O, What a week ahead

Today the Church makes another transition in it's liturgy as we move closer to Christmas.  Most Christians are familiar with the Advent song, "O Come O Come Emmanuel." What many don't realize is that the versed are part of evening prayer and are each assigned to one of the last 7 evenings of Advent beginning today.

December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)
December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)
December 23: O Emmanuel (O God is with Us)

Many in the Spanish speaking world yesterday began their celebration of "Las  Posadas" the nine days that commemorate the search of Mary and Joseph for lodging.  Their search will end on the eve of the 24 when at the doors of the church they are welcomed.

Our Filipino brothers and sisters developed a similar tradition, a novena of masses celebrated now in the early hours of the morning,  which they call "Simbang Gabi." The conclusion retains its Spanish name " Misa del Gallo" (The Mass of the Rooster). The Roman Missal still provides four masses for Christmas: Vigil, Midnight, Dawn, and Christmas Day.

These are but a few of the ways that these last days of Advent are singled out as a time of prayer and special preparation.  That Christ may be reborn in us, and the Antiphon "Hodie Christus natus est" Today Christ is born may come not just from our lips but from our hearts when we gather  to celebrate Christmas.

St. Nick

Today we recall the life of St. Nicholas and remind ourselves of his constant intercession for us still.

Of all our saints, he is probably the most commercialized, but before we complain about the culture we need to look at ourselves. For centuries Catholic children grew up on stories of the lives of the saints. Were some of them exaggerated? Yes, But their primary functions was not to serve as dry history textbooks but to stir the imagination and remind us that with God all things are possible. When we stopped telling our own stories advertisers recognized the inherent power and seized on it.

As I explore the story of the real St. Nicholas what I find most valuable was not that he gave gifts or cared for the poor; many people do that. What I find most inspiring was that he tried to keep his charity secret. Secret charity, truly Christian charity benefits the giver and the receiver. As the givers, our faith calls us to give without seeking anything in return (no plaque, no announcement, not card). For the recipient we allow them to keep their dignity.

I remember well the embarrassment I felt as a child whose family qualified for reduced price school lunch because the lunch ticket was a different color, announcing to the world, every time I went to lunch, that my family was poor.
How often do our systems to help the poor simultaneously rob them of their human dignity, as if being poor is something shameful.

Let us pray on this commemoration of St. Nicholas that our hearts be filled with the same spirit of Caritas.

Actions not words

Today we pause in our Advent celebration and celebrate the Feast of St. Andrew. While the gospel accounts of his call vary, the one assigned for the liturgy is Matthew. In Matthew, Jesus sees the fishermen calls them and immediately they leave everything and follow him. A reader familiar with old testament will on hearing this remember the call of Abraham in Gn 12 where we are told simply that he went.

Sometimes we have to just do what we know to be right. There is a place for reflection, but there are also those moments in life when if we think too much we talk ourselves out of the right choice and rationalize the easy choice.

Sometimes we have to make the leap of faith.

Lord I am not worthy...

The words of the centurion are familiar to all of us because we pray those words every time we celebrate the Eucharist.  Yes, the words are about to change. The new translation will bring the liturgical text closer to the biblical text and the Latin original of the pray with "to have you enter under my roof" in place or "to receive you."
The unworthiness of the centurion is not, however, the center of the passage. More important as he explains is the issue of authority and the power of the word of God.
His acknowledgment of being under authority disturbs us.  We mistakenly misunderstand the concept of freedom. We act at times as if to be free means to not be under the authority of anyone.  The paradox of the gospel is that it is only when we acknowledge the authority and power of Christ in our life that we can find our true freedom: freedom from the power of sin and death, freedom to live the new life Christ gained for us.
Jesus says of the pagan, Roman centurion that no where in Israel had he found such faith. Today we are invited to reflect on is how much we really trust in the power of Christ to change our lives and bring us healing.

St Cecilia

Today we celebrate the patroness of musicians and are reminded once more of the special place that our church has always accorded to music, and in particular to song and chant.

While we may refer to what birds to as singing, it is not. It is technically a whistle. To sing is to combine two of God's great gifts, music and spoken language. And there is a power in this combination to move our very soul, to joy and to tears.

One of the most tragic losses in our liturgy is the loss of singing which seems in many places to have been relegated to the choir. This Sunday we begin a new liturgical cycle let us pray that through the intercession of St. Cecilia our churches may be filled with the sound of the people raising their voices in praise of God.

Dedication of St. John Lateran

If someone were to ask "Which church in Rome is the cathedral of the diocese?", most people would probably answer St. Peter's.
The cathedral church of the Pope is the one we celebrate today, St. John on Lateran Hill. It's real name is "The Arch-basilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist." (interesting to note that both Johns are included in the name.)

It is the one church whose dedication we celebrate throughout the world because as the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, it stands as a symbol of the unity of the universal church. It was consecrated in the year 324 and has seen the church through many successes and failures.

As any old house owner can tell you, if the foundation of the building is good, the rest can be repaired. And the readings today remind us that our church is built on the perfect foundation, Jesus Christ.

As we celebrate the dedication of our ancient church, we recognize it needs some repairs, but with Christ as our sure foundation we have nothing to fear.

The strange response

The response to the apostles today strikes me as strange. Jesus has just finished explaining how even if someone wrongs you seven times in a single day, if they apologize, you are to forgive them, and the response of the apostles is to ask for faith. Jesus tells them faith isn't the issue, when he says "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed..."
It strike me that the real issue in this kind of forgiveness of repeated sin is neither faith nor love, but the third theological virtue, hope.
When some continues to do the same thing over and over again, we loose hope. We begin to believe that they will never change, or worse yet, they can never change. We loose all hope. In a word we despair.
Despair in Christianity is considered a sin. Why? Because it is a denial of the power of God, and Grace.
Science tells us that our physical self is in a constant state of change, even after we die. Our faith tells us until the very last nanosecond of our earthly life, conversion to God is possible.
As long as God exists there is always hope.