Epilogue: The Miracle Remains

As with gladness men of old,
Did the guiding star behold,
As with joy they hailed its light,
Leading onwards, beaming bright,
So, most gracious God, may we
Evermore be led to thee.

~ from the Evening Prayer II hymn on the Feast of the Epiphany, Liturgy of the Hours

I wanted to take a moment and thank those of you who have joined me on the journey I began in November on the first Sunday of Advent. Whether you were there at the start or joined us somewhere along the way, I thank you. Each day I posted something for your edification, but mostly it was for my own. My goal was to avoid the crass commercialism and busyness that is the holiday season while keeping my focus on the Light that entered into the world in that stable two millenia ago. And it worked, for while the past month has brought some difficult and challenging times as a parent and father, there was a lot of peace internally that enabled me to handle the situation. And it’s ok that there was no earth-shattering alteration for me this season. Instead what I found was a gentle nudge to maintain the course I’ve set upon and keep walking this road. Reaffirmation, and the knowledge that while the time of preparation ended with the Incarnation, the miracle remains. And we’ve got work to do, you and I.

For long after the angels disappear into the heavens, the shepherds return to their flocks, the magi journey home and the great star sets, Jesus remains.

The small statue of Mary holding the child Jesus that is in our home.

The Child in whom we rediscover God’s great love for humanity becomes the adult Redeemer who challenges us to imitate his selflessness and compassion in order that we might transform our world in love. For today that little baby, born into such pitiful humility and then cut down as a young man in his prime, commands the allegiance of millions of people all over the world. Although they have never seen him, he has become friend and companion to innumerable people. This undeniable fact is, by any measurement, the most astonishing phenomenon in human history. It is a solid rock of evidence that no agnostic can ever explain away.

This is why, behind all of the fun and games we had during Christmastime, we should not have tried to escape a sense of awe at what God has done. We must take care to never allow anything to blind us to the true significance of what happened at Bethlehem so long ago.

What we just celebrated was no beautiful myth, no lovely piece of traditional folklore, but a solemn fact. God has been here once historically, but, as millions will testify, he will come again with the same silence and the same devastating humility into any human heart ready to receive him.

May we allow the miracle of Christmas to continue long after the holiday trappings have been packed away.

May we welcome the adult Messiah and his challenging Gospel to recreate our lives, making the peace, justice and hope of this holy season a reality in every season of the new year.

Strengthened, and with renewed vigor, may we evermore walk this path in full knowledge of the fact that the Miracle remains.

Humbled at Christmas and into the New Year

A Christmas List
by Anonymous

Fear less, hope more;
Eat less, chew more;
Whine less, breathe more;
Talk less, say more;
Hate less, love more;
And all good things will be yours.

*****

To this prayer I would add: “Prideful less, humble more.”

Every year for New Year’s Eve will typically find us with friends. We’ll eat a progressive dinner, some years with a course served at a different home, and ring in the new year with a rosary. We pray in thanksgiving for the year just ended, and in anticipation of the year to come. This year it was important to my family that we celebrate quietly. Just us. We watched The Princess Bride and ate snacks in the family room in pajamas and blankets. Our youngest then wanted to be tucked in, oblivious to what was to happen a few hours later at midnight. An hour or so later our middle child did the same. Eventually it was just me and our oldest son watching a Twilight Zone marathon and playing Words With Friends. He schooled me twice. Around 1am I went upstairs to bed and prayed a very late, and year-end, Evening Prayer. I perused the Kindle Store for a few minutes and discovered that many of the writings of Henry Van Dyke are available for free. I downloaded eight or so and read one of his stories on the subject of Peace as I thought it appropriate. And then I finally fell asleep.

I was going to write about peace today, but have decided instead to write about something I need more of in 2012: Humility. Not just humility at the hands of my high school sophomore at Words With Friends, but in all things. Perhaps the most humbling thing I know of that exists is prayer. Not just sending good vibes, or warm thoughts, or whatever other benign expressions of concern we too frequently say to one another. No, what I’m talking about is honest-to-goodness-at-times-on-my-knees prayer.

I’m not sure why or when those other expressions came into vogue, but likely they did in our modern efforts to not be offensive. I get that. But for me personally, if you’re telling me about a problem or issue in your life that you are seeking relief from or help with, know that you won’t be getting good vibes from my direction. Instead I will be keeping you in my prayers and thoughts. This does not mean that I reject your beliefs. I’m just asking that you not ask me to reject or withhold my own in the name of political correctness or relativism.

