4th Sunday of Advent, Year C | Dec 19, 2021
Editor’s Note: Each week, we open the archives to share a previously unpublished homily from Fr. Brian for the upcoming Sunday. Whether you are preparing to preach or preparing your heart for Mass, we hope this offers a fresh perspective on the readings. – Jessica
Liturgical Context: [Advent 4C] Related Homilies: [2015] • Scripture: [Link to USCCB Readings]
As I was reflecting on the 2nd reading this weekend, I couldn’t help but find myself caught by the allusions to Psalm 40
Here I am Lord. Here I am. I come to do your will.
One of my favorite psalms. And an important one along my journey.
I was introduced to the psalm when I entered the Oblates.
It was sung when I made my final yes to the Oblates and again a year later when I was ordained.
I have heard it sung again and again throughout the liturgical cycle, including right here in this space.
And every time I hear it, I think about the 1st time that call to do God’s will felt difficult.
I was teaching at Fr. Judge High School and I was totally out of my depth.
The students were out of control and I felt completely overwhelmed.
So one night, I found myself sitting in the chapel, screaming at the tabernacle. Why? Why me? Why now?
And it was then that I had the most profound mystical moment of my life.
Two questions reverberated deep in my heart . . .
What did you think it meant to do my will?
and
If not you, who?
I was silenced. And went to bed chewing over the implications of my answer to those two questions.
For the truth is, I think I had somehow assumed that God’s will and mine would always align. And that both wills would lead me down a straight and smooth path where I was in control, everything made sense, and yeah everything was easy.
And when I began to accept that I may have misjudged this whole following God’s will thing, I was left with the truth that I could not shake.
I was where God intended me to be.
And so, I gritted my teeth, shook my head, took a deep breath. And went back into that classroom.
Time and again, I have found myself returning to those two questions.
When I have been in subsequent assignments that have drained every battery.
When I have worked with other students that have infuriated me and broken my heart.
When I have sat curled up under desks, on bathroom floors and against doorframes, grieving losses that have torn the very breath out of my lungs.
I have heard these gentle questions echoing in my heart.
And each time, I have gotten myself back up and returned to the work that is mine. To this place in the universe that is mine. To the people that have been entrusted into my hands and into my heart.
I cannot think of a more fitting call than this one as we enter the final week of preparing for the arrival of the Christ-child.
For both of our heroines of the Gospel will need to answer these same questions again and again.
When Elizabeth gives birth at such an advanced age. When she leaves her son to the world.
When Mary gives birth in a village that is not her own, far from her family. When she flees from the violence that threatens her and her child. When she watches her son embark on his journey. When she sits in the shadow of the cross that crucified her own heart.
And so in turn must each of us grapple with the same questions.
What is the will of God that defines our present moment?
What are we called to do?
Where are we called to stand?
Who are we called to do it with and for?
For if not you, who?
Who will bring Christ to birth in your life this day, if not you?
Here we are Lord. Here we are. We come to do your will.
May God be Praised.
Video recordings of the Sunday evening Mass, where Fr. Brian regularly preaches, are available on Facebook at Delaware Koinonia. The archive of all of Fr. Brian’s homilies can be found here: Salesian Sermons
IMAGE ATTRIBUTION: Visitation, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56718 [retrieved January 3, 2025]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johndonaghy/22885862/ – John Donaghy.
Leaven in the World 
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