Author Archives: Father L
They did not understand about the Loaves
Friends in the Lord, normally, the feast of the Epiphany would be today, but in this country it was moved to Sunday; in these days following Epiphany therefore, we have daily readings about other ‘epiphanies,’ ways in which the Lord reveals himself in sign and power.
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Yesterday was the multiplication of the few loaves to feed over 5000 people. The Church has always known this to be a sign of the Holy Eucharist, of the Mass. Miraculous bread is given to a vast crowd, just like at Mass. And notice, Our Lord does not distribute the bread; he has the apostles give it to the people, they will be his first priests.
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Today’s gospel follows that multiplication of the loaves; the apostles are in a boat, which encounters wind and trouble. They cry out for Jesus to come, and he comes into the boat with them. It says that after Jesus got into the boat, the apostles were ‘completely astounded;’ ‘they were astounded’ it says, ‘because they did not understand about the loaves.’
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So what does this mean? ‘They did not understand about the loaves?’ What does the multiplication of the loaves have to do with the boat? Well for this, we have to put on our Catholic thinking caps. When we see a boat in the scriptures we should think of – the Church. The boat is a symbol of the Church; and the sea, with it’s dangers and storms, is a symbol of evil and sin. That’s why we sometimes call the Church, the ‘Bark of Peter.’ ‘Bark is an old word for boat.
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So in St. Mark’s gospel he shows us the apostles in the boat, and we should immediately see there, Jesus’ first priests in the Church. The 12 in the boat, symbolizing the Church, are being tossed about by the wind of the world. They are afraid. They call out for help, and Christ comes into the Church.
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Does that happen now? Yes. The Church is here, we are the Bark of Peter. And daily, we call out to the Lord, amidst the storms of this world, of life, and Jesus comes into the Church – right here, in the miraculous Bread on our altar. This is what St. Mark is getting at.
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Now we can see the meaning of that final, mysterious statement. ‘They were astounded, ‘but they did not understand about the loaves. We understand. The miraculous loaves, the Eucharist – this is Christ, who comes to us here, in the storms of life, into the boat, the Church; and he says to us each time, ‘Take heart, do not be afraid.’
No Salvation outside the Church
Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
Beloved in Jesus Christ,
In the 1930’s, a Jesuit priest was a rising star in American Catholicism, his name was Fr. Leonard Feeney. Having written numerous books and articles, in 1942 he became director of the famous St. Benedict center at Cambridge.
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Soon however, a change began to take place in him. He refused to allow other priests to be involved at the Center, everything became, ‘his way or the highway.’ In 1947, he started teaching the students that no one could be saved who was not a baptized member of the Catholic Church. For him, Baptism by Blood and Baptism by Desire were false teachings. (see footnote) In his opinion, all those who have never been baptized with water would end in the fire of hell, including those who have never heard of Jesus Christ.
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In 1952 he was twice summoned to appear in Rome to explain his teachings, but he refused to go. Having been expelled from the Jesuit Order, he was excommunicated by the Church.
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Friends in Christ, there IS a doctrine of the Faith which says: there is ‘No salvation outside the Church,’[i] but what do we mean by this doctrine?
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We begin by recalling the words of St. Peter today in Acts of the Apostles: ‘Of this Jesus, who was crucified,’ he says – ‘There is no other name under heaven, by which we may be saved.’ Among all the peoples in the history of the world, all races, religions, nationalities, everything – anyone who makes it to heaven, anyone who is saved – is saved because of Jesus Christ; Christ is the only ladder by which humanity can reach divinity. Trying to get to heaven without Jesus is like trying to jump high enough to get to the moon. Jesus is the only Name by which one can be saved, and so today, in the Tridentine calendar, we celebrate a special feast for this: the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.
