Awaiting the Messiah
Archbishop George Niederauer delivered this homily Dec. 5 at a special Mass to rededicate St. Charles Church in San Carlos.
Advent is a beautiful season in which to re-dedicate St. Charles Parish Church. Advent is a season of hope and joy, of anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ, in the celebration of his birth for us in Bethlehem and in his coming to us in the saving grace of this Mass we celebrate, of all the other sacraments, and of our life together in Church. Advent reminds us too of the Lord’s coming in glory in the judgment that leads to eternal life. In our first reading for this Second Sunday in Advent, we hear from the Prophet Isaiah. Almost 800 years before the birth of Jesus Christ the prophet foresees that “a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse.” We ourselves often speak of past generations as our “family tree,” and Isaiah is saying that the Messiah or Savior to come will be from the family “tree” of King David, whose father was Jesse. Centuries later, the Angel Gabriel will announce the birth of Jesus to Mary, his Mother, and tells her that the child will be from the royal life of David.
What more does Isaiah tell us about the Messiah? All the gifts of the Spirit of God will rest upon him, and peace and justice will spread among men and women who follow him and his way. The Savior will not be for just one people or one place, but for all the Gentiles, all the nations: “The nations will seek out the root of Jesse for his dwelling shall be glorious.” We can be bold enough to extend that compliment to this church of St. Charles here this morning, this dwelling of the Lord is truly “glorious”.
A very good friend of mine, a Lutheran, tells me that she greatly admires in Catholics the courage of their conviction about the Incarnation, God made flesh with us in Jesus Christ, his Son. I understand her to mean in particular the “sacramental vision” of Catholics, our belief that we meet Jesus Christ most profoundly in the seven sacraments, but also in people, places and things in the world around us. That’s what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins meant by saying that “the world is charged with the grandeur of God.” Our churches have music, incense, statues, colored windows, paintings, and more besides, because we believe that God the creator meets us and makes us holy in his creation, in his creatures, that we can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear. The arts give us some of our most profound natural expressions of those meetings between creatures and the Creator.
We Catholic Christians believe that this world we live in is not a dead end, but a gift that leads us to the loving God who gave it. Our human life and experience is not an end in itself; rather, it is meant to be united with Christ’s life and experience, now and forever.
Because God created everything, we believe that everything God made can, and should, be used to praise him. No Catholic ritual expresses this belief more richly than this Mass for the dedication of a church. We began at the front door, handing over the construction plans and the keys. Those are not mere storage closet details, because God was in the building of this church. We were sprinkled with holy water, to remind us of our baptism, our oneness in Jesus Christ.
We will continue with the Litany of the Saints, who are one with us in Christ. The Prayer of Dedication will use many beautiful images to describe our call to the Church together. We will anoint the walls with Sacred Chrism, the same oil with which we anoint the newly baptized and confirmed, and those who are ordained priests and bishops. We will incense the altar with fragrance, just as Mary of Bethany poured perfumed ointment over the feet of Christ. We will solemnly light the altar and the building because light was one of God the Creator’s first gifts to us, and it should be used to praise him and his Son, who named himself the Light of the World. We will bring the Body of Christ to the Reservation Chapel, so that Jesus will dwell here constantly, in this most special way, with the people he redeemed.
Jesus Christ came for all peoples of all times, and his Church is for everyone. When the great Catholic convert and social worker Dorothy Day first started visiting Catholic churches in New York nearly a hundred years ago, she was astonished to see such a variety of people, young and old, rich and poor and in-between, from all races and ethnic backgrounds, speaking lots of different languages, but all feeling spiritually “at home,” “belonging” in the church. She later said that the only place she had ever seen that much variety before was in a railroad station!
That sounds just right. In our second reading from his letter to the Romans we hear St. Paul saying that Christ is the Savior for everyone, for all the nations, all the Gentiles. We are all God’s children in the child at Bethlehem. We are all called to find and serve Jesus Christ in each other, and especially in those who most need us. We are all redeemed by the Sacrifice on the Cross and delivered to eternal joy by the empty tomb of Easter Sunday morning. We are one in Christ.
