Christmas 2010
A few years back, I happened to notice in a recently paved driveway a tiny plant whose stem had emerged through the concrete, ready to open its leaves for the first time, and to continue on with its development. The seed was tiny, fragile, without much hope of new life, yet it managed to push through. Its force was gentle, but nothing in the end could oppose it. This surprised me, but such things are not unusual. You can go on the web and find many explanations of how this can happen.
The mystery we celebrate today is the entry of God’s Son into our world. He could have come in power and majesty, striking fear and awe into our hearts. But he chose another way. He began in the utter fragility and dependence of new human life developing within a mother’s womb, unable to speak, to care for itself. He continued as the new born child, unable to make his needs known except through crying, needing constant protection and nurturing. But already in that state he was changing human hearts. Infants are weak, helpless, totally innocent, and they pull at our heartstrings. We want to reach out to them, to cuddle them, to hold them, to protect them. The attraction is genuine: we are not being manipulated, seduced, conned. We see a small child and what is beautiful and loving and true in the child reaches out to our heart. They are full of an amazing potential which we will never fathom. This was true of the infant Jesus.
The big difference between this newborn and all the rest of us who have come into the world as he did is that his innocence continues on, but we eventually lose ours. We are caught up in the sin of the world, he takes it away. The struggles of life in an uncertain world take hold of us, and we develop various ways to cope, many of them unhealthy. Our innocence is tarnished and taken from us. Innocence is a power we cannot exercise as Jesus did throughout his entire life. He paid a terrible price for doing so, because innocence cannot coexist with the world in which he lived and we live today, full of fear and violence and accusation. But his innocence, his vulnerability, prevailed. Like the fragile seed that pushes through the concrete, he overcame terrible obstacles during his earthly career, and the power of the Love which inhabited him prevailed. He bore fruit, fruit that would last, fruit that we draw on for nourishment and strength even today.
His ultimate victory we will recall later on in our liturgical calendar, but for now let us simply allow ourselves to be like the shepherds who came to see Jesus. They were simple men who remained with their sheep day and night watching over them. Their lives were not complicated with the need for power and wealth and advancement. They acted simply and directly. They heard the message of the angel, and hastened to visit their new-born Saviour. And what they experienced in their visit made them feel at home. They did not enter into a palace with impressive architecture and beautiful art-work and perfume wafting through the air. They did not enter into an awe inspiring sanctuary with mysterious chanting and incense. They did not enter into a library with many many books containing all the knowledge of the world. No, they entered a stable. They knew the odors emanating from the animals already there, because they too looked after animals. Indeed they probably contributed to the odor. The main difference that instead of food in the manger for the hungry animals, they found a newly born infant wrapped in swaddling clothes lying there. Instead of eating, these animals were looking on and with their breath warmed the new born infant needing protection from the cold. And, who knows, maybe some sheep came with the shepherds, filling out the scene and bringing their own warmth as well.
At the centre of the scene was the new born child. To worship him, they did not need him to be washed clean, dressed in sumptuous clothing and anointed. The mystery of new life, of vulnerability, of innocence was enough. It totally caught their attention and won them over. Instinctively they sensed that what they saw in the manger was the beginning of a totally new life for humanity, a life based on vulnerability and openness and love, stronger than any obstacle this world was able to throw in its face. They yearned for salvation, and they instinctively knew that the path to salvation passed through this infant. They were able to repeat to their friends the song which the angels taught them: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those he favours.”
What does it mean for us today to repeat this same song, as we already have done: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth”?
We live in a world marked by many struggles: economic, cultural, social, religious. Our families are scarred by these struggles in various ways, with sufferings, tensions, anxieties. But we also find within our families love and peace and joy. Within them we can be ourselves and be vulnerable to one another. Once again at Christmas the face of innocence shows itself, especially in our younger children and grand-children. And this is one of the joys of St. Patrick’s, which recently has been the chosen place for many baptisms, and which welcomes little children and their families. They love to run around the Church after mass, feeling at home, protected, secure. Many of the struggles of life are ahead of them. Let us for a blessed moment share the gift they have, finding in it strength and hope, knowing that the seed of new life has been sown in our world and in our hearts, and that it will in the end overcome all the obstacles put in its way. A blessed Christmas to all of you. May you find in the Christ-child and in one another comfort and joy.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
A Protector we can count on
Advent 4 Year A
This year on the 4th Sunday of Advent the Church invites us to contemplate a different facet of the the events that preceded the Lord’s birth. So often, and rightly so, the focus in the story is on the Blessed Virgin Mary, her willingness to say yes to the Angel’s invitation to be the Mother of the Saviour, her visitation of her cousin Elisabeth, her difficult travel in the later stages of her pregnancy to Bethlehem for the census. But there is another person involved in this drama who shared a experience similar to hers. I am referring to Joseph, who took Mary as his wife and served as the foster father of Jesus.
