faith journey

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Gift of presence

It goes back all the way to the beginning, just after Jesus’ resurrection. The disciples, who walked with Him all the way to Emmaus, only recognized Jesus when He blessed and broke the bread. Jesus is truly present at every Mass and in every consecrated host: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

It’s been many years since I first received Holy Communion, and I remember the songs that we were taught for that Mass, but I really don’t recall much of that day or the experience. However, I do recall the first time I chose to go to the adoration chapel at St. Isaac’s when I lived in Pennsylvania. It seemed like the longest 15 minutes of my life. I didn’t know what to do?! Sitting in silence with people I didn’t know felt very awkward to me. It’s different when one goes to Mass, as we can participate in the responses, so even if you don’t know anyone, you know what you are to say and when to say it. But at that first adoration visit, I really didn’t know or understand what adoration meant. 

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is when a consecrated host is reserved and displayed for prayer and worship. Usually this includes quiet time for individual reflection, but may also include community prayers and/or Scripture readings. The eucharistic host is displayed in a monstrance, usually a gilt-covered stand that resembles a sunburst, with the host being at the center. When the host is being placed in or removed from the vessel, the typical posture is to kneel. However, after reverencing the eucharist with a genuflect or deep bow, it is acceptable to sit, especially for those with medical conditions that prohibit their ability to kneel for any length of time. 

Like many things in life, the best way to learn what to do in adoration is to experience it and practice it. Attending to Jesus in adoration is answering the call He made to the Apostles in the garden of Gethsemane. And there are some people, who like those first Apostles, fall asleep in His presence. I’m not sure if they just feel so relaxed and at peace that they fall asleep or they are just not ready for the silence. I compare it to lifting weights; you can’t start out at 500 pounds, but rather with 5 pounds (or 5 minutes of adoration) until you feel stronger to take on more. Sometimes we do need to push our limits a bit and challenge ourselves to more, but always within reason and being aware of our limitations. The goal would be to work up to spend an hour in adoration.

Adoration is a time to talk to God, specifically Jesus — one to one — no matter how many people are there. Sometimes, and especially as we practice, praying a rosary, a litany, a chaplet, or some other set of prepared prayers is all that we can handle. These prayers are a great way to get the communication flowing, even for the most experienced attendees. There are so many prayers out there that if you wanted to pray them all, I’m not sure you would be able to pray them all in a day! Unless those in adoration are praying together in a community, all prayers should be said in silence. I remember feeling very embarrassed when I went to an adoration chapel in Italy because the door made such a horrendous noise when being open, especially in comparison to the silence in the chapel (you could hear a person turning a page to their prayer book!). I think the locals were used to it, as everyone was able to keep their focus on the eucharist. 

Jesus understands our human needs. By instituting the eucharist at the last supper, He left a way to nourish us spiritually, by receiving Him, but also to spend time with Him in adoration. He is physically there and we can see the host; our eyes have the ability to focus our attention on Him. And while it can be easier to say an Our Father or a Glory Be, we can also pour out our hearts to Jesus. As we become more comfortable in His presence, we can be open to how He chooses to speak to us, either at adoration, or any other moment of the day. Spending time in His presence is like spending time with family or friends; we share ourselves and are attentive to what they share with us. It’s also an opportunity for us to reflect, to think about the ways God works in our life, the blessings He brings, and where we need His aid. 

Jesus gives us the gift of Himself, present in the eucharist. Can you spare a few moments to spend time with Him?

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Holiday versus holy day

As I sat in the salon chair getting my hair cut, I found myself looking at a red, winged cherub. Christmas just ended and here the Valentines decorations were already out. I corrected my thoughts: it’s St. Valentine’s Day.

According to Merriam-Webster, the first definition of the word holiday is holy day. The etymology makes it clear that holy day is the literal translation of the two words that make up this one. Yet over the years it has come to mean a day off from work and is now synonymous with the word vacation. As the meaning has evolved, so has the way many people celebrate these days. While it’s wonderful these holy days have been enthusiastically embraced by secular society, it seems as though the meaning of the holy day has been diluted.

