The Word Enfleshed

The Word Enfleshed

To the church in the diaspora[1]
& to the church of the unchurched[2]

Christmas Day 2007, Mass at Midnight
Isaiah 9:1-6 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2: 1-14

First reading

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, from David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, Lord.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph, too, went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Introduction
The three Masses of Christmas

Christmas is the only day in the liturgical calendar which has three different Masses assigned. That dates back to the 7th century when the popes started to celebrate Christmas Mass in various churches around Rome. By the 19th century it was a well-established custom in the Western Church. The gospel for the first Mass of Christmas has the heavenly multitude of angels praising God and singing “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth” (Lk 2:14). So the first Mass of Christmas is called the Mass of the Angels. The gospel for the second Mass has the shepherds saying to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this wonderful thing that has come to pass” (Lk 2:15). The second Mass is called the Mass of the Shepherds. In the gospel for the third Mass, St. John, that soaring eagle, writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh” (Jn 1:1, 14). That Mass is called the Mass of the Divine Word. In the missalette the three are better known as Mass at Midnight, Mass at Dawn and Mass during the Day.

The first Mass of the Angels may be used not only at midnight but also at dawn and during the day. The gospel for that Mass is wonderfully enfleshed with shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, with choirs of angels singing “Glory to God in the highest” and with an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger and warmed by the breath of beasts. That gospel rightly deserves to be read at all three Masses of the Incarnation.

The Christmas urge to tell stories

There is something about Christmas that does not like fleshless words but does, indeed, like stories. For what are stories but words enfleshed. When there are a lot of shepherds and sheep, oxen and ass, stable and straw, kings and coffers, and whole choirs of angels hovering over a babe and singing Gloria in excelsis Deo, then there is a lot of flesh and blood, and then, indeed, there is story.

At this time of the rolling year when the Word became flesh (Jn I: 14), there is a universal consent to tell stories. The readings at Mass from the 17th on (when the Novena of Christmas begins) tell one story after the other: Once upon a time there was an old priest, Zachariah by name, offering incense before the altar of the Lord in the temple, and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him… (Lk 1:5-25). Once upon a time there was a maiden at prayer and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her not to be afraid. The Holy Spirit would overshadow her, and she would conceive a son and call him Jesus (Lk 1:26-38). Once upon a time there was a man named Joseph, and he was puzzled about his espoused wife being with child… (Mt 1:18-25). Once upon a time a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. And while shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to them saying, “Don’t be frightened. I bring you tidings of great joy. This day, in the city of David, a savior is born to you who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:1-14).

The Milwaukee Christmas story

At this time of the rolling year, not only scripture but also the media obeys an irresistible urge to speak not with fleshless words but with stories. Yearly the season features such classical favorites like Amahl and the Night Visitors, Miracle on 34th Street, and especially Dickens’ Christmas Carol. The evening news, too, searches for a story bearing tidings of good news to relieve the bad news of the fast-departing old year -- bad news like the price of gas at the pump or the price of war in Iraq. When editors find a gem of a Christmas story, they anoint the front page of their newspaper with it.

Such a gem graced the front page of the Milwaukee Journal for Saturday, December 8, 1984 (23 years ago). We have told ourselves this story before, and we tell it again because that’s what good stories are for. They are for telling and retelling so that they keep inspiring and energizing us over and over again.

Act I

This story begins to happen on December 6, the feast of jolly old St. Nick, famous for his gift-giving. It starts as all good stories start. Once upon a time there was a bus driver whom everyone likes and calls Kojac. He's going west on Wisconsin Ave. It's about 3:30 in the afternoon and it's only l0 degrees above zero. Enters a woman, and she is tattered and torn, and she's pregnant, and she has no shoes on her feet! Mind you, 10 degrees outside and she has no shoes on her feet. School's out, and the bus is full of high school kids, and they're all making fun of her. The bus pulls up to 124th and Bluemound Road.

A kid steps up to the front and is ready to get off. He's about fourteen years old -- just that perfect age when kids supposedly have no brains in their heads and are utterly selfish. "And then I saw the darnest thing I had ever seen in my life,” said the bus driver. "The darnest thing! This kid had his shoes in his hands, and his feet were bare! And he says to this woman in front of all his peers who are laughing at her, `Here, M’am, you need them more than I do!' I cried," said the big strapping bus driver. "I cried, and so did the woman!" Well, the barefoot boy steps off the bus into the winter cold, and Kojac wipes away the tears and off he drives his bus.

Act II

But the story doesn’t die there. It comes to life again the next morning. The bus driver is on his route as usual, and he arrives at 124th and Bluemound Road where the lad (Francis is his name) got off the day before. And lo and behold, an angel of the Lord appears! There stands the boy again! Kojac dashes out, lays hold of the angel and pulls him over to his bus. There he captures the story with his camera, for stories, flesh and blood that they are, are not only to be heard by the ear but also to be gazed upon by the eye. After the snapshot, big Kojac gets back into his bus, pulls out a long green handkerchief, blows his nose, wipes away the tears and says, "That's Francis. He got me again!"

Act III

The next day, Saturday, December 8, the snapshot and story of big Kojac and little Francis anointed the front page of the Milwaukee Journal. The following morning, Sunday, December 9, the story went forth by UPI to the entire nation to be read and seen by all. Even President Reagan read the story and sent the boy a letter of thanks. By Sunday, thousands of others were joyfully weeping with Kojac over their cup of coffee and the Sunday newspaper.

Act IV

The story lives on! That kid is a hero certainly because of his compassion and thoughtfulness. That is the obvious note which the story strikes as clearly as a Christmas bell. But he is hero also for his courage in front of a bus full of peers demanding blue-jean conformity from him. His courage was so outstanding that on the 8th anniversary of the story, the Milwaukee Journal in its Sunday edition for December 20, 1992, called attention to the fact that the story of Big Kojac and Little Francis was included in a recently published book entitled Courageous Kids.

Act V

The story lives on! Last year, 2006, a friend sent this e-mail.
I know the parents of that barefoot boy. He was a student at Marquette High School and his father was (is) a topnotch trial lawyer at Q&B. I called the father after reading the story in the Milwaukee Journal. I found out that it was his kid. I told the father that if his son ever ran for any office of any kind, I’d vote for him. When the then principal of Marquette High was asked to comment, he simply remarked that the boy’s parents had done a wonderful job of raising such a kid.

