The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas, Wednesday, December 29, 2021
I have had a very rough day, but I’m doing better as of the late afternoon. Thanks for your prayers!
John 2:3-11
Beloved:The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked. Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. And yet I do write a new commandment to you, which holds true in him and among you, for the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall. Whoever hates his brother is in darkness; he walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
“The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments.” Translating from the Greek, the text literally says, “By this we know that we have known him: if we observe his commandments.” The Greek verb for “to know” is nearly as flexible as the English, in terms of its meaning. It can mean “to come to know”, “to perceive”, “to recognize”, and “to learn”. This verb can also mean “to know” as in “Adam knew his wife Eve, who conceived and brought forth Cain” (Genesis 4, 1). This verb means “to know” experientially, as opposed to abstractly. Thus, John is saying to us that we know that we have come to know the Lord by observing his commandments. It is in doing his will that we can know Jesus. We might think of different ways we come to know someone, especially spending time with that person and conversing with him. But to know Jesus we must obey his commandments — that is, to live as he lives, obedient to the Father. This is no mere copying of his actions but joining ourselves to him through our cooperation with his grace so that we might live in him. It follows, then, that “whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” This person may know a great deal about him, but cannot “know” him.
“But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him.” This should read “the love of God has been perfected in him.” The verb is in the perfect passive. This means that for those who observe his commandments, the love of God has already been perfected (or, “completed”, “accomplished”). It is not “being perfected” in them. The love of God has transformed them. They are not merely men and women now, but Christians and heirs of eternal life.
“This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.” The Apostle John emphasizes how his followers may “know” Jesus, and how they may “know” that they are in union with him. He is writing to Gentiles converts who have not seen the Lord in person. They are in love with Jesus and greatly desire some sign that they belong to him. This belonging is invisible because it involves the spirit, and the best sign of their — and our — belonging to him and of his accepting them is that we obey his commandments — and that he makes it possible for us to obey his commandments.
The Feast of the Holy Innocents, Tuesday, December 28, 2021
I’m feeling a little better this evening. Thank you for your prayers!
Matthew 2:13-18
When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son. When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet: A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.
So soon after the glory of Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents — a time of horror, long ago, that led to glory. We rightly wonder about why God would allow this atrocity of infanticide. But while the murder of helpless babies and small children fills us with indignation and sickness of heart, we also recall their life now in heaven. Without suffering the hardship, disease, and bitterness of a normal life on earth, they have attained the greatest goal any human could hope for — the vision of Almighty God. In their way, they took the place of Jesus in their dying so that Jesus might take the place of us all in bearing our sins and expiating our guilt on the Cross. The innocent children die so that the innocent Jesus might lay down his life for us. Herod’s cruel heart was relieved to hear that the children had been killed, for he assumed the the King of whom the Magi spoke would have been one of them. He did not send out his butchers beyond Bethlehem because he saw no need to do so, allowing Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to hurry to Egypt, where his claws could not reach.
The Birth of the Lord, and then the Massacre of the Innocents, and finally the return to Israel is mirrored by the Lord’s Transfiguration and then, a few weeks later, his Passion and Death, followed by his Resurrection and Ascension — the Lord’s return home. Seeing the Massacre in this context helps us to understand that it was not a pointless, horrible event but a prelude to everlasting joy.
Although many scholars think that the Holy Family took refuge within the large Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt, many ancient local traditions tell us that they moved about quite a bit, staying for no more than a few months at any given time over the next three years. These local traditions speak of miracles performed by Jesus — making fresh water come out of a rock, for instance. Other traditions involve caves where the Holy Family stayed and spots where Mary washed her little Son or his clothes. Another tradition speaks of Jesus leaving his palm print on a mountain on the east bank of the Nile River. Churches and monasteries were eventually built on these sites.
The Traditional Collect for this Feast:
O God, Whose praise the Innocents, Your martyrs, this day proclaimed, not by speaking, but by dying, put to death in us all the wickedness of sin, so that Your faith which our tongue professes may be proclaimed also by our life. Through Christ our Lord.
The Feast of the Holy Family, Sunday, December 26, 2021
Hi! I’m under the weather for the last few days but I will try to write a reflection on St. John later today. And I want to remind folks that there is no internet Bible Study tonight. It will return next week. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas!
Luke 2:41–52
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.
“Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom.” The beauty of the Holy Family is its normalcy, its quiet adherence to duty. Mary and Joseph raised their Child in much the same way they had been raised and did not attempt to seek special privileges for their family. Nor did they seek for Jesus to ease their lot in life. They watched him with greater attention than other parents watched their children for they knew who he was. But they did not know what to expect from him or when he might begin his mission. Up until he turned twelve, he had done nothing extraordinary, though certainly absorbed with the Scriptures he heard read in the synagogue each Sabbath. This was to change on the occasion of the family’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover.
“As they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem.” He deliberately chose to remain behind after his parents departed. He does this as a sign for his parents as well as to present himself to the teachers who worked in the Temple. The sign is to show them his thirst for the salvation of the world. No one would hold him back once he began his labor. For us, he who teaches that we must forsake parents, siblings, spouses, and friends for the sake of the Gospel, also does this.
