Summarizing the readings for this weekend
If you want the 9 word summary of today’s readings it is the following: “Hold onto the Wheat, let go of the chaff.”
Make Straight the way for the Lord
Last week we heard from St. John the Baptist - about how it is time to make straight the paths of the Lord. The practical advice that John had on how to do this was by being baptised in the River Jordan while you confessed your sins - or the ways we were separated from God.
Ok, now what? Wait a minute - maybe he is the Messiah?
The people who accepted John’s preaching found themselves asking him - “Well, now what? How do I stay in this reformed relationship with Christ?” To which John goes on to give them additional advice on how to live their lives. The people find this advice useful and so they begin to wonder… Is John the Messiah?
He will Baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire
John answers this - “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Who is going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire? (you and I)
What will Jesus do with us? He will use his winnowing fan to clear the threshing floor (where we are) - to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Ok, so what is Chaff and Wheat?
We do not live in an agrarian world, and so we don’t have a clear understanding anymore about the difference between Wheat and Chaff. When wheat is harvested, it is chopped down, stalk and all - then after harvest the farmer needs to separate the wheat (the seeds that are used to make flour which is the main ingredient to bread) from the chaff - which is the stalk - it is a waste product.
There is deep significance to the imagery that St. John uses. Wheat becomes flour which is used to make bread and - and as Catholics, the priest offers bread to God in the Mass and God gives us the Eucharist, whereas chaff is waste from the process and is destroyed.
John tells us that the Messiah is coming to harvest us, to gather the Wheat into His barn (heaven) while the chaff he will burn in an unquenchable fire! The Messiah is coming to gather in the “Wheat” (what is authentically who God created us to be) and to burn away the “Chaff” (what is not really part of who we are - but some lie we believe about ourselves).
What is the Chaff in my life?
Chaff is that part of our life that we “think and believe” is essential to who we are or how we live but is not of God - and we believe the lie that this is part of us.
For example:
I am in pain, and so I distract myself with too much work, or drugs, or alcohol…
I am avoiding a conversation with my spouse so I busy myself with chores
I have hurt my friend - and so I avoid spending time with them, or talking about a difficult topic.
Chaff is the sin that we commit that takes us away from God - it is a waste of God’s creation and ultimately it leads us to nowhere. Chaff is a lie, a deception or a waste. Chaff is of no worth or value.
What is the Wheat of my life?
Wheat is who God authentically created us to be - part of that comes from who we are innately, and the rest comes from how we respond to the events of life - when we respond in the Spirit of Christ - that is Wheat. Wheat matures, ripens and becomes more and more purely the expression of the best that we have to offer. Wheat is what is truly beautiful and good and true in who God created when he created you and I.
The Lifecycle of Wheat
Wheat has a deeper spiritual meaning. As Catholics, whenever we read about Wheat in the Scriptures we think of Christ because Christ offered wheat (himself) to become the Eucharist - through which he nourishes us with His presence. When wheat is crushed it becomes bread which is nourishment for us. Jesus says in John’s Gospel - “Unless a grain of wheat dies, it simply remains a grain of wheat - but if it falls to the ground and dies it produces fruit 40, 60 or 100 fold.
Being filled with the Spirit of Christ
As Baptized Christians we are called to become “like Christ”. God has given us the gift of the Spirit of Christ which we also call the Holy Spirit - that means to the extent to which live our lives in communion with Him, being transparent to His grace, and allowing his thinking, actings and being to shine through us is how we hold onto the wheat and let go of the chaff - because the Spirit of Christ is Good, and True and Beautiful - which is who God created us to be. On the other hand Chaff is Evil, False and Ugly - which is what we do to ourselves when we fall into sin or give into the chaff in our lives.
Respond to the invitation towards communion
Advent is a penitential season, and these readings and St. John the Baptist calls us to seriously examine our lives and seek out those areas of chaff - then take them to confession and be freed of them.
Christ calls all of us His brothers and sisters, and He understands that family is not perfect, that we are not in communion - but called to enter into communion with one another.
Bishop Barron shared that one of his favorite quotes from Cardinal George is that modern America is that we permit anything, and we forgive nothing… As Christianity fades from having an impact on our culture our world is losing sight of the witness of forgiveness and reconciliation being practiced within it.
