HOLY FAMILY

              FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

                 Cycle “A”: Mathew’s Gospel

Christmas is not necessarily a time of perfect harmony and happy families. It is a time when probably some of us spend too much, drink too much, and eat too much. More families than we care to imagine are torn apart by violence, alcoholism and abuse at Christmas. The lonely feel lonelier than ever, the bereaved experience their bereavement more acutely than at any other time. All this is true; and yet it is here in the family and nowhere else that we experience God’s gift of life. God comes within the chaos, within the discord, the failures, and he sits with us in all the lumpy, wrinkly, pimply, sweaty bodies that we feast with and fight with.

To strive for a better world, for a better family where every child finds welcome and shelter - that is our gift to the world. Of course, we will fail. Even Mary, perfect in her love and faithfulness, was a “failure” in the eyes of the world. From the moment Mary said “Yes” to God, her life was plunged into the kind of traumas that only the most vulnerable and marginalized people experience  -  the traumas of homelessness, of persecution, of becoming a refugee, and finally of watching her son being tortured to death. Mary belongs among those who have nothing to give this Christmas but themselves. Some years ago the bishops of south Asia had their conference in India. At the Offertory of the Mass each bishop brought a gift characteristic of his region: a flower or fruit or some cultural artefact. One of the bishops of Indonesia, whose region had been ravaged by cyclones and floods, came forward with upraised hands. He prayed aloud, “O God, my diocese has been devastated and I come empty handed with nothing to offer but my loss and sadness.” I’m sure God accepted his gift with compassion. When I have tasted my own nothingness, then I am more ready to help someone who has nothing.

The true gift holds nothing back. Because Mary gave herself, the Son of God became truly man and a member of a family. And because Mary gave of her best, she could keep the Holy Family together. Are parents and children giving of their best to keep the families together? The pressures on families today are pretty much the same since the time of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

I was watching a programme on TV one evening. At precisely 9.30 p.m. there was a break, and it wasn’t a commercial. But a message was flashed on the screen. It read: “It’s 9.30 p.m. Where are your children?” Where are the children after 9.30 p.m.? Where are they at other times? Times for meals, for prayers, for evening study? Can the whole family sit together for the principal meals, and pray together for its own stability and happiness? Or is the home a cheap hotel where people come and go as they please, without permission or information?  Have obedience, discipline and punctuality become unmentionable words?  Shall we insist that our children be educated into integral and competent human beings or turn out to be half-baked specimens of humanity, unable to face a highly competitive world? Again, shall our children learn from us our prayers and refined vocabulary or monosyllabic expletives and words of destructive criticism? People, especially children, do not become good by being told to; they must be charmed into goodness, which, like love, is caught, not taught.

The environment in which we have been raised and in which we raise our children is essential to our formation and development. A family is a very human environment; in fact, the first to which a child is introduced: the happiness, the pain, the drama and the day-to-day events of our lives are lived within the confines of the family. God chose to mould and form his Son within the environment and culture of a particular family. He hasn’t broken the mould, since, and thrown it away, because in his mind the family continues to be the place of goodness, love and emotional sustenance.

The Holy Family of Nazareth tells us that in God the Christian family is not extinct.

PRAYER by Thomas Ken (1637 – 1711):

O God, make the door of this house wide enough to receive all who need human love and friendship, but narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride, and malice. Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children, nor to straying feet; but strong enough to turn away the power of evil. God, make the door of this house a gateway to your eternal kingdom. Grant this through Christ, Our Lord.

NEW CREATURES IN CHRIST

NEW CREATURES IN CHRIST                  New Year's Eve is always a bittersweet time. "Out with the old; in with the new!" Yet even the hard times that we experienced over the last year often had something about them that we wish to remember. That's one reason why it seems so appropriate to mark the New Year by celebrating the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. Saint Luke tells us that, after being visited by the shepherds after the birth of Christ, "Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart." Yet only a few verses later, Simeon tells Mary, "thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed." The mystery of our salvation encompasses both joy and sorrow, and no one exemplifies that truth more than the Mother of God herself. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18–19) God’s Word is wonderful, telling us continually that he is in the renewal business. It is exciting being a Christian because we anticipate that God will always do something new and exciting in our life. Our responsibility is to place ourselves in a position so God can work through us. How do we do this? First, we need to stop dwelling on the past. When we dwell on the past, it is like trying to drive a car always looking in the rear view mirror. There is nothing we can do about our past except to put aside the parts that pull us down, and to learn not to make the same mistakes in the future. God is always moving. He is in the creation business. He is in the renewal business. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV) We are new creatures in Christ: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV) If we walk in faith, he will provide “the way in the wilderness” and streams in the spiritual desert of this world. If we are sensitive to his leading we will recognize that he is in the process of doing a new thing in us and through us. When this happens, it exciting to know we are in the centre of God’s will. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead…” (Philippians 3:12–13, NIV)

