From the Pastor

From the Pastor’s Sermon (at St. Mary’s Church in Northern Cambria PA) . . .

The Advent of the Ukrainian Church is underway, and like a stage musical, the orchestra begins to play before the curtain goes up and today we sing “This day is the prelude of God’s good pleasure and the herald of humanity’s salvation.” And as the curtain goes up the spotlight falls on Mary, the woman who would give birth to Christ, God and man. Not long from now we will celebrate another day in her honor, the festival of her Immaculate Conception. Now it would probably be better if we reversed the dates for these two celebrations, but let us at least first look at Mary’s Immaculate Conception. The stories of these two events are recorded in books almost as old as the Gospels, but these books were never added to the Bible. Nonetheless, they may well contain kernels of historical truth that can help us appreciate, not only what God did, but also what he is still doing for me and you.

The Immaculate Conception, which our Church calls simply the Conception by St. Ann, is a celebration of what God was doing in and through Mary’s parents, Saints Joachim and Ann. They had grown old childless and many people looked upon that as a curse, a punishment from God. Of course the people who held to this superstition never read their Scriptures carefully, because there were examples of many prominent and holy people born from elderly parents against the odds of nature, such as Isaac, the child of Sarah and Abraham, to name only one. Nonetheless these ancient stories say that both Joachim and Ann suffered from the rash judgment and malicious talk of their neighbors and even the clergy. But they persisted in faith and obedience to God and finally an angel come to them separately to tell them they would have a precious daughter and warns them to rear her in all piety and holiness and—as one book says—“keep her away from the chatter (gossip?) of the streets.” The child is born. The Immaculate Conception is all about God working through Joachim and Ann to make them good and holy parents so that they could provide the right environment in which to raise the future Mother of God.

Now if you go to Jerusalem, to the church of St. Ann that marks the place where Mary and her parents lived, you will notice that the walls of the Temple are only a short distance away. The stories tell us that her parents took Mary to the Temple when she was three years old. Leading into the Temple was a great flight of stairs, and at the bottom of these stairs pools in which pilgrims could wash and even change clothes before approaching the Sanctuary. The stories say that the three year old Mary bounded up the stairs and headed toward the court of the priests, a place were no one else was permitted, just like some toddlers still do today! The high priest saw her approaching and, rather that shooing her away, picked her up from the pavement and set her on the step of the altar. In due time what might have been historical details were edited into metaphorical teaching tools. The steps became a mystical staircase behind the altar. And this is the idea I want to highlight with you.

Do you remember the story Jesus told about a business man who went abroad after choosing three of his staff to invest on his behalf? He gave ten million to one, five million to another and one million to a third, all according to their ability. On his return he called them in for an audit. The first had made ten million more, and the boss promised him an important position. The second made five million more and the boss also promised him an important position. Finally the one with the single million approach and began to hem and haw, “Gee! I know you’re a tough negotiator and that you make money with every deal you make. It made me nervous, so I decided to hide your money to keep it safe, so here it is again.” The boss replied, “You lazy bum! If you knew I’m a tough negotiator and make money in every deal, why didn’t you at least put the money out with the bankers so that I’d have some interest on it when I got back! You’re fired!” It is not enough to be free of sin; we must also do the things that enrich us in the eyes of God. If God arranged for Mary to be born free from sin and to be reared in a sinless environment, that was not the end of the process. Even Mary had to begin to learn her faith and to develop the character that would make her holier than the angels of heaven. This feast celebrates that process of building virtue step by step.

So we are beginning to prepare for Christmas. Many of us are trying to think of what we will give others and—of course—the best gift is something that person wants. What would Jesus like from us this Christmas? Because we are his pride and joy, he would want us to be better than we were last year at Christmas. Now this self-improvement is something that would utterly delight Jesus and yet it doesn’t have to costs us anything; it is something we can make ourselves. We can take an inventory of the way we live and find those areas that can be improved. We could climb those mystical stairs—at least a few—and get closer to Christ. Those improvements become the gift, more precious to Jesus than even the gold, frankincense and myrrh that the Magi gave him. Let’s not disappoint our Lord on his birthday!