Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in this new year - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Happy New Year!  As everyone on our calendar celebrates this first day of 2014, the Church marks January 1 as the Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord and also, especially, the Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.   Let’s notice:  this is a great way to start our New Year!   We continue to celebrate the Incarnation, the Word Made Flesh, Jesus, and we honor Jesus’s mother, our Blessed Mother.

We need this woman – throughout the year!   Just think of all the honor and prayers offered to Mary through the two millennia of Christian faith, the images, the titles, the pious practices, the special doctrinal pronouncements in the last two centuries in Roman Catholicism that she is the Immaculate Conception and was Assumed into Heaven.  Sinless (but otherwise entirely human like us) and Queen of Heaven, she hears our prayers; though she does not judge or save or heal herself, she prays for us.  She is Advocate, Mediator, Guide, Role Model, Comforter, and always a real Woman, Mother and even Sister and Friend to us, throughout our lives, and as the “Hail Mary” says, “at the hour of our death.”   Other feast days celebrate her in the liturgical year, but today we begin our year by venerating her as Mother of God.   I notice today that her Motherhood is the heart and reason for all our attention to and claims on Mary through the centuries.

We need this woman!  A few weeks ago, in conversation about TIME’s selection of Pope Francis as “Person of the Year,”  a young woman of feminist leanings joked, “We should have a WOMAN as head of the church ABOVE the Pope,” and two of us immediately tossed back, “We have her! -- Mary, Mother of God, she’s above the Pope in the Church!”   Further, our human nature needs a womanly figure to honor and pray to.  I noticed this, if not for the first time, when learning about the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West in order to teach excerpts from its abridged version in English titled simply Monkey.  The character of the female Bodhisattva Kuan-Yin, who advises and guides Monkey and his companions on their pilgrimage to get sacred Buddhist texts, is wise compassionate, admonishing, supportive – and beautiful.   In short, she is “like” the Virgin Mary – not “same as,” but “like,” revealing a basic human need across time and cultures for a motherly female figure.

As Mary’s child is obviously different from any other hero in history and literature, so she transcends as well as fulfills our need for Mother, Mediator, or Queen – and also for a real woman who is personal, intimate Mother, guide, model, and friend.  Now celebrating the Mother of the Word, I notice the words of our readings for today, and particularly that “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”   I want to follow her example, reflecting on the Gospel narrative, St. Paul’s teaching, the blessing that the Lord taught Moses, and the prayer sung in the Psalm.

And I notice, as if new in this New Year, the exact words of the most obvious “Hail Mary” prayer.  I’m noticing that first we “hail” her, then praise her, stating the obvious: that she is “blessed” and so is her child.   Then we ask her to pray for us sinners – and not only in this moment of reciting the prayer, but at the time of our death.   Death -- the usually not noticed part of life!   We need this woman now, each day, and to the certain end of “now.”

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, NOW” – in all of 2014 – “and at the hour of our death.”

(Adapted from Mary Haynes Kuhlman)

The Word did not stay static - Tomorrow's reading reflection

At the closing of the year it is a good thing to look back, even as we continue to move forward. It is good to look in our rear-view mirror to see our experiences of God in our lives during the year we are closing and to reflect on them. Yes, even as we keep on driving and looking to the road ahead.

It is interesting that at the end of the year the gospel reading brings us back to the absolute beginning: In the beginning... As the year’s end invites us to look back on the completed year with gratitude, the prologue of John’s gospel invites us to look back as far as “back” goes: In the beginning... (beginning of creation of course, since God and the Word have no beginning).And, looking at the beginning, the reading gives us a capsule summary of the mystery of Christ, the Word.

The Word was in the beginning, but the Word did not stay there statically. The Word is now. The Word, who became flesh and (literally) pitched his tent among us, as we have just celebrated at Christmas, remains with us: I will be with you to the end of time [Mt. 28:20]

We glance at the past year in our rear-view mirror, but keeping our sight on the present, as we keep moving into our future to be made of an uninterrupted sequence of presents. It is a moment of both gratitude and hope: gratitude even as we recognize experiences we regret and hope even as we  perhaps fear possible experiences that could hurt us. Knowing all along that we are never alone, because the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us, the Word who gave us his word that I will be with you to the end of time.

(Adapted from Luis Rodriguez, S.J.)

The message for Christmas of Fr. Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land and President of ATS pro Terra Sancta

Fr. Pizzaballa, Chairman of the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land shares his Christmas message.

The message for Christmas of Fr. Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land and President of ATS pro Terra Sancta

On the go - Sunday's reading reflection

When I was a young wife and mother, I could never find the time to pray.  Each day was so full and with each passing year our schedule as a family grew more demanding.  How could I get the laundry done?  How could I find time to pray? 

