Author: Msgr. Charles Pope

Posted on

Crisis At Christmas – A Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent

122113The Gospel today gives us some background for the Christmas feast that we need to take to heart. It speaks to us of a crisis at Christmas.

We tend to sentimentalize the Christmas story as we think of the “baby Jesus in the manger.” It is not absolutely wrong to be sentimental about Christmas but we also have to be prayerfully sober about how difficult that first Christmas was, and the heroic virtue required of Mary and Joseph in order to cooperate with God in its coming to pass.

Let’s look at the gospel in three stages: Distress, Direction and Decision.

1. DISTRESS – The text of the Gospel says, 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.

The Marriage is off – When we read in this text that Mary was found to be with child before Joseph and she were together, we need to understand how devastating and dangerous this situation is. The pregnancy prior to marriage brought forth a real crisis for both families involved in Joseph and Mary’s marriage plans. Quite simply, it put all plans for the marriage permanently off.

Why is this? We read in the text above that Joseph was “a righteous man.” To our ears this sounds akin to saying he “was a good man.” Most of the Fathers of the Church interpret “righteous” here to refer generally to his gracious character and virtue. And we surely suppose all this of him. More recent biblical scholarship also includes the notion that to say he was “a righteous man” also means that he was “an observer of the Law.” He would thus do what the law prescribed. And this explains his decision to divorce Mary on account of her apparent lack of virginity prior to the marriage. Here is an example of the Mosaic Law in reference to such a matter:

But if the tokens of virginity were not found in the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. (Deut 22:20-21)

This of course is quite extreme to modern ears, but we can see too how far we have come in making light of promiscuity compared to ancient times. No one would argue that such a thing be done today, and rightly so. However this was the landscape that the Law provided Joseph.

What about stoning? It would seem that Jews of the First Century had varying interpretations about whether stoning was required or simply permitted (cf John 8). Joseph, on account of his virtue and patience, looks for, and senses some freedom in not “exposing” Mary to the full effects of the Law (stoning). But it does not seem he can find a way that he can take her into his home. Thus, as a “righteous man” (i.e. follower of the Law) it seems he decides that divorce is surely required, even if stoning is not.

Now this leads us to two important reflections. One about Mary, and one about Joseph.

Regarding Mary, we can see into what a difficult and dangerous position her “yes” (her fiat) to the angel placed her. She risked her very life by being found with child outside the normal marital act with her husband. WE know that it is by the Holy Spirit she conceives, but her family and Joseph and his family do not yet know this, or at least cannot verify it. And even if Mary indicated exactly how she conceived, do you think YOU would merely accept such a story? Mary’s fiat placed her in a real danger, culturally speaking and it is a great testimony to her faith and trust in God that she said yes to his plans.

Regarding Joseph we can also see the kind of pressure he would be under to do what the Law and custom required. There is no mention of Joseph’s feelings at this point. But we can assume when Mary was “found to be with child” prior to the couple’s being together in Marriage, the social pressures on him from family to be legally free from Mary were likely strong, whatever his feeling or plans for her were.

As we shall see, Joseph too will undertake great risk to obey God. And thus we go to the second stage of the story.

2. DIRECTION – The text from the Gospel says, Such was his intention [to divorce] 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.”

Be not afraid – One will note that the principle exhortation of the angel that Joseph “not be afraid” to take Mary as his wife. This exhortation is powerful since fear WAS a very big factor in this whole matter. Joseph had much to fear in taking Mary. Some of the Fathers of the Church indicate that the thing the angel said he should not fear was God’s wrath, since in fact, he would not actually be taking an adulterer or fornicator into his home. Others think the thing he should not fear was taking God’s chosen instrument (Mary) as his wife.

One can also imagine however some other fears that also needed to be consoled by the angel. For example, Joseph could easily be rejected by his family for taking Mary in. Likewise neighbors and others could shun him. As a business man Joseph needed a good reputation to be able to use his skills and ply a trade. All of these threats loom if Joseph bucks the law and custom and “brings evil into his house” rather than “purge the (apparent) evil from the midst” of his house. But the angel directs his not to fear. This will take courageous faith.

The angel’s explanation is unusual to say the least. What does it mean to conceive by the Holy Spirit? Not exactly a common occurrence! Would his family buy such an explanation? What of the others in the small town of Nazareth? Yes, people were more spiritual in those days, but it all seems so unusual.

Further, Joseph hears all this in a dream. We all know what dreams can be like. They can seem so real, but when we are fully awake we wonder if what we experienced was real at all. Joseph too has to trust that what he was told is real, and that he should not fear for God has given him direction. But as is often the case with things spiritual, we have to carefully discern and walk by faith, not by fleshly sight and certitude. Joseph has a decision to make.

3. DECISION – The text from the Gospel says, When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

Now given all that we have reflected upon, we can see the strong faith of Joseph and the kind of trust he had to put in God. He had been told not to be afraid, to rebuke fear. Joseph manfully does this. He makes his decision to obey God whatever the cost. We are given no information on how his family and others in the town may have reacted. However, the fact that the Holy family later settles back in Nazareth indicates that God did come through on his promise that Joseph need not be afraid.

Heroes of Faith! But here again note the crisis of that first Christmas and the powerful faith of Joseph and Mary. Quite literally their reputations were on the line, if not their very lives. They had great sacrifices to make in the wondrous incarnation of our Lord. Quite simply Mary and Joseph are great heroes of the faith. For neither of them was their “yes” easy. It is often hard to obey God rather than men. Praise God that they made their decision and obeyed.

And, as we know their difficulties were not over in the crisis of that first Christmas. There was a badly timed census which required a journey to Bethlehem in the ninth month of Mary’s pregnancy. Imagine walking 70 miles through mountainous terrain in the ninth month! There may or may not have been a donkey, but I doubt riding a donkey in the ninth month is all that comfortable either. Then there was no room in the inn and Jesus had to be born in a smelly animal stable. Shortly thereafter they must flee through the desert to Egypt for Herod sought to kill Jesus.

