The Sixth Day of Christmas

 

“There was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”

- Luke 2:36-40

The prophetess Anna was one of the “anawim,” a term which referred to the remnant people, the lowly and quiet ones who simply waited in faithfulness for the Day of the Lord. We know nothing about Anna except what these verses tell us, but even in this brief description we learn the important things.

Anna was a widow. She had known sorrow, certainly, but she had not grown bitter. Sorrow can have different effects upon people. Either it can make a person hard and bitter, resentful and rebellious against God; or it can make a person kinder and more sympathetic. Intense sorrow can rob a person of faith, or it can root faith even deeper, helping it to blossom. We see in Anna a woman who loves God and who quietly serves Him with her worship.

At the time of the Presentation of Our Lord she was eighty-four years of age. Advanced age can take away the strength of the body, but sometimes it can do even worse by taking away hope and a love for life. But in Anna we see a woman who lived in hope and anticipated each day as a gift from God.

She never ceased to worship and she never ceased to pray. The years had left Anna without bitterness and with an unshakable hope because day by day she kept herself close to God, who is our source of strength and in whose strength our weakness is made perfect.

God-With-Us

Living in the grace of God involves a cost. There was a cost felt by the first disciples of Jesus when they left everything to follow Him. As they did this, so each person called to be a disciple must be willing to give up something in the short term in order to receive the Gospel and to live by it.

A willingness to sacrifice doesn't mean that we cannot attempt to improve our lives and the lives of our children. But we do need to be cautioned against letting our lives slip so out of focus that we lose sight of the fact that God-with-us must be the true center of our lives. 

To improve one's state in life is good, but not at a cost to others. To be centered on material well-being and security, and not on Jesus Christ, is empty. It is so easy to make idols of things. It’s not our outward appearance, it’s not the position we have in life, it's not the home we live in, or the job we have, that enables our success in God's kingdom. It’s not the possessions we gather about ourselves that give us personal security. Rather, it’s what happens to us on the inside – our on-going conversion to Jesus Christ.

Jesus came to proclaim the good news that He is God with us. He came to us through the Virgin Mary, and He remains with us in the Most Holy Sacrament. But we have to do our part; namely, to allow Him to be the center of our lives.

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Painting: "Adoration of the Shepherds"

by Giorgione (1477-1510)

St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr

"Death of St. Thomas" by Meister Francke (1380-1435)

St. Thomas was born in London, England around the year 1117. He was the son of pious parents, and his mother converted to Christianity through the example and teachings of his father. From his early youth, Thomas was educated in religion and holiness. After his childhood, Thomas was then taught at a monastery and later at a school in London. After the death of both his parents, Thomas decided to finish his schooling by studying canon law. He was successful in his studies and was made secretary to one of the courts of London.

After working for a while at law, Thomas decided to dedicate the rest of his life to God, and began to work towards ordination. In all that he did, Thomas diligently applied himself and became well known as a holy and honest worker. His work came under the scrutiny of King Henry II and, in 1157, Thomas was asked to serve as Lord Chancellor to the king. After the bishop of Canterbury died, Henry sought to elect Thomas to the position, and in 1162 this suggestion was accepted by a synod. Thomas warned the king that it might cause friction and conflict of interests, but accepted the position.

Thomas served as bishop by seeking to help the people and develop his own holiness. He practiced many penances and was very generous to the poor with both his time and his money. As Henry's reign continued, he began more and more to exercise his hand in Church affairs. This caused many disagreements with Thomas, and after one especially trying affair, he retired for a while to France. When Thomas returned to England, he again became involved in a dispute with the king. Some of the king's knights saw this as treason, and as a result they killed Thomas in his own Church. Henry did penance at the grave of Thomas, seeking forgiveness for the actions of his knights, and the tomb soon became a place of pilgrimage for the faithful.

- Reprinted from the Catholic News Agency

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An Eyewitness Account of the Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket

The murderers of St. Thomas Becket entered Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170. They called out for the archbishop, and finding him, they came at him with their swords. When one of the swords was brandished at the head of Thomas, a young cleric named Edward Grim reached out to protect the archbishop. As the sword came down, Edward's arm was severed. He survived, however, and left this account of that terrible day:

After the monks took [Thomas] through the doors of the church, the four aforementioned knights followed behind with a rapid pace. A certain subdeacon, Hugh the Evil-clerk, named for his wicked offense and armed with their malice, went with them - showing no reverence for either God or the saints because by following them he condoned their deed. When the holy archbishop entered the cathedral the monks who were glorifying God abandoned vespers - which they had begun to celebrate for God - and ran to their father whom they had heard was dead but they saw alive and unharmed. They hastened to close the doors of the church in order to bar the enemies from slaughtering the bishop, but the wondrous athlete turned toward them and ordered that the doors be opened. "It is not proper," he said, "that a house of prayer, a church of Christ, be made a fortress since although it is not shut up, it serves as a fortification for his people; we will triumph over the enemy through suffering rather than by fighting - and we come to suffer, not to resist." Without delay the sacrilegious men entered the house of peace and reconciliation with swords drawn; indeed the sight alone as well as the rattle of arms inflicted not a small amount of horror on those who watched. And those knights who approached the confused and disordered people who had been observing vespers but, by now, had run toward the lethal spectacle exclaimed in a rage: "Where is Thomas Becket, traitor of the king and kingdom?" No one responded and instantly they cried out more loudly, "Where is the archbishop?" Unshaken he replied to this voice as it is written, "The righteous will be like a bold lion and free from fear," he descended from the steps to which he had been taken by the monks who were fearful of the knights and said in an adequately audible voice, "Here I am, not a traitor of the king but a priest; why do you seek me?" And [Thomas], who had previously told them that he had no fear of them added, "Here I am ready to suffer in the name of He who redeemed me with His blood; God forbid that I should flee on account of your swords or that I should depart from righteousness." With these words - at the foot of a pillar - he turned to the right. On one side was the altar of the blessed mother of God, on the other the altar of the holy confessor Benedict - through whose example and prayers he had been crucified to the world and his lusts; he endured whatever the murderers did to him with such constancy of the soul that he seemed as if he were not of flesh. The murderers pursued him and asked, "Absolve and restore to communion those you have excommunicated and return to office those who have been suspended." To these words [Thomas] replied, "No penance has been made, so I will not absolve them." "Then you," they said, "will now die and will suffer what you have earned." "And I," he said, "am prepared to die for my Lord, so that in my blood the church will attain liberty and peace; but in the name of Almighty God I forbid that you hurt my men, either cleric or layman, in any way." The glorious martyr acted conscientiously with foresight for his men and prudently on his own behalf, so that no one near him would be hurt as he hastened toward Christ. It was fitting that the soldier of the Lord and the martyr of the Savior adhered to His words when he was sought by the impious, "If it is me you seek, let them leave."With rapid motion they laid sacrilegious hands on him, handling and dragging him roughly outside of the walls of the church so that there they would slay him or carry him from there as a prisoner, as they later confessed. But when it was not possible to easily move him from the column, he bravely pushed one [of the knights] who was pursuing and drawing near to him; he called him a panderer saying, "Don't touch me, Rainaldus, you who owes me faith and obedience, you who foolishly follow your accomplices." On account of the rebuff the knight was suddenly set on fire with a terrible rage and, wielding a sword against the sacred crown said, "I don't owe faith or obedience to you that is in opposition to the fealty I owe my lord king." The invincible martyr - seeing that the hour which would bring the end to his miserable mortal life was at hand and already promised by God to be the next to receive the crown of immortality - with his neck bent as if he were in prayer and with his joined hands elevated above - commended himself and the cause of the Church to God, St. Mary, and the blessed martyr St. Denis.He had barely finished speaking when the impious knight, fearing that [Thomas] would be saved by the people and escape alive, suddenly set upon him and, shaving off the summit of his crown which the sacred chrism consecrated to God, he wounded the sacrificial lamb of God in the head; the lower arm of the writer was cut by the same blow. Indeed [the writer] stood firmly with the holy archbishop, holding him in his arms - while all the clerics and monks fled - until the one he had raised in opposition to the blow was severed. Behold the simplicity of the dove, behold the wisdom of the serpent in this martyr who presented his body to the killers so that he might keep his head, in other words his soul and the church, safe; nor would he devise a trick or a snare against the slayers of the flesh so that he might preserve himself because it was better that he be free from this nature! O worthy shepherd who so boldly set himself against the attacks of wolves so that the sheep might not be torn to pieces! and because he abandoned the world, the world - wanting to overpower him - unknowingly elevated him. Then, with another blow received on the head, he remained firm. But with the third the stricken martyr bent his knees and elbows, offering himself as a living sacrifice, saying in a low voice, "For the name of Jesus and the protection of the church I am ready to embrace death." But the third knight inflicted a grave wound on the fallen one; with this blow he shattered the sword on the stone and his crown, which was large, separated from his head so that the blood turned white from the brain yet no less did the brain turn red from the blood; it purpled the appearance of the church with the colors of the lily and the rose, the colors of the Virgin and Mother and the life and death of the confessor and martyr. The fourth knight drove away those who were gathering so that the others could finish the murder more freely and boldly. The fifth - not a knight but a cleric who entered with the knights - so that a fifth blow might not be spared him who had imitated Christ in other things, placed his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr and (it is horrible to say) scattered the brains with the blood across the floor, exclaiming to the rest, "We can leave this place, knights, he will not get up again."But during all these incredible things the martyr displayed the virtue of perseverance. Neither his hand nor clothes indicated that he had opposed a murderer - as is often the case in human weakness; nor when stricken did he utter a word, nor did he let out a cry or a sigh, or a sign signaling any kind of pain; instead he held still the head that he had bent toward the unsheathed swords. As his body - which had been mingled with blood and brain - laid on the ground as if in prayer, he placed his soul in Abraham's bosom. Having risen above himself, without doubt, out of love for the Creator and wholly striving for celestial sweetness, he easily received whatever pain, whatever malice, the bloody murderer was able to inflict. And how intrepidly - how devotedly and courageously - he offered himself for the murder when it was made clear that for his salvation and faith this martyr should fight for the protection of others so that the affairs of the church might be managed according to its paternal traditions and decrees.

Site of the Martyrdom of St. Thomas
in Canterbury Cathedral

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O God, for whose Church the glorious Bishop Thomas Becket fell by the swords of wicked men: grant, we beseech thee; that all who call upon him for succour may be profited by the obtaining of all that they desire; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Holy Family

The Feast of the Holy Family gives honour to Jesus, Mary and Joseph as a family, and it is an occasion when we remember the importance of every family. In fact, it is so essential in the Church’s understanding of herself that the family is known as the “domestic Church.” Parents have the great privilege and responsibility of raising up yet another generation of Catholics who will walk in the great “stream of faith” which has come from others, and they are given the grace to do this through the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. 

While parents have this as their primary obligation, every one of us – whether parents or grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, clergy, teachers, friends – has the responsibility of assisting in the solid Catholic upbringing of children. Christ Himself has given us this responsibility as members of His Body. 

Children need to be developed in virtue; they need to be formed in character. And as our children learn the virtues, so our families – and the Church – will be strengthened and will be that leaven which will help our society come to know God as He has revealed Himself to us. 

How do children learn these things? 

First, through the examples they see around them. What children witness in the lives of parents and grandparents, and in the other adults whom they admire, they will tend to imitate. 

Second, by repeated practice. We need to remind our children constantly to do the right thing, to the point that they know they can do the right thing because they have become accustomed to doing it. 

And finally, by word; that is, by what they hear coming from our own lips, and having those words match the actions they see in our lives. 

We do our children no favour when we allow them to control us; rather, we have an obligation to assert a godly control over them, guiding them and correcting them and forming them in the image of Christ. 

Let this Feast of the Holy Family be a reminder to us of our responsibility to exhibit a solid, holy Catholic life. We must impart good habits of mind, will, and heart to our children, and to do it through hard work and sacrifice each day, setting an example for them of what a Catholic life can be, when it is well lived. 

With God's assistance and with our own dedicated and sacrificial work, we can help our children to grow into great men and women, and that will lay the foundation for every family to become more like the Holy Family.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the prayers of the Blessed Mother and of St. Joseph, help us to do this. 

O Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy wondrous holiness didst adorn a human home, and by thy subjection to Mary and Joseph didst consecrate the order of earthly families: grant that we, being enlightened by the example of their life with thee in thy Holy Family, and assisted by their prayers, may at last be joined with them in thine eternal fellowship; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Painting: "The Holy Family"

by James Collinson (1825-1881)

St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

The cave of St. John on Patmos.

Our spiritual journey continues during this Octave of Christmas, as we travel from the Feast of young St. Stephen to the Feast of the aged St. John. And what a journey he made, being taken from tending his fishing nets by the Galilean sea to a cave of exile on the island of Patmos. In both places he was called by the Lord Jesus; first, to listen to the Divine Word so he could follow, and second, to record the Divine Word so those of us who have come later can also follow.

On one of our parish pilgrimages we went to Greece and Turkey, during which we visited the cave in which St. John received the apocalyptic vision. As many holy places as I have visited, rarely have I been as affected as I was while standing in that place. There it was that the Risen Lord spoke to John with a power so overwhelming that a fissure was left overhead, dividing the rock into three pieces as a reminder that the Trinity had revealed the truth on that spot. Every place one looked, there was a reminder of John: the hollow in the rock where he rested his head when he grew so tired he could no longer stand upright; the sloping shelf on which the Revelation was recorded. It was all I could do to keep my shoes on my feet, so clearly was this "holy ground." It seemed as though the breath of history was held in that place, and that the apostle would at any moment appear once again to take up his pen to continue recording the living and awe-full word of the Lord. But of course, that could not be. It was there, in that cave, that the final word was spoken. What St. John heard there was the last word of truth. There is no more to be revealed; all we can pray for now is for our increased understanding of what Christ has spoken once for all. Here are the last words the Lord spoke to the last living apostle, written down with trembling hand:

"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star." The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let him who hears say, "Come." And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price. I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen.

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Shed upon thy Church, we beseech thee, O Lord, the brightness of thy light; that we, being illumined by the teaching of thine apostle and evangelist St. John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that we may at length attain to the fullness of life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr

Saint Stephen was one of the first ordained deacons of the Church. He is also the first Christian martyr. The Greek word from which we derive the English word "martyr" literally means "witness." In that sense, every Christian is called to bear witness to Jesus Christ, in both their words and their actions. Not all are asked to shed their blood.

Those who do shed their blood for the faith are the greatest of witnesses. They have been especially honoured since the very beginning of Christianity. Stephen was so conformed to Jesus in his holy life that his martyrdom was both a natural and supernatural sign of his love for the Lord. It also inspired the early believers as they faced the first round of brutal persecution.

His name means “crown." His final words showed his understanding that Christ had come not just for the Jews, but for the whole world.

As he was being stoned, the young rabbi holding the cloaks of those who were stoning Stephen was named Saul, and what he saw in this young martyr eventually led to his own conversion, becoming the great Apostle and Martyr St. Paul.

I find it spiritually invigorating to move so rapidly from celebrating the birth of Our Lord, into the next day's commemoration of the first one to die for faith in that same Lord. St. Stephen, the great deacon, the compelling preacher, the martyr whose blood was a seed of faith in St. Paul, his was a life which showed very early that the Catholic faith was not designed for cowards!

Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth, for the testimony of thy truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed: and, being filled with the Holy Spirit, may learn to love and bless our persecutors, by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen; who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our Mediator and Advocate; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

In Quiet Silence

"When all things were in quiet silence and night was in the midst of all her swift course, thine Almighty Word, O Lord, leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne..."

- Wisdom 18:14, 15a

Frequently, throughout the mysterious unfolding of the dramatic events of the redemption of mankind, God has used the gentleness of the night as the setting of His great and mighty acts. It is as though God, in His kindness and love for us, does not wish to startle us with the intensity of His glory, and so He covers His activity with the night. 

When the children of Israel were released from bondage in Egypt, the angel of death passed over them during the night.  While they were on their journey to the Promised Land, the Lord sent life-giving manna during the night.  Jesus instituted the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and imparted the priesthood after the sun had set and the shadows of evening had come upon Him and His apostles. The Crucifixion itself, even though it took place in the midst of the day, brought a cover of darkness at its moment of climax. The resurrection of the Lord, breaking the bonds of Satan, took place while it was yet dark. And the momentous event of this holy season, when Almighty God was born as Man of the Virgin Mary, took place, not in the glare of sunshine, but in the midst of the silence of night.

How different these events would have been if we could have planned them. They call for parades, for loud announcements, for a blazing sun and for great activity! In a world which has been shrunk by the media, where the desire is to be noticed, with an uncomfortable feeling about self-effacement, God comes among us in a way which seems strange — a way which is difficult for many to accept. We have grown accustomed to thinking that humility must have ulterior motives, and that silence is simply an absence of sound. But how like God it is, to enter the world when so few were looking, to send His Word down from heaven when so few had ears to hear. He works this way today, too, for He touches us when we least expect it, giving hope and comfort and love when those things seem not to be within reach.

Perhaps it is not so strange, after all, that God should come in darkness, for it tells us most eloquently that God is Light — the Light that drives darkness from our path. In the midst of the darkness of this world, our Holy Mother the Church takes us by the hand and leads us towards the Light which was born in Bethlehem, towards the Light which could not be forever extinguished on Calvary, towards the Light which burst forth from the tomb on the third day. It is darkness which makes us see the glow of a candle, just as it is our own realization of the darkness of our sinfulness that makes us reach out towards the Light which is Christ.

Could it be that the confusion which we see around us, whether it is confusion in the world or confusion within our own household of faith, is to serve the same purpose? Perhaps, in the midst of it all, God is urging us on by His own example, to quietly, but faithfully, bring the Light of His word to illuminate the darkness. Rather than turning on the glare of indignation and self-righteousness, which only makes the shadows more harsh, perhaps God would have us hold up the simple light of his truth, as it is manifested in our blessed Lord Jesus.

When God was born in Bethlehem, He made a poor stable to be His glorious tabernacle. As He carried out His earthly ministry, the world was hallowed anew as His dwelling-place, and as He lives within each of us, so we are His temples. Just as a candle burns before the tabernacle in every Catholic Church, indicating that Jesus the Light is truly there, so our faith, which we express by words and deeds, serves as a spiritual candle burning before the eyes of the world, proclaiming to all that Jesus our Lord is here! 

