Are You the One?

When John heard in prison of the works of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question.  “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”  Mt 11: 2-3

I’ve always found John the Baptist’s words and the passage surrounding them disturbing, disorienting, provoking.  At times, I’ve resented Jesus’ reaction or lack of action in response to John.  John wandered the desert, ate locust, wore abrasive camel’s hair, kept his own dirty and unshaven.  John heralded Jesus with passion unparalleled by any other.  He was arrested and imprisoned.  I felt Jesus abandoned him.  Despite Jesus performing miracles, he does not rescue his cousin from being beheaded for a trivial request.  This passage is read during two seasons of anticipation, Advent and Lent.  It is a “passage” between one chaotic event to a later one.  During both seasons, I join John asking; Are you the one who is to come, or should I look for another?

In addition to the awkwardness between John’s disciples and Jesus’ disciples, both the birth and death of Jesus were messy!  Jesus was born among livestock, to parents questioning whether they belonged together!  Among strangers with inadequate care, everybody exhausted, his family fled from death threats to a foreign land.  At his execution, Jesus stood in a trial of mockery, deceit, and disgrace.  He’s beaten beyond recognition, marched through the streets where he’d once performed miracles among those jeering.  He was brutally stripped and nailed to a cross raised above his mother and disciples.  

During the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the fall of Adam and Eve (Gn 3:9-15,20) is coupled to the Immaculate Conception (Lk 1:26-38) and adjacent to John the Baptist’s herald in the desert (Mt 3 1-12, the second Sunday of Advent). 

There is turbulence in transition!

Mary precedes John.  Mary, her name derived from Mariam meaning ‘rebellious,’ accepts the grace of conception to carry the Rebellion of man!  He is to be named Jesus, “Son of the Most High.” Who, while pregnant races by foot to a village to assist her cousin, also with child?  Who asks her son to do something about the wine at a wedding feast AND insists despite her son’s reply?  “Woman, how does this concern of yours involve me?  My hour has not yet come!”  Jn2:4

Who?  A spirited rebel!

It was John that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”  Mt 3:3 

When John heard in prison of the works of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question.  “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

Jesus said to John’s disciples in reply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.  Mt 11:2-5

Jesus doesn’t fit John’s expectations.  Their differences confused him.  Are you really the one?

Fiery, dark, and threatening, John warned of severe consequences.  Those who did not take his message seriously, they’d experience God’s wrath.  Jesus’ message was more uplifting, a pronouncement of good news.  John encouraged people to follow him in the wilderness.  Jesus went out to the people, to their villages and homes.  Unlike John refusing to eat bread and drink wine, Jesus changed water to wine, broke bread among the people.  Jesus over extended himself; inviting sinners to the table, feeding the poor, touching and teaching those living on the margins. No miracles were recorded of John.  Jesus filled his ministry with miracles.  John wore camel’s hair.  Jesus wore a purple cloak without a seam.  Before and up to the time of John, John and the prophets professed the law. 

As John’s disciples were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John.  “What did you go out to the desert to see? …. To see a prophet?  Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

Jesus said: “This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.’

            “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  Mt 11: 7-11

Did people go to the desert to see more of the same?  Did I go to the desert to see more of the same?  There is turbulence, churning, in transition!  John and Jesus both preached repentance and a change of heart, but a historical, dramatic, pivotal change in the human condition arrived, revealing, living, happening!  Jesus came not to reform, but to transform!  By coming to live among his creation, Jesus changed the world condition forever.  The Herald sealed the old covenant and Jesus introduced the new covenant as Isaiah had foretold.  Jesus is not a prophet.  He teaches not by threats and dire consequences, but by modeling expectations through the beatitudes, wisdom and parables, healing.  He is Emmanuel – God is with us!  Jesus brings the Kingdom of God to us.  He invites us, in all our messiness, to build in the Kingdom, to live in it.  Now!

           

John said: “I am not the Messiah; I am sent before him. …. That is my joy, and it is complete.  He (Jesus) must increase while I must decrease.” Jn 3:28-30

Jesus’ birth introduces his covenant.  His resurrection guarantees it with an Advocate to guide us.  The covenant is ongoing, in process. I once heard a theologian say, Mary received the Incarnate Word, while we received the Glorified Word.  John’s contrast to Jesus is so remarkable, I am compelled to listen and ponder.      

I was once asked; Am I willing to be part of something, invest myself in something that I’ll never live to see fully accomplished not unlike John the Baptist?  What does this look like?  How will I be present?

Without hesitation, to cultivate the fullness of life of my children immediately came to mind. I pray they continue to find joy, building and living in the Kingdom of God.

May this Christmas season bring you joy, a gladness independent of circumstance!

Merry Christmas Noise

If the church ain’t cryin’, then the church is dyin’.

Merry Christmas!  As you head out early this evening, or tomorrow morning, to a ridiculously crowded church building, keep the above words in mind.  You will leave the comfort of your home perhaps an hour earlier than normal.  You will face a traffic jam just fighting for a parking spot.  You will send advance forces from amongst your family members to stake out a pew.  Don’t forget to send them with coats, despite the unseasonably warm weather, so that they can spread them across seats, along with hymnals and anything else that might mark your territory.

