Homily For the 4th Sunday of Advent

THE VISITATIONWhen children are born into the life of a couple, life is utterly changed and transformed. It makes no difference whether it is the first pregnancy or a later pregnancy. Life takes on a new normal, a new way of being. The same happens when we give full assent to God to enter into our lives.

In today’s Gospel, we see two women, one about the age of 14 years and the other woman very elderly, pregnant for the first time. Both women, in giving full assent to God to enter into their lives, are utterly transformed. Their lives are turned upside down. That is what happens when God is invited into human lives. Over these weeks of Advent we have heard the prophets and John the Baptist proclaim that when God is invited into human history God’s peace will reign, mountains will be made low, crooked roads made straight, deserts will bloom will flowers and vegetation and dry places run with life-giving water. Wolves and lambs will lie down in peace, as well as leopards and goats, lions and cows. Little children will play with poisonous snakes and not be bitten. Nations will come to the mountain of God and feast around the table of God, weapons of war made into plows and pruning hooks, and war abolished forever from human life. Human life will be turned upside down and a new way of life begun.

In order for all this to happen we have to take the words of St. Elizabeth, spoken at the end of today’s Gospel, very, very seriously. She spoke to Mary, “Blessed are you who believed that was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” As we approach the celebration of the birth of Jesus, do we as his followers truly believe what he spoke to us, or do we not take Jesus’ teachings seriously? Are we to be counted among those “blessed” who believe and want our lives turned upside down by God?

The week prior to Advent, Pope Francis lamented humanity’s unwillingness to believe what Jesus taught. His homily generated headlines like “Pope Francis called Christmas a charade” or, “Pope Francis calls Christmas phony,” However some news agencies interpreted what the Pope preached that day, that was not what he preached. To clear up any misconception, the Vatican released the text of his homily. This is what Pope Francis said:

“Jesus approaches Jerusalem, and seeing the city on a hill from a distance, weeps, and says, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. Today Jesus weeps as well: because we have chosen the way of war, the way of hatred, the way of enmities. We are close to Christmas: there will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even Nativity scenes – all decked out – while the world continues to wage war. The world has not understood the way of peace.”

The Pope went on to say, “Everywhere there is war today, there is hatred.” The Pope then asked, “What shall remain in the wake of this war, in the midst of which we are living now? What shall remain? Ruins, thousands of children without education, so many innocent victims: and lots of money in the pockets of arms dealers.” Pope Francis then said that Jesus called those who make money from war, weapon manufacturers, the dealers of weapons and the politicians who profit from war, cursed, criminals. The Pope went on to say that Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers!’ A war can be justified – so to speak – with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war – piece meal though that war may be – a little here, a little there, and everywhere – there is no justification – and God weeps. Jesus weeps.”

Pope Francis concluded his homily that day with these words, “It will do us well to ask the grace of tears for ourselves, for this world that does not recognize the path of peace, this world that lives for war, and then cynically says not to make it. Let us pray for conversion of heart. Here before the door of this Jubilee of Mercy, let us ask that our joy, our jubilation, be this grace: that the world discover the ability to weep for its crimes, for what the world does with war.”

With Pope Francis’ lamentation for our world, and the lack of human belief in the teachings of Jesus, in what can we find hope and joy for the upcoming celebration of Christmas this year? The hope lies in today’s gospel.
Our Blessed Mother, Mary, a young pregnant girl, walks alone without any fear through country populated by robbers and revolutionaries. She is armed only with the baby growing within her womb whom the prophet Isaiah, named long before “wonder-counselor”, “God-Hero”, “Father-Forever”, and “Prince of Peace.” Her belief and her trust in God make her fearless in the face of the violence and war that surrounds her.

Is not the best the way to honor Jesus this Christmas that of emulating the example of Mary and Elizabeth, giving full assent of our wills to the one whom Mary carries within her womb? Are we ready, like Mary and Elizabeth, to say to God, “May it be done unto me according to your word?” Are we ready to take the leap of faith necessary to trust and believe what the Son of God and the Son of Mary taught?

