31 December 2022 - humility before the truth

Today's Readings

(Audio)

A man named John was sent from God.

He came for testimony, to testify to the light, 

so that all might believe through him.

John the Baptist and the author of First John seemed to share in common a humility before the truth of the message they proclaimed. The Baptist was not the light came to testify to it, saying of Jesus that, "The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me". The author of First John did not write as though he were in special possession of of the truth that only he could convey, or that he had enticing secret knowledge to offer. He did not in fact write to give his audience anything that was uniquely his, but rather to remind them of what was already their own.

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.

This, we might assume, was in contrast to the antichrists that went forth from the early Church. They deserted her both in terms of affiliation and of doctrine. They could only survive by parasitically promoting what was uniquely their own, their own doctrinal spin. They could make the case that they possessed something unique that would set their adherents apart as insiders, better than those who merely knew what everyone in the Church was taught to know. But John wrote to assure his audience that they didn't need the novelties taught by antichrists. At a fundamental level they already had what they needed, and it was not something that could come from merely human teaching.

But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,

and you all have knowledge. 

They had been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and with him all of the gifts that he conveyed. He was "the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD" (see Isaiah 11:2) and he brought these gifts to all in whom he receive him. The Holy Spirit would provide the early Christians the assistance they needed to hold fast to the truth they had received even in the face of subtle distortions and perversions of that truth. And the Spirit continues to do so even in our own day, no matter how confusing things seem to become. He helps us to remain faithful to what we have received from the beginning, the core doctrines of our faith. Without him we might be easily unsettled by things that were said by this or that theologian, priest, or bishop. But with the Spirit we are kept safely within the body of Christ and will not follow those who go off on their own and try to lead away the sheep to follow them (see John 10:5). The Spirit may not make us competent to write theology papers, or even biblical reflections that are perfectly free from error. But he absolutely does help us reject what is contrary to the faith. This means that we ought not rely only on our intellect alone or only on the preaching of good preachers, but should rely on the supernatural gift we already possess.

But to those who did accept him

he gave power to become children of God, 

to those who believe in his name, 

who were born not by natural generation 

nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision 

but of God.

We are meant to walk in a reality that is deeper and more comprehensive than anything an antichrist could offer. They taught lies and distortions. But Christians are invited to something that is more than merely intellectual. We are in fact made sons of daughters of God by faith, and as a result we are given to share in God's own Spirit. We no longer need to struggle as isolated individuals trying to figure everything out on our own. We can instead lean on and trust what God himself has taught us. If we remain open to the gift we have been given the Spirit can guide us through the voice of conscience helping us to approve the truth and reject its many counterfeits.

And the Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us,

and we saw his glory,

the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son,

full of grace and truth.

As lay faithful we may not be able to articulate every doctrine of the incarnation, the natures and the person of Christ. But we have a sense that is trained and ready to reject the many lies that have been told about it. Antichrists have said that Jesus only appeared human, or that he was some great being, but less than the Father, or that the stories about him were only true in some vague poetic sense. Such lies dissolve in the fire of the Spirit we have been given. He moves us from within to reject them as alien to the truth. 

From his fullness we have all received,

grace in place of grace,

because while the law was given through Moses, 

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

What we have received in Christ cannot be explained by simply calling it the prejudice of long familiarity. The Spirit is alive and vibrantly helping us to proclaim, "Jesus Christ is Lord!", in a way no mere aggregation of teaching and emotion could ever truly emulate.

The fact that we have been given this anointing and have all knowledge does not mean that we can rest on our laurels. It rather means that we should be eager to delve deeper into the mystery of Christ we already possess, availing ourselves of the help of those who are faithful to that teaching. We have been given Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium. God himself has placed guides in our paths to help lead us deeper into the heart of the truth contained therein He does this because the truth is not finally abstract, but a person. What he desires to reveal is not ultimately doctrine, but himself.

The LORD comes,

he comes to rule the earth.

He shall rule the world with justice

and the peoples with his constancy.

Lead, Kindly Light (Arranged by James L. Stevens)

30 December 2022 - no man is an island

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,

and stay there until I tell you.

Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.

Joseph had an important, even a vital role to play as the protector of the Holy Family. He was quick to obey the angel of Lord both out of reverence for God and out of love for his family. He did not wait until morning to obey, lest he wait too long, but "took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt". It was he that provided the family with what was necessary for travel and it was his skills that allowed them to make a life in Egypt for as long as there was need, "until the death of Herod". Joseph was not an optional afterthought given to provide a father in appearance only. He really was the head of the household, but he led them with servant leadership, knowing better than to lord it over the holy mother and child in his charge. And it was through Joseph that Jesus received his ancestral claim that made him heir to the throne of David.

We tend to think first of individuals and only secondly about families. Modernity makes us want to believe that Jesus could have been dropped into history fully formed without any of this backstory and and that he would still have developed into the Messiah we recognize. And certainly there might have been a variety of ways God could have brought about our salvation. But Jesus would not be the Messiah we recognize had he not come from the specific family that was his by the plan of his heavenly Father. In his human nature Jesus grew and learned like other boys, and it was from his father and his mother that these lessons chiefly came. God himself was, after all, the one who gave the commandment to honor one's father and mother. We cannot conceive of Jesus choosing to have a father and mother and somehow disregarding this commandment.

