Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)
October 24, 2021 5:30 pm · Sergio Muñoz Fita
Dear St. Anne Family,
I greet you with affection from the little village of Greccio where I arrived yesterday, walking and singing in the rain - just like Gene Kelly. In 1223, St. Francis celebrated Christmas here with his brothers and friends and began, unbeknownst to him, a tradition that has continued to this day: the representation of the birth of our Redeemer. What is so natural for us - placing a nativity scene at home or reproducing the manger scene in any way possible - originated in these cold mountains. St. Francis' idea is now part of our culture, and as disciples of Christ we have the mission and the joyful responsibility of perpetuating it, passing it on to the next generations. In this way, they too will be able to contemplate and receive the boundless love of a God who became man to save us.
" Thus says the LORD: ‘Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The LORD has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel’”. I imagine that, back in the United States, the streets, houses and businesses are filled these days with so many signs of death, fear, and darkness. In the face of that exaltation of the macabre, I announce to you from here that true life that has been manifested in the flesh of a newborn Child. With the holy prophet David I tell you this Sunday: "The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.” I invite you to let Christ, the only light of the world, heal the blindness that prevents us from seeing with the eyes of God.
In the Flocknote group where we are walking together in the knowledge of St. Francis of Assisi, tomorrow we will share the story of that distant Christmas celebrated here in Greccio. It is probably the most beautiful page of all the Franciscan sources and I encourage you to savor it slowly. Two days ago in the hermitage of the Speco of Narni, Brother Vincenzo explained to me that Francis’ main purpose with that first representation was to show the relationship between the mystery of the Incarnation and that of the Eucharist: as the second reading tells us, Christ is priest between God and mankind because, after Mary's courageous and generous yes, he became one of us in everything except sin. In the economy of grace that Jesus initiates, he is the eternal priest who offers the one sacrifice, and the immolated victim is that body that at Christmas we can contemplate for the first time lying in the manger. The Holy Mass is the sacramental renewal of Christ's offering to the Father for us. St. Francis of Assisi teaches us, therefore, that the Mass makes truly, bodily present for us each day, the birth of our Lord in the flesh.
All this is to lose oneself and to die of joy in the gentle, humble, tender, and infinite love of the Lord for us poor sinners. If we are not saints, we are miserably losing our lives. Is it possible to refuse the gift of God? Can we close the door to the Child who desires to transform our souls? We know the answer: "He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him." (Jn 1:11)
As we have heard in the Gospel, this Christmas, which is already so close, the Master calls you. He wants to give you back your sight. He wants to fill your heart with the only light that is never extinguished; to heal, by touching you, the sicknesses of your spirit. He wants to give you back the innocence and joy of a little child. At St. Anne we want to offer opportunities for you, too, to rise and come closer to Him and live this Christmas with great joy and intensity. To this end, we are preparing activities for children, families and people of good will that will be communicated to you in the coming days. Following the invitation of the Poverello, we want to live these days, the happiest of the year, in Jesus, with Jesus and for Jesus. We will have personal, family and community prayer. There will be joy in our songs, beauty in our liturgical celebrations, charity for the most needy, and hope and peace in the many events that we wish to share with you. The Baby Jesus Mission will return to bring the image of the God who is born for us to the streets of Gilbert and many other cities. We will have opportunities to be reborn again through conversion, mercy, and the grace of sacramental forgiveness. Borrowing the words with which Thomas of Celano described the Christmas of 1223 here in Greccio, our parish will become "a new Bethlehem" where God will come again, and where men will open their lives so that the Divine Child may find a worthy dwelling place in them.
Please be attentive to the Christmas activities that will be announced shortly. Participate in parish life as much as possible. Like Bartimaeus, let us believe that Jesus is capable of doing impossible things in us and let us allow his Word and his Body to bring us healing, grace and joy. Only two months left!
From the grotto of the Nativity in Greccio, Italy, your brother, father, and unworthy pastor blesses you and wishes you peace.
Fr. Sergio