I finally realized that no one ever came into the laundry room, and the peace of that room was the perfect place to pray.  As I sorted laundry, I prayed for each person in my family while folding pajamas, school uniform blouses and an endless number of socks.  My prayers and my spirituality were shaped in that laundry room, and I have always connected doing the family laundry with prayer.   

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, remembering how Jesus grew up in the normal busy-ness of family life, how he was shaped as a person by both Mary and Joseph.

Pope Francis wrote in his recent exhortation that the family is “where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another.”  That very belonging to each other is what today’s readings are about. 

In the first reading, Sirach entreats parents and children to love and honor each other.  When one generation can no longer care for the other, he calls us to “take care of your father when he is old … even if his mind fails, be considerate of him.”  He adds the care we give for the elderly “will not be forgotten, firmly planted against the debt” of our own failings. 

Our lives are complicated and families don’t always consist of two parents.  But Paul’s letter to the Colossians offers all of us the tools we need to care for each other: .  I can guess that Paul was intimately connected with family as he notes other important family skills, like “bearing with one another” which seems like an apt phrase on the harder days.  When we share a home, we not only have to forgive each other, but to be aware that we need forgiveness from each other, prompted by the example of God’s deeply loving forgiveness for us all.

The Gospel is Matthew’s story of the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt in fear of Herod, who was searching for their son.  The left their homeland and lived in a country they did not know, with languages and customs not their own, separated from their family.  When they could finally return to Israel, fear of Herod’s successor forced them to go not home, but to Galilee, where they would be less likely to be found.

But despite the stress of their situation, I picture them as holding onto each other even more closely.  That seems to be our human reaction to tragedy – we want to gather our loved ones together and hold onto each other. Even with the people who drive us crazy.  But they are family and they belong to us and we belong to them; because family is not about perfection but fidelity.  As Pope Francis says about families, “We remain steadfast in our intention to respect others, to heal wounds, to build bridges, to strengthen relationships and to ‘bear one an­other’s burdens.’”

He says when a parent speaks to a child, the parent “becomes small,” crouching down to eye level and speaking in a softer, different voice.  He says, “Someone looking in from the outside might think, ‘This is ridiculous!’” and yet parents do it “because the love of a father and mother needs to be close.”  He says God comes to us in the same “small” way of a parent, speaking to our fears with gentle love, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

Being part of a family means being faithful to our everyday lives, to loving each other on our best and worst days, and to remembering the sacredness of even the pile of socks, overflowing in the laundry room.

(Adapted from Maureen McCann Waldron)

St. John, the Beloved - Tomorrow's reading reflection

As I reflected on today’s feast of St. John, and its placement in the Octave of Christmas, I was struck again by the delicate layers of insight the Spirit gives to the Church in our liturgical life.  Even before we ponder the poetic proclamation of witness in the first reading, the placing of the feast on the third day of the eight days of celebration of the mystery of the Incarnation tells us a great deal about our lives as disciples.  John is often called the “beloved disciple” because he speaks of a “disciple Jesus loved” as one who lays his head on Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper, and stands with Jesus’ mother at the foot of the cross.  The intimacy of the description seems to be an implied self-description (hence the Church’s reference to John as the “Beloved”) but another way of reading it, similar to the address of the Luke’s Gospel and Acts of the Apostles to one “Theophilus” – or God-lover – can be a general reference about all real disciples, we are, each and all, “Beloved.”  It is we who in the Eucharist and in other tender moments of prayer lay our head on Christ’s shoulder or breast, and we who stand beneath the Cross with our mother, the Church, to receive the instruction to care for and be cared for by her.  It is the “role” of a disciple to be beloved, just as it is the role of the disciple to witness to that loving tenderness of God made manifest in the humanity of Jesus Christ, which we celebrate these eight days (the fullness of time and participation in the new creation marked by the number eight).

The witness of the disciple is simply and strikingly presented in the first reading:  What we have seen and heard in our own lives we report to you – we share with you.  But IF we have seen and heard it in our own lives, then our lives have to demonstrate that.  Pope Francis has been calling all Catholics to be “JOYFUL” because IF we have seen and heard the truth of God becoming human in our own lives  THEN we must manifest that truth by our attitudes, choices and way of life.  What have we seen and heard?  In some way or another we have encountered the profound loving care of God’s personal attention to us.  If that hasn’t happened for us, then we must pray in confidence that God will disclose God’s self to us, and we have to attentively listen to the soft whisper of God that changes everything – like a mighty wind. 

The Advent season called us to patience.  This Christmas octave calls us to attend – to kneel at the crèche, to place our head on the shoulder or chest of the adult Jesus, to stand listening, longing or even agonizing at the foot of the cross, and to run – as today’s Gospel describes it – to run to the tomb, and see the evidence of Resurrection in our life.  Where is new life popping up when we least expect it?  Where does the evidence of gracious events leave us puzzling about how this could be?  Pray with St. John to see how the evidence around corroborates your own experience of God’s presence in Jesus.

