"Christmas Dreams"

I was told of several stories about how freaked out many people, Catholics included, were on the day approaching December 21^st, the alleged date of the end of the world. Admittedly, I find these stories as ridiculous as they are saddening. Were we that terrified of the thought of facing our Savior who loves us so much? If, we say, “there is no room for fear in love,” then, ought we asked ourselves: just how much love do we really have for Him?

Every morning, as I kneel in the chapel before Communal Morning Prayer, I always say to the Lord the same following words, “Lord and Master of my life, thank you for giving me one more day to love you, to serve you, and to honor you with my life.” Every moment I am allowed on this earth is a gift so that I may love the Lord in what I do for others; if he so calls me home at the very minute, then so be it. I would be very happy to be able to finally meet my Lord who loves me and whom I dearly love, or at least I try to do so.

Why do I begin with this thought? I personally just think that at times we simply forget the meaning of Christmas. Christmas has been reduced to a chance for gift-exchanging, family union, shopping, partying, etc., and if you are a bit spiritual, then perhaps, some carol singing would be included. Friends, Christmas is a celebration of the Lord’s birthday. But, the Church points us to the Eschatological meaning of Christmas – an anticipation for the Second Coming. While rejoicing in his birth, we look forward to his return. Should we be that terrified and unprepared?

Now, having said that, is there a Christmas reflection? I am afraid I don’t have one. What I want to share in place is some Christmas dreams. Cheesy? I guess. But, here they are – my Christmas dreams:

·         I dream of a world without violence where no innocent human life would be loss meaninglessly, especially those of the vulnerable – the elderly, women, and children – those who have no chance to defend themselves.

·         I dream of a world without hatred where human beings would treat each other with kindness and charity in according with their God-given dignity, where they would overlook differences, where the strong would not pick on the weaker, where there would be no need of exerting one’s power, unless it was for the defense of the powerless.

·         I dream of a world without sadness where no family would be broken, no love would be torn by tragedies, no tears would be shed other than of forgiveness and joy.

·         I dream of a world without poverty and hunger, and not only that of material and physical deprivations, but that of spiritual poverty. Nothing is worse that the poverty of being unloved and uncared for.

·         I dream of a world without death where human life would be uphold and fittingly venerated from its moment of conception to its natural ends.

·         I dream of a world without the rejection of God where his holy will is carried out, for without him, none of those dreams stated above would be fulfilled.

·         Finally, I dream of a world joining the voice of the angels crying out, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of good will.”

As John Lennon said, “you may say I am a dreamer,” for these are such ideals that the so called “realists” would think as impossibilities. But, friends, once we cease to dream, we cease to care, then dreams, in turn, cease to be realized. We have the power to dream. We have the power to dream for a better world. We have the power to realize that dream one step at a time by our effort and our prayers.

Today is birthday of the Savior of the world, the Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Emmanuel. In the world of many troubles and sadness, lest we forget that God is always with us. In him, with him, and through him, we can dream for better and we can hope that one day that dream will be realized.

"Eye of Faith" - A Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Advent - Year C

            Without intentionally planning it, I have come to notice that the last two reflections that I wrote for the Second and Third Sunday of Advent corresponded to the two Theological Virtues of Hope and Charity. Therefore, it only seems fitting that this reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Advent to focus on the Virtue of Faith. A beautiful quote from the book The Little Prince is most appropriate for the beginning of our reflecting on Faith,

            “Now here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with one’s heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

            Today’s world is being invaded more and more by secularism. Less and less people believe in a higher power. They aren’t quite as interested in proving God’s existence as disproving it and casting it into the category of silly superstition. What’s the point of having faith in God, for having faith in him means being dependent on him and placing confidence in him? As technology progresses, mankind finds itself more independent. We think we have become gods ourselves, hence there isn’t a need for a God. Why believe in someone you can neither see nor touch when you can pretty much have anything done with the power of science? When everything seems very possible, people believe less in the impossible.

            The crisis of faith in today’s world, I believe, isn’t about whether or not God exists as much as about whether or not we need God.

            Faith, at the core, has always been the matter of the heart. The eye of faith is the eye of the heart where, as Paschal wrote, “it has reason that reason knows not.”

            People in our world today find it hard to have faith because faith challenges us to let go of what the mind cannot comprehend to simply let the heart believe.

            The Gospel recounts Mary’s visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. In her great joy, the elderly lady exclaimed, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

            Dear friends, this thirteen/fourteen year virgin named Mary has become for us the greatest model of faith, not because she knows and understand much, but because she loves much.

            When the Angel appeared to her announcing that she would be conceived, bear a son, and her son would be the Son of God, what crossed Mary’s mind? A whole list of impossibilities:

-          She never had relation with a man, then, the obvious question would be: how on earth would she bear a child?

