 O Root of Jesse’s stem, sign of God’s love for all his people: come to save us without delay! Read John 3: 16-17 and reflect upon how this passage impacts your day-to-day life. Are you thriving in your walk with the Lord?
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 O Leader of the House of Israel, giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai: come to rescue us with your mighty power! The one who endures to the end will be saved. (See Matthew 24:13) How are you persevering in your journey of faith? Do you remain faithful in your prayer life even when you don't "feel" anything from it?  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."
~Philippians 4:6 The holiday season can be a time of immense stress for a variety of reasons. There is a lot of planning and preparation for Christmas. Family dynamics can often be a source of stress during this time of year as well. Do you want a little excitement? Start any visit off with a couple of questions. 1. Are you vaccinated or not? 2. Who is the better president--Joe Biden or Donald Trump? 3. Isn't the mixture of religion and politics the best thing ever? Okay. Just kidding. Please don't start your family gatherings in that manner. There are gifts to buy. This can be challenging enough in a good year. In a year of high inflation and uncertainty, it can be even more daunting. I invite you to be prudent in your gift-giving processes. Some families have lost a loved one during the past year. That empty chair at Christmas can be devastating. Please be gentle with folks who are grieving. If you are one of those grieving, please know of my prayers for you. Broken relationships can be a delicate situation when the holidays roll around. Extend grace and mercy as much as possible. If necessary, remove yourself from a setting that proves to be too much to handle. Pray for correct discernment in how to cope with the circumstances surrounding you. Celebrate these final days of Advent well. Allow God's peace to permeate every fiber of your being. Today is the beginning of the "O Antiphons." O Wisdom of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love: come to teach us the path of knowledge!  I left the house at 6:00 am to make the trek to Cheyenne for a 7:00 am meeting. I swung by the U.S. Post Office across the street from St. Mary's Cathedral before going to my meeting. As I walked out of the post office, I was struck by the beauty of the cathedral's stained glass window being illuminated by the light inside. Although sunrise was probably still 15 to 20 minutes away on the outside, I was able to experience magnificent beauty at 6:53 am. It was a good idea to take the detour to the post office before going to my meeting.
Where did you experience beauty today?  (1) Are we on track and heading toward the Light of Christ?
(2)Do we pray with great fervor to God the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit? (3) Do we really believe? (Read John 6:47)  Freedom (Free Will) is a great gift. It carries commensurate responsibility.
Let your meditation begin today with Romans 5:1.  How long is FOREVER?
(Read Matthew 25:46 and make decisions accordingly.) Christmas and Good Friday are intimately connected. Jesus came to save us. The Church remembers St.John of the Cross today. If you are going through a "Dark Night of the Soul," continue to persevere in prayer.  Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Cardinal Avery Dulles. He died on December 12, 2008. One of the first books I studied in diaconate formation was Models of the Church. This book was written by Avery Dulles in 1974. He wrote 22 books and over 700 articles. He was made a cardinal without becoming a bishop. I would sure like to get his perspective on things now.
In his book, Models of the Church, Avery Dulles listed five models of the Church. (Eventually, he added a sixth one as well.) I want to take a look at these models in light of the pandemic. How did the Church do in fulfilling the mission of Jesus Christ during the pandemic? 1. The Church as the Body of Christ--Mystical Communion The Acts of the Apostles talks about the followers of Jesus being one in mind and heart. This model of the Church emphasizes community. We are united to God and to one another. What did you experience when the churches closed their doors? Did "livestream" Masses give you what you needed to feel like part of the Body of Christ? Did loved ones die without having human contact beyond a hospital or nursing home employee? Were you denied the opportunity to grieve effectively if a funeral only allowed ten people to be present? Virtual reality was an attempt to keep us united, but in my opinion, it fell far short of the Gospel reality. It felt more like being sheep without a shepherd. What could be done differently in the future? 2. The Church as Sacrament There is no easy way to put this. We were denied access to the sacraments during the pandemic. The Church is a visible sign of Christ in the world! Maybe we should have added a disclaimer to our purpose and our mission. The Church is a visible sign of Christ in the world except when the government tells us not to be. Our religious practice, if not our faith, was deemed nonessential. The part that breaks my heart the most is that we allowed this statement to be made for the whole world to see, and we did almost nothing to refute the proclamation from government bureaucrats. The Church will suffer the repercussions for generations to come. Think about it. We ceased to be the "Church as Sacrament" when society needed us the most. 3. The Church as Institution How did the Institutional Church fare during all of this? Are we stronger because of supposedly showing compassion for others by closing down? 4. The Church as Herald People have told me that the Church continued to proclaim the Gospel via technology. This is true, and I am glad we use the resources available to us. However, was it as effective as people actually gathering for Mass? Furthermore, what was the indirect message that was actually proclaimed? This is what I heard. The Gospel message is not as important as your attempt to stay free of a virus. In the midst of societal chaos, people needed to hear the Good News of Salvation proclaimed. What did they get? Locked doors! Let's take this a step further. We are called not to simply hear the Good news. We are called to be "Doers of the Word." What type of role model were we, who are in Church Leadership, for other people to be "Doers of the Word"? We went into hiding. How can we ever justify our actions when we place it under the microscope of being Heralds of the Gospel of Christ? 