Numbers 6:22-27; Ps 67 May God bless us in his mercy; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21
To make an end is to make a beginning.
We find ourselves at the end of 2012. 2012 has grown old and we have grown tired of it, as we long for a new day to dawn in our lives and so we pressed forward for the bells to ring and the fireworks to shout in the new year: 2013.
As it is noted, we welcome The year of our Lord 2013.
Just spend a few moments pondering that title: The year of our Lord
Anno Domini or AD was the notation used to mark the years as they went by. It was to designate that the birth of Christ changed things for us. Time was no longer time but rather it was filled with the presence of God.
Today many people just use CE or Common Era as a political correctness. But can time ever be common once God enters into it and becomes one of us.
Try to focus on that reality as we enter the new year of the Lord 2013. As we gather around the catholic world celebrating the solemnity of the Mother of God, this holy day of obligation, we are to remember that time is no longer measured by the movement of the sun or the planets or the revolution of the Earth but rather by the maker of the stars.
We are all living in his time as he lives with us, here and now, the incarnate one.
++++++++++++
This day I went into Victoria to go to the bank. I had a few transactions needing to be done before the new year got under way.
I was then going to meet some friends for lunch. I had a bout 45 minutes before they would be ready so I decided to got to Hastings, grab a Chai Tea and open my kindle reader and spend a few moments in the quiet unfolding reality of the page.
While I was just settling down into my chosen read, a gentlemen from the local newspaper approached me. He was wondering if I wanted to participate in the "Question of the Day" part of the news paper for tomorrow.
Basically he would ask me the question then take my picture and put it in the paper. Luckily I was incognito. He did not know that I was a priest.
I asked him what the question of the day was. He informed me the question was as follows, "What did I think was the most significant event of 2012?"
I refused to ask the question. I politely decline the offer for several reasons. I don't like what the Local Paper as become. I think it to be a poor media for information. In fact I no longer subscribe to it.
Secondly, I didn't want my mug on the front page. In my kind of work, the Bishop usually gets irritated with such things.
Thirdly, I didn't like the question. I felt that if chose one event as the most significant event of 2012 then I would trivialize all the other events, moments, encounters.
At the time, I thought having a quiet time to drink a Chai tea and read a little was pretty significant.
How could I have told him that the most significant event in 2012 is not just one event but what happens everyday around the world when the Priest gathers at the altar and the passion of Christ is re-experienced and the bread and the wine become the real presence of Christ. The saving grace of Christ is brought to us live each time, time after time.
That is what I wanted to tell him. But I figured he would misquote me as often is the case with newspaper and then it would trivialize the celebration of the Eucharist, which is really our one great act of fidelity.
No matter how we botch up our lives and make a mess of things every time we go to mass we are faithful to the words of Christ, "Do this in memory of Me."
Is there anything more significant then that and yet it is that celebration that makes every moment significant.
But perhaps we should in this new year try to make each moment and event significant, making it mean something.
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures, so says Thornton wilder. But i think it is less about being conscious of our treasures and more about being conscious that we are God's treasure as St Paul reminds us,
"As proof that you are sons, God sent his Spirit of his son in to our hearts crying "abba, Father. SO you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir..."
THis is the mentality we need to bring to each moment of the new year.
Last I leave you with a quote from my favorite president, though he was smart enough not be ever be elected, Ben Franklin, "Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you to be a better man."
Mary Mother of God pray for us
Prayer for the New Year
Breathe in me Holy spirit, that my thoughts may be holy
Act in me Holy SPirit, that my work too may be holy
Draw my heart o Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy
Guard me then O Holy Spirit that I always may be holy. Amen
Monday, December 31, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Holy Family
1 samuel 1:20-22,24-28; Ps 84 Blessed are they who dwell in your house; 1John 3:1-2,21-24; Luke 2:41-52
There is a sixth grader at school that wears a hoody often when it is cool outside. The hoody he wears as the following words written on it, "believe the hype."
Believe the hype. I asked him one day whether he understood what that meant. He shook his head and mentioned that he didn't know exactly what it represented.
So I gave a quick tutorial of "hype."
Hype is associated with an extravagant or even exaggerated sense of publicity or attention given to something or someone. We see this a lot when a prospect is chosen number one in their prospective fields of expertise such as football and or basketball.
There is a lot of hype that circulates these players with a sense of great expectation. The talent and skill set points toward something huge on the horizon.
People get excited and a lot of commotion ensues.
RGIII in Washington as the new Redskins quarterback created a lot of hype. Johnny Manziel, the aggie quarterback, created a buzz and stir and especially with the Hiesman trophy in his clutch, a lot of hype is generated.
There was certainly a lot of hype built up around the coming of the Messiah. There was a lot of publicity and stir centered around this CHild who was to be named Emmanuel, God-with-us, God saves.
With a name like that, we should expect great things. The stir and commotion was building.
Let's face it is pretty darn hard to compete with the hype of Jesus. Just to note few things.
His mother was a virgin who conceived by the Holy Spirit and whose news of such an event was brought forth by the Angel Gabriel.
Not only that but Joseph gets news of this reality by an angel as well speaking to him in his dreams.
This isn't normal folks.