While one may see a bumper sticker that says, “Keep Christ in Christmas,” the celebration of the Christmas holiday overlaps with the celebration of a saint’s feast day earlier in the month. Consider the legendary stories of Saint Nicholas, a bishop in the early church, who is the model for Santa Claus, the magical gift-bearer on December 25th. From a secular perspective, Christmas is about getting people the “right” gifts and attending parties. Christians who make an effort to celebrate Christmas in a meaningful way are able to, but their priorities may conflict with the expectations of those who do not. 

 In February, St. Valentine’s Day is another example of a noteworthy holiday that has been secularized. With such high expectations on romance, even those in a relationship struggle to celebrate the holiday. As a single person, I never feel lonely as much as I do around this day. While I do experience the cultural expectations that every person needs to be in a relationship throughout the year, especially when traveling, the marketing of romance is at its zenith in mid-February and can definitely make a person feel incomplete.  

A month later is the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, where everyone claims to have some bit of Irish ancestry. Here again, another bishop’s memory has been skewed by the culture so that the focus of the day is a beer-drinking party. Some may wear something green, or eat particular Irish dishes, but the good deeds of St. Patrick are mostly forgotten. These holy days are no longer opportunities for us to praise God, but rather to please ourselves. While there is nothing wrong in having a party, drinking beer, buying chocolates and flowers for your spouse, or even gifts for all those you love, these actions should come from our love of God as a natural expression towards those in our life, rather than the focal point of each of these special days. If it weren’t for Christianity, none of these days would be of particular importance. 

We can’t stop the world from secularizing these saints’ days, but we can take steps to make them holy in our life. One way is to learn about the saints and seek their intercession. While Christmas is a holy day of obligation, attending Mass on these other holy days can also help focus our perspective and our celebration. When we  put God first on these holy days, we will receive His grace and blessings and more fully enjoy these holiday celebrations.  

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Listen

Listen. I’ve heard this word several times in several different ways, many of which pertain to the spiritual life. This past Sunday’s first reading was yet again another example  which illustrates the need to listen to God. 

In preparing for Sunday Mass, I usually read the day’s readings to become familiar with them so that I can be open to any inspiration that comes to me when hearing it at Mass. However, this time, hearing the call of Samuel made me chuckle a bit. The reading is taken from the first book of Samuel (3:3-10,19), and to have two books of the Bible named after him, you know he plays an important role in salvation history. Some may not see the humor in the events, but if this was played out on television or in a movie, it would be a comedic scene. We find Samuel — whose mother Hannah prayed for him, weaned him, then dedicated him to the temple —  sleeping in the presence of God. When he hears his name, he immediately runs to Eli, the high priest. Eli, who was not the most faithful of priests, failed to recognize that it was God calling Samuel. It took three times before Eli realized that it could be God calling the youth. Three times the boy goes running to Eli saying, “Here I am, you called me.” Eli sends the boy back to bed twice before telling him how he should respond to God if he’s called again. 

Because Samuel was dedicated to the temple, he was raised there and Eli was responsible for his education. Samuel was a very willing child, jumping up from being awakened in a sound sleep to come to the aid of who he thought was calling him. Notice how respectful God is of Samuel (and of us). He doesn’t say to him, “Samuel, this is God, listen to what I have to say.” Rather He just calls him by name. It’s Samuel who needs to acknowledge the calling and invite God to speak to him. God wants a relationship with each of us; however, He will not force His way on us, we need to invite Him into our lives and be open to the gifts He bestows. Samuel grew up to become the last of the great judges of Israel. When the people ask for a king to rule over them, he is heartbroken on behalf of God, whom they are rejecting as their king. The Israelites want to be “just like everyone else” around them, with a king who leads them into battle. It is Samuel who would anoint the first King of Israel, Saul, as well as the great king who succeeds him, David. 

I firmly believe that God has a wonderful sense of humor, and this portrayal of a calling lessens my anxiety about not responding to God’s guidance immediately. We live in such a noisy world that I do have doubts that I can consistently hear and understand what God is calling me to do. This illustrates how patient God is with us, as well as persistent! He calls Samuel four times before he responds to Him. Are we that persistent with our prayers to God? His timing is certainly different from ours and we can be very quick to dismiss God’s help if it doesn’t come in the time and manner we wish. God is always listening to us, but are we paying attention to Him? 

