Father Kastl's November 28th Homily

First Sunday of Advent, Year A
November 28, 2010
Review the Readings Here

Over the past few years it seems there has been an ever growing tension between US citizens and the Islamic community. In reality there is an even larger tension in the broader world on how to relate to these men and women who align themselves with the prophet Mohammed. Many of us find it easier to sit back and make crass generalizations about how they live and what they believe. For many people when they hear the word, “Islam” they immediately think of terror and extremist mentalities.

The Catholic Church has been in dialogue with these our brothers and sisters for centuries. There have been extreme moments of tension such as the Crusade, as well as great moments of understanding. Yet the Church strives to promote a spirit of dialogue which must be approached by a holy curiosity about the other and a deep and profound respect for the fundamental human dignity instilled by our same creator God.

You might ask, “Where is this going?” Over the past few months many conversations about Islam have continued to surface. The stories coming out of France where women are banned to wear burqas, stories coming out of New York where there is a controversy on whether a new mosque should be built so close to Ground Zero, stories coming out of the Holy Land about Jewish, Christian and Islamic relations. I have been profoundly shaken by the negative and sometimes blatant hatred many people have for they who deeply believe in the revelations of Mohammad which come to them through the Quran.

Yes, there are indeed certain elements of this world religion that must be challenged and rejected. Yes, we must reject the extremist who acts out in violence in the name of Allah just as much as we must reject Christian extremists who act in the name of Jesus Christ. Yes, we must reject certain tenants which go against the fabric of Christianity which was established by Jesus Christ. But I propose the real issue in all of this is fear. For we often fear what we don’t understand.

Their fidelity to what has been revealed by the prophet Mohammad is indeed admirable. For the centrist and balanced Muslim, their fidelity to their faith and commitment to live it out publicly is indeed an example from which each of us could learn.

On this first Sunday of Advent, on this first Sunday of the new church year, we are presented with beautiful, yet challenging readings about our own fidelity to our Trinitarian God who has revealed himself to us in the form of flesh and blood, in his Son born of a woman, born under the law.

Our first reading from the second chapter of Isaiah can be seen as a message of “Universal Peace through fidelity to the Word of God.” Notice the emphasis I put on Fidelity. My whole point of giving you the example of our Islamic brothers and sisters is to emphasize our own call to be radically faithful, to embrace in an unprecedented way our fidelity to our Trinitarian God and in turn live this faith both proudly and boldly in both private and secular sectors.

The prophet Isaiah continues by saying that it is from this fidelity to the WORD, the Torah, that GOD’S desire for lasting peace can finally be actualized.

Isaiah beautifully proclaims, “In days to come, the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it and many people shall come and say, come let us climb the Lords Mountain. For from Zion shall go forth instruction and the WORD of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

Recall that in the minds of the Israelites, Jerusalem is the holiest of holies because it is there that God resides in a special way. Fidelity to the WORD then leads to salvation… Fidelity to our hope of salvation leads to peace in Jerusalem or better put, leads to lasting peace in our world where WE shall beat our swords into plow shears and our spears into pruning hooks.

In celebration of this fidelity, the psalmist harkens out… “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” or “Let us go rejoicing up to Jerusalem.”

As faithful Catholics, this simple, yet pithy line from the psalms should be our joyful song each time we load the car and head to Mass… “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” For we believe that the holy of holies is no longer confined to the geographical location of Jerusalem, but rather within each of our Catholic temples throughout the world. In this Church our Lord Jesus, the WORD made flesh resides and reigns as King under the form of bread and wine kept safe in our tabernacle to be worshiped and adored. It is for this reason we gather in a Church each Sunday, in a space set apart, to hear the Word proclaimed and adore and consume the WORD broken and poured out in order to be strengthened in our fidelity to live in hopeful anticipation of life eternal.

Living a life of fidelity to God is difficult today, for it takes many consecutive choices to sacrifice the temporal desires of the flesh for the good of the eternal longings of the spirit that live within us.

St. Paul in his letter to the Romans does not mince words when he exhorts that community of faith. In his use of contrasting images, being awake verses being asleep, night verses day, works of darkness verses armor of light he lets his hearers know. He lets us know that fidelity to the WORD made Flesh cycles through many continuous moments of conversion. As a Christian we should be constantly evaluating and reevaluating our surroundings, our priorities, our friendships and our choices always striving to move away from sin towards Gods bountiful love and grace.

St. Paul lists several prominent issues facing the community which he wanted them to be particularly aware of in order for them to avoid such behaviors in the future. Orgies, drunkenness, promiscuity, lust, rivalry and jealousy.

Thanks be to God these things no longer affect us today. Yah right!

Friends, being a faithful and authentic Catholic entails leaving these among other things behind. I am well aware of the challenges that null away at and dull our fidelity to God. All one has to do is watch the news and listen to the strong secular voices today to know that a very different Gospel is being preached than the one we celebrate in this holy place.

The rate of infidelity is soaring… the number of Catholics who divorce and remarry outside of the Church is staggering, the amount of pornography that is streaming online is overwhelming, the amount of consumption of material goods in this country is sickening. Can you say Black Friday?

These sins that St. Paul spoke of 2000 years ago are still alive and well today and must be rooted out of our lives in order for us to cling more fully to the WORD made flesh, whose birth we prepare to celebrate at the end of this Advent Season.

Jesus’ exhortation to his disciples in our Gospel is a powerful one. “As it was in the days of Noah so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.”

My dear friends, during these holy days of Advent, we are encourage to pull our heads out of our gift bags and shrink wrapped packages in order to see the coming of the King of Glory in our midst. What are we willing to do differently in these holy days that have been set apart to heighten our attentiveness, awareness and submission to the WORD? Maybe we will make it a point to go to confession on a regular basis, using this place of grace to let go of pet sins which keep us separated from God and one another, maybe we will make it a point to pray as a family or increase our own relationship with God, maybe we will strive to let go of some past hurts that weigh us down, maybe we will pray about and grapple with a teaching of the Church we find difficult to believe, maybe we will see this Advent Season as a graced time to hit the reset button in our spiritual lives letting the King of Glory in.

My prayer for each of us is that we may let the dynamic WORD we hear proclaimed and the true Body and Blood of Christ we consume spur us on to be a Catholic people of faithful authenticity, truly living out the faith we profess in this place.