God sets a father in honor over his children;

a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.

Whoever honors his father atones for sins,

and preserves himself from them.

When he prays, he is heard;

he stores up riches who reveres his mother.

The fact of the matter is that individualism such as marks our current era was unthinkable in the time of the Holy Family. It was not even a question that the family was the fundamental unit of society, the context of action for any individual. It was not a world of individual actors negotiating with one another the terms of relationships in implicit (or sometimes explicit) contractual arrangements. It was a world marked by covenants ordered to the gift of self. Yet a family could only be a truly Holy Family to the degree that it put God first, as indeed Joseph did by his prompt response to the angel's summons. This explains the hard words Jesus spoke about families. They were only potential obstacles to the Kingdom because they were so good and could therefore go so very wrong when misdirected.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me (see Matthew 10:37).

The need for holy families was the reason Jesus prized obedience to the word of God over ties of blood. Blood relationship was the ideal context for sanctity but it could not in itself sanctify apart from this sine qua non.

For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother (see Mark 3:35).

We see in the Gospels mostly the outliers of the family life of Jesus, those situations which were more unusual and more difficult to square with our understanding of family life. But the holiness of the holy family would have been so all pervasive as to in fact by hidden and difficult to describe. It stood out when Jesus stayed behind in the temple precisely because he was so often in the place they expected him to be. 

My son, take care of your father when he is old;

grieve him not as long as he lives.

Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him;

revile him not all the days of his life;

We know that the Holy Spirit himself inspired these words as words that Jesus would embrace, both in regard to his earthly father and to his heavenly one. And we know that we have been invited by faith to be members of the family of Jesus. He himself has the greatest possible love for family, which he, together with the Father and the Spirit, invented as a way for the Triune God to reveal their own inner life to us. But Jesus went further by becoming a part of a human family. He made it possible for us to elevate the ties of our own families to the supernatural level of grace, and demonstrated fully the heights that such a level attains. When the peace of Christ controls the hearts of a family these words of Paul will more and more describe it:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,

as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,

singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs

with gratitude in your hearts to God.

Vineyard Music - Exodus XV

Chris Tomlin - Angels We Have Heard On High

29 December 2022 - what's old is new

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The way we may be sure that we know Jesus 

is to keep his commandments. 

We might wonder what keeping the commandments really has to do with knowing Jesus. After all, isn't knowing Jesus a personal relationship that has nothing to do with rules, as many seem to suggest? Arbitrary rules seem in any event to be opposed to relationship. They seem to stand between the two people who would come close to one another with obligations that limit their ability to freely interact and express themselves to each other. 

Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments

is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

The commandments, however, were more than merely arbitrary rules. It was not as though Jesus said, "You must love dogs to be my disciple" and arbitrary excluded cat people from being his followers. The commandments mattered to Jesus because they were about things that were universally important. Jesus summarized their meaning as being ultimately all about love of God and love of neighbor (see Matthew 22:36-40). These were the two pillars that defined his own life. They would then also be the requisite shared interest of those who would be his friends. Who could claim to be a friend of Jesus while disregarding what was first and most important in his heart? Such a friend would be so in name only, if they were indifferent to that which mattered most to their supposed friend.

This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:

whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.

The only way we can share a path with Jesus is to share his priorities. If we don't care for the commandments or the idea of seeking the Kingdom first our paths may occasionally intersect with Jesus, we may be impressed by him, touched by the things he does, but we will not follow or fall into step with him. And so we ought to ask ourselves, do we have enough room in our hearts for the things that matter to Jesus? Do we have enough concern for those things that matter to him that they can actually modify our own course and set our direction over the long haul of our lives, and not merely and fits and starts of fervor?

Lord, now let your servant go in peace;

your word has been fulfilled:

my own eyes have seen the salvation

which you prepared in the sight of every people,

a light to reveal you to the nations

and the glory of your people Israel.

Simeon was an example of one whose heart delighted in the things that mattered to God. Because of this he was open to the fulfillment God himself delivered. Had he been preoccupied with his own projects and interests more than the Kingdom he might have noted with mild interest the coming of the child Jesus into the temple, if, that is, he noticed at all. It was the Spirit that oriented his entire life in the direction of that encounter with Jesus. And it was the Spirit who led him there at that moment. Yet without being led thus he could not have experienced the fulfillment that came from witnessing with his own eyes the light and salvation for every people and nation and the glory of Israel. It was because he cared about the things of God that made that day different from any other he would ever know.

When we come to the hour of our own death will we be able to say with Simeon, "Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled" or will we rather be preoccupied with the projects we have left undone, and those we have finished but which have left us unsatisfied? Let us learn from Simeon the secret to leaving in peace full of fulfillment because God delivered, and will always deliver.

John wrote of commandments as both old and new. On the one hand this was as old as the Torah, and in that sense nothing particularly new. But on the other hand, because Jesus had come and fully fulfilled the commandments, living them out completely there was something new about them.  It was new because the perfect fulfillment of the commandments was now demonstrated out of love for us and for the Father.  Jesus demonstrated that the commandments were worthy of trust because he was worthy of our love, he who first loved us. Because by his grace we could share his own yoke in order to walk the path he walked. Because of his love we ought not fear to do so.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another (see John 13:34).