I’ve been humbled many times, but there are a few that truly stand out. Getting lit up like a Christmas tree by the opposing team’s batters while pitching in college now and then. Graduation. My wedding. The births of my children. Serving at Holy Mass. But two continuous means involve prayer.

Being prayed for: While visiting the chapel of the cloistered Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters (affectionately known as the Pink Sisters) in Lincoln a few years ago my friend and I needed to stop by their offices. The tiny Mother Superior met us (she’s the only one who has contact with the outside world) to discuss something I’ve long since forgotten. But when she heard my name when we were introduced she looked right at me and told me (to my surprise) she knew me. Others had mentioned me in the intentions that can be written down on cards and dropped in their prayer box at the chapel. She assured me they were praying for me and told me to be assured that they would continue. Let me tell you that to have the head of an order of cloistered nuns whose sole activity each day is prayer tell you they are praying for you is extremely powerful and humbling.

Praying for others: Getting on your knees is a humbling position. It indicates submission, putting aside our pride, and being open to a will other than our own. Being on one’s knees and asking for prayers for ourselves is one way. The other is to do so for others. Almost every day I am recipient to a list of prayer intentions sent to us through our local Knights of Columbus chapter. It was with this list that I closed off my evening and began 2012 early this morning. During December we received around 3-6 per email about every other day and I’m listing a portion of them below. As you can see they are varied in their urgency. Every one of them is asked in the spirit of humility, and it is with humility that I join in them.

When next on your knees I humbly ask that you pray that I gain more humility not just this past Advent and Christmas, but for all of 2012 and beyond. May we all experience more of this virtue.

*****

• Please put the soul of my uncle Marty who recently died of brain cancer, and his family on the prayer chain. May his soul and all souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
• Please add my mom, Rose, to the prayer chain.  She was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and had her first chemotherapy treatment on Wednesday, December 28th.
• We just learned that my cousin, Bethany, passed away this morning in a car accident near her home outside of Wahoo. Bethany was to turn 17 next week and was a junior at Bishop Neumann High School. Her mother passed away from her battle with cancer a few years ago. Please keep her father, Dale, brothers and sister in-laws Aaron & Liz, Jordan & Amber, niece Bridgett and all family members in your prayers.
• Please add prayers for a dear friend who had a heart replacement and is doing as okay as can be expected.
• Mark’s mother collapsed this morning while shopping and was rushed to the hospital. She had a stroke and we do not know the severity.
• Please add Fr. Jerry, Associate Pastor, to the prayer chain. Fr. Jerry fell and broke his left shoulder on Saturday, and will be out of commission for awhile.
• Please pray for the wife and newborn daughter of the H family in Omaha. Their daughter, Faustina was born 7 wks premature. Mom & baby are still in the hospital.
• For Everdina, a friend recently diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. For Twila, losing her battle with cancer, pray for an easy passing. And for Mandie, another friend courageously battling cancer, amputating an arm to battle it.
• I would ask for prayers for the grandson, 14 year old Joshua, of a family friend. He had major heart surgery last week at Children’s Hospital in Omaha. He will be in recovery and rehab for a while.
• I ask that you place my brother-in-law Mark on the prayer chain. He has just had his second heart attack and is being air-flighted to the closest hospital about 30 miles from his home in California.
• Please add the C family of Bellevue to the prayer list. They were involved in a car accident on Saturday which claimed the life of their two year old son, Robert.
• Please add my high school classmate and good friend Logan who is waiting for God to call him into His arms. Please pray for a peaceful end.
• Please pray for my youngest relative: Kian is in a neo-natal intensive care unit in Austin, TX.
• Please continue to pray for my mother Pat. She is having a tough time with her chemo and now has an infection and an ulcer.
• Please pray for Maria, who was in a head on collision tonight. She has a serious head injuries, and a punctured lung among other injuries and was transported to the Sioux City hospital.
• Ray and Jacki of are asking for prayers for a successful full term pregnancy. Jacki just found out she is expecting again and she has miscarried her last two pregnancies.
• There is a boy that my sister, JoAnn, has been helping at the school where she works. His name is Evan. Today was his 11th birthday. He was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and underwent treatment for it. They thought they had gotten rid of it as he was in remission for quite a long period of time. It came back with a vengeance at the beginning of the school year and they once again began treatment. They are now stopping his current treatment as it has not been working. The only hope left for him is to fly to Denver to participate in a study. He was so sick today that he could not come to school. He is supposed to fly to Denver tomorrow for the study. Could you please put word out to your Brother Knights and ask them to please pray for him to have the strength to make it to Denver? And for his parents to find their hope and trust in our Heavenly Father.
• Mark is facing another back surgery and is in extreme pain and almost walking with a cane. He is expecting to have surgery at the VA in Omaha.
• Please include Mark’s grandson Max in our prayer line requests. He suffered a severe allergic reaction and is hospitalized.
• Please add Brad and his family to your prayers. Their infant daughter Julia was born and passed away last Thursday.
• My baby brother is going in for surgery today to find out if the lump he has is cancer or not. Please say a prayer for him and his wife that they get good news.
• I kindly ask all to pray for our granddaughter, Shannon, who is experiencing a very difficult pregnancy. She is in her eighth month and has been put on bed rest for the duration.
• I want to ask you for some extra prayers for Madison. Yesterday she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Her parents are in Omaha now with her at Children’s Hospital, hopefully returning home tomorrow night.