Jesus is found in a real Christmas, not a hallmark one. The crisis of the first Christmas prefigures the passion. But this where Jesus is found: in the crisis of the first Christmas. You may hope for the perfect Christmas but there is no perfect Christmas. Yet, Jesus will find you where you are – in real life, in the imperfect Christmas where loved ones may have been recently lost and there is grief, where a job has just been lost and there is anxiety, where health is poor or families are experiencing stress and strife. That’s where Jesus will be found, in your real Christmas. A Christmas of Joy, yes, but also of imperfections, even crises. He is there waiting for you to find him, in the real Christmas of your life.

This song is an old African American Spiritual that reflects on the fact that true discipleship isn’t always easy. Joseph and Mary surely experience and exemplify what the these words say:

I tol’ Jesus it would be all right
If He changed my name

Jesus tol’ me I would have to live humble
If He changed mah name

Jesus tol’ me that the world would be ‘gainst me
If He changed mah name

But I tol’ Jesus it would be all right
If He changed mah name

Posted on

The Greater Gift – As seen in a touching Christmas Commercial

There is an old saying that the greatest things in life aren’t things. Our greatest gifts are those we love, beginning with God, and extending to one another.

One of the great dangers at Christmas time (and with life in general) is that we maximize the minimum and minimize the maximum, of, as Jesus puts it, we strain out gnats and swallow camels (Matt 23:24).  He spoke this of the religiously observant of his day who meticulously followed small and technical rules about cleanliness and ritual purity,  but neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness (Matt 23:22).

In other words, at Christmas we can so focus on getting things and arranging events at Christmas that we neglect or even harm those who are our greatest gift.

Consider the growing sadness that many have now largely set aside the once sacred Thanksgiving holiday where people could spend time with family and enjoy company. Why? To have the stores open so people can run from the people they love to buy things for them. The gift eclipses both the giver and the recipient. And, on top of that we potentially sin against charity by creating a climate that requires the poor and those of the lower wage, working class in our store to work on Thanksgiving.

Add to this the short tempers at shopping malls, often caused by traffic, long lines, and items out of stock and the impression is created that things are more important than people. Not all suffer from this, but it is a problem.

In the video below is a touching reminder that the truer purpose of a gift is the well-being of another and the love we can show at Christmas.

The basic scene is that two snowmen are built, a kind of husband and wife snowman family. But one has, and the other has not. Seeing his wife’s need, a snowman sets out, enduring great hardship and many obstacles, to get for his wife what she needs. The greatest gifts are those that show care for another.

The “creator” of the snowman is watching this act of love unfold through the window. At the touching end of the video, the creator is very pleased.

And so too our Creator and Lord is also watching from the window of heaven and He is pleased with our acts of mercy as well.

The greatest things in life aren’t things; they are those we love. And the greater gift this Christmas is not so much the thing we give, as the care and love we extend through gifts shared, and the shared gift of our very selves.

Posted on

The Bridegroom Comes! A reflection on the Great Wedding Feast That Christmas Brings

“Wedding Couple” This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

The coming of Christ at Christmas was as an infant. And thus we don’t usually think of wedding imagery related to the First coming of Jesus.  Yet, since the first coming of Christ is certainly fulfilled, we now focus more on his Second coming, of which the first coming is a sacramental reminder.

Thus, in Advent our longing and thrill are also and essentially  directed to his glorious second coming. And now Mother Church, the New Jerusalem, our Mother looks for her groom Jesus to come again all his glory:

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God…I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean was given her to wear.” (Rev 21:2-3; 19:7-8)

And this longing remains until Mother Church, Christ’s beautiful bride, hears those words from him: Surge amica mea, speciosa mea et veni! (Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one and come!) (Song of Songs 2:10). Till then, her longing cannot be quenched, when he comes again, in all his radiant beauty and majesty. Till then, she longs, she looks and she waits.

Though some of her children have attained to this glory, she waits and longs till the number of her elect children are complete and she, in her fullness, will go to be with her spouse for ever in beatific glory.

One of the great Advent hymns of the Protestant tradition picks up this bridal theme and “weds” it with advent longing. This particular translation is a masterpiece of English translation (from the German). It is both biblical and artistically beautiful:

Wake, Awake with tidings thrilling;
The Watchmen all the air are filling;
Arise, Jerusalem, Arise!
Midnight strikes, no more delaying;
“The hour has come,” we hear them saying;
Where are ye all ye virgins wise?

The bridegroom comes in sight
Raise high, your torches bright!
Alleluia!
The wedding song swells loud and strong;
Go forth and join the festal throng.

Zion hears the watchman shouting;
Her heart leaps up with joy undoubting;
She stands and waits with eager eyes!
She her love from heaven descending;
Adorned with truth and grace unending;
Her light burns clear her star doth rise!

Now come our precious crown;
Lord Jesus, God’s own Son;
Hosanna!
Let us prepare to follow there
Where in thy supper we may share.

Yes there is a great wedding feast in every liturgy, and its culmination looks to the glorious second coming of Jesus. This Christmas look to your wedding garments which the Lord gave you at baptism, a garment which, in the baptismal liturgy your were told to bring unstained to the great judgment seat of Christ. The Bridegroom comes! Let us go out to meet Christ the Lord (cf Matt 25:6)

Here is the Great Wedding Song of Advent quoted above:

Posted on

Run, Don’t Walk, To the Nearing Jesus. How Advent is a season of running more than waiting.

