The Bishop Writes

(From the Dec. 4, 1997 edition of the Inland Register)

The bees did a great job again this year. Just after Labor Day, I pulled off four supers (boxes) full of honey (about 18 gallons) from my two hives at Immaculate Heart Retreat Center. Since the time for extracting honey would be a few weeks away, I placed the supers some 50 feet away from the original hives and taped up one corner of a box which had broken off and left a small hole.

In early October, I checked out the stored honey and to my dismay saw that the tape over the hole had partially come off. Honey bees and wasps are great thieves, and they were pouring in and out of the small opening. I quickly did another repair job and came back a couple of days later to assess the loss. My fears were confirmed. At most, there were a couple of gallons of honey left. What a disappointment! Yet, for me this was a good learning experience of the need to be more alert and careful.

With the beginning of Advent we begin a new liturgical year. We prepare for the coming of the Savior. The beginning of a new year, starting afresh, somehow gives us a sense of renewed energy and increased hopefulness. We can assess our past and observe how sensitive we have been to the presence of Jesus, who comes to us in countless ways.

There are also those "beehive experiences" of dashed expectations and disappointments either in ourselves or others. At times they may be a combination of both. I tended the bees from early spring until the taking of the honey with considerable expectation. Yet my disappointment would be little compared to a farmer whose crop fails, a family business gone bankrupt, a broken marital relationship, a parish community in pain, or a suddenly occurring terminal illness. These occasions provide us opportunities to process what’s going on in our lives and how we approach the presence of God who touches us and teaches us.

The Savior comes. Jesus comes not only in the joy of the day but also in its pain, its failures. The message of the love of Jesus has been lived down through the centuries by joyful people and the blood of martyrs. The cross is never easy, but it is integral to our being Catholic and our being faithful followers of Jesus.

The Scripture readings this Advent season are rich in these contrasts of life -- gloom and light, worries of life and the coming of the Savior, the lion and the lamb, the desert and the blooming fields. The coming of Jesus at his birth is surrounded with such paradoxes -- the rejection of no room and the sublime, sacred space of the humble surroundings in a stable; the terrible hardness of heart and the glowing acceptance of shepherds.

In this mix of life we find ourselves. Jesus’ presence and constant coming present opportunities of knowing more clearly in what direction our lives should be going, what are really the important values (and not the 18 gallons of honey!), and what are the dangers along the way of which we must be aware.

The Church has wisely devised the liturgical year that we might revisit again and again the mystery of Jesus in our daily living and be reminded of the full reality of our life in God. Advent provides ample opportunity to reflect on this powerful love of God for every one of us. Jesus comes as Savior and brother. There is something about Jesus as an infant which disarms us and provides a powerful feeling of gratitude.

In conclusion, I would like to offer some practical suggestions of being alert as we enter into this Advent season and look forward to the new liturgical year.

· Be alert in fidelity to the Lord Jesus and to the community of faith in Sunday Eucharist "in season and out of season."

Indifference, apathy, allowing lesser values to control us, do not speak of alertness nor of appreciation of God’s gifts to us. We need to constantly celebrate our faith together.

· Be alert to our need for forgiveness, personal conversion, and renewal through prayer, regular celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, retreat experiences, and growth in the knowledge of our tradition as a Catholic church.

· Be alert to your dignity and honor as a child of God. Self-hatred, low self-esteem, discouragement about personal brokenness should be placed in the presence of a loving God who heals and restores.

· Be alert to the love of our neighbor, especially the poor and vulnerable, the migrant, the person on the other side of the world. There is no injustice, racism, or rejection of the dignity of the other allowed in the relationships amongst people in the kingdom of God.

· Be alert to giving thanks and being good stewards. The goods of this earth in whatever form we have them demand personal stewardship and loving generosity. We need to be alert to the danger of personal hoarding.

May this Advent season be for us a time of increased alertness and joyful hope so that the loving presence of God can only continue to fill us with peace and a deeper appreciation of how good God is. May you have a blessed Advent!

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