May the coming year be one of increased riches of grace—hearing His voice more clearly, knowing His heart more deeply, resting in His love more fully, trusting His care more completely, walking His pathway more peacefully, knowing His presence more intimately, blessed by His goodness more abundantly.

And in all things, may you know the shalom peace of God—encouraging you to move forward, empowering you to boldly take each step, greeting you as you turn a new corner, calming your heartbeat as you walk through dark valleys, softening each footstep as you climb rugged mountains, and increasing your courage as you follow your Shepherd wherever He leads.

You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom     with joy.

Psalm 65:11-12

IT’S CHRISTMAS AGAIN

IT’S CHRISTMAS AGAIN !

 Christmas Day is here, and once again we kneel near the manger crib of our Infant Saviour. No angels have we heard on high carolling his praises, no brightness has paled the starts of night to herald the birth of the Child of eternal years. Only the steady light of faith has dispelled the night of our hearts. And it’s Christmas again ! Last Christmas is long ago; and perhaps the slow-going year had brought an unexpected load of sorrow into our lives. We may have had days and weeks of anxiety that none could share with us. Perhaps it was on us the others leaned, and we had to hide the gnawing care of our own hearts. It may be the bright days have been few and the dark days many. It may be the shadow of the Cross was hard against our path, even as it falls across the crib of Bethlehem.

But all that is hidden now as we join the silent, wonder-struck adorers of the first Christmas night. Mary, our Mother is here; and good St. Joseph. And yet, because we are slow in virtue we may feel out of place with them. Mary’s untold love and Joseph’s unfailing devotion seem so far beyond the reach of our faint efforts. Somehow it is best to take our place among the lowly shepherds, content just to be there and happy just to find comfort in the presence of our King and Maker, baby as he is. We shall join the wide-eyed hillside herdsmen and say our simple prayers with them, wondering at “that which has come to pass, which the Lord has shown to us.” In childlike broken speech with them we shall tell our God that we too have come to welcome him, the days of austere anticipation now over. With them we shall offer the gifts of the poor of the earth: the weakness of our bodies, the darkness of our ignorance, the poverty of our people. Then with deep trust we shall lay the future at the manger’s edge; the future hidden with its unknown freight that only time will bring to light. And we ask the Infant to strengthen our hearts and make them more like his as the days slip by into eternity. And as the gift of prayer makes us more receptive, we can listen to him. Nothing great he puts before us to achieve except to love him, to be faithful to him, to love one another for him, to believe in his love for us, and witness to him faithfully.

For many people at Christmas there is great emphasis on what they are going to get. So it’s good to remind ourselves on that gift that was wrapped up in circumstances of deepest poverty: a hayrack for a bed, an ox and ass for nurses, the cobwebs for canopy.

There were quite a few donkeys involved in the life of Jesus: his birth, flight in to Egypt, and triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Perhaps the Gospels wish to give us an idea of the type of people Jesus Christ had to deal with! And even though each Christmas I find myself between the doctrine and the donkey, I trust I know enough to realise that life consists may be in gifts, but certainly not in gots. And the best and noblest gift is that of the self. So it’s a good idea, especially at a time when we are expecting things from people, to check on what we can do without, to detach ourselves from all created things, and help bring about that day when words like pleasure, power and possession will not mean more to us than ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. The challenging meaning of the Christmas story reveals this.

It tells us that even though God is infinitely different, he remains the God of the Christmas night, coming close to us on his own initiative and saving us the need to rend the heavens to access him. “The Word became flesh.” God has entered human history in Jesus Christ as Mary’s Child and his own Son. He carries the history of all peoples now. And yet God remains very unobtrusively present in the world, nowhere forcing himself on people but standing at the door and politely addressing himself to man as he did at the Annunciation. He is as defenceless as a child, his steps as hesitant as a stranger’s finding his way in this world. For God is so great that he can allow himself to become a child. He is so strong that he can appear weak. He is overwhelmingly attractive that he draws everyone without force or compulsion. He is that almighty he can bind people to himself without limiting their freedom.

