First Advent Sunday 01.12.2013

WE START AGAIN.... a new Church-year to celebrate the Life of Jesus Christ.
How was ist in 2013 ?  We felt "going with the Church ?" or we stay in good distance ? How strange the Church became for me in 2013 ?
How should it be in 2014 ?  I'm going to integrate myself into the Catholic Community in order to serve Humanity ?
But sure - it cannot be every year the same - it's a pity! Development is better !

Going with the Church means:
1.) I keep myself informed.
I like to know what's going on in my Community, in the Diocese and in the World-Church. Why hot subscribe to the "Southern Cross" ? and read it carefully !
2.) I keep myself going.
I will participate in the Church-events: Holy Mass; Sacraments; Feasts, Actions...
but don't forget: doing my work very rightly in my profession, on my work-place -
that's also a Church-action!
3.) I bring myself into some Church-activities.
In the Holy Mass:  I sing; I listen; I may become a reader; a catechist !
Do we have a group who is ready to prepare the Sunday Mass in the Parish ?
In a Church-group: I become a member; I bring in my ideas; my contribution!
In this way I will become in 2014 an active member of the Catholic Community!
We need Sunday-Service people !

We know the Cath. Cty is part of the acting Body of Christ in our time. There is hope: we may do what JvN has done 2000 years ago. We open our people to see and to hear what's going on and to react in a good healty style. We empower our people to participate in the public life, to make decisions and improvements.

To build up a strong Church-Community - let me know: what can you do better for you and for all ?  There are a lot of complaints: corruption, gbv, passion-killings,
stealing, missunderstandings, revenge etc...  what may I do alone ?
But as a faith-based Community - we can do very much!

34 Sun C / Lk 23.35-43 END

We also celebrate the end of the Year of Faith. 
I hope it's not the end of faith but rather it was a renewal of faith.
But serious: what did you do in favour of such a renewal ?
Faith has changed during 2013 or not at all ?
You know faith is a seed, planted in every soul.

I draw a picture of faith:
A) We all are in one boat; we are convinced: the waves carry us.
B) We are quite busy: we eat fish, we row. But the salty water we don't drink...
C) We decide to sing: "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom".

A) Faith is here a subject we are embedded in. All of us participate with the
conviction: the Universe is somehow stable. Without such faith life is impossible.
Faith is in every person the human power of trust.

B) Some objects we believe are good for us; but to some objects we revoke faith.
We don't believe in you any more... we don't trust anymore...  That's an interesting
development... some objects loose reality.

C) Before we do something, we have already decided: that's something for us.
I believe means: I have decided that's something for me; it's a reality in my view.
I believe in God means: I have decided God is a reality (good for me).

Faith is a subject, we are in; faith is against an object we are attracted to; faith is an activity, we decide for.

Faith is much ore than a religious matter. Faith is human! Faith is the decision: yes I am somebody. I am nobody is a contradiction: is no faith.
And as much as we are able to say YES to me, so we say YES to Us, to the Universe - and maybe to God.

33 Sun C Lk 21.5-19 ENDURANCE

Until today people admire the beauty..  arts, religion, landscape, science etc...
and Jesus comes with a "reality-shock": everything will be destroyed!
People living in a state of illusion will ask: when and what sign ? anger / trouble!
In front of the temple it's hart to believe...
But today we know at least after 4 1/2 billion years our sun-system will explode.

Jesus take the chance to open our CHRISTIAN eyes:

A) What ever happen... revolutions, wars, Haiyan, tsunami, plagues, famine,
refugees-streams, earthquakes, finance-crashes ...
take care... rise up your attention... know and see and hear what's going on

B) What ever your experiences in such situations: betrayal, persecution, death...
take the chance to bear wittness...
don't forget: you are called to proclaim the Kingdom of God;
                                          to introduce a NEW Heaven + a NEW EARTH
your conviction about God as challenging LIGHT about the resurrection of Jesus
Christ gives you wisdom and eloquence enough ...

C) and keep in mind ENDURANCE is all; don't give in...   keep going...

Jesus himself has given the example: through all the circumstances he kept
his mission...  no matter what happend: betrayal, persecution, death...
he kept going...  endurance through all difficulties...he kept the conviction:
GOD IS GOOD FOR US.

Endurance today is much more difficult then ever. In an all-changing world,
in a world you learn more and more, there are great new discoveries...
what is it - you keep on ?  What you once learnt is today old stuff; and you
are not any more what you once has been...  what do you keep on ?
If you have discovered and secured your mission...keep it ! ? !
Maybe your mission is your personality. Jesus "I am the bread of Life".

32 Sun C Lk 20.38 God of the living...

The Catechist observed the children drawing and asks a girl: what her drawing shows. The girl replied: "I'm drawing God". The Catechist mentioned: "But no one
knows what God looks like". The girl: "Wait a moment, they will see it very soon."

What the girl is creatively doing "DRAWING GOD", humanity is doing since homo sapiens is an earth; all over, everytime, since of old people design God.
We are all designer of God.
The histroy of "designing God" is very interesting: Some have drew him as victorious warrior, as terrible revenge, as patriarch, king, creator (allmighty,
merciful, full of love...) You remember Marduk, Isis, Zeus, Wotan, Jahwe etc.. HOW IS GOD ?  God looks like ?

For the religious people it's a very brutal discovery: in reality we do not know it.
No Religion, NO Church, NO Theology, NO Profet knows "HOW IS GOD". The real Christian Theology will tell you first: God is absolute MYSTERY !
[Jesus - as a child of his time - has known the God of his people: the Jahwe-God
and his contribution to the new designing of God is still a surprise].

Exactly because God is absolute MYSTERY, there is no other way for humans
than to decide HOW we see God! To speak about God means to design God.
The contributing factors to this historical designing are not all well known and some of them unconscious. Look Pope Francis: Once a hart man now designing God as merciful. The mother telling the child: God will punish you, has designed
the image of God as punishing. The Cath. Church spaeking about "ens absolutum"
has given God the image of the highest all-embracing entity.

Dead people do not design God - it's over! Only the living people of every time
are drawing God; making a picture of HIM, they decide which image of God to propagate. God is all the time the "God of the living" (his image is made esp. by the religious people).. Only living people are designing and make decisions.

Today we are invited to go to this level of consciouness and to become aware which picture of God we are drawing; we are presenting. I hope you enjoy the creative task to give God an attractive image.