Homily for November 30,
2003
Year
C - Cycle II
1st Sunday of Advent
by Fr. John Carney
Topic: Live Your Vocation
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Second Reading:
I Thessalonians 3:12 - 4:2
"...May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Finally, brothers, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God - and as you are conducting yourselves - you do so even more. For you know what instructions we gave through the Lord Jesus."
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I was watching a business segment on CNN or FOX News last week. The reporter said, “The success or failure of Christmas depends on preparations made before Thanksgiving.” Of course, they were talking about the retail business, which is really important to the economy. So go out and spend! Buy stuff! That’s good for jobs, and we must produce. But I laughed. “The success of Christmas depends on retail.” No, it doesn’t. That’s why we need Advent. We are surrounded by materialism, and consumerism, and all those “–ism’s”. But this is really a time to prepare for Christ’s coming. It’s much more important than any “–ism” is.
Advent really has two distinct periods to it. From now until December 16th, we look forward to Christ’s coming at the end of time. And then from December 17th to 25th, those nine days including Christmas, we look backward to Christ’s coming in the Incarnation, when the Living God became enfleshed as a human person. And so, the initial emphasis of the first three weeks is on the Final Coming, also known as the Judgment, when you and I will be judged. Now, that may happen as a cataclysmic event, as the Gospel tells us today, or more likely, we expect it will happen at our own personal death, when we meet Christ to be judged. So, we need to be ready for that. I think everyone here would agree, that’s the most important day we will ever have, the day when we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
So, first of all, we know He’s coming again. He’s not lost out there. He’s coming. The Creed says, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” And in the Mystery of Faith, when we proclaim Him in the Mass, we say, “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” And after the Our Father, I’ll say, “…As we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
So, do you want to prepare for that day? Me too! That’s one test I don’t want to fail. I’ll take it on a pass/fail basis! (Otherwise, I’ll get a “D”, but as long as I can get in, you know!) So, how do we do it? It’s not complicated – it’s quite simple really. To prepare for Christ’s coming, you don’t have to look outside your house. Not really. We prepare for Christ’s coming, to paraphrase Paul in the second reading, “by living the life that God wants of us.” And that is, to live our vocation to the fullest. Now, what is your vocation? Most of you are married, and your vocation is to be a spouse and a parent, but first a spouse and then a parent. We’re going to baptize a little boy here after the homily today. I’ll tell his parents, “If you really love your son, love each other. Because if he grows up in a home filled with love and respect of mom and dad, he’ll have a good life.”
Some of you are single parents, doing the work of two people. Love your children – that’s your vocation, that’s what God calls you to. And how blessed you are, how blessed you are, to have that child, or those children. Grandparents, your job is to spoil your grandkids. If you’re single, you can give more of your life in God’s service, more of your time to the church, to do the work of Christ. If you’re retired, you can support your family, by prayers and the wisdom you have gained, maybe the hard way. So, we all have a vocation. To prepare for the Judgment, live your vocation to the fullest in Christ.
Fr. Mark Link is a writer who tells a story about a man named Tom Anderson in Bernardsville, New Jersey. I called Tom Anderson, yesterday, to check out the story. I called him on the way to the first Mass yesterday. “Hello, who’s this?” I said, “Are you Tom Anderson?” “Who wants to know?” Well, let me tell you the story and then I’ll tell you how he’s doing. Anyway, some years ago, Tom Anderson wanted to live his life to the fullest; he wanted to be the best husband he could be. So, he booked a cottage on the Jersey shore for two weeks, and he promised there would be no interruptions. No kids, no business phone calls, no laptop. (The life! You can live without your laptop.) Nothing. But he was going to be the best husband. Any time he felt like saying an unkind word, he would stifle it. And he loved this woman, who was a good woman. Her name is Evelyn. And he did it. And they had the best two weeks, until the last night. He looked at her, and she had tears in her eyes. She said, “Do you know something I don’t? Last week I went to the doctor for a check up. You’ve been so kind to me, Tom, tell me the truth. Did the doctor tell you something about me? Am I going to die? Is that why you’ve been so good to me?” And he smiled and returned the tears. He said, “No, you’re not dying. Its just that I’m just beginning to live.”
So I called him, and I said, “I’m going to use your story in New Mexico today and tomorrow.” He said he was honored. And I said, “So, how are you?” And he said, “Great! Life is good. We still love each other. And we’ve had our ups and downs, good times and bad times, but life is good. “ This is because they are living their vocations to the fullest.
So that’s what you need to do. You don’t need to solve all the problems out there. Solve the problems in your own home. You don’t need to lead any one else’s vocation, that’s for your pastor! Take care of that family of yours, and then do good. Then you’ll be ready for the judgment, and you’ll stand erect, and you’ll look Jesus in the face. And He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Inherit the reward prepared for you from the beginning of the world.”