Christmas Reflections

I will be leaving for home to spend Christmas

with my sister and best friend, Janie,

and will be away from the computer

for a few days.  So here is a

Christmas Reflection 

and my warmest wishes

and 

deepest thoughts.

     Saint Augustine is a great Doctor of the Church, an outstanding follower of Christ, a bishop in Northern Africa, a convert to the faith, and by his own confession, a pagan and great sinner.  Reverse the above order of his life and you see the tremendous working of God's grace and mercy in his life.

     On Christmas Eve, in the Office of Readings from the Church's Liturgy of the Hours, there is an excerpt from a Christmas sermon by Saint Augustine.  I would like to share a short part of that letter as my Christmas message.

     "Awake, mankind!  For your sake God has become man.                   Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.  I tell you again: for your sake, God became man.

     You would have suffered eternal death, had he not been born in time. 

     Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. 

     You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for his mercy.  

     You would never have returned to life, had he not shared your death.  

     You would have been lost if he had not hastened to your aid.            You would have perished, had he not come.

     Let us joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption.  

     Let us celebrate the festive day on which he

     who is the great and eternal day

     came from the great and endless day of eternity

     into our own short day of time.

+  +  +  +  +

     Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and see whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace."

The prayer for Christmas Day says:

"God of endless ages, Father of all goodness,

we keep vigil for the dawn of salvation

and the birth of your Son. 

With gratitude we recall his humanity, 

the life he shared with the sons of men. 

May the power of his divinity

help us answer his call to forgiveness and life. 

We ask this through Christ our Lord."

 A  VERY  BLESSED  CHRISTMAS!

Advent images

      There are many images of the season of Advent, each reflecting the face of Christ which bring us into a deeper love of the Lord of Life.  These "icons", or sacred images that show us the Christ, always begin with Mary, but are found in so many other champions of the Faith present in these four brief weeks prior to Christmas.  Today is one of them, Saint Nicholas, the fourth century bishop of Myra in what is present day Turkey.

     Nicholas lived from about 270 to 343 and served as the Bishop of Myra.  Many legends grew up around him, with a great many surrounding his wonderful love of the needy and especially children.  He saw the face of Christ in these innocent ones, and most of the traditions involved his sharing his blessings with the young as he shared his love of Jesus.  Gift giving was involved, but so was gentle love and compassion.  The image of Nicholas above, as a Latin Rite bishop, is inaccurate, since he would have been of the Eastern Church Tradition, but it led to the image we have of Saint Nick as the jolly old man dressed in red and being a model of generous love.

     Many parishes in these early days of Advent share the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time with their youngsters who are preparing for their Sacraments of Initiation.  I shared in wonderful celebrations these past two days - on Monday at my former parish of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton where the kids were excited at seeing me again (even though I did not wear red, with my size and the gray beard, I probably reminded them that Santa was coming soon) - and on Tuesday at Our Lady of Grace in Greensburg.  Both were beautiful experiences of the gentle love and mercy of the Lord in our lives - for the youngsters, for their parents and families, and for the priests present.  I had an awesome thing happen yesterday as well.  A young lady needed some encouragement before receiving the Sacrament (she was nervous).  As her mom came to me to encourage her daughter she pointed out that she knew me.  She said that I had baptized her when I was an Associate at Saint John the Baptist in Scottdale and then married her and her husband when I was pastor at the same parish.  And now I had the honor of hearing her child's confession.  It is a small world, and our past moments of ministry often bring us continued blessings.

     There are many icons of Advent, many faces of Christ that bring us closer to him.  Look for them in your lives.

Friends and Family at the beginning

     Time passes so quickly.  We have now entered into a new year, not according to the calendar, but in the tradition and the practice of the People of God, the Church.  We call this transition Advent, and it leads us into a renewal of our journey of faith.  

     A week ago we acclaimed Christ to be our King, the King of the Universe and the Lord of our lives.  With that acclamation, all that had brought us to that moment was called to mind and celebrated, or reflected upon and repented of.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, on our national holiday that precedes Advent, we paused to call to mind the blessings of the Lord.  In the Scriptures for these last few weeks of the Church year, we heard readings that spoke of the end times, of the end of an age, of a day of judgement.  In our attentiveness to the news, real and fake, we see the ever deepening needs of our society and world, of our failures in learning the lessons of life, and most importantly, our failure to learn the message of the Gospels.  We reflect upon the past year and face the challenge of the new year.  And then we begin again.

     But as we continue our journey of Faith and face the uncertainty of the new day, we do so with a spirit of hope.  In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul calls us to join the Church at Corinth in reflection, and in giving thanks to God always for the grace that he has bestowed upon us.  He tells us to count our blessings as we "wait" for the revelation of the Lord.  He assures us that the Lord will keep us firm to the end in our Faith.  With this assurance we can cry out with the Psalmist today, "Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved."  Paul tells Corinth that "God is faithful, and in him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

     We forget what Paul reminds us of, and we seek the face of anyone but Christ to lead us or comfort us or be our foundation.  And all too often we repeat our mistakes because we have not learned the lessons of history and the message of the Gospel.  As we enter into Advent, break out from the pattern of repetition and move forward in grace with grace.  And may we remember the words of Isaiah the prophet: "No ear has ever heard, no eye has ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him."

     Our courage to move forward into this new year with confidence happens when we see the face of God and turn toward him.  We see the face of God in others: in Mary who is the icon of Advent, and in our friends and family.  I was blessed these past two days in spending time with family, and with friends who have become family to me.  My sister, Janie and I had lunch today with cousins, and yesterday I shared an early Christmas party with the Christian Mothers of my former parish, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.  Following the party I joined the parish for the evening Mass and was graciously welcomed by the pastor, Father John Moineau, and greeted by the parish family with warmth and love.  It was a good beginning of a new day, a new season of grace, and a new year of blessing for the Church.