I also heard that the boy’s mother was really ticked off when the kid showed up shoeless that evening. The kid had pestered his parents for the sneakers, and they had cost a good $70 or so. Her immediate reaction was anger when he came home without the costly sneakers. But at the end of the day, both his mom and dad were so proud they nearly burst!

Practitioners of innocence

In The Francis Book published in 1982 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Francis of Assisi, Colman McCarthy writes that Francis “was not a preacher of truth or an upholder of virtue. He was a practitioner of innocence.” He chatted with the birds of the air and beasts of the field. He talked things over with the ferocious wolf of Gubbio who was terrifying the local folk, and he calmed the beast down. He bent down and kissed lepers, and he did many other flaky things.

The barefoot Francis from Milwaukee, like the barefoot man from Assisi (his namesake), was also a practitioner of innocence. A kid like that who is so courageously brave in front of his peers does not lose his innocence by lying with some girl whom he really loves and to whom he is truly committed. He certainly loses his virginity but not his innocence. That he loses when his peers and the prevailing culture manage to convince him to grow up and to put away his flaky nonsense and stop talking to the birds and beasts. He loses his innocence when his peers and the prevailing culture manage to convince him to keep his shoes on his feet and his feet solidly on terra firma, as he walks the cold icy paths of this hard cruel world which he can do nothing to better. When they convince him to act as they do, then, indeed, he loses his innocence.

Conclusion
Sent forth to enflesh the Word of God

Christmas is not for preaching truth. That simply puts us, followers of the Prince of Peace, at odds with Jews and Muslims and Buddhists and everyone else who has another truth other than the Christian truth. Christmas is not even for upholding virtue. That simply has us looking down our long noses at others, or it endows us with political capital to solicit the votes of right wingers in the coming presidential election. No. Christmas is for telling stories like that of big Kojac and little Francis. And the Ite Missa est, the dismissal of Christmas Mass, sends us forth to enflesh the Word of God as mother Mary and the barefoot boy from Milwaukee powerfully enfleshed it.



1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. Originally it referred to the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It’s now come to mean the migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland or parish!

[2]] By “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

Xmas is Also for Big Kids

December 23, 2007, 4th Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 7:10-14 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-24

To the church in the diaspora[1]
& to the church of the unchurched[2]

First reading

The Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, “Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky.” But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!” Then Isaiah said, “Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.”

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Glory to you, Lord.

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God-with-us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.----------------

Introduction
Here already!

We wish that Lent (that somber season of penance) would speed by half as fast as Advent does. Lent lags on through 40 dreary days in late winter until early spring. Advent with its long list of things to do speeds by so fast that Christmas Eve is always upon us before we’re ready. Here it is December 23, 2007, the fourth and last Sunday of Advent, and tomorrow, ready or not, will be Christmas Eve.

Early Advent: a litany of promises

In early Advent (which began December 2) the readings at Mass are from the prophet Isaiah. They gaze into the future. They are a relentless litany of promises that everything that’s wrong with the world will be put right at the end of time. All the verbs in Isaiah are in the future tense, because that is the tense of promise.

“In those days they will melt down their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. One nation will not raise the sword against another, and they will no longer train for war again" (Is 2:4-5). "In those days the wolf will be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid"(Is 11:6). "In those days the deaf will be able to hear a book being read out loud and the blind who have been living in darkness will open their eyes and see“ (Is 29:18). “In those days the Lord God will turn the desert into pools of water and the dry land into flowing springs” (Is 41: 18).

That relentless litany which promises that everything will be set right at the end of time bores us a bit and makes us a bit impatient. We find ourselves uttering under our breath, “Yes, but why at the end of time? Why not now!”

Late Advent: a litany of stories

In late Advent (which began on December 17 with the Novena of Christmas), the readings at Mass no longer gaze into the future. They gaze now into the past — to that moment of history when Christ the Lord came a first time as a baby boy born in Bethlehem. Suddenly the verbs of the scripture readings are all in the past tense because that is the tense of history. It is also the tense of story, for every good story begins with, “Once upon a time there was….”

The readings at Mass in late Advent are no longer a litany of promises but a litany of stories. The readings now do what Christmas does best: they tell one story after the other (a welcome relief from Isaiah of early Advent). They now are a litany of stories which do not bore us or make us impatient. Rather, they perk up our ears and delight the child in all of us.

That litany of stories goes like this: Once upon a time, there was an old priest named Zachariah offering incense before the altar of the Lord. And behold an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him and told him not to be afraid. Then he surprised the old man announcing that his barren wife Elizabeth was going to have a son whom he should name John (Lk 1: 5-25).

Once upon a time there was a maiden at prayer. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to her announcing that she had found favor with God. She shall conceive a son and call him Jesus. And what’s more, her cousin Elizabeth, barren and well-up in years, also was going to have a baby boy (Lk 1: 26-38).

That triggers another story. As soon as the angel Gabriel departed, Mary grabbed her bonnet and basket and sped off into the hill country to visit her aged cousin Elizabeth and minister to her in her confinement. When she arrived at Zachariah’s house, the old lady greeted Mary and the infant in her womb leapt for joy at the infant in Mary’s womb (Lk 1:39-45).

The angel’s annunciation to Mary in turn triggers off another story. When Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, was shocked to see Mary pregnant, he decided to quietly divorce her. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and announced that what was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit, and he shouldn’t be afraid to take Mary as his wife (Mt 1:18-24).

Then there is the great story of Christmas -- the one toward which all the other little stories of Christmas build. It is read at Midnight Mass. “Once upon a time there were shepherds in their fields keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to them, saying, `Do not be afraid! I bring you tidings of great joy for all the people. In the city of David is born to you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was a heavenly multitude with the angel, praising God and singing, `Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth’” (Lk 2:1-14).

That sets the scene for a final story which brings down the curtain on the Christmas drama and season. In those days when Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of King Herod, three magnificent magi bearing gifts from the East followed a star until it came to rest over the spot where the child lay with Mary his mother. Overcome with joy they worshipped him and offered gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (Mt 2:1-12). That’s late Advent’s litany of stories, and it delights the child in us.