If responding to the love of Jesus matters to us and motivates us we too can hope to find fulfillment and finally go in peace when our own time comes just as Simeon did.

Newsboys - Love One Another

TobyMac - Made To Love

28 December 2022 - in him there is no darkness

Today's Readings

(Audio)

27 December 2022 - we have seen it

Today's Readings

(Audio)

John proclaimed the good news of the Word of life, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word, the divine Logos, spoken by the Father, containing himself all that the Father had to say, the fullness of the Father's self-understanding, did not remain aloof from us. It might have seemed that there was no way for God to so condescend as to actually communicate the content of this message to us or to genuinely reveal himself to us. After all, we know that God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts (see Isaiah 55:8). But this chasm between ourselves and him would not be an obstacle to him. He built a bridge in the human nature of Jesus Christ whereby he could communicate with us, in order to communicate himself, the depths of his heart, to us. 

What was from the beginning,

what we have heard,

what we have seen with our eyes,

what we looked upon

and touched with our hands

concerns the Word of life —

That which was so abstract and universal as to elude even great philosophers and theologians became concrete, tangible, and specific. The wisdom of God spoke with a human voice and articulated with human gestures. The revelation of the Father had arms with which to embrace and heal, and feet with which to walk first the path he would later ask us to follow. 

for the life was made visible;

we have seen it and testify to it

The fact of the physicality of Jesus was an assurance that none of the poets or philosophers could assert in the truth claims that they made. John shared the conviction of this fact with with Peter who was also an eyewitness:

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty (see Second Peter 1:16).

What Jesus said and taught was proven by what he did. Jesus was a living witness to the heart of the Father not simply because of persuasive words, but by the way in which the Father himself acted in the life of Jesus to validate those words. This happened in the healings and the miracles Jesus performed. Hence he said, "even though you do not believe me, believe the works" (see John 10:38). No doubt the Transfiguration that Peter and John witnessed was a particularly poignant proof that the Father's favor and approval rested on Jesus. But the thing that finally convicted John, Peter, and the others beyond all doubt was the resurrection. Witnessing the one who had died come to them alive again was proof beyond all doubt that Jesus was who he said he was. The resurrection left an indelible mark on all who witnessed it, a mark that transformed them to become themselves witnesses and heralds.

But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (see Acts 4:19).

John was very clear about his goal in writing. He wanted us to believe what he believed so that we could experience what he experienced, "so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ". He said something similar at the end of his Gospel, saying he had "written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (see John 20:31).

The Word so desired to be communicated to our hearts that it leapt down from heaven, endured all possible opposition, and yet was vindicated on the third day. To receive the communication of this word to our hearts is at the core of what it means to have eternal life, which means it is something we can begin to taste even here and now by faith. May Saint John the Evangelist pray for us that we can come to the same assurance of our faith that was so obviously present in him.

Light dawns for the just;

and gladness, for the upright of heart.

Be glad in the LORD, you just,

and give thanks to his holy name.

Newsboys - We Believe

26 December 2022 - the seed of the Church

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Stephen, filled with grace and power

Stephen was filled with grace because his he was filled with Jesus himself from whom we have all been given "grace upon grace" (see John 1:16), and he was filled with power because he was filled with "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (see First Corinthians 1:24). 

The fact that Jesus lived in the heart of Stephen did not mean that Stephen was liked by all, or that he was a universally appealing character without any sharp edges to him. He was not unkind. But he did not hold back from proclaiming the entire Gospel. In this he was like Jesus himself. Just as the message of Jesus was inherently the cause of division so too was that of Stephen for it was in fact the same message.

was working great wonders and signs among the people.

Stephen was doing something that was normal in the Spirit filled days of the early Church. We read elsewhere, for instance, that Paul also made use of "demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (see First Corinthians 2:4). In modern times we assume that such miracles would be a neat and tidy way to settle all debates. We imagine that a sufficiently reliable healing ministry might be able to convert the world. But in the time of Stephen such signs did not automatically entail conversion. Often they led to a hardening of hearts, at least at first, for those who witnessed them. This did not make them less important. But it did mean that the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church was not going to be a replacement for the reality of the cross in the lives of believers. It was rather that the truths were meant to be deeply interrelated in a mysterious way, just as we see in Stephen. Miracles would usher many into the arms of the Church, but they would not make everything easy or end suffering entirely. Believers would still need to take up their own crosses and follow Jesus. They would each individually still be a seed that must die in order to give life.

they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

Stephen did not worry about what he was to say but rather allowed the Spirit of his Father to speak through him. Here again we see the fact of the miraculous did not solve all of his problems. Winning the argument did not immediately win the souls of his listeners. And yet we must acknowledge that all of these things that he did had a purpose and were prepared by God. What was that purpose if the things themselves did not immediately bear fruit? The purpose was to make the life of Jesus present once again in the life of Stephen. Jesus spoke with wisdom and did many mighty deeds. Yet he did not stop their but went on to make a gift of his entire life, a gift to his Father and a gift for us all. It was precisely on the cross that his divinity was truly manifested in a way most perfectly able to convert hardened hearts. It was for this reason that the centurion and the guards exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!" (see Matthew 27:54).

