Reflections on the Gospel Reading for the Day

“Behold the Lamb of God.” He who was born and died for us.

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).

The only one who can take away sins is God. The unblemished lamb is the animal that is sacrificed at the Passover meal, commemorating when the angel of death passed over the Hebrews whose doorposts were marked with the blood of the lamb. The next day they were freed from their slavery under pharaoh, and the exodus event began culminating in their passing through the Red Sea to freedom.

The Son of God became human to become the Lamb of God. He experienced laughter, pain, suffering, love, tears, and all of our human condition even temptation, but he did not sin. The Son of God became human so that what he assumed in his human condition, he could redeem. As the Lamb of God, Jesus approached John for baptism, he took upon himself the sin of the world and submitted his divinity to his human condition and was willing to be baptized for repentance not because he sinned, but so that he could take upon the sin of the world upon himself. This act was also a foreshadowing of his crucifixion on the cross.

The Incarnation, the Son becoming fully human while remaining fully divine, was the premiere act of mercy, in that Jesus entered the chaos and woundedness of our lives. His allowing himself to die on the cross the greatest expression of his love. The same love that he shares with his Father, his receiving and returning all that he received to the Father and holding nothing back, we can see him doing so visibly when we look upon a crucifix. He was born and died, he gave everything, including his life for each and every one of us.

Alone we cannot be redeemed, we cannot be fully healed or restored to who we have been created to be. We need a savior. Jesus is, while at the same time, more than a model to follow or a teacher to guide us, he became one with us in our humanity to lead us up out of our brokenness and sin. In saying yes to his invitation, we can say with Paul, “yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). This is the gift we have received again this Christmas, a reminder that when enter into a relationship with Jesus, he grants us the grace to access and share in the divine power of the Love experienced between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus holds his hand out to each one of us today. May we receive his hand in our own, and as our fingers touch his palm may we feel the wound there, embrace the remembrance of the nail that pierced his flesh, the pain that he endured, so we could have this very moment with him. Even in our brokenness, anxiety, confusion, fear, and sin, may we resist pulling away. May we feel the warmth of his hand grip ours. Let our gaze be drawn up to see his face, his smile, his forgiveness, and experience his infinite love for us.

I am blessed at each Mass as I hold up the consecrated host to be able to say, “Behold, the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world.” May we see, believe, and receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Amen.

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Photo: Christmas Morning Mass, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, January 3, 2025

“Who and whose are we?”

“Who are you” (Jn 1:19)? John did not claim or pretend to be something that he was not. He was clear who he was, he was clear of his place in serving God, and he was clear about the mission God gave him. He was preparing the way of the Lord. John shared that “there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie” (Jn 1:26-27).

The question also arose about who Jesus was. It was not only a question during his lifetime, but this query was also addressed during the early development of the Church’s Christology and still arises today. The readings of the Christmas Season, that we are still celebrating liturgically, in fact, all four Gospels, address the question of who Jesus is. In fact, the entirety of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation answers this question!

The majority of the heresies that arose in the Church surrounded this question as well. From the Annunciation, we recognize that at his conception in the womb of Mary Jesus remained fully God and became fully human. He did not become the Christ at his baptism as the heresy of Adoptionism would propose. Nor was Jesus a powerful created being as the priest Arius would suggest in the third century. We counter the heresy of Arianism every Sunday when we recite in the Nicene Creed: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him, all things were made.”

Arianism taught that Jesus was a created being, the highest of beings made by God, but created none the less. The Church teaches that Jesus is begotten not made. He was, is, and always will be God, the Second Person of the Trinity. He is God the Son consubstantial, homoousios, which means of one and the same substance with God the Father. The Father and the Son are one in substance, yet distinct in their operation. The Father begets, the Son is begotten.

Adoptionism and Arianism are but two of the various early heresies that arose, of which Arianism gained more of a following. Arianism still rears its head today in practice as it did then because of the unwillingness of those who will not acknowledge that the divine could become human. This goes back to our starting question that was asked about John. “Who are you?”

