Luke 2:16-21. 1-1-2023 (As built, Amite #527)
- Time…
- The year is about eighteen sixty-four… President Lincoln has done all he can do… the war is inevitable and it is forthcoming as a result of it he relies on certain people… none more than Senator John Hale… he has become a member of his council… a dear friend… somebody that he could rely on… somebody that he can count on… and I got to tell you Lincolns got his hands full… fact of the matter is everything is in play… John Hale has two issues… not only is his time taken up with President Lincoln now his dear friend and the problems with the war… he’s also got another issue that takes up a lot fo time and that’s his daughter Lucy… she is something special… she truly is… she has all the bells and whistles… she is articulate… she is driven… she has an excellent motor… she is well spoken… she is a beautiful young lady and she just knows how to accommodate… she’s very understanding very approachable… as a result of it he listens to what her issues are growing up especially in this time of the war… he’s got to go listen to the presidents speaking… he’s got to tell you his time is just all over the place… as a result of it man the inauguration come… President Lincoln is about to be inaugurated… as a result of it I mean of course who wouldn’t want to go… right… but the fact of the matter is it’s getting close to Valentine’s Day… and out of nowhere you know the Senator is worried about his daughter… who she dates who is she going to marry how is this going… he tried to introduce her to a doctor Oliver… he later became a Supreme Court Justice but it just wasn’t there… it just didn’t fit… well line day Lucy gets this letter… on Valentine’s Day… I read the letter… wow… can this guy play… he wanted to set up a blind date… he wanted to meet her… he gave a lot of clues and a lot of hints and this and that… I got to tell you… the letter is outstanding… and i got to tell you they hit it off from the get go… so much so man they were almost inseparable… i mean it was almost like quote a match made in heaven… and of course here now comes the inauguration who better for her to go with than this gentleman… so they got to the inauguration… it’s President Lincoln… the world is where it is… and of course Ii mean what do you do… you’re there as behalf if you will as the Senators daughter… you’re with your date… and Robert Todd Lincoln asked you to dance… I think you should dance with the presidents son but what do I know… my brothers and sisters in Christ I mean what can she do she is caught… so she does… the guy she’s with will have none of it… when I tell you he blows a gasket in the middle of the inauguration… he does… it’s unbelievable … I’m telling you it was cataclysmic… so much so that not only does he leave… he never calls… writes or even makes a point to contact her… he’s out… he has walked away full throttle… man can i tell you she’s falling off the reservation… Lucy is beside herself… now she’s taken up even more of the Senators time… and man he’s telling her look… give it time… this too shall pass… she will have none of it… she has become depressed… she has become sour… she doesn’t want to go out… she is loosing in every possible way… as a result of he it he’s saying look I’m telling you… just stay in it… just keep walking… i promise you some day the good Lord will send you the right person… and if that ain’t bad enough he’s got to break the news to her that he’s now Ambassador to Spain he’s got to leave… and so does she… man if it’s not bad enough that this happened I now have to go to Spain… low and behold they finally get there kicking and screaming… she meets a Mr. Chandler can i tell you… time well spent… he is the guy that she had been waiting for… they have a wonderful family they have many children… and finally the Senator comes to his daughter and says see I told you… it’s just going to take a little bit of time…and she said I never thought I’d get there… and he said thank God in heaven your last name isn’t Booth…
- Man my brothers and sisters in Christ it’s all about time… that is that gospel… the Angels took the time to proclaim to the shepherds… the shepherds took the time to go find the manger… and then they took the time to tell Mary who took the time to ponder in her heart all the things that were told… now stop you are a first century Jew … remember his mother is Jewish… his step-father if you will is Jewish… he will be circumsized as you just heard as a Jew… he will be crucified as a Jew… Christ is a Jew… so you and I need to look through the eyes of a Jew… this is what you’re not being told… the shepherds aren’t your ordinary shepherds… these aren’t the ones that just don’t have anything else to do… this is all they can do… remember our best players are shepherds… Abraham, Moses and David… my brothers and sisters in Christ these are Levitical shepherds their job is to raise the lambs for the Passover meal… they are six miles if you will from the city of Jerusalem… they’re in Bethlahem… their job is to raise the lambs… when they’re about to be born they would go up into the caves of the mountain… they would find the one manger that they built and they would put the new lambs there… they would wrap them in swaddling clothes… yes that’s right you heard right… they would take garments from a priest… they would shred it… wrap them up in it so they couldn’t hit or bump or blemish anything… why… because if they bumped it or blemished… or scarred… or marked it… then the lamb couldn’t be sold… so when an Angel shows up and says you’ll find a child albeit in swaddling clothes lying in a manger brothers and sisters in Christ for a Jew… for a shepherd who’s bringing the sheep into the world… wait a minute there’s a person there… you mean they’rein the manger where the sheep are going to be held… you mean they’re going to be wrapped in swaddling clothes and he’s going to be priestly garments… and where would they have gotten the priestly garments… they would have gotten them from Zechariah… Elizabeth… John the Baptists parents when they went to visit… you see because Mary was already pregnant… you see my brothers in Christ the shepherds know now what they’re going to see… they’re going to see the new born king… the new lamb of God… my brothers and sisters in Christ because they took the time… Mary took the time to ponder…
