WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:02.560 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.160 of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.419 --> 00:00:12.740 This morning's Gospel is the Gospel for the Sunday 00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:18.460 before Epiphany, and its message is the same 00:00:18.460 --> 00:00:23.500 as yesterday's message of John the Baptist, taken 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:27.579 from St. Matthew's Gospel, which is one of repentance. 00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:33.719 You probably noticed that each one of the evangelists 00:00:33.719 --> 00:00:39.579 has a particular perspective about the one gospel 00:00:39.579 --> 00:00:44.320 message of Jesus Christ. And they have a different 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:49.299 way of beginning their gospels. St. Matthew, 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:54.020 as we heard recently, speaks about the coming 00:00:54.020 --> 00:01:01.929 of the Magi to adore the Christ child. Luke tells 00:01:01.929 --> 00:01:04.829 us about the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, 00:01:05.129 --> 00:01:09.230 and then the birth of Jesus and the coming of 00:01:09.230 --> 00:01:15.450 the shepherds. St. John, presumably the last 00:01:15.450 --> 00:01:19.670 of the Gospels, widely believed to be, tells 00:01:19.670 --> 00:01:24.409 us about who this Jesus Christ is, the person 00:01:24.409 --> 00:01:29.599 of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Logos. the Son 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:34.019 of God made flesh, who appeared and we have received 00:01:34.019 --> 00:01:38.799 his glory. The particular perspective of St. 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:43.079 Mark is that he gets right to the message. He 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:45.840 tells us about the preaching of John the Baptist, 00:01:45.939 --> 00:01:52.780 and John the Baptist's preaching is the same 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:56.859 message that Jesus will... repeat and emphasize 00:01:56.859 --> 00:02:01.040 and bring to perfection when it is his turn, 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:05.060 so to speak, to preach this message of the coming 00:02:05.060 --> 00:02:09.759 of the kingdom of God, the new relationship between 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:16.400 God and mankind. To prepare for this, we must 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:21.719 prepare, and the message is consistent. Repent. 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:27.520 And repent means It's not a simple action. Of 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:31.840 course, there are simple actions of repentance 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:36.919 which we experience in our life over particular 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:41.460 sins or things that we say or do. But repentance, 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:45.680 in the root meaning of that, it's a continual 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:52.460 process. It's continuous. It's a call to change 00:02:52.460 --> 00:02:57.490 our ways. to change our mind, to change our attitude. 00:03:00.370 --> 00:03:07.909 How do we repent and change our attitude? Repentance, 00:03:07.909 --> 00:03:11.750 again, is not a single action, but a continuous 00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:15.250 one. And it's a message not only of John the 00:03:15.250 --> 00:03:19.409 Baptist and Jesus, but basically of all the Old 00:03:19.409 --> 00:03:24.069 Testament prophets to prepare. and to repent. 00:03:25.449 --> 00:03:31.009 Today we commemorate the prophet Malachi, and 00:03:31.009 --> 00:03:34.330 he has his own particular perspective on repentance. 00:03:34.990 --> 00:03:42.050 He denounces the religious and social practices 00:03:42.050 --> 00:03:47.409 and laxity among the people at that time. He's 00:03:47.409 --> 00:03:52.370 particularly... anxious about the behavior of 00:03:52.370 --> 00:03:57.750 the priests and their laziness in the performance 00:03:57.750 --> 00:04:01.710 of their duties. He even goes so far as to use 00:04:01.710 --> 00:04:06.449 the strong and charming expression that if the 00:04:06.449 --> 00:04:09.349 priests don't change their ways, they should 00:04:09.349 --> 00:04:13.870 have dung rubbed on their faces. I hadn't read 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:20.259 that in a long time. Hopefully our priests nowadays 00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:27.740 won't get to that level of laxity. The time of 00:04:27.740 --> 00:04:31.959 repentance. I think this is very much consistent 00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:35.779 with the secular world at this time. New Year's 00:04:35.779 --> 00:04:40.079 resolutions. That's so common we hear about that. 00:04:40.660 --> 00:04:44.819 Resolutions. I'm going to quit smoking, stop 00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:49.899 drinking, lose weight. Notice on the television 00:04:49.899 --> 00:04:52.839 commercials right after the holidays and the 00:04:52.839 --> 00:04:56.480 first of the year, the frequency of commercials 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:06.120 about losing weight, Nutrisystem, Noom, Liposine, 00:05:06.259 --> 00:05:12.459 the whole gamut of these. And these might be 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:15.459 necessary as they are, but I really think... 