121813The Lord’s coming is near. And though we have all been well taught that the word “Advent” means “coming”  there is the danger that we think we are only passively waiting for him to come.  It is not just that the Lord is coming to us, but we are also journeying to him. In fact, as the Advent prayers in the Roman Missal instruct, we ought to run (don’t walk) and hasten, to greet him as he draws near.

The image of the Prodigal Son that comes to mind. His Father saw him and ran toward him, but he too was hastening to his Father with contrition and hope. So too, in Advent we do look for the Lord’s coming. But the Lord also looks for us as we come to him by faith.  We, like the prodigal son, consider our need for salvation, and with contrition, (did you get to confession this advent?), hasten to meet our Lord, whom we know by faith is coming to us.

This notion of our running to meet God is set forth as a consistent theme in the prayers of the Roman Missal.  Consider these prayers and how the theme of our running, hastening, and going out  to meet God, even as he is coming to us, is set forth:

  1. Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom.  (First Sunday of Advent)
  2. Almighty and merciful God, may no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet your Son, but may our learning of heavenly wisdom gain us admittance to his company. (Second Sunday of Advent)
  3. Stir up your mighty power, O Lord. and come to our help with a mighty strength, so that what our sins impede, the grace of your mercy may hasten. (Thur of the First Week of Advent).
  4. Grant that your people, we pray , almighty God, may be ever watchful for the coming of your Only Begotten Son, that, as the author of our salvation himself has taught us, we may hasten, alert with lighted lamps, to meet him when he comes. (Friday of the Second Week of Advent)
  5. May the reception of your sacrament strengthen us O Lord, so that we may go out to meet our savior, with worthy deeds when he comes, and merit the rewards of the blessed. (post communion, Dec 22)

Thus, we are not counseled to “wait on the Lord” in a merely passive sense, as though we were sitting still and waiting for a bus to arrive. Rather, we are counseled to “wait on the Lord” in an active sense, much as when we speak of a waiter in a restaurant “waiting on tables.” Such a form of waiting is a very active form of waiting. Alert and aware, the waiter or waitress carefully observes the needs of others around them and serves their brothers and sisters. The good ones strive to avoid distraction and do their job of serving well and with swiftness.

Notice too how the prayers indicate what it means to “run.”  We do not run aimlessly or in frantic circles. Rather running to the Lord means:

  1. Being engaged in righteous deeds (holiness) by God’s grace.
  2. Not being hindered by worldly preoccupations and distractions.
  3. Learning heavenly wisdom.
  4. Receiving the Lord’s mercy unto the forgiveness of our sins.
  5. Being alert and ready for the Lord’s coming, the lamp of our soul trimmed (humble and purged of sin) and burning (alive with fiery love).
  6. Being strengthened by the Eucharist which is our food for the journey.

St. Paul speaks of running too:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (1 Cor 9:24-27).

Are you running to meet the Lord? Or are you just waiting? Advent involves looking and waiting, but it also means running to meet the Lord who is coming to us. Run, Don’t Walk to the Nearing Jesus!

The text of this song says, simply: Domine ad adjuvandum me festina! (Lord, make haste to help me!). It is composed by Vivaldi, and its running eighth notes creates the image of an energetic and joyful running. Vivaldi also loved to run a melody up and down the scale, creating (here) a sense of running up and down the hills as we hasten to the Lord. (the video goes on to include the Gloria Patri). Try not to tap your toe in the first and third movements of this snip from the Vespers of Vivaldi in G Major!

–

Posted on

A Brief Meditation on”Other Duties as Assigned.”

121813-PopeI think all of us who embark on a certain career path, or status or vocation have a certain file in our life called “other duties as assigned.” Priests, and especially pastors are no exception. Since most of us live on site, there are many custodial duties that often find their way into our “other duties as assigned” file.

Often for example since we do live on site, (I affectionately refer to it as “living above the store”) we are the failsafe when keys are forgotten and doors must be opened. So it’s 6:00 AM, and the youth group is off to an early morning bus trip. But three of the kids and two adults must get into the school to use the bathroom.  “Well just call Father, and have him come down and unlock the building!”  So that goes into the “other duties as assigned file” and is  subfiled under “keeper the keys,” “opener of the doors,” and “the failsafe.”

The Picture at the upper right is me in 2005 in the parish play, “Purlie Victorius” where I played the part of “Old Captain Cotchipee”  Filed under “other duties as assigned.”

This weekend, I realized how much I miss our maintenance man, who recently had a stroke. And though we have some part-time help, recent snows meant that the leaves went unraked out front.   So there I was, before the next snow comes raking the leaves cassock  and all. Neighbors walking by wistfully asked,  “Msgr., don’t you have anyone else to help you with that?” “Ah!,” said I, “A little exercise is good for the soul and the body!” And I filed it under “other duties as assigned.”

But perhaps one of the wildest examples of other duties as assigned happened this weekend also, in the middle of our main Mass. Just at the end of the homily, terrible sounds began coming out of the basement boiler room. I knew it once what was happening. The bearings on the flywheel of the blower have come loose recently, and parts for the old mechanism have been ordered. But meantime, the friction burns up the grease,and the screeching sound signals that the flange is eating itself up, send sparks out and all. Not good, I thought.

It may or may not surprise you to know that pastors, especially those with older churches are skilled  boiler mechanics! Usually it results from living above the store and being the one on-site when the boiler does bad stuff. For some reason, boilers like to act up at 2:00 AM in the morning. And so we learn a lot the hard way, on the phone to the HVAC people: “OK Father, it sounds like the pneumatic system, so reset the compressor and tell me if that helps….Alright Father, try bleeding down the boiler to blow the sludge…its the valve on the right….etc” Along the way, we just learn a lot by osmosis and probably know just enough to be dangerous.