A time for childlike ears/a time for adult ears

The Book of Ecclesiastes says there’s a time for everything under the sun. “There’s a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to harvest, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to embrace and a time to abstain, a time for war and a time for peace” (3:1-8). At this time of the rolling year, we add one more line to that oft-quoted litany: “There is a time for everything under the sun. There is a time to hear the stories of Christmas with childlike ears, and a time to hear them with adult ears.

There is a time to be simple and uncomplicated about the stories of Christmas and hear them with the ears of children. There is a time not to second guess words but take them at their face value, as children do -- words like “angels announcing” and “babes leaping in wombs” and “heavenly multitudes singing” and “infants wrapped in swaddling clothes” and magnificent “magi bearing gifts.”

But there is also a time to hear the stories of Christmas with adult ears. There is a time not to be literal and not to take words at their face value, but rather to go in search of the meanings behind the words. That is not to say that the ears of adults are any better than those of children. But growing up into adult bodies means also growing up into adult faith. St. Paul writes, “When I was a child, I heard and heeded as a child. I thought and talked as a child. But now that I am a fully-grown man, I have put away the things of a child” (I Cor 13: 11).


Adult ears and the story of virgin birth

On this fourth and last Sunday of Advent (Cycle A), Dec. 23, 2007, we tell the story of the angel Gabriel announcing to Joseph Mary’s virginal conception and birth of Jesus. Then tomorrow Dec. 24 (the Vigil of Christmas), we will tell the very same story again!

At the end of the day, the story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus does not fly well in our culture. In a culture where breasts are bared and bursting as never before, and where torsos are twisting and turning right square in our faces, the story of virgin birth does not fly well. Such a culture simply does not deem the story as worthy of a second thought, or it dismisses the story out of hand as quite incomprehensible and even offensive to human nature.

How in the world can such a culture (and how can we ourselves) hear the story of Christmas without tongue-in-cheek! How can the story of Mary’s virginal conception be told in such a way as to give no offence but rather satisfy the adult in ourselves and others? This is a task that is long overdue for centuries.

A positive statement about Jesus

The story of Joseph and Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus cannot be a negative statement about sex. It cannot be a negative statement that when the Son of God comes into the world, it is below his dignity to be conceived in the very same way that all other babies are conceived. It cannot be a negative statement that God, who in the beginning created the world male and female, repented of such an indecent creation and decided now to do things the right way, that is to say, to do things virginally, at least in this one very special case. What an affront that is to every mother and father and to every child born into the world! (I always thought that the story of virgin birth was just that -- a negative statement about sex, until I finally grew up into a thinking adult priest and preacher!)

The story of the virginal conception is not a negative statement about sex; it is a positive statement about Jesus. He is much more than just man’s gift to man; he is especially God’s gift to us. Jesus is more than just the conception of man; he is especially the conception of God.

A positive statement about woman

The story of Joseph and Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is also a positive statement about woman – the female. When the Novena of Christmas begins on the 17th of December, the gospel opens with that long male-driven genealogy from Matthew: "Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. And Judah begot Perez and Zerah.” That genealogy runs through 42 generations of men begetting sons! (Who in the world ever heard of men begetting babies!) That male-ridden genealogy comes to a screeching halt with these words, "And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and it was of her [not of Joseph] that Jesus who is called the Christ was born” (Mt 1:1-16).

With one powerful stroke the story of the virgin birth puts an ax to the quiet lie that lines up only men behind the great historical moments of history. Behind an event which divides time for many into B.C. and A.D., there stands no man at all--only a woman. Upon a momentous page of history a woman (and not a man) puts her signature. That’s not a feminist statement. That’s a Christmas statement which convicts and challenges the churches and society.

A positive statement about man

The story of Joseph and Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is also a positive statement about man—the male. In the drama of Christmas Joseph steps aside and resigns his sexual prowess. He does so in order to let the message get through that Jesus is not just his gift to us but is also and especially the gift of the Father in heaven. Stepping aside is a big order for men who are used to center stage, and who do not resign power easily. That is a big order for men who do not countenance their power being threatened. At the end of the day, that might be the real but unspoken reason why women never get ordained in the Catholic Church except by an act of disobedience.

There are those who concentrate with all their might on the miraculous character of the virgin birth. That’s fine. There are others, who in adult bodies seeking adult faith, concentrate on the religious meaning behind the story of virgin birth. That’s better yet.

Conclusion
Xmas is also for big kids

Hearing the stories of Christmas either as children or as adults is not a matter of chronology: first we hear them as a child, and then we grow up and hear them as an adult. We vacillate between the one and the other at various stages in the journey of our lives. Sometimes we stand before the stories of Christmas as grown-ups with lost innocence -- filled with doubt or anger or even unbelief. Sometimes we stand before them as innocent children filled with unquestioning faith and Christmas anticipation.

Christmas is for little kids. It’s also for big kids. It’s also for adults who can still be turned on by “angels announcing” and “babes leaping in wombs” and “heavenly multitudes singing” and “infants wrapped in swaddling clothes” and magnificent “magi bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”

1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. Originally it referred to the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It’s now come to mean the migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland or parish!

[2]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

Oh Rose Color Candle Burning Brightly

Oh Rose Color Candle Burning Brightly
(Joy: an Inside & Outside Job)

December 16, 2007, 3rd Sunday of Advent (Gaudete)
Isaiah 35:1-5 James 5:7-10 Matthew 11:2-11

To the church in the diaspora[1]
& to the church of the unchurched[2]

First reading

The desert will rejoice, and flowers will bloom in the wastelands. The desert will sing and shout for joy; it will be as beautiful as the mountains of Lebanon and fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon. Everyone will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God. He comes with vindication; with divine recompense. He comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf be cleared. Then will the lame leap like a stag, and the tongue of the mute will sing. Those whom the Lord has ransomed will reach Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Joy and gladness will go with them, and sorrow and mourning will be ended.

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Glory to you, Lord.

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And give him this message, `Blessed are those who don’t doubt me.’”
As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out to the desert to see? Were you expecting to see a reed swayed by the wind? Or someone dressed in fine clothing? Those bedecked in fine clothing dwell in royal palaces. Were you expecting to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you. Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction
Gaudete Sunday

There is a new Advent since Vatican II. It is no longer a season of penance but of joyful preparation for Christmas. What is not new is that the third Sunday of Advent still strikes a note of joy as it has for centuries.

