The Mother of God

 Mary, the mother of Jesus, the mother of the Saviour of the World, is properly called the “Mother of God.”  It’s worth reflecting upon this powerful title of our Blessed Mother, especially on the first day of the new year.  And it’s important to understand that this title says just as much about Jesus as it does about His Blessed Mother.  

In calling Mary the “Mother of God,” we especially acknowledge one fact of human life.   A mother isn’t just the source of one’s flesh, she isn’t just the mother of the body of her children, she’s the mother of that person.  Being a mother isn’t just something biological, it’s something sacred and holy and is part of the divine order of God’s creation.  Jesus was her Child and this Child is God.  

Therefore, it’s proper logic to call Mary the “Mother of God.”

It’s an amazing fact to think about.  God has a mother!  He has a particular person who carried Him in her womb, nursed Him, raised Him, taught Him, loved Him, was there for Him, and pondered who He was throughout His life. This last fact is especially beautiful to look at.

The Gospel says, “And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  (Luke 2:16-21).  And she did this as a caring mother.  Her love for Jesus was as unique as the love of any mother.  She was a mother in perfection and loved Him with a perfect love, He who was not only her Son, but was also God and was perfect in every way.  The motherly love shared between Mary and Jesus was profound, inspiring, mysterious, glorious and truly sacred!  The mystery of their love is worth reflecting on throughout our lives, keeping it fully alive in our hearts.  She’s an example for every mother and is also an example for all of us who seek to love others with a pure and holy heart.  

Resolutions for 2022 (and beyond)

Children, it is the final hour.  (1 John 2:18-21)

Here we are, sitting on the last moments of 2021.  Tomorrow is New Year’s Day.   It’s traditionally the day for making resolutions.

For me, I suppose I’d begin by reflecting a bit on these 365 days – the good and the bad – the moments I’ve savored, but also those moments I really just don’t want to taste anymore.  The more I think, the more I’m reminded of all the insanity of these last months – murder, hate, disaster, and also the “Holiday Season” which is chock full of Black Friday fighting, and “I didn’t get what I want for Christmas,” and what seems like a sorrowful loathing and even anger at just anticipating family gatherings.

It really amazes and saddens me how cluttered our lives, as a society, have become with things like selfishness, consumerism, inconsiderate behavior, lack of understanding of other people, rejection, hate – the list goes on and on.  And no matter who we are, we’re all guilty of these things from time to time.  I try hard, but I so often fail to live like the man God wants me to be.  There’s so much cluttering our hearts that we’re just overflowing.  There’s no room for anything else.

Jesus wants to live with us… rather, within us, as we’re reminded in John’s Gospel, “And the Word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us.”  (John 1:14).

To me, it’s like a slap in the face.  “Steve, do you have room?”  Is there space in the inn of my heart?  Is Jesus able to make His dwelling in me?

Thinking about that, I realize I sure have a lot of cleaning to do…  So much so, that perhaps making some resolutions would be the prudent thing.

So, then, here are my resolutions:

• Lose Weight:  I’m going to drop the weight of hurt and hate and live the lightness of Joy.
• Clean the House: I’m going to sweep the junk from my mind and soul and make room for love and peace.
• Stop Smoking: I’m going to stop burning myself up and allow time to rest and pray.
• Eat Healthier:  I’m going to feed my spirit with the healthy words of life.
• Be A Better Person: I’m going to treat every person I meet like they are Jesus; with love and mercy.

 

Anticipation and rewards

We look forward to Christmas, to the birth of the Child Jesus, for the feeling of anticipation in awaiting the arrival of the Savior of the world. 

We realize that as we age, we appreciate the joy of seeing others receiving gifts, rather than that anticipation from our youth of receiving. 

Many of us have experienced the feeling of anticipation – whether it’s waiting for Christmas morning, a new birth, a new job, celebrating the vocation of marriage or the religious life. 

My reflection today is about the anticipation and reward of Simeon, who spent his life awaiting the fulfillment of the promise that one day he would see Christ – and the fulfillment of his promise was more than he expected as he not only met Christ but held Him in his arms (Luke 2:25-35)! 

And then there was Anna, a widowed woman who spent her entire life serving as a witness to Christ.  Even though Anna was able to enjoy her marriage for only seven years, and was left childless and alone, she spent the rest of her life living the choice to serve God through her prayer and praise, in never-ending anticipation of His merciful grace.  She specifically moved to Jerusalem so she could be near the temple!  Anna’s sole purpose in life was to please God.  She was a constant presence at the temple, in a state of fast and prayer (Luke 2:36-38).  William Barclay once wrote: She had known sorrow, but she had not grown bitter. She was old, but she had never ceased to hope. She never ceased to worship. She never ceased to pray.

As Simeon received the Christ child and lifted Him up to declare Him as the long-awaited Messiah, Anna was there in the right place (the Temple) at the right time (as Simeon received Christ in his arms).  Anna knew at that very moment that her prayers of seeing Christ had been answered, and she continued her ministry in sharing what she had seen. 