You may spot 2 or 3 familiar faces across an overwhelming throng of strangers.  You will cringe as late arrivals crowd you in your reserved pew.  You will strain to hear readings and a homily above the disruptive conversation happening behind you.  There will be individuals who are dressed more for a bar scene than for church, distracting your focus.  At least one individual, undoubtedly directly in your line of sight, will be wearing wholly inappropriate attire.

Coughing, and extra chairs moving in the aisles, and untimely talking will continue throughout the duration of mass.  And undoubtedly, a baby will cry.  That cry will trigger the response of another cry.  The parents, despite their travels around the church, found there was no room for them in the cry room.  Will that be the last straw that pushes your overheated, overcrowded body to a boiling point?  Or will that be the noise that reminds you of the miracle of this holiday? 

I wish everyone who celebrated with us at Christmas mass, would join the year round.  Admittedly, I am someone who struggles with the frustration of difficult parking, overcrowding, and overly noisy Christmas masses.  I should be excited to welcome, pray with, and certainly send a warm smile over to the members of our church who may not join us as often as we wish.  Amidst this ridiculously hectic time of year, it is somewhat of a miracle that so many are called back to share in something that they may only do twice a year…or perhaps that they’ve been away from since childhood.

Jesus entered an overly crowded Bethlehem, in an overly noisy and uncomfortable stable, and changed the world for all eternity.  I wonder if my smile at someone tonight might make them feel welcomed back to regular attendance at Mass.  I wonder if my smile might change a soul for all eternity.

Rather than a big, beautiful, peaceful, but empty church, tonight I’ll remember if the church ain’t cryin’, then the church is dyin’.  Don’t forget to enjoy the sounds of Christmas, that all started 2000 years ago with a baby’s cry.  Merry Christmas!

Matt Buehrig

Exodus

Light penetrating translucent roofing panels faded to darkness before the December supper hour.  Winds rattling the heavy metal garage doors to the warehouse ceased.  Huddled over an elevated work bench beneath long fluorescent tubes, the fitter reached for a smooth small diameter pipe.  He glanced at the dated Harley Davidson mud flap, rubber nailed to the naked building studs.  He slowly twisted the pipe into a dimpled brass tube with numerous holes protruding along the silver plating.  Using a rubber mallet, he firmly drove the smaller straightening pipe further into the instrument.  As if fragile crystal, he gently settled the pair.

Worn oak steps leading to a loft over the pipe fitter’s office cracked with the falling temperature.  Various steel brushes, wrenches, and hammers hung ordered on the brick wall.  Mark glanced over his shoulder.  Racks of welding equipment, pipe, and stock steel bar lay silent.  Tanks of compressed argon, helium, carbon dioxide, and oxygen were securely strapped in each of three bays.  Arched iron rafters supported the century old Foster Pipe Works structure.

Mark instinctively wiped his oil saturated skin with the rag and tossed it aside.  He clasped a small mallet.  Tapping the hard rubber against the brass, he lifted the dent the size of his fingernail to a smooth cylindrical surface.  Suddenly, the shadow of an intruder crept into the halo of light over the benchtop. 

“Stand down, big brother!”  The intruder’s laugh appeased the fitter’s nerves.  “Is that the weapon of choice these days?  A flute?” 

Something Extraordinary

This Advent, I urge you to rethink the way that you worship at Mass. I invite you to attend the Traditional Latin Mass. The Traditional Latin Mass, Tridentine Mass, or Extraordinary Form, as it's currently labeled, is an opportunity to experience the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in a profoundly different way than many of us are used to. As we prepare to welcome our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this Advent, what better way can we ready our hearts than by immersing ourselves in the beauty and reverence of the Tridentine Mass?  

If you're on the fence about attending the Tridentine Mass, or want to learn more about it, I encourage you to watch the following video:

The video is long, but Dr. Taylor Marshall and his guest, Eric Sammons, do a great job of highlighting some of the main draws of the Tridentine Mass. The video is also available on the Dr. Taylor Marshall Show podcast. 

Here are a few reasons why our family attends the Tridentine Mass, which include some of the points from Dr. Marshall's video:

1. The Mass that was witness by the majority of the Church's great saints - The Tridentine Mass is a window into the rich history of Catholic worship. 

2. The universality - Latin is the official language of the Church. Not only does the Tridentine Mass present a bridge to the history of the Church, but it provides a tangible link to all Catholics across the world. 

3. The mystery - We are drawn deeper into the sacredness of God's presence when various aspects of the Faith are veiled and hidden from our immediate sight. Latin acts like a veil, which shrouds the beauty of Christ's sacrificial offering. 

4. The reverence - The care for the Holy Eucharist and the reverence observed at the Tridentine Mass is unrivaled amongst other forms of celebrating the Mass. 

5. A break from the ordinary - One of the accidental (unintended) effects of using the vernacular in the Mass is that it becomes ordinary. The Tridentine Mass exposes us to the reality that the natural and the supernatural are not the same. 

There are two primary places where you can attend the Tridentine Mass in St. Louis: The Oratory of Ss. Gregory and Augustine and The St. Francis de Sales Oratory. High Mass is sung, typically utilizes the organ, and uses incense. It is also usually longer. Low Mass is essentially the pared down version of the Extraordinary Form, but it still contains a high degree of reverence. 

Do something extraordinary this Advent, experience the richness and beauty of the Tridentine Mass. 

Image:

(1) Saint Francis de Sales Oratory - High Altar. Courtesy of Phil Roussin. Accessed via Flickr.