On the third Sunday of Advent in liturgical Cycle C, the prophet Zephaniah exhorts the people saying, "Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel. The Lord, your God, is in your midst" (3:14‑18). In Cycle B, St. Paul exhorts us to, “Be joyful always, pray unceasingly and render constant thanks” (I Thess 5:16-18). In this year’s Cycle A, the prophet Isaiah promises that “The desert will rejoice, and flowers will bloom in the wastelands. The desert will sing and shout for joy; it will be as beautiful as the mountains of Lebanon and fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon” (Is 35:1-2).

In the second reading for Cycle C, St. Paul, sitting in prison and bound with chains, writes to the Philippians, “Gaudete in Domino semper! Iterum dico gaudete!” “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I tell you, rejoice” (Phil: 4:4)! Because that exhortation opened the old Latin Mass for centuries on the third Sunday of Advent, that Sunday came to be called Gaudete Sunday. On this Sunday, rose (the liturgical color of joy) may be used for the priest’s vestments instead of purple (the liturgical color for penance). Rose is also used for the third candle of the Advent wreath lighted on this Sunday which commands us to rejoice.

The command to rejoice, issued midway through Advent, made more sense in the old days when Advent was still a penitential season which had strict rules for fasting and abstaining, and which discouraged all celebrating in a formerly somber season. In those days it was natural to rejoice that the sober season of Advent was half-through, and that soon we would be allowed to intoxicate ourselves with the toys and joys of Christmas.

A command to rejoice?

In a psychological atmosphere which sings, “I want to be me,” we are inclined to frown upon any attempt to command our internal emotional states. If I am feeling glum for some reason, then glum I am going to feel, and do not tell me to smile “because God loves you.” If I want to go around grouching "Bah humbug!" like old Scrooge because something has gone wrong in my life, then that’s what I’m going to do, and do not tell me to cheer up. The psychological atmosphere of the day frowns on a command to rejoice, especially if someone is financially down and out or is battling cancer or is beset with some tragedy or is suffering some irretrievable loss.

On Gaudete Sunday the prophet Zephaniah does not frown on a command to rejoice. Speaking to refugees in a slum district of Jerusalem he commands them to, "Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel. The Lord, your God, is in your midst" (3:14‑18). On Gaudete Sunday St. Paul, sitting in prison and bound with chains, does not frown upon a command to rejoice. He writes to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near" (Phil 4:4).

Joy: an inside job

Zephaniah can tell a group of poor refugees to shout with joy because, as someone has profoundly said, “Joy is an inside job!” Paul, sitting in prison and bound in chains, can give the Philippians a command to rejoice (as he, a prisoner, was rejoicing) because “Joy is an inside job.” That is to say, joy is a personal decision.

We do not speak of the orgy of joy of the Christmas season. That kind of joy is tossed out on the curb with the Christmas tree on the 26th of December. That kind of joy is a capricious mood which is at the mercy of outside circumstances like getting the high tech toy we want for Christmas. That kind of joy is a willowy reed which is at the mercy of life’s benign and favorable winds.

Joy as an inside job does not depend on life’s benign and favorable winds. It depends on a decision we make. A decision not to be stuck in our losses or privations or irritations or diminutions or even our tragedies. To evoke the climate of December, joy is also a personal decision not to be snowbound by the unfortunate circumstances of life but to break through our snowdrifts and rise to the top and bloom there like daffodils in early spring.

A story about joy as an inside job

An e-mail received paints a perfect picture of joy as an inside job—as a decision.

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock. Her hair is fashionably coifed and her makeup perfectly applied (even though she’s legally blind). She moved to a nursing home today. Her 90-year-old husband died recently, and that made the move necessary. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, the nurse in charge gave her a kind of visual description and preview of her tiny room. “Oh, I love it,” she said with the enthusiasm of an eight year old having just received a new puppy as a Christmas gift. “Oh, but Mrs. Jones,” the nurse replied, “you haven’t seen your room yet. Just wait until you do! You’re going to be so happy.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on what kind of furniture is in it or how it is arranged. It’s what’s in my mind and how that is arranged there that counts. I have already decided to be happy with my room. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice: I can spend the day in bed bemoaning the difficulties I have with parts of my body that no longer work, or I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do work. My recipe for joy and also for a long life is this: a) free your heart from hate; b) free your mind from unnecessary worry; c) live simply; d) give more and expect less.”

Joy as an inside job – as a personal decision to rise above birth and circumstances - is a mystery. Why does one person make a decision to stay in bed and bemoan the difficulties she has with the parts of her body that no longer work, while another decides to get up and coif herself fashionably and be grateful for the parts that do work? Why is it that old Scrooge, who has all the money he needs, makes a decision to grouch out “Bah Humbug” to his nephew, while his nephew, who has almost nothing at all, decides to sing out “Merry Christmas” to old Scrooge?

Joy: also an outside job

Joy is an inside job; it is a personal decision. But this is also true; joy at times is also an outside job. The reality on the ground forces us to admit that joy at times is also at the mercy of fortunate birth and circumstances which provide tender loving care, self-assurance and health of mind and body. That, often, is beyond personal decision. When fortunate birth and circumstances are missing (as they often are), then joy in this unfortunate valley of tears does not come easily. Then it needs help from outside. Then joy is also an outside job.

Joy does not come easily for me. I was not very fortunately born. That might have the ring of self-pity to it, but it also has the thud of cold hard truth which I have had to deal with all my life. I was born of poor Italian immigrants who came to this country at the start of the last century. They didn’t fare well here. Our mother, who couldn’t speak English, was taken from us at an early age. That left my sister and me as lost pound puppies. That left our father without a helpmate in a foreign land. That also robbed our house of a soul. No wonder joy does not come easily for me! No wonder a sheer personal decision for joy on my part is not enough for me! No wonder my joy needs help from outside.

Along the highway of my life, perceptive and compassionate people have given my joy the help it needs. And because of that, I am perceptive and compassionate enough to help, in turn, others whose joy also needs help.