A good question to answer for us ourselves. We are human beings created in the image and likeness of God, even though our likeness has been dimmed by sin. We are physical beings with a rational soul, we are invited to embrace the reality that we are human and through our participation in the life of Jesus, beginning with our baptism, we are adopted daughters and sons of God. Do we reject our humanity, our created status, trying to determine our own destiny on our own terms, to put ourselves in the place of God, or are we like John the Baptist, and acknowledge the gift of who we are and the mission God invites us to participate in?

As we continue to celebrate this Christmas Season and the new year that has just begun, may we embrace that each and everyone of us is a unique person, never created before nor will we ever be again, with a particular vocation and part to play in building up of the reign of God. We will come to know our purpose and begin to restore our likeness, as we follow the lead of Mary who made time to ponder and align her human will with the divine will of God.

As we collaborate with Jesus in all the decisions we make, the smallest to the biggest, let us pray for a heart, mind, and soul that is open to following the love of the Holy Spirit so that we can know who we are, whose we are, the mission that the Father has given us, and begin to live it each day. We restore our likeness to God by becoming holy and striving to be saints.

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Photo: Spending some quiet time with God is a good way to begin the year, begin and end each day, and to know who we are and that we are loved more than we can imagine.

Link for today’s Mass readings for Thursday, January 2, 2025

With Mary, Theotokos, as our guide, let us ponder more in 2025.

Mary offers us a wonderful gift today as we begin the new year together. “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Gabriel shares with Mary that she will conceive a child through the power of the Holy Spirit. Her relative Elizabeth, who is past childbearing years, is six months pregnant when Mary and Elizabeth meet. In their encounter, John leaps in the womb of Elizabeth. The shepherds convey the message they received from the angels that Mary’s baby is the long-awaited Messiah. Simeon and Anna offer prophetic confirmation that Jesus is the Messiah.

These are the events we have been hearing again during Advent and this Christmas Octave. May we like Mary also ponder, not to just read or listen and move on. The Church at her best has followed the model of Mary’s reflection, pondering, and meditating upon what these words mean and has come to call this day the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. This title says more about Jesus than it does about Mary. This is the teaching that the Church Fathers confirmed during the council of Ephesus in 431 AD:

Mary is the Mother of God, in Greek – Theotokos – the God-bearer.

As Paul intuits, “God sent forth his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). Paul did not say, born of man and woman but of woman. The second Person of the Trinity was sent by his Father through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and was conceived in the womb of Mary. Jesus is the Son of God in his divinity and the son of Mary in his humanity. He remained fully divine as the second Person of the Trinity and the Holy Trinity was not diminished in any way as he developed as a human being in the womb and was born of Mary. This truth and reality is the Mystery of the hypostatic union: Jesus is one divine person subsisting in two natures the human and divine.

Theological insights such as Mary being the Mother of God, the hypostatic union of Jesus, are easily missed or worse dismissed if we conform ourselves to the present age of instant gratification, instant access, surfing, swiping, taking in sound bytes from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and amassing information overload. All of these technological avenues can be wonderful if we stop, slow down, and as Mary did, ponder what they offer.

If we still read books, do we do so with pencil and highlighter in hand, take notes and go back to those points underlined, highlighted, and or annotated and ponder the insights we have received, and then put them into practice? Or do we just have a moment of pause and say hmm, interesting, and then move on to the next factoid?

Let us begin the first day of the new year by taking a few deep breaths, slowing down, and pondering. We can reflect on a word, a phrase, or a short statement that we write down and return to it often. The phrase could be as simple as a paraphrase from today’s reading: Mary pondered on these things in her heart. Let us reflect on where God has been calling us to stop and take a deeper look at our lives. It could be one word: Theotokos, expressing that Mary is the God-bearer, the Mother of God, and what that means to us. We can meditate on a picture like the one I posted with this reflection.

