In the opening prayer of today's liturgy, we read the words,
Lord, remove all things that hinder me from receiving you.
And so, this second Sunday of Advent causes us to pause and reflect upon the true nature of the mystery we are preparing for.
And the liturgy of the Church jumps out at us, for last week we were reminded to be watchful,
not for the first Advent of our Lord that has already taken place,
but for the second coming, the second Advent of the Lord, in which he will come to judge the living and the dead.
St. Peter reminds us in today's second reading of the end times,
the times that will come in which God will lay waste all the elements and will try the world by fire.
And in today's first reading from Isaiah, we also learn that the Lord has come to lay waste the mountains,
that is, the pride of prideful humanity.
And so, in preparing for the Christmas event, for the Christmas mystery,
the Church is reminding us at the beginning of Advent that we must prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ,
that is, to be ready to give an account as to how we have responded to his first coming, his first Advent,
that great and wonderful mystery of the Son of God coming forth from the Virgin Mary in the cave at Bethlehem.
And so, in today's Gospel, St. Mark reminds us that he is,
he is giving us the gospel of Jesus Christ.
St. Mark, when he uses the term
in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, does not tell us
and bring attention to himself
as the author of the scripture.
St. Mark is using the term gospel here
to tell us that what he is about to relate
is the very preaching of Jesus Christ himself.
It is not his own words.
It is the words of Jesus Christ.
And St. Mark received those words
from the vicar of Jesus Christ,
the Holy Father, St. Peter himself.
For the gospel of St. Mark was composed
by St. Mark, St. Peter's Anoesis
in conferences that St. Peter himself gave
in order to clarify what appeared to be
the misunderstandings or the contradictions
in the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke.
Hence the position
of the gospel of St. Mark
between the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke.
Not as accord with the modernist
that St. Luke is the first gospel
because it is the shortest gospel.
It is the shortest because the vicar of Christ
was clarifying apparent contradictions
between St. Matthew written for the chosen people
and St. Luke written for the pagan,
the Gentile people.
And so we see,
that under this all,
under this revelation of God,
under this explanation of the Christmas mystery
is also the vicar of Christ working
from the very beginning,
from the very nascent time of the church,
clarifying, always clarifying
the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
And so St. John will preach
what Christ taught him to preach.
He will preach the coming of God's kingdom
which would be,
which would be opened and revealed
by Christ's preaching and death.
And so he is truly the precursor
because he is pointing out to us
what the Savior will come and teach us.
And he will teach us on the authority of God his Father.
And so St. Mark begins by telling us
that our Lord would constantly refer to himself
as the fulfillment of the prophets
when they would take our Lord
and push him to the,
and then he would take us to the earth.
And so we see here,
he says this,
and he says,
and he says,
he says,
he says,
he says,
he says,
he says,
he says,
he says,
and when he finished,
he closed the book of Scripture and said,
today in this reading,
these words are fulfilled.
That is,
I am the one spoken of
from ancient times.
I am the one revealed to Adam and Eve
after their fall.
I am the one revealed to all the ancient patriarchs
and prophets of old.
I am the fulfillment of Scripture.
And so it is,
he begins to flesh out the mystery of Christmas,
that the child born in the cave at Bethlehem is truly the Savior and King of the world.
And so we must all respond.
For Moses will tell us, as our Lord will tell us, of a land flowing with milk and honey,
and that land would be given to the chosen people.
But that land would be given to the chosen people, as St. John the Baptist will point out in today's Gospel,
by a life of repentance for our sins.
And so it is that the mystery of Christmas can never be separated from our obligation to repent from our sins.
For the kingdom of God is received only by the humble,
and hence the poor shepherds are rich on Christmas Day because they are humble,
and the rich kings become richer because they are humble.
They recognize the valuelessness of their earthly possessions,
and so they will give the most precious of them to the one who has true authority over them,
the king in Bethlehem.
That mystery that was caught so well by the Catholic authoress of The Little Drummer Boy.
For all are rich when they come and bang their drum,
that is,
give their hearts to the Christ child.
