Christmas – A Study in Contrasts

Feast of Saint Stephen, First Martyr

By Colleen O’Sullivan

When they heard (the wisdom and the spirit with which Stephen spoke), they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him.  But he, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”  But they dried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.  They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.  The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.  As they were stoning Stephen, he called out “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  (Acts 7:54-59)

Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety.  You are my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake you will lead and guide me.  (Psalm 31:3cd-4)

Piety

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

Risen with healing in his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by,

Born that man no more may die,

Born to give them second birth.

Hark! The herald angels sing.

Glory to the newborn King.

(from Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Charles Wesley, 1739)

Study   

Yesterday, we knelt at the manger in adoration of the Christ child.  Today, we stare in horror at the first grim martyrdom scene.

Yesterday, we witnessed to the Light come into the world.  Today, we see the darkness that struggles to overcome it.

Yesterday, we gathered with family and friends, exchanged gifts, shared a bountiful meal.  Today, we are reminded that even as we are rejoicing, wars are being fought in faraway places and people are dying, some because they are Christians.

We ask, “Why do we have to have such downbeat Scripture readings today?” We want to stay with the glow of Christmas for at least a few days, we protest.  Maybe we didn’t understand what we saw in the stable in Bethlehem.  Yes, Jesus looked like any other newborn.  He cried like all the rest of them to be changed and fed.  Yet within that tiny scrap of humanity God sent to live among us was contained the greatest power ever known.

Christmas isn’t about the cuteness of the infant Jesus.  It’s about God come to share in our humanity, Love and Light spilling out across the land.  It’s about seeing in the babe the one who grows up to offer us healing and forgiveness, the one who loves us so much he gives his life for us on the Cross, the one who offers us a place with him and his Father for all eternity.

Jesus asks that we live as he died – for others.  And that’s what St. Stephen was doing in our first Scripture reading.  His job in the fledgling Christian community was to distribute alms to the widows, to look after those who had no one else to care for them.  He truly lived as Jesus did – for others.  He died as Jesus did, committing his spirit to God.

Action 

St. Stephen prayed for his persecutors.  As you continue to celebrate the Christmas season with family and friends, take a few minutes to consider who or what would like to derail you from your faith and pray for them.

Sing for Joy, the Lord has Redeemed

The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)

Mass During the Day

By Beth DeCristofaro

Break out together in song, O ruins of Jerusalem!  For the LORD comforts his people, he redeems Jerusalem.  The LORD has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God. (Isaiah 52:9-10)

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. …[T]o those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.  (John 1:1-3, 12-13)

Piety

O God, we pray with the Holy Father Pope Francis.  “That the birth of the Redeemer may bring peace and hope to all people of good will.”

Study

“Are you ready for Christmas?”  We ask each other this at cashier lines, in workplaces, drinking coffee after Mass.  This year I’ve had some trouble answering because, in fact, I am rarely ready in the sense of gifts bought and wrapped (HAH!), menu planned (what did you say you wanted for vegetables, Mom?), house cleaned (HAH! Again) and so on.  But this year my Advent has been one of intense awareness, prayer-time and struggle.  Recurring themes for me have been courage, consent and come as I have read and prayed on the liturgical readings.  My job, working with the very ill and their families, has brought me again and again to the Truth of the holy Birth that even in death we have the promise of eternal life and joy in the midst of sorrow.  

In a spiritual sense I am ready for Christmas but am also not ready to let go of the season of preparation.   In the Christmas Mass during the Night, Isaiah promises the people:  For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. (Isaiah 9:3).  How can we not raise our heads in joy?

Action

Living daily with Advent mindfulness is preparation and readiness. Sr. Joan Chittister  suggests that “Christmas moves us to recommit ourselves to re-form our minuscule worlds to take in Christ the homeless child, the outcast, the refugee … Christmas will come to us in its fullness when we welcome into the human race all those we persistently see as lesser, and cry, ‘Peace to God’s people on earth.’”  In what ways can we remain mindful of our “Christmas readiness,” joyfully welcoming others into readiness?

To Guide Our Feet

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

“’The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you.  And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his Kingdom firm.  I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.  Your house and your Kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.’”  2 Samuel 7:11B-12, 14A, 16

“In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  Luke 1:78-79

Piety

O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Study

Do you have a favorite movie that you see over and over again?  You know the film so well that you can recite the lines before the characters even speak them? 

