The Valley Catholic November 19, 2019 | Page 11

tvc.dsj.org | November 19, 2019 By Father Brendan McGuire Pastor of Holy Spirit Parish, San José, and Special Advisor to the Bishop, Diocese of San José. [email protected]. Stay Awake and Put on Christ In Ecuador, there is a small village at the foot of Mount Tungurahua, which is an active volcano that spews dust about 50% of the time. The villagers in the town are in a constant state of alert. They have their bags packed with all the extra medications, flashlights, and essential supplies for a certain number of days. At any moment they are ready to grab that bag and run. They even know the best and safest escape route to clear and higher ground. One would think this constant state of alertness would have them very stressed out, literally on edge that it would take a toll on their well-being. But in fact, the villagers have a great sense of balance and while they are prepared, they go about their regular duties of life. They are doctors and nurses, teachers, innkeepers, storekeepers, and they go about their everyday life. Yet they are always prepared that this could be their last day. But it does not paralyze them. In fact, it seems to actually enrich their lives. The families are exuberant with joy. They have a con- stant joy of living in the present moment with the reality that it could all come to an end so fast. That balance between the reality of living and the alertness of the finality of the mountain exploding one more time. Today we begin our Advent journey in preparation for Christmas. Listening to today’s Gospel, we are called to that same balance: to prepare for the ultimate return of the Lord, but not to paralyze us from doing and living in the present moment. In fact, if we get this balance right, we will be even more invigorated by living in the present moment, because we are savoring every moment as a possible last moment. We are living in the present. What does this balance or preparation look like? The preparation for the final time is in the very dramatic language in today’s Gospel, “One will be taken and one will be left behind.” Whether it be a woman or a man, basically we will not know the time or the hour. In the second reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans, he tells us to not get caught up with jealousy or petty rivalries. He says to focus on Christ: “Put on Christ.” He was very present in every moment to whoever came to him, whether a Pharisee or a poor person or a widow or a lord. He was always in the moment, the reality of the moment. And at the same time, he always was prepared to meet his Father. Today, we come to the table once more and we begin this four-week prepara- tion for Christmas. We take the very beginning of our liturgical year and before we do anything else, we stop and prepare for the Christ’s birth. By increasing our prayer and looking and reflecting upon the present reality, we put on Christ and balance our waiting with our living in the present moment. SPIRITUALITY Sunday Homilies Prepare the Way Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved to understand how things are con- structed, whether it was buildings or roads or any other device. I subscribed to a magazine called “How Things Worked,” and I loved to disassemble things to figure out how they actually worked. One of the most compelling parts for me was how anything got started, the initial construction. For a building or a road, it was the foundation. The foundation was the key to a good building project, because if the foundation is right, then the building, the road, or any other construct would always endure. One construction that most fascinated me was American highways, which were some of the best made in the world. They constructed the highways in layers: the layer on the bottom is heavier rock, and then each layer has smaller and smaller rock, and eventually the very top layer, which is the last layer, was asphalt or concrete, depending on the needs. In the Gospel today, we are called to prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths. Matthew, the evangelist, connects this road construction as preparing the way. The foundational principle is repentance. Why is repentance a critical foundation for the road to the Lord? We are decent. We’re up early on a Sunday morning. There are a whole lot of other people who never go to Church. So we feel a little bit better about ourselves, but that is not the point. There are two aspects of repentance: 1) The acknowledgement of our sins, 2) the desire and the commit- ment to turn away from that sin and convert our lives. The road to the Lord in Matthew’s Gospel is first and foremost about humility; the first thing we do every time we go to the Lord is to admit our sins. We have to start there, because that is the foundation to relationship with Christ. We are not always our best selves, not that we are the worst sinners in the world but that there are always things we have failed to do right or wrong each day. If we are really honest as we come to the table this morning, there are times when we have said something or done something which we know we should not have said or done. If we reflect on our days, we know in our hearts that we say and do things that are not helpful. The second component is recommitting, turning back to the Lord. Repentance is the foundation of the way to the Lord. If we do this day after day, we are con- structing the road ahead of us; not just for ourselves but for all. For all of those who have who have no clue how to construct the road to the Lord, it is a responsibility not only for us but for those around us who seek the Lord unknowingly; who seek to be good; who want the Lord in their life but do not know how to get there. Weekly Traditional Latin Mass Schedule Location Time Sunday Low Mass I.E.S. Chapel 8:30 a.m. 9:45 a.m. Sunday High Mass Five Wounds Church 12:30 p.m. Monday - Friday Low Mass Five Wounds Church 12:00 p.m. First Saturday Low Mass I.E.S. Chapel 10:00 a.m. Other Saturdays Low Mass Five Wounds Church 7:30 a.m. Confessions Church or chapel Before Mass 012131%,-45$6 Diocesan-approved Extraordinary Form Liturgies !"#$%&'()*+%,-(./- I MMACULATE H EART OF M ARY O RATORY hosted at Five Wounds Portuguese National Church 1375 East Santa Clara Street, San Jose, CA 95116 [email protected] http://institute-christ-king.org/sanjose-home 11 November 29 - January 5 ALL LOCATIONS hssv.org/HomeForHolidays