christmas
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
“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).
Merry Christmas and may God bless you and all you hold close to your heart!
Painting: Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst
Lohfink, Gerhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.
Link for Christmas, Mass of the Day, Wednesday, December 25, 2024
“John is his name.”
Zechariah had not spoken since the time he encountered the angel Gabriel. Gabriel shared with Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth, though barren and past childbearing age, would give birth to a son and his name would be called John. The time for the fulfillment of Gabriel’s prediction had now come to pass, Elizabeth gave birth, and with friends and relatives gathered around on the eighth day for his circumcision and naming. Elizabeth announced that her son will be named John. Those with her balked, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name” (Lk 1:61).
There may also be some hesitancy because John, or יוֹחָנָן, Yôḥanan in Hebrew, means one who is graced by God. Who did Elizabeth think she was naming her son by this sacred name? They then appealed to Zechariah. He would support his wife by writing on a tablet that “John is his name.” Zechariah confirmed Elizabeth’s words and: “Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God” (Lk 1:63-64).
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah spoke what we call today the Benedictus or Canticle of Zechariah, the beginning lines of which read: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David” (Lk 1:68-69).
Zechariah did not proclaim that John was the Messiah. As Christians, we believe that Micah prophesied that John was to be the herald of the Messiah. He prepared the way for the coming of the Lord. The Benedictus, like the Magnificat, is a song of great promise. This is why the Church proclaims that they are to be prayed every day in the recitation of the Book of Christian Prayer or the Liturgy of the Hours. We are living in the time of its fulfillment.
The year 2024 A.D. does not stand for after the death of Jesus, it stands for anno domini, in the year of our Lord. We live in the in between times of Jesus’ first coming as we prepare for his next coming. We live in great joy because we can prepare to receive Jesus everyday. This is why St. Paul wrote to the Philippians, we are “to rejoice always.” No matter the external circumstances or internal angst, our Lord Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God is at hand, to forgive and heal us, accompany and deliver us, give us guidance and strength!
In the midst of continuing violence, war, polarization, endless forms and acts of dehumanization, fear, and growing anxiety, we will celebrate again this Wednesday. We will celebrate Christmas, the reality that the Son of God agreed to be sent close to us, to become human, to die, and conquer death so that he can be with us and lead us into eternity. John helped to prepare the way to receive Jesus by calling people to repentance. May we seek his intercession as we remember his birth today to prepare well in these final days of Advent so to better remember and celebrate again the reason for the season. Our Savior has come. Sin, suffering, and death do not have the final answer. Jesus does.
May we heed the call of John and Jesus to repent so that we may receive God’s forgiveness and grace and be freed from our entanglements with sin. May we let go of anything that separates us from our relationship with God and resist the temptation to curve in upon ourselves which leads us to death. Let us turn away from our pride and the false promise of self sufficiency and instead depend upon and place our trust in Jesus who offers us life. Each and every day, with the courage of John, let us prepare the way of the Lord and “give people knowledge of salvation” that Jesus is at hand so that God may “guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Photo: St. Elizabeth and John the Baptist by Krysten Brown, The Saints Project
Link for the Mass readings for Monday, December 23, 2024 A.D.
Let us rejoice, as Elizabeth and Mary did, that God is among us.
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 Holy Trinity, fully divine, 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 any negative 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 child, but the One who has always been. The Son became so vulnerable as he 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 mounted the cross he took 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. Then he conquered even death, that we could have life and have it to the full, now and into 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 over the miracles each of them experienced in being able to conceive sons. May we not only share in their joy of the gift of life, but also realize what they realized all too soon, that life goes by too fast. Both sons died a brutal death, and yet God brought about a greater good from their willingness to sacrifice their lives. John and Jesus gave us a new beginning for humanity.
Let us not take the gift of the life that we have been given, any moment, for granted. May we be open like Elizabeth and Mary to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Let us let the people we care about know that we love them. A simple call, a card, and/or a walk can make a huge difference. Especially when in the moment of connection, we are present to each other as if no one else existed in that moment. For those for whom we may be estranged in any way, may Jesus, the Prince of Peace, help us to face those conflicts and guide us through the challenges that have kept us at a distance. May we not wait until it is too late to seek healing and reconciliation.
