31 December 2024 - yet that is what we are

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And the Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us

The Eternal Word who always with the Father from all eternity became a human person and lived among us. Because it was the Word who came he was the fullness of the revelation of God. Others, such as the prophets, had said things about God that were partial and fragmentary. But Jesus was the definitive word of God (see Hebrews 1:2), all God had to say, apart from which there was nothing to be said. Therefore the incarnation was an act of communication by a God who wanted to be known. But this wasn't a message that could be conveyed merely by a correct sequence of spoken or written words. It could only by conveyed by the specific shape of the individual human life of Jesus.

What came to be through him was life,

and this life was the light of the human race;

the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.

All things had been originally created through the Word who became flesh. And it was for this reason that, as flesh, he represented the pinnacle and perfection of all things. He was light, among other reasons, because he revealed the origin and destiny of women and men.

We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. 

- Pope Benedict XVI

Jesus revealed that our life has a meaning that can't be explained away by scientific materialism, nor taken from us by dire circumstances, not even forfeit by our own mistakes, as long as we continue to repent.

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.

The only possible explanation for why it does not seem to matter to us or impress us that we are given the power to become children of God is that we've heard it to many times without really comprehending it. The nature Jesus had naturally from all eternity he shared with us by adoption. He opened the way for us to have a new and profound relationship with God the Father in the Holy Spirit. But we're down here thinking, 'How cute, children of God. What a lovely image'. Yet it is not meant to be a reduction to the static figure of a stained glass cherub. Jesus was, par excellence, Son of the Father. But the reaction he provoked from others was not, 'Aww', but rather awe. His Sonship made Peter exclaim, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (see Luke 5:8). 

because while the law was given through Moses, 

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

We are not, it is true, meant to become adult in the sense of being so self-sufficient as to not need God. But we are not meant to become so inept or infantile that we are unable to know truth or cooperate with grace. Becoming sons and daughters of the Father means having an increasingly strong belief in the truth and increasing confidence in the grace God never ceases to bestow. Growing into children of God transforms us from people motivated to obey God merely because of fear of transgressing the law into people who are genuinely excited to participate in the plan of God. The longer we live as disciples the more we should come to believe in the goodness of that plan. We don't tend to think of ourselves in the way John wrote of his audience. But he would probably say something similar to us:

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

and you all have knowledge. 

I write to you not because you do not know the truth 

but because you do,

We have been anointed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation. In the Catholic Church we have access to the fullness of truth, through the Scriptures, and distilled and organized into the teaching of the universal catechism. Let's stop cheapening what Jesus has done for us by recognizing how amazing it is and by living lives that more fully correspond to that gift.

Songs In His Presence - Glory Cry The Angel Choirs

30 December 2024 - at that very time

Today's Readings

(Audio)

She was advanced in years,

having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,

and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.

It seems that Anna only got a small dose of what people would have regarded as normal life before she became a widow. People would have seen this as a lack of blessing from the Lord, if not a curse. But it appeared that she did not get lost in things that might have been, or in self-pity, or in an aimless lack or purpose.

She never left the temple,

but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.

What might have seemed like a curse to others was something Anna utilized to her benefit. Others were caught up in the things of the world. But she chose to be caught up in the things of God and the things of heaven. The proximity to God tuned her spiritual sense in a way that made her eager for the Messiah and even able to recognize and celebrate him when he came.

And coming forward at that very time,

she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child

to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

There were many years after her husband before the child Jesus was presented in the temple. And yet Anna simply "came forward at that very time" as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She had clearly been prepared by her life of worship and prayer. God must have given her to understand that she would have some role in explaining "about the child" to those others "who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem". What others might have experienced as decades in a holding pattern Anna experienced as a kind of spiritual retreat and a preparation for this specific moment when God would use her as a part of his plan to reveal his Son to the world. From her we can learn that things that appear to be curses may actually be blessings depending on how we respond. And we can learn that long periods where we don't contribute to society in customary or recognizable ways, holding patterns where we aren't fulfilling any obvious purpose, are almost certainly leading to specific ways in which God will use us. Anna was something like a sleeper agent, ready to be activated when the plan required it. We too can be sleeper agents for God, but only if we do not entirely fall asleep.

For all that is in the world,

sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life,

is not from the Father but is from the world.

Yet the world and its enticement are passing away.

The trick we must learn is to remain attentive to God even when his movements in our lives are not obvious, when it seems as though the shape of our life is a track that has been playing on repeat for years. Provided we remain more attentive to him than the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, we will be able to do this. After all, it is not the things of this world, things that are so easy in which to become entangled, that last forever. It is those who, like Anna, do the will of God that remain forever.

Bring gifts, and enter his courts;

worship the LORD in holy attire.

Tremble before him, all the earth.

CeCe Winans - Worthy Of It All

29 December 2024 - my Father's house

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Thinking that he was in the caravan,

they journeyed for a day

and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 

but not finding him,

they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

Raising the Messiah, the Son of God, was never going to be exactly like raising any other child. There were going to be times when he sought first the Kingdom, even over and above his treasured family bonds. His life was primarily about the accomplishment of his heavenly Father's will. His earthly parents clearly did their best to raise him without full knowledge of that divine plan. But their goodness and their wisdom was not enough to always know exactly what would be required of Jesus by his heavenly Father. They wanted to raise Jesus to give precedence to God above all things. But sometimes when he actually did this it still took them by surprise. They were unable to predict what would happen at Passover when Jesus was twelve on the basis of the previous eleven years. 