- All of our best players in scripture are those who made good use of time… Case and point… if I told you that he was a religious man… if i told you he was a man of means… you may not quite know who he is… if i told you that he was very Jewish… and that he was part of of the Pharisees… you would have said well i might know… if i told you he gave up his tomb… then you’d say oh man that’s Joseph of Arimathea… he gave up the time to go see Pilate… nobody wants to go see Pilate… not unless you have a death wish… to say that were going to take the guy that you put on a crucifix… and we’re going to put him in my tomb… that took courage… but then again that is why his name is in the book of life… my brothers and sisters in Christ when Veronica goes to wipe the face of Christ… because she took the time to do that… do you know according to tradition she’s the same woman that touched his tassel… that was hemorrhaging and therefore could not worship…that if you touched her you were contaminated and quarantined… but because she stopped the crucifixion… and today we have her veil in Rome… the image of our savior Jesus Christ… her name is in the book of life… if I told you my brothers and sisters in Christ that because Longinus stood up and said truly that man was the son of God… this day his name is in the book of life… because he took the time to do it and to do it publicly … my brothers and sisters in Christ all of our best players are the ones that take the time to do the things they need to do… to make it happen… regardless of all the other things that needed time…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ here you and I sit two Thousand years later let’s see how you and I spend our time… well let’s see… my brothers and sisters in Christ how much of today… do you spend thinking about yesterdays time… last week… last month… last year… how much of your day do you spend worried about what was said… did say… could’ve said… happened to you… shouldn’t have happened to you… but it did and the people that you passed… how much of yesterday… last year… last month… takes up your day today… my brothers and sisters in Christ listen to what I’m telling you… please remember this… just because you are a product of your past does not mean you need to be a prisoner of it… your past has no string on you… it never did… that’s the point… the evil one wants to believe that he can tie you to your past… every saint has a past and every sinner has a future… the question is where you and I go from this point forward… you got to make use of your time you need to be diligent of your time… my brothers and sisters in Christ if you make time your name will be in the book of life… if you don’t make the time there is no book of death… my brothers in Christ it’s where you and I go from this point forward… my brothers and sisters in Christ let me ask you… how many of you this past year… think about how you spent your time… when it comes to prayer… do you spend more time on your cellphone… or do you spend more time in prayer… if you spend more time texting then you do praying… that’s disordered… if you spend more time talking about others then you do Jesus Christ…that’s sinful… if you spend more time at the duck blind… at the deer stand… or playing travel ball or kickball then you do going to church… then you’ve broken a commandment and it’s moralistic… how are you spending your time… will you go to as many masses this year as you went to last year… oh I see you’re a minimalist… I’ll tell you what on the day of your judgment boy what a great card to play… Lord i did my job… i showed up just on Sunday… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you… you don’t want to be a minimalist when you stand before him… do anything minimally in your life… clean your house minimally… cook minimally… do your job minimally… fix your car minimally… do whatever you think you need to do minimally and tell me how it works for you… study for the test minimally… and see the results of your work… my brothers and sisters in Christ you’re either all in or you’re all out… you can’t be halfway… if there’s a fence between heaven and hell it’s owned by the devil himself… the question is what are you going to do with your time… you are never neutral to him… email…text message… talks that you have… conversations… whether you go to mass or not you’re either walking towards him or away from him in everything you do… no matter how small it is you’re either walking towards him or away from him… so if you’re going to go to the same amount of masses this year then last… you’re going backwards how much time did you spend in adoration last year… did you even go… you spent the whole year… and not one time went to adoration to adore him… and to worship him… to tell him thank you… for the roof over your head and the clothes on your back… to say thank you for being born in still at least for now the greatest country in the world… When are you going to give him your thanks… when you stand before him… too little too late…how much of your time is spent promoting Catholicism… how much of your time my brothers and sisters in Christ… if a stranger walked into your house… would they know you’re Catholic and you never say a word… by the number of crucifixes… or statues… or things about… oh i see you don’t want to offend anybody… but we have no problem offending him… my brothers and sisters in Christ if somebody drove by the front of your house… did you take the time to let people know you’re Catholic I’m not talking about the back yard… I’m talking about the front yard… how much time have you spent in your car letting people know that you are Catholic… you’ve got to stop apologizing for your faith… you’re either in or you’re out… my brothers and sisters in Christ don’t you see… the world is not going to get better… just because it’s a new year… we have the same management running the country this year as we did last year… we have the same management running the church this year as we did last year… so somehow or another you think the results are going to get better…w as last year or the year before better than last year… I think not… so I’m telling you that time is of the essence… be smart here… be disciplined here… make better use of your time… instead of getting on that email or text message or facebook… instead of watching this movie or that movie and that show… that we spend a little bit more time in prayer… or adoration… coming to mass going to confession… if you can’t make confession once a month… my Lord my God stop what you’re doing… get back in the game…
- And I leave you with this… I’ve got good news… and not so good news… the bad news is time is going to fly and it’s going to fly faster this year than last year… that’s the bad news… the good news is… you’re still the Pilate… you’re either in or you’re out…