Making time to rest in and receive the Father’s love, we will be more open to being respectful, kind, understanding, and caring in our interactions with each person we encounter in these final days of Advent. When we catch the eye of another, offer a 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. 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 lives!
Photo: Stainglassed window of the visitation from Shutterstock.
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, December 21, 2024
Mary’s, “yes” brought joy to the world.
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 we have read or heard this verse, the more important question for us is how many times have we 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 allowed him to come close. He entered our wounded, human condition to offer us healing, forgiveness, and to lead us home to communion with his Father and each other. Jesus is the gift that keeps giving – and we receive his gift each time we, as did Mary, 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. When we allow Jesus to be close, we can even feel joy in the midst of them. 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 God’s will because they are an “admission of one’s own helplessness” (Lohfink 2014, 240). Prayer is a, “no,” to pride. We cannot get through this life on our own, nor are we meant to for apart from God we can do nothing. We are all interconnected and interdependent and God is the foundation and source of our very being, and with God all things are possible.
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 and receive it from others.
We are to rejoice as we are readying to 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 meditation, prayer and serving one another. This reality was made possible by the handmaid of the Lord.
Photo: May we say with Mary, “May it be done to me according to your word” and rejoice! Accessed from Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church.
Lohfink, Gerhard. No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.
Link for the Mass readings for Friday, December 20, 2024
Be vigilant, still, and pray this Advent, and we will be ready for Jesus’ coming.
As the earth turned again one more time on its axis last night, and the shadows began to fall, night slowly crept over each part of our planet. Our sacred text, our sacred word, is not only written in the Bible, but the finger of God has traced his word across all of the earth, the galaxy, the universe, the whole of the created order. For God continues to write his love song. The ground, foundation, and source of creation and our very being is the outpouring of the Trinitarian Love eternally and ongoingly expressed between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
As the sun appeared to set, and night gently made its way across our minuscule earth in this part of the Milky Way, the vigil began and so also the beginning of the new liturgical year and the season of Advent. We heard or will hear again today the words of Jesus to his disciples in today’s Gospel for the first Sunday of Advent: “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk 21:36).
Advent comes from the latin, Adventus, which comes from the Greek, Parousia, and which we translate in English to mean coming. In our first reading, Jeremiah picks up on the prophecy of Isaiah in which “a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1) by stating that God “will raise up for David a just shoot” (Jeremiah 33:15). Both Isaiah and Jeremiah are pointing to the coming of the messiah. Faithful Jews would continue to watch and pray for the coming of the messiah to set the world aright.
Zedekiah was the king of Judah during the time of Jeremiah. He, as well as much of the leadership and chosen people of God would not listen to the guidance of the prophet and Jerusalem and the Temple fell at the hands of the Babylonians. From that time forward, from 587 BC, those exiled and even when they returned and rebuilt the Temple again, began the long, expected wait for the messiah. As Christians, we believe that Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Mary, is the promised messiah.
Our season of Advent not only is the opening of the new year, the new liturgical calendar. Advent is the season we wait, the season we prepare to remember the first coming of Jesus into the world as a baby.
The Gospel reading from Luke picks up on the momentum that we listened to during last week’s celebration of Christ the King. We also in Advent, prepare for the second coming of Jesus at the end of time. Jesus himself quotes from Daniel 7:13-14 by calling himself by a title he uses often, the “Son of Man” (Luke 21:27). This second coming will be different than his first coming. He will not come under the cover of darkness in the humble means of sleeping vulnerably in an animal’s trough in a cave wrapped in swaddling clothes. Jesus when he comes again to judge, will come “in a cloud with power and great glory” and when that time comes our “redemption” will be “at hand” (Luke 21:28).
During Advent then we are to prepare for celebrating again of the first coming of Jesus, while at the same time, we prepare for his second coming, the time or the hour only the Father knows. In the midst of these two, there is also a preparation for a third coming, which will help us to prepare better for Christmas and for our Lord’s second coming.
