Each of us in this Church this morning have been gathered and placed upon the threshing floor spoken of in our Gospel. A threshing floor is a place where a farmer will bring his wheat in order to sort through it to separate the good from the bad. Through our baptism we have been gathered from the field of the world and placed upon this floor to receive the protection that is necessary to be found worthy of the rewards of the Heavenly Kingdom. This floor that we find ourselves upon is that of the Church which throughout time has delivered so many souls to the Kingdom of Heaven. This is so because the sacraments are found here and each of them guides and protects a soul from sin in a most special way. The Church was given to the world by Christ, so that we would not be left alone in our journey of faith, but instead would have a place were we can be protected and guided towards God.
The problem for us is that we don't always want to lie comfortably upon the floor of the Church. Instead of finding our comfort here we leave ourselves open to even allowing the smallest gust of wind to blow us away. Even the smallest of winds is able to do so much damage to our lives; then we can only imagine the utter destruction that is brought about by a storm. The winnowing fan of our Gospel is a tool that is used to stir up the grain upon the floor thus separating the good from the bad. In each of our lives this fan has been stirred up and creates so many difficulties for us, but instead may we keep our way straight and be found faithful upon the floor of the Church at the end of time. Surely we can conceive in our minds the many reasons why people are blown away from this floor like chaff. Especially when we are willing to compromise our relationship with God and with each other through sin. In sin we find a true breakdown of relationships to the point where we have no other desire then to be cast away from others. What ways has the winnowing fan been stirred up inside our lives by our vices and how can we overcome these gusts of wind and remain faithful?
If we want to remain faithful to what Christ has left for us and desire to be placed inside of the barn that is Heaven we have a lot of work to do that cannot be done only once, but constantly. At times we may find that the Church's teachings don't reflect our own desires. At these moments we must embrace the cross of Christ, and find the meaning in a culture that gets everything when it wants the moment that it wants it, through sacrifice. Through the sacrifice of ourselves we are able to join with Christ upon His cross and then our physical or person struggle is able to take on meaning. We must also remember that our relationship with the Eucharist should reflect the relationship of the sun with the planets. Our life should rotate around the Eucharist as the earth rotates around the sun. With the Eucharist central in our life we will be able to turn away from sin and our own disordered opinions. Also, there are times when we all fall into sin, but instead of allowing ourselves to be blown away from the floor of the Church may we not fear the comfort of the Sacrament of Confession. If we can learn the value of sacrifice, of prayer, of the Holy Eucharist, and Confession we will be prepared for the moment when the winnowing fan begins to stir up doubt and temptation inside of our lives.
We must also remember the farmer who had to put so much labor inside of his crops. Without his constant care nothing would of been brought to the threshing floor that contained any value. Sometimes we want to lay comfortably without entering into this true labor that must be undertaken by all of us. We are not called to just rest comfortably upon the floor while we are in this building alone. Instead we should remember the words of our Holy Father, Francis, who reminded us that we should not be a Church of self preservation. Therefore we to must go into the world, like the farmer, and become missionaries of the faith who have been strengthened by our encounter with our Eucharistic Lord.
We are missionaries when we are school or at work. We are missionaries in those moments when we encounter the poor. We are missionaries when we engage in conversation at the checkout lane of a store. We become missionaries by the example of living out the faith to its fullest especially towards children who have fallen away from the comfort of the Church's floor. Our hour gathered inside of this place must extend into the world with the hope that we will gather more souls for the harvest of our Lord. In this way we join with the farmer in his collection of the harvest upon the threshing floor.
As we find ourselves in the midst of this advent season may we be concerned with the coming of Christ as the word made flesh. May we use this season that is set before us to do all that we can to remain upon the threshing floor, so that at the end of time we will be worthy for the Kingdom of Heaven. The winnowing fan of our passions will indeed spring up along our way, but instead of being blown away by them may we remain faithful always. Through sacrifice, prayer, confession, and the Eucharist we can and will be strengthen when the winnowing fan springs up in our life. May we also realize that our gift of faith is so important that it must transcend these walls and be brought into the world. May we use this season that has been set before us to prepare the way of the Lord by making our paths straight.
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