“Son, why have you done this to us?

Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”

They were anxious because they knew that Jesus was a sign that would be opposed (see Luke 2:34) but they didn't know the details of how this opposition would take place. They expected that if there was nothing wrong Jesus would have been with the caravan. They might have expected he would not stay behind without least mentioning it to them. But that he said nothing had to be intentional. It was not the result of a lack of love or respect for his parents much less an oversight of a still developing moral character. He stayed behind without telling them because it had to be that way. It was part of his Father's will. But what was, specifically? Not only that he must be in his Father's house. That was a part of it. But the way his parents experienced this unexpectedly after a separation of three days was probably meant to convey something as well. It was likely a preparation for them so that they (or at least Mary if Joseph was not alive by then) would be ready for the much more traumatic separation from Jesus at his death. He did not tell his parents what he was about this time because at his Passion nothing he could merely say would prepare them. Certainly he did try to warn his disciples about the impending Passion. But none of them really understood until they experienced it. But this difficult moment early in the life of Jesus helped to prepare Mary to be present at the cross, her station to keep.

And he said to them,

“Why were you looking for me?

Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

But they did not understand what he said to them.

They didn't immediately understand the meaning of the prophetic gesture Jesus had done. But they didn't become so offended as to reject it. Instead we read that Mary "kept all these things in her heart". She did not immediately understand. But she allowed that in the course of time and of God's will she might one day understand. 

Living as Christians is never going to be an entirely predictable phenomenon. If it has gone the same for eleven years there might be something radically unpredictable in the twelfth. It is not going to be a process that in which events make perfect sense right when they happen. Often it will take a heart like that of Mary that is willing to keep and treasure even the difficult and unpredictable memories in our hearts so that God may one day reveal to us how he made even these things work together for our good (see Romans 8:28).

Beloved:

See what love the Father has bestowed on us

that we may be called the children of God.

And so we are.

We are not destined to remain as creatures entirely determined by the material order of creation. We are being molded into children of our heavenly Father. We too will sometimes be called to place the Father's business before that of the world. The world doesn't tend to appreciate this since it can't plan for or predict it. But the world needs more from us than another year that was exactly like the last. It needs the Father's will, just as the teachers in the temple who heard the answers of Jesus were "astounded at his understanding and his answers". The world in which we live is in deep need of some astounding understanding and answers. And if we learn to follow Jesus dynamically, as he first taught his own mother and father to follow him, we too will have something to contribute.

Helen Baylor - The Potter's Hand

28 December 2024 - holy innocents

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 did not hesitate but rose and took his mother and child without waiting for morning to dawn. In doing so he protected the infant Jesus against the designs of Herod. Herod realized the Magi weren't going to help him to locate the child and so, assuming he was still in Bethlehem, he ordered the massacre of all of the boys two years old and under. These children who had not yet reached the age of reason still gave the lives in a kind of martyrdom to protect the life of Jesus, the true king, from Herod the false claimant to the throne. By his excessive fear that a rightful king would be revealed Herod demonstrated he knew he was not that king. Each child he slaughtered was therefore a witness to the true kingship, as if with his life he said, 'Not me. Not you. Another'.

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,

he became furious.

He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity

two years old and under,

Was it right for God to allow for this kind of collateral damage? If we believe that it is truly a high calling to give our lives as witnesses to Jesus then why would this be less true of the Holy Innocents? True, martyrs typically give a sort of consent. But martyrs are always acting in cooperation with a necessary grace. God moved history to put these Holy Innocents into a privileged position. In other martyrs he also moved the heart and the will. And perhaps he chose these infants because he knew that, if asked to cooperate with grace, they would in fact have consented. Wouldn't it actually be wonderful if God would move us to follow him in an indefectible way from which we could not fall away and at which we could not fail? Isn't that, by definition, what we desire as Christians? Or at least, if it isn't what we want, isn't it what we want to want? We may not think a system of predestination in which grace is in fact irresistible is an ideal system. But don't we at least wish we were less inclined to resist grace ourselves?

He stayed there until the death of Herod,

that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,

Out of Egypt I called my son.

The life of Jesus represented a new exodus from a spiritual Egypt. What we see in this Gospel is Jesus as the typological fulfillment of Israel called forth from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land. Although it appeared to be weakness, his power was such that even kings could oppose him. It was similar to how Pharaoh was unable to destroy Moses by killing the Hebrews' firstborns, and how he was unable to prevent Moses from liberating his fellow Israelites. Even his chariots and charioteers could not compete with God's providential plan. We have seen already even in the earliest parts of the Gospels that we have all the grounds we need for great confidence that God will be able to set us free as well. Neither history, nor, we hope, even our own hearts can stand in his way. So let us desire to become his witnesses, if not by our death as martyrs, at least by our lives.