Then we get the long journey to Bethlehem, where MAry heavy with child is riding on a donkey, all the while Joseph is pondering where he might find a place for them to stay.
What they get is a stable where the feed trough becomes the crib.
Then we get the angels bursting on the scene causing a stir amongst the shepherding folks with the good news of glad tidings about a savior being born. Then the heavenly Choirs joins in and singing Glory to God in the highest...
Again, this isn't normal. Talk about publicity surrounding this event of the birth of this child.
Then the Magi show up with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh while following this star that seems to hover over the place where this child sleeps.
Again, talk about hype. Talk about extravagant and exaggerated commotion.
Herod who gets wind of the developments sends out his posse to rid the land of such a nuisance like the child.
Then Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus pack up and get on the move to Egypt to protect their life and escape harms charge.
The hype is swirling around.
After all this hype, what do we get, Nothing! We get nothing for the next 12 years of Jesus' life.
The hidden life of Joseph, Mary and Jesus just simple unfolds with no fuss.
It is just an ordinary developing family that keeps God at the center of their life together as the gospel points out, "each year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of passover, and when he was twelve they went up according to festival custom."
God is given first place this family. Jesus lives in the ordinary and everyday unfolding of life.
Perhaps that is the point. Perhaps this is what means to be a holy family, letting Jesus enter the hidden recesses of our family and allowing him space to live there.
Then at twelve we get this reality as the gospel reveals.
Mary and Joseph began to search for Jesus. For three days they search. Imagine what was going through their heads: was he kidnapped, was he a terrible accident, was he hurt or worse, was he put in slavery.
I could only imagine the aguish Mary and Joseph experienced.
It is easy to sense the tension and irritation in Mary's voice as she speaks those words, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety."
Think about that anxiety.
Anxiety is about fear, apprehension, worry. It comes about with a sense of loss of control.
Remember Mary and Joseph and Jesus go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the passover. The passover is on of the tree principle feast in which the Jewish identity as the chosen people is embrace and rediscovered.
The reason behind the feast of the passover is for the people to remember the mighty acts of God. They gather to recall how God took care of them and led them from slavery; how they crossed the red sea unharmed and how for forty years God fed them with manna and journeyed with them with a pillar of fire at night and cloud during the day. They relived the experience of God leading them to the promise land. They were to rediscover the reason for their hope and the foundation of trust in their life: God was with them. God was at the center of the unfolding of their human lives and history.
The feast is about trust.
After the celebration of trust and reliving God's embrace in their lives, we get MAry and Joseph filled with anxiety and fear and apprehension.
How so like us in our lives. It is easy to speak about trust on a general scheme of things but much harder when trust demands a personal response in our life, in our family?
Where are we with our personal trust of God leading and guiding us in our families? How often do we take matters in to our own hands and bring about our own undoing?
We see this all the time in regards to married persons and so called "birth control." Fear and apprehension dictate rather than trust in God's loving embrace.
Then we get to the punch line of today's gospel. Jesus responds, "why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father' s house.
I would have gotten the snot knocked out of me if I would have done that to my family. But Jesus' words are important.
He reminds us all of the centrality of God's will in our life. Ultimately, trusting God is a personal reality not just a generals consensus.
Jesus was not born into the world to be Mary and Joseph's child. He was born to do the Father's will.
As it is for JEsus so it is for all of us, all of our children. Children are not given to parents so they can be their possessions. Children are given to parents so they can grow understand God's will in their life.
How parents need to discover this time and time again. How parents need to understand their role as parents isn to foster in their children a deep desire for and a willingness to pursue happiness which only comes in living for the will of God in their life.
This is what it means to be a holy family in the first place.
Their circumstances are not unlike the circumstances of every and any family. They encountered the same challenges and heart aches and mystery as our families encounter. They do the same thing our families do, but they do it differently. Here in lies the crux of the holy side of things: they learn to keep God at the center both generally speaking and personally living.
There is a sixth grader at school that wears a hoody often when it is cool outside. The hoody he wears as the following words written on it, "believe the hype."
Believe the hype. I asked him one day whether he understood what that meant. He shook his head and mentioned that he didn't know exactly what it represented.
So I gave a quick tutorial of "hype."
Hype is associated with an extravagant or even exaggerated sense of publicity or attention given to something or someone. We see this a lot when a prospect is chosen number one in their prospective fields of expertise such as football and or basketball.
There is a lot of hype that circulates these players with a sense of great expectation. The talent and skill set points toward something huge on the horizon.
People get excited and a lot of commotion ensues.
RGIII in Washington as the new Redskins quarterback created a lot of hype. Johnny Manziel, the aggie quarterback, created a buzz and stir and especially with the Hiesman trophy in his clutch, a lot of hype is generated.
There was certainly a lot of hype built up around the coming of the Messiah. There was a lot of publicity and stir centered around this CHild who was to be named Emmanuel, God-with-us, God saves.
With a name like that, we should expect great things. The stir and commotion was building.
Let's face it is pretty darn hard to compete with the hype of Jesus. Just to note few things.
His mother was a virgin who conceived by the Holy Spirit and whose news of such an event was brought forth by the Angel Gabriel.
