Heralds of the Good News, Precursors of the Lord, 3rd Sunday of Advent (A), December 12, 2010

Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Anthony of Padua Church, New Bedford, MA
Third Sunday of Advent, Year A
December 12, 2010
Is 35:1-6,10; James 5:7-10; Mt 11:2-11

The following text guided today’s homily:

HERALDS OF THE GOOD NEWS, PRECURSORS OF THE LORD

• Second week in a row we encounter St. John the Baptist. Jesus praises him today calling him the greatest man born of woman. He says he is a prophet and more than a prophet, but the one about whom it was written, “I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare the way before you.” St. John the Baptist has therefore been called by Christian tradition, the “precursor” or “forerunner” of the Lord. He went before him, as we focused on last week, to prepare the Lord’s way. But even more importantly, he got the people ready to await someone who was coming after him, who would baptize not with water but with the Holy Spirit and with fire and whose sandal straps the Baptist was not fit to untie. And while they were waiting, he did his most important activity of all, when he saw Jesus walking toward him on the Jordan. He pointed to him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,” and several of his disciples began to follow Jesus. So St. John the Baptist, the precursor, was a prophet announcing the coming of the Lord and making straight the paths for his arrival; he was more than a prophet by pointing him out when at last he came.
•  But then Jesus says something about us in the Gospel. As great as John the Baptist was, “the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” John could announce the Lord’s coming. He could point him out. But the least in the kingdom of heaven, into which we enter by Jesus’ baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, is able to literally receive the Lamb of God within — receive his words, his very life — and to bring him to others.
• Each of us is called to be “more than a prophet,” “more than a precursor,” more than someone who points to Jesus. We’re supposed to become Jesus’ voice, Jesus’ hands, Jesus’ feet, Jesus’ heart. As St. Teresa of Avila would say, “Christ has no body on earth now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out to the earth. Yours are the feet by which He is to go about doing good and yours are the hands by which He is to bless us now.”
• With the background of John the Baptist’s vocation and mission, I want to focus a little on the vocation and mission of each of us, who are called to be even greater than John. I want to do so specifically within the context of all those sons and daughters of God who have wandered from the kingdom, wandered from the place where the Lamb of God takes away our sins, nourishes us and strengthens us. I want to do so specifically within the context of our Advent preparation not just for Christmas, but for Christ’s second coming and for Christ’s multiple comings to us each day, but especially body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist at Mass, and what Christ wants and expects of us with regard to seeking to restore to the King and his kingdom those who have drifted away.
• Recent surveys and data are showing very disturbing trends among places in our country in which Catholicism once thrived.
  • We’ve learned from an extensive survey last year of religion in America that one out of ten Americans now describes himself as an “ex-Catholic.”
  • We know from multiple surveys within the Church that basically only twenty-five percent of those who still describe themselves as Catholics practice the faith on Sundays.
  • We know that here, as I printed in the bulletin last week, that Mass attendance is down to an average of 520 people each weekend. While some move, and a few others change parishes, the fact that other priests in the city are also reporting serious declines in Mass attendance shows that the vast majority of people have simply stopped coming regularly.
  • This is mirroring a trend that is seen throughout formerly Christian Europe, when in many places 7 percent Mass attendance is considered relatively good.
  • It’s clear that these declining trends are wreaking havoc on Church structures. The fundamental reason why Churches are being closed in cities where the Catholic Church once thrived is because Churches cannot sustain themselves if one-quarter or one-tenth or less than those who used to practice there are still coming.
• The Church, however, is not one simply to look at sociological trends and surveys and stop there. Over the course of Church history, there have been many such pessimistic trends, but the Lord has repeatedly raised up new movements, new saints, new leaders, to revivify his Church. These turnarounds haven’t been achieved overnight, but gradually the mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection has been replayed, as the Church in an area has been reborn.
• Now is a time in which God is once again in need of those who are truly his followers to cooperate with him in bringing about this type of restoration. It began 35 years ago when Pope Paul VI began calling for a New Evangelization, a re-proposing of the Gospel in those areas that have already received the Gospel but where the living of the Gospel has waned. John Paul II picked up that message and made it one of his top priorities. For Pope Benedict, he seems to have made it his first priority, speaking about the New Evangelization often and even, a few months ago, created an entire new department of the Roman Curia dedicated specifically to trying to bring it about. Traditional missionary work — trying to bring the Gospel to areas that have never heard it — is hard, because you’ve got to help people move from their former beliefs to the truth that Christ has come to reveal. The New Evangelization, in some ways, can be a greater challenge, because you’re trying to propose the Gospel to those who think they already know what it is and, either in theory or in practice, have rejected it. In the case of missionary work, you patiently have to form people’s minds and hearts; in the new evangelization, you have to change people’s minds and hearts after they’ve formed, in many cases, false ideas.