“When his parents saw him, they were astonished.” The Greek text says “They were thunderstruck.” The teachers were amazed at him and the parents are thunderstruck. Jesus alone remains calm and is the master of the situation. Jesus challenged the doctrine of the teachers and at the same time revealed a wisdom far out of keeping with his age. He looked like a child and yet spoke like a God. And this was what floored his parents. For twelve years he had manifested no behavior outside the ordinary, but now, looking at his bearing and listening to his insights, it seemed to them that they did not know him at all.
“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” The Greek translated here as “with great anxiety” is a participle meaning, “tormented”: “Your father and I have been looking for you, tormented.” This is something greater than anxiety. They were suffering dreadfully as they searched for him. We ought to feel this way after we have sinned and returned to our senses. Mary’s question is a desperate plea. She needs to know if she has in some way failed him as a mother, or Joseph as a father. Have they interfered with him throughout the past several years? Is she and Joseph now supposed to step back and allow him to begin his work of redeeming the human race? So great was Mary’s and Joseph’s love for him that they would cling to him if they could, and yet they knew that he was the Son of God and that he must be free to do what he came to do. Mary’s question comes down to “What do you want us to do? In what way do you wish us to serve you?”
“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” The Lord is saying to them, “You did not need to look for me. You knew that I must be in my Father’s house.” He has spoken to them as a child to this point in his life. But now he speaks to them as their Lord. St. Luke is careful to tell us that this event took place when Jesus was twelve: he has become an adult as a Jew. Later, Luke will tell us that Jesus was thirty when he began to preach: the age when a Jewish man could be recognized as a teacher of religion, a rabbi. Jesus does all things in their proper time. “But they did not understand what he said to them.” The answer Jesus gave them was not the answer of a twelve year old boy. Nor did he answer Mary’s question in a direct way. Instead, he speaks as he will later speak, answering not so much the question that is asked as much as the answer the questioner really needs to know.
“He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.” Having provided his parents with this sign, he provides us with another: that love means obedience and sacrifice. He who made all things with a word makes himself subordinate to his own creatures. We see the example he sets for us and knowing that he was obedient, we know we can be as well. “His mother kept all these things in her heart.” This is the work of the believer: to ponder and to meditate on Jesus Christ. The Blessed Virgin will assist us in this if we ask her. “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” He did this according to his human nature.
We are mysteries to one another even after many years of intimacy. Within our families let us respect and ponder the mysteries that are our fellow members.
The Solemnity of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, December 25, 2021
Luke 2:15–20
When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
The evening had begun much like every other evening. The shepherds, rough fellows in their smelly clothes, had rounded up their flocks into a circle that was easy to watch, and they ate some of their store of bread and drank from their small store of wine. Weary from the day, they spoke little. Before it grew too dark, they played simple games. Two or three of them readied themselves to keep the first watch of the night. They would stay up and keep an eye out for wolves, thieves, and the small but deadly lions that roamed about at that time. Each watch went as long as four or five hours and, at if they were lucky, it would be a monotonous shift. The chill in the air would help them stay awake.
And then came the Angel, shining so brightly that the features of his face could hardly be made out. His brilliance woke the shepherds who were sleeping, and all shaded their eyes and stood up. He spoke of a Savior born in nearby Bethlehem, and that the sign of this was a woman who had given birth and laid her Child in a manger. Then all around them appeared blazing multitudes of angels who sang of God’s glory and of peace to the earth. And as suddenly as they appeared, they were gone, for God’s heralds do not linger after they convey his message. Lighting their lamps, some of the shepherds trudged off across the field to see this wondrous Child: “The shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”
“So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.” The Greek means something more like, “they went, earnestly desiring”. “They found” more precisely means that they “discovered through searching”. It would have proven a long and uncertain trek, especially at night. The Greek text hints at their difficulties in finding the Child. But when they found him and his parents, there was no mistaking the truth of the Angel’s words. “When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child.” The phrase translated here as “they made known” also means “they knew”, and so the shepherds understood the message of the angel and they told what they had heard to Mary and Joseph.
“All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.” The phrase “all who heard” seems to contradict the image most of us have of the Nativity, that only Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were present. But as we also read that Jesus was born outside the town because “there was no room for them in the inn”, we can suppose that the couple had hunted for a place to stay within the town. Their plight would have attracted sympathy, and one of the townsfolk may have suggested they take refuge in one of the small caves outside the town walls. Some of the women of the place may have gone with them, one carrying a jar of water and another ready to act as midwife. For anyone but Mary and Joseph, this birth was a purely human situation, novel only for the urgent need of the couple. The arrival of the shepherds changed that. All present wondered exceedingly at what the shepherds told them. The newborn Infant appeared no different from any other except, laid in a trough, he seemed a little pathetic. And yet the shepherds had seen and heard angels speaking of this Child as the Savior.
