Denise and Lori
Homily by:
Father Paul Weinberger
Saint William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
4th Sunday in Advent
December 24, 2006
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Someone a week or so ago mentioned that the “Lord of the Rings” movies were on television. Also on TV is “It's a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart. It takes place in Anywhere, USA and the “Lord of the Rings” takes place somewhere in the mind of Tolkien. Both of these movies are very similar and not just because they are on TV this Christmas time. They both have a great evil force, Mr. Potter and Saruman. They both have a figure and his many friends opposing that evil force. Jimmy Stewart and the King in the Lord of the Rings. These are two both very excellent films as we finish our preparation for Christmas on this the Fourth Sunday of Advent and the Last Day of Advent.
Seventeen years ago after being ordained you could find me every evening for the next year or so in front of the TV watching the evening news or as I should say looking for the evening news. After a while I gave up. There were five minutes of news and the sequences or sagas that were continued each evening such as "Eye on America." That is fine just have that on a program like Eye on America and not on the evening news. What has happened is that they have begun to manufacture news so things that aren't news are now news.
Yesterday on the internet I read that frankincense, the incense that we just used for the Gospel, might be in short supply because the land is being developed and someone in Hunt County, Texas is buying up the world's supply on incense. (
Father is kidding here. His parish is in Hunt County and he uses a lot of incense. Editor's note: As Father would tell you. One way or another there is going to be smoke where you are going so get used to it.
They are making up news when there isn't any news. All of this is informational but it is not news.
What these two movies I just mentioned are about is good news when the world was desperately in need of good news. About a hundred years ago the apostle of common sense, G.K. Chesterton wrote this about the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
"Nobody else except those messengers has any gospel. Nobody else has any good news for the simple reason that nobody else has any news."
This is true and we are preparing for this Great News that is coming into the world today as we are preparing for Christmas. The fact that so many people do not recognize This Good News is similar to what happens in the “Lord of the Rings”. Saruman is the evil genius that creates terrible figures known as orks. They are his slaves and do his bidding. Saruman is not really concerned on how good they look. He wants them as hideous as possible. The figures in the service of Saruman are slaves. On the other side is the king. On the king's side is the society of men, elves, dwarves, and hobbits. It is an unusual rag tag bunch that is opposing this very organized slave driven army of Saruman.
In the Lord of the Rings there is that famous battle for the city. The king is restored to his city just as it is about to be conquered. Many die in the battle and the walls of the city are breached but the victory is for the men. Many of the orks leave and go back to the gates of doom at Mordoor where the ultimate battle awaits. It is so beautiful when the kings says that we must go even though we are terribly outnumbered because we may prove to be a distraction and help our friends in need. In the movie it is about helping the hobbit complete this mission. This hobbit, who is very short and has huge feet, is the most unlikely character for the mission of destroying the ring. The king was right. They were a distraction when they went to the gates of Mordoor. They knock at the steel doors of Mordoor. This movie is a great preparation for this Feast because Christ Himself has come into this world of sin and death. We could not pull ourselves up by our bootstraps because we couldn't. There was no way for man to forgive sins against God. Only God can do that.
And God came in the Person of Jesus Christ to conquer sin and death. That is the Gospel, the Good News. There is no news other than This News. So many people are in terrible opposition to this coming of the King, especially in the form of a Child. The world hates the child and that is why it says don't have children.
Last week I visited a child who just came home from the hospital. The child is four years old and he is a beautiful child. He is dying. He was born with a disease and he has received all the medical treatment possible and now he is home, dying. Hospice is taking care of him. I went to the home to say the prayers and his mother and father, brothers and sisters, cousins, friends are all there and they are intensely praying. They are also helping each other. This child has already received all the best treatment that Children's Medical Center at Dallas could provide but it is not going to prevent this child from dying.
