 |
| Paintings of the Birth of Christ, Gerard van Honthorst, 1622 |
We say that
Advent is supposed to be a time of “joyful expectation.” Well, I don’t know about you, but my Advent
has been downright depressing. It started
with the news of yet another parishioner’s cancer diagnosis. Then a friend was scheduled for emergency
back surgery three days before Christmas.
Another friend’s daughter continues her struggle with a rare, painful autoinflammatory
disorder. Last Wednesday, my nephew,
Brian, was admitted to the hospital with a stomach flu that’s complicated by
his colectomy. (You may recall that Brian was hospitalized last Christmas, so we’re praying hard that he’ll be home
this year.) That same day, my mother and
I hastened to Texas to visit my Uncle Bob, whose health is failing. And if that weren't enough, three policemen were
gunned down in cold-blood over the weekend.
Enough already. We need a little
Christmas – NOW!
I love
Christmas. I love the candles in the window
and the carols at the spinet. I love the
gift-giving and gift-receiving. I love
the fruit cake, the family and the fellowship.
I love Christmas Mass – whether it’s the 4 pm Mass where both the Church
and the parish hall are packed tighter than Santa’s sleigh, or Midnight Mass
with all the smells and bells. I love
coming home from Midnight Mass with the children nestled all snug in their beds,
while I quietly place baby Jesus and the “Gloria” angel in our nativity. But most of all, I love what Christmas brings
– faith, hope, joy and peace. We could
use a little of each, right now.
Faith
is a gift from God by which we’re invited to accept and respond to the Truth
that God has revealed to us. Faith
teaches us to trust God, to believe that God is eternally faithful – that he
keeps his promises. Through faith, Christmas
invites us to trust that God is with us in our sickness and in our pain, that
his little angel is sitting on our shoulder.
Hope is
an attitude based on positive expectations.
Hope gives us an outlook that transcends this world, a snappy, happy-ever-after
assurance that “all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of
things shall be well.”[1] Christmas gives us the hope of eternal life
that encourages us to persevere through the struggles of this life, confident “that
no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has conceived what God has
prepared for those who love him.”[2]
Joy is a sharing in God’s life. Joy persists
through sorrow and suffering; joy sustains us and encourages us to live each
living day; joy carries us into the fullness of God’s eternal joy. Christmas delivers the joyful message that
God loves us so much that he sent “his own Son into the dysfunction of the
world so that he might gather that world into the bliss of the divine life.”[3]
Peace
is a state of harmony and tranquility. In
peace, we live without fear, conflict or violence. Christmas inaugurates the reign of the Prince
of Peace, allowing us to sleep in heavenly peace.
Click here to listen to "We Need A Little Christmas" from the musical Mame.
No comments:
Post a Comment
God is listening . . . comment accordingly.