If we seek to live a life of joy and fulfillment in 2025, we would do well to follow Mary. That would entail pondering more, slowing down, and reflecting on life, on what is important, what has value, where we are putting our time, energy, and effort, and recognizing where we do not God and where we do welcome God in our lives, where we resit and where we follow his will. Otherwise, we may just float along through another year indecisively or stagnantly with indifference or cynicism, merely reacting to situations that arise, or just plodding along in survival mode or merely bored and listless. Being still can be scary because as we do so, our fears, our past hurts, and our loneliness can come to the surface.

Yet in that willful act of slowing down and even coming to a complete stop, the Holy Spirit can embrace us in these very real emotions with his love, so we can begin to heal and transform beyond merely existing and set a healthier course of being more alive and grateful for the gift of our lives. Hand in hand with Jesus and Mary, we can face and embrace our fears, and heal from our wounds. Surrendering and conforming our lives more to the life and love of Jesus, we will realize that we are not alone, and so can build more authentic and intimate relationships. We can act more decisively and with greater clarity, and experience more fully what we are here for, to bring a little more tenderness, mercy, understanding, forgiveness, and love to the many others around us who are also wounded.

May 2025 be a wonderful new year of healing, joy, and fulfillment, as we, like Mary, come to experience God’s presence in the silence of our hearts, his love that embraces us, so that we may become a people of faith, hope, and love in contemplation and action. Mary Mother of God, pray for us.

Happy New Year! Peace and all God’s good. Take good care of yourselves and those around you.

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Photo: My favorite icon of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary’s Chapel, SVDP Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, where I was blessed to spend many hours pondering and healing.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, January 1, 2025

May we become a sanctuary for Jesus to dwell within us.

“And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). The Logos, the Word, the second person of the Holy Trinity, dwelt or another translation, “tabernacled” among us. The Son of God pitched his tent in our midst. This is a reference to the tabernacle or tent of meeting which was erected whenever Moses and those who had escaped slavery in Egypt camped. Within the tent of meeting was placed the Ark of the Covenant. This tent of meeting was made present because God instructed Moses to do so that he would be present with his people. “They shall make a sanctuary for me, that I may dwell in their midst” (Exodus 25:8).

The Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle housing it was portable and would move with the people, such that God was always present in their midst. The basic structure would later become the foundation for Solomon’s temple, then Herod’s Temple. The Holy of Holies was believed to be the very seat of God in Jerusalem. In the fullness of time, Jesus was born to us, and he became the living temple, Emmanuel, God with us. “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19).

And why did Jesus come? So that the glory of God could be revealed not just to the temple priest, but to all of us, “and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). Jesus came to be one with us in our humanity while remaining fully divine to reveal the glory of his Father to us, the same glory that filled the tabernacle. Jesus came to be present, to come close and accompany us, in our very midst as God did in the tabernacle and then the Temple.

Jesus was born to share the fullness of God’s grace and his truth with us. He came to restore the ancient covenant that God has been making with his people throughout the ages. Jesus invites us to share in the infinite, faithful love that he shares, has shared, and always will share with his Father. This free, generous act of love is a pure gift. Jesus, in becoming human, in living among us, in teaching, healing, and so building a bridge of relationship with God, shines his light. A light that is not overcome by the darkness of pride, hatred, prejudice, and violence, so that we can see the truth, that God is our Father and we are all brothers and sisters.

The Incarnation, the reality that the Son of God became human while remaining fully divine, reveals to us that none of us are junk. God created us very good and was willing to send his Son to become one with us. Each of us by our very existence has human dignity, value, and worth because we are created in his image and likeness.

Each and every human being is a part of God’s family. Because of our fallen nature, we are still made in the image of God, but we have lost our likeness to him, in that we have lost our glory. Ezekiel witnessed the glory of the LORD leaving the temple because of the unwillingness of the people to repent (See Ezekiel 10:1-22). We, if we choose to remain in our sin will remain in darkness, separated from God. We are all members of God’s family, all of us. Jesus came to redeem us and restore us to our glory, so that we can regain our likeness to the Father. That is why John the Baptist, Jesus, and his Apostles all called us to repent.

