Motherhood of Mary and New Year 2024

 

Mary, Mother of God and New Year [Lk 2:16-21]

01.01.2024

The Message of the Shepherds and Mary’s Faith-Response

Readings: (1) Num 6:22-27 (2) Gal 4:4-7

1.  Focus Statement

As we begin a New Year, Mother Church invites us to constantly imitate the most important features of Mary’s Motherhood: (1) receiving the Word of God in faith, (2) treasuring it in her heart and pondering its significance for one’s life. 

2.  Theme in brief

Treasuring the Word in our hearts and pondering it

3.  Explanation of the text

In today’s gospel passage we notice three categories of people responding to the event of Christ’s birth in three different ways. First category is the shepherds, to whom the breaking news of the Messiah’s birth is announced by the angels. Their faith-response of the shepherds is made clear by their efforts to make known to others what had been told to them about new-born Saviour (2:17) and to glorify and praise God for all they had heard from the angels and seen in the manger (2:20).They “saw” (of course, with the eyes of faith) the greatest ‘thing’ (event) that had taken place – the event of God taking birth in a human form and stooping down to be born in a manger.

Second category are the hearers of the words of the shepherds, the public who were only amazed at what the shepherds told them (2:18), but did not respond to that message in faith. They are like the ones who hear the Word but do not respond with faith because of lack of roots (cf. Lk 8:13).

Then we are told about the faith-response of Mary who treasured the Word of God (announced by the shepherds) and pondered its significance in her heart (2:19).  She is like those who after hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and produce a hundredfold fruit (Lk 8:8, 15). Thus in today’s gospel, Mary is presented as a model for reflection and introspection into our life on the basis of God’s Word. What the shepherds ‘saw’ was God’s boundless love revealed through the image of an ordinary family that was guided by the faith-reflections of a mother.

Mary’s role of treasuring all the words of the shepherds (in fact, God’s word) and pondering them in her heart (2:19) highlights an important aspect of her motherhood: listening to God’s Word reflectively, keeping it as a precious treasure in her heart and pondering (literally chewing over) its meaning and relevance or significance for her (our) life. Luke repeats this important trait of Mother Mary later in 2:51 also, where he says that Mary treasured the words of Jesus regarding his mission to be in his Father’s house. As she (as well as Joseph) did not understand those words immediately (2:50), she pondered or deeply reflected over their meaning.

In Luke’s gospel, the shepherds’ going to Bethlehem in haste (2:16) is very much related to Mary’s setting out in haste to the hill country of Judea to visit Elizabeth (1:39) in the sixth month of her pregnancy (1:36). Whereas the haste with which shepherds hurried to Bethlehem implies their eagerness to hear, see and share with others or proclaim the good news of salvation, Mary’s haste refers to her eagerness to serve her relative Elizabeth during her pregnancy. We can imagine how Mary’s faith and reflections on God’s Word overflow into action (that is, service rendered or charity done to the needy).

Later in Luke’s gospel we see him presenting Mary as the prototype of all the disciples who become like ‘mothers’ and ‘brothers/sisters’ of Jesus by hearing the Word of God and doing it, that is,  living by it  or putting it into practice (Lk 8:19-21). She also becomes the prototype of all those who become blessed because of their hearing and obeying the Word of God (Lk 11:27-28). Hence the title “Blessed Virgin Mother” suits her very well.

4.  Application to life 

By keeping the feast of the Motherhood of Mary on New Year Day, the Church wants us to begin the New Year with her blessing and under her maternal protection. As she is our Heavenly Mother, we entrust all the days of this year to her motherly care and tender love. We hope that she will not forget her children all year long as we often pray to her, “Remember O Most Gracious Virgin Mary…..”

It is right to ask how New Year is related to this feast. What is the significance of the connection between Motherhood of Mary and New Year? It is said that the name of the first month of the year, "January" comes from the pagan god of Rome called Janus.  He was a double-faced god depicted in opposite directions, one face looking to the past and the other looking to the future. This idea fits very well with the features of Mary’s Motherhood. As explained above, Mary is a model of reflection and introspection on how we lived the past year and how we are going to live the future during this New Year. New Year is a new stage in our life to examine the past and look forward to the future. In spite of some failure of the past and anxieties of the unknown future, especially when the whole world is still struggling with Covid-19 variants, we are called to took forward to future with hope.

Socrates, the great Greek philosopher said, “An unexamined life is not worth living”. This idea of self-examination of the past and looking forward to a purpose-driven future, matches well with what Luke hints in today's gospel about an important trait of Mary's Motherhood: hearing the Word of God and pondering its meaning and relevance or significance for her life. She discovered God’s will and plans for her by treasuring God’s Word in her heart and pondering over its meaning, significance and relevance. She came to know about divine revelation through the message (words) of the shepherds, and God’s will in the event of finding Jesus in the Temple.

Mary did not know or understand the full meaning of neither the incarnation or the mission of her Son. She must have understood the full implications of this Christ-event only after the resurrection and Pentecost. From day one, she must have asked herself these questions again and again: who her Child really was; why he chose to be born in a stable under such a miserable condition; why he choose to be born of an ordinary girl like her; and why he chose the poor shepherds to give the good news of his birth and visit her family. Our entire Christian life is centred on who Jesus is for us and what it means to follow him in our times. Like her, we are to discover God’s plans for us in this New Year in the light of the Word of God.

