“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?”
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