So there I was, at mid Mass, and the prayers of the faithful have just concluded. The Church is already growing cold and the grinding sounds are worse.  A quick word to the nearest choir member: “Sing some extra verses!”  and off I dash down the back stairs to the basement, vestments and all, grabbing the grease gun from the tool room as I go!

The blower housing and coil are the size of a truck trailer and it took a moment for the vacuum seal to let loose. But then, in I went. Now that’s a sight! Inside the blower housing, greasing the flywheel and motor, in full vestments, which are swaying in the wind from the fan still slowly turning at the back of the unit.

Back out, seal the door, fire up the unit! She ought to be good now, at least for the next few hours, “Hang in there baby!” Up the steps, tripping as I go, into the sanctuary, the cross and candles are just now leading the bearers of bread and wine up the aisle. “Thank you Jesus!…right on time!” The MC whispered, “Msgr. we were worried, thought we’d lost you.” “No concerns,” I said, “Just, other duties as assigned.”

Ah yes, we all have them, those things never appeared in the job description and will never go on our resumé or curriculum vitae, but there they are, other duties as assigned.

The Lord says, He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much (Lk 16:11). Please Lord, keep faithful in the lesser things, the unexpected things, so that one day I may be found worthy of the greater things too.  Help me never to begrudge “other duties as assigned.”

Somehow I am mindful that the Lord also had “other duties as assigned.” One of the most touching and moving scenes in the Gospels is on a certain resurrection morning, at the lakeside in Galilee. Peter is eagerly swimming ashore to see the Risen Lord. And there is Jesus, the very Son of God and Lord of all, cooking breakfast for them (Jn 21:7). Yes, Jesus Christ, Eternal Son of the Father, Divine Logos, Universal King, Savior of the Nations, and breakfast chef….”Other duties as assigned.”

Posted on

The Rise and Fall of a Prophet. And a warning for us.

He is one of the more curious figures of the Bible, The details of his life and story are caught up in textual complexities in the book of Numbers. Though a prophet, he was not even an Israelite, he wrote no book and is not numbered among Israel’s prophets. And yet a prophet he was, for he spoke the oracles of God and brought blessings to Israel at a critical time in the History of Israel.

Perhaps no prophet spoke so eloquently of the glory that would come from Israel, like a star rising in the East, and a king who shall rise higher and whose abode shall endure. Yes a star would rise from Jacob! (Numbers 24).

Yes, no prophet spoke more highly, and more purely, for though paid to curse, he would only bless, not counting the cost for he would only say what God commanded and revealed.

And yet no prophet fell more mightily or arguably caused more harm in Israel. So egregious his crime that his act merits special condemnation from Jesus himself. Great was his glory, and mighty his fall.

He is Balaam Son of Beor. His name means, strangely, “devourer,” And though sent to curse, this devourer could only bless and thus build up. And yet, eventually he lived up to his name.

Among the many nations that stretched from Mesopotamia to the modern-day Holy Land, Balaam’s fame was widespread. His home was far off to the east in northern Mesopotamia near the Euphrates river.  As shall see, his journey from being a false prophet of false gods, to become for a time a true prophet of the true God, was an odd journey, often market by comical interlude.

The story begins in the 22nd chapter of the Book of Numbers. King Balak of Moab was confronted with the arrival of the Israelites who had begun their entrance into the Promised Land. Unsettled by their vast numbers, and unnerved by their power and the blessing of God they seemed to possess, Balak sent for the famed Balaam, asking him to curse the Israelites, so that the Moabites could defeat them. The King said with great trust, For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed (Numbers 22:7).

To his credit, and despite being offered a large sum of money, Balaam refused to go with the men who were sent to fetch him. For, having prayed,  the Lord, warned him not to go. Now Balaam had never even heard of the Israelites, but God said, Do not go with these men and do not curse the people they fear, for they are blessed (Num 22:13). Despite more entreaties from the officials, and an even higher sum of money that was offered, Balaam responded Even if Balak gave me his house full of gold and silver, I could not do anything, small or great, contrary to the command the Lord my God (Num 22:19).

It is remarkable testimony at this point to Balaam that he so quickly learns of the True God and is willing to obey him!

Yet, Balaam’s faith, though growing quickly, still needed to be purified. Later, the next day, God came to Balaam and said to him, If these men have come to you, you may go with them; but only on the condition that you do exactly as I tell you. (Num 22:21)

Thus, Balaam went forth with the men who had summoned him. But God, who knows the secrets of the heart, seems to have known that as Balaam went forth, he did so with the intention of cursing this nation as was requested. Perhaps his intention was rooted in fear of these emissaries who drew him into the power of the King. Perhaps the rich profit enticed him. We do not know, but God had only given him permission to go with these men and await further instruction.  Balaam did not have permission to curse Israel. Thus, the anger of the Lord flared against him as he seemingly recanted on his vow of obeying the Lord.

In a comical turn of events, God sent an angel to block the way. But this “seer” (a word which means “one who sees”) could not see the angel;  yet, the donkey upon which he rode could see the angel!  And seeing the angel, the Donkey stubbornly refused to proceed.

When the frustrated Balaam began to beat the animal, the comical paradoxes grow. For Balaam,  a prophet who was supposed to speak for God, is now spoken to by God through his donkey! The donkey rebuked Balaam with these words What have I done to you that you should beat me these three times? Am I not your own beast, and have you not always ridden upon me until now? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way before? No, said Balaam (Num 22:29-30). The donkey is not only more reasonable than Balaam, not only rebukes him rightly, but even seems to psychoanalyze him! It is rich in comedy, and dripping in paradox.

Finally, the angel of the Lord reveals himself to Balaam. He falls to his knees and admits he has sinned and promises to go home immediately. But through the angel, God, who purifies our hearts, bids him to go forward anyway, but with this warning, you may say only what I tell you. (Num 22:35)

And in this way, God warns every prophet, including you and me who are prophets through our baptism. As prophets, we are to say only what God tells us, what God teaches us through his Scriptures and through the holy teachings of the Church.

