Homily from the Parish Priest for the Fourth Sunday of Advent
Readings for Year B: II Samuel 7:1-16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 26-38
One of the really challenging things over these last 9 months has been really knowing what effect this dreadful pandemic has been having on the many people – the many more people – joining with us for Mass. So many people whom we’ve never met and so many other parishioners of this church whom we’ve hardly seen. Despite our Parish Pastoral Council’s excellent initiative reaching out on the ‘phone to hundreds of people registered at Farm Street, and despite the wonderful response from our over 70 volunteers from different churches looking after the homeless, I’m really relying on a few conversations to know what everyone is feeling. I might be totally wrong then to think there’s a lot of frustration, exasperation, despair at the moment. And it might just be me feeling some of that through the uncertainty of the current situation – the on/ off nature of the restrictions, the lack of personal contact, the disappointment about what some might perceive as little things such as music at Mass or not being able to go out to a pub or restaurant to socialise. What is objectively true is I’m being grounded more and more – more and more to appreciate being at home.
And giving thanks to God for being at home is brought into greater relief with the main work of the Parish these last 9 months in addition to the celebration of the sacraments and increased correspondence and communication through various media. Certainly for me, getting to know those in the middle of our city under our noses who are without a home has made me more and more grateful for having a home, in fact a large home with good company, warmth, food and drink, and meaningful work, all that I need to fulfil my calling in life, to make sense of it and be happy. In the midst of this I’m encountering those who seem to be completely under the radar in our giant metropolis, so many without a home and whose lives have taken a turn in the wrong direction, never it seems to me through only their fault, but as a result of what might be called bad luck – a childhood destroyed, a relationship gone wrong, fleeing from abusive situations caught in the web of broken lives.
And there are times that I think – this could easily have been me. I’m confident – I hope at least – many people would feel the same. All that is needed to point people in the right direction at times is not just funding, not just education but above all some genuine compassion, some sincere care and if it’s possible empathy. Our wonderful volunteers and our partner hotels and restaurants, struggling to keep going so much themselves, are providing that in bucket loads. They are showing those who might be hopeless and forgotten the care of Christ for each one of us, and the human face of God’s Church where Christ wants to make his home among us.
All of us need a home but that doesn’t mean just a shelter over our heads. Many will be on their own this Christmas. Many have been for most of the pandemic here in London where more people live alone than anywhere else in the country. But it may be also you are not alone but as a family or as a relationship you are struggling now. I’m sure that’s the case for so many. The message of this time must be you are not simply forgotten. To be fully human all of us, whoever we are from the wealthiest and most successful to the most destitute, need to know we are not alone, need to know we are special, we are loved, we are cared for. And as we prepare to celebrate the coming of the Lord at Christmas once again the best thing we can do I believe is not just to celebrate God’s coming again but to let someone who is lonely or destitute or struggling in whatever way know God has come into this world for them.
Maybe a ‘phone call to a long lost friend, a donation of food to a charity – so many more families in this city and country are relying on food banks as they simply cannot make ends meet, maybe offering your services to one of the fewer and fewer food services for rough sleepers and the lonely destitute still operating in our city. Or maybe it is showing those in our family how much we love them. We need to be strong together to get through this and we need to know that care again through us of the God who is among us his people.
This may not seem like a time for rejoicing but we need not worry. We can hand that over as in God’s plan the human race has already prepared the way for God to be with us as our saviour. Through the most unlikely member of our race a virgin girl from Nazareth, from the least of the People of Israel, the least of the clans of Judah, one like us made in his image and likeness yet preserved from the stain of sin, makes a free act of trust in God and obedience to his will. She has prepared a home for him. She has welcomed him into our world and so brought forth his reign of peace promised from the beginning of the world. That is just why we honour Our Lady on this 4th Sunday of Advent. We focus on Our Lady because it is she who is the perfect model of welcoming the Lord into our hearts, of nurturing him, and of bringing him to birth, the one who in total freedom has a heart open to God and open to the world where he wishes to make his home again. She is the new ark of his covenant, and as the mother of Our Lord becomes also our mother too, mother and image of what the Church can be. And in this she rejoices on behalf of broken yet redeemed humanity as the handmaid of the Lord.
Do you really know in your heart that Christ has made and wants again to not just visit but make his home in you too this Christmas? And like Mary can we welcome him so when we hear the Christmas story again we are found grateful at the homecoming of the Lord God Emmanuel – Son of God and Son of Mary - God now and always with us. And can we resolve to bring his love to our families, to our friends, and especially to those who need to know his love at this time in the world around us?
Fr Dominic Robinson SJ