Reflections on the Gospel Reading for the Day
“The Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.”
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.” (Lk 1:46-49).
These verses from Luke are the beginning of the Canticle of Mary also known as the Magnificat. These words are recited or chanted daily each evening for those who pray Vespers or Evening Prayer for the Liturgy of the Hours. We are still able to read and recite these words, again and again, generation after generation because Mary and Elizabeth were moved by the Holy Spirit and acted upon his leading. They did not remain silent, they did not hold back their words for fear of being rejected. Mary went in haste to come to be with Elizabeth, she did not hesitate and think things over. She was clear and she went.
Mary’s words of greeting were heard by John and he leaped in the womb of Elizabeth who then, moved by the Holy Spirit, confirmed the encounter of the Annunciation when she said: “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:42). Mary then responded glorifying the Lord for what God had done for her, for us, for the whole created order.
Present in this hymn of praise, thanksgiving, and hope, are words that we can make our own. We too can proclaim “the greatness of the Lord”. We do so by thanking God for what he has done in our lives, as St Irenaeus did so when he recognized this and wrote that God sent his Son to open up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed.
Mary is called blessed because she followed the will of God and points all generations to her Son, directing not only the attendants at the wedding feast of Cana but all of us as well to “do whatever he tells you” (cf. Jn 2:5).
We have the opportunity to rejoice with Mary today by reading and praying with Mary’s Magnificat (Lk 1:46-56). The best way to prepare and celebrate the birth of Jesus is to be willing to hear and do whatever Jesus tells us, such as: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk 12:30-31).
Loving our neighbors also means loving our enemies. This includes anyone that really gets under our skin. We need to learn again how to have civil and respectful dialogue. We can disagree but still respect one another without belittling or dehumanizing. We can listen to one another’s points of view, without shouting at or over one another. By doing so, maybe we can learn from one another again. How about packaging up a nice fruit basket made up of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, and understanding, and placing it under the tree this year for Christmas?
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Photo of Mary by Moisés Becera. Roma, Italy cathopic.com
Link for the Mass readings for, Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Let us accompany and be present to one another.
Mary “traveled to the hill country in haste” (Lk 1:39) and when she and Elizabeth got together they rejoiced in the gift of new life that God had blessed them both with. We are to rejoice too, as we remember the gift of the conception and birth of Jesus. Jesus invites us to experience a new life. What we are about to celebrate in a few days had never happened before in human history. The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, fully divine, became one of us. He became a human being, fully human, just like one of us. That affirms that we are not junk, not someone’s trash to be kicked around. Our life has purpose and meaning because we are loved by God more than we can ever imagine!
We are all invited to be recreated, each and every day. Have you ever wanted a fresh start, a do-over? Well, here you go. Don’t believe the mind noise or other people who will actually tell you in subtle or overt ways that you are worthless or nothing. Not true! Just by our very being, the reality that we exist, says something. We have been created in the image and likeness of God and we have been created by Love to receive and to share the love we have received. We are a living craving hunger and desire to be in communion with God and one another. This is true for the atheist and the believer alike. We are called to will the good of the other as other and as they are, unconditionally. If we haven’t been all that loving lately, today is a new day to take Jesus’ hand and begin anew.
We are about to celebrate a baby’s birth. Not just any baby, but he who has always been, became the most vulnerable, who took on flesh as an embryo, developed as an unborn fetus, and was born as an infant, and wrapped in swaddling clothes. Mary’s Son would continue to grow, mature, and thirty-three years later, return to an even more vulnerable position on the Cross, beaten, scourged, naked, and crucified. He was born and tabernacled, made his dwelling, among us, to be one with us, so that when he died he could take our sin upon himself. Original Sin did not destroy us. We were wounded, but by his stripes, the scourging that Jesus endured for us, we have been healed. He conquered even death, that we could have life and have it to the full, now and through all eternity.
