20-Dec-2009 Dear Friend,
Christmas is the meeting place of God and man, the encounter of God in the home, the fusion of power and weakness in the child. It is the season of gift giving; ‘for unto us a child is given’, the greatest of gifts and the simplest of gifts, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Christmas happened when Christ came into human history, but Christmas happens again and again, each time we believe and find Him, share ourselves and discover him in gift giving, when we are doing nothing and let God do everything in us and for us! Have a glorious and blessed Christmas! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: Christmas Day “For unto us a child is given! He is Christ the Lord!” 25-Dec-2009 Readings: Isaiah 9: 1-6; Titus 2: 11-14; Luke 2: 1-14; Isaiah foresees an ideal descendant of David who will usher in an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity for his people. The images the prophet uses and the title he gives to the king who is to come symbolize the great times ahead. The light that conquers the darkness is a sign of a new dawn, a new era that is beginning. The people will see the end of their distress and will experience a new joy. The removal of the yoke of foreign oppression and the destruction of the symbols of war will be an occasion of national rejoicing. The future king is given titles that inspire hope. He will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace. Security, justice and peace will be the fruits of his coming for His people. God comes in the form of a child to communicate his eternal love for His people. Emmanuel’s Discovery Once upon a time there was an African boy named Emmanuel. He was always asking questions. One day he asked his teacher, “What languages does God speak?” His teacher scratched his head and said, “I really don’t know.” So Emmanuel asked the learned people of his village, but they didn’t know either. Now he became really curious. He travelled around his country and asked the learned people of other villages, “What language does God speak?” but they merely shook their heads. Emmanuel was convinced that someone knew. So he began to travel to other countries. He even travelled to other continents. But the answer was always the same. One night, exhausted by his travels, Emmanuel came to a village called Bethlehem. He tried to a get a room in one of the inns, but the rooms were all filled up. So he decided to look for a cave outside town. In the early hours of the morning, he finally found one. When he stepped inside the cave, however, he saw it was occupied by a couple and a child. When the young mother saw him, she said, “Welcome, Emmanuel, we’ve been expecting you.” The boy was stunned. How did the woman know his name? He was even more amazed when she said: “For a long time you have been searching the world over to discover what language God speaks. Now your journey is over. Tonight you see with your own eyes what language God Speaks. He speaks the language of love. Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ Today’s gospel focuses on the deep significance of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ into the world. It is vital to Christian faith that Jesus was really born into this world. And it is equally vital that his birth was ‘for us and for our salvation.’ But the details of the narrative are symbolic and biblical; they are meant to communicate the mystery of our salvation and are not a diary of earthly events. The birth of Jesus is situated in time –when Quirinius governor of Syria ordered a census of all the people of the empire. Quirinius may have had his own reasons for ordering the census but they fitted into God’s plan for the coming of his son into the world. Mary and Joseph accepted this order and set out from the town of Galilee and travelled to Judea to the town of David called Bethlehem. When God stepped into the history of mankind all kinds of people, the rich and the powerful and the very poor would be caught up in his coming and would have to respond. Mary and Joseph respond with faith and accept the situation as God’s plan for the coming of his son and theirs in the world. They do not understand but accept and believe that this frail weak infant is God coming into the world through them. The coming of Jesus is firstly a coming as a messenger of peace, announced to the shepherds by the host of angels. “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men who enjoy his favour.” The initial reaction of the shepherds was fear and terror. We will always be terrified of meeting God if we keep thinking that we must be worthy of meeting him. The angel had to urge the shepherds to let go of their terror, only then did the wonder of the night enter into their souls. They are directed to Bethlehem, they believed and set out on their journey to find the new-born king and their faith was rewarded. The shepherds were outcasts, the poor and despised, to them was revealed the great mystery and they became the first to acknowledge the saviour of mankind. They also became the first missionaries who proclaimed the birth of the messiah. Only those who know their littleness can be exposed to the wonder of greater realities. Mary the littlest of all, treasured these things and pondered them in her heart. Besides bringing peace to the world, the coming of Jesus was to bring hope to the poor and the oppressed. We don’t have to do anything to deserve this peace, we only have to believe and accept it in hope. His blessings descend on all