We may not hear His voice calling us by name, but He does make His presence known to us in a manner that we can understand and accept. For some, hearing the voice of God would be terrifying and nullify our ability to freely choose to listen to Him. Perhaps it’s in our dreams that He makes His way known to us like He did for Joseph. Maybe it’s in the repetition of a word or topic that gets our attention. He created us and He knows the best way to communicate to us. We just need to still our minds and hearts and invite Him into our lives.

“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” 

1 Sam 3:9

Getting unstuck

I’m still very new to weaving, as it’s almost been about 16 months since I took a 3-day weaving class and bought a used 4-harness floor loom. I’ve created some scarves from following a training video for new weavers and some hand towels from a kit I purchased while during my class. I have plenty of things I want to accomplish with it, but I seem to be stuck.

While I’m new to weaving, I’ve been a spinner for about 30 years. I may not have spun regularly throughout that timeframe, but I’ve amassed enough handspun (and more!) to knit a vest that I wore on a cruise to Alaska last year. Yet it’s only recently that I realized I’m doing the same thing in my approach to weaving as I did with spinning: letting the fear of ruining the fiber hold me back from trying. When I was first spinning, I bought lots of different fiber types, and some of the more luxury kinds like cashmere and qiviut, ones that need to be spun very finely, I put off to spin “when I was more comfortable with it.” The trouble with that mindset is that it’s very subjective, there is nothing that quantifies when I’ve reached the experience level needed to tackle those fibers. As I was preparing for my cruise last year, I realized that I had purchased qiviut (the down fiber of a musk ox which is only found above the Arctic Circle) on my first trip to Alaska over a decade ago, and had never spun it. I just couldn’t go on this cruise without doing something with it! While the consistency of the yarn could have been better, once I knit it into a headband to wear on the cruise, I achieved my goal of using the finished article. 

As we journey down life’s road, we can let similar fears make us stuck in our spiritual life. We get into a familiar routine and habits, and we coast along, not even realizing that we are stuck and our growth is stunted. There’s only 24 hours in a day, and most of that is taken up with work, chores, sleeping, and eating; how can we squeeze more time for spiritual devotions? If we attend more than just Mass on Sundays and perhaps pray morning and evening prayers along with a rosary, what more can we do? Some might take a Bible class or assist with a church ministry, doesn’t that “count?” Practicing our faith in prayers and works is always good, but perhaps we stick with these routines because they are comfortable. God may have introduced these practices, simply for that aspect: to learn to practice the faith. But we can’t learn anything new if we don’t try.

Learning can be painful; but some of the best lessons we learn is how not to do something. And whether it is fear or ruining fiber and yarn, or fear of what God is calling us to do next, opening up to new experiences can be scary and disappointing at times. However, the fruit of our labors will be sweet and delicious. I loved wearing my handknit headband and vest in Alaska. And I know pursuing a deeper relationship with God will not only bring me closer to Him in this life, but will help prepare me to spend eternity with Him. 

Sometimes we just need to get out of our own way in order to move forward. We read the parables Jesus taught about the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to search for the lost one or about the prodigal son, and we think that’s for those who don’t believe. But would the God of Love not seek us out when we are stuck in the quicksand of our own fears? Just as Jesus reached out His hand to the fear-filled Peter as he began to sink in the waves, He will reach out to us to help get us unstuck. We need to be ready to ask and accept the help He gives us in whatever way He does, especially when that way is unexpected and surprising.

I have quite a supply of yarn. As I was planning on working a scarf kit on my loom, I realized that if I was so fearful of messing it up, I could try that same pattern with yarn that I was not as concerned about. The measurements may be a bit off, since the yarn for the kit is much finer, but I could at least practice before using the yarn from the kit. Plus I’m making fabric, does it really have to be a scarf or could I make it into something else if I really didn’t like it once it was off the loom? God has given my creativity a whack to unstick me from my fear of weaving. Now it’s my turn to be open to what He has planned next for my spiritual journey….

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Star sign

Pop quiz for you: who were the magi that came to visit Jesus and how many were there? Most people would answer they were “wise men” and there were three of them, but the Bible doesn’t mention how many there were, just that there was more than one. It’s from the number of gifts identified that we surmise the count, one person for each gift named. But who really were these men?

