fall, John does not till or plough the earth, or from the sweat of his brow, he does not work for his food. It is easily sought and prepared. “From his garments he might teach us that we free ourselves of human needs, and need not be bound to this earth, but that we may return to the pristine dignity in which Adam first lived, before he had need of garments or of clothing.” This might be what our Collect Prayer alludes to when we pray that no earthly undertaking will hinder us from setting out in hast to meet Christ.

The Gospel message does not push us or force us onto a pathway that takes us to God. As with Abraham, Moses and the Chosen People, God points us, guides and gently moves us without force or coercion, helping us to leave behind the sins that weigh us down and to find the right path and to help us make it straight, so that it will ultimately lead us out of the desert wastelands on a journey that will purify our mind, body and soul so as to look upon the face of God. May this sacred liturgy that we now celebrate give us a taste of our journey’s end and sense of the beginning of eternity Christ invites us into.