Let there be peace....

As we end the year, Henri Nouwen imagines a world marked by peace


So much of our energy, time, and money goes into maintaining distance from one another. Many if not most of the resources of the world are used to defend ourselves against one another, to maintain or increase our power, and to safeguard our own privileged position.

Imagine all that effort being put in the service of peace and reconciliation! Would there be any poverty? Would there be crimes and wars? Just imagine that there was no longer fear among people, no longer rivalry, hostility, bitterness, or revenge. Just imagine all the people on this planet holding hands and forming one large circle of love. We can say, "I can't imagine." But God says, "That's what I imagine, a whole world not only created but also living in my image.

-taken from
Bread for the Journey

Feast of the Holy Family

Jesus was human in every way that we are. Like each of us, he needed food to nourish his body. He needed a good night's sleep for his work as a carpenter. He needed tunics to clothe his body and a roof to cover his head. Like all human beings, Jesus sought out other people to be his friends. He knew the joy of playing games with other boys and felt the pain of being left out or ridiculed.

And, like all of us, Jesus needed a family.

God chose Mary and Joseph to be Jesus' mother and father. He gave them the responsibility of teaching Jesus how to speak, how to read the Bible and how to pray. At Joseph's side, he learned the carpenter's trade and how to be a man.

Though the gospels don't tell us anything about them, we can imagine that Jesus had a larger family of grandparents who spoiled him and cousins who came over to play with him. On holidays, we can imagine Jesus, Mary and Joseph getting together with their family to eat, share stories and play games.

Under the care and supervision of this family, Jesus was able to grow in wisdom, strength and grace as Saint Luke tells us in the gospel.

Except that their son happened to be the Son of God, the Holy Family of Nazareth was just like any other family. Like all families, the Holy Family of Nazareth faced many trials and difficulties. Despite traditional images of them, they did not always lead a tranquil life. Jesus was born homeless and into poverty. Shortly after his birth, they had to flee their country under the threat of execution to live as refugees in Egypt. It was a family born into tremendous exterior pressures.

Families today know pressures as well. For economic reasons, both parents frequently have to work outside of the home making meals together on a regular basis difficult. The price of real estate makes longer commutes necessary further limiting time with the family. And those are just some of the pressures on traditional, two parent families. We haven't mentioned single family homes where these pressures are doubled. And then there are "blended" families where step-parents and step-children are constantly testing the boundaries of their relationship adding to the tension within the home.

The status of the family today causes a lot of hand wringing, especially in the Church. There are fewer and fewer traditional families. We are right as Christians and as good citizens to promote the welfare of the traditional, two parent family. Children born in such families are no doubt better off economically and psychologically. The family is the cornerstone of the Church and of society. Our world is only as strong as the families which make it up. At the same time, we must recognize that in today's society when bodies mature more rapidly and adolescence lasts well into the 20's, people are going to make mistakes resulting in out-of-wedlock births and divorce.

A wise spiritual director once said that God is not found in the "ideal", but in the "real". The traditional family is an important ideal. However, God is not found in ideal families or in ideal people, but in real families and in real people. As painful as our past may have been and as much as we may wish we could go back and fix our mistakes, God doesn't give us the option of turning back the clock. God is spending His grace on us in our real lives and in our real families as we find ourselves today. God's grace happens in families that are "blended" and those that need to be mended.

Once we realize that families, as long as they are made of human beings, can never be perfect, then it has important implications for our lives as individuals and as a Church.

First, as individuals each of us can look back on our lives and find fault with our parents. It could be that they were never around or that they were never supportive. It could be that they were abusive in some way. Those scars can stay with us a long time. We know how resentments and grudges can ruin families. Can each of us today bring our hearts before the Lord and ask for the grace to forgive our parents or any other family member who ever hurt us? Can we leave our resentments at the foot of the altar and ask God to relieve us of that burden? Can we recognize that our parents were probably doing the best they could and let go of the anger we have been shouldering all these years? Once we are able to do that, then we can live together in "heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" as Saint Paul calls us to.

Secondly, for us as a parish, we have to recognize the pressures that families face and ask ourselves, how can we be a more family-friendly community? Are the times we schedule for catechism and worship burdensome to families? In our worship and our hospitality, are we sensitive to the different types of families in our parish and careful not to stigmatize anyone, especially children? What can we as a parish community do to support families with all the challenges they face?

Families are never perfect, even when they are the ideal, traditional family. They are all marked by joy and pain, mistakes and good choices. The Holy Family - Jesus, Mary and Joseph - knew the pressures of family life. The difference was that they experienced God's presence even in those difficulties. Even with all the challenges of daily life in today's society, we can experience God's presence with us and teach our children to recognize Him as well. Then we have fulfilled our mission as a family, no matter what our family may look like.

Holy Families = Safe Children

Usually on December 28 the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Innocents when Herod, discovering that he had been deceived by the Magi, orders that all boys two years old and younger in the city of Bethlehem be slaughtered to ensure that the newborn King of the Jews will never be a threat to his dynasty.

However, since this day falls on a Sunday, we celebrate instead the Feast of the Holy Family. Rather than commemorate the slaughter of innocents, we reflect on the hidden years Jesus enjoyed as he grew in wisdom and strength with Mary and Joseph in Nazareth. And we reflect on the calling of the family to be a "nest" where life is welcomed and nurtured and where children, under the watchful care of their parents, can themselves grow in wisdom and strength.

I think there is a lesson for us in the fact that the Feast of the Holy Family displaces the Feast of the Holy Innocents this year. Simply put, holy families prevent the slaughter of the innocent. The best way to protect children and to ensure that they are not abused or neglected is to strengthen families. There is no doubt that children who are born to stable families do better in every way.