When we repent, turn back to God, and accept his invitation to spend time with him in prayer, we walk out from the darkness and into the light of the Lord’s love along the path of reconciliation that leads to us building a sanctuary for him within us. Our likeness is then restored to the extent that we develop and spend time cultivating our relationship with and allowing him to transform us. Jesus shows us the way to do so.

This unmeritorious gift of grace, that Jesus became one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity, is what we are celebrating this Christmas Season. Let us open and lift up our hearts and minds to receive, rest, and ponder the significance of this wonderful gift. May we also commit to daily abiding in his love through prayer, meditating upon his word, and sharing the love we receive with all we encounter today and each day in this new year.

Photo: Spending some quiet time in our temporary, hall sanctuary early evening of Christmas Day.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Like Anna, may we do our part to allow God to work through us with great love.

We have no evidence of what the encounter with the baby Jesus meant for Anna, Simeon, the Magi, or the shepherds. What most likely happened was that they all did as Anna did, she “spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). Since they followed God’s invitation to come and see the baby in their own unique ways, even though their part in God’s theodrama was no longer recorded in the Bible, their lives were most likely not ever the same as they continued to share the good news they experienced.

The account continued for Joseph, Mary, and Jesus who, “returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him” (Lk 2:39-40). No ticker-tape parade, no giving the key to the city, and no gala ball awaited the Holy Family when they returned to Nazareth. They went on to live very simple lives preparing for the appointed hour.

The Advent and Christmas accounts of these past few weeks have revealed a wonderful tapestry of men and women accepting God’s invitation. In their own small and unique ways they have collaborated with God who works through the everyday events of people’s lives, more often than not unseen. We would do well to ponder and follow their examples. St. Mother Teresa learned from her namesake, the Little Flower, St Therese of Lisieux, to just that, to not get caught up seeking to do great things, but to do little things with great love.

As the Christmas Season continues, let us do the same as life has already or has begun to shift; families and friends have come and gone or are readying to go, vacation days are coming to an end. Let us resist the temptation to get lost again in the busyness of life. Let us appreciate the gift we have been given, to meditate and think a bit more about the accounts of Jesus and the supporting cast around him. What do these stories mean for each of us? Life can be hard and can change in an instant because it is fragile. Let us not take our family and friends for granted. May we take a deep breath and renew our commitment to God and each other.

As the Holy Family begins their journey to Nazareth and their simple life, as we begin to return to our regular daily routines, may we be a little more aware and open to the quiet and gentle ways of how God is working in our lives. May we commit to supporting and caring for one another, be a little more aware and reach out to those in need, express our need for help and allow others to assist us. As we do so, we will start to recognize the simplicity of divinity operating within the midst of our human interactions. The Holy Spirit is inviting us to be transformed in this new year, to watch, pray, and cooperate, so that he may kindle in us the fire of his love so that it may spread to others and renew the face of the earth.

Photo: May we, like Anna, speak about how Jesus has changed our lives.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, December 30, 2024

Spending time with Mary and sharing in her memory will help us in healing ourselves and our relationships.

Our gospel today is relatable to anyone hearing or reading it because each of us have experienced family life in all of the different ways family life can be expressed today. At one point or another we have experienced conflict, misunderstanding, and anxiety.

The Bible is good about not covering over the complexities and challenges of life. If the Holy Family can have difficulty, then that can give us comfort if we have gone, or are going through some challenges right now.

One point that jumps out from the start is that Joseph and Mary are not helicopter parents. After celebrating the Passover, they have left the temple and Jerusalem and are heading back home to Nazareth. Because such a journey was not a safe one, they were traveling in a caravan of extended family, friends, and neighbors. After a day into their trek, they realized that they had not seen Jesus and began a more intense search.

