Posted on 11/29/2003 8:34:00 AM PST by Salvation
Mary, Mother of God
In 1969, the feast of Mary, Mother of God (formerly celebrated on October 11) was transferred to January 1.
The celebration of Mary as “Mother God” is the oldest of all Marian celebrations, going back at least to the third century.
The title is familiar because it is part of the Hail Mary (“Holy Mary, mother of God…..”). But in the early 400s great controversy surrounded it. Some argued that Mary was the Mother of Christ, but calling her Mother of God was going too far.
The other side argued that Jesus is truly God, and in bearing Jesus, Mary bore God
The Council of Ephesus in 431 resolved the matter, affirming that Mary is truly “Mother of God.” The documents of the council were in Greek, and the term used for Mary was “theotokos” which means “God-bearer.”
Sr. Anna Mae would have been 90 years old next week.
She spent many years devoting herself to six year olds. She was the perfect first grade teacher: Small, always smiling, and kindness in her eyes.
Eventually she was assigned to supervisory positions – though she would much rather have been in the classroom. But…you need good teachers to help form good teachers.
Sr. Anna Mae spent the rest of her life carrying out various ministries for her community, always with a smile that came from down deep within. In her 70s, she returned to her motherhouse in Monroe, Michigan. But two days a week, she went to a nearby parish to help youngsters with their reading and math. Three days a week, she worked in the infirmary at the motherhouse. Finally, in her 80s, she herself was in the infirmary.
When she died a year and a half ago, her journal revealed one of the secrets behind her smile. She had a special notebook and at the end of every single day, she wrote down one joy that she experienced that day.
One joy. Every day. At first it sounds impossible. After all, what do you do if you have a bad day?
That’s the genius of this. Even on the worst days, there’s always at least one joy. To end each day on that note can have a marvelous effect.
St. Basil’s Bread
Today is the feast of St. Basil the Great, a fourth-century bishop of Caesarea (located in central modern-day Turkey). He became a monk and wanted to remain one, but because of his holiness and learning was pressured to become the bishop of Caesarea.
Basil was a brilliant speaker and writer, and a strong defender of the faith against heresy. He also worked strenuously on behalf of the poor.
One of the stories handed down is about his care for the needy, and the special sweet bread that he handed out to them. Knowing that the poor wanted to preserve their dignity, he provided coins to some women who made sweet bread with the coins baked into them. This enabled Basil to give money to the poor without demeaning them.
It is the custom among many Greeks today to have “Vasilopita” (“Basil’s Bread”) on New Year’s Day. A coin is baked into one of the small loaves, and whoever finds it in theirs will be specially blessed in the coming year.
We have here the very first words spoken by John the Baptist in John’s Gospel. And what were those first words? “I am not the Messiah.”
Want to experience a great weight being lifted off your shoulders? Say those same words right now: “I am not the Messiah.” Say it out loud. Hear yourself say it.
Now, you already knew that. But there’s something about saying it. Then add: “World, I have good news for you. Although I am not the messiah, the good news is that there is a Messiah, and I’d be glad to point him out to you.”
I know I’m not the Messiah, but I can unwittingly try to be a messiah. We all do it, usually with the best of motives. Parents try to solve all their children’s problems (or vice versa). Or, when there is a tragic death, we try to console the family by suggesting why God might have let this happen. Or, in prayer we try to make sure we say everything right, as though we’re the ones who make it happen. Or, we carry all the problems of the world on our back.
Indeed I do have a part to play in God’s plan. But it’s just that – a part to play. I’m not the Messiah. Jesus is. He’s got the whole world in his hands.
Sometimes prayer is just meant to be enjoyed.
J. R. Tolkien (1892-1973)
British author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born 112 years ago on this date.
He was born in South Africa where his father was working for the Bank of Africa. When he was three, the family returned to England. After his father’s death in 1896, Tolkien’s mother began studying the Catholic faith and in 1900 the family was received into the Church. Tolkien received his first Communion on Christ Day, 1903.
Less than a year later his mother died and J. R. and his brother were placed under the guardianship of a priest friend of the family, who arranged for their aunt to take care of them.
Throughout his life, Tolkien remained a faithful Catholic. He was influential in the decision of his friend C. S. Lewis to become Catholic. Tolkien’s eldest son became a priest.
In 1954-55, Tolkien published what would become his best-known work, the classic three-book saga, “The Lord of the Rings,” which he typed two-fingered. Over 1,200 pages long, it took 14 years to write.
In 1966, British composer Donald Swann set to music six poems from “Lord of the Rings and presented them to Tolkien at a private party. Tolkien afterward said, “The words are unworthy of the music.”
In Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, Mary and Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother) are described as relatives.
Here in this Gospel, John the Baptist says, “I did not know him.” It could be that the tradition about their kinship is uncertain. Or, it could be that, since John the Baptist’s family lived in the southern part of Israel, and Jesus’ family lived up north in Nazareth, they rarely or never saw one another.
Regardless of that, we can at least say that John did not know fully who Jesus was – the Son of God. This was a surprise and was revealed to John when he baptized Jesus.
Living the Christian life is never a stale routine. It is brimming with life. The gift of the Spirit is not static. The truths of the faith are wondrously rich.
Which is to say, my union with the Lord always has an element of surprise, freshness, the unexpected.
It was the same for Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist….
In prayer, I’m not talking to myself. I’m spending time with the Lord. Enjoy the freshness of it.
The Yule Log (1892-1973)
The yule log has to do with a pagan feast celebrating the winter solstice, which occurs at about this time of he year.
No one is sure where the word “yule” comes from. Some say it has its origins in an old Germanic word that meant a turning wheel and was applied to the supposed orbit of the sun. Others say it is from an Anglo-Saxon word (“geol”) which means feast.
What is known is that the yule feast is pre-Christian, celebrating the victory of the sun god over darkness.
People celebrated it by hauling a log from one of their largest trees and burning it to honor their god and to bring good luck in the coming year.
Holly was also placed under the yule log to help kindle the fire. People would also toss a sprig of holly into the firs to burn up the troubles of the past year, and to keep their houses safe from fire in the year to come.
“Solstice” comes from two Latin words which mean “the sun stands still.” After moving away from the Earth for six months, the sun seems to stop briefly and then begin its return.
The word “Magi” is a Persian word (present-day Iran) that referred to priests who were thought to be able to interpret the stars or dreams or were skilled in the occult and secret lore.
These mysterious figures from the East (about whom little is known) have long been the subject of stories and legends. Early on they were looked upon as royal figures. This may have been suggested by Psalm 72: “The kings of Arabia and Sheba shall bring tribute; all kings shall pay him homage.” But there is no indication that the Magi were kings.
It is not known how many there were. The fact that they gave three gifts to the infant Jesus gave rise to the assumption that there were three Magi. Various names were given to the Magi. The ones most commonly used (Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar) go back to the sixth century.
The coming of the Magi is one of the most loved stories surrounding the birth of Jesus. Why is this?
Perhaps, because it is sort of a reversal. We usually think about God’s goodness to human beings – as well we should.
The story of the Magi has it the other way around – the goodness of human beings to God. They brought gifts and gave them to the Son of God.
We like that. We want to imitate it.
But the Son of God is a hard one to shop for. How does one give gifts to the Son of God?
Well, Jesus helped. He sort of “registered” to make it easier. He said, “As often as you did it for one of these least ones, you did it for me.” Mt. 24:40
The Spiral Staircase of Santa Fe
A French architect had designed the Santa Fe, New Mexico, chapel for the Sisters of Loretto in close imitation of a famous small chapel in Paris. It was a small chapel, and he forgot to provide enough room for a staircase leading up to the choir loft 22 feet above.
Carpenter after carpenter tried to find a way to solve the problem without success. They said it couldn’t be done.
A few weeks before Christmas of 1878, a carpenter arrived, his burro laden with wood. He said he had come to build a staircase and said it would be done by Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, the sisters entered the chapel and before their eyes was a beautiful spiral staircase gracefully winding upward to the choir loft. It had 33 steps, one for each year in the life of Our Lord. It had no nails, just wooden pegs. The spiral made two complete 360-degree turns with no central support. It seemed to float on air.
The staircase still stands today, just as it was on that Christmas Eve in 1878. Tourists marvel. Architects shake their heads and say, “Impossible.”
The sisters never did find out who this mysterious carpenter was. He left without payment. A young girl living with the sisters at the time said that she had talked to him, and his name was Jose – Spanish for “Joseph.”
(The Gospels this week begin to describe the public ministry of Jesus.)
In Matthew’s Gospel, the very first word spoken publicly by Jesus is “Repent.”
You’ve heard it before: The word “repent” doesn’t mean (as it is often thought to mean) simply beating your breast, and promising to do penance to make up for your sins. It means literally to re-think…to see things in a new way.
When I begin a day, I can automatically fall into a routine way of thinking, fed by the news, traffic and weather reports, opinion polls…My world becomes flat.
"Repent” means to “re-think” – to see a wider, deeper world, a world in which God is present, a world with a destiny that goes beyond history and flows into the “Kingdom of God.”
