FW: Meditation:

[joachim]

Title: FW: Meditation:

The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, December 27, 2001
    The Christmas Season
    St. John the Evangelist

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
    1 John 1:1-4
    Psalm 97:1-2,5-6,11-12
    John 20:2-8

A Reflection on Today's Scripture:

I am always amazed by the Scripture Readings that occur right after
Christmas. While I am still lost in the wonder of that Silent, Holy
Night, the Church seems compelled on December 26 to speak of St.
Stephen's Martyrdom. Today, the 27th, seems at first glance a little
bit "better", but still we're drawn away from the beauty of the
Christmas Cave and injected into the scene of the empty Easter
morning tomb.

What's the hurry my battered mind cries? Can't we linger on bended
knee for just a little while longer as we contemplate "All of God's
grace, in that one little face." But no, wisdom demands that we come
to grips with the truth which includes all the terror and pain of
Calvary.

John the Evangelist and Apostle delivers one of the strongest
testimonies concerning these realities and speaks of what he has
heard, what he has seen, what he has touched. John, whose feast the
Church celebrates today, reminds us that to be a follower of Jesus
involves more than devotion to the pious scene of Bethlehem. It is
even more than experiencing the abject horror over all the injustices
of the Cross. Ultimately it means believing that the same Christ
Child who still holds my transfixed heart, suffered, died, was buried
and rose from the dead! It is The Resurrection that makes everything
that preceded it and will follow it, of worth!

John says in no uncertain terms, what he has heard with his ears,
seen with his eyes, and has touched with his hands. It is no less
than the Baby of Bethlehem, the Child of Mary, the Resurrected and
Glorified Son of the Almighty.

Okay, now I've had my reality check, I know where this is all headed,
I know the glorious end. But oh, the beginning, the beginning: "And
the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us."

- Donna Raye Nelson, ocds
 ([EMAIL PROTECTED])


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All scripture quotes are from the Douay-Rheims edition of the Catholic Bible.
Full text from the New American Bible: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm
Lives of the Saints: http://www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/