Joy: an outside job for Robert Hawkins

Listen to the unfortunate birth of Robert Hawkins, a shaggy-haired, bespectacled lad of 19 years. On December 5, 2007, he opened fire at an Omaha, Nebraska, shopping mall. Killing eight people and wounding five others, he put an end to the joy of Christmas for countless families. Then he put a bullet to his head, and that put an end to his unfortunate birth and his joyless life spent in foster homes. After threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002, he spent four years in a series of treatment centers for youths with substance abuse or behavioral problems. A landlady called Hawkins a "lost pound puppy that nobody wanted." In a suicide note, in which he characterized himself as having snapped, he wrote, “I know everyone will remember me as some sort of monster, but please understand that I just don’t want to be a burden on the ones that I care for. I just want to take a few pieces of (expletive) with me.”

Joy for that unfortunate and troubled teenager needed outside help. He did not get it from all the agencies where the system sent him. Only perceptive and compassionate people, not agencies, could have given him the help that his joy needed. A relative, aghast at the mall massacre, remorsefully exclaimed,”Oh, if I had only perceived that he was calling for help!” It is so easy to get angry at this shaggy-haired and bespectacled lad of 19 years. It is so easy to take no stock of his sorrow and pain.

Joy: an outside job for Scrooge

At this time of the rolling year, when we pull out that great classic, Dicken’s Christmas Carol, it is also easy to get angry with old Scrooge for his miserliness and his grumpy “Bah, Humbug.” Few of us take stock of his sorrow and pain. In the frigid spooky darkness of winter at midnight, the Ghost of Christmas Past carries the old man back to his childhood and back to an old classroom emptied by the Christmas season. There old Scrooge sees himself sitting alone as a lost pound puppy, neglected by family and friends, and there he weeps for his poor sorry self.

That was what the “Bah, Humbug” in his life was all about. Scrooge was mired down in his sad childhood. He was snowbound by his less than fortunate birth. His anger at life “nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheeks, stiffened his gait, reddened his eyes and made his thin lips blue” (Christmas Carol). Had he been living in our present day, old Scrooge might have never grown old at all, but as an angry young man might have taken himself to a mall to even things off concerning his unfortunate birth and to exit this life with the front-page attention which he had never gotten before.

Joy for old Scrooge needed help from outside. In fact, it was in such dire need that it needed help not only from outside but also from Above! It needed divine help! It got the help it needed from the three Ghosts of Christmas: Past, Present and Future. As the curtain goes up on the Christmas Carol, old Scrooge is not shooting up the place with a sawed-off shotgun, but he is grouching “Bah, Humbug,” and he is boiling people in their own pudding and piercing their hearts with stakes of holly (Christmas Carol). But as the curtain is going down, there is a new Scrooge whose joy has been helped by the three Spirits of Christmas. He is jumping up and down with joy in his heart and tears in his eyes, and he is shouting out a promise to all that he will honor Christmas in his heart and keep it all year round (Christmas Carol).

Conclusion
Oh rose color candle burning brightly

We are not all like that 92-year-old petite lady who perhaps was very fortunately born. In her old age joy was not an easy job, but it was, indeed, an inside job for her. She made a decision for it. Because of unfortunate birth and circumstances, many of us are not as deft at joy as she was. For many of us our joy needs help. Gaudete Sunday commands us, for whom joy comes hard, to seek the outside help that it needs. We seek that help by sharing our problem and pain with someone. That could have saved Hawkins from snapping and going to a shopping mall to resolve his depression and isolation.

Gaudete Sunday commands us to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” That’s also a command to recognize when our joy, or the joy of another, is crying for help. That’s a command for us to come to the aid of that hurting joy.


Oh, rose color candle burning brightly on Gaudete Sunday in the darkness of our commercial Christmas season remind us of the decision for joy we must all strive for. Attune us also to ourselves and others when the lack of joy might be calling for help.


[1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. Originally it referred to the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It’s now come to mean the migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland or parish!
[2]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

Make Straight a Path for Him

December 9, 2007, 2nd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 11:1-10 Romans 15:4-9 Matthew 3:1-3

To the church in the diaspora[1]
& to the church of the unchurched[2]

First reading

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,[3] and from Jesse’s roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked.

Justice shall be the band around his waist and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with young goats; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child shall lay his hand on a snake’s nest. There shall be no harm or ruin on my entire holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea. On that day, the shoot sprouted from the stump of Jesse will be a banner raised on high for all the nations to see.
Isaiah 11:1-10

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Glory to you, Lord.

John the Baptist appeared preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” The prophet Isaiah was referring to John when he said, “Someone is crying out in the desert, `Get the Lord’s road ready for him; make a straight path for him to travel on!’”
Matthew 3:1-3

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.----------------

Introduction
Advent old and new

Before Vatican II, Advent used to be a penitential season, which put the damper on all parties and gift giving until Christmas Day. There was even an unwritten law that the Christmas tree was not to be brought into the house and decorated until Christmas Eve. All that has changed quite drastically. Christmas now begins with a vengeance with the start of Advent and even with Thanksgiving. By the 24th Christmas has been worn out even before it has arrived. By the 24th, we’ve been exhausted by and even bored with Christmas, and it’s not rare to see trees defrocked and cast out on the curb by the 26th.

In the old days, Christmas began with a vengeance on the Christmas Eve and not before. When Christmas did finally arrive, we would hold on tightly to it and wouldn’t let it go. We held on to it beyond the 26th until the octave of Christmas -- New Years Day. Then we held on to it some more -- until the arrival of the Three Kings, January 6. Then even still more -- until the feast of the Purification, Feb 2, when Mary was purified in compliance with the Law of Moses (Num 18:15), and when her first-born, who belonged to the Lord (Ex 13:1-2),was presented to God and was redeemed or bought back by an offering of five shekels made to the sanctuary (Num 3:47; Lk 2:22-24). With February 2, the curtain finally came down on the Christmas season, and we knew it was time to dismantle the tree.

The promises of Advent

With Vatican II that has all changed. What has not changed, however, is Advent’s traditional division into a first and second part. The first part, also called Early Advent, runs from the beginning of Advent to December 17. It gazes forward to a glorious future awaiting the human race at the end of time. The second part, also called Late Advent or the Novena of Christmas, runs from December 17 to Christmas Eve. It gazes backward to a joyful past when Jesus was born of Mary in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King.

