Cardinal Seán O'Malley - Homily for 3rd Sunday of Advent and Statement regarding Newtown, CT,...

7/30/2019 Cardinal Sen O'Malley - Homily for 3rd Sunday of Advent and Statement regarding Newtown, CT, tragedy

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Christmas is about children. It is about the no vacancy sign on the motels in

Bethlehem. It is about grieving families of Bethlehem whose innocent children were

cruelly snatched away.

The antidote has to be that Gods love enters into our darkness and teaches ushow to love and forgive and care for one another. The crowd made up of self-centered

individuals must be forged into a community that draws people closer to God and to

one another.

As shocking as the news of the mass murder in Newtown Connecticut was on

the front pages of every newspaper, I found some consolation yesterday in reading the

the obituary of Mary Ann Fisher, who died recently at 79 years of age. Marianne and

her husband Andrew received much notoriety back in 1963 when in addition to their

six children, Mary Ann gave birth to quintuplets.

There was a two-hour parade through Aberdeen, South Dakota, on October 14,

1963, one month after Marianne Fisher gave birth to four girls and one boy at St.

Lukes hospital the first quintuplets to survive in the United States. About 50,000

persons including Aberdeens 24,000 residents were on hand for the ceremonies. A

highlight of the occasion was the presentation of five medals from Pope Paul VI to the

Fishers. I was in the seminary at the time and remember the joy and excitement that

reverberated through the entire nation as people joyfully welcomed five tiny, newborn

babies to our country and into our hearts.

Advent is a time to prepare for Christmas, the celebration of Christs birth. The

great figures of advent our St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary is

the woman of advent, Gods final preparation for the coming of the Messiah.


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In Dorothy Days biography she describes an incident from her childhood in

California. Her neighborhood was rocked by earthquakes that sent people scurrying

into their yards where they lived in tents for days. She was amazed how neighbors

who never spoke to each other were suddenly sharing their food and water, helping to

take care of the children and the elderly. A sense of community and connectedness

sprang up that she had never experienced in her life. The rest of Dorothy Days life

was a long quest to achieve that same sense of community and connectedness. It led

her into the Communist Party and eventually after having one child out of wedlock and

losing another to abortion, Dorothy Day found her way into the Catholic Church and

spent the rest of her life caring for the homeless and mentally ill in the Bowery of New

York.

Today we are confronted by the tragedy of the slaughter of innocents and at the

same time we listen to John the Baptis ts clarion call to be what God has created us to

be. So often the real meaning of Christmas is buried in consumerism and superficial

sentimentality. We must break through all of that to rediscover our God who has

become a little child to teach us how to love.

In the years ago when I was a young priest in Washington, on a Saturday

afternoon, I was waiting to celebrate a wedding at St. Matthews Cathedral. My

weddings were always notoriously late and that Saturday was no exception. Finally

the bride appeared at the door of the sacristy. She looked lovely in her white gown and

veil but I could see that she had been crying. She said, Padre, there will be no

wedding today because my fiance is in Buffalo New York and there is 6 feet of snow.

Please go to the church and tell the people there will be no wedding but that they

should proceed directly to the reception. I went to the church, mounted the pulpit and

made the announcement. When I said: There will be no wedding here today, there

was an audible gasp from the congregation. But then I told them there would be a


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The joy and enthusiasm of our country in 1963 over the birth of five tiny babies

and the countrys pain and frustratio n over the loss of 20 innocent first graders are both

a testimony that every child is precious. Our prayer for these yet to be born is that they

will live in a world that will be safer for children, a world where they will be nurtured,

protected and loved.

Cardinal Seán O'Malley - Homily for 3rd Sunday of Advent and Statement regarding Newtown, CT,...

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