The Gospel of Matthew is the only one that mentions the visit, and the visitors are referred to as “magi,” which Merriam-Webster defines as the plural of magus, a member of a hereditary priestly class among the ancient Medes and Persians. The etymology of the word shares its root with the word magic. These were most definitely NOT descended from the Hebrews/Israelites. According to the Bible footnotes, while the origin indicates a member of the priestly caste, the word has expanded its meaning to a person who has more than human knowledge. In this circumstance, they were astrologers. So, how is it that these men came to visit Jesus, an unknown infant whose parents were poor and unremarkable to their fellow countrymen? 

Out of curiosity, I Googled how far Persia was from Bethlehem. Persia is considered to be Iran and the average distance for traveling between the two is about 1,000 miles which would have taken about three or four months. This is not a trip to be taken lightly or to make just to see what’s going on. This was a journey they prepared for, including provisioning gifts for the infant. Also according to the Bible footnotes, it was an ancient belief that a new star was an indicator of the birth of a new ruler. Was this their purpose in studying the stars? To find out what new rulers were born and visit them to maintain good relationships from a political perspective? It would explain why they visited the palace of Herod first, thinking that the newborn was located there. 

However, “They were overjoyed at seeing the star,” after their audience with Herod (Matt 2:10). This doesn’t sound like they were politically motivated, but rather by the star itself and the destination it heralded. Were they familiar with Israel and any prophecies regarding a rising star? They certainly had knowledge of Israel’s location in order to calculate the distance to where the star was rising over, as well as to calculate supplies for their journey. To gain that much knowledge and experience, they must have had great passion for the subject and much practice in its application. God blessed these men with skills to study and follow the stars so that they would take action when they saw this very special star. 

While in our earthly life, we will never know what it took for those men to make that journey, or even how many did. Was it 2, or 10, or 30? Did it take them 6 months, a year, or longer to complete the roundtrip journey? However, what is captured in the Bible is the importance of the results. The visit of the Magi has long been considered a reflection of the Word being accepted by the Gentile communities, those of non-Hebrew descent. God used what they knew to give them a sign, and they prepared themselves and took action. What does it take for us who are baptized in the Christian faith to see the signs God gives us in our daily lives? Do we seek Him out and take action to deepen our relationship with Him? 

As we  prepare to end our Christmas season celebration with the feast of the Epiphany of our Lord, let us pause and reflect on the “star” signs God has given us in the past, as well as  the wonder and awe in our relationship with the Lord. May we remain vigilant to the opportunities God will call us to in this new year.

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Not just a manger

Merry Christmas! I saw a wonderful meme on Instagram recently that made me chuckle. The picture was of a manger and the caption said: The first king sized bed. Of course that got me pondering  the manger and what all it really is.

The definition of a manger, according to Merriam-Webster is, “a trough or open box in a stable designed to hold feed or fodder for livestock.” It could have been made out of rough timber or even stone back in Jesus’ day. Basically, it was a “table” where animals eat. Jesus came to be the bread of life to us and we come to the table of the Lord each week to consume the Eucharist. I don’t think that is a coincidence. 

Speaking of coming to the Lord’s table, the manger was the first altar, the first place where Jesus was worshiped as the Son of God by Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men. What if a church replaced their altar with a manger, how would we react? Would we be indignant at being treated as if we were animals? Or would we see the depth of humility God illustrated in becoming Man to suffer, die, and be resurrected to bring us to salvation?

When the Ark of the Covenant was in the Temple in Jerusalem, it contained the Mercy seat, the place where God would appear to Moses. I think it could be considered a throne, as God gave lawful direction from there. However, I would say the manger is the first throne of God to have a visible Person on it. As an infant, I don’t think Jesus was sitting on it, but it was where he received the wise men who came to pay homage to the newborn king. The wise men logically first visited the palace, only to find out He was not there. When they came to the crude loggings, what must have been going through their minds? Or were they so awed by the site, that the beauty of God-becoming-Man overwhelmed them and was all their focus on the baby Jesus?