Jesus was born for us and he is still with us that we might not only be shown a better way but to know him, who is the Way. Jesus became vulnerable for us, being authentically who God called him to be, even when that meant rejection, time, and time again. May we too be willing to be vulnerable, to risk, to share with others who we are, free of masks and pretense. May we be present, and also walk and accompany one another. Being there for our family and friends is important, and if we take our Christianity seriously, we must come to acknowledge, in concrete ways, person to person, that we are all brothers and sisters. Just as the sun shines on the good and the bad alike, Jesus died for us all. After his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, the Love shared between the Father and the Son, to empower us to live as he did, in communion with his Father, to better actualize our communion with one another.
Mary and Elizabeth celebrated the joy of new life, they rejoiced together at the announcement that each of them would conceive and bear a son. The other message they share with us because they realized it all too soon, is that life goes by too fast. Each of their sons would die a brutal death, yet God brought about a greater good from their willingness to sacrifice their lives for us. They gave us a new beginning for humanity.
Let us not take the gift of this life we have been given, any moment of it, for granted. Let the people we care about know that we love them. Make that call, send that card, and/or invite that person for a walk and when you are together, be present, be there with each other. Put the phone down, leave work at work, face conflicts and work through problems that arise together, and as best as we are able just be present to one another.
May we be respectful, kind, and caring in our interactions with each person we encounter in our daily moments. If you catch the eye of another, smile. In that simple gesture, we say to another that we care enough about them to acknowledge that they exist and that they have worth. Even behind our masks, our eyes smile. Let the joy of Mary and Elizabeth catch like wildfire in us this Advent and let us share with haste the joy of Jesus we have experienced in our life!
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Painting of Elizabeth and Mary in the church of El Sitio, Suchitoto, El Salvador
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, December 21,2020
In saying yes to God, we will experience his love more deeply and true joy!
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her (Lk 1:38).
Whether this is the first or thousandth time you have read this verse, the more important question is how many times have you said to God, “May it be done to me according to your word”? How would it be for us to begin each day with this prayer and then at the end of the day reflect on how well we have heard and answered yes to God’s will?
Mary’s yes changed the course of human history. Her willingness to bear the Son of God who dwelt among us in our wounded human condition, was for the purpose to heal and to lead us home to communion with his Father. Jesus is the gift that keeps giving – and we receive his gift each time we say yes to him. When we do so, we become less, as he becomes more, and the kingdom of God continues to expand.
Along with Mary, the yes that we make is not a one-time, yes, but we are to affirm a daily, moment by moment yes. As St Paul wrote to the Church of Thessalonica, we are to: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 16-17). We are able to rejoice always and pray without ceasing when we say, “Yes,” to God by developing and sustaining our relationship with him such that even when we experience pain, suffering, and struggles, we are not overcome or overwhelmed. We can even feel joy in the midst of them because we experience Jesus’ closeness. He does not abandon us to random fate. He is our source, our refuge, and our strength, present to us in all that we experience.
Our prayers of petition for ourselves and intercession for others are another yes to his will because they are an “admission of one’s own helplessness” (Lohfink 2014, 240). Prayer is a, “No,” to pride. Our willingness to ask for help and to help others are also practical ways of saying yes to God. There is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. Two by two, just as Jesus sent his disciples. Prayer is a yes to our acknowledgment that we need Jesus to guide and help us, also to save us from ourselves! Service is a yes to the love we have received from him and a willingness to share this love with others.
We are to rejoice as we begin this fourth week of Advent because we draw ever closer to celebrating the birth of Jesus who is Emmanuel, God with us. May we have the grace to experience his love in our time of prayer and serving one another. This reality was made possible by the handmaid of the Lord. Say yes to Jesus as Mary did and rejoice!
Photo: Who says that you can’t experience joy in Religion Class?
Lohfink, Gerhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.
Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, December 20, 2020
When we follow God’s will, we can trust in his timing.
The Gospel of Luke and today’s first reading from the Book of Judges both continue the theme of divine intervention through angelic messengers. The message they convey is one of the new life to come. The wife of Manoah and Zechariah, the husband of Elizabeth, both receive the message of impending births from women who were beyond child bearing age.
