FrNikola

Christmas Octave, 5th Day

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Today’s Gospel reminds us that the Holy Spirit didn’t just come onto the scene at Pentecost. The Spirit has been intimately involved in the work of salvation from the beginning. Simeon, at the prompting of the Spirit, is about to meet someone for whom he’s been waiting his whole life. He didn’t know when, he didn’t know how, but when the moment came the Holy Spirit led him to the baby Jesus in the Temple and revealed Jesus to be the Christ. Simeon didn’t just rejoice for his own sake at finally meeting the Messiah, but for all of Israel that had been waiting for him.

Everyone talks about meeting that special someone, but actually, beyond a spouse, we all have a special someone we need to meet and love: Our Lord. We’ve already met him sacramentally through baptism and while we live a life of grace he is always with us. The Spirit also dwells within and will lead us by the hand if we allow it to experience Our Lord in our hearts and know him better in order to love him completely, just as he loves us. It’s an awareness of being loved that spurs us to love in return and rejoice at being loved.

Simeon had to wait his whole life, but we don’t. Ask the Spirit to help you experience Our Lord more deeply as that special someone who will change your life for the better.

Readings: 1 John 2:3–11; Psalm 96:1–3, 5b–6; Luke 2:22–35.

The Holy Innocents, Martyrs

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Today’s Gospel recalls that when Herod received word that the prophecies regarding the Messiah were starting to be fulfilled he saw it as nothing other than a threat to his leadership. In his twisted obsession with power he thought a toddler was a threat to his reign. Little did he know that he wouldn’t even live long enough to know the Messiah as a a grown up. Today the Church remembers those little children who were a victim of Herod’s “profiling” to ensure his power. The Church believes that even when someone unbaptized dies for Christ, their shed blood “baptizes” them. The Holy Innocents are remembered as martyrs for having shed their blood for Christ. Even though they’d never known him in their short lives, they died for him and came to know him in eternity when his earthly mission was complete.

We remember the Holy Innocents during the Christmas octave because their witness came during Jesus’ childhood, but the suffering of these innocents reminds us of so much suffering by innocent children in the world today: abortion, abuse, child soldiers, trafficking, and so many other forms of exploitation. The Herods of today are ideologues, exploiters preying on the weak, or simply those who see children as a threat to their autonomy, lifestyle, or well being. We must pray children at risk, but also work so that every child is safe, protected, and cherished.

Let’s ask the Holy Innocents to intercede today for all children in danger and at risk, but also to pray that those responsible change their ways and seek forgiveness for what they’ve done.

Readings: 1 John 1:5–2:2; Psalm 124:2–5, 7c–8; Matthew 2:13–18.

Holy Family, Cycle C

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In today’s Gospel, after Mary and Joseph spent days searching for Jesus, only to find him in his “Father’s house”, what they don’t say to each other speaks volumes. Mary doesn’t say, “not another word out of you young man, get on that camel right now.” Joseph doesn’t say, “you are going to be sweeping the wood shop until the broom breaks.” Jesus doesn’t say, “I am twelve years old, and I happen to be the Son of God, so you just take care of the house and the wood shop and I’ll save the world, okay?” They didn’t understand completely why Jesus did what he did, but they loved and accepted it, and Mary guarded all these things in her heart. Jesus counted on them to understand and accept him, just like every good family does.

We all take our family for granted. “For granted” doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate them and show gratitude for all they’ve done, and are for us. A family is a gift, and our family is our family no matter what they do or don’t do on our behalf. We feel that all too well when we don’t respond to the love shown us by our family, or when we lose a member of our family unexpectedly and see what a hole that leaves in our life. We count on our family, and that reliance on our family reflects the reliance we should have on God. When we can’t count on our family, it’s hard for us to count on anything else, even God. We all know of truly tragic and heart-breaking family situations – divorce, children lost to drugs, squabbles over inheritances, misunderstandings, even betrayals – but even in those situations we don’t lose sight of the ideal which Sirach reminds us of in the First Reading: a father and mother set in honor and authority over their children, children revering and praying for their parents, obeying them and caring for them when they grow old, and the blessings God showers on children who do so. This model of mutual respect, help, and reliance is meant to be reflected in our society as well, so when it’s not lived in the family it’s no surprise that society suffers as a result. Our family is more than what they do or don’t do for us, and more than what they mean or don’t mean to us: they are our family. God’s given them to us.

The family God’s given us as a gift is the bedrock of love on which we build our love. Sunday in the octave of Christmas is about the Holy Family. Our Lord is telling us today that family is more than just something to take for granted. Our family ties, be they biological or adoptive, are the bedrock for love. They’re more than a simple hereditary or social obligation. We build on them by loving and being loved in return, and sometimes even loving when we’re not loved in return. Christ reveals God to us as Father. Not just as his Father, but as wanting to be Our Father as well. When we realize that we are chosen by God the Father as his adopted children, and as his creation, we see how a holy family should be, as St. Paul reminds us in the Second Reading: holy and beloved.