Prayer opens my eyes to the world. It’s the real world.
Take a look at it through God’s eyes.
The ‘Epiphany Proclamation’
In the days when few people had calendars, it was customary at the Mass on Epiphany to proclaim the date of Easter for the coming year, along with other major feast that hinge on the date of Easter.
The custom is being revived. This year the following proclamation would be sung or proclaimed after the Gospel or after Communion:
“Dear brothers and sister, the glory of the Lord has shone upon us and shall ever be manifest among us, until the day of his return…
“Let us recall the year’s central feast, the Easter Triduum of the Lord: His Last Supper, His Crucifixion, His Burial, and His Rising, celebrated between the evening of the 8th day of April and the evening of the 11th day of April. Each Easter – as on each Sunday – the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed by which Christ has forever conquered sin and death.
“From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy. Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, will occur on the 25th day of February. Pentecost, the joyful conclusion of the season of Easter, will be celebrated on the 30th day of May. And this year the First Sunday of Advent will be on the 28th day of November.
“To Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come, Lord of time and history, be endless praise, forever and ever. Amen”
From ancient times, Epiphany has been celebrated on January 6. In the U. S., it has been moved to Sunday.
The Eucharistic overtones of this passage are clear. Jesus feeds the crowd with his teaching (Liturgy of the Word), and then with food (Liturgy of the Eucharist).
The disciples are given what seems to be an impossible task: “Give them some food yourselves.” They explain that they don’t have what is needed. Jesus then asks them to bring the little they do have. Jesus takes it, blesses it, gives it back to them…and it is enough. It is more than enough.
Many a time, I can look at the demands placed upon me and say, “Lord, I just can’t do it. I don’t have what it needed – the time, strength, goodness.” At the Eucharist, Jesus invites me to bring whatever I have to him – which includes not only what is good in my life, but also the problems, the gaps…I place everything on the altar (through the bread and the wine). And it is more than enough.
That is why St. Paul could say, I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me…For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
That’s worth some conversation with the Lord.
The Wind and the Sea
Retreat masters say that the Gospel passages about Jesus and the wind and the sea are among those that people find easiest to “get into” in prayer.
Because they can’t be controlled, the winds and the seas (especially at night) often conjure up all the dark forces that threaten human beings.
The Gospels record two miracles of Jesus involving the wind and sea:
· Calming the Storm and
· Walking on the Water (see the next post)
The value of miracles as revelations of God’s power in overcoming evil can easily be experienced by thinking of the “dark forces” that are on people’s minds today. This can be on a massive scale (the fear of terrorism, biological weapons, nuclear arms), or it can be closer to home (the flood of demands, pressures, details in my own life).
The disciples were terrified. Jesus directly addressed their terror: “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.”
It is not hard to see how the miracles of Christ have relevance today, particularly the calming of the storm, and walking on the water. These are among the Gospel passages that most easily lend themselves to meditation and prayer.
Twice earlier in Mark’s Gospel we saw Jesus calm the fears of others. The first time was also on the sea. A great storm came up and Jesus was asleep in the back of the boar. The disciples woke him. He calmed the storm and then said: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
In today’s Gospel we once again have the disciples terrified. Jesus responds: “It is I, do not be afraid.”
The darkness, the water, the wind – these represent the dark forces that can threaten us: Crime, terrorism, chemical weapons, nuclear war, disease, or…a relationship that seems about to break, serious financial problems, a job that is shaky.
God is not an absentee God. “The Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
Keep celebrating Christmas, and hear the Lord say to you. “It is I, do not be afraid.”
St. Maximilian Kolbe
Maximilian Kolbe was born in Poland on this date in 1894. His father fought for Poland’s independence from Russia, and was hanged as a traitor in 1914. His mother later became a Benedictine nun.
In 1910 Kolbe entered the Franciscan Order, and eight years later was ordained a priest.
In 1931, Kolbe went to Japan and founded a monastery in Nagasaki, and then another in India. He returned to Poland in 1936 because of ill health.
Two years after the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, Fr. Kolbe was arrested for helping to house Jewish refugees and for publishing anti-Nazi materials. He was sent to Auschwitz.
Several months later, a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz. It was the Nazi practice there to execute 10 men for each escaped prisoner. When the 10 were chosen, one pleaded that he was a married man with young children. On hearing this, Fr. Kolbe stepped forward and offered to take his place. The camp guard accepted his offer.
Fr. Kolbe’s execution was to be slow and painful – confinement in a starvation bunker. When, after three weeks, he was still alive, he was given a fatal injection.
Maximilian Kolbe was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982.