And this becomes so important in our day and age,
in which the hearts of mankind are no longer beating with the rhythm of the divine life,
but are, as it were, becoming perverted by the life of the modern world,
the life of our secular society.
And it is because we do not do penance,
for the heart beats most proudly of the love of God,
when it is doing penance for Almighty God.
That is why the kings were truly kingly that day,
and that is why the shepherds themselves were kingly that day,
for they recognized the Savior,
the one we are preparing to meet on the Christmas mystery.
And so, St. John tells us that the essence of doing penance
is none other than keeping God's commandments.
And the modern world declares that true freedom,
true life,
comes to us by violating God's commandments.
And so, we must truly enter into that mystery
revealed to us in the opening prayer,
Lord, remove all that hinders me from receiving you.
And we do not even pause for a moment in this modern world
to ask the question,
what is hindering us from receiving Jesus Christ?
What is hindering us from receiving the Christmas mystery?
And the crass things are very obvious.
But if we really enter into the mystery and ask the question,
then we will get an answer, a clear answer,
that in our society, in our culture,
there are many things causing us to not receive the Christ child
and the Christmas mystery.
And often, they will become so startlingly true
when they are pointed out.
But yet, we will see them.
And we will see them as clever deceptions and disguises,
cultural expressions of a society gone mad.
But first, we must enter into what is truly transpiring,
what Mark is truly telling us.
Saint Matthew begins his gospel by pointing out
that this Christ child is the son of David and the son of Abraham.
He focuses
on the sacred truth,
the truth of humanity of Jesus Christ.
Saint Mark points out that there is no contradiction
between saying Christ is truly God and truly man,
because he declares him to be the Son of God.
That word that was with the Father from the beginning,
as Saint John the Apostle will point out to us in his gospel.
But the vicar of Christ, through his anoesis, Saint Mark will point out,
that what Matthew tells us is as true as what he tells us, Saint Mark.
He is true God and true man.
There is merely not the spirit of God hovering over his humanity,
but he is truly God and truly man,
the eternal Son of the Father and the rightful Lord and heir
of all that is God's kingdom.
That is, he and he alone is the ruler of the universe.
From the earth we can see to the far distant stars that we cannot see,
Christ is King, and that is the Christmas mystery.
But he is a King who will come to rule us out of love.
He is a King who will hide his divinity in the cave at Bethlehem.
He is a King who will hide his divinity until the end of time
in the mystery of the Eucharist.
And so, Saint John comes.
As a voice crying in the wilderness,
why does God command Saint John to cry in the wilderness?
And here we begin to erode the modern sentimentality
that declares Christians are not called to fight for their Savior.
They are not called to defend their Savior.
We don't defend Christ because he necessarily needs us.
We defend Christ because of what he has done for us.
He has unleashed in us the very power of God,
and we refuse to use it.
We stand idly by while the Christmas mystery is being assailed
in almost every cultural expression that is the modern world.
We Christians sit on our rumps and watch the mystery stripped out of the minds
and hearts of our children and do nothing to prevent it
and hide under the cover of, well, it's the law.
And yet, the Church teaches us we are not obliged.
Indeed, we commit sin if we obey unjust laws.
And no society has the right to exile Christ from it.
No society has that right.
They can hide under the cover of law,
and they can even put the armament of their military behind that law.
And the Christian must fight that unjust, depraved law
that would exile its God and Savior,
would drive him back into the cave,
and will tell him,
go back to your Eternal Father.
We do not want you to laud it over us.
We would rather have the rule of Satan than the rule of love.
And so, Catholics declare themselves to be personally opposed to abortion,
but there's nothing I can really do about it.
It's the law.
Well, there was a time when good Christian men would have never allowed a law,
never would have allowed the ink to dry on the Declaration.
The Constitution has passed for now.
But we must pray that it comes back
when good men truly stand up
to a depraved and decadent culture.
And so, Saint John is a voice crying in the wilderness
because crying is how we must speak to the deaf person
and to those who are far off.
