Christmas: Choosing the Light

JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU!

Our Belen for 2016

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

When the Lord Jesus was born, it was in the middle of the night. People were fast asleep except the shepherds who were keeping the night watch over their flock. Nobody knew that it was the most awaited night, the night when the ancient promise of God was fulfilled. Everything was hidden in the darkness of the night.

But what was hidden in darkness will be proclaimed in daylight. Today, the Light of the world shines in the darkness. Not even the darkness is able to overcome it. No amount of darkness will ever limit the light. Light limits the darkness and not the other way around. Light dispels the darkness. The darkness does not dispel the light. Darkness is the absence of light. When the light comes, there is no darkness.

There is only one way for darkness to stay…and that is by blocking the light. “He came to what was his own but his own people did not accept him.” Light is refused by putting up a barrier to keep it from penetrating the darkness. The barrier sort of protects the darkness from the light. Hiding behind that barrier, a person remains in the dark.

But it is unfortunate that one should refuse the light and choose the darkness. “For what came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race…” Life is light. Where there is light, there is life. Living things grow under the light. Death lurks in darkness. It would be sad if people choose the darkness because doing so, they would choose death over life. And who wants to die? The desire for death defies all logic. Everything that lives wants to remain alive. It would do everything to be able to extend life even for one second more.

Light empowers. “Those who did accept him, he gave the power to become children of God.” There can be no higher dignity for man than to be a child of God. To accept the light is to be chosen and loved by God as his dear children. This is the life he offers us. He offers us the life of the children of God. And to do this, his light comes into the world. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Like the sun at Fatima which one can look at without hurting one’s eyes, the Light of the world comes in the poverty of a little child. He is not a light that glares and blinds. He is a light that beckons, a light that attracts by its beauty. The sign of God is the poverty of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying on a manger. The poverty of the human nature which he took upon himself makes the unapproachable light of God less intimidating and more approachable. This Light beckons us to go out of the dark. It draws us out of the darkness of sin and death. It invites us to take away the barrier that shields us from his light and life. It invites us to turn away from sin, to shun the works of darkness. The seeming poverty of God makes people underestimate his power. Our impatience to put things in order makes us resort to works of death: wars, killings, violence. But the peace and order that comes out of it is simply the silence of cadavers, the silence of cemeteries.

If only the world would accept Christ the Light, then it would receive from the fullness of his grace, grace upon grace. “Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ.”  This is the true life giving grace. The mercy of the Christ Child is one that truly transforms and gives eternal life. It is the one that opens and fills paradise and not graves. “The Lord restores Zion. Break out together in song, O ruins of Jerusalem! The Lord comforts his people, he redeems Jerusalem.”

If we accept Christ, he will reveal God to us. “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.” Let us accept him for the Lord does not desire ruin for us but salvation. He desires not violence but peace. He desires not the death of the sinner but that the sinner should turn to him and live.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!  

Simbang Gabi 3 (Fatima Centennial): Angelic visitation

Jesus, I trust in you!

The annunciation by an angel to St. Joseph is the first of the series of angelic visitations that we shall encounter during the Simbang Gabi. Angels have played prominent roles in the infancy narratives. Angels will announce the conception of John the Baptist and of our Lord. They will sing on Christmas night and proclaim the Lord’s birth to shepherds. They will warn the magi and St. Joseph of Herod’s evil plans. Angels are bearers of the Good News and that Good News is Jesus.

So the angel revealed in a dream to St. Joseph not only the wonderful plan the Lord had for Mary his wife but also the identity of her son: He is Emmanuel (God with us) who fulfills the prophecy of the Virgin giving birth. He is to be named Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. He is both God and Savior: God who saves people from sins.

The apparitions of Our Lady to the shepherd children of Fatima were preceded by angelic visitations. During springtime of 1916, an angel appeared to the children. He introduced himself to them as the Angel of Peace and he taught them a prayer: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, I love you. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, nor adore, nor hope, nor love you.” Then he said to them, “Pray like that. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.”

During the summer of that same year, a second angelic visitation occurred. The angel introduced himself as the guardian angel of Portugal and he told them: “You must pray a great deal. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer up prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High.” He taught the children: “Make everything you do a sacrifice and offer it to God in reparation for the countless sins by which he is offended (nasaktan) and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. In this way, you will bring peace to your country…above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings which the Lord may send you.”

After 3 months, the angel appeared to them a 3^rd time. This time, the Holy Eucharist appeared suspended in mid-air. The angel prostrated in adoration on the ground and led the children in a prayer of reparation: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly. I offer you the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, really and truly present in every tabernacle of the world in reparation for the countless outrages (pang aalipusta), sacrileges (kalapastanganan) and indifferences (pagwawalang bahala) by which he is offended.  And through the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg you to convert poor sinners.” Then, the angel gave Holy Communion to the children.

As the angel revealed to St. Joseph the identity of the Son of Mary as God the Savior, so also the angel revealed to the children the identity of the Blessed Sacrament, namely, it is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to the Lord Jesus. He made the children realize how holy the Blessed Sacrament is for it is God himself present among us. The angel taught them the value of prayer and sacrifice and also the necessity of reparation for sins and prayer for the conversion of sinners.