I was struck by Mary’s response to all the excitement she witnessed around the birth of the baby Jesus. The Angel of the Lord brought “good news of great joy for all people” to the shepherds, and they “went with haste” to find Jesus. They told everyone around them about the good news – including Mary. But she didn’t jump up and down like she’d won the lottery, she didn’t high-five everyone who crowded into the stable, she didn’t burst into song or do a victory dance. She “treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”

So let us look at the Babe again. He comes into this world, dispossessed Infinity, naked and cold that we may restore him everything: the universe for his stable, and for his manger our hearts and their warmth.

“May the little hand of Christ bless our year,

And the great heart of Jesus hold us dear.

And all blest and happy things

Which the love of Immanuel brings

Be ours until another Christmas is here.”

“TANNENBAUM” AND TINSEL

“TANNENBAUM” AND TINSEL

(Christmas Myth and Fact)

          G.K.Chesterton, that humanist and wit, was asked to write some words on the flyleaf of a child’s book, and after a moment of thought he wrote these lines:

 “Stand up and keep your childishness,

                                    With all its shrieks and strictures.

                                         And don’t believe in anything

                                         That can’t be told in pictures.”

And Lewis Carroll has Alice saying, “What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations.”

          The Christmas story is told in the most vivid colour pictures: bright angels carolling “Glory”, startled shepherds hurtling downhill to see the babe, exotic magicians (“magi”) riding in from the East on bouncy camels. Take that bit about the shepherds, that notorious bunch of congenital liars. Through that cameo God was thought to be telling his people that the much awaited Messiah would have the caring qualities of a shepherd; a shepherding king who would put the finishing touches to his ancestor David who was guarding his father’s flock when summoned to kingship. When the shepherd had seen and worshipped the Infant Messiah they had something new to talk about. The gospel says that “everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds said to them.” Understandably, since they were hearing the good news from the mouths of inveterate fibsters !

          Believers know the story well and have often let their sentimentality enhance the details. Painters, hymn-writers and poets have helped to make the baby Jesus narrative as familiar as the accounts of Christ’s death and resurrection. The Bible’s picturesque language to describe the birth of Jesus is quite different from the workaday talk of people. We use language to make the literal statements to convey precise information, like the Mumbai Mail will get into Howrah Station at the scheduled 7.20 a.m.(a modern miracle !), like there’s a traffic snarl on Main Street, like there was an uproar in the Lok Sabha yesterday (ho hum). This language is literally and easily understood, with a clear reference to the business of living. Most of our language is factual, prosaic and unimaginative, the sort of medium to cope with daily events. We want to know when the train is going to arrive, or what took place in the Lok Sabha. But what happens when we try using language literally to describe extraordinary experiences or extraordinary people ?  If you were asked to describe a friend, and you answered, “He’s a gem”, literally understood, you would take your friend to a jeweller to be valued. Or if you describe a particular dish as “out of this world”, literally understood, are we to think you went into orbit to taste it ? When we want to talk about people or experiences that have made an impact on us, literal language is utterly inadequate, and to try testing what is said in literal terms is absurd.

          So if we are going to read the Christmas story properly, we must be able to tell the difference between the precise information and the picturesque language in which it comes wrapped. The Christmas story is as simple as it is stunning; and a common carol has it:

                             “The Maker of the stars and sea

                              Became a child on earth for me.”

The common language we would use to describe the arrival of a train or the price of a cup of tea cannot begin to do justice to that. The language of the Bible is often like the language of poetry or classical music that needs imagination or acquired taste to be relished. Unfortunately, our age is not so much of imagination as of precision. In this computer wonky world everything is reduced to exact data, and the idiot box has taken over our fancy-free function. So, what hope for the Christmas story ? None at all, unless it is understood that what was written with imagination must be grasped with imagination. And then the fact of the Babe Messiah enfleshing the God of help and healing could make sense.