As the living, breathing, visible Body of Christ in the world, we can effect great change if only we as individual members of Christ’s body begin to transform our lives into being peacemakers of Christ. At Christmas we celebrate the light of Christ entering the dark world of humanity. Let us use the light of Christ to examine all the areas of conflict and hate in our lives that need to be transformed, that need to be turned upside down, and ask God and trust God to make us peacemakers of Jesus in our world. From this Christmas on, may our gift to the baby Jesus in the manger be that of being sowers of peace.

Baptized in Jesus Christ, we carry within ourselves the wonder-counselor, God-hero, Father-forever, and Prince of Peace. Without any fear, without any doubt, let us take to heart the words of St. Elizabeth today, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” As the lives of a couple are utterly changed by the birth of their children, so may our lives be transformed into God’s living presence of peace and love.

Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday

When Ruth and I were first married, we waited to put up our Christmas Tree until Christmas Eve. However, that late into Advent, the trees left in a Christmas Tree lot were basically a trunk with needleless branches. The next year, we decided to begin a new Tradition, decorate the house and put up the tree on Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday. This family Tradition has been retained the past 40 years. On this Rejoice Sunday we begin to focus on the first coming of Jesus, when the Light of God’s love came into the darkness of human existence. The misery, the violence and bloodshed, the political unrest, the sickness and death that filled the ancient world into which Jesus was born, is still present in our world. On this Sunday, we re-experience the collective memory of the longing and hope that filled the hearts of our Jewish ancestors. On this Sunday, rather than fall prey to the negativity and darkness around us, we are called instead to open our hearts and minds to the peace and hope that only God can give to us. We are called to open the manger of our lives and welcome with joy the Light of the World that Mary and Joseph bring to us. We recall that Emmanuel means “God With Us” in all aspects of our lives. From the moment of his birth, Jesus has never left us or abandoned us, but rather is so united with us that he is a part of our DNA, closer than the breath that feels our bodies. As we light up our houses, and bake all the Christmas goodies, set up our trees and decorate in festive colors, let us light up the interior place of our hearts and minds with Emmanuel, God ever with us.

 

A little about me …

I am Bob Wagner. How best to describe who I am? I was born in Chicago. I moved quite a bit as a kid, my dad, a mechanical engineer, was transferred between Chicago, IL and St. Paul, MN several times. At the beginning of my junior year, we finally settled in St. Paul. I went to St. Bernard’s High School on Rice Street and the most significant thing that happened to me on that first day of school was meeting Ruth Ahmann. As I sat next to her in band that day, she smiled at me and welcomed me. She has a most extraordinarily beautiful smile. From that first brief encounter began a relationship that would later grow to dating, becoming engaged, and being married now close to 41 years.

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I went on to major in music, piano my major instrument, voice my minor instrument earning my music degree from the University (then, College) of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN. I taught vocal/general music in schools from 1975 to 1988. During that time, I also was the director of liturgical music in two Catholic parishes, St. Wenceslaus, New Prague and St. Hubert, Chanhassen. Ruth’s studies led her to a degree as a Registered Nurse. She has been a nurse in a big metropolitan hospital, a small rural hospital, and since the birth of our youngest child, Beth, has worked as a nursing home nurse, the past 15 years at the Minnesota State Veterans Home in Minneapolis.

I am in my 39th year of church ministry. Along with teaching music in Catholic Schools, and being a director of liturgy and music, I have also worked as a director of pastoral ministry and pastoral administration. I earned a Master Degree in Pastoral Studies from the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, University of St. Thomas in 1989. I was ordained to the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on September 24, 1994 by Archbishop John Roach. I have ministered as a deacon in large suburban parishes, urban parishes, small town parishes and rural parishes. I go to where the Archbishop assigns me.

My first intent in majoring in music was to be a composer of music. Of course, composing music is an invitation to destitution and starvation. However, I have a body of piano compositions I have entitled “Psalm Offerings,” and a rather large body of vocal/choral/instrumental music.

I have a large collection of poems, mostly about the relationship I have had with Ruth, entitled, “The Book of Ruth.” It has grown from about 25 poems to over 175 poems. Is it good poetry? Probably not, but the poems are reflections in many ways of how I have experienced the presence of God in my relationship with Ruth all these years. As such, the poems are a measurement of my relationship with God through Ruth.

I am a certified spiritual director, doing my studies through the Franciscan Spirituality Center in Lacrosse, WI.

Lastly, the greatest legacy I will leave on this earth are my children: Andy, Luke, Meg and Beth.

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