2nd Sunday of Advent 2007

[Fr.Paul Weinberger]

Homily by:

Father Paul Weinberger
Saint William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
2nd Sunday in Advent
December 9, 2007

John the Baptist appeared preaching in the desert of Judea saying, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” It was him that the Prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said, “A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the Way of the Lord. Make Straight His Paths. “

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

It used to be typical of this time of year that kids would be performing a Christmas play with the Holy Family traveling to Bethlehem looking for a place to stay. Of course, we are so much wiser today and politically correct that it would be rare of finding that happening. I have told you before of such a play being put on by some children and they practiced and practiced. There were a series of doors representing the different inns that St. Joseph would knock on asking for a place for them on that Christmas Eve night. The kids practiced and practiced. Every time St. Joseph knocked on the door the boy would answer,

“We don’t have any room. We are all full up.”

It seems like an easy enough line but Art Linkletter that kids say the darndest things. The day of the play came. St. Joseph went from door to door to door. At the third or fourth door when St. Joseph knocked on the door the little boy stuck his head out and looked from side to side. He then said,

“They told me to say no but come on in anyway.”

When we think of Advent we should think of that. Sorry no room for You here. Make some room for the Holy Family.

Every time that I pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary and get to the third one I quote that part in the Bible that says,

“And she gave birth to her firstborn Son and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

Yesterday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Holy Father has started a Jubilee Year of the Immaculate Conception because he wishes to draw attention to an anniversary of Our Lady. If you look at the cover of our bulletin you will also see an anniversary of Our Lady when she visited St. Juan Diego on the 9th- 12th of December in 1531. It was on the 12th that she left that image on the cover of the bulletin. The Holy Father wants to prepare us for an anniversary of the Blessed Virgin Mary which comes up on February 11th, 2008.

The Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858 on February 11th and then on March 25th she finally identified herself. Throughout that month St. Bernadette said that she was speaking with “the Beautiful Lady.” Never once did St. Bernadette declare that she had seen the Blessed Virgin Mary. On March 25th, 1858, exactly 9 months before Christmas, on the Feast of the Annunciation, the beautiful lady identified herself to St. Bernadette saying,

I am the Immaculate Conception.”

The first day that they met was February 11th, 1858, and St. Bernadette related that the beautiful lady had a rosary in her hand and so St. Bernadette reached into her pocket and got out her rosary. I wonder how many in here could do that. Anyway she reached into her pocket and pulled out her rosary and with the beautiful lady she made the Sign of the Cross. The first thing they did together was honor the Blessed Trinity. The Sign of the Cross in is honor of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. They then began to pray the rosary together.

The message of Lourdes is a request by Our Lady to St. Bernadette and by extension to us to pray and do penance for the conversion of sinners. Isn’t that what St. John the Baptist is telling us today in the Gospel?

Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

St. John the Baptist is someone who is baptizing.

Now if you would look in the bulletin today there is something reprinted from last week. There are four hours of Confession that are scheduled for Wednesday from 11am to 3pm. Last week it was a big success. Apart for let’s say 15 minutes I was kept busy the whole time. It was the same thing here today. After each one of the Masses on Sunday and including 2 additional hours on Sunday afternoon I heard confessions. Isn’t that what today’s Gospel is saying,

People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.”

The Spanish translations says “confessed” instead of “acknowledged.” Many of the translations have that connation. They were confessing their sins, one by one, and then they were baptized by St. John in water.

When you think of Lourdes you think of Lourdes Water. The Message of Lourdes is about conversion and penance for the conversion of sinners. That is the actual message that Our Lady gave to St. Bernadette. It goes right along the same line as the message of St. John the Baptist. He is connected with water and they are confessing their sins. This is what Advent is for. Advent is for preparing a way for the Lord by confessing our sins and to make straight His Paths. You see this image the Baby Jesus here, so docile and so gentle. Isaiah says,

“A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench.”

Jesus is so docile and so humble that coming into this world would not even disturb the virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is not that hard to imagine that if He came into this world the first time by this way that the second time will be the same. But that is not the case. There are lots of readings where we hear that He will come with fire and power. If there are valleys He will fill them in. If there are crooked ways He will make them straight. We just sang, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” If we are inviting Him over and there is no room it will not be pleasant. And we have no idea when that time is.

The fact is that St. John the Baptist is so helpful to us. He says of Jesus that,

“He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into His barn but the chaff, the unuseful portion, will burn with unquenchable fire.

But dismissing John the Baptist is at your peril. He is the image that the Church gives us this Second Sunday of Advent.

We hear in the Gospel that many Sadducees and Pharisees were also coming to St. John in the desert and look at how he greats them.

You brood of vipers (snakes)! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.

Oh no, it is like someone who wears suspenders who might put on a belt just in case. Belt and suspenders. You see the Sadducees and Pharisees were coming out to be baptized probably without repentance. It is like saying you’re Catholic but you don’t believe in that Confession stuff. If that is your final answer than that will be your final answer at the Second Coming or death whichever comes first. But why worry and just acknowledge your sins in Confession as the Church intends. Don’t be like the Sadducees and Pharisees and go on out there to be baptized in a manner that turns the Sacrament into a rabbit’s foot for luck. If a rabbit’s foot were so lucky is obviously didn’t help the rabbit. Let’s go ahead and look at the Sacraments of the Church as mere window dressing because as we know we are Catholic. That is right up there with saying that your father is Abraham.

Look at what happened at the time that Father Martin Luther left the Catholic Church and was leading thousands upon thousands out of the Church in Europe. Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on this side of the world. To look at the Aztec Empire before her coming there were about 20 million people. They were conquered in 1519 by the Spanish. A new government was established and a few hundred thousand were baptized at that time. However, from 1531 when Our Lady appeared until 1541 there were 9 million men, women and children were baptized. Of course we know that the Aztecs had worshipped the devil, they had perfected human sacrifice, and they practiced every vice you could imagine and help those vices up in their empire as virtues. Now the difference is that they had never heard the Gospel. So after Our Lady appeared on this day, December 9th, 1531, there were 9 million converts. Some assert that these were forced conversions. You would have had to empty all of Spain and get them over here and then go about trudging through the jungles. That is absurd thinking. No, Our Lady brought in nine million.

We just celebrated Thanksgiving in which we remember the first settlers of the United States. Now by the time the pilgrims came they were already building churches and the Cathedral in Mexico City. I do believe that Mexico is part of North America. The pilgrims and their Christian basis are so very foreign to us today in this politically correct time. America is almost poised to begin a post Christian era. We know longer have the support of society and neighbors and friends as we used to. People look at you as if you had two heads when you say that you are Christian. I know that we are kind of insulated down here in Texas but we are still part of the United States. So we are living in this era but what can come into to every household and car. Well, let’s start with devil worship, human sacrifice for starters. We have outdone the Aztecs with our 40 million abortions. With TV you can bring every vice that you could or couldn’t imagine right into your living room or into your office and your car. Isn’t technology great? But remember that you and I have had the Gospel.

The Bible has been available here for over 200 years and we have essentially said what the Sadducees and the Pharisees said. We are Christians. That won’t save us. St. John the Baptist says,

“And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ….Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.”

Remember that repentance means conversion. The Message at Lourdes is the same as the Message at Fatima. Pray and do penance for the conversion of sinners. That is exactly what the Church is recommending to me and to you because I am certainly not the Immaculate Conception and neither are you.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen