January 30, 2011 - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Zephaniah was a best seller about the time the New Testament was being written. People were studying its message, for it spoke of humiliation and suffering, and Israel had just suffered defeat at the hands of the Romans in the year 70. Now, there were no printing presses, and no books, as we know them. But in the shuls and synagogues throughout the world, where the religious literature of Judaism was valued and treasured, people were literally combing this scroll for insights into how to move forward after such an appalling experience as had been dealt them by Rome. Jerusalem's temple had been destroyed, its walls pulled down, its streets plowed up, and new ones laid going in different directions from the old. Where the Temple had been in all its glory, Rome had chosen to place its trash dump as an insult to the conquered. The message of Zephaniah was simple: When you find yourself brought low, hurt or shamed, consider it as if it were God's own castigation. It may not be that, it may be just the world's injustice, but who cares? USE IT. Use it, NOT as a time to plan vengeance, but as a time for repairing your own soul. Do the next right thing in all humility, and make yourselves worthy of greater things, for in the end, God will bring you to good things again, and it's best to be ready for the blessing when it comes….otherwise, you'll only lose it, again, and quickly.

 

Non-Jewish Christians were listening to this message, too. Many of our Jerusalem members had been killed, and all the sites that had had importance to us were now "off limits," and we weren't allowed in to look at them, to pray there. St. Paul, too, was studied at this time. He had been dead, now, for over a decade and his writings were being collected, edited and in some cases added to. The words we read in today's lesson were especially loved and treasured: "Not many of you are powerful, but remember, God chooses the weak of the world to shame the wise." In other words, "It's your job, as the broken, conquered people that you are, now, to bring an example of Gospel living to the earth. It was easy when we had everything. Now, we don't, and we have to give respect out of our lack of self-respect. We are giving from our want. But it will transform the world!!!"

 

Do you see what was being asked of the earliest Christians? They were living as defeated people, in a world conquered by Rome. Rome eventually conquered the entire known world—every city Paul ever visited, every kilometer Christ ever walked—the entire known world was in Roman hands by the end of the first century. And Romans didn't like Christians very much! A decade earlier, about the time of Paul's death, Nero, whom many think the Book of Revelation is referring to as the Anti-Christ, began a series of official crackdowns with brutal persecutions of the Christian faith—and both Peter and Paul were killed in Rome during his reign. It was to these people who were studying Zephaniah's message of humility and fidelity that the Beatitudes were addressed as the words of Christ, too, were collected and presented to His followers in Gospel form.

 

The teaching was clear: Live gently on the earth, that the earth may be blessed because you were here. If you truly love and serve your enemies, they will imitate some of your goodness, and God will be glorified in that way. It's not your job to bring them down, and teach them a lesson; God will see to that. It's your job to model what a blessed life is like. Who is the blessed human being? Is it the rich? No. And we, today, know that, too. Most of them are in some sort of treatment center, drying out or if they escape that fate, they end up chasing material stuff and destroying the earth and stepping all over other people in the process. NOW, don't get the idea that Jesus or the Beatitudes exclude the rich from God's Kingdom; they don't. They just point out how hard it is for one with money to "get" the humility piece. Is the blessed person the powerful of the earth? No. Most of them get so caught up in trying to remember what they've promised to whom that they lose sight of who they are. Now, again, neither Jesus nor the Sermon on the Mount excludes the powerful from the Kingdom; they don't. Again, they just point out how hard it is for them to "get" the humility piece! AND WE ALL KNOW THAT…WE KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO BE HUMBLE WITH THE LITTLE WEALTH AND POWER THAT "WE" HAVE…WE FIND OURSELVES OPERATING OUT OF OUR EGO MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, DON'T WE?? Even a little wealth and power, like a little yeast…can puff us up P .R .E. T. T. Y      B. I .G!

 

The Beatitudes tell us who is blessed, and how to be a blessing in the world. If you would be a blessing then LOVE EXTRAVAGANTLY………..love enough people DEEPLY ENOUGH that you are forever in mourning over someone! The perpetual mourner is an exquisite lover of other souls. Their consolation is obvious—it's in the great number of people who will surround them with care, and love them back!

 

If you would be a blessing on the earth, then learn the Grace of Silence. Shut up, so others can unburden themselves. The world needs someone to listen. That's what the "meek" do. We all have plenty to say, but we need someone to listen. Christians should be wonderful listeners. We should be hearing the pain of the earth, because as we hear another's burden, we take on half his care. His load is lighter for WE were here to listen.

 

If you would be a blessing on the earth, know YOURSELF and your own vices—so that you can have compassion on others who lose their way in the world, and need compassion and mercy, not judgment and condemnation. No one needs your condemnation. No one! They are in desperate need of your understanding of their weakness, of their make-up. We aren't here to judge them; we are here to love them into God. That's what the merciful do, and it is to them that mercy is promised.

 

And if you can do that, you might even become the next to the highest blessing the world can know. You might even become a PEACEMAKER. That job is reserved for the highest souls. Those who care deeply, who no longer judge and condemn, and those who can listen well enough to see both sides of a dispute can, with Grace, become those who heal the earth of its horrid divisions. These are called God's children.

 

And, those will also probably graduate to the highest level of discipleship: those who suffer persecution for being able to see two sides to an argument, who don't spout the party-line, but keep silence, those who don't make their condemnations public, and those who DO love and have deep friendships with people on all sides of all arguments. These are the ones who are suspect by everyone who hasn't benefitted directly from them, so they will suffer. But, even then, they will be a blessing.

 

I don't know about you, but I have a long way to go before I'm much of a blessing on the earth, at least by this strict standard. Yet, the strictness belies the gentleness of the teaching. The teaching calls each one of us to a gentle peacefulness in life and in our world. We may not get it right every time, but let's commit ourselves, this week, to using the Grace we receive in the Holy Sacrament, today, to make our lives benedictions of peace and goodness in our world. And may God bless you all. +

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - January 23, 2011

Christians are notoriously cantankerous! We always have been. We say we follow the Prince of Peace Who taught us to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give the coat as well as the cloak, not to judge lest we be judged, and to love and serve the enemy, and YET, we are forever condemning someone to the fires of hell, or calling them heretics or colleagues of Satan.  We just don't get it! And as we read  St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, today, we see that we stand on cantankerous shoulders!!!

 

In St. Paul's day, the Church was a mess, too! The Corinthian congregation, which would have been about 100 to 120 people at most, was divided into at lest the 4 groups he mentions, and there were probably more—at least more turn up in Acts, Galatians and Thessalonians! All the "parties" that Paul mentioned in the second reading—the Apollos party, the Cephas Party, the Christ party, the Paul party—they were all good people, honest believers, who wanted to grow in their spiritual depth, but they found they were fighting over things and calling each other names. It was as if the harder they tried to be Christians, the more the "hate and anger," seeped out the cracks. Can YOU identify with that? I know I can.

 

Every time we try to make a positive change in our lives, it seems that the forces of negativity just line up to throw us off.  The day I start a new diet, is the day I get a coupon in the mail for a free desert at Marie Calendars.  Or, the day you decide to quit smoking, you get a free pack of cigarettes in the mail from Philip Morris. The day you decide to quit drinking is the day some brewery announces a new beer or a new liquor that you feel you just HAVE to try! AND, the day you decide you're going to apologize to your spouse, and try to make a fresh start, she or he says something that sends you into a rage, and before you know it, you're screaming at each other again. The day you decide to ease up on your son and give the kid a break is the day he puts a dent in the front fender for he was driving while texting, and you find yourself ONE MORE TIME coming across as the ogre.

 

Christianity isn't easy. G.K. Chesterton once wrote, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, rather, it's been found difficult and has never been tried!" When we try to live it, we find that almost immediately we are so far off base we are embarrassed!

 

I suggest to you that Jesus understood this. So, He taught by example. Look at where he chose to live. The text tells us, "He went to live in Capernaum by the sea." We know about Capernaum from Luke's Gospel. This was a town that held a Roman Garrison of at least 100 soldiers and maybe as many as 250. A "centurion" who lived there and was in charge of them, built the synagogue for that town. This tells us that CAPERNAUM was a place where Jews and Gentiles—even Gentile soldiers—found a way to live together in peace, and to appreciate each other.  Jesus could have chosen to stay in Nazareth, but Nazareth didn't like Gentiles very much, and nearly did violence to Jesus for once suggesting that they might even be good people! He could have chosen to live in Jerusalem, near to the Temple, but that's where the fanatics lived who wanted to overthrow the Roman occupiers. Rather, he chose a place where EVERYONE seemed to get along most of the time.

 

I suggest to you that it is in His choice of a place to live that Jesus teaches us by example……………………he surrounds himself with people who are peaceful, so that He, too, can be a peaceful person. Often our failures in life are do to a lack of adequate support for the values we want to make our own. An alcoholic who can't make a new set of friends, and has to return to the bar every afternoon to "chat" with his buddies is on a slippery slope to a relapse.

 

Recent research tells us that the success rate for marriages is directly proportional to the circle of friends of the bride and groom. IF they have as their closest friends folk who are in strong marriages, they have a good prospect of success. IF, on the other hand, they choose for their circle of friends, people who've divorced and are in bitter disputes with ex's, chances are they'll soon divorce, as well, no matter how good the union looked going in.  THE ENVIRONMENT  MATTERS!

 

And, He didn't pick everyone along the Sea of Galilee to follow Him as close disciples. He chose carefully. These, not those. This one, not that.   Now, His choices, even though he thought about them, gave Him a run for His money—in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter was armed to the hilt, and managed to cut off the ear of a soldier before Jesus could stop him—so much for turning the other cheek! Nonetheless, they were people Jesus thought had potential to be followers of the Prince of Peace, and he chose to live in a town of peace.

 

Maybe this is the essence of becoming better human beings. We need to look around and find people whom we respect, people who are models of goodness, then we need to find ways to keep close to them. In the Celtic tradition, this was the Anam Cara, the soul friend. One tried to befriend people who would be good for one's soul.

 

It was good advice then, and it's good advice now. These "soul friends" can be from any place—they don't have to come from St. Agatha's, BUT St. Agatha's does have a lot of folk who would make excellent soul friends. Let's try to use the Grace of the Sacrament today to help us choose our friends wisely, so that we are better able to make of our lives benedictions of goodness and peace in our world. And may God bless you all. +

January 16, 2011 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

This weekend we come to worship in the aftermath of a human tragedy that has touched us all in some way--the shooting of the Congresswoman in Tucson, Arizona. We were all touched by this tragedy because the media focused our attention on it. Thousands of tragedies happen all over our city every day, and yet we don't think about them--tragedies no less poignant than that in Arizona, but we don't even hear about them. Because she was a congresswoman, this one we DO know, the media has forced us to look at it. And we see the harm that one weak individual can wreak on our world.

What the readings want you to see is that WE ALL have that potential. We can wreak havoc on our earth or we can make our lives a blessing on it. It all depends on us.

Last week we were told something similar--that our lives could be lived in such a way as to keep the light alive or we could "quench the smoldering wick" and watch the candle's flame die. We can live in such a way that the bruised reed will recover, and blow in the wind, or we can break it, and crush it underfoot. This week we are told again that our lives can bring light to the nations--not because the whole world knows our name, but because we'll make our tiny part of the world better, which helps ALL the world to be better. Our lives can be lived in a way that brings intelligence and goodness, kindness and sympathy to our world, or we can create pain. Both are "catching"--would you rather be spreading the "good" influences instead of the bad?