This Advent, this coming, is Jesus’ coming to us in the present moment. This is why the psalmist guides us to sing, “To you, O Lord, I lift my soul” (Psalm 25:1). Turning our hearts and minds, our very souls to God is one way we can watch and pray for Jesus who is already with us in each present moment, waiting for us to slow down, to breathe, to be still, so that we might hear his word and be aware of his presence at hand. In doing so, we recognize how close Jesus is to us. He reminds us who and whose we are, God’s beloved daughters and sons.
Advent is a season in which we are invited to slow down to receive, rest, and experience in the love that God wants to share with us. We are invited to resist the temptations of the stress and strain, the anxiety and angst that seek to divert and distract us. We will resist better when we allow ourselves to meditate upon the words and invitation of St. Paul: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love” (1 Thessalonians 3:12).
As we make time to be still, to breathe and receive God’s love, his love in us will increase. Our experience of peace will replace the stress and anxiety that can arise because of our busyness and expectations. May we be vigilant and watch for the first signs of a snow ball of anxiety beginning to roll, stop, breathe, and turn to God. From a posture of watching and praying, may this season be one freer of the hustle and bustle going on all around us. Instead, may we rest with Jesus so to be the eye, the calm, in the midst of the storm.
This Advent, let us put into practice such spiritual exercises as breathing, praying, and being vigilant to root out any influences not of God and renounce them. Choosing to spend more time in God’s word, and focusing on the real meaning of why we are doing what we are doing – to grow in our relationship with Jesus, his Father, will help us to better experience the love of the Holy Spirit.
As we are vigilant at all times and pray, and increase our spiritual disciplines, we will grow in our spiritual strength, in our relationship with Jesus, and we will be better prepared to celebrate Christmas. We will more easily be able to surrender to his reign and help to support the coming of his kingdom, so to be ready when he comes again at the end of the age, or when our time on this earth comes to an end and we face our personal judgment.
We have been created by Love to love, to experience the closeness of Jesus. As gently as the night gave way to the morning rays of the sun this morning, may we live and move more gently upon this earth. May our thoughts, actions, and words be filled with kindness, compassion, understanding, thanksgiving, forgiveness, and love to overflowing in our relations with one another during this Advent.
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Photo: Advent sky back at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, a year ago September. If ever you feel a bit down this Advent, head outside and look up. God has something to share!
Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, December 1, 2024
May we receive and reflect the light of Christ to others.
Simeon, a righteous and devout man of Israel, had received a revelation from the Holy Spirit that before his death he would behold the Messiah, “the Christ of the Lord”(Lk 2:26). We do not know how long Simeon was waiting, we do not know how old he was when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple. How many people had crossed his path, how many times, when a family brought a male child to be presented in the temple did he wonder, “Is this the one?”
Today we recall the presentation of Jesus in the temple, the day in which Simeon’s waiting, his growing anticipation, comes to fulfillment. “Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel” (cf. Lk 2:29-32). He can now go to his eternal rest in peace.
We can see in the presentation of Jesus more than a pious act though. In this event, the glory of God had returned to the Temple in the presence of this infant. What Simeon said and experienced as he held up this baby, is still true for us today. Jesus the Christ has come to us, to lead us “out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9), for, Jesus is the living Temple, the embodiment of the Living God, where heaven and earth meet, where the divine and human are one.
May we allow ourselves some time of quiet reflection to imagine ourselves holding the infant Jesus. As Simeon must have, look into his eyes, hear his giggle, allow his smile to fill you with his unconditional love and mercy. As you adjust and cradle him in the crook of your arm and reach your other hand to him, allow him to grasp your finger. In that simple touch, may we experience a warmth that radiates through our entire being melting all anxiety, doubt, and/or fear away.
May anything that binds us to darkness, sin, or leads us away from God, be loosed such that we may feel the freedom of forgiveness and reconciliation. From this moment of experiencing Jesus in our time and place, may we give our life to him so that we too may receive and share his light, his love, his mercy, and forgiveness with others.
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Photo: Rosary walk St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.
Are we willing to see his star?
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage” (Mt 2:1-2).
This account from Matthew has much for us to ponder as we draw closer to the end of the Christmas season and begin another year together.
