Thank you for praying with us on this cold day as we celebrate the Fourth Sunday in Advent.
For those who for health or safety reasons are unable to attend Holy Mass this weekend because of the dangerous wintry weather, know that you are dispensed from the Sunday obligation.
The candles on the Advent wreath are now all lighted. The Lord is close at hand. Next Sunday we will celebrate Christmas. But will Christ be the center of our celebration? One a poll revealed that over half of the people in the United States will celebrate a God-less Christmas, so overwhelming is the secularization of our culture. That is so sad, for Christmas without Christ is simply an empty day that comes and goes; it has no roots or meaning. Missed is the opportunity for lives to be changed, for hope to be built, for trust to be deepened.
Pope Francis who just turned 80 has confronted the skeptics of our day by declaring that the birth of Christ is not a fairy tale, a fable. “It is true history, which happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago,” he said. “Faith makes us recognize that the Child, born of the Virgin Mary, is the true son of God who for our sake became man.”
That truth is set forth in our readings. From Isaiah comes the prophecy: “The Lord himself will give you this sign: “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call him Emmanuel.” As the Gospel reading from Matthew relates, when the angel appeared to Joseph that prophecy is recalled, “and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.’
Joseph could have chosen to be among the skeptics like those in our day, but instead he is a model for us in our moments of doubt or wonderment. In Jesus of Nazareth, The Infancy Narratives, Pope Emeritus Benedict noted that “Whereas the angel ‘came’ to Mary, he merely appears to Joseph in a dream – admittedly a dream that is real and reveals what is real.” Pope Benedict continued: “Only a man who is inwardly searching for the divine, only someone with sensitivity for God and his ways, can receive God’s message in this way. . . The message conveyed to Joseph is overwhelming, and it demands extraordinary courageous faith.” the Pope concluded. For us to accept the truth of the birth of Christ and all that has followed, not as a fairy tale but as truth, and therefore bear the fruits of belief, we too must like Joseph inwardly search for the divine with a sensitivity for God and then trust in his ways.
When we do our sorrows and the challenges can be dealt with without fear and the blessings we receive will be humbly and gratefully acknowledged. We desperately need the one who came and who is to come again to guide and console us through the storms of this passing world and to help us see that all are children of God. His presence is symbolically reflected in candles, in lights and in the star.
Some years ago Catholic Digest wrote of a Native American on a reservation here in South Dakota who in the middle of a winter blizzard had to go out for wood. He had tied ropes from the house to the wood pile before the storm, but on his way back he stumbled and turned toward the open prairie. Confused for direction, he turned in circles and then saw a light. His wife had placed a kerosene lamp in the only window of their house. He later wrote: “It was hard to see through all the snow – kind of shimmering light that seemed to be dancing. The woman hung it there for me to see in case I got lost. It saved my life, that light. All that was between me and the big dark.”
When Advent begins it is dark. One by one the candles are lighted and the light becomes brighter, the light of the world comes closer. God the Father sent that light, His Son, for us because we were lost in the storms of life; to redeem us and to remain with us in case we become lost again. To avoid falling out into the big dark of the secular, dangerous and often evil world, we need to place the light of Christ in the window of our hearts. To see in a way that reassures and uplifts, we must with courageous faith like Joseph celebrate the reality that God the Father did send that light who is Christ our Lord, and that He remains with us in sacrament and Church beginning in Bethlehem.
Among the moving stories I remember is of an old man who sat watching the sea ebb and flow, the crash and splatter of the waves. He had spent most of his life as a lighthouse keeper until technology turned out the light and him with it. He reveled in telling stories of the sea, of ships caught in storms, threatened by hidden rocks and more, stories in which the light of the house was always the hero, often with nostalgic sadness, as many experience this time of year.
“You see,” he said, “my mother always left a light in the window. It was there when I was a boy in Maine coming home from school in the wintertime and the snow was blowing horizontal. When I was away in the service, fighting overseas, she kept it burning still, like some kind of altar light to show the way back home. Later, when my wife died so sudden, and I was thinking about walking out there into the sea and be taken by it to wherever she might be, the memory of that light stopped me. A person needs a light in the window, something to show that he’s still expected, that someone is waiting for him. Because not being expected is about the worst thing there is, being left to yourself in the storm. There’s got to be a light somewhere or you’re lost.”
In Catholic Churches there is always a candle burning near the tabernacle to help light our way to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament which points us to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We need never be out in the big dark or alone in the storms. If we are unable to come to Church each week, we can still experience that light through prayer, through a spiritual communion, and through the intercession of the saints, especially the Blessed Mother.
As we approach Christmas next week, as we deal with the pressures of the celebration and the skepticism of the faith, may we reflect the Light of Christ confident that no one who believes in Him need ever feel lost or alone. He was born in Bethlehem and His light shines for us every day.
St. Hilary wrote: “He had no need to become man: man was already made through him. It was we who needed God to become man and dwell among us.” We still do. And so we pray: Come Lord Jesus confident that he has and he will again.