As Mary pondered over the words of the shepherds (that is, God’s word) and the events that took place in her life, we too are invited today to reflect over the events of the past year and compare them with the purpose, vision and mission of our life. A vision or our personal dream is a mental image or picture of the ideal we wish to realize in our life-time. Some people dream only for their own personal prosperity and selfish needs, forgetting totally about the needs of the world, country and humanity. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (former President of India) calls such a dream only a small dream, though many think it is their big dream. He says that a small dream is a ‘crime’. Yes, it is a crime to be concerned only about oneself, one’s own progress and prosperity and not at all about problems of the world.

God has sent us with a definite purpose to make a small or big contribution for humanity which is God’s own cause. New Year is the best opportunity to see whether we have done our dream to our satisfaction. If not, as Abdul Kalam says, we need to activate our inner energy to translate our vision into better action in the New Year. Following Mary’s example, we need to introspect or ponder and see whether we are living our lives by chance or by personal choice. What were the wrong choices we made in the last year; and how are we going to make better choices in this year? On the New Year day, our Heavenly Mother invites us to make a review of life and recall to our mind the steps we need to take in order to live a purpose-driven life.

Mary is our best guide in our soul-searching questions. She becomes a model believer for her efforts to discover the meaning of life-events in the light of faith. She discovered God’s plans for her by treasuring God’s Word in her heart and pondering over its meaning and relevance. In the light of God’s Word, she reflected deeply on all the events of her life in order to discern what God was saying to her at every stage in her life. She is like those believers who after hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and “bear fruit with patient endurance” (Lk 8:15), as Jesus has explained in the Parable of the Sower. Such believers are like the good soil that produces a hundredfold fruit (Lk 8:15).

The feast of Motherhood of Mary is closely related to the role of the Church (that is, all Christian believers) as a mother. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus asserts that his family extends beyond kinship relationships. He says : “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God and do it” (Lk 8:21). Here Mary is presented as the prototype (model) of all those who become mothers and brothers or sisters of Jesus by hearing the Word of God and doing it (Lk 8:19-21). Doing it means living by it. To live by it, we need to receive it in faith and ponder its implications for our situation. Like Mother Mary, we too are called to become ‘mothers’, of course ‘spiritual mothers’ to others by “doing” God’s Word. The whole Church needs to become what she really is, that is, a ‘mother’ of God (or Christ) because God is needing to be ‘born’ again and again in the hearts of people; his self-giving love, compassion for the marginalized, forgiveness of sinners or offenders and concern for the needy must take birth through believers like us. She truly becomes a spiritual mother by hearing the Word of God and doing it, just like Mother Mary. If we had not sufficiently become like mothers by our failure to show tender love, nursing and nurturing qualities of a mother in our relationships in the past year, the Church presents to us the model of Mother Mary to become more ‘motherly’ in the New Year.

Luke mentions Mary’s role of treasuring things in her heart twice in his gospel (cf. the explanation above) to show that she discovered God’s will both in his Word and in her life’s events. She came to know about divine revelation through the message (words) of the shepherds, and God’s will in the event of finding Jesus in the Temple. She understood the full implications of this event only after the resurrection and Pentecost. She had to go on discovering God’s ways gradually till the end of her life. God speaks to us today also through divine revelation (Word of God and its interpretation) as well as through the personal experiences gained through life’s events. But we need to be attuned to what God says as Mary was. Suppose we are attuned to only what the mass media, social media or misguiding companions say, and do not bother to listen to what God says in his Word, how can we know what God wants to tell us?

Further, our contemplation on the Word of God should overflow in joyful service like Mary’s going out “with haste” to minister to her needy relative Elizabeth (1:39). Let us begin this year with a resolve to be more sensitive to the needs of the needy and the suffering humanity like Mary, and be more eager to go out to joyfully serve such people. Do our religious practices and devotion to Mother Mary prompt or motivate us to go out of ourselves in serving the needy and the underprivileged, or become only a means to get personal favours for ourselves? Like Mary, blessed are those who really become ‘mothers’ by showing sensitivity to the needs of others and go out in haste to serve them by sacrificing their time and energies. In this year, can we think of a specific act of charity we would like to do to such people?

5.  Response to God's Word

Like Mother Mary, ponder over these questions as you begin a New Year: (1) In my personal conduct what will be my guiding principle in this new year? (2) In my family/ social relationships/ community life what will be my guiding principle? (3) In my workplace what will be my guiding principle? Could I have done better in the past year? How did I spend my time? What good did I do and what did I fail to do? Can I pick up one or two wider issues/ problems/ concerns/ needs of people of my area or of my country and think of what I like to say or do about it in my own little way, at least by a small gesture?? For whom? How? What is my bigger dream for this year? How can I discover God’s plan for my family and its future with Mary’s guidance? Please entrust this New Year, your and your family’s future, the future of the Church, the future of humanity, the future of the entire universe to our Heavenly Mother’s care.

