A Homily - The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, A Holy Day of Obligation

The Second Monday of Advent (Year A)

 

First reading – Genesis 3:9-15,20 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 97(98):1-4

Second Reading – Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12 ©

Gospel Acclamation – cf. Luke 1:28

Gospel Reading – Luke 1:26-38 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

The reading today from the book of Genesis is a reading from a book of fables, it is myth and metaphor; we cannot take the narrative literally.

Eve is not the mother of all human beings because Eve was not a person, she iconographically represents a link to a more ancient culture. The Garden of Eden was not an actual paradise; rather, it is a reference to early agricultural societies from which some of the thirteen tribes of Israel came…and to the promise of agriculturalism in general.

Adam did not violate God’s trust because Adam was not a person, but narratively represents those who “came from soil,” which is what the name Adamah means, not because he formed in God’s hand out of clay, but because the people he represents freed themselves from servitude and successfully established themselves as a people.

This is not a narrative about the creator and the creation of the universe, it is a metaphor concerning the origins of civilization…which has been widely regarded as being a terrible idea.

This fable narrates a critical moment in the history of the Hebrew people (also known as the Habiru, the Apiru, the Iberu et al, depending on what dialect is being spoken or written). I remembers a time when they lived in a civil-state that was safe and secure, a place in which they had long life, from which they were exiled on account of some violation of their agreement with the rulers of that society; this may well be a retelling of the exodus-narrative, the memory of which would have been lingering in the minds of the people for about two hundred years before they began to be written down at the beginning of the Davidic period. It could recall an earlier event, or it could recall a conglomeration of events. It is myth—not history, it is metaphor—not a factual accounting, it is a fable in the form of a braided narrative.

Consider the wisdom of psalmist and know that even when we confront the hard truths of our faith and its traditions it is still right and good to praise God, the creator of the universe. It is right and good to praise God for the miracle of creation and the divine power that brought us into being, which remains beyond the scope of human comprehension; it is right and good as the psalmist says.

Be mindful.

God is not a giver of victories. God has no enemies, and in God, within whom all things exist and have their being, there is no conflict.

It is never God’s justice that is demonstrated in the actions of human beings, it is human justice. When human justice approximates the justice of God, when we arrive at a just resolution of conflict or inequities through mercy and humility, then and only then are we approximating the good.

God’s power is everywhere; God’s spirit animates the voices that give God praise. God is kind and faithful to all people; God loves us all in full equanimity.

If you seek to make yourself an instrument of divine justice: judge fairly, judge kindly while reflecting on the love God bears to all people; remember the life of Jesus and God whom he called Father.

Consider this:

Is God glorious? What is glory anyway? What use does God have for it?

God is the creator of the universe, but God does not sit on a throne like some dread lord dressed in glory; God’s desire is merely to be in relationship with us, as a loving parent is to a child…sitting with in humility not enrobed in the pretentious finements of glory.

Consider the teaching of the apostle; I share his desire that each and every one of us may come to the full knowledge of God. I desire this because there is hope in the knowledge that God loves us.

Remember, the hopes you have for yourself, the hopes you have for those you love are meant to be extended to everyone, even to those you do not love, for this is the way that leads to understanding our relationship to the divine, which by God’s design, we only discover in relationship to one another.

If you tout the notion that God promises riches and glories to the saints as an inheritance for their commitment to the people of God, remember this, the first will be last and the last will be first; spiritual riches are not counted in the pecunia of gold and silver or other precious things, but in companionship and the love of friends.

Consider the Gospel reading for today and know that whatever the truth is regarding the birth of Jesus, known by his people as Joshua son of Joseph (if in fact there was such a child born to Joseph and Mary, if in fact Joseph and Mary are actual historical persons), whatever the truth of his birth and heritage is, the mission of Jesus as reported in scriptures cannot be served by the insistence on false narratives.

The stories of Jesus’ birth, of the annunciation as we have it presented here, these are myths and metaphors just like the myth and metaphor discussed above in relation to the reading from Genesis, to say otherwise is to deal in propaganda and lies.

First reading – Genesis 3:9-15,20 ©

The Mother of All Those Who Live

After Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’

Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,

‘Be accursed beyond all cattle, all wild beasts.

You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust every day of your life.

I will make you enemies of each other:

you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring.

It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.’

The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 97(98):1-4 (NAB)

The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad.

Cloud and darkness surround the Lord; justice and right are the foundation of his throne.

Fire goes before him; everywhere it consumes the foes.

Lightning illumines the world; the earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim God's justice; all peoples see his glory.

All who serve idols are put to shame, who glory in worthless things; all gods bow down before you.

Zion hears and is glad, and the cities of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, O LORD.

You, LORD, are the Most High over all the earth, exalted far above all gods.

The LORD loves those who hate evil, protects the lives of the faithful, rescues them from the hand of the wicked.

Light dawns for the just; gladness, for the honest of heart.

Rejoice in the LORD, you just, and praise his holy name.

 

Second Reading – Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12 ©

Before the World was Made, God Chose Us in Christ

Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.

Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved, and it is in him that we were claimed as God’s own, chosen from the beginning, under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things as he decides by his own will; chosen to be, for his greater glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came.

 

Gospel Acclamation – cf. Luke 1:28

Alleluia, alleluia!

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!

Blessed art thou among women.

Alleluia!

 

Gospel Reading – Luke 1:26-38 ©

'I Am the Handmaid of the Lord'

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

A Homily - The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, A Holy Day of Obligation

The Second Thursday of Advent (Year A)