We should likewise learn these lessons from the angel. As St. Joseph was convinced to welcome Mary and her Son into his home, so also may we learn to welcome Christ into our lives. Welcome Christ by receiving him worthily in Holy Communion. Let us repent and confess our sins and make reparation for them. Let us make up to the Lord for those who do not believe, adore, hope, nor love him.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

The Lowliness of God

PRAISED BE JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH!

The angel was sent to Mary and greeted her: Hail! Full of grace! The Lord is with you! He did not greet her with the usual Shalom – peace be with you – but with the Greek word “chaire” which literally means “rejoice!” Pope Benedict says: “This exclamation from the angel marks the true beginning of the New Testament.” The New Testament begins with this word: Rejoice!

Gabriel’s greeting to Mary reminds us of the prophecy of Zephaniah 3:14-17: “Rejoice, daughter of Zion; shout, Israel…the King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst.” In this prophecy, the reason for the rejoicing of the daughter of Zion is that “the Lord is in your midst.” Literally, it means “the Lord is in your womb” alluding to a passage in the Book of Exodus which speaks of God dwelling in the ark of the Covenant as dwelling “in Israel’s womb” (Ex 33:3 and 34:9)

Thus, Mary appears as the Daughter of Zion in person. The prophecies are fulfilled in her as she becomes the Ark of the Covenant in which the Lord takes up his dwelling. “The Holy Spirit will come down upon you, and the Power of the Most High will overshadow you.” The words of the angel reminds us of the Shekinah, the thick cloud which descended on the Temple in order to hide and point out the presence of the Lord at the same time. it is with such terms that the Incarnation is described. As the presence of the Lord descended upon the temple, so does the Spirit of God descends upon Mary. As the Lord takes up his dwelling in the Temple, so does the Son of God take up his dwelling in the womb of the Virgin. This is the reason why we must rejoice. Never has God been closer to man. He literally pitched his tent among us by assuming human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mother. He chose to come down from heaven. He chose to become man. He chose to dwell in Mary’s womb. He chose to do all these “for us men and for our salvation.” The Incarnation is definitely the manifestation of God’s tender love for us. Now we definitely know that God loves us. He sent us his Son to save us. In the Incarnation, God says “yes” to man.

However, the Incarnation is definitely God’s gift which he offers and which Mary must accept. It was a tremendous gift that placed itself at the disposal of human freedom. He did not force himself. He had to knock at Mary’s door. He had to wait for Mary to open that door and welcome him in. His power is tied to the “yes” of a human being. Here God humbles himself before a humble Virgin. Mary becomes mother through her “yes.” She declares: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word.” She said “yes” to the “yes” of God. She accepts the Word. She opens the door to him and welcomes him. Through her obedience, the Word entered into her and became fruitful in her. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. The all-powerful Word, through whom everything was created and by whom everything exists, makes himself so small in order to dwell in Mary’s womb. He emptied himself and took upon himself the form of a human slave, the form of a little child in Mary’s womb. The Creator dwells in his creature. Mary declared her lowliness. God made himself ever lowlier. And so began the work for our salvation.

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

NYC: Nativity Scene at Central Park

The public display of the Nativity Scene is putting Christ back into Christmas. This recovers the true spirit of Christmas which, in the first place, is a Holy Day, a Religious Feast. Congratulations to the Catholic League!

NYC: Nativity Scene at Central Park

On the Incarnation and the Sacrifice

As we celebrate today the Feast of the Annunciation, my mind is raised to the relationship of the Incarnation to Christ's priesthood. The priesthood of Christ rightfully belongs to His human nature. In as much as the work of the priest is to offer God a sacrifice, Christ cannot offer His divinity in sacrifice because the divine nature does not die and cannot be annihilated. Remember that a sacrifice is consummated by the death and destruction of the sacrificial victim. If His divinity cannot suffer nor die, how could it be offered in sacrifice? It is precisely His human nature that he offers to the Father because His humanity can die. It is in the offering of Himself upon the Cross that Christ our Lord exercised His priestly office.

I wish to share the insights of Blessed Columba Marmion on this matter:

"Although itself without spot, the human nature of Jesus belonged to the race of sinners: in similitudinem carnis peccati (Rom. viii, 3), and in accepting the task of bearing the sins of the world, the Savior accepted the task of bearing the sins of the world, the Savior accepted at the same time the conditions of His immolation. This is why Jesus said: "O Father, the sacrifices of the Mosaic law were in themselves unworthy of you.": Hostiam et oblationem noluisti: holocautomata pro peccato non tibi placuerunt. "Here I am."Ecce venio: accept me as a victim. You have given me a body in which I can sacrifice Myself; grind it, break it, overwhelm it with sufferings, crucify it, I accept it all: "I come to do Your will."

Note these words: 'You have formed Me a body.' Christ wishes us to understand that His flesh is not glorious and impassible as it was after His resurrection, not even transfigured as it was on Mount Thabor, but that He accepts from the Father a body subject to fatigue, to suffering, to death, capable like ours of enduring every kind of maltreatment, every kind of suffering: "O Father, I accept this body as You have chosen it for Me."

Christ-the Ideal of the Priest: Spiritual Conferences of the Rt. Rev. D. Columnba Marmion, 23.