So, to use the colors often featured in artistic depictions, let us move from the blue which so typical of Mary to the brown typical of Joseph.
Who is Joseph for us? Firstly he is the principal patron saint of Canada, venerated by the early founders of the Canadian Church, who named him patron in 1624. The Jesuits who build an outpost among the Huron Indians near Midland ON named their chapel after him. And who does not know about the intense devotion to St. Joseph of Saint Brother Andre of Montreal, a devotion which gave rise to St Joseph’s splendid basilica, known as St. Joseph’s Oratory on Mount Royal, visited by over two million pilgrims a year. This basilica began as a small chapel Brother Andre started in 1904, but his devotion to St. Joseph kept on overcoming obstacles and doing wonders. I lived in Montreal for ten years before I joined the Society of Jesus, and it was one of my favourite places for prayer and eucharist. You go there and you hae a sense of being in good hands, of knowing that God provides and cares as an exemplary father, because that is the image projected by St. Joseph.
Who is Joseph in the scriptural record? We do not know much about him. He is often portrayed as an older man, some say a widower, but we have no way of verifying this information. But we do know that he was a man of faith and trust. Just like the Blessed Virgin accepted the mission of being the mother of God in absolute trust and surrender, not knowing how that would take place or what she was getting into, so too Joseph accepted the mission of protecting Jesus and her child. It appears that after a period of exile into Egypt, they settled in Nazareth, and that Jesus learned the trade of carpenter from his foster father.
Today’s Gospel story tells us about the spiritual struggle of Joseph. He was engaged to Mary, but, in accord with the custom of the day, had not yet moved into married life together with her. He found out – would Mary have told him? – that she was with child, but that the child was not his. In accord with Jewish law, this would have been a sufficient reason for him to dismiss her. Some authorities would say that the Law prescribed this gesture.
He was ready to follow this law, but wanted to dismiss her quietly rather than make a public splash about this incident, again showing his thoughtful and protective nature. For him to marry a young girl carrying a child not his own would lead to a lot of finger pointing and gossip. Life would get messy and complicated. Dismissal was the way out. But then, just as Mary received the visitation of the Archangel Gabriel, so too in a dream Joseph received an angelic visitation, and he was informed of God’s plan for Mary and for him. “Do not be afraid” was the theme of the message. We are simply told: “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the Angel of the Lord commanded him: he took her as his wife.” What do we find? Obedience and trust, and a readiness to protect a vulnerable young woman and the new life mysteriously implanted within her womb. Let us also consider the years they spent together as Jesus grew up. He had both a father and a mother to care for him, and who he was as an adult, just as happens to us, is in good part the result of his wholesome upbringing. Like all of us, he grew in wisdom, age, and grace.
It was important for Jesus to have a father who could give him a name, just like Zechariah gave John the Baptist his name in Luke’s gospel. That way he would not be stigmatized as the child of an unwed mother. It was also important, since Jews calculated ancestral relationships through the father, for him to be recorded as the son of a descendant of David, as the long genealogy found at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel points out. Thus he could be singled out as the mysterious descendant of David evoked by the prophets who would bring salvation to Israel. The name he would receive from Joseph, Jesus, would echo this prophecy. Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, a name which means “God saves” and which recalls the one who ushered the chosen people into the promised land. This point is amplified by the attribution to him in today’s Gospel of the surname “Emmanuel”, God-with-us.
What does St. Joseph mean for us today? We know little about him; he remains in the shadows. Many people known only to a circle of intimate friends and relatives are likewise in the shadows, but those of us in the know recognize their importance in the lives of those around them, their quiet influence. They do not advertise themselves, they do not make a lot of noise, but when it counts they are there for those who need them. Such was St. Joseph. His role in the holy family was discreet. He was there to protect, to foster, to nurture, and to deflect attention from what would made Jesus’ early life more difficult by accepting the role of being his father. He agreed to take care of a child which was not his own rather than seek a spouse with whom he could have his own children. Protecting Jesus meant Joseph being the head of a displaced family for a period of time, but he stood by Mary and Jesus. A steady, calming presence they could count on. A steady, calming presence we can count on, in a time full of uncertainty and risk. Just as he took care of Jesus, he is there to take care of us. And during this season of Advent we know he is present to our longings and struggles for peace and love in our fractured world.
