In the Beginning

In the Beginning

The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus, we know this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number. 1 John 2:18-19

In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him, nothing came to be. What came to be 4through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, John 1:1-5 

Piety

Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Psalm 96:11

Study

Seven days into the Christmas season and the scriptures for daily mass contemplate the beginning and the end.  The Alpha and the Omega.  Past, present, and the future. How appropriate for New Year’s Eve? How appropriate for New Year’s Eve.  The Romans depicted Janus (namesake for January) as a head looking in two directions. Today, we do the same. 

Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice that 2020 is ending. The Good News for today is that we consider the hope of the future, not the pain of 2020.

The letter from Timothy contemplates the period between the death and resurrection of Christ and his second coming. Timothy also warns of the adversary (the antichrist) who opposes the light of God. Through the scriptures, writers warn us of this under many names even though “antichrist” only appears in John. Matthew and Mark warn of the “pseudochrists” (translated “false messiahs” in Mt 24:24 and Mk 13:22), and Paul cautions about the “lawless one” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. 

If there were “many” antichrists in Biblical times, those have only multiplied as our distractions multiply. Our job is to remain steadfast and allow them to pull us away, nor to seek our happiness in other places or from other people and things. 

 

Now the Spirit explicitly says that some will turn away from the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and demonic instructions in the last times. 1 Timothy 4:1

 As we close out the pain-filled and heavy-hearted year of 2020, John gives us the light of hope. Ironically, John uses the same words that open the Book of Genesis in the Tanakh, “In the beginning.”

These opening verses in John’s gospel help to realize our faith must grow in three different directions. 

“In the beginning was the word…” Our faith in the Word must come to be through piety, study, and action in the world. Once we are aware of its existence, then we can do something with it. Love God back. Love our neighbors. Love ourselves.  

“…the Word was with God:” Our lives have no significant meaning in isolation. Just as John teaches that the Word exists in relationship to God, so, too, must we have that relationship as a wandering child to an ever-loving parent. 

“…and the Word was God” predicts that no matter who tempts us, God works to pull us back to our original state of being in relationship to the Creator, the world, and each other. No matter where we take our inheritance, John predicts that we will reunite with God as the Prodigal Son returned as well.

Our study of today’s Good News ends in an excellent place for a start to a new year: with the analogy of light overcoming darkness (again, just like God brought light to the creation in Genesis). John predicts a New Genesis. 

Action

Existence. Relationship. Predication.

These three dimensions are areas we can use in formulating any resolutions for a new year. If we can grow in one, two, or all three of those areas in 2021, we will look back in 365 days and say that this was good.

 

Image 1  by olia danilevich from Pexels

 

Image 2: Photo by Jess Bailey Designs from Pexels

“Joy - Longing Fulfilled” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“Joy - Longing Fulfilled” by Colleen O’Sullivan

The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas

And yet I do write a new commandment to you, which holds true in him and among you, for the darkness is passing away, and the true Light is already shining.  Whoever says he is in the Light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.  Whoever loves his brother remains in the Light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall.  (1 John 2:8-10)

 

“Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled:  My own eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

 

Piety

Open My Eyes, Lord – Jesse Manibusen

Open my eyes, Lord,

Help me to see Your face,

Open my eyes, Lord,

Help me to see.

Study

Arent de Gelder, Simeon’s Song of Praise, c.1700-1710, Mauritshuis, The Hague, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

I love this painting of Simeon meeting the infant Jesus.  Mary and Joseph present Jesus in the Temple.  They don’t personally know the older man, and he doesn’t know them, either.  But he comes to the Temple every day, hoping that today will be the day that God answers his prayer.  Simeon waited years for this encounter with Mary, Joseph, and their baby.  The artist perfectly captures on canvas that joy that fills a person’s heart when some long-desired, sincerely hoped for thing comes to pass. 

We all know what it’s like to long for something so intensely we can almost taste it or see it.  Maybe, at some point in your life, you longed for a spouse, someone to share the rest of your life with, to build a family with.   Or perhaps you’ve longed for a child with all your heart.  I’m sure children bounced around in the foster care system want a forever family more than anything else, a place where they can feel loved and cherished.   There are desires of many sorts living in our hearts.

Simeon’s desire, however, wasn’t for anything personal.  This older man had spent a lifetime praying that before he died, he would be privileged to see the Savior of the nations.  God had promised to send a Light powerful enough to dispel the darkness of the world, and Simeon wanted to live long enough to see this gift from Heaven.  He immediately recognizes him in Jesus!   He declares he can now die in peace, having seen God’s salvation embodied in this tiny child. 