“And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” The word translated here as “kept” means “was keeping safe”, “was keeping in mind”. The verb is in the imperfect tense, meaning that her action was not limited to this single occasion, but that she pondered through time. The imperfect tense signifies a continuous action in the past. Long after the Birth of her Son, she was turning over all these words, as the Greek says, in her mind. Let us consider, for a moment, what Mary would have known and not known beforehand of this Birth: she knew that her Child was the Son of God; she knew, through the Prophet Micah, that he would be born in Bethlehem. She did not know that she would give birth in a cave. She did not know that her Son’s arrival would be announced by angels to shepherds. What was God doing, allowing his Son to be born in poverty? Why would he announce this to shepherds?
“Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.” We do not know what became of these shepherds. We are not told that shepherds were among Christ’s followers. But when the Lord began to preach and to tell parables, he spoke much of shepherds. Indeed, he called himself “the Good Shepherd” who would lay down his life for his sheep.
I hope everyone has a Holy Christmas! I will remember all who read these reflections in my Mass tomorrow morning!
Friday in the Fourth Week of Advent, December 24, 2021
Luke 1:67-79
Zechariah his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David. Through his prophets he promised of old that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us. He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to set us free from the hand of our enemies, free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life. You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The last words Zechariah had said before becoming mute were spoken in the Temple to the Angel Gabriel: “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years” (Luke 1, 18). His words expressed doubt and even disbelief. He curled himself into a defensive position before the Angel and prepared himself to make a refusal. This behavior is remarkable in a priest, a son of Aaron, who meditated on the Law and knew well the stories of miraculous conceptions, and so it was fitting that he be struck deaf and dumb: he had stalled before the word of the Lord and so he should not hear it; and he would not give answer to the message of the Lord and so he should lose his ability to speak. But Gabriel did not strike him deaf and dumb. Rather, Zechariah incurred the natural consequences of his actions.
But Zechariah did not go back to his home embittered. He pondered the last words of the Angel to him: “I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time” (Luke 1, 19-20). He entered the difficult world of silence in which he struggled to make his slightest needs or thoughts known, and from this experience he realized that he had become a sign. What had happened to him as a result of his faithlessness had come upon Israel long before. Since it would not hear the Prophets, it lost its ability to hear. Since it praised foreign gods, it lost its ability to speak.
Over the months of his silence, he repented. More than that, he grew eager to fulfill the commandments God had given to him through the Angel. Over the months he began to understand what his son would mean for Israel. As he, Zechariah, had become a sign, so his son would be a sign — a sign not of Israel’s lack of faith and of the broken covenant, but a sign of a new dawn, a herald of the new Covenant God would make with man through the Savior he would send. And after nine months of silence, he was granted the opportunity to act, to repair his disbelief with firm belief in the face of pressure to conform to the old ways. And after writing, “His name is John” on the wax tablet, and regained his ability to hear and to speak. And the first words he spoke were the praise of God. No hesitancy restrains him now, no questions linger. He speaks of God and his plan for the salvation of his people: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David.” Before he even speaks of his own son, John, he speaks of the coming Messiah, whom he knew now would be born of the Virgin Mary, his wife’s kinswoman who had departed a few days before. When he does speak of his son, it is to prophesy of his place in God’s plan: “You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.” A proud father, yet he sees all in the context of the Savior, the son of David, and in all of his canticle, he speaks only a line or two of his son, the servant of the Redeemer.
In the baptismal ritual, the priest touches the mouth and the ears of the Child whom he has baptized and says, “May the Lord open your ears and your lips that you may hear his word and proclaim his praise.” May we use our own ears and lips for the purpose for which God gave them to us, in listening intently to the word of God and uttering his praise.
Thursday in the Fourth Week of Advent, December 23, 2021
The recent announcement from Rome regarding the restriction of the celebration of the Sacraments according to the 1962 liturgical books has saddened very many faithful Catholics, including priests. It strikes me as an act of bullying. It is also not well thought out. There are contradictions within it. I do not think restrictions on the traditional Mass and Sacraments will last long and will be rescinded during the next papacy. Let us pray for the will of God to be done in his Church.
Luke 1:57-66
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”
For nine months, the wife of the priest had kept herself hidden in her house. No news of her came to her family and neighbors. The servants had nothing to say and her husband could not speak. He had returned from his priestly duties in Jerusalem as a deaf mute, some said as a result of a vision he had. But what sort of vision takes speech away? Soon after his return, his wife had gone into hiding from the world. Apparently she was not ill, for no parade of physicians lined its way to her door, but no one could say for certain. No one, not even family, was admitted into the house. Then, one day, six months after Elizabeth had disappeared, her young relative, Mary, had arrived, and she was welcomed into the house. Curious neighbors had heard talking inside for the first time in half a year. Elizabeth’s own voice could be heard through the wall, but no one could tell what it was saying. Mary from Nazareth stayed three months and then suddenly departed. She had told no one what was happening on the occasions when she came out of the house, simply remarking that all was well. And then, soon after Mary left, a servant hurried out of the house and ran to fetch the town’s midwife. The news of this spread quickly through the little town of perhaps a thousand souls and a number of family and neighbors gathered outside the door. The cries of a woman in labor were plain to hear. But whose were they? The midwife was ushered into the house while the crowd was kept outside. And not long afterwards the midwife reappeared. The crowd, formerly boisterous with wonder and expectation, quieted. And then the midwife announced that Elizabeth had given birth to a son. The people glorified the God of heaven for this miracle and they rejoiced for the sake of the formerly barren couple.
