(Second Sunday of Advent (A):
This homily was given on December 8, 2013 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I.
by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Matthew 3:
1-12.)
John the Baptist wore bifocals.
I’ll bet you didn’t know that.
Actually, he didn’t wear the kind
that many of us wear (the bifocals we wear weren’t even developed until the late 18th
century, courtesy of Ben Franklin).
John the Baptist’s bifocals were
of the spiritual variety.
Now why do I say that?
Well, very simply, it’s because bifocals
help you to see things both up close and
at a distance. (And when you get to a
certain age—like yours truly!—you desperately need that kind of help.) Bifocals, in other words, help you to see
everything. They help you to see the complete picture, not just one dimension of
reality.
And that’s the way it was for
John the Baptist, spiritually speaking. When John looked at another human being—and
when John looked at himself—he saw the complete picture. That is to say, he saw both the good and the bad. He saw someone who
was created in the image and likeness of God (and in that sense they were
“good”); but at the same time he saw somebody who was a sinner in need of
forgiveness and mercy.
It wasn’t “either-or,” it was
“both-and”.
All this is clear from today’s
gospel reading from Matthew 3. There
John predicts that the Messiah, who is about to begin his earthly ministry,
will someday baptize people “in the Holy Spirit”. That prediction alone tells us a lot about
how John saw himself and others. God
does not pour forth his Spirit into beings that are evil; he pours forth his
Spirit into beings who have value, beings whom he loves, beings who are created
in his image and likeness.
So here we have an implicit
affirmation by John of the fundamental goodness of the human person.
But at the very same time John the
Baptist also recognized the reality of human sin—in himself and in everyone
else—which is why he was there at the Jordan River baptizing people and telling
them to repent!
He wore spiritual bifocals—always!
The problem with the Pharisees and
the Sadducees was that they saw only the goodness in themselves and not the
sin. They saw themselves only as “sons
of Abraham,” and completely forgot about the fact that they were also the “sons
of Adam”. Their self-understanding was
only one dimensional—until John enlightened them by calling them a “brood of
vipers”!
Spiritually speaking, they were a
lot like I am—physically—when I have my “TV glasses” or my “computer glasses”
on. You know, I used to own one pair of
glasses (actually two if you count my prescription sunglasses)—and they were
good both for distance and for reading.
Then I reached my mid-40s and things got much more complicated, as my
doctor, Sam Montalto, sadly predicted they would. So now I have 5 pairs of glasses! I have my bifocal sunglasses; I have my
progressive bifocals without the line; I have my bifocals with the line that I
use for Mass. And I have two other pairs:
my so-called “computer glasses” which are perfect for everything within 4 feet
of my face. Beyond that, everything is a
big blur! (Obviously I use them
primarily when I’m working on my computer.)
And I have my so-called “TV glasses” which are only good for
distance. I need them because it’s hard
to watch television from a recliner with bifocals! (Those of you who have them know what I’m
talking about. Those of you who are too
young to know what I’m talking about—don’t worry, someday you will!)
As I said a few moments ago,
spiritually speaking the Pharisees and Sadducees were a lot like me when I have
either my computer or TV glasses on: they only saw half of reality. They
only saw their goodness, not their sin.
Which makes them like a lot of
people in our world today.
This is one of the reasons why
some men and women don’t go to confession—ever!
They don’t think they need it. Like
these religious leaders of the Jewish people, they have no trouble whatsoever seeing
their value and goodness as human beings created in God’s image and likeness,
but at the very same time they’re almost completely blind to their faults and
failings.
The other big reason, of course,
why some people don’t go to confession is that they have the exact opposite
problem: They see their sin, but not
their worth! They know the evil that
they’ve done; oh yes, they’re crystal clear about that! But, unfortunately, for some reason, they
don’t think that they can be forgiven (even though they can be). Or perhaps they don’t think that God wants to forgive them, even though he
does.
In fact, he wants to forgive them
much, much more than they want to be forgiven!
To both these groups of people,
John the Baptist would say, “Take them off!
Take off the ‘spiritual computer glasses,’ take off the ‘spiritual TV
glasses,’ and put on a nice pair of ‘spiritual bifocals’! And don’t ever take them off! Know your dignity and goodness, yes—but also
know and admit your need for forgiveness and mercy. Believe it or not, doing both those things is the only way to
find happiness; doing both those
things is the only way to find inner peace!”
If you’ve heard the message of this
homily today and do plan to
follow John the Baptist’s advice, let me now remind you that both Fr. Giudice
and I will be hearing confessions every Saturday of the season of Advent from
3:30 until 4:30pm here at St. Pius. The
two of us will also be taking part (along with several other priests) in a
special ‘day of confessions’ at Immaculate Conception Church on Saturday, December
21. So I will see you on one of those occasions—provided, of course, that I
have on the right pair of my glasses, and provided that you have on your
spiritual bifocals.