In his Christmas homily this year, Pope Benedict XVI made a special point of calling the world's attention to the suffering of children and the responsibility of Christians to address it. Boston's archdiocesan newspaper, the Pilot, offered a helpful summary of his words:

'Let us think of those street children who do not have the blessing of a family home, of those children who are brutally exploited as soldiers and made instruments of violence, instead of messengers of reconciliation and peace,' he said.

'Let us think of those children who are victims of the industry of pornography and every other appalling form of abuse and thus are traumatized in the depths of their soul,' he said.

He said the infant Jesus 'summons us once again to do everything in our power to put an end to the suffering of these children. The world will change for the better only when people accept Jesus and experience a change of heart,' he said.

Everyday, roughly 3000 children are lost to abortion in the United States and 30,000 to poverty and disease around the world. The only hope of putting an end to such carnage is to displace this slaughter of innocents with holy families.

Angels We Have Heard on High

Angels play an important role in the Christmas story. It is an angel who announces to Zechariah in the temple that his wife is to have a son who will become John the Baptist. The angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will be the mother of Jesus the Christ. An angel visits Joseph in a dream to encourage him to take Mary as his wife and later warns him to flee to Egypt to escape Herod's murderous designs on the child. An angel likewise warns the Magi in a dream to not let Herod know where he can find the child. Finally, a choir of angels announces the good news of Jesus' birth to nearby shepherds.

Over the past month, an angel played a role in the healing of a teenage girl in Charlotte, North Carolina. Chelsea Banton has battled illnesses since her premature birth in 1983. Most recently, she had been suffering from pneumonia in both lungs after fighting off infections and a collapsed lung. She had made some progress and was breathing on her own when she began experiencing panic attacks which left her crying throughout much of the night. It had gotten to the point that the family was considering taking her off the ventilator and letting her go. Her family and friends gathered for prayer asking God to guide them in making the right decision for the young girl.

Then, a nurse noticed that the security camera had picked up what she described as an angel of light (That must be one heck of a security system!) in the hallway in front of Chelsea's room. The nurse called the mother over, and she was able to get a picture of it on her digital camera. From then on, young Chelsea made a recovery which can only be deemed miraculous.

The story goes on:

Chelsea was removed from intensive care on Nov. 14 and went home three days later.

Her mother believes it was a miracle – attended by a very real angel bathed in light at the door to the pediatric intensive care unit.

“I believe that more people have changed since this happened. I know I have. I look at things differently than I used to – because I know God is in control.”

On Christmas Day, Chelsea will turn 15 – another miracle considering all of the medical trials she's faced, according to her mother.

“I'm learning,” Colleen Banton said, “that every day she's alive is a miracle.”

The rest of the story can be read at http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/629997.html?RSS=breaking

Can we doubt that angels continue their ministry among us?

And what a beautiful witness to the value of every human life. While 53 perfectly healthy children have been abandoned in Nevada since that state instituted a safe haven law, this mother cherished the life of her daughter who will need constant care throughout her life. She doesn't see the life of her daughter, no matter how difficult, to be a burden but a gift. What better Christmas story could we tell?

The Word is Made Flesh

God created the world out of nothing through the power of his word. He spoke and it came to be. He said, "Let there be light", and there was light. He caused the mountains to rise up from the sea. He filled the sea with fish and the land with animals. Finally, by the power of his word, he created man and woman to be the crowning achievement of his great work. He created in us hearts to hear his word and mouths to proclaim it.

When he called Israel out from among the nations to be a people peculiarly his own, he sent them prophets to proclaim his word among them. Such was the prophet Isaiah who speaks to us in today's first reading. He proclaimed to the people of Israel - and to us today - the good news of peace and salvation from God. Through the prophets, God promised Israel a mighty savior who would forgive them their sins and lead them in the ways of peace. Not only would this great Messiah lead Israel to freedom, but all the nations would witness the great power of God at work through this Savior.

When Isaiah first spoke these words, it was unclear what his meaning was. Who would this great king be? How would he lead Israel to freedom and peace? We who gather here this morning know exactly what Isaiah meant. We are celebrating this great mystery today. The boy born this day to Mary and Joseph fulfills all the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament. Jesus is the Savior of the World.

In the second reading from the letter to the Hebrews we read: "In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son..." God who so powerfully created the world by his word, and then called the nation of Israel into being by his word, now speaks one last time in the person of Jesus. Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word made Flesh dwelling among us.

What does the birth of Jesus tells us about this mighty God?

Very simply, God wants us to know him. He sent Jesus, a man like us, so that we could hear from his very mouth how much he loves us and how he longs for our friendship. Jesus is Truth and Love. Whoever hears him, hears the Father. Whoever sees him, sees the Father. We do not need to look anywhere else to find God but in the person of Jesus.

When Pope John Paul II made his first trip to the United States, he preached a beautiful homily to the rain-soaked crowds who had gathered in the Boston Common. In short, he said that all those who want to know the truth should turn to Jesus. He is the Truth. All those who seek meaning in their lives should turn to Jesus. He is the source of all meaning. All those who seek love should turn to Jesus. He is the love of God made flesh among us. These words of the pope make clear to us the meaning of Christmas: Jesus is born to bring God into our world and into our lives.

And so, this child born today is a lifeline to all those who are lost and don't know how to find their way. This child is God's hand stretched out to all those who looked for success, happiness and fulfillment in what the world offers, but couldn't find it. Jesus is God's peace extended to all those who have become bitter or enraged by life's unfairness. This child is hope born to those who have grown weary and have given up on ever finding meaning and purpose in their lives.