          So why pack the myths and metaphors of Christ’s coming away with the Christmas tree and tinsel ? First of all there is a time for revelling in the myth and a time for facing the truth. If we carry the myth into our precise world we would be tempted to rhapsodise the message of Christmas as other-worldly: angels and shepherds with no mud on their boots, and “the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes” (which would certainly make his parents rush him to the post-natal clinic in a panic !). Bishop Hugh Montefiore once started his Christmas sermon with the startling question: “What would have happened if Mary had had a miscarriage or if Joseph had stood the baby on its head ?” If we take what Christmas was all about seriously and don’t let the vivid pictures say it all for us, then Christmas is about God taking the risk of coming among men and women without any insurance. God’s willingness to run risks for the sake of one risky delight called Christmas might boggle our minds. So God risked miscarriage, disease and death. And he got a very cruel death, and that on a day that some people have since dubbed “Good” Friday. Incarnation is not without its price, because the incarnation of God means what it has always meant - something messy, noisy, smelly, bloody and painful. And that is the real world where we live, the world of every man and woman whose common denominator is suffering. So long as people want to imagine that the reality of God’s world can be restricted to a candyfloss realm of myth and make up, the message of God’s coming among people can be dismissed as something that “don’t belong here.” Perhaps the colourful pictures that people the Christmas story are needed, but only because they dress up a soul shattering truth.

CHRISTMAS DAY

CHRISTMAS  DAY

“Oh little town of Bethlehem,

how still we see thee lie.”

That’s how one much loved carol begins. Today we can make an imaginary journey to  the Bethlehem that we sing about at Christmas.  As you enter the town, you are greeted by a large banner across the road. In Hebrew it says “BERUCHIM NABAIM”  --  “Blessed is He who comes”;  and in Arabic another banner proclaims “AHALAN  veSAHALAN”  --  which means “My tent is yours.”  What a graceful welcome home, because this place is where our Christian family had its beginnings. Then there is the Church of the Nativity. It stands in the centre of the town. It was built more than 1600 years ago, i.e. third century.  It was built over the cave which the early Christians venerated as the place where Jesus was born. The solid wooden beams which you will see above were put in a thousand years later, i.e. in the 14th. Century. These beams are made of English oak donated by King Edward III.  The main entrance of the Church was solidly walled up; that was to stop soldiers from riding in on horseback. So now the only way to enter into the vast church is through a tiny postern gate. You have to bend almost double to avoid banging your head.

It is a sort of parable, it has seemed to me, that no one can come to see the place where Jesus was born without bowing low, making this act of humility and submission. It is as if the very stones were saying to you: “You’ve got to stoop here, pilgrim, in this place where God has stooped so low for you.”

Because it is a very strange thing that we Christians have to preach to the world:  that you can no longer look for God where people mostly look  -  up there, out yonder, up in the heavens.  No, he is here, in something as utterly human as the birth of a baby.  “But that doesn’t look like God,” we can hear ourselves saying.  And the reply comes back: “Who knows what God looks like ?”  Then again you say, “Well, this is nothing like my  idea of God !”  And the reply comes back:  “Very likely, and it  is your  idea of God which has to go.”

How odd that our way of thinking should always have insisted that God is power, domination, infinity, and awesomeness. Why is that odd ?  Because when we actually reach the moment of truth, what we find is weakness, helplessness, powerlessness and dependency.  For us, the birth of Christ means that the indescribable mystery we call God can only be found in someone as utterly human as you and me.  And as utterly open to hurt, disappointment and failure. A new-born baby is one of the weakest forms of animal life. It is so easy to kill a baby.  Mere neglect will do that. (God forbid !)  God has put himself into our hands.

Today, what we are saying to God is, “We believe in you.”  Today, what God is saying to us is, “And I depend upon you. “ 

Finally, there are some people who say sadly that they would have better appreciated the birth of Christ had they lived 20 centuries ago. This is rubbish.  Even those who will live at the end of the world will not have been born too late.  Jesus is always with us, always asking for room in our hearts.  John Betjeman stresses the same point in his carol:

“No love that in a family dwells

No carolling in frosty air,

Nor all the steeple-shaking bells,

Can with this single truth compare

That God was man in Palestine

And lives today in bread and wine.”

I wish everyone a Christmas filled with joy and a life as gentle as only a four year old can picture it.  Do remember, though, this advice of a sage:

“Peace is so much more than a season

It’s a way of life and a state of reason.”

PRAYER poem  of Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889)

Moonless darkness stands between

Past, O Past no more be seen !

But the Bethlehem Star may lead me

To the sight of him who freed me

From the self that I have been,

Make me pure, Lord, Thou art holy;

Make me meek, Lord, Thou wert lowly;

Now beginning, and alway;

Now begin, on Christmas Day.