The magi – the wisemen, astrologers, three kings as the magi are represented in different accounts and song were watching, for they saw “his star at its rising.” As soon as the star rose, they looked upon it and knew it was a sign of “the new born king of the Jews.” And then they followed the star. They left the place of birth, their homes, their comfort to do this baby homage. This baby who was not a king of their people but another people in another land.
They faced no danger that we know of on the way, although this was no easy journey. The only danger that comes is when they approach King Herod and they no longer can see the star. Herod is “greatly troubled” by this announcement of the promise of the king of the Jews in his territory for unlike John the Baptist, Herod is not willing to become less so that Jesus can become more.
That the Christ is to be born in Bethlehem is revealed by the chief priests and the scribes, but that the new king has been born is unknown to Herod or to them. Herod, nor the priests, or scribes are aware of this new birth until the magi had told them, even though they had the scriptures. Their hearts and minds were closed to the truth because they were unwilling to do what the magi did, do him homage and surrender their lives to this newborn king.
Upon the magi’s leaving King Herod, they saw the star again, and the magi followed it with great joy. They followed it and came upon the house in which Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were staying. “The house”, no longer a cave or a stable. When Joseph and Mary first came to Bethlehem, they were refused entrance into any home or inn. At some point someone was willing to allow them shelter and a place to stay.
The magi came to Jesus and did him homage and gave them their gifts. Then were warned in a dream to not return to Herod. They honored the newborn king and not King Herod, and they left for their country by another way.
On this day as we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany with this account from Matthew, we can just endure this story or pass it off as a nice tale we hear each year. Or, like the Magi, we can allow our hearts and minds to come alive with the wonder and gift we have been given. We can assess where we find ourselves right now. Are we more like Herod or the magi? Are we closed to moments of wonder and the divine light leading us or are we watching and praying to see the invitation that Jesus offers us in our lives at the beginning of and throughout each, and every day? It is easy to slip into a life of business, of just doing one thing after another, and we miss the star rising in our hearts that is leading us to experience a deeper relationship, a deeper experience of the king of our lives.
We are invited this morning to open our hearts and minds to the newborn king. We are invited to slow down and enter an ongoing and growing relationship with him. We have an opportunity to invite this newborn king to have access to all of us, that we may, like the magi, prostrate ourselves before him and surrender our whole lives to him.
Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star, and it is rising from the depths of our souls and into our hearts. Are we willing to see this Light, are we willing to follow and be transformed by this Light, and are we willing to radiate this Light to others?
Jesus is the Light that invites us to be loved, to receive his love, and allow it to touch our pain, our wounds, our fears, and our insecurities, that we may rest and abide in his love. As we do so, we can learn how to breathe again, our shoulders can come out of our ears, we can be still and if need be, let the tears flow, so we can be healed, so we can be made whole again, so we can live our lives as a people who hope, dream, and wonder in this new year.
Photo: A beautiful day enjoying the radiance of the light back in October.
The Holy Family teaches us to counter violence with compassion.
Just seven days ago, on Christmas Eve, a 14-year-old shot and killed his 23-year-old sister, and his 15-year-old brother shot and wounded him in retaliation. This happened because of an escalating argument over Christmas presents.
This happened not in Israel or Ukraine, but just about 200 hundred miles northwest of Jupiter, FL. There are so many more examples I can give. I will not. I have already shared one too many.
Violence in our world is a reality, it has many forms and infiltrates our homes, families, communities, nation, and our world. This reality is not new, nor is this reality the truth of who God created us to be and our readings today bear witness that there is another way as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
In another time and place, a baby was born in a cave because no one was willing to allow his parents entry into their homes or even the local inns. This family also fled to Egypt to save the life of their Son. They would return after Herod’s own death, and live in Nazareth in poverty as an occupied people under brutal Roman rule. Despite all of this, and no matter the level of their suffering, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph trusted and were faithful to God. The holy family models for us what God intended for all of humanity from the beginning.
Joseph and Mary were also faithful to the law and brought Jesus to the Temple to dedicate him to God. As we just heard proclaimed Simeon said: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).
“My eyes have seen your salvation.” Simeon is calling this child God’s salvation. This child is to be the instrument to save humanity. Jesus’ name means, one who saves. This baby is to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” Jesus, whose name means, one who saves, came to show us the difference between the selfishness and fallen nature of men and the truth and love of God. Jesus was born for us, to be one with us, to reveal to us the goodness of our humanity, to forgive and heal us, and invite us to the fulfillment of our humanity which will come to through our participation in his divinity.