Not only that but Joseph gets news of this reality by an angel as well speaking to him in his dreams.
This isn't normal folks.
Then we get the long journey to Bethlehem, where MAry heavy with child is riding on a donkey, all the while Joseph is pondering where he might find a place for them to stay.
What they get is a stable where the feed trough becomes the crib.
Then we get the angels bursting on the scene causing a stir amongst the shepherding folks with the good news of glad tidings about a savior being born. Then the heavenly Choirs joins in and singing Glory to God in the highest...
Again, this isn't normal. Talk about publicity surrounding this event of the birth of this child.
Then the Magi show up with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh while following this star that seems to hover over the place where this child sleeps.
Again, talk about hype. Talk about extravagant and exaggerated commotion.
Herod who gets wind of the developments sends out his posse to rid the land of such a nuisance like the child.
Then Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus pack up and get on the move to Egypt to protect their life and escape harms charge.
The hype is swirling around.
After all this hype, what do we get, Nothing! We get nothing for the next 12 years of Jesus' life.
The hidden life of Joseph, Mary and Jesus just simple unfolds with no fuss.
It is just an ordinary developing family that keeps God at the center of their life together as the gospel points out, "each year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of passover, and when he was twelve they went up according to festival custom."
God is given first place this family. Jesus lives in the ordinary and everyday unfolding of life.
Perhaps that is the point. Perhaps this is what means to be a holy family, letting Jesus enter the hidden recesses of our family and allowing him space to live there.
Then at twelve we get this reality as the gospel reveals.
Mary and Joseph began to search for Jesus. For three days they search. Imagine what was going through their heads: was he kidnapped, was he a terrible accident, was he hurt or worse, was he put in slavery.
I could only imagine the aguish Mary and Joseph experienced.
It is easy to sense the tension and irritation in Mary's voice as she speaks those words, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety."
Think about that anxiety.
Anxiety is about fear, apprehension, worry. It comes about with a sense of loss of control.
Remember Mary and Joseph and Jesus go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the passover. The passover is on of the tree principle feast in which the Jewish identity as the chosen people is embrace and rediscovered.
The reason behind the feast of the passover is for the people to remember the mighty acts of God. They gather to recall how God took care of them and led them from slavery; how they crossed the red sea unharmed and how for forty years God fed them with manna and journeyed with them with a pillar of fire at night and cloud during the day. They relived the experience of God leading them to the promise land. They were to rediscover the reason for their hope and the foundation of trust in their life: God was with them. God was at the center of the unfolding of their human lives and history.
The feast is about trust.
After the celebration of trust and reliving God's embrace in their lives, we get MAry and Joseph filled with anxiety and fear and apprehension.
How so like us in our lives. It is easy to speak about trust on a general scheme of things but much harder when trust demands a personal response in our life, in our family?
Where are we with our personal trust of God leading and guiding us in our families? How often do we take matters in to our own hands and bring about our own undoing?
We see this all the time in regards to married persons and so called "birth control." Fear and apprehension dictate rather than trust in God's loving embrace.
Then we get to the punch line of today's gospel. Jesus responds, "why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father' s house.
I would have gotten the snot knocked out of me if I would have done that to my family. But Jesus' words are important.
He reminds us all of the centrality of God's will in our life. Ultimately, trusting God is a personal reality not just a generals consensus.
Jesus was not born into the world to be Mary and Joseph's child. He was born to do the Father's will.
As it is for JEsus so it is for all of us, all of our children. Children are not given to parents so they can be their possessions. Children are given to parents so they can grow understand God's will in their life.
How parents need to discover this time and time again. How parents need to understand their role as parents isn to foster in their children a deep desire for and a willingness to pursue happiness which only comes in living for the will of God in their life.
This is what it means to be a holy family in the first place.
Their circumstances are not unlike the circumstances of every and any family. They encountered the same challenges and heart aches and mystery as our families encounter. They do the same thing our families do, but they do it differently. Here in lies the crux of the holy side of things: they learn to keep God at the center both generally speaking and personally living.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Feast of John the Evangelist
IT is striking how much ground we cover during the Christmas Octave.
On Tuesday we gathered around the creche and there our gazed joined the gaze of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the like as we met the gaze of the infant child wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Yesterday we jumped ahead quite a bit. On the second day of the Octave of Christmas we gathered with Paul as cloaks were laid at his feet and Stephen the Deacon was stoned the death because of his faith in the Risen Lord.
Today we are taken to the empty tomb. In today's gospel, we run with Peter and the beloved disciple as news spread that the place where JEsus was buried is now empty and the tomb is wide open for all to see.
What an amazing journey.
Our gaze meets the infant; our gaze meets Stephen as he gives his life for Christ; our gaze falls on the empty tomb.
We are reminded in these short three days that Jesus is born for a reason. The incarnation is the beginning, it is not the end. We are taken to the empty tomb to remind ourselves that this child is born to not only die but to rise.
We are taken to the site of the first martyrdom in Stephen to remind ourselves what is at stake and how we are to rise with Christ by the faith we profess.
As we celebrate the feast of John the Evangelist to day we look into his heart and experience his faith in Christ.
John gives us the gospel as well as the three letters and the book of revelation.