Now, you are teenagers, and teenagers are always volatile--not because you are dangerous, but because of what's happening inside your bodies. Your entire body chemistry is undergoing a dramatic change, that will turn you into adults, capable of being good wives and husbands, fathers and mothers, or priests and nuns in just a few more years. But, while the change is taking place, your hormones are off balance, you are mad one minute--shouting and saying things you don't mean to friends, parents, family and total strangers, then feeling embarrassed and small the next--incapable of finding anything to say at all. We ALL went through this--and we can assure you, YOU WILL SURVIVE!

Just know that in your moods of temper, you can cause a lot of hurt. Most people try to remember your age, and what's happening inside you, and they try to give you slack, but the closer people are to you--mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, the easier it is to really hurt them. So, the readings, while knowing it will be tough to do, ask you to try to rise above your hormones as often as you can, and be men and women of tolerance and understanding.

I encourage you to do this, too, for I've seen kids develop "habits" of dealing with anger during their teenage years that they find hard to break, even in their 20's. This weekend we celebrate the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, a political "hero" in our American past. He was and is such an example to us and we need his example more than ever, right now. He, too, lived in an angry age. I don't know if you've seen television footage of his life and his marches for civil rights---I lived through that period. It was awful! Black churches were bombed and burnt, lives were lost, police chased marchers with batons and dogs, turned fire hoses on them. It was NOT a time of civility in our nation, and I would hate to see us return to that sort of depravity. He ALWAYS instructed those who marched with him and all demonstrators for rights and for peace to use NON-VIOLENCE, to NEVER return violence for violence. He instructed us all in peace and in civility. We were not to shout back when ugliness was shouted at us. We were to respect those who were not respecting us. We were to "lift ourselves and all humanity a little higher." When people called him names and slandered him, he responded with his "I have a dream" speech, that spoke of a time of mutual respect and harmony. I'm so glad for his holiday, for our offices are closed and I don't have to go to work, but most of all, I'm looking forward to his holiday because we need his words in this time of political tension in our nation. Remember: We learn behavior by doing it. I'm asking you to try to force yourselves to follow kinder behavior and gentler speech, especially in your homes. Why start there? Because those are the people closest to you. They know how to push all your buttons! If you can be civil with them, you can be civil ANYWHERE. But you have to try. And when you make a mistake, apologize. We all make mistakes. I apologize several times a day. Most adults do that several times a day. You should be apologizing, too. It's a sign of maturity, and it's an avenue to correct the bad effects of our unconscious behaviors that hurt others.

St. Paul tells us today that we are "called to be holy." That means we are called to be the kind of men and women who leave the earth better than we found it.

Today, the Text of the Gospel tells us that the "Spirit" descended on Jesus "like a dove." Well, that tells us something about Jesus. Doves--any birds, in fact--are skittish. They don't stay where they are frightened. They fly away. This tells us that Jesus was the sort of man who brought calm and strength to his world. As His disciples, let's try to do that, too. And may God bless you all. + 

January 9, 2011 - Feast of The Baptism of the Lord

I know it's the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, and the Gospel reading was the story of Christ's baptism in the Jordan River, but there were readings that came before the reading about the Baptism. Those readings are there for a purpose—they set the context for thinking about the Gospel story. The Oracle from Isaiah, in the first reading speaks of Israel becoming a "Light to the nations," and the reading from the Book of Acts, we see St. Peter coming to the dawning awareness that the Gentiles are as acceptable to God as God's Historical People, Israel.

 

It's easy to skip over those readings, because we no longer have ears to hear their revolutionary nature. They were both considered "odd" if not "bordering on the heretical" when first spoken. They were accepted as "poetic license" on the part of prophets and holy men…but no one actually thought Isaiah, certainly, and, probably, Peter, actually MEANT them, LITERALLY! Now, we don't have a time machine to go back and ask Isaiah or Paul what they meant, or hoped we'd "pick up" by what they wrote. All we have is the Texts they left:

 

