Sed Quid Existis Videre?
Homily for Gaudate Sunday
December 15th,
MMXIII
Parish of Saint
Kateri Tekakwitha (Rosa Road)
Rev. Michael Taylor
On first
glance, our Gospel reading seems a bit odd. John the Baptist’s disciples come
to Jesus asking, art thou he that art to
come, or do we look for another? [2]
Jesus answer, the blind see, the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor
have the gospel preached to them. And
blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me. Why would anyone be
scandalized by this? People being cured, the dead being raised, all of these
are good things. Why would anyone mind? It would like going to a doctor, being
cured, and then being angry at the doctor for having been cured. To understand
it though, you must understand what Jesus is saying. He’s quoting from three
different places from the Prophet Isaiah; Isaiah 35.6,[3]
26.19,[4]
and 41.17.[5]
Why are these scandalous? Because in these passages from Isaiah, it is the Lord
God Himself who promises to do these things. As we heard in our first reading, God Himself will come and save you.[6]
Jesus is claiming to be nothing less than God Himself, the one who is to come.
That’s why it’s a scandal. That God would become
flesh and dwell among us.[7]
And in case anyone doubted what He was saying, Jesus goes on to say about John
the Baptist, for this is he of whom it is
written; “Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way
before thee.” He’s quoting Isaiah again,[8]
and the one who is to come is none less than the Lord God.
So what were
you expecting? What are we expecting when we see Jesus? What effect does it
have in our life? Jesus asks the crowds around Him, What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? [9]
Wouldn’t it be so much easier for us if God just revealed Himself to the world?
If He were to peal back the veil of heavens, and reveal Himself, saying,
“Hello, I am God. I exist. This is my beloved Son Jesus, fully human and fully
divine. This is the Holy Spirit who proceeds from Father and Son. Here is the
Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints here in heaven. There is heaven and
hell. There. You don’t have to doubt anymore.” It would be nice to have that
assurance. To have some sign that this is true. Yet think to this question. How
many times do we receive a sign, and it turns out to not be enough for us to
believe? At one point the scribes and Pharisees come up to Jesus demanding a
sign, to which Jesus responds, an evil
and adulterous generation seeketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it,
save but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was in the whale’s belly
three days and three nights: so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the
earth three days and three nights.[10]
Jesus has risen from the dead. Is this proof enough for us? Because the truth
is that miracles happen all the time and people still do not believe. When Our
Lord multiplied the five barley loaves and two fish to feed over five thousand
people, people still walked away from Him and His teachings.[11]
When you go to Lourdes, you can see records of sixty-nine miracles that science
and medicine cannot provide an explanation for as to their cause. These are
events from just the 19th century either, but some are within the
past couple of years, the last one being certified on the 20th of
June of this year. Yet people still do not believe. The Fatima miracle of the
dancing sun occurred before tens of thousands of peoples, believers and
atheists alike. Still people do not
believe. We just celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The tilma, the
cloak that the image of the Blessed Virgin appears on, is over five hundred
years old. It exists on a fabric that should have disintegrated after twenty years.
Yet even after being subjected to fire, smoke, acid and war, it is still is as
vibrant as it was in 1531. And these are just the miracles that belong to the
patronage of our Blessed Mother. Every saint we canonize has two miracles that
have been scientifically examined, by believers and atheists alike for the sake
of veracity. Still people do not believe.
What did you
hope to encounter when you came into the desert? What did you hope to
experience? The act of faith revolves around the encounter with the risen Lord,
the one who suffered, died and was buried and then conquered the gates of hell
and the sting of death through His resurrection.[12]
It revolves around our belief in the promises that He made, that those who die
with Him in baptism shall live with Him in that same Resurrection.[13]
It then becomes a question of what are effects is this encounter going to have
in our life?
The entirety
of the Advent season is actually a penitential season, a season where the
Christian yearns for the return of the bridegroom. Our society has somehow
inversed it though. We party hard during these weeks so that by the time
Christmas comes along, the time when true feasting should be occurring, we are
so sick of turkey, ham, egg nog, cakes, sweets and food, that we turn away
disgusted. Are we awaiting for Christ or are we so consumed with the things of
this world, that we don’t stand ready for his return? Recall the words of Our
Lord when He warned, if that wicked
servant says to himself, ‘My lord is long in coming,’ and begins to beat his
fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards: the lord of that servant
shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not: and
shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.[14]
There is the
parable you are all familiar with of the ten virgins who are awaiting the
return of the bridegroom. Five are wise and have stored up extra oil, while
five were foolish and did not. When the bridegroom returns those who had stored
up enough oil were able to go into the banquet with the Lord whereas those
unprepared are left out in the darkness. Therefore, store up with oil! In this
we must understand that the oil is the means by which we bring light to the world.
Does not our Lord say, let your light
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
who is in heaven? [15]
Do works of righteousness so that when the Lord appears again in glory, you
will be well stocked and ready for his arrival. What are works of
righteousness? The scriptures tell us prayer
is good with fasting and alms more than to lay up treasures of gold. For alms
delivereth from death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh
to find mercy and life everlasting.[16]
This Advent season, instead of worrying about which holiday special to watch or
what movie to catch on Netflix, spend time in prayer. Spend some of that time
reading the Scriptures, the Gospels. Read the lives of the saints. Go to
confession Instead of having lavish feasts and parties during this penitential
season, make sure that food is being given to the food pantries. Instead of
trying to buy more and more gifts for one another, let us make sure that the
poor have clothes to wear during these bitter months. We ought to be more
concerned with giving the necessities of life to those who need it rather than
in consuming frivolities. When we do these things we build up for ourselves
treasures in heaven. Our oil becomes stocked and we find ourselves more eager
for the arrival of the bridegroom than about the passing pleasures of this
world. Let us pray that the bridegroom finds us waiting and ready.
[1] Matthew 11.6
[2] Matthew 11.3
[3] Isaiah 35.6: Then shall the lame man leap as a hart,
and the tongue of the dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the
desert, and streams in the wilderness.
[4] Isaiah 26.19: Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall
rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is
the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into
ruin.
[5] Isaiah 41.17: When the poor and needy seek water, and
there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer
them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
[6] Isaiah 35.4
[7] John 1.14
[8] Isaiah 40.3: A voice cries: "In the wilderness
prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
[9] Matthew 11.7
[10] Matthew 12.39-40
[11] cf. John 6
[12] cf. I Corinthians 15.54-56
[13] cf. Romans 6.3-4
[14] Matthew 24.48-51
[15] Matthew 5.16
[16] Tobit 12.8-9
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