There is a common theme to his work as he paints the picture of Christ and gives us an insight in to the early christian communities after the resurrection and ascension.
As we ponder his words there are some common themes. John repeats over and over again that JEsus is the bread of life, the light of the world, the way and the truth, and the one who comes to make our joy complete.
Life, light, truth, and joy resonate from every word and every page.
The story of Christ does not begin and end with the manger and the tomb, the incarnation and the resurrection. IT is carried forth in us as we like the beloved disciple, peer in to the empty tomb seeing and believing.
We by our belief, in our faith must carry forth the reality of introducing the world the one who is Life, Light, Truth, and Joy.
What in our life today will bear that to the world. Our will we introduce others to this Life, Light, Truth, and Joy?
This is our task as we journey forth. As our gaze falls on the manger and peers into the empty tomb and give witness to the martyrdom of Stephen, we must turn our gaze to those around us and let our faith shine forth the reality of Christ: Life, Light, Truth, and Joy,
On Tuesday we gathered around the creche and there our gazed joined the gaze of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the like as we met the gaze of the infant child wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Yesterday we jumped ahead quite a bit. On the second day of the Octave of Christmas we gathered with Paul as cloaks were laid at his feet and Stephen the Deacon was stoned the death because of his faith in the Risen Lord.
Today we are taken to the empty tomb. In today's gospel, we run with Peter and the beloved disciple as news spread that the place where JEsus was buried is now empty and the tomb is wide open for all to see.
What an amazing journey.
Our gaze meets the infant; our gaze meets Stephen as he gives his life for Christ; our gaze falls on the empty tomb.
We are reminded in these short three days that Jesus is born for a reason. The incarnation is the beginning, it is not the end. We are taken to the empty tomb to remind ourselves that this child is born to not only die but to rise.
We are taken to the site of the first martyrdom in Stephen to remind ourselves what is at stake and how we are to rise with Christ by the faith we profess.
As we celebrate the feast of John the Evangelist to day we look into his heart and experience his faith in Christ.
John gives us the gospel as well as the three letters and the book of revelation.
There is a common theme to his work as he paints the picture of Christ and gives us an insight in to the early christian communities after the resurrection and ascension.
As we ponder his words there are some common themes. John repeats over and over again that JEsus is the bread of life, the light of the world, the way and the truth, and the one who comes to make our joy complete.
Life, light, truth, and joy resonate from every word and every page.
The story of Christ does not begin and end with the manger and the tomb, the incarnation and the resurrection. IT is carried forth in us as we like the beloved disciple, peer in to the empty tomb seeing and believing.
We by our belief, in our faith must carry forth the reality of introducing the world the one who is Life, Light, Truth, and Joy.
What in our life today will bear that to the world. Our will we introduce others to this Life, Light, Truth, and Joy?
This is our task as we journey forth. As our gaze falls on the manger and peers into the empty tomb and give witness to the martyrdom of Stephen, we must turn our gaze to those around us and let our faith shine forth the reality of Christ: Life, Light, Truth, and Joy,
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
A christmas thought
Looking back on yesterday's celebration and looking forward to the upcoming Christmas season I was pondering a thought posed by Pope Benedict some years back.
First, notice that I mentioned the Christmas season. Christmas is not just a day celebration, it continues until the Epiphany which is january 6th.
We must keep the Christmas spirit's integrity by prolonging not cutting short the festivities of the season.
Pope Benedict's thought that has been coming to mind for some time, but most especially in the Christmas season is as follows, "Imagine a world without the beauty awaken by faith."
Imagine a world without the beauty awaken by faith.
Think about how our world would look. Not it isn't hard to imagine, since our current society seems to be bending in that direction. But think of the darkness that would ensue. Think of behavior no longer checked by a conscience informed by belief and faith in a higher power.
Think about a world that knows no constraint, no discipline, no mercy, no love, no generosity.
Imagine a world without the beauty awaken by faith.
But we have faith and thus beauty as become visible in our world and in our cities and in our homes.
Just look around your own place, see how alive it has become due to the decorations, the lights, the trees, the poinsettias, the wreaths and the bows.
All of this is making visible the beauty that belongs to faith.
Christmas exposes the beauty awaken by faith in a new dimension. It is not so difficult to see the beauty that comes from our faith in the living God.
But what of the beauty that comes from God's faith in us.
Christmas is really about the beauty awaken because of God's faith in humanity for he has chosen to become one with us. God has paid us the highest compliment. In the child, in the manger, we recognize our true dignity. Unashamedly God has humbled himself.
In this gesture, true beauty rises forth; true beauty is awaken in time as eternity fills us with this newborn face.
Every year Christmas is the same. In the midst of the constant changing reality of our lives it is good to note that our life of faith is built upon that foundation that never changes: God's unchanging devotion and dedication to humanity. God comes to us in this vulnerable and helpless form and offers us defenseless love.
Though we are often surrounded by "bad" news. Though our lives seems to be enshrouded in darkness. We remember the light of this day we call Christmas and we once again hear the news of great joy and glad tidings as the angels approach the shepherds and angelic Choir burst in to song, "glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will."
