Pizza Man Moments

Advent 4B

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I read a story about an alleged FBI raid on a psychiatric hospital in San Diego that occurred some time ago. Whether it is true or not is unknown, but it was apparently included in a report on Global Organized Crime prepared by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

According to the report, this particular psychiatric hospital was under investigation for medical insurance fraud, so the FBI raided the place. After hours and hours of reviewing thousands of medical records, the several dozen agents had worked up quite an appetite. The agent in charge of the investigation called a nearby pizza place with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues. The following telephone conversation took place and was recorded by the FBI because they were taping all conversations at the hospital:

Agent: Hello. I would like to order 20 large pizzas and 70 cans of soda.

Pizza Man: Wow… Okay. Now, where would you like them delivered?

Agent: We're over at the psychiatric hospital.

Pizza Man: The psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.

Pizza Man: You're an FBI agent?

Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.

Pizza Man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go to the front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.

Pizza Man: And you say you're all FBI agents?

Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?

Pizza Man: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI agent?

Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.

Pizza Man: How are you going to pay for all of this?

Agent: I have my checkbook right here.

Pizza Man: And you're all FBI agents?

Agent: That's right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.

Pizza Man: Um… I don't think so. Click. Bzzz.

The feeling that the Pizza Man had as he participated in that conversation must have been something like the feeling that a teenage girl named Mary felt 2000 years ago when the angel Gabriel came to her and said, "Hail Mary! The Lord is with you!"

Was this a dream? Was she hallucinating? Or was this really an angel that was standing in front of her, talking to her, and telling her that SHE would conceive and bear a son… God’s Son? Mary’s initial reaction must have been very similar to the Pizza Man’s… and “You’re an angel?”

I say this because as the conversation between Mary and the Angel develops, Mary asks “How can this be, seeing that I am a virgin?” Her question was reasonable, and reflects a degree of doubt about what she was seeing and hearing. It’s a natural reaction; one that no doubt each of us would have if an angel appeared to us and told us something so seemingly impossible. We, like the Pizza Man, would probably just say something like – “Yeah, right! You’re an angel…. Okay… anything you say, bud!”

But Mary’s response in the end displays a level of trust in God and faith in God that is indeed the model for each and every one of us. The Angel tells her that “Nothing is impossible for God…” to which Mary says, “I will do whatever the Lord wants me to do…”

Mary gives herself completely to God’s Will, and we know that nine months later, she gave birth to her firstborn Son – Jesus. However, during those nine months, there were undoubtedly a number of “Pizza Man Moments” for Mary as she tried to explain her sudden pregnancy to her parents, her friends, her fiancé, her rabbi. Imagine the “Pizza Man” reaction that each of these folks had as Mary tries to tell them that she’s pregnant because an angel came and told her that she would conceive God’s own Son.

Many have rightly understood that angel’s message that “Nothing is impossible for God” extended to the conception of Jesus by a Virgin. If God, who is the author of all life, can create the universe with a single word, then he most certainly could cause a virgin to suddenly conceive and bear His Son into the world. In reality, that’s the easy part.

However, for me, those words “Nothing is impossible for God” goes further than the simple conception part. I think these words extend to all the “Pizza Man” moments that Mary would encounter as she carried this baby, and later, for the rest of her life as she explained his miraculous birth. These words convey the promise that so long as Mary was willing to say “Yes” to God, then HE would be with her, and provide for her all the grace and strength she would need as she faced the unimaginable stress and worry and fear and isolation and even being ostracized by her family and friends. She risked everything – from losing her fiancé to even being stoned to death. Yet – those words – “Nothing is impossible for God” must have brought great comfort and courage the heart of this teenage girl who changed the course of human history when she said to simple words, “I will do whatever the Lord asks me to do…”

Since the Reformation, many have misunderstood our Catholic Faith, particularly in the area of our devotion and veneration of Mary. Many see it as a form of pagan idolatry, accusing us of placing Mary above Jesus. But this is misguided, and misses the point of why I – and so many other Catholics throughout history – have placed Mary on that special pedestal… not above Christ, or even equal to Christ, but as the one person whom God used to change the world and bring to us the salvation we so desperately needed. Mary, as the Mother of Jesus Christ is indeed the Mother of the Church; and her loving, unselfish, humble, obedient, self-sacrificing life is precisely the example that we – and the entire Church – need to follow as disciples of this same Jesus, as the beneficiaries of his birth. We do not worship Mary… but we do honor her, venerate her, and call her blessed as we seek to emulate her example of devotion and obedience to God.

Mary, with God’s help through those simple words – “Nothing is impossible for God,” indeed completed this Mission Impossible, when she wrapped that little baby in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. She gives us proof that nothing is impossible for God!

Let me ask you… what Impossible Mission is God asking YOU to do? What has God asked you to do that you still have not done because it all seems too incredible, too impossible. Do you say things like - “I can’t do that!” “What will my friends think?” What will my wife or husband say?” “I can’t afford to do that, how will I live?” “I can’t do that because I don’t know how?” “I’m not qualified to be or do what God has asked me to do!”

What fears and stresses and excuses keep you from begin all and doing all that God has called you to be and do? It doesn’t have to be something as spectacular as giving birth to God’s Son, but it remains something that God wants you to do. Do you really believe that “Nothing is impossible for God!”? Do you believe, like Mary, that God can indeed do the impossible? Or is your God so small and puny, that you remain paralyzed by fear, doubts, and what others might think or say?

The same question could be, and needs to be asked of our Church. What Impossible Mission has God placed before us? What more can we do to impact this neighborhood and beyond with the Good News of God’s love? What seemingly impossible goals and projects has God placed before us, that on the surface appear to be impossible, crazy, or nuts… and appear to be full of “Pizza Man moments”?

When one considers the very existence of a Free Catholic Church smack-dab in the middle Dinwiddie County, Virginia, we find ourselves already in the realm of the impossible. When one considers that we are operating a Food Bank that has fed more than 500 people this year, we find ourselves in the realm of the impossible. When one considers that we are trying to raise up a Free Catholic Diocese in Virginia, we again find ourselves in the realm of the impossible. When one considers that we are raising up a global Free Catholic expression from right here in Central Virginia, we have already entered the realm of the impossible! And believe me… there have been lots of “Pizza Man Moments” throughout!

But God has raised us up… and placed us here to do the impossible! I know we still face lots of obstacles. It’s impossible for us to buy this or any other building. It’s impossible for us to expand our Food Bank. It’s impossible for us to establish more missions. It’s impossible for us to maintain a choir. It’s impossible for us to keep doing KidzClub or to have a Sunday School or to start other programs to benefit the community. It’s impossible for us to do more, give more, be more! And you know what – You’re dead right when you say that… it IS impossible.

But God – our GOD – is the God who turns the impossible into reality; and He uses US – the unimportant, obscure, unqualified people who, just like Mary say, “I will do whatever the Lord wants me to do…” If we retreat from what appears to be impossible; and we allow the “Pizza Man Moments” to paralyze us with fear and doubt; then indeed all that we are and need to do remains impossible and undone! However, when we allow the God of the Impossible to empower us and fill us with his Grace, then all the obstacles become opportunities. All the doubts become deeds. All the fears become finished projects. And all the “Pizza Man Moments” are transformed to “Praising God Moments” because we believe that NOTHING is impossible for God. Amen!

As we draw closer the impossible events of Christmas, that all became possible 2000 years ago because an obscure, unimportant, teenage girl believed in the God of the Impossible, let us identify what Mission Impossible God is waiting to make possible in our lives and in our Church. During this last week of Advent and the upcoming Christmas season, let each of us, like Mary, be willing to say “I will do – WE will do - whatever the Lord wants us to do…”

If we can embrace that, then we unlock and unleash all the power of Almighty God in our lives and in our Church, and HE transforms the impossible into reality. Let us follow Mary’s example, and that of so many throughout the history of the Church, by learning to Trust God, Obey God, and to let God BE God in our lives. And when we are confronted by the “Pizza Man Moments” in our lives – then all we have to do is remember – “Nothing is impossible for God…”