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December 29, 2007

Feast of the Holy Family - All in The Family

For the past several months I have been reading John Steinbeck's classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath. All my life I have wanted to read that work but whenever I decided to start, the length would scare me off. But recently I have simply been picking it up occasionally and reading a chapter or two at a time; that's something I can handle.

The story is about the Joad Family, all twelve of them. They were tenant farmers in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl days of the Thirties. Unfortunately, agriculture failed; their land and homes are taken over by that anonymous creature called "the bank", and, with that, they decide they have no other option than to sell whatever farm and household articles they have left and head out to California where there will be endless opportunities to pick oranges and grapes. Grandpa Joad says: "All I want to do is take me a bunch of grapes and squeeze'em in my face until the juice runs down my chin."

The central theme of the Grapes of Wrath, therefore, is the power of the family. Interestingly, it is Ma Joad who has the strength of character and determination to keep this disparate group from falling apart.

Yet on their journey to California, they experience many losses and additions: When a birth occurs a death follows and when a death occurs a birth follows. It's all about the circle of life, death and resurrection revolving around the family.

I'm finding that 1 am really fascinated by the story because my family also grew up during those difficult years of the dust bowl and the only thing that kept us all together was the determination of our father and mother and our care for each other.

Interestingly, family is something that most of us simply take for granted; it is so much part of our personal histories that we hardly reflect on it. This is the way the human race has developed over thousands of years. There does not seem to be any other option. All of us have come into this world through the creative power of a father and a mother. We have been nourished by our communication with brothers and sisters. In a sense, one could say that we are all "homemade", formed and fashioned by those who gave us birth and those who kept us together.

Here is something interesting regarding family I read a while back: "The family is he place where we discover who we are and what we are capable of becoming. Family is the place.

So, here we are today celebrating the Feast of a unique family we call Holy. I'm not sure whether Joseph, Mary and Jesus would have been comfortable with that title, in their own day. Their neighbors would surely have said: "Hey, they live next door to us, we know them personally, they're no holier than any of the rest of us." It's true, of course. When you read the scriptures regarding Jesus' early life, especially in Luke's gospel, you get the sense that his family faced the same human challenges as any other family. They surely must have had domestic differences occasionally like all of us have had as we were growing up.

My hunch then is that the Church in later centuries decided to honor this family with the title "holy" because Jesus, son of God and Son of Joseph and Mary was born to them in a human fashion like all of us.

I think it could be said, therefore, that the Holy Family is called holy precisely because it experienced all those human qualities that the rest of the human race faces.

There is something holy simply about being human and experiencing life just the way it is, sometimes ok, sometimes broken and messy, sometimes just mysterious and unexplainable.

I'm sure all of you have occasionally had family skirmishes and family reconciliations. It's just the normal thing. Thank God for it. Had we not had a dad and a mom, brothers and sisters around us as we grew up, who knows how we might have turned out? To be human is to be holy. It takes a lifetime for all this to happen, of course. The final product is not yet wrapped up.

The scriptures: Sirach 2: 4-6, 12-14, Colossians 3: 12-21, Matthew 2: 13-15, 19-23

Posted by Julie Galligan at 04:55 PM.

December 24, 2007

Christmas - Human Beginnings

It sometimes surprises my friends when I tell them that all eight members of our family, including myself, were born at home, that is, in my parents' bedroom. Today that may seem like a rather primitive way to have children, but it was not so unusual in the days I grew up. The presence of midwives at births was pretty common. I can still remember my Aunt Matilda, we called her Aunt Tillie, who was present as a midwife, when my other sisters and brothers were born into the world. Midwifery is still common among the Amish people and among other individual couples too who prefer the natural method of childbirth. It must be considered a safe birth procedure because my family and other families in those days did not consider it a dangerous thing.

Actually, it is only in modern times that people have used the availability of a hospital to bring their children into the world. Of course, hospitals are still considered institutions that treat illness, and lots of folks today do not consider pregnancy and birth an illness!

