Advent IV

AdventIV

Micah 5:1-4a; Psalm 80; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-45

This is the second and final in a series of homilies.

The Gospels do not reveal who the magi were so over the ages we’ve made some presumptions about them based on our biases. But there is one detail in the story that gives us a clue that we can be very certain that the magi were men. Do you know what it is?

The gifts, of course! Only men would bring such impractical gifts to a new and marginalized family.

Can you imagine what women magi would have brought? Blankets, diapers, baby lotion, a keg of beer for Joseph, some clean clothes for Mary and they would have stayed awhile; done the dishes, washed the clothes, straightened up the manger and fed the animals.

A little humour can open doors of insight into reality; a reality where both sets of gifts are essential.

What the guys brought revealed the truth about the child. Frankincense, gold and myrrh make known that the child is divine, of royal descent, and would die. Diapers, blankets and baby lotion reveal this child as human and that our God is embedded in our everyday, complex, human situations. Both perspectives are necessary for the Church’s proclamation of the Gospel.

Similarly, Mary runs in haste to visit her elderly cousin whom she’s learned from the Archangel Gabriel is beginning her third trimester of pregnancy. Do you think she arrived empty handed? Do you think her mother, Anna, would have allowed Mary out of the house without gifts and items for the baby, Elizabeth and Zachariah?

Last week I addressed the issue of abortion and the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned.

I asked, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, what will it mean?

I expect it will mean many things including continued divisions within our society. Abortion will persist across a patchwork of various States’ laws. The procedure will again move underground and along with their unborn children, mothers will die.

As Christians, is this what we desire for our society, for women, men and families? In this scenario, where is to be found compassion, healing and forgiveness?

Archbishop Christophe Pierre is the apostolic nuncio [ambassador] to the United States. He is very aware of the dual role of the Church in proclaiming truth and in working toward applying practical solutions to the complex human and moral issues of the day. In other words, gold, frankincense and myrrh must go hand in hand with blankets, diapers and baby lotion. Theology and moral teaching have no value if they cannot be applied to the human being and our everyday, complex life situations.

 In speaking to our US bishops in November about the importance of listening to people in the church and being open to the work of the Holy Spirit, the Archbishop said that the church “should be unapologetically pro-life”.  But he also stressed the need to look at causes and factors that lead women and men to seek abortions and then to reach out in practical ways to mothers and fathers in need.

Did you know that more than 80% of girls in the juvenile justice system of some states are victims of sexual or physical violence? Do girls and women who have experienced sexual violence need our moral condemnation and legal punishment or our understanding and care? Have we reflected on what is the cause of sexual and physical violence against women throughout our world? What are boys and men being taught by word and example about who they are and their relationship to women? What is the role of position and power in allowing men to think they can run roughshod over women? And women, beware! You are not immune to the lure of power and position!

How many women sitting in this church have experienced either sexual or physical violence, or both? How many men?

Did you know that about 40% of women who seek an abortion cite economic pressures as their motive? How can we make life friendlier for families and particularly for women who are mothers? Recall the movie, 9 to 5 with Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda and how these women transformed the workplace.

Why do we as a society not firmly and insistently advocate for mandatory family leave for fathers and mothers? Lobby corporations for accommodations like flexible work schedules and better pay for part–time jobs? Advocate for laws that support families, single parents, and support college students who are parenting?

How many of us have reached out to a single parent or a young couple who are facing an unexpected pregnancy?

Our theological and moral teachings about the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death, the sacredness of the human body and sexual activity within the committed relationship of marriage, of the inviolable value of an unborn child and that of its mother, the goodness and justice of work, and our advocacy for family life will receive no hearing if the Church, even in her present brokenness, maybe in spite of her brokenness, does not get into the trenches bringing to society gifts of gold, blankets, baby lotion, frankincense, advocacy, companionship, myrrh, diapers, healing, fresh clothing, and…

…and Mary set out in haste into the hill country to a town of Judah…empty–handed? I think not.

Our Church does so much good through our agencies like Catholic Charites, Catholic Relief Services, Caritas International, The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, State Conferences of Bishops and diocesan agencies, religious orders and parishes; good of which most Catholics are not even cognizant.

But if we truly desire to change our culture on the life issues of family, abortion, incarceration, capital punishment and euthanasia, neither should we arrived emptied–handed.