Catholic Caucus: Advent Reflections for All -- 2003

December 3, 2003, Wednesday, First Week of Advent

Miracles

First of all, what is a miracle? A miracle is an event that is real (not imagined)…can be seen…is beyond what any human being or natural power can accomplish…and is the result of a special act of God.

That’s why the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not a miracle. It fits all except one of the above criteria – it can’t be seen.

Miracles are sometimes spoken of as having been done by a particular person. God may do a miracle in response to the prayer or action of a human being (living or dead), but it is God and only God who can perform a miracle.

Second, what is the purpose of miracles?

Miracles are not arbitrary exhibitions of divine power. They are signs that summon believers to a deeper understanding of the faith. In his healings, for example, Jesus wasn’t saying, "Watch me prove to you that I am the Son of God.” Jesus was teaching that he had come to heal all creation and bring about the Kingdom of God. A miracle is a vehicle of teaching.

Jesus cautioned against focusing on the spectacular. When the crowd sought him out after the feeding of the multitude, he said: “you are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” (Jn 6:26)

[Note:The chapter and verse references for the Gospel passages on the next post cite the entire passage assigned for the Mass each day, not simply the excerpt at the beginning of the post.

Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel.” (Mt 15:29-37)

Jesus came to reshape human society and create a new order in the world – the reign God. These miraculous healings are signs of what Jesus came to accomplish.

Jesus isn’t showing off his power. Nor is he scrambling to go around and heal every sick person in the world. He is preaching through signs that show what the reign of God is like. He is showing us the future and calling us to be part of bringing it about.

Even though we can’t perform miracles, we can join in the Lord’s work through acts of kindness, forgiveness, and peace. These signs change the world (and us) for the better, and help reveal the reign of God.

Christmas is three weeks away. There is a spirit of friendship in the air that actually makes it easier to reach out to others. No one would think us strange if out of the blue we “miraculously” touched another person’s life with a simple note, a Christmas card, a phone call, a visit, a kind gift, a word asking forgiveness…a word giving forgiveness.

It is in the air, there for the asking.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

December 4, 2003, Thursday, First Week of Advent

St. Barbara’s Branch

According to legend, Barbara was the daughter of a third-century pagan name Dioscorus. She was very beautiful and to protect her from harm, he imprisoned her in a tower whenever he was away.

Despite her father’s overprotectiveness, Barbara discovered the Christian faith and decided to convert.

When Dioscorus learned that his daughter had become a Christian, he flew into a rage and ordered that she be tortured and beheaded.

In the days before her execution, imprisoned in the tower, Barbara found a dried-up cherry tree branch in her cell. She began to moisten it daily with a few drops from her ration of water and, just before her execution; the branch bloomed with beautiful cherry blossoms.

*****

Until the post-Vatican II reform of the liturgical calendar, today was the feast of St. Barbara.

*****

“St. Barbara’s Day” is celebrated in many German-speaking countries. A small cherry branch is placed in water and kept in a warm room. If all goes well, the branch blooms on Christmas day, and this is considered a good sign for the future.

Jesus said, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse. It had been set solidly on rock.” (Mt 7:21, 24-27)

Jesus says that if we take to heart his words and make them the basis of our actions, our lives are built on a rock-solid foundation

That raises some questions. First have I built a set of convictions that I try to live by? (These would be comparable to the house in the parable above.) Or, do I more or less operate on a vague desire to do right?

If I do have convictions, then another question is this: What are they based on? The “rock” of God’s word? Or the shifting sands of what seems generally acceptable in our society?

When the rain and floods and winds come into my life – and they do – I need solid footings. As a disciples of the Lord, I commit myself to more that following the Gospel whenever possible and/or convenient.

Just for starters…Do I forgive when I feel like it, or do I have a conviction based on the “solid rock” of what Jesus taught about forgiveness? Or prayer. Do I pray “when I get a chance,” or do I have a rock-solid pattern of prayer?

I need to spend some time taking stock of the foundations on which I have built my life.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

December 5, 2003, Friday, First Week of Advent

Animals at the Birth of Jesus

Christmas cribs usually include various animals. This because Luke’s account say that “they laid him in a manger” because there was no room for them in the inn. This suggests that Jesus was born in a place where animals were kept thus the popular reference to a “stable”. In the Gospel text, however, there is no mention of animals.

· The Gospel does mention shepherds, and that is undoubtedly why sheep are frequently in nativity scenes.

· Camels are often included because they were popularly associated with the Magi.

· An ox and a donkey are popular too. Artists included them because of the (unrelated) passage in Isaiah 1:3 which has God saying: “An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master’s manger; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”] Legends tell of how the ox and donkey breathed on the infant Jesus to warm him on a winter’s night.]