00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:19.009 that repentance and changing of ways applies 00:05:19.009 --> 00:05:25.250 to our life of virtue much more directly. And 00:05:25.250 --> 00:05:31.769 I would suggest that for myself and for others, 00:05:31.930 --> 00:05:37.589 I'd suggest that we work on patience this year. 00:05:38.730 --> 00:05:42.250 Patience is particularly difficult for many of 00:05:42.250 --> 00:05:47.680 us, myself included. I had on the wall of my 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:53.259 office, right above the telephone, a framed picture 00:05:53.259 --> 00:05:56.839 of a priest sitting on the steps of a church 00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:01.139 listening to a little boy, and the caption was, 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:07.220 No problem is too small for your attention. Patience 00:06:07.220 --> 00:06:10.399 when you're listening to people. Patience for 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:15.319 all of us. In this time, It's particularly necessary 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:18.899 because of the general malaise we have about 00:06:18.899 --> 00:06:23.639 this virus business and the pattern of lifestyle 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:26.839 that we have to embrace nowadays. Even weather 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:30.279 like this adds to that general feeling of malaise, 00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:36.319 the darkness, the long nights, short days. And 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:41.019 it can become difficult for us to be patient. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:46.160 to exercise kindness, not only with strangers 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:50.240 or with people that we go grocery shopping with, 00:06:50.459 --> 00:06:54.800 but even most immediately with our own family 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:01.199 members. How often we take our spouse, our children, 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:05.579 our parents, our brothers, sisters, whatever 00:07:05.579 --> 00:07:10.240 it might be, take them for granted. Use sharp 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:15.360 words. Don't bother listening to them. Let's 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:21.120 work on that attitude of patience. This, by the 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:27.379 way, is mentioned by St. Paul. It's not in today's 00:07:27.379 --> 00:07:31.720 epistle. If you go a few verses earlier, he says, 00:07:31.819 --> 00:07:35.379 be patient. He gives this whole string of advice 00:07:35.379 --> 00:07:39.389 to his son. the young Bishop Timothy. But that 00:07:39.389 --> 00:07:43.389 advice is applicable to all of us as well. He 00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:47.310 said, be patient. So we should exercise this 00:07:47.310 --> 00:07:52.370 patience, not only for the benefit of other people 00:07:52.370 --> 00:07:55.990 that we encounter in our life, but even for our 00:07:55.990 --> 00:08:01.750 own spiritual well -being and advancement. I 00:08:01.750 --> 00:08:05.990 usually, if I don't quote from the scriptures, 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:12.100 or the church fathers or the saints. I usually 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:16.680 choose those folks. But I came across this past 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:24.699 week a quotation from Mother Teresa. Of course, 00:08:24.699 --> 00:08:28.519 nobody can disparage her holiness, but she gives 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:34.539 us some advice about patience. People are often 00:08:34.539 --> 00:08:38.740 unreasonable and self -centered. Forgive them 00:08:38.740 --> 00:08:44.419 anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you 00:08:44.419 --> 00:08:50.539 of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are 00:08:50.539 --> 00:08:55.519 honest, people may then cheat you. Be honest 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:00.340 anyway. If you find happiness, people may be 00:09:00.340 --> 00:09:05.019 jealous, but share it. with them. Be happy anyway. 00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:10.179 The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. 00:09:10.919 --> 00:09:16.639 Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:20.980 and even if it is not enough you will have done 00:09:20.980 --> 00:09:25.960 your best. Give your best for you see in the 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:30.700 end it is all not between you and other people. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.860 but it is also between you and God. And it was 00:09:35.860 --> 00:09:39.679 never meant to be any other way between you and 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:43.379 God and expressing that in your relations with 00:09:43.379 --> 00:09:44.700 others. Amen.