The Christmas Event

‘Happiness at Christmas is remembering the people who mean so much all through the year’. This line in a greeting card is the starting spark of my Christmas Novena Sermonette. Remembering can have a lot of value and meaning in life. We are all on the preparation for the great day of Christmas celebration. Every celebration is, in a sense, a profound remembering of the person we celebrate, of the event we celebrate, and remembering the wonderful surprises brought by the Lord. Here, the person we celebrate is the Lord Jesus as an Infant with smiles and cries in the manger; the event we celebrate is the birth of the long awaited Messiah who would redeem the world from the shadow of sin; the wonderful surprises are – virgin giving birth, the heavenly Prince having no place in the city of king David, the multitude of angels singing praises, the shepherds rejoicing over the Good news, the three wise-men patiently following the star to offer their gifts for the King of wisdom, the list can go on... How can we count or limit the surprises of God’s plan? Dear friends, whatever we have stated here, are mere events focusing on Christmas. Now, the question is what about the experiences of Christmas? So far we heard about the historical moment of Christmas, what about the historical movement of Christmas?

Christmas as an event is just one day in the year. Christmas as an experience can be a joyful feature of everyday life. Events come and go as they are, but the experiences stay longer and grow stronger in the journey of life. So, dear friends, what is our choice for Christmas 2017 – an event? or an experience? Nothing happens by chance in God’s plan; God’s choices are indeed beyond our comprehension. With our limited reason can we understand and appreciate the mystery of incarnation? Now, let me try to explain such mystery in the experiences found in the salvific-history chalked out by the Lord.

  

The experience of incarnation can be traced out in the creation story itself. In creation, God gave His Image and Likeness to humankind (Gen 1:26). In incarnation, Jesus was being born in human likeness and being found in human form (Phil 2:7). In the creation narrative, the Word who was God creates: “Let there be Light” (Gen 1:3). In the experience of incarnation, the Word became flesh and lived among us (Jn 1:14). Precisely here creation and incarnation make a splendid blending for Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12). To reflect further, the annunciation also has a place in the experience of our first parents. When sin entered into the picture, concomitantly, the Saviour’s birth was foretold. Please join me in the voyage of discovering the incarnational elements found in the eternal design of God. Remember the story of the ark of Noah, wherein God saw all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth (Gen 6:12) and the experience of the stable in Bethlehem, wherein the divine flesh cleansed and cured the corruption of human flesh. Remember Abram, called to go from his country and from his father’s house, and baby Jesus came from his heavenly Father and from the seat of the Son of God. Just ponder over Abraham and Sarah experiencing the promise of a son, where Sarah laughed (Gen 18:12) with rejection; and compare with that of Joseph and Mary, where the blessed mother questioned (Lk 1:34) with acceptance. Remember the story of Joseph (Gen 42-) in Old Testament saving his brothers from famine and death? Here, in New Testament the righteous Joseph, saving Mary from disgrace and from being stoned to death. These Josephs experienced Christmas even in dreams. What about us?

I hope you are quite interested in this voyage, shall we continue? Now we reach Moses fleeing to Midian, because Pharaoh sought to kill him (Exo 2:15). Remember the Holy Family’s flee to Egypt, because Herod searches to kill the new born King of the Jews. Dear friends, like this we can move from Christmas event to Christmas experience. Let us remember the song of Moses in Exodus (15:1-18) and the song of Mary in Luke (1:46-55) both extraordinary expressions of the experience of God – The Lord is with us and has done marvels for us. What song, a personal one, do we have for Christmas? Then comes the law or the prophets of the Old Testament, here we have the One who is the fulfilment of the living Word (Mt 5:17-18). Remember the birth of Samson, the one separated for or consecrated to God (Judg 13:5) with the boy Jesus’ question in the Jerusalem Temple: Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? (Lk 2:49). If so, what is Christmas for us as consecrated religious? Let us compare the growth of Samuel (1 Sam 3:19) and that of the child Jesus (Lk 2:52), who increased in wisdom and in divine favour. Remember a little shepherd boy anointed (1 Sam 16:13) as the king over Israel and of the son of a carpenter from Nazareth (Mt 13:55) establishing His kingdom on earth. The voyage can proceed further with Solomon’s wisdom and that of Jesus in responding to issues and situations; with Elijah and Elisha, with Isaiah and Jeremiah, with Ezekiel and Daniel, with Job and Jonah... Do you want more signs for the experience of Christmas? Let me leave this to you to continue the remembering filled with gratitude and wonders! They are Pre-figures of Jesus, before His Birth, what about the Post-figures? The Christmas experience continues with Peter and Paul, Augustine and Aquinas, with Francis of Assisi and Francis Xavier, with Don Bosco and Mother Teresa; believe me the same Christmas experience continues with you and me.