The Night Before Christmas — a spiritual revision

“Mystic Nativity” by Alessandro Botticelli, circa 1500

A more spiritual version of the famous Christmas story
by Sister St. Thomas, B.N.D. de N

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the town,
St. Joseph was searching, walking up roads and down;
Our Lady was waiting, so meek and so mild,
While Joseph was seeking a place for the Child;

The children were nestled, each snug in their beds,
The grown-ups wouldn’t bother, there’s no room they said;
When even the innkeeper sent them away,
Joseph was wondering, where they would stay;

He thought of the caves in the side of the hills,
Let’s go there said Mary, it’s silent and still;
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Made pathways of light for their tired feet to go;

And there in a cave, in a cradle of hay,
Our Savior was born on that first Christmas Day!
The Father was watching in heaven above,
He sent for His angels, His couriers of love;

More rapid than eagles God’s bright angels came;
Rejoicing and eager as each heard his name;
Come Power, Come Cherubs, Come Virtues, Come Raphael,
Come Thrones and Dominions, come Michael and Gabriel;

Now fly to the Earth, where My poor people live,
Announce the glad tiding My Son comes to give;
The Shepherds were watching their flocks on this night,
And saw in the heavens and unearthly light;

The Angels assured them, they’d nothing to fear,
It’s Christmas they said, the Savior is here!
They hastened to find Him, and stood at the door,
Till Mary invited them in to adore;

He was swaddled in bands from His head to His feet,
Never did the Shepherds see a baby so sweet!
He spoke not a word, but the shepherds all knew,
He was telling them secrets and blessing them too;

Then softly they left Him, The Babe in the hay,
And rejoiced with great joy on that first Christmas Day;
Mary heard them exclaim as they walked up the hill,
Glory to God in the Highest, Peace to men of good will!

Christmas is…

A noted poet was once asked in an interview if he could explain one of his poems ‘in ordinary terms.’ He replied with some feeling, ‘If I could say what I meant in ordinary terms I would not have had to write the poem.’

From the time of Christ’s birth the people of God have ‘had to write a poem’ to Christmas, composing a single multi-stranded paean of praise spanning the centuries, because ultimately the meaning of Christmas resists being fully spelled out ‘in ordinary terms.’

~ Dr. Brian Linard, A Way to the Heart of Christmas

What follows below is not a poem. But it is a nice list. One worth reading slowly and with no haste. At the end I have placed a question for you. I hope you’ll oblige me with an answer.

*****

Christmas is…
(Source Unknown)

Christmas is a gift of love wrapped in human flesh and tied securely with the strong promises of God.

Christmas is angelic music in the form of a carol and oratorio with a celestial descant.

Christmas is “glory to God,” “good will to man,” and “joy to the world.”

Christmas is “peace on earth” for those who accept it and live in unity with God’s will.

Christmas is a man on duty tending sheep, or machine, who senses the upward call and stops to worship.

Christmas is a tall green tree which serves as festive altar for any household which discovers the true meaning behind it all.

Christmas is a ringing bell calling a distraught humanity to gladness and hope.

Christmas is a glowing hearth gently placed in the winter of man’s loneliness.

Christmas is an altar to which man can bring his heartache for comfort, his lostness for guidance, and his sin for forgiveness.

Christmas is the sparkle of anticipation and the steady light of faith in the eyes of a little child as he hears the old, old story.