Pay attention fellow prophet, if you won’t speak rightly, God can speak through a donkey! But he shouldn’t have to. If you don’t praise him the very rocks will cry out. But they shouldn’t have to. Never let it be said that donkeys and rocks are smarter and more useful to God than you are! Yes, God can raise up children for the kingdom from the very rocks, (cf Luke 3:8), but he shouldn’t have to.

Upon seeing Balaam, Balak runs to him,  relieved and wants him to go right to work cursing the Israelites. But Balaam, who has now been properly chastised and made the journey from being a false prophet of false gods, to a true prophet of true God says this profound, yet simple thing to the powerful king who stands before him: But what power have I to say anything? I can speak only what God puts in my mouth….I will tell you whatever he lets me see (Num 22:38; 23:3).

Still confident that Balaam would curse the Israelites Balak orders many rituals and sacrifices and then, perhaps presuming Balaam would give way to greed, and take the bride, or to fear and curse the Israelites, Balak  orders Balaam the utter the cursing oracle.

Yet out of Balaam’s mouth came not a curse but resounding blessings on Israel! Enraged, King Balaak ordered a new and “correct” oracle that would send curses on Israel. Yet again,  from Balaam’s mouth proceeded only another even more powerful blessing that foretold of Israel’s eventual triumph over its enemies including Moab!

Then a third, and a fourth oracle, but always the same result: a profound blessing rather than a curse. Only the words of the true God could come forth from Balaam’s mouth!

Yes, Balaam’s transformation was at it height, he was now a true prophet of the true God and he gave perhaps the most profound instruction any prophet has ever given. To a king who promised him riches and favor, or could also destroy him, he would only declare: I can speak only what God puts into my mouth.

Pay attention fellow prophet by baptism, is it true that nothing can come forth from your mouth except with God has put there? Really?

So here was Balaam at his height, at the time he was most conformed to God! And as such he uttered blessings that were critical to Israel, as she prepared to enter the Promised Land. It is astonishing that God would use a pagan “prophet” to utter his blessings. I suppose if God can use a donkey, he can use Balaam, and he can even use me.

And yet, mighty and steep was Balaam’s fall out of grace and away from his office to speak only that which God told him to speak. His crime is not explicitly recorded in Numbers, but it is described elsewhere. It is Jesus himself who best summarizes what Balaam did. He mentions it in his rebuke of the Church at Pergamum:

Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. (Rev 2:14).

And so it would seem that although Balaam would not curse Israel, he encouraged Balak to insinuate Moabite women into Israel to seduce the men there to false worship and fornication. Since he could not weaken them from without, perhaps Balak could weaken them from within, or so Balaam taught and advised.

The result was a grave falling away from the faith such that 24,000 men were killed to purge the evil within Israel.(cf Num 25)

Why did Balaam do it? It is not clear. One text from the New Testament suggests it was greed.

With eyes full of adultery, [these wicked men]  never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. (2 Peter 2:14-15)

Another text ascribes it to envy:

Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, Jude 1:11

Whatever the cause, the wound was deep in Israel and never forgotten. When Israel finally conquered the Moabites they sought out Balaam and executed him. Thus the one who blessed them so profoundly and who could only obey God, now lay dead, a traitor to his office, and an enemy to God’s people. Corruptio optime pessima (the corruption of the best is the worst).

And yet, good reader, and fellow prophet, lest we think Balaam’s fate unique to him, we ought take heed lest we fall. Consider a brief incident in the Gospel from Monday of this week (3rd Week of Advent).

It is a classic and memorable exchange between Jesus and some of the religious leaders of his day:

When Jesus had come into the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them in reply, “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things. Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.” So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” He himself said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Matt 21:23-27)

Such a sad and pathetic lot of men. Note therefore that Jesus catches them in the classic trap of every false prophet. And that is the trap of preferring their own safety and benefit to the truth that they are to proclaim.

See how different they are from Balaam at his best when he stood before a powerful king who could bring him great blessing or great curse. And yet, he feared God more than man, he loved the truth more than his life. He spoke the truth, whatever the cost. For at least that brief moment, he risked everything for the truth God had revealed.

And lest we scorn these religious leaders who were compromised so easily before Jesus we ought to know well that this is a very common human struggle. The fact is, most of us face a very grave temptation to navigate life in such a way that we avoid trouble, and seek to maximize blessings and access to money and power. Most human beings are more than willing to compromise the truth, even wholly set it aside, in order to take this path.

It is the great human struggle, frequently the truth just “costs too much.” And so we cash out.

Pray for bishops, priests and deacons, who have the first obligation to speak God’s truth. For too easily, we seek to avoid difficulties and troubles, and maximize personal blessings at the cost of compromising the gospel message, avoiding controversy, or challenging texts, of not confronting sin, of fearing man more than God, for whom we should speak.

Pray too for parents, for leaders of families who often do the same things, sometimes by silence, sometimes by tolerating sinful and bad behavior, sometimes with outright teaching that which is popular but wrong and contrary to God’s will.

Yes, too often we all seek to navigate life in such a way that we merely avoid trouble and maximize blessings or access.  But we do so by scorning the prophetic office to which we have been called by baptism.

And thanks be to God for those who have spoken the truth to us whatever the cost. For indeed some, yes many, suffered to hand on the Faith to us. Some have suffered and paid the greatest price to summon us to the repentance we did not want to hear.

Yes you and I are to be willing to suffer and preach the truth whatever the cost.

The tragic story Balaam reminds us we must keep constant vigil over our weak and fearful nature. For even if at one moment we stand strong in the face of evil, and proclaim the truth, too quickly we fall back into fear and compromise.