He is the God who came at night to drive the darkness away forever. May we, by faithfully reflecting the Light of Christ, banish darkness from our own lives, and from the night which surrounds us.

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Painting: "Angels Entertaining the Holy Child"

by Marianne Stokes (1855-1927)

The Nativity of Our Lord

UNTO us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his Name shall be called Angel of Mighty Counsel. (Ps) O sing unto the Lord a new song: for he hath done marvellous things.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy Only Begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

God Speaks To Us

 

“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son…”

- Hebrews 1:1, 2a

God speaks to us through His Son, a Son born into this world, a Son who is entrusted to earthly parents like any of us born into the world, a Son who cries and laughs like any other newborn. Jesus enters the world like each one of us, dependent upon others for survival. He was vulnerable to hunger and thirst, to cold and stress, to accident and mishap. In fact, if not for the protective love of His parents, Herod's armies would have found Him after His birth and killed Him.

"The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," says St. John in his Gospel. The Divine Word became a child: newborn, fragile, and vulnerable, and as dependent as we all are upon the love of others for survival. In the birth of Jesus, God reveals Himself and His plan for salvation – a plan that actually depended on human beings.

This God, who is all-powerful, who could simply destroy the world and start over again, will not. This God, who could demand our obedience, does not. This God loves us so much that He uses His power to make us His partners in our own salvation – fragile, willful human beings though we are. God sent His Son, born as an infant who was dependent upon Mary and Joseph for His very survival. They were entrusted with this precious baby's life.

It goes against all our worldly logic to imagine God as dependent upon us. Is it not part of the very definition of God that He is all-powerful, and needs no one and nothing else? But He chose to be dependent on others. How else do we explain this child given to the world? The gospels claim no special, extraordinary power for the infant Jesus. He gives no blessing from the creche, He performs no miracles as an infant, He speaks no words the world can understand. He is simply a baby like any other baby, who cries and is dependent upon others to be fed and cared for and held and loved, dependent upon others for His very life.

Yet, the Gospel continues: "We have beheld his glory..." The glory in the infant Jesus is that He is the Word, the message brought from God to humanity through His birth into the world. The glory of Jesus is that God's love is so great that God Himself would experience life in the world through His son. The glory is being invited to share in God's hope for us. The glory is sharing the work of creation with God, so that God's hope for us might become a reality in our world, and God's kingdom may come in our lives.

Mary and Joseph accepted the responsibility of being earthly parents for a baby sent from God. They held Him and cared for Him, listened to His cries, and learned to understand what was in His mind and His heart. They cared for this Child and raised Him in love. They gave the Child a home, and found new life and purpose in their relationship with the Divine Infant entrusted to them.

And the glory of the Infant Jesus lives among us, even to this very day. The story of Christmas is told and retold day after day as God invites us to share in the kingdom He has prepared for us through His son, because the story of Christmas is the story of how God's Kingdom enters our lives. We tell the story not only in words, but in the language that is beyond words: by how we live. Our example, how we live, is part of telling the story of God’s Love. His Love is Incarnate in Christ, certainly; and we are called to incarnate that love of God by our own actions and with our own words, because it is God’s great love that makes mankind whole.

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Painting: "The Nativity"

by William Bell Scott (1811-1890)

St. Francis and the Crèche

Chapel of the Crib at Greccio

It was in a grotto at Greccio, on Christmas Eve in 1223, that St. Francis created a crèche depicting the birth of our Saviour. It was a simple affair, but as word spread throughout the area the people began to arrive with torches and candles. There they heard the Poor Man of Assisi read the Gospel telling of Christ's birth in Bethlehem, and he preached about Jesus taking poverty upon Himself, so that we might become rich in our love for God.

Since that time, the scene has been recreated in our homes and in our churches, in places public and private, allowing us to "go to Bethlehem, to see this great thing which has come to pass..."

This is the contemporary account written by St. Thomas of Celano, a follower of St. Francis:

Francis’ highest intention, his chief desire, his uppermost purpose was to observe the holy Gospel in all things and through all things and, with perfect vigilance, with all zeal, with all the longing of his mind and all the fervor of his heart, "to follow the teaching and the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ." He would recall Christ’s word through persistent meditation and bring to mind his deeds through the most penetrating consideration. The humility of the incarnation and the charity of the passion occupied his memory particularly, to the extent that he wanted to think of hardly anything else.

What he did on the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ near the little town called Greccio in the third year before his glorious death should especially be noted and recalled with reverent memory. In that place there was a certain man by the name of John, of good reputation and an even better life, whom blessed Francis loved with a special love, for in the place where he lived he held a noble and honorable position in as much as he had trampled upon the nobility of his birth and pursued nobility of soul.

Blessed Francis sent for this man, as he often did, about fifteen days before the birth of the Lord, and he said to him: "If you want us to celebrate the present fast of our Lord at Greccio, go with haste and diligently prepare what I tell you. For I wish to do something that will recall to memory the little Child who was born in Bethlehem and set before our bodily eyes in some way the inconveniences of his infant needs, how he lay in a manger, how, with an ox and an ass standing by, he lay upon the hay where he had been placed.” When the good and faithful man heard these things, he ran with haste and prepared in that place all the things the saint had told him.

But the day of joy drew near, the time of great rejoicing came. The brothers were called from their various places. Men and women of that neighborhood prepared with glad hearts, according to their means, candles and torches to light up that night that has lighted up all the days and years with its gleaming star. At length the saint of God came, and finding all things prepared, he saw it and was glad. the manger was prepared, the hay had been brought, the ox and ass were led in. There simplicity was honored, poverty was exalted, humility was commended, and Greccio was made, as it were, a new Bethlehem. The night was lighted up like the day, and it delighted men and beasts. The people came and were filled with new joy over the new mystery. The woods rang with the voices of the crowd and the rocks made answer to their jubilation. The brothers sang, paying their debt of praise to the Lord, and the whole night resounded with their rejoicing. The saint of God stood before the manger, uttering sighs, overcome with love, and filled with a wonderful happiness. The solemnities of the Mass were celebrated over the manger and the priest experienced a new consolation.