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I am not here to say whether Buddha or Mohammed or Guru Nanak (Sikhism) or Jakob Ammann (Amish) or any founders of religions were good people or not; but if any of them, or any other person is saved, it is by the Incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the document Dominus Jesus, issued by the Church in 2000, it re-states clearly that while admitting that other religions sometimes possess elements of the truth, the mystery of [Christ’s] incarnation, death and resurrection is the sole and universal source of salvation for all humanity; Christ is the universal mediator for the whole world.
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Some will say that we Catholics are saved through Jesus, but that the Holy Spirit works in other ways with other people; but the Holy Spirit IS the Spirit of Jesus!, and his action cannot be placed outside that of Christ. There is a single Trinitarian economy of salvation, because God is Father of all human beings, and God is ONE.
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The Lord Jesus has given us the Holy Church and the sacraments, as the ordinary means for reaching heaven. ‘This is my plan,’ he says. Be baptized, follow my teachings, Eat my Body, Confess your sins.’ And so, if we know about God’s plan, the plan that he has for us, well then we better follow it! Christ was quite strong on this point. He said if people ‘refuse to listen even to the Church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.’ (Matt 18:17) It will certainly be a worse judgment for a Catholic who knows God’s plan for salvation, and ignores it, than for a person who simply didn’t know.
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Can the Lord work in people outside of the visible elements of the Catholic Church? Yes, he can. The Good Thief was never baptized with water, and yet Jesus told him, ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’
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Here is what St. Thomas Aquinas says:[ii] There are three kinds of baptism: baptism of water, baptism of blood, and baptism of Spirit (he also calls it ‘Repentance’). ‘Consequently, a man may, without baptism of water, receive the sacramental effect from Christ’s Passion, in so far as he is conformed to Christ by suffering for him. ‘In the same way, a man receives the effect of baptism by the power of the Holy Ghost, in as much as his heart is moved by the Holy Ghost to believe in, and love God, and to repent of his sins, and this is called baptism of repentance.’ We today would call it baptism of desire.
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So what about Abraham and Moses and Isaiah and such people of old? St. Thomas taught that they had implicit faith in Christ.[iii] He says that the fathers of old were justified by faith in Christ’s passion just as we are. ‘The fathers of old had faith in the future passion of Christ, which was able to justify them.’
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Now God insists that we follow his plan, his sacraments, but he himself is not bound by the sacraments. The Lord however, does not want us to sit around guessing who might be saved or not, he wants us to spread the gospel! Go! Baptize all the nations! We shouldn’t try to guess who else will be saved – we don’t even know how many Catholics will be saved. St. Peter says it: ‘If it is hard for even the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’[iv]
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What we DO know, is that anyone who IS saved, is saved through Jesus Christ, and his Church. The Catechism says that the saving work of Christ is active in the Church’s sacraments by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Christ. (CCC 774) The Church is Christ’s instrument for the salvation of all. (776)
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On our altars each day, the Mysteries of our salvation are poured out to a thirsty world. The atoning sacrifice of Our Lord is made present and in this way, applied to the world today, and especially to us in the household of God. As we read today: ‘there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we may be saved.’ The Church is Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church and Christ are one. We can therefore say, ‘there is no salvation without the Church;’ to be saved, a person must in some way be connected to Christ’s Church.
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There is an old children’s catechism that has a nice picture: a great ship is in the sea, heading forward – that’s the Church. But there are people, in the rough sea, swimming, struggling; they are trying to hold onto ropes, tied to the Mother ship. These are the people who, perhaps in darkness, who are trying to follow God; in some way they can be attached to the Church.
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But that’s them. What about us? We have our hands full with our own spiritual warfare daily! Temptations can pound us and hound us. So let us follow the example of the saints, and in times of temptation, call on the Holy Name of Jesus. St. Hesychios says, ‘the demons will be dispersed at once, if we lash the enemy with the name of Jesus.’