One of the meanings of the name Anna is grace – how very, very appropriate.  May God’s grace fill us as it did Anna, and may we have the dedication to our Lord, as did Anna, in service to the Almighty God in anticipation of His merciful reward.  God bless us all!

Simple obedience

 

The Covid pandemic is nearing two years old, and with it a string of ‘suggestions’ has turned into ‘rules’, ‘regulations’, and even ‘laws’.  Social distancing, getting vaccinated, and wearing masks while indoors have made many in our country question our freedoms.

Rules. Regulations.  Our lives are full of them, and our American sensibilities caution us that we have freedoms, that we don’t have to be guided by so many laws and commandments.

Do I really have to spend so much of my life with rules?  All I want is to make my life a Yes to God and everything God is asking of me.  Sometimes the rules even seem to get in the way of that.  

Then I look at my life and the things that mean the most to me.  Certainly there are laws for protecting my children.  But do I care for them because of those laws, or because I love my daughters and grandchildren so much?  And don’t I love my wife and honor my marriage not only because I took a vow to her but because I want to be faithful to our commitment to each other?

The New Testament readings I chose to reflect on today are not as much about the laws of God or the laws of the Church as they are about being faithful to God, a fidelity that’s lived out every day.  Saint John spells it out clearly.  We can really know Jesus if we live as He did, love as He did, forgive as He did [1 John 2:3-11].

In Luke’s gospel we see Mary and Joseph following the laws, being faithful Jews, and taking their firstborn son to the temple [Luke 2:22-35].  They didn’t go because they had to.  They wanted to because following the law was just another way of being faithful to God and giving thanks for God’s faithfulness in their lives.  This is how they began their lives as parents who raised a son whose whole life was a Yes to God.

Maybe we aren’t really saying Yes to Jesus every day if we’re harboring deep resentments and angers against others or even against laws.  Those can be barriers to our finding God in the darkness and emptiness of the stable.  Somewhere in the dimly lit corner of our hearts, in that painful place we don’t want to go, we can turn to Jesus and ask for the grace to forgive someone.  We can ask for patience to turn a deep suffering into a piece of the Paschal mystery that is so much a part of the Christmas story.

In these quiet days after Christmas, I ask for the ability to see clearly how I can best serve God, how I can be faithful to God.  I ask for the grace to be less arrogant about what’s right and what’s wrong and more faithful to the simple obedience God asks of me.

The threat of Christmas

 

The threat of Christmas looms in the Gospel I reflected on today [Matthew 2:13-18].  The threat of Christmas...  The words sound awkward.  To be sure, the sentiment they express is wholly unpleasant.  And yet this threat represents the good news of today.

We’re just days away from the Christmas miracle.  We gathered as Christian believers to celebrate the great event of Christ present in our lives.  Our Advent-hearts rejoiced in response to a bold reality; God those many years ago came crashing into our world and our lives in a way entirely new.  We call that day the incarnation: God present in flesh and blood as Jesus the Christ.  It’s a promise made good; an Old Testament promise of God’s to His people.  Those prophets were right!  God sent us that savior, a Messiah, our King.  We didn’t quite expect the circumstances as they unfolded –a weary, dejected couple and their tiny baby—but God came through on that promise of old.

That promise and its manifestation demonstrates God’s love for us . . . a love which provides an only son sacrificed to redeem our lives and offer a gift of salvation eternal.  It’s a love that is radical and reckless.  Its abundance engulfed our world that first Christmas morning and continues to do so today.  This love, this care for humankind, this gesture which comes without condition is precisely the Christmas threat of today’s Gospel.  It’s a threat to affairs corrupt and profane.  It’s a threat to relationships immoral and indignant.  God’s love incarnate as Jesus the Christ and the subsequent power of such an influence represents the Christmas threat to injustice at every twist and turn.  It’s this threat which spooked Herod and his reign of domination.

Matthew asks us to remember Herod today and his sad command.  The Church asks us to remember those Holy Innocents and martyrs who died in and of the name of Christ.  God asks us to remember His love for each and every one and to share with Him in such an enterprise.  To do so threatens injustice in its ways both blatant and subtle.

Saint John gives us hope for a world that seems surrounded by darkness [1 John 1:5--2:2].  Hope because there’s light in the world that brightens the darkness.  For all the evil acts that blacken the world around us there is God’s light shining through people who stand for justice, truth and love.  These are regular people like you and me, coming from all faiths and cultures who brighten the dark places of the world.  We brighten the world because we stand-up against injustices, pursue God’s truth, and reflect the love that God has for each one of us.  We’re not saints, but we are people who care, we’ve been touched by God’s love and want to share the gift.  By sharing God’s love we’re lighting up the world.  As we celebrate the Christmas season and the birth of God among us, we can be confident that the light we bring to the world is making a difference.  Even those small daily acts of love, truth, and justice shared with family, friends, and strangers are sending sparks of light into the world.  We can’t undo the horrors of yesterday, but we can bring light in the world today.  The world needs us to bring God’s love, hope and light into every situation we encounter.