For centuries no miracles had occurred, no prophets had arisen. Although the people prayed and waited for God to show his favor to his people, it seemed as though he had hidden himself from them. Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy — not only was she barren but she had long passed the years when women became pregnant — came as soft rain after a bitter drought. This event, wonderful in itself, was also a sign, and this child was also a sign, of God’s love and care, and perhaps of something more.
On the eighth day after the child’s birth, the family was let into the house to see the him and to witness his circumcision, which would mark his belonging to the children of Abraham. But when the members of their family heard his mother declare that she was naming him John, a name not before used in the family, they objected. They insisted that the child be named Zechariah after his father. Elizabeth held her ground, though, and Zachariah himself, standing beside his wife but nearly forgotten because of his inability to hear and talk, put his arms in the air. The gesture quieted the noisy group. The old priest then made another gesture, asking for something to write on. He was handed the wax tablet he had been using over these nine months to make his needs known. With his stylus, he etched out a statement. As he wrote, the gathered people exchanged glances and whispers, unable to imagine what He was writing. When he was done, he held up the tablet for all to see. It read, “John is his name.” The effect was stunning. Because Zechariah was deaf as well as mute, he could not have understood the controversy over the child’s name, and yet, God had granted him this ability so he could confirmed the name. What followed further stunned the people there: “Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God.” Wonder now followed wonder. While all of this was a cause for rejoicing and feasting, the people knew that God was giving them a message through it, and awe overcame them: “Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea.” Just as times of drought or disease causes a person to withdraw inwardly and to seek meaning for it, as though knowing what it meant could make the condition more bearable, so does its sudden relief. Why? What does it mean? “All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, ‘What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.’ ”
It is good, even necessary, for us as humans to wonder. As Christians, it is good for us to wonder, to ponder the meanings of what we see and hear, to look for the hand of God in the world. There may come times when he seems not to be present. This apparent absence teaches us to long for him and it strengthens our perseverance. But at the times he seems to be far away, he is closest to us. If we wait with patience, we will become worthy of seeing his marvelous works.
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Advent, December 22, 2021
Luke 1:46-56
Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. for he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.” Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.
The Gospel reading for today’s Mass is the praise of God the Virgin Mary utters as her relative Elizabeth recognizes that she is the Mother of the Redeemer.
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” Both the Greek and the Latin have, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” This should not be translated as “proclaims”: if that meaning was meant, a number of other words would have worked better. The fact is, Mary’s soul did not “proclaim” the greatness of the Lord. Rather, her soul magnified the Lord. But what does this mean? We can understand this first as Mary magnifying the praise of God that was sung by the angels in heaven and by the praise offered to God in the Temple worship. Second, we can understand what she means in terms of God’s image. That is, each of us is created in the image and likeness of God. This image is increased or deepened by our faith in him. As Mary has become with child of God’s Son by the consent of her faith in him, her soul magnifies his image in her so much more. To look upon her love, for instance, is to see a clear image of God’s love. This is surely greater than “proclaiming” God’s praise vocally. In addition, the tense of the verb is continual, meaning that she does not magnify the Lord on this single occasion, but throughout her existence, without coming to an end. Also, the Greek and Latin words translated as “soul” have the additional meanings of “life” and “spirit”. When Mary says that her “soul” magnifies the Lord, she is saying that her life — her living being, all that she is — magnifies him. We can translate the first line, then, as: “My being is magnifying the Lord.”
“My spirit rejoices in God my savior.” The Greek word translated here as “spirit” also means “wind” or “breath”. While the soul is the seat of the intellect and will, the “spirit” maintains the physical life of the body, in the ancient understanding. This line completes the thought in the first line: the entirety of Mary’s being magnifies the Lord, every moment and every part of her organism. Now, the Lord is often praised as a Savior in the Psalms and in songs of victory, such as that of Miriam after the destruction of the Egyptian chariots in the Red Sea (cf. Exodus 15, 1-18), it is not immediately clear why Mary calls God her “Savior”. As far as we know, she was not threatened in the past. But her speaking of God in this way tells us that she understands very well that his Son will save his people from their sins, and though she herself is without sin, he will save her, too.
“He has looked upon his lowly servant.” The salvation of God will be worked through the Son carried in her womb, the womb of his “lowly servant”. The Greek has: “He has looked with favor upon the lowly condition (or abasement) of his slave.” That is, Almighty God does not simply regard her, but esteems her highly in her lowliness as his slave. He sees her humility, her understanding that God owes her nothing and that her very existence depends upon his will, and so she owes him everything.