It is not clear what led Balaam back into the darkness, but let that also be a warning to us. For in any number of ways we too can be compromised. Our only refuge can be to beg God for his grace and mercy: Lord make me strong, and keep me strong; give me courage, and keep me courageous; let my zeal be for your whole law, and not part of it only. Let there be no openings that divide or compromise my heart; or my zeal you and your kingdom.

Posted on

Some Sober Reflection on Matrimony, Sexuality and the Family. A Call to Prayer for the Upcoming Synod.

“Jay & Janet Nuptial” by John Ryan Cordova from Philippines This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

We’ve talked a good deal about the decline of marriage on this blog over the years. And our discussion must continue as the Synod on the family is planned in Rome.

In my short 25 years as a priest I have experienced a major drop off in marriages. In my early years, I had about thirty weddings a year; now, about five or six. In this urban parish in which I have ministered for the larger part of 20 years, a beautiful and picturesque setting for a matrimonial sacrament, we used to have to turn couples away who were not members. Some Saturdays featured two weddings back to back. Beginning in 2000, weddings plummeted.

And lest you think this just unique to me in my urban parish, note that in 1973 there just over 400,000 weddings in Catholic parishes in this country. In 2003, there were 199,645, more that a 50% drop in thirty years. Last year, 2012, there 166,991 weddings in the Church. Compare that to the 419,278 funerals and you have a pretty good picture of a Church and a culture that are in real trouble and of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony that is “dying.” Thus my anecdotal experience matches the national trends and numbers.

Recently Mona Charen offered some thoughtful reflections on Marriage in National Review. I would like to offer her comments along with some of my own. Note that I am excerpting her article, the full version of which is here: The Marriage Divide.  In that article she speaks of the sources of some of her statistics and offers context that these excerpts may not include. Hence I recommend the full article as well. As usual, her comments are in Black, bold, italics. My remarks are in plain red text.

Marriage is decaying very fast. As recently as the 1980s, …only 13 percent of the children of moderately educated mothers…were born outside of marriage. Today, it is 44 percent. Even more disturbing are the recent data showing that 53 percent of babies born to women under age 30 are non-marital.

I will only add that these sorts of number are simply shocking, not just for their real impact but also for how swiftly this revolution has come upon us. One struggles not to see outright demonic along with the usual human sinfulness that produces cultural ailments.

If you graduate from college, you are likely to choose a family life similar to, if not quite identical to, the 1950s ideal. (I suspect eve this is beginning to change for the worse). If you are a high-school dropout, you are unlikely to marry at all. If you have a high-school diploma or some college, your family life in many cases is going to be chaotic, featuring cohabitation, short marriages, and high rates of instability….cohabiting couples have a much higher breakup rate than do married couples, a lower level of household income, and a higher level of child abuse and domestic violence. (She speaks to some of the sources of these sober trends in her article).

[C]ohabitation is a very bad deal for all concerned — especially women and children. The children of cohabiting couples do worse than those living with a single mother if the boyfriend is not the biological father of the children. The break-up rate among unmarried cohabiting couples is much higher than among married couples, with all that that entails for disruption, poverty, and pathology.

And again, it is the children who pay most and first for all this adult misbehavior. But the damage does not stop there, as can be seen.

I would also like to say that regarding the cohabitation problem, there are two levels to the problem: the young who do it, and the parents and grandparents who actively or passively approve of it. Once upon a time, even in my short 52 years, this behavior was not only frowned upon, it was punished at both the family and cultural level. Folk who “shacked up” received significant pressure: financial, social, familial and cultural, to stop “living in sin.”

The sexual revolution, with a thinking strongly tied in with a lot of hallucinogenic drugs, sold us a bill of goods that it was really “better” for a couple to “take a test ride” before tying the knot. For at least two decades now the data have exposed this as a lie. But the lie continues.

Bottom line, cohabitation harms everyone: man, woman, child, society, culture, the Church, the family, everyone. We stamp out smoking but celebrate something that causes even more harm. Time to wake up. Cohabitation is sinful and harmful.

In a 2001 survey, two-thirds of respondents approved of living together before marriage. Even then, data suggested that couples who cohabited before marriage were more likely to divorce than those who went straight to the altar….

Men cohabit with less expectation of permanence than women do. Many couples not destined for marriage waste good years in impermanent arrangements, often becoming parents….

Ms. Charen also developed the economic implications of cohabitation:

President Obama addressed income inequality in a recent address but failed to mention one of the most significant contributors to rising inequality in America — the marriage gap. Jobs are changing, international competition has driven down wages, top executives are pulling down enormous salaries, but it is cultural patterns, specifically personal decisions about cohabitation and marriage, that are most responsible for deepening the divide between haves and have-nots in America.

There is perhaps no greater correlation than the one between poverty and single-motherhood (absent fatherhood). And so many of the other social ills that we lament and decry come from irresponsible sexual activity.

Unlike trust funds, marriage is available to everyone and confers the same benefits on rich and poor. There is no substitute for two married parents who care for one another in sickness, help each other in child and elder care, watch the kids while a spouse takes night classes, and contribute to thriving communities. In-laws give loans, jobs, and other support that they are unlikely to extend to live-in “significant others.”

Without the basics of security and permanence in their personal lives, people find it much more difficult to rise out of poverty or to maintain a middle-class life. They are also far less happy. If you care about the poor and the middle class, you ought to worry about marriage.

Amen. And yet many of those who most claim to care about the poor are loathe to discuss marriage or sexuality as factors in poverty.

I remember once being at a meeting of largely socially liberal clergy who were arguing that one of the “greatest threats” that young people face and the reason for dropping test scores and higher dropout rates in our city was lead paint and roach feces in the homes and schools. And thus the city should spend money to abate these things and (theoretically) the lower test scores etc., would rebound.