Maybe you act out being Captain Von Trapp from the Sound of Music:  “Were my children prancing around Salzburg dressed in some old curtains?”

Or Judy Garland as Dorothy Hale in The Wizard of Oz:  "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

Perhaps you fancy yourself Tevia from Fiddler on the Roof:  “Tradition!”

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup," proclaimed Gloria Swanson (as Norma Desmond), in Sunset Boulevard.

Or do you lean more toward Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove?  "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room." 

Well, "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night. May the Force be with you."  The Christmas story, the rituals, and the Christmas carols are like these old standbys.  The problem is that the meaning of the words might get lost when we gloss over the words from rote memory. 

Today’s Gospel – known as the Canticle of Zechariah -- is repeated daily in the Breviary.  Before setting out in the world every day, religious and lay people who participate in the morning prayers remind themselves daily to live a life of hope in the dawn and to let the Lord guide their feet on the path to peace.

Tonight, that path will be illuminated as we end our preparation period.  Whose feet will be guided to the side of the crib?  Mary certainly and Joseph.  But then, we do not see the rich and powerful.  There are no Roman centurions.  No Jewish Pharisees.  No Arabian kings.  We see the workers.  Shepherds.  Sheep.  The legendary little drummer boy may have been there.  I would bet that the innkeeper and his wife ventured out to see the commotion in their stable.  Maybe even some of their relatives who got to Bethlehem ahead of the Holy Family and were staying elsewhere came by to see their new cousin or nephew.     

Action

Pope Francis was not as gentle as the Canticle of Zechariah when addressing the members of the Curia this week.  He was like a school teacher taking his students to task for bad behavior.  @Pontifex did not pull any punches.  He did not serve up a “spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down.”  Those listening probably did figuratively fasten their seatbelts for the bumpy ride of Pope Francis’ comments.

He warned that the feet he was seeing were not resting their hope in the dawn and they were straying from the pathway of peace.  While some headline writers are focusing on terms like spiritual Alzheimer’s, Pope Francis, in his remarks, listed 15 spiritual “ailments” he has encountered in the Curia, and urged the bureaucratic leadership to renew its effort to heal itself as Christmas approaches.

Which of the Pope’s 15 sins also reverberate in your life?  Some include:

•          The terrorism of gossip?  
•          The sickness of considering oneself ‘immortal’, ‘immune’ or ‘indispensable’?
•          ‘Martha-ism’, or excessive industriousness?
•          The disease of accumulation?

Pope Francis asked the members of the Curia to use Christmas as a time of renewal.

 

“We are therefore required, at this Christmas time and in all the time of our service and our existence – to live ‘speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love’.”

What morning star will illuminate your walk to get back to and stay on the pathway of the Prince of Peace?

Who Will Endure the Day of His Coming?

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

By Melanie Rigney

Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, or the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord. (Malachi 3:1-3)

Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand. (Luke 21:28)

(Zechariah was again able to speak and affirmed the child’s name would be John and blessed God.) Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. (Luke 1:65-66)

Piety

Purify me, oh Lord. Baptize me in fire. Set my soul ablaze for You.

Study

We all have Christmas traditions: the lighting of the Advent candles, the decorating of the tree, the cookie and candy baking, the special meals, the entire family gathering to attend Mass together. Each is holy in its own way, for it involves union with the Lord and, generally, with our loved ones.

For many of the past thirty years, my favorite tradition has been participating in a sing-along “Messiah.” It started with a large group of friends, few of us churchgoers, in Chicago. We’d gather a few weeks ahead of time to practice and then head down to Second Presbyterian on the Near South Side, bringing along some canned goods as donations. Afterward, I’d ask the more learned members of the group what the heck some of the things we sang about meant, like purifying the sons of Levi or why it would be so difficult to endure/abide the day of the messiah’s coming.

These days, I sing along at First Presbyterian in Arlington, walking distance from my home. Some years, my sister comes along; other years, I go alone and chat up some other women in the alto section. I know a bit more about the Bible these days and understand all too well how people might have longed for the Messiah… and yet, at the same time, not been so sure his coming would be a good thing for them and the way they lived. Messiahs are funny that way; when they come to redeem you, some internal and external change generally needs to accompany that redemption.