Christmas is the shining star of hope in the sky of all mankind.

Christmas is more than words can tell, for it is a matter for the heart to receive, believe and understand.

*****

The Question: How would YOU complete the following sentence? “Christmas is . . .”

Cleaning the Stable

God told the world he was going to send it a king and the world waited. The world thought, a golden fleece will do for His bed. Silver and gold and peacock tails, a thousand suns in a peacock’s tail will do for his crib. His mother will ride on a four-horned white beast and use the sunset for a cape. She’ll trail it behind her over the ground and let the world pull it to pieces, a new one every evening.

Jesus came on cold straw, Jesus was warmed by the breath of an ox. “Who is this?” the world said. “Who is this blue-cold child and this woman, plain as the winter? Is this the Word of God, this blue-cold child? Is this His will, this plain winter-woman?” The world said, “Love cuts like the cold wind and the will of God is plain as the winter.”

The Violent Bear It Away, by Flannery O’Connor

*****

“I’m going to attend a candlelight service on Christmas Eve again this year,” my friend John told me today. He’d gone last year for the first time in a long time and I was happy for him. “I figure God’s in my house every day. One night a year I can visit his.”

I remember going to Christmas Eve services when I was growing up Protestant. Since joining the Catholic Church eighteen years ago I’ve tried to always attend Midnight Mass, though with young children and/or traveling to visit family this hasn’t always been possible. A few years I’ve stepped outside at my in-laws farm in the country to observe the stars in the black sky. This year we will be home. Midnight will find me home.

John told me he likes the quiet, the solemnity, and the rare chance to sit focused quietly on giving thanks. He and I have on many occasions with humility discussed how blessed we are. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought and know I will be thinking about it even more at Mass on Christmas Eve. I’ve also been thinking a lot about the Nativity itself. I think at times we tend to romanticize the realities of this event too much. Mary in a pretty blue dress, Joseph in clean robes, and a cute rosy-cheeked baby cooing in a bed of clean straw. Sure, the occasional cow or ox or donkey is present, but they appear as something illustrated in a children’s book. Cartoonish.

We do this to Jesus, sometimes. We lessen the harshness of who Jesus was and what he did. We soften Easter by glossing over the agony in the garden (sweating beads of blood!), the arrest and trial, the scourging, the crucifixion…all of this is bypassed in order to go straight to the Resurrection. Now don’t get me wrong. Outside of the Incarnation at Christmas the Resurrection at Easter is THE central event in history. We all want to get there by skipping the rest. But by omitting those details and not recognizing them, don’t we do Our Lord and even ourselves a disservice? To get to the glory of Easter morning He paid a severe price. He began paying that price by being born in a smelly, cold, dank stable amongst beasts of burden as his parents were on the road, traveling. He paid that price by being born into a world where a head of state (Herod) wanted him dead enough to order infanticide and slaughter every baby boy aged two and below in Bethlehem.

In these modern times we like to keep things clean and sterile. Spare us that icky stuff. Abortion (don’t show her that sonogram). The elderly, hidden away at a retirement community or euthanized in some countries. Down’s Syndrome children (aborted at the rate of over 90% in Great Britain alone). I’m almost twenty years removed from my days as a nominal Presbyterian but I know it wasn’t until I became a Catholic that the Lord’s passion and all the surrounding events became real to me. I’d grown up with a sterile faith of nice suits, big smiles, potluck suppers.

History is full of saints, Catholic or otherwise, holy men and women who rolled up their sleeves and went to work in helping the poor. They understood the meaning of the stable. It gave them the strength they needed to work in the streets of Calcutta or anywhere else the poor are found. And the poor are among us. Sometimes we wonder how it is that the people who lived in the time of Christ could have missed him. I mean, here was God Himself, right under their noses! Yet we today miss the poor and afflicted that surround us.

Monsignor Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington wrote On the Poverty of the First Christmas recently and it’s an article I recommend. In it he helps to put the poverty of the Holy Family and their journey. There is much I would cite from his article, but I’ll just use this passage:

So poverty is an overarching theme in the infancy narrative. But ultimately the deepest poverty is upon us who so neglect the poor. For in neglecting them, we neglect the Lord and bring judgment on ourselves (cf Matt 25:41ff). And in this moment of the nativity story,  we neglect the Lord personally and historically as well well as mystically.

It is not long before we add the holy family to the list of refugees and resident aliens. For the fear of the powerful, in this case Herod, is such a powerful fear, that he fears even the poor.