Jesus help me; Jesus guide me; Jesus save me; and may the Mother of Jesus pray for each of us.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. John Vianney]
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Note: Baptism by blood refers to those who give their life for Christ, even though they may not have been baptized yet. A number of the early martyrs were among this group, as well as others through the centuries. Baptism by Desire is when a person, desiring baptism but unable to receive it yet, dies; many believe this also applies to those who implicitly desire baptism, if they knew about it, by the fact that they try to follow God’s will, do what is right in their life, and repent of their sins as they know them.
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[i] See Catechism of the Catholic Church, #846, and book by Stravinkas, No salvation outside the church.
[ii] Summa Theologica, under Baptism, Q66 a11
[iii] Summa Q 62 a6
[iv] 1 Peter 4:18
St. Basil the Great
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Basil and Gregory Nazianzen. Together, with Gregory of Nyssa, they formed the ‘Cappadochian Fathers.’
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St. Basil, born about 330, was a brilliant young man who became very well educated in philosophy, science, and medicine. Although he was somewhat worldly at the time, he met the bishop of Caesarea, and was baptized. Having been inspired by the faith of his sister, Macrina, he tells us how, like a man roused from deep sleep, he turned his eyes to the marvelous truth of the Gospel and wept many tears over his miserable life. He says, “Then I read the Gospel, and saw there that a great means of reaching perfection was the selling of one’s goods, the sharing of them with the poor, the giving up of all care for this life.’
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He lived the monastic life, but eventually was chosen to be a bishop. As bishop, Basil was a champion of the Catholic faith against the Arian heresy. In 372 Emperor Valens sent Modestus, the prefect, to Cappadocia to introduce Arianism as the state religion. Modestus approached the holy bishop, upbraided him for his teaching, and threatened him with death. With total serenity, Basil calmly replied that he was a mere creature of God, and could not stop serving him.
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Modestus became enraged and asked: “Do you have no fear of my power?” Fear of what, asked Basil? Modestus: ‘You should fear conficscation of all your property, exile from your homeland, and death.’
Basil replied, Confiscation of my property means little to a man who owns nothing except these clothes and some books. Exile means nothing since I am not attached to any particular place. I am at home everywhere on God’s earth. And death is welcome, for it will bring me more quickly to God.
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“No one, said Modestus ever spoke to me like this before.”
Perhaps, said Basil, you never met a bishop.
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Even as he returned to the Emperor, Modestus could not get over the calm, courageous words of Basil. To the Emperor he said, “we have been beaten by this leader of the Church. And so the Emperor himself decided to put an end to this bishop. He himself went to the great Basilica in Cappadocia during Mass, intending to do violence to Basil.
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Gregory Nazianzen describes the scene: The Emperor marched into the church with his soldiers; they could hear the chanting of the psalms echoing throughout the holy place (like the gentle rumbling of thunder.) The people, like a waving sea, filled the house of God. So great was the beauty around the sanctuary, that it looked more like heaven than earth. Basil himself stood up as the scriptures were read, his body and soul motionless, as though nothing strange were taking place. He was united to God.
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The Emperor saw it all, and his soldiers. He had never before witnessed such a magnificent scene, and he felt overpowered. The Son of God and the Son of Mary had conquered his heart at Holy Mass. At the Offertory, the Emperor himself presented the gifts to Basil. The Emperor was so worried that he might not accept them from him, that trembling, his soldiers had to support him.
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Gregory concludes by saying this:
In those days, Basil was a beautiful and burning lamp, for the Church of God.
A prayer for the New Year
Friends in Christ, today we begin the New Year.
Through the centuries, in the church, January 1st has been commemorated in different ways. In the early years in Rome, this day honored Mary as the Mother of God; by the 7th century, influence from the Eastern Church led us to emphasize more, the other Marian feasts; later, following the practice in Spain and France, today commemorated Christ’s infancy and Circumcision. Nevertheless, all along, the prayers of the Mass have retained the ancient tradition of honoring the Motherhood of Mary.
