News - December 2020 RSS Feed

The first reading and the gospel remind us today of key moments in life, endings and beginnings. The Word of God was with God from the beginning, “became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” On this last day of the year 2020, the psalmist invites us to “sing to the Lord a new song.” Between reduced work hours, jobs lost and uncertainties about the future even with new COVID vaccines, so many victims along with those grieving in the US and worldwide, do not feel like singing today.

The Love of the Father awaits us night and day in the tabernacles of the world, in the daily Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the reception of the Holy Eucharist. Let us, like Anna, approach Him with hearts well-seasoned so as to be prepared to recognize Him and receive Him worthily as food from the hands of Our Holy Mother the Church and remain with Him forever.

My community has a ritual we practice when one of our sisters is near death. Every sister who is able takes her turn sitting at the dying sister’s side, hour by hour, until the Lord comes to take her hand and lead her home. It is a tender and loving ritual. When we attend to her this way, waiting together for the fulfillment of God’s promise, we too, like Simeon, enter the sacred space, the living temple of God. I

As the year 2020 slowly comes to an end, many people will begin to reflect on the happenings, both the not-so-good and the good, that have marked this most unusual year. Today's Gospel reading on the Feast of the Holy Innocents calls our attention to the anguish that the jealous and power-hungry Herod inflicted. Sobbing and lamentation have certainly also been heard in our strife-ridden world when young children who were forcefully separated from their parents were not reunited, and adults and children alike lost their lives to brutality and war, natural disasters, and, yes, the pandemic.

Today we celebrate a chief element of our Christian faith: we celebrate the birth of Christ, and we celebrate not just the fact that Christ was born of Mary in Bethlehem, but also the reality that Christ is being born each day in our hearts. The mystery of the Incarnation is not just a static reality, it is a dynamic reality, for we are each day, as St. Augustine puts it, more Christ than we were the day before, as the grace of God operates more and more within us.

A child is always an occasion for rejoicing! Each one has been called by God into being for a special purpose only he or she can accomplish. Let us rejoice at the coming birth of our Savior, the Child who had the ultimate purpose ordained by God and who fulfilled it to perfection. 

The prophet Zephaniah imagines God exulting over us “with loud singing as on a day of festival.” Elizabeth’s recognition of her cousin’s faith in God’s powerful word evokes Mary’s “Magnificat,” followed by the silenced tongue of John the Baptist’s father proclaiming his own canticle of praise. The heavenly host will “soon and very soon,” broadcast in the skies over Bethlehem, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

Both Samson and St. John the Baptist were set apart from God before they were even conceived. God hand-picked each man to proclaim the freedom God offers to his people. To Samson, God entrusted the mission of delivering the Israelites from the Philistines. This political freedom preceded the freedom God had in store for all of humanity. God the Father chose John the Baptist to proclaim the coming of His Son, who would ultimately free the world from the grips of sin. John prepared the way for the coming of Jesus by way of his preaching and his baptizing.

We don’t hear a lot about Joseph in the Gospels. In fact, Mark’s and John’s Gospel don’t mention him and Luke tells the story of the Annunciation from Mary’s point of view. Joseph is silent in the Gospels, but Matthew tells us something very important. Joseph “was a righteous man.” In Hebrew “righteous” is a big word because God is “Righteous.” Righteousness refers to a person of integrity who not only seeks justice, lives the Ten Commandments, but also whose heart is open to the Mystery of God.

The Gospel today is the very beginning of St. Matthew’s Gospel, and it is St. Matthew’s recording of the genealogy of Jesus. This highlights the importance of Jesus descending from David in his claim to be the Jewish messiah. Without His connection to David, no Jewish person would believe that He is the Jewish messiah. It is clear that this connection is true, as Jesus’ lineage is not questioned at any point during His life.

“The Light and the Dark of Our Lives.” Have you ever heard of the Italian term ‘Chiaroscuro?” Literally it means ‘strong contrast between light and dark.’ Painters contrast the light and darkness to emphasize the drama of the subject, e.g., Tintoretto’s ‘Last Supper.’ As you look upon the light in the Love of Jesus giving Himself to us in bread and wine, it contrasts with the darkness of the tragedy surrounding this holy meal.

As we approach Christmas, we hear from the Prophet Balaam in our first reading: “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob; your encampments, O Israel!” He sees a vision of a star that shall rise from Jacob, and a staff that will rise from Israel. Yes, Jesus the King of Kings is coming on the horizon! Are we prepared? Are we living as sons and daughters of the Most High? The psalmist prays “Teach me your ways, O Lord. You guide the humble to justice”.

“I am not the Christ.” This quote from John the Baptist seems simple enough. It is a fact, but more than that, it does tell us about John the Baptist himself. He was humble, but not timid. He was a seeker of truth, but not willing to promote himself in the eyes of others.