 

Hence, shall we just prepare for Christmas celebrations? Or shall we whole heartedly participate in this mystery of incarnation? Is Christmas an event of placing baby Jesus in the crib and exchanging gifts? Or is it an experience of having Jesus with us and becoming gifts for each other in the community? If this move from event to experience is achieved, then ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will’ is our daily song; then, indeed Emmanuel – God is with us would become our true witness.

Let this be my humble wish for Christmas - that we remember God and the People;   that we remember God’s Magnificent plan for us; that we participate and experience in the Joy of giving, giving to the full. Happiness at Christmas is remembering... Thanks you and God Bless.

Cl William David 

Where is the Line to See Jesus?

I’m sure all of us have been to a mall someday. I’m sure each of us has stood in line for something or the other. But very rarely I think we would have stood in the wrong line. But there is a possibility that in the season of Christmas we might be in the wrong line. In the year 2010 Becky Kelly sang a beautiful Christmas song titled “Where’s the line to see Jesus?” the song turned out to be a hit I believe. 

Christmas time was approaching
Snow was starting to fall
Shoppers choosing their presents
People filling the mall

Children waiting for Santa
With excitement and glee
A little boy tugged my sweater
Looked up and asked me

Where's the line to see Jesus?
Is He here at the store?
If Christmas time is His birthday
Why don't we see Him more?

The words of a little boy were the inspiration for this song. It so happened that the family had gone to the mall for their Christmas shopping. Just like in many malls in during Christmas season one can see small children waiting for Santa, here too was a similar story. But unlike many other kids this little boy asked his parents “Where's the line to see Jesus? Is He here at the store? If Christmas time is His birthday why don't we see Him more?

This message came from a little boy who needed to wish the birthday boy first. Probably he failed to realize that Jesus was just the reason and nothing more than that. He failed to realize that Santa had replaced Jesus and if not Santa the gifts and the food did the job, just like in any other birthday we wait to check out the food served or wait for the party to begin.

Sometimes the most profound thoughts come from the mouth of the simple and the ignorant but very often we decide to shun them. Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem but we decide to celebrate him in a huge function with lots of food and plenty of enjoyment. Though there is nothing wrong in doing this, we must remember that the reason for the season is Jesus and we’ve got to stand in the correct line if we want to wish him. Standing in other lines will only lead us away from the true spirit of Christmas. Therefore today it not about deconstructing Christ but about deconstructing the way we celebrate Christmas. It does not mean that we stop enjoying, dancing, making sweets etc but it means that we need to keep in mind the person because of whom we are doing all this and only then will Christmas make sense. So now let me continue the song.

As I stood in amazement
At this message profound
I looked down to thank him
He was no where around

The little boy at the mall
Might as well have had wings
As the tears filled my eyes
Thought I heard him sing

Where's the line to see Jesus?
Is He here at the store?
If Christmas time is His birthday
Why don't we see Him more?

Where's the line to see Jesus?
He was born for me
Santa Claus brought me presents
But Christ gave His life for me

Let us see if we are in the correct line and if not let’s make the change. Let us remember that Jesus was born to free us. Let us celebrate this freedom and enjoying this beautiful season of Christmas by doing all we can to make it special but let us not compromise on the birthday boy and make sure we wish Him and invite him for the party we will have in his honor. Let us involve him in our preparations, may be through the little sweets we prepare, through the cribs we make or any other thing we will do this Christmas. May all our endeavors this Christmas help us come more closer to each other and to the birthday boy Jesus Christ. 

Cl Felix Almeida 

WAITING….. GOD!!!

Perhaps you know the feeling of waiting better than anyone: Whether it’s the food time, an exam to be answered or even the time for holidays!

You’ve prepared yourself, waited for the classes to end, counting of days to end and holidays to begin and now there’s nothing to do but sit and wait. And even it really only takes a matter of days or months, you start to feel tense and anxious, wondering how long this could possibly take. Most people don’t like to wait. We often get frustrated waiting on fast food or waiting behind the slow car in the fast lane. We are always in a rush to get to the next place or the next thing.