The birth of a child, of course, is a momentous occasion for all of us, we our parents and ourselves. It is obviously the beginning of life, the beginning of many years (we hope) in this world, and the beginning of many human experiences, which will be repeated by no one else in this world.

I think it would be safe to say also that the circumstances in which we were born plays an important part in the way we live our lives later on.

For instance, if I had been born in New York City or Los Angeles rather than in a humble three-room house in the state of North Dakota, my life might have turned out entirely different, indeed, I might not be giving this homily as I am doing right now. My point is that our birthplace and its surroundings can define our entire lives in many ways.

Think about your own life today and how you got to this very place. Think about all the things that have happened to you over the years. Think about how you became the person that defines your character and person. It's all a great mystery, but it surely has something to do with the circumstances of your birth.

Well, obviously, this is the Feast of the Incarnation, the celebration of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem in Palestine.

It would be no exaggeration to say that Jesus' birth has changed our world and precisely every one of us in remarkable ways.

The question is, what is remarkable about the circumstances of Jesus birth? Several things: First of all, he was not born in a metropolitan city like Rome or Athens or Alexandria. He was born in a small backwater community where life was simple but stressful. Joseph was a lower middle-class artisan. His family and many others in his time lived from hand to mouth.

They also lived with the constant pressure of Roman domination hovering over them. Peasant people had very little control over their destinies. Taxes were excessive in the extreme. Then there was always the threat of rebellion by small radical groups that would disturb the tranquility of the community. John the Baptist was part of such small threatening group and he lost his head over it.

It is also important to remember that the Holy Family was an immigrant family. They owned very little land or other property. Because of the constant social upheaval in the Middle East, they had to be ready to travel now. Immigration itself, of course, causes human suffering, as we know from circumstances in our own times.

The fact that Jesus was not born into a Roman or Greek family, but into Judaism made an immense difference for all of history. Jesus was born a Jew, lived as a Jew and died as a Jew. The whole history of his people was in his very bones.

The reason I mention all these items is because they affected the way Jesus grew up. Have you noticed when reading the scriptures how often Jesus speaks to the poor and about the poor, how often he speaks about Justice and peace, how often he speaks about a kingdom that is not of this world.

In short, Jesus, because of the circumstances of his birth, was a radical, indeed, a dangerous person, both to the Roman occupiers and also to those Jews who controlled the revenue for the temple. Remember, for instance, the occasion when Jesus whipped the moneychangers out of the temple.

So, how did Jesus get this way? It all has to do with his birth, with the land and with the people who were part of his early life.

The point is that we cannot escape our heritage. People are discovering that more clearly than ever today. We want to know where we came from, who our ancestors were. Notice how many folks go to the Internet today to find information about their background. That tells you something about history, your own history.

So, that brings us to ask the question, what do we actually celebrate at Christmas? It is a birthday, of course, the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth who was born in Bethlehem. So, like all birthdays, we celebrate them and remember them.

But, of course, birthdays always bring up questions, questions about who we are now and what our life is all about at this moment in history. So, that means that we cannot stop with the question of Jesus' birth, even with the lovely description of it in Luke's Gospel.

If we want to know what the birth of Jesus means to us today, we have to move beyond the crib, beyond the visit to the temple and all those lovely family experiences that are described in the gospels.

The fact that we are even celebrating Jesus' birth 2000 years after it happened is immensely important. We do not do that with the birthdays of very many people in history.

Obviously, the reason why we are celebrating this feast is because our Christian lives are all tied up with Jesus' birth, death and resurrection. The reason why we are Catholic Christians is because someone in our history decided to have us Christened ("Christed"). Hence from that moment forward the birthday of Jesus, his history and our own Christian history and identity have been intimately linked together for all eternity. Now, if that is not worth a celebration, I don't know what is. I'm sure all of us would be a little disappointed if our own birthday came and went and no one paid any attention to it. I'm not sure precisely what Jesus Christ thinks about Christmas, but I'm sure he must be saying, "Well, it's surely nice that somebody remembered me." If we do not remember Jesus' birth, all the other nice things we do at Christmas will not add up to very much. Happy birthday, Jesus! Happy birthday to every baptized Christian in history! This is our special day let's celebrate it.

The scriptures for the Midnight Mass of Christmas: Isaiah 9: 1-6 Titus 2: 11-14 Luke 2:1-14

Posted by Julie Galligan at 11:30 PM.

December 22, 2007

4th Sunday of Advent - Birth Announcements

Several times each year I have the pleasure and privilege of receiving birth announcements from young couples whose marriage I have celebrated. I can always tell that they are rightfully proud of this child and it often becomes even more clear in the name they have chosen, especially for their firstborn.

Sometimes the names are not Christian names, of course, but they are always lovely and sweet. I'm sure the youngster will grow up, happy to be known by this unique name.

Undoubtedly, every Catholic has heard the story of the Irish monsignor who always insisted that any child he was asked to baptize needed to have a Christian name, at least for the books. Hence, if the couple had a name he did not particularly like, he would add Mary or John as a second name for the baptismal register! I'm sure the parents were a bit surprised when they asked for a copy of the child's baptismal certificate at the time of First Communion or Confirmation and found a name they did not even recognize.

I think it is true to say, however, that when parents choose a name for their child, they must ask themselves what their hopes are for this youngster: Will he or she bring honor and respect to the family?

I know of couples that spend considerable time searching for a name that may have a special meaning. Other parents look up the history of the saint after whom they will name their child. They want to be able to tell this youngster all the famous things their patron was known for. All that, of course, can add much to the youngster's pride when people ask, "Hey, what does that name mean anyway?"

Birth announcements in Jewish culture were obviously made differently than we make them today: First, they were assumed to be made by an angel-messenger or by God in a dream and, secondly, it was important that the name should have a meaning that would indicate the special role that this child would eventually have in the world.

Jesus' name, of course, came through the message of an angel in a dream. Iesous is a Greek rendering from the Hebrew Yehoshua (Joshua) which means, "to save" or the noun "salvation." Obviously, that is why Jesus was later recognized as the Savior, the source of our salvation.

Most of us, I should imagine, simply live with the name we were given at birth or at our baptism without thinking much about it during our lifetime. Perhaps it is also true to say that we are not much concerned whether name has any special meaning, Christian or secular. What does seem important, nonetheless, is to ask ourselves occasionally, perhaps often what it means for us to be named Christian. Obviously, we could have been born into any other religious faith, but the fact is, we are named Christian in memory of the Anointed One, Jesus the Christ.

That should remind us to ask whether we have somehow fulfilled the meaning of that name as we have grown up in life. At 50 or 60 or 75, are we still proud to be called Christian or Catholic?

Given that assumption, It might not be a bad idea occasionally to dig out that baptismal record, if, for no other reason, than to discover who our godparents were or who the celebrant of the sacrament was. Perhaps all these good folks are now long deceased, but it must be said that they played an important part in our life at that moment in our history. Someone thought it important enough to bring us to a church and welcome us into the Body of Christ. That was the beginning of something important in our life and the mystery of it all is that it is still happening at this very moment. We are all Christians by name and Christian by calling until the Lord eventually calls us home.

The scriptures: Isaiah 7: 10-14, Romans I: 1-7, Matthew 1: 18-24

Posted by Julie Galligan at 11:25 PM.

December 15, 2007

3rd Sunday of Advent - Meanwhile, We Wait

Back in the 1970's I spent three years in New York City doing graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary. Each day I needed to travel by subway from the Bronx, where I lived with the Holy Cross brothers, down town to 11 bth street and Broadway in Manhattan where Union Seminar was located.

Each morning as I ascended the stairs to street level I would notice a man with a long beard, a wool cap and heavy sweater wearing a sandwich board with the words: "The End is Near." No one seemed to be paying much attention to him, he'd been there so long, I imagine. But occasionally I would say to myself: "What if he's right?" What if the end is near? What then? Am I prepared? Here I was, of course, going on down to the seminary to study theology with the assumption if the end was near, it would probably not happen today. I imagine most other people entering or leaving the subway probably felt the same way, saying to themselves: "It's not going to happen today, so I might as well get on with whatever it is that I do in life." In other words, my hunch is that most ordinary folks do not believe that the end is near or even close.

