Not Enough

Not Enough

December 20, 2012

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

Listen, O house of David!  Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God?  Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.  Isaiah 7:13-14

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word."  Then the angel departed from her.  Luke 1:38

Piety

We who must die demand a miracle.
How could the Eternal do a temporal act,
The Infinite become a finite fact?
Nothing can save us that is possible:
We who must die demand a miracle. (W. H. Auden, "For the Time Being")

Study

When the angel departs, Mary is left alone with God.  When the angel departs, we are left alone with God. Christmas is partly about the coming of the Christ Child.  But "beyond Christmastime" is when Christmas gets its meaning as the weeks of ordinary time roll on through year after liturgical year.  That is when we realize the implication of God coming down and living among us and within us as He announced and then fulfilled with Mary.  That is when we are alone with God.

Auden's poem quoted above is a long narrative written during World War II that places the Christmas story into context.  His central point is that Christmas addresses us not so much in the holiday times of lights and presents and family celebrations as it does in the flat stretches of our lives when every mountain is made low.  The title "For the Time Being" operates on many levels.

First, it refers to the period in which we all live. Our time. Home. The world never quite measures up to that opening Ideal talk on the Cursillo weekend experience or the way life is portrayed in popular culture by the likes of Frank Capra or Ridley Scott or Richard Donner or Oliver Stone.  The post-Christmas period is the “between times” that Auden describes as:

The streets are much narrower than we remembered; we had forgotten
The office was as depressing as this. To those who have seen
The Child, however dimly, however incredulously,
The Time Being is, in a sense, the most trying time of all.

"For the Time Being" also communicates the significance of historical existence, which is becoming infused with power and possibility by the Incarnation.  All of our days (yesterday, today and tomorrow) mark when "being" is being redeemed.  The task of the Cursillista is to participate in this possibility.  This sense of redemption also happens in every time and for every being.  In Auden’s words:

In the meantime
There are bills to be paid, machines to keep in repair,
Irregular verbs to learn, the Time Being to redeem
From insignificance.

Finally, the “Time Being” also refers to the Child that will "be" a reality in our hearts and souls and actions.  In short order, Jesus will be kicking up a storm in Mary when she treks to see Elizabeth.  Not long into his adult ministry, Jesus will deliver the startling Nazareth Manifesto and begin to kick up the world into a fever pitch in real time as a real being -- not as Father, not as spirit, but as God-becomes-man through this sign of the virgin giving birth. 

Action

Our challenge in Action is always to base our words and works on the foundation of gratitude laid by Mary during the Annunciation.  This is not a matter of wreaths and trees and packages tied up with strings.  This season is not about Black Friday or Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday or Free Shipping Tuesday.  It is about making every day a Giving Day. 

There is always talk about making Christmas a year-round occurrence.  As Catholics and as Cursillistas, we are called to live that every day as we celebrate the mystery of God being for a time with us.  Act accordingly. You are never really alone for the time being or at any time.  Celebrate with grace and gratitude.