Some Challenging, End-of-the-year Questions

In today’s first reading from 1 John 2: 18-21, we are told that “it is the last hour; and just as [we] hear that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared” (1 John 2: 18). In 1951, Fulton J. Sheen, a Roman Catholic bishop, wrote ^[51][52]  that “the Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers...he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves...He will tempt Christians with the same three temptations with which he tempted Christ... (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

Are we being tempted?

St. John says to us in 1 John 2: 20-21: …[Y]ou have the anointing that comes from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth.”

Are we being lied to?

If we are going to discern wisely and skillfully, we need to ask ourselves those questions always and do so in prayer.

What St. Joseph Teaches Us!

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The Gospel of today, Matthew 2: 13-15, 19-23 gives the account of how God directed the Holy Family, counseling them in ways that kept them safe and in ways in which their needs as a family were met.  Shortly after Jesus’ birth and after the Magi left to return to their perspective countries, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him to make an immediate departure in the middle of the night for the land of Egypt. Herod would be searching for the child Jesus to kill him.  When in Egypt and those who wanted to kill Him had in fact themselves died, an angel again appeared to Joseph instructing him to return to Nazareth.  A third time, again in a dream, Joseph is counseled concerning the  place in Judea  to settle that would be best for the Holy Family.

Joseph is alert to heavenly messages. He listens to the good spirits guiding him as foster father of Jesus.  All along, Joseph is fulfilling the prophesies concerning Jesus. As with the Holy Family, God has a plan for our lives as well. If we follow the promptings of “the angels,” the messengers of the Lord speaking to us, guiding us, protecting us, we, too, will experience God’s overwhelming love and intimacy in our lives, day in and day out.  As with Joseph, so, too, with us: we are guided day and night. Warnings are given to us and  God’s instructions are shared with those who have developed ears to hear.   Do we heed God’s guiding  voice? Do we see God’s guiding hand? Do we trust “our dreams”? Joseph did!  We can, too!

Lord, may each of us develop the kind of intimacy with you that Joseph had developed  and that enabled him to hear your voice, trust the messengers You sent to him and the dreams given for his benefit and those  for whom he was to provide sustenance and protection from  the evil of his day.

Being in the Light

“Sing a new song to the Lord,” we pray in today’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 96.  A Savior has been born for us.  God has taken on flesh and dwells among us.  A Light has entered the darkness of our world, a world made dark by sin, specifically by our lack of love for our brothers and sisters. St. John says to us in today’s first reading, 1 John 2: 3-11, “Whoever says he [or she] is in the light, yet hates his [or her] brother [or sister] is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his [her] brother [or sister] remains in the light, and there is nothing in him [or her] to cause a fall. Whoever hates his [her] brother [or sister] is in darkness; he [or she] walks in darkness and does not know where he [or she] is going because the darkness has blinded his [or her] eyes.”

As I reflect on John’s messages, I need to seriously examine to what extent I fulfill the commandment to love my fellow human beings.  The love I show to any brother or sister is the love I show to God. The love I withhold, I also withhold from God. To the extent that I lack love, I also lack the light. I then walk in darkness and do not know where I am going “because darkness has blinded” my eyes.  When surrounded with darkness, within or without, I am likely to be overcome with fear and hopelessness.  My words and actions then spread a darkness.   The solution? Basking in the Light Who is Christ the Lord and being rejuvenated by God’s grace that comes to me through the Scriptures, the liturgy, the sacraments, and through acts of humility, repentance and, yes, love and reconciliation with those I am called upon to show love on a daily basis!

To whom do I need to reach out in love, asking forgiveness? In what ways am I called upon to walk in the light, that is to walk humbly with my God, to do what is right and to love tenderly (See Micah 6:8)?

The Feast of the Holy Innocents

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, those little boys two years and younger who Herod slaughtered in hopes of killing Jesus. Herod was a jealous, ambitious man, narcissistically pursuing power and control at other people’s expense.  Deceptively, he asked the Magi, on their return from worshiping the new born King, to let him know where to find him so he, too, could worship him. That was not his intent. He wanted Jesus killed so that his position of power and prestige would not be in jeopardy.  He would do whatever he heeded to do to remove the threat!

There are many reasons, even today, that infants and children are at risk, whether they are slaughtered in their mother’s womb,  disposed of by being sold to human traffickers, handed over for a profit to those who are seeking body parts or looking for children to sacrifice to Satan, or, in fact,  being used and abused by adults wanting to produce products  cheaply  to guarantee their factories’  billions of dollars in profit.  Children are also at risk of being victims of physical, emotional, sexual abuse within the confines of their homes and, in some cases, in their schools.

 God weeps for children of today as much as he wept for the children Herod killed in Bethlehem. God also mourns today for those who engage in deceptive activities, as Herod did, in order to, presumably, secure a powerful position in the world or in order to profit personally in some way and not be thwarted in achieving narcissistic dreams of greatness. Not only children but adults also, especially women, become victims of the “Herods” of today.

So, what is our challenge personally? What am I/what are you doing to remain cognizant of ways in which powerful figures in our societies are being deceptive?  Am I/are you aware that what someone says he/she is going to do to promote rightful relationships,  and which sounds terrific, could,  in fact,  be laced with evil intent?  What about my/your own intentions? Are they rooted in selfishness, narcissism, pride, greed or do they stem from humility, generosity, a willingness to sacrifice for the good of all?

St. John, the Evangelist, and the Beloved of the Lord

Today we celebrate the feast of St. John the Evangelist.  St. John is known as the “beloved” disciple, the one who rested his head on the chest of Jesus at the Last supper, the one who repeatedly pointed out Jesus’ presence. One of those times was after the resurrection and Jesus was on the shore of Lake Tiberias, preparing breakfast for the disciples who had been out fishing. John looks up from the boat, sees Jesus and says to Peter, his companion fisherman: “It is the Lord” (John 21:7).  When Peter and John ran to the tomb after the women told them that the tomb was empty, it was John who, seeing the burial cloths lying there and no body, believed (John 20: 8).

John and his brother James were nicknamed “Sons of Thunder” by Jesus. Both had explosive tempers when provoked.  In fact it was James and John who wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy a Samaritan town that did not welcome Jesus on one occasion (Luke 9: 51-56). John was changed by Jesus’ unconditional love and he learned how to control his anger. His love for Jesus grew to enormous depths.  His faith also grew strong. Nothing was too much for John. It was John who did not go into hiding during the crucifixion. No John accompanied Mary to the foot of the cross and offered her his support. It was to John, whom Jesus, as he died, said: “Son, behold your mother,” and to Mary, “Woman, behold your son.”  John represented you and I beneath that cross and the ones to whom Mary was given as mother and as mother of the church (the church being the People of God, not a building).

May we cherish John and each other as brothers and sisters and Mary as our Mother!  And may we develop the courage, the faith and the love St. John did as he grew in love for Jesus!

The Feast of St. Stephen, Dec. 26

Today we celebrate the feast of St.Stephen, the first martyr.  Stephen, like every Christian, sought to acquire the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is a free gift from God given to us in our baptism and is one that needs to be nourished and nurtured throughout our lives.  In fact, it is a gift that needs "watering," "cultivating," and '"fertilizing" every single day to grow to the stature that St. Stephen enjoyed!  How do we do all of this? The gift of the Spirit grows in proportion to the time we devote to this divine gift: taking time to spend alone with the Lord in silent prayer each day, participating in the Eucharist on a regular basis, reading the Scriptures (the Bible) every day (such as the daily readings of the liturgy in such a resource as Word Among Us (Complete Catholic Mass and Daily Meditations), frequenting the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly, taking time for spiritual reading (reading that speaks to the deepest parts of ourselves where God reigns, reaching out in love to others, showing our love in actions, being able to ask for forgiveness when we have wronged another, making sacrifices for the good of others and of the world.

At one point Steven assumed a public role of healing and preaching and, finally, he faced death courageously, forgiving his executioners for killing him, as Jesus did upon the cross!  We may not be called to die for our faith in the way Stephen was called, but yet, every day we are called to die to selfishness, to those activities that are not healthy for our spiritual well-being.  The "sacrifice" in which we are called to engage may be as simple but complex and difficult as allowing a family member to watch a TV program that means I will not be able to watch what I want to watch!

How much am I willing to do to "water," "cultivate," or"fertilize" the budding plant of my faith?  Or have I returned it "to the store," as what happens to many Christmas presents or has it simply been tucked away on a shelf never to be touched again! We know what would happen to a Christmas plant treated that way!

God Beckoning Us as a Lover Beckons His Bride

In today’s first reading, Song of Songs 2: 8-14, we encounter our Lover God and God, our Beloved,  beckons and  encounters us:  “Hark! My lover—here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My [L]over is like a gazelle or a young stag. Here [God] stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices. My [L]over speaks; he says to me, ‘Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!....O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.”

Today we buried one of our Sisters and I could not help but think of Sister seeing her Beloved “springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills,” coming to take her into Paradise. I also imagined the Lord saying to her: “Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come! O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.” And vice  versa, I would hear Sister saying the same thing to the Lord.

Are you and I ready for that day or night when our “Lover…comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills…like a gazelle or a young stag”?  Yes, I believe, that God stands behind the walls we build to protect ourselves from taking risks to love as God loves, to forgive as God forgives, to be His hands, His feet, His mouth caring for others in need.  I believe that God holds out His hands beckoning us to take that step that we are afraid to take, to trust that we will be given the graces we need to meet whatever challenge frightens us, including the challenge of death itself. I believe that God gazes through the windows, peers through the lattices of our souls, seeking to enter our hearts and minds and lives with an abundance of graces we most need. He says to us, as we say to God: “O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.”