In Early Advent, the first readings at Mass are from the prophet Isaiah. Gazing into a glorious future at the end of time, the readings abound with a litany of promises of what is to be. All Isaiah’s verbs are in the future tense because that’s the tense of promise. He promises there won’t be any more wars like the one in Iraq. “In those days, they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. One nation shall not raise the sword against another nor shall they train for war again “(Is 2: 4-5). He promises there won’t be any more suicide bombers to detonate themselves and make a rich kill of men, women and children at a bus stop or market square. “In those days, the Lord God will strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay them” (Is 11: 4). He promises that Palestinians and Israelis, Islamists and Western Infidels won’t make war on each other anymore but rather peace. “In those days the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the goat; the calf and the young lion shall romp together“(Is 11: 6-7).

Isaiah promises there will finally be justice. “And in those days a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and he will judge the poor fairly and defend the rights of the helpless. And justice shall be the band around his waist and faithfulness a belt upon his hips” (Is 11:5). He promises also an expedited arrival of God’s glory in our midst. “In those days every valley shall be filled in and every mountain shall be leveled off and the hilly lands shall be made smooth. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it. The Lord himself has promised this” (Is 40:3-5; Mt 3:3).

The impatience of Advent

This litany of promises of Early Advent builds up to an impatience which cries out, “Oh, you heavens, hurry up and rain down the Just One” (Is 45:8) It has the church impatiently crying out at Vespers on the 19th , “O Radix Jesse,[4] veni ad liberandum nos! Iam noli tardare!” ”Oh Shoot sprouted from the stump of Jesse, come to free us! Stop now your delaying!” The Latin of the antiphon does not gently invite this descendant of Jesse and King David to come; it strongly commands him to quit his delaying and hurry up! The antiphon bursts with an impatience that cries out, “What in the world is keeping you!”

The potholes impeding the Messiah

There is, indeed, something in the world that’s keeping him. The Messiah is already en route but the going is rough. He has no hefty Hummer to drive in or super-highway to ride on. The roads dwindle down at times to mere trails cluttered by fallen trees and rolling stones. There are potholes all along his path. His coming needs our help. We are the facilitators of it. So John the Baptist stands before us today as a voice crying in the desert, beseeching us to enable the Messiah and hasten the day of his coming. “Get the Lord’s road ready for him! Make a straight path for him to travel on” (Lk 3: 3)!

Years ago, Rabbi Tsvi Schur wrote me saying,
If more people in the world were filled with love and compassion and tolerance we would enable the Messiah to come so much sooner. I often kid my synagogue that I visualize the Messiah about to be sent down to the world by God, but looking at all the violence, hatred, inhumanity, especially in the name of religion, the Messiah beseeches God not to send him down to this world of ours.

A Samaritan enabling the Messiah

The potholes along the Messiah’s path are many. One day a man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and was waylaid by robbers who left him half-dead. Along came a Jewish priest, who saw the poor man and passed him by. Along came a Levite who also saw the dying man and passed him by. Finally, a Samaritan came upon this pothole in the road and patched it up. He poured the oil of compassion into the poor man’s wounds, hoisted him on his beast of burden and hurried him off to the nearest inn where he provided for his care and cure (Lk 10:25-37).

The Good Samaritan had leveled off the mountains and filled in the valleys, and had made a straight path for the Messiah to travel on. He had enabled the Messiah to come to a victimized human being. Restored to health, the man made it a point to go to the Temple to give thanks, for his eyes had seen the salvation of the Lord on the road to Jericho! In addition, when Rabbi Schur’s reluctant Messiah, still up in heaven, saw the goodness of the Good Samaritan, he told God that he was now, indeed, ready to be sent down to the good earth. We fellow travelers on the highway of life are enablers of the Messiah.

A morality enabling the Messiah

The potholes along the Messiah’s path are many. There are 37 million adults and 2.5 million children living with HIV, and half of them will be dead before they are 35. There are 40,000 new HIV infections diagnosed every year in the United States. Such an immense pothole pleads to be filled up not with sexual moralism[5] but with the compassion morality of the Good Samaritan.

Not too long ago the Anglican Communion had its foundations shaken with the consecration of a gay bishop. That ruffled also the Russian Orthodox Church. One Anglican Church leader said, “The church will never be the same again.” By going on record for being strong on sexual moralism, the Anglican and Orthodox Church (and all the other churches as well) were simply doing what they always do, and what they do best.

Had those churches put themselves squarely and ardently behind those millions of adults and children living and dying with HIV and those 40,000 new HIV infections diagnosed yearly, they would, indeed, “never be the same again”! They would, indeed, become a shining city built upon a hill for all to see (Mt 5:14). They would, indeed, clear the path before the Lord and hasten the day of his coming. A sea of HIV victims would now, indeed, be giving thanks for having seen the salvation of the Lord. And Rabbi Schur’s reluctant Messiah, having seen the reign of compassion morality in the churches, would be telling God that he is now, indeed, ready to be sent down to the good earth. Religious people, especially, should be enablers of the Messiah.

A justice enabling the Messiah

There are many potholes along the path of the Messiah who wears “justice as a band around his waist and faithfulness as a belt upon his hips” (Is11:5). On the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, there are not only millions of victims who are waylaid by HIV and are crying for compassion, there is also half of the whole human race crying for justice. On that road lies woman robbed and wounded by man. That’s a huge pothole both in society and in the church, and it cries out to be filled with justice, so that the path of the Lord might be smoothened and his coming be hastened.

Barbara Horn is a feisty lady from Ireland who waits impatiently (a proper mood for Advent) and fights ardently for that pothole to be filled. With a penchant for the pen she writes eloquently about an ordination ceremony she attended on a glorious spring day in St. John the Baptist Cathedral here in Milwaukee.
The beauty of the music, the power of the liturgy and the ancient tradition of the laying on of hands, at moments left me breathless. The palpable joy and strength sweeping throughout St. John's Cathedral that lovely May morning will always be with me.