For women of ancient Israel, this was a tremendous cause for shame; for many women, their worth was defined by their ability to bear children. This was in evidence in the words of Elizabeth. When she conceived she said, “So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.” (Lk 1:25). Her shame and anguish would now be over, her long period of barrenness was coming to an end.
Many women today feel this same anguish. They desire to have a child and are not able to. There may be many reasons why, but there may also be a plan that God has in place that is not readily apparent at the time. One may be God’s timing, for Mary it was too soon! For Manoah’s wife and Elizabeth, it was about time! But in each case, God had his plan and timing in mind. For some women, there may be another way of serving other than being a birth mother.
Adoption or foster parenting of children who are in desperate need of safe, stable homes are options. Some more indirect ways could be assisting in caring for nieces and nephews, cousins, teaching catechesis, or working with youth groups. Other ways to serve could be through more time consuming active ministries, vocations, or jobs. I cannot imagine the desire to give birth to a child and not be able to do so, nor can I imagine the inner anguish that may cause. I do believe God has a plan for each of us and when we align ourselves with his will we will truly be happy and fulfilled.
Though I am not the birth father of any of my own children, I have been blessed with the gift of being a step-father to JoAnn’s three children, Mia, Jack, and Christy. This was not necessarily the plan I thought about. In fact, about a year before we met, I was in a consignment shop and saw a jean jacket for an infant. I bought it thinking it would look good on my future daughter or son. When JoAnn and I were married the kids were no longer infants, so, I guessed the jacket would look good on a future granddaughter or grandson, God’s timing!
I am truly thankful to have been married to JoAnn and journeyed alongside Mia, Jack, and Christy, and knowing that her time here on earth would end too soon, I would marry her all over again. I am still not sure how God will bring about a greater good from our loss, but I trust that not only he but JoAnn will reveal to us the steps we are to take as we need to know them.
Advent is a time of waiting and anticipation. There are periods of waiting in all of our lives and we can certainly be impatient with God and ourselves. We have certain plans and intentions that we want to accomplish but often are not capable of seeing far enough down the road to notice if those plans are apparent or actual goods. The light at the end of a tunnel could actually be a train!
When we remain faithful like Manoah’s wife, Elizabeth, and Mary, and resist the temptation to go off on our own, while seeking to understand his will or ignoring it altogether, we will find fulfillment and joy. Each of us is called to be a Christ-bearer to a worn and weary world desperately in need of new life! We will also enjoy the time of waiting more when we are trusting that God is preparing us for what we seek or something even greater than we can ever imagine!
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Photo: Our first Christmas together!
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, December 19
Our faith grows stronger when we trust God and one another.
Joseph heard the news that Mary, his betrothed, was with child. He clearly knew the child was not biologically his. Scripture does not account for the thoughts or emotions of Joseph, but whatever inner turmoil he did have, he came to a decision that would not expose Mary to shame. He was not going to make a public spectacle of Mary, but divorce her quietly. Before he made his final decision though, Joseph made an excellent choice when discerning serious matters. He slept on the idea before acting.
During Joseph’s sleep, the angel of the Lord delivered a message. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:20-21). When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home (Mt 1:24). From their encounter with God’s messengers, both Mary and Joseph trusted in God’s will, and “that has made all the difference” to quote Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Because of Mary and Joseph’s yes to God and to family, the Son of God became man and opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed.
God often works in the same way when dealing with us. What may appear to be absurd, unimaginable, or downright impossible, is indeed possible when we align our will with God. This is the week of Joy in Advent. Joy is more than pleasure or happiness. Pleasure ends when the sensate experience ends. Happiness is experienced with pleasure and can last longer, in that we can recall the pleasurable experiences for a time, but happiness too will fade. Joy, though, like hope, is a gift of the Holy Spirit that wells up from within, from the depths of our soul.
