impersonation

1 John 2:3-11; Psalm 96 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; Luke 2:22-25

In the first letter today on this 5th day of the Octave of Christmas John gives us a practical look at what it means to be a disciple; not only is it practical advice but it assures us of confidence in our knowledge of JEsus, confidence in our path to holiness that culminates in the fullness to be had in heaven.

In some sense, St. John invites us to impersonate Jesus. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery; yet John doesn't want us to merely imitate Jesus' external actions but he wants us to impersonate his heart.

We must allow our heart to be formed after his.

This formation of the heart occurs with each new attempt to do as he did. The more we seek to live like Jesus the more we are able to live like JEsus the more our heart will be formed into his.

Truth of the matter is this: we can only love what we know; thus the more we seek to impersonate the heart of JEsus the more we know about Jesus; the more we know the more we love; the more we love the deeper our knowledge grows.

The life becomes a spiral in which we dive deeper and deeper into the reality of Jesus and He dives deeper and deeper into us.

Thus, the "word of God can be perfected in us." This is not a one time thing, but a continual journey into the heart of Jesus, like Mary our hearts must be pierced through.

On another thought, we are still in the octave of Christmas, which means Christmas is not over; we must linger in this festival and allow the spirit of giving to transform our heart and make it like his.

Holy Innocents

1 John 5-2:2; Psalm 124 Our Soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler's snare; Matthew 2:13-18

Today we pause for a moment to remember the Holy Innocents.

Herod in his blind and cruel rage, motivated by a inordinate ambition for control, sent his men to Bethlehem and the surround territory to murder all the male children 2 years and under.

Herod in this diabolical act picks a fight with heaven, wanting to end the life of Jesus, while just a babe in swaddling clothes.

The Holy Innocents, themselves children left without defense, become a holocaust.

Why?

Because Herod chooses to rule from fear.

Thus, children, innocent victims, become spotless lambs. All because of mistaken Identity. They were mistaken to be Christ because of their physical attributes, their age and size.

But are we not all called to be mistaken for Christ. Are we not invited to the reality of mistaken identity where we are looked upon as an alter Christus, another Christ, though, not because of our physical attributes but for the way we live from the heart and how we choose to be spotless lambs, victims who share in the victory of Christ over sin and death in our life.

And what of Mary of Joseph and Jesus, fleeing to Egypt. There they go into a strange land with strange customs and language and food. They abandon all they know and enter into the unknown. Like so many immigrants and refugees and migrant workers, Mary and Joseph associate with the poorest of the poor, outcast in a land not their own.

They are on the run. They are in hiding. Fresh into the world Jesus is already being persecuted. The world already turns against its savior, frowns upon redemption, chooses to live for itself and close itself up to the offer of heaven on earth.

Already from the beginning the cross looms large on the horizon. If they do this to a child, what will they do to the man?

Filled with grace and power

Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59; Psalm 31 Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit; Matthew 10:17-22

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles begins today with these words, "Stephen, filled with grace and power..."

Stephen filled with grace and power...

What a description!

This reality of Stephen points to the meaning and beauty of Christmas.

Once we celebrate Christmas, we can never go back to the way things were. We can never go back to the routine of living or get back to the routine of life. Christmas changes everything and the normal life gives way to a life filled with grace and power, wonder and awe.

St. Stephen let his encounter with Christ change everything. He embraced the gift, received it fully and set aside the passive life of normal do nothingness and exchanged it for one of zeal, grace, and power.

As Jesus is born in a manger, heaven comes to earth, we all are invited to tap into the power and grace of heaven and thus live life anew.

It may not change our circumstances but it will change our outlook and empower us to go beyond the norm.

"Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal king; today we celebrate the triumphant suffer of his soldier; yesterday our king is robed in swaddling clothes, in the flesh from the virgin's womb, makes his entrance in the world; today the soldier leaves the tabernacle of his body makes his entrance into heaven." St Fulgentius

more than we imagine

Readings for Christmas

Yesterday I was at one of the local banks in town doing some last minute rearrangement of my bank account. As I was visiting with the bank teller, I noticed a big plasma screen on the back wall.

The screen was flashing different advertisements and the like. One of the things flashed on the screen was a little segment called "word to the wise." In this segment there was a quote from somebody famous.

One of the quotes flashed on the screen was from Pablo Picasso, the Spanish artist. The quote was the following, "Everything you can imagine is real."