We’re made holy by sharing in the life of God, through our Baptism, and we are beloved because we have received the gift of life itself, no strings attached. We build our love on that bedrock of divine love by bearing with one another and forgiving each other when grievances come, just as the Lord has forgiven us for all those times we haven’t shown him the love he deserved. With a spirit of gratitude to God for the gift of life and the gift of his son we serve and love each other in our family, avoiding bitterness and provocations and disobedience. “Obedience” grates on ears today, in a world that’s so obsessed with autonomy and self-reliance, but in a family it means acknowledging the gift God has given us of someone we can rely on. We show gratitude by obeying, and it reminds us that being someone relied on can be a big sacrifice and responsibility as well.

Finally, we can’t forgot those who’d categorize their family experiences as more of a trauma than what we’ve considered today. God calls our loved ones to love, and sometimes they don’t respond to that call. It’s the mystery of human freedom and sin. He calls us to love as well, and when we consider Christ’s example we know our love can’t be tarnished by a lack of love from others. Don’t feel left out in the cold: the Holy Family always has room for you, and the Church is always praying for you. The bedrock of love is always there, and forgiveness, even when a loved one doesn’t show it, is the balm that will bring you peace and consolation. Don’t be afraid to say “I forgive,” and don’t be afraid to say “I’m sorry” either. It’s often the trigger for many people rediscovering that the bedrock of love on which their lives are built is not buried that deep after all. It doesn’t mean that you’ll forget, and many times it doesn’t mean that what happened will hurt any less, but it will give you a peace that the world can’t give.

Let’s pray today that families be united in love, like the Holy Family, that those separated by misunderstandings and squabbles may find reconciliation, and that the whole Christian family may be re-united to God the Father through his son.

Readings: Sirach 3:2–6, 12–14; Psalm 84:2–3, 5–6, 9–10; Colossians 3:12–21; Luke 2:41–52.

St. Stephen, First Martyr

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The Feast Days of martyrs were often referred to as the dies natalis: the “birthday” of the martyr into eternal life, which is why it’s fitting that we celebrate the first martyr, St. Stephen, during the octave of Christmas. Christmas didn’t end with Christmas Day: it is a solemnity that we celebrate for eight days, and many of those days, like today, celebrate something related to Our Lord’s birth and childhood. Alongside the apostles the martyrs were the most venerated saints in the early Church: martyrdom was the greatest witness you could give to Christ and the greatest imitation of him to which you could aspire.

Today’s First Reading abridges the account of St. Stephen’s martyrdom, but even the moments recalled in the reading show how well his witness reflected what Our Lord warned us to expect in today’s Gospel. St. Stephen was set apart for a special ministry by the apostles because he was full of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 6:1-6), and the Spirit makes his arguments invincible when his detractors debate with him and accuse him. Even as they drag him outside of the city and stone him to death he entrusts himself to Our Lord and also forgives his killers.

At the end of the account it mentions Saul, who would some day be St. Paul. In that moment he approved of St. Stephen’s killing; later he would be a great apostle and follow St., Stephen into martyrdom. In today’s Gospel Our Lord tells us not to worry when our faith is called into question. We shouldn’t seek martyrdom, but we shouldn’t shy away from it either: St. Stephen sought to give witness to Christ, no matter where that led him. Let’s ask St. Stephen today to help us give witness to Christ no matter what the world may think of us. Through our witness even the most hardened souls might come to Christ.

Readings: Acts 6:8–10, 7:54–59; Psalm 31:3c–4, 6, 8ab, 16bc, 17; Matthew 10:17–22. See also 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.

Christmas, Mass During the Day

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It’s fitting that for the Mass during the day on Christmas the Gospel should be taken from the prologue of John the Evangelist: daytime is the brightest moment on Christmas Day, and John’s Gospel reflects a long life contemplating the wonder and mystery of God. We need spiritual light to reveal the profundity of this day. We need to gaze upon the manger, gaze upon the baby Jesus, and remind ourselves: “this is God, and he’s come to save and love me.” In a cave in Bethlehem, probably in a little hollowed out part of rock filled with some straw, God was born as a baby boy for me. What does that say about him, and what does that say about me?

As John reminds us in today’s Gospel, the true light that enlightens everyone has come into the world with the Incarnation and birth of Jesus. The Second Reading reminds us that in Jesus God has now said it all. It was unexpected and, to many, unobserved, but starting with the Holy Family those who received him in faith gained the ability to become, like the Son, children of God. We gaze today upon the baby Jesus in a manger and see the Word whom God the Father had in mind when he created the whole world. The baby Jesus is the key that unlocks the meaning of our existence here on earth; and even in a manger the Word is communicating to us.

Let’s kneel in spirit today before God in a manger and ask him to fill us with grace and truth.

Readings: Isaiah 52:7–10; Psalm 98:1–6; Hebrews 1:1–6; John 1:1–18.