Naples Navy Base Apostolate
Rev. Mr. John A Sistare
11/28/99 1^st wk Advent
Mk 13-33-37

I would like to introduce you to the "Sette" family. Imagine if you will…it’s Christmas morning and the Sette family have already been to Mass, and the gifts, have been opened. The Sette family is now awaiting the arrival of their relatives for the big Christmas dinner. Let’s take a quick tour of the Sette house and see what each of the 7 members are doing in each room.

If we begin upstairs in a bedroom, we see Lazy Lary. Lazy Lary is the teenage son who is still sleeping and as a result has missed Mass. Lazy Larry has decided to sleep and snore away the entire Christmas morning. Moving on to the bathroom, we see ‘Ms’ Marcia. ‘Ms’ Marcia, teen daughter, has been in the bathroom for an hour already and is in front of the mirror admiring herself, redoing her makeup and dolling up her hair. Making our way downstairs now, we see Greedy Gretta in the living room. Greedy Gretta is in a corner all alone with her gifts, presents, cards and money all piled up as she counts the morning’s profit. Moving to the TV room, here we have Lustful Louie. Lustful Louie is spending the morning entertaining himself by watching scandalous, impure and indecent TV shows. Now off to the dining room ( my favorite place!). Here we find Big Bubba still finishing breakfast. Big Bubba is polishing off an 8 stack of pancakes, ½ dozen donuts and a mound of eggs. In the kitchen nearby, we find Momma Sette and her own mother, frantically preparing a feast, trying to outdo the mother n law’s dinner from last year. Finally, in the basement, we have Papa Sette hammering and yelling away in anger as he fails to repair an already broken toy from the morning’s hoopla.

My brothers and sisters, this is the Sette family! I have chosen to call them the Sette family, which is the Italian for 7, b/c they represent the 7 deadly sins! Lazy Larry as you might of imagined represents sloth as he sleeps Christmas away. ‘Ms’ Marcia was pride as she admired herself in the mirror and Greedy Gretta in the living room was greed. Lustful Louie, obviously, is lust and Big Bubba, (although pancakes, donuts and eggs are good), represented gluttony by eating way too much! Lastly Momma Sette tying to outdo her mother n law was envy and Papa Sette in the basement yelling away, losing control represented anger. They are the 7 deadly sins. They can be small and venial, but they have the potential to become, as their name implies, deadly or mortal.

In the Gospel of this first week of Advent, we hear Jesus refer to a master leaving his house and placing the servants in charge. The servants are left to make sure the house remains clean unto the master’s arrival. My brothers and sisters, the master is Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are the servants and friends of the master, awaiting his return. We have been placed in charge of our spiritual houses or souls. If any of the members of the Sette family are present, than my friends, it’s time to clean house! It’s time to clean the house!!!

Advent is as time to prepare for the arrival of our master Jesus Christ. We are about to celebrate 2000 years since the birth of Our master. In fact, in just a few minutes, Jesus will be among us, body, blood, soul and divinity, just as present as he was that first Christmas! We are called to make sure our houses are clean when we come to Mass and as we approach the coming of our Savior this Christmas. We have been given such a gift in the sacrament of reconciliation. Here we can have our houses cleaned and welcome Jesus within.