Sunday Gospel Reflection: January 1, 2012

Luke 2:16-21

Christmas is over. Guests are gone. Our homes and routines are (more or less) back to normal. In this first Sunday after Christmas we are invited to do what Mary did the first week after the birth of Jesus: slow down and adore the Lord.

Two reflections on this feast that we celebrate today: Mary, Mother of God:

1. Naming Mary the Mother of God means that Jesus is the Son of God. The incarnation (God becoming man) means that God dwells with us . At the Council of Ephesus in the 4^th Century the raging debate was trying to answer the question: how can Jesus be both God and Man. Some were saying that Jesus was not really God but the Council disagreed and declared that Jesus was consubstantial (of the same substance) of the Father. By declaring that Mary is the Mother of God they were making a radical theological statement: He was not just some prophet or good person, Jesus was truly God. He took on our human nature and came to be with us. Why did God do this? St. Athanasius says that “God became man so that man might become like God”. Because Jesus took on our nature He opened up for us a path to Heaven that was not there before. As a result the whole world is charged with God’s presence (like static electricity) through which we can encounter God and bring about the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven.

-Where do I see God’s presence around me? Within me?

-Does believing that God became man change how I see or interact with the world?

2. Do what Mary did--Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. These words from today’s Gospel offer us a powerful image: Mary at age 13 ponders shepherds, magi, prophesies and the newborn child that she is holding who is the Son of God. Mary needed time to reflect on the wonder and mysteries of God that had taken place. After celebrating the birth of Jesus (and beginning a new year) we too need to set aside (concretely!) time to allow our hearts and minds the time to wonder at the work of God in our lives and to reflect on what we are to do and (more importantly) who we are to be as a result.

-Am I the kind of person I want to be? That I was created to be?

-Do I believe that God has a plan for me? Am I really trying to listen to what God might be telling me?

Image Credit

Shepherds Dance

Shepherds Dance

A visual representation of the joy of the lowly shepherds who witnessed Jesus lying in a manger.  Be sure to watch to the end to witness the appearance of the Christ child, and the shepherds' reaction.

New Words (Re)new Meaning (10)

"Lord, I am not worthy..."

This phrase is uttered by a Roman centurion (Matt. 8:8) who approaches Jesus and asks Him to heal his servant. The centurion, a sinful man who was outside of the Jewish Covenant, knows that he is not worthy for Jesus to come under his roof to heal his servant but has great confidence in the power of Jesus. Jesus replies, ‘In no one in Israel have I found such faith.’ We too are unworthy for Jesus to enter under our ‘roof’ but pray that we may have similarly heroic faith as we pray with the centurion.  When we ask that our “soul” might be healed, we are recognizing that this healing must take place not in our ego (“I”), but in the very core of our being.

(Information in this post was compiled by Fr. Pat, Jonathan, and Suzanne.) 

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New Words (Re)new Meaning (9)

"We proclaim your death, O Lord..."

The new people’s acclamations after the consecration will be introduced by the priest saying simply, “The Mystery of Faith,” recognizing in declarative fashion the Eucharist now present on the altar.  Through the consecration, the bread and wine and the community have all been transformed; this transformation will be completed by the second half of the Eucharistic Prayer.  However, at this moment in the Mass, we are all standing before a miracle, and we acknowledge it as the central Mystery of our Faith.  The three new acclamations are all grounded more deeply in Scripture, and all more directly address Christ made present in the Eucharist, and our relationship with him.  

(Information in this post was compiled by Fr. Pat, Jonathan, and Suzanne.) 

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O Holy Night

O Holy Night

You’ve seen ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures:  so many images come to mind!  But on this Holy Night, O Holy Night, what changed?  Is there a ‘before’ and an ‘after’?  How did Jesus’ coming alter our world, alter our very selves?  The French Cantique de Noël, translated as the hymn O Holy Night, begins to answer that question.

The ‘before’ picture?  Sin and error, weariness, chains and enslavement, oppression.  And the ‘after’ picture?  A thrill of hope…. A new and glorious morn… Love and peace and joy…  And, perhaps most importantly, the soul felt its worth.  When does a soul feel its worth?  When it is found.  When it is seen.  When it is chosen. When it is remembered.  When it is favored.  When it is forgiven.  When it is set free of chains, liberated to celebrate God’s love, a love that confers dignity and justice.  We are all chosen; we are all loved, loved by the God who took our sins to the cross for love of us.  This is indeed a holy night, a night to rejoice in the Savior who chooses us, each of us, and enfolds us in his boundless love.

Listen, and really hear, this lovely rendition of O Holy Night, sung by a beautiful voice some parishioners may recognize:  Elaine Dempsey, of Big Wide Grin, used to sing in the Sunday 5:30pm choir at Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  Her Christmas music is available on the CD Big Wide Holiday Grin.

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;

It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth!

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here came the wise men from Orient land.

The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,

In all our trials born to be our friend!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His Gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother

And in His Name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy Name!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

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New Words (Re)new Meaning (8)

"When supper was ended, he took the chalice..."

The changes to the priest’s parts in the Mass are numerous, but a few may stand out for those of us in the pews, particularly in the new forms of the Eucharistic Prayers.  Again, the new language of the Mass, by its very unfamiliarity, offers us a great opportunity to reflect more deeply on the meaning of the words we are now hearing for the first time.

Three changes stand out.  The new language of the epiclesis reads, “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall…”  This beautiful image of dewfall is a poetic echo of the manna in the desert, which came down from heaven each day with the morning’s dew.  It thus reminds us that the Eucharist is our new manna, our bread from heaven.  It also echoes Isaiah 45:8:  "Let justice descend, you heavens, like dew from above..."

Also, rather than refer to “the cup of my blood,” the Eucharistic Prayer now uses the word “chalice.”  This word distinguishes a cup that is used for a sacred purpose as opposed to just any other cup, setting it apart from other vessels.

The change from “for you and for all” to “poured out for you and for many” is a more accurate translation of what Jesus says at the Last Supper (Matt. 26:28). The phrase ‘for the many’, used by Isaiah in the Old Testament, is not a word that implies a limit to God’s gift of salvation; rather, it expresses a sense of abundance and plentitude.  It also reminds us that although Jesus offers salvation to all of us, it is up to us to receive it.

(Information in this post was compiled by Fr. Pat, Jonathan, and Suzanne.) 

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Wednesday Prayer - The Angelus

Praying the Angelus

For centuries, Catholics have prayed the Angelus as a devotion in honor of the Incarnation of Jesus.  The prayer echoes the story of Mary’s Fiat, her consent to become the mother of the Messiah.  Traditionally, the Angelus – a series of Gospel verses punctuated with the Hail Mary (words below) – was said three times daily when the church bells were rung, once in the morning, once at noon, and once in the evening.  Individuals can pray the entire prayer alone, though if the Angelus is prayed by a group, a leader alternates with the assembly. 

In recalling the Incarnation of the Son of God, God made flesh, we pray that we may be led “though his passion and cross to the glory of his resurrection.”  You may recognize Jean-François Millet’s famous painting titled “The Angelus,” which depicts two peasants stopping their work in the fields to meditate on the beauty of the Incarnation, and Mary’s role in that event.  They bow their heads at the words, "And the Word was made flesh..."

The Prayer:

V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary…

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word. Hail Mary…

V. And the Word was made flesh,
R. And dwelt among us. Hail Mary…

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

V. Let us pray.
R. Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His passion and cross, be brought to the glory of His Resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Photo credit:  http://artisword.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/jean-francois-millet-the-angelus-1857-59.gif