The source of joy does not come from external experiences but from an encounter with and acceptance of God’s invitation. Joy is an experience of communion with the love of God. This has been given to us in greater measure because Jesus became one with us, and so upon his ascension into heaven, we too can experience the loving communion he experiences with his Father. We also experience the love of the Holy Spirit in our encounter with family and friends, this exchange of giving and receiving of ourselves in conversation, shared experiences, and in resolving challenges and conflicts together.
Mary and Joseph both received incredible news, that neither of them fully comprehended. They could have easily responded in a different way. Instead, they trusted in God, they chose family, and because they did so, we can rejoice not this week but all of our days!
Mary and Joseph followed God’s lead and were willing to allow their unborn child, Jesus, to come to full term. Because they risked public ridicule and worse, Jesus entered into our human condition. Even in the midst of our trials we can rejoice, not in the fact that we suffer or face uncertainties in this life, but because we are not alone. We may feel on our own, see no way out, and/or no help on the horizon, but God will make a way and reveal it to us through his Son. We may not understand either, but like Mary and Joseph, we are to trust in God and one another.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, please intercede on our behalf this Advent Season such that we may better be able to resist the temptation of taking each of our family members for granted, but instead choose to be appreciative and thankful for one another. Help us to react less and breathe deeply more. Help us to be more understanding, patient, and willing to forgive, such that even though we have experienced past hurts, conflicts, disagreements, and different perspectives, we may ultimately experience time and again the joy of being there for one another, through thick and thin.
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Photo: Our first Christmas picture together as a family about twenty-four years ago, actually taken in late summer so it would be ready for our first Christmas card!
Link for the Mass readings for Friday, December 18, 2020
“Do I let his fire warm my heart?”
Today’s Gospel account is from Matthew’s record of the genealogy of Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, is fully divine, while at the same time he is also fully human. Here Matthew presents the lineage of Jesus’ human line from Abraham to his foster father Joseph and his mother Mary. Jesus is part of a people and a family. If you go through this genealogy with a fine-tooth comb, there are gaps, but Matthew is more concerned with the line of faith than a strict historical account. Matthew also includes women in this listing, which is not common in ancient patriarchal societies. Looking at their stories in Scripture will also show that they were not at all the most virtuous, but more importantly, they played a significant part in God’s plan of salvation.
This is our heritage as well. We are spiritual Semites. Genealogies have become more popular in recent years as can be seen by the different advertisements for DNA test kits. The draw for these is that we want to belong, to be a part of. To understand who we are, we seek to understand where we have come from. To be able to go forward, we need to reach behind. Jesus was born in time, to the people of Judah, and is a part of the succession from Abraham and his clan, to the twelve tribes of Jacob, to the unified nation of Israel under David. Jesus continues to bring God’s movement of grace beyond a nation to a universal invitation for all.
Through our Baptism, we are part of the lineage of Jesus. We are not alone, no longer estranged, no longer separate, or on the peripheries. Yet many, even those who profess their belief in Christ, are missing his greatest gift of faith, which is developing a relationship with him now. Too many of us are Christian in name only.
We are now in the final two weeks of Advent. A good practice is to spend time drawing close to Jesus who made himself close to us in becoming one of us. Pope Francis can help. The Pope encountered a young man who told him that he didn’t believe in anything. He said, “I don’t have the gift of faith! What do you have to say to me?”
“Don’t be discouraged,” I said. “God loves you. Let yourself be gazed upon by him! Nothing else.”
May we too be willing to receive the gift of Jesus: “What is important is to find the way best suited for you to be with the Lord, and this everyone can do; it is possible for every state of life.” Pope Francis also offered these two questions to ponder: “Do I find time to remain in his presence, in silence, to be looked upon by him? Do I let his fire warm my heart” (Francis 2014, 16)?
