This homily is going to be very… very… ordinary.

We’re in the Christmas season now… but Christmas itself has come and gone. The decorations in our neighborhoods are coming down and many of us have packed up or tossed the tree to the curb already. It seems as though the Christmas season arrives earlier and earlier every year… but then when the day has passed, we are ready to move on from it, and quickly.

And now we head into the heart of winter, when the days are darker and colder. For me, it’s the part of the year that is a slog; it goes by slowly, and there’s nothing at all special about it. I know some of you are skiers and so this is your favorite time of year but, well, that’s not me… so, this is when things get pretty mundane… and ordinary.

During the Advent season, we spend a lot of time talking about the expectations of those who were waiting for the Messiah to arrive. Then, we contrast that to the Messiah who actually came. People wanted a savior, a redeemer, a conqueror. Someone mighty and powerful and totally unstoppable. That is what they got… even though it certainly didn’t seem that way at the time.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what Mary and Joseph themselves expected. An angel appeared to Mary to ask for her participation and then later to Joseph in a dream to ask for his. Both said yes, but in doing so… I wonder what they were actually thinking was going to happen next. I wonder if they, too, thought that they were going to raise a mighty conquerer king and that the extraordinary would take place in front of their eyes every single day.

In today’s Gospel, on the Feast of the Holy Family, Joseph and Mary present Jesus at the temple and then, according to the passage from Luke: “they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.” They went home. Ho hum. Talking to an angel is pretty thrilling and the Christmas event had a lot of drama and fanfare — they were far away from home, there was a manger in a stable, a big star, magi who visited and brought amazing gifts, shepherds came calling, there was the whole ‘Silent Night’ scene… and then…

And then… 

… they went home… where they raised the child and had, we can presume, an ordinary life.

And I just wonder: is this what Mary and Joseph expected when they learned that were to raise a mighty conquerer king?

Yet, it was there in the mundane and ordinary that they taught him. Fell in love with him. Guided him. Protected him. Disciplined him. They did what all good parents do. And they encountered Jesus – the Messiah, the Christ, the Light of the World, the One True Creator God, their Savior. There… in the mundane and ordinary of everyday life.

What is your expectation of this Jesus from Nazareth?

Are you hoping for a protector? A comforter? Someone to grant your wishes? To flatten your path and to lighten your load? Are you looking for a mighty conquerer king too?

It isn’t hard to find Christ in the extraordinary. In the miracles – when thousands were fed, when the blind man could see again, when the woman was freed from her years of suffering, when he approached his disciples on the stormy sea. Jesus himself said as much when he encountered Thomas after his Resurrection and told him that blessed are those who believe but who have not directly seen themselves.

Praying to him in cathedrals is wonderful, but pray to him also when you’re in your laundry room. Looking for him in the masterpieces of magnificent works of art is helpful, but look for him also in the subtle beauty of the nature that surrounds us. Going on retreat to a remote location and praying in silence for days is wonderful, but offer simple gestures of gratitude when you’re walking down the bread aisle at Stop & Shop. And find him not only in the lives of the saints, but also when you look into the eyes of the people you encounter every single day.

Because… that’s where he is. Right there… in the ordinary.