The "bad" news has not triumphant over this good news. We hear it again as if for the first time.
Echoing forth through the centuries once again it resonates deep with in our souls and we rejoice.
And for a brief moment as we look into the manger we rediscover the wonder and awe of it all.
Let it saturate our being so that as we enter the new year we will bring that joy with us and let it radiate outward each day anew.
We don't have to imagine a world without the beauty awaken by faith. But we do need to appreciate and bring forth that beauty in our lives.
As God comes at Christmas so he comes each day of our lives. As God comes in this vulnerable and defenseless way so he desires us to imitate his manner.
The beauty of Christmas is wrapped in that fact that it is common and a normal part of everyday life. God enters the routine of living and growing and thus he fills our ordinary unfolding reality of life with a new kind of love.
He comes to in each moment in this vulnerable, defenseless way.
Think about the Eucharist. In this piece of bread and this simple drink God unashamedly humbles himself again: vulnerable, helpless, defenseless and yet so transformative.
Imagine a world where we translate this gift of God and become what we celebrate. What would the world look like if we became vulnerable. What would the world look like if we no longer put up walls but simple offered love with out defense.
Truly then beauty would fill our lives.
First, notice that I mentioned the Christmas season. Christmas is not just a day celebration, it continues until the Epiphany which is january 6th.
We must keep the Christmas spirit's integrity by prolonging not cutting short the festivities of the season.
Pope Benedict's thought that has been coming to mind for some time, but most especially in the Christmas season is as follows, "Imagine a world without the beauty awaken by faith."
Imagine a world without the beauty awaken by faith.
Think about how our world would look. Not it isn't hard to imagine, since our current society seems to be bending in that direction. But think of the darkness that would ensue. Think of behavior no longer checked by a conscience informed by belief and faith in a higher power.
Think about a world that knows no constraint, no discipline, no mercy, no love, no generosity.
Imagine a world without the beauty awaken by faith.
But we have faith and thus beauty as become visible in our world and in our cities and in our homes.
Just look around your own place, see how alive it has become due to the decorations, the lights, the trees, the poinsettias, the wreaths and the bows.
All of this is making visible the beauty that belongs to faith.
Christmas exposes the beauty awaken by faith in a new dimension. It is not so difficult to see the beauty that comes from our faith in the living God.
But what of the beauty that comes from God's faith in us.
Christmas is really about the beauty awaken because of God's faith in humanity for he has chosen to become one with us. God has paid us the highest compliment. In the child, in the manger, we recognize our true dignity. Unashamedly God has humbled himself.
In this gesture, true beauty rises forth; true beauty is awaken in time as eternity fills us with this newborn face.
Every year Christmas is the same. In the midst of the constant changing reality of our lives it is good to note that our life of faith is built upon that foundation that never changes: God's unchanging devotion and dedication to humanity. God comes to us in this vulnerable and helpless form and offers us defenseless love.
Though we are often surrounded by "bad" news. Though our lives seems to be enshrouded in darkness. We remember the light of this day we call Christmas and we once again hear the news of great joy and glad tidings as the angels approach the shepherds and angelic Choir burst in to song, "glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will."
The "bad" news has not triumphant over this good news. We hear it again as if for the first time.
Echoing forth through the centuries once again it resonates deep with in our souls and we rejoice.
And for a brief moment as we look into the manger we rediscover the wonder and awe of it all.
Let it saturate our being so that as we enter the new year we will bring that joy with us and let it radiate outward each day anew.
We don't have to imagine a world without the beauty awaken by faith. But we do need to appreciate and bring forth that beauty in our lives.
As God comes at Christmas so he comes each day of our lives. As God comes in this vulnerable and defenseless way so he desires us to imitate his manner.
The beauty of Christmas is wrapped in that fact that it is common and a normal part of everyday life. God enters the routine of living and growing and thus he fills our ordinary unfolding reality of life with a new kind of love.
He comes to in each moment in this vulnerable, defenseless way.
Think about the Eucharist. In this piece of bread and this simple drink God unashamedly humbles himself again: vulnerable, helpless, defenseless and yet so transformative.
Imagine a world where we translate this gift of God and become what we celebrate. What would the world look like if we became vulnerable. What would the world look like if we no longer put up walls but simple offered love with out defense.
Truly then beauty would fill our lives.
Monday, December 24, 2012
eve of the birth
No i am not Aethist. But I thought i might explore the billboard that the aethist put up outside of New Jersey as they continue their so called "war" against Christmas.
But first things first.
Today is Christmas Eve. Christmas eve is a fascinating time. It has inspired poems and novels alike.
We are all familiar with the following:
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.'
The famous novel by Charles Dickens, 'A Christmas Carol' better known as 'Scrooge' begins on Christmas Eve with the following lines to captivate and intrigue,
"Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail."
Christmas eve is often the setting for many beginnings and such is the case for us.
Christmas is where it all begins, so to speak. The anticipation of the child culminates in a child in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The angels burst in song as they bring good news and glad tidings to the shepherds in the field, singing "glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth."
When you look at the christmas reality, it goes without saying, that no one could have ever imagined such a reality. No one could have ever imagined the sign the angels give, "a child is born and wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."
