Bah, humbug.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s that time of year again.\u00c2\u00a0 Everything seems like a blur in these last days before Christmas, and all of your plans seem to get disrupted!\u00c2\u00a0 Sound familiar?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, it could be God’s plan is just that- to disrupt your life, and turn you another way.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
That’s what happened to Mary.\u00c2\u00a0 One moment she was a happy young girl, betrothed in Marriage, with her life, and I mean her<\/strong> life, open before her.\u00c2\u00a0 And in an instant, all that changed.\u00c2\u00a0 The angel of the Lord announced her calling to do God’s will.\u00c2\u00a0 What a shock.<\/p>\n Now there are some young women seated out there today, and the families of such young women, that I would like to ask some questions:\u00c2\u00a0 Just imagine how you would feel in Mary’s situation.\u00c2\u00a0 “Look, I know you were planning a wedding and a future, but God has other plans for you.\u00c2\u00a0 He wants you to drop everything, and bear God’s son.”\u00c2\u00a0 What would you say?\u00c2\u00a0 What would you do?\u00c2\u00a0 What would you think as parents?\u00c2\u00a0 How would you react to that as Mary’s brother or sister?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n And yet, that is what Advent is all about.\u00c2\u00a0 You see, all of you, at the coming of Jesus into the world at Christmas, are being called to drop things and follow God’s call, God’s will in your lives, whatever that is, just like Mary did.\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed the coming of the Savior meant that God was shaking up the World.\u00c2\u00a0 God was coming among his people to change things, to save us from our worldly ways, and to invite us to His Kingdom.\u00c2\u00a0 In just 4 days, he will come again amongst us, and His intent is to shake us up too.\u00c2\u00a0 So, let’s look at Mary’s call a little closer to see how God wants us to respond.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Notice that the angel tells Mary she was chosen by God. That means she was not bearing God’s Son because of something she did or didn’t do.\u00c2\u00a0 She did not act to merit her call.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, she was bearing Jesus because she was chosen.\u00c2\u00a0 That was what God wanted her to do with the talents and life He gave her.\u00c2\u00a0 God made each of you too, and chose you for something.\u00c2\u00a0 Second, unlike the annunciation of John the Baptist to Zechariah, who was skeptical, and challenged the angel-\u00c2\u00a0 Mary simply wanted to know how all of this could happen, and what she had to do.\u00c2\u00a0 That means Mary accepted the call in her heart, despite any conflicts she may have had in her mind.\u00c2\u00a0 You are called to listen with your hearts and respond, despite any conflicts you may have.\u00c2\u00a0 Mary ultimately declares “Your will be done”.\u00c2\u00a0 You are being called to do the same.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n How do you know you are being called, and to what are you being called?\u00c2\u00a0 If you are struggling with uncertainty with what to do with your life, this is the perfect time of the year to pray about it and let God answer your prayer.\u00c2\u00a0 Pick a time, go to some quiet place, like the Adoration Chapel or the room in the New Life Center we have set up, and ask God for His help.\u00c2\u00a0 You may not be struck by a bolt of lightning, and be visited by an angel, but God will nudge you in the right direction.\u00c2\u00a0 Follow that call to find peace.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n For most of you, already engaged in the mainstream of life, the problem is so much activity that you can’t hear any message from the Lord.\u00c2\u00a0 But God is calling you to make a change.\u00c2\u00a0 He is always calling you to something better. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Like a good coach, God is always trying to get folks to do something out of their comfort zone.\u00c2\u00a0 He does that because He wants you all to grow, and to shed some of your imperfections.\u00c2\u00a0 That means you may be disrupted, and asked to do something you feel uncomfortable with.\u00c2\u00a0 It may not be a dramatic change, but some change for the better.\u00c2\u00a0 This time of the year, when you are all busy, there are three ways your plans can be disrupted:\u00c2\u00a0 First, you may find someone who needs help right now when you are the busiest.\u00c2\u00a0 If so, don’t resist that call.\u00c2\u00a0 Take the time and do what’s right to help that person.\u00c2\u00a0 Second, it may dawn on you in the middle of all these Holiday Celebrations, that something popular and fashionable is against Church teachings, and can cause damage to you or others- There’s a message in that for you to be courageous, and go against the current.\u00c2\u00a0 Third, when you are tired, fed up, or angry, it is then that you are called to be more like Jesus- to go the extra little bit to be patient, keep cool, and hold your tongue.\u00c2\u00a0 None of these things are drastic; but all of them lead you a little bit more in the direction God has chosen for you.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Now I know that sometimes it seems like when you respond to these disruptions, you think nothing really comes of it, but consider this story.\u00c2\u00a0 During WW II, a German speaking pastor in New England ministered to his German speaking US congregation in German.\u00c2\u00a0 At the pastor’s funeral, in the 50’s, the priest noticed a stranger.\u00c2\u00a0 It seems the Government had sent an agent to listen to the pastor’s sermons each week during the war, \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Suspicious that the German pastor was sowing seeds of insurrection amongst his German speaking congregation. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0But instead, the agent heard wonderful homilies each week, which motivated him to convert to Catholicism.\u00c2\u00a0 He couldn’t identify himself to the pastor- after all, he was acting under cover.\u00c2\u00a0 And so, the pastor never knew what impact he had on this person’s life.\u00c2\u00a0 Just the same, whenever you take the time to respond to a disruption by doing what’s right.\u00c2\u00a0 You never know who is watching, who is listening, and who may be moved by your actions.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" December 21, 2008 Fourth Sunday of Advent 2 Sam 7: 1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Rom 16: 25-27; Luke1: 23-38 Dc. Larry Brockman Bah, humbug.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s that time of year again.\u00c2\u00a0 Everything seems like a blur in these last days before Christmas, and all of your plans seem to get disrupted!\u00c2\u00a0 Sound familiar?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, it could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}