December 15, 2019

This week, I read the following in an advertisement: ”I want it all and I want it now!” Since the company paid good money to place the ad, and no doubt paid still more money to a marketing company whose aim was to get the reader to take a positive view of the company and its products, it indicates to me that they found this sentiment to be within the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Sure, most ads try to be a little edgy so as to draw our attention from all of the other ads cluttering up the media landscape crying out for our notice. Still, it says something where a Fortune 500 company determines that there is a large audience of consumers that are comfortable with being labeled as both greedy and impatient. These qualities are now not a source of embarrassment but become a normal part, even a necessary part, of being a demanding consumer that is entitled to satisfy any given momentary desire. And while this particular ad might have made this sentiment a bit baldly and boldly, there are many other examples in today’s society that get at the same mindset.

I will leave the “want it all” discussion of greed for another day, but the “want it now” is clearly the vice that is at the root of the readings today. I’ll admit that my own lack of patience with those around me is at the root of a lot of my own personal sins, and I’ve heard it said by multiple priests that it is also the root of most of the sins that they hear in the confessional. In the Gospel reading, John the Baptist is, unfortunately, not setting a good example for us. He is anxiously asking if Jesus is the one. His impatience with knowing for sure has gotten the better of him. And this is Saint John the Baptist, the one of whom Jesus says today that, “among those born of women, there has been none greater.” John should not be impatient, since he has known since his birth that Jesus was the one, as his father Zechariah confirmed in the scriptural passage that has become the canticle we know as The Benedictus, and his mother Elizabeth realized upon meeting Mary while still pregnant with John. If John is having doubts, this man proclaimed to be the “Prophet of the Most High,” if he is impatient with Jesus’ schedule in revealing His incarnation to the world, what chance to we have of staying patient? As I often remark about the lives of the saints, it should be both comforting and challenging when we read about the humanness of the saints, for they suffer the same weaknesses that we all do. John has his doubts, but Jesus is telling him and us that we must have patience and believe.

In the first reading, Isaiah is telling the Israelites who are suffering from the Babylonian exile to have patience – the Lord will once again deliver them back to their promised land. We Christians, with the knowledge of the birth of our Savior, know that Isaiah was also speaking of the deliverance of all people through Christ the Messiah, the suffering servant that Isaiah promised Israel.

In the second reading, Saint James is reminding the people to be patient. They must bear with the hardships of daily life without complaint. The people who put together the lectionary could equally have chosen for the second reading this week Saint Paul, who wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians in part to allay the fears and impatience of those who thought the Jesus’ second coming would be very soon and were losing heart because it had not yet occurred. No, we must live our lives every day as if it was our last, but never expecting it to be so. We must strive for a patience which leads to serenity from the knowledge that God has a plan. He had a plan for the incarnation of the Son, which we celebrate during every Advent season, and he has a plan for us too. We must live out that plan as He has made it known to us through the teachings of the Church so as to receive the promised blessings of that plan.

However, as all virtues can become vices if taken to the extreme, we must guard against allowing our patience to become complacency. While we wait for the Kingdom of God that will be when He comes again, Christ still asks us to prepare for our heavenly reward by making our earthly home as close to that kingdom as we are able to make it. Part of that should be to have patience with our brothers and sisters as they fall short of our expectations and demonstrate their humanness, just as we all expect people to show patience when we show our humanness and weakness. But we must not allow that patience to extend to seeing injustice and immorality without making an attempt to correct it. Especially in this Advent season, we must prepare the way of the Lord through self-preparation, both in our internal attitudes as well as our outward works of building His Church, such as the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. One way we can also do so is to look at opportunities to offer service to our parish through the many opportunities we have to become more involved. This service to others is a gift that can be offered up to Jesus on the celebration of His birthday. Many of you have responded to the letter from our pastor asking you to consider new ways to be stewards of Christ to others; for those of you who have not yet answered, please prayerfully consider becoming more involved in your church. Jesus did not ask us to become mere receivers of His sacraments and passive observers of the rites but to help build His Church.

The theme for this week is two-fold. The readings stress the importance of patience, but also it is the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, and so we also are asked to remember to be joyful in our preparations and to rejoice. These two ideas are complementary. If we are patient with others, if we trust in God’s plan and wait for His promises, we will be joyful. However, we can never be joyful in complacency, when we know that there are wrongs occurring around us in which we do not try to do something about. Certainly, there is a lot of evil in this world, and we cannot deal with it all. For some evils we will use our vote to affect change through governmental action, for some we will use our wealth to financially support those combating various problems, but for some, we must become personally involved, especially in our own local Church and community. If we can honestly say that we’ve tried our best to help out, we will also find joy in our hearts. And, as Pope Francis has repeatedly said, joy is what God created us to experience.

There is another way that we can put today's lesson into practice here at Saint James. In just over a week, we will celebrate Masses for the birth of our Lord, and there will be many people who are visiting Catholics from out of town or are people who are not Catholic but come to celebrate with family members who are, or who are parishioners who attend infrequently. It is easy for those of us who attend regularly to begrudge those who, for whatever reason, do not contribute throughout the year. If for no other reason than we are called as Christians to be charitable, especially in this season of joy, we should welcome them without resentment. Moreover, we must show patience, especially at the four o'clock Vigil Mass, where the church will be filled to capacity. We are called to evangelize and bring all people to Christ, and this is an opportunity to do so. If our visitors have a very joyous experience here, if they feel the love which we offer and feel at home here, they are more likely to return to the Church on a more routine basis. If, however, they feel that the people of Saint James resent their presence, that they are taking up “our” seats and parking spaces, and generally are a bother, we lose this chance to make them want to see that, as the hymn states, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” I ask you to consider parking in the back of the lot to allow more elderly who are not able to attend regularly but make the effort to come at Christmas to find closer parking. Please consider sitting in the front of the church or in the middle of the pews to allow the choicer seats to our guests. We must all stay patient when kids who do not know how to act in church fidget and fuss. You can tell them what a great church we have at Saint James and they will believe you because they see it with their eyes and don't just hear it from your mouth.

We must be patient and, even if some visitors are complacent in their religious observance, we must not be complacent in our efforts to bring Christ to all..

I wish everyone the joy of the Christmas season. I wish you joy in the presence of Christ, which we will experience shortly in His gift of the Eucharist. And I wish you joy in your life of faith as we patiently await the promise of eternal life with God.