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HOMILY #48a-d:
Prepare Individually, As a Parish & as a Nation
I (Intro
& transition to thesis)
Bennetta Bet-Bedal, age 46, was a
mother of three teenagers in San Bernardino.
A few days ago, this worker was murdered along with 13 others in the
worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.
Like any mother here at this parish, she
was a parishioner at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in North Hollywood. Around 30 years ago, she fled her native Iran
to escape the persecution of Christians in Iran only to be killed here in
America.
Since these deaths, various law
enforcement agencies around the country have
called for a prepared citizenry by developing trainings videos on how to react
to terrorists. In addition to the necessity of this type of practical preparation
for our public safety and national defense, we also and
even more importantly
need practical spiritual and moral preparation.
Today, on this second Sunday of Advent, as we
prepare for the first and second coming of Christ, I offer you some practical ways to spiritually and morally prepare: First individually, second, as a parish, and
third as a nation.
II
(individual preparation)
First, let us set the foundation for
individual preparation. In today’s Gospel for the Second
week of Advent, we see John
the Baptist preparing for the coming of the Lamb of God by crying out in the
wilderness.
But unlike the preparation for
public safety and national defense which comes with some degree of public
anxiety and fear, the spiritual preparation part calls for interior peace, courage, resolve to protect the
innocent, and even a type of joy knowing that one is making the right
moral choices before God’s eyes. In
other words, there is nothing like having a clean conscience moving forward.
As a model of both spiritual and
material preparation, let us look to the precursor John the Baptist. He is a type of groomsman or best man for the
marriage of the Lamb and the Church which is the
Bride of Christ. Just as a best man at the wedding prepares the groom
for the big wedding day and eliminates obstacles on the pathway, so too,
John the Baptist prepares the way for our wedding feast
with Our Lord in Heaven.
John joyfully proclaims, “’Prepare the way of the Lord…. Every valley shall be filled [as
raised up] and every mountain and hill shall be made low.’” The high mountains
represent bad [sinful] pride and egoism and looking down on others that need to
be brought down and “be made low”. The
low valleys and depths and trenches represent the need to fill up the soul with what is spiritually lacking, such as grace, virtue and love.
And this is the first main point: Individual spiritual preparation means we must live
and end our lives in the state of grace.
This grace was given to us at our baptism. At baptism, the seeds of faith, hope and love
were planted in our souls.
But it is sin – serious sin – deadly sin—also called
mortal sin in the Bible – that destroys the life of love and grace in our
souls. Sure, faith is still there in our
souls. The hope to go to heaven
remains. But love is dead in the
soul. It is in the low valley of
death. It is not in the state of grace
and love, but it is in the state of serious
or deadly or mortal
sin. God cannot do great things in those
in the state of mortal sin.
How do we know if we are in the state of serious or
mortal sin? [The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, which St. John Paul the Great calls “a sure
norm for teaching the Faith” states that] There are 3 conditions that
must be met for something to be a serious sin.
First, we have to fully know that
something is wrong. Second, we have to fully
choose it. And third,
it is over a serious matter.
Let me repeat that.
First we know it is wrong. Second, we fully
choose and give consent. And
third, it is over a serious matter. If all three conditions are there; then, the soul is not in the state of grace and
love.
[If one of the three are there, then it’s not a mortal
sin. It may be a venial sin which
damages – not destroys – grace in the soul.]
Unless a person is being baptized for the
first time, the soul in mortal sin is
only restored to the state of grace by going to
the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance and being
absolved of its sins. Our Holy Father,
Pope Francis, declared a “Jubilee Year of Mercy” to begin this coming Tuesday,
December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This is the perfect time to go to individual
confession to receive all the graces God desires to give to us.
This point about going to Confession concludes the
first main way to spiritually prepare and also transitions us to spiritual
preparation as a parish.
III
(preparing as a parish)
So, this is the second main point of preparation: In
addition to individual spiritual preparation, we spiritually prepare ourselves
as a parish. While
we do have confession available regularly every Saturday, we have a Communal
Penance Service scheduled for Monday, Dec. 21, at 6pm, here at St. Joseph’s Parish. Here as a parish
community, we will pray together and have the opportunity for individual
Confession with visiting priests.
Remember, when we sin, we do not just sin against God
(which we do), but we sin against each other.
Confession not only restores the relationship of the soul to God, but it
also reconciles us to our neighbor, through the
priest who acts, in
persona Christi, in the person of Christ, who forgives.
It is Jesus who forgives through the priest in
Confession. Let
us confess the main obstacles that do not prepare the way of the Lord, and then be forgiven, and then let us make the commitment to stay free from all sin, especially serious,
deadly, mortal sin.
As we prayed in the Responsorial Psalm, “The Lord has
done great things for us; we are filled with joy.” What great things has the Lord done for
us? One of those great things is He has given us the Sacrament of Confession! He has forgiven our sins through the ministry
of the Church, which has the keys to bind and loose, God grants pardon and
peace and the soul is absolved of those sins.
To use the words of the Responsorial Psalm [and Confession], “Although
they go forth weeping” to the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, “carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing” after
Confession, “carrying their sheaves” of a peaceful conscience.
IV
(preparing as a Nation)
And my third point today,
after preparing both individually and as a parish, we can prepare as a Nation.
In the First Reading, the Prophet Baruch speaks of the Cloak or Tunic or
Dalmatic of Justice. Justice means giving what is due to others.
According to the Compendium
of the Church’s Social Doctrine, peace is the fruit of justice, not the
other way around. In other words, a
society that has just laws, laws that respect God’s commandments and the
natural law, will be blessed with peace.
Pope Francis recently called Christmas preparation a “sham”. The Holy Father meant that with all suffering
and death for Christians in the Middle East and what he called “Piecemeal World
War III” going on around the world, why are we not protecting the
innocent? We should be protecting the
persecuted Christians, esp. the children beheaded whose human rights are
violated every day.
Thus, the third main point is this: we, as a nation, can
best prepare spiritually and morally by having laws that respect human life
from natural beginning to natural end, instead of having a culture of
death. IfHere in the Compendium of the
Church’s Social Doctrine, not only does the Church bless the
doctrine of the legitimate right to self-defense, meaning, we have not just the right to defend civilians and innocent
human life (which it does), but we also have the duty to protect the innocent. This is where justice flows into world peace
flows.
Yes, let us still call for healing and forgiveness,
which is admittedly hard to do, but let us also pursue justice for the innocent
victims and for the sake of our children.
In light of recent events, let the Word of God console and strengthen us
as a nation, as it is written in the First Reading, “Take off the robe of
mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever; wrapped in
the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre [like how a bishop
wears a miter] that displays the glory of the eternal name.”
V
(the power of the holy rosary & closing)
One final way to prepare spiritually
individually, as a parish, and as a nation is by a true devotion Our Blessed
Mother Mary, especially through the daily praying of the Holy Rosary. I am reminded of a homily
that Bishop Myron Cotta, the Auxiliary Bishop for our diocese, gave on Our Lady
of Fatima. Bishop Cotta reminded us of
the transforming power of the holy rosary in our lives.
The
rosary will protect our Nation, our parish and
families, and us individually. Prayerfully consider praying the rosary daily this Advent, if
you do not already do so. Our Lady of
Fatima said that there would be peace for those who pray the Rosary.
I close with the words of the Second Reading from St.
Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, “And this is my prayer: that your love may
increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to
discern what is of value, so that we may be pure and blameless for the day of
Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through your Son
Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
Amen.
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