Father Rick Bolte's Homily

C: 3rd SUNDAY OF ADVENT

2009-12-13

In grade school, the teachers tried to explain to me and probably most of us what heaven was like. We were told that heaven is a place where you could have anything you want. This is may be a good description for a child first trying to understand. Unfortunately many people hang onto that same image as adults. People have approached God’s kingdom much as they do the Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Their goal is simply to do what’s necessary to gain admission. Pope John Paul II told us back in 1999 that heaven isn’t so much a place but a state of relationship with God. The goal isn’t to just say we’re friends with God and then ignore God, but rather to be aware that God offers us an ever deeper relationship if we are willing to accept it.

Part of that childish image of heaven we were given as a child is the idea that in heaven awaits all the things we want. Once we “make it” we will be free to eat, drink, and do whatever we want without concern or responsibility. It’s almost like living on earth is a test to see if we can act unselfishly so that if we make it, we can abandon ourselves to all the selfishness we denied ourselves during our lives.

John the Baptist tells the people who follow him what they must do. If they have two cloaks, they are to give one to a person who has none; if they have food they are likewise to share it. John is telling the people how to prepare for the coming of the kingdom.

Learning to share is not a chore we endure so that we can earn a spot in the kingdom; it is the way to be a part of the kingdom. Jesus tells us the kingdom of God is in our midst. Our earthly life is not a test of willpower but an opportunity to begin experiencing the kingdom. Each time we choose to do an act of love that is truly selfless, we touch God. In touching God, we invite God in to transform our hearts. To live with a loving heart is to be part of the kingdom where God is love.

This is the reason John tells us to generously share even with people who are unworthy. We are extremely unworthy of God’s love. In the vast universe we are so small and irrelevant. Why would anyone care about us? And even in the infinitesimally small way we can make a difference, we are sinners. When we make an effort to love the most unworthy person we encounter, we open ourselves to experience God’s love for us. This is how we prepare for the kingdom of God. We imitate his love and so open ourselves to the reality of God’s love. To live in this love, our hearts transformed by God, is to live in the kingdom. This is the kingdom we pray to be “on earth as it is in heaven” when we pray the Our Father. This is the transformed life we asked for at baptism and the transformation we celebrate at each Eucharist.