Even a lion is sometimes included, along with other animals, because of another passage from Isaiah: “Then the wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion will feed together, with a little child to tend them.”

Other animals placed in various nativity scenes or legends include the lizard, leopard, goat, peacock, owl, stork, and badger.

As Jesus passed on, two blind men followed him crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!” When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” (Mt 9:27-31)

Each time we read a passage about a miracle, we need to remind ourselves that Jesus performed miracles, not to prove something, but to teach something.

In curing these two blind men, Jesus is teaching us that we aren’t going to “see” the deeper truths of human life and the world around us unless we too let him open our eyes. He is very glad to do this…if we only let him.

Christmas is 20 days away. We’re trying to widen, deepen our awareness of who Jesus is. We’re also trying to become more aware of his presence all around us.

Take a moment now to look around you (if there’s a window, look outside too.) Ask the Lord to help you see everything with the eyes of faith.

How do I do that?

I simply see whatever I see as God’s creation. I realize that Jesus became part of this creation and is still part of it.

It’s a different world. Try it.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

December 6, 2003, Saturday, First Week of Advent

Feast of St. Nicholas

Since the fifth century the feast of St. Nicholas has been celebrated on this date. In recent centuries, this beloved saint who gave gifts to the poor has “evolved: into Santa Claus.

*****

Perhaps the best known portrait of Santa is the one drawn by Thomas Nast who, in the latter part of the 19th century was a political cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly. (He is also the artist who created the Democratic donkey, the Republican elephant, and Uncle Sam.)

In 1863, President Lincoln asked Nast to draw a picture of Santa in the midst of the Union troops (the purpose being to demoralize the Confederate Army). Nast used the images of Clement Moore’s “The Night Before Christmas: to create the image of Santa best known today.

*****

Thomas Nast was extremely anti-Catholic, with the Irish immigrants and the Vatican as favorite targets in some of his cartoons. This did not bode well with his readers, and he left Harper’s Weekly in 1886, after a disagreement with the owners.

Thomas Nast died December 7, 1902.

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Mt 9:35-10:1, 6-8)

During these 25 days of Advent 2003, we’re trying to draw closer to the Lord.

Our preference might be to have a biography, even a picture of Jesus, but the Gospel writers don’t give us that kind of information. Except for the story of his birth in Matthew and Luke, they tell us only about his last years.

What was he like – tall, short, thin, heavy? Did he laugh much? Did he have a roundish face of a square jaw? Was there a twinkle in his eye or a more stern look? Did he come off as formal or folksy?

The evangelists don’t get into this. They want us to know who Jesus is, not what he looked like.

There is, however, one trait they stress: He was compassionate. On eight different occasions he is described as having pity -- and the Greek word used is particularly strong. On two occasions they note that he wept – at the death of his friend, Lazarus, and also over the city of Jerusalem.

The “Word became flesh” -- truly one of us. It helps to keep that in mind when spending some quiet time with him.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

December 7, 2003, Sunday, Second Week of Advent

Feast of St. Ambrose

Ambrose was governor of a region in northern Italy, with his headquarters in Milan. When the bishop of Milan died in 374, the people had a hard time electing a replacement (that’s how they chose bishops back then) because of angry factions

Worried about civil disorder, Ambrose went to the basilica and told the wrangling parties to conduct themselves peacefully. Someone shouted, “Ambrose for bishop!” and the crowd picked up the refrain. Ambrose fled, but they tracked him down and insisted that he become their bishop.

There was one problem. Actually, two problems. First of all, he wasn’t a priest. Second, he wasn’t even a baptized Christian. In the space of a week, Ambrose was baptized, confirmed, ordained a priest, and ordained a bishop

Ambrose began an intensive study of Scripture, sold his property, lived an ascetic life, reached out to the poor, and immersed himself in the pastoral care of his people. He turned out to be a holy bishop, and a major leader in the Church. When he died 23 years later, the people acclaimed him as a saint.

*****

There was another young man in Milan at the same time who, as Ambrose had been, was a non-Christian pursuing a civil service career. Ambrose instructed him and received him into the Church. This new convert because a great theologian, a bishop and a saint. His name was Augustine.

(On Sundays we’ll look at some of the key figures in Matthew and Luke’s accounts of the birth of Christ.)

Angels play a significant role in the Christmas story of both Matthew and Luke.

Belief in angels is rooted in Jewish tradition, which regarded angels as manifestations of God’s presence. (The word “angel" is a Greek translation of a Hebrew word meaning “messenger.”)

Jewish belief in angels went beyond the Scriptures and spoke of choirs or groups of angels (a concept not found in Scripture) and names of angels. In Scripture only three names are given – Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.