Hence Jesus challenges us to be careful how we treat, deal with, talk about, and sum up each other, because we are to be Christ for one another. There is less value in a graceful, devout genuflection if it is preceded or followed by careless, caustic words. Here on earth Eucharist is the Church’s most precious gift from Jesus Christ; Eucharist is His Body and Blood, but the sacramental Body of Christ is meant to nourish and make holy the Mystical Body of Christ, the People of God. In heaven there will be no 10 a.m. Mass, but there will be our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We Catholic Christians believe we are called by Jesus to come together as Church in our following of him. We need to gather with each other in faith. You can do many things alone, but some you can’t. You can’t get married alone; you can’t have a friendship for one; and you can’t be a Christian church off in a corner by yourself. Jesus tells the woman at the well, in John’s Gospel, that “the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth – indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.” That hour is here and now, in St. Charles Parish Church, around this altar with Jesus Christ.
Once I heard a speaker at a Catholic event say an arresting thing: he described the experience many of us have had, of being asked by a non-Catholic, “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?” Father Dick Benson challenged us to give an honest, Catholic Christian answer: “No, I have not!” Why? These are at least two good reasons: 1) I haven’t accepted Christ, Christ has accepted – called and chosen – me; 2) Jesus Christ is not my “personal savior,” a kind of heavenly personal trainer – instead, Jesus Christ is the Head of his Body, the Church, of all Christians together. Materialism, consumerism and especially individualism are the smog we breathe, so we need the oxygen of our belief in the People of God, the Body of Christ, in the welfare of the many over the comfort and convenience of the individual.
This church building is crucial. A family, including this family of faith, is its members, but a family needs a house all the same. Without a place to live, a family is homeless. And this is a beautiful new home for the family of Catholic Faith at St. Charles Parish.
Does that mean St. Charles Church is finished at last? The answer to that question is a small “yes” and a large “no.” This beautiful building is finished. But the Church, the People of God will never be finished. The life, the work of being Church together goes on and on, until the Lord comes again. Christ the prophet and teacher preaches his Good News of the Kingdom through you, his sisters and brothers. Christ the priest gathers you around this table and in this place for Eucharist and the other sacraments, for worship and prayer. Christ the shepherd gathers you in love and fellowship and service, to one another and the world around you, especially the most needy and most vulnerable.
This is a very happy moment in the life of St. Charles Parish. Still, we know that witnessing as the Church in the world is difficult and challenging, that there can be pain, conflict and misunderstanding. That can happen between the Church and the world around it, and within the Church itself. While Jesus Christ is perfectly loving, we, his sinful members, are not. These past years have brought that reality home to us all too vividly. As Church we are constantly called to conversion, forgiveness and reconciliation.
We meet and hear St. John the Baptist in our Gospel reading for this Sunday, and he proclaims a very serious message. He was preaching and baptizing for repentance near the River Jordan, in anticipation of the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus the Savior. He challenges people – he challenges us – not to be spiritually self-satisfied or complacent. He tells the Pharisees and the Sadducees (religious leaders at the time) not to rest on their spiritual laurels, not to say so confidently, “We are sons of Abraham.” Perhaps if St. John were here this morning he might challenge us not to think or say, “Oh well, our family has always been Catholic!” Christian is as Christian does; Catholic is as Catholic does. There may be changes of heart or mind or behavior that Jesus asks of us to welcome him more sincerely at Christmas.
John uses an image from life on the farm at the time of Jesus. After the harvest, the workers needed to separate the heavier grains of wheat from the lighter, useless husks. They picked up what they harvested on long, flat paddles and tossed it into the air. The heavy grain fell to the threshing floor, while the lighter chaff or husks blew away on the wind. The lesson is clear: don’t be spiritually “lightweight;” instead, let your words and your actions show you are solid grain.
Our call as Church is to be one in Christ as the Father is one with the Son. That is what this Eucharist makes happen: St. Augustine said that when we eat earthly bread, the bread becomes us, but when we eat the bread from heaven, we become what we receive. That, finally, is the power of this place: we hear the Shepherd’s voice, and we become one with the One we receive, empowered to follow him throughout our lives together.
Congratulations on the completion of this beautiful church building. Henceforth, with God’s grace, may you gather here, day after day, year in and year out, to build together the Church in this parish.
By Archbishop George H. Niederauer
From December 10, 2010 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