The life of the Lord Jesus is despised and disrespected because his existence is inconvenient, threatening to Herod’s plans and his life as he knows it. Jesus must go. Somehow Herod is able to justify his infanticide. To him and those who support him, human life is not sacred, it is disposable, if it gets in the way of “more important goals” like power, plans, and personal advancement. Yes, Jesus must go, he is in the way.

We are still doing this today. Jesus must not get in our way or our “more important goals.” The ugly realities of his message, his mission or his life are glossed over. We want all of the reward, but abhor the thought that it might come with a price or sacrifice. I am not a morose man who knows not joy by focusing on the pain, but without it the glory is cheapened. This baby, born into poverty, who told us “blessed are the poor” and that we are to feed the hungry and proceeded to do all of that and more, is the man we are called to imitate while on earth. So I’ll ask myself on Christmas Eve: Am I? It is something worth thinking about as I consider the “cold straw” of the stable.

Whatever your faith tradition may be, I hope you take the opportunity to do the same wherever you find yourself on Christmas Eve.

*****

“Her voice is gorgeous,” wrote a dear friend who sent me this video the other day. I agree, as are some of the images within the video itself.

Contagious Joy

“The joy of Christmas is contagious—but not primarily because of our gifts of dolls and trucks, bikes and pretty dresses, sweaters and ties. The joy of Christmas is contagious because of the spirit behind the gifts. The glory of Christmas is that a gracious God became one of us to tell us that He loves us. And, in his or her Christmas giving, the genuine believer symbolizes his or her inner desire to spread this Good News.”

(from Sunday Sermons, The Millennium Edition. CD-ROM Collection, Voicing Publications.)

*****

In just a few days we will celebrate the Incarnation and will rejoice. For three and a half weeks we have been attempting to quietly prepare ourselves for Christmas and by now should begin to really focus on the central event: that the eternal God came into the flesh and blood of humanity. It is especially important to remember this as we are not only days away from this fact, but it is also when the frantic, hectic activity of all of our worldly preparations also kicks into high gear. Last minute gifts and trips to overly populated shops and stores. Confirming or changing dinner plans. Making travel arrangements. Cleaning, dusting, arranging. Deciding whether to stay up for midnight Mass this year or go with the family the following morning or both. (Ok, that last one is mine.)

Christmas cards portray the little Babe, the Manger, the Magi, the shepherds. Little children hopefully learn that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. But these pieces of the story only touch the edge of the mysterious event which brings us together. The Good News is that the God of Mercy has come into the history of humanity to bring us perfect peace. For the peace of mind and heart and soul that the world cannot give, follow Jesus. And when you follow Jesus, do not be surprised to see others following you. After all, the spirit of Christmas is contagious.

Brennan Manning writes of a beautiful story told every Christmas in the forests of Provence in southern France. It’s about the four shepherds who came to Bethlehem to see the child. One brought eggs, another bread and cheese, the third brought wine. The fourth brought nothing at all. People called him L’Enchanté. The first three shepherds chatted with Mary and Joseph, commenting on how well Mary looked, how cozy was the cave and how handsomely Joseph had organized it, and what a beautiful starlit night it was. They congratulated the proud parents, presented them with their gifts and assured them that if they needed anything else, they had only to ask. Finally someone asked, “Where is L’Enchanté?” They searched high and low, up and down, inside and out. Finally, someone peeked through the blanket hung to keep out the draft, and into the creche. There, kneeling at the crib, was L’Enchanté – the Enchanted One. Like a flag or a flame taking the direction of the wind, he had taken the direction of love. Throughout the entire night, he stayed in adoration, whispering, “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu – Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”

As Christmas approaches, an honest question is: do I want to be or merely appear to be a Christian? In the story above, the Enchanted One is driven by one pure passion. His singlemindedness leads him to a realistic conclusion: anything connected with Christmas that is not centered in Christ Jesus – tree, ornaments, turkey dinner, exchange of gifts, even worship itself – is empty gesturing. Blessed are they who see God in all the trappings of this time of year and yet experience a joy that the world does not understand. But take heart, their joy shall be contagious!