But he, filled with the Holy Spirit,

looked up intently to heaven

and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,

and he said,

“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man

standing at the right hand of God.”

It was here in his persecution and suffering, as he made a true gift of his life that Stephen most clearly resembled Jesus himself. Here the veil that separated heaven and earth became thin and the presence of God was made manifest. Stephen himself was so filled with the Spirit of Jesus at that moment that the words of Jesus to the Father were adapted to become his own.

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

The fruit born by the witness of Stephen was not immediate. But such fidelity to the person of Jesus himself would inexorably bear fruit eventually. We may assume that the seed this planted in the heart of Saul of Taurus who witnessed to this death was only one such seed. 

We should note that tt was not merely his suffering that made Stephen a powerful witness. It was the love with which he suffered and the witness of his whole life of which his death was the final and most perfect confirmation of authenticity and sincerity.

Stephen is an example to us of the degree to which we can rely on God, the degree to which God himself is willing and desires to make the life of Jesus present again in each of our lives. It means no joys or sorrows we experience need to be separate from this or to separate us from the love of God in Christ (see Romans 8:35-39). They can all be taken up into the higher purposes of providence if we only learn to pray with Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

Let your face shine upon your servant;

save me in your kindness.

Kutless - Word of God Speak

Taizé Community - In Manus Tuas, Pater

25 December 2022 - glory in the highest (and the lowest)

Today's Readings - Mass At Dawn / Mass During the Day

Audio for at Dawn / Audio for During the Day

For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (see Luke 2:11-12).

It was to humble shepherds that this birth was announced. It was not to palaces that the angel host came but to those tending their flocks. They announced to shepherds the birth of the one who would be the Good Shepherd, for his heart for us would be filled with compassion for us as were their hearts for their sheep. Let us go with them, then, to Bethlehem, to see this thing that has taken place. Let us go in humility, laying aside whatever we believe to be our qualifications or merits or "any righteous deeds we had done" so that we can share in the surprise and delight of these shepherds at the magnificent mercy of God. Let us lay aside our agendas and initiatives so that we can truly discover in the infant lying in the manger a marvelous sign of God's loves for us. Pride and agendas all tempt us to subvert the celebration inherent in this birth to other ends, and eventually makes us more like Herod than the shepherds. We risk becoming people who will prevent the celebration if it refuses to happen on our terms. The shepherds however had no agenda and were thus the ones to hear, to go in haste, to worship, and then to proclaim the good news they had heard from the angels.

So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, 

and the infant lying in the manger.

When they saw this,

they made known the message

that had been told them about this child.

The shepherds saw a child in the manger but they realized that what they saw was much more than that. They believed the angels who said that this was the fulfillment for which all of Israel had hoped, a savior born for them and for all, who was the Messiah and Lord. 

We too are invited to see the one who is a child but also more than a child. Even more than the shepherds we have cause to be amazed, to worship, and to make this message known. In the birth of this humble child amidst such humble conditions in Bethlehem we know that it was the Word himself who became flesh, who chose to make his dwelling among us precisely there in that way. The shepherds were among the first to look at the one who appeared to be a helpless infant and perceive the one who was in fact full of grace and truth. They were among the first to receive grace in place of grace and to become his heralds. But their proclamation was meant to show us the way to follow in their steps to Bethlehem, to see what they saw through the eyes of faith, and to open ourselves to the all of the luminous meaning of the incarnation. God so loved the world that his only Son became man in that way and in that place. We are invited to look to the child Jesus and see the heart of the Father for us.

No one has ever seen God.

The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, 

has revealed him.

If we have the eyes of faith we will see in the gift of this child to the human race something much bigger than a manger, or Bethlehem, or even the whole world could contain, and yet somehow contained in him.

in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son, 

whom he made heir of all things 

and through whom he created the universe,

who is the refulgence of his glory,

the very imprint of his being,

and who sustains all things by his mighty word.

When learn to see the way God took on human nature in this infant, the way in which this infant spoke the final word about everything that was true about God, we can also come to see what our own human nature is meant to become, the lofty destiny of which we too are meant to partake, the divine nature of God himself. If we can get this, our lives will change because we will no longer be content with mediocrity when God himself both desires and makes possible so much more.

A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.

Songs In His Presence - Glory Cry the Angel Choirs

24 December 2022 - the dawn from on high

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,

I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,

and I will make his Kingdom firm.

This ancestor was not Solomon who started firm, who completed David's desired temple for the Lord, but who would go on to build temples for the gods of his Pagan wives. As Isaiah wrote, "If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all" (see Isaiah 7:9). In proof of which the Kingdom was split in two during the reign of Solomon's son Rehoboam. It might have seemed that the promise of the Lord to David had failed.

I will be a father to him,

and he shall be a son to me.

Your house and your Kingdom shall endure forever before me;

your throne shall stand firm forever.

The promise had not failed, it had just been delayed, or rather, was still waiting for its time of fulfillment in a different Son of David to whom God himself would be true Father. He was the one whose house and whose Kingdom could truly endure forever.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end (see Luke 1:32-33).

The priests of the Old Testament "were prevented by death from continuing in office" where as Jesus "holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever" (see Hebrews 7:23-24). As with his priesthood so too his kingship. 

