The Greatest Love Story Ever

Rembrandt's Dream of Joseph

Today at sunset begins the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah, the festival of lights.   If you have Jewish friends, you might want to wish them a happy Hanukkah.

This fourth Sunday of Advent is also a particularly festive time of year for children excited for the arrival of Santa Claus and Christmas Day. The symbols of this season can invite us to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas: Emmanuel, God-with-us.

A TREE: the green color symbolizes hope. AN ANGEL: angels sang the glorious news of the Savior’s birth. Look for the good in yourself, in other people in every situation in life. A STAR symbolizes the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Messiah, a Savior. Let’s keep our promises. A CANDLE: the candle symbolizes Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who scatters the darkness all around us. SANTA symbolizes good will. Be generous with what we have.

In Sunday's word of God, Isaiah describes the Hebrew King Ahaz in a quandary: mighty Assyria threatens his kingdom. Should he join an alliance? Or trust in God’s providence?

Isaiah begs him to “ask for a sign from God.” The king refuses. So, Isaiah prophesizes that God will give a sign. A woman will bear a child, Emmanuel or “God-with-us.” Isaiah's point: God never reneges on His promises. Eight centuries later, early Christianity saw the prophecy fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, whose name means “he will save.”

Paul in his letter to the Roman Christian community, introduces himself as an apostle called to deliver a message from God: the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus Christ is gloriously alive, and because He lives, we live, forever. The community, Paul emphasizes, is beloved by God and called to be holy, consecrated to continue the ministry of Jesus until He comes again with glory at the end-time.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Mary is pregnant with a child by the power of the Spirit. Joseph faces a dilemma: it's logical to conclude Mary must have committed adultery, punishable by death according to custom.  But Joseph is not about to let that happen. Then, he has a dream, an overpowering experience of the Divine, that convinces him to take Mary as his wife.

Joseph and Mary especially are two people of extraordinary trust in God’s love. Somehow, the power of God broke into Mary’s life, asking her to believe that she would bear within herself a special child. And because Mary was so attuned to God's presence in her daily life, she replied with great faith: may it be it done to me as you say.

These words are easy when things go our way; but not so easy when what is happening is the opposite of what we want. Such turns in life can test our trust in God's unconditional love.
But Mary’s “Yes” gave us the Christmas story: the greatest love story in the history of civilizations.

This Wednesday, remember: Christmas means not simply God in Bethlehem centuries ago, but God within us today. That is the reason for this holy season: to celebrate God's presence in the Christ child and through this God-man, God's presence within us.

Merry Christmas

Rembrandt's Adoration of the Shepherds

Every year we relive the wonderful Christmas story. The Gospel according to John summed up this magnificent story in a single line: The Word became flesh.

That takes us back in our imaginations to the beginnings of the human family, in Genesis: when man and woman walked with God, had friendship with God and one another. But somehow man and woman lost that friendship, they fell from grace: they hid from God.

But in the midst of ancient Israel’s fidelities and infidelities to the covenant, God never reneged on his promises. And so the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

The Word of God for the Christmas liturgies is like a prism through which is refracted the multiple facets of this great mystery of the Incarnation.

Isaiah proclaims glad tidings: the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Paul writes that the grace of God appeared in Jesus Christ who made us “heirs” to the promise of eternal life. In the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke, the Virgin Mary gave birth to her son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.And the Gospel of John sums up the meaning of Christmas: the Word became flesh. That is God’s greatest gift to us.

Some gifts really transform the lives the people: gifts of teaching, of listening and supporting, of sharing time and experiences, of compassion and forgiveness and affirmation. This begins in our own families and workplaces and communities: enduring gifts that we can always give to one another.

The Word became flesh. That single line changed our destiny. Christmas means not simply God in Bethlehem centuries ago, but God within us. We carry within ourselves Emmanuel, God with us. How? By virtue of the life-giving waters of baptism.We gather to proclaim the awesome Word of God, to celebrate the presence of the living Christ.

That great truth of our faith, God within us, challenges us always to look for the good in ourselves, in other people and in all situations in life.

And who is the ultimate good-finder? God so loved us that he became one of us. Yes, Jesus had a unique relationship. He was God-man. A healer, a teacher, a peacemaker. Think of all the people in the Gospels that Jesus met: the blind, the leper, the lame, the sinner, the forgotten. And Jesus found goodness in all of them where many didn’t.

The promised Messiah has come, He is in our midst mystically in the word proclaimed and the sacrament celebrated, and He will come again in power and glory at the end-time. In the meantime, pray this Christmas season that the Lord will help those who doubt to find faith; those who despair to find hope; those who are weak to find courage; those who are sick to find health; those who are sad to find joy; and those who have died to find eternal life in God.

Tidings of Courage and Joy

Rembrandt's John the  Baptist

The third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete” is a Latin verb which translates as “rejoice”: because Jesus is about to be born. Joyful songs will be heard.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Catholics in England could not practice their faith openly. So someone, the legend goes, wrote “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with two levels of meaning:
The Partridge in a pear tree symbolizes Jesus Christ.
The two turtle doves are the Old and New Testaments.
The three French hens stand for faith, hope and love.
Four calling birds are the four Gospels.
Five golden rings are the Torah: the first books of the Hebrew Bible. Etc.

When you hear “The Twelve Days of Christmas” practice your religious education!

The word of God today takes us back to the seventh century before Jesus. The author of Zephaniah proclaims "shout for joy, sing, be glad," because “God is in your midst.”

Paul, in his letter, urges an early Christian community to be joyful and generous, to pray confidently, and not to be anxious.

In the Gospel according to Luke, what caught my attention was the courage of John the Baptizer to preach the good news of the coming of Jesus. John empowered people to help each other. King Herod then imprisoned him.  John the Baptist had the courage to speak truth to power, and he paid with his life. He wasn’t afraid to do the right thing.

A common phrase in the Bible is “Do not be afraid.” Or “Be not afraid.” Between the Old and New Testaments, the phrases appear more than a thousand times. It appears God is trying to get a message across to us.

Psychologists often argue that fear is a dominant emotion. Think about it. We're afraid of failure, of certain parts of town, of criticism. Fear stops more people from doing something extraordinary than lack of ability.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the acquired ability to move beyond fear. Look through history and identify people you admire. Much can be accomplished in one moment of courage. Much can be lost in one moment of fear. 

Courage is an acquired virtue. You learn to ride a bicycle by riding one. You acquire courage by practicing it. Virtues are like muscles—when you exercise them, they become stronger.

Starting a new venture, making a sacramental commitment like confirmation or marriage, coming humbly before God in prayer: they all require courage. It animates us and makes so many things possible. 

We are not alone. God has given us the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the end, a life lived in accordance with an informed conscience and grounded in courage leaves us at peace within oneself: in harmony with God and with our own inner best self.

So, always seek what is right as John the Baptizer did: not what is fashionable, not what is expected by others, not what is merely acceptable, but what is right and good. And having found what is right and good: “just do it.”