Adoration of the Shepherds (1622), Gerard van Honthorst

A White Christmas

Even folks who “dread the winter”
will still hanker for “a little snow on Christmas Eve.”
And in those parts of the world, including much of our own Southland,
where snow seldom falls, people take the symbol of “white Christmas”
to their hearts and pay no attention
to their climate in selecting winter-wonderland Christmas cards.
Indeed, it is not irreverent to believe that the Little Boy, whose birthday we celebrate—
who never slid down a hill in Nazareth or made a Santa Claus snowman—
may give a special meaning and promise in sometimes covering the scars
of our sad old world with a white Christmas.

1 Corinthians 13 – a Christmas Version

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

(Source unknown, but I’m pretty fond of the original.)

The Coming of the Light

I recently read something that quoted a mystic who said that “human nature is like a stable inhabited by the ox of passion and the ass of prejudice.” The two are animals which take up a lot of room and which I suppose most of us are feeding on our own and in the quiet of our lives. And it is there between them, pushing them out, that Christ must be born and in the very manger in which they dwell he must be laid—and they will be the first to fall on their knees before him. It seems to me that sometimes we Christians can seem far nearer to the animals than to Christ in his simple poverty, self-abandoned to God.

The Sancta Sanctorum Icon (note the ox and ass)

Every Christian is called to radiate and reflect the glowing epiphany of God. To catch and reflect his golden Light. You are the light of the world — but only because you are made radiant by the one true Light of the world. And being thus kindled, we have got to get on with it and to be useful. Some people, for whatever reason, make a virtue out of hiding their faith. Certainly it seems our modern society seems to place an emphasis on keeping faith a private affair. The secular world would have us dim or even put out that Light, whether by engaging in the so-called War on Christmas or in the ceaseless argument that Christmas is merely a pagan celebration of the winter solstice co-opted by Christians. It doesn’t matter to me whether it was December 25th when Christ was born because it is not the mere date on the calendar that is itself holy, but what it represents. In both instances these people resemble the ox of passion (for they certainly have passion when it comes to the Culture Wars) and asses in their prejudice against Christianity. They would take up all the room in the manger and keep the Light from radiating. Both have missed the whole point, which is better spelled out below.

Perhaps the hardest thing to remember about Christmas is this: It celebrates the incarnation, not just the nativity. The incarnation is an on-going process of salvation, while the nativity is the once-for-all-historical event of Bethlehem. We do not really celebrate Christ’s ‘birthday,’ remembering something that happened long ago. We celebrate the stupendous fact of the incarnation, God entering our world so thoroughly that nothing has been the same since. And God continues to take flesh in our midst, in the men and women and children who form his body today. And the birth we celebrate is not just the past historical event but Christ’s continuing birth in his members, accomplished by the power of the Spirit through the waters of baptism.

What we celebrate at Christmas is our redemption in Christ and the transformation of all creation by the presence of the divine in our midst.

Sourcebook, 1996. Liturgy Training Publ.

*****

The Sancta Sanctorum Icon
Detail: The Nativity
Palestinian, 6th century
Painted wooden box for pilgrim’s mementoes of the Holy Land
Museo Sacro Cristiana, Vatican City

Image source.

The full detail of this image is here.

The Christmas Woman

And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

When I realized I wanted to post something about Mary during Advent I knew I’d have to avoid the temptation to repost this, something I wrote a year ago:

At times lost in all of the celebration of Christmas is the human drama of Motherhood. Of Mary. This young teenaged Jewish girl who in a short amount of time became betrothed to an older, good man in Joseph; spoke her fiat before the angel Gabriel when he appeared to her out of nowhere, telling her of her destiny; felt her baby inside stir when she met with her much older, elderly cousin Elizabeth (herself pregnant with the babe that would grow to be John the Baptist). Surely these events must have sent the mind of this girl swimming in confusion and doubt. In the midst of this she and Joseph find themselves leaving Nazareth for Bethlehem in order to abide by a census decree, and well…you know the rest.

You can read the rest of it if you’d like, but I encourage you to read and consider the words of William Freburger below, particularly to meditate on his second paragraph.

*****

Luke’s Gospel account of the Christmas event is full of activity. And yet, in the middle of the frenetic action, here is this woman wrapped in mystical silence. She demonstrates the necessity of a quiet place within ourselves at Christmastime—that place where we are most ourselves in relation to God.

It is a place of silence, not because it is untouched by all the activity of our lives, but because it is capable of wonder. Every prayer begins with silent wonder before it turns to words. Our first response to God is dumbstruck awe at who he is and what he has done for us.

—William Frebuger, “Making Christmas a Saving Event.” Catholic Update (Dec. 1985)

"Pondering the Promise"

Image source.