It is already too late for us to give a witness that is all at once and perfect as did the Holy Innocents. We cannot say, "We are without sin". But even so it is not too late for us. Jesus is our "Advocate with the Father" who is the "expiation for our sins". So, even if we do not always manage to follow the holy infants in their innocence, let us at least hope to follow them as witnesses to Jesus, their savior, and ours.

Bing Crosby - The Little Drummer Boy

27 December 2024 - he saw and believed

Today's Readings

(Audio)

They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter

and arrived at the tomb first;

he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.

Love made John run as quickly as he was able. It was love like that of Mary Magdalene who was simply unable to abandon Jesus even after all hope was apparently lost. He was a disciple who understood that he was loved by Jesus in a way that was both unique and comprehensive. But this knowledge did not lead him to become puffed up with pride. Rather he still demonstrated the deference due to Peter in virtue of his role as leader by waiting for him to enter the tomb first.

Then the other disciple also went in,

the one who had arrived at the tomb first,

and he saw and believed.

From what he saw in the tomb he began to believe. He began to entertain the idea of a hope so unexpected that moments ago it would have seemed impossible. Could he at that moment fully explain and articulate that hope? Most likely not. His believe was likely still inchoate, more a concession to the accuracy of what Mary Magdalene described than a full belief in the resurrection. And yet in a very real way this was the moment when hopelessness no longer held full sway in his heart. Looking forward from that moment there was much he did not yet understand, since "they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead" (see John 20:9). But looking back later in the light of the his resurrection encounter with Jesus himself John would recognize in this moment at the tomb the beginnings of belief.

Seemingly not even Apostles had faith that was immediately fully formed and perfect. So if we do not find such faith in others or even in ourselves we may be comforted to know that it really is typically a process. And it is a process in which our own investigation, while important, is secondary to the desire of the risen Christ to have an encounter with us. But this desire of Jesus to reveal himself to us is meant to create in us a corresponding desire that others share in that same experience. We can come to understand most seekers search in a way that is confused and tentative. But we can allow Jesus to work through us to draw them into full encounter with him. This was in fact what John did. After his own encounter with the risen Lord he wrote his Gospel for the stated reason "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). In our first reading from his first epistle we see this same desire to impart to others the resurrection faith that was now so firmly etched in his own heart.

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

In order for John the Evangelist to have experience the full promise of joy that the resurrection of Jesus was meant to impart he could not help but try to share that faith and that joy with others. May it be so for us as well.

Be glad in the LORD, you just,

and give thanks to his holy name.

For King & Country - Go Tell It On The Mountain

26 December 2024 - the great reversal

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of Jesus Christ. Today we celebrate the heavenly birthday of Stephen the first martyr. At first glance these might not seem to bare much relation to one another. But it was the coming of Jesus that gave to those who received him and believed in him "the right to become children of God" (see John 1:12). And we can see in Stephen that it was because of the way in which he lived as a trusting child of God on earth that he was prepared to make an almost seamless transition to the life of heaven. 

You will be given at that moment what you are to say.

For it will not be you who speak

but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Brother will hand over brother to death,

Jesus said we must become like little children to enter the Kingdom of God (see Matthew 18:3). If, then, martyrdom is, par excellence, entrance to the Kingdom, the martyrs are the ones who most need to be childlike. And this is in fact what we observe in Stephen. The reason that his opponents "could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke" was because he did not worry excessively about planning a speech but was able to receive what he was supposed to say such that the Spirit of his Father was speaking through him.

The reason Stephen was able to endure to the end was because of his childlike trust in the one who was waiting to welcome him home. He was so grounded in his relationship with God that the veil between heaven and earth grew thinner the closer he came to death, even to the degree that he was able to say, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God". This was a desirable sight for a child waiting for his elder brother to welcome him into his Father's house. It was love drove out even the fear of suffering and death. His visage was so childlike at that moment as to even appear angelic to the Sanhedrin who were observing (see Acts 6:15).

In Stephen we see an example of how the world was turned upside down by the birth of Jesus. The birth of an infant gave power to martyrs that made them stronger than any force on earth. Rather than becoming less like children the more their opponents imposed upon them, oppressed them, and made them suffer, the more childlike they in fact became. And as they became increasingly childlike they became more powerful, not less, as with Stephen whose life was a witness that "a young man named Saul" could apparently not forget.

Let your face shine upon your servant;

save me in your kindness.

DC Talk - Mind's Eye

Damascus Worship Featuring MarySarah McBride - What Child Is This?

25 December 2024 - light shines in the darkness

Today's Readings - Mass During The Day

(Audio)

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. 

All things came to be through him,

and without him nothing came to be.

If the stories of the Nativity in Matthew and Luke emphasize the humanity of Christ while acknowledging his divinity we see in John's account the emphasis is clearly on his divinity.

The Word always existed before any created thing was made. He enjoyed perfect fulfillment for all eternity together with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He was not created but "through him all things were made" as we say in the creed. Yet the Word that always existed in eternity was not always visible to the human race. In the past, "God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets" but it was only on Christmas morning when "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling us" that he spoke "to us through the Son". The Word always existed. But on Christmas he revealed that he had joined to his unchanging divine nature a human nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As Gregory said, "He remained what he was; what he was not, he assumed" (see Oration 37).