It would be difficult even to get a consistent answer from people about what the end might mean? Does it mean the end of the planet? Does it mean that Jesus Christ will come again to straighten out the world?

Nonetheless, I think if you asked most Christians and Catholics if they thought that this world and everything that people do in this world would last forever, they would tell you, "no, we are living, as it were, in the "between times," between now and the moment Christ will come again. That will be the final moment in history. What we are experiencing now is only temporary." Of course, if you asked a Christian, "what's next," they probably would not have an answer. In short, what follows after life in this world is a great mystery.

It needs to be said, nonetheless, that Christians and other people of good faith have always struggled with the notion of end times: People generally do not believe that life in this world as we know it is the final answer to all questions, and yet we do not know how to believe in the coming of Christ at the end of time. How does one talk about that?

The point is that our entire Christian life hinges on the assumption that Christ will come again and that Christian life in this world is only a preparation for God's eternal kingdom. We believe in all this, of course, but how do we talk about it?

That is what our scriptures for this Third Sunday of Advent help us to understand more clearly: How do we talk about mystery, about the unknown about what we hope is or will be a reality some day?

We must grant, first of all, that the people of biblical times were as much puzzled about end times as we are today. Hence they chose to speak about this at least in metaphorical ways: First, by poetry, and, second, by prophecy.

Isaiah, a poet and prophet, whose words we hear in the first reading today, was a man who lived in difficult times and tried to bring some hope to his homeland and its people. Hence, he uses poetry to describe the mystery of God's coming He says it will be like spring when the dry land will once again produce fruit and flowers. If God can bring life out of the dark and cold winter, so too will God continually bring life and hope to his people. Isaiah's poetry in that reading is just beautiful. It is the kind of writing that can give encouragement to any of us even today.

The gospel for this Advent Sunday talks about a man who resembled the man I mentioned earlier standing at the subway entrance at 116th St and Broadway in New York City, John the Baptist. He believed sincerely that God had not abandoned the world and that someday God's plan for the universe would come to pass. But like the "prophet" with his sandwich board in New York, he was convinced that this coming of God could not happen unless some preparation on our part would take place.

It occurs to me to say then that what John is saying about being prepared for the final coming is what life could be for the Christian today. We have no idea what the future will bring, when the world will end, or when Christ will come again. So, we live, as it were, in "between times".

But that does not mean that we simply sit around and do nothing: Each time we gather for worship, as we are doing now, we are making Christ present and we are preparing for Christ's future coming. Each time we try to live our life as we think God has called us to do we are making Christ present and preparing for Christ's final coming.
So, ultimately it does not make much difference whether or not we can predict the end times or when Christ will come again. It is the present moment that counts and that is all-important. It is the only moment we have any control over anyway.

Perhaps the fact that I can still remember that man with his sandwich board on 116' St. and Broadway in New York City warning me and others to be prepared for the end, perhaps that has helped me live my Christian life a little better. At least I'm not so anxious about when the end will come. It's already here, actually, it always has been.

The scriptures: Isaiah 35: 1-6a, 1 James 5: 7-10, Matthew 11: 2-11

Posted by Julie Galligan at 11:22 PM.

December 08, 2007

2nd Sunday of Advent - The Extended Vision

When I first began thinking about this homily back in October, the cottonwood trees across the parking lot from my office had completed their annual cycle of shedding their leaves. At this point in the season, with the onset of winter, one would never imagine that the sap under the bark of those trees was already preparing them to produce leaves next May.

Experience tells me that this has regularly and predictably been happening every fall and every spring in the 15 years I have been looking out that window. If I doubted nature (and God's) power regarding that tree and nature's revival, my attitude about autumn, and, indeed, life in general would be rather dismal.