I will fix a place for my people Israel;

I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place

without further disturbance.

Mankind had shown a history of weakness in the face of temptation and sin, and were unable to actualize or instantiate this promise in any specific individual, though it was at times glimpsed in those who were dedicated the Lord. Only Jesus was able to deliver on this promise in its entirety. Only he was able to conquer the true and ancient foe of Israel, the Devil, and thereby overcome the powers of sin and death. 

And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,

I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,

and I will make his Kingdom firm.

Yet the one who would be our savior was born was not just injected from outside the human race as a completely foreign or alien entity. He was to come precisely from the promised line, in spite of all the human failure and weakness to which that line, and indeed all of mankind, was given. His redemption would not come so much from outside as from within. He took upon himself the tired, broken, reality of our humanity in order to refashion it and make it fit to fulfill the promise. In turn our humanity was elevated and made able to receive the only thing which could fulfill it, God himself. The Son of God would become a son of man so that the sons of men could be made sons of God.

Humans tend to view power as the solution to our problems. Faced with a failed promise like that given to David we probably would have tried to solve it with a stronger military, better laws, greater rulers whose rule would be difficult or impossible to disobey. But God emphatically did not fulfill his promise in this way. Humans seemed too weak. But God's solution was to become weaker still, a little helpless child in the arms of his mother Mary. As he grew in age and in wisdom he did not amass an army whereby he might conquer human foes. Rather he gave himself into the hands of his foes, both natural and supernatural. In this his foes thought they had won, that they had finally conquered the last gasp of a long tired promise. But it was precisely the opposite. The strength of evil proved to be its ultimate undoing.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (see First Corinthians 1:25).

When we gaze at the infant Jesus we can behold God's victory, veiled, yet inchoately revealed. His Holy Face, laid in a manger in Bethlehem, can help us set our hope where we can truly find our help, and teach us to trust in God over and against the appearances of power and prestige in the world. This babe is indeed the antidote to fear. He has come from on high to free us to become who we were always meant to be.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (see Hebrews 2:14-15).

Jesus wants to conquer our fears and lead us into the freedom of the Holy Spirit. It is only in this freedom that we can find peace in our own hearts and become true agents of peace to a world still veiled in darkness. Since we need him so much let us fix all of our hope on him and eagerly await Christmas when, in grace and in mystery, "the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death".

For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Matt Maher - Canticle of Zechariah

23 December 2022 - a new name

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Her neighbors and relatives heard

that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,

and they rejoiced with her. 

The Lord had great mercy upon Elizabeth. Her neighbors and relatives rejoiced that she who was barren had given birth to a son. Already the joy which Elizabeth and Mary experienced together was beginning to spread out inexorably in circle after concentric circle. Yet the relatives did not yet know the full reason they had to be joyous. People had realized that Zechariah "had seen a vision in the sanctuary" but the relatives and friends who were with them at the birth of this child must not have known the details. They proposed the name Zechariah after his father, as opposed to the name given by the angel. What they proposed as a response to this joy was a repetition of what had gone before, another cycle of the natural, quotidian existence with which they were familiar.

they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,

but his mother said in reply,

“No. He will be called John.” 

Elizabeth, by contrast, was clearly informed about the vision Zechariah received. And given the miraculous results in her very person she was not going to be the one to disagree with Gabriel about the name of the child. If God wanted to speak something new and unexpected through her and her family she would cooperate with that initiative. But the neighbors and relatives grew a bit desperate. They didn't want to upset the status quo over much. This birth was unusual, to be sure, but if they could only control the name of the child they may have felt as though they could tame the miracle. Perhaps intuitively they understood that John was to be anything but tame and an unconscious fear of holiness gave rise to their agitated reaction.

But they answered her,

“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” 

So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. 

Did they actually need to make signs? After all, Zechariah's punishment was only to be speechless. But they may have been too preoccupied with their own ideas to even correctly understand his condition. They may have had a hard time accepting the supernatural basis for the speechless condition of Zechariah, even if they had heard that it came about because of a vision. If they were that ignorant of what was happening in with him it helped explained why they didn't realize that Elizabeth's idea for a name came to her through Zechariah from the angel himself. They weren't going to get a different answer by asking Zechariah instead.

He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”

and all were amazed.

Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,

and he spoke blessing God.

Zechariah gave voice to his doubts and lost his ability to speak. But in the stillness and space created by a lack of words of his own he found the room God's word was meant to have in him. And this space led to belief, which, when professed, opened his mouth and freed his tongue. His mouth was closed by doubt, but opened to speak blessing God. 

We should learn to avoid giving our negative thoughts and doubts power over us by repeating them like mantras. We should instead fill our hearts with faith and our speech with praise. Even when we don't understand what God is doing or what he desires of us we can be careful with the words we choose as Mary was. Perhaps it was because she always appeared ready to reflect on God's word in her heart that she never needed to be forced into silence. She was afraid, but her faith did not waver. Let us learn, then, to speak, as much as possible, in agreement with the word of God.

Then fear came upon all their neighbors,

and all these matters were discussed

throughout the hill country of Judea.

All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,

“What, then, will this child be?

For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”

It seems the neighbors ultimately couldn't tame or contain the destiny of John the Baptist. He was not to be merely another round of business as usual, nor yet just a picturesque child and heir to the family. He was rather another round of something quite different, utterly untamed, and vastly more important.

