The Favor of God

“The Favor of God”

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins and preserves himself from them. When he prays, he is heard; he stores up riches who reveres his mother. Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children, and, when he prays, is heard. Whoever reveres his father will live a long life; he who obeys his father, brings comfort to his mother. Sirach 3:2-6

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.  Luke 2:39-40

Piety

“In Honour of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez” 

Honour is flashed off exploit, so we say;

And those strokes once that gashed flesh or galled shield

Should tongue that time now, trumpet that field.

And, on the fighter, forge his glorious day.

On Christ they do and on the martyr may;

But be the war within, the brand we wield

Unseen, the heroic breast not outward-steeled,

Earth hears no hurtle then from fiercest fray. 

Yet God (that hews mountain and continent,

Earth, all, out; who, with trickling increment,

Veins violets and tall trees and more and more)

Could crowd career with conquest while there went

Those years and years by of world without event

That in Majorca, Alfonso watched the door.

This Gerard Manley Hopkins poem about Brother Alphonsus, the doorkeeper at the monastery, really helps drive home the fact that simple service like his hospitality and the vigil kept by Simeon and Anna stands in stark contrast to the passing away of the world and its enticements.

Study

Who is waiting now?  Or perhaps the better question is, “Who is waiting still?”  After all, two days ago, we celebrated Christmas.  God is AMONG us.  NOW.  Yet, in ancient Palestine, such Good News traveled slowly. 

Perhaps Simeon and the prophetess Anna are perfect Biblical characters for the transition from Advent to Christmas, for moving from the Tanakh to the New Testament.

They waited in the temple daily until blessed with a face-to-face encounter with the Holy Family and the Christ-child.  Now in less than two weeks, we have the fourth Joyful Mystery woven into Sacred Scripture for the Mass.  

Like the Advent people whom we were, they waited in hope until their personal Christmas morning. God promised them the encounter with His Son, so they waited and waited and waited.

Today, if an elderly couple were hanging out at our church night and day, someone would probably call the security guard to escort them out when the staff left.  Or perhaps they would call mental health counselors or even someone to protect the elderly.  

After her encounter, we imagine that Anna went away to tell others what she had seen carrying out her evangelical mission by speaking “about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”

After presenting Jesus in the temple, the Holy Family returned to Nazareth and lived a pretty mundane life.  We know precious little about the ensuing three decades.  However, with the presence of Jesus, the favor of God rested upon the family. Jesus grew strong “in wisdom.” 

Action

What about us? Are we resuming our old way of living now that the Christmas celebration is over and the half-price sales are underway? Are we using this time to grow in wisdom and to re-energize our Fourth Day? Or have we returned to the malls, offices, and schools like another secular holiday passed?

St. John reminds us that the world represents “all that is hostile toward God and alienated from him. Love of the world and love of God are thus mutually exclusive.” Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4). 

If we examine our lives and ideals, how many of us are not leading lives filled with the behaviors about which John warns us? Arrogance or ostentation in our almost-rich and want-to-be-famous lifestyle reflects a conscious turning away from what God wants from us and others.

Who is waiting now? 

After we spent all this time waiting for God, God must sit around waiting for us to change. Will we?  Like the father in the Prodigal Son story, picture God sitting in his window, watching and waiting for us and our Advent. God now hopes to see us turning home even if we are a long-distance away.

Who is waiting now? 

There are only a few days left in the calendar year. How have your contributions to charity been tracking this year? Take a minute to assess your status now and consider making a year-end gift to those charities that make an impact and perform a preferential option for the poor in our Church, community, nation, and world.