This mindset often carries over into our spiritual lives with us rushing to the next big thing. But while most of us are in a hurry, it seems God is usually not in a hurry. The Scriptures say He is slow at going about things. It seems He always has a plan and a purpose for everything. The problem with waiting is not having all the details. From our perspective, we have everything figured out and we want God to move within our timeframe.

But God rarely does things according to our timeframe, and because of this we can easily get discouraged. If we aren’t careful, we’ll think He’s uncaring or mad at us.

In the Gospels we see this happening to Mary and Martha while they are waiting on Jesus to come and heal their brother, Lazarus. When Jesus finally shows up, He is accused of taking too long.

God always has good reasons for making us wait. Waiting is a part of life and one of God’s tools for developing people. The Bible is full of stories of people having to wait on God, such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, Daniel, Jesus, Paul and countless others. In studying the lives of these great people, there are 5 reasons God makes us wait:

1. WAITING REVEALS OUR TRUE MOTIVES

Waiting has a way of bringing out the best and worst in people. People who don’t have good motives won’t wait long because they’re not interested in the commitment it takes to see something through. They’re too interested in short-term gains or success.

Most of us have good intentions, but a lot of what we want to accomplish is an attempt to make a name for ourselves or for our own egos. It hurts to say this, but it’s often true.

2. WAITING BUILDS PATIENCE IN OUR LIVES

Patience in waiting for small things leads to having patience in the bigger things. If we can’t wait for God to do a small thing, we certainly can’t wait for something bigger.

Our problem is our perspective is usually wrong. We tend to think the bigger things in life are finances and possessions, while God thinks influencing and changing people is more important.

3. WAITING BUILDS ANTICIPATION

Why do children get so excited around Christmas? Because the wait has produced anticipation. We tend to appreciate things the longer we have to wait for them.

There is an incident told about a family man who a few years ago, his family and he were going through a difficult season. They had to live with his mother in law for a few years. During this time the Lord assured him that one day he would own a home of his own. It took a few years to see this happen, but when the day finally came, he could hardly contain himself.

Because of having to wait so long, we tend to cherish and take care of it more than others might. People tend to treasure the things they have to wait for.

4. WAITING TRANSFORMS OUR CHARACTER

Waiting has a way of rubbing off the rough edges of our lives. Most of us know the story of Moses delivering the Israelites from the Egyptians. It’s a grand story of God doing great miracles.

But few sermons talk about Moses having to wait in the desert 40 years before God came to him. God used this time of waiting to transform his character. We know this because when he was a young man he was brash and impatient. In his impetuousness he killed a man and hid the body. When his sin was made public, he ran for his life and was exiled to the desert. When he was given a second chance he opted to do it God’s way and in God’s time.

In the end, the Israelites were delivered from slavery and Moses became a great leader. Waiting transformed the life of Moses and it does the same for you and I.

5. WAITING BUILDS INTIMACY AND DEPENDENCY UPON GOD

The reason we are able to read about the great men and women of the Bible is because they all had one thing in common. They were all people who learned their success in life was directly proportionate to their intimacy and dependency upon God. For them, a relationship with God wasn’t a get rich quick scheme. For many of them it was a matter of life and death.

Waiting during the difficult times developed their relationship with God. Some of the most intimate relationships we have in our lives are because a friend stood in the trenches with us during the heat of the battle. Maybe this is what the scripture means when it says we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24).

The reason we get to read the stories of these great men and women is because they went through the difficulties of life with God. In the end, they enjoyed the process with God and the promise of God.

I’ve always believed God is just as interested in the journey as he is the destination. What good would it sound for us as religious who are climbing up a mountain of our priesthood, but when we reach the threshold we realize how much we forgot the journey and were caught with the destination. If not, all the biblical accounts would only include the feel good parts and not the good, the bad and the ugly of the times of waiting. We may not always understand why we have to wait, but the good news is that God never asks us to wait without Him.

Christmas challenges us to think outside the box. It challenges to live in the present, the now, every moment of our lives is a gift of Christ that comes with waiting. It is not an abstract thought about a distant God who is punishing us by making us wait. Christmas is about interpreting and discerning the values of the culture and the world we live in. Its about contradicting the fast culture of the world and creating within us the ability to WAIT. Wishing you a waiting, watching and welcoming experience of CHRISTMAS!

Cl. Joyston Machado