Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast, where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the Word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: The Lord be with you and with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. Glory to you, Lord Jesus said to his disciples, there will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars, and on earth. Nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.
Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing or drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life.
And that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent. To stand before the Son of Man. The Gospel of Of the Lord.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: I remember reading back when I was still in school in a book on homiletics, that it was suggested that references from literature or from culture can be very helpful in bringing light to the scriptures.
Unfortunately for all of you, my cultural references all stick in 1970s television shows, so you'll have to bear with me.
But of course, that great philosophical show, which Steve and I can both quote virtually every line from mash.
There was one particular episode where Major Winchester was chuckling as he was reading the newspaper. And they asked him, what are you so happy about? And he said, well, the Midwest sorghum crop has been wiped out by hail.
And they said, oh, my Awful. Those people are all suffering. And he replied back, yes, but I'm invested in Canadian sorghum.
The reason why I'm sharing that with you is depending on our state of life and where we're at, this gospel can do two things. It can be full of promise and hope, or can be full of dread and warning and a cautionary tale.
And I think for most of us, it's actually both.
It is a warning for the major Winchesters of the world that if we are comfortable, if everything is going well in our lives, if we not facing much struggle, if we're secure, then we need to make sure we don't simply hoard more for ourselves, but that we share with those who have not.
Because otherwise those tribulations are going to be directed right smack at us.
And if we are struggling in any area of our life, not just financially, but if we can't seem to catch a break, if the world seems to be coming down on us hard, those words should be comforting, knowing that in God all things will be made right.
And these scriptures, particularly this gospel, were written for an audience that would have been struggling. Remember, Jesus came into a world where the people were being put down by not only the Roman Empire, but by those who were in power in the temple.
And he came to bring them comfort, to give them strength and allow them to understand that God's love was there for them, even though at that particular moment they may not have been feeling it very much.
And he also did it to call to task those who were in authority, not just in Rome, but also in the temple, that the purpose of ministry, the purpose of faith, is to bring comfort to those who struggle.
So to quote another TV show, this one from the 80s, in reality, Jesus is the equalizer. He's the one that balances things out. He's the one that will make us all equal because we all share in the bounty of God's love.
So Advent is the perfect season for each one of us to recognize those areas, maybe where we're more comfortable than we deserve, and learning to balance that out with service of others. And it's also a time when we're struggling to recognize that it's God's love that will always lift us up.