Isaiah's is the first of 4 "Suffering Servant Poems," and in it he presents Israel as God's "suffering servant in the world." Now no one found fault with that. History seemed to prove him right, in fact. But, then, he begins to talk about Israel being a light for the nations—leading them out of the prisons of their own blindness—that was uncomfortable. Israel had enough problems being Israel—taking care of each other in a world that hated them was burden enough. Why put the whole world on our shoulders?  Not a lot of rabbi's rallied around Isaiah's "servant songs." They could see Israel as God's suffering servant, but the idea that this servant was suffering in order to bring Gentiles to God—sort of carrying them on its back to the Throne of Grace—this was too much for most people to stomach. God bless and keep the Caesar or the Tsar far away from me! That seems to have been the sentiment. BUT, the spirit-inspired vision  of the prophet remains: "You who are free, lead others to freedom; you who are in the light, lead others out of their darkness! (And the darkest of the dark are those without the Light of God, so…the call to lead the Gentile world to God remained, too.)

 

In the Book of Acts we read, "God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him." Now, that was not very popular, either, at first. Remember, the original Church was largely Jewish men and women who believed the Jesus' message of universal brotherhood was the best way to live the Torah………but that's what it was……….a way to live the Torah. And to do that you had to be Jewish! Fish don't fly, cows don't lay eggs, and Gentiles don't keep Torah! Only Jews do! So, even here, in Acts, where the right words are put in Peter's mouth, we see he doesn't hold it literally—rather, Peter would have said, "God isn't partial, anyone can convert and keep Torah, you don't have to be born Jewish to be good." Paul and Peter got into long standing arguments over this.

 

But, in the end, Paul's understanding won. God really doesn't show partiality. And all ARE acceptable to him—even you and me!

 

Now, THAT'S the background—or better said, the LENS through which we are to look at the account of the Baptism of Jesus. He is by this "bath of dedication" taking on his shoulders the Gentile World, to draw them to the Mercy Seat and the Throne of Grace of the God of Israel, the only God of the Universe. He is "becoming" Israel in microcosm. He is doing the work of the entire nation: HE WILL BE THE LIGHT TO THE GENTILE NATIONS, and he will draw them to the God of Israel, and he will draw the Israelites to see a Broader God—a God of the Universe who shows no partiality.

 

To get to the Jordan River from the Galilee, Jesus must move from a place of safety to the edge, to the boundaries, where nothing is really safe. He had been living in Galilee, a place of rolling hills and the lake of Ginossaret—it was a place of plenty—plenty of grain for bread and plenty of fish. He must move from this security to the desert—where there is no surplus, and where there is a scarcity of anything and everything. He must leave family, friends, co-students—and wend his way alone, or find new companions.  But, most of all, he is leaving a way of life—the way of Jews he grew up with and how they chose to live in the Gentile world, to head for the desert where new rules need to be written. We are reminded of Abraham who began his spiritual journey when God said to him: "Lek Lekah—get up and go from your country, from your kinsfolk and from your father's house and go to a land that I will show you."

 

The point of these readings is that there WAS no path for what Jesus was about to do—only the vision of Isaiah. The path of bringing vastly different people together into one family of God had yet to be created. Jesus would have to do that. We'll read his ideas on it as we read his Sermon on the Mount in the coming weeks.

 

What we need to think about, for ourselves, is what our membership in His Church means for us. We want Israel and the Palestinians to bury the hatchet and get along, but we can't say "hi" to our brother-in-law who borrowed the lawn mower and never returned it! The readings today hint that there is something unwritten in our baptismal identity, but something VERY IMPORTANT, that if we examined it, and lived it well, might change us and our world.

 

Let's pray, today, to be kinder in our thoughts , world and actions. If our lives are small "cogs" in the great machinery of creating world brotherhood and sisterhood, then perhaps something is being asked of me today that I wasn't yet aware of. Let us pray for insight and courage to live our faith and to make our lives benedictions of peace and goodness in our world. And may God bless you all. +

January 2, 2011 - The Epiphany of the Lord

The readings speak of a Light that dawns on the earth. The oracle from Isaiah in the first reading, says that the Light that is in Israel will be a light that enlightens the paths of all the peoples of all the earth. This Light will be Israel's gift to the Gentile world. And that Light, of course, is the teaching of the Torah--a story of love--the Love of God for all humanity, and a story of relationship--a God who enters into personal relationship (something called a covenant) with human beings, and leads them and guides them in paths of justice by laws that are good and true.