As the Instagram meme right labeled the manger, it was also a bed, or a crib if you want to be more specific. It was a safe place to lay the baby Jesus down, because of its container-like structure, He would not roll off and fall, nor would He roll around on the earth. It most likely was filled with hay, which if you ever felt it, would be one of the last materials you would want for bedding. Even the animals would get straw, which is not much better. It was probably rather prickly to the soft and sensitive newborn skin. It may have been tempered by a few layers of cloth to make it feel not quite so pinchy, but it would need quite a number of layers to make it truly comfortable. 

The manger is a table, an altar, a throne, and a bed. It’s one of the most memorable pieces of “furniture” (if you can call it that) in history. Yet it’s where the Son of God chose to rest His head for the first weeks or months of His life. In His first lesson to us, Jesus illustrates how God chooses the humble to teach the proud. We may all be sinners, but Jesus has a purpose for each one of us: no matter who we are, what we’ve done (or not done), or how far away we may think we are from Him…even the smallest, most seemingly inconsequential things, like a manger, are not beyond His gaze.

Let us spend some time this Christmas season to look upon the Christ child as He lay in the manger and ask Him to direct our thoughts, words, and actions to help others find their way to Him, as the angels did for the shepherds and the star for the wise men. 

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Always prepare, always rejoice

Even though we are in the third week of Advent, Christmas is only a handful of days away. No matter how much we’ve prepared, we are called to rejoice in the commemoration of God becoming Man.

Many of the ornaments on my Christmas tree have sentimental value and my mind goes down memory lane as I decorate. When you stop and ponder the twists and turns of life, sometimes you can see one experience or event that prepared you for another, and which in turn prepared you for another. It’s like we’re in a constant state of preparation, but we’re unaware of it. Or maybe it’s the thought that whatever challenge you’re going through at the moment is preparing you for something in the future; giving you the strength to see you through that difficulty. The same perspective could be used to describe salvation history. The whole purpose of the Old Testament was to prepare the people of one nation to be the bearers of salvation to all the world. Generation after generation, God instructed the Israelites about who He is through the various prophets and holy people of the Old Testament. 

When we think of the New Testament, we think of Jesus and consider all the preparation of the prophets were achieved. Even though John the Baptist is in the New Testament, he is still a prophet of God preparing the people for Jesus. Perhaps his intensive methods correspond to his knowledge that all the preparation was about to meet the expectation: the Messiah. We should take comfort that even up to when Jesus started the very beginning of his ministry, John was still calling people to repent and prepare. For us, God is asking us to prepare up to the final minutes to Christmas, as we celebrate the fourth Sunday in Advent on Christmas eve. In our modern age of instantaneous, our inclination may be to gloss over the fourth Sunday in Advent and go straight into the Christmas festivities. However we only do ourselves a disservice when we rush through the opportunities to practice patience and how to wait. 

When we take the time to prepare, our ability to rejoice seems to be directly affected. When we feel prepared for anything — an exam, an interview, or even Christmas — the more confident we are and the better outcome.  At the same time, our hope in our salvation causes us to rejoice in the preparation. We know God’s love and mercy through the sacraments of penance and Eucharist. By celebrating these sacraments during our preparation we deepen our relationship with God. Year after year, Advent after Advent, we become closer to God, which prepares us for our ultimate purpose: to live in God’s presence forever in heaven. 

In these final days of Advent, let us prepare and rejoice. Jesus, our Savior, was born so He could conquer death by rising from the grave. Even Jesus knows what it’s like to wait; He had to wait 30 years to begin His ministry and complete the purpose God gave HIm. The Advent and Christmas season is the perfect time to lean on God to help us practice waiting while rejoicing in the hope of our salvation.

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Angels and dreams

God sees each person as an unique individual, and that is demonstrated by how He prepared Mary and Joseph to be the parents of Jesus. Each was visited by an angel, but their experiences, at least what we know of them, were vastly different.