              

After Christmas, we would think that the predominate feeling we would have would be gratitude.  Grateful at what family or friends or co-workers have provided; grateful for what we have and who we have that love us; grateful, above all for our lives and the goodness of God who has given us so much.  I especially speak for myself as I type these words – how can I help rejoicing in the gratitude of all that God has given.  But I find a temptation to feel “let down” somehow.  A similar feeling came after a big performance years ago when I did some theater or musical performance.   But Christmas is not about performance.  Christmas is about receiving the Word-made-flesh into our lives.  Maybe if I – (or you?) – don’t feel grateful it is because we did not allow ourselves the humility of the disciple to RECEIVE Christ’s gracious presence.   The great news is that we still have time!  We are celebrating only the third day of the octave – five more days to become attentive . . . receptive . . . to Jesus’ invitation to intimacy as a real disciple – a beloved disciple.  Blessed St. John’s Day!

(Adapted from Eileen Burke-Sullivan)

Urbi et Orbi 2013 (full text)

Urbi et Orbi Message of His Holiness Pope Francis

(Christmas 2013)

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours (Lk 2:14)

Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the whole world, Greetings and Happy Christmas!

I take up the song of the angels who appeared to the shepherds in Bethlehem on the night when Jesus was born. It is a song which unites heaven and earth, giving praise and glory to heaven, and the promise of peace to earth and all its people.

I ask everyone to share in this song: it is a song for every man or woman who keeps watch through the night, who hopes for a better world, who cares for others while humbly seeking to do his or her duty.

Glory to God!

Above all else, this is what Christmas bids us to do: give glory to God, for he is good, he is faithful, he is merciful. Today I voice my hope that everyone will come to know the true face of God, the Father who has given us Jesus. My hope is that everyone will feel God’s closeness, live in his presence, love him and adore him.

May each of us give glory to God above all by our lives, by lives spent for love of him and of all our brothers and sisters.

Peace to mankind

True peace - we know this well - is not a balance of opposing forces. It is not a lovely “façade” which conceals conflicts and divisions. Peace calls for daily commitment, but making peace is an art, starting from God’s gift, from the grace which he has given us in Jesus Christ.

Looking at the Child in the manger, Child of peace, our thoughts turn to those children who are the most vulnerable victims of wars, but we think too of the elderly, to battered women, to the sick… Wars shatter and hurt so many lives!

Too many lives have been shattered in recent times by the conflict in Syria, fueling hatred and vengeance. Let us continue to ask the Lord to spare the beloved Syrian people further suffering, and to enable the parties in conflict to put an end to all violence and guarantee access to humanitarian aid. We have seen how powerful prayer is! And I am happy today too, that the followers of different religious confessions are joining us in our prayer for peace in Syria. Let us never lose the courage of prayer! The courage to say: Lord, grant your peace to Syria and to the whole world. And I also invite non-believers to desire peace with that yearning that makes the heart grow: all united, either by prayer or by desire. But all of us, for peace.

Grant peace, dear Child, to the Central African Republic, often forgotten and overlooked. Yet you, Lord, forget no one! And you also want to bring peace to that land, torn apart by a spiral of violence and poverty, where so many people are homeless, lacking water, food and the bare necessities of life. Foster social harmony in South Sudan, where current tensions have already caused too many victims and are threatening peaceful coexistence in that young state.

Prince of Peace, in every place turn hearts aside from violence and inspire them to lay down arms and undertake the path of dialogue. Look upon Nigeria, rent by constant attacks which do not spare the innocent and defenseless. Bless the land where you chose to come into the world, and grant a favourable outcome to the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. Heal the wounds of the beloved country of Iraq, once more struck by frequent acts of violence.

Lord of life, protect all who are persecuted for your name. Grant hope and consolation to the displaced and refugees, especially in the Horn of Africa and in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Grant that migrants in search of a dignified life may find acceptance and assistance. May tragedies like those we have witnessed this year, with so many deaths at Lampedusa, never occur again!

Child of Bethlehem, touch the hearts of all those engaged in human trafficking, that they may realize the gravity of this crime against humanity. Look upon the many children who are kidnapped, wounded and killed in armed conflicts, and all those who are robbed of their childhood and forced to become soldiers.

Lord of heaven and earth, look upon our planet, frequently exploited by human greed and rapacity. Help and protect all the victims of natural disasters, especially the beloved people of the Philippines, gravely affected by the recent typhoon.