Or when a man is indignant,
all of which could be applied to the Jews of old,
for Scripture tells us salvation is far from the wicked.
And their ears were like deaf adders,
and hence, the Baptists would declare
to the Pharisees and scribes
when they tried to get the physical advantage over him,
taking the high ground,
coming to the Baptists while he was in the valley
and they stood on the cliffs,
trying to intimidate.
The Baptists.
And what would his response be?
Righteous indignation.
He would look up to them and declare,
what brings you brood of vipers out here
thinking you can flee the wrath to come?
A true man, a true defender of Christ.
And, in complete accord with Scripture,
that declares,
their ears were like deaf adders,
hence, you brood of vipers.
Because they willfully chose
to be deaf to the Christmas mystery.
And so, Scripture tells us,
they deserved Scripture.
Not the words of any man,
but the words of the Holy Spirit.
They deserved to hear the indignation,
the wrath,
and the tribulation.
And then the church would add,
from Christ.
And did not our Lord do exactly that
when He reminded each and every one of us
to be, in His words,
be careful.
Woe to you who scandalize the little ones.
It would be better that a millstone be tied around your neck
and you be deposited in the bottom of the sea.
Than you had ever been born.
The words of the good King,
words of warning,
to bring us to our senses,
because our eyes are closed,
our ears are shut,
and our mouths don't have the courage to speak
of the Christmas mystery.
Because it has been outlawed
by our culture.
Our culture is not the modern world.
Our culture is the culture of the Eternal Word.
It is the culture of God the Father.
It is the Kingdom of Heaven.
And we have an obligation
and a right
to defend our good Master
when we see Him assailed,
when we see Him exiled,
as He is from our modern world.
Saint John
was inspired by the Holy Spirit
to wear camel hair.
That is,
austere garb,
penitential garb.
Not, as it were,
the silks of the modern world
and its false philosophies.
That is,
a feminine luxury.
And that is what
the majority
of this modern world are striving for.
A feminine
luxury.
A term used
by a saint,
Paul,
otherwise known
as Saul.
The effeminate, he says,
cannot,
will not,
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Because an effeminate soul
is not a humble soul.
Because it refuses
to enter in
the cave
at Bethlehem.
Because it refuses
to submit
its mind
and its will
to the Christ child.
Caught so lovely
by what was once played
during every Christmas
and perhaps
of all the Christmas shows
ever produced,
the greatest,
the little drummer boy.
Because it did not hide anything
as to the true nature
of the Christmas mystery.
In the words
of one of the three kings,
I cannot
give your little lamb life.
But go
to a king
who is from another world.
And then he would look
at the Christ child
and the little drummer boy
and say,
the babe?
And he would nod.
The babe.
And so the little drummer boy
had his heart,
his drum,
and he beat it.
And Mary smiled at him.
And the life of his lamb
was restored.
And don't think
that the author of that
didn't intend
us to get the analogy.
That Mary smiled
and God became man.
And that the little lamb
in the cave at Bethlehem
would be slaughtered.
And Mary would smile.
And he would be restored.
Glorious and triumphant
in his resurrection.
No longer to die.
Our Lord has won.
And we can't even defend
his victory.
O death,
where is thy victory?
O death,
where is thy sting?
Why are we so afraid
to defend Christ publicly?
Because we have bought in
to the modern paganism.
We are more attached
to our earthly life
than our heavenly life.
We do not want to give up
the perks of our modern world.
That's the only reason.
There is no other reason
other than our attachment.
Trying, as it were,
to pretend to be Christians
while practically
we are functioning as pagans.
And so,
we say nothing
when Christ is banned
from our public square.
Oh,
the pagan can come in
and destroy the crib.
That's alright.
Or,
if the crib is set up
on your private property,
their right to come there
and protest against it
is upheld.
On your private property.
On your private property.
The ACLU.
The Anti-Christian League Union.
And we do nothing
to stop them.
We won't even have the courage
to call our congressman
and ask him to stop funding
that anti-Christian
anti-chamber of hell.