Whatever it is our hearts ache for - whether it be love, peace, truth or meaning - all of it can be found in the person of Jesus.

This has been a very difficult year for most of us. Many people are out of work. We feel poorer and less secure these days. If anything, we have learned that the security and happiness money promises to give us is an illusion. The future can look dark. However, in the darkness of these days, hope is born for us. If Jesus is our light, we can never lose our way, and the darkness of despair can never totally consume us. Jesus is the Light of the World.

For those of us who have already welcomed this child into our hearts and made him the center of our lives, we should rejoice! We have come to know the meaning and purpose of our lives. We know the truth and are given the power to live in the love of God. It is now up to us not only to celebrate it but to share it with everyone we meet. This light cannot remain hidden. We must bring it into our homes, into our places of work and into our classrooms.

For those of us who are still searching, God is offering us another opportunity to welcome him into our lives. God never grows tired of stretching his hand out to us when we are lost or confused. Whatever it is that we are struggling with, whatever it is that is keeping us from experiencing the fullness of joy, God has the answer for it. We need only turn to the baby born this day, take him into our arms and promise to love him. When the first step of our searching becomes love rather than doubt, then we are back on the path to truth. When love rather than knowledge is our driving force, then everything suddenly becomes a little clearer.

God wants to move in with us. He wants to be in our lives. Like any baby, he simply wants our love and attention. Who would deny a baby affection and care? Who wouldn't want to share their homes and their lives with a newborn child?

Just such a child is born for us today. He is Jesus!

Silent Night, Holy Night

It would have been a night very much like tonight - dark, cold and quiet.

A child was born. But he had no home. There was no place for him to stay. So his mother and father took shelter in a stable among cows, donkeys and lambs.

No doctors or nurses attended him. There were no sterile instruments to cut his umbilical cord. No anesthetics to soothe Mary's labor pains. No bottles of formula to fill his empty belly. We can only imagine Joseph's concern as he watched on, doing what he could to ease Mary's discomfort. We can only imagine their anxiety as they delivered alone their first-born son, the only Son of God, our brother.

However, God would not allow the appearance of his Son on earth to go unnoticed, without anyone to worship him. Certainly Joseph and Mary sat in awe as they held God made flesh in their arms. But just as he has gathered us here in the middle of the night, God sent angels to nearby shepherds watching their flocks at night. They were alone keeping watch when the angels announced to them tidings of great joy. At first, the appearance of the angels and their strange message gripped them with fear. Then, as the news began to sink in that they were the first to learn of the birth of their Savior, they made haste to find the place where he was staying.

Where were they to find the newborn King of the Jews? The angels gave them two clues. First, he was to be found in David's city, Bethlehem. Second, he would be lying in a manger.

David was the storied king of Israel's past. He was also born in Bethlehem. Jesus would inherit David's throne as prophesied by Isaiah to establish a rule which would never end.

The word, "Bethlehem", means "house of bread". This child would not only rule over his people, but he would be their food. He would meet the deep pang of every human heart - friendship with God. For this reason, his resting place was a manger, where straw and hay are placed for the beasts of the stable to feed on. Just so, Jesus would be food for the lowliest among us.

It is also significant that our Almighty God appears among us as a baby. When we hold a baby in our arms, something happens to us. We are moved by the child's innocence, warmth and beauty. We want nothing else but to love and protect the baby. In Jesus, God comes among us as one who is small, vulnerable and beautiful asking nothing else than that we love him. All the demands of the Christian life and all the teachings of the Church have no other purpose than to show us how to love the God who is born to us in a manger.

We gather here at this late hour to hear the glad tidings pronounced to us once again: "A child is born to us; a son is given to us!" We receive the news with joy for it is truly good news of a God who lives among us. But where are we to find such a God this evening? He is not where we would expect. He is with the homeless woman protecting herself from the cold with only a cardboard box. He is with the child who is too poor to have presents. He is with the single mother who has to leave her children with others as she works third shift. He is with the elderly man who has no other friend tonight except the television. Jesus was born as just such an outcast and outsider.

When we leave this church tonight, we will be different because Christ is born anew in our hearts. We cannot meet Jesus, we cannot take him into our arms, and fail to be changed by him. Let us, then, not only worship him there in the stable, but pick him up and take him with us into the dark places of the world. Let us not only feed ourselves with the bread of life but take food to others. The Savior of the world was born not to leave the world as he found it but to transform it through love.

You Can Leave Your Coat On

I have never seen a coat check at a Catholic Church. Nor have I ever been to a church where people take off their coats for Mass. I don't think this is incidental. Rather, I think it says alot about how we as Catholics understand what it is that we are doing when we celebrate the Eucharist. It is not primarily a social event. We are not there to relax and "stay awhile." Rather we are meant to witness something great that God intends to do in our midst , and then we are to go straight out to proclaim it to others. We are not meant to linger as the apostles did when Jesus ascended to heaven and the angel had to snap them out of their trance and remind them to get back to Jerusalem to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Nor are we meant to set up tents as Peter wanted to do at Jesus' transfiguration because "it is good for us to be here." Rather we are to heed the instructions God gave Moses regarding the celebration of the passover: "You are to eat with your staff in your hand and your bags packed like men about to make a journey." The Mass is a stop along the way. It is like pulling into a roadside service center where we grab something to eat, use the restroom, fill up the car and head back out onto the highway.

Interestingly enough, the word "Mass" is taken from the Latin ending of the liturgy "Ita missa est" which we translate in English as "The Mass has ended, go in peace." The deacon or priest in essence says, "The Mass has ended, go!" "Missa" is related to the word "mission". We are sent forth from Mass to proclaim the Good News to everyone we meet. So we keep our coats on because we'll be back out on the road soon to love and serve the Lord!