And so, as we prepare for the joyful arrival of that helpless little baby, consider what not only his coming but also his life and death have meant to people for the past two thousand years. Consider what his coming means to you, today, right now, in the coming year? How will you as a Christian, be purified? What will you let go of? What will you embrace? What will it take for you to be able to stand when he comes again?

Action

As the final rush of pre-Christmas activities winds down, carve out ten minutes of alone time with Jesus. Ask him for help with the purification you both know you need.

Oh! Come and Save

Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent

I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.  Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD.”  She left Samuel there.  1 Samuel 1:27-28

The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.  His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.  He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.  He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.  The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.  Luke 1:49-53

Piety

O King of all nations and keystone of the Church; come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!  (December 22: O Rex Gentium)  

Study

In these final seven (now three) days before Christmas, our liturgy includes the “O” antiphons.  The seven "O Antiphons" (also called the "Greater Antiphons" or "Major Antiphons") are prayers that come from the Breviary's Vespers during the Octave before Christmas Eve, a time of this pregnant season also called the "Golden Nights."  (Did you know that the O Antiphons are the source of the lyrics of the Advent song "Veni, veni Emmanuel" ("Come, O come Emmanuel")? 

Today’s antiphon helps us to remember the prophetic verses of Isaiah when talking about the coming of the King:  He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.  They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.  (Isaiah 2:4)

This “king” is a boy grown up – alluded to in our readings in the person of Samuel who was left with Elijah and the baby boy dwelling and growing inside Mary.  

Action

Oh, what shall we make of this holiday almost upon us?  Are we ready for the challenges it brings to our daily, distracted life? 

What are we “O”verdoing this season with our spending and credit limits?

What are we Overeating at the endless holiday parties at work, at home and in our neighborhoods?

Where are we Overrun by crazy shoppers and drivers rushing to the mall, the theatres and the parties?

Are we Overdue to slow down and get off our feet and rest?

Are we guilty of Overuse of our credit limit in trying to meet the expectation of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and the three shopping days left until Christmas?

Have we Overbid for that gift we want on our favorite auction site or for that car that allegedly promises to make this month the December to remember?

What sins of omission make the clouds of our pride Overcast the Holy Spirit coming upon us this season?

Look Overhead for the star in the East.

Be Overcome with awe.

Let the Spirit of the Lord Overshadow your desires.

Like Mary, sing out with the sense of Overall joy at the message and the reality of this season.

Set out, like the shepherds and kings – trekking Overland so you can get a glimpse of the child.

In this little baby, see how God has sent a tiny person who will grow up to fulfill an Oversized task and redeem us from our sins.

Done to Me

Fourth Sunday of Advent 2014 B

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm.  I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.  2 Samuel 7:14

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

Piety is all the ways we express God as being with us. Many times we say of Mary that the Lord is with you. Piety says that the Lord is with us. Mary is not the only one that has the Lord. As we await Nativity, we can imagine the Lord growing in Mary. Each time we share Eucharist, the feeding on the Lord allows him to grow within us. There is the limit of how possible it is for us to communicate with the Lord. The Lord does not force-feed us. He responds to our invitations. Piety is our willingness to communicate with the Lord expressed by our Sacramental life and by our feeding on the word of God. We learn to make time for the Lord. Christ is the Word made flesh. The more our piety exposes us to the Lord, the more we have of the Lord in our hearts. The paradox of our piety is that we can have as much of the Lord as we give away. What we do for Christ is what piety inspires. Sometimes it even calls us perspire as we work hard at sharing the Lord.  

Study

Scripture gives us the Word of God directly and indirectly. Our study of scripture is how we put on the mind and find the heart of Christ in what we do about being the presence of Christ by what we learn. Our goal is to die with Christ so that we can live with him. The only limit on Christ in our lives is in what we have of his life to live and to share. Study helps us to realize how we can be more like him. We are created in the image and likeness of Christ. How we live his life in who we are does not decrease his presence. It increases it in all the ways our study welcomes the Lord into our hearts. We do not lose ourselves by following Christ. We gradually learn enough to say that I no longer live but Christ lives in me. Study helps us to realize our destiny as children of God and brother and sister to Christ.