However, I must say that a great sadness arose in my heart; a feeling of how wrong everything was amid the beauty, the power and the strength. The procession of male clergy across the altar reverberated throughout my body, the visible reminder that the oldest, deepest exclusion and injustice -- the one we are all too accustomed to -- is alive and well in the bosom of my faith community. Here in our wonderful archdiocesan cathedral, where the most fundamental of expressions is uttered, the place where we give praise and thanks to our loving Creator for our very lives, here a line is drawn and we your sisters in Christ are to stay behind it…. This grieves me greatly.

Horn is not speaking about getting her hands on a share of power in the church. That would not patch up the pothole. Nothing would be changed; it would still be about power. She is speaking about the injustice of depriving woman of her baptismal inheritance. That deprivation is a deep pothole in the Lord’s path. Patch up that pothole, and the church would smoothen the path before the Messiah and hasten the day of his coming. Patch up that hole, and the church would lead the way for all religions and all cultures to give woman what is her birthright. Patch up that pothole, and the other half of the human race would give thanks for having, at long last, seen the salvation of the Lord. Patch up that pothole, and Rabbi Schur’s reluctant Messiah, seeing that justice now flows like a river on earth and especially in the church, would tell God that he is now, indeed, ready to be sent down to the good earth. The church, especially, must be an enabler of the Messiah.

Conclusion
The peal of the bells of Christmas

Though the new Advent isn’t a penitential season anymore, it is not a cakewalk. It still demands something of us. John the Baptist is still there in the desert crying out, “Get the Lord’s road ready for him; make a straight path for him to travel on!” Facilitate the Messiah’s coming to those waylaid by robbers or by HIV infection or by injustice or by anything else.
Though the new Advent isn’t a penitential season anymore, its traditional division into Early and Late Advent still remains. From the beginning of Advent until the 17th there are mountains to be leveled off and valleys to be filled in order to hasten the Messiah’s coming. That’s a big job. That’s the somber and serious facet of Advent. To neglect it, to turn the season into an unmixed orgy of joy, is to pervert the new Advent, and at the end of the day, such joy crumbles into depression on the 26th of December.

Some years ago a spokeswoman for Target Stores notified the public that it was banning the Salvation Army’s kettles and its bell-ringing in front of their stores. “We have adopted this policy in order to ensure a distraction-free shopping environment,” she said. Distraction from what? From hot pursuit of ourselves and our superfluous needs at Christmas time? Distraction from what? From the uncomfortable reminder that there are people who, through no fault of their own, are much less fortunate than ourselves? Distraction from what? From the unpleasant fact that there are mountains to be leveled off and valleys to be filled before it is Christmas Day?

If we toll the bells of the Salvation Army in Early Advent, then on December 17, when Late Advent begins, the toll of the Army’s bells will start to turn into the peal of the bells of Christmas.

[1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. Originally it referred to the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It’s now come to mean the migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland or parish!
[2]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!
[3] King David’s father
[4] O Radix Jesse is the third of the church’s seven ancient O Antiphons sung in the Novena of Christmas. All the O Antiphons are impatient, but this one for the 19th is particularly impatient.
[5] Sexual moralism is not the same as sexual morality. Sexual moralism is a distortion which claims that sexual purity is the height of Christian morality, and sexual impurity is its very depths.

Lamp Lighting TIme (Advent 2007)

December 2, 2007: First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:37-44

To the church in the diaspora[1]
& to the church of the unchurched[2]

First reading

This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it; many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord (Is 2:1-5)!

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Glory to you, Lord.

Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come” (Mt 24:37-44).

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction
Dark December Days

Today we exit Ordinary Time and enter into the Extraordinary Time of Advent in preparation for Christmas 2007. Today is New Years Day in the church. Today we go from liturgical cycle C to cycle A for the Sunday gospel readings. This past church year the gospel readings were from St. Luke. This new church year (cycle A) the readings will be from St. Matthew. Today we also exchange the liturgical color of Ordinary Time (green) for purple -- the color for penance. That is a leftover from pre-Vatican II days when Advent, like Lent, was a strictly penitential season. In those days, Advent frowned on any partying, gift giving and decorating before December 24. After Vatican II, Advent now is a season of joyful expectation instead of penance. In a few places during Advent, some liturgists choose to exchange purple vestments for blue ones in honor of mother Mary and baby boy Jesus.

It is December 2 today. In this hemisphere, winter begins on the 21st with the shortest day of the year offering us only nine short hours of light and fifteen long hours of darkness. The physical darkness of these days magnifies all our aches and pains, and all our worries and fears. These automatically diminish in size on a bright summer day. The physical darkness of these days is intensified by the current high price of gas and health care, and by the never-ending presidential debates in which candidates tear each down and make promises we have heard before. The darkness is intensified also by the casualty count of a never-ending war in Iraq and by the relentless terrorism which robs our lives 24/7 of any sense of normalcy.

No wonder then that both the Jewish and Christian communities light up their lamps with a vengeance these days to dispel the physical darkness of December and the spiritual darkness of the times.

Lamp lighting time for Jews

Soon the Jewish community will light up the lamps of Hanukkah. Known also as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration beginning on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar. Hanukkah can fall anytime between late November and late December. This year (2007) the first day off Hanukkah lands on the 5th of December.

In Hebrew Hanukkah simply means rededication. The feast commemorates the purification of the temple in Jerusalem and its rededication after the Greek tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated it in 161 B.C. On the site of the altar of holocausts he had built a pagan altar and offered a pagan sacrifice to the Greek god Zeus Olympios. The prophet Daniel and St. Matthew refer to this profanation as "the horrible abomination standing in the holy place” (Dn 9:27; Mt 24:15). Three years later, Judas Maccabeus purified the sanctuary, erected a new altar, and undertook to rededicate the temple.

This time of the rolling year is for telling stories. According to a story told and retold in the Jewish community no consecrated olive oil could be found to keep the temple menorah burning through the eight days of rededication. The temple menorah is the seven branch candelabra prescribed by Moses as temple furniture (Exodus 25:31-40). [3] After diligently scouring the temple, Judas Maccabeus finally found a small jug of oil still with the high priest's seal intact, and therefore not contaminated by the enemy. But there wasn’t enough oil in the jug to last through the eight days of rededication.