6.  A prayer

Thank you God for giving us Mary as our best guide in some soul-searching questions we need to address as we begin a new year. Grant that like her we may hear your Word in faith, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and produce a hundredfold fruit. Like her, may we become model believers discovering your plans for us by treasuring your Word in our hearts and pondering over its meaning and relevance for our lives. Give us the grace to “do” or live God’s Word by our witness. By our ardent prayer and joyful service, may we become mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us that we may be faithful to our personal vision and mission in this year. Amen.

 

 

Feast of Holy Family (B)

 

Feast of Holy Family (B) [Lk 2:22-40]

31.12.2023

Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Readings: (1) Sir 3:2-6.12-14 (2) Col 3:12-21

1.    Theme in brief

Longing for God’s salvation in our families

2.    Focus Statement

Like the Holy Family of Nazareth, our Christian family is called to be devout; and like Simeon and Anna should have an intense desire to meet the Lord and experience his salvation. 

3.    Explanation of the text

Today’s gospel text portrays the parents of Jesus as faithful observers of the Law of Moses regarding purification of the mother after childbirth and presentation of the firstborn male child as holy to the Lord (2:22-23). When they bring the Child to the Temple of Jerusalem to offer (present) him to the Lord with a sacrificial offering of a pair of turtle doves (2:23), they are greeted by Simeon and Anna.  Both the persons are presented to us as righteous and devout Jews (2:25) who have a desire to meet the Lord and personally experience his salvation. They represent all those who look forward to the Messiah as their consolation (2:25) and long for redemption he is going to bring (2:25, 38). This longing in the heart of Simeon is so intense that the Holy Spirit himself reveals to him that he will not see death before he sees the Messiah (2:26). When he sees the Messiah with his own eyes, his hope and longing is fulfilled.

Simeon takes the Child Jesus in his arms and not only praises God for fulfilling his hope but also announces Jesus’ identity and mission. He identifies him as the universal Saviour, because through him now salvation has come not only to the Jews but to all peoples (2:31). The Divine Child in his arms is born not only to give glory to the chosen people of God (that is, Israel), but also as a Light of revelation to the Gentiles. Now guided by that Light (who is Jesus himself), the Gentiles can also recognize the revelation of God’s salvation. Since Simeon gets the wonderful privilege of seeing the Messiah with his own eyes, he is ready and willing to be dismissed from this world by his Master (2:29-30). In other words, he is now prepared to die in peace.     

Next, Simeon predicts about the Child’s future mission and its implications for his Mother Mary (2:34). He foretells that this Child is destined to be opposed and rejected by his own people. Besides, a ‘sword’ of suffering and trials will pierce the heart of Mary because of this Child (2:35). Hence, Mary herself is destined to be a partner in the suffering and agony that her Child will have to undergo in future for the redemption of all. In other words, Simeon already announces Mary’s participation in the passion and cross of Christ before she is brought to the glory of his resurrection.

Finally, Luke’s gospel portrays the Holy Family of Nazareth as the place where Jesus grows in strength, wisdom and God’s favour (2:40). Luke wants to tell his readers that the Holy Family provides the context and atmosphere in which the Divine Child grows into maturity – physical, mental and spiritual.    

4.    Application to life 

As we celebrate the feast of Holy Family, today’s gospel tells us that the Son of God, when he was born in a family, did not claim any special privilege for himself. He, as well as his parents humbly submitted themselves to all the human and religious laws like any other ordinary people. This example of the Holy Family makes us regret for the times we claimed special treatment for ourselves or took pride in our privileged position in our family because of our better contribution or higher salary for the family’s income or all-round progress. We often forget how mutually dependant we are on one another in the family for various services from the moment of rising from bed to going to bed. As humans, knowingly or unknowingly, we do hurt one another in our family now and then. Sometimes our lack of humility prevents us from admitting our faults and hurtful behaviour. It leads us to justify our wrongdoings and create further hurt feelings. We hardly realize how much of love is destroyed or lost due to this kind of behaviour. We should have an intense desire to be freed from this kind of pride and self-sufficiency. Before we “depart from this world in peace,” do we have the dream (aim) to “see salvation” or liberation from this kind of pride, as Simeon wished (2:29-30)?

The pair of turtle doves (instead of a lamb) brought by Joseph and Mary for sacrificial offering indicates their inability to offer a lamb due to their poverty. Besides, the old age of Simeon and Anna and the latter’s widowhood further reinforce the message of God taking the side of the poor and the helpless as he is born in the context of a family of Nazareth. This type of identification of God with the poor, challenges us to recognise poverty and hunger prevalent in our families in various parts of the world. Some are materially hungry for food ad poor for clothing and housing; some are hungry for love, care and concern. What about our attitudes towards the aged, elderly, sick, bedridden, widowed and disabled members of our family? We need to regret on this Family Feast day if we have neglected to take sufficient care of such members. Like Mary, a ‘sword’ of sorrow should pierce our hearts to see some aged and sick parents not taken care of by their own children. We should see to it that the sick and the aged in our family are not neglected so that when our time comes to depart from this world we can depart in peace as Simeon wished in today’s gospel text 2:29).

