Advent Faith

For me, faith has always been confidence or trust in another.  I have faith in the mechanic who works on my car, the nurse to give me the correct medicine, the driver approaching who will stop at the red light, the person speaking with me is telling the truth, and that most people are genuinely fair, kind, and good.  In the Old Testament, people put their faith in God, His leaders, and His plan of freeing them from slavery, bringing them back from sin and promising a Messiah. 

The long-awaited Savior would gather the lost tribes (scattered because of sin), cleanse the temple (by making himself the new temple to seek forgiveness, become holy and offer right praise), defeat the enemy (sin, not hostile nations) and reign as Lord of all nations (a reality realized but in need of being accepted daily).   Some leaders had flaws, some people doubted, complained, or strayed, but through it all, God kept His promises by forgiving and renewing His covenant time and time again.  

In the New Testament, disciples left their livelihoods and family to follow this itinerant preacher who spoke not of vengeance, judgment and punishment but forgiveness, love, mercy and turning the other cheek.  They put their nascent faith in Jesus as he embraced children, loved the poor, dined with sinners and kept company with prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners.  He sought the last, the least, the lost and the lonely.  Richard Rohr noted that empathy for the victim became the most subversive element in Jesus’ teaching.  And while he cured the sick and forgave sins, he always spoke of the Father’s will, their relationship and invited all into this intimacy. 

More spectacular than restoring sight to the blind, hearing to those deaf and freeing those paralyzed and suffering from various ailments was Christ highlighting for others their faith which may have been unknown or latent.  Awakening this gift of faith invited them into a right relationship with Jesus and set them on the road to eternal life.  “Faith seems to be the attitude that Jesus most praises in people, maybe because it makes hope and love possible” (Jesus’ Alternative Plan, p.19).

The Messiah accomplished all four goals and continues to intercede on our behalf welcoming us back when we turn away with a sense of entitlement, cleansing our inner temple of the Holy Spirit by reminding us of his unconditional love and never giving up on us, defeating the enemy of sin, racism, hatred, bigotry, selfishness and the like with His grace and our cooperation and reigning as Lord of all nations of Heaven and Earth.  This is our faith.

 As I write this, I wake to a story of five people killed in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs with more than twelve injured.  Club Q was the one safe haven in a community known for its anti-gay activism.  A misguided young man takes this away with his hate crime.  That same night, two men were stopped in New York, one wearing a Nazi armband, in connection with threats to attack a New York synagogue.  Faith sustains us in these moments to continue building the reign of God on Earth, that is, the world as God envisions it.  Faith empowers us to proclaim God as Lord of all nations, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, Iraq, the United States and every land and people God birthed into being.  Faith tells me that what God desires for our world must be embraced in the now.  Here is where the Gospel must flourish.  Anything contrary is unacceptable. 

Faith empowers us to do what we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” That Reign of God is found in the home, at the workplace, on war-torn lands, in gay night clubs, in synagogues, mosques, temples, cathedrals and in us.  Faith is that gift that we can do better, we must do better.  Better put, faith is that gift that has us empowering God to do through our surrender, our trust, his vision and our willingness to give it a try today, tomorrow and always.  Faith enables us to be continually forgiven, nourished, held and kissed by our God.  It is that gift that convinces us that we are worthy of such infinite, unconditional love. 

Advent faith reminds us of God’s plan to share with us His divinity, which enhances our humanity from selfishness to otherness, from our will to God’s will, from division to communion, from slavery to freedom and from hatred to love.  Advent faith is the Savior of the World born in a stable, perfectly embracing our humanity and showing us how it is possible to “Live + Jesus.”  Faith makes the prophet Habakkuk’s words the motivating force that “the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment and it will not disappoint … and if it delays, wait for it for it will surely come” (Habbukuk 2:3).

May our faith make hope and love possible.  

Father John Fisher, OSFS

Pastor

Our Mother of Consolation Parish

Philadelphia, PA

Gratitude through Grief

Last week I was on the 45-minute drive from my home in Adrian, MI, to my office at St. Francis High School in Toledo, OH. That afternoon I presided at the funeral of Brother James Dorazio, OSFS. Brother Jim died on October 9 at 88 years of age. The day was well planned. My morning was filled with setting up the reception at the Oblate residence, setting up the church, meeting the funeral directors, informing lectors and other ministers at the Mass of their responsibilities, and greeting Brother Jim’s family from PA and MD.

As I drove, thinking about the funeral and Brother Jim, a man I’ve known for over 50 years, I also began thinking of my older brother’s funeral, which occurred just five days before. Somehow, my thoughts and feelings for both men started to intertwine, and grief hit me like a slap in the face. My eyes welled up and sadness filled my heart. It’s a good thing the drive was 45 minutes long; the time allowed me to pull myself together and face my tasks undistracted when I arrived in Toledo.