We allow them
to go unabated
on their assault
on Christmas.
A father
takes his son to school
a few days before Christmas
and he walks in
and the children are celebrating
Hanukkah,
Kwasan,
or whatever that is,
and all sorts of other made-up holidays.
And then, in the corner,
he sees an undecorated tree.
And he asks,
what's that?
And he's told,
that's the friendship tree.
And he asks,
why isn't it called
the Christmas tree?
And the response is,
oh, we're trying to make sure
we don't offend people.
The love of Christ,
has become offensive to people?
The sacrifice of the Savior
has become offensive to people?
Do you think
that they will lose that thought
if we don't tell them
they have no reason
to be offended by Christ?
He didn't come to destroy
like the modern world is.
He came to save you,
not to destroy you.
Why are you afraid of Him?
He hides His power at Bethlehem.
He hides His power on the cross.
He hides His power
for the whole of His life,
in order that after He rises,
He may communicate that power to you
through the life of His sacramental church.
And we're afraid to say it,
because we might be considered weird,
radical,
extreme.
Well,
those are the exact same words
and the exact same epitaphs
they hurled at Christ.
He's a madman.
What do you think it means
when He was sent from Pilate
to Herod
in white clothing?
You ever heard of a straight jacket?
You ever wonder why it's white?
It reflects an ancient tradition
in which a madman was,
wrapped in white.
And indeed,
there's even an allusion to it
in His birth.
She took the child
and wrapped him in swaddling clothing,
because the world
would consider him a madman.
And if we refuse to defend Him,
then practically speaking,
we too,
consider Christ a madman.
And so,
it is essential
that the memory of Christmas
be preserved.
That is,
Christmas past.
For Christmas present
has no presence
of the true mystery.
Christmas present
has nothing to do
with Christ.
Christmas past did.
What Christmas future will be,
will be determined
by the members of Christ's
mystical body.
If we return
to Christmas past,
then our reward
will be great in heaven.
If the future Christmases
become worse
than this year's Christmas,
then we all need fear
the second coming of Christ.
And this,
sometimes,
is understood more
by those outside
of the mystical body,
than those inside.
Listen to the words
of a rabbi
in speaking
of the Christian
notion of Christmas.
It keeps us
from careening
into a moral abyss
of death on demand,
sex divorced from values,
a Roman orgy
and demolition derby
passing as entertainment,
drugs used to fulfill
lives devoid of meaning,
and a generation
of strutting savages
in Calvin Klein's.
A rabbi speaking
of the Christian notion
of Christmas
and what it prevents
society from becoming.
A generation
of strutting savages
in Calvin Klein's.
The devil is clever.
And he doesn't destroy
the memory
simply
by crass means.
He does it by very
popular
means.
And so,
we are told
to dream
of a white Christmas.
I am dreaming
of a white Christmas
just like the one
I used to know.
Where the sleigh bells
ring.
My God,
help us.
Christmas is not
about the sleigh bells
ringing.
Christmas is about
the ringing
of the voice of God
in the flesh.
A human bell.
Jesus Christ.
And,
make no mistake about it,
if you think
that is an exaggeration,
then just go to the words
of the author
of the song
Irvin Berlin,
who sought to destroy
the two greatest moments
in Christianity.
Christmas and Easter.
Hence,
his two most popular songs
are about making
Easter about
the Easter bunny
and Christmas about snow.
And,
Christmas and Easter
are about
the Christmas
when
there are
warm,
fuzzy
memories.
And,
in the fog,
souls
are being lost.
I am dreaming
of a white Christmas,
stripping
the mystery
of its meaning.
Or,
and what is popular became number one on the billboard charts
and is none other than real blasphemy.
I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus under the mistletoe last night.
Oh, what a laugh it would have been if Daddy had only seen Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night.
And who is it speaking the words to us?
A child who crept down and saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus while Daddy slept at night.
And so the world is sleeping in its sin.
As the Christmas mystery is waning in the minds and the hearts of every man, woman, and child living.