Lo, I will send you

Elijah, the prophet,

Before the day of the LORD comes,

the great and terrible day

Whenever the Lord draws near, as he does to us this Christmas, he does so as a refiner's fire, purifying those to whom he draws near. This means that we are meant to use the preparations he provides to make ourselves ready, to dispose our hearts to receive this purification. The infant Jesus can cleanse our hearts of attachment to sin and disproportionate attachment to the things of this world. But grace is received according to the mode of the receiver. We are not good at opening ourselves to grace, but if we cooperate with what God is doing (even if it is sometimes as frightening as the birth of John) he himself will make us ready.

Brian Doerksen - Refiner's Fire

Chris Tomlin - Even So Come

22 December 2022 - all generations

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Elizabeth called Mary blessed because she believed that the word of the Lord to her would be fulfilled. And Mary was truly blessed, the most blessed among all women ever to live. But see how Mary redirected this blessing spoken to her by Elizabeth unto God. We should see this, because it is how it ever is and will be with Marian devotion. She is blessed, and we are right to call her so and celebrate it. But when we focus on her she will help us raise our minds and hearts to God in praise.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

for he has looked upon his lowly servant.

Even the most blessed of women was able to see herself as a lowly servant of the great God her savior. It was thus that she rejoiced, not in herself or what she was on her own, but in what God himself had done for her.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

Mary spoke of the connection between calling her blessed and the great deeds of the almighty. In celebrating Mary we celebrate the power of God, his faithfulness to his promises, and the absolute holiness of his name. Mary's own holiness, which was a gift of grace from the Almighty, only served to magnify the holiness of the one who gave the gift.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

Mary opened her song to all of those in every generation who would fear God as she did. His mercy was available to all of them, to the degree that they would follow her as an example and model. Her holy fear led to belief and ascent to the plan of God spoken by Gabriel. If we follow her example of belief we can share in the mercy that was poured out as a consequence of that belief, not for only a few, but for all peoples in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

and has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones

and has lifted up the lowly.

Christmas is the time when we celebrate the lifting of the lowly, the scattering of the proud, and the casting down of the mighty. For Jesus came as an infant, meek and lowly, virtually invisible to the mighty and the proud of this world. The thrones of earthly powers were not the chosen place for the revelation of the Messiah, and the Messiah would not be found by hearts such as they who sat upon them. It was rather those who could become lowly like Mary, small and humble like the child Jesus himself, who would discover this miraculous birth. It was shepherds keeping watch and Magi willing to empty their treasures in worship who were the ones to celebrate that first Christmas. Herod and other such mighty ones of the world were left frustrated, their efforts scattered. They feared from prophecy that they would be cast down and tried to fight it. But with the birth of the Savior God's judgement was already spoken against such worldly powers the realization of that judgement was only a matter of time.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

God gave Jesus to the human race as the bread of life, born in Bethlehem, the "city of bread". Most in the world were more interested in physical food and would have happily made Jesus their king if he had endlessly multiplied loaves to sate their carnal hunger. But God was more interested in gathering a people who would sate themselves on the hidden bread of the will of God that they could receive by receiving Jesus, especially as he would give himself in the Eucharist.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he remembered his promise of mercy

It is true that God never forgot his promises, not to Hannah, and not to Israel. But he remembered them in a most unique and perfect way in the gift of Jesus to the world because it was he who was God's yes to all his past promises. This yes is remembered in each mass when the priest once again makes present the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in remembrance of him.

I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD. 

I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request. 

Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD;

as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD.

Let us learn from Hannah and Mary not to hoard or cling to gifts that we receive but rather to entrust them ultimately to the plan and providence of God. Thanksgiving for God fulfilling his promises is meant to open us to the grace to entrust all that we have and all that we are to a giver so good. Is there anything, then, to which we cling, holding it back even from God himself out of fear? He himself will assuredly make more of it than we ever can. Let us remember, give thanks, and offer in response our song of worship, just as Mary teaches and invites us to sing.

John Michael Talbot - Holy Is His Name

Saint Meinrad Schola - O Rex Gentium

21 December 2022 - shout for joy

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Mary set out in those days

and traveled to the hill country in haste

We might imagine such an unfathomable announcement as that of Gabriel to Mary would have had the effect of shock resulting in slowness to act. But it was not so for Mary. Instead she traveled in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Such a response was indicative of one who found her place in God's story. Most of us would have been too preoccupied with ourselves to respond so quickly to the needs of another. But Mary must now have begun to sense that what was happening to her was not meant for her alone, but that it was rather a blessing meant to be shared. She went, therefore, not only to offer assistance on a natural and human level but also to share the gift she had been given. Thus it was not primarily herself that she brought and offered to Elizabeth, but the presence of the One contained within her womb.

Most blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 

And how does this happen to me,

that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 

Because of the visitation of Mary, the ark of the New Covenant, John leaped in his mother's womb, just as David danced for joy before the original ark (see Second Samuel 6:16). Yet Mary was no mere vehicle but was rather a chosen instrument to communicate the blessings of the Messiah.

