Christmas – Page 4

Canceling Christmas is not an option

We all are hurting today. Whatever the reason, joy seems to be lacking in many. For some people any celebration of Christmas is out of the question. They believe that joy is not permitted due to the murders of children and adults. There is no room for hope, no possible way to feel anything but misery. There is no question that the radical absence of loved ones is very trying and almost hopeless. I think we can understand this line of thinking, but I think for people of true Christian faith this is not the answer.

Our friend, Dominican Father Peter John Cameron (Editor-in-Chief of Magnificat), tells us why Christmas is important and how it shapes our humanity and our belief that death and violence doesn’t have the final word. He makes a clear case for a true celebration of JOY. Father Cameron celebrates the sacred Liturgy weekly at the now famous Catholic Church in Newtown, Connecticut, Saint Rose of Lima.

For your prayerful consideration: Fr. Peter Cameron Newtown Homily Dec 16 2012.pdf

Living in Joyful Hope

During Advent and Christmas we await and celebrate
the birth of Christ in order to tune our hearts to await and celebrate the
fulfillment of God’s “plan for the fullness of time, together up all things in
Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.” Ephesians 1:10. What better way
to tune our hearts than by listening, with great care and attention to the work
of God?

In her book, Living in Joyful Hope, Suzanne Lewis offers short
verses from the Bible with reflections and prayers to serve as a springboard
for our personal reflection on the Word of God. Suzanne’s mediations are based on the theology of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Follow the link above.

The temptation of Christmas

Have we finished the Christmas season in good order? Have we exceeded our expectation to live the season of Christmas differently from what secular culture has given us? Or, have we given up and just given ourselves over to the mediocrity of the the world around us with regard to Christian Faith? What follows is a very interesting commentary on our Christian observance of the Birth of Jesus, the Nativity of God-Man by Father Julián Carrón. While the today brings to a close the Church’s yearly observance of Christmastide, we have work to do before we put to rest the nagging questions: what difference does this Child make in my life? AND Do we really believe that God is in our midst?

In order to describe our humanity and to see ourselves properly at this moment in the world’s history, it is hard for us to find more appropriate words than those contained in this passage by the Prophet Zephaniah. “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!”. Why? What reason is there to rejoice, with all that is happening in the world? Because “the Lord has taken away the judgments against you”.

The first repercussion that these words produced in me was surprise at how the Lord looks at us: with a gaze that succeeds in seeing things that we shall not be able to recognize unless we participate in his same gaze at reality. “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you”: in other words, your evil does not have the last word over your life; the usual way you look at yourself is not the right one; the look with which you constantly reproach yourself is not true. The one true look is the Lord’s look. And it is precisely by this look that you will be able to understand that he is with you: if he has taken away the judgment against you, what can you fear? “You shall fear evil no more”. An inexorable positiveness prevails over life. For this reason, the biblical passage continues, “do not fear, O Zion, do not let your hands grow weak” Why? Because “The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory”. There is no other source of joy than this: “he will rejoice over you with gladness. He will renew you with his love, he will exult over you with loud singing” (3:14-17).

Continue reading The temptation of Christmas

Epiphany

We celebrate a holy day adorned with three mysteries: this day the star led the Magi to the manger; this day wine was made from water at the wedding; this day Christ willed to be baptized in the Jordan by John in order to save us, alleluia. (Antiphon for the Magnificat, Second Vespers)

The Church prays

O God, who on this day revealed your Only Begotten Son to the nations by the guidance of a star, grant in your mercy that we who know you already by faith, may be brought to behold the beauty of your sublime glory.

The Magi give us an example to follow: to walk diligently, to walk by faith guided by the indications of God –that is, the star– in order to arrive at what God wants to give. Himself. As Pope Benedict said on Friday, the Magi are the best example of “humanity’s pilgrimage to Jesus.” The giving of the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh is merely the beginning of our gift to the Lord. Our gift is none other than ourselves, as freely as it is possible to give…

Our first point on the pilgrimage is what is sung in the “The First Nowell,” Then entered in there Wise Men three, Full reverently on bended knee….

By walking this pilgrimage to Jesus, the Magi arrive at Truth itself. Do we have the courage to do the same or do we succumb to human opinion?

Our Dayspring

Our Savior, the Dayspring from the east,
has visited us from on high, and
we who were in darkness and shadow have
found the truth, for
the Lord is born of the Virgin!

Let
us, the faithful, run and give our praising,

Hymns
for the Incarnate God let us be raising!

Baptism of the Lord

“A voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The Baptism in the Jordan returns to the great
Christmas theme of ‘Christification’, Jesus of Nazareth’s spiritual anointing,
His presentation as the Anointed One per excellence, the Messiah or the One
sent by the Father for the salvation of mankind. The Spirit that descended on Jesus shows and seals in an
incontrovertible way the ‘Christification’ of Jesus’ humanity that the Word had
already fulfilled from the first moment of His miraculous conception by
Mary. Jesus, from the very
beginning, was always the Lord’s Christ, He was always God. …the Baptism in the
Jordan presents yet another truth: that Jesus has started a new creation. He is the second man (1 Cor 15:47) or
the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45), that comes to repair the first Adam’s guilt. He does this as the Lamb of God that
takes away our sins. ‘Looking at
the events in light of the Cross and Resurrection, the Christian people
realised what happened: Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind’s guilt upon His
shoulders; he bore it down into the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by
stepping into the place of sinners.’
(Joseph Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth, Bloomsbury 2007, p. 18)

Excerpt from the Letter from Cong. pro Clericus, 2011

Epiphany – Theophany: we cannot fail to read the eternal rationality, Pope said

Sadly, the bishops in the USA moved the celebration of Epiphany to a Sunday but in other dioceses, particularly Rome, the traditional Epiphany Mass is celebrated. How much is lost when we monkey around with the sacred Liturgy!!! At Mass today, the Pope preached, given in part:

“In the beauty of the world, in its mystery, its
greatness and rationality,” said Pope Benedict, “we cannot fail to read the
eternal rationality; we can not help but be guided by it to the one God,
Creator of heaven and earth.”

“Herod is a
character whom we do not like, whom we instinctively judge in a negative way
for his brutality. But we should ask ourselves: maybe there is something of
Herod in us? Perhaps we, too, on occasion, see God as a kind of rival? Perhaps
we too are blind to his signs, deaf to his words, because we think they put
limits on our lives and do not allow us to dispose of our existence howsoever we
will?“

Continue reading Epiphany – Theophany: we cannot fail to read the eternal rationality, Pope said

Epiphany 2011

O wondrous exchange!

The Creator of humanity,

taking upon Himself a living body,

vouchsafed to be born of a virgin,

and, proceeding forth as man, without seed,

has made us partakers of His divinity.

“The Magi worshipped a simple Child in the arms of his Mother Mary, because in him they recognized the source of the twofold light that had guided them: the light of the star and the light of the Scriptures. In him they recognized the King of the Jews, the glory of Israel, but also the King of all the peoples” (Benedict XVI).

A blessed Epiphany to you!

Recognizing the birth of the Savior!

An old Roman custom is reverencing the baby Jesus. One approaches the figure of the Christ child to bestow a kiss, often kissing the foot of the figure. It is a captivating gesture of recognition of the birth of the Savior.

Thanks to JP Sonnen for the picture.

Christmas at Our Lady of Salvation Cathedral, Baghdad 2010

The commemoration of the Nativity of the Lord in all places of the world moves my heart as it does for all people of good will. More than ever the Christmas observance in Baghdad at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation, the place of the brutal killings of Christians –laity and clergy alike– on October 31, 2010.

May the newborn Savior, Jesus –Emmanuel– lead us more deeply into our humanity

and to perfect union with God the Father.