When I spoke, I said it would nice to get rid of these problems, but I thought there were bigger issues at work than lead paint and roach droppings. Perhaps, I stated, that single motherhood and teenage pregnancy were likely bigger factors in low test scores, higher dropout rates, and growing juvenile crime.

Well,  I received a scorn you can only imagine. I was passed a note by one of the leaders that I was “off message” and that I should keep my moral opinions to myself.

Somehow I figured that clergy might “get” what I was saying. Though scorned, I stood my ground, and insisted that the social devastation of sexual irresponsibility far out weighed many of the other things people obsess about. Fine, lets remove lead paint and clean up after the roaches and even stamp out smoking. But how about working to restore families? What of preaching and teaching God’s plan for marriage and sexuality? What of the extremely deleterious effects of sexual irresponsibility, cohabitation, divorce, and so many other trends that are out of control?

Even as we pass laws forbidding smoking almost everywhere, we seem to forget that before 1969 it was pretty hard to get a divorce in this country. People were generally expected to work their difficulties out, and be married to the father or mother of their children.

While there are rumors that some in the Church are going to pressure to Synod Fathers to change Church Law in the admittance of divorced and remarried Catholics to Communion, I rather doubt that will happen. It is my prayer that the Synod Fathers and members will focus rather on fixing the problems rather than lowering standards. We have a lot to answer for in the Church for the horrifying confusion today about marriage. We have not been clear on marriage and too many clergy don’t want to upset people who haven’t been able to attain to, or keep stable and marriages and families after God’s own design. We have been to silent. And to what degree people do know of our teachings, many find them unintelligible when we hand out annulments in the numbers we do,  and have so many complicated rules about the wedding ceremony but so little followup after the wedding day.

That said, I don’t think it fair to blame the Church wholly for the mess. Our culture clearly went over the cliff in 1968 and 1969 with the sexual revolution and no fault divorce. Contraception celebrated the lie that there was “no necessary connection” between sex and procreation, and also furthered the lie of sex without consequences. 55 million abortions later (Since 1973), our families in the shredder, and the lie is manifest, but many still choose to believe it. Sex without consequences? No such thing.

Pray for the Synod upcoming. Pray for clarity and prophetic teaching. Pray.

Posted on

The Perfect Gift – A Homily for Gaudete Sunday

What is the perfect gift? We tend to answer this question more in terms of what we want. But today’s Gospel teaches us that the perfect gift is what God is offering, more that what we specifically want. One of the goals of the spiritual is to come to value, above all else, what God offers more than our latest interest of perceived need.

In reviewing today’s Gospel I am going to take a stance regarding St. John the Baptist that I realize is not without controversy. As the Gospel opens John, who is in prison, sends disciples with a strange question for Jesus: “Are you he who is to come, or should we look for another.”  This is a strange question for the one who pointed Jesus out and spoke so powerfully of him.

Many of the Fathers of the Church (Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, Theodore of Mopsuestia, inter al) have interpreted John’s question as merely rhetorical and a way of teaching his reluctant disciples to follow Jesus.

I however adopt here a different stance. That John’s question is sincere and manifests some puzzlement, even discouragement for the reasons stated below.

I mean no impiety by this. The depiction of biblical figures, even the greatest heroes presents them in very human terms. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, all the judges and prophets, on down to the apostles, present men (and women too) who are not perfect from the start, who struggle to understand and have perfect faith, and some of who sinned greatly, even to include murder. This is one of the most powerful aspects of the Bible, that God is able to take and work with imperfect and struggling human beings and draw them to great sanctity and accomplishments.

And thus, out of no impiety, but out of respect for biblical tradition I approach this Gospel at what seems to me to be its face value. If St. John is merely asking a rhetorical question, it seems odd that Jesus did not get the memo and sends and answer back to him, asking him (and us) not to be scandalized (shocked) by the manner he goes about fulfilling Messianic texts.

I do not argue that St. John is sinning or has failing faith;  only that he, like all the prophets and patriarchs, (and us) must sometimes struggle to understand God’s ways. Even Mother Mary, when Jesus was twelve and said he must be in his Father’s house, did not understand what he was saying and had to ponder these things in her heart (cf Luke 2:50-51).

There is a humanity and a human dimension at work even in the greatest saints, and it is from that perspective that I explore this gospel. Am I too bold to take a stance different that some of the Church Fathers? You decide. I surely do not deny that they could well be right. John’s question is odd given his courageous faith. But something tells me to emphasize the humanity of John’s question more than a possible pedagogical purpose. As such the Gospel can speak more to, who even more that St. John struggle to understand some of God’s ways.

The Gospel today is best seen in three stages as John the Baptist,  and we with him, are encouraged to make a journey from puzzlement, through purification to perfection; a journey to understand that the perfect is gift is not of our own imagining, but of God’s true offer. Here is a Gospel that encourages us to find and appreciate the perfect gift.

I. Puzzlement – The Gospel opens strangely: When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,  he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,  “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

This is a strange question given what St. John had already done. With delight John had pointed out Christ when he came: Look there is the Lamb of God! (John 1:29). With humble hesitation he had baptized the one who would change everything. He encouraged his disciples to follow after the one who is mightier than I! Why now this question?

Is John puzzled? Is he discouraged? It is hard to say. While some argue he doesn’t really mean the question seriously, he is just encouraging others to ask it. But that had not been John’s approach in the past. He just said, “Look, there he is!”

So perhaps John is puzzled or even struggling to understand. Consider that John had been looking for a Messiah who would root out injustice, crush the wicked, destroy the oppressors and exalt the poor and the oppressed. Recall his words from last week’s gospel:

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. (Mat 3:10-12)

Yet now John is in prison! Placed there by a tyrant, an oppressor. The very sort of man John was sure that Messiah would cut down and cast into fire. Where was the hoped for deliverance? Where was the exultation of the lowly and casting down of the mighty? Where was the axe being laid to the root of the tree?