Fourth Sunday of Advent

"The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth..."

Along with Michael and Raphael, Gabriel is one of the great archangels serving the throne of God. His name means, "God is mighty", and he is called upon to make it clear that God is about to perform a "mission impossible" in someone's life.

He first makes his appearance in the Old Testament book of the prophet Daniel. Daniel has just had a vision of a ram and a goat, and Gabriel is sent to interpret it for him. The horrifying vision foretells the rise of a great political power which will wreak devastation throughout the world. Gabriel tells Daniel that eventually this great political power will be defeated but "not by human power". That is, the hand of God will work in a mighty way to save his people from the tyrant. Though it would seem impossible that Israel, a country which at the time was in exile, could defend itself against such a mighty power, Gabriel arrives on the scene to announce that all things are possible with God.

In today's gospel reading, Gabriel now appears to Mary to declare to her that God has chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah. She is startled, and cannot comprehend at first the meaning of the angel's greeting and message. As the angel reveals God's plan to her, it becomes evident that there's a hitch. How can she become pregnant if she is a virgin? Gabriel explains to her that it will be by the power of the Holy Spirit that she is to conceive. And so, the child will not be the son of a human father but of God himself. Gabriel ends his message with these words: "...for nothing will be impossible for God." God sends Gabriel to announce to Mary that he is about to do the impossible in her life.

The Scriptures are full of stories of those whom God chooses to do the impossible. In the first reading, God tells David that his dynasty will be without end. David had been a simple shepherd boy. Alone, David could never have expected to be anything more than that. Yet, called and empowered by God, he became king of his people, and he is remembered forever because from his line Jesus, the Messiah was born. God did the impossible in the life of King David.

The twelve apostles chosen by Jesus to carry on his message were also simple fisherman, tax collectors and political idealists. By themselves they didn't amount to much. Yet God used them to spread the message of the gospel to all the nations. It wasn't because of a good business plan or effective marketing strategy that we still remember them two-thousand years later. It was because of the work of the Holy Spirit who emboldened them to witness to Jesus' love even in the face of persecution and death. The message of Jesus has reached us here in this place so many centuries later because God did the impossible in the lives of twelve simple men who said "yes" and followed Jesus.

God is great. It is the nature of God to work wonders. When we say "yes" to God, the impossible happens.

As we look in our own lives, what wonders do we want God to perform? Are there people in our lives struggling with addiction? Do we have children who have drifted away from the Church and no longer believe? Are we struggling in our marriages or other relationships? Has the ecomony placed a strain on our jobs? If we entrust all those cares to the Lord, we can expect him to do a miracle.

As a parish community, what do we want to achieve? Do we want to reach out to more young people? Do we want to bring back to Church those who have stopped coming? Do we want to make our catechism classes more compelling and our worship more joyful? What is holding us back?

We are rational and practical people. But, too often, we settle for the merely possible when God wants to do the impossible. Sometimes we approach God with a false humility, thinking that it would be arrogant or unreasonable of us to ask too much of him. But God loves us as his children and will spare nothing to bring us closer to him. There is nothing that we could ever ask him that would be impossible for him to do. All things are possible with God.

We are here today because God did the impossible in the life of Mary. We are here today because God did the impossible by becoming man in the person of Jesus Christ. And God will do the impossible before our very eyes turning simple bread and water into the very body and blood of Jesus to nourish and strengthen us. To unleash this mighty power of God, all Mary did was tell Gabriel, "Yes, let it be done to me as you say". To witness the impossible in our lives all we have to do as we receive the bread of angels is tell Jesus, "Yes, let your will be done in me as you say."

Dear Camille...R.S.V.P.

Several readers have asked me whether Camille Paglia ever responded to the email I sent her on "gay marriage" (see December 10 post). Well, not directly, but she does address her views in her most recent Salon column.

I may be an atheist, but I respect religion and certainly find it far more philosophically expansive and culturally sustaining than the me-me-me sense of foot-stamping entitlement projected by too many gay activists in the unlamented past. My position has always been (as in "No Law in the Arena" in my 1994 book, "Vamps & Tramps") that government should get out of the marriage business. Marriage is a religious concept that should be defined and administered only by churches. The government, a secular entity, must institute and guarantee civil unions, open to both straight and gay couples and conferring full legal rights and benefits. Liberal heterosexuals who profess support for gay rights should be urged to publicly shun marriage and join gays in the civil union movement.

In their displeasure at the California vote, gay activists have fomented animosity among African-Americans who voted for Proposition 8 and who reject any equivalence between racism and homophobia. Do gays really want to split the Democratic coalition? I completely agree with a hard-hitting piece by the British gay activist Mark Simpson (which was forwarded to me by Glenn Belverio), "Let's Be Civil: Marriage Isn't the End of the Rainbow." Simpson, who has been called "a skinhead Oscar Wilde," is famous among other things for a riveting 2002 Salon article that put the term "metrosexual" into world circulation. I appreciate Simpson's candor about how marriage is a very poor fit with the actual open lifestyle of so many gay men, which is far more radical. Marriage may be desirable for some gay men and women, but at what cost? Activists should have focused instead on removing all impediments to equality in civil unions -- such as the unjust denial of Social Security benefits to the surviving partner in gay relationships.

