REJOICE! Our Lord is Coming Again Soon!

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

3rd Sunday in Advent, Dec.13, 2015

Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Tucson, AZ

Rejoice! Our Lord is coming again soon! 

Pope Benedict XVI in rose-colored

Gaudete Sunday vestments

Today we celebrate the third Sunday of Advent. The Church uses the rose color as a sign of rejoicing. We have come past the halfway mark of Advent, and now we enter into the final stretch, and so we rejoice because the celebration of Christmas is on our doorstep!

Much of the world does not rejoice in the days in which we live today. We turn on the news and we see shooting after shooting -- another  terrorist attack. Many want to destroy life. Meanwhile, more and more fall into deep immorality and sin.

However, despite the darkness of the times in which we live, today’s celebration gives us a time to rejoice. 

As we see the immorality of our days descend as a dark cloud over the societies of the world, we rejoice because we know that this darkness has been overcome, and this increasing darkness in our world today will soon be extinguished when Our Lord comes again in His glory. 

Our part is to be prepared. Our Lord will come again, and He means business. As John the Baptist says in today’s Gospel (Luke 3:10-18): "His [Our Lord’s] winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat

Michelangelo's Last Judgment scene from the Sistine Chapel

into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 

John the Baptist knew the power of the One who was coming and has come into our world. John the Baptist says, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

My brothers and sisters, although John the Baptist prepared the people for Our Lord’s first coming, it is Jesus' Second Coming that awaits the fulfillment of John the Baptist’s ministry.

 

Our Lord is coming again, and He will baptize the world with the Holy Spirit and fire! Those who accept God’s grace will be given the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Those who reject God’s grace will be cast into everlasting fire. We need not to fear the times in which we live today as long as we are prepared. 

In today’s Gospel the crowds ask John the Baptist, “What should we do?” 

Then we hear John addresses each of them according to their own circumstance of life. He tells the tax collectors to “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.” He tells the soldiers to not practice extortion. He says those who have more should share with those who have less. John the Baptist exhorted the people in many other ways, and he preached the good news.

 The bottom line of today’s Gospel is that Our Lord is coming again and that we need to change direction! 

As you are aware, Pope Francis has called for a year of mercy. This is the year to ask for the mercy of God upon our societies and world today. We need conversion. We need change of hearts because the world is at a critical moment in history. Things are going to continue to get worse, and in these last days God wants to save as many souls as possible.

Most of you are aware of the life of Saint Faustina, who was asked by Jesus to spread the devotion to His Divine Mercy. Saint Faustina was a young uneducated nun who lived in a convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland during the 1930s. She came from a poor family that struggled during the years of World War I.

She had little education. However, she received extraordinary revelations — or messages — from Jesus. She was told that we are approaching a difficult time in human

St. Faustina Kowalska,

The Apostle of Divine Mercy

history and we need to seek God’s mercy. Therefore this message of mercy was not given to our Church without reason. No! Our Lord gave us His message of mercy to prepare us for His final coming. 

My brothers and sisters, we are living in the last days of this present world, and Our Lord is coming again to judge heaven and earth. He will gather the wheat into his barn and the chaff He will burn in a fire that will never go out.

God doesn’t want to bring judgment upon the world. In fact, He doesn’t bring judgment. We bring judgment upon ourselves. God sent His Son to save those who answer His call to repentance. That is God's merciful love. 

Repentance is the key to mercy. There are many in our Church today who follow a false mercy. They think that God will have mercy on us even though we continue to live a sinful lifestyle that contradicts God’s teaching and the teaching of the Church He has given to us. Do not follow this lie, brothers and sisters. Do not presume to receive God’s mercy! 

Whoever lives a lifestyle that is not of God cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven. As Catholics, God calls us to separate ourselves from the world. We live in the world but not of the world.

Our Lord is coming again, and we need to prepare. Until our Lord comes, we will have more difficulties. Things will get worse, and they will get worse quickly! We will struggle as the darkness of this world becomes darker. 

But, as long as we are seeking Our Lord’s mercy by striving for truth and reconciliation, He will take care of us. Let us not fall into the trappings of the world of today. But let us prepare for the new world that is to come. Let us rejoice! For our Lord is coming again soon!

Who is Fr. John Paul Shea? From Mormon to Catholic Priest

Will the Christ Child Find Room In Your Heart This Christmas?

by Edwin Rodrigues 

Chandigarh, India

reprinted with permission from Sharing Magazine

Mr. Rodrigues can be found at @EdwinEd1667 on Twitter

It's December and during the first four decades of my  life, my thoughts have been directed towards cakes, carols, goodies, greeting cards, cute Nativity Scenes, fancy Christmas Trees, lights, and more hustle and  bustle. 

Thankfully, a very dear couple -- though they are not Christian, nevertheless they are very Christian at heart -- gave me food for thought.  Materialism has crept into religious celebrations of every faith.

They did not say this directly, but they made the point when they very politely suggested, “Do not spend money to buy gifts for us.”