-          If she overlooked the fact that she’s a virgin, the next thing was that she’s only simple and insignificant girl in a small town, and her Son was destined to be the Savior?

What was Mary’s response? She didn’t understand it, but she loved God and knew that she could fully trust him – have faith in him – to do the impossible, and therefore she gave her “yes.” This “yes” did not come from clarity of the intellect, but rather from a solid confidence based on a profound relationship with the One for whom “nothing is impossible.”

In this year of faith, the Church asks us to grow in appreciation for our faith and strive to deepen it. It would be entirely unattainable without a relationship with God, without allow our hearts be captured by Love Eternal. Humanly speaking, no one, in their right mind, puts faith in a stranger. Same goes with faith in God.

In a few days, we will be celebrating the Birthday of the Lord. The Incarnation is, by nature, a mystery of faith which puzzles many. How could an almighty God strip himself of all glory and be born in the form of a baby so weak? By reason, it would never make sense. However, with the eye of the heart – the eye of faith – the answer is quite simple: Love; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”

Those who believe in God are those who believe in love for God is love. They have a relationship with love. They depend on love.

Entering these final days of preparation for Christmas, let us pause a moment to examine our relationship with our God. Ask ourselves how committed are we to this relationship, because, friends, this relationship is the same measure of our faith in him. If you find ourselves not doing so good, perhaps, we should muster some humility to ask him to draw us closer to him, thus our faith, in turn, can me strengthened.

Finally, Christmas is also a celebration of our faith in a promise fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ born in Bethlehem and in a promise which will be fulfilled at his return one day. Since December 17^th, the Church has been praying in her Vespers the O Antiphons – the seven titles of the Messiah: O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai (O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens (O Dayspring), O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations), and O Emmanuel (O With Us is God). If you take the first letters of these titles and put them in reverse order, you will find the phrase “Ero Cras,” translated as “Tomorrow, I will come.”

That is his promise, friends.

Do you believe it?

"Choosing Kindness" - A Reflection for the Third Sunday of Advent - Year C

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.”

In World War II soldier was on duty on Christmas morning. It had been his custom to go to Church every Christmas morning with his family, but now, in service on the outlying districts of London, this was impossible. So, with some of his soldier buddies, as dawn was breaking, he walked down the road that led to the city.

Soon they came upon an old, gray, stone building over whose main door were carved the words, “Queen Ann’s Orphanage.” They decided to knock and see what kind of celebration was taking place inside. In response to their knock, a matron came and explained that the children were orphans whose parents had been killed in one of the many bombings that took place in London. The soldiers went inside just as the children were tumbling out of bed. There was no Christmas tree in the corner. There were no presents. The soldiers moved around the room wishing the children Merry Christmas and giving them whatever gifts they had in their pockets: a stick of chewing-gum, a Life Saver, a nickel, a dime, a pencil, a pocket knife, a good luck charm.

The soldier who had gotten his buddies together noticed a little fellow alone in the corner, that little fellow looked an awful lot like his nephew back home. So he approached him and said, “And you, little guy, what do you want for Christmas?” The lad replied, “Will you hold me?” The soldier, with tears brimming in his eyes, picked up the little boy and held him very close in his arms.

The third Sunday of Advent traditionally has always been referred to as Gaudete Sunday in which the Church invites us to rejoice (if you do have any doubt, count how many times the words joy and rejoice are mentioned in the readings and throughout the Liturgy). The question naturally is why. Why are we invited to rejoice? It is because:

Who is like the Lord, our God,

who has risen on high to his thrown

Yet stoops from the heights to look down,

to look down upon heaven and earth?

That, friends, is the cause of our joy, for the Almighty God had looked upon us in our lowliness, had made his dwelling among us, had taken upon himself our nature and become man. As the Son of God took on human flesh, he elevated it and deified it. An admirabile commercium - A marvelous exchange – “God became man, so that man might become God” (St. Augustine)!

            Tell me, if it is not at all a reason to rejoice, to celebrate.

            But, how? – How are we to celebrate our joy most authentically? St. Paul’s advice to the Philippians is most appropriate for us all,

             “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.”

            “Your kindness should be known to all.”

Friends, what better way to celebrate the joy of our salvation, our gratitude for the Lord’s kindness and generosity than imitating him in our daily lives?

            Every year, during the Season of Advent and Christmas, I always made it a point to emphasize the importance of kindness for others, for an infant who was God was given to us, fragile and small, laid among cattle, loved and recognized by so few, hungered for the warmth of human hearts for whom he had stripped off all his glory. This very infant, the Lord himself, is very present in our needy brothers and sisters, who also are loved and recognized by so few, who also hunger for the warmth of human hearts.