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,

the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

(emphasis mine)

It was not only the proximity but also the words of greeting that conveyed joy and unleashed the Holy Spirit. It was at this moment, according to many Church Fathers, that John the Baptist was cleansed of original sin. If so, no wonder that he rejoiced! And how complete that joy must have been. We might imagine it directing and sustaining him as he grew and became aware of himself and his special call to prepare the way for the Lord. No wonder he would later say, "The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice" (see John 3:29).

Gabriel had told Mary to rejoice, and now that joy was already being spread. She and her son together with Elizabeth and her son were already responding to the call of the prophet Zephaniah in one of the options for today's first reading:

Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!

Sing joyfully, O Israel!

But what of us, why should we bother so much about these stories which, though poignant, appear to us as past events? If we desire joy ourselves (and who doesn't?) we would do well to be attentive. For Mary still brings Jesus and his joy to those who listen to her greeting as Elizabeth did. If we desire to dance in the presence of the Lord as David did we should invite Mary to come to our homes and be a part of our lives. And we in turn should follow her example. Because of our baptism we are a people in whom Jesus himself has chosen to live. We too are bearers of his presence to others. We should allow this to motivate us to hasten our own participation in the mission. As we do so we should not be content merely with proximity, but realize that our own greeting in the name of the Son can have something of the effect of conveying joy that Mary's did. It will be a song of joy begun in heaven, conveyed by Mary, but taking up in the chorus all who are willing to sing.

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

and renew you in his love,

He will sing joyfully because of you,

as one sings at festivals.

Newsboys - Joy

20 December 2022 - the lowly, lifted

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

But she was greatly troubled at what was said

and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

We know that Mary had a humble heart, and therefore might have been slow to recognize herself in the title "full of grace" given to her by the angel. Most people were not full of grace because of original sin. Mary was, having been immaculately conceived. But that is not to say she understood her condition as precisely as that. A holy heart was not given to comparison of merit with others. Did those around her seem to be troublingly given over to sin? She would not have imputed there motives if possible. It was possible for her to wonder if she was truly unique enough to addressed as full of grace, if this was not something common to many other faithful hearts in the world. Most of us are all to eager to believe that we are good or special at the expense of others. Mary, who was uniquely good, could only accept it slowly and upon reflection.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

righteous and having salvation is he (see Zechariah 9:9).

Mary was likely familiar with the Scriptures of her people and the prophecies they contained, particularly if she was in fact raised in the temple. The "Hail" of Gabriel would likely have reminded her of the oracle of Zechariah the prophet and of others. But in this sense too she was singled out. That oracle seemed to speak in some way to more than a single individual. How was a humble handmaid to stand in for daughter Zion?

Mary "pondered what sort of greeting this might be" but she did not laugh or express doubt. She may have experienced fear in the presence of the angel but if so it was a holy fear leading to attentiveness and then obedience. Her fear did not lead to ridicule, laughter, or denial, but rather caused her to ponder. She did put up walls of defense as we might have done, but took on instead a posture suited to receptivity.

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,

and you shall name him Jesus.

The conception of Jesus was not to be a merely natural one, nor even a miraculous one like that of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Mary was already committed to having no relations with a man that could bring things about in that way. Familiar with the announcements of the miraculous births of many Old Testament heroes and the similarity of these words from Gabriel  Mary realized that her case could not be the same and so she asked for clarification.

“How can this be,

since I have no relations with a man?”

Mary was not like Sarah or Elizabeth, a barren woman made fruitful. She was rather the one of whom Isaiah said, "the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel." She did not presume to assert herself as the fulfillment of this prophecy. But with wonder did she accept herself to be so. Even for Mary, full of grace, with a mind not darkened by sin, it was a lot to take in, and had many implications which would take a lifetime and beyond to fully grasp. She knew that on her own none of this was possible, but was willing to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit in her to do accomplish what he himself desired.

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore the child to be born

will be called holy, the Son of God.

Just as the shekinah cloud settled upon the meeting tent and in the time of Moses, just as the glory of the Lord filled the temple in the time of Solomon, so too and more would the Holy Spirit come upon and overshadow Mary, revealing a new temple and a new fullness of the presence of God on earth in the form of the only-begotten Son. All of this was indeed a lot to take in for the most humble woman to ever live, but her faithful obedience did not waiver.

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

May it be done to me according to your word.”

Then the angel departed from her.

K. Lee Scott - Rejoice, Rejoice Believers

19 December 2022 - i will wait in silence

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren

and both were advanced in years. 

This was a familiar story in Israel's history, reminding us or Sarah the mother of Isaac, Manoah's wife, the mother of Samson, and of Hannah the mother of Samuel. God had been known to respond and make a woman who was naturally barren to be supernaturally fruitful. Could this theme recur so frequently because it described not just individuals but also, in a way, the human condition? For is it not the case men and women are meant to bear fruit for God but often find the soil of their hearts barren and lifeless? This theme is therefore a sign of hope whenever we feel the weight of our own natural limitations. If we will trust in him God will delight to make us supernaturally fruitful as well. He will do this even if we are "advanced in years" and it seems to be too late from our point of view.

Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside

at the hour of the incense offering,

the angel of the Lord appeared to him,

standing at the right of the altar of incense. 

Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. 