First Snowfall

Two days before winter's official start, the first snowstorm of the season has struck leaving everyone scrambling for milk and bread. The blizzard conditions will leave us under at least eight inches of snow by late evening. Everything from school to work to church services have been cancelled. Even the "regularly scheduled programming" has been interrupted to bring the latest weather report, the results of the Doppler radar and reporters braving the wind and the cold to remind us just how smart we are to have stayed home. Let's face it, the weather is the only thing keeping local news stations in business just as the obituaries keep the presses rolling at the Fall River Herald News and the Taunton Daily Gazette. It's good that storms like these come around to interrupt our routine and remind us just how insignificant those thousand tasks we were planning to tackle really are.

A Sun Which Will Not Set

The Advent-Christmas season is a festival of light. From the Advent wreath to the lights of the Christmas tree, light is a central theme of the season. This is in keeping with the Scriptures which proclaim Jesus to be the light of the world. At the birth of John the Baptist, Zechariah, his father, prophesies that "the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death" (Lk.1: 78-79). The magi would follow the light of a star announcing the birth of the King of the Jews (Mt.2: 1-12). And, the righteous man, Simeon, upon seeing Jesus presented in the temple calls him: "a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel" (Lk.2:32). Jesus' birth is the dawning of a new light on earth, a light which rolls back the long night of sin, death and despair.

For this reason, Christmas is timed to roughly coincide with the winter equinox - when the days begin to grow longer. With its roots in the ancient Roman feast of Saturnalia, Christmas is celebrated at the time of year when the daylight begins to reclaim the night. At first, it will be imperceptible. The light will push back the darkness one minute at a time. The days will still be cold and the evenings dark. After we've taken down the Christmas lights and decorations, we will still have to endure the two bleak months of January and February. With the Christmas holidays no longer there to buoy us, the dark and cold can drag us into a funk. It can be hard to remember that the day is vanquishing the night. But, it is taking place as surely as the sun rises and sets. By March, the longer hours of sunlight will beckon forth buds from the trees and flowers from the earth.

The cycles of nature and of the liturgical calendar so often mirror the seasons of our lives. As Christ's victory deliberately works itself out in human history, we may feel engulfed by the dark greed and cold individualism which continues to be prevalent in our world. And, as we open ourselves up to the daybreak of grace within us, we may feel frustrated by our slowness to respond and the continuing hardness of our hearts. The day advances, but the night still feels long and cold.

It is in this context that the liturgical season calls us to patience as we await the day of the Lord. When we see the corruption, injustice and suffering in our world, how tempting it is to believe that the night will eventually quench the light. When the kingdom of God grows among us imperceptibly, like a seed buried in the dark soil, how tempting it is to ask, "Where is our God?" Nonetheless, our celebration of Christmas is an act of faith that, in Jesus, God has begun rolling back the dark night of sin as he reveals the kingdom of the children of light. This kingdom is taking hold of the world in small increments, just as the day reclaims the night minute by minute. We are very likely still in the early stages of it even two thousand years after Jesus' birth. Nonetheless, every liturgical celebration is a bold proclamation to the cold, dark night that a sun has already risen which will never set.

This is also reflected in the life of Jesus. His birth was heralded by the angels and witnessed to by shepherds. The star rising in the east was heaven's confirmation that this boy would be great. Yet, when the fanfare had died down, he was forced into exile and lived thirty years of obscurity in Nazareth. During those years, did the shepherds ever wonder what became of the child the angels drew them to, lying in a manger? Did Mary and Joseph ever wonder when Jesus' saving power would finally manifest itself? As that child grew into a man, could they perceive God quietly establishing the never-ending day?

On February 2, another celebration of light will puncture the dreary months of winter - the Feast of the Presentation in the Temple, also known as Candlemas. At this celebration, we bless the candles which will be used in the church throughout the year in commemoration of Jesus who entered the temple as the Light of salvation for Israel. He is welcomed there by Simeon and Anna who recognize him to be the hope of Israel. After waiting their whole lives, they are happy to now go in peace having looked upon the dawning of salvation in its mere infancy. Can we be like Simeon and Anna who rejoiced to look upon the salvation of Israel without needing to know the why, the how and the when? With the dark months of January and February ahead of us, can we carry a light of faith within us to press forward with the confidence that God's kingdom is being established just as surely as the day is advancing against the night?

Rejoice Always!

My wife was invited to give a scriptural reflection at a prayer service last evening and offered these inspiring words which I'd like to share with you.

Rejoice always, never cease praying, render constant thanks; such is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thes 5: 16)

This is a stressful time of year for most of us. With all the running around, shopping, decorating, cooking and visiting, it is hard to slow down and reflect. It is hard to silence the to-do list that is constantly running in our minds.

These lines from the letter of Paul to the Thessalonians give me an alternative to-do list to break me out of the narrow world of my concerns and worries.

First thing on the list: to rejoice always. God has made me his daughter through baptism. He never ceases to call me to a fuller, more abundant life through faith. Every day, he surprises me with reminders of his presence in my life. How else could I respond than to give him praise?

Second thing on the list: to never cease praying. Prayer is a relationship with God. It requires attentive listening and mindfulness to God's presence for that relationship to flourish. When I least expect it, God can come knocking on my door. I want to be ready to open and let him in.

Third thing on the list: to render constant thanks. When I am focused on what I am doing, all I can see is what's not going right. By giving thanks, I start to focus on what God is doing. It can be as simple as being thankful for a warm shower in the morning or as profound as the love of my family. Giving thanks in all situations focuses me back on what is of utmost importance - the presence and action of the Father in my life.

It's no accident that I am here today. It is no accident that we are all here today. God wants to alert us to the presence of his Son among us. He wants us to put away our to-do list for these few hours and replace it with his "to-be" list. To be silent. To be attentive. To be aware. To be grateful. To be fully alive.