Then a miracle happened! God caused the little amount of oil in the jug to continue supplying fuel for the temple menorah throughout the long rite of rededication. In gratitude, Judas Maccabeus, his brothers and all people of Israel decided that the rededication of the temple should be commemorated yearly for eight days with joy and thanksgiving (I Mc 4:59; II Mc 10:5) St. John refers to it when he writes, “The time came to celebrate the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter” (Jn 10:22).

On December 5th this year, the Jewish community will light the first of the eight candles of the Hanukkah menorah. As they are lighted one by one they dispel the physical darkness of December and the spiritual darkness of our times.

Hanukkah gone astray

Johannes Buxtorf II (1599-1664), a Protestant Christian Hebrew scholar, often criticized the way the Jewish community celebrated their feast days. Writing of Hanukkah he described how they strayed far from the feast’s original inspiration and overlaid it with superstition and pettiness. He writes,

They celebrate Hanukkah more by eating, drinking and having fun than by giving thanks to God for their victory over the enemy. They prepare a seven-branch menorah and then light one light each day until the eighth night. The lights are not allowed to burn all night long. While they are burning no one is allowed to do any work in the house. The menorah itself must stand on the right side of the door, not less than ten paces from the ground, and not higher than twenty. The Jews often hold subtle and futile discussions on how long the lights should burn, who should light them, whether or not it is permitted to light one light with the other, and similar things.

Buxtorf finishes off his criticism saying that in their observance of Hanukkah (their Festival of Lights) “They are very fussy about the outer light but are not concerned about the great darkness which abides in their hearts” (Synagoga Judaica by Johannes Buxtorf II).

Lamp lighting time for Christians

Today, December 2, is lamp lighting time for Christians. The Christian community will light the first of four candles on the Advent wreath. Each candle represents one of the four weeks of preparation for the birthday of the Lord. As the candles are lighted, one each week, they dispel the physical darkness of December and the spiritual darkness of our times. Then on Christmas Day, He is born who is the bright Sun of Justice (Mal 4:2) and the Light who enlightens everyone coming into this world (Jn 1:9).

Christmas gone astray

Buxtorf, who berated the Jews for the way they celebrated Hanukkah, would probably berate us for the way we celebrate Christmas. He would probably charge us with having strayed far from the feast’s original inspiration -- “an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). He would probably charge us with celebrating Christmas more by eating, drinking and having fun than by giving thanks to God because a Savior has been born to us, who is Christ the Lord (Lk 2:11). He would probably berate us for turning the Christmas season into an orgy of joy which places a heavy expectation upon all to be merry. That, he would tell us, is an impossible expectation for those who are out of work and can’t buy the joys of Christmas, or for those who have lost a partner of 40, 50 years or a loved one in the battle for Iraq.

Buxtorf would probably berate us also for turning the season into an orgy of busyness with parties we have to host or go to, with cards we have to write, with gifts we have to shop for and with visits we have to make. Berating us for all the decorations we hang and all the lamps we light, he would probably characterize us as he did his contemporary Jews: “They are very fussy about the outer light but are not concerned about the great darkness which abides in their hearts.”

A Jew who saved Christmas

This time of the rolling year is for telling stories. Here is a story about a Jew who was filled with a great inner light which marvelously enhanced the glow of his fully lit menorah on the last day of Hanukkah. This is the story of a Jew who dispelled the terrible darkness of a cold winter night and saved Christmas for countless people.

On the night of December 11, 1995 (six days before the beginning of Hanukkah on the 17th that year), a surprise party was being held for the seventieth birthday of Aaron Feuerstein, CEO and owner of Malden Mills in Methuen, Massachusetts. Feuerstein is also a devout Jew who reads Shakespeare and the Talmud (a rich treasury of rabbinical tradition). During the party a boiler exploded and a devastating fire broke out and demolished a good part of his factory.

Many thought for sure that CEO Feuerstein would grab the insurance money and run. He didn't. The morning after the fire, he issued this statement: "With God's help, we will overcome the events of the past 12 hours and continue to be a force in New England." Then this Jewish CEO gave all his 2400 employees their paycheck, a $275 Christmas bonus and a $20 coupon for food. Three days later, on Dec. 14, more than 1000 employees gathered in the gym of the Catholic High School to learn the fate of their jobs. Aaron entered the gym from the back, shook the snow off his coat and headed for the podium. All heads turned; the crowd rose to its feet, and the cheering rose to a roar. Feuerstein addressed them with these words,

I will get right to my announcement. For the next 30 days--and it might be more--but at least for the next 30 days, all our employees will be paid their full salaries. I think you already have been advised that your health insurance has been paid for the next 90 days. But over and above the money, the most important thing Malden Mills can do for our workers is to get you back to work. By January 2, 1996, we will restart operations, and within 90 days, God willing, we will be 100 percent operational.

There was a moment of stunned disbelief, and then the workers rose to their feet again, cheering and hugging each other and also weeping. A miracle had just happened! It was many times greater than the physical miracle which multiplied the oil to keep the temple menorah burning through the days of rededication. This was a spiritual and moral miracle: a devout Jew and CEO had multiplied bread for his 2400 employees and had saved Christmas for them!

Time magazine for January 8, 1996, reported that Feuerstein was true to his word; he continued to pay his employees in full, at a cost of one and a half million dollars a week and at an average wage of twelve and a half dollars an hour. Later that same year, corporate and capitalist America, stunned by such fiscal insanity and half-hearted capitalism, named him CEO of the Year.

Conclusion
Menorahs and wreaths aglow with an inner light

Back in 1995 Hanukkah began at sundown on December 17 -- the day the Novena of Christmas begins for Catholics. Three days after Aaron’s stunning announcement to his workers on December 14, Aaron lit the first candle of his menorah. When after eight days all were lit, his menorah was luminously aglow especially with the bright light that abode in his heart. There is an Ite to every Mass. Go the Mass is ended! Go and light the four candles of Advent, and let their luminous glow be a reflection of the bright light that abides in our hearts.

[1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. Originally it referred to the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It’s now come to mean the migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland or parish!

[2] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[3] While the temple menorah has seven candles, the Hanukkah menorah has nine. It has eight side branch candles for the eight days of Rededication. Then it has a central branch candle called the Shamash. The Jews added this central candle for profane purposes like lighting other lamps throughout the house or lighting the fire in the hearth. Israeli Jews call the nine-branch menorah a hanukkiah.