December
16, 2007
Already
but Not Yet
A
Christmas Present
Last
Monday I sat down with officers of the St Anthony Society, their lawyer
and the diocesan lawyer, to sign the initial papers to receive St. Anthony’s
Hall back as a parish building of St. Brigid’s. While the transfer
of the building won’t legally take place til some time in January,
it was the first formal step. What a great Christmas present. For over
30 years the St Anthony Society has been caring for the building that
was St. Brigid’s 2nd church and 1st school. Because of their hard
work and generosity over the years, the building was saved from disrepair
and because of the current members’ generosity, the parish will
again be able to use the building in 2008. There are still a lot of
details to work out with regard to the use of the building, but the
St. Anthony Society will still have use of the place and now we will
be able to expand it’s use too. Thank you St. Anthony!
Are
you in College?
Please
subscribe to our occasional "letters from home" service and
receive news of interet from St. Brigid.
Signup online here.
Online Masses
We are now able to stream masses and other events live over the internet
to homebound folks and to relatives who live in other lands. If you’re
interested in this, in this, click
here.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
December 9: Extreme Peace
Makeover
December 2: In Joyful Hope
November 25: And it was
just Monday
November 18: Religious Education
Week
November 11: We Did Good
November 4: Stopping in
Jericho
October 28: Heroes, Saints
& Souls
October 21:How Fast is God?
October 14: Who says thank
you?
October 7: Sacrament of
Charity
September 30: This Old Gazebo
September 23: Missing Sheep
September 16: Speaking English
September 9: He's baaaack!
August 26: The Narrow Gate
August
19: Comings & Goings
August 12: Mass Schedule
Change
August 5: Better Late Than
Never
July 29: Sunday in the Chapel
July 15: Celebrating Kelly
July
8: I'm so not dead yet
July 1: Worse than Raccoons
June 24:Sommertime
June 17: Celebrating
Fr Cine
June 10: When Nature Turns
June 4:Celebrating Father
Jim
May 27: Praying in Tongues
May 20: Making (up) the
difference
May 13: Loving our Mothers
May 6: About Father George
April 29: Hearing Voices
April 22:Three Stones
April 15: What a week!
April 8: Alleluia! Alleluia!
April 1: Holy Week
March 25: Climate Change
March 18: Take A Step
March 11: Cold Enough for
You?
March 4:Stocking the Shelves
Feb 25: Basket Case
Feb18: Ashes and Desert
Dust
Feb11: Get Ready, Get Set,
REST!
Feb.4: Lent Lurking
Jan.28:Catholic Schools
Week
Jan.21:Crying in Church
Jan.14: Love ahead
Jan.7: So How
Was Your Christmas?
Columns
from 2005
Columns
from 2004
Columns from
2003
Columns from 2002
What’s
with John the Baptist this week? He sends his disciples to see IF Jesus
is the Messiah? What happened to all those confident proclamations he
made to his followers? What happened to his protestation when Jesus presented
himself to be baptized by John? Did he lose faith?
There are lots of theories about
this, but I’d like to point out that even one as certain and holy
as John the Baptist can miss God’s presence from time to time. For
one thing, there were expectations as to what the Messiah would be doing
and what kind of person the Messiah would be. John was a kind of “angry
prophet”, disturbed by the injustice of the world and promising
God’s retribution. But Jesus wasn’t following this way of
preaching. He was forgiving sinners and was revealing God’s mercy
more than God’s wrath. John had to think long and hard as to whether
someone who was so different from him could indeed be “the one.”
Our modern day Advent questions
are these: “Is Jesus in our midst or not?” “If he’s
not here, then when will he come again?” “If he IS here, do
we miss seeing him?”
One answer to the questions is:
Jesus is here already, but not yet. At first this might not make sense.
But think about it: Jesus is here -- fully present in the Eucharist, in
the Word, in the Body of Christ -- which is the community of believers.
We believe in the “Real Presence” of Jesus, here among us.
Yet if we encountered him FULLY here, our lives and our world would be
better than they are now. Our poor attempts at finding light, happiness
and peace, would yield to fulfillment in Christ’s presence. And
yet we are not fulfilled. We still long for something more. We still have
our doubts and our selfish moments.
So Advent is an in-between time.
We acknowledge that Jesus not only came 2000 years ago, but that he’s
here this morning. And we continue to pray “Come, Lord Jesus!”
because like John the Baptist, we cannot yet fully appreciate the God
in our midst.
Already, but not yet.