Like Joseph and Mary, and Simeon and Anna, our Christian family is called to be righteous and devout. Like Simeon, in our family we too should have an intense desire to meet the Lord and experience his salvation, first of all in daily family prayer, reading or listening to and reflecting on the Word of God. By doing so, Jesus himself becomes the unseen guest in our family whose hidden presence we feel in our joys and sorrows, success and failure, disappointment and frustration, tension and suffering. Our family becomes Christian only when we lay its foundation on the solid Rock (that is, Christ himself) and give priority to establishment of his Kingdom or his gospel-values, such as genuine love for one another, care, concern, sacrifice and forgiveness.

As Simeon foretold about the rise and fall of many in Israel on account of Jesus (2:34), our family too will rise to a higher level of harmony if all of us seriously try to live by Jesus’ values, and will fall to a low level of disharmony and lovelessnes if we do not care for any of his values. It is right and fitting to examine whether our house is primarily a warehouse or storehouse of ornaments, utensils, machinery, gadgets, furniture, bank deposits and insurance policy’s documents, or a place of genuinely human and warm relationships. May be we work so hard for the former and neglect to work on equal footing for the latter. Like Simeon we should long to see salvation coming to our family. This happens when the gospel-values are firmly established in ur family and we work out for our daily salvation from selfishness, sin, pride, greed, resentment, jealousies and lust.

The spirituality of a Christian family consists in offering of itself to the Lord, as Jesus and Mary offered Child Jesus in the Temple. Since all of us in the family are baptized persons, we should not forget that all of us or the whole family is consecrated to the Lord and set apart to do his will by baptism itself. We are called to live a life of holiness in our own particular state of life. We are called to discover God’s will or his plans in everyday events, in all the ups and downs.  Married partners are called to help each other, and parents to help their children to live a life of holiness and discover God’s will in every day’s life. Together with Jesus who was offered in the temple, Christian parents need to offer their children to the Lord so that he may use them according to his designs. Together with Jesus who offered himself totally to God on the cross, Christian families are called to offer their joys and sorrows, struggles and trials, problems and hardships as sacrifice, “holy and acceptable to God” (Rom 12:1).

If living this daily consecration is applicable to all Christian families, how much more should it be for religious communities of persons belonging to consecrated life! Pope Francis, in his special letter to the Religious in the Year of Consecrated Life (2014 - 2016) wrote that joy in religious communities is strengthened by the experience of fraternity, where everyone shares the responsibility for the others' fidelity to the Gospel and their growth. He says that a joyless fraternity and a lack of tenderness are the signs of a dying fraternity. Pope Francis further says that living a life of fragmentation and a sterile individualism in religious communities leads to the weakening of relationships and undermines care for one another. This sterile individualism and superficial relationships has affected not only natural families but also religious communities. The result is the unexpressed attitude: “You-do-your-work, I-do-my-work” and “let us co-exist peacefully”. We feel disheartened to see traditional family values which we cherished so much such as mutual sharing, adjustment and collaboration, sacrifice of one’s own comforts, personal care and joyful togetherness are gradually eroding both in natural families and religious communities.

Today, as Simeon prophesized to Mary, we see a sword of suffering, anxiety, fear, humiliation and disgrace piercing the hearts of many parents when their children go astray and become victims of crime, terrorism, addictions (such as drugs/alcoholism) and delinquent behaviour. The same thing happens when some of them stop practising their faith or turn out to be agnostics or atheists. In many traditional families of some regions of the world where love-marriages and inter-faith or inter-caste marriages are tabooed, parents and elders feel (rightly or wrongly) that their hearts are pierced by their children when they break this social taboo. They not only face social disapproval but also a loss of their family’s honour or reputation. Even when their children do very good service to society or become social/religious reformers, like Jesus, they become victims of misunderstanding and opposition. Mary’s pierced heart symbolizes all the agony, which the parents have to undergo in these moments. Mary teaches them how to accept God’s will and surrender the whole situation to God, when it does not change in spite of hard efforts. Whenever there is a clash of tradition and modernity, both parents and young children need humility to enter into a continual dialogue.

Like the family of Nazareth, our family is the natural garden where human and spiritual values are sown and nurtured in children’s hearts. A question which Christian parents have to ask on this feast day is whether they are busy only in working hard to feed and educate their children, or equally concerned about inculcating values, wisdom and character into them; and whether their families are modelled on the Holy Family of Nazareth where Jesus grew in strength, wisdom and God’s favour. Besides feeding, clothing and educating children, parents are called to be equally concerned about inculcating the vales of sharing (instead of self-centredness), sacrifice, service and togetherness. If parents consider Holy Family’s model as their family’s mission they can depart in peace from this world when their time comes to hand over their spirit to the Lord.

5.    Response to God's Word

Do we have an intense desire to see salvation from all kinds of pride and self-sufficiency in our family? Do we recognize a hunger for love and care in our family? What are our attitudes towards the aged, elderly, sick, bedridden, widowed and disabled members of our family? Are they properly taken care of, or neglected? Do we give priority to establishment of Christ’s gospel-values, such as genuine love for one another, care, concern, sacrifice and forgiveness in our family? Have sterile individualism and superficial relationships crept into our family? Do we try to discover God’s will, or his plans for our family, and help one another to live according to it? What are the special ritual and customs we have introduced in our families or would like do at home in order to promote togetherness, mutual collaboration, sharing and protection from evil?

6.    A prayer

Jesus, by your birth in the Holy Family of Nazareth, you have sanctified the families of those who put their faith and trust in you. Grant that we may experience salvation from all types of selfishness and individualism that kill the family spirit among us. Give us the patience and strength to care for the sick and the aged in our family. As you grew in strength, wisdom and God’s favour in the Holy Family, give us wisdom to bring up our children in this model. Once again, we renew our baptismal consecration to God through you and resolve to give priority to your gospel-values in our family. Be with us in our joys and sorrows, struggles and trials, problems and hardships, so that our offering may be holy and acceptable to you. Amen.

Christmas Mass at Dawn (B)

 

Christmas Mass at Dawn [Lk 2:15-20]

25.12.2023

The Visit of the Shepherds

Readings: (1) Is 62:11-12 (2) Titus 3:4-7

1.  Theme in brief

Proclaiming what we have seen and heard

2.  Focus Statement

Celebrating Christmas means like the shepherds hearing (accepting) God’s message, seeing (experiencing) its truth, and proclaiming to others what we have heard and seen.

3.  Explanation of the text

In today’s gospel passage we notice three categories of people responding to the event of Christ’s birth in three different ways. First, there are shepherds, to whom the breaking news of the Messiah’s birth is announced by the angels. The shepherds were poor, illiterate, ignorant (as they were not allowed study the Law), impure (as they could not participate in the temple liturgy), dirty (as they could not afford to take regular bath) and outcasts. It is a wonder that the good news of salvation is given first to the poor, ignorant and despised people.

The faith-response of the shepherds is highlighted by their: (1) eagerness (“haste”, 2:16) to go to Bethlehem to see “the thing” (that is, the event) that has taken place (2:15); (2) making known to others what has been told to them about this child (2:17); and (3) glorifying and praising God for all they have heard and seen (2:20). They go to verify what they have heard from the angel that a Saviour is born for all people in the city of David (that is, Bethlehem, 2:10-11). What do they see? They see a helpless child born to a poor and homeless family lying in a manger (2:12). In this fragile child they recognize the glory of God. Their haste indicates their eagerness to receive the good news of salvation. They become a model for the missionary call of Christian disciples – to witness to what they have heard and seen.

Secondly, we notice a group of hearers who are amazed at what the shepherds tell them (2:18). But nothing is mentioned about their faith-response. They are like the ones who hear the Word but do not respond with faith because of lack of roots (cf. Lk 8:13).

Then there is a third category of people represented by Mary who treasures the Word and ponders its significance in her heart (2:19).  She is like those who after hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and produce a hundredfold fruit (Lk 8:8, 15). She becomes a model believer for her efforts to discover the meaning of life-events (especially God’s incarnation) in the light of faith.

4.  Application to life 

According to today’s gospel, all that glitters is not Christmas! What glitter is there in those shepherds who are considered dirty, impure and outcasts by the respectable people? What glitter is there in a manger either? Is it not a wonder that God favours the despised people like shepherds, and identifies Himself with our deprivation?

After hearing from the angels the good news of the Saviour’s birth, the shepherds are so eager to “see” (that is, to experience) for themselves “this thing,” that is, this wonderful event of God becoming a human person (2:15). When they reach Bethlehem they see or experience two things:

 (1) They see poor, homeless and helpless parents (Joseph and Mary) and a defenceless child (Jesus) lying in the manger. It is a tremendous contradiction to see the Saviour of the world in such a misery! They see God’s boundless love and humility to stoop down to their own level; to be like one of them. Christmas challenges us to examine whether we favour the type of people whom God favours. God seems to favour all sorts of “less” people – the homeless, landless, jobless, defenceless, voiceless, helpless and powerless. Though God loves all people, in Jesus he decides to make a preferential option to favour or to take the side of less privileged people. If so, what is our concern for such people and families? Do we have anything to do with them? Do we side with only influential and powerful people, or side with the above-mentioned “less people” also? Allowing Jesus to take birth in our hearts today involves making some room for this sort of people in our minds and hearts first, and then in our deeds.

(2) They see the Saviour of the world born in an ordinary human family. They observe how a father (Joseph) and a mother (Mary) struggle to nurse, protect and take care of their new-born baby. They come to know how God reveals his love through the image of a family. On Christmas Day, the response of the shepherds leads us to ponder how God reveals His love through our own family even today.

