Christmas - Dec 24
I wonder what I would have
heard had I been there that night. It is a question that annually haunts me.
Would I have heard the choirs of angels singing or simply the sounds of barnyard
animals shifting around? Would I have seen the star in the sky that night or
simply two poor and very frightened kids? Would I have understood the hushed
silence of the divine presence, or simply the chill of a cold east wind. Would I
have understood the message of Emmanuel, God with us, or would the cosmic
implications of that evening have passed me by?
CHRISTMAS - Illustrations
| Consider Again Christmas When Pope Julius I authorized December 25 to be celebrated as the birthday of Jesus in A.D. 353, who would have ever thought that it would become what it is today. When Professor Charles Follen lit candles on the first Christmas tree in America in 1832, who would have ever thought that the decorations would become as elaborate as they are today. It is a long time since 1832, longer still from 353, longer still from that dark night brightened by a special star in which Jesus the king was born. Yet, as we approach December 25 again, it gives us yet another opportunity to pause, and in the midst of all the excitement and elaborate decorations and expensive commercialization which surround Christmas today, to consider again the event of Christmas and the person whose birth we celebrate. Brian L. Harbour, James W. Cox, The Minister's Manual: 1994, San Fransico: Harper Collins, 1993, p. 254. There is a stage in a child's life at which it cannot separate the religious from the merely festal character of Christmas or Easter. I have been told of a very small and very devout boy who was heard murmuring to himself on Easter morning a poem of his own composition which began 'Chocolate eggs and Jesus risen.' This seems to me, for his age, both admirable poetry and admirable piety. But of course the time will soon come when such a child can no longer effortlessly and spontaneously enjoy that unity. He will become able to distinguish the spiritual from the ritual and festal aspect of Easter; chocolate eggs will no longer seem sacramental. And once he has distinguished he must put one or the other first. If he puts the spiritual first he can still taste something of Easter in the chocolate eggs; if he puts the eggs first they will soon be no more than any other sweetmeat. They will have taken on an independent, and therefore a soon withering, life. C. S. Lewis |
Advent 4 A
Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration
Michel de Verteuil
General Comments
Introduction to the Celebration
We are beginning the
celebration of God coming to us, God being with us, we being brought into the
presence of God. This is the great mystery of Christmas: it is the feast of
Emmanuel which means ‘God is with us.’ This is our special celebration this
Sunday, but each time we gather here we remember the words of Jesus: ‘When two
or three are gathered here in my name, I am there among them’. So, let us spend
time reminding ourselves that Jesus is among us, we are in his presence in this
gathering, and recalling that we are the people who proclaim him as Emmanuel:
God is with us.
--------------Michel de Verteuil
General Comments
Advent: Cardinal Luis Antonio (Chito) Tagle
We are in the
holy season of Advent, a time to prepare for the coming of the Messiah through
prayer, penance and good works. A few days ago a friend told me that my coming
into the Archdiocese of Manila as its 32nd Archbishop is truly Advent. “You are
the one who is to come,” he declared. The remark made me laugh. It also made me
think. Is this occasion really about me? I know many people are asking “who is
this new archbishop of Manila? What is he like? What are his vision and plans?”
But like John the Baptist I am inviting you to focus on the One mightier than
all of us, Jesus Christ, the Risen One and the True Shepherd of the Church. My
Episcopal motto says it plainly, “Dominus Est! It is the
Lord!”
Advent 3A - John the Baptist: What do you see and hear?
Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration
General comments
The passage is clearly in two sections:
Verses 2 to 6: The meeting between John’s disciples and Jesus.
Verses 7 to 11: Jesus speaks of John.
You can read verses 2 to 5 as a journey into a deeper faith which John the Baptist made, letting your meditation guide you to interpret this journey from your own experience. What was John’s prison? Why did he send disciples? What was the purpose of his question?
Introduction to the Celebration
In these weeks before
Christmas our reflection and prayer as a community focus on the various ways
that the Lord is near to us:
he is the One who is continually coming into our world with his good news of liberation and joy; we are the people who welcome him and become his hands, and mouth, and feet. So we can now reflect on the joyfulness that is ours because we are in Christ’s presences — he is near to us; but we must regret the times when our actions have been far from him.
he is the One who is continually coming into our world with his good news of liberation and joy; we are the people who welcome him and become his hands, and mouth, and feet. So we can now reflect on the joyfulness that is ours because we are in Christ’s presences — he is near to us; but we must regret the times when our actions have been far from him.
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Michel de Verteuil General comments
The passage is clearly in two sections:
Verses 2 to 6: The meeting between John’s disciples and Jesus.
Verses 7 to 11: Jesus speaks of John.
You can read verses 2 to 5 as a journey into a deeper faith which John the Baptist made, letting your meditation guide you to interpret this journey from your own experience. What was John’s prison? Why did he send disciples? What was the purpose of his question?
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