Homily for December 10

Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent
(Scriptures for today's Mass)

Audio for homily


--> I love the season of Advent
and I try to “keep it” as a time of preparation, doing what I can 
not to celebrate Christmas before it gets here.
But with the whole world “going Christmas” all around me
– it’s not easy –  and sometimes, I just give in! 
(sung)
Haul out the holly!
Put up the tree before my – spirits fall again!
Fill up the stockings, I may be rushing things but
deck the halls again now:
For we need a little Christmas, right this very minute,
candles in the window, carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas, right this very minute,
we need a little Christmas, now! 

And I knoooow I’m supposed to wait,
- but waiting isn’t always easy.
It’s not easy for children
– and it’s not easy for many adults.
It’s not easy even if you’re only waiting for Christmas to be OVER!

So,  I’ve started writing my “What I Want for Christmas” letter
- but I don’t write to Santa Claus, I go right to the top – to God.
So I thought I’d share with you my first draft of this year’s letter…

Dear God,  
I “need a little Christmas”
and I’m not sure I can wait for December 25 to arrive.
I don’t mean to be impatient, but I need a little Christmas
 “right this very minute” – just like the song says.
And… here’s what I want for Christmas, Lord…

• I want COMFORT -         
the comfort Isaiah spoke of this morning -
and I want lots of comfort!
Oh, not so much for me, Lord!
I live a pretty comfortable life - and I’m grateful for that!
I want comfort for the folks who live with very LITTLE comfort
and right at the top of that list are the poor,
and the hungry homeless,
and refuges with no place to call home                                  
and nowhere to go,
and all who are marginalized and oppressed.
And I want comfort for the chronically and critically ill, Lord -
and for them I want the comfort of people to care for them,
tenderly - just as Isaiah said.

• And I want PEACE, Lord - peace in every place
where daily life is threatened, where lives are scarred
by terrorism, oppression,  violence and war.
I want peace for our troops who stand in harm’s way
and I want an end to any war not worth waging.
And I want peace for my family and my friends,
especially those who live in troubled families and broken relationships.
I want peace that lasts 
-  the kind of peace that only you can give.
That’s why I need a little Christmas, Lord,
because it’s your birthday and you’re the Prince of Peace.

• And for my parish this Christmas, for my parish I want
a real HOMECOMING to faith and to the Church, and to  you Lord.
Not just on Christmas but a homecoming that lasts,,
Sunday after Sunday, into the New Year,
bringing home those who’ve been away,
and especially those who have been wounded by the Church
and who are angry and mistrustful.
I want a Christmas star in the sky again,
guiding home all whose hearts long for you and seek you.

• And for those who are alone, and those who are lonely,
and for those who grieve the loss of a loved one this Christmas,
I want Mary, your Mother, to CONSOLE them, Lord.
I want the season’s joy to remind them of how much you love them.
I want angels and shepherds to guide and tend us
in caring for one another through the holidays.
And for those in troubled families and marriages, Lord,
 (and for all parents who worry about their children)
I want those gifts that all of us need:
patience… perseverance… understanding… compassion…
healing…   and forgiveness…
For Christmas, Lord, give us the love and humility we need
to be kind to one another -
even, and especially, to be kind to those who aren’t kind to us.

• And, Lord, I want RELIEF
for those whose plates are filled to overflowing
for people with bills, worries, anxieties, and fears about the future.
I want some relief for those whose troubles seem to have no end.

• And that’s not all, Lord:
Piled under the tree and stuffed in stockings, I also want to find:
- unity in our divided and broken nation
- some daily news that’s wholesome and uplifting
- truth to help us make good decisions and wise choices
- work for the unemployed 
- peace of mind and heart for the depressed
- care for the elderly
- respect for all living beings;
- recovery for the addicted
- and justice for the oppressed.
I know I’m asking for a lot, Lord.
I want so much -- maybe even too much.
But please don’t think me selfish.
Two-thirds of the world’s people are underfed or starving,
and so many lack even the humble shelter
of the stable where you were born.
We “need a little Christmas”
to remind us that it’s your birthday, Lord,
and that you and the poor wait,
you wait for us who have more than we need,
you wait for us to change the structures
that keep the poor so very poor while the rich grow richer.

So, if I could add just one more gift to my list…
Give us the faith and strength, and the wisdom and courage we need
to prepare the way for you to come into our lives
and to make level and straight the paths
by which we make our way into your life.

We “need a little Christmas,” Lord,
to remind us it’s not all about the toys and clothes and electronics
we want and hope to get.
It’s about how much we already have -- and need to share --
and what we need to give, generously,
to those whose needs are so much greater than our own.
So many of the gifts I’ve asked for, Lord, 
are already mine to give, to share with those around me:
in my family, among my friends at school and at work,
in my parish and wherever there are people in need.

Most of these gifts don’t even cost a lot of money
but to give them means I’ll have to spend myself – for others -
even as you spent yourself for me, Lord, on the Cross.

Well, that’s the latest draft of my Christmas wish list for God…

And once again this year,
I see that I’m quicker to tell the Lord what I want from him
than to listen to hear what he might want from me this Christmas. 
After all: it is his birthday and he should get the presents!

We’re gathered around a table
and even today, with Christmas two weeks away
we’ll find here, this evening, the very same gift we received
on the first Christmas, some 2000 years ago.
Here, in the Eucharist,
we’ll find, we’ll be given, we’ll receive: the gift of God’s love in Jesus.
He came to us in the flesh, born in a stable in Bethlehem.
and he comes to us today in his Body and Blood the Eucharist.

Pray that this gift of the Eucharist open our eyes  and our hearts
to the gifts we really need 
and, more importantly,
to the gifts we need to give to others - who need so very much.
We don’t have to wait until December 25th to find the Lord.
He’s already with us, here, “right this very minute”
in our prayer, in our hearts, in our waiting and in Communion, 

Yes, we need a little Christmas, right this very minute,
we need a little Christmas – now…

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