Dear brothers and sisters, today, in this world, in this humanity, is born the Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. Let us pause before the Child of Bethlehem. Let us allow our hearts to be touched, let us not fear this. Let us not fear that our hearts be moved. We need this! Let us allow ourselves to be warmed by the tenderness of God; we need his caress. God’s caresses do not harm us. They give us peace and strength. We need his caresses. God is full of love: to him be praise and glory forever! God is peace: let us ask him to help us to be peacemakers each day, in our life, in our families, in our cities and nations, in the whole world. Let us allow ourselves to be moved by God’s goodness.

Christmas Reflection - Tomorrow's reading reflection

“Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and always.” With God there is no such thing as time. All of time is totally present to him right now. God’s work among us is always in process, it never comes to an end. In God’s eyes, Christmas is an everyday event, that involves Jesus knocking on the door of my heart, seeking admission. The God-dimension never changes, the offer is always there, the good news is delivered with greater consistency than the morning newspaper. What happens after that is totally dependent on whether I accept the offer, open the door, and make my heart available as a manger.

One important point: when the shepherds heard the message they said, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see it for ourselves.” The life of the Christian is a journey of discovery. It involves coming to find out for myself the truth and the reality of what I had been told by my parents, teachers, or preachers in church. I have to cross that bridge. The gospel is in between two phrases. At the beginning, we are invited to “Come and see,” and, at the end, we are instructed to “Go and tell.”

(Adapted from ACP) 

Also:

Many of the early church fathers have written hymns and homilies in praise of the Incarnation. John the Monk, an 8th century writer, in his Hymn of the Nativity, sings of the great exchange in the mystery and wonder of the Incarnation - God becoming man in order to bring man to heaven:

Heaven and earth are united today, for Christ is born! Today God has come upon earth, and humankind gone up to heaven. Today, for the sake of humankind, the invisible one is seen in the flesh. Therefore let us glorify him and cry aloud: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace bestowed by your coming, Savior: glory to you! Today in Bethlehem, I hear the angels: glory to God in the highest! Glory to him whose good pleasure it was that there be peace on earth! The Virgin is now more spacious than the heavens. Light has shone on those in darkness, exalting the lowly who sing like the angels: Glory to God in the highest! Beholding him [Adam] who was in God’s image and likeness fallen through transgression, Jesus bowed the heavens and came down, without change taking up his dwelling in a virgin womb, that he might refashion Adam fallen in corruption, and crying out: glory to your epiphany, my Savior and my God! [Stichera (hymn) of the Nativity of the Lord]

(Adapted from Don Schwager)

Manger in waiting - Tomorrow's reading reflection

We do not worship a god who is far away, unapproachable, too busy to notice us, or a god who abandons us to our own devices.  Christmas speaks of a totally different story.  Christmas is all about God’s loving desire to be with us personally, to accompany us on our journey, and to continually invite us into his wonderful life.

Today we realize and acknowledge the magnificent miracle of God actually becoming one of us.  Our faith professed each Sunday and Holy Days during the year tells us that God becomes human for us.  Why?  So that God can share everything with us and to be present to each of us as we are.

On this Christmas Eve, we celebrate God’s creativity in journeying to be with us so intimately as one like us in all things.  The first reading from the Second Book of Samuel has David reflecting on his situation and its relationship with God’s role towards his chosen ones: the People of God.

David remarks, “Here I am living in a house of cedar while the ark of God dwells in a tent.”  He acknowledges that disparity and wants to remedy it somehow.  However, God has quite different plans and seems not to be bothered by the differences David worries over.

God speaks a message to the prophet Nathan for him to deliver to David.  “I have been with you wherever you went. . .  Your house shall endure forever.”  God does not seem to be “slumming” by dwelling in a tent with his beloved people, but desires to be present through David, his family and his house.  God’s commitment is to be faithfully present to the Israelites and to all people beginning with David’s line.

When God “pitches his tent” among us through the Incarnation and the birth of Jesus that same desire on God’s part is manifested in spades.  Now Jesus, the Son of God, the incarnation of God, the very presence of God is made known not in an ark but personally in the humanness of Jesus.

(Adapted from Tom Shanahan, S.J.)

Why don't English names communicate a story like ancient names did? - Sunday's reading reflection

What’s in a name?

What can it tell about the person who owns it? Not much, unless it happens to be a well-chosen nick-name. Names like Helen, Sharon or Jason are useful for distinguishing various members of a family; but they don’t say much about the people themselves. A name seldom tells about the personality or life-work of the one who carries it. With some Biblical names it is different. For instance, Abraham meant “Father of a great people” (Gen. 17:5) and Moses meant “Rescued from the Waters” (Ex. 2:10.) Above all, our blessed Lord has names which tell us everything about him: “Jesus” means “God saves,” “Christ” means “God’s Anointed Messiah” and the name “Emmanuel” in today’s Gospel, means “God in our midst.”