And how many of us go back to that day?
How many of us go about whistling the tunes of a white Christmas
and of a mother committing adultery with Santa Claus on Christmas night?
It is not just the crass expressions of our culture.
It's pornography, both by the media and the musical industry.
And I mean real musical pornography.
But it is also the very subtle,
songs
and movies
that destroy Christmas of its meaning.
It is an all-out, full-pronged attack
on Christ.
And hence,
it is an all-out, full-assault
on the Holy Family and all families.
It is about destroying the family.
That is why,
they always use Christmas and Easter to unveil their latest assault.
Gift certificates from Planned Parenthood to murder your child on Christmas Day.
No coincidence.
Just pure unadulterated demonology.
That's it.
Just pure unadulterated demonology.
Pure unadulterated demonology.
unadulterated Satanism
at its worst
because it is not by way of possession
but it is by way of friendship
with the anti-Christmas
the anti-Christ himself
Satan
and those are the stakes this Christmas
and so
will we dream
of a white Christmas
or will we dream
of a true Christmas
in which we will hold out to souls
the memory of the Christ child
his most holy mother
and that greatest of all patriarchs
Saint Joseph
and the reclamation of the human family
or
will we continue
in its destruction
Christmas is always penitential
why do you think
Saint John knew
to dress himself
in the austere garb
of a camel hair
because he first knew
the child whom he preached about
was wrapped in swaddling clothes
austere clothing
and subject to the vermin in the cave
let us not
think
that because most of the images
of the mystery of Christmas
emphasize the glory as they should
let us not think
that Christ came into the world
simply because our art
expresses the magnificence of the event
he came into a cold dark cave
inhabited by beasts
and with the beast
in a warm cave
or at least a cool cave
always comes the vermin that follow
why was Christmas special
because there was sacrifice present there
sacrifice
from the child
the mother
and the father
for Saint Joseph did all he could
to make that austere cave a home
he scooped out
the animal stuff
he tidied it up
he tried to make it
as pleasant as possible
for his wife
and the child to come
he did
ordinary things
in an extraordinary way
he did ordinary things in an extraordinary way
because
he loved
the Christ child
because
he loved
the mother
and so
we must strive
to do
what Joseph did
to tidy up our homes
by cleaning out all
the stuff
the dung
that is contrary
to the mystery of Christmas
whether it be
the blasphemous
renditions
of some of our
Christmas carols
by rock musicians
or the fluffy nonsense
of Irvin Berlin
it has nothing to do
with the mystery
that is Christmas
because it has nothing to do
with the Christ child
he was ignored
in his first birth
by the majority
of the world
and he was ignored
he has another birth
that comes in between
his second coming
the birth
he is supposed to receive
in the minds and hearts
of every man, woman and child
by their contact
with his body
that's us
will we communicate
to the world
the mystery of Christmas
or will we continue to compromise
and involve ourselves
ultimately
in the same sins of the world
so that we too
while today
we are horrified
of the distribution
of gift certificates
that allow a murder of a child
to take place
at no cost
to the mother and the father
by way of a gift certificate
tomorrow
we will be ambivalent to it
simply because
our opposition
is only rooted
in our humanity
the natural law
and without the sustaining help
of God's grace
we will be worn down
for perseverance
against the assault
on Christmas
is a supernatural reality
and Saint John the Baptist
tells us very clearly
he will baptize you
with a true baptism
in other words
the supernatural life
can only be sustained
by humble submission
to the babe
in the cave
at Bethlehem
receiving his grace
so that we persevere
not just through
our natural horror
but when the natural horror
disappears
and the reason alone
has to take over
that reason must be
elevated
by the grace of God
or
we become
ambivalent
I wouldn't do it
but I
can't stop anyone else
it's their choice
and we can choose
either to enter in
humbly
to the cave
or
we can choose
to enter in
like the modern day Herods
in order
to destroy
the child
in the cave
Amen
She and her child
are blessed
andسب normale
so they can go
now
that
I
also
have
when
all
this
sky
like
all
my
customs