Action

We can have as much Christ in our lives as we give away by sharing what we have of Christ with others. How we use our gifts to make a better world is how be become Christ to our world. Whatever we do for the least one of our brothers and sisters needs is what we do for Christ and how we make Christ present in our world. Mary by her “Yes” to the angel shows us how to make a better world. Reaching out to the needs that surround us with more than our extras of life is how we imitate Mary in giving Christ room in our lives. The more we empty ourselves out in the name of Christ, the more he comes to us. There is nothing too small before the mystery of Nativity that we are preparing to celebrate for our world.

Overshadow

Saturday 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

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”  Luke 1:30-31

Piety

Come Holy Spirit, you who overshadowed the temple and the Virgin Mary with your glory.  We humbly ask you to overshadow us so that when others encounter us in this holy season they sense being in your presence.  Transform our meager hospitality into heaven’s welcome mat.  Make us kind and good and gentle in ways that point to your presence in our midst.  As other are with us, may they sense a growing measure of being with you.  Come Holy Spirit, Overshadow.  Hear our prayers for nothing is impossible for you.  (Praying the Story:  Learning Prayer from the Psalms by Marie Dunham) 

Study

The action continues to build to the Christmas crescendo as Mary learns more about the part she has been destined since the prophecy of Isaiah to play in this story. 

God’s role in our world has always played out indirectly through signs like the Virgin giving birth.  However, the scholars continue to debate the place of the historical Jesus in the world. Was this child ever even born?

The debate was renewed Friday on the pages of the Washington Post. Don’t click on the link below.  Thomas Merton had it right when he wrote: "The ox and the donkey understood more of the first Christmas than the high priests in Jerusalem. And it is the same today." 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/18/did-historical-jesus-exist-the-traditional-evidence-doesnt-hold-up/

Action

Is there a better place to spend the final days leading up to Christmas than the proverbial shopping mall or reading the newspaper?  Dishing out a meal at S.O.M.E. or the Lamb Center are some possibilities that come to mind.  Visiting friends and family.  Providing hospitality.  Allow the spirit of the Lord to come upon you and overshadow you. 

The Gift of Silence

Friday of the Third Week of Advent

By Colleen O’Sullivan

Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense.  Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him.  But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard.  Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John…  Then Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this?  For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”  And the angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God.  I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.  But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.” (Luke 1:10-13, 18-20)

Piety

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Study   

As a child, I remember hearing this Gospel story and thinking that God was someone I wouldn’t want to cross.  One misstep, one false word and you might be zapped.  Unable to speak.  For nine whole months!  For someone whose name was written on the blackboard in elementary school for talking in class, it sounded like a dreadful punishment. 

But now I look at this story a little differently.  Maybe the imposed silence was actually a gift from God.  It could be that Zechariah needed to do some pondering, and God simply carved out the time and space in which he could do just that.  Maybe Zechariah needed to ask himself just how much he trusted in the Lord.  After all, he and Elizabeth had longed for and prayed for a child.  And here was God answering that prayer.  Maybe Zechariah needed to reconsider his doubt-filled response.  Who is he (or who are we) to put limits on what God can do for us?  Maybe none of us have ever had a child in our old age, but if you look back over your life, you can surely identify times when God has blessed you in some totally unexpected manner.

Perhaps Zechariah needed space to think about gratitude.  Here an angel of the Lord tells him his deepest longing is about to be fulfilled, and he never even says thank you.  Instead, he questions God’s ability to bring this about.  A few months of thinking about the ways in which he is blessed might not be such a terrible thing.  It could change his life or our lives forever if we lived out of thankfulness.

Action

In stark contrast to our frenetic secular Christmas preparations, Advent is a relatively quiet time of prayerful anticipation.   Carve out some silence for yourself in the days ahead to ponder the mystery of the loving God who’s coming into our lives we both long for and celebrate during this season of short days and long nights.

Correction to last Friday’s Daily Tripod:  St. Juan Diego was actually 57 years old when Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to him outside of Mexico City.

We Cannot Wait

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

By Beth DeCristofaro

Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; As king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved … (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.   For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.   She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” … When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.  (Matthew 1: 20-21, 24)

Piety

O God, may I ever rejoice that the shoot of faith grows in me.  May I grow my faith ever deeper by nurturing those in need you send my way.  May I respond in joy to the cries of those most in want, captivity, pain and grief.