In this sense, Christmas is a great Family Feast. Jesus takes birth again and again in our families. Like the shepherds, we need simple but deeper faith to recognize him in our genuine and human love. In many societies, we notice that the family members who are scattered due to jobs or studies hasten to be at home during Christmas. Today’s gospel invites all those who come home for a family reunion to see with the eyes of faith what the most important thing we must value the most in our families.  We need to see whether the traditional family values which the older generation cherished so much such as mutual sharing, adjustment and collaboration, sacrifice of one’s own comforts, personal care and joyful togetherness are still there or not. How sad we feel to notice the gradual erosion of these “family-values”. They are replaced by individualism, superficial relationships and “you-do-your-work, I-do-my-work” attitude. Even on Sundays, instead of spending some time together, all (including children) think of keeping their own schedules and attending to their own ‘appointments’.

For persons of faith it is a big challenge to see to it that they rediscover in their families the values for which Jesus was born. Jesus was born in a deprived family to tell us that our families should learn from him the spirit of sharing even the meagre resources and limited time we have! In a busy world today, the greatest Christmas gift which parents need to give to their children is not the best clothes or latest gadget in the market, but the gift of time.

Christmas is also a Missionary Feast. After “seeing” (experiencing) what the Lord had made known to them (2:15), like the shepherds wee too must share our experience with others. Celebrating Christmas means like the shepherds, accepting God’s Word, seeing for oneself its truth and proclaiming it to all. Because God became one with our human condition, we hear and see every day God’s mysterious presence and hidden love in whatever happens to us. Like the shepherds, we must bear witness to our experiences of these signs of God’s love and care. When we bear witness to the values we have “heard and seen” (experienced) in and through Christ (e.g. non-retaliation and forgiveness), people may ask us: “Why do you do what you do?” That is, why do you behave differently from the general pattern of the world or human behaviour? If people ask like that, it is a clear sign that we are bearing witness to what we have “heard and seen”. Through our testimony to Christ’s values in society and workplaces, we see Jesus being born anew in our situation.

Finally, the feast of Christmas invites us to imitate the faith-response of Mary. We need to discover the meaning and significance of various events in our lives in the light of faith. Like Mary, we are invited to ponder the implications of what Christmas means for us today. Surely, it does not mean only new clothes, decorations, cakes and parties. It also means a deeper reflection on the meaning and purpose of our lives or the mission for which God has called us.

5.  Response to God's Word

Do we most often side with the powerful and influential people only and brush off the poor and the underprivileged? Is there genuine love and concern for one another in our families? Is there a spirit of sharing in our families, especially when our resources are so meagre? Do we show in our words and deeds that Jesus is truly our Saviour and Lord? Does our life’s example of living Christ’s values speak louder than our words? Which values? Does our behaviour or action which is different from people is general make others ask us why we behave that way? Like the shepherds, do we marvel at God’s love, goodness and mercy in our lives and respond to it by glorifying and praising God?

6.  A prayer

With the faith of simple shepherds, we praise and glorify you O God. What wonders you have done for us and for the whole world by giving the gift of your Son. What thanks can we render to you for what we have heard and seen in and through Jesus. Grant us the courage and strength to rediscover His values in our families. Give us the generosity to make some room for the deprived and the despised in our minds and hearts first, and then in our deeds. We make this prayer through Christ who is born anew today. Amen.

 

C hristmas Midnight Mass (B)

CHRISTMAS SEASON (B)

Christmas Midnight Mass [Lk 2:1-14]

24.12.2023

The Birth of the Saviour, Messiah and Lord in Utter Deprivation

Readings: (1) Is 9:1-6 (2) Titus 2:11-14

1. Theme in brief

God’s identification with human conditions

2. Focus Statement

At his birth Jesus identifies himself with the rejection, lowliness, deprivation and powerlessness ofhumans; and his birth brings salvation to all people and peace to those on whom God’s favour rests.

3.  Explanation of the text

Luke’s ‘infancy narrative’, begins with the mention of the birth of the Heavenly King (“the Messiah and the Lord,” 2:11) in a meek, lowly and powerless circumstance during the reign of the most powerful earthly king, namely Augustus Caesar. What a contrast!  Jesus and his parents (especially Mary in her advanced pregnancy) become victims of an arbitrary order of this earthly emperor that a census of the entire world ruled by him should be taken (2:1). Of course, Luke wants to tell us that Jesus is born for the whole world (as a universal Saviour); not only to give glory to Israel but also to become the light of revelation to the Gentiles (2:32). Further he wants to show that the Jewish expectations of Messiah coming from David’s dynasty are fulfilled as Joseph is a descendant of David (2:4). This explains the hardship and constraints faced by Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem (Joseph’s ancestral place) for the registration.

While they are there, Mary gives birth to her firstborn Son in a manger because there is no place for them in the inn (2:7). She wraps him in bands of cloth or swaddling clothes (2:7, 12). These details tell us that the Son of God faces total humility, rejection, poverty and utter deprivation at his birth, or takes upon himself these humans conditions..