            This neediness goes beyond material concerns. Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty.” And, you don’t have to look very far, this kind of poverty is present all around us, where children hunger for affection because their parents are too busy to care, where elderly parents forgotten in some nursing facilities, where siblings have ceased to talk to each other, where your lonesome next door neighbor who will be sitting on the couch eating some microwaved food by him/herself without anyone with whom to celebrate Christmas, where a classmate seems down and stressed.

They are all around us. Like the little fellow in the story I just told, they linger in the corner of life, cold and lonely. Like the little fellow in the story I just told, quietly they whisper, “Will you hold me?” The infant Jesus Christ is present in them.

Slow down from all your holiday excitement and gift-shopping, take a look at him in them – so hunger for affection and kindness, hold him, care for him, love him.

For, a child has been born for us.

Therefore, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.”

***

This reflection was written prior to what happened in Newtown, CT. I had thought, after the incident occurred, to alter and rewrite a different reflection that was more fitting. However, if I were honest with myself, what could I possibly write amid of such deep tragedy? No word at the moment can console the pain and the loss of those twenty beautiful and innocent lives. Ohh, so terrifying is the face of evil!

What I thought I should do, in place of writing a new reflection, was to once more exhort the great need for kindness. We have been exposed to so much violence. Alas, many have become so used to it and have been calloused to it. It should not be so. Violence is never godly. Violence only brings more violence. We must counter and eradicate such evil – but only with the power of kindness. “We carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness” (R.J., Palacio – Wonder).

So, friends, I beg of you: strive, in the best of your ability, to choose kindness over violence and hatred and spread that capacity of ours to those around us. Make choosing and being kind the rule of our life, as J. M. Barrie once wrote,

“Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?”

"Heart" - Reflection for the Second Sunday of Advent - Year C

            An odd question to start our reflection today:

            Friends, how is your heart?

            And no, I don’t mean your physical heart. As important as it is, I am more interested in the heart of your soul. So, here it is again:

            How is your heart?

            Is it wearied and burdened with anxieties and troubles of life: trying to make the demands of daily living, unsure if you’d be able to pay the bills this month, doubtful if you’d be able to bring home some gifts for your children this Christmas?

            Is it pained by broken relationships, betrayal, loneliness, depression, or by the feeling of unloved, unwanted?

            Is it tainted by sins, addictions, and bad habits?

            Friends, how is your heart today?

            The reason I am asking you, and, in a sense, asking myself these questions also, is because I am convinced that the heart of your soul is the focus of attention in the Gospel’s reading on this 2^nd Sunday of Advent.

            A voice crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

            In this Season of anticipation, we await the celebration of the birth of the Lord. However, the Church asks us to look beyond that. As we celebrate his first coming in Bethlehem, we await his glorious return. Will he find your heart well and ready to welcome him?

            Friends, how is your heart today?

            If your answer is “not well,” then allow me to suggest one simple way to make it better: Letting it go and turning it over.

            A story was told about St. Jerome praying by the manger scene on Christmas Eve. Suddenly, Christ appeared in the form of an infant. Jerome was moved to tears as he beheld the beauty and innocence of the infant Jesus. The infant Christ turned and asked the saint,

            “Jerome, what have you to offer me as gifts?”

            “Lord,” the saint answered, “I offer you all the good works that I have been able to do.”

            “What else?” Christ asked.

            “I offer you all praises and honor from the depth of my heart.”

            “What else?”

            “Lord, I don’t have anything else to offer.”

            “What about your sins? You offered me all these beautiful things. But, I also want your sins. I want them so that I can forgive them.”

            A simple story with a profound message.

Often, we want to bring to the Lord the better self of who we are. We want to offer him a heart whole and holy. But, what we failed to realize is that what he desires above all else is a heart that is wounded that he may heal it, a heart that is pained that he may console it, a heart that is burdened that he may uplift it, a heart that is wearied that he may refresh it, a heart that is sinful that he may forgive it, a heart that feels unloved that he may love it.

            Whatever condition you and I find our heart in today, let it go and turn it over to the Lord who so desire to love it. What better way to prepare ourselves than to allow God himself to make our hearts new?

            This Season of Advent is one of hope - A hope that

            In the midst of anxieties and worry, we will find serenity.

            In the midst of sorrows, we will encounter joy.

            In the midst of pains, there will be consolation.

            In the midst of separations, there will be reconciliation.

            In the midst of sins, there will be forgiveness.

            This hope, friends, is found in the person of the Lord Jesus who loves us so much.

            Allow him to have your heart. In turn, he will make it the most fitting place for his dwelling.