EDINA (MN)
Our Lady of Grace parish
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (A-1)
Our Lady of Grace, Edina
Sunday, December 15, 2013
BY THE MOST REVEREND JOHN C. NIENSTEDT
Proclaim the greatness of God,
Rejoice in God, my Savior
Rejoice in God, my Savior!
Today is commonly known as Gaudete Sunday, as the entrance antiphon to this Third Sunday of Advent begins with the Latin word “Gaudete,” which means “rejoice.”: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!” The cause of our joy is, of course, the three comings of the Lord at Christmas, namely: his birth at Bethlehem, His triumphant return at the end of the world, and finally His Presence here with us today in the Blessed Sacrament. In many ways our joy is a direct result of our hopes and expectations to meet the Lord whenever He comes. As I reflected on the Scriptures today, it seemed to me that a common thread in all of these readings is our call to be men and women of hope.
Take, for example, our second reading from St. James. The Christians of his day wanted the second coming to happen soon. They couldn’t wait. The apostle counsels them to be like farmers expecting a harvest. They plow the field, plant the seed and then wait with great hope for that seed to burst forth as a growing plant that will bear fruit with corn, beans, sugar beets, or whatever had been planted.
The first reading gives us a very dramatic and idealized vision of this same reality: the parched land of the desert suddenly blossoms forth with abundant flowers. Those who were blind now see; the deaf hear; the lame leap and the mute speak. This is the hope that the Old Testament people nourished during the reign of King Hezekiah, which began with great promise, but ended in disappointment. Because their faith in him floundered, the Jewish nation saw more clearly their need for faith in God who is able to heal them and restore them to wholeness. …
My dear friends, I suggest to you Saint Josephine as a patroness, an intercessor for the trials that we have been going through these past ten weeks here in the Archdiocese.
The negative news reports about past incidents of clerical sexual abuse in this local Church have rightly been met with shame, embarrassment and outrage that such heinous acts could be perpetrated by men who had taken priestly vows as well as bishops who failed to remove them from ministry.
I am here to apologize for the indignation that you justifiably feel. You deserve better. While only one of the crimes against minors has happened in this Archdiocese since 2002, that is still one too many. But, if we review carefully the list of 34 priests that was disclosed a week ago in The Catholic Spirit, the majority of those allegations go back to the 1970’s and 1980’s. Again, that is not to excuse those actions or diminish the harm done to their victims. But it does indicate that progress is being made in reducing the incidence of such terrible misconduct. There is reason, even now, to be hopeful.
Throughout the past three months, my staff and I have committed to four critical goals:
1) To ensure safe environments for everyone in our Churches, Catholic schools or religious programs, especially minors and vulnerable adults;
2) To reach out to victims so as to promote their process of healing;
3) To regain the trust of our Catholic faithful;
4) To reassure our clergy of our deep and abiding gratitude for their tireless and self-giving service, and to assure them of our commitment to them and to their legal and canonical rights.
With your prayer and God’s grace, I believe that we will emerge from this difficult period to become a stronger, more focused, more prayerful and more purified local Church. But the key to that process lies in our ability to remain a people of hope—hope not in our own resources, but rather hope in the person of Jesus Christ, who can make all things new.
My brothers and sisters, the Holy Eucharist that we receive today is not just informative, assuring us that we are loved by the Lord in a personal and intimate way. This Holy Eucharist is also performative, meaning that it can make us a people of action who can address past wrongs and find ways to do better in the future.
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