Homily
for Advent 2
December
6, 2020
Caught
Doing Good
It was pouring rain as 14-year-old
Tyrea Pryor stood under an overhang outside of a grocery store. He happened to
notice an elderly lady in her 90s struggling to push her grocery cart through
the rain to her car. Without thinking twice, Tyrea ran across the wet parking
lot, took off his own jacket, and used it as an umbrella to shield the woman
from rain until she got the groceries in her car.
Little did he know that his act of
kindness was being filmed by a police officer, who then posted it on social
media – and it immediately got thousands of “likes” and “shares”. Overnight,
the boy became a local celebrity in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. The
officer was so impressed by the small act of kindness that he tracked down the
boy and his family and took them out to dinner in thanks for his goodness. The
manager of the grocery store even offered the boy a job because of his obvious
integrity. Tyrea was overwhelmed and humbled by the attention – and as he was
being interviewed by the local TV station, he said simply, “I just try to
always do what’s right.”
It’s nice to get caught doing the right
thing, isn’t it? It’s always great when the boss walks in while we’re doing a
good job, or hidden act of kindness to your spouse becomes known. Getting
caught doing good certainly beats getting caught doing something bad!
Today’s second reading from Second
Peter speaks rather terrifyingly about the Second Coming of Christ. We know
that He will come back, not as a baby but as a majestic King, to judge
the living and the dead. But St. Peter asks a very poignant question: “Because
we know that Jesus will return again, what sort of people must we be?” Is He going
to catch us doing good, or doing evil?
We often hear that Advent is a time
of preparation. Think of how we prepare for guests at Christmas – we clean the
house, make sure the food is cooked, the table is set, everything is ready. If
someone were to stop by unexpectedly and see your dirty laundry sitting out on
your couch, with filthy dishes in the sink and the trash can overflowing, it
would be a great embarrassment, and you probably wouldn’t welcome them into
your home!
In the same way, we should not be
caught unaware of Christ’s coming – whether it be His Second Coming or Him
coming for us at the hour of our death. It is guaranteed that one or the other
will happen to us in our lives – either we will see Him as a judge at our
death, or we will see His return in glory. Either way, we must be ready for
Him, for He is coming soon – for all of us.
What kind of preparation do we need?
St. Peter himself gives the answer: “holiness and devotion, being eager to be
found without spot or blemish before Him.” A life of holiness is the
preparation required. This Advent, I ask you to consider – what vice or sin do
you need to overcome? What virtue do you need to develop? How do you want your
relationship with the Lord to grow?
Today’s Gospel features John the
Baptist “preparing the way for the Lord”. Why? Because his baptism was one of
repentance from sin. He knew that before people recognized Jesus as the
Messiah, they first needed to turn from their sins. Repentance is preparation
for the grace of God. And so it is with us – if we wish to be ready to welcome
the Lord, the Sacrament of Confession is necessary. That’s not only true at the
end of our lives, but also when we approach Christ in the Eucharist. If we have
mortal sin on our soul, we must make sure our souls have first been cleansed by
Confession before we can worthily receive Him in the Blessed Sacrament.
If Christ came today, would you go
out to meet Him eagerly, excited to show Him your life? Or would we run the
other way, knowing that we are stained by the filth of this world and our sins?
I pray that He may catch us doing good, living in holiness and devotion!
I close with the story of a saint who was “caught
doing good”. Born in Turin, Italy in 1901 to the wealthy editor of the largest
Italian newspaper, called “La Stampa” (think the New York Times of Italy). Pier
Giorgio Frassati was a child of an atheist father and a nonpracticing mother.
But from his earliest days, little Pier was drawn to the things of God. He used
to walk to daily Mass at ten years old and quickly joined the youth group at
his local parish, advancing in holiness. But to his friends, he was just Pier –
a practical joker, an excellent athlete, a young man who loved to hike and
smoke a cigar every now and then.
Many didn’t know of his clandestine life serving
the poor. He would frequently come home after running an errand without his
coat or shoes, because he gave them to the poor. He would refuse to go on
family vacations because he would rather serve the poor in Turin. His parents
thought he was too extreme in his charity and devotions – why wouldn’t he just
enjoy life, like all the other young men?
When he was twenty-four, he caught polio
from his work with the sick – but his parents refused to believe that he was
truly ill. Pier didn’t want to draw attention to his illness, especially
because his grandmother was dying at the time, so he suffered in silence.
Finally, his polio progressed to the point that he was paralyzed. But again,
his parents thought he was seeking attention and didn’t really call the doctors
until it was too late. His last words were instructions to his parents to give
some money to a certain poor family who needed it for medicine.
His parents were amazed, then, when his
funeral attracted over two thousand mourners, most of them from among the poor of
Turin. Too late did his family realize that they had a saint in their midst! He
was beatified by Pope John Paul II as Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. It was
only after his death that he was “caught doing good”.
Christ will come for you and me – either at
the end of our lives, or at the end of time. Will we be prepared? Will we be “caught
doing good” and living a life of holiness? My challenge for you this Advent is
to consider: what sin do you need to repent of? What vice do you need to
overcome? What virtue do you need to increase? How can you grow in your
relationship with the Lord? In a word, what do you need to do in your life to
be prepared for the coming of Christ?
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