The saint of God was clothed with the vestments of the deacon, for he was a deacon, and he sang the holy Gospel in a sonorous voice. And his voice was a strong voice, a sweet voice, a clear voice, a sonorous voice, inviting all to the highest rewards. Then he preached to the people standing about, and he spoke charming words concerning the nativity of the poor king and the little town of Bethlehem. Frequently too, when he wished to call Christ Jesus, he would call him simply the Child of Bethlehem, aglow with overflowing love for him; and speaking the word Bethlehem, his voice was more like the bleating of a sheep. His mouth was filled more with sweet affection than with words. Besides, when he spoke the name Child of Bethlehem or Jesus, his tongue licked his lips, as it were, relishing and savouring with pleased palate the sweetness of the word. The gifts of the Almighty were multiplied there, and a wonderful vision was seen by a certain virtuous man. For he saw a little child lying in the manger lifeless, and he saw the holy man of God go up to it and rouse the child as from a deep sleep. This vision was not unfitting, for the Child Jesus had been forgotten in the hearts of many; but, by the working of his grace, he was brought to life again through his servant St. Francis and stamped upon their fervent memory. At length the solemn night celebration was brought to a close, and each one returned to his home with holy joy.

The hay that had been placed in the manger was kept, so that the Lord might save the beasts of burden and other animals through it as he multiplied his holy mercy. And in truth it so happened that many animals throughout the surrounding region that had various illnesses were freed from their illnesses after eating of this hay. Indeed, even women laboring for a long time in a difficult birth, were delivered safely when some of this hay was placed upon them; and a large number of persons of both sexes of that place, suffering from various illnesses, obtained the health they sought. later, the place on which the manger had stood was made sacred by a temple of the Lord, and an altar was built in honour of the most blessed father Francis over the manger and a church was built, so that where once the animals had eaten the hay, there in the future men would eat unto health of soul and body the flesh of the Lamb without blemish and without spot, our Lord Jesus Christ, who in highest and ineffable love gave himself to us, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God, eternally glorious, forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia, Alleluia.

The most important section of the sanctuary at Greccio is the Chapel of the Crib, which was built in the present form in 1228. A rock under the altar indicates the place where Francis arranged the manger. The cave wall is surrounded by a fresco from the school of Giotto. It shows Francis wearing the dalmatic of a deacon and taking into his arms the infant Jesus.

O Virgo Virginum - December 24th

O VIRGIN of virgins, how shall this be? for neither before thee was any like thee, nor shall there be after. Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me? the thing which ye behold, is a divine mystery.

RAISE up, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us: that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sorely hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Image: "The Annunciation"
by Mikhail Nesterov (1862-1942)

To you

I can remember as a child the excitement of looking under the Christmas tree, with all the gifts wrapped and waiting, and then seeing one that had my name on it. In fact, even as adults we still get a little bit of that feeling, when seeing a beautifully wrapped package, sneaking a look at the tag, and seeing that something’s been chosen and wrapped, just for you.

So then, imagine a gift, beautifully wrapped, with a tag that simply reads, "To you." No other name on it, just "to you." A present labeled like that would mean that anybody who saw it and picked it up, could say, "This one's for me." Anyone could unwrap the gift and claim it as his own. 

That's what the tag says on this bundle wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in Bethlehem's manger. It says, "To you, from God." Or as the Gospel puts it, "For to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour…."

There, lying in the manger, is God's pure love for each one of us. There sheltered amidst animals and straw is His love which has come to us. There, in the form of the Divine Infant, is God’s desire for each one of us to be His own.

Before we even knew enough to ask for a Saviour, God sent One. Before we even knew enough to ask for a Lord, He came and showed Himself to be our Lord, a Child conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Here, wrapped in swaddling cloths, is God's gift to us. And it’s a gift that will outlast all the others.

This little Child in the manger gives us exactly what we need most. When we’re oppressed with guilt, when we’re burdened by our past, when we’re at a loss about who we are and why we exist, when we’re afraid, in the hour of our death, He gives us exactly what we need.

O Emmanuel - December 23rd

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Desire of all nations and their Salvation: come and save us, O Lord our God.

Almighty and everlasting God, as the Nativity of thy Son according to the flesh draweth nigh: we beseech thee, that to us thine unworthy servants thy Word may grant mercy; for he vouchsafed to be made flesh of the Virgin Mary and dwell among us, even Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

A Pure Reflection

The prophet Malachi spoke of “a refiner and a purifier of silver.” It was the Messiah to whom he was referring. “He shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.” [Malachi 3:3]

The refiner of silver worked like this: he would sit before the furnace and hold a crucible above the fire, containing the impure mixture of silver and lead. Then, as the crucible was heated, the lead would crumble away, until the pure silver would begin to shine. And when the refiner could see his own reflection shining clearly in the silver, then he would know that the metal was pure, and needed no further refining.

When our Lord Jesus was born and when He looked at His mother’s face, the first recollection of His earthly life would have been His own face, shining, reflected in His Mother’s eyes, as the refiner of silver could see himself in the purity of the metal before him.

That’s what Jesus saw in Mary. He saw His own image, the image of God, shining and reflecting in her soul. He saw the reflection of His own love and holiness in her.

That’s what He looks for in us. Our sins are to be purged away. Our selfishness and our worldliness are to be refined away, as the lead is from silver, in the furnace of our contrition, until Christ sees His own face reflected in our hearts. He has promised that He will purify us, if we come to Him.

What Jesus saw in Mary, He looks for mystically in us, and He has made it possible through His saving work of redemption. As Mary bore the Incarnate Word within her, so we are afforded the privilege of bearing Christ within us. He was planted within us at baptism, and each time we receive Holy Communion, we bear Him within us in a marvelous way as we become living tabernacles for His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

O Rex Gentium - December 22nd

O King of the Nations, and their Desire; the Corner-stone, who makest both one: come and save mankind, whom thou formedst of clay.

O God, who seeing man sunk in death didst will to redeem him by the advent of thine Only Begotten Son: grant, we beseech thee; that those who confess with humble devotion his Incarnation may also merit participation in him as the Redeemer; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

God Wrapped In Flesh

God came when He was not expected. He was born where there was no room for Him. Before He was invited, He came. Before we called on Him, He called on us. Before we let Him into our hearts, God took us into His own heart, and gave us His Child.

