Kitchen Table Holiness

The history of the Incarnation open with these words: “Do not be afraid, Mary.” And the angel of the Lord says to Joseph: “Do not be afraid, Joseph, son of David”. And again to the shepherds the angel repeats: “Do not be afraid: Do not be afraid.” St. John Paul II, newly elected as Pope, proclaimed perhaps the most famous and lasting words of his pontificate: “Be not afraid.” Well, I have a confession to make: I’m afraid. I think it’s a natural reaction, emotion, and feeling to experience. It takes a leap of faith to let go and not be afraid.

In today’s Gospel (Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23) we read about the Holy family, where the angel appears to Joseph and states “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay, there until I tell you.” Imagine telling your wife we have to flee because an angel told me in a dream. But wait, it gets better. Again, St. Joseph is called “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” Remember King Herod is slaughtering the innocent children to save his throne. I know if this was me, I would be afraid.  The Holy family puts its trust in God from above. Both Mary and Joseph receive their guidance from heavenly messengers.

So are we waiting for the Angels to appear to us in a dream? Do we place our trust in God without angels appearing? Raising a family must have been real difficult back in the time of Jesus. Let’s face it, it’s tough raising a family today. The pressure of providing for a family, work, bills and time are extremely challenging.  I once asked my father, “How did you do it? He simply responded back…Prayer.

God calls all of us to be Holy. We are all called to be Holy, and is based on Matthew (5:48)” Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.”  It’s the Ordinary Holiness in the days of our lives that we can find meaning in our vocation. First, we must Love our family. Trust me, this is a hard commandment to “Love one another.” Remember, I’m Irish, we love to fight and hate to lose. Love is not a feeling; Love is hard work. The next step is kitchen table holiness. Striving for holiness does not start in the Church, it starts in the home.  What do I mean by “Kitchen table holiness?” It’s the hard decisions, sacrifices, and love that we offer to our family. The little sacrifices that we offer up to God. The crooked path to holiness. When a baby cries in the middle of the night because he/she has a dirty diaper, it’s Love that gets you out the bed to holiness. When the phone rings, and there’s an emergency, and you drop everything to help. You see the homeless beggar on the street. Instead of walking across the street to avoid them, you offer to buy a sandwich. That’s the kitchen table holiness that God calls us, our family, our friends, and co-workers to be.

The Lord longs to accompany us in our ordinariness over, and over, though we may not always realize it. We have faith, but there is so much, we just do not understand. It’s got to be that way. We believe, but we never understand all of it. How could we? God is the great Mystery. But rest assured it is our love and desire that give us a clear vision. And if we want to be with the Lord, he wants it more than we do.

Holy Family, Pray for Us.

Bernard of Clairvaux

God’s Plan

This weeks gospel Matthew 1:18-25 Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant. His first reaction is similar to what many guys would have done.  He decided that he was going to quietly leave Mary and get a divorce. He knew that the baby wasn’t his so he made up his mind to just move on. Well, God had other plans (as usual).  Later on in a dream, an Angel appeared to Joseph and explained that Mary was carrying a child who was sent to save us from our sins. He was to stay married to her and name the child Jesus. 

This is another example of God’s plan always being the only plan that really matters.  Joseph was considered a righteous man throughout his life.  His plan to leave Mary quietly was what he thought was the best way to handle her pregnancy. Yet, God knew better. So Joseph being instructed to name the child Jesus was part of the prophecy.  Joseph naming the child is why Jesus is a  descendant of David.  I’m sure Joseph didn’t understand what was really going on but, being a righteous man he did what he was told.   He stuck to the plan.  It wasn’t his plan  but he had faith. 

I will tell you, this is one of my challenges as a follower.  I struggle with being redirected from my plan and  having to accept God’s plan.   In the past, I’d say anything that went  wrong in my life wasn’t Gods plan. Instead of assuming God had a role in the situation  I’d think that it was me trying to force my will into a situation. Maybe I messed  something up and let God down.  As I grow a little older I am starting to understand that trusting God in the good times and bad times when things don’t go as planned is part of God’s  plan.  Knowing that even though things may not look exactly how you expected, trusting God is always a much safer bet than trusting yourself.   When things don’t go as planned maybe that Gods way of redirecting us?? Joseph definitely didn’t expect to find out that Mary was pregnant but he was a believer. He did trust the lord. He trusted that God was going to be with him. All he needed to do was follow.  What a message! It’s so easy to get caught up in what you consider to be the best decisions for you and your family. Yet, when we get redirected by God what’s our initial reaction?   We lose our cool. We get frustrated. We get worried.  I do it. I have moments when I forget that the only plan for me is the one that God has. The outcomes may not always be what is expected  by me but, it is what God wants. The lesson here is we can  all chose to be a little like Joseph.  Trusting, full of faith and, we can chose to abandon our plans  if needed, knowing that Gods plan is The plan. 

Prepare the way of the Lord

I would like to paint a picture for you, if I may, of the person I see in my minds eye when I read about John the Baptist in the Scriptures. Although very little is said of him, He is described as wearing Camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. He fed on Locusts and Wild Honey. Not much more is given to us, other than it seems as though he lived in the wilderness. I'm sure that there's some significance to the Camel hair and leather belt, but it escapes me.  I imagine that there were markets in the day, but I doubt that they were running specials on Locusts and wild honey. I'm guessing John had to forage for what he ate. It probably would have been easier and more appealing to maintain a different kind of diet. Even so, once he started attracting a following, it would be nothing to require his followers to bring food with them as a form of payment, if you will, to hear his message.

Not only this, but John the Baptist doesn't seem to be very nice. In this Sunday's Gospel, he calls the Pharisees and Sadducees a "brood of vipers!" He asks them "Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" and he demands that they "Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance." In other readings he calls out Herod and Heroditas as the sinners that they were.

The thing is though, he seems to be a bit of a madman, doesn't he? I propose for your consideration the idea that we probably wouldn't like John the Baptist very much if he came today. We don't like to hear the message that we need to change. We don't want to hear about "the coming wrath." If anyone speaks of trees being cut down and thrown into the fire, well, we get defensive about THAT message: "Who are you to judge anyone? Only God can judge."

And yet Jesus himself gives testimony to John the Baptist: "I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John;" (Luke, Chap 7, verse 28)

But that is the message: Turn from sin and return to God. Yes, I know that I am a sinner; I have no problem admitting that. We all are - it has been said that the saints in heaven are sinners that never gave up trying to make a return the the Lord. Saint Pope John Paul the Great went to confession daily; he was a sinner that never gave up.  I know, even though I try as hard as I may to behave better - I find that I often make the wrong choices, sometimes habitually. I nurture grudges and take offense easily. I ignore people and situations where I could, if I wanted, be of assistance to someone in need (and Jesus in them.) Sometimes I am not in a good mood and I'm short or unkind to others  (and to Jesus in them.) And I'm rude - not in a way that is born out of Love, like John's "unkind" remarks to the spiritual and political leaders of the day. So I need to be reminded to leave my sinful ways and return to God.

Even though no one really likes to hear the message that they need to make changes in their life,  perhaps that is just the message that we all need to hear; "Prepare the way of the Lord......."

I pray that a truly transforming Advent is yours;
                                                                                 + Theo