The world lay in darkness in Jesus’ day – the Jews subjugated to the Romans as well as the majority of the Jews to the Pharisees and scribes.  The poor of the world were of no concern to the rich and powerful.  Surrounded by COVID-19, isolated from family and friends, aware of growing unemployment, hunger, and homelessness, we, too, struggle with darkness.  But Jesus is the Light, which continues to dispel the darkness of the world.  God calls both you and me to open our eyes to that Light. 

As proclaimed by John in our first reading, the Good News is that Light shines upon us even now and is at work dispelling our 21^st-century darkness.  Where people live out their faith, they are living in that Light.  I think of the tens of thousands of people employed caring for COVID-19 sufferers.  I also think of others developing and administering vaccines, running food pantries, keeping churches open, trying to adapt to new types of schooling, etc. – all these and many other efforts amount to a fair bit of Light in our midst.  

Action

In prayer today, share the deepest longings of your heart with the Lord.     

 

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arent_de_Gelder_-_Simeon%27s_Song_of_Praise_-_1047_-_Mauritshuis.jpg 

                                                                                                       

Out of Egypt

Out of Egypt 

Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs

Now, this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him, there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5 

Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Matthew 2:14-15

Piety

Jesus, where are we going? Where will you take us? No matter the destination, protect all your Holy Innocents and us today and always from walking in darkness. As you fulfilled yesterday’s prophecies, teach us how to fulfill your Word in our modern lives. Open our ears so we may learn how to be the protector of your spirit in the world as you protect us from temptation, deliver us from evil, and grant us peace. Amen. 

Study

History pivots on the Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The Before. The Now. The Future. In our first two days after Christmas, the Church gave us readings that looked forward. These reminded us of where the salvation story leads.  St. Stephen was a martyr for his evangelization.  The Prophetess Anna preached to all who would listen. 

Today, through the Feast of the Holy Innocents and the flight to Egypt, Matthew looks back to see what the prophets said as fulfilled in this Birth. He connects the Jesus Story to what has come before and weaves Herod’s present reign (and his heirs) with that of Jesus. 

In 2010, on a trip to Cairo, we visited a church on the site where Mary and Joseph fled.   Today on December 28, I think back to our trip to St. Sergius Coptic Church, where I once stood quietly one sunny December 28 with Beth and Sarah in central Cairo.  Was this indeed a place that might have been where the holy family once lived for a short time?

That afternoon found us on the so-called “streets” of Imbaba, visiting children served by the Coptic Orphans program.  Imbaba is called a working-class neighborhood in northern Giza, Egypt – just west of the Nile and northwest of and near Gezira Island where Sarah had her apartment. 

The streets were little more than dirt paths.  The homes were (politely) sparsely furnished walk-ups where the climbing of three flights of dark stairs required flashlights to avoid falling. In these corridors, cooking dinner meant a shared grill on the apartment landing.  Even a high school diploma was not a guarantee of any job outside the military—no wonder the “Arab Spring” erupted just weeks later. Westerners like us had a hard time getting a taxi out of Imbaba, but even that journey was much easier than the residents had to get out of poverty. 

The story of the Birth of Jesus as we celebrate it is full of beauty.  Lighted trees.  Fancy cookies.  Wrapped presents.  However, the story also is filled with intrigue, confusion, uncertainty, evil, grief, and enormous mystery. Today — “Holy Innocents Day” — think about God loving the world so much that no one or no thing could stop his plan. Not the armies of Herod or the poverty of Imbaba. 

Like Ahikam protected Jeremiah, Joseph watched Jesus and Mary, so the baby was not handed over to death. On a literal level, the flight to Egypt is another example of Joseph’s humble, unfailing protection of the Holy Family and obedience to God, which serves as an example for us. 

In a historical context, the story fulfills the prophecies of the Tanakh. Perhaps the main reason why an angel calls the Holy family to Egypt is to relive the Exodus experience. Moses obtained the release of Israel from imprisonment in Egypt. Jesus goes beyond Mosaic Law. Jesus will release us from further captivity – the prison of sin. On this more profound level, this development allows Jesus to share a common heritage with the people when He emerges out of Egypt as the “New Moses,” taking his people in a whole new direction.

Action

Where do you dwell? In the virgin womb. In a manger. In Egypt. In the village of Nazareth.  In the dirty streets of Imbaba. 

Coptic Orphans is an award-winning international Christian development organization that has transformed the lives of over 55,000 children in Egypt since 1988. The charity’s leadership believes that through long-term programs that focus on education, they can break the vicious cycle of poverty these children face. View its Guidestar profile here: https://www.guidestar.org/profile/54-1637257

Just as Joseph is lead from Bethlehem to Egypt and then back home to Nazareth, can our Piety, Study and Action lead us to places where we let the Christmas light and spirit of Jesus shine?  What doors can you open to letting Jesus in to help the holy innocents here and abroad?