Carol Vassar:

We live in a world of calamity, violence, war, disease, and human suffering. Even the most devout of Christians might find themselves wondering, therefore, “Where is God in all this?” and “Is there room for peace and goodwill?” Father Mark contends that yes, there is, but it takes each of us thinking, loving, speaking, and helping others as Christ did to put the world right again. 

One figure who did that was Mary, the Blessed Mother of God, who is featured prominently in today’s Gospel reading, which is from Luke Chapter 1, verses 39-45. 

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

The Gospel of the Lord

“A Chance for Peace and Goodwill (If We Want It),” by Father Mark S. Suslenko, Pastor, SS. Isidore and Maria Parish, Glastonbury, Connecticut

Father Mark Suslenko:

We do not have to look very far to quickly realize how broken our world truly is. There is not a corner or a segment of our planet in which we can find humanity crying in one way or another:  senseless victims of war, children suffering from famine, people suffering from abuse, and the list goes on and on. It seems that the cries of humanity can be so loud. We believe in a God that fixes broken things. Is God going to fix our broken world? Does he hear the cries of the poor?  

As we journey through this Advent season, we have our hearts and souls in two dimensions. We look back in time when Jesus was born among us as one like us. But we also look to the future when Christ will come again, and all will be made one in Christ. Is that God's fix for the world? Do we have to wait until Christ comes again to experience the healing wholeness of God's presence?  Do we have to wait until Christ comes again before those cries are silenced? 

You know, sometimes we begin to think that the second coming of Christ is really God's punishment of humanity. That time when we get what we deserve, so to speak, for messing things up as much as we have. God's justice is some kind of punitive justice, when God finally says enough is enough and just pulls the plug on the whole ball of wax, it comes to a crashing halt. 

God's justice will certainly come, and there will be that time when we all have to face God face-to-face and account for the quality of our lives. But make no mistake about it: it's not God punishing us for messing up a job. It's not God getting even for us not doing it right. Christ coming again has been predicted for years and generations. Jesus points to it himself, but it's not a time of vindication, so to speak. It's a time of fulfillment when God's salvation plan is completed, and we are all one in Christ. It's what we wait for, what we hope for, what's supposed to be. It is not God's pulling of the plug on what we know to be.  

And so, does God hear the cries of the poor? What is God's fix for humanity? Well, we get ready to celebrate God's fix in a couple of days in the birth of Jesus Christ. That's God's answer to all of our ills, and our perils, and the evils of the world. God already offered his fix. When Jesus was born over 2000 years ago, he said, this is what you need. He is the way, the truth, and the life. You need nothing else other than to do what he says. 

I love St. Augustine's definition of a Christian, and it's something to keep in our forefront of our minds and refer to often. It's very simple but very profound and can be very useful as we journey through these last days of Advent, preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ.  Saint Augustine says, "A Christian is a mind that thinks like Christ, a heart that loves like Christ, a voice that speaks like Christ, and a hand that helps like Christ." A mind that thinks like Christ. A heart that loves like Christ. A voice that speaks like Christ and a hand that helps like Christ is a Christian. 

All of us have been baptized as Christians. We used that as a description of ourselves. Therefore, Saint Augustine's definition applies to every one of us. Are we ready to step out of the way and allow ourselves to be fashioned into the mind and the heart, and the voice and the hands of Christ?  

So, you see, it's not God who gave up on the world. God had our best intentions in mind when he sent his son to dwell among us. Here, we have the image of the invisible God. What more can a loving God do for the folks that he has created but to show them who they are? So, it's not God who has failed. It's humanity's faith that has given up in God.  

Imagine if everyone who claimed to be a Christian did as Saint Augustine did. Then, the example of Mary, the mother of God, would not be an isolated example but would become the norm.  Because that's precisely what Mary did. She stepped out of the way and allowed God to be God through her. She was the mind, the heart, the voice, and the hand of God, and we can be, too, if we step out of the way and allow God to be God.  

You know, we take the teachings of Jesus, and sometimes, they are very hard to put into practice, and it's easy to set them aside. But, you know, when we truly internalize them, and we wrestle with them, and we take the risk to implement them, there's great power in doing so. For example, over the years, I've had story after story of folks who've wrestled with Jesus's command to forgive those who hurt you. And let's face it, forgiveness is something we all struggle with. And folks have wrestled with this and wrestled with it because they've been hurt so much. And they finally have gotten to the point where in their prayer life and in how they wrestled through this command of Jesus to do so, to finally take the risk and offer that hand of forgiveness. And time after time again, powerful moments of healing, not only for the one who has been forgiven, but the one who is doing the forgiving as well. 

And so, you see, when we step out of the way, God can do things through us even in small ways that may seem insignificant at first but have a very profound ripple effect afterwards that maybe we don't even see. So, the task before us as we journey through these last days of Advent and then through the Christmas season is how each one of us, in concrete ways, can we step out of the way and be the mind, the heart, the voice, and the hand of Christ? I will guarantee you powerful things will happen when we do, and maybe God's desire for peace on earth and goodwill among humanity might stand a chance of success.

Carol Vassar:

Father Mark Suslenko is the pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. If you like what you've heard today, please subscribe to Living in Faith, Hope, and Love on your favorite podcast app and take a moment to leave a review.

SS. Isidore and Maria is an active parish community, so whether you’re a long-time parishioner or are just getting to know us through this podcast, we welcome you to join us at Masses or any of our other community events and services. Visit our parish website - isidoreandmaria.org - for a full schedule of Masses, services and other happenings. That's isidoreandmaria.org. We're also active on Facebook and Instagram.

On behalf of Father Mark, I'm Carol Vassar, and we thank you for listening to this episode of Living in Faith, Hope, and Love.