Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection - December 29, 2024

Today’s feast of the Holy Family makes me think about my 92-year-old dad who just sold his house. He lived in only three houses during his life: the house he grew up in (25 years), the first house he bought with my mom (5 years), and this house (62 years). Since my mother died in 2020, he’s been lonely. He moved to a place with people around, but he’s still lonely. Neither my brother nor I live near him. I would love for him to move out here to be near me and my son, but he’s not too excited about leaving New York.

I think about what it means for me to honor my father. I call him almost every day, but is that really honoring him? I listen to his stories and try to cheer him up, but I don’t know if that qualifies as “honoring” him. I rationalize that I am doing the best I can. After all, I live in California, I have a pretty demanding job, and I do visit New York at least once or twice a year. However, I’m not sure my best is good enough or that my best is actually honoring him. Sometimes, I’m a little embarrassed that, while I’m pretty decent at holding my own life together, I am not doing enough for him.

We can’t get very far along the narrow path of wisdom without giving up our prideful tendency to do things “own way.” Pride is the toughest of sinful habits to break. That is why religious brothers and sisters take vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity. Poverty is the antidote to greed and chastity is the antidote to lust. Obedience is the perfect antidote to pride. Sirach encourages us to embrace the way of obedience, the way of humility, so that we may obtain wisdom not by seeking our own path of self-realization, but by humbly submitting ourselves to our fathers and mothers.

If we fail to honor our parents, we risk the breakdown of the family. We also risk the breakdown of our relationship with our Lord. The humble, obedient approach that we take with our parents is exactly the way we should be oriented toward our Lord. If we honor our parents, we are in a great place to honor God.

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection - Christmas December 24, 2024

On behalf of Father Aristotle, Father Mauro, Mrs. Edwards, and all the dedicated the folks who keep our church and school running so beautifully, may God grant you a joyous, blessed, and faith-filled Christmas! We thank God that He so loved the world that He gave us His Son nearly 2000 years ago!

Today, as we look back at our Savior’s birth and look forward to His return, we might consider how wonderfully disruptive that first Christmas was. Nothing about the Christmas story is normal, natural, or expected. The incarnation completely upended Mary’s and Joseph’s quiet lives and forced them to give up all that they had planned. The angels told the shepherds to go on a journey that they were not planning. An “unexpected” Messiah and a “new” covenant challenged many of the rules and practices of the “chosen people” and their leaders. Since Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Christmas has continued to turn people’s worlds upside down.

As we celebrate Christmas in today’s world, we are also disrupted, not so much by the birth of our Lord, but by the “earthly” priorities of the season. We are consumed with decorating, card sending, shopping, wrapping, entertaining, traveling, cooking, baking, eating, and drinking. As we strive to meet the expectations and priorities of this world, we often fail to take the time to recognize our Lord's presence.

The shepherds, on the other hand, were open to the mysterious and exciting message of the angels that, “today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.” They could have easily said that they were too busy minding their sheep to go off on an adventure searching for a newborn infant. Yet, they dropped everything and headed to Bethlehem. Are we willing to drop everything to follow Jesus and to face the disruption that occurs when we make Jesus our priority?

The great gift of Christmas – Jesus Christ – has been causing disruption since He was born in that stable nearly 2000 years ago. This Christmas, long after the tree is down, the relatives have returned home, and the cookies are gone, the joy of the season will remain in us if we allow the infant Jesus to disrupt our lives and we make Him our priority.

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection - December 22, 2024

“At the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.”

Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent. Very soon, we will experience the joy of the coming of our Lord. This is the same joy that John the Baptist experienced in his mother’s womb.

There is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness tends to be a temporary feeling in the mind; joy is long-term feeling in the soul. Happiness depends on and reacts to circumstances – we look for someone or something to “make us happy.” Joy comes from within, can endure hardship, and can exist even when there is difficulty or uncertainty.

My grandmother was a great example of joy. Despite losing a four-year-old son, losing her husband after only 20 years of marriage, losing an adult daughter, and living her whole life with little more than a roof over her head, she was one of the most joyful people I have ever known. I think the reason that my grandmother was so joyful is that she lived in the moment. Instead of dwelling on the difficulties that she faced in her past life, she took joy in each new day and each new encounter. Her joy came from within, she did not sit there waiting for others to make her happy.

After John the Baptist “leaped for joy” in his mother’s womb, he spent his adult life joyfully preparing the way for Jesus by preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God. He never lost the joy of that earliest encounter with Jesus when each was in his mother’s womb and he worked tirelessly to share that joy. We, too, are invited to witness to our faith joyfully. As Pope Francis once remarked, “I cannot imagine a Christian who does not know how to smile.” He went on to remind us that: “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.”

In these final days before Christmas, when we may be overwhelmed by last minute preparations, let’s not forget to be joyful. Let’s live in the moment joyfully praising God, grateful for all that He has given us. Most importantly, as we encounter Jesus this Christmas and each day thereafter, let’s be sure to always “leap for joy.”

Fr. Mike