Gospel Reflections for December 20 2015
Do you think your Christmas will be smaller this year? I hear that from a number of people who feel tougher economic conditions or frightening world events at this time. I hear it from families and on the news. But is this the first time this has happened? Not really. This Gospel also presents people who thought their times were tough and then much to their pleasant surprise …changed their view!
Mary assumed she would never have a child because she had taken a vow of celibacy, as very devout Jews often did at that time. Her cousin Elizabeth, who had deeply wanted a child, was an elderly and barren woman that no one ever thought would have a child.
Bethlehem was a very small village in which no one believed anything important would ever happen. Finally, the land of Judea, where both Mary and Elizabeth lived, was a long way from Rome, the capital of the world where everything important happened, and so nothing meaningful could ever occur in this small Middle Eastern country. All of this changes when the message of salvation comes to Mary.
Perhaps God likes to arrive at the least expected place and appear to the least expected person. That way, no one or no place can ever claim credit for having deserved it. Blessings are always the free initiative of God. Perhaps God actually looks for humble places to be born, to virgins who least expect it, and elderly women who would never believe it. When God appears, it is His freely chosen act and not of our doing. That changed Mary, Elizabeth, Bethlehem, and Judea into stories of success, something they never expected.
If you feel especially humble this year, if you feel like a child in a small stable in Bethlehem, or an elderly person for whom life has passed you by, then you are just the place that Our Lord is looking to be born.
God is seeking the person out of work, the marriage beset with arguments, the company in debt, or a young person in crisis. He is looking for you …you are the just the place that Our Lord would like to change.
The essence of the Christmas story is that everything and everyone can change for the better. With Christ, no one is a victim of their past. If we are open to His grace, then what we might think is the end of the road is the only the beginning of a new and wonderful story of salvation.
God Bless!
Fr. Dave
Thank you, Fr. Dave, for your beautiful reflections!
Your are welcome!
You are welcome!
Thank you for your reflections. I am 80 years old caring for my husband who is fast losing his eyesight. I often feel that life has passed me by. I graduated summa cum laude from college when I was 48 but no one would hire me because I was “too old.” When I graduated high school I wanted to be a teaching nun, but my parents would not hear of it. At that time you had to be 21 to do anything without parental consent I prayed so hard after I was beset with panic attacks at 19. I was working and did not fit into the secular world. I thought I was losing my mind, and in 1954, no one had heard of panic attacks. So I gave up aspiring to a religious vocation because I was sure the Mother Superior would not want someone like me. At 23 I married and has four daughters. I have struggled with a husband who is a strict, severe authoritarian, although he seemed very kind when we were dating. He has never known about my panic attacks nor has anyone else. I tried to raise my daughters as Catholics but only one follows the faith, raised her three kids and converted her husband. The others are good people and pray but find nothing attractive about our church. Now I am here in Utah with a 91-year-old man who is no comfort to me whatsoever. I try hard to be patient and charitable and succeed for the most part. I pray a lot but still feel so alone as if God has forgotten me. Please pray for me.
Please be assured of my prayers for you, and I hope all who read this will do the same. You have an amazing story of faith under trial, and it has not gone unnoticed by Our Lord for sure. I am certainly impressed.
Your story reminds me of similar stories of people with physical ailments that come upon them seemingly underserved. I wrote an article for them called “What if I get sick?” You can read it at the bottom of my webpage at daveheney.com. I hope you, and others, might find it helpful
Wow.. I don’t think anyone could add to what you already said. That was very inspiring. Yet it gives us hope doesn’t it? God is not finished with us till the very last breath. We should be instead of thinking God won’t do anything through us, we need to think, “What next Lord:.
Thanks for your positive, encouraging, hopeful message. We all need to ” let go and let God”. Merry Christmas, Father Dave!
Merry Christmas!
Beautiful message, Father Dave. Even when you feel you are alone, God is with you….especially at that time.
Yes, especially when we feel alone
We are always reminded, after hearing (or reading) your homilies, of the sage wisdom of the Paulist priest who instructed Bob before Baptism many years ago. Of homilies he remarked (“Be brief; be brilliant and be done”). Your message, so beautifully stated, holds the image of a perfect Christmas gift: content, instruction, beautifully presented with the bright ribbon of hope and consolation. Joy To The World!
With our great thanks for all.
Bob and Rose Mary
Merry Christmas to you!
Dear Father Dave,
God gave us a must beautiful gift in choosing you to be our priest and lead us to Heaven!!!! Your words touch our hearts with so much love!!!ILove the idea of feeling like a small child born in a stable and our Jesus being born again in me!!!LOveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it!!!!A precious thought!!! Decorate your hearts for Christmas and always with faith, joy, peace, kindness, caring, compassion and sooooooooooooooooooooo much love forJesus lives in beautiful you!!!! We have a precious faith and Jesus is ours!!! We must live His love!!! Every day is new day for change, growth, compassion for Jesus makes all things NEW!!!
Love our God, our Jesus, our Mary and we love you!!!!
Merry Christmas!!! Love, Franca and Dick
Merry Christmas!
Thank you, Father Dave, for your reflection. To me it reflects the promise and joy of Christmas for all, rich and poor, high and mighty and low and insignificant in the eyes of the world.
This morning I attended the “That Man is You” meeting (I guess that you were instrumental in setting it up). I see that it fits well into the idea of Christmas and the ability to change once we are in relationship with Jesus Christ. I see men changing and headed to become saints. It is very inspiring.
All of us are worthy in the eyes of the Lord; let us pray that we are on the path to sainthood.
I am glad you went to the TMIY meeting. I always thought it was amazing that so many would show up at 6am on those Wednesday’s. Very inspiring to me!
Thank you for strengthening my faith Father Dave. Iam hopeful that our world will be better. Iam sure praying for it. I cried when my 2 yeAr old and my 4 year old granddaughters had to be picked up from preschool because of a bomb scare in LA . How do you explain to them it wasn’t safe to be in school in this wonderful country? Give me strength oh Lord!!!!
We can never promise safety to anyone, but we can always promise that we will do all that we can to make schools safe, and that we will always come to the aid of those in need.
When the world news is not particularly good, the Good News is good. Thanks Fr. Dave for always helping us to see the Good News.
You are very welcome! I am glad you found my article helpful.
Fr Dave – thank you through tears
Tears are too often these days!
God loves to visit us when we are most vulnerable and are in real need of His help.
We don’t understand all the things that happen
Mary didn’t understand either. “She pondered all these things in her heart and tried to
understand them”
In this season of remembrance of “No room in the Inn’ let’s hope that Jesus can find a home
with us where we can welcome Him with all our hearts.
.
We must always make room for Our Lord, in fact, He must live everywhere in our life.
Father Dave, it is a comfort to re-read your reflection after the unexpected passing of our dad’s cousin two days ago. Sometimes blessings come in strange and unexpected ways. At a time when my cousins were preparing to spend Christmas dinner with their father, the Lord called him home just as the Lord called my dad home at Easter time 10 years ago. In our mourning we think of ourselves really and our personal loss of the loved one. However, we need to recognize the blessing under the guise of fear and darkness. For it is a true gift to be called home by God at Christmas time.
If it were not for Christmas, and the arrival of Our Lord as a little child, vulnerable to every danger, I wouldn’t know what to do! His example of courage and compassion is the message that tells me what to do. I wish the same for you in this Christmas season.