Luke’s Gospel shares with us Mary’s encounter with the Archangel Gabriel. There is a conversational exchange that occurs between them. When the angel greets her,  Mary is “greatly troubled  at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” (Lk 1:29) I’ve heard many interpretations that indicate Mary was afraid, but the text doesn’t seem to indicate that. She doesn’t seem to be disturbed that an angel is visiting her, it’s more his message that seems to concern her. But since she is “filled with grace,” has the awareness to ponder the words used by the angel, and, perhaps knowing of the long-awaited Messiah, she recognized the magnanimous and prophetic language that the angel used. Being such a humble young woman, Mary’s interaction does not seem to be fearful, but rather inquisitive and wanting to understand enough  that she acts in accordance with the will of God. The angel departs only after Mary provides her consent to be “the handmaid of the Lord.”

In contrast, it is Matthew’s Gospel that shares Joseph’s perspective (Matt 1:18-25). Matthew only mentions that Mary is found to be with child before they lived together. Joseph, being a righteous man, was going to quietly divorce Mary because he was unaware of how the conception took place. Joseph is then also visited by an angel; however, it is not  “in-person,” so to speak, but rather in a dream. And instead of seeking Joseph’s acceptance of the situation, he is given directions to follow: take Mary into his home and name the child Jesus. The angel does kindly give the how (conceived by the Holy Spirit) and why (to fulfill the prophets and save people from their sins) of Mary’s pregnancy. Upon awakening, Joseph follows the directions he was  given. God communicates twice more to Joseph using this dream method, helping him to protect and care for Jesus.

Why is there a difference between the two communication methods? Could it be that because Mary was immaculately conceived that she could be visited by an angel when awake? While that may have some merit, Luke’s Gospel also gives the account of Gabriel appearing to Zechariah, the husband of Elizabeth and the father of John the Baptist. Zechariah was a priest, and that may have been a factor for sending the angel during the time he was ministering in the temple. A modern perspective would be quick to judge that it was due to Joseph being a menial carpenter that he did not receive a visit by the angel while awake. But logic would refute that. Otherwise why, or how, could God trust Joseph with the Most Precious of all children if He didn’t find him worthy enough to receive an encounter with an angel? Maybe focusing on the angel visit as an indicator of the holiness of the individual is the wrong way to interpret the difference. It could be that the relationship between God and Joseph was so deep, that God trusted him immensely to the point that He knew Joseph only needed to be provided the necessary information in a dream in order for him to take action. (If an angel appeared in a dream to me and gave me instructions, I’m not sure I would be able to follow them upon awakening; I’d probably wonder what it was that I ate or drank that gave me such odd dreams!)

God prepares each of us for the challenges that lie ahead of us in whatever way that we can understand best. He gives us what we need at the time we need it. He knows our human nature too well, thinking we understand more than we do, as well as our propensity to worry and be anxious about things yet to come. We look to Mary and Joseph not to see how God communicates, but that He picks the method that is needed to achieve His purposes. 

Mary at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington DC

Theotokos

Theotokos was once seen as a source of conflict. It means “Mother of God” or “or God-bearer.” In the early Church, there was debate over Mary being the Mother of God, since God is not a created being, yet she is the Mother of Jesus, who is the second person of the Triune God. The Council of Ephesus in the early 5th century confirmed this title on Mary, and the Eastern Church uses Theotokos as one of the titles for Mary.

No one questions that Mary did, indeed, give birth to Jesus. However, recently I was asked, if Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin, did she suffer in childbirth? My very first reaction was to shrug it off to say it doesn’t matter, it’s not a detail worth investigating. But as someone who has never given birth, that perspective could be rather myopic. Perhaps it’s better to take a step back and look at the whole picture of Mary and how God prepared her to be Christ’s mother. 

The fall of Eve produced the following two-fold curse: “I will intensify your toil in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” (Gen 3:16) Eve’s curse is to desire her husband, and the fruit of that is a child. Thus while the desire is initially satisfied with pleasure, the pain of childbirth would be intensified or prolonged, seemingly to be a punishment for the initial desire. Yet, once the child comes, the desire does not go away, and the “curse” begins its cycle again. 