The news of the humble birth of Jesus is first given to the lowly shepherds. The shepherds in Palestine were considered to be poor, dirty and ignorant of the Law; hence outcasts. By choosing the shepherds to announce the news of his Son’s birth, God tells us that he has become one with the despised, the poor, the lowly and the little ones. The angel who announces the birth calls it good news of great joy for all the people (2:10) because of the Child’s universal mission to save all. According to the message of an angel of the Lord the reason for their joy is (2:9-10), for them (1) a Saviour, who is (2) the Messiah and (3) the Lord is born (2:11). The first title (Saviour) denotes that he is born for a divine mission (that is, to save all people), the sec  ond one is that he is to be confessed as the promised Messiah, and the third one (Lord) is that he is of divine nature. The sign given to the shepherds to recognize the Saviour is a fragile, helpless and defenceless baby wrapped in all the poverty of swaddling clothes and lying with all humility and lowliness in a manger (2:12).

Soon, along with that angel a multitude of heavenly hosts appears to announce that with the birth of this baby at Bethlehem, God is glorified in the highest heaven and the gift of peace is promised to people on whom his favour rests (2:14). And who become the objects of God’s favour? Not the pundits and religious heads of Jerusalem, but the poor and the despised shepherds. Finally, it is clear that joy, salvation and peace are the greatest gifts offered by God to all people by giving his Son to humankind.

4. Application to life 

From tonight’s gospel, we come to know that God’s promised Messiah comes to us not as a powerful king but as a powerless, poor and weak baby. Yes, not all that glitters is Christmas. God identifies himself with human predicament of insecurity, rejection, deprivation and misery. Joseph and Mary had to face the same predicament of insecurity and rejection due to arbitrary order of a worldly ruler, namely Augustus Caesar. They are only examples of so many people in our own times who have to face the same ordeal due to harsh and unjust decisions of those in power, especially of repressive regimes and of those rulers who ruthlessly introduce new economic policies at the cost of the poor. The poor are powerless to change these decisions. They are powerless to organize public protests because the powerful ones who normally organize such protests are silent in order to safeguard their own interests. Joseph and Mary were rejected by their own people who refused to give them place in the inn. Later, Jesus himself was rejected by his own people in his native place, Nazareth (Lk 4:24). The fourth gospel (John’s) tells us that he came to his own and his own people did not accept  him (Jn 1:11).

One simple statement in today’s gospel that expresses the extent of God’s humility out of his boundless love for us and challenges our love for others is this: “She (Mary) gave birth to her firstborn son ….and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (2:7). During a cold night, the hearts of neighbours turned cold and refused to give place or make room for a pregnant woman in an inn at the time of her imminent delivery. Finally, the Son of God finds warmth among the animals. Sometimes human beings can sink to the level of beasts. Whenever we close our eyes to dire needs of others or whenever we refuse to extend a helping hand to those in dire need, we too sink to the same level. By rejecting such people we reject Christ who wants to be born today.

Even today the poor find no place for them in the fast changing economies of developing countries whose political leaders are more geared to back up the corporate and business world with the aim of getting political and financial support from them. Many of the underprivileged and disadvantaged people have to struggle for survival. Do we give them a place in any of our schemes and relationships? Do we create a little time or room for them in our own ‘inns’ (places or spaces)? Do we have a number of excuses for our refusal to share our space (if we have) and things with them? What about the well-to-do among us? Many of them too are deprived of love. Mother Teresa used to say, even the rich are poor for love, for being cared for, for being wanted. What can we do to tackle this spiritual deprivation?

In spite of harsh realities of life faced by Jesus, it is a joy to discover that he is born as one of us, resembles us and takes upon himself our fate! God loves the despised and deprived people so much that he becomes one with their destiny. He has come to satisfy our hearts that are poor and hungry for love. Have you heard anybody telling you: “Get out from here. I do not want you.” Have you ever used these or similar words to anybody? Nowadays, we can notice a sense of hunger for love and affection among children due to the inability of parents to spend some quality time with them, especially those parents who are too busy in jobs, politics and business. As the evangelist John says, today also Jesus comes to his own (disciples) in the guise of the needy, but his own receive him not (Jn 1:10-11). As prophet Isaiah says, a great light has shone on those who walk in this kind of darkness and gloom of selfishness or lack of concern (Is 9:1). Will Jesus find place in our ‘inns’ (that is, selfish, over-busy and loveless hearts), or face outright rejection by us, just as he faced at his birth?

In Jesus, God comes to us with all the vulnerability and helplessness. He comes as a child “wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” (2:12). Since God has stooped to the lowliest level of a manger, all of us who want to find him tonight and in real life must also stoop low. It is clear that God hates pride and comes to smash it, not with fire and brimstone but with humility and powerlessness. This helpless baby born to deprived parents does not pose any threat to anybody. He only says, “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you…” (Rev 3:20). To all who receive him he promises to give the power to become the children of God (Jn 1:12), and those who reject him lose this wonderful privilege! What about us? Tonight, he comes and knocks at the doors of our sinful hearts. Will we open the door or keep it shut? Why there is no room for him in our hearts? As we are preoccupied with all social celebrations and normal busy-ness, there is no time for him and no room for him. As Christmas becomes commercialized, there could be temptations to join those who want to celebrate a ‘Christless’ Christmas and make it purely a social celebration. If ever we could give more room there could be a little victory over selfish attitudes. 