St. Paul tells us that the Mystery that has been waiting to be revealed, namely, that the Gentiles are co-heirs in the promises God has made to Israel and, really to all humanity--has now come to fruition in Jesus, whose life and death opened the gates of heaven and tore down the wall of separation between peoples.

Both Isaiah and Paul are speaking of Light and Mystery--something of the Working of God in the world from the dawn of history. And what we need to see, reading between the lines, is that both authors sense that God, Who is beyond all understanding, is big enough to span all the artificial boundaries we mortals place between ourselves. The God of Isaiah and St. Paul is truly a cosmic God--a God who knows no boundary, no limit, whatsoever. And this "immensely broad God" loves ALL His creation--those who know Him and name Him, and those who are, yet, clueless. The God of these two authors enlightens all creation as it is brought into being under Divine Guidance and Providence, and loves all of it, and values all of it. The God of these two authors is a God who will not be satisfied with the "loss" of anything or anyone He has made. He loves it ALL.

The Gospel story of stars in the heavens to announce the birth of this Messianic figure, Jesus of Bethlehem, tells the exact same truth--it simply does it in symbol. It is Gentile Magi, Zoroastrian priests--PAGANS, who have no clue as to who God is, or what He wants of people, who, as they read their star charts, for their religion gave us the zodiac, that a "star was rising in Judah." And, so, doing what Zoroastrians do, they follow the lead--and go to the place their charts tell them to go. And those Gentiles found the Christ by following--in their darkness of superstitious Zodiacal readings--such Light as was there, and it was Light enough. Imagine that! There is a God in the universe that can work through even our darkness and our silliness and our superstition to lead us to Himself! This is the God of Matthew's Gospel. it is a VERY BIG God.

Have you ever thought of the Christmas story as presenting a "Wider God" to the earth? Well, today is the feast of the Epiphany--"Epiphany" is a word that means "the Revelation of God", and the God who is Revealed--Who has taken human flesh in a weak, poverty stricken and politically oppressed baby, is presented as a VERY BIG, VERY WIDE God, indeed. It's as if He is so large that ALL spiritual paths lead to Him, biblical or pagan.

And, now, let's follow the story: the magi, having arrived in Judea, go to where anyone with good sense WOULD go...they go to the palace for information. Who is the new prince born of late? We saw his star. Of course, Herod's children, by now, are all in their late teens or twenties or thirties. There is no recent birth. So, his paranoia takes over..................and so the story goes...........(explain Herod's mental instability if needed). It's no wonder that the next Gospel story will be the death of the children of Bethlehem--what we call the "slaughter of the Holy Innocents." Herod had killed most of his family--what was a small village to him?

So, what does this element of the story teach us?

I think it teaches a basic truth: All goodness, all "Light" in the world is surrounded by darkness and evil. That's the nature of the world. We can't escape that. There are always Herod's and soldiers seeking to kill the good before it can get off the ground. (In fact, sometimes, WE are a part of that negativity, aren't we?) But, this biblical passage assures us that God has a strength that can overcome even our most powerful efforts to the contrary. This is a VERY POWERFUL God.

And, now I ask you: What was the WISE contribution of these wise men? Their gifts? No, I don't think so. Those gifts are there simply to illustrate for us, the readers, WHO the Christ is: a king (gold), and a priest (frankincense) who will die for us (myrrh, the burial ointment). Their WISE contribution was told us in the last phrase of the reading: It was "to return by a different route"... in other words, not to feed the negativity of the Herod's of the world. It is this path that we must follow if we would follow the light.

