January 1, 2011
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
The other night I was invited out to dinner by two young couples who have small children and as is often the case, the conversation not only turned to their children, but even to their births. I was particularly struck by the comment on one of the mothers when she and her husband were trying to decide what name to give their first child. She said “After our son was born and they placed him on my chest and I looked into his eyes and he looked at me, right then I knew what his name would be.” I was struck by the power of looking another human being in the face and most especially a newborn. It reminded me of the first time I saw my niece, Jennifer, now nearly 33 years old, when she was less than 24 hours old. I looked at her and she looked at me and there was great emotional power in that moment knowing that our eyes were making contact for the first time.
We hear in the Gospel today that Jesus is given his name, eight days after his birth. When the Gospel speaks of Mary “pondering all of these things in her heart” on one level, it would mean that her experience is like that of all mothers who reflect on the experiences of the birth of their children and the first days and weeks of their lives, moments that often carry deep emotion, moments that don’t include the exchange of words but often include the looking of one face to the other, one set of eyes into the other. Think for the moment of the power looking into the face of any human person, but especially that of a baby. Who can resist looking a baby directly into their eyes, doing their darndest to get some kind of reaction out of the little one? What joy they feel if their antics somehow produce a smile or a laugh.
It isn’t always easy to look into the face of another person. In fact we will often quickly look away if a stranger catches our glimpse or if we have hurt or offended someone, it can be almost impossible to look them in the face. The question of the Old Testament was “Who can look at the face of God and live?” There was certainly the sense that the divine face was too powerful, to all-knowing, too holy for us who are lowly, weak and sinful to be able to even dare to think about looking at God’s face.
Yet there is also the understanding that God looks at us. In psalm 139 we read “O Lord, you have probed me and you know, you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar” (vs. 1 &2) and “Your eyes have seen my actions” (vs. 16). Psalm 139 expresses God’s great desire to look at us, into our face, into our heart, into our very soul.
On this feast of Mary, the Mother of God, we celebrate the gift of every mother, the gift of looking into the face of her child. How can we possibly be afraid to look at the face of the baby in the manger? Yet this is the face of God!
In the first reading from Numbers we hear of God speaking to Moses instructing him to tell Aaron to give the priestly blessing by saying “The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you!” The Hebrew word for face is panim a noun with multiple meanings that expresses the attitude, the feelings, the character, the personality of God. In others words, God’s very self is invoked in that blessing. The fullest sense of the power of God’s face is seen in a vulnerable baby born in abject poverty in a place where animals eat. His face is one that we cannot resist to look at with peace, joy and love. And this face of God is who looks at us and calls us by name. The new translation of the missal picks up on the importance of God’s countenance or God’s face, so we hear that expression sprinkled throughout the prayers of the new missal.
Once we know that God looks at us with the same love that a Mother looks at her child and once we know that we are called to look at God’s face with the same wonder that we look at newborn baby, then we can begin to her to hear God’s call to look at each other in a new way. If God accepts us in our weakness, what better way for us to show honor and respect in our weakness, than to love others in their weakness with the same love that God shows us?
The next time you look into someone’s face, a friend or a stranger, your spouse or child or grandchildren, remember that you are also looking into the face of God who lives in them and more importantly, that God is looking at you.
Christmas Eve Mass at Night
December 24 & 25, 2011
Every year the readings for Christmas Mass at Night are the same yet each year Christmas is different. Notice with the new missal that it is no longer the Mass at Midnight, but the Mass at night. That alone is a change, although there are changes that are much more profound than that. We are different from one year to the next, our lives are constantly changing. The children that were in grade school when I arrived at St. Anthony are graduating from college, getting jobs, joining the military in some cases, getting married and some have already had children. People who were young parents are welcoming in-laws and grandchildren into the family. We are never the same one year to the next. Perhaps at Christmas we notice these changes because we either see each other in person or receive pictures that mark the change from year to year.
I have preached the same readings for Christmas for 26 years now and I never tire of them because they are rich in meaning. Each year something stands out in a new and different way and this year is no different than the others.
This year the opening words from the second reading, the letter of St. Paul to Titus came to me again and again as I prayed over these readings for Christmas night. Here they are again “Beloved: The grace of God has appeared.”
That first word, “Beloved” is full of meaning. How seriously do we take that we are beloved by God? Too often it we are hard on ourselves, or we feel that we don’t match up with others expectations of us. Yet St. Paul calls us “beloved” and who else can we be when we consider that God took on our weak human flesh through the birth of His only Son? We sinned in our human flesh and God took on that sin though sinless himself, by the birth of Christ in the manger.
The next five words as well are full of meaning: “The grace of God has appeared”. The choice of the this simple five words remind me of the second reading from Christmas day, from Hebrews again the first words of the reading: “Brothers and sisters: In times past, God spoke in partial and various way to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last day, he has spoken to us through the Son.” The grace that appears through the birth of the Son of God puts together the puzzle of the messages of the prophets. What was previously unclear is now made clear, what were once the inspired words of the prophets spirit is now the Word made flesh.
The grace of God appears on Christmas night in the wood of a manger, and that wood takes on new meaning as Jesus takes on the wood of the cross. The wood of the manger and the wood of the cross are one. The poverty of his birth and the shame of his death as a criminal point to the grace that appears, not just on Christmas but in every step of Jesus life, in his growing up in the home in Nazareth, his 40 days in the desert, his three years of public ministry, his passion death, resurrection, his ascension and his sending the Holy Spirit to give birth to the Church. Since then the grace of God appears on each Christian who is baptized and who serves him. St. Paul then calls us not to live for ourselves, but for him who gave everything to us, by rejecting “godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly and devoutly.” We could spend much more time than what this homily allows to explore what those words really mean for us. To live temperately is an important word.
Jesus who was born in our human flesh calls us to use our flesh, our bodies for what is good and moral. By his death he purchased our bodies that were once captive by sin and at what a price! To live justly means to be concerned about the needs of others, to strive in every way for a world where the dignity of every human person is respected from it natural beginning to its natural end. To live devoutly is to be in close relationship with Jesus Christ through daily prayer, reading of the scriptures and regular celebration of the sacraments.
This Christmas will be truly different from the rest if we make the commitment to grow in temperance, justice, and devotion to our Lord who gives everything to us.
St.Anthony Parish, 314 S 4th St. Renton, WA 98057; 425-255-3132