And the Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us,

and we saw his glory,

the glory as of the Father’s only Son,

full of grace and truth.

The Word did not remain distant but took on flesh and pitched his tent among us. He become not only intelligible but fully visible such that those who knew Jesus could say, "we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth". What John the Baptist predicted and John the Evangelist proclaimed was therefore not merely an abstract truth, an idea, or a symbol. Rather, as John wrote in his first epistle, Jesus was not only "from the beginning" but also that "which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands" (see First John 1:1). He did not merely appear human as though he were a divinity wearing a costume and a mask that would drop to the stage the moment he no longer needed it. Rather he was "made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest" (see Hebrews 2:17).

The humanity manifested in the Nativity of Our Lord was not a temporary solution when God needed to communicate in a particular way or to add an exclamation point to the story of salvation history. He would not later disentangle himself from human nature once he had attained our salvation. Rather the human flesh of Jesus, who was born of the Virgin, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, who died and rose again, is now and forever seated at the right hand of God in heaven. His unwillingness to let go of the humanity of Jesus is a testimony that he will not abandon any of us either. God and man have been irrevocably untied in Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that the psalmist can sing in all truth that, "All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God".

Third Day - O Come All Ye Faithful

Chris Tomlin - Angels We Have Heard On High

Damascus Worship Featuring Tyler Revak - Joy To The World

24 December 2024 - from on high

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;

for he has come to his people and set them free.

Jesus was born to give us true freedom. This was not necessarily freedom from occupying forces but rather freedom from sin. People like the Pharisees had a hard time accepting this because it took humility to admit the fact that one was not free.

"you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?""

Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin" (see John 8:31-34).

But for those who welcomed him Jesus would indeed save them from the hands of their true spiritual enemies, the dark forces of the Devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (see Ephesians 6:12).

The point of Jesus coming to set us free was not only or mostly about what we were being saved from but especially about that for which we were being saved: relationship, "to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life". He was going to transform our relationship with God from one that was necessarily based on fear to one that was based more and more on love. It would first be based on the love of Jesus for us and then on our own confidence in that love which would engender reciprocal love within us. He came to make us sons and daughters of his heavenly Father able to cry out with confidence to "Abba" just as Jesus himself did. 

In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

If our world seems increasingly to be dark and like the valley of death it can only mean that we are more than ever in dire need of the light of Christmas and therefore the light of Christ himself. Only he is the light which the darkness cannot overcome or even comprehend. He really does want to shine on us and to rise in our hearts like the morning star (see Second Peter 1:19). Let us look to the radiant beams shining from the face of the holy infant Jesus so as to be filled with the peace, joy, and love we need to realize the promises of which Zechariah sung.

Maranatha! Music - Shine Jesus Shine

23 December 2024 - a new name

Today's Readings

(Audio)

they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,

but his mother said in reply,

"No. He will be called John."

There are times when God does in a new thing in the lives of his followers. At such times it is insufficient to merely repeat litanies about how things are now as though there is nothing new under the sun. Yet in order to maintain our sense of control over our lives we try to understand the future in light of the past. There is a certain way in which this can be helpful if we realize that past prepares prophetically for the future. But we tend to assume the future can never really go beyond what we have already seen and known and that the way things are now is more or less how they will always be. Such attitudes impose limits on what we imagine God can do in the world. They make us cheapen our interpretation of prophecies as purely spiritual, unable to impact concrete history. Even when we suggest that perhaps, maybe, God is doing something new by his grace as Elizabeth suggested in giving her son the name John, there will probably be a chorus who responds by telling us we have no right to name a name that hasn't already been named. They tell us to constrain our expectations to be based only on what has already been clearly seen and known.

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.

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

and all were amazed.

Zechariah might have been persuaded to remain tethered to the past insofar as it honored him by giving him a child of his namesake. But he had been prepared by the message of Gabriel and by a period of silent reflection which helped him to realize that God was indeed doing something new and to welcome it. 

When God does something new in the world it is not typically only out there and apart from us that he does so. He is usually looking to his people for cooperation. But the first step in cooperating with his plan is what Zechariah demonstrated in today's Gospel. We must be willing to acquiesce to the plan and in fact to speak in agreement with the plan. This is how Zechariah's tongue was freed. It is the difference between Christians who can only say the same old and dreary things that the secular world says and Christians who genuinely have something new and hopeful to contribute. The power of Christians to make a difference in the world comes with their being aligned to the plan of God. And this begins in choosing to think the way God would have us think and to express this thinking in what we say. The world is right to be excited about such language even as the people of Judea asked, "What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him".

We've celebrated a number of Christmases in our lives. Probably for some we weren't even focused on the possibility that God might want to begin something new, to be born in us in a new way. Then, perhaps in other years, after gaining some maturity as disciples, we have looked for this new reality but met with disappointment. Today we can remember that God is not limited by our past. To ourselves we speak the words of the psalm response: "Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand".