"and he saw and believed"

Because today is the feast of St. John the Evangelist, I read John's own account of the visit that he and St. Peter made to the tomb of Jesus on Easter morning [John 20:1-8].  The words of St. John are appropriate for his feast day because they tell us a lot about him.  St. John is presented as a very perceptive person who had listened carefully to the words and teaching of Jesus and had become a faithful follower of the Lord.  This whole section of his gospel reveals St. John in a very favorable light.  He was a person whom I would like to imitate in his faithfulness and devotion to Jesus.

When I read this scripture story my attention was drawn to the last words of the story: "and he saw and believed."  In these simple words St. John tells us a lot.  He tells us that the arrangement of the burial cloths and the head covering that had covered the body of Jesus led him to understand that grave robbers had not been at work here.  It also led him to conclude that the Roman authorities had not moved the body of Jesus.  If either grave robbers or the Romans had moved the body, they wouldn’t have removed the burial cloths and the head covering.  And they wouldn’t have undone the work of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to embalm the body [John 19:38-42].  All of this John realized as soon as he entered the empty tomb.  This demonstrates St. John's perceptiveness.  Neither St. Peter nor Mary Magdalene was able to draw such a conclusion.  Indeed, Mary speaks as though convinced that someone had moved the body.

St. John listened very carefully to the words and teaching of Jesus.  On this occasion he must have recalled the words of Jesus when He predicted His Resurrection.  He was also a faithful disciple of Jesus who was absolutely convinced that following Jesus was the most important thing in his life.  And so, because of what he saw and what he believed, St. John concluded that Jesus Himself had somehow arranged for the empty tomb, and that He had indeed risen.

The others believed when they saw the risen body of Jesus on that first Easter day.  Mary Magdalene saw Jesus in the garden after Peter and John had left [John 20:11-18].   The disciples on the road to Emmaus saw Jesus that evening [Luke 24:13-35].  St. Peter and the other apostles (except Thomas) saw Jesus that night in Jerusalem [John 20:19-24].  But St. John came to believe when he entered the empty tomb on Easter morning, hours before his first sight of the Risen Lord that night.  For me, there is deep meaning in the words of St. John when he says very simply: "he saw and believed."  During his life St. John gave us an outstanding example of how to follow Jesus.  Today on his feast we can ask St. John to help us to follow his example and to have the kind of faith and devotion to Jesus that he did.

The journey begins

 

As I sit at my computer tonight after a long Christmas Day filled with family gift-giving and fun, I’m regretting the practice of discarding all things Christmas so soon after December 25, as if the journey is complete.  Maybe it’s because we begin celebrating the holy day six weeks or more before the feast that, by the time Christmas Day comes and goes, we’re done.  Trees are discarded to the curb, wreaths and stockings are packed away, wrapping paper and creche are stored until next year.

But for me, as I grow older, I cherish the days that take us from the Nativity to the Epiphany, perhaps more so in this unbelievably difficult year.  These are the days that carry the most Christmas meaning precisely because the hype is over and life calms down.  It’s this image of “the journey” that resonates within me.  It’s a journey that can only begin with the birth of Jesus.

Certainly, Mary and Joseph making their way to Bethlehem and the journey of the wise men come to mind, but so too the journey the Holy Family took to Egypt to seek safety.  Less known—but certain nonetheless—is the journey back to the fields of the shepherds where they shared their experience at the manger in Bethlehem.  I recall an old move (perhaps 30 years ago?) movie starring Martin Sheen, The Fourth Wise Man, the story of another wise man whose own journey to Bethlehem was waylaid only to find Jesus, finally, in Jerusalem on the Cross.

“It’s the journey, not the destination” is a familiar saying that urges us not miss what is happening now, not to be blind to the graces in the moment.  Christmas didn’t end yesterday; it only just began.  It’s okay to put away the Christmas decorations, but maybe we can see that as preparing ourselves for our own Christmas journey in the days and year ahead.  What experiences of the birth of Jesus will I share with those I encounter along the way, on my Christmas journey that begins today?

Glory to God in the highest!

 

The angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”  [Luke 2:10–14]

After reading this passage tonight, I tried putting myself in the shoes of these shepherds.  Little excitement would have regularly come their way.  They were poor, simple shepherds who spent their days and nights tending the sheep of the fields.  That night, a group of them had gathered together for camaraderie.  It’s easy to imagine the scene of normal talking, laughing and being together.  Little did they realize what was about to happen.

As they were gathered, an angel of God appeared to them announcing “good news of great joy!”  They must have been stunned.  It’s why the angel first told them they should not be afraid.  But that’s only the beginning.  The angel announced that the Savior of the World had been born and then, much to their surprise, they witnessed the whole host of heavenly angels singing praises: “Gloria in excelsis Deo!”  “Glory to God in the highest!” 