Give Christ the gift of forgiveness this Christmas
The readings today invite us to hold onto the wheat and let go of the chaff. One way to do that is to reflect on this past season of advent and ask yourself the question
Is there someone I need to apologize to? Ask forgiveness of?
Is there someone I need to forgive?
There is another homily that could be given here on what is forgiveness and how to forgive, but we will save that for another time. The point is, I want to invite you to consider putting Christ on your Christmas list this year.
We have taken this time of Advent for reflection, examination and reconciliation. Hopefully we have seen some areas where we are called to change, to become more Christ-like. If not - don’t panic - there are two more weeks until Christmas.
In your reflections look for those places where you are hurt, and need to forgive. When we choose to hold onto a debt, hurt or injury that another caused us we are often wounded by bitterness, anger, and despair. We grow a little more chaff. Likewise when we choose to free another of the debt that they owe us, we become more Wheat-like, more Christ-like.
Give Christ the gift of your forgiveness to one of His brothers or sisters - so that He might see the world a little more reconciled on the feast of the Prince of Peace.
Hold onto the Wheat, let go of the Chaff.
Think about it. Pray about it. Do it.
by offering someone forgiveness, or asking someone for their forgiveness. That is part of the Christian witness, that is part of what the Eucharist is about - that is the
Is there someone I need to forgive?
Before we step into how to respond to this challenge, remember that forgiveness is rooted in justice - that they owe me for what they did to me. Forgiveness is letting go of a debt that someone owes you. It is rooted in justice that we should love and treat one another fairly. When we are wounded, when we are injured then we are owed a debt of reparation to settle accounts. Forgiveness means that we surrender the debt that another owes us.
Some notes about what it means to forgive.
Forgiveness does not mean that I am no longer hurt
Forgiveness does not mean that I have to be friends with the other
Forgiveness does not mean that I trust you.
Step 1 - Pray for your Enemies
If you find yourself wanting to respond to this invitation then the first step is to pray. Pray for the person who hurt us. Remember that in the Lord’s Prayer we pray each day “Forgive us as we forgive those who hurt us.”
Set aside a time (some days or weeks) to pray for the person. Pray about your own woundedness and for the person who wounded us. For us to be filled with the Spirit of Christ is for us to pray for our enemies as He prayed for His. Pray for your persecutors, bless them, do not curse them.
Reflect on what the debt is
Next, take some time (This is best in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament) to recall injuries that need to be forgiven.
If you need to forgive another then ask yourself - What was taken, what was hurt or what was lost?
We do this because forgiveness is rooted in justice, and justice is about there being an equality between us as brothers and sisters in Christ.
We know from the witness of Christ on the Cross that forgiveness costs. It was not easy or cheap for Christ to forgive you or I for our sin - it took the Cross.
Additionally, it often irks us to have to be the one to reach out and offer forgiveness - because it costs us (especially as the aggrieved party) to reach out to seek to heal the relationship.
Or forgiveness is an invitation to
We can only understand forgiveness in terms of Justice - what I owe another person or what another person owes me.
Forgiveness is “I am not going to make you pay me back for what you owe me”. (Matt 18:21-35)
Repentance is Good!
How should we live?
Wheat -> Truth -> Identify -> Dies -> 100x ->Eucharist
Chaff -> Lie -> False -> Death -> Sin -> The End
What do you owe me? -
Pay me what you owe me! or I release you from your debt.
I know what you owe me! - Write down what someone owes you. - Count the cost. I can only do this with God’s grace.
They hurt me and cost me trust
It influences how I see myself…
Look at this list and say “with God’s grace I am not going to make you pay me back.
It gives us the freedom to move forward
Pray for those who I need to forgive… - pray for your enemies
Pray
Cardinal George - we live in a society that permits everything and forgives nothing
We pride ourselves on our society - everything is permitted, but nothing is forgiven. Offenses are carefully counted and remembered.
Do something about injustice in my life.
First - Pray
Send a note
Send an email
Write a letter
Do something. simple - Reconcile.
Make a phone call
Make an accounting in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament
Wheat means that I choose to fast, pray or interceded for the other.
Forgiveness is to deny oneself revenge… Forgiveness is costly to the forgiver…
I am going to him / her to reconcile… Costly? Yes, you are a victim, but it costs.
Why do we say that God’s forgiveness comes through the cross? Forgiveness always costs - the one who forgives?
You are not a Christian for yourself, but for the world.. It is the Christian living the Christian life that teaches the world forgiveness.
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