on whom his favour rests. No matter who we are, or in what state we are, he comes to bring us peace and hope! A Saviour Born To Us The Russians have for centuries told a legend about a young medieval prince, Alexis, who lived in a sumptuous palace, while all around, in filthy hovels, lived hundreds of poor peasants. The Prince was moved with compassions for these poor folk and determined to better their lot. So he began to visit them. But as he moved in and out among them he found that he’d got absolutely no point of contact with them. They treated him with enormous respect, almost worship; but he was never able to win their confidences, still less their affection, and he returned to the palace a defeated and disappointed young man. Then one day a very different man came among the people. He was a rough and ready young doctor who also wanted to devote his life to serving the poor. He started by renting a filthy rat-ridden shack in one of the back streets. He made no pretence of being superior – his clothes (like theirs) were old and tattered and he lived simply on the plainest food, often without knowing where the next meal was coming from. He made no money from his profession because he treated most people free and gave away his medicines. Before long this young doctor had won the respect and affection of all those people, as Prince Alexis had never succeeded in doing. He was one of them. And little by little he transformed the whole spirit of the place, settling quarrels, reconciling enemies, helping people to live decent lives. No one ever guessed that this young doctor was in fact the Prince himself, who had abandoned his palace and gone down among his people to become one of them. That’s just what God did on that first Christmas day. He came right down side by side with us to help us to become the sort of beings he intends us to be. John Williams in ‘More Quotes and Anecdotes’ “Surrounded by silence, surrounded by the night, the Word who, is with God – who is God – is made flesh. To those who accept him ‘He gave power to become the children of God’. This is the very heart of the mystery we celebrate at Christmas. We have here no myth, no more ideology; the Messiah, our Lord and Saviour, is born at a definite time and place. We are concerned not so much with the details of his birth as with the central fact of Mary, ever-virginal wife of Joseph, tending her child. ‘Mother and midwife’ St. Jerome called her. By this means the mystery of how this unique first born of mankind – God and man – entered into our world, is safeguarded. God’s feeling for the little and humble people (they are his special concern) is shown when it is to poor shepherds that the birth of the Good Shepherd is first announced. The ‘sign’ given to them is Poverty in person (2 Cor. 8:9), a sign that must find a profound echo in their hearts. For the shepherds, the message the Lord has sent them means that ‘this thing has happened’ (Lk. 2:15) is real, this thing is true. They hasten with all speed and find what their hearts seek: not riches or power, but the Child, the reality of the sign given to them. That is enough for them, for they are in harmony with him. Indeed they become the first missionaries of the gospel, telling this good news to all the neighbourhood.” Glenstal Bible Missal He Came To Show Us The Way One Christmas Eve a man was sitting quietly, listening to Christmas carols. Suddenly he heard the sound of geese. He went to the door and saw several geese wandering about in the snow, cold, hungry, dazed, and confused. The man went out and tried everything he knew to get the geese to go into his warm garage, but they were too frightened to understand. Then he thought himself, “If just for a moment I could become a goose to tell them what to do in their own language.” Suddenly it hit him. That’s what Christmas is all about. It’s celebrating the fact that God chose to become one of us so that he could speak to us our own language and tell us what was for our own good. Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ Eternal Life Becomes Visible Cyril Egan wrote a poem called ‘A Kind of Prayer.” It’s about a person who’s looking for something. Everywhere he goes, he searches, searches, searches. One day someone asks him what he’s searching for. He responds, “I’m looking for God.” Then he adds quickly: “Don’t tell me I’ll find him in my heart (Though in a sense that’s true); and don’t tell me I’ll find him in my fellow man (Though in a sense that’s true, too). What I’m looking for is a God making a five-sense break-through to humanity.” In other words, he’s looking for a God that he can see and touch. That’s precisely the kind of God John speaks about in today’s reading. Harold Buetow in ‘God Still Speaks: Listen!’ The Feast Of Christmas An old preacher was praying with great oratorical effects in the midst of a violent hurricane. As the earth quivered and the heavens roared, he cried out, “Send us the spirit of the children of Israel, the children of Moses, the children of the Promised Land.” Another brother prayed with more earnestness, “Lord, don’t send anybody! Come Yourself. This is not a time for children.” This is the cry of humanity in every generation and it is why Christmas is such great good news. John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’ May Christ be born in us today! Have a blessed Christmas today and everyday!!!! 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. The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage. http://in.yahoo.com/