Matt Maher - Canticle Of Zechariah

22 December 2024 - blessed are you who believed

Today's Readings

(Audio)

After giving her fiat to the angel Gabriel Mary set out eagerly to go and visit Elizabeth. No doubt a part of the motivation for this was to offer what assistance she could to her pregnant cousin. But what motivated her even more than that was the desire to participate in God's plan. She was excited about what God was doing in her and what it meant for her people and she was eager to share that with Elizabeth. So too did she likely desire to see and understand more of what God was doing in the life of Elizabeth. There was a natural motivation based on kinship. But there was a supernatural motivation of two people joined together by a kind of divine conspiracy. There would be few people who would understand Mary after her encounter with Gabriel so well as Elizabeth. And there would be few who would understand the blessing bestowed on Elizabeth as well as Mary would. They were able to appreciate the blessings bestowed by God on one another and join together in mutual thanksgiving.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb, 

Elizabeth had already been implicated in God's plan by the blessing bestowed on her through the message of Gabriel. Her spiritual sense was thus highly tuned and her anticipation of the redemption of Israel was reaching peak levels. She had not received the blessing of a son as a merely natural blessing but was even then looking to the prophetic role he was to play. Already before being born he made a prophetic gesture that helped Elizabeth to recognize something happening in Mary that could have otherwise been completely hidden. Further indication that she was not operating at a merely human level was the fact that she herself, perhaps as the direct consequence of John leaping within her womb, was filled with the Holy Spirit and moved to speak supernatural words of knowledge about Mary and her child.

and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, 

cried out in a loud voice and said, 

“Blessed are you among women, 

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

It was not merely excitement or hyperbole that made Elizabeth refer to Mary as the most blessed among women. It was the Holy Spirit. So too it was him who made her recognize that the child within Mary's womb was her Lord and indeed the Lord of all. She was sufficiently humble to recognize the exalted role given to Mary and to see what a blessing it was for her to visit, above and beyond the favor of a relative during a time of need. She seemed to know that it was the new ark of the covenant that had come before her, and that this ark contained the presence of God in a way that surpassed anything the old temple had ever known.

Blessed are you who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord

would be fulfilled.

Mary was not a purely passive recipient of divine grace. She responded with a dynamic accent and a living faith. This was what made the grace given to her begin so quickly to overflow into the lives of others whom she knew. It was the case with Elizabeth as it would be again during the wedding at Cana and no doubt throughout her earthly life and indeed beyond. Because she believed in God's promise to her she was able to confidently participate in his plan for the world. What of us? In the first place, do we know what was spoken to us by the Lord, how many and how great are his promises to us? And then second, do we believe them? Not just that we say that we believe them, but are we willing to stake our lives on them? Are we actually doing so? Mary lived her life in a way that would make no sense at all apart from the promises of God. And she teaches all who will learn from example to commit themselves completely to the Lord. For he is always faithful to his promises.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful (see Hebrews 10:23).

John Brownlie - The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns

Matt Maher - O Come O Come Emmanuel

21 December 2024 - in haste

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Mary set out in those days

and traveled to the hill country in haste

to a town of Judah,

where she entered the house of Zechariah

and greeted Elizabeth.

We are often slow to respond to God's will. Even when we have that sense that he is calling us we still treat it as a lower priority and slot it into our schedules if and when it eventually becomes convenient. Works of mercy seem like arduous endeavors for which we are not particularly eager. Even the low hanging fruits of mass and prayer are often perceived more as obligations than as anything about which we are particularly excited. We are Christians, so we do these things. But not, it can usually be said, with haste. Mary was different. She actually appeared to be not only surrendered and committed to the will of God but even excited about it. She had discovered her own role in the story God was telling. And because of the urgency and importance of the overarching story she sensed also the importance of her own role. But this was quality of response was not meant to be unique to Mary. It was meant to mark all who had encountered God as she had, and therefore, eventually, all Christians.

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb,

and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,

cried out in a loud voice and said,

"Most blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

It was the presence of Jesus that conveyed to Elizabeth the same excitement which motivated Mary to come as quickly as she did. Elizabeth was not excited and moved to joy by anything superficial or even visible. But her spiritual sense was attuned to perceive the hidden presence of God which Mary brought into her midst. Thus she had not only the happiness of help in her pregnancy, nor only the joy of the presence of a relative and friend, but the all surpassing joy of the presence of God in her midst. Mary was the daughter of Zion, and the first to experience the gladness and exultation of the Lord in her midst. But those to whom she came became in a sense daughters of Zion themselves, part of the people of God in a new and more profound way, as they discovered how close the Lord, whose presence defined that people, had come to them.

My lover is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

Here he stands behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

peering through the lattices.

How close had God come to his people? So close that the liturgy of the Church can now only represent it with nuptial imagery and in fact with the reading of a love poem. This seems almost unbelievable to those of us who are still perceive God as primary imposing obligations of unwelcome interruption on us. We have little sense that he is interested in our good much less that he might love us to such a degree as in fact he does. But if we are having difficulty perceiving it we can try to be more open to it by asking Mary to bring Jesus more fully into our midst as she did for Elizabeth so that we too can begin to both shout for joy and respond in haste.

