Monday, December 26, 2016

Feast of St. Stephen, proto-martyr

(Acts 6:8-10.7:54-59; Matthew 10:17-22)

“Is it an accident…,” St. Thomas Becket asks in his Christmas sermon according to playwright T.S. Eliot, “that the day of the first martyr follows immediately the day of the Birth of Christ?”  Not at all, he goes on to say.  Martyrdom is the design of God to draw humans back to the love which the birth of Christ reveals.  In other words, the Church proposes today’s Feast of St. Stephen as a reminder that Christ was born to die out of love for the world.

Although many households take down their Christmas lights today and stores haul out Valentine decorations, the Church does not intend that her members go back to life as usual.  Rather, she wants them to realize that they are being called deeper into the mystery of holiness which does not shun the world but seeks to sanctify it. 

Celebrating what is good and expressing sorrow when the good is thwarted by evil, we Christians show others of God’s care for all.  Christmas festivities will continue until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, but we should temper them by understanding how material substances are readily corruptible while virtue lasts forever. 

Friday, December 23, 2016

Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent

(Malachi 3:1-4.23-24; Luke 1:57-66)

In Luke’s gospel John the Baptist clearly takes the place of Elijah, the prophet of fire. At one point, John warns the people that unless they reform, they will be cut down like trees and burned.  In this way John goes before the Lord, as his father Zechariah proclaims in his song of jubilation at his naming, “to prepare his ways.”

Jesus will not take up John’s message of the primacy of divine wrath.  Rather, his preaching will center on God as the human’s benefactor.  Although Jesus will not shrink from mentioning God’s power to cast sinners into hell, he will stress God’s tender mercy.  God, he will say, has counted the number of hairs on each faithful person’s head to insure her or his total salvation.  

Since love can be looked upon as a kind of fire, we might contrast John’s theme with Jesus’ using the same image.  Fire can destroy dispassionately as well as purify with all compassion.  John, following Elijah, will use the threat if not the force of a blazing fire to warn us of the danger that dissolute living incurs.  In contrast God’s love, incarnate in Jesus, burns like a surgeon’s laser beam not harming but healing us.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent

(I Samuel 1:24-28; Luke 1:46-56)

Looking at the first reading and the gospel today, we may feel hard-pressed to find a relationship.  “What does the account of Hannah’s delivering her son into the Lord’s service have in common with Mary’s praise of the Lord?” we might ask.  The answer is hidden.  If we refer to the first chapter of the First Book of Samuel we will find that Hannah next statement after dedicating her son to the Lord resembles Mary’s praise of God in the gospel.  Like Mary, Hannah tells of the mighty being humbled, the well-fed searching for bread, and the poor being lifted up.

Nevertheless, Mary does more in her prayer of praise then paraphrase the Old Testament.  More significantly, she interprets the preaching of her son which we have heard throughout this past year.  In Luke’s gospel Jesus reiterates continually the message of the wealthy being humbled and the poor being elevated, oppressors being silenced while the suffering are relieved.  Mary says something similar but pertinent to her situation.  God has shown favor to her, His lowly servant, by making her the bearer of His son.  Furthermore, he has rescued Israel by sending His Son as the nation’s savior.

Mary is doing the work of a preacher who brings to life God’s word in present circumstances.  It is not enough for a homilist to retell the gospel; he or she must apply it to contemporary times if listeners are to find hope in meeting present challenges.  Similarly we should share with others how we have found Christ’s message resonating in our lives.  For example, Jesus’ many blessings of the poor should move us to speak of how our encounters with them have been rewarding. 

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

(Song of Songs 2:8-14; Luke 1:39-45)

Often the Virgin Mary is portrayed as carrying Jesus in her womb.  In the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, for example, the black belt around the Virgin’s waist signals her pregnancy.  Such images indicate not only that Mary is the mother of Jesus but also that she is his apostle bringing him to others.  Today’s gospel conveys this double meaning.

Acting on God’s word, Mary visits her kinswoman Elizabeth in the hill country.  Having arrived, the child within her womb causes the more developed child in Elizabeth to stir.  Elizabeth, guided by the Holy Spirit, names what is taking place.  She praises Mary first for being the mother of God and then for believing in the unlikely message of the angel.  Mary will explain what Jesus’ birth will mean to the world in tomorrow’s gospel passage.

We do well to emphasize that Mary’s significance is more than she is the mother of Jesus as important as that role is.  She is also his first and most perfect disciple.  She listens to and accepts the word of God.  She acts on it as she visits Elizabeth.  Finally, she interprets its meaning for others.  The best way we can venerate Mary is by imitating her example.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

(Isaiah 7:10-14; Luke 1:26-38)

In a movie a few years back a teenage girl, growing up dirt poor in the Ozarks, sacrifices the joy of adolescence to hold her family together.  Her father puts their house up as bond when he is arrested. Then he turns up missing. The young girl has to find out what has happened to him if her mother and brothers will have a place to live. She rises to the task.  We should see Mary similarly challenged in today’s gospel.

When the angel Gabriel greets her with the words, “’Hail, full of grace,’” Mary realizes that a crisis is at hand.  Attentive to the angel’s proposition that she will mother the Son of God, Mary asks how it is possible for a virgin.  She accepts the angel’s explanation and gives assent: “’May it be done to me according to your word.’” She shows herself to be a worthy disciple by first reflecting on the word of God and then doing it.

Mary’s assent has echoed throughout history.  We too are faced with the Word of God – Jesus himself.  We respond as his disciples when we carefully consider what he says and act upon it.  In a world that regularly conflicts with Jesus’ values and mores, living the commitment is often difficult.  Gratefully, we too like Mary have been graced to carry it out.