When I saw the little boy he had his teddy bear in his arms. He was in his parents' bed, a huge bed. He was on one side and all the stops had been pulled out for this little boy. The parents have lavished so much attention on this little boy; in fact, they have made themselves financially poor by taking care of him. They have spiritually been challenged and this little boy has tried their faith and their emotions have been drained by his care. So it appears on one level that this little boy has impoverished this family. Nothing could be further from the truth. The greatest pride this family has is this child. They look to this child with such pride and love that it puts to shame those fiends who tell us that the child is that which should be feared.
There is a movie that just came out and I haven't seen it yet. It is supposedly most violent. It is called
Apocalypto. The movie ends as the sails of the ships of Hernan Cortez come in to sight; just before the conquest of Mexico. I know you have never heard anyone speak of the conquest of Mexico, I know, I know! Apocalypto is very violent because for over a hundred years the Aztecs had perfected HUMAN SACRIFICE. I have some news for you. This is news. Our country since 1973 has "sacrificed" more than the Aztecs could in a hundred years and the Aztecs were very diligent in human sacrifice. Those who promote human sacrifice
today invoke charity. These fiends say that it is not right for you to bring a child into the world if it is just going to suffer and exhaust your emotions, test your faith and exhaust your financial resources. Look at the attention you are taking away from the other children and do the Christian thing and sacrifice/kill this child, which is what they are asking you to do in an abortion.
What if I had appeared at that home and told that family that what they had experienced over these last four years with this boy had been useless? If only they had done the right thing, the Christian thing, the charitable thing and sacrificed this child before he ever saw the light of day. If they had had a gun in the house they would have had every right to turn it on me. What a terrible thing to say to somebody! Isn't it interesting that they say even the devil can quote scripture. Many of these people who promote human sacrifices are relatives, are Catholics, are friends, are priests like Father Drynen. He just got an award in Congress. He is a Jesuit and he promotes human sacrifice. Others that promote human sacrifice are our elected officials, and don't forget our neighbors and co-workers. And a lot of the time it is done in a misguided understanding of charity.
Think about all of that and now turn your attention to the Crèche at the front of the Church. It is the first moment, after spending nine months in the womb of His mother, of Christ at His Birth. Then behind the Crèche we have the Altar of Sacrifice and then we have the Tabernacle and behind the Tabernacle is the stained glassed representing Christ at Calvary. Remember when the “Passion of the Christ” came out a couple of years ago and people said that you shouldn't go see it because of the scourging scene being so violent? The Scourging at the Pillar was so terrible and so disfiguring of Christ and Mel Gibson's movie did an excellent job of showing how Christ was disfigured in the Scourging. He, Our Lord, was hardly recognizable as a human being.
He Who knew no sin became Sin for us.
Christ, Who was sinless takes on sin to save us.
Now you contrast that with those who say that if you knew that you were only going to suffer like that then why didn't HIS mother just go ahead and..... I can't even complete the sentence! This is what we are told on a daily basis by the alphabet media and other places. There are Christian men and women and fellow Catholics, leaders of the Church, who would quietly agree that it would be better to offer a human sacrifice than to deplete precious resources that I have already mentioned above. This is slavery, true slavery and a slavery that blinds. It is a true culture of death. Tolkien and Gibson bring that to life in the “Lord of the Rings” and “Apocalypto”. It is a battle and it is terrible but the Great Light has come into the world and this Light is the Good News.
Now if you think this is rather gruesome and Father Paul's preference for Sunday just listen to what the Divine Office in the readings for today has to say. Chapter 51 verse 17 of the Prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament says,
[color=redRouse yourself, rouse yourself, stand up Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the
hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl of staggering. There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne; there is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. These two things have befallen you; who will condole with you? Devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you? Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net [/color]
This is very, very dismal. That is December 24th of the Divine Office that every priest and religious is required/vowed to read. The way Israel was taken out of slavery and brought to the Promised Land with Jerusalem being the capital of the Promised Land, the Holy City. Then in their wealth they turned from God to their pagan ways and back to the slavery of sin. They were called to be God's
chosen people and because they turned from their mission they turned back to slavery. This is a hideous picture painted by the Prophet Isaiah who is the prophet of Advent.