Aethist are right to suggest that this isn't reasonable. That is what the billboard suggest, 'tis the season for reason.' They are correct; the child in a manger born to a virgin, a birth announced by angels to shepherds in a field, and a bright star to lead to way far exceeds our reason; it is more than we can imagine.
This makes no sense at all. But this is the beauty of Christmas. God comes in ways that we could never have imagined, never have dreamed, but we certainly have hoped for.
God acts in ways beyond our imagination. This is what the good news is all about. God is not limited by our reasonableness, by our imagination.
Reality is not what we can concieve it to be, it just is. Our job is to let reality inform our mind and not try to coerce reality with mind games.
This is where aethesit go awry. They what everything to fit their limited way of thinking. What kind of God is that. The God of the aetheist is therefore reduced to their ability to think. They make their thinking their God. In this case they are right not to believe. I don't have faith in their thinking skills, why should they have faith in it.
One thing I know about our thinking as far as humanity is concerned is that it is often flawed in many ways and very unpredictable.
Tis the season to move beyond our reason. Tis the season to be captivated by our God who comes to stretch our imagination, stretch out thinking, inviting us to allow reality once again to be the center of our life, not as we would have it or conceive it but as it is, "wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger."
Whenever we say merry Christmas we acknowledge that God comes in ways that is beyond our wildest imagination and this is why it is faith and hope. Our Reason is purified by our faith otherwise it just remains our own jumbled mess and who could ever have faith in that.
God is more than and this is the good news of glad tidings that causes the angels to burst forth in song sining "glory to God in the highest and peace to men of good will on earth."
Thursday, December 20, 2012
rejoice
Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 24 Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory; Luke 1:26-38
For today's gospel we read the annunciation scene. The angel Gabriel comes to the Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
Thus begins the unfolding of salvation history in real time, as they say.
Yesterday the Pope spoke on the annunciation and i would like to share a few of his remarks with my own scattered in.
"Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you" is the opening salvo that inaugurates Jesus into history.
"Hail" is the greek word Chaire which translates into "rejoice."
4 times is this greek word used in the greek Old Testament and each time it is associated with the coming of the Messiah (Zep 3:14, Joel 2:21, Zech 9:9, Lam 4:21)
This proclamation is as the Pope points out an announcement of the end of sadness associated with the limits of life, suffering, death, wickedness, darkness that obscure the light of divine goodness.
It is the beginning of the goodness.
Rejoice!
Why rejoice? Because the Lord is with us. The reality of being full of grace bespeaks of the communion Mary has with God. This vital connection with him is what sets her apart and opens the world to divine goodness.
MAry is one who is shaped by the action of God. THus she is full of grace, the Lord is with her, she can rejoice.
In and through herself, Mary has opened the world to her creator, to God himself. She has placed herself in the hands of her creator without reserve.
Without reserve...Think about this reality, this bold commitment, this engaging relationship.
It is without reservation that "yes" is pressed upon her lips, "Behold the handmaid of the lord, be it done to me according to your word."
How different would our world be is more of us entered into that kind of relationship with God, without reservation!
Surely, rejoicing would be a more fundamental reality of our world rather than something contrived.
Where do we hold back? What have kept in reserve?
Advent is about entrusting ourselves more completely to him who desires to shape us according to his action.
For today's gospel we read the annunciation scene. The angel Gabriel comes to the Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
Thus begins the unfolding of salvation history in real time, as they say.
Yesterday the Pope spoke on the annunciation and i would like to share a few of his remarks with my own scattered in.
"Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you" is the opening salvo that inaugurates Jesus into history.
"Hail" is the greek word Chaire which translates into "rejoice."
4 times is this greek word used in the greek Old Testament and each time it is associated with the coming of the Messiah (Zep 3:14, Joel 2:21, Zech 9:9, Lam 4:21)
This proclamation is as the Pope points out an announcement of the end of sadness associated with the limits of life, suffering, death, wickedness, darkness that obscure the light of divine goodness.
It is the beginning of the goodness.
Rejoice!
Why rejoice? Because the Lord is with us. The reality of being full of grace bespeaks of the communion Mary has with God. This vital connection with him is what sets her apart and opens the world to divine goodness.
MAry is one who is shaped by the action of God. THus she is full of grace, the Lord is with her, she can rejoice.
In and through herself, Mary has opened the world to her creator, to God himself. She has placed herself in the hands of her creator without reserve.
Without reserve...Think about this reality, this bold commitment, this engaging relationship.
It is without reservation that "yes" is pressed upon her lips, "Behold the handmaid of the lord, be it done to me according to your word."
How different would our world be is more of us entered into that kind of relationship with God, without reservation!
Surely, rejoicing would be a more fundamental reality of our world rather than something contrived.
Where do we hold back? What have kept in reserve?
Advent is about entrusting ourselves more completely to him who desires to shape us according to his action.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Connecticut and 3rd Sunday of Advent
What are we to do with the tragedy of Connecticut.
20 children shot down. 7 adults lives are ended, one of which is the shooter himself.
How are we to understand this? Can we understand this?
As I was watching the breaking news about Connecticut in Warm Springs visiting a parishioner who was dealing with the effects of a stroke, I found my self disappointed with the news media.