Jesus was not doing this sort of thing at all. Though he had some confrontations with religious leaders, his main work seems to have been healing the sick and summoning average people to repentance and faith.

So perhaps John’s question is genuine and he is puzzled or discouraged, or so it would seem. And thus we see the very one who had announced Jesus, and pointed him out when he came, sending his disciples to Jesus with a question: Are you he who is to come, or should we look for another?

Now John was not wholly baseless in his expectation of a wrathful coming of the Messiah. There are many texts that spoke of it. For example here are three:

  1. Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!…Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it….I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. (Is 13:6-10)
  2. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him. (Nahum 1:6)
  3. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? (Mal 3:2)

So John had worked hard to call people to repentance to get them ready for the great and terrible day of the Lord. John’s puzzlement is thus understandable as Jesus does not slay the wicked, but instead goes about healing and preaching and, instead of slaying the wicked he is enduring scorn and ridicule from those in power.

The perfect gift for John would be to see all injustice rooted out, to see the threshing floor cleared and the distinction between the wheat and the chaff made obvious, for the wicked to be burnt with fire and the righteous shine like the firmament. Like many of the prophets, John’s sense of the perfect gift was But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream! (Amos 5:24)

Of itself this is a good and biblical vision that will one day be accomplished. But for now, is it the perfect gift, is it the gift that Jesus wants to offer? What is the perfect gift?

II. Purification – Jesus gives an answer to those sent by John that draws from a different tradition of Messiah texts than what John had emphasized. The Old Testament texts that spoke of the Messiah were complicated and at times hard to interpret. While some texts spoke of his wrath toward the wicked and unjust, others spoke of his healing and mercy.

The differences in the description of the Messiah had a lot to do with context, audience and also the possibility that the Messiah’s ministry might be accomplished in stages. Hence, while John the Baptist is not wrong in his application of the wrathful and vindicating texts to the Messiah, the New Testament tradition came to understand such texts more of the Messiah’s second coming than of his first.

Jesus thus gives the following answer to those sent by John:

Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.

In this answer, Jesus is stitching together many quotes and prophecies about the Messiah, mostly from Isaiah. For example consider the following:

  1. In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29:18-19)
  2. The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn ( Is 61:1-3)
  3. The dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For thy dew is a dew of light, and on the land of the shades thou wilt let it fall. (Is 26:19)
  4. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. (Is 35:5-6)

Thus, there is a need to purify our sense of what is best for God to do, to come to a better appreciation of the perfect gift.

Jesus says something quire remarkable in today’s Gospel to those who are disappointed in his lack of wrathful vengeance: And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.

For indeed, many of us have been hurt by others; or have been deeply troubled that the wicked seem to prosper and the just struggle. When will God act, why doesn’t God do something! Indeed, it is very possible for us to be puzzled, discouraged, even offended at God’s inaction or slowness to act.

To all this Jesus simply says, And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.

It is essential to accept Jesus teaching here in order to have our sense of the perfect gift purified . Rejoicing in any other gift than grace and mercy is very dangerous. Hoping for a wrathful punishment to be inflicted on the proud and all sinful oppressors, or wishing this upon individuals or even whole segments of the world is a very dangerous thing. Last time I checked, none of us are outside the category “sinner.”

Here then is the necessary purification in our thinking: God’s greatest gift is not the crushing of our enemies. God’s greatest gift is His Son Jesus.Here is the perfect Gift.

Further, it is not Jesus’ wrath that is his greatest gift, it is his grace and mercy, here is perfect gift from Perfect Gift. Without Jesus and boatloads of his grace and mercy we don’t stand a chance.

Even John the Baptist of who Christ says, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist, even he needs lots of grace and mercy as we shall see.

III. Perfection – And thus we see that the perfect gift is the grace and mercy of Jesus. It is not the destruction of our enemies, it is not a sudden and swift ushering in of justice before God’s chosen time. The perfect gift is the grace and mercy of Jesus which all of us, without exception desperately need.

In order to emphasize the absolute necessity of grace and mercy, and the perfect gift that they are,   Jesus turns to the crowds and speaks of St. John the Baptist:

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 clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you. Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist.

And thus John the Baptist was the pinnacle. The best that this world has produced. But pay attention to what the Lord says next:

Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Do you see what grace and mercy can do? Do you see that they surpass any worldly excellence? For the world can produce only human and worldly excellence. But Grace and Mercy produce heavenly excellence and make us like unto God.And without these gifts of God we don’t stand a chance. Even John the Baptist needed grace and mercy, Mother Teresa needed grace and mercy. Grace and mercy are the perfect gift, are the necessary gift.

One day the perfect justice of God that John and all of us seek will roll in. But until and unless you receive the perfect gift of Grace and Mercy through Jesus, you will not endure the perfect justice of God! So until that time, it has pleased God to offer us the perfect gift of his Son, who by his grace and mercy will prepare us for that day.

If you seek the perfect gift this Christmas, look to Jesus, for he alone can bestow the grace and mercy that we desperately need. If even the holy John the Baptist was in need, how much more you and I. Grace and mercy far excel any thing we can ask or imagine.

Do you want to give the perfect gift for others? Then bring them to Jesus, bring them to Mass. Jesus awaits us in prayer, in the liturgy, in his Word proclaimed, in the sacraments. Jesus is the perfect gift. The destruction of sinners is not the perfect gift. Their conversion and salvation is.

Find the perfect gift this Christmas, find Jesus. Give the perfect gift this Christmas, give Jesus. Give Jesus the perfect gift this Christmas, give him the give of your very self. The perfect gift. http://findtheperfectgift.org/


*