Third Sunday of Advent

There is a different feel to today's liturgy. We see it in the rose-colored vestments and the rose-colored candle on the Advent wreath. We hear it in the upbeat music and joy-filled readings. Over the past two weeks, the mood has been sombre and penitential as we have reflected on the end of the world and our need for repentance in preparation for the birth of Jesus. Now, as that happy day of Christmas draws near, a sense of joy pervades our worship. Christ our Savior is near! The Church today calls us to rejoice and give thanks!

But very often that call to be joyful can fall on deaf ears. For many, these weeks leading up to Christmas are among the most tiring and stressful of the year. There is shopping to do, parties to attend, presents to wrap and dinners to cook. Sadly, many people feel relieved when the holidays end, and life can return to normal.

For others, the Christmas season can be the loneliest time of the year. The shorter days and cold weather leave many people depressed. Over this difficult year, many have lost their jobs or their homes and are not able to provide for their families. And for those who are alone or who have recently lost a loved one, the festivities of the season only deepen their sense of bereavement and grief.

Christmas is not always a joyful time for everyone.

The great Catholic preacher, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, once described his loneliest Christmas. He was a young theology student studying in Belgium. Unable to fly home for the holidays, he had to spend Christmas day alone, and it left him feeling empty inside. At first, he was tempted to spend the week of vacation alone pitying himself. Then, the thought came to him to ask a local pastor whether there was a poor family in town he could help. He was given the address of a family with several children. After making their acquaintance, he visited them on Christmas day with food for the table and presents for the children. Rather than feel sorry for himself and let his circumstances dictate how he would spend the holiday, he decided to reach out to someone even needier than himself and so experience the true joy of Christmas. What would have otherwise been his saddest Christmas was now transformed into one of his happiest through the joy of giving.

Archbishop Sheen's experience holds a very important lesson for us. Life isn't always fair. We experience the loss of loved ones. Our families are not always as supportive and attentive as we would like them to be. Our jobs don't always leave us feeling fulfilled. No matter what the circumstances of our life are, we can always find fault. But, when we focus on the negative, we become bitter. We start to close in on ourselves and lose our appreciation for what is good in the world. We end up imprisoning ourselves in depression and loneliness.

Saint Paul gives us the remedy for such bitterness in today's second reading. He tells us that we are to "rejoice always" and to give thanks "in all circumstances." Gratitude is not only appropriate for the times when we are glad or when things are going our way. Rather, gratitude is most necessary when we feel overwhelmed and joyless. By giving thanks, we are empowered to look beyond ourselves and our situation. By rejoicing even in the midst of difficulty, we take the focus off what is lacking in our lives and put it on the abundance of good things we enjoy. It might be as simple as being thankful for a warm shower or that our car starts. It might be as basic as being thankful that we are still breathing and able to roll out of bed in the morning. No matter how poor,alone or sick we may be, there is always a reason to rejoice.

Today's responsorial psalm is taken from the gospel of Saint Luke. It is the beautiful song of Mary called the Magnificat. "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Mary had just learned from the angel Gabriel that God had chosen her to be the mother of Jesus, the Messiah. Though not yet married, she was to become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was the most important responsibility given to any person since the creation of the world. Mary found herself in a difficult situation, but rather than be overcome with fear, she overflowed with praise at the favor God had shown her. By saying "yes" to God and putting his will at the center of her life, Mary came to know the joy that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. When we say "no" to ourselves and "yes" to God, we experience that same joy and overflow with that same gratitude for a God who has loved us enough to send Jesus to save us.

Gratitude is at the heart of Christian spirituality. When we are grateful, we recognize that all we have and all we are is a gift from a loving Father. By being joyful in all circumstances we demonstrate that our world doesn't revolve around our own comfort and well-being but around Jesus and his plan for our lives.

The word "Eucharist" is taken from the Greek word meaning "to give thanks". Every Mass is a thanksgiving to the God who has created and saved us. Every Sunday we become a joy-filled community. No matter what our circumstances may be - whether we are poor, tired, sad, or bitter - we gather around this table to give thanks. God has richly provided for us. And so, today is a day to set aside the holiday plans and preparations and to focus on what is really important and what is really worth celebrating - Jesus, who comes to us as a child and who wants nothing else than that we love him back.

(image from ringoutyourjoy.blogspot.com)

Poor Rosie!

Listen for my daughter laughing in the background

Dear Camille

Everybody has one - a favorite atheist, lesbian writer, that is.

My favorite is Camille Paglia whose column appears on Salon's online magazine. I have included a link to her column under my "favorite links".

Once a month, Ms. Paglia entertains questions from her readers. Feeling feisty, I penned her the following letter regarding "gay marriage"


Dear Camille,

As a new reader to your column, I was interested in your views on the gay marriage issue.

Though I was first apathetic to it, in the course of debate about it in my state of Massachusetts, I came to appreciate that the government has an interest in recognizing and supporting the uniqueness of heterosexual families as the building blocks, if you will, of society.

Simply put, society suffers when marriages and families suffer.

To give just one example, the decline of marriage and family life has contributed, in my opinion, to the deterioration of the education system which has had to take over many of the functions of the extended family such as providing daycare and meals at the expense of reading, writing and arithmetic (not to mention the arts).

Saving the term "marriage" for heterosexual unions would serve to recognize and support their natural function of raising children. No matter what one's morals, recognizing that it takes a man and a woman to have a child and that children do better psychologically and economically when that man and woman are in a stable, loving relationship is common sense. By extension, the more stable children are the less resources they will need from government and the more they will be able to contribute to society.