This little One, whose birth we celebrate at this time, is the Saviour born for us, to save us from our sins, to deliver us from eternal death, to redeem us from the Law and the wrath of God. We deserve hell, yet God brings down heaven. We deserve fire and brimstone, yet God sends a baby.

“Do not be afraid,” says the angel. We look on this Child's face and see the face of God come down to save us. This Child would grow up. He would open the eyes of the blind man. He would open the ears of the deaf. He would cast out devils. He would still the storm and raise the dead. He would hang on a cross and die.

See the lengths to which God will go to rescue us! He divests Himself of His glory. He removes His royal robes and exchanges them for diapers. He hides His power and His majesty under the weakness of an Infant in the manger, the Man on the cross.

But we should not be deceived by such weakness. This is the Christ, God's anointed One, His Messiah, the hand of God reaching down to us. He is the Lord, God wearing our flesh, come to be with us as God had never been with us before.

The shepherds heard the preaching of the angel. They heard the words of the angel's birth announcement and left their work and ran to Bethlehem worship at the manger.

We cannot turn back the years and go to Bethlehem as it was that night. But Bethlehem can, and does, come to us. The Church is our Lord's grotto, the place where He makes His dwelling in a world that has no place for Him. The Altar is His manger. The One who once slept in a manger, who hung on a cross, who rose from the dead, and sits at the Father's right hand from whence He came and will come again, comes to us under the outward forms of bread and wine. In Holy Communion we find Him, wrapped in the swaddling cloths of humility. And so every Mass where Jesus is proclaimed to be Saviour, Christ, and Lord, is Christmas - Christ's Mass.

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Painting: "The Nativity"

by Arthur Hughes (1832-1915)

O Oriens - December 21st

O Day-Spring, Brightness of the Light everlasting and Sun of righteousness: come and enlighten him that sitteth in darkness and in the shadow of death.

We beseech thee, O Lord, to hear the prayers of thy people: that those who rejoice at the advent of thine Only Begotten Son in our flesh, may, when at last he cometh in glory, obtain the reward of eternal life; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Annunciation to St. Joseph

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

- St. Matthew 1:18-21

In his Gospel, St. Matthew tells us that an angel from God appeared to St. Joseph. It was in the context of a dream, but that didn’t make it any less real. It’s related to another event recorded in scripture, when the Blessed Virgin Mary also was visited by the angel, and she was told that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her, and that she would conceive and give birth to a son. The Virgin Mary’s encounter with the angel we know as the Annunciation, and St. Joseph’s experience was no less an annunciation, too. So let’s look more closely at St. Joseph and the place he was given by God.

St. Matthew tells us that Joseph was a “just man.” What is it to be “just?” It means being upright and righteous. Then we’re told that he resolved to send Mary away quietly. Let’s look carefully at that. If Joseph really thought Mary was guilty of wrongdoing, then as an upright, righteous man, he would be obliged by law to denounce her publicly. That’s what was required of a just, righteous, obedient Jewish man. A just man would keep the law meticulously, and the law would require that Mary face the consequences of being a young unmarried woman who was expecting a child. But on the other hand, if Joseph thought that Mary was innocent, then he would certainly be unjust in sending her away. A righteous Jewish man, upholding the law, could never knowingly inflict an injustice on someone. 

So this gets us to the important question – and the answer to this question tells us something extremely important about Joseph. Here’s the question: “If Joseph was indeed a just man, why was he going to send her away?” It’s in the answer to that question that we’re going to gain insight about Joseph’s spirit, his uprightness, his humility, and his sense of justice. 

The real crux of the matter isn’t whether Joseph believes Mary to be innocent, or whether he thinks she’s guilty. Rather, it’s this: it’s whether Joseph already knows, at the time of the visit of the angel, that Mary has miraculously conceived this Child. But why is that important?

If we look at the words the angel spoke to Joseph, we get a clearer picture. Our translation says, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit…” Really, a more accurate translation of the original text would be this: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for you know that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit…” In the original language of the scripture it’s apparent that Joseph already knew of the supernatural origin of Jesus. The purpose of the visit of the angel wasn’t to inform Joseph that Mary had conceived this child; rather, the purpose was to tell Joseph what his place was to be in all of this.

Now we can more clearly understand Joseph’s uprightness and sense of justice. It wasn’t that he wanted to put Mary away in secret; rather, it’s that Joseph didn’t want to presume a role that wasn’t his. In his humility he didn’t want to pass himself off as the father of the child whom he knows to be the Son of God. It would have seemed to him that he was usurping a role that the Lord hadn’t entrusted to him. That’s why he planned to send Mary away quietly and respectfully and with delicacy. In Joseph’s thoughts, God had plans for Mary, and so he thought he probably should just disappear, he should get out of the picture, so as not to meddle in a plan that was much bigger than the marriage they had planned.

But God did have a place for St. Joseph in this great plan of salvation for the world, and that’s why he had the visit, that annunciation, from the angel. It was Joseph’s vocation to accept, and take into his own home, the Lord of the universe. St. Joseph, as a descendant of David, was to take Emmanuel – God with us – into his own family, into his own genealogy, to be of the house of David. Joseph, the just man, the upright and obedient descendant of David, was to be the means whereby scripture would be fulfilled, and Joseph’s acceptance of this was the last ingredient that was needed for God’s plan to be put into action. Joseph was the first one after Mary to accept the Lord Jesus Christ into his life.

As Jesus comes to us as Word and through Sacrament, so we need to be as Joseph was: willing to serve, willing to obey, willing to open our own hearts and our own homes to the living God who has come to us. Just as St. Joseph had a role in fulfilling God’s plan for the world, so do we. But we need to be intentional about it. Are we opening ourselves to what God has planned for us? Do we pray regularly? Are we involved in regular works of charity? Are we holding a grudge against anyone? Are we giving in to gossip? These are the sorts of things that can either help or hinder us from following the example of St. Joseph.

We need to open our hearts and our minds and our lives to Christ. And when we do that we’ll be helping others to open themselves and their lives to the Incarnate God, who wants all of us to be in that closer relationship with Him.