Those humble shepherds were the first to be called by God to go and greet the newborn King.  What’s amazing is that God didn’t first call the “important” of the age to come worship.  He called those poor shepherds.

One thing this tells us is that, in the eyes of God, all are equal.  God doesn’t pick favorites from among those who are seen as important in the eyes of the world.  He sees the great value and dignity of each and every person and desires all of us, rich or poor, powerful or weak, to come to Him in adoration and love.

Christmas is a time filled with many exciting things.  Often there are gifts and gatherings, food and good times.  But more than anything else, Christmas must be seen as a time for us to step back and take in the deep and rich meaning of this sacred event.  We must see, first, that God entered our human condition and, in doing so, is able to identify with all that we experience in life.  God understands human life!  He lived it.

Second, we must understand that the birth of the Savior of the World and His appearance to shepherds reveals that each and every one of us is invited to come and meet Him.  God humbled Himself in the most profound way so that we could come to know Him and His perfect love for us.  “Do not be afraid,” as the angel said, to come and behold the Christ who came as your Savior.  Don’t be afraid to come to meet Him, love Him, adore Him and get to know Him.  God is given to us, today, as an infant.  Small, weak, fragile and innocent.  Don’t be afraid to gaze upon His humble presence and to give glory to God for His blessed coming.

Approaching the manger of our salvation

 

Here we are at Christmas Eve day.  My reflection is on Scripture readings that remind us of the promise to David of an heir [2 Samuel 7:1-16, Psalm 89:2-29], and the proclamation (“Canticle”) of Zachariah [Luke 1:67-79].

Our hearts might be moving in three directions today.

The cultural pull to celebrate Christmas is upon us, no matter what our family or cultural tradition.  We might be excited, or we might be worried.  We might be prepared and ready and will be anticipating a wonderful time with family and friends.  We might not yet be fully prepared, and the day is hectic.  Or we might be celebrating Christmas alone.

Our religious memory reminds us of why we celebrate Christmas.  We could be imagining the holy couple—Joseph and Mary—having made their way to Bethlehem, late and with nowhere to stay.  Today, the scene can become very vivid for us, whether we plan to celebrate Mass tonight or to celebrate tomorrow morning.  The crib scene has a story.  Our Savior— “God with us”—didn’t come into a wonderful palace, like the one David built.  Jesus was born into a very lowly place.  This is the wonderful sign of God's self-emptying.  This is how God chose to come and be among us—as a newborn baby, in a manger, a feeding trough.  Our Savior comes in this way, and it can become most meaningful today, if we let ourselves chew this good news, in the midst of whatever we’re doing.  It can mean so much if we let it.  It can be a part of what we celebrate tonight and tomorrow.  Yes, there might be people and parties, and there might be gifts shared.  But we can be filled with something our world will likely not be celebrating—that our God is a God who desires to meet us in the lowliest places in our lives.  God with us, Jesus, comes to "save his people from their sins."

The third movement possible for us today is to remember, to collect, the graces of this Advent journey. For some of us that might have been a great four weeks of feeling that our longing for a closer relationship with our God has indeed come.  I might feel forgiven and loved at a deeper level.  I might be giving thanks that some darkness within me has experienced light.  We might sense that some desert has bloomed with new life, in this new relationship.  We might be feeling a greater freedom and a greater fire within our heart to love as we have been loved.  We might even feel more prepared to go out to the places where others are feeling darkness and lowliness and experience the call to bring light and joy there.  Or we might find ourselves not having been able to get around to Advent, right up to this moment.  There’s still time today.  We can prepare for tonight and tomorrow.  We can ask "Come, Lord, Jesus," in this moment.  We can experience a longing in our hearts to know Jesus' love and mercy, and to feel a small "Rejoice," or even a really big one, flow from deep inside.

We can approach the manger of our salvation tonight and tomorrow with great openness to the graces each of us can yet hope for and receive for our own inner peace, and that we might bring peace to others in our lives, because of what we ourselves have embraced.

Merry Christmas!

What, then, am I called to be?

 

One of the more beautiful stories in the Bible to reflect on as we grow closer to our Christmas Day celebration of the Birth of Christ is that of Zechariah, the father of Saint John the Baptist.  God blessed him and Elizabeth with a miraculous pregnancy at an old age after being barren.  The Angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the temple to reveal the glorious event, but Zechariah received it with disbelief.  The result was that he was struck mute until the day of his child’s birth.

Luke’s Gospel [Luke 1:57-66] reveals how Zechariah untied the knot of his disbelief.  He did so by following the command of the angel to name the child “John.”  Traditionally, their first born would be named Zechariah after his father.  But God had picked the name “John” and, therefore, both Zechariah and Elizabeth were given the opportunity to embrace and manifest their faith by accepting the name given to their child by God.

