In our Gospel we encounter two who come with great faith to behold the Messiah, firstly the ruler and secondly the woman. The ruler was used to having people kneel before him, but now through faith he knelt before our Lord in adoration. This woman was condemned by the weight of the Law due to her discharge of blood, but through faith she grabbed ahold of our Lord expressing the fact that it was He who had come to bring true healing into the world. Both of these individuals expressed their great faith in Jesus Christ and thus the fact that it was He would truly bring healing into a world that had been touched by sin.
These people of great faith were not the only individuals who we encountered inside of this Gospel. We also encounter a multitude of people who were eventually cast our from the midst of Christ. Firstly, we encounter them through the tumult that these individuals were making. Through this noise and banter they were expressing their lack of faith. Secondly, we encounter them through the fact that they find it best to laugh in the face of our Lord. Eventually due to their lack of faith this multitude had to be sent away from Christ's midst.
Each of us must question our own practice of faith. We must question if we have come to Christ with great faith, as the ruler or the woman, or if we have come to Christ as a member of this multitude who was unable to trust with great faith. If we find it best to be formed by our culture and thus our world we will discover that the answer to this question is equal to being a member of this multitude. If we are able to express that it is the Church, the Sacraments, prayer, holy scripture, and thus Jesus Christ who is the one who forms us we will stand with the ruler and the woman in our development or faith. The problem is that we cannot stand on both sides; if we think this we will ultimately find ourself standing with the multitude who was cast off from Christ's midst.
The next time that we will gather here in Johnson City for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass we will find ourself in the midst of the Advent season. Thus the liturgical year of the Church is quickly coming to its conclusion. This serves as a reminder for all of us that we only have so much time that has been given to us to get our life in order and to thus join the faith of the ruler or the woman who were found in our Gospel. We must remember that Advent is not the start of the Christmas season, but instead it is the beginning of our preparation for the great joy that will enter into the world on Christmas morning when God comes to dwell among us in human flesh. Advent is not about getting caught up in the noise and banter of the multitude because this tumult will only lead us away from the manger of our Lord.
If we can take a moment to reflect upon the noise of our own life we will see what it is which is getting in our way of reaching out with great faith and thus also kneeling before our Lord. Possibly pride through believing that we are at the center of the world, possibly anger that rises up in ourself that leads us towards lashing out at another, possibly laziness that leads us towards failing to grow in our life of faith, possibly lust where we realize that we can never have enough to meet our needs, possibly gluttony to the point of over indulging, possibly greed which manifests itself when we are unable to give of our time talent or treasures, and possibly envy to the point where we are unhappy because our life is never as perfect as it should be. These are all manifestation of the noise and banter that was found with the multitude. They were unable to reach out and trust our Lord with their life and thus they were also unable to come and to kneel before Him.
If we desire to have the faith of the ruler or the woman we will realize the need of being able to kneel and to reach out with great faith now. As we begin this new liturgical year may we not forget this reality, but embrace it. As we head into the season of Advent may we not get caught up in the banter of the multitude, but instead embrace the season. My brothers and sisters in Christ may we truly silence the banter of sin in our life, and trust in the solace of reaching out with great faith to behold our Lord for who He truly is.
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