The kept asking the question about how did the young man get the guns and the ammunition. I thought to myself, they are asking the wrong question. How much time do we spend barking up the wrong tree.
Why ask about the ammunition when so many other important question could have been asked like:
What kind of darkness was he dealing with that caused him to act out in such a horrific manner?
Is the ammunition to blame? Or is there a deeper sickness we are refusing to acknowledge that has swept through our nation?
I also began to wonder why do we even care about these 20 children that have been killed? Will it make a difference in our lives? Will it begin to change things in our society or in a few days will we just get on with lives as usual? When this incident is no longer on the front pages or blasted on TV, will we just get on with living, simply throwing a prayer their way and being thankful it wasn't our family, our child, our mother, our sibling.
Why do their deaths matter and yet we live in a country where 1 million babies are killed in their mother's womb every year by abortion, abortion that is funded by tax payer money and yet nothing changes?
Why are we appalled by this behavior when we have legalized the slaughtering of innocent children under the guise of reproductive health...what a joke.
The bottom line is that there is a sickness in our country. Have you noticed that as our morality declines, plummets, so does the mental health of the people! As we let our morality slide, the people don't get healthier they get sicker. As more and more things are tolerated, then less and less things matter.
Take a look in our society. Have you noticed how violence has been glorified in our entertainment? Think of the movies that are produced. Each movie gets more and more graphic and human life means less and less.
How often do we watch a film where someone "hero" leaves bloodshed in his wake and as people are killed off the screen just keeps moving. There is no sense of mourning, no sense of grief, no sense of loss. The bodies are squeezed off as the next scene shifts in.
Think about our video games. How much blood shed is splattered on the screen and called entertainment. No one can tell me that kind of disregard fro human life on the "big screen" or on the "video screen" doesn't have a negative impact on us.
We have so devalues life that taking life doesn't mean much at all.
The other issue is how we will deal with people who are mentally challenged, who are not like the rest of us. What we do when we meet someone who is different? Usually we distance ourselves or we stigmatize that person.
I was reading comments about the young man who was the shooter. His classmates were making comments how he was shy and distant. They said he never participated in class room discussion and he was always the first to leave the class room when the bell rung. They mentioned ho he was socially awkward. Surely these were tell tale signs of deeper issues, who knows perhaps anti social behavior or other mental challenges and yet where was the help he could have used?
Our society has not done well in providing help and aid to parents with mentally challenged children. It is hard and because it is hard we quietly let them slip through the cracks breathing a sigh of relief when they are no longer ours to deal with.
Now I know there are many out there who care and who are concerned and who try really hard by investing their lives in giving aid, but a majority of us rather stand idly bye and do nothing.
We are the ones who are responsible not the guns or the ammunition.
The fact that the reporter want to politicize the issue and make it about our President's stance and the NRA was appalling.
Our culture and our society has been sliding downward for decades. In the name of tolerance we have allowed our country to slowly deteriorate.
When will we begin to stand up for things that really matter, that should matter.
This isn't the first incident. Remember colorado, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, the Theatre just within the past year where the young man opened fire.
We need to dig a little deeper than guns and Ammo.
What are we to do? THis is the question posed to John the Baptist in today's gospel.
Listen to his response: those who have two tunice give one to him who has not, those who have food feed those who are hungry, don't cheat or steal, perform your duty in an honorable way.
John invites us to reach out to those around us. We are to treat them as we treat our family. We are to make them a part of our family. IS this not the way we imitate God, who becomes one of us in order to incorporate us in his family.
IT sounds simple but it is truly effective.
God is all joy because he is all giving. This is where we begin to start over and bring about restoration and renovation to our culture and our society.
Lastly, we trust that God is with us. This is what Paul speaks of in today's second reading when he invites us to "rejoice in the Lord always." Paul writes these words in prison. He had been arrested and beaten and chained to the floor. In that experience he pens those words, "rejoice in the lord alway."
Joy is not rooted in the circumstance of our life. Joy is not first a feeling or sensation. Joy is an attitude of faithfulness. But it is not about our faithfulness, rather about God's faithfulness.
In one of his first letters Paul reminds us that the one who has called us in trustworthy and he will do it.
Our joy comes from the reality that we do not go alone. God is with us. God's fidelity will ultimately bring light to this darkness, joy in this sorrow, healing in this pain.
God is faithful, and this is what we build our foundation on; it is from this platform we are able to rejoice even in tragedy.
We pray for the Victim's families. They who were preparing for Christmas, with gifts already beneath the tree are left with a dark corner to turn. They went from looking forward to the Christmas break to now experience a breaking of their heart. This is not fair. This will not be easy. This will hurt.
We ask God to make himself know in the midst of this reality.
But we also must make a promise not to forget, not to just get on with our lives. We must make a change. We must examine our lives and see where we have let our morality slide. We have to begin to rebuild, renew, renovate.
Get on with our lives in not an option. We tried that and it doesn't work.
God is with us, we now must let him lead us.
Only then is our rejoicing lasting, is our rejoicing real.
20 children shot down. 7 adults lives are ended, one of which is the shooter himself.
How are we to understand this? Can we understand this?