Sword Of The Spirit Worship - Our Blessed Hope

Matt Maher - Shout Of The King

20 December 2024 - the test

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But Ahaz answered,

"I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"

Yesterday we saw that the genuine piety of Mary looked almost indistinguishably similar to the doubt of Zechariah. Today we see Ahaz manifesting an apparently pious attitude that is actually disobedience. In general, putting the Lord to the test is ill-advised. Attempting to force the Lord to act in ways he does not intend or desire is foolish. But when the Lord himself tells one to ask for a sign it is not testing him to do so. Rather the contrary is true. We can put the Lord to the test by the way we act. But we can apparently also test him by what we omit. Jesus refused test the Lord by jumping down from the pinnacle of the temple because this was clearly not what God intended (see Matthew 4:7). But Ahaz tested the Lord precisely by refusing to participate in what God had clearly indicated to be his will.

Ahaz already had other plans and he wasn't actually interested in the Lord intruding in them. He preferred to place his trust in alliances with foreign powers rather than in God. Mary was just the opposite in that whatever plans she had she immediately surrendered, preferring to believe the angel, and to obey the Lord as his handmaid. Both Ahaz and Mary were being asked to reimagine the trajectory of their future in a dramatic way. But Mary was the one who was truly able to assent to this and was thus the one to truly bring "Emmanuel" into the world.

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

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

Yesterday and today's readings both encourage us to guard against using false piety as an excuse that makes us unwilling to participate in God's plan. We often prefer not to change, not to alter course, not to allow God to have a dynamic presence in our lives. And if we are overly clever we may make religious excuses for why we refuse. But excuses are only ever that: excuses. Let us instead learn from Mary to allow God to interrupt our lives when he wills. If we cooperate with his plans for us we too will help bring the presence of God to a world which is desperately in need of him.

Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.

Benedictines Of Mary, Queen Of Apostles - O Come Divine Messiah

19 December 2024 - doubt your doubts

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Then Zechariah said to the angel,

"How shall I know this?

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

Zechariah considered his circumstances, reflected on how what the angel had promised seemed impossible, and asked for proof. This was very different from when Mary asked the question, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" (see Luke 1:34). They had in common that they did not understand how the plan of the angel could be accomplished. But while Zechariah demanded proof Mary requested only clarification. In Zechariah we saw an unwillingness to believe but in Mary a willingness to be led. Very different spiritual responses appeared very similar on the surface. But one required punitive intervention on the part of the angel in order to make Zechariah ready to play his part in the plan. The other allowed Mary to be ready to give her full assent to what God desired to do in and through her.

It's always the right choice to trust God because he is God rather than our circumstances, even when they seem impossible to overcome. If we have the word of an angel we can trust that word no matter how great his promises or whatever apparent facts would seem to preclude the possibility of those promises being fulfilled. But we tend to get hung up on our circumstances and implicate ourselves in similar failures of trust to that of Zechariah. It is more seldom that we are able to take God completely at his word as did Mary. This means our souls too may need discipline and correction in order to be fully ready to agree with and welcome God's plan.

But now you will be speechless and unable to talk

until the day these things take place,

because you did not believe my words,

which will be fulfilled at their proper time.

Zechariah was prevented by the angel's intervention from returning to and repeating his litany of disbelief. His negative speech was going to continue to be a problem so he was forced to endure a period of silence and stillness. It would only be when he was willing to speak fully in agreement with the word of God that he would be able to speak again at all. For us as well, part of the reason we have trouble believing all of the promises of God is because we continue to recite our own negative beliefs. We describe a human view of all that is wrong with our circumstances, and why they are stuck as they are, and then we act surprised when the promises of God seem distant and unattainable. We need to learn the lesson of Zechariah and silence our doubts (at least in terms of our speech) and begin to speak in agreement with God's word (and again, out loud is preferable).

If we have been barren of spiritual fruit it does not mean that God has abandoned us. It probably means he is on the edge of unleashing new blessings in our lives, as he did for Zechariah and Elizabeth, and for Manoah and his wife. The reasons for our barrenness, the length it has persisted, none of this is in any way problematic for God. He delights to reveal himself to those who appear to be nothing so that his power may be made evident. So let's prefer silence to telling the same old stories about our circumstances. And let us allow ourselves to be led into full agreement with the truth of God's plan for us.

John Michael Talbot - Holy Is His Name

Marty Haugen - My Soul In Stillness Waits

18 December 2024 - Joseph, son of David

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,

yet unwilling to expose her to shame,

decided to divorce her quietly.

Joseph was a righteous man. Therefore he was not the sort of man that would be assume the worst about someone with the impeccable character of his betrothed. Mary knew in advance that she did not plan to have children the normal way (see Luke 1:34) and so we must assume Joseph also knew it. It is hard to imagine that he suddenly became paranoid and jealous about what he previously believed about Mary. And if it had been for these reasons that he planned to divorce her we could hardly say it was caused by righteousness. It's true that what had come about in Mary was difficult to explain almost to the point of being unbelievable. But a Godly man like Joseph saw this as a sign that he was involved in something that was, as it were, above his pay grade. He didn't want to bring shame upon Mary by his own involvement in something that he did not understand and for which he did not see himself as qualified. 

