The Sounds and Silence of Advent: A Reconciliation Service
by Paulist Fr. Rich Andre
December 20, 2017

Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for a reconciliation service at St. Austin Parish in Austin, TX on December 18, 2017. The following readings were proclaimed at the service: 1 Kings 19:2-13a and Matthew 10:26-28. 



While the Church is celebrating the season of Advent right now, the outside world is in the full swing of the Christmas season. We travel through a world of parties and loud, festive music. Before we get caught up in the final frantic preparations for Christmas, let us take this time tonight for one last, brief moment to retreat to the humbler, simpler sounds and sights of Advent. And so, let us pray:

God of the unexpected,
Calm our hearts and minds.
Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ.
In the cacophony of noise, 
help us to hear your voice and to heed your instructions.
In our world of information overload, 
help us to see joy and to point it out to others.
May we become ever more like Christ 
as we prepare to live with you and the Holy Spirit, 
one God for ever and ever. Amen. 


I first met the Paulist Fathers at the St. Thomas More Newman Center at the Ohio State University twenty years ago. My sister was a graduate student there, and I came to Columbus to visit her a week before starting my first job outside of New York City.

Four years later, when I first experienced the call to consider the priesthood, my sister suggested that I talk with the Paulists. Well, I don’t take advice from my sister, so I didn’t talk to the Paulists for another three years. If I could have recognized that the Holy Spirit was speaking through my sister, I might have gotten here three years sooner!

Here I am presiding at a reconciliation service, and I’ve stretched the truth. I now recognize that God didn’t first call me to consider priesthood in 2001. Back  in 1999, a little old lady in my church choir in New York asked me if I had ever considered being a priest. I just laughed at her. Once again, I failed to recognize the voice of God speaking to me.

In our first reading today, we heard an extended section of the story of Elijah, portions that we don’t usually hear all together in one Mass. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of the Jewish tradition. After demonstrating the superiority of Israel’s God to the pagans’ Baal, Elijah destroys the priests of Baal. Now queen Jezebel wants to kill him. As Elijah flees the country, he cries out to God, “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 

It’s unclear why Elijah says this, but he’s apparently given up on himself. But God hasn’t given up on Elijah. At first glance, it seems as if God makes Elijah jump through a lot of hoops before responding to Elijah’s plea. But if we look at the story again, that’s not the case at all. Almost immediately after Elijah calls out, God sends an angel. Shortly after, God sends another angel. After Elijah makes his 40-day trek from the northern part of the kingdom of Israel to the southernmost part of the kingdom of Judah, God speaks to Elijah again. I think that in each of these cases, Elijah is still too caught up in his own agenda to listen to what God has to say. It’s only after a terrifying windstorm, an earthquake, and a fire that Elijah approaches the front of the cave in humility.

And maybe that’s the case for a lot of us. When God spoke to me through the woman in the church choir, I was too caught up in my own worldview of success to listen to God’s invitation to priesthood. When God spoke to me through my sister, I was still too much of a control freak to realize that God was inviting me to a model of priesthood that was different from what I understood.

It’s not there in the Bible, but I’ve always imagined that Elijah had a terrible temper. I think when he ordered the execution of the priests of Baal, that was his own idea, not God’s. It was the result of following his own will – not God’s will – that forced him to flee from Jezebel’s soldiers. But as long as he refused to acknowledge his own failures, he wasn’t going to be able to listen to what God had to say.

In those times in life when I am overly busy, I can cry out to Jesus like Elijah cried out to God, asking Jesus to deliver me from the stress in my life. But do I take the time to listen to Jesus’ answer? Sometimes, even though I’m stressed out, I prefer the familiarity of my busyness over God’s suggestion that could bring me to a more-peaceful-but-less-familiar space. Jesus commands us that whatever we hear in the darkness, we must speak in the light. Sometimes, I’m afraid of the dark… or more accurately, I’m afraid of hearing God’s voice in the dark. I cry out to Jesus, but I don’t listen to Jesus’ loving response. 

And that’s why it’s so good to have a penance service like this… to take time in the middle of the loud noises and blaring lights of secular Christmas to have a few last moments of the quiet stillness and calming darkness of liturgical Advent. The season of Advent – and the wreath of Advent – assures us that the light of Christ can penetrate the darkness.


Loving God, we come to you with the noises of the world ringing in our ears.  Give us the humility and the calmness to reflect on our efforts to be faithful disciples

  • When have we failed to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit?  
  • When have we listened to our selfish desires instead of the needs of the voiceless people around us?
  • When have we failed to acknowledge personal responsibility for our actions?
  • When have we chosen to dwell on past hurts rather than to accept new opportunities to do God’s will?
  • When have we failed to acknowledge our dependence on God? 
  • When have we failed to acknowledge our dependence on one another?

Loving God, hear the prayers of those who call on you.
Forgive the sins of those who confess to you,
And in your merciful love, give us pardon and peace.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 
one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.