Let this be our resolution this Christmas – to be like Mary, to be like Joseph, in saying “yes” to God’s call for us to be close to Him, and to obey His divine plan for our lives. It’s in obedience that we find real freedom; it’s when we say “yes” to God that we become the men and women He intends us to be.

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Icon: "The Dream of St. Joseph"

O Clavis David - December 20th

O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel; that openest, and no man shutteth, and shuttest, and no man openeth: come and bring the prisoner out of the prison-house, and him that sitteth in darkness and the shadow of death.

O God, eternal majesty, whose ineffable Word the immaculate Virgin received by the message of an Angel, and so became the dwelling place of divinity filled with the light of the Holy Spirit: grant, we beseech thee; that by her example we may in humility hold fast to thy will; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Salvation Born For Us

Lest the fact of the Incarnation and the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ become something relegated to cards expressing mere greetings of the season with stars and angels hovering over nothing, our Holy Mother the Church makes the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ a present reality with the daily offering of the Mass, even during this time when prepare to welcome Him as an Infant in the arms of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Child was born for His sacrificial death. The wood of the cradle makes way for the wood of the cross. The infant in the arms of Mary is the Saviour reposed in her arms. The beginning of the Passion of our Lord was at the moment of His conception in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. Shepherds came to adore the Lamb of God, and the Magi brought gifts in preparation for the death and resurrection of the King of the universe.

Here is mysterium tremendum: salvation is born in the stable, salvation is born on the cross, salvation is born on our altars.

O precious Lord, once born for us

in stable small and poor;

be born again within our hearts,

and there let us adore.

As once our Saviour thou didst come,

both Man and God divine,

so now thou givest Flesh and Blood

'neath forms of Bread and Wine.

Sweet Fruit of Virgin Mary's womb,

once hid from earthly sight,

may we thy children fruitful be,

and show the world thy Light.

Now stay with us, Lord Jesus Christ,

in solemn Mystery,

that when our work on earth be done

thy glory we may see.

Text: Fr. Christopher G. Phillips

Music: St. Botolph, by Gordon Slater

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Image:"But With Her Babe Upon Her Knee"

by Florence Edith Storer, 1912

O Radix Jesse - December 19th

O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the peoples, at whom kings shall shut their mouths, to whom the Gentiles shall seek: come and deliver us, and tarry not.

O God, who through the child-bearing of the holy Virgin hast graciously revealed the brightness of thy glory unto all the world: grant, we beseech thee; that we may worship with purity of faith the mystery of so wondrous an Incarnation, and always celebrate it with due reverence; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

God's Peace

One of the things distinguishing mankind from the rest of creation is his desire to understand things beyond himself. No doubt it is because he is created in God’s image, who is the Lord of all knowledge and wisdom.

We do know a great deal about the world around us, and we are able to grasp the transcendent truths which should guide our lives. We can see the smallest part of creation through a microscope, and we can view the farthest horizons through a telescope. We can capture and categorize immense amounts of knowledge, but there is one thing that eludes any scientific or philosophical system; namely, finding that peace which comes from God. And when dark things happen, things which threaten to remove all sense of peace, remember the foundation on which we rest: our Lord Jesus Christ and His love.

St. Paul wrote to the Philippians that “the peace of God, which passes all understanding” is the thing which will keep our hearts and minds in Christ. 

It’s humbling, that the only thing which really matters is the one thing that we will never completely understand.

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Image: "Day: Angel Holding the Sun"

by William Morris (1834-1896)

O Adonai - December 18th

O Adonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, who appearedst in the bush to Moses in a flame of fire, and gavest him the Law in Sinai: come and deliver us with an outstretched arm.

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that we, who through our ancient bondage are held beneath the yoke of sin, may by the new birth of thine Only Begotten Son in the flesh obtain deliverance; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

A Lullaby for Our Lord

One of the beloved cradle-songs about the Infant Jesus is "Away in a manger," and there probably isn't a child in the English-speaking world who hasn't lisped his way through this lullaby.

Following the traditional and well-known first verse, here are some additional verses I wrote as a meditation on the mystery of the Word Made Flesh, resting peacefully in the manger.

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Away in a manger, no crib for his bed,

the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.

The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,

the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

Dear Mary, his Mother, sang sweet lullabies,

as Jesus, awaking, gazed into her eyes.

The most holy Virgin, with loving caress

embraced the world’s Saviour with Love’s tenderness.

Good Joseph stood guarding the Mother and Child,

his soul filled with awe and his heart undefiled.

The birth of young Jesus made angels to sing,

but Joseph in silence kept watch o’er his King.

What once was a stable may our hearts become;

may God’s holy fam’ly in us find a home.

With Mary and Joseph and angels above

we worship the Infant, the gift of God’s Love.

Text: V.1, Traditional

Vv. 2-4, Fr. Christopher G. Phillips, 1995

Music: Cradle Song, William James Kirkpatrick, (1838-1921)

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Illustration of the Nativity

by Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973)

Don't Neglect The Begats

In our modern western culture it's important for families to have a sense of heritage. Some may have family traditions, but large numbers of people don’t even know the names of their great-great grandparents, or care where they lived, or what they did. Even those who might dip into genealogy do it out of a curiosity which is often short-lived.

In contrast, genealogies were a deeply integral part of Jewish society at the time of Jesus. Land was inherited based on family lines, and those who could not prove their ancestry in Israel were considered to be outsiders.

Because of this difference, modern readers tend to skip over the genealogies in Scripture. The “begats” may not be fascinating reading, but don’t disregard them. God had reasons for inspiring every part of the Bible—even the genealogies of Christ.

On December 17th, with the beginning of Late Advent, we hear the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ as it’s recorded in St. Matthew’s Gospel. His genealogy is recorded all the way back to Abraham, and in the Old Testament we have the genealogy from Abraham back to the first man, Adam. This is not an insignificant detail. Indeed, it is a crucial fulfillment of prophecy. Adam’s sin brought judgment and death into the world, but a Saviour was promised—the Seed of the woman who would strike the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Jesus Christ is the “Last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), the promised Seed of the woman.