The Christian tradition has retained a strong belief in angels. The New Testament has over twice as many references to angels as the Old Testament. However, in the Gospels, angels appear and speak only in the Infancy Narrative and at the empty tomb.

The Church has made few pronouncements about angels. It teaches that angels are created beings (not mini gods)…that they are personal (not simply “forces”)…and that they don't have a material body (though when necessary, they can appear in a human form).

People find comfort in created beings who can use their power to help them, and although the Church has no official teaching about them, in thinking about “guardian angels" who watch their every step.

December 8, 2003, Monday, Second Week of Advent

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception, often mistakenly thought to refer to the way Mary was conceived, or to the way she conceived Jesus in her womb.

The phrase “immaculate conception” means that what a person receives at Baptism, Mary received at her conception. From the first moment of her conception, she was free from sin – immaculate.

This feast was celebrated in England as early as the 12th century, and in the 18th century was made a feast of the whole Church. In 1846, the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore made this the patronal feast of the Church in the United States. In 1854, after consultation with the bishops of the world and with theologians, Pope Pius IX declared the Immaculate Conception to be a doctrine of the Church.

Reading Scripture is not simply information, it is formation – God is shaping our thoughts and feelings through these words. Read the Gospel text in the next post slowly.

Some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in from of Jesus. When he saw their faith he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.” (Lk 5:17-26)

You know the rest of the story. The scribes and Pharisees think that, when Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.” he is committing blasphemy. After all, only God can forgive sins.

Jesus ask them, “Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven.” Or to say, “Rise and walk?”

Think about it. Which is easier? Don’t answer too quickly.

It’s easier to say ”your sins are forgiven,” because no one can tell if they are forgiven. The harder thing to say is, “Rise and walk,” because the result (or lack of result) is easily seen.

So, as a sign that he “has power on earth to forgive sins,” Jesus says to the paralytic: “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”

Which is exactly what the (former) paralytic does. Jesus can forgive sins. Case Closed.

But will he forgive my sins?

Ask him.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

December 9, 2003, Tuesday, Second Week of Advent

Can ‘others’ be saved?

God is showing some people around heaven. They walk by one area with a high wall around it. God tells them to be very quiet as they walk by. One person asks why and God says, “Because that’s where the Catholics are, and they think they’re the only ones here.”

The Second Vatican Council put that caricature to rest in paragraphs 16 and 17 of the Constitution of the Church.

· The Council speaks first of Christians of other faiths and says that “they are joined to us in the Holy Spirit, for to them also He give His gifts and graces.

· The Council then turns to those who are not Christian. It speaks first of the Jewish people and says, “This people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts he makes.”

· The Constitution then speaks of Muslims and says that along with us they “adore the one and merciful God.”

· The text goes on to speak of “those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God.”

· Finally, “Nor does divine Providence deny the help necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God, but who strive to live a good life.

We’re approaching the halfway mark of Advent. It would be a good time to go back and look at my Advent plans at the beginning of these Reflections.

Jesus said to his disciples, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the 99 in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it…he rejoices more over it than over the 99 that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost? (Mt 18:12-14)

Luke’s version of this parable is better known because it is read on Sundays. We call it the “parable of the lost sheep.”

But Matthew uses the word “stray” instead of “lost” (“stray” appears three times in this passage). Getting “lost” often means accidentally losing the way. To “stray” can imply deliberately roving from the course we know is right.

When we sin, we probably see ourselves more in the “stray” category – deliberately leaving the right path. We can identify with the words ascribed to St. Paul:

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience.” (1 Tim 1:15-16)

We have to be sure to take in the whole first sentence of that quote: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

The Lord doesn’t say to a sinner, “Why did you stray?” He simply says, “I came into this world for you.”

Our celebration of Christmas isn’t simply that Christ came into the world. It’s that he came into the world…for sinners.

For me.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

December 10, 2003, Wednesday, Second Week of Advent

Alfred Nobel

The Swedish chemist Alfred Bernhard Nobel died on this date in 1896. He left the bulk of his fortune in trust to establish what has become one of the most highly regarded international awards – the Nobel prizes. For the past 102 years, the prizes have been awarded on December 10.

Nobel developed a factory in Sweden for the production of a liquid explosive – nitroglycerin. In 1864 the factory blew up, killing his youngest brother and four others. The Swedish government forbade him to rebuild the factory.

In 1867, working on a barge in the middle of a lake, Nobel discovered a way to combine nitroglycerin with other substances so that it could be used in non-liquid form. This was much safer and more effective. He called it “dynamite.”

Nobel developed other explosives and amassed an immense fortune. Essentially a pacifist, he hoped the destructive powers of his inventions would bring an end to war.