Center of our faith

How important is Jesus, really, for our religious belief? Be honest. Ask the man-in-the-street what Christianity all about, and what’s the usual answer? Something to do with loving your neighbour; keeping the law; going to church on a Sunday? Not often will there be a direct mention of Jesus Christ, who is at the very centre of our faith. Ghandi once said, If you Christians took your Christ to heart, the whole world would be Christian.

Our Bridge-builder (Pontifex)

Nowadays, one of the most positive trends is in building up community, sharing efforts and projects with others, seeking out ways find common ground with long-term enemies. In a word, bridge-building and reconciliation with our fellow human beings. The greatest bridge-builder of all, who spans the gulf between us and God, is Jesus Christ. (High-Priest: Pontifex.) “No man has ever seen God; the Only-Begotten Son, who is closest to the Father’s heart, has made him known” (Jn. 1:18.)

Who shares our Lot

At Christmas we will concentrate on the simplicity and poverty of Our Lord’s birth: how human he was, born of a young woman, not in luxurious comfort, but in the discomfort of a stable. That shows him as one of us, the human side of “Emmanuel.” This gospel however mentions the divine origin of Jesus. Although he has a human mother, he has not a human father, but was conceived in Mary by the power of God. This unique way of coming into life, with God as father, and the virgin Mary as mother, underlines who Jesus truly is: both God and man, one of ourselves and yet one with the eternal God.

St. Joseph’s Faith

If this mystery seems deep to us, it must have been baffling for St Joseph. Close to Mary as he was, and yet seeing her pregnant without any action on his part, Joseph could only accept in faith what God’s messenger told him, that the child was in Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. With great patience and humility, Joseph accepted the part for which God had chosen him, as human foster-father to the Saviour. This faithful acceptance is just what is required of each of us, when Christ comes into our lives, as “God-with-us.

(Adapted from ACP)

Not always a smooth straight line to God - Tomorrow's reading reflection

In the reading for today, Isaiah predicts what happens centuries later, that a virgin will conceive a son and call him Emmanuel. Isaiah's message to the Jewish people is to be persistent in their hope and trust in God despite the difficulties of their journey in life.

Our life's journey is not always a smooth straight line to God. Throughout our lives, there are times of crises when we may lose hope, or it may be in the mundane that we get off track and lose sight of our ultimate goal. Lucky for us, God's patience is infinite. He does not grow weary of our innumerable stumbles and detours on our journey.

The story of the Annunciation in Luke's gospel demonstrates how Mary is a model of hope and trust in God's plan for our journey. Even she questioned how she could become pregnant without having been with a man. But, when the angel said it was through the power of the Holy Spirit, she replied with those words of unwavering hope and trust in her God, "Behold, I am the handmaid of The Lord, may it be done to me according to your word."

Through persistence in prayer, we rekindle our hope and trust in God. As the angel said to Mary, "Nothing is impossible with God." By her example, let us ask Mary to bolster our hope and trust in God so that we can accept and follow the journey that he has planned for us. May we be persistent in our prayer.

(Adapted from Susan Tinley)

Miracle of creation - Tomorrow's reading reflection

The reading and gospel are interesting history if one wants to know more about the Samson’s parents or John the Baptist’s parents. Here were two couples who were without children and now well past the time to conceive but they continued to have unrelenting faith. That these two couples never lost faith in spite of their hardship is worthy of reflection, but is there another deeper meaning embedded in these readings that is worthy of our consideration?

Mindful that we are in the Advent season and just one week away from the most beautiful birth of all, that of Christ Jesus, the reading and the gospel reinforce how truly precious the creation of life is and the joy that comes to parents when they are first made aware that they are with child. And then, is there anything greater for the couple than the birth of their child and to experience the miracle of creation? Thus as we head into these last 7 days before Christmas let us keep our focus not only on the power of prayer but on the miracle of creation.

(Adapted from Steve Scholer)

Promises - Tomorrow's reading reflection

At this point in the middle of our Advent journey, we can pause to enjoy what this week is about.  Each day, we can be asking for the grace to let Jesus into our hearts – to let him be closer to us and to let ourselves be closer to him.

The promise made to Joseph was that the result of his openness to cooperating with God’s plan would be:  “God is with us.”  Joseph couldn’t have imagined what that would mean.  At times, we can’t imagine what that means for us, today.

Jeremiah knew the problem.  King David’s line had been virtually wiped out.  But Jeremiah trusted God’s fidelity.  With the same image of a shoot coming forth, Isaiah could proclaim that “a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse (David’s father).”

This is good news for us today, whenever we see only darkness, and can’t imagine a light shining for us to guide the way.  At times, we see only dead ends.  We sometimes are so discouraged by the stresses and challenges we are facing that it is difficult to even think about promises of hope.  We can feel trapped – stuck in a situation that fills us with fear, or anger, or which has simply suffocated any ability to dream.