5. The Church as Servant Where do I even start? We can try to justify our actions, but it will be a hard sell. This is the answer I have been given multiple times when I have questioned shutting down our churches. "Shutting down was in the best health interests of all." I then ask follow-up questions: A: How are we meeting the spiritual needs of the people--especially those who are struggling? B: How are we meeting the emotional and physical needs of those trapped in their homes in abusive relationships? C: Did we enlist more mental health counselors to serve those who are struggling because we took away every avenue of support when society shut down? What role did Catholic Charities and other such organizations play in picking up the slack? (The blank looks I received when asking this question told me all I needed to know.) D: How are we supporting law enforcement? Domestic violence calls rose dramatically in some areas when society shut down. Once again, we took away avenues of escape. We have spent a lot of time talking about the effects of COVID on hospital workers, and that is a valid issue. However, we never gave half as much attention to the spiritual, emotional, and mental health impacts on a multitude of individuals and professions impacted dramatically because of the shutdown of services. This list of questions could get lengthy. I will simply sum it up with one more question. Was the Church an effective Servant during the last 22 months? If so, how? If not, why not? 6. The Church as a Community of Disciples This model was the last one that Avery Dulles added. The Church is a community of people that follow Jesus. In what ways did we do that during the early part of the pandemic? In what ways are we doing that now? In what ways have we failed to do that during these last 22 months? The anniversary of the death of Cardinal Avery Dulles prompted me to pull out the list of the models of the Church and give thought to how we can improve moving forward. As we continue to prepare the way of the Lord during our Advent journey, may we be filled with the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit!  Modern society does not pay much attention to spiritual matters. However, that does not make the matter any less important. Many years ago I heard a talk which started out very bluntly. The speaker simply said, "Time flies. Remember death." (Meditate upon Numbers 16:30)
If we read the writings of many of the saints, we can get a clear picture of the gruesome nature of hell. The description of hell is not sugar-coated in any way in their writings. It seems that now we shy away from pondering these realities. Once again, I think we do that at our own peril. Avoidance of hell is not the purest motivation for living a devout life. However, it can be a useful tool to help keep us focused on loving our good and omniscient God. The ultimate goal is to be so in love with God that we never do anything to cause offense. Meditating on the four last things will help us in this journey. Saint Lucy, assist those with diseases of the eye to find healing. Saint Lucy, help all of us to see more clearly with the eyes of faith!  I had to be at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church in Windsor, Colorado at 9:00 A.M. yesterday for a regional deacon meeting. I watched the balloon (pictured above) for most of my drive, and I marveled at the solitude the people in the balloon must be experiencing. My car thermometer said it was 18 degrees. What was the temperature at their altitude?
Our professional development portion at the deacon meeting included a presentation by two young missionaries from "Christ in the City." I was already familiar with this ministry, but it was fascinating to hear some of the personal stories of the missionaries. They walk the streets of Denver and minister to the homeless. It basically starts with acknowledging the homeless person and striking up a conversation. We bring the love of Christ to others by building relationships one at a time. I learned a lot last year while I was running the homeless shelter in Greeley, Colorado for Catholic Charities. There are many factors at play in the life of the homeless person. Each individual has his/her own story. The dynamics can be complex and challenging. As I reflected upon the stories of the missionaries, and pondered the current cold temperatures the homeless were enduring, I kept thinking about the societal factors that keep us from finding more effective solutions to the many social issues confronting us. Abject poverty, unemployment, drug and alcohol addictions, physical abuse, crime, and a laundry list of other factors complicate our ability to effectively care for our neighbor. I hope the difficulties encountered never prompt us to stop trying to improve these situations. Current circumstances in our economy are exacerbating an already strained system of safety nets for the poor. Unfortunately, if this trend of inflation continues for a prolonged period, more of the middle class folks will see themselves sinking into the poverty category. A trip to the grocery store from one week to the next can almost provoke sticker shock. A 50 cent item I have purchased regularly for months is now 76 cents. One of my favorite frozen dinners went from $2.48 to $2.78 to $2.98 in a matter of a few months. That is not a small increase. I want to share price increases (by percentage points) that I saw listed in another article. I did not verify these statistics independently, but I am assuming they are close to accurate. The wealthy will not feel the impact of these things, but the rest of us will. It is quite expensive to own and operate a vehicle. Gasoline cost is up 58%. New vehicles are up 11.1%. Used cars and trucks are up a whopping 31.4%. Tires are up 11.1%. Furniture prices are up 11.8% compared to a year ago. Major appliances are up 5.5%. Televisions, which had been falling in price for years, saw prices rise 7.9%. Food prices are up in many categories. For instance: Chicken 9% Fish 11% Bacon 21% Eggs 8% Coffee 7.5% There are times I would like to have access to more information to really know the big picture of where our country is heading. Why are things being done by politicians in the manner that they are? What is the end game? Why were so many politicians heavily invested in the pharmaceutical companies prior to the "pandemic"? What did they know and when did they know it? Am I skeptical about the truthfulness that emanates from bureaucrats? You better believe it. Am I disappointed that there wasn't a class in high school or college that explained the real nature of politics? Yes, I am. Why weren't we all encouraged to become a "public servant" at the federal level so we could pursue wealth with vigor? Yes, there is a little bit of sarcasm in my comments. The cold, hard truth about contemporary society is too difficult to bear without a little levity. The reality is that we are facing some difficult economic times ahead if we don't change course soon. After nearly 22 months of chaos and upheaval in our world, more financial distress is the last thing we need. As I watched the balloon soaring high above me, I will admit that I yearned for the opportunity to escape in some way. That will have to wait until another time. In the present moment, I have responsibilities which must be addressed in a productive manner. Whatever challenges you are facing in life, please realize that you do not walk alone. On this Third Sunday of Advent, may your heart be filled with the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the power, communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit! |
AuthorThis is my personal blog. The opinions expressed are those of Deacon Vernon and the blog's readers. This site operates independently and is not affiliated with any other entity. The information I provide is on an "as-is" basis. I make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any information on this blog. I will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information. Furthermore, I will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its use. |
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