We are never alone if we remember Jesus is present in our everyday experiences. We just need to be aware of his loving gaze, to rest in it, and then to return ours. We are also invited to embrace his radiating fire, his love to warm and expand our hearts. In doing each, we become more open to the gift of his presence in our lives. When we allow him to lead us to encounter one another and support each other in our weaknesses, we too will experience the love of the Holy Spirit shared between Father and Son.
Photo: San Francisco rainbow day after Thanksgiving last year.
Francis, Pope. The Church of Mercy: A Vision for the Church. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2014.
Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, December 17, 2020
The healing touch of Jesus opens up heaven for us.
At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind (Luke 7:21).
Once the public ministry of Jesus began, a big part of his ministry was healing. This healing often brought people from a posture of being on the outside looking in, to returning to become again part of the community socially and spiritually. Typically, those with physical ailments were considered to have offended God in some way or ritually unclean. Many in this state, such as lepers were even required to keep at a distance, away from others, for to touch someone in this state would render them ritually unclean.
The healing touch of Jesus brought more than physical renewal as it also opened the door for people’s relationships with family, friends, and God to be restored. The healing miracles of Jesus were also a foretaste of the eternal kingdom of his Father where there is no longer pain, suffering, and separation, where our relationship with God will ultimately reconciled.
People may wonder if Jesus still heals today. I say, “Yes!” There are many accounts of people who have been physically healed, even beyond scientific explanation by calling upon his name. There are also those, like myself and many with me, who have prayed for a healing that was not granted in the way we sought in prayer. Though my wife, JoAnn, was not healed from pancreatic cancer in this life, she is free from her suffering and pain. Her relationship with God the Father has been restored and she is now with him interceding on our behalf.
The physical healings of Jesus were precursors of the ultimate healing he came to bestow upon each and every one of us. Even death is not an end nor does it have the final word. The Son of God entered into our human condition to become one with us in our humanity so that we can begin to become one with him in his divinity in this life, where he conquered death, so that we can continue on with him for eternity where we will see his Father face to face.
Photo: JoAnn, in her early twenties, maybe looking to the Heaven where she is now.
Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, December 16, 2020.
“Which of the two did his father’s will?” Which one are we?
“…you did not later change your minds and believe him” (Mt 21:32).
Jesus again is challenging those in the religious establishment of his time that refused to see what was right before their eyes. That John the Baptist was moving the hearts and mind of the people to prepare the way for the Lord, that through the healings of Jesus, the blind could now see, the deaf could now hear the lame could walk, lepers were healed, demons were exercised, and people’s sins were forgiven.
Jesus’ parable clearly shows that those in authority were like the son who heard the will of their father, said yes to his request but did not in the end follow the father’s will. The other son represented those on the peripheries, those looking in from the outside of society. They too were invited by the father to work in the vineyard. They originally said no but then would repent and come to their senses and follow the will of their father.
The religious rulers Jesus was challenging were most likely fervent in their faith and zeal to serve God when they first said yes to his call and then over time, something happened. We could speculate but we cannot say for sure what. Most likely it was different for each one. What is revealed in the Gospel accounts is that those leaders refusing to see Jesus for who he was were no longer saying yes to the Father.
Pope Francis has been expressing the same radical message of the Gospel in his challenge for the Church leadership to repent. There is to be a wholehearted yes to the will of God. To say yes, there needs to be a no to abuse, clericalism, hypocrisy, elitism, sexism, racism, entitlement, corruption, and the like. Those who are leaders of the Church are to be shepherds who smell like their sheep.
The message of the Gospel is about relationship not lordship over another. There is one Lord, Jesus the Christ. We are to be like him and serve one another, accompany and empower one another. That means we need to be aware of each other’s needs, then pray for and assist each other where we are able. To be there for one another we need to resist the temptations of complacency, comfort, and indifference.
Pope Francis does not just challenge the leadership but us as well. Advent is the time for us to look in the mirror and with humility see where and when we are saying no to God. When we do so, we can then decide to turn around and change our minds like the tax collectors and the prostitutes, see Jesus present to us in each other, and be open again to allow God to happen in our lives.
Spiritual Stepping Stones 