Today, we can pause to remember that “God is with us.”  We are not alone.  And, in this pause, we can ask for the grace to let Jesus into our hearts – to let him in, past the barriers.  What are the barriers?  A pause today could help us identify them.

This is what Advent is for.  It is an opportunity to open our hearts to Jesus’ coming today, in the midst of our darkness.  This is not something abstract or intellectual.  It is personal.  If I let him love me, forgive me, tell me I’m precious, that I’m not alone, then I can face any challenge with hope.  This is what real joy is all about.  And, even when our union with Jesus leads us to the Cross, we are with him on the path to eternal life.

Let us all pray, “Come, Lord Jesus,” with deeper, more personal meaning today, and each day in the days ahead.  And, let us let him come into those places of our lives where he so wants to come with tenderness, comfort, healing and life.

(Adapted from Andy Alexander, SJ)

One heck of a family tree - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Several years ago the director of an RCIA program in the Omaha Archdiocese was taken aback by a candidate who said “You’ve been telling us about Jesus. I came here to learn about the Church . . .”  The Christian church indeed has organizational features – rites and rules – just like any human social grouping, and one ought to know something about them. But the Church is not about itself (what Pope Francis refers to as “self-referential”). It is about Jesus. It is an assembly of people who have committed their lives to Jesus, to being Jesus’ presence in their world. As Vatican II said, the Church is the sacrament of Christ for the world.

In his gospel St. Matthew is telling his early Christian community about Jesus. Interestingly the word our lectionary translates as “genealogy” is, in the original Greek, “genesis” – the same as the name of the first book of the Bible. This is the beginning of the story of Jesus. Matthew says that, in Jesus, God has made a new creation, a new Adam. He starts his story with Abraham. 

It’s a curious family tree – consisting of saints, sinners, petty oriental potentates, wastrels, incompetents, womanizers. It even mentions five women (distinctly unusual in ancient genealogies) – some of them pregnant under irregular circumstances. Is this how God enters into human affairs?  The list of 42 names in Matthew’s genealogy traces Israel’s journey into Egypt and back, God’s rescue of an enslaved people, the triumphs and failings of the monarchy, the exile into Babylon and subsequent rescue, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, only to be conquered by Greek and then Roman invaders. It’s all there. If only we knew our Bible history! What stories those names would evoke!  As has been said, “God writes straight with crooked lines”.

Matthew knew that his community could not really understand Jesus if they did not understand that chain of God’s interactions with Israel. Israel was a chosen people, not in the sense of having been granted special privilege (though they certainly experienced that), but chosen precisely to manifest to the world in concrete actions and events who God is and what God’s will for God’s creation really is. That’s exactly what Jesus is and does. And that’s how he is the fulfillment of that first 2000 year history.

In eight days we will celebrate once again the birth of baby Jesus. Babies are promise, they are potential, they are hope. This baby shows us God, a God who takes on our human nature in all its failings and tawdriness and, by making it possible for us humans to share in the divine, what the potential in every human being really is.

(Adapted from Robert P. Heaney)

Three things about happiness - Sunday's reading reflection

Today is Guadete (Rejoice) Sunday. Today the candle on the wreath is rose, not purple as on the other Sundays of Advent; to express the joy felt at the nearness of the Lord. Some people seem to be happy by nature; others melancholic by nature. As Pope Francis as been saying lately, however, Christians must be people of joy.  "Joy comes with the morning" as Scripture says.  Each day we have the chance to choose and live out joy, happiness.

Three things about happiness: first, happiness is right now. We convince ourselves that life will be better when we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids are not old enough and we will be more content when they are. After that we are frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together. The truth is there is no better time to be happy than right now.

Second, ‘If you are happy, let your face know’. Maybe we could begin to be more joyful by taking a peek in the mirror and asking ourselves: does my face look like the face of someone who has heard the good news of the Gospel, namely that I am loved unconditionally by God?

Third, joy will come to us if we set about actively trying to create it for others. If I go about my life demanding that others carry me rather than seeking to carry them; feeding off others rather than feeding them; demanding that others meet my needs rather than trying to meet theirs, joy will never find me no matter how hard I party or try to crank up good cheer.

(Adapted from ACP)

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia

Time to grow - Tomorrow's reading reflection

We all need time to grow and so develop our own individual talents. We long to be encouraged and affirmed, so that we can keep trying. Others must be patient and tolerant, overlooking mistakes, gently correcting, learning from us all the while. As a community or family, we must be anxious to profit from all the talents around us – from those prompt to sympathize with our sorrows, from those who are austere, as well as from those who are more easygoing, sociable and even bounding outside the accepted norms. Jesus ate with tax collectors and others outside the law.