Jesus was nowhere to be found and so they returned to Jerusalem. With each step their concern rose. The ancient near East was not a safe place to travel in nor was it safe to dwell. Children were often kidnapped and sold into slavery. When we don’t understand or are faced with the unknown, we typically conjure up the worst case scenarios and Joseph and Mary were no different. By the time that they found him after their three days of searching, they were filled “with great anxiety.”

Jesus, in typical pre-teen fashion did not seem to appreciate their need for anxiety. He was safe all along among the teachers in the temple. Where else would he be? Neither Joseph nor Mary understood what Jesus was talking about. What happened next is a good response to a lack of understanding.

There was no argument. Jesus was found safe and sound. It was time to go. Jesus was obedient and followed. Joseph was quiet. Mary pondered and “kept all these things in her heart.” We are not given to know the conversation between them on their way back home, but what Luke does share was that, “Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”

Jesus did so because he was obedient to “God and man.” And that made a big difference.

Joseph and Mary reacted in the natural way that parents missing their child would react, with concern and anxiety. What they did not allow to happen was to allow their emotions override their reason. Jesus didn’t see anything wrong with what he did because he was following the direction of his Father. He didn’t seem to pick up on the point that he failed to share that little detail with Mary and instead assumed they would know where he was.

This is a powerful affirmation regarding Joseph and Mary’s faith. They were not only faithful to the annual Passover pilgrimage, but they showed their faithfulness to following God’s lead from the beginning of Jesus’ conception. They more than likely passed on their stalwart faith onto Jesus such that he believed that they would know where he was. Yet when he realized this was not true, he obediently followed his parents back to Nazareth.

The three days searching for Jesus would also be a preparation for turning to God and trusting him during another three days in which Jesus remained on a stone slab lying in a tomb. Mary trusted again during her time of anguish of not knowing. Not knowing if or how Jesus would come back from the dead after his brutal death on the cross.

What spending any time in the school of the Holy Family will teach us, is that we are to place our trust in God first. We are to ponder more and react less. This does not mean we will understand God’s will each time, it does not mean that we will be free of suffering or anxiety, nor will we be free of conflict with those we love. Yet, when we resist placing ourselves front and center and instead remain faithful to and seek God’s will in every situation, when we resist reacting and seek to understand, when we are willing to forgive, there will be a better chance of healing and reconciliation sooner.

In times of conflict and misunderstanding, when our intent is to will each other’s good, even when we see things differently and disagree, we will be better off turning to God and trusting in him. We will do better when we are willing to breathe and listen to the one speaking as well as the Holy Spirit that will give us the words to speak or the pause to be silent. Pondering and seeking to understand the will of God as Mary did is a course of action that will bring about better benefits.

One powerful tool of prayer that helps us to be more patient, understanding, and forgiving one another is to spend time quietly meditating and contemplating the mysteries of the Rosary, like this fifth joyful mystery of Mary and Joseph finding Jesus in the temple. For each of us, Mary “continues to relate her personal account of the Gospel. Mary constantly sets before the faithful the ‘mysteries’ of her Son, with the desire that the contemplation of those mysteries will release all their saving power. In the recitation of the Rosary, the Christian community enters into contact with the memories and the contemplative gaze of Mary” (St. John Paul II, The Rosary of the Virgin Mary).

Photo: Our Lady of Grace on the grounds of Joseph and Mary Retreat House, Mundelein, Il, where I was blessed to spend a 30 day silent retreat. Learned much from Mary’s memory!!!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, December 29, 2024

May we play our part as did St. Joseph.

When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you” (Mt 2:13).

The scene the magi left from was not a glamorous one. Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable or a cave. This setting was not the most hygienic of situations as this is where animals were kept. After the shepherds and kings come to pay the baby homage the situation does not get much better. For as we read in today’s Gospel from Matthew, Joseph is urged by an angel to flee because Herod had ordered the death of all male children under two years of age.