“From this day all generations will call me blessed.” The lowly slave of the Lord acknowledges that due to God’s graciousness, she will be deemed blessed by all the generations to come, beginning with Elizabeth. Her own blessedness is a reflection of God’s glory which shines upon her. In no way does Mary claim to deserve what God has done for her. If the slave is blessed, then so much more her Master, from whom the blessing comes. “The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.” This can be more literally translated as “The Powerful One did great things for me and holy (or sacred) is his Name.” She calls God by a title that emphasizes his ability to do whatever he wills to do. The verb is not in the perfect tense but in the aorist, so she is speaking of some particular act God performed once and completed, and this would point to the Holy Spirit “overshadowing” her so that the Son of God was conceived in her womb. The meaning of “holy” or “sacred” is of someone or something set apart for some elevated purpose. It is not to be touched by anyone who is not designated for it. It is kept away from everyone. God’s Name was considered “holy” in the sense that it could be pronounced only by the high priest, and only on one occasion during the year. This signified the utter “otherness” of God. As Mary acknowledges the holiness of his Name, she carries his Son, who became man in order to enter our life.
The words Mary speaks about herself and what God has done for her reveal a great wisdom and an immense humility. We ask her to help us to know ourselves as God’s slaves and to rejoice in all he has done for us.
Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Advent, December 21, 2021
Song of Songs 2:8-14
Hark! my lover–here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Here he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices. My lover speaks; he says to me, “Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come! “For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, Let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.”
The Song of Songs, from which the first reading of today’s Mass is taken, celebrates the love of husband and wife, on one level, and the love of Christ and his Church, on another. It can also be understood as the love between Christ and the soul. Although a brief book, its beauty inspired many commentaries from the Fathers through the medieval writers. St. Bernard’s commentary on the book comes readily to mind. The book itself is a collection of love poems the lines of which are assigned at times to the Bride, the Groom, and a Chorus. The verses used for today’s first reading are spoken by the Bride and are about her Groom.
“Hark! my lover–here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills.” The Groom here is the Son of God who joins himself to a human nature in the incarnation. An enormous gulf separates God and man, signified here by the valleys between the mountains and hills which the Groom springs across. He comes “springing”, exultantly, rejoicing to come down from heaven to save his people. In more personal terms, it is the coming of God to meet a loving, faithful soul in prayer. He envelopes that soul in grace and speaks to her in her most inmost recesses. His voice is a whisper but his word is fire.
“My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag.” Her Groom is strong and sure-footed; fearless and eager to bound about. Simply to gaze upon him fills the beholder with these characteristics too. The Lord who comes to earth fears no one and is fully capable for the salvation of his Bride. This image also signifies the directness of the Lord’s coming to the faithful soul in prayer.
“Here he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices.” We see how considerate the Lord is, not overwhelming his people by coming before their Prophets have completed their work and they themselves have grown in their expectation. We also see how the Groom waits for his Bride, the faithful soul. to be prepared for him. She adorns herself with her virtues and good works so as to be most pleasing to her Groom.
“Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!” The Lord speaks to his Church and urges her to join him. We hear of the Bride’s beauty in his own words: she is his “dove” and his “beautiful one”. She is as a dove because her members have washed their robes white in his Blood and, lightened by her innocence, she can fly up to meet her Groom in the heavens. “My dove” and “my beautiful one” also signify the faithful soul who is wrapped in her baptismal garment, which is also her wedding dress. At the coming of the Lord to her in prayer she is joined to him in rapture.
“For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone.” The long ages of waiting for redemption are over. The world has yearned for its Savior since Adam and Eve fatefully ate the fruit forbidden to them. Now the darkness of the reign of death has cleared. The Daystar, Jesus Christ, has shines upon the earth. For the faithful soul, these words are a signal that her perseverance in the world is rewarded by her divine Visitor. She has endured the pains and labors necessary to live and to make a living. She has endured the rude behavior of those around her and striven to be kind and charitable to all. Now, in her time of prayer, she forgets all in the sweet embrace of her Beloved.
“The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land.” The presence of the Son of God on the earth has enlivened his people. They flower with faith and good works. The vines must also be pruned, that is, it is a time of discipline and of doing penance so that his people may grow yet stronger in their faith so as to endure and triumph through persecution. For the faithful soul, the “flowers” signify graces received from God in prayer, while the “pruning” signifies the poverty, chastity and obedience which she embraces so that she might belong to God alone. The “song of the dove” is both the hymn of praise arising from the Church and from the heart of the faithful Christian.
“The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.” Nourished by the rays of the Lord’s glory, his teaching, and his example, and watered with his Blood, the saints on earth put forth their “figs”, their own good works as well as the converts they have made. The “fragrance” of the vine comes from the rich grape leaves. As the dove sings its song, so the vine puts forth its fragrance, showing that each saint gives glory to God in his or her way. We also see the vibrant life of God filling the faithful soul and causing her to rejoice in intimacy with him.
“Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come!” The Groom calls again, just as he called on the people in Galilee and Judea: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is approaching!” The faithful soul hears and treasures this call of the Lord throughout life. It is a call to prayer, to Mass, to virtue, and to eternal life with the Groom in heaven. “O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, Let me see you, let me hear your voice.” Even the soul who thirsts most avidly for God cannot know the yearning of God for that soul. So greatly does the Groom desire his Church to be with him in heaven that he gladly dies for her. His giving up his life was not an impulsive act but one willed from before creation. For the soul, the Lord of all expresses his eagerness to hear what she has to say to him, even though he knows better than she does what she is going to say. He treasures her words, the movement of her lips as she forms them, and the breath that brings them forth. Each of her words is precious to him and speaks of her love for him. “Your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.” The voice of the Church is sweet and lovely with its harmonies in which the individual tones of the saints come together. No dissonance disturbs it. The loveliness of the Bride is enhanced by the reflection of the Groom’s own holiness, which he loans to those who love him. The Bride, the Church, rejoices in his love and looks forward to the day when she will know it’s fullness in heaven. The faithful soul knows herself to be loved by Almighty God and can hardly speak in her ecstasy, but she knows that in his love for her, he knows her love for him.
Monday in the Fourth Week of Advent, December 20, 2021
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
The following link and information will take anyone interested to the live St. Matthew’s Gospel Bible Study tonight at 8:00 PM eastern time, 7:00 PM central time. We are looking at the Sermon on the Mount.
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/3806645258?pwd=MUNuU0ZxNFM3NnpiclZCcFF6SFhyQT09
Meeting ID: 380 664 5258
Passcode: 140026
“The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin.” Gabriel and the other angels had been created by God before the creation of the world. They possessed keen intellects capable of fully understanding at a glance, and a will that could not be changed, once formed, or broken. They had been put to a test after their creation. We do not know the nature of this test although some theologians have posed theories. Perhaps it could be compared to the subsequent test of Adam and Eve in the Garden. As a result of the test, a certain number of angels rebelled against God. As many as a third may have rebelled (cf. Revelation 12, 4). These were cast out of the heaven God had created for them by Gabriel and the other angels who remained loyal to God. These loyal angels then ascended into the highest realm of heaven to gaze upon the living God face to face. Gabriel and the others looked on when God created the earth and then human beings. They saw the humans, endowed with far lesser intellect and will than their own, fall prey to the enticements of the evil angels, but then heard God promise a Redeemer for them.
Through the ages, Gabriel watched the human race flounder about in its self-imposed darkness. He also performed missions for God to help its members. He prayed for the coming of their Redeemer. And at a certain point, God chose him to bring the news of that Redeemer’s forerunner to the human who would be his father. When that man doubted, Gabriel struck him deaf and dumb as a sign before returning to heaven. And then Gabriel was assigned the greatest of his missions: to announce to a Virgin that she would be the Mother of the promised Redeemer. Mary was unlike any human he had seen before since the creation of Eve, and she was even greater than Eve, for she had never sinned. Her purity reminded him of his own, and as a result her intellect and will were stronger than any other human’s. She would be a fit Mother of the Redeemer God was sending. This Redeemer would be far more than a mortal man. He would be the Son of God, whom Gabriel had worshipped in heaven with the Father and Holy Spirit from the dawn of his existence. This Redemption struck Gabriel with awe. Meditating on the feelings of Gabriel at the sacred moment of his announcement, a Greek poet would later write, “Gabriel was rapt in amazement as he beheld your virginity and the splendor of your purity, O Mother of God, and he cried out to you: “By what name shall I call you? I am bewildered; I am lost! I shall greet you as I was commanded to do: ‘Hail, O Woman full of Grace!’ '’
Let us, in prayer, see the awe of the angels at the Incarnation and Birth of the Lord Jesus, and ask them to help us feel something of it.
The Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 19, 2021
Luke 1:39–45
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
“Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah.” She would have set out for Judah after receiving the message from Gabriel that she was to bear God’s Son, and after telling Joseph her husband the news. It might well be that Joseph escorted her to the town of Ein Karem, where Mary’s relative Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah lived. If so, Joseph would have returned to Nazareth upon seeing Mary safely to their home. The journey would have not been an easy one, for about a hundred miles separated Nazareth and Ein Karem and in that part of Judah the road went alongside of rocky hills riddled with niches and caves in which thieves and rebels would hide. Making this journey “in haste” or “with diligence” indicates how driven Mary was to help her relative in her own pregnancy and also to learn from the priest Zechariah something of what God expected from her in the coming months and years.
“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb.” Elizabeth’s own desire to do the will of God prepared both her and her unborn child to experience and receive the grace of Almighty God. At this moment, the Church teaches, John the Baptist was freed from original sin so that he might be equipped even from his birth to prepare the world for the coming of its Maker. The leaping of John the Baptist is also a sign of our reception of Holy Communion. Our souls “leap” for joy and are filled with grace when we receive the Son of God in this Sacrament.
“Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice.” In the Old Testament, when it is said that someone cries out with “a loud voice” it is an expression of grief and lamentation. In the new age of grace, those who love God cry out with rejoicing. Elizabeth’s crying out is a sign of the rapture the saints feel upon entering heaven at the end of their lives on earth: if she was filled with joy in the presence of the Lord veiled within the womb of his holy Mother, how much greater shall be the exaltation of the saints when they see God face to face! “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Elizabeth would have marveled for a few minutes after her son leapt in her womb, speechless in the presence of this mystery, and now she exclaims all that she can manage. “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Of all the titles bestowed upon the Blessed Virgin throughout the ages, the one which best describes who she is, is “Mother of God”. Elizabeth’s cry also signifies how we should wonder at the unmerited gift of faith that we have received from Almighty God. “For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.” This saying brings to mind Psalm 114: “When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people: Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock.” This Psalm commemorates the liberation of Israel from Pharaoh and Egypt. John’s leap for joy signifies our liberation from sin and death.
“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” We stand in awe of the faith of the Blessed Virgin, a faith that enabled her to see God in all people and in all events. Her faith, indeed, moves mountains as gazing upon it fills us with a burning desire to see God.
Saturday in the Third Week of Advent, December 18, 2021
Matthew 1:18-25
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.
This passage of the Scriptures reminds us of the necessity for understanding the customs of a given place and time in order to have clarity on the action in a historical narrative. For instance, “When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together.” The marriage itself took place in the bride’s home and consisted in the bride and her family consenting to be a man’s wife. No vows were exchanged, no promises made, no processions took place. After this, the groom would begin to make preparations for a wedding feast to be held at a later date in his house, at which point the bride and groom would take up house holding together. And from the time of the marriage contract or agreement, the man and woman, now husband and wife, could engage in intimate relations. St. Matthew writes carefully and clearly of the fact that Mary is married to Joseph at the time she conceives by the Holy Spirit. To all outward appearances, as the Child grew within her, nothing was untoward. No scandal arose on account of this. The married woman Mary had become pregnant, and her friends and neighbors would have understood that Joseph was the father.
Joseph, however, was stunned by the news of her pregnancy — not that he suspected her of adultery, but because she had conceived by the Holy Spirit following an apparition on an angel. Now, miraculous pregnancies were a part of Israel’s heritage but the mother had been either older or barren or both. And the mother always conceived in the natural way. The husband played his natural part in the conception of the child. In the case of Mary’s pregnancy, the angel had spoken to her alone and had not so much as mentioned him. After Joseph received from Mary the news of her pregnancy with the Son of God, Joseph wondered what he was supposed to do. What does the righteous man do, faced with this reality? He wanted to support her and to take care of her as a Jewish man should take care of his wife, but the fact that he himself had received no instructions caused him to feel like an intruder on a sacred mystery. One thing he would not do: blaze about the news that Mary had confided in him. The angel had not enjoined secrecy on them, and the whole nation was anxious for the coming of the Messiah, but Joseph remained silent. God himself would reveal this mystery in his own time. But Joseph considered that he was not meant by God to be a part of it and so resolved to depart from her quietly so as not to inadvertently interfere with its fulfillment. Since he and Mary had not set begun to live together, he could release her from her marriage to him and she could remain in the home of her parents.
It is at this point that the angel of God appears to him in a dream and declares to him that he is not to fear to take his wife into his home: he, as her husband, is to care for her and the Child. Indeed, he is to give the Child his name, claiming him as his own. The angel tells him this while acknowledging that the Child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and so Joseph, the righteous man, sees his duty. Upon waking, Joseph goes right to work, arranging for the feast that will welcome Mary into his home when she returned from staying with her kin in Judea.
It is into this family dedicated to sacred duty and righteousness that the Lord Jesus is born. While the Son of God will preach and act according to the will of his Heavenly Father, he will do so according to the manner in which his earthly parents spoke and acted and lived.
Friday in the Third Week of Advent, December 17, 2021
Matthew 1:1-17
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile. After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ. Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations.
For the ancient Jews, a person’s genealogy was a most precious possession. Its importance surpassed that of the modern driver’s license or passport. For a Jew at the time of Jesus, genealogy told a person or the world who somebody was: ethnicity, family of origin, and place of origin. Beyond this, genealogy told what kind of a person somebody was. Your forebear’s character indicated whether you were honest or a thief, brave or cowardly, generous or greedy. Altogether, a person’s genealogy explained that person’s meaning.
St. Matthew presents the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth in order to show his meaning, and in order to show that he was born exactly when he should have been and of exactly the right family. Later, he will show that Jesus was born in exactly the right place. He does the latter quite convincingly by showing that the scribes themselves knew it was the right place. In other words, his genealogy, especially when combined with the prophecies, prove that he was the One who is to come, as John the Baptist referred to him on one occasion. For those who might wonder, knowing one’s genealogy all the way back to the Patriarchs could be compared to modern persons knowing their social security number. In the days when the Jews returned from the Babylonian Captivity, a few hundred years before the Birth of Christ, the heads of families had to be able to recite their genealogies back to Jacob in order to demonstrate that they were indeed Jews and to which tribe and clan they belonged. This allowed them to fit into society and to recover their ancestral property.