In a sense, we can say that Zechariah “righted his wrong.”  He righted it by making the choice of faith and acting on it.  This is a great witness for all of us because all of us have failed in faith in one way or another.  In the case of Zechariah, God punished him severely, stripping away his ability to speak.  But what we see in this gospel is that this “stripping” of Zechariah’s speech was not done primarily as a punishment, but so that God could manifest His glory through Zechariah’s manifestation of his faith.  People were “amazed” at Zechariah as he fulfilled this act of faith and named his newborn child “John.”  Thus, his suffering was now a manifestation of the glory of God!

It seems that anyone associated with Jesus has some remarkable things happen to him or her.  But these extraordinary things that happen with John shouldn’t blind us to the remarkable things that God has done for us in our lives.  The very fact of our having life is remarkable.  The birth, life, Passion and death, and Resurrection of Jesus for our salvation is a mystery that can never be fully comprehended.  But as we strive this season to enter more deeply into this mystery of God’s love for us, we may ask ourselves, “What, then, am I called to be?”

Perhaps we are called, in the words of the prophet Malachi, to “prepare the way” of the Lord [Malachi 3:1-24].  Perhaps we, like John, are called to help “turn the hearts of parents toward their children, and the hearts of children toward their parents", and the hearts of people toward each other [Luke 1:17].

Before we scoff at this notion of being called for the same mission as John, we would do well to remember what the angel told Mary when he informed her that Elizabeth was pregnant, “nothing will be impossible for God.” [Luke 1:37]

Seeking Silent Nights

The Magnificat is Mary’s declaration of her love of God in response to an angel of the Lord [Luke 1:46-56].

I often pray to the Lord that it sure would be a great help if every time He had something to tell me, He would send an angel with the message, because I’ve never been good at picking up hints.  My wife has told me numerous times that I’m not even good at hearing “suggestions.”  It’s usually when I get slapped upside the head with a disastrous result, from something I should have or shouldn’t have done or said, that I perceive the two-by-four embedded in my skull.

But that’s on me.  I try to hear what people are saying to me and try even harder to understand what Marilyn is saying.  But either lack of attention or one of the indignities of old age deny me comprehension of those communications.

It’s even harder to hear and understand what God might be trying to say to me.  I think if I would stop complaining, requesting help or doing all the talking in my prayers, I might hear His voice in the silence. It seems very timely during these last few days of Advent to seek silent nights, and in doing so, like the shepherds who attended their flocks, we too may hear a voice leading us to Him [Luke 2:8-14]. 

Company's coming!

Where would the Christmas holidays be without visitors?  As much as my wife and I enjoyed heading out to someone else’s home to see them, their Christmas tree or their Christmas gifts, there’s nothing quite like welcoming someone to our house for the holiday, now that we’re retired.  There’s no need for us to pack, to drive or fly; all we need to do is stay home, open the door, maybe put on a mask for safety, and enjoy!  Even though many of the visitors bring gifts to exchange, the best gift of all is their very presence! 

And so, I think again of the time Mary went to visit Elizabeth [Luke 1:39-45].  Elizabeth received Mary who had come to console her in her time of pregnancy.  But Mary, of course, brought a special gift.  Since she is “Theotokos” (or “God-bearer”), she brought not only herself, but the child Jesus in the silence of her womb as she came to visit.  All Elizabeth had to do was enjoy!

“Hark my lover—here he comes!”  This cry of the Song of Songs anticipates the proclamation of Christmas, only a few days away and fills us with expectation.  A special “visitor” comes to us; no need to pack, to drive or fly; all we need to do is stay home, open the door and enjoy!  Divine Love in person, Love who made heaven and earth, comes to the earth, to us, “to our house,” to live in our flesh and blood and to love us “from the inside out.” [Song of Songs 2:8-14]      

“Hark, my lover—here he comes!”  Among those whom we hope to see in these coming holy days, perhaps there will be a visitor, a special visitor, someone who will be a “God-bearer” for us.  Perhaps it will be someone familiar, perhaps someone whom we’ve never encountered before; yet, through their words or even their silence, they may yet bring us the presence of Jesus in a new way this Christmas.

The scriptures invite us to expectation and a new willingness to receive.  Stay home, open the door and enjoy! 

Lead the way, Lord

 

“Do not be afraid.”

It’s what angels apparently say all the time.

I say this because I’ve read that angelic greeting so many times that it comes across like a simple figure of speech, much like, “How are you doing?”  No one really wants to know how you’re actually doing.  No one wants to hear about your bunion…really no one does.  “Do not be afraid” sounds just as insignificant as "How are you doing?" when you don’t take the time to read the Bible closely.

The phrase is anything but insignificant.

Since my granddaughter just celebrated her 13^th birthday a couple of days ago, I found myself looking at the Virgin Mary’s situation in Luke’s Gospel [Luke 1:26-38] in a way I had never thought about it before.  I had never thought about a young girl suddenly encountering the supernatural.  I had never thought about the actual fear that probably penetrated the dark that night. 

There she was… a girl of about 13 or 14 settling down on her straw-filled bed in the complete darkness of the ancient night world.  Remember, in the ancient world there were no streetlights nor were there nightlights plugged into walls.