Angels often inspire holy fear by their overawing presence. Yet this fear is meant to dispose those to whom they come to listen with obedient ears. Then such fear can lead to wisdom. But if the recipient of an angel visit allows fear to close him in on himself, as perhaps Zechariah did, then such fear will not lead immediately to wisdom. 

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah,

because your prayer has been heard. 

Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,

and you shall name him John. 

Fear was a step along the way. If Zechariah had trusted the angel his heart could have been unlocked to believe his words. All of the good things the angel prophesied would not then have seemed like potential disappointments. But it seems that all of this sounded to Zechariah to be too good to be true. This was an attitude of fear which refused to be led on to hope. When Mary heard the announcement of the angel about the birth of her own Son she did not doubt, but asked how it would come about. Her holy fear made her open and receptive to the message Gabriel delivered. But Zechariah did doubt and demanded proof from his heavenly messenger.

Then Zechariah said to the angel,

“How shall I know this? 

For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 

Was Zechariah not steeped in the Scriptures of his people? If he was than surely this event wouldn't have been so incomprehensible. Or was he unable to believe that he was actually connected as a part of that same story? There were so many possible doubts which his fear might have caused him to entertain. But even though Zechariah's response was not perfect it would not hinder God's plans. Rendering Zechariah speechless was more than mere punishment.  Because he was unable to speak it forced him to stop speaking his doubts and thereby giving them power. It made him more open to consider the things he heard. Imagine if one of the first things he heard was someone reading our first reading about Samson, or one of the other miraculous births from the bible. Silence was therefore not so much a punishment as a purification. Silence was the right posture to welcome God's word. And this is no less true for us who long to welcome his Word at Christmas. We need to let go at least a little bit of those thoughts and words of ours which are merely human and inherently limited in order to make space for Jesus. Few do this and so it is often the case that he only finds a stable and a manger to welcome him. But if this is the condition of our hearts we can be encouraged that this is exactly the sort of place to which he comes.

Paul Beckman - Our Blessed Hope

Saint Meinrad Schola - O Radix Jesse

18 December 2022 - a part to play

Today's Readings

(Audio)

17 December 2022 - a new genesis

Saint Matthew by Rembrandt

Today's Readings

(Audio)

16 December 2022 - human testimony

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.

John testified to the truth of the human condition. He testified that in order to prepare the way for the Lord those who heard him should repent and be baptized, expressing by doing so their desire for the forgiveness of sins. Immersing themselves into a longing for things to be set right with one another and with God made them ready to welcome the Messiah who alone could fulfill those desires. By condemning sin and pointing to righteousness John the Baptist implicitly pointed toward the Messiah. But his pointing was not only implicit. He called Jesus the lamb of God, and confirmed that he was the one who was to come when the Spirit descended on him when Jesus was baptized. He said that Jesus was the bridegroom in whose presence the friend of the bridegroom, John, rejoiced.

I do not accept testimony from a human being

Even the most authentic human testimony fell short in the case of Jesus himself. He did not need to be proved by any human's words, however prophetic and great those words may have been. Even the forerunner was inadequate to really capture the essence of who Jesus was and why he came. Yet the message of John was a shining lamp. It could help orient the crowds so that they could come to Jesus himself to be saved. But it seems that the results of even the great words of the Baptist were short-lived.

and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.

We may sometimes encounter a preacher that sparks an initial burst of enthusiasm in our hearts that temporarily motivates us to rejoice in his light. But we don't always make the transition from that moment of exultation to a life of Christian discipleship. We may discover it was something about the presentation that fascinated us and that we never allowed it to lead us to the testimony of Jesus himself. Then when that preacher could no longer entertain or edify or distract us we went back to business as usual, never allowing ourselves to be led to the one about whom the preacher spoke. It is perhaps the case the better preachers are at greater risk of this phenomenon, and that when we can't found consistent and novel stimulus of such preaching we risk becoming lukewarm and backsliding.

But I have testimony greater than John’s.

The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,

these works that I perform testify on my behalf

that the Father has sent me.

Jesus is at work in our midst in a way that speaks more loudly than the testimony of John. He himself is still healing, forgiving sins, and even giving us his own body as food and his blood as drink. We must allow ourselves to be led into the deep reality of a life that is through him, with him, and in him. Great preaching is not meant to lead us back again to the preacher but rather toward Jesus himself. It is like the saying that one ought not fixate on the finger that is pointing at the moon lest one miss the heavenly glory that is there to see.

The things Jesus said and did in his life revealed his identity in a way that the best preaching can never entirely capture. This is why we must become as familiar as possible with the Gospels that tell of his life. We need to become more convinced than ever of the testimony of Jesus, and seeing the works the Father gave him to accomplish will help achieve this. The darkness is rapidly encroaching in our world. We need to be ready to do more than to rejoice for a while in his light. We need to become mature disciples who live in his light until we become transparent to it, becoming light ourselves in turn. As Jeremiah said, we will seek the Lord and we will find him when we seek him with all of our heart (see Jeremiah 29:13). We need not fear our own failures will lead to rejection. Jesus longs for us to come to him so that he can reveal himself to us. It is he himself that brings us to him. When we let ourselves by thusly led we receive the joy that only he can give.

Them I will bring to my holy mountain

and make joyful in my house of prayer;

Hillsong Worship - This Is How We Overcome