25-Dec-2010
Dear Friend, For children and for adults as well, Christmas is synonymous with gifts and presents. We all look forward to receiving gifts especially when they are unexpected and undeserved. The most important gift that we receive is the gift of the infant child given to us, Emmanuel –God in our midst. Every time we give a gift to others we can make God present in our world! Have a ‘Jesus-filled’ Christmas! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: ‘Feast of the Christmas –Jesus given to us - the gift of gifts! 25-Dec-2010 Isaiah 19: 1-6 Titus 2: 11-14 Luke 2: 1-14 The first reading from the prophet Isaiah reminds us that Christ came into our world as the dawn on our darkness, so that those who believe in him and receive him will receive their saviour as the light of their lives. No one is a light unto himself, we all grope in darkness and are searching for the light. To those who live in darkness there is no greater need than to see the light. The child born to us is God’s gift to the world, called by many names: Wonder- Counsellor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Light of the World. May we relish the gift of light –the light of our faith! Light In the Darkness The Christmas image of Jesus is that of a light shining in the darkness. This image took on a remarkable meaning for Viktor Frankl, a Nazi prisoner in World War II. One morning, very early, he had seen some other prisoners digging in the cold, hard ground. Frankl writes in Man’s Search for Meaning: “The dawn was gray around us; gray was sky above; gray the snow in the pale light of dawn; gray the rags in which my fellow prisoners were clad, and gray their faces… I was struggling to find a reason for my sufferings, my slow dying.” As Frankl struggled in the miserable cold to make sense of his suffering, suddenly he became totally convinced that there was a reason, even though he didn’t fully comprehend it. Frankl describes what happened then: “At that moment a light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on the horizon as if it were painted there, in the mist of the miserable gray.” At that moment, there flashed into Frankl’s mind the words of today’s gospel: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.” Frankl says that experience radically changed his entire prison life. It gave him hope, where before he had only despair. Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ Today’s gospel reminds us that Christmas, the season of gift-giving celebrates the greatest of gifts given to us, the gift of his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. The goodness and kindness of God is made incarnate in the gift of his son. But the gift of God comes in strange and unsuspecting ways. Many did not recognize the gift or refused to believe this was the gift of God. This gift of the infant is given to Mary and Joseph who believed and welcomed the gift into their lives. The gift comes to those who believe and obey. Mary and Joseph obeyed the decree of the governor and left their home and travelled through Judea to a town of Bethlehem. The journey was inconvenient and came at the wrong time because Mary was expecting her child, yet Mary obeyed, because this was God’s will for them. Our plans and God’s plan are so very often different, but we can make His time our time. When the time came for Jesus to be born there was no room for him, no home, but the stable. Often there is no place in our lives for God, no room in the inn, but He comes into our lives because he wants to. God comes not in pomp and splendour but in simplicity and weakness –totally in contrast to worldly values of splendour and wealth. When we are in need and in weakness we create space for him to enter into our lives. Besides his parents those who hear the good news are simple ignorant shepherds. On hearing the good news they go to ‘see this thing that has taken place’ and they find “Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger”. It is not enough to hear but we have to believe and journey in faith to find the Lord of our lives. This gift of Jesus demands faith, it demands that we go out of ourselves to seek and find and share this gift with others. God’s Living Word “For many, coming home never loses its excitement. The prospect of welcome, warmth, and the renewal of love, can energize one’s whole being. Some are never able to come. Some choose never to come ever when there is someone waiting for them to come. Christmas is when most come. Some cannot come all the way themselves and somebody from home goes to meet them. Such a journey is never a burden but always a joy. To be at home is to be where one feels one belongs, where the vulnerable one feels most secure, where the successful one is loved rather than acclaimed, where failure is forgiven, where trust evokes new beginnings, where the joy of being related is celebrated, where the bonds bind together to face adversity. Christmas is a time of being at home in this way with each other and with God. At Bethlehem God made his home in our human nature and lives amongst us still. He is always at home for us and Christmas is the time when most come home to him. Some choose never to come while others postpone the coming and another Christmas slips away. Others feel too far away and unable to come the whole way on their own. He suggests that such children come as far as they can and He will go to them.” Tom Clancy in ‘Living the Word’ Showing the Way….. There is a story about a good and upright man who had a problem with the incarnation. He couldn’t believe that God’s Son became one of us, and too honest to pretend. So on Christmas Eve, when his wife and children went to church, he stayed at home. Shortly after his family left, it began to snow. He went to the window to watch it fall. ‘If we must have Christmas,’ he thought, ‘then let it be a white Christmas.’ A short while later he heard a thudding sound. It was quickly followed by another, then another. It sounded as if someone was throwing snowballs at the window of the living room. He went to the front door to investigate. There he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and in their desperate search for shelter, had seen the light and flew into the window. ‘I can’t let these little creatures lie there and freeze to death,’ he thought. ‘But how can I help them?’ Then he remembered the barn. It would provide a nice warm shelter for them. He put on his coat and made his way through the snow to the barn. There he put on the light, but the birds wouldn’t come. ‘Food will bring them,’ he thought. So he scattered a trail of bread crumbs all the way into the barn. But the birds still wouldn’t come. Then he tried to shoo them into the barn by walking around them and waving his arms at them. But they took alarm and scattered in all directions. Then he said to himself, ‘They find me a strange and terrifying creature. If only there was some way I could get them to trust me.’ Just at that moment the church bells began to ring. He stood silently as they rang out the glad tidings of Christmas: ‘The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us’ Then he sank to his knees in the show and said, ‘Lord, now I understand why you had to become one of us.’ Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’ In his autobiography, An Only Child, the Irish writer, Frank O’Connor, tells how one Christmas Santa Claus brought him a toy engine. One Christmas afternoon his mother took him to visit the local convent. As the engine was the only present he had received, he took it with him to show it to the nuns. While he was in the convent one of the nuns brought him to visit the crib in the chapel. As he looked into the crib he noticed something which upset him very much. What upset him was the fact that the Child Jesus was lying there in the manager without a single present. He knew exactly how that child felt – the utter despondency of realising that he had been forgotten, and that nobody had brought him anything. Turning to the nun, he asked why the Holy Child hadn’t got any toys, and she replied, ‘His mother is too poor to afford them.’ That settled it. His mother was poor too, but at Christmas she had always managed to buy him something, even if it was only a box of crayons. In a burst of reckless generosity, he took the toy engine, climbed into the crib, and put it between the outstretched arms of the Child. And he showed him how to wind it as well, because a little baby would not be clever enough to know a thing like that. This story shows us the power of Christmas. Through Christmas God gives us an opportunity to show what we are capable of. Of course, he set the example himself. He began by making us a gift Jesus – his only Son. Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’ Faith –the best of gifts… Years ago Fulton Oursler was the editor of a highly successful national magazine. The story behind his rise to success is fascinating. But even more fascinating is the story of his search for God. As a reporter for the Baltimore American, Oursler had covered Methodist meetings, Baptist conventions, and outdoor revivals. He had even waited for ghosts in darkroom séances. “Out of all of this,” he says, “I emerged at the age of 30 a self-styled agnostic.” But instead of finding peace, his unbelief left him totally empty inside. It also left him unhappy. Eventually the emptiness and unhappiness turned into gnawing depression. Then one day serious trouble threatened his family. He needed help. But the kind of help he needed was not the kind of help friends could give. There was no one to whom he could turn, not even God – for he didn’t believe in God. One windy day in New York he was walking down Fifth Avenue. He came to the cathedral. He stopped, looked at it, and thought He was desperate. Minutes later he found himself walking up the steps, going inside, and sitting down. After a few minutes of collecting his thoughts, he bowed his head and asked for the gift of faith. He sat there a while, then got up, and walked over to the Chapel of Our Lady in the cathedral. He went inside, knelt down, and prayed the following prayer: “In ten minutes or less I may change my mind. I may scoff at all this and love error again. Pay no attention to me then. For this little time I am in my right mind and heart. This is my best – take it and forget the rest, and if you are really there, help me.” At that moment, he said, there began a remarkable transformation in his life. The transformation ended in his becoming a deeply committed Christian. Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ Gift of the Poor In the Christmas issue of The Reader’s Digest, there is an interesting article by Esther Liang about an extraordinary Asian of the year 2010. She writes about Chen Shu-Che, who turns 60 this month, a vegetable vendor in the Central Market in Taiwan. She wakes daily at 3am and makes her way to the vegetable wholesaler and sets her stall, which she tends till seven or eight in the evening. Chen earns only marginal profit, yet her frugal ways have allowed her to donate about NT$10 million (nearly Rs.1.5 crores) towards various charitable causes including helping schools, orphanages and poor children. The selfless generosity of a woman of humble income has placed her under the international spotlight. In March, Forbes magazine named her one of the 48 outstanding philanthropists from the Asia-Pacific region. Chen believes that ‘money is only worthy if it is given to those in need.’ Commenting about Chen, Oscar-winning director Ang Lee writes: “Amazing, but of all she has given away, her greatest gift is leading people by example.” Despite all the attention, Chen remains humble, saying, “I have done nothing extraordinary and everyone who wants can do it. When I donate to help others I feel at peace. I’m happy and can sleep well at night.” She feels for the poor, having experienced hardship in her younger days. The kindness and generosity shown towards her mother and brother when they were sick has motivated her to donate all that she can to charity. Her policy is: spend only what you need and you will be able to save a lot. Her work is her enjoyment. She leads a simple life without luxuries. She believes all she needs is food and a place to sleep, everything else is luxury. It is in giving that she finds happiness. May the gift of Christmas –Jesus, inspire us to be a gift to others in life! 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 web site www.netforlife.net Thank you.