If we remain united in love, we will be long in patience and slow with judgment. We will persevere through all difficulties and give everyone the necessary time and space to grow and to make his contribution. We will feel a serious need for the help and contribution of others, all the more as we develop our own specialized talents. Only through others will we be truly balanced and integral in our values and attitude.

(Adapted from ACP)

Congratulations Pope Francis, Man of the Year 2013!

Congratulations Pope Francis - Tekton Ministries

Pope's message to Americas on Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Tomorrow is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Americas. I would like to greet all my brothers and sisters on that continent, and I do so thinking of the Virgin of Tepeyac. When Our Lady appeared to Saint Juan Diego, her face was that of a woman of mixed blood, a mestiza, and her garments bore many symbols of the native culture. Like Jesus, Mary is close to all her sons and daughters; as a concerned mother, she accompanies them on their way through life. She shares all the joys and hopes, the sorrows and troubles of God’s People, which is made up of men and women of every race and nation.

When the image of the Virgin appeared on the tilma of Juan Diego, it was the prophecy of an embrace: Mary’s embrace of all the peoples of the vast expanses of America – the peoples who already lived there, and those who were yet to come. Mary’s embrace showed what America – North and South – is called to be: a land where different peoples come together; a land prepared to accept human life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age; a land which welcomes immigrants, and the poor and the marginalized, in every age. A land of generosity. That is the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and it is also my message, the message of the Church. I ask all the people of the Americas to open wide their arms, like the Virgin, with love and tenderness. (Pope Francis)

Oxen yoked 2x2 - Tomorrow's reading reflection

What kind of yoke does the Lord Jesus have in mind for each one of us? And how can it be good for us? The Jewish people used the image of a yoke to express their submission to God. They spoke of the yoke of the law, the yoke of the commandments, the yoke of the kingdom, the yoke of God. Jesus  says his yoke is "easy". The Greek word for "easy" can also mean "well-fitting". Yokes were tailor-made to fit the oxen well for labor. We are commanded to put on the "sweet yoke of Jesus" and to live the "heavenly way of life and happiness". Oxen were yoked two by two. Jesus invites each one of us to be yoked with him, to unite our life with him, our will with his will, our heart with his heart. Jesus also says his "burden is light". There's a story of a man who once met a boy carrying a smaller crippled lad on his back. "That's a heavy load you are carrying there," exclaimed the man. "He ain't heavy; he's my brother!" responded the boy. No burden is too heavy when it's given in love and carried in love. When we yoke our lives with Jesus, he also carries our burdens with us and gives us his strength to follow in his way of love. Do you know the joy of resting in Jesus' presence and walking daily with him along the path he has for you?

In today’s gospel, Jesus invites us to come if we are weary and discouraged. Come if we think we are too busy to stop; if our To Do list seems endless. Today’s readings remind us to slow down and hear Jesus offer us “rest. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

(Adapated from Don Schwager & Maureen McCann Waldron)

Lost - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Do you know what it's like to lose your bearings and to be hopelessly adrift in a sea of uncertainty? To be alone, lost, and disoriented without a sense of direction is one of the worst fears we can encounter. What we would give to have a guide who would show us the way to safety and security, the way to home and family. Scripture comforts us with the assurance that God will not rest until we find our way home to him. The scriptures use the image of a shepherd who cares for his sheep to describe what God is like. God promised that he would personally shepherd his people and lead them to safety (Isaiah 40:11). That is why God sent his only begotten son as the Messiah King who would not only restore peace and righteousness to the land, but who would also shepherd and care for his people with love and compassion. Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep (John 10:11).

What can we learn from the lesson of Jesus' parable about a lost sheep? This parable gives us a glimpse of the heart of a true shepherd, and the joy of a community reunited with its lost members. Shepherds not only had to watch over their sheep by day and by night; they also had to protect them from wolves and lions who preyed upon them, and from dangerous terrain and storms. Shepherds often had large flocks, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or thousands.  It was common to inspect and count the sheep at the end of the day. You can imagine the surprise and grief of the shepherd who discovers that one of his sheep is missing! Does he wait until the next day to go looking for it? Or does he ask a neighboring shepherd if he might have seen the stray sheep? No, he goes immediately in search of this lost sheep. Delay for even one night could mean disaster leading to death. Sheep by nature are very social creatures. An isolated sheep can quickly become bewildered, disoriented, and even neurotic. Easy prey for wolves and lions! So too with us.  Lost for too long, we ourselves become easy pray to the evil one.

The Apostle Peter reminds us that the "devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). God does not rejoice in the loss of anyone, but desires that we be saved and restored to friendship with him. That is why the whole community of heaven rejoices when one sinner is found and restored to fellowship with God.