“Why then,” you may be thinking, “has nothing seemed to have changed in the almost 2,000 years since his birth. Simeon answers this as well: “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).
This is not just a prediction of the pain Mary will suffer at the cross of her newly born infant when a Roman soldier pierces his heart, but Mary also is standing as a representative of Israel and through Israel, all of humanity. Jesus comes close person to person. He invites, he does not impose his will. The dignity that God has given us is foundationally the freedom to choose to reject or accept his love and his relationship. To choose division and separation or to choose unity and communion.
The brothers did not wake up Christmas Eve with the intent of taking up arms instead of opening presents. There were choices and circumstances surrounding their lives long before that led to each of their choices to pull the trigger. Why did they and so many in our world choose violence instead of the peace and the love of Christ?
So many reject the Prince of Peace. And even many that accept him do so in name only. We are blinded by the temptations, influences, and diversions of the world. We need to realize first and foremost that we need a savior. We can’t change this world or ourselves on our own. We need to acknowledge that this child is indeed our savior, we need to accept the invitation to come to know him, to open our hearts and minds to him, and to allow him in to heal and forgive us. When we do so, and our relationship with him grows, we will be transformed. This happens only in our everyday experiences and the choices we make. Each “Yes” to the will of God, our fallen nature will become less, and Jesus will become more. Hopefully, over time we say yes much more than we say no, such that people no longer see us, but they see Jesus in us, and we see Jesus in them.
I had an interesting experience Friday morning. I flew into Ft. Lauderdale on four hours sleep and then took the Tri-Rail up to Boynton Beach. As I got up to leave the train car, my eyes and the door attendant’s eyes met, and she gave me a wonderful smile which I returned as I left. When I completed all I needed to do at the seminary and drove up to Jupiter, it was already early evening, so I picked up an Impossible burger at Burger King on the way home. As the cashier handed me my bag in a rush to get back to the drive-thru, she turned and also offered me a wonderful smile.
I am not going to make anyone’s top one hundred list for most handsome man and I was old enough to be each of these women’s grandfather. There are those moments when kindness and gentleness are exchanged because we see Jesus in one another. I believe that is what happened in both encounters.
It may sound like a small thing, but when we see Jesus in others and they see Jesus in us, there is no more, us and them, there is a brother and a sister in Christ. Ending our tendency toward violence is not an easy fix, but when we surrender our lives to Jesus and we begin to see him in each other, that is a good first step.
St. Paul’s life was transformed by his encounter with and surrender to Jesus. He turned away from a life of persecuting Christians even to the point of death in at least one incident with St. Stephen. He came to see the truth of who God calls us to be in our humanity and shared it in his letter to the Colossians: “Put on, as God’s chosen one, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do” (Colossians 3:12-13).
This is what Christmas is all about. This is how we are to live our lives. We will do so when we come to know this child, spend time in the school of the holy family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. When we make the time to pray with these readings, meditate and contemplate with them, we enter into Jesus’ memory. He lived them and invites us to enter into these accounts each year and to experience them as our own. When we do so, we remember who we are, God’s chosen, his holy and beloved daughters and sons.
When we allow ourselves to be loved and forgiven, healed, and saved, surrender and follow Jesus, our lives will be changed. We will be more compassionate, humbler, kinder, patient, forgiving, and loving. We will see each other as brothers and sisters as the one Body of Christ.
I invite you to come to receive Jesus who came as an infant almost 2,000 years ago and will be made present again on this altar. The Son of God became one with us in our humanity, will be made present for us in the Eucharist, so we can be one with him in his divinity. As we are loved by Jesus and love him and each other in return we counter the violence of our world one person, one smile at a time. Come receive Jesus and share him with all those you encounter today and through this week.
This will be a peaceful way to begin the new year!
Photo: Statue of the Holy Family on the grounds of St. Peter Catholic Church, Jupiter, FL.
Link to the Mass readings for Sunday, December 31, 2023
Spiritual Stepping Stones 