Their message is reinforced by  Catholic and Christian media ... and personally, for me, the messages from EWTN.com have had a positive impact.

In retrospect, I wonder whether I have ever genuinely celebrated Christmas the way Jesus would like me to? 

After all, the first manger was not as cute as we depict in The Nativity Scene. It surely must have been very messy, smelly and cold too. Jesus was  warmed by the body heat of the animals and the breath of the cattle. The creatures of the stable must have recognized their Creator and His plight! 

It’s very easy to point a finger at those who denied Joseph and Mary a room at the Inn. The Inn Keeper is remembered negatively because he only offered the stable.  "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." (Luke 2:7).

Mystically, Jesus is born in every human being. His is a distressing disguise -- a unique disguise that He, as Author chooses to wear in every person, who’s created in His Image. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8)

The first Christmas occurred in obscurity and deep silence. God chose poverty over fanfare and grandeur. Silence is God’s favorite language. Paradoxically, silence is the most elusive language for us especially in our day and time. More often than not, to maintain and offer just one minute of silence in the course of the 1,440 minutes of each day  becomes an uncomfortable experience.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

If I am not properly disposed, that one minute seems like agonizing eternity. Blessed Teresa of Kolkata (Calcutta) often said, “In the silence of our hearts, God speaks of His love; with our silence, we allow Jesus to love us.” 

What a beautiful exchange waits for us there! All we have to do is reach out and take it. 

Stay Awake! Don't Be Deceived!

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

1st Sunday in Advent, Nov. 29, 2015

Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Tucson, AZ

Today we begin the first week of Advent

Be vigilant

 where we focus on the end times and what will take place before the second coming of Our Lord. 

As we prepare to celebrate Our Lord’s first coming at Christmas, we are reminded that His first coming was given to us to prepare for His Second Coming.  The Lord was born into this world to prepare us for the new world that is to come.

You may recall two weeks ago that we read in the Gospel of Mark a similar message as  in today’s Gospel (Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36). Our Lord spoke about what will take place at the end of the age. He told us to pay attention to the signs of the times. He said, “Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates.”

Today’s Gospel also emphasizes the signs which will take place at the end of time shortly before Our Lord comes again. 

However, today Our Lord teaches us -- not only the signs -- but  what we must do. He says that we must be vigilant! 

“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

My brothers and sisters, we are called to be on guard, to stay awake, and be strong in our faith. We don’t know the day or the hour when Our Lord is going to come, but we must be prepared. We must be vigilant!

Our Lord will come at a time when many are not prepared. He says, “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.” 

These words almost seem to be addressed specifically to our generation. How many are drowsy from carousing and drunkenness or simply from the busyness of daily life?

At the time of His second coming it will be as in the time of Noah. People were marrying, eating and drinking up until the time Noah 

closed the doors of the ark and the flood came and took them out. 

People became so focused on the world and so distant from the laws of God, that they had no clue that God was about to flood the world

for its iniquity. Only Noah and his family escaped because they were found worthy to escape the tribulation. 

It was a similar situation to the times of Sodom and Gomorrah. God rained fire and brimstone upon that city and no one escaped except Lot and his family. Amid the arrogance and shamelessness of the city, Lot was the only one found worthy to escape.

My brothers and sisters, the story of the Great Flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah should be a wakeup call for us today! The destruction was brought upon these cities and nations because they turned away from God! They indulged in rivalry and lust and practiced unnatural vice on a large scale.

In this time we need to seek the wisdom of God because history repeats itself!
Often when speaking of the end times many today will say something like, “Oh, people have always been saying that the end is near… It won’t happen in my lifetime.” 

Stay awake! Don't be deceived.
When tragedy hit on 9-11, how many people were dazed and confused. Again, when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, most of the people of New Orleans probably had no idea that over 80 percent of their city would be under water! 

We don’t know the day or the hour when our Lord is going to come, but we live in uncertain times, and today’s Gospel teaches us to be on guard, stay awake, and be strong in our faith.

If you were at one of the Masses where Deacon Paul preached last weekend, you may recall that he spoke about God’s remnant. The remnant people are those persons who strive to stay faithful to God while living in an unfaithful society and culture. In the Book of Revelation, the remnant are described as those “who do not defile themselves with [men or] woman… On their lips no deceit is found; they are unblemished.” 

The remnant are the ones who have been ransomed as the “first fruits of the human race for God and the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:4)

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

The remnant in the time of the Great Flood  were Noah and his family. The remnant in the time of Sodom and Gomorrah were Lot and his family. These were the persons whom God found worthy to escape the tribulations that were to come upon them. 

God is calling us to be His remnant people. He is calling those, who stay vigilant in keeping God’s commandments and bearing witness to Jesus, to be the first fruits of the new world to come. Let us be Our Lord’s faithful remnant people. Let us be vigilant and pray we have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and stand before the Son of Man.

The ordination of Fr. John Paul Shea to the priesthood