Another metaphor of life and death comes to mind from Ken Burn's October presentation on PBS of World War II with all its suffering and destruction. As I, a veteran of that war, watched the series, I thought to myself: Even we who are old enough to remember those days have forgotten how terrible those times were, especially for the families who lost their loved ones. So, we can thank Ken Burns for the opportunity to be reminded of the suffering humans can bring down on one another.

Watching those films and still photos of the destruction of the cities of Europe and Japan, it occurred to me to wonder whether anyone in those times would ever have imagined that sometime in the future all these cities and villages would one day be rebuilt and that you would hardly imagine that a war had ever occurred there.

My point in both these examples is to say that given enough time and a sense of determination, the future of the world can always be restored. Human beings can bring life out of death.

If a person is to have any hope for the future, whether in one's secular or spiritual life, we need to have a sense of the long-term vision of life. Of course, that is often hard to do when at this moment in our personal or common history, life does not look very promising. Perhaps we are depressed with the continuing war in Iraq, or perhaps we are dealing with some personal problem that seems overwhelming. Unless we can think beyond this moment, however, with its difficulties to the possibility of a better time, life will not be very hopeful. In short, we need to think beyond this moment if life is to have any meaning for us.

There are two scripture readings in our liturgy for this Second Sunday of Advent which can help us understand this sense of hope in difficult times. Experiences in history do not change very much.

The first example comes from the prophet Isaiah. These were not good days for the Israelite nation. The Assyrians were in a conquering mood and they were considered the most powerful nation in the Middle East in those days. They were gobbling up all the small nations around them much as Germany and Japan tried to do some 50 years ago. Israel, of course, was one of those small nations and they were living in mortal fear of their future. Their leaders believed that there was no way for them to survive, hence, they had practically given up hope for their country and its people.

So, here is Isaiah, always the one who looked beyond the present moment, telling the leaders and the people that they need to believe that there is a future for them. He uses a metaphor like the example of the cottonwood tree I used earlier. He promises that in a future age, a shoot, a bud will spring forth from the land which considers itself almost dead. That bud or shoot will be personified in a man of wisdom, understanding, knowledge and strength. Historians believe Isaiah was referring to the young king Hezekiah.

Christians, of course, have always interpreted Isaiah's prophecy to say that the one and only one who can ultimately bring peace to our world will be Jesus Christ. Notice the beautiful symbolic poetry of hope Isaiah uses: "The wolf will be guest of the lamb; the leopard will bed down with the young goat; the lion and the little calf will browse in the same pasture. In short, the impossible is possible if we hear the message of Jesus rightly. It may not happen today or right a way, but it will happen.

Then we hear again, as we always do in Advent, the voice of a second Isaiah, John the Baptist, with his strange clothing, his odd eating habits and his fiery threats of destruction about what will happen unless the world changes its habits. Notice, John chooses the tree metaphor again: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down." The assumption, of course, is that there is the life and hope under the bark of every tree, that is, in every human individual, every one of us, if only we care to make a difference, to make the world a place of peace and justice.

So, what sense does all this have for us, we who seem to live in a world where, like Isaiah's and John's, enemies are still enemies, where the wolf still threatens the Lamb?

The only answer is that it does not have to be this way: Those of us who have been listening to Jesus' words all these years could be doing something to bring peace to the small world where we live and work. If being Christian means anything, it should mean that we, like he cottonwood tree I spoke of a moment ago, should realize that we have in us the human and spiritual power to make a difference in this life, small as it may seem. The autumn trees that may seem dead and dying now have deep within them. the power of spring. Perhaps, in the end, that is what Advent, this season of winter, is saying to us. Spring will come and you can make it happen.

The scriptures: Isaiah 11: 1-10, Romans 15: 4-9, Matthew 3 1-12

Posted by Julie Galligan at 11:19 PM.

December 01, 2007

1st Sunday of Advent (Cycle A) - Will It Be Different?

When I announced a few moments ago that we were celebrating the First Sunday of Advent, you might have been thinking "my gosh, can it be, are we already into another Church year? Whatever happened to last year, all those Sundays, all those feast days, all that feasting and fasting, the Sundays we missed, the Sundays that were just the best we've ever had? Where did the time go?

