13-Dec-2009
Dear Friend,
Whenever we hear good news, something extra special that is going to happen or
has happened, we cannot keep it to ourselves; we want to share it with someone,
with anyone who is ready to hear us. Joy shared is joy doubled. Yet, what gets
shared more often is bad news! The media, Newspaper, the TV is mostly telling
us of calamities, war, terrorism, disasters and death! We live in a culture of
death! Why do we not share good news? As Christmas comes we have Good news! God
has visited us and will visit again to bring us Joy! Have a glorious weekend
celebrating His visit! Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: Fourth Sunday of Advent “God has visited us his people!”
20-Dec-2009
Readings: Micah 5: 1-4; Hebrews 10: 5-10;
Luke 3: 10-18;
Micah lived at the same time as Isaiah, Amos and Hosea and had the usual
message of the prophets: repent and turn to God from your disobedience. Micah
asserts that any hope for the leadership of their people could not come from
Jerusalem, as their people there were too hardened and their kings were
corrupt. Whatever hope remained would come from elsewhere, from Bethlehem, the
little town, where a new shepherd king would come to redeem the people. God’s
coming is certain but in the most unexpected way and from where we would least
expect Him to come. We have to seek His presence in our midst!
Hilltop Experience
The world-famous psychologist William James tells this true story in his book
Varieties of Religious Experience. One night a man stood all alone on a
deserted hilltop. It was one of those beautiful nights when stars fill the sky,
love fills the heart, and peace fills the soul. As the man stood there, waves
of joy began to sweep over him. He felt like someone who was listening to a
magnificent symphony. All the notes were harmonizing in a way that made his
heart burst with emotion. Suddenly the man began to feel that another person
was present on the hilltop with him. Then a remarkable thing happened. The
other person’s presence grew so intense that it became more real to him than
his own presence. Later the man said, “My faith in God was born that night on
that hilltop.”
Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’
Today’s gospel focuses on the Visitation. When Mary is aware that she is to be
the mother of Jesus, that God will visit her in a most wondrous way, and that
her aged cousin is to be blest with a child, her first act is to visit her
cousin Elizabeth. From Nazareth in Galilee, where Mary lived, to Ain Karem,
where Elizabeth lived, was about ninety miles away, more than a tough four-hour
journey on foot. The roads and paths were full of landslides, rocks without
bridges and inhospitable. Mary showed her unselfishness by quickly facing that
trip with eagerness to help. She was ready to stay with her cousin and render
any assistance she could offer her. Though it was in Elizabeth’s house where
they met, and Mary’s dignity was greater, it was Mary who greeted Elizabeth.
Her greeting was with warmth for her cousin as well as with deference to her
aged cousin. Mary had come as a messenger of joy: Joy at the good news she was
bearing and joy for the good
fortune of her cousin Elizabeth. While Zachariah doubted and was struck dumb
because of his disbelief, Mary believed and she spoke of the glory of God and
magnified His name. Under special inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit spoke
through Elizabeth, and she gave high praise to Mary, for her obedience to God
and His holy will. “Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb.” Mary, a simple village maiden was visited by God and a
promise was made to her. God’s visit was a unique blessing for her just as it
would be for all those who believed. Mary did not do anything great but humbly
accepted God’s blessing, and his presence and she believed in God’s word.
Mary’s visit to Elizabeth was meant to share God’s blessing with her cousin and
to be of assistance to her. Mary did not stand on her dignity and wait for her
cousin to come to her, she preferred to go to her cousin and be of service to
her in her need. God is
constantly visiting us and every visit is a blessing for us and for others as
well. We are called to mediate His blessings to others by bringing God to them.
Do we believe in God’s promises and share His blessings and presence with
others? Let’s bring Jesus, - Joy to the World!
Joy To The World
In the prologue to his book Joy, William Schutz tells how the birth of his son
Ethan inspired him to write the book. Ethan begins his life by giving joy to
his parents. The joy continues as Ethan sees, touches, tastes and hears things
for the first time. But something happens to Ethan as it does to all of us.
Somehow his joy diminishes with growth, never to return fully. Schutz wrote his
book to help readers recapture some of this joy. Like Ethan, Jesus too begins
his life by giving joy. Even before he is born his very presence brings joy to
people. -Even when we cannot achieve our full human potential in some of those
areas Schutz outlines, we can still experience a profound interior joy because
Jesus is in our midst. The power of his presence enables us to endure any
difficulty, transcend any trial or overcome any obstacle. His presence can
bring peace where there is anxiety, sharing where there is selfishness and
dreams where there is despair. Isaac
Watts was right when he composed a Christmas carol entitled “Joy to the
World!” Indeed, there is real joy in the world at Christmas time because the
Lord is come. He is Emmanuel, God with us!
Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’
“A moving but fairly ordinary happening; an encounter between two
mothers-to-be. But when one thinks of the role of each in God’s plan, this
meeting becomes a deep and fruitful mystery. In Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth,
‘Life’ overtakes human hope. Mary’s son, he whose ‘origin goes back to the
distant past, to the days of old’ (Mic 5:2), will incarnate the invisible
godhead within human existence. Elizabeth’s child will lead Israel’s yearnings
to their highest degree of expectancy. The Life of God, the hope of men, meet.
Small wonder that such glorious things should be said and done! “Blessed is she
who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled!’
Elizabeth’s cry refers to the annunciation when Mary, overshadowed by the Holy
Spirit, becomes the Mother of God. The visitation completes and confirms the
angel’s message; it bears witness to the dynamic power of the Spirit which
increasingly dominates the
infancy narratives. Mary eagerly embarks upon the first apostolic journey to
share her joy with her cousin; Elizabeth yields the first place and proclaims
Mary blessed amongst all women. John leaps with joy and so begins his mission
as precursor. So many simple signs which nonetheless show that from the moment
of Jesus’ conception, a river of life has begun to flow, irresistibly, and it
will soon water the entire face of the earth. We breathe the same gospel
fragrance today whenever Christians, following the example of Mary and
Elizabeth, tell each other in simplicity of heart how God is present in their
lives, when they celebrate with thanksgiving the marvels which the Lord has
worked for them. Each time, it is truly the Church of Jesus Christ which is
born amongst men in the joyful stirring of the Holy Spirit.” -Glenstal Bible
Missal
Jesus Present To Me
In his biography The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton, the great author and
convert to Catholicism, describes an experience of Jesus he had in his late
teens. After graduating from high school, Thomas traveled around Europe on his
own. During these travels he discovered Europe’s magnificent cathedrals, with
their inspiring statues and stained-glass windows. He writes: “This discovery
was tremendous ... I began to haunt the churches… For the first time in my
life I began to find out something of who the person was that men called
Christ.” But more importantly, Merton says, “{I began to experience} Christ
himself present in those churches.”
Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’
A Place In Our Home
Mary’s beautiful charity is the antithesis of a story from the brothers Grimm.
It tells us of a feeble old woman whose husband died and left her all alone.
She went to live with her son and his wife and their little daughter. Every day
the old woman’s sight dimmed and her hearing grew worse, and sometimes at
dinner her hands trembled so badly the peas rolled off her spoon or the soup
ran from her cup. The son and his wife were annoyed and one day, after she
knocked over a glass of milk, they told each other enough was enough. They set
up a small table for her in the corner next to the broom closet and made the
old woman eat her meals there. She sat all alone, looking with tear-filled eyes
across the room at the others. Sometimes they spoke to her while they ate, but
usually it was to scold her for dropping a bowl or a fork. One evening just
before dinner, their little daughter was busy playing on the floor with her
building blocks, and her father
asked her what she was making. “I’m building a little table for you and
mother,” she smiled innocently, “so you can eat by yourselves in the corner
someday when I get big.” Her parents sat staring at her for some time and they
suddenly both began to cry. That night they led the old woman back to her place
at the big table. From then on she ate with the rest of the family.
Harold Buetow in ‘God Still Speaks: Listen!’
The Visit
On the 13th of July 2006 in the Deccan Herald this heroic deed of a pregnant
woman appeared. Jessica Bates was expected to give birth to twins any day, but
that did not stop her from rushing to the aid of her neighbour in distress.
Just before midnight on Saturday, Bates was in her living room watching her
two-year old daughter and another child when she heard a cry for help. Bates,
rushed across the street to an apartment, where flames were visible through a
window. The woman who lived there, Barbara Wellman was paralyzed from the waist
down. Bates found Wellman in the front part of her house and dragged her
wheelchair by the foot pedals to the sidewalk. Bates then started banging on
neighbour’s doors warning them to flee. Another neighbour doused the flames
with a garden hose before the fire department showed up to extinguish it.
Wellman, aged 45, had lived for twenty years in that apartment and that day she
escaped without much serious injury,
thanks to the courage and love of a woman. Bates later said that she was
always willing to aid those in need. “I don’t look at it as being a hero; I
just looked at it like helping someone. I knew it was a risk to myself, but I
couldn’t leave her.” said Bates. In today’s gospel we heard about another woman
Mary being of service to Elizabeth.
John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’
May we bring Jesus to the waiting world through our faith and loving service!
Fr. Jude Botelho
[email protected]
PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been
collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and
from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever
possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you
could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in
these reflections. These reflections are also available on my remodelled web
site www.netforlife.net Thank you.
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