December 27, 2015: Feast of the Holy Family

Families are defined certainly by the people in them.  We have our close, blood-relation families, and also the Church, which is a family of people God has chosen to be His children.  In these close-knit communities, in the midst of our struggles, we strive to make God present to each other in the love we show to one another.  It's like Pope Francis spoke of so beautifully at the Concluding Mass of the World Meeting of Families:  We experience God and His love in those small acts of kindness.  We live in His love knowing He first loved us into His family, making us His children not by flesh and blood, but through His Spirit.

In coming to our world, Jesus Christ made Himself to be born into a family.  And by living in a family, He gives all of us an example of how to be family, namely in the love we show for one another, and, ultimately, for God, as Jesus demonstrated when He stayed behind in Jerusalem at the Temple, where His Father dwelled.  We dedicate ourselves, like Hannah dedicated Samuel, and Jesus dedicated Himself, to be in His presence forever.  And we share that presence with one another, living righteously, and living love, which carries us through to Eternal Life.

December 25, 2015: Nativity of the Lord--Christmas Day

Throughout Advent, as through the centuries before Christ's birth, the people of God heard prophecies foretelling the coming of the Lord, as the beginning of Hebrews states. It continues to say that now God has made His greatest revelation to us, in the appearance of His Son.

Jesus Christ reveals to us the glory of the Father, as He, very God, comes to dwell among us.  His coming reconciles us to God, as we are made righteous again in our relationship with God by the birth of God into our hearts.  This Manifestation of God is truly reason for rejoicing, as God has given us His greatest gift.

December 20, 2015: 4th Sunday of Advent

We have a God who works mightily to accomplish His purposes, doing so in humble circumstances.  For starters, He chose Mary to be mother of His Son, Great Shepherd of His people, who was born in Bethlehem.  And when Mary and Elizabeth, both women in humble means, meet each other, God makes His power mightily present, as John leaps for joy in the womb of Elizabeth at the presence of Mary, and her son, Jesus Christ.

It is in this Mighty Power that Christ was born, died, and rose again, and that in sharing in His dying and rising, we too experience the Resurrection and Eternal Life.  How fitting to be reminded in the prayers at Mass that this great mystery of the Incarnation that we celebrate in the Christmas Season points to the Resurrection and our Eternal Life with Him.

I noticed this is in a striking way this weekend:  I stayed after Mass to help clean up communion dishes, and as I was about to leave, I noticed almost all the lights were turned off in the church, so that it was nearly pitch dark.  I looked out toward the Advent wreath suspended above the pews, its four candles shining brightly in the darkness.  That is the power of Christ in our world, ever shining no matter how much darkness there is.  We have hope in Resurrection and Eternal Life because God came in mighty power to our world.

December 13, 2015: 3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete Sunday

On this Gaudete Sunday, at the midpoint of this Advent Season, we pause and rejoice.  We rejoice because God is truly with us.  So we are no longer afraid, but offer up our prayers, thanksgivings, and petitions to the God who fills us with His peace as only He can.  It is He who loves us, and rejoices over us greatly.  And we praise Him in kind that He is God our Savior, who is ever near to us.  Being so near compels us to live out the joy of this relationship, as we extend mercy to others, to show them that God is truly near, coming into our world, into our hearts.  In such spirit, John the Baptist compelled the people to alter their ways who asked him what they should do, and so we are challenged.

The most recent time these readings were proclaimed was the Sunday after the tragic shooting at Newtown, CT.  In the midst of that heartbreak, the liturgy proclaimed these readings to us, reminding us that our reason for joy is not fixed by what happens to us, but on the reality of who God is.  That is truly reason for joy.

I furthermore rejoice because I mark now 2 full years of writing these reflections, which I started for the occasion of Gaudete Sunday 2013.

December 8, 2015: Feast of the Immaculate Conception

We are truly filled with joy, just like Mary, because God chose her to play a special part in His plan to save His people.

By her obedience to the word of the Lord, Mary was part of the process that reversed the effects of the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

It was a new age dawning when Mary said "Yes", as the mercy of God issued forth from the fruit of her womb.  It is mercy that we ponder anew in this Jubilee Year of Mercy.

December 6, 2015: 2nd Sunday of Advent

While Gaudete Sunday, the halfway point of Advent, carrying the theme of joy, is a week away, I can't help but notice how joy permeates this weekend's readings.

God is making His presence known in our world.  The reality that He comes and wants to be in a relationship with us is truly reason for great joy, something that stirs in us a deep longing for Him.  We can be filled with the joy that filled St. Paul as he marveled at the work God was doing in the Philippians' Church.

It is joy that comes to us in circumstances of sorrow and gloom, as the Israelites experienced when they were coming back from exile to a desolated Jerusalem.  The prophet Baruch urged them to throw off their "robe of mourning and misery", instead rejoicing that God was coming to be present with them in a special way, bringing a glorious new sense of life to all the Earth, even in their own lives.