Sounds a bit extreme of a measure, and one might think this could just be a trumped up story. Until looking back to see how Herod killed anyone he felt threatened without thinking twice. This included his own wife, Mariamne, and three of his sons. The news Herod received by the magi that they wanted to see “he who was born the king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2) and the messianic fervor that was growing because the prophecy of Daniel (cf. Dn 9:24-27) predicted the messiah during this time period, could have easily fed Herod’s paranoia. When the magi did not return to reveal the location of this baby king, he wasn’t going to take any chances for this wee one to grow up.

Joseph would have known about Herod’s temperament as he was the rightful heir to the thrown of David as well as the caretaker of Jesus, the baby who, it was becoming clearer to Joseph, was the Messiah. With the words of the angel, Gabriel, Joseph trusted again and packed up all they had. The three of them were on the road again, not back home to Nazareth, but to Egypt.

The Son of God could have easily been born in a palace, among a family with power and stability, yet his Father chose to send him to be born among the poor and displaced. His earliest days were ones marked by instability and danger. The only stability and safety that Jesus had was in Mary and Joseph. They trusted in God, followed his guidance, and were willing to sacrifice their lives to protect and keep him safe.

Over these past days of readings we have encountered simple and yet significant figures of faith: Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Stephen, Mary Magdalene, Peter, John, and today, Joseph. In the face of not understanding the reality of the conception of Jesus, he chose to trust Gabriel’s invitation to take Mary as his wife, to provide and protect her and Jesus. He risked his life by going into the territory of the crazed king Herod and then onward to Egypt until presumably Gabriel would call them back to Nazareth.

Joseph did what each of us are called to do, to follow the will of God – to be saints. We are called to listen to, trust in, and do whatever he tells us. In this way, we play our part, as Joseph and the others did. We are to allow the love of God to flow through us to those in our realm of influence, make a difference in our corner of the world, and make it a place where the dignity of each person in our reach is respected and cared for. When we do that, miracles happen!

Photo: St. Joseph Catholic Church, Poquonock, CT. Christmas Day, last year.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, December 28, 2024

May we, with John, contemplate the true gift we have received.

Jesus Christ is born for us. Jesus Christ dies for us. Jesus Christ conquers death and rises again for us. Because of our place in time, December 27, 2024 AD – Anno Domini, In the year of our Lord, we are capable of experiencing his life, suffering, death, Resurrection, and Ascension into Heaven. The important question we need to answer is, “Does this new fact, this new reality in human history, make a real difference in our lives?”

Christmas did not end two days ago. We are still in the Octave of Christmas. The Church celebrates two octaves in the Church liturgical calendars, Christmas and Easter. These eight days are celebrated as such to impress on us the solemnity of the event of remembrance. From the vigil celebration of Christmas Eve on December 24 to January 1, the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, we celebrate the significant event of the Incarnation, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity becoming one with us in human history. The Masses celebrated within the Octave of Christmas, as well as the readings of Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours, reflect the celebration of Christmas Day each day for the eight days. It is like having a week-long birthday party.

If we are solely focused on gifts, the returning of gifts, and celebrations apart from the celebration of Jesus’ birth, if we are removed from the liturgical cycle and rhythm of the Church, it is easy to fall into the post-Christmas blues because it does feel like everything is done but the returning of gifts and getting a good after Christmas deal. Christmas music has been alive and well on many radio channels for weeks, but at some point on Christmas Day and often the following day, they stop. They stop at the time when they ought to begin!

The material and finite, no matter how wonderful, even our closest relationships, will never satisfy our deepest hunger and thirst. If you are experiencing any post-Christmas blues, today is great opportunity to let go of the material for a bit and enter into the gift of silence, and to spend some meditating and contemplating on what will satisfy. The greatest gift that we have been given, we began to celebrate again two days ago. The Son of God changed human history by his conception and birth and we are invited to participate in God’s great theodrama of human transformation. Today’s Gospel reading is a fast forward from this birth we are celebrating and the gift that keeps on giving, the reality of the purpose of the incarnation.

