3rd Sunday of Advent Year C Homily

Today we celebrate this 3rd Sunday of Advent which is also known to us as Gaudete Sunday which means rejoice.

In our Gospel the crowds, tax collectors, and soldiers came onto the Lord and asked, “What should we do?” This seems to be an easy enough question, but its application required so much from them. They were told to take and give to those in need, to stop collecting more than was necessary, and to not falsely accuse others.

As we prepare for the coming of the Messiah we too must ask, “What should we do?” The response to this question may seem to require much from us. Nevertheless, no matter the difficulty all will turn into a joy and will be given every reason to rejoice if we place our trust in the Lord. It is the easier path to remain content, but the Lord always calls us towards something more.

We must remember that God is love and that this love is infinitely given. Therefore, there can be no response which is too difficult if it is given out of love. The more that we enter into it the more that we will grow in love itself. There are many who think that they love fully, but they instead do things for their own gain and without the full extent of giving without reservation.

As Saint Basil the Great puts it, “The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry. The cloak in your wardrobe belongs to the naked. The shoes you allow to rot belong to the barefoot. The money in your vaults belong to the destitute. You do injustice to every man whom you could help but do not.”

Saint Basil the Great is pointing the way towards what it means for us to love. Love requires us to see the needs of those around us and to respond to them with our life. The easier path would call us towards ignoring these needs and doing whatever we please. During this Advent season we must be like the crowds, the tax collectors, and the soldiers who came unto the Lord. They inquired what they must do and it required much of them.

Let us not only ask this question with our lips, but be willing to put the needed response into action. During the week ahead use every opportunity to consider what the Lord is calling us to do. When we discern this answer let us not avoid it out of fear, but come to embrace it to its fullest degree. In this manner we will be given every reason to rejoice as we encounter the Lord who comes the Nativity, who comes in the Most Holy Eucharist, and who will come again at the end of time.

Immaculate Conception Homily

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The one who has been conceived is made in reference to Mary. The word “immaculate” means without stain. Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin upon her soul. Thanks to the intervention of God she was preserved from original sin in order that she would be the pure and spotless vessel which would bring forth the Savior of the world. Mary became the first to be redeemed through her Son for He was her redeemer.

None of us have been preserved from sin like Mary. Yet we live in a world which acts as if sin does not exist. Sin is an offense which is made against God. If we know Him to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life why would we turn away from Him? Nevertheless, there are many in our society who have no concept of God and therefore they cannot have a concept of sin. Sin exists because God is real and we consent to sin by turning away from God who is love.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines sin as “an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is a failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as ‘an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law’.”

Through the use of the media we see played forth before our sight these many sins which are made against God. We see murder, theft, the burning of buildings such as Catholic Charities in Knoxville, war, sins against life such as abortion, and this list goes on and on. With so much played out before our sight it becomes easy for us to lose hope that things will ever get better.

This celebration of the Immaculate Conception is a celebration of hope. Of Mary it was said by the Archangel Gabriel, “Hail, full of grace.” Mary is our hope because she stands upon the serpent which is the cursed demon which has come to confuse us and to pull us into sin. Mary is our hope because through devotion to her we are drawn closer into union with her Son.

Today we celebrate the fact that Mary was conceived without sin. We ackwledge that she has been prepared to be the pure and spotless vessel which would bring forth the Savior of this World. Through this Savior the shackles of sin and death have no power for He is the new Adam and she is the new Eve. Let us strive to moved closer to Christ placing our trust in Him and moving away from the reality of sin and death which attempts to keep us captive.

Bulletin Article: December 5

Wednesday, December 8th, is a Holy Day of Obligation. Vigil Mass, December 7th, will be in Spanish at 7pm and there will be Mass, December 8th, at 6:30am (Latin), 8:30am, 12:15pm, and 7pm. This solemnity brings about the conclusion of the Year of Joseph. Therefore, we will cease praying the Prayer to Saint Joseph following this solemnity.

Our parish Advent mission will be December 9, 10, and 11 and will be led by Father Noel, OSB. He is a monk of Saint Meinrad Monastery in Saint Meinrad, Indiana. Each evening he will give a talk in English at 6pm and in Spanish at 7pm. Please join me in welcoming him to our parish community.

December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Due to it falling on a Sunday in Advent it will not be celebrated this year. Nevertheless our 12pm Mass in Spanish will reflect upon the importance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, will have a procession following Mass to bless our new statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and there will be a party to follow in the gym. All are welcome to participate in this joyous occasion. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas and therefore a celebration for all.

In Christ,

Fr. Dustin Collins

2nd Sunday of Advent Homily

The Prophet Isaiah instructs: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Our Gospel tells us: “Behold, I send my Angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee.”

For some the Advent season is overshadowed by Christmas. Therefore, the celebration of Christmas begins after Thanksgiving and ends with December 25th. By December 26th the Christmas tree is thrown to the curb and with it the celebration of Christmas. 

Instead we must realize that Advent is an important season which calls us to prepare for the Lord’s coming among us. We have been called upon to prepare the way for the Lord by making straight the path of our life.

Despite Advent being a season of waiting it is not a season of passivity. In this season we are called upon to be active. Throughout this season we yearn, we search, and we prepare for the Lord’s coming. Advent has a penitential character attached to it because we are called upon to prepare. This preparation requires us to realize that we are in need of a Savior. We are only in need of a Savior if we have something that we need to be saved from.

All of us are sinners who are in need of the infinite mercy of God. We cannot be convinced that we have nothing that we need to be saved from. The Lord comes in order that we may be saved. Through our Advent preparation we should realize the many ways in which we have been called upon to open up the inn of our soul in order that room may be found for Him to enter in and dwell among us.

If we are found willing to enter fully into this season we will better be found prepared to encounter Christ at Christmas. We will be given every reason to rejoice not for worldly allurments, but the birth of a Savior. Each and every time that we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we encounter this living Savior who comes to us under the appearances of bread and wine.

Advent prepares us for the coming of Christ by setting straight the path of our life to encounter Him. We must do preciously this when we encounter Him in the Most Holy Eucharist. There is no greater gift that we can encounter, but this. Let us always come to prepare ourself for our encounter with Christ Jesus.

He will truly come at the Nativity born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, He will come again at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, and He continues to come among us in the Eucharist. May we always be found ready to encounter Him by setting straight the path of our life for such an encounter.

Dedication of Church Homily

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Dedication of our Parish Church which was dedicated on this day in the year 2000. This community transcends this reality because we began having Mass in our the gym of our parish school starting in 1990, our former church still stands in downtown Johnson City which was dedicated in 1931, there was a white church building before it, Mass was held in a home overlooking market street starting in 1906, and Mass was celebrated in this city even prior to that.

A church is not a building which is withdrawn from the ordinary. It takes that which is ordinary and dedicates it unto God. When Jesus drove the money-changers out of the Temple, He was not making a statement against capitalism. Rather, He was saying this place is not for that use: that it has been dedicated to something else. Not just for its own sake is a church building dedicated, an altar consecrated, a person baptised: no, we do all of this for a sacred purpose.

Our church is no mere museum for sacred objects, our altar no mere table for a special meal. No: this is the place to praise, to bless and to preach; to sacrifice, intercede and thank; to honour, to consecrate and to commune; to christen, to absolve and to commission. Here the most extraordinary things occur: babies are changed into children of God; bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood; couples into spouses; singles into priests and religious; sinners into saints.

May this sacred space continue to transform the lives of all who enter. The Catholic Church here in Johnson City has a strong history and will have a strong future if we allow God to be the one who is found as at work within us. The ordinary will be taken and will continue to be transformed in the presence of God.