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There is a painting by Beate Heinen called ‘The Manger and the Cross.’ In the foreground one sees the stable with the newborn Child Jesus in the manger; from this little scene, a path leads out and through a beautiful meadow; but the path winds further and further in the distance, up a steep and gloomy hill, with three crosses on top of it. As someone has said, ‘the wood of the cradle and the wood of the cross are the same. The cradle was the first step to the cross.
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This little Child has a long and difficult path to follow, but the Mother is there with him at the beginning, as well as the finish. So we can see that God’s plan to save us from our sins – from the beginning, it involved the Son and the Mother.
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The Son of God is Eternal, he has always been; the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity, through whom all things were made; the Son of God is Divine. Yet in time, this Son came down from heaven, and took flesh from the Virgin Mary, and became Man. This Jesus, who is True God and True Man, is the Child of Mary, and so we rightly call her the Mother of God. Now as Mary is the Mother of her Son, and was with him along his difficult journey of life, so too is Mary our Mother, who is with us in all the things of life.
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St. Ambose, speaking of Jesus in the womb of Mary, says that virtually, we were all there with him. And God revealed to St. Bridget that although Jesus was Mary’s first-born Son in the flesh, all of mankind are her other children according to the Spirit. As the lives of Jesus and Mary are intertwined and inseparable, so the Mystery of our own Redemption, looks to Jesus the Savior, and Mary our Mother.
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A beautiful Catholic prayer calls to mind these Mysteries of our salvation, the Angelus. Unlike other prayers that we say, the Angelus is said, not just whenever we wish, but at specific times of day. At 6:00am, 12noon, and 6:00pm. The idea is to stop what you are doing, and pray. It is a kind of test of our love of God: ‘Will you stop what you are doing and pray now?’ ‘Are you willing to tear yourself away from the newspaper or the internet – to pray.
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A friend from the Philippines told me that even today, if you are in some of the malls there shopping, at noon a bell is rung, and many stop to pray the Angelus. Here, on Catholic, Relevant Radio, the Angelus is broadcast each day so that you can pray along.
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Fr. Roger Scheckel writes about rural life in the Midwest, years ago; then, the Angelus was a normal part of daily life; he says, ‘one could look out at the fields at the noon bell, and see the farmers and their horses stop in their tracks for the Angelus. Even the horses automatically knew to stop when they heard the Church bell.
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Sister Nirmala, a nun in India, was asked “How did you come to know Jesus Christ?”
“I did not wish to, she said. I was very happy being a Hindu. But when I was visiting a Catholic school, when the bell rang at noon, a young girl knelt down to pray her Angelus. I stood there looking at her, and something happened, a movement in my soul and I felt that the living Jesus came to me.’ That new convert would one day succeed Mother Teresa as the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity.
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The Angelus in one prayer, summarizes the great events of these Christmas days. It begins: ‘The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived by the Holy Spirit.’ This is the Mystery of the Annunciation. God makes the initiative, Mary is invited to become the Mother of God. ‘Mary, what will you say? Please say yes, for our sake, for our salvation.
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‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy word. Mary gives her ‘yes’ to be the Mother of God, to walk this path of salvation with her Son, no matter the cost. As is said, ‘the humility of the Blessed Virgin drew the Eternal Word down from heaven.’
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The last aspiration of the Angelus: ‘And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us.’ The Son of God became flesh yes, many years ago. But when we pray the Angelus, we are reminded that he is here, in us, in the flesh, in his Mystical Body. We are not alone. And this is good to know, in the middle of our work day.
Finally we pray: ‘Pour your grace O Lord, into our hearts….., .
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By praying this prayer at mid-day we are reminded of Mary’s love, and God’s closeness to us. And we ask that God would pour his grace into our hearts, to help us.
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As the New year begins, perhaps we could make a resolution to pray the Angelus at least at noon each day. Stopping our work – giving our Will to God; and asking for his grace.
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May the Mother of God intercede for us in the New Year ahead, that we ourselves, may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. John Vianney]
The Octave of Christmas
Friends in the Lord, we are these days in the Octave of Christmas.