The names we give to things are important because they are indicative of the values we place on them. If the term "marriage" wasn't powerful and influential, gay advocates would not be fighting so hard to have their unions called "marriages". Saving the term for only heterosexual unions need not be an expression of prejudice but a simple recognition of reality.

From the gay perspective, I have often wondered why homosexual couples would want to take on the hetero-normative paradigm of "marriage" to define their commitments in the first place. By asserting that they are no different than heterosexual couples, aren't they arguing against the diversity they claim to value and aspire to promote? My inclination is to think that, if homosexual unions do come to be called "marriages", the gay community will eventually reject that term in favor of other symbols and ceremonies which celebrate the singular contributions of their culture.

When women first entered the workforce, they had only men to pattern themselves after. With time, they began to bring their own unique insights and contributions to their companies. At present, homosexual couples have only heterosexual institutions to pattern their lives together after. I suspect that, as the marriage debate evolves, they will likewise develop their own customs and ceremonies reflecting the diversity of their values and experiences.

Anyway, since my few homosexual friends are not keen on monogamy and commitment to begin with, I'd be interested in your thoughtful and sensitive insights in the matter.

With unconditional positive regard,
Doug

The Immaculate Conception

So that she could be a fitting mother for our Saviour, God willed that Mary be born without the stain of original sin. She was conceived in her mother's womb with the same innocence that Eve had before being tempted by the serpent. And she lived her life free from any thoughts, words or deeds which would have offended God or wounded her neighbor. Mary was completely and thoroughly pure.

With Mary, God begins His work of restoring nature to the purity He intended - the beauty which is a reflection of Himself.

Many have compared God's work of grace in our lives to snowfall which cloaks the barren tree, giving beauty to otherwise fruitless branches. Iced over with freshly fallen snow, the tree glimmers in the sunlight with a brilliance that its brown bark could not allow. The glaze replaces the natural beauty of the leaves and fruit which the winter has stolen.

But that image of grace presupposes that we are too corrupt to be restored. It presupposes a winter that will never end. Grace, in this image, cannot bring us back to our original lustre, but can only cover us over so we don't look so bad.

As Catholics understand it, grace is more like the sun whose rays warm the barren tree stimulating the bud, the leaf and, finally, the fruit. Grace restores the original beauty marred by the winter of sin.

If grace were like snow, our branches would never bear fruit. They would remain iced over, unable to thrive. But God wants us to grow and to reflect the beauty He intended for His creation.

The Marian feasts - the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, the Annunciation - all celebrate not what Mary accomplished, but what God accomplished through Jesus. Mary, as the first disciple of Jesus, is the first to receive the benefits of Jesus' saving work. She is the first to taste the victory over sin by being herself exempted from its stain at her conception. She is the first to celebrate the resurrection of the body through her assumption into heaven.

What she has received is also what God holds in store for us. Like Mary, he wants to restore us to the sinless, pure creatures he intended us to be. We, like Mary, will one day know victory over sin when all the scars of sinfulness will be healed. Like Mary, we will know God's victory over death when our bodies are raised on the last day.

Saint Paul tells us as much in today's second reading from the letter to the Ephesians: God has chosen us in Christ from the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before him. For our part, we must strive everyday with God's grace to make our lives mirror the goodness he has restored in us through faith.

So, today's feast of the Immaculate Conception is not for Mary to celebrate alone. It's not like a birthday party in which only one person is honored. Today's feast is about the power and purpose of God's grace which restores the original beauty sin has deformed - not to cover over our shame, but to render us truly good and truly beautiful as God intended.

God achieved it in Mary so that she could be equipped with everything she needed to serve as Jesus' mother. God will achieve it in us when His work of restoration is consummated at our individual deaths and at the end of the world.

Second Sunday of Advent

John the Baptist is one of the key figures in the drama of Advent unfolding in these weeks leading up to Christmas.

The New Testament tells us that he was born around the same time as Jesus. His parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, were very old and had never had children. One day, while Zechariah was ministering in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him to announce that he would have a son whom he was to name John. As we can imagine, Zechariah found it hard to believe that he and his wife could have a child at such an advanced age. Because of his lack of belief, Gabriel told him that he would be unable to speak until the birth of the child. And so it was. Zechariah's inability to speak when he left the sanctuary made it evident to the people that he had seen a vision. And Elizabeth's pregnancy at such an old age made it clear that the child was to be great, that God's mighty hand would be upon him.

Many centuries earlier, the prophet Isaiah spoke about John the Baptist. We hear it in today's first reading. He would be a voice crying out in the desert to make straight a way for the Lord. He would call the people to clear out of their lives all the obstacles that kept God from being able to reach them. John preached a baptism of repentance, and the people flocked to receive it. They sensed that, in John, God was doing a mighty work. They didn't know all the details, but they did know that if they failed to listen, they would be missing out on God's offer of salvation.

Two-thousand years later, we still find the Baptist's call to repentance gripping and compelling. We have a sense that God has worked in our lives and called us to this place. We enjoy a lively sense of his presence and love around us. Yet, we must acknowledge that we so seldom live up to the great call he has given us to be light for the world and salt for the earth. The concerns of daily life crowd out the voice of God. The striving to earn more and to have more keeps our hearts from attuning themselves to their one great desire - to be united in intimacy with God.

Saint Peter warns us of this in the second reading. The earth will pass away. Nothing we have accumulated will have lasting value. Our true treasure is our soul and its relationship with God. Only that will survive our personal death and the end of the world. Knowing this, we must then strive to
live "...in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord."

And so, we come here today, not unlike the throngs that lined the banks of the Jordan River, heeding the cry of the Baptist to make our crooked ways straight. We want to change. We want God to have more access to our hearts and to our minds. We want to put him at the center of our lives so that we can receive the mighty works he wants to accomplish in them.