Matthew’s meticulous recounting of the Lord’s genealogy also made it clear that he, as author of this Gospel, would meticulously narrate the principal events of his life and his teachings. He, as author, could be trusted to relate and not to invent. In this way, the genealogy acts as the Evangelist’s preface, or statement of purpose. St. Luke does something like this in his introduction to his own Gospel when he says that he has looked at many accounts and talked to many witnesses in order to learn the full truth about the life of Christ.
As Christians, the Gospels are our genealogy. They tell people our meaning, who we are, and what their expectations of us can be. They tell people that we come from Jesus, formed by his teachings and enlivened by his grace. They tell people that we live in hope, that we hold to our faith, and that we act in love. They tell others that as Christ lived, so we strive to live: for the children resemble their parents.
Thursday in the Third Week of Advent, December 16, 202
Luke 7:24-30
When the messengers of John the Baptist had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine garments? Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom Scripture says: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you. I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.” (All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves.)
The reason for the seeming preoccupation with John the Baptist in the Mass readings these days is that as we await the second coming of the Lord, the Church fills his role — and all of us who belong to the Church. As John preached repentance and judgment, so does the Church in the world, and so should we. Since the time the Lord ascended into Heaven we have lived in a long season of Advent, preparing for the great feast of Christ on the last day.
Jesus asks the crowd about their reaction to John: “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?” He wants them to understand the significance of John which will lead them to thinking about his own significance. John was not a “reed”, a common man influenced by whatever opinions prevailed at the moment. At the same time, did they go out to see “someone dressed in fine garments?” That is, did they go out to see a man notable only for his expensive clothing? We do this when we are lured to pay attention to someone based solely on his smooth appearance. “Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces.” That is, this man had put on rich clothing in order to defraud the people.
“Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” Notice here how Jesus speaks about John. The Lord speaks with certainty and authority, and as John’s superior. He speaks of the unique role John played while also expressing its limits: “This is the one about whom Scripture says: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you.” The Lord quotes Malachi 3, 1. We know that the speaker in the prophecy is the Father, speaking to the Son about his messenger, John. “I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.” The Lord sets the limit to John’s greatness here: that any of the saints standing before the face of God in heaven is “greater” than he while he lived on earth. We might understand “greater” in terms of proximity to God’s glory.
“All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves.” Luke adds his own commentary here. He speaks first of the lowly and the despised as acknowledging the righteousness of God. He highlights them, as it were, because they made up the core of the Jewish Christian community in Israel after the Ascension and Pentecost. Luke came to know many of them. He speaks second of the Pharisees and the scholars of the Law. The Douay-Rheims has a better translation than what we have in the lectionary: “But the Pharisees and the lawyers despised the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him.” That is, they refused to be baptized by John because they saw no reason for their repentance, deeming themselves already righteous.
Baptized in the baptism of Jesus Christ, which fulfills the sign that was John’s baptism, we possess the grace to act as the Lord’s heralds as he did, through our words and actions.
Wednesday in the Third Week of Advent, December 15, 2021
Luke 7:18b-23
At that time, John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” When the men came to the Lord, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind. And Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
John the Baptist prepared the people for the coming of the Lord. Once the Lord arrived, John sent his own disciples to him. Many, such as Andrew and the sons of Zebedee, went to Jesus and became his disciples. John himself said, “He must increase and I must decrease.” Some lingered on with John. Even after John’s imprisonment by Herod, there were those who adhered to him and continued his work. John sent two of those who had stuck with him to Jesus and had them ask him a question. It was a question to which John had long known the answer, but he wanted these disciples of his to hear it for themselves so that they might follow Jesus now: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” In other words, Are you the Redeemer? We should note that John is careful not to use the loaded term “messiah”.
“At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind.” St. Matthew provides some context here. Jesus was not only preaching throughout the land, but performing very many miracles, and in this way he surpassed what John had done. “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard.” The Lord does not give them a one-word answer to repeat to John, but allows them some freedom in answering him. By doing this, he lets the messengers see for themselves and give their own answer. Jesus does not tell them that they must now follow him, but lets them come to that conclusion on their own. “The blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” His reply brings to mind a passage from the Song of Songs: “For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree has put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell” (Song of Songs 2, 11-13). It is a time of rebirth for all creation, signified by these healings and the raising of the dead. “The poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” The “good news” is the Gospel, or the “announcement” of God that his kingdom has drawn near to men. This is made known even to the destitute, and so to all people. No one is left out.
“And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” More literally, Blessed is he who is not caused to stumble in me. That is, caused to stumble in their faith because the Lord came as a Galilean from a tiny town and hat he did not conform to anyone’s expectations for the Messiah. We can also understand this as pertaining to the human nature which the Lord assumed in his Incarnation. There were many early Christians and would-be Christians who could not understand how God could do this since mortal flesh and infinite divinity do not go together and are (they thought) opposed to each other. These people believed that Jesus was God, and merely appeared as a man.
We do not know what happened with these two witnesses. They had all the evidence of Jesus as the Savior of the world that they needed to follow him, but they may have stayed with John. We must all depart from what is comfortable for us and not let the familiar draw us back so that we might go out and follow Jesus.