When Jesus was about in his late 20s, he left the northern hill town of Nazareth and went south to the Jerusalem area where he spent time listening to John the Baptist. He was baptized in the Jordan River by John, and this was a turning point in his life. He began preaching and teaching. Eventually he returned to his hometown for a visit, which is described in the passage above.
You remember the rest of the story. Jesus’ hometown people were impressed by “the gracious words that came from his mouth.” But the more they listened, the more he seemed to be suggesting that he was specially chosen by God, even insinuating that he was the long-awaited Messiah.
They wondered aloud, “What does he think he is? He’s Joseph’s boy. We watched him grow. He’s just one of us.”
It happens all the time. People put us in a box. They always see us the way they used to see us, no matter how we’ve changed.
God never puts me in a box. God knows my potential. God can let go of the past – even a bad past – and move on to a new future. It’s one of the great things about God.
Anything I want to move on to in my life? God will not only let me do it. God will help me do it!
Leprosy
At the time of Jesus, the word “leprosy” was used to describe a wide variety of contagious skin diseases. The word itself comes from the Greek “lepros” which means “rough, scaly.”
Gradually the word was used specifically for what is known as Hansen’s Disease – which destroys the peripheral nerves causing progressive tissue degeneration in the extremities.
Until modern times, the only way people knew how to prevent the spread of this disease was to isolate the lepers. This was achieved in a number of ways:
· Leper houses: Houses were clustered together around a chapel outside towns and cities. (In the 13th century there were 2,000 leper houses in France.)
· Clappers: Lepers were required to carry a special rattle which they would clap together to warn people of their approach.
· Leper windows: Some churches had a narrow window off to one side at ground level. This enabled lepers (who weren’t allowed to enter the church building) to attend the Mass and to be given Communion.
Reported cases of leprosy throughout the world today number approximately 2 million. The actual number of infected persons may be as high as 11 million.
The word “opaque” means that no light gets through. Put a flashlight behind a sheet of slate, and no light shines through.
An alabaster statue on the other hand, is “translucent”. Put a flashlight behind it, and the whole statue is filled with a wondrous glow of light.
When Jesus looked at the leper, he saw more than leprosy. He saw a diaphanous human being, a child of God, a person made wondrous by God. So Jesus reached out and touched him.
Jesus didn’t cure the leper simply to cure one leper. He cured the leper to teach us that the love of God lies within creation and brings wholeness to it.
Do I look upon the world as opaque or translucent? Sometimes we tend to see the world as covered with the “leprosy” of political corruption, decaying cities, AIDS, drugs, terrorism, corporate disgrace, pollution…
Do I see the world as opaque or translucent?
The ‘Real Presence’
One of the trademarks of the Catholic Church is a very strong belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the consecrated bread and wine. Here is the heart of Catholic teaching.
· It is not simple the Jesus of the past who is present in the Eucharist. It is the Risen Christ who is alive now.
· The consecrated bread and wine do not simply signify a special way of remembering/connecting with the Risen Lord Jesus Christ (as, for example, the autographed picture of someone we love.) The bread and wine are the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. The outward appearances obviously remain bread and wine, the reality has changed so that one can say, “This is Jesus Christ.”
· The change in the bread and wine is real (thus the phrase, “Real Presence”) not because “it is real to me,” but because it is real in and of itself. It is not my faith that makes it real. It is God’s creative word that transforms bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.
· The bread and wine are the real presence of the Risen Lord not only during the Mass. The consecrated bread and wine, for the rest of its existence in the form of bread and wine, continue to be the Body and Blood of Christ.
The final ceremony of marriage took place when the groom came to the bride’s home and brought her to his home in a festive procession. The best man went to her house in advance and waited for the groom’s arrival.
John sees his role in relation to Jesus as that of a best man. He comes on the scene before Jesus, listens for his approach, rejoices when he hears his voice, and then steps aside. The very last words spoken by John the Baptist in the Fourth Gospel are: “He must increase; I must decrease.”
Every parish, every diocese, the entire Church must always keep in mind that the center of our focus is Jesus Christ. The Second Vatican Council, referring to the Church says, “The Head of this body is Christ.”
Guided by the Spirit, we have developed structures and rituals which enable us to live more fully as the body of Christ. But we look ultimately to Jesus Christ as the one who leads us, teaches us, sanctifies us.
The Church is made up of human beings, but it is more than that. It is the body of Christ. The Church is not the only place where he said he would ever be. It’s the only place where he said he would always be. And he is the reason why we belong to the Church.
We all wish we were a perfect Church. We’re not. Never were from the beginning. Won’t be until the end. But the Lord stays with us. Talk it over with him.
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