Study

My husband’s great-grandmother opened St. Roch’s Church on Staten Island, each morning before the priest, readying the sanctuary for Mass.  My dear friend baked and decorated Christmas cookies with my daughters for many years because I am chef-challenged.  In Christian churches around the world, parishioners are preparing for the Christmas liturgies by rehearsing hymns, performing run-throughs of the rituals, adorning Nativities with greens and lights.  Parents show children how to toss coins into Salvation Army kettles and volunteers buy gifts and food for the poor.  These worldly, routine holiday actions are as St. Theresa of Avila recognized “Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

Madeleine L ’Engle’s  poem “First Coming” describes how God’s hands, eyes and feet expressed love in Jesus.  We can read it for clues as to how we can extend God’s hands and eyes and feet today, nurturing the sacred shoot.

He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.

He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine.  …

We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

Action

The world remains unsteady, the need is great and deep.  What can we do to address fear, hatred and ignorance?   We have so many avenues such as to speak up when racial slurs or jokes are told; attend an interfaith event; advocate for everyone to have access to health insurance; speak out about gun violence.  “He dined with sinners in all their grime” Let us do what is just and right in the land not what is comfortable or “acceptable.” Let us not wait for the perfect time.

He Receives the People

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

“The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, while tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people’s homage.”  Genesis 49:10

Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.  Matthew 1:15B-16

Piety

Suscipe, Domine, universam meam libertatem.  (Receive, Lord, all my liberty.)

The Venerable Mother Catherine McAuley (an Irish nun who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831) is credited with a 'suscipe' prayer in the tradition of the Mass and the Ignatian Exercises. This prayer, also known as the Act of Resignation, is one of many that she wrote but is considered to be her best known prayer.

My God, I am yours for time and eternity. Teach me to cast myself entirely into the arms of your loving Providence with a lively, unlimited confidence in your compassionate, tender pity. Grant, O most merciful Redeemer, that whatever you ordain or permit may be acceptable to me. Take from my heart all painful anxiety; let nothing sadden me but sin, nothing delight me but the hope of coming to the possession of You my God and my all, in your everlasting kingdom. Amen.

Study

Today, our Advent preparations take on a new dimension.  The Gospel readings pivot to begin telling the direct Christmas narrative.  Over the past two and a half weeks, we have been reviewing a variety of lessons in preparation of our minds and hearts.  Now, the story begins to directly address the birth of Christ and the events immediately preceding it.

Over the past few days, the readings have shown us how the spirit of God washed over Isaiah and the spirit of Baptism washed over Jesus (in the Gospel Sunday).  Monday we heard its effects on the false prophet Balaam in his visions.  Although Balaam was not a great prophet in the line of Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel, he was able to overcome his shortcomings when the spirit of God upon him to enable Balaam delivered God’s vision to the people.  The words of Balaam’s vision shall become our own as the vision soon passes into actual seeing at the foot of the manager.

I see him, though not now; I behold him, though not near: A star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall rise from Israel.  Number 24:17AB

This is a vision to which Balaam and we must be true.  Balaam could not sell out – he refuses to let even all the gold and silver of his adversary make him stray from the command of the Lord.  “‘Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not of my own accord do anything, good or evil, contrary to the command of the LORD’? Whatever the LORD says I must say.” (Do you hear echoing down the millennia the call to remember the “reason” for the “season?”)  Rather than hearing from the Great or Minor Prophets, we get ready for the rising action of the Nativity story.

The rejection of the temptation of worldly goods and power that we heard throughout “early” Advent is gone (for now).  No longer will Jesus be trying to turn the tables on the Pharisees as they try to trick him.  Now, God will turn the tables on all of humanity as He gets ready to walk among us first as a baby in the line of David, the son of Abraham.  We hear echoes again of the genealogy of Jesus.  For the remaining days of Advent, we will not hear about episodes from the adult life of Jesus but the build-up to the denouement – the actual birth of a baby to Mary, the descendant-daughter of Ruth (the only other woman mentioned by Matthew in this family tree.

Action

Are we prepared to give up our pursuit of riches, power and knowledge and turn over our lives to the Lord as Mary turned over her life to the Lord and as He turned over His life for us?  