Jesus is the Saviour who was promised throughout history. The genealogies in Matthew and Luke show Him as the descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and eventually David—men to whom these prophecies were made. God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his offspring, a promise which was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

By reading these genealogies, we see that Jesus was a direct descendant of King David. This is also a fulfillment of many Old Testament promises. The promised Messiah would be the descendant of David (2 Samuel 7:12–14) and would one day rule on David’s throne (Isaiah 9:6–7).

Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah—the descendant of Abraham and David, and He is our Saviour who gave His life to redeem us from our sins. 

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 Image: Icon, "Tree of Jesse"

O Sapientia - December 17th

O Wisdom, which camest out of the mouth of the Most High, and reachest from one end to another, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: come and teach us the way of prudence. Alleluia.

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all mankind, who didst will that thy Word should take flesh in an ever-Virgin womb: mercifully hear our prayers; that thine Only Begotten Son, who hath taken unto himself our humanity, may graciously grant us a share in his divinity; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Silent Word

The Scriptures refer often to silence. We read of the beauty of silence, and of how it pleases the Lord to receive from His faithful children the sacrifice of words unspoken and thoughts not expressed.

We see the greatest example of the meaning of silence in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is the omnipotent Word of God, the very Word which brought the universe into being, and yet He came into the world as a child unable to speak. Indeed, there are no recorded words of His until He was twelve, and then silence descended again until His public ministry commenced.

There were times during His passion that our Lord’s silence spoke with a particular eloquence. Scripture tells us that when He was before Pontius Pilate, He made no answer to the accusations leveled against Him, nor did He speak a word while He was being mocked in Herod's court. But in those times of silence there was a strength communicated which ultimately would put to silence the cacophony calling for His death, until at the end there was but one voice remaining which proclaimed, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

One of the many things our Saviour teaches us is that we should challenge the habit of constant chatter and non-stop access to every word being said in every corner of the world. We should take time out from incessant talking with people and listening to the media. We need to provide for times and places of silence. We must "go apart" as Christ did on occasion, periodically leaving the crowded world that insists upon being seen and looked at, to be heard and listened to.

Of course, there are those with freedom to have solitude, but for some it is less easy. Different people are in different circumstances. Yet everyone should do whatever is possible to have at least some freedom from the oppressive noise that the world inflicts on us so that we can have times of quiet silence before God.

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Illustration: "The Light of Winter-time"

by Margaret Winifred Tarrant (1888-1959)

Late Advent

With the beginning of Late Advent on December 17th, so begin the great “O" Antiphons, which lead up to the Vigil of the Nativity. Each antiphon highlights a title for the Messiah: O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai (O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens (O Rising Sun), O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), and O Emmanuel (O God With Us), and they are taken from the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the coming of the Messiah.

Of course, most of the Catholic Church already shares our patrimony’s gift regarding the O Antiphons in the metrical translation of these antiphons, the universally beloved: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” That translation is, in large part, the work of the famed Anglican priest, translator and hymnographer, John Mason Neale (1818-1866), to whose scholarly and literary gifts the Anglican Church owes its recovery of the great treasury of pre-Reformation Latin hymnody.

There is, however, another antiphon which is firmly part of our patrimony.  It is our unique eighth O Antiphon, which we hear on the morning of December 24th — a most fitting antiphon indeed to echo throughout the monasteries and churches of the land known then – and now again – as “Our Lady’s Dowry,” the antiphon O Virgo virginum:

O Virgo virginum, quomodo fiet istud? quia nec primam similem visa es, nec habere sequentem. Filiae Jerusalem, quid me admiramini? Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis.

O Virgin of virgins, how shall this be? for neither before thee was any like thee, nor shall there be after. Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me? the thing which ye behold, is a divine mystery.

God Always Keeps His Promises

We’re accustomed to thinking of Advent as a time of preparation – preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and preparation for his return on the Last Day, when he will come to be our Judge. And so it is. 

But Advent also is a time of fulfillment – a time when all the things that God promised throughout the ages, have actually come to pass. John the Baptist, as the Voice crying in the wilderness had been foretold, and then he came. Mary, the Mother of our Lord, had been foretold as the Virgin who would conceive and bear a Son, and so she did. Detail after detail was foretold in the Scriptures, and we see each one of them fulfilled, reminding us that when God promises, He always makes good on His promises.

We need to keep that fact in mind: God always keeps His promises. No matter what difficulty we face God doesn’t forget us. He remembers us, He hears our prayers, and He responds in His perfect timing.

He answered the long years of prayer by Zechariah and Elizabeth for a child when they were in their old age. He blessed the young Virgin Mary for her unwavering trust and obedience, when He showed his great love for us in the fact of the Incarnation, that statement of God’s amazing love, a love so great that He sent His only Son to earth, to be one of us, to fulfill the promise given through the archangel Gabriel, that He would save us from our sins.

God doesn’t forget us. He is working out His perfect plan on His own timetable. And this is a message we need to hear and take to heart. Even in the times of darkness or despair, in our times of struggle to have hope, we need to trust that God is working out a new and better future for us, and that His love will never give up on us.

Because we are God’s people, we are a people of hope and love. In being touched by God’s love we can love others. In remembering God’s mercy to His children in the past, we can trust that there is hope for us too.

That is what Advent involves: patiently waiting for God, knowing that He always keeps His promises. This is the Advent message of hope and expectation: that God’s love is given to every single one of us. It doesn’t matter how old or young we are. It doesn’t matter what our situation is. God has come to give us hope, and He asks us to live in faith. He asks us to believe in His promises, even though we might not have all the details.

Zechariah and Elizabeth didn’t have all the details, and yet they believed. Joseph and Mary certainly didn’t have all the details, and yet they faithfully obeyed God. This wasn’t just blind faith. They believed God because of the evidence of history. God had always kept His promises to His people, and there was no reason for them to think He would stop. This is the faith God asks of us – not a blind faith, but a faith based on the evidence of what God has already done.

As Elizabeth said to Mary, “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” There is always a blessing for us when we listen to the promises of God, and actually believe them. 

During the time left in Advent, spend it preparing for the great Solemnity that is coming, the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. And remember that He is the Promised One – the One who keeps His promises – the One foretold by the prophets, the One born of the Virgin Mary, and the One who comes to us today.