We know how weak our resolve can be. We know how willing we can be on Sunday, but how distracted we can get on Monday. The source of our hope, then, is not our own will power and self-discipline. Rather, the source of our hope is the desire of God to have an intimate friendship with us. God's desire for us is so much deeper than our desire for him. And so he doesn't rest until he has straightened out our crooked ways. He labors to penetrate the defenses we have built around our hearts and the darkness that veils our minds.

John the Baptist made his appearance in Galilee to announce the arrival of someone greater than he, someone whose sandals he was not worthy to loosen. John came to baptize with water which can only give a superficial cleansing leaving us capable of getting dirty again. The one who was to come - Jesus - would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Matthew, in his gospel, tells us that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Unlike water, fire changes what it touches. After something has been burned, it can never go back to what it was before. It is marked forever by the flames.

And so, we who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and have been lit with the fire of the Holy Spirit through the anointing of our Confirmation, have been changed forever. There is no going back. We can't be unbaptized or unconfirmed. The gift we received through those sacraments can be tarnished and disfigured by sin and neglect, but they can never be lost. Our souls are permanently marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit giving us the foretaste and the promise of everlasting life. We belong to God, and he will never forget or abandon us.

The God who created us is coming to visit. He desires to sit down at a meal with us. Are we prepared? Have we confessed our sins sincerely and thoroughly? Are we determined with God's help to change the way we live, the way we treat others and the way we spend our time? God wants to do something great in our lives. If we can set our sin aside, we will witness it, and it will leave us speechless.

(Images: David Morris as John the Baptist)

Meanwhile...in Nigeria

While the world was focused on the spectacular terrorist attacks in Mumbai over the Thanksgiving holiday, equally brutal attacks were taking place in Nigeria.

At last count, over 200 people had been killed in sectarian violence which erupted following a rumor that the mostly Muslim, All Nigerian People's Party had lost an election to the mostly Christian, People's Democratic Party. The violence has also resulted in widespread property damage and the displacement of thousands of people now living in refuge camps.

News from Africa is hard to find in most of our country's major newspapers and television networks. As huge a continent as it is, it is easy to ignore. Africa's problems are so numerous and complicated that they can leave one feeling discouraged and helpless. I suppose that most people would rather not know. But they are our brothers and sisters. Who knows how their poverty and violence will eventually spill over to affect us. We chose to ignore Afghanistan's problems until we realized what a nest of terrorist violence it had become. Africa's problems will eventually affect us in ways which will be impossible to disregard.

For those interested in learning more about current events in Africa, I've found the best sources to be the BBC and the Christian Science Monitor.

Oh, that you would rend the heavens!

While working as a chaplain at Saint Anne's Hospital in Fall River, I was called to the emergency room at 2:00 am on a Friday night. A young man had overdosed on heroin which was making a big comeback to the streets of the Spindle City. The hospital staff wanted me to be there when the father came in to identify the body.

The doctors, nurses and security personnel were noticeably tense as they wanted for the father to arrive. Though they were used to sudden, tragic deaths, this particular overdose had them shaken.

About fifteen minutes after I arrived, we heard the whoosh of the automatic doors leading into the foyer of the emergency room. The humid night air rushed in like a gasp as the father walked in.

We were ushered by the security guard into a room where the young man lay cold and motionless on a gurney, a white sheet covering all but his yellow, chalky feet.

The nurse asked the father if he was ready. When he nodded, the nurse pulled the sheet up so only he could see the face. We all held our breath, the hum of the monitors the only perceptible noise.

The father said, "You finally did it! Good riddance!", then turned his back on the body.

A shocked "uh-oh" look came on the nurse and security guard. We were expecting grief and got anger. Of course, grief is just anger with claws, at least in situations like these. The difference is that with grief you can put your hand on the person's shoulder or hold his hand while he cries. With anger, you have to say something. So the nurse gave me a look as if to say, "You take it from here now, Father."

Right on cue I said, "He put you through a lot, didn't he."

"Oh Father, you don't know," he replied. "What I went through, all for him to end up like this!"

He went on to tell us about the sleepless nights waiting for him to come home, driving around the city trying to find him, bailing him out of jail, mopping up his vomit and washing his urine-drenched clothes. This man had given another man life and watched him throw it away.

His teeth unclenched, his shoulders rolled down, and his fists relaxed. It was all over now. And he knew that this was the only way it could possibly have ended.

I was reminded of a mother whose son was also a heroin addict. She flatly told me with cold resignation that she prayed that her son would just die. By no means was she a heartless woman. She just couldn't bear to see her son in such an undignified state anymore. It gives you some inkling of how devastating this addiction is to individuals and to families.

We stood in silence around the lifeless body. Then the nurse told the father how sorry he was for his loss and that they had done all they could to save him. The father said, "Thank you," and picked up a white plastic bag with his son's few belongings - an empty wallet and a watch.

I invited the father to a room that had been set aside for pastoral counseling. The anger was gone, so we could just sit together in silence. He decided to go through his son's wallet and found a health insurance card with the words, "Your health is important." He showed me the card, scoffing at the irony. Then he put his hands on his knees, stood himself up and thanked me with a sigh. "Well, I've got to go tell his mother." After going to take one more look at his son, he parted the automatic glass doors and was gone.

I thought about that man for some reason during Mass this weekend. Maybe it was the, "You do not know the day or the hour," or perhaps it was, "Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down with the mountains quaking before you!" I wondered if joy and hope ever came back into that man's life.

Then I trembled when I realized that God had used me to "rend the heavens" and to be present to a man in his tragedy.