• But this is our work. John the Baptist had a mission to prepare the people to embrace the Lord when at last he came. Our work is to help the people of our day, of our families, neighborhoods, cultures, workplaces, schools, embrace the Lord who in fact came in Bethlehem, comes to us still in prayer, his Word, and in the Sacraments, and is coming again to judge the living and the dead. And our work is just as important. And our work, though perhaps harder from the human point of view of changing rather than forming people’s minds, has something immense going for it that John didn’t have: we have the full revelation of God’s word, the miracle of his resurrection, the grace that comes from the sacraments, and the holiness that exists in certain places in the Church on our side. But we need to carry out our mission with fidelity as John did his.
• As we near Christmas, I want to focus on some specific areas of our mission:
  • With regard to our family members and friends who have stopped practicing — The Lord isn’t going to send them angels like he sent to the shepherds on Christmas morning in order to announce to them anew the good news. He doesn’t have to because he has us. But we’ve got to make the commitment to bring this good news to those we say we care about and whom the Lord wants us to love as he loves them. On this Gaudete Sunday, in which we focus on the joy that comes from Christ’s coming, his presence, his mercy, his help and his calling, we’re called to radiate that joy. People are most often converted by witness, not by words. We’re called first to bring that joy to them, the joy that comes to our faith. We’re particularly called to do so during this time of year, to bring the joy of the faith. In our Christmas visits. In our Christmas cards. Even in our Christmas gifts. Please, especially with those who need to grow in faith, don’t just get them the same old material presents. Catch their attention by giving them something that might bring them to a deeper appreciation of the faith. I received a card yesterday from a parishioner who is having a Mass celebrated for me and she mentioned that this is the gift she’s getting for all those for whom she ordinarily buys gifts. You could get them a book that helps them grow in faith. A statue, crucifix, framed painting or photo of something that can remind them of their first love. But this season, focus on giving others the greatest gift of all: the gift of God.
  • With regard to those who will be coming to Mass here with us over Christmas — When we look at the stats of the 75% of Catholics who don’t practice the faith regularly, many of them (thanks be to God!) still come on Christmas, Easter and Ash Wednesday. We need to help to make the experience beautiful for them. Unfortunately, it’s not enough just to have a beautiful Mass, beautiful music, beautiful readings and homily. That’s proven not enough to sustain them. Surveys show that what often keeps them is a beautiful experience of community, when they feel welcomed, wanted, and invited to become part of something larger than themselves. That’s why I’m asking all the regular Mass-goers here at this parish to go out of your way to welcome people at Christmas. It’s not just the job of those in hospitality ministry passing out bulletins and warmly greeting people. If you see someone new, go up to them and say, “Hi, I’m Bill Smith. I’m a very happy parishioner here. I just wanted to wish you and your family a great Christmas and to thank you for coming to worship God with us.” Imagine if someone here had three different parishioners say that to him. It would begin to create a mood. This is, of course, something we’re called to do not just on Christmas, but especially on Christmas. I’d also ask people to think about coming to more than one Mass on Christmas so that, not only they can worship God but also extend his hospitality.
  • With regard to the things that keep them away — In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask him whether he was the Messiah or should they wait for another. They had an idea of what the Messiah should be doing and Jesus wasn’t meeting their expectations. On Friday, at daily Mass, the reading was Jesus’ mentioning that people were often like kids in market places, playing flutes and dirges and wanting to get the reaction. Many don’t accept Jesus on his own terms. For example, they may have a problem with the Church, but forget that Jesus founded the Church to be his instrument of salvation, loves the Church, and laid down his life to make her holy. They may have a problem with the inadmissibility of women to be ordained priests or the impossibility of divorcing someone to whom he has been joined in one flesh in order to marry another, but forget that this is what Jesus, the Messiah, himself instituted.  They may have a problem with marriage being restricted to a man and a woman, rather than two men or two women. Whatever it is, many initially reject Jesus. We need to do what Jesus himself did, to show why he is the Messiah, and then to explain his teachings and why they’re consistent with love. In order to do that, we need to know the teachings.

We are called to be greater than a prophet, greater than John the Baptist, in our mission. One reason is because we have the presence of Christ to strengthen us and give us joy. We receive that joy incarnate here at Mass. Let’s not keep this joy to ourselves, but bring it to others, so that Jesus’ joy also may be theirs and their joy complete.

The readings for today’s Mass were: