Friday, December 25, 2015

The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)

(Isaiah 9:1-3.5-6; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14)

The sign revealed more than it said.  It was written with little Christmas lights and positioned in front of a corner house.  “Happy Birthday, Jesus,” was the wording.  Obviously, the homeowners wanted to counteract the secularization of Christmas.  But perhaps they missed the point of the Christian feast.

Christmas celebrates much more than the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth.  Thinking of the feast in this way domesticates Jesus.  It makes him seem like good old Uncle Bill whom we should honor with a dinner party.  But the celebration should be much greater than that.  Christmas represents the coming of the Savior.  Christians have been waiting not so much patiently as painfully for his arrival.  In the Middle East they have been victimized by Islamist brutality. In all parts they have been subjugated by pride, lust, and greed – their own as much as others’.  Now the Lord is here to defeat these powers.  More than a birthday party, the rejoicing should be as great as the jubilation felt by Jewish inmates of Nazi concentration camps as the Allied soldiers liberated them.

It is true that Jesus in today’s gospel is portrayed as the child of a poor family.  He lays in a manger with only Mary and Joseph noticing.  But then the heavens open and angels reveal his true stature.  He is “Christ and Lord.”  God has come to earth to once and for all establish His kingdom of justice and peace.

We must take care not to domesticate Jesus.  We must not treat him like just another member of the family whom we might ignore if we are tired or upset.  We must not let ourselves say to him, “Nice to see you, Jesus.  Would you excuse me?  I don’t feel very well.”

Rather we should hunger to talk with him.  We should strive to please him by everything we say, do, and think.  Now that he has arrived, we should announce a grand jubilee.  This means that we ask pardon of those that we have offended and pray for those who have hurt us.  He is here.  A new age has begun.  It is time for us to begin a new way of life.  Now and forevermore is the moment to imitate his goodness.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Thursday of the fourth Week of Advent

(II Samuel 7:1-5.8b-12.14a.16; Luke 1:67-79)

Frank Leahy was a legendary football coach at Notre Dame during the 1940’s and 1950’s.  During his tenure, he recruited the Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung.  He did not have to lure the high school star from Louisville with a car or money.  Leahy just asked his prospect whether he would like to use the body God had given him to honor God’s mother.  In today’s gospel Zachariah prophesizes that his newborn son will similarly not work to bring notoriety to himself but to God’s Son.

In the passage Zachariah notes that God is fulfilling the promise he made to David in the first reading.  He says that his son John will prepare the way for a savior of David’s lineage.  John will preach repentance so that the savior could bring about forgiveness of their sins.  The savior, of course, is Jesus, the dawn guiding his followers on the road to peace.

One of the hardest lessons in life is learning how not to draw attention to ourselves but to God.  It’s not that we just want people to think well of us, but that we want them to think of us as better than others.  It is part of our sinfulness that Jesus has now come to reconcile.  Humility will draw us closer Jesus.  It will make us more like him and more reliant on him as our recompense.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Wednesday 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 associated with fire.  He warns the people that unless they reform and do good works, they will be cut down like trees “and thrown into the fire.”  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 retribution for evil.  Rather, his preaching will be dominated by the image of God as the human’s savior.  Although he will not shrink from mentioning God’s power to cast a sinner into hell, Jesus will stress God’s love.  God, he will say, is like the shepherd who searches out the lost sheep.  

Since love too has been looked upon as a kind of fire, we might try to distinguish between the fire of wrath and the fire of love.  Fire can destroy dispassionately, and it can purify with all compassion.  John, following Elijah, will use blazing images to warn us of the punishment that dissolute living precipitates.  God’s love, incarnate in Jesus, is like a surgeon’s laser beam.   Its flame will not harm but heal and make us whole.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

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

Most horrifying and yet most edifying of all images this year was the video of Christians being beheaded by ISIS ruffians.  The blood of twenty-one Egyptian men colored the seaside sand in eloquent testimony of their faith in Jesus.  The martyrs did was Mary does in today’s gospel.

Mary is the first believer in what God has done for the world in Jesus Christ.  She has been instructed by His messenger that her son will receive the kingship of David.  She now proclaims what this means.  She says that the humble will be lifted from their misery while the proud are scattered in rejection.

We may want to ask, “How does Mary know this is happening?” She knows by faith in God.  Like those Egyptian martyrs Mary understands that the Lord has arrived to overcome evil.  We will see the end of ISIS and also, perhaps more mercifully, victory over our own greed and lust.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent 

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

Pope Francis’ itinerary in Mexico has been announced.  He will visit the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the country’s patron, in the capital.  But that is the only major commercial center that he will go to.  Rather than Guadalajara and Monterrey, Francis will travel to San Cristóbal de las Casas, Morelia, and Ciudad Juarez.  These cities have undergone grave troubles recently.  The pope’s intentions are obvious.  He intends to comfort victims of violence and poverty.  God seems to show the same concern in today’s gospel.

Two women take center stage.  Elizabeth suffered the disgrace of never having a child.  Mary has shown implicit obedience to God’s word by rushing to Elizabeth.  Both represent the poor who continue trusting despite the hardships they face.  Now God is acting on their behalf. 

We may never duplicate the humility of Elizabeth and the obedience of Mary.  But we can imitate their example.  We can curb our desire for recognition and our need to have things our way.  When we do, we will know the full joy of Christmas.  We will realize that God has truly come to share with us His peace.