Today's feast asks us to take "different routes" in the world...routes that avoid negativity, routes that avoid violence, routes that avoid suspicion and blame and anger and hate. These will always breed "the slaughter of the innocents" which came to Bethlehem from Herod's hands. Such bursts of hate and negativity, such "slaughters" may even, now and then, touch us, and embroil us in "dead-end acts" that will lead us no where we really want to go....BUT, the Gospel hints, "there has to be a better way to respond to violence and suspicion and hatred in the earth than merely cooperating with it--returning it."

The LIFE and the TEACHING of the one who was gifted by those WISE MAGI with gold and frankincense and myrrh will show us that path...the path of the turning of the other cheek, the going of the extra mile. He shows us a way to make brothers and sisters out of a world of strangers and enemies. THIS is the Epiphany of this feast---the REVELATION OF GOD for us.

GOD is on our earth in each and every human being--from Osama Bin Laden to Barak Obama, to the mother-in-law, to the ignorant, demanding boss, to the head of the department who "has no clue," to you and to me. It is in the naming of all of us as FAMILY that we SEE HIM, recognize Him. This is the mystery and the miracle of this feast.

Let us pray for the wisdom and the insight to use the Sanctifying Grace we receive in the Eucharist, today, to make neighbors and brothers and sisters of what were only yesterday our enemies, so that we might SEE the Prince of Peace in our world. And may God bless you all. +

Jan. 1 homily...New Year's Day and Feast of Mary, Mother of God

First of all, on behalf of Sr. Karen Collier, our parish life director, and our Deacon, Mr. Ricardo Recenos, and all our parish staff, I wish each of you a New Year filled with kindness and peace.

The Feast we celebrate is, of course, New Years. It’s undergone several name changes over the centuries--the Octave of Christmas, the Feast of the Circumcision, the Feast of the Blessed Naming of Jesus, and today, the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. Though the name changes, the day remains the same--New Year’s Day. And we all gather, to pray for ourselves and our world as a New Year opens, and we also remember the
spiritual context in which we pray--We ARE in the Octave of Christmas, and it was after 8 days that the child, Jesus was circumcised and named, and it is through the courage of His mother, Mary, that this holy and blessed season is even possible. And so, those elements inform our New Year thinking...

We need courage as individuals and as the People of God to create a world of blessing when the easiest course of action is curse the world with anger and war. It takes a person of patience, self-knowledge, and courage to offer a different solution. In this need, we turn to Mary, whose courage has brought us to this day to pray for us.

And, we remember that the naming of the Christ child was so important--for his name (which means “God saves”)--reveals his mission, AND it keeps us on track with what OUR mission is about. Had he been called Zedekiah--God’s Justice, it is possible that His person and His message would have been used to condemn the world, rather than to save it. It is in the “Naming” of the Christ that we learn what authentic Christianity is about. And, so we learn that we need to be able to properly “name” the issues of our lives. For how we “call” things and people sets up our response. If I call you a “trouble maker,” I have one reaction to you; if I call “a struggler for justice,” I have a different reaction to you. Today’s feast asks us to look at every single one of our enemies and all of the other “irritants” in our lives, and RE-NAME them, more charitably, so that we can find the strength to BE Christians in the coming year.

And, as we open the year, we remember that we ARE in the Octave of Christmas, the season of Peace on Earth to men (and women) of Good Will. And so, something is asked of us as the year opens. We are asked, like the shepherds to move to a place of humility (in their case, a stable) but in OUR CASE, simply a more humble place, in order to see God in our world. For God cannot be seen in places of power or places of arrogance...it’s hard enough to see Him at all in a place of wealth, even if there is no arrogance....God’s Presence is best discerned in humility--which often, but not always, means poverty, too.

So as the year opens, let us find a humble place inside our hearts, and with the Grace that we receive, may we use our lives to bring blessing to friend and foe alike, as we name them all our brothers and sisters. And may we find the courage to make our lives benedictions of peace that lift us and those around us a little higher. May our coming year be a time of peace and kindness, a time of courage and inner strength. And may God bless you all. +