(Adapted from Don Schwager)

Mandela (RIP) not the first reconciler - Sunday's reading reflection

With the passing of Nelson Mandela this week we have heard often the word "reconciliation" used to describe is achievements.  He reconciled two sides that were part of a very divided country.  The readings from this weekend, however, point to even more important men who brought about reconciliation. 

Jesus tells us that John the Baptist was more than a prophet (Luke 7:26). John was the voice of the Consoler who is coming (John 1:23; Isaiah 40:1-3). He completed the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah (Matthew 11:13-14). What the prophets had carefully searched for and angels longed to see, now came to completion as John made the way ready for the coming of the Messiah, God's Annointed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. With John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to the human race of the "divine likeness", prefiguring what would be achieved with and in the Lord Jesus.

John the Baptist's life was fueled by one burning passion – to point others to Jesus Christ and to the coming of his kingdom. Who is John the Baptist and what is the significance of his message for our lives? Scripture tells us that John was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb (Luke 1:15, 41) by Christ himself, whom Mary had just conceived by the Holy Spirit. When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth John lept in her womb as they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41). The fire of the Spirit dwelt in John and made him the forerunner of the coming Messiah. John was led by the Spirit into the wilderness prior to his ministry where he was tested and grew in the word of God. John's clothing was reminiscent of the prophet Elijah (see Kings 1:8). John broke the prophetic silence of the previous centuries when he began to speak the word of God to the people of Israel. His message was similar to the message of the Old Testament prophets who chided the people of God for their unfaithfuless and who tried to awaken true repentance in them. Among a people unconcerned with the things of God, it was his work to awaken their interest, unsettle them from their complacency, and arouse in them enough good will to recognize and receive Christ when he came. Are you eager to hear God's word and to be changed by it through the power of the Holy Spirit?

(Adapted from Don Schwager)

Blind-spots - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Are there any blind-spots in your life that keep you from recognizing God's power and mercy? When two blind men heard that Jesus was passing their way, they followed him and begged for his mercy. The word mercy literally means "sorrowful at heart". But mercy is something more than compassion, or heartfelt sorrow at another's misfortune. Compassion empathizes with the sufferer. But mercy goes further; it removes suffering. A merciful person shares in another's misfortune and suffering as if it were their own. When two blind men approached Jesus, he questioned their earnestness. "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" Jesus put them to the test, not to rebuff them, but to strengthen their faith and trust in God's mercy. He touched their eyes, both to identify with their affliction and to awaken faith in them. Their faith grew as they responded to his word with confident hope. Jesus restored their sight – both physically and spiritually to the reality of God's kingdom. Faith opens the way for us to see the power of God’s kingdom and to experience his healing presence in our lives.

(Adapted from Don Schwager)

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

A strong city have we, in our integrity before God - Tomorrow's reading reflection

"A strong city have we; he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us."

"Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them..."

There is only one way in which a person's integrity can be proved, and that is by one's practice.  Fine words can never replace good deeds. Our character is revealed in the choices we make, especially when we are tested. Do you cheat on an exam or on your income taxes, especially when it will cost you?  Do you lie, or cover-up, when disclosing the truth will cause you  injury or embarrassment? A true person is honest and reliable before God, one's neighbor and oneself.  His or her word can be counted on. If you heed God's word and live according to it then you need not fear when storms assail you. God will be your rock and your refuge.

(Adapted from Don Schwager)

Someone had to give up the fish and loaves - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Meditating on the joy of living in the house of the Lord puts my heart in a beautiful state of peace and excited anticipation.   However, sometimes I get homesick for Heaven and ignore the reality in which I live now.  That love which we anticipate enjoying fully in Eternity is the same love which we must share with God’s people on earth.

Someone had to give up his/her dinner in order for Jesus to perform his miracle in today’s Gospel reading.  Sure, Jesus did the heavy lifting when it came to multiplying the seven loaves and a few fish, but someone donated that food.  Similarly, Jesus only performed the miracle, he did not walk around physically feeding the crowd, other hands served in that way.  Jesus “needed” the service of those around him in order to fully bless the crowd that day.

In what ways is God calling each of us to be his hands and feet?  Significant tithing is a new phenomenon for me.   For the first time in my life, I am making a real paycheck and I am recognizing the call to utilize a portion in service to God.  And yet, as a severely indebted medical resident, my financial resources are limited.  But how many people in today’s Gospel actually served Jesus financially? Only a few.  The vast majority served by organizing, spreading the food and cleaning up the leftovers.  Could I donate some of my time?  Might I carry some granola bars and a few inexpensive winter hats to keep in my car to offer to the homeless guy I pass on my way to the hospital each morning?  How about simply going out of my way to offer a word of encouragement to a downtrodden neighbor?  In spite of my newfound ability to donate financially, the Gospel is calling me to a well-rounded service approach.

(Adapted from Sam Pierre)