The night is not safe.  The night is full of robbers and wild animals.  The night is a place of spirits and demons.  The night is a place of fear.

That night, piercing the dark suddenly, was a man seen standing against the dim starlight in her small, dark bedroom.  Admittedly, the Bible doesn’t say that the angel came to Mary at night.  It could have happened in full daylight for all we know.  That said, just stick with me here, in the darkness, because there was much more to fear than the dark.

The angel said out of the darkness, “Greetings favored one, the Lord is with you.”  “Favored one;” what a strange thing to say to someone who really wasn’t anyone of note.  After all, Mary wasn’t a princess.  Mary had no political or religious influence in her society.  She didn’t have the wisdom of the years needed to influence the men of power from behind the scenes.

Mary was just a young, inexperienced, engaged girl…in the dark…not favored by anyone except maybe Joseph.  She was a poor nobody.  Mary sat on her bed perplexed, knees snug up against her chest protectively, listening to the man’s words.

The words, “Do not be afraid,” floated from across the dark room, originating from the strange man.

But the setting wasn’t the only thing that was scary.  I actually think that the angel was trying to make sure that Mary didn’t run in fear of the message he was about to deliver.

The voice from the dark continued, “You have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

Have you ever suddenly realized that your entire world was about to change?  Have you ever been in a situation where you were quite certain that your life would never be the same?

“Your position in the company is being changed.  Maybe it’s time you retired, like you’ve been wanting to.”  I remember my boss telling me these exact words.

“I don’t want to be with you any longer,” the husband says to the shocked wife.

“Happy day graduates! I hope you have a plan for the future already,” the principal says during the graduation ceremony.

“I’m sorry, but your child is dead,” comes from the mouth of the police officer at the door.

“You’re going to be a father,” the young woman says to her shocked boyfriend.

All of these are examples of the very moment that our old world dies, and a new world begins, whether we’re ready or not.  Much of the time we’re not ready.  We’re certainly not ready for the tragedies of life that take loved ones from us or announce terminal illnesses.

Nor are many of us even ready for the seemingly happy events of life, like finding out for the first time that we’re going to be parents or finding out that we were accepted into a prestigious, yet academically challenging school.

With her shocking news sinking in, Mary questioned this new, uncertain vision for her life that would bring about the death of her old life.  After all, young virgins just don’t find out that they’re pregnant.  The lowly just aren’t chosen for greatness.  How do you even raise a king correctly?  What if you raise a brat?  What if you accidentally drop a divine child on His head?  The stakes are awfully high in this heavenly game.

Mary’s world was changing that very instant, and, as many of us already know, fear flourishes in times of change.

“Do not fear” the angel said to Mary.

Has saying, “Don’t be afraid” ever worked for you?  Imagine, the plane’s engine stops in mid-flight and the steward says, “Don’t be afraid, it happens all the time.”  I have to admit that just wouldn’t quite do it for me.

But the angel had more for Mary than just “Do not fear.”  He continued with something even better: “You have found favor with God.”

That’s the sweet music of grace; “You have found favor with God.”  It says, “No matter what, God is on your side, because God has found something of worth in you.”  It says, “No matter the fear or the hurdles you’re about to face, God knows that you’re the right one for this time and this place.”  It says, “It doesn’t matter if you think you’re the right one, God knows you’re the right one.”  And, it says, “God is with you through it all.”  “You have found favor with God.”

It’s true, each of us are the right one for this time and this place.  God didn’t make a mistake in choosing us for where we are in our life.  We have found favor with God.  God considered everyone else and thought, "No, I’ve found the right one.  It’s you."

Mary believed the promise.

Though she was from the middle of nowhere; though she was no princess or even a duchess; and though she was just a young teen, she believed the promise and set her sights on her new future.

That’s how great the promise of God is.  It allowed Mary to look upon her uncertain, new life and respond, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

Here we are Lord.  We don’t know what you were thinking in choosing us.  We don’t know what the future holds.  If we’re honest with ourselves, no amount of “Do not be afraid” is going to comfort us.  Yet, you think we’re the right ones for the task right here and right now.  So, if you think so Lord, here we are.  We are your servants.  Lead the way Lord.  Lead the way.

Joyful anticipation

 Every time I read Saint Luke’s account of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, I find myself reflecting on the phrase, "Mary set out in haste..." [Luke 1:39-45].  The phrase "in haste" could mean "quickly", or it can mean "in joyful anticipation".  I can appreciate why Luke used the phrase in the way he did.

There are a few Bible passages that anticipate the joy of the Incarnation.  Micah's prophecy, though written eight centuries before the coming of Christ, shows us how far in advance God planned "from ancient times" to send a shepherd king who would lovingly heal His people.  He would come as one of us - vulnerable and humble - to atone for the sins and shortcomings of the leaders of both kingdoms. Micah's prophecies were usually condemnatory, but the prophecy I’m reflecting on today promises a bright future [Micah 5:1-4].