This year on the 4th Sunday of Advent the Church invites us to contemplate a different facet of the the events that preceded the Lord’s birth. So often, and rightly so, the focus in the story is on the Blessed Virgin Mary, her willingness to say yes to the Angel’s invitation to be the Mother of the Saviour, her visitation of her cousin Elisabeth, her difficult travel in the later stages of her pregnancy to Bethlehem for the census. But there is another person involved in this drama who shared a experience similar to hers. I am referring to Joseph, who took Mary as his wife and served as the foster father of Jesus.
So, to use the colors often featured in artistic depictions, let us move from the blue which so typical of Mary to the brown typical of Joseph.
Who is Joseph for us? Firstly he is the principal patron saint of Canada, venerated by the early founders of the Canadian Church, who named him patron in 1624. The Jesuits who build an outpost among the Huron Indians near Midland ON named their chapel after him. And who does not know about the intense devotion to St. Joseph of Saint Brother Andre of Montreal, a devotion which gave rise to St Joseph’s splendid basilica, known as St. Joseph’s Oratory on Mount Royal, visited by over two million pilgrims a year. This basilica began as a small chapel Brother Andre started in 1904, but his devotion to St. Joseph kept on overcoming obstacles and doing wonders. I lived in Montreal for ten years before I joined the Society of Jesus, and it was one of my favourite places for prayer and eucharist. You go there and you hae a sense of being in good hands, of knowing that God provides and cares as an exemplary father, because that is the image projected by St. Joseph.
Who is Joseph in the scriptural record? We do not know much about him. He is often portrayed as an older man, some say a widower, but we have no way of verifying this information. But we do know that he was a man of faith and trust. Just like the Blessed Virgin accepted the mission of being the mother of God in absolute trust and surrender, not knowing how that would take place or what she was getting into, so too Joseph accepted the mission of protecting Jesus and her child. It appears that after a period of exile into Egypt, they settled in Nazareth, and that Jesus learned the trade of carpenter from his foster father.
Today’s Gospel story tells us about the spiritual struggle of Joseph. He was engaged to Mary, but, in accord with the custom of the day, had not yet moved into married life together with her. He found out – would Mary have told him? – that she was with child, but that the child was not his. In accord with Jewish law, this would have been a sufficient reason for him to dismiss her. Some authorities would say that the Law prescribed this gesture.
He was ready to follow this law, but wanted to dismiss her quietly rather than make a public splash about this incident, again showing his thoughtful and protective nature. For him to marry a young girl carrying a child not his own would lead to a lot of finger pointing and gossip. Life would get messy and complicated. Dismissal was the way out. But then, just as Mary received the visitation of the Archangel Gabriel, so too in a dream Joseph received an angelic visitation, and he was informed of God’s plan for Mary and for him. “Do not be afraid” was the theme of the message. We are simply told: “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the Angel of the Lord commanded him: he took her as his wife.” What do we find? Obedience and trust, and a readiness to protect a vulnerable young woman and the new life mysteriously implanted within her womb. Let us also consider the years they spent together as Jesus grew up. He had both a father and a mother to care for him, and who he was as an adult, just as happens to us, is in good part the result of his wholesome upbringing. Like all of us, he grew in wisdom, age, and grace.
It was important for Jesus to have a father who could give him a name, just like Zechariah gave John the Baptist his name in Luke’s gospel. That way he would not be stigmatized as the child of an unwed mother. It was also important, since Jews calculated ancestral relationships through the father, for him to be recorded as the son of a descendant of David, as the long genealogy found at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel points out. Thus he could be singled out as the mysterious descendant of David evoked by the prophets who would bring salvation to Israel. The name he would receive from Joseph, Jesus, would echo this prophecy. Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, a name which means “God saves” and which recalls the one who ushered the chosen people into the promised land. This point is amplified by the attribution to him in today’s Gospel of the surname “Emmanuel”, God-with-us.
What does St. Joseph mean for us today? We know little about him; he remains in the shadows. Many people known only to a circle of intimate friends and relatives are likewise in the shadows, but those of us in the know recognize their importance in the lives of those around them, their quiet influence. They do not advertise themselves, they do not make a lot of noise, but when it counts they are there for those who need them. Such was St. Joseph. His role in the holy family was discreet. He was there to protect, to foster, to nurture, and to deflect attention from what would made Jesus’ early life more difficult by accepting the role of being his father. He agreed to take care of a child which was not his own rather than seek a spouse with whom he could have his own children. Protecting Jesus meant Joseph being the head of a displaced family for a period of time, but he stood by Mary and Jesus. A steady, calming presence they could count on. A steady, calming presence we can count on, in a time full of uncertainty and risk. Just as he took care of Jesus, he is there to take care of us. And during this season of Advent we know he is present to our longings and struggles for peace and love in our fractured world.
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