Friday, December 20, 2024

 Friday of the Third Week of Advent

 (Isaiah 7:10-14; Luke 1:26-38)

Jerome Miller, a Catholic theologian, wrote a reflection on the Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli’s depiction of the Annunciation.  According to Miller, the artist, like any exegete, has much to teach us about this critical moment in the history of salvation.  

 Miller begins his study by noting how the action of the painting takes places on a floor of perfectly arranged rectangles.  He says these figures represent lives that are dominated by order which brings meaning and gives a platform for action.  Then Miller notes how the angel appears as an eruption of grace into Mary’s well-ordered life.  In the painting the angel’s hand makes a gesture of directive: Mary is to give birth to the Son of God who will bring peace to earth.  The hand is open and not pointing directly to Mary but giving her permission to refuse the mandate.  Mary, however, is pictured as all receptivity.  Her body curves in what can be seen as a bow of compliance.  Her hands are open like Jesus’ on the cross.  Their positioning indicates awareness that her decision will cause her suffering.

All of us are so approached in life with a proposition of divine grace.  We are called out of the ordinariness of making a living to sacrifice ourselves for the Lord’s sake.  Of course, our consent means that we are opening ourselves to suffering.  But we should not shrink from the mission.  We like Mary are nothing greater, but nothing less either, than servants of the Lord.

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

(Judges 13:2-7.24-25a; Luke 1:5-25)

At thirty-five years old and married for years without having a child, the couple was planning to take consolation in travel and other perks of professional life.  Then she became pregnant with their first child. The following year she gave birth again, this time to twins.  The third year there were another pregnancy and another set of twins.  The couple, who were ready to have a life of relative leisure, now had to screw up energies to care for five children.  Zachariah in today’s gospel might not have believed that such a development was possible.

It is asked why Zechariah is punished for doubting that he and Elizabeth could have a child while Mary, apparently with a similar question after Gabriel’s announcement, is not.   Part of the answer may lie in that although Zachariah and Elizabeth are old, they may not be beyond child-bearing age.  The other part of the answer is that Mary asks only a prudent question of how she might have a child without sinning given that she is a virgin.

There is much to be learned in this part of the Christmas narrative.  First, we should never question the Lord’s power to make things happen, even if it is apparently impossible.  Then we are wise to question situations where it seems like we need to do something wrong.  Doing evil, even to achieve a supreme good, is never a moral option.  Finally, and most importantly, we should trust in God’s love for us.  He wants to bring our lives to fulfillment.

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Jeremiah 23:5-8; Matthew 1:18-25)

Catholic exegetes point out that the clause, “He had no relations with her until she bore a son…” does not mean that Joseph had sexual relations with Mary after Jesus was born.  Evidently, the Greek word for until does not have the same nuance as in English.  As the text says, Joseph was a righteous man who meticulously carried out the Law in matters of its purview and discerned God’s will in other matters.  It is presumed that Joseph honored Mary’s virginity after Jesus was born as before.

As preoccupied with sex as our generation is, the question of one’s sexual activity is asked of most people.  Yet many forego sex for various reasons.  Sometimes it is done from necessity as when spouses are incapable of having sexual relations.  It is not unheard of that a man will say that he loved his wife more in abstinence than he did on the day they were married.

Love is much more than sex.  It is the giving of oneself for the good of the other.  We find this self-giving in Joseph’s love for Mary, in spouses who take care of invalid counterparts, and in the many chaste single persons who dedicate themselves their professions, the Church, and many other kinds of service.  They deserve both prayers and esteem because they strive against the current of a hyper-sexualized society.

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Genesis 49:2.8-10; Matthew1:1-17)

Most people hearing today’s gospel will wonder what the point of it is.  Obviously, it connects Jesus to the patriarchs of Israel.  But beyond that, they will ask, why bother with all those strange names?  It certainly is tedious to read Jesus’ genealogy, but it gives the gospel a propitious start and forecasts its conclusion. 

The genealogy shows not only Jesus’ connection with Abraham but also with David, Israel’s most highly regarded king.  God promised to give David a descendant who would rule in righteousness forever. This promise is fulfilled in Jesus.  Beyond that, the genealogy ends with the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and not his father, as all the other descendances.  With this altered arrangement the evangelist Matthew shows that a new way of creation has begun.  No longer is one’s human family what is most significant.  Rather it’s one’s spiritual relationship to Jesus that counts most.  This affiliation, made through Baptism, bequeaths an eternal destiny.

The new family that Jesus will create as he gathers disciples will not belong to one land or one nation.  Rather it will spread across the globe as his apostles carry out Jesus’ order at the gospel’s end to “make disciples of all nations.”

Monday, December 16, 2024

 Monday of the Third Week of Advent

(Numbers 24:2-7.15-17a; Matthew 21:23-27)

All recognize the star as a symbol of Christmas.  Of course, the star refers to the passage in the gospel of Matthew where the Magi launch their search for the “King of the Jews” after seeing his star arise.  That star has a reference as well in today’s first reading from the Old Testament.

The Moab nation is threatened by Israel under Moses’ command.  Its king calls on Balaam, a pagan prophet, to curse Moab’s nemesis.  Balaam, however, upon seeing Israel, cannot curse it.  On the contrary, he must acknowledge its rising among the nations of the land.  He predicts that in the distant future the rise of a star belonging to a person who will bring Israel great blessing.  Christians hold that this star is the one seen by the Magi belonging to Jesus.

Jesus is the star on which we hang our hopes.  He has died to conquer the evil in our lives and has risen from the dead to promise us eternal life.  We accept his grace and follow his teachings so that we might too experience resurrection from the dead.