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We begin the Advent Season by being reminded in our Gospel to be watchful and alert. While our celebration of Christmas Day and the Christmas Season will likely be very different from anything we have experienced before, let us prepare for the five feasts of the Christmas Season by refining the habit of taking notice of God’s presence as often as we possibly can. We have the privilege of doing what we can to change the culture of our country, world, and even our church. What would it be like for us to dedicate ourselves to inviting those we interact with to develop similar habits of being aware of the presence of the divine within and among us. One way we might do this is to hone our way of acknowledging each other’s presence as we greet one another with a sense of God’s peace dwelling within us. How would it be if we chose to find a way to enrich each other before we get on with our conversation or the business at hand?

It is somewhat interesting that words used to describe today’s feast of Christ the King can be seen as a distortion of the image of Jesus. When He walked our earth, He rejected most if not all titles. We read in St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians that Jesus chose to take on the role of a servant. In the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to Himself as shepherd, living water, the bread of life, and the light of the world, among others. These words reflect that Jesus sees the goodness of God embedded in all of creation. A major part of Jesus’ mission was to call us to take care not only of each other but also all that God entrusts to us. A significant concern of Jesus is that we would put our trust in our all-generous God. This conviction calls us to be grateful for who we are and what we have. There is no need to abuse, hoard or misuse anything or anyone of what God has shared with us. Caring in this way comes about as we share with one another, especially the needy, as a concrete gesture of honoring Jesus.

The last couple of Sundays before the end of the Church Year (November 28, 2020) focus on end-life concerns and the second coming of Jesus. For some, a different view is offered. This different view is based on the conviction that we are in the process of on-going transformation. Our earthly death is a significant part of the transformation process which many believe will continue after our earthly death. After all, life is infinite based on our belief that God is infinite. Our transformation here on earth is propelled by our allowing Jesus to develop with us a personal, intimate relationship by which our relationship with God our Creator and the Holy Spirit likewise becomes more personal. For some of us it is difficult to accept that at our death we won’t necessarily be asked to give a report on what we have accomplished in life. What is most important at the end of our earthly life is the extent of our development of our relationship with the goodness and kindness of God. What we would otherwise point to as the good we have done during our earthly life will be by-products of how well we have come to know Jesus and how faithfully we have lived in imitation of Him.

In our second reading for this Sunday, St. Paul offers a solution to a concern of his day. People thought that Jesus would return in glory, most likely before any of His faithful followers had died. When these followers of Jesus did in fact die, the Church chose to develop a different understanding of when Jesus would return. Essentially, they left it all in the hands of God. How would it be if today people realized that some of what we hold sacred today might benefit from another look/see. One such issue is how the Church can make it possible for all Catholics to participate in Mass and partake of the Body of Christ on at least a weekly basis. When a delegation from the Amazon met in Rome within the last year, one of the ideas was to ordain married men to be priests so that Eucharist could be celebrated among the many people who were not able to enjoy this precious gift because of certain traditions. The backlash to this idea was intense. With the decreasing number of priests in areas of our own country, such as our diocese, what would it be like to consider how we can provide Eucharist for all established faith communities and for new ones to be established where new housing is being built?