Joseph, son of David,

do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

The angel appeared to Joseph not so much to assuage his doubts about Mary as about himself. For this reason the angel addressed him as son of David, emphasizing the importance of his own part in the story as the one that would provide the link between David and the "righteous branch" that was being raised up in Jesus Christ. The plan was being orchestrated by the Holy Spirit himself. All that was required of Joseph for the time being was the courage to obey and do what he had originally planned, bringing Mary his wife into his home. The Holy Spirit would continue to do the rest as he had thus far.

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins.

Joseph was the one destined to give Jesus the name which is now exulted above every other name, a name that means God saves. This was something that it was uniquely fitting for Joseph, son of David, to do, establishing Jesus as his offspring, but also acknowledging that this child was not only going to save the world generically, but Joseph himself.

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel

The closer God comes to us the more we sometimes try to excuse ourselves from being involved. Sometimes this stems from genuine piety like it did for Joseph. But often our holy fear is intermixed with less noble motives. We think that rather than something so intense and exulted we might prefer some relaxing entertainment. And if all we had to contribute to God's plan was what we are in ourselves then yes, we might as well opt out. But God is implicating us in a plan for which the Holy Spirit is the one who is primarily responsible. The angel would have us hear similar words to Joseph: "do not be afraid". We should not be afraid to play our part nor to draw near by our devotion to Mary who brought Emmanuel into the world, and continues to help us draw near to him. We should respond to God's call with the promptness of Joseph who obeyed the moment he woke from this prophetic dream.

When Joseph awoke,

he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him

and took his wife into his home.

Jim Cowan - This Is Jesus

Michael Card - Immanuel

17 December 2024 - origin story

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,

the son of David, the son of Abraham.

It's a long list, containing many names with which most of us are not familiar. But this is precisely the case because we are dealing with history, not myth. There is a concrete historical specificity found in the Gospels that has no equivalent in the poetic myths of the pagans. It is true that the author does have an agenda, that being to show that Jesus was the son of Abraham, the true heir of the promise, and the messianic son of David. But Matthew establishes this fact not as a flight of fancy but rather by this laborious genealogy. The idea of a Messiah was rooted in the understanding that the God of Israel really did act and involve himself in human history. The idea that Jesus was the proper heir to the promise made to Abraham came from a religious defined by a God who had shown himself to be faithful to his promises.

Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. 

Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Most poets would avoid the particular so as to make the meaning more important. Their stories could easily be generalized in the application, not bound up to one time, or place, or person. But the Gospels achieve an even greater universality of meaning precisely through their insistence on particularity. Although the myths of the poets had deep meanings those meanings never really could touch the concrete particulars of history. They remained ever locked at the level of symbol and abstraction. But by taking on flesh Jesus united the poetic and the historical. He brought into the real world things even better than the best things poets had ever imagined. It took as much in order to save us. Poets could talk about our plight as humans and articulate our need for help and our desire for supernatural aid. But they could do nothing to attain this for us. In Jesus, however, the perfect story of salvation was realized in fact, not in fancy. As has been said elsewhere, if most people in most times and places understood the highest realities in mythical terms it would make sense for God, when he revealed himself, to do so in a way similar to myth and poetry, the difference being that it was actually true.

The scepter shall never depart from Judah,

or the mace from between his legs,

While tribute is brought to him,

and he receives the people’s homage.

What the genealogy of Jesus means for us is that Christianity is not merely a comforting thought or an emotional crutch. It is genuine, concrete, historical hope. Jesus was revealed as the heir to the promises in order to share those promises with us. He was revealed as the Messiah to invite us into a Kingdom which will never pass away or be destroyed. Secular history is incomplete to the degree that it ignores those truths, which is precisely why our world seems so dark at times. But in times of darkness we Christians should cling ever more firmly to the hope we have in Christ.

Matt Maher - Hope For Everyone

16 December 2024 - the problem of authority

Today's Readings

(Audio)

By what authority are you doing these things? 

And who gave you this authority?

They probably would have been happy to have an answer at either extreme. If Jesus was straightforward about his claim to divine authority it would give them something to criticize and possibly even condemn as blasphemy. If he conceded that he had no authority he could be summarily dismissed. Perhaps they assumed Jesus would not have felt free to make a good response since it was hard to imagine a response that could make everyone happy. If he gave an answer that was faltering and incomplete then he would look less appealing to onlookers. 

I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me,

then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things. 

Where was John’s baptism from?

Was it of heavenly or of human origin?

Jesus turned them tables on these insincere questioners, as he so often did. It was not he that was concerned with the opinions of others but actually them. It was not he that was unwilling to take a straightforward stand for the truth. It was rather the chief priests and the elders whose answers were calculated and political. Had they been able to respond to Jesus' question sincerely it would have led to a sincere answer to the question they asked at first. There was a continuity between the mission of John the Baptist and the mission of Jesus. But as they had already been tiptoeing around whether or not the mission of John had been authentic they were in no position to hear an answer that Jesus gave about himself.

“If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us,

‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 

But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd,

for they all regard John as a prophet.” 

They didn't believe in the baptism of John but they were too afraid of what others thought to say so. How could such ones presume to have a fair conversation with Jesus, when they already had their own unspoken commitments against the ministry of John, a ministry of which Jesus availed himself at the beginning of his own mission? Jesus answered the questions of genuine seekers with truth. But to those who were only playing games he responded by catching them in their own cleverness.

