My name is Don and I’ve been a Catholic priest for over 50 years. During that time, I’ve pondered these readings over and over again and have discovered something that I never saw there before. It’s given me new hope, new energy, new image of what I do and how I do it. I pray the message that I’m sending you will be equally valuable to you if you find it. So please share these podcasts with your friends. Thank you.
First of all, I’d like to thank many of you who took time to send me your thoughts and reflections on the show and how it’s moving and how it’s evolving. And anyway, that helped me a lot. And one of the things also I’m realizing is we’re beginning this new so many new stations and I have so many new listeners. And I didn’t realize this until just this moment. It was thinking, you know, here we are, you know, we had a couple warm ups, but we got right into the beginning of the church year. So we couldn’t have found a better time to begin this journey together than to begin with the season of Advent and a whole new series of readings from Luke’s Gospel.
So I’m really, really excited about this new beginning. It’s a new beginning for many of you listeners and new beginning for me who feel the connection with a lot of people that I haven’t really had a chance to talk to before. So let’s move right then into the readings for the final Sunday of Advent. This is the fourth Sunday of adventure, and this is the opening prayer. Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace, into our hearts. That we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, your Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by his passion and cross be brought to the glory of his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen. A reading from the Old Testament. From the book of Micah, 5th, chapter 1 4. Thus says the Bethlehem Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah. From you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore the Lord will give them up until the time when she who is to give birth has born, and the rest of his kindred shall return to the children of Israel.
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord his God. And they shall remain. For now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth. He shall be peace the Word of the Lord. Responsorial Psalm Lord, make us turn to you, let us see your face, and we shall be saved. O shepherd of Israel, hearken from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth, rouse your power and come to save us.
Lord, make us turn to you, let us see your face, and we shall be saved once again. O Lord of hosts, look down from heaven and see. Take care of this vine, protect what your right hand has planted, the Son of Man, whom yourself made strong. Lord, make us turn to you, let us see your face, and we shall be saved. May your help be with the man of your right hand, with the Son of man, whom you yourself made strong. Then we will no more withdraw from you, give us new life, we will call upon your name.
Lord, make us turn to you, let us see your face, and we shall be saved. A Reading from the New Testament From Letter to the Hebrews, 10th chapter, fifth through the 10th verse when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offerings you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me in holy costs and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, as it is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God. First he says, sacrifice and offerings, holy costs and sin offerings you neither desired nor delighted in. These are offered according to the law. Then he says, behold, I come to do your will.
He takes away the first to establish the second. By this will we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The Word of the Lord. Alleluia Verse Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. The Gospel for this Sunday is taken from St.
Luke 1:39, 45th verse Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. The Gospel of the Lord Sam Satan when we began this season four Sundays ago, there was an image that I talked about that was in the readings, and the image was Jesus showing his disciples who were sitting with him outside of Jerusalem and they were looking back at the temple.
And Jesus made this announcement that this temple was going to be destroyed. Not a stone left upon a stone, yet he himself would somehow rebuild it. And that seemed to be such an important theme that was in that first reading, because the Old Testament talked about how all this destruction was going to come on all these people. And that was the impact of this system that had been moving in a direction not toward more integrity and authenticity, but to more corruption and abuse and control. That this whole system that would developed over the Old Testament times was falling apart and was supposed to fall apart. And so we have this 2,000 years of the time, from Abraham until the time of Jesus, to in a sense, be imbued with and be taught that there was a way in which God wanted us to live.
We couldn’t do it on our own. So we had people who were in charge who told us how to live. And we were told over and over again, these are the rules, these are the laws. And there were 10 of them. And they were. They were beautiful.
And they were pretty simple. A good relationship with divinity and a wonderful relationship with humanity and the nature of human beings who were longing for a kind of perfection that they weren’t able to achieve on their own, but thought they could do it by rules and regulations, got caught up in this system that was getting more and more damaging and less and less effective as human beings evolved and changed and became more like who they were intended to be. So just pick up that image of the old collapsing around us. And then we look at these last readings and this set of readings, and it seems to be all about this thing that’s happening, this person that’s coming, this new, new world that’s being created. And it’s interesting. This person that’s coming to do this is going to be very, very.
How would I say it? He’s complex, this Jesus figure. Who is he? Is he just a man? Is he a man who is just filled with divinity? Or is he a man so filled with divinity he’s also divine himself?
It’s almost like he’s too complex for us to comprehend. And I think that is true. And so how did then God plan on revealing the work that Jesus was here to do? How did he do that? And what he did was made sure that this divinity, part of God, man, Jesus was not the focus, but rather this idea of the Son of Man, a human being. That’s how you translate son of man as human being that we have to look at Jesus as a human being, not as a God.
And if we do that, then he becomes more clearly the image that he’s intended to be, because he is who we are to become. And he came into the world to do something that initiated a thing that we couldn’t have accomplished on our own. But what he initiated was a relationship with God that’s so intimate, so close, that there’s no way we could imagine that we could ever attain the goal that we have as human beings to evolve into who God intended us to be. We could never do that without this event called redemption. And it’s complex in a way, and simple in another way. Complex as we don’t understand how it could happen, how one person could make up for the sins of an entire world.
But that’s what is happening. And when we’re understanding fully that this Jesus comes into the world to reveal a father, a godfather that we never could have dreamt could exist. And he is a God who is filled with nothing. Nothing but mercy and forgiveness and love and affirmation. And he had to show us what that would feel like if we had a relationship with someone like that. And that’s who Jesus becomes for his disciples and those people who began to listen to him and to be transformed by who he is.
And it’s never changed. It’s the heart of Christianity. How do you allow this figure Jesus, to be real enough for you to be who he really is and to be, in a sense, presented to your imagination? And if you can feel who he is and know who he is, there’s an immediate response inside of you. And I want to use that as the image of what is in the Gospel. This Jesus is in the womb of Mary.
She has done the thing that the heart of Christianity asks us all to do. Be who she’s intended to be. Live the life God has asked her to live when he reveals to Mary who she is to become the mother of God? How she could have ever fathomed what that meant, how she could have ever understood it, she couldn’t. All she said was, I don’t understand this. I don’t know what it means.
It is risky for me. It’s an incredible adventure you’re asking me to take on, but all right. If this is what you want of me, if this is your will, then I want it to happen to me, and then this new life is born in her. Is there something there we should pay attention to? Absolutely. It’s the only way it can happen to you and to me.
To be transformed by this presence of God in us. Unless we say we can’t figure it out, we don’t know how it’s going to work. We can’t even understand it once it’s working. But if this is what you want, if you want us to believe as human beings that we are entitled to or have been given the gift of the presence of God inside of us, we’ll accept it. And that’s what she did. And there’s Elizabeth, who’s aware somehow on a mystical way that there is this whole thing is going on.
And. And she has John the Baptist in her womb. This interesting story. And when Jesus in the womb comes into the presence of John the Baptist in the womb, John the Baptist leaps for joy. It’s like, are you kidding? I mean, it’s really beautiful and it’s weird, but I mean, it’s saying that there is something in this God, man, Jesus, that when you anticipate his coming, when you’re open to it, and John’s life led him to a place where he was like Jesus.
And they were both really upset with the temple and it wasn’t going well, and they knew it was so abusive to people and trying to control people with rules and laws and sacrifices wasn’t working. They both knew this and they met, in a sense, while they were still in formation and they were excited about this new life that was coming into the world. And, you know, it’s interesting that when you think about the depth of Christianity and the call that it has for making us into people who are so potentially effective in terms of bringing life to the people around us, unless we have that kind of sense of the what’s the word? I want the ease with which that happens and the spontaneity in which it happens and the effectiveness of it. When you really understand, when you say yes to this God and allow him to live inside of you, people are going to change around you and things are going to work out around you, and things that you want and long for, they appear. That’s the promise.
It’s amazing. New life. And what is it taking the place of? Well, that’s what’s really fascinating about this set of readings. And I’m going to play on two images. One is the response oil Psalm, which I love because it’s talking about seeing God’s face.
I want to see your face, and if I see your face, I’ll be saved. Have you ever done something wrong and had to face somebody and you maybe tell them what you’ve done, and then you put your head down and you don’t want to look at them because you don’t want to see their reaction. I think it’s so fascinating when the psalmist was caught up in this image of God’s face looking at you. And when you see who he is, and you have to first take into your imagination that he is love, that he is forgiveness, that he is every single thing that every human being longs for in terms of a companion and a source of strength in life. He’s all of that. If you see him looking at you with that disposition, you’re going to be transformed.
That’s a beautiful image of how important it is to have a vision of who God is. Not through the Old Testament, not through the temple, not through the rules, regulations, all. All those sacrifices that had to be done to make up for sins. That is not what human beings are made for. And yet for 2,000 years, that’s what we struggle with. And it’s not unusual to see the same kind of percentage of our life, in a way spent worrying about rules and regulations and laws and who we should be and what people want us to be and forcing ourselves into being somebody we’re not.
All of that is the sign of the Old Testament, and it has to go away, it has to die. And so one of the things we have then is someone who comes into the world who has that look, that look of God. And when Jesus looked at people, I don’t know what it must have felt like, but I’m not saying it was absolutely transforming to everyone. But my point is that there was something in this God man who was like us in all things, except for doubts and fear that this thing isn’t going to work out or whatever. But this God man, Jesus is the one who is there saying something to us that is so opposed to the whole system of religion that he was such a scandal. You can’t imagine.
Why would this be the way it worked? Why wasn’t there a nice, easy transition between the Old Testament and the New Testament, just like everything in the Old Testament moved us to the direction, and then the New Testament comes along and it’s just like that’s the normal thing that we would develop into. It’s like first spending most of your life in a direction that is unfulfilling and not fruitful. Is that by just accident, or is that the way it works for you and for me? Do we first, all of us spend too much time trying to figure out who we are by doing what people expect of us? By following rules and regulations, even though we might not be religious, and we’re not talking about the regulations of a religion, but the regulations of a culture, the regulations of a system, of a family.
Doing what you think you have to do in order to be acceptable. That’s where most of us spend most of our life. Until some moment when something hits us and there’s something in us that is awakened, that leaps up and says, oh, my God. You mean there’s something besides this drudgery of doing what you’re supposed to do? Offering. I mean, offering sin offerings is like going around apologizing to everybody for who you are and all that kind of stuff.
He said, no, no, that’s not it. But it seems to me that most of us have to have this moment in time when we move from all of that. Maybe some do it very early. I didn’t do it until really late in my life. I think maybe in my 70s, I began to really realize that this God that I work with, that calls me into a life with him, is not interested in my perfection. But he’s given me a body, as the scripture says.
Today, Jesus said, I’ve got a body, and my job is to fulfill the role of my body, my life in this world. And what I want to do is give that to people as an offering, as a gift, as a source of life that doesn’t come from me, but through me, because God dwells in me. That’s the image of Jesus. And what do we call him? What’s the word for that kind of figure in the world? A person who looks at us with nothing but love and forgiveness.
It’s called peace. And that’s the first reading. This mystical creature that’s coming into the world who wants us to see him as one like us, comes in. And when we see him for who he is, when we see the look he has in his eyes, which is God’s eyes, looking at us and seeing that God sees nothing but the potential of all our goodness. When we can feel that and that something is awakened inside of us, then we’ve understood something that we’re made for. You know, that’s what we’re made for.
We’re not made for being controlled or having demands placed on us. It’s abusive. It’s abusive. So it’s amazing when you think about it, that we. We. We find ourselves often because of the culture, because of a shadow of religion that still wants to control and.
And make people into who they think they should be. I mean, we all struggle with that. And it comes somewhere along in our life where we say, this is not enough. And the worst thing we do is we walk away from religion and think then that’s all religion ever offered me was rules and regulations. But religion offers something so beautifully suited to who we are and so powerful in awakening someone in us that is there always wanting to be born, wanting to be used, wanting to become an instrument of life to other people. That’s our DNA, our true DNA.
So what a wonderful thought to say that we’re ending these four Sundays with an exciting adventure before us, that we’re going to take this seriously, we’re going to take the look of God that is nothing but love and acceptance and encouragement to become who he intended us to be. We’re going to believe that with all our hearts and we’re going to find a new life. And Luke is going to help us through his eyes what he saw. And we’ll see it and we’ll grow and we’ll become who we’re supposed to be. Amen. Closing prayer Father, it’s hard for us to fathom the fullness of who this God man, Jesus truly is.
But as we recall the moment in history when he came into this world, 2000 years prepared the world for this coming. And now we’ve lived 2,000 years with this awareness and we’re still slowly growing and becoming everything that this God man has promised to be for us. So bless us with a radical openness to who he is, a courageous yes to what he calls us to be. And let us feel the peace that comes from knowing that no matter how far we drift, no matter how many mistakes we make, he’s right there with forgiveness and understanding. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. And last thing I want to say is I hope these last few days before Christmas are good and full and rich with friends and family and gifts and parties.
And I just pray you have a beautiful and wonderful Christmas. And we put out, I think it was last week that we put out on our website the video that I did, and it’s the video called Autonomy. And I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but one of the things about that video that’s so fascinating to me is I was sitting in the studio with my friend who helps me make the videos, and basically we were sitting there and I was trying to spontaneously come up with some ideas. And I sat there and I said, you know, nothing’s coming and we should break and go to lunch or something like that. And as soon as I said that all of a sudden out of nowhere came these thoughts, these thoughts about autonomy. And I mean I lifted my head and even if you’ll notice at the very beginning of the video, it’s kind of weird, my eyes are like really big.
But that whole dialogue that went on during that thing that I’m deleted on my talk was absolutely spontaneous and non reflect. I hadn’t thought about it in any way, shape or form the way it came out. So anyway, it’s an unusual piece, so I’m hoping you’ll enjoy it and you’ll look into it. It’s called Autonomy. It’s about 16 minutes long and love to hear some feedback. Thanks.
I’d like to remind you that the program you just listened to is available on our website pastorreflectionsinsinsinsinstitute.com as well as on our podcast. Go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe to Finding God in Ourselves. It’s free to listen to anywhere, anytime. This ministry also needs your support, so make a one time or recurring tax deductible donation on our website. Thank you so much for your listenership and your continued support, for without it, this program would not be possible. Thank you.