A liturgical “octave” is an eight day period following and including the feast, in this case, Christmas, but we also have an Octave for Easter. In a way, the Church suspends time so that we can “rest” within the mystery that we have celebrated, and consider it from different angles.
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Perhaps you have gone to a museum and seen a magnificent statue. Glancing at it for a moment is not enough; you want to spend some time. You look at it first from this direction, then another. You walk around it to see it from various points of view, and examine some detail.
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In the same way, a single day per year does not suffice to gather in the different dimensions of the mystery of a great feast such as Christmas. An octave allows us to reflect on a feast in different ways.
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During Advent, we reflected a lot on the prophets who foretold the coming Savior; we are reading these days about the events of Christ’s infancy, for example Anna in the temple, who sees the long anticipated fulfillment of the prophecies.
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Pius Parsch says, that the feasts of Sts. Stephen, John the Evangelist, and the Holy Innocents which we celebrate during the Octave, permit us to approach Christ, first as martyrs, then as virgins, then as virgin-martyrs.
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Theologically speaking, an octave anticipates the eternal bliss of heaven. The old Creation is based on a cycle of 7 days, 7, being the final day of creation. But the 8th day is a sign of the New Creation, it is a sign of the resurrection and of heaven. Many of the ancient baptismal fonts from the first centuries are 8-sided, recalling the New Creation; and so, the Octave, 8, calls to mind Eternal Life.
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It is also fitting to celebrate the Holy Family within the Octave of Christmas which we did. The Holy Family teaches, points us, to the Communion of life in heaven, in God himself, the ‘family’ of the Holy Trinity, our goal.
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And so we see that the Octave is a time to contemplate the many aspects of this great Mystery of Christmas, of God made man, and all that it implies for us.
The Holy Innocents
Friends in the Lord, today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Innocents.
The Holy Innocents are those children who were massacred by King Herod in his attempt to destroy the Child Jesus. We call these children ‘martyrs,’ because they died in the place of Christ; Jesus escaped, but their lives were taken. St. Augustine compares these tiny martyrs, to springtime buds on a tree: “They were the first buds,’ he says, ‘killed by the frost of persecution.
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People ask, how can God permit such evil: the death of those little, innocent children? St. Thomas Aquinas, and also St. Augustine say: God would not have allowed the massacre, if he did not plan to bring a benefit to those children.
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If there is no next life, then such tragedy is horrible and meaningless. But this is the point in Jesus’ coming: he has changed death into life. Christmas is about Jesus coming to win victory over death, for us. Those children are in heaven, interceding for us now. There can be no greater honor than to die for Christ. Death is laughed at by believers in Christ. We Catholics laugh at death. This is because we know that God will raise us up in the resurrection, he will renew all things. ‘Behold, I make all things new,’ says the Lord.
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My father had that inscription placed around the rim of my ordination chalice – it says: Ecce nova facio omnia: ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ The Holy Innocents are not dead, but alive. Their death was because of Jesus Christ, and so now they rejoice in victory with him.
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True story: A preacher read some liberal, fool-hardly book, and proceeded to say in a sermon that the death of the Holy Innocents was a myth, that the bible is just stories. As he walked out of the Church he fell down and broke both arms. Now this man’s friend, another ‘progressive thinker,’ the next year, preached the same thing; I tell you the truth: he too, broke both arms!
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I therefore will stand with the Holy Scriptures as true. Today we honor the Holy Innocents, as a bold affirmation, that death is only the beginning of life, and that despite the trials here below, we hope to one day praise God above.
A Light into the gloom
Christmas
‘I bring you tidings of great joy. For a Savior has been born to you.’
This is what the angels said to the shepherds, and so I say it to you, ‘A Savior has been born to us, who is Christ the Lord.’
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Beloved in Jesus Christ, we have arrived at Christmas, when God has come into the world, to live among us, to live with us, to save us.