One thing for sure: That year of grace is over; we will never be able to replicate those days again, whether we used them well or used them ill, they are gone forever. At any rate, there is no point in crying over what we've left undone.

The important point is that we Christians have another year of grace ahead of us. It is and always has been that way because Christ is the one who makes all time worthwhile. We began our liturgy, did we not, with the words: "From Christ who was, who is and who is yet to come, grace and peace be with you all.

In other words, the Christian calendar is built around the assumption that Christ is always present to our times and our age, always engaging us in something new. That is why our Christian calendar is circular and not linear. It goes `round and `round. Christian life never ends. The challenges never stop.

So, my friends, this is a Sunday and, indeed a season and a year with human hope built right into it. All, but the question that will continue to gnaw at us the whole year will be this: Will this new year, the calendar year and the current Christian year be any different than last year? What did we learn out of all those days and weeks and months that will make it worth our while to step into the new year of grace again?

Perhaps the only way to answer that question is to ask ourselves a question like this: What do I do in this world? What is my task? What am I responsible for? What is my career? What do I love? What are my hopes and dreams? Will this world be any better, more hopeful this year than last because of what I can bring into it with my insights, my skills, my intelligence my determination? Do I even care? Does anyone really care?

Well, let me give you a couple examples of some people who do care: The NBC evening news always has a short segment at the end they call "Making a Difference." They offer examples of ordinary people, women and men, old and young some who are retired and others who have jobs and careers, but in their spare time they do some small that makes a difference to the people of their community and even to others around the world. They ask for no recognition, they are not Nobel peace-prize winners, but they feel that they simply can't stand around when there is something that can make the world a better place.

Then, just as I was writing this piece, the mail person brought in the current issue of Newsweek. The cover story was titled: "How to heal the world, or at least make a real difference." It tells of four individuals, a doctor, a banker, an engineer and a scientist who are working separately and together to bring lifesaving vaccines to children around the world. These people already have careers, but they feel that they could do something more with their skills. Some kids somewhere in the world will live because of these four individuals. I don't know whether any of the four are Christians. It doesn't matter, at least to them.

But that does bring up a question for all of us gathered here today, we Christians: Is there something unique that we Christians can bring to this world of ours? I already find a hint of that in the first reading we just heard from the prophet Isaiah. Here are his words and remember, he could be speaking as well to any of us as he spoke to his own people. "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again."

That was the challenge God gave the Israelites: Be peacemakers. Do something that will make the world safe from harm: Raise wheat for bread and grapes for wine. That is obviously better than manufacturing tanks and guns and fighter planes; all that they can accomplish is killing.

I realize most of us might say: "Hey, I don't do any of that stuff. Besides, how am I going to stop the war in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other place in the world where people are killing each other." I'm sure Christ isn't asking us to do that, but we can do one thing: We can bring peace to all the little battlegrounds wherever we live and work.

We all know that there are little wars that go on in families, communities, workplaces and schools. Those are the places where we could make a difference if we chose to. That would be a worthy cause for this coming year: Be a peacemaker!

St. Paul, in that second reading you just heard had some beautiful suggestions for his churches about what to do in their world while there was still time: "Wake up," he says: "Throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."

That might be a great reminder to paste on our bathroom mirror to read every morning as we are brushing our teeth! Fight evil with good; challenge darkness with light. I'm sure all of us could interpret those words in all sorts of ways to fit our own life. Be a light for the world!

So, my friends, here we stand on the threshold of a new year (a year of grace) What will this year look like next December when we begin another Advent? Only we will know. But one thing for sure, like the people I mentioned in the Newsweek article and the NBC evening news, we can make a difference too. We've got a whole year to work on it. I'll check in with you next Advent to see how the year has turned out.

The scriptures: Isaiah 2: 1-5, Romans 13: 11-14, Matthew 24:37-44

Posted by Julie Galligan at 11:26 AM.