Jesus was born to die, to show the fullest extent of his obedience to his Father. In trusting his Father, Jesus died, experienced our greatest fear of death, and through the power of the Holy Spirt, conquered death and rose again. Mary Magdalene was the first to experience the empty tomb and shared this good news with the apostles. Peter and John ran to see. John arrived first. John remained outside, possibly out of respect, to allow Peter to go in first. Peter saw the empty tomb except for the burial clothes. When John entered, “he saw and believed” (Jn 20:8).

Are we willing to take the time to ponder as John did? To see beyond the merely finite and physical? To be willing to be still. Silent. To allow God to speak to us in the silence of our hearts? John, Mary, and Peter’s lives were changed and transformed because they encountered Jesus and chose not to ignore him or run away, but to give their lives to him. We are invited to do the same. Our hearts were created for this relationship with Jesus and our hearts will be restless until we allow ourselves to slow down, embrace the gift of silence, and allow ourselves to hear him speak in the silence of our hearts that we too may believe.

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Painting: Close up of St. John the Evangelist by Vladimir Borovikovsky

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, December 27, 2024

When we trust in the will of God and persevere, we will be saved.

“You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved” (Mt 10:22).

Why are we talking about being hated the day after Christmas? One reason could be that Jesus, this baby whose birth we just celebrated is “the light that shines in the darkness” (Jn 1:5). The very reality of Jesus is that he is the light that exposes darkness, he is the very embodiment of Love that exposes evil and hatred.

St. Stephen, whose feast we celebrate today, and whose death we read about in the first reading from Acts, experiences his words personally. For he is killed for the sole purpose of speaking the Gospel. While during his persecution he sees and communicates how even the heavens open for him. The reaction to those who hear his words are infuriation and they then throw him out of the city and “stone him” (cf. Acts 7:54-59).

Stephen radiated the light, love, and wisdom of Jesus and like Jesus he was put to death. His persecutors felt threatened by the light instead of welcomed to let go of the darkness that held them bound. Jesus exposes the truth of those dark places within our own hearts, minds, and the very depth of our being as well. What is our response? Will we also reject the light, not aware that it is an invitation to healing and to wholeness?

We may wince at the luminous brightness of Jesus’ light and resist the intimacy of the love he seeks to share. We may unconsciously do so, because we have so often faced so much of the opposite; hurt, pain, betrayal, and lack of understanding or acceptance, that we assume a defensive crouch is best to protect our false sense of self, when in fact that is just what we are invited to let go of. As time passes and we keep to the shadows, we risk becoming ingrained in our fear and pride and our posture of protecting our ego.

Yet, to be fully alive, we need to embrace the light, not hide from it. When we are open to the healing touch of Jesus and receive the gift of his light in our lives, we begin to die to our false self and the lies that we have believed. Allowing ourselves to breathe and rest in God’s loving presence helps us to heal, indentify, and allow Jesus to transform our vice to virtue. Once we allow ourselves to be loved by Jesus, we begin to recognize that we are turned in upon ourselves, and then we can adjust our posture and begin to open ourselves to him. We also begin to recognize that we are not the center of the universe.

As we follow the model of John the Baptist, St. Stephen, the other saints, we become less so that Jesus becomes more in our lives. We too will face the same rejection that Jesus faced. We will be labeled crazy, out of step, simple-minded, irrational, and worse. Yet we are to resist returning to a defensive posture, to refuse to react in kind, but instead, to be present, call upon and trust in the Holy Spirit to give us the words to speak, and allow God to happen. We are to remain open, accepting of the person where they are and as they are, and share the same transformative mercy, love, and forgiveness of Jesus that we have received from our attacker.

Change, maturation, and growth are not easy. As disciples, we are to be disciplined and persevere, while at the same time remember that our redemption does not come from our own doing or willing it to be so on our efforts alone. Our healing, restoration, and transformation come first and foremost from a willingness to accept the invitation to experience a deepening of our relationship with Jesus. When we accept his invitation to walk with him, and trust him, we will receive the healing salve of his love, mercy, and forgiveness. We will then heal from and let go of our biases, prejudices, hatred, and selfishness.

