Pastoral Message – December 8, 2024
Hey y’all,
I was talking to a lovely, faithful person not long ago. This lovely, faithful person who has worked really hard to cultivate that lovely and faithful reputation, confided in me that they might not be quite as truly lovely and faithful as they are presumed to be. So this person is hoping and praying that this Advent season helps them in working out their little flaws so they might grow into someone even more sincerely lovely and
faithful. A worthy goal, though hopefully not a pietistic one.
“Well,” I said, “that’s a lovely sentiment. But I’m not sure that doing the same hard work that built your public reputation would achieve a more sincere and honest interior and integrated outcome.” At this point in our conversation, I offered two thoughts from this week’s readings. You might consider them too.
First, let’s consider John the Baptist. He wasn’t really concerned about being lovely, nor politic, diplomatic, suave or urbane. He didn’t cultivate an image. But, he was a mature and godly soul, a true prophet, a true man for God’s service. He didn’t have to work at being faithful. He was humbly, simply and passionately faithful because of his relationship with God who is nothing but faithful to us individually and to all humanity. I think John the Baptist knew who he was and reflected God thru who he was. So a worthy goal for any Catholic Christian would be to leave behind any immature notion of working hard to appear to be holy. Instead focus your energy on growing a relationship with God that derives through personal holiness from the Source of all that is good and holy. That is the objective of this Advent season and every season of our lives if we’re sincere and ready for such a call.
The next point I offered is that our ‘hard work’, even if well directed, isn’t enough. Because if we’re not fooling ourselves, we know our flaws, our frailty, our faults, our insincerity, our procrastination and our preference for denial or deception. We keep doing the same things, committing the same sins, and breaking faith with God over and over again. So in the midst of our doubt, guilt and grief, we must thankfully remember that our God is always loving and faithful to us. That’s why St. Paul says in our second reading today that God has begun a good work in us, and he is going to be faithful to complete it, until the day of Christ Jesus. (I liberally paraphrased Philippians 1:6 there). So while we are working on fully integrating our relationship with God, God is being good and gracious and faithful to us. That’s what we might consider and take to prayer this Advent!
The lovely and faithful person took all I had to say. I’m not yet sure if they agreed or disagreed, if they understood and acted or didn’t get it at all. But ultimately, I put my trust in the truth that God has begun a great and blessed work in all of us. He will hold us fast. And He will bring us, through His faithful grace to the fullness of life.
God bless!
Fr Reynold