Because God intervened at Mary’s conception to keep her free from the taint of original sin, her desire was to please God. Mary was already betrothed to Joseph when Gabriel came to seek her consent. She was going to be a married woman. Perhaps if she did not give birth to the Son of God, she would have had a large family. Mary’s fiat to God’s plan turned her into a living tabernacle, a living ark of the covenant. What little of Joseph we do know, is that he understood the history of the Israelites and the covenant. He would be familiar with the ark, and that no one but the priests could touch it. He would have been familiar with the account of Uzzah, who reached out a hand to steady a tipping ark during its trip back to Jerusalem at the time of David, and was struck down because he was not worthy to do so. (2 Sam 6:6-9) Joseph realized just how special Mary and Jesus were, he would respect her and not seek to despoil her. From this viewpoint, the second portion of Eve’s curse is irrelevant. And for those who question when the various books in the New Testament refer to Jesus’ brothers, the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the expression is used for those who have a close relationship in the Old Testament. (CCC 500)

Mary made many journeys as a pregnant woman: first to visit Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah (perhaps a “suburb” of Jerusalem?) and back north to Nazareth, and then back south beyond Jerusalem to Bethlehem to eventually give birth. Travel then was long and arduous, regardless of whether she traveled by foot, donkey or cart. After giving birth to Jesus, when she and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple, Simeon predicted a sword piercing her heart, which, while metaphoric, was a true suffering she experienced standing at the foot of the cross. The Church includes Simeon’s prophecy as the first of seven named sorrows that Mary endured. 

If we look again at Genesis, the translation uses the word “intensify,” which to me indicates that there would have been some duration of discomfort and/or pain associated with birth even before the fall of Eve. While the New Testament and Catechism is silent on the detail of how much pain Mary suffered during the birthing process, she would have had some level. But she certainly knows the pain when a child goes missing, is wrongfully accused, tortured, and put to death. Her solace in all of it was the grace of God. He prepared her to be the mother of His Son, and in doing so supported her during all her trials. 

After the visit of the shepherds, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) The grace of God was alive in Mary, even before becoming Jesus’ mother, and intensified afterwards.  On the cross, Jesus gave Mary as mother to John, who represents the Church body throughout the ages. Mary had, and continues to have a relationship with God that is like no other. It is with confidence that we seek her intercession, aid, and assistance in praising God. And if God could prepare Mary so well to be Theotokos, how can we not think that He will prepare us for every blessing and trial in our life … if we let Him.

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Rushed or ready?

I love the Christmas season, really I do! However, When I see Christmas decorations up around homes before Thanksgiving, my heart does sink a bit. I wonder, are they really ready for Christmas or are they just rushing it?

Call me old-fashioned, but I thought the Thanksgiving holiday ushered in the Christmas season. Santa Claus is usually the last float of any parade that day. I only start playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving. In a way, there’s a bit of a pattern to my Christmas preparations: first, I start listening to music and put the outside decorations up. Next, I begin to plan my cookie and bread baking, then shop for the necessary ingredients, and finally make the breads and cookies while listening to Christmas music. Lastly, because of Vera, I put up my Christmas tree in the week prior to Christmas day. It’s like a slow unfolding of the holiday season, just the right amount to be savored. 

When God promised redemption to Adam, Jesus didn’t immediately come. It required preparing a people, starting with Abraham, which grew into a nation through Jacob — which was renamed Israel. Through Moses, the people learned how to be the people of God, which then became a kingdom with David. Even at this point, the people were still not ready, and it took many generations of hardship, exile, and recovery before it was Jesus’ time to come. And when He finally came, He was rejected by those most knowledgeable of God: the Pharisees and the Saduccees. 

The wisdom of the Church gives us the opportunity to prepare ourselves by having 4 “weeks” of Advent, designated by Sundays. Since December 25 falls on a Monday this year, our Advent season is really only three weeks and day. I will gladly use the three weeks to prepare myself and my home for Christmas. I am a different person this year than I have been in previous years. I’ve had different experiences that have changed and shaped me. This year’s preparation for Christmas will be different from previous years, and that’s to be expected. While I may put the same decorations on the same tree I’ve had for years, listening to the same Christmas songs, I will see them in a slightly different way and the nostalgia they bring will be slightly different than they were the year before.  

Each year we need to take the time to prepare for the Christmas season, even if we follow a traditional plan for celebrating. God took His time in preparing humanity to receive Jesus, and we should not be in a rush to celebrate, but take the time to make ourselves ready and open to receive Jesus in the various ways He comes to us: as a baby in the Nativity, in the Eucharist at Mass, and as our judge and advocate at His second coming.