The book of Hebrews emphasizes the self-sacrifice of Jesus.  Even as He comes as a sweet, tiny baby, the manger is really a bed of sacrifice.  He gives Himself freely from love.  This love is the astounding fact about Christmas.  It’s the birth of a Divine love enriching our selfish human nature.  He comes that we too may learn to sacrifice ourselves to the Father and to consecrate ourselves to Divine Love for the benefit of our neighbor, and indeed, for the whole world [Hebrews 10:5-10].

And the Gospel is an intimate encounter between two women of faith.  Both have trusted in the secrecy of pregnancy. They both are moved to share their secrets.  It’s said that a person is as sick as their secrets.  It seems that healthy secrets are those that will result in life, growth and joyfulness.

Mary has been greeted by an angel and trusts what she hears in her soul.  The first thing she is moved to do is to check it out with her cousin whom she has heard is pregnant too.  Elizabeth hears Mary’s greeting and trusts what she hears and feels within her body.  Through the Spirit, both Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist, prophesy as to the blessedness of Mary and the greatness of her Son.  

Which leads me to another thing that Elizabeth says to Mary: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  Blessed are we who believe that what has been spoken to us will be fulfilled for us, and in us, and through us.  Can we believe that God is for us?  That God doesn’t seek our destruction but our healing and redemption?  That the promise that is Christmas has been fulfilled for us in Jesus Christ and will come to complete fulfillment in the coming of the kingdom?  As we near the end of Advent, it may be fruitful for all of us to reflect on how we can be ambassadors so that others can believe that what has been spoken to them will be fulfilled.  I think a good way to do that is to go back to the words of Elizabeth: “and how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  How would our Advent and Christmas and New Year be if every time we encountered someone we would wonder, “How does this happen to me, that the brother or sister of my Lord should come to me?”  Isn’t making room for Jesus inextricably linked to making room for our sisters or brothers?

It's never too late to start over.  In “haste”, let's make one final attempt this Advent to banish the fear and depression brought on by the daily news reports, and to stir up our joy in the action of the Holy Spirit on a young girl and her elderly cousin living in a backwater village like Bethlehem.  The Child born for us is still working His miracles of love.  He still promises eventual peace to our world.

Perfect faith and trust

 

Saint Joseph is a man that we know little about, but today I was thinking about the importance of his role in salvation history.  He was entrusted with the Son of God to raise as his little child.  At first, he was confused and “troubled” about how Mary could have gotten pregnant, but upon receiving the words of the angel in a dream, he accepted this Child as his own and cared for Him with a father’s love [Matthew 1:18-25].

What is significant to me is that Saint Joseph embraced the Christ Child because of a dream.  But was it only a dream?  We all have many dreams and some of them are strange and nonsensical.  So why did Saint Joseph rely upon the authenticity of this dream?

The answer to this question is quite simple.  Even though the dream he had was just that – a dream, it was also accompanied by the gift of faith.  Joseph knew, with a certainty beyond human reason, that the voice of God had spoken to him; and he responded with generous faith.

We may not have dreams through which God speaks to us in the form of an angel, but God does speak to us all day long.  He speaks directly to our minds and hearts, and also through the care and mediation of countless hosts of angels in various ways.  The angels of God are constantly bringing us divine messages and inspirations.  The question is whether or not we’re listening.

In my late teens, I was questioning the existence of God, as I am sure most teenagers do.  I even stopped going to Mass on Sundays and praying the rosary!  After a while, I started having the same dream night after night of falling from great heights, and just before hitting the ground and certain death, I would wake up in a cold sweat from the nightmare I imagined death would be.  The last time I experienced the dream I was again falling, but this time an angel appeared next to me and told me to not be afraid, and to pray with him.  As we were saying the Lord's Prayer together, I remember thinking that we wouldn’t have time to finish before hitting the ground.  But we did.  Just as we said “Amen”, my angel lifted me up and we began to soar, and I woke up.  Instead of being afraid, I was sad the dream had ended!  It was such a revelation; I could almost feel the "scales fall from my eyes" [Acts 9:1-22]!  I never had that dream again—nor have I doubted the existence of God since. 

Listening to the voice of God, through the mediation of the angels, isn’t about us seeing or hearing the angels speak, literally.  Rather, it’s a matter of discerning this language of love spoken to us and calling us to faith.  I believe that in my own dream, God was letting me know that He is alive and well and waiting for me—I just have to remember to have faith and share that faith with others—maybe not in as grand a scale as Mary, St. Joseph, or St. Paul did, but in any way that I can.

My advice, after reflecting on Matthew’s gospel today is to listen in the silence of your heart (or in your dreams) and allow yourself to follow the glorious witness of Saint Joseph as he responded to our Lord’s will with perfect faith and trust.

They brought us to this place

 

Some may wonder whether the genealogy of Jesus is something that’s going to change our life [Matthew 1:1-17].  It is, however, important for three reasons.

First of all, it shows that Jesus is the Messiah, the savior that was promised to Abraham.  The genealogy also supports the claim of Davidic descent, an important proclamation in the early Church [2 Samuel 7:12-16; Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5-6].