Transformation is not a one-time event. Christmas is not just a day, it is not just a season. Christmas is a time when we can recommit to allowing Jesus to enter into and to transform our lives each and every day, each and every moment, with each and every decision. When we are tempted in any way, let us call on the name of Jesus, trust in him, take a few deep breaths, and we will better be able to resist that which seeks to divert us.

In becoming human, Jesus lived showing us that this life was not all there is. The fullness of our lives are to be lived in and for God his Father. When we, like, Jesus, Stephen, and the saints, trust and obey God’s will, no matter where that will lead, we will be transformed, whole, and more alive than we can ever imagine, in this life and the next.

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Photo: St Stephen the Protomartyr – icon by Theophili Saint Stephen, pray for us!

Link for today’s Mass readings for Thursday, December 26, 2024

“And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14).

If there are ever words to meditate and ponder upon these are them! The danger is becoming complacent or indifferent to the reality that they present, or to the idea that this is just any other day that we just endure, get through, and go on to the next day. Instead, may we embrace the promise and invitation they convey to us as individuals, as a people, and for all of creation.

The Word, Logos, in the Greek, who was, who is, and who always will be, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, has become one with us. We are the minutest of minutest speck of specks present in the whole of the cosmos. And yet, we have been graced by the presence of God who became man for each and every one of us, each individual person, so we can be one with him. He became human that we might become divine through our participation in his life.

The Mystery we celebrate today is that God took on flesh, becoming fully human, while at the same time, remaining fully divine. He did not just appear to be a man for a time and cast off his humanity like a worn cloak. The Son of God was conceived in the womb of Mary, developed as you and I did, and when born let out a gasp and a cry indicating that the Savior was born to us. Joseph and Mary gazed in wonder at the gift of their Son, the gift of the Incarnation for the whole world.

Christmas Day is the celebration of new life. Not just the birth of any baby, but through his coming into the world, a new beginning for humanity and creation. We do not just celebrate the baby who would become a great teacher and moral template, but the coming of our Savior. Jesus – his name meaning, one who saves – is the reality and the hope that we may be, just as the ancestors of Jesus we can read about in the genealogy of Matthew (see Mt 1:1-25)wounded and even a bit broken, but not undone, not unmade, not destroyed but saved from our faults, fears, sins, traumas and our slavery to sin. God’s grace is greater than our suffering, wounds, our worst mistakes, misjudgments, and most grievous faults.

Though darkness may appear to reign with ongoing wars, violence, political and racial division, injustice, and the unfortunate long and unseemly endless list of disharmony; no matter what we may be struggling with: the anxiety and stresses of daily life, this season, mounting bills, the concern of a medical condition for ourself or a loved one, doubts and fears, or that this will be the first, fifth, or tenth Christmas that we no longer have our loved one(s) by our side, darkness has not won.

No matter what personal challenges we may be facing, today we celebrate that “A light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it” (Jn 1:5). This is a day to breathe, to experience hope, a peace that surpasses all understanding, and to rejoice, to reconcile. A day to recommit to the light, to the baby who would later call himself, “the way, and the truth, and the life” (cf. Jn 14:6).

Let us renounce and repent from anything that is not of God so that we can embrace this baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, that also died and was wrapped in a shroud; the baby who was born in a cave because there was no room for him and no willingness from anyone to let him in, that would also be laid in a tomb after dying for us; and the baby who was placed in a manger, a feeding trough for animals, because he would also become the Bread of Life that we may feed on him and have life eternal.

This baby came to help us to actualize the truth and realization that: “We cannot save ourselves. We can only open ourselves to the hope that comes to us from without, from others, ultimately from one Other” (Lohfink 2014, 255). The One other whose birth we celebrate today: “The Light of the human race” (Jn 1:4).

Spiritual Stepping Stones