My first thought was that Mr. Picasso should stick with painting, becasue he is a far better painter than philosopher.

The quote doesn't mean anything. Everything I can imagine is not real; in fact many of the things we imagine is bogus.

The season Christmas isn't a season of imagination. Rather, it a season in which we surrender our imagination to what is real. We let reality as it is change how we imagine anything and everything.

At Christmas we have to step outside of our imagination and we have to let reality inform us just how far our imagination falls short of what is most real.

At Christmas we celebrate God becoming man, born of a virgin, born in a manger between the ox and the ass in a sleepy little town of Bethlehem, with shepherds and magi and angels singing "glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth."

Born this day is a savior.

Who could have ever imagine that!

No at Christmas we are invited to appreciate reality as it is not as we might imagine it to be.

Blessed be God who can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.

EVery time we say "merry Christmas" we are saying that God goes beyond our imagination, God is more than. This is the good news, the foundation of our faith, hope, love and joy.

What is real is more than what we can imagine.

May we keep it real and let reality keep us sound and joyful and free.

Born this day is the king of kings, the lord of lords, the savior who comes to take away our sins.

It is real, whether you can imagine it or not!

bow and rise

Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24; Psalm 25 Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand; Luke 1:57-66

The psalm's refrain today in the liturgy invites us to "lift up your heads and see; you redemption is near at hand."

Yet the psalm itself tells us that the "friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him."

The reality described is one of bowing low in order to truly be able to see clearly. We can not lift our heads and see until we have first gone down on bended knee. This is why at Christmas we genuflect when proclaiming the in the Creed, "by the power of the Holy Spirt HE was born of the Virgin Mary and became man."

We bow and thus we can rise and see that our redemption is at hand.

Pope Benedict this past Sunday at his noon angelus and welcoming of the crowd spoke these words: "Christmas is not a fairy tale for children; Christmas is God's answer to the drama of humanity in search of Peace. How we welcome Jesus and how we live at the service of God's plan and faith brings forth that peace into the world."

We must bow at the crib and then we shall rise and live the peace the Child brings to the drama of humanity.

magnificat

1 Samuel 1:24-28; My Heart exults in the Lord, my Savior;Luke 1:46-56

Magnificat or magnificent are words that derive their meaning from that latin which means "serving to magnify."

This is the primal focus of the outburst of Mary we encounter in today's gospel passage:

"my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior."

The entire hymn reflects on the entire life of Mary as one "serving to magnify."

This outburst of joy is a result of her openness to the possibility of God, her openness to divine initiative and also divine providence.

This outburst is preceded by a question of suspicion "how can this be."

Mary's trust in God allows her suspicion to give way to one of joyful anticipation, "my soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices..."

Mary's history becomes the history of God at work.

Through the life of Mary we can trace the lines of God; we can easily surmise that God is always up to something.

What God does in Mary's life, he wills to be done in ours.

Our life can and should become the history of God. In our life, we can say God is always up to something. We too shall serve to magnify if we are open to his initiative and providence.

"He has shown the strength of his arm" and you can say that he is the original Arm & Hammer where you find "your daily solution" to life's stink.

By the "strength of his arm" God always holds us in the palm of his hands.

laughter is a leap

Song of Songs 2:8-14; Psalm 33 Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song; Luke 1:39-45

"For the moment the sound of your greeting reached m ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy."

"Seriousness is not a virtue. It would be a heresy, but a much more sensible heresy , to say seriousness is a vice. It is really a natural trend or lapse into taking one's self gravely, because it is the easiest thing to do. It is easier to write a good Times leading article than a good joke in Punch. For solemnity flows out of men naturally; but laughter is a leap. It is easy to be hard: hard to be light." G.K. Chesterton

"where joylessness reigns, where humor dies, the spirit of Jesus Christ is assuredly absent. But the reverse is also true: joy is a sign of grace. One who is cheerful from the bottom of his heart, one who has suffered but not lost joy, cannot be far from the God of the evangelium, whose first words on the threshold of the New Testament is 'Rejoice'." Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI

It is amazing what we we can learn from a child, a child in the womb, who knew how to laugh and leap for joy.

Christmas is a time for leaping and laughing. Try it! You may agree that you like it.

Song of songs 2:8ff

"Hark! My lover-here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag...My lover speaks; he says to me, "Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come!...Let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and you are lovely."

The wedding of Song between God and Man as we prepare for the wedding between God and Man in the incarnation. The bride groom comes are we ready.