Saint Augustine mentions in the second reading from today's Divine Office why Christ comes into the world so that we all would not suffer eternal death.
This is very beautiful what Saint Augustine writes. It is what we sang in the opening hymn. Remember when sang O come O come O Key of David? What is that all about? Sometimes we scratch our heads trying to figure out Christmas hymns. O come O come O Key of David and open wide our heavenly home. It is not talking about the steel doors of Mordoor but the Keys of Heaven. Jesus is the Key of David. He Himself opens the doors that were shut with the Original Sin of Adam and Eve.You would have suffered eternal death, had he not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for this mercy.You would never have returned to like, had he not shared your death. You would have been lost if he had not hastened to your aid. You would have perished, had he not come.
The beauty of this Advent is seen in the most beautiful words probably ever recorded. Jesus says,
I no longer call you slaves but friends!
Friends pull together against Mr. Potter in “It's a Wonderful Life.” Friends assemble together in Tolkien's “The Lord of the Rings” and go forth against incredible odds against the gates of Mordoor. That picture of the army of men at the gates of Mordoor and then the Orks come out and surround them. They are on this little island in the middle and are surrounded by thousands or maybe millions of Orks. That reminds me of November 8, 1519, when just under a thousand men descended into the valley of Mexico City and took Montezuma prisoner. They had around them 15 to 20
million Aztecs. What could Cortez do? Look over there and then run the other way? It was not possible but it is amazing what God asks of His friends. He wants us to carry this Good News. Our Lady was told the Good News by an Angel and she takes that Good News immediately to Elizabeth. She goes to the house of Elizabeth and the Good News spreads like the positive answer to something as desperate as cancer. The Good News spreads like Light in the darkness. And so we see the first glimmers of that Light when we approach Christmas this evening at 6:00 pm.
Chesterton calls our attention to It so well
Somehow God wants the most unusual group to spread His Good News, you and me. Over the last week there were 15 hours of Confessions and then more were added on some days when I hadn't heard all of them. There will be Confession after this Mass as well. What I have heard every time I have been in the confessional and I don't like being in the confessional, there are things I would rather do but Confessions are ABSOLUTELY necessary. I would go to Confession every day myself if I had access to a priest but I don't. Mother Teresa went every day and John Paul II went once a week and our excuse is.... nobody has ever told us...yeah right?Nobody other than those messengers has any Gospel Nobody else has any good news for the simple reason that nobody else has any news.
Yet when I hear the confessions of the people I am so inspired. Oh yeah every once in a while I might get someone who is not prepared. But the majority confessions have been people who are struggling and realizing what they are doing in slavery when they are called to be a friend of Christ. They realize they are serving in this foreign army of sin that is disfiguring their soul. Mothers and fathers, single men and women, are very inspiring. When you hear a lot of confessions you can hear/see those wrong turns when someone starts to confess someone else's sins or blame someone else for the way they are living. I am so impressed when I get a confession that is very intricate and every time they could take a wrong turn they don't. What a testament for the desire of this person to turn back to being a friend of Christ. Jesus actually wants us enlisted in this mission to spread this Good News far and wide. Doesn't He have a sense of humor?
God has a sense of humor. No doubt he laughs at having incorporated me into the Holy Priesthood of the Catholic Church. With all my weaknesses and with all my sins He has done this. Then again He has done the same thing to you through Baptism.
I no longer call you slaves but friends.
This is the great Good News of Advent pointing us to Christmas; the beginning of the return of the King to claim His friends and against all odds and to see that mission through to completion. O Key of David has opened the gates of Heaven so you and I could follow Him there. We must believe and in believing carry this Good News far and wide to our family, coworkers, neighbors and all that we come into contact with. We need to use prayer as the basis and the sacraments to support us especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Confession. We are in the army of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and we must serve Him in this mission of spreading the only News worth telling.
Blessed are you who believed that was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.