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Good Works and Glad Tidings

This is a summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily delivered at St. Charles on December 12, 2004

"Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?"

EVERY SO OFTEN AN INQUISITIVE person will ask me, "If you were not a priest, what would you be?" I usually brush off the question, "With a bit of luck I'd be married." What one may want to know is what career I might pursue. I would say, "a social worker, a community organizer or a politician." The strange thing is that I believe a priest needs to be all four. A priest is called to love as He loved. Otherwise he is not a disciple. The work of social justice, often promoted by social worker, community organizer or politician, is as essential to the mission of the church and to priestly ministry as is the liturgy.

When the followers of John wanted to know if Jesus was the Christ, the promised one, He answered: "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them." Jesus spoke in the words of Isaiah, his favorite prophet. He announced his ministry in similar words from the same prophet: "He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bring liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Healing reconciliation, peace and justice were the signs that the prophets proclaimed as evidence of the coming Messiah. The child would put his hand in the adder's lair and there would be no harm on His holy mountain, for the lion and the lamb would lie down together. They would not train for war again.

This message is borne out in the teaching and action of Jesus. He ended his days in the company of convicts. His teaching and healing were directed to the lepers, the victims of violence and abuse, the sick and the stranger. His transport was the poor man's donkey.

At the first Christmas Mary could not find room at the inn. It is hard to find the place where Jesus was born in today's Bethlehem. It is in the basement of three churches, one built on top of the other. However, local guides will point out a place beside the church that may very well have been the place or a replica of it: a cave in the limestone rock where sheep were penned before they went to market.

It gives me great joy to minister as a priest in a parish that gives clear evidence of the presence of the Lord of life and compassion.

Right beside the Altar we have the Advent Giving tree. It still has a few tags. Most have been taken by families who are reaching out to neighbors who have to choose between toys for their children and food. At the doorway is a bassinet for Borromeo Housing, where parishioners place items for mothers and children. Borromeo Housing not only offers shelter for women and children who face difficult challenges, it provides them education and life-skills that enable them to become self-sufficient. This project offers St Charles the chance to put a pro-life stance into practical support for vulnerable children.

Our second collection today for Catholic Charities supports the outreach of the diocese and opens the doors of Christ House to homeless people suffering from hypothermia in the wintertime.

Finally, volunteers from our social justice committee provide information today on Home for the Holidays. Forty-six percent of those who live in shelters in Virginia are employed but do not earn enough to afford permanent housing. This advocacy to our state legislators would provide the rental assistance that will allow people to move out of shelters and find a home. In addition this will provide space to the hundreds of people who are turned away because "there is no room at the inn."

Let this advent season abound with the signs of healing and compassion that announce the presence of Emmanuel, the Lord of Life, the Prince of Peace, the promised Messiah.

  or  2004 Homilies