Brother Jim died after a very long and fruitful life. My brother, Gary, died at 77, but his life was not as linear as Brother Jim’s. Ten years before his death, my brother began to exhibit signs of Alzheimer’s disease. I’m sure you know what the journey for him and his wife was like following that diagnosis. It wasn’t easy, to say the least.

As I drove, both of these deaths coming so close together, set my mind and heart into a whirlwind of emotion and thoughts. We all face this when we lose someone we love. While I’m still dealing with grief and the millions of memories that arrive following the death of both of these men, I am stepping back a bit today and looking at what death means for those of us who have the risen Christ at the center of our faith.

I believe it is not uncommon for people to think our faith should be our strength and guide at times like these, and to succumb to grief, loss, and sadness is somehow a betrayal of that faith. The great consolation for me in this is the story of the raising of Lazarus by Christ. Even though he told those who followed him that he was going to Bethany to raise Lazarus, upon his arrival there, Jesus wept. Christ himself has sanctified grief, loss, and sadness. These feelings reflect the power of the sacredness of our love for others and our need for one another.

I cannot imagine facing the death of those I love without my belief in the resurrection and the hope of eternal life in God’s reign. That faith is not disturbed by my grief, but it gratefully illuminates the hope in which our faith allows us to live. So, while I had my moment of despair on that daily trip I made to Toledo, I also found consolation in Christ and the resurrection. I am eternally grateful to God for this gift and to those who nurtured it in me.

In the words of Saint Francis de Sales, “Unhappy is death without the love of Christ; unhappy is love without the death of Christ!” (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 12, Chapter 13)

Father Jack Loughran, OSFS

Provincial

Toledo-Detroit Province

Finding True Healing

Saint Luke

Traditionally, each Oblate community has a designated library in their local residence. In an Oblate library, you will find many different types of literature. However, I would say that the majority of books are works of theology, history, and biographies of famous people.

A few years ago, when we were cleaning out the library of the Father Judge Faculty House, I came across a tattered paperback that was a combination of the three most popular categories I listed above. The book was called Dear and Glorious Physician and was about Saint Luke, the writer of the third Gospel. The title is from an older translation of Colossians 4:14 in which Saint Paul referred to Luke as "the beloved physician."

This historical novel tells the story of a young Greek slave who apprenticed with a man of medicine and science to become a respected physician with a reputation for healing both body and spirit. Luke traveled around the ancient world bringing healing and hope to everyone he came in contact with. Yet his own sufferings and sorrows could not be healed until he discovered the life, death, and restoring power of Jesus of Nazareth and his resurrection.

The author of this study of Saint Luke was Taylor Caldwell, a writer who is best known for her successful 1972 novel Captains and the Kings. Before she found fame and status in the 1970s, Ms. Caldwell found faith and hope. This is what she tried to share through her writings.

At the time it was released, Ms. Caldwell described her work in this way, "The story of Lucanus, Saint Luke, is the story of every man's pilgrimage through despair and life's darkness, through suffering and anguish, through bitterness and sorrow, doubt and cynicism, rebellion and hopelessness, to the feet and the understanding of God. The search for God and the final revelation are the only meaning in life for men."

When I left Father Judge a few years ago, I brought this little book with me. It collected dust on my bookshelf until I finally picked it up this past summer. I found the book to be everything the author expressed. The book gave me an insight into Saint Luke and his own search for healing and redemption. In many ways, the image of Saint Luke that emerged from this novel is the image of the "wounded healer" that the great spiritual writer Henri Nouwen reflected on exactly twenty years after Dear and Glorious Physician was first published.

This past week, the Church celebrated Saint Luke's feast day (October 18). This year, as I remembered a great saint and evangelist, I also recalled his first calling as a wounded healer. A book that is over 60 years old helped me to see God at work in our world today.

The life of Luke and the story of his conversion is an example for all of us. Today we are blessed by the miracle of modern medicine, science, and technology. We can find relief from pain, cures for diseases, and many procedures and medications that will make our bodies strong and our lives more comfortable.

As a doctor, Luke worked all of his life to find ways to help his fellow human beings live a healthy life. It was only when he encountered the Risen Lord that this beloved doctor found the true way to life - eternal life. At the end of his Gospel, Luke recounts how two disciples recognized the Lord on the way to Emmaus. When we walk our own roads in life we will find many roadblocks, struggles, and detours. May our encounter with the Risen Lord help us to overcome these obstacles and to find true healing. May our faith help us to live each day well.

Rev. Jack Kolodziej, OSFS

Provincial

Wilmington-Philadelphia Providence