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Browsing Father Michael Deering's Sunday Homilies

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Homily originally presented December 2, 2018

 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 

Each night as I go to bed, I set my 2 alarm clocks for the next morning …

yes, I have 2 clocks because I want to be sure I get up to pray 6:45 Mass.

One is an electric clock-radio that wakes me up to music at 5:00 AM.

The other is a battery-powered alarm clock that goes off within minutes of 5

 

Well, as I was resetting my clocks the first weekend in November ...

I scanned through some of the radio stations and I was surprised to hear ...

          the voice of Johnny Mathis singing,

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas … everywhere you go!”

 

I couldn’t’ believe it! All I did was turn the clock back one hour ... I did nothing to the date. And yet here I was hearing Christmas music on November the 3rd!

 

Why I had just made plans to have Thanksgiving Dinner at my Sister’s house.

The Iron Bowl Football Game was still 3 weekends away.

Yes, we were a full month and a half from December 25th.

 

And yet, with my own ears I heardJohnny Mathis … singing those words,

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas … everywhere you go!”

 

As I sat there, the radio announcer proudly stated that this station was indeed,

Your Christmas Radio Station”!

 

That meant that they’d continue to play Christmas music all day every day

all through November and all through Decemberup till the 25th.

 

You may wonder if I picked some other station for my wake up music… and the answer is no! I left it right there because I really want the radio to get me up and out of bed and I assure you it doesso I can turn off the Christmas music!

 

You talk about ruining a good thing.            Well, hearing the words,

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas on Nov. 3rd does just that!

 

Is Christmas a Good Thing?    Yeah!

Is Christmas a big day?           It is absolutely a big day!

We Christians hold it to be the 2nd most important day of the whole year

second only to Easter Sunday, that we celebrate in the Spring.

 

And how do you get ready for a big day?

 

Well, how do you normally get ready for ...

a Wedding Day, an Anniversary Day, an Ordination Day or a Graduation Day?

 

Why, you spend time preparing for the occasion! You don’t go celebrating for two months in advance, no, you wait and celebrate the event on the day it occurs.

 

The time before the event is a time of preparation, not celebration.

 

Preparing brings with it a growing level of ... excitement and anticipation ...

as you look forward to celebrating the big day.

 

 And so it should be for this great day of Christmas that is now 23 days away

 

The Church has always guided the faithful this way,

which is how the season of Advent came about.

 

It’s in Advent that we go about the job of preparing ourselves for Christmas.

 

This is the time to reflect on the coming of Jesus Christ into our world 2018 years ago.

 

In our First Reading, the Prophet Jeremiah reminds us of God’s promise, saying,

The days are coming … when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel.

 

How satisfying to know we have a God who keeps his promises

and that the fulfillment of His promise is coming.

 

Jeremiah announces,

“I will raise up for David a just shoot … to do what is right and just in the land.”

 

How exciting that had to beto hear that the great Messiah was coming!

 

But when?           When would he come?             God didn’t say.

Looking back we see that it was 550 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem!

 

Wow, can you imagine what that was like waiting and waiting for the Savior.

 

We knew it would be special … but no one knew it would be God in the flesh!

 

We refer to the miracle of God taking on flesh as the Incarnation.

 

While the word Incarnation means “enfleshment”

it carries with it the personification of something.

 

Here, the Incarnation (with a capital I) refers to the event where the invisible, divine God took on a visible, human appearance … the personification of God!

 

 

So special and sacred and supernatural is this event that we bow in reverence

each time we say the line in our Creed that refers to the Incarnation.

 

“For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,

and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.”

 

The bowing here is not done in reverence to the Virgin Mary,

but to the miracle of the Incarnation … the miracle of God becoming man!

 

And it was this great event that set the stage for our redemption …

as Jesus would one day give his life as a ransom for us all.

 

So vital is the coming of God to us as a man that we mark all time on this one event.

 

All around the world the calendar says this is 2018  ....

that’s the number of years from the birth of Jesus!

 

Advent is the time to reflect on the promise God the Father fulfilled 2018 yrs ago

... when He sent His Divine Son, Jesus, to save us.

 

Advent is also the time to reflect on the promise Jesus Himself made while here,

... that He will come again at the end of time to judge us.

 

You see, after Jesus accomplished His great work of redemption here on earth,

He returned to the Father in Heaven. But before He left, He made a promise that He would come again to judge the living and the dead. We recite this in our Creed.

 

It’s that Second Coming of Jesus that we now await .... and need to be ready for.

Because that’s when He will take all of His followers into Heaven for all eternity,

and send all of His enemies away into Hell.

 

 In St. Paul’s letter today he prays ... with us and for us,

that “we … be blameless in holiness … at the coming of Our Lord Jesus.”

 

All of this together makes Advent a season of: anticipation for Christmas,

and a season of devout preparation for Jesus’ Second Coming.

 

We formally pray for the grace to be ready to meet Jesus at every Mass …

when right after the Our Father the Priest prays these words:

Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that,

by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress,

as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

In our Gospel today, Jesus warns us,

“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy … from the anxieties of daily life and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. … Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength … to stand before the Son of Man.”

 

Every moment we spend in preparation will serve us well

when it comes time to meet Jesus, the Just Judge.

 

I’d like to make some suggestions on how to get ready to meet Jesus.

 

First of all ... go to Confession during Advent.

Confession is the greatest aid to holiness … it is the sacrament of God’s mercy that will beautify your soul with sanctifying grace.

 

Confessions are heard 4:30 to 5:15 prior to the Saturday Vigil Mass ...

and at other times upon request.

 

Monday next, December 10th, we’ll offer 3 Priests for 3 hours of Confession ...

here at Holy Spirit Church ... from 5 to 8 PM.

 

Secondly, I’d like to suggest that you make the effort to attend weekday Mass.

We pray Mass every morning, Monday through Friday, at 6:45 AM.

We have between 24 and 40 people and there’s room for 80 in our Chapel.

St. Francis of Assisi celebrates mid day Mass and some evening Masses.

 

Set your alarm clock a little earlier and come start your day praying

          the most powerful prayer in the world!

In just a few days, you’ll have established a new habit to help you prepare for ...

the Great Celebration of Christmas and beyond.

 

Realize that Advent is only half as long as Lent … just 3 weeks instead of 6 weeks.

So don’t put off starting your preparation.     It will be over before you know it!

 

And don’t be distracted by the culture.

This is not the time for celebration … it’s the time for preparation!

 

Use your days wisely to prepare you heart and our soul for Christmas.

 

For if you carry the love of Jesus in your heart,

then people all around you will be saying ...

 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas … everywhere you go!

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