*****

The word “dynamite” is from the Greek dynamis which means “power.” It is the same Greek word regularly used in the Gospels for the “powerful acts” of Jesus, translated “miracles” in English

***** Among those who have received the Nobel Peace Prize are Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1979), Polish Solidarity leader, Lech Walesa (1983), and Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo of East Timor (1996)

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Mt 11:28-30)

This is one of the most loved of all Gospel passages.

A yoke is a curved piece of timber that links two draft animals, one to the other. The Jewish people used the yoke image for the Mosaic Law. Linked to the Law, one traveled right paths.

Jesus takes that image and applies it to himself. ”Come to me…Take my yoke upon you…

Then he says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.” And he means it.

We tend to have the general impression that, while it is a fine thing to be a disciple of the Lord, it is a long, burdensome road we have to walk.

But the Lord says something quite different: “You will find rest for yourselves…my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

It is my yoke that is heavy, not the Lord’s. We all have our own burdens. It may be my job, family struggles, my terrible self-image, the mess I’m in, the weight of past sins…Jesus knows all about me, and he says, “ Come to me…learn from me…and I will give you rest.”

And he will.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

December 11, 2003, Thursday, Second Week of Advent

’High Flight’

”Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings…”

John Gillespie Magee was born in 1922 in Shanghai. His father was a U. S. citizen and his mother was British. They were serving as missionaries in China.

In 1939, John won a scholarship to Yale. However, after completing his freshman year there, he wanted to do his part to resist the Nazi threat. In 1940, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, was trained as a pilot, and in 1941 was sent for combat duty in England.

During a flight one day in late summer, he scribbled “High Flight” on the back of an envelope, and later sent a copy to his parents.

On December 11, 1941, his Spitfire collided with another plane and the 19-year-old pilot crashed to his death.

“And while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.”

Jesus said, “Among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Mt 11:11-15)

Jesus talks about John the Baptist. But John isn’t there to hear him because at this moment he is in Herod’s prison.

John’s crime was to criticize Herod for marrying his brother’s wife. John will pay the full price for this when, late one night, an executioner is sent from Herod’s birthday banquet to cut off John’s head.

There had been many prophets in Israel’s history. Jesus says that John is the greatest of all because he was privileged to see the fulfillment of what the prophets had proclaimed – the Kingdom of God present in a new way in Jesus.

We live in the time after Jesus – the final stages of God’s plan. It may be a long stage (perhaps millions of years), but it is the final stage. We need to remind ourselves of how different creation is because Jesus is now part of it.

All that remains is for the human race gradually to live the way we were created to live – in peace, love, and forgiveness. That’s how the kingdom of God comes about. (That’s also why it might take a few million years.)

So, because of the coming of Christ, the reign of God is present in a new way, and I am to help make it more present. That has some implications for the way I live my life today. Like what?

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

December 12, 2003, Friday, Second Week of Advent

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

On December 9, 1511 (10 years after the Spanish conquest), Mary appeared to Juan Diego (a native Aztec recently canonized by Pope John Paul II) along a country trail near present-day Mexico City. The striking thing was that Mary’s features and clothing were Aztec, and she spoke to him in that language. Mary instructed Juan to tell the bishop to build a church on that site to replace a pagan shrine.

Juan’s efforts to convince the bishop failed. Finally, in her third appearance to Juan, Mary told him to take nearby roses (unusual at that time of year) as a sign. Juan put some in his cloak. When he came to the bishop and unfolded the cloak, imprinted on it was the painting of Mary that has become famous.

Juan Diego’s cloak now hangs in the huge church of Our Lady of Guadalupe built on that site. After nearly 500 years, the picture on the cloak shows no sign of deterioration, and artist have been unable to duplicate the combination of materials used in the paint.

***

The feast of St. Juan Diego is celebrated on Dec. 9.

Jesus said, “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”” (Mt 11:16-19)

The homespun parable of the little children playing in the marketplace describes two groups of youngsters who can’t agree on whether to “play wedding” or “play funeral.”

For centuries, scholars have tried to clarify its exact meaning and application, but parables are sometimes hard to nail down that way.

Many would apply it in this way: The group of children inviting the others to play wedding or funeral represent John and Jesus. The group of children who pout and refuse to join in represent the people who wouldn’t accept either John’s ascetic style or Jesus’ joyful style. These people refuse to be satisfied with either style because they’ve made up their mind not to accept John or Jesus.

One could make an analogous application to parish life today. To be a disciple of the Lord means being part of a group. Always did. Always will.

Being part of a group requires a certain amount of flexibility, adaptability. The bond among parishioners is not ultimately ethnicity, political preference, economic status, or like-mindedness. It is the Lord.

We’ve probably all got something to learn from the homey parable of Jesus.

Spend some quiet time with the Lord.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.