In the Holy Gospel of St. Luke, if you go and read chapter 3, there it speaks of the circumstances of those ancient days, when Christ was born. He says, ‘In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar–when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee,….and during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiphas….’ The Holy Bible tells us the situation of the world then.
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‘It was the reign of Tiberius Caesar.’
This was the Roman Emperor, who cultivated the idea that the emperor was a god, and should be worshiped. Caesar, this dark and gloomy figure, sitting on the throne of the world. – Yuck.
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The govenor of Judea was Pontius Pilate.
This was the man who had Christ scourged and crucified. A letter of complaint was once issued against him: ‘The governor is a gruesome, obstinate man. He is corrupt and predatory; he abuses the people and is executing countless people without trial.’ This was the man who, in order to finance an aqueduct system, simply stole the money from the synogogues. He had only one priority in life: himself.
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St. Luke further tells us, that at that time Herod was tetrarch of Galilee. Herod was an arrogant, blood-thirsty beast; a self-indugent hedonist, he wasted all his energy on his own passions. He killed his father-in-law, several of his 9 wives, and two of his own sons; and to put an end to the Christ-child, he ordered the murder of the little children of Bethlehem.
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At that time also, St. Luke tells us that it was during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiphas. Annas was a poor excuse for a priest; having lost his position, he used his political influence to keep his sons in the office. Caiphas was a back-stabbing, evil person, who discovered one thing: religion as a means to power.
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Friends, this was the historic situation – the state of the world then. Was there really, a more hopeless-feeling time of history? And into all of this – God stepped into the world. ‘And the angel said unto them, “fear not, for I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Christ the Lord.’
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The Son of God did not come down from heaven to wipe out the Herods and Caesars and Pilates of the world. He comes down from heaven silently, in peace, quietly; a Light into a dark world.
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That Light was in Mary, the Holy Virgin, and it came to St. Joseph. The Light spread – to shepherds and wise men, and it would come to many disciples and apostles. It was a healing Light. But it was quiet.
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Our Lord did not come down from heaven only once, 2000 years ago; he is in this world today. He is born on our altars at Holy Mass, his Light dwells in our hearts and in our souls, in our bodies and in our minds, if we invite him. He dwells silently, in peace.
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God knows what the world is like. He sees the violence and hatred; he sees charlatans leading people to perversion and sin; God knows about the creeps and the terrorists, yet he lives silently in every Christian, in tranquility and peace.
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Friends, the world needs the Light of peace. This is a special Peace, it is the Peace of God. It comes in only one way: doing the will of God, in Faith. If we are living in every detail, the will of God, to the praise of God, then that great peace of Christ will enliven us with his joy.
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St. Francis de Sales says, the worst thing that can happen to us is sin; but the 2nd worst thing that can happen, is anxiety, or worry. Regardless of the external, troubling events of our time; regardless of the external events of our own situation – we do God’s will now, today, this hour – what Christ wants, come what may – and then we have peace.
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‘Lord, you want me to be perfectly honest, then I will, come what may.
‘You want me to show charity, even to my enemies, I will.
‘You want me to be pure and good with my body, I will.
‘You want me to trust you, and not to worry – then I will.
And then the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, will dwell in our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus our Lord – as St. Paul says.
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Just before his Passion, Our Lord said: ‘I have told you these things that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have affliction; but take courage, I have overcome the world.’
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If we are doing God’s will daily, praying, Holy Mass, confessing our sins, living for God’s glory – the peace of Christ will flood our hearts and minds.
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It is true, in the world we have affliction, but as the Lord has said: ‘Take courage, I have overcome the world.’
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In these coming days of the glorious Christmas season, let us ask the Blessed Virgin to pray for us;
Mary, help us to hold onto the Light of Christ, and in these days to come, experience the joy and peace of this Christ-Child, who is born to us.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of Venerable Mother Maria Kaupas]