He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end (see Job 5:13).

This Gospel should lead us to consider if we ourselves have been playing games with God. It's better to be honest even about a negative than to become trapped in a limbo of dishonesty. Only truth can lead to progress. Our refusal to be straightforward with God allows us to sustain a lukewarm faith at our own parallel. He very much wants to awaken us from our self-deception and lead us to become people of integrity. He can even make prophets of the most unexpected people to get our attention.

I see him, though not now;

I behold him, though not near:

A star shall advance from Jacob,

and a staff shall rise from Israel.

Marty Nystrom - Awake, O Israel

15 December 2024 - again I say, rejoice

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“What should we do?”

The crowds desired to know what were the fruits that John the Baptist considered worthy of repentance. John himself was known for an extreme ascetic lifestyle, so they might have been afraid to ask. Would he enjoin on them locusts and camel skin? The answer John gave was actually surprisingly simple, and even mundane. To people of different professions he gave a similar answer, seemingly commanding them all to be content without excess. Then they would avoid inflicting suffering on others to satisfy their own selfishness. Then they would even be able to give to those who had not that which they had but did not need. It was reminiscent of what God communicated through the prophet Isaiah:

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (see Isaiah 58:7).

Isaiah was telling God's people how to prepare for the coming of healing, righteousness, and then dawn from on high, the glory of the Lord in their midst. John was similarly telling the people how to prepare and make straight the way of the Lord. This was why the people were so filled with expectation and even ready to accept that John himself was the Christ. He was so close to being the Christ that he too baptized and preached repentance. But he was, as he himself confessed, not the Christ because of the crucial difference. He could not give "the Holy Spirit and fire". When people received the baptism of John they were acting with an implicit desire for the sacramental baptism that Jesus would establish and a wish to be filled with the Holy Spirit that he would pour out, though they could not have said it in so many words. They all stood on the threshold of the coming of the Messiah. And those who embraced the message of John were perfectly situated to recognize the lamb of God when John identified him for them.

John himself was a perfect example of the justice to which he called others. He kept nothing extra from himself, no fame of glory that might have made the Messiah more obscure when he arrived. John was content to decrease that Jesus could increase. The reason for this, we may surmise, was the joy that John found in the Messiah even from his mother's womb. He seemed to be one who was able to do what he did because he gave every potential cause of anxiety over to God "by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving". But we have been given an advantage John never had: the Holy Spirit about which he spoke. That means that we, even if we are the least in the Kingdom of heaven, have the potential to bear spiritual fruit even greater than that of John. If he jumped for joy in the womb at the presence of the Messiah and lived a life of unflinching authenticity because the peace of God guarded his heart then how might we live? Try as we might we will discover no upward limit to the possibilities.

The LORD, your God, is in your midst,

a mighty savior;

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.

K. Lee Scott - Rejoice, Rejoice Believers

Israel Houghton - Again I Say Rejoice

Newsboys - Joy

14 December 2024 - the forerunner

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

The scribes may have used the fact that Elijah was supposed to come first as an excuse to dismiss Jesus as a possible Messiah. After all, Elijah's first apperance had been dramatic, shattering the staff of breaad of his enemies and in his zeal reducing them to straits. He shut up the heavens by his word and three times brought down fire. The scribes hadn't seen the return of any chariot with fiery horses. They assumed that such an event would be unmissable. But they were mistaken. 

He said in reply, "Elijah will indeed come and restore all things;

but I tell you that Elijah has already come,

and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased.

Their expectations for both the Messiah and his forerunner were incorrect. They thought God was going to act through such figures with definitive displays of irresistible power. What he in fact did was to appeal through them with an all too resistable invitation.

You were destined, it is written, in time to come

to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,

To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,

and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.

The return of Elijah was not promised so as promised to begin the conquest of the external enemies of Israel. He was to come to help the people prepare their hearts for the coming of the Messiah. He was to give guidance for them to correct the fact that they had been failing to live their most basic relationships in a Godly way. Thus John the Baptist was not known for miracles but for profound moral clarity. Had he performed miracles the scribes might have been able to love him and appreciate him from a distance. But his moral insight offended those who believed themselves to be good enough already. His words made Herod curious. But they were not so interesting that Herod would spare his life on account of the fact that he sensed truth in his voice. In these ways he not only prepared for the coming of the Messiah but also prefigured the ways in which Jesus himself would be misunderstood and rejected.

If the message of John the Baptist helped prepare for the first coming of Jesus so too can it help us to prepare. From him we can be drawn out of our selfish ways consider how we can live our relationships with others in a more loving way. His message can help us even more than his original audience because we have already received baptism of the Spirit and fire by one mightier than he. This baptism has given us the grace to do well and consistently what his original audience could only strive after imperfectly. And it is by no means trite or trivial to suggest that doing what we can to live more virtuously with our family and friends can easily lead to a better experience of Christmas. Christmas is all about family, after all, as God himself became a part of the human family and began to invite women and men to share in the divine life of his own Triune family.

Fernando Ortega - Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence