A sermon on Luke 3:1-6

By Fr. Mike Paraniuk
St. Mary Catholic Church
St. Benignus Catholic Church 
St. Mary Queen of Heaven
and Holy Trinity Catholic Church

My first brand-new car was a 1975 Toyota Corolla. I bought it in the dead of winter to get a good deal. I parked it away from other cars so no one could dent it with their doors. 

One day, I heard this thumping outside my apartment window. I saw a young boy throwing snowballs at the side of my car. I yelled for him to stop doing that. He ran away. I was aghast when I saw the side of my car riddled with dents. 

I knew where the kid lived. I calmed down before paying a visit to the kid's dad. I explained to him his son did a lot of damage. The father felt the son should be accountable to pay me back the cost of the $100 deductible, which was a lot of money back then. We devised a plan where the son would give me all the money he made cutting grass. The money collected would be stored in a big glass jar, which he would give me in the fall.

That kid kept his part of the bargain. I would see him cutting grass all over Batavia. I even let him cut my grass, paying him his usual fee – a buck fifty (worth $10 today). 

The boy came to my house in the fall and handed me the glass jar filled with dollar bills. He said, "Here's the money I owe you. Sorry about denting your car by throwing snowballs at it. I just got bored." 

He handed me the jar. I told him, "I don't want the money." 

He looked at me like I was nuts. 

I told him, "I want you to take this money and give it away to someone standing in line waiting to get free bread at that building near Holy Trinity Church (the one in Batavia). Pick any person you want." 

I personally drove him up there to make sure he gave it away. I instructed him, "Say to whomever you give this jar to, 'This is a gift from God.'"

The following Sunday I attended Mass at Holy Trinty. This guy came up to me very excited. 

He said, "My wife is sick with cancer. I have to take her for many visits at the hospital in Cincinnati. I prayed to God for gas money which I don't have. Then this kid comes to me at the bread line and gives me a jar filled with dollar bills, saying 'This is a gift from God.' God sure works in mysterious ways." 

To declare, "God works in mysterious ways" simply means God has a plan to help us. God reveals His plans in Jer. 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." 

Advent is a celebration that God sent Jesus to give you a future life that never ends and a hope that God loves you so much He would die to have you with Him. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8.) God loved the unlovable sinner. That is the joy of Advent. 

John the Baptist was yelling out to everyone: "Prepare the way of the Lord." 

The best way for you to prepare to meet Jesus is to "love the unlovable" like Jesus did. There are so many people that have no self-worth, believing themselves not worthy of God's love nor deserving of love from anyone. 

I felt that way. When I left the seminary in 1974, I felt unloved by God, the Church and a disappointment to others for giving up the call to priesthood. I carried around the scarlet letter on my chest, "F" for failure. 

But God sent me a wonderful priest, Fr. Ed, who affirmed my worth. He restored my faith in God's Love for me. He told me, "God loves you for your faith, not your successes." I am a priest today because Fr. Ed became "God in the flesh," loving me when I felt unlovable.  

As the beautiful hymn says, "All I Ask of You Is Forever to Remember Me as Loving You."