In Luke’s account there is nothing spectacular surrounding the birth of the King of kings. Though we glamorize the scene of Christ’s birth by surrounding with angels, Luke’s gospel mentions about no angels around his birth. The angelic hosts are rather found in the fields around the shepherds.  In fact, Joseph and Mary come to know about the appearance of angels only from the shepherds. Like them we also sometimes come to know about Christ’s birth not in the church but out in the fields – among the poor and the marginalized. Why did God choose the despised shepherds to give the good news of his Son’s birth? He is born among the lowly and the poor, for the lowly and poor, to teach us to be humble and poor in spirit and show compassion for the lowly and the poor. This shows God’s first attention, care and tenderness does not go out to the rich and the powerful, but to those who are on the margins of society – the poor, the deprived, the downtrodden, the least and the last.  He is a God who takes the side of this type of people. Jesus is born in utter poverty and lowliness, and the news of his birth is first given to the deprived ones precisely because we may take a new birth with a new attitude to care for the marginalized and show concern towards their suffering. Ambrose says: "He (Jesus), being rich, became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich." Yes, rich in sharing and caring for such people.

Jesus’ poverty and deprivation are a challenge for the greedy who acquire wealth through corrupt means and overexploitation of the natural resources. We notice how severely the Mother Earth and the whole of creation groan or cry in agony due to environmental degradation and break down of ecological balance, just because of human greed. Christmas reminds us that, since God used our world to send his Son, this planet is sanctified by the mystery of incarnation. According to Pope Francis, Mother Earth which is our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life, and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to nurture and sustain us. “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her” (“Laudato Si” No. 2). Further he says: “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.” (“Laudato Si” No.66).  Further, Jesus’ birth in utter deprivation is a challenge to tendencies of consumerism in the modern world. It is a challenge to those who go on craving to acquire latest goods in the markets instead of sharing some of their wealth with the poor. Moreover, the humility and lowliness of the Babe in the manger is a challenge for the proud who bully/ dominate/ exploit the weak, the powerless and the ignorant.

Tonight’s gospel speaks about three wonderful gifts that are given by God to humanity by sending his Son: (1) the gift of joy (2:10); (2) the gift of a Saviour (2:11), and (3) the gift of peace (2:14). If so, we need to ask: “What is the real cause of our joy tonight?” Our joy is not merely due to the glitter of decoration, the glamour of new clothes, the mouth-watering cakes and fascinating gifts, but due to the gift of a Saviour who comes to lift us to the level of divinity by totally sharing in our humanity. We rejoice because he is born for all people – saints and sinners, friends and foes, nationals and foreigners and for all races and cultures. How wonderful to know that he is not bound or constrained by human tendencies of narrow-mindedness, prejudices, exclusiveness and ethnocentrism.

Today, he comes to save (liberate) us from all dehumanizing factors and situations by becoming one of us. Quite often, we are unable to rise up from our fallen state and become better persons, in spite of our best efforts. He wants to hold our hands to raise us. Do we extend our hands towards him? He comes to give peace to those whom God favours. In tune with the multitude of angels who praised God at the good news of the Saviour’s birth (2:13), we too glorify him because we, sinners, have become “those whom he (God) favours,” and those on whom his glory dawns from “the highest heaven,” and to whom peace is given on earth (2:14)! Is this peace given to us for safe-keeping or to share it with those who do not have it? It is good to examine ourselves and see whether we are basically peacemakers or peace-breakers by our way of talking and acting.

Today’s gospel says that Mary wrapped Jesus in “bands of cloth and laid him in a manger” (2:7). But today Jesus does not take birth in a manger. Our broken hearts are mangers where he wants to take birth. He takes birth in order to remove hatred from our hearts and fill us with love, to wash away our sins and make us holy, to drive away darkness and give us his light, to rake away unrest and give us peace, to liberate us from all bondages, and to remove hopelessness and fill us with hope. But how many of us want to open our hearts to him? He comes with light and we may want to remain in darkness; he comes to give us divine life and we want to remain in our sins; he comes to give us peace and we wan to remain in disharmony and division; and he comes to us as a poor and helpless baby so that we do not keep the poor and the powerless out of our designs. It is good to examine ourselves whether we seriously try to heal the wounds of brokenness, hatred, emotional hurts and bitterness.

5. Response to God's Word

What does Jesus lying in the manger tell us? Is it not scandalous for God’s Son to be born as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger? How does this utter deprivation and lowliness become a challenge for us to renounce our tendency towards domination and exploitation of the weak, possessiveness and consumerism? Do we share our resources with those who cannot repay any of our help in any way? If there is no place for the poor in our schemes, how can Christ be born today? Do we try to share the peace of Christ in a world that is so much broken and divided?

6. A prayer

    Glory to you, O God, in the highest heaven. By becoming one with us through Jesus, you showered your boundless love on lost sinners like us. We praise and bless you with the choirs of heaven for giving us abundant gifts of joy, salvation and peace by giving your Son. Make us generous so that there may be room for the poor and the rejected in our hearts. We pray that your poverty and deprivation at birth may challenge us to renounce our tendency to be greedy and possessive. Let your kind favour rest on us that we share your peace with others by becoming active promoters of peace and harmony in our broken world. O Prince of peace, grant us peace. Amen.