While we won’t remember our own birth, reflect on the vision of children, grandchildren, or others who have come into your life and changed things.  While we have a set of relatives in our time, many people had a hand in the gene pool that sprouted each one of us.  Think back upon those known and unknown members of your family trees whom you never met. 

All of us – known and distant – are touched by this act of love when our Lord came down as a baby and entered the world the same way we did, and our great-great-grandparents and our children’s children’s children will.

Are we prepared to give up our pursuit of riches, power and knowledge and turn over our lives to the Lord as Mary turned over her life to the Lord and as He turned over His life for us?   

Entering the Kingdom of God before You

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

By Melanie Rigney

… I will change and purify the lips of the peoples, that they all may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one accord… (Zephaniah 3:9)

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. (Psalms 34:19)

(Jesus told the chief priests and elders:) “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.” (Matthew 21:31-32)

Piety

Lord, help me to recognize, love, and adore You in all the forms in which You will appear in my life today.

Study

Lately, I’ve been writing about the Beatitudes, how women saints lived them, and what we can learn from them. The one that has taken the most pondering to date is Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I get the concept of spiritual poverty—not that I live it anywhere near as well as the four women I’m profiling—but that part about the kingdom of heaven has taken a while. That those who abandon all their emotional and physical baggage get to heaven before the rest of us? That they are finding glimpses of heaven here on earth?

Maybe the answer is in today’s Gospel reading, when Jesus tells the elders and chief priests: “Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you.” Maybe “before you” shouldn’t conjure up images of a long queue with Peter at the gate a la TSA, carefully checking identifications for most of us, with a privileged few who qualify for TSA Preü as tax collectors and prostitutes waltzing right on through. Maybe we’re putting the emphasis in the wrong place. Perhaps Jesus is referring to his earthly presence as the kingdom of God, and that it is indeed before them all, there for the taking if only they would recognize it. And maybe, instead of that long line later on, we have the opportunity for early check-in every day when we praise him, adore him, and love others in his name.

Action

Speaking of long lines… why wait until the last minute to tidy up your 2014 giving? Any number of local, national, and international charities would appreciate your yearend support this week, before their staffs take time off for Christmas and New Year’s. If you’re a Cursillista, please consider a donation to Cursillo of the Arlington Diocese to help defray the cost of future Weekends and other expenses. 

Do Not Quench the Spirit

Third Sunday of Advent 2014 B

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God.  Isaiah 61:1-2A

Do not quench the Spirit.  1 Thessalonians 5:19

“Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”  John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”  John 1:25-27

Piety

Piety brings rejoicing into our lives because of the closeness of God’s love to us.  The Resurrection grace is the joy of the Lord coming back to tell us that all his human life was worthwhile because it makes us, in our companionship with Christ, new children to God.  We are God’s children by our relationship with Christ.  Piety brings us closer and closer to Christ even as it makes us God’s children.  We rejoice because the joy of Christ resurrection is in us.  It is the whole life of Christ that has given us salvation.  Any part of it could have been our salvation.  We rejoice that our humanness has a God meaning to it in God loving us so much that he wanted to be one of us.  We look at the beginning of his life and feel the joy of his coming that is a taste of the final coming when our joy will be complete.  Great expectations give form and meaning to our preparations for the birth of Christ.  Our piety is the form our being saved by Christ is expressed.

Study

The prophet Isaiah tells us that the Lord anointed us to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and day of vindication by our God.  This is how the Lord reveals himself to the people.  Our joy flows out of our willingness to do the same for the people around us.  We study how to be the good news of the Lord and how to reveal his presence by our living his love in our day and age just as he did back then.  We rejoice in the Lord because we know how to be his love to our world.  We rejoice that we can follow the Lord more closely and thus love him more dearly.

Action

We can pray without ceasing by living his life in our day and age.  Whether we eat or drink or sleep, we can do all for the Lord.  In all circumstances, we can give thanks to the Lord because each moment of our lives has the fullness of God’s love that we can share by giving out liberty back to the Lord so that we can be used in all we do to be his love to the world.  His grace and his love is enough for us.  John was a voice crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. He could only point out Christ.  To us is given the possibility to be the love of Christ to world since the Sacraments are how the humanness of Christ remains in each one of us so that we can be his life to the Church.