1st Sunday of Advent
Installation of Fr. Scott Kady and Fr. William Kwon
December 1st, 2024
Why Now?
Advent, as we know, marks the beginning of a new liturgical year, and I could not think of a better way to begin this Year of Grace than by paying you a long overdue visit, and on this occasion, to install officially your pastor.
It is true that your pastor has been in place for over six months. So after all this time, you may be wondering, “Why install him now?” One reply might be, “Better late than never!”…but here’s a more thoughtful reply: Coming together to celebrate your new pastor gives us an opportunity to reflect on what matters most to us as a family of faith, and it’s also an opportunity to reflect on how your pastor serves your spiritual needs while engaging you in the Church’s mission to spread the Gospel. So, let’s look at all of this through the lens of today’s Scripture readings, beginning with the Gospel reading from St. Luke.
Inauspicious Gospel?
This reading may well strike fear in our hearts as it describes the terrible events that will happen at the end of the world. But there’s a line in today’s Gospel that goes to the heart of a pastor’s role. After speaking of those terrible events and how frightened many people will be, Jesus says to his followers: “When you see these [terrible] things happen, stand up straight and lift up your heads, for your redemption is at hand!”
How do these words of Jesus go to the heart of your pastor’s ministry? Should we expect the world to end during his tenure? Not as far as I know! No, these words remind us that your pastor is to be a witness to the unshakeable hope that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ. Not mere optimism that somehow things will turn out alright, but a genuine hope by which we place our life and our future in God’s hands, trusting that Jesus’ love for us is better, stronger, and more powerful than anything that could possibly happen to us, no matter what. Listen again to Jesus’ words: ‘When you see the sun, the moon, the stars shaken and hear the oceans roar, stand up straight, lift up your heads, your redemption is at hand!’ If we are to do this when even the world is ending, what are we to do amid life’s problems, disappointments, and annoyances? We are to stand up straight, raise our eyes to heavens, and rejoice – for our redemption is being worked out – right in the midst of our daily life. This is the hope your pastor is to bear witness to, in his own life & in his ministry.
Living Differently
In the second reading, St. Paul urges us to overflow in our love for one another and to lead holy and blameless lives before the coming of Christ in glory. Paul reminded the Thessalonians and he reminds us to conduct ourselves in a way that pleases God. Now, if we truly love God with all that is in us, and love our neighbor as ourselves, then we will shun everything that is vile and deceitful and instead embrace a life of moral rectitude and virtue, coupled with abundant concern and generosity for those in need. In this, your pastor is both a teacher and an exemplar.
Does this mean he is to be a scold, always harping on moral evils? Is it his job to make us feel bad about moral failings, or to make us think that no matter how hard we try we won’t measure up? Not at all – for we are all are travelling the same road together. We, your pastors, need the grace and redemption of Jesus as much as you do. So as your priests and as fellow disciples, we are to invite and encourage you both by word and example, to live in a manner consistent with the hope we share in Christ Jesus. For, as Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “One who has hope, lives differently.”
You and I seek to lead lives of love, virtue, generosity, and moral beauty, not because we think of ourselves as better than others, and not because we imagine that we can earn our way to heaven. No, we do this because a life of goodness and virtue is already a heavenly life. We are striving to love on earth the way we will love in heaven, when we will see God face to face, in company with all the angels and saints. Living and loving in a heavenly way is a sure sign that our hope is real, and it’s also a good definition of holiness and a recipe for happiness. Hope, virtue and joy travel together. Sadness and sin also travel together.
How To Live a Heavenly Life
But how do we progress in living a heavenly life here on earth? This brings us to the heart of your pastor’s role: his ministry of Word & Sacrament. By listening to the Word of God in prayer and by coming to know you well, your pastor is equipped to preach the Word of God effectively. By celebrating Mass and the Sacraments with reverence and love, your pastor offers you the means the Lord left us to grow in holiness, to progress day by day in living the heavenly life we’re meant to share in. Your pastor inaugurates this heavenly life in those he baptizes. He repairs and strengthens it in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He enables us to participate in the heavenly liturgy as he celebrates Mass, renewing Christ’s sacrifice and nourishing us with his Body and Blood. He prepares those called to Holy Matrimony to love each other as Christ loves his Church, both here on earth and in heaven. When we are seriously ill, our pastor offers the Sacrament of the Sick and Holy Communion as food for the journey from time to eternity.
You pastor knows well that we grow in holiness, not as isolated individuals, but rather as a community of faith, mutually supporting one another. He also recognizes that the Spirit bestows upon you many gifts and ministries, and so he strives to harvest these gifts for the good of the Church’s mission. And more than that, he seeks to form those he serves as missionary disciples, who are equipped to share the truth and beauty of the Gospel with others, including the unchurched, the semi-churched, and the alienated.
A big job, I think you’d agree, but for the vast majority of us your priests, there’s nothing in the world we’d rather be doing, nothing that brings us more joy and satisfaction than serving the Lord and serving you in his Name and in his Person. Pray for us and we pray daily for you – that together we may embrace the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus, and together bear witness to Him before the world. May you have a blessed Advent and God bless you and keep you always in his love.