As I was watching the breaking news about Connecticut in Warm Springs visiting a parishioner who was dealing with the effects of a stroke, I found my self disappointed with the news media.
The kept asking the question about how did the young man get the guns and the ammunition. I thought to myself, they are asking the wrong question. How much time do we spend barking up the wrong tree.
Why ask about the ammunition when so many other important question could have been asked like:
What kind of darkness was he dealing with that caused him to act out in such a horrific manner?
Is the ammunition to blame? Or is there a deeper sickness we are refusing to acknowledge that has swept through our nation?
I also began to wonder why do we even care about these 20 children that have been killed? Will it make a difference in our lives? Will it begin to change things in our society or in a few days will we just get on with lives as usual? When this incident is no longer on the front pages or blasted on TV, will we just get on with living, simply throwing a prayer their way and being thankful it wasn't our family, our child, our mother, our sibling.
Why do their deaths matter and yet we live in a country where 1 million babies are killed in their mother's womb every year by abortion, abortion that is funded by tax payer money and yet nothing changes?
Why are we appalled by this behavior when we have legalized the slaughtering of innocent children under the guise of reproductive health...what a joke.
The bottom line is that there is a sickness in our country. Have you noticed that as our morality declines, plummets, so does the mental health of the people! As we let our morality slide, the people don't get healthier they get sicker. As more and more things are tolerated, then less and less things matter.
Take a look in our society. Have you noticed how violence has been glorified in our entertainment? Think of the movies that are produced. Each movie gets more and more graphic and human life means less and less.
How often do we watch a film where someone "hero" leaves bloodshed in his wake and as people are killed off the screen just keeps moving. There is no sense of mourning, no sense of grief, no sense of loss. The bodies are squeezed off as the next scene shifts in.
Think about our video games. How much blood shed is splattered on the screen and called entertainment. No one can tell me that kind of disregard fro human life on the "big screen" or on the "video screen" doesn't have a negative impact on us.
We have so devalues life that taking life doesn't mean much at all.
The other issue is how we will deal with people who are mentally challenged, who are not like the rest of us. What we do when we meet someone who is different? Usually we distance ourselves or we stigmatize that person.
I was reading comments about the young man who was the shooter. His classmates were making comments how he was shy and distant. They said he never participated in class room discussion and he was always the first to leave the class room when the bell rung. They mentioned ho he was socially awkward. Surely these were tell tale signs of deeper issues, who knows perhaps anti social behavior or other mental challenges and yet where was the help he could have used?
Our society has not done well in providing help and aid to parents with mentally challenged children. It is hard and because it is hard we quietly let them slip through the cracks breathing a sigh of relief when they are no longer ours to deal with.
Now I know there are many out there who care and who are concerned and who try really hard by investing their lives in giving aid, but a majority of us rather stand idly bye and do nothing.
We are the ones who are responsible not the guns or the ammunition.
The fact that the reporter want to politicize the issue and make it about our President's stance and the NRA was appalling.
Our culture and our society has been sliding downward for decades. In the name of tolerance we have allowed our country to slowly deteriorate.
When will we begin to stand up for things that really matter, that should matter.
This isn't the first incident. Remember colorado, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, the Theatre just within the past year where the young man opened fire.
We need to dig a little deeper than guns and Ammo.
What are we to do? THis is the question posed to John the Baptist in today's gospel.
Listen to his response: those who have two tunice give one to him who has not, those who have food feed those who are hungry, don't cheat or steal, perform your duty in an honorable way.
John invites us to reach out to those around us. We are to treat them as we treat our family. We are to make them a part of our family. IS this not the way we imitate God, who becomes one of us in order to incorporate us in his family.
IT sounds simple but it is truly effective.
God is all joy because he is all giving. This is where we begin to start over and bring about restoration and renovation to our culture and our society.
Lastly, we trust that God is with us. This is what Paul speaks of in today's second reading when he invites us to "rejoice in the Lord always." Paul writes these words in prison. He had been arrested and beaten and chained to the floor. In that experience he pens those words, "rejoice in the lord alway."
Joy is not rooted in the circumstance of our life. Joy is not first a feeling or sensation. Joy is an attitude of faithfulness. But it is not about our faithfulness, rather about God's faithfulness.
In one of his first letters Paul reminds us that the one who has called us in trustworthy and he will do it.
Our joy comes from the reality that we do not go alone. God is with us. God's fidelity will ultimately bring light to this darkness, joy in this sorrow, healing in this pain.
God is faithful, and this is what we build our foundation on; it is from this platform we are able to rejoice even in tragedy.
We pray for the Victim's families. They who were preparing for Christmas, with gifts already beneath the tree are left with a dark corner to turn. They went from looking forward to the Christmas break to now experience a breaking of their heart. This is not fair. This will not be easy. This will hurt.
We ask God to make himself know in the midst of this reality.
But we also must make a promise not to forget, not to just get on with our lives. We must make a change. We must examine our lives and see where we have let our morality slide. We have to begin to rebuild, renew, renovate.
Get on with our lives in not an option. We tried that and it doesn't work.
God is with us, we now must let him lead us.
Only then is our rejoicing lasting, is our rejoicing real.
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