Secondly, the division of the 42 generations into three fourteen-part segments mirrors the steps in the process of salvation history, namely, glorious beginning (from Abraham to David), alienation (from David to the Babylonian Captivity), and redemption (from the Babylonian Captivity to the Messiah).  Such has been the process in the history of humankind and in each of our personal histories.

Finally, the inclusion of women in the genealogy is indeed uncharacteristic of that period of history.

Jesus is born of Mary but His lineage traces back through Joseph.  Before Jesus’ birth in Matthew’s gospel comes the genealogy of names, familiar and strange.  A guiding thread runs through the messy pages of history: God like a scavenger uncovers salvation in the debris and treasure of human lives.  Unlike the litany of the saints, this roll call places scoundrels alongside the blessed.  The child welcomed by shepherds and Magi represents the whole of Israel and all peoples.

Only four women are named on the ancestral tree of 52 branches:  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba.  These women were marked by scandal, exclusion, and courage.  The widow Tamar, disguised as a prostitute, was engaged by Judah, her father-in-law, and bore twin sons.  Rahab is remembered as the harlot who hid the Israelite spies in her home before the battle of Jericho.  Ruth, the Moabite woman, left her people to accompany her mother-in-law, Naomi, and bear the family an heir.  Bathsheba was seduced by the king (David), who then killed her husband.  Prostitute, traitor, foreigner, rape victim.  The unusual aspects of Jesus’ birth are heralded by the notoriety of these mothers.  We come to recognize what is holy in new ways.

In our day most care more about genes than genealogy.  Our memories go back one or two generations before fading like cheap photos.  The absence of a past counts as freedom: as individuals, we’re not shackled by old ways.  We spring up fresh like wildflowers on unplowed prairies.  When the situation gets grim, we move on or dream of starting over.

Advent pulls us back from the emptiness that haunts this world.  The stories of our ancestors are retold.  Their words bring hope like light in the darkness; absence gives way to comforting presence.  Guardians are watching over us.

Thus we can simply read a list of hard to pronounce names or we can reflect that Jesus is Lord, that he is a loving and forgiving God, and that salvation is offered to each and every person.

Expectations or Unexpected Surprises?

This time of year is filled with many material and spiritual expectations--sometimes realistic and at other times, impossible.  As Santa is making the list and checking it twice, children (and adults) are busily itemizing their Christmas wishes (expectations) for toys, computers, CDs, inner peace, peace on earth, family and friends enjoying one another, a sense of God in one’s life.

 Many of us hope to experience the real meaning of this Advent/Christmas season.  But what’s the “real” meaning of the season?  There’s an expectation in the word, “real”, for each of us.  What do I hope for, expect, seek in a “real” Advent/Christmas season?

In the scriptures, we’re challenged to reflect on what, when, where, and why we seek something.  We’re also reminded that in our seeking, we must be open to the “unexpected” (surprises) of which God invites us to enjoy.

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus challenges the people with this question about John the Baptist:

“What did you go out to the desert to see, a reed swayed by the wind? 

Then what did you go out to see?  Someone dressed in fine garments?  Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces.

Then what did you go out to see? A prophet?”  [Luke 7:24-30]

Jesus seems to imply that the places to which we go, or the people to whom we turn may indicate what our expectations really are.

In the season of Advent, it’s sometimes difficult to tune into the spirit of personal preparedness or anticipation of God’s reign born anew in each of us and in our communities.  Our frenetic shopping, home decorating, card sending, and preparing for family and friends’ gatherings may drain us of the energy and openness to the experience of being present to one another and to our God.  Our “to do” list overshadows the challenge “to be” with and for each other (family, co-workers, friends, strangers, and God) in the now of today.

Can we expect the meaning of the season to appear in the parties, Christmas music playing in the malls, shopping, family gatherings, day-to-day home preparations as well as the humdrum of daily life (and hopefully in our worship communities)?   

Possibly.

If we’re really seeking the meaning of the season, but also open to its meaning being revealed to us in our day-to-day lives, we may be in for many unexpected surprises.

Just as the listeners to Isaiah were probably surprised [Isaiah 54:1-10], we may be in awe at the prophet’s words.  Through Isaiah, God promises, “…though mountains leave their place and hills be shaken, my love shall never leave you, nor my covenant of peace be shaken.”  God also assures us that there will be, “…jubilant song for all who are barren, and many shall be your descendants.”  This may seem like a promise of the impossible, but we won’t be disgraced or shamed if we’re believers.

As I reflected on the scriptures today, I asked myself: Where might I find the presence of God’s love and covenant of peace born anew in the world today?  Can anyone find the real meaning of Advent/Christmas in the midst of our work-a-day, frenetically paced world?  I suppose it depends on how we approach our journey.  Will we be focused on set expectations or open to unexpected surprises of God’s presence in our lives?  Will we be open to God’s reign born anew in unexpected surprises or will we be too caught up in our own “to do” list of expectations?