O sweet Jesus!what
dreams must thy most holy Mother have had when she slept, while her heart
watched?Did she not dream that she had
thee yet in her womb, or hanging at her sacred breasts and sweetly pressing
those virginal lilies?Ah!what sweetness was in this soul!Perhaps she often dreamed that as Our Saviour
had formerly slept in her bosom, as a tender lambkin upon the soft flank of its
mother, so she slept in his pierced side, as a white dove in the cave of an
assured rock:so that her sleep was
wholly like to an ecstasy as regards the spirit, though as regards the body it
was a sweet and grateful unwearying and rest.But if ever she dreamed [….] of her future greatness… or if ever, like
Jacob, she saw the progress and fruit of the redemption made by her Son, for
the love of the angels and of men; --… who could ever imagine the immensity of
so great delights?O what conversations
with her dear child!What delights on
every side!
--St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God, III, viii
Image source: Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna litti, 1490-1491
Holy Family Sunday is meant to remind us that God has always and always will desire to be in relationship with us. This song, by Dan Fogelberg, encourages us to remember that God's eternal love stretches not only far, far into the future, but also back to the beginning of time, meeting us in the here and now with all its power and intimacy.
Longer than there've been fishes in the ocean, Higher than any bird ever flew, Longer than there've been stars up in the Heavens, I've been in love with you Stronger than any mountain cathedral Truer than any tree ever grew Deeper than any forest primeval I am in love with you I'll bring fires in the winters You'll send showers in the springs We'll fly through the falls and summers With love on our wings Through the years as the fire starts to mellow Burning lines in the book of our lives Though the binding cracks and the pages start to yellow I'll be in love with you I'll be in love with you Longer than there've been fishes in the ocean,
Higher than any bird ever flew,
Longer than there've been stars up in the Heavens,
I've been in love with you With thanks to Fr. Eunan McDonnell for suggesting this meditation in God Desires You.
Long before the word family
came to signify parents and their
children, its meaning was much broader, referring to a collective body of
persons forming one household, including relatives and servants alike.This context may help to explain the readings
we hear for this Sunday's Feast of the Holy Family, where, while Jesus, Mary and Joseph
certainly do play a central role, a broader sense of the word, one focused especially
on relationship through faith, is called for.
We begin with God’s promise, in the Book of Genesis, to the
childless and elderly Abram that Abram’s descendants
shall be as numerous as the stars in the
sky... because Abram has faith, a faith that will become a model of righteousness for
generations to follow.To be sure,
Abram’s new nuclear family is cause for celebration, but the true focus here
seems to be Abram’s right relationship with God, an intimate relationship in
which God proclaims himself to be Abram’s shield.It is relationship that Abram’s descendants should
pursue as well, as evidenced by Psalm 105:the psalmist calls upon the people of Israel to give thanks to the Lord, look to the Lord, constantly seek his face.
God seeks a relationship with us; we, in turn, are to be hearts that seek the Lord, in faith.And it is ultimately Abram’s faith, as the Letter to the Hebrews
reminds us, that allows him to obey
God’s call,offering up his son Isaacwhen
put to the test.Abram is the model of
intimate relationship with God through faith.
We have similar exemplars of faith in our reading from
Luke’s Gospel.Both Simeon and Anna have
long awaited the consolation of Israel,
looking for evidence of God’s presence, and promise, to the Jewish
community.When Mary and Joseph, faithful Jews, present their
son Jesus at the temple, the Spirit
moves both Simeon and Anna to recognize that their waiting—a patient waiting
that has ever deepened their relationship with God—has been rewarded.Open to God’s presence, faithful until their final years, Anna and Simeon see God’s salvation for all the peoples embodied by the child whom Simeon takes into his
arms.
What is the lesson here?Perhaps, at least in part, we are to understand that, before all else,
it is our relationship with God, God our
father (Isaiah 63), that allows all other relationships to flourish,
including those we file under the modern rubric of family. It is our intimacy with God through our faith in God’s promises, in other words,
that allows us to embrace, not only our own nuclear families, but a universal relationship with all peoples, with that greater family
that consists of humankind at large, truly a holy family to be celebrated, bothin the microcosm that is Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and in the macrocosm
that is our world.
We are all meant to be
mothers of God.What good is it to me if
this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly, but does not take
place within myself?And, what good is it
to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace?What good is it to me for the Creator to give
birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my
culture?This, then, is the fullness of
time:When the Son of Man is begotten in
us.
--Meister Eckhart, 1260-1328 (paraphrased by Matthew Fox)
If you're one of the lucky ones who can come to church on the weekdays leading up to Christmas, you will hear in the daily readings not only the story of Jesus, but also that of the birth, naming, and circumcision of John the Baptist, who will be charged with preparing the way of the Lord. John's father Zechariah loses his ability to speak when he expresses doubt before the angel Gabriel, but on the day of John's naming and circumcision, Zechariah regains his speech, and the people all around begin to understand that John will play an important role in salvation history...
What does this have to do with musical notes? Well, we’re all familiar with the scene in The Sound of Music when Maria and the children dance around a
statue, singing Do-Re-Mi… The
children believe that the syllables are nonsense sounds that don’t actually
mean anything, but in fact, their origin is fascinating:they come from medieval choral music and are
taken from the first six phrases of a hymn to St. John the Baptist that reminds us of the circumstances of John's birth.
The Latin words, Ut
queant laxis, Resonare fibris, Mira gestorum, Famuli tuorum, Solve polluti,
Labii reatum, may be translated as So
that Your servants may sing at the top of their voices the wonders of Your
acts, absolve the fault from their stained lips.These words were apparently written by the monk
Paolo Diacono (Paul the Deacon) in the eighth century.Later, in the tenth or eleventh century,
another monk used the first syllables of these phrases – ut, re, mi, fa. sol and la
– as names for the six tones ranging from C to A; the ut was later replaced by a sound that was easier to sing (do), another syllable (ti) was added to complete the scale, and
sol was shortened to so, for uniformity’s sake.
The complete hymn reads,
O for your spirit, holy John, to chasten lips sin-polluted,
fettered tongues to loosen;
So by your children might your deeds of wonder meetly be
chanted.
Lo!a swift herald,
from the skies descending,
Bears to your father promise of your greatness;
How he shall name you, what your future story, duly
revealing.
Scarcely believing message so transcendent,
Him for a season power of speech forsaketh,
Till, at your wondrous birth, again returneth, voice to the
voiceless.
You in your mother’s womb all darkly cradled,
Knew your great Monarch, biding in His chamber,
Whence the two parents, through their offspring’s merits,
mysteries uttered.
Praise to the Father, to the Son begotten,
And to the Spirit, equal power possessing,
One God whose glory, through the lapse of ages, ever
resounding.
Amen.
You can hear the Hymn to John the Baptist by clicking on the video above, or by clicking here.
Source:Roman
Ritual:Complete Edition by Philip T.
Weller, S.T.D., The Bruce Publishing Company, WI, 1964, 1942.
Fr. James Martin, S.J. takes the Annunciation image above, two statues by the 14th-century gothic sculptor and artist Marco Romano of Siena, as his point of the departure for a reflection on the place of surprise in Mary's encounter with Gabriel, and our own surprise when God asks us to act in our own lives. Do we say yes? To hear Fr. Jim's reflection, click here! Image source Video source
