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What do shots in the game of Pong have to do with holiness? Very little! But what if holiness isn’t so impossible after all and what it really takes is grace interacting with some practice and perseverance? Maybe then the seemingly impossible would be seen by our very eyes.

Think about it and get started. No, not with practicing Pong, but with virtue.

It’s amazing what daily practice and steady effort can produce. I marvel at what the Lord has done for me over the years I’ve practiced the sure and steady discipline of prayer, sacraments, Scripture, and fellowship (cf Acts 2:42). Day by day, my growth has been almost imperceptible and there have even been setbacks, but looking back over the past twenty-plus years, I’m astonished at what the Lord has done.

As you watch this video, consider that these young men did not just wake up one day and film this in one take. I’m sure their skill took years to develop. And while we may wish that they had spent their time on something more noble, the principle still applies: consistent, persistent practice produces can produce wonders.

Saints can be daring in their words. For example, St Athanasius said that God became man so that man might become God (De inarnationis c. 54, 3). And St. Thomas Aquinas said that pride is such a serious sin that, as a remedy for it, God permits other sins to humble us (Summa Theologica II IIae, 162,6).

These are daring—even dangerous—assertions if they are not properly understood. And of course they can be properly understood. We do not become gods, but we do share in the divine nature by God’s gift. God may permit our sins, but He does not cause them and we have no right to indulge them on the pretext that it will help to humble us.

But I suspect that saints, having mastered certain topics, state their case quickly so as to move on to other subjects. I suppose they trust the Holy Spirit, working through Scripture and the Magisterium, to supply what their brevity points to but does not develop. Good teachers do not answer every question; they inspire a thirst in their students to further ponder mysteries and seek deeper answers and understanding.

In the Office of Readings this week St. Maximus the Confessor supplies what I would call a daring image. It is daring not so much doctrinally as in terms of piety. He compares the sacred humanity of Christ to bait that has been set out by a fisherman or hunter. Consider his words and marvel at the insight:

Here is the reason why God became a perfect man, changing nothing of human nature, except to take away sin (which was never natural anyway). His flesh was set before that voracious, gaping dragon as bait to provoke him: flesh that would be deadly for the dragon, for it would utterly destroy him by the power of the Godhead hidden within it. For human nature, however, his flesh would restore human nature to its original grace.

Just as the devil had poisoned the tree of knowledge and spoiled our nature by its taste, so too, in presuming to devour the Lord’s flesh he himself is corrupted and is completely destroyed by the power of the Godhead hidden within it.

(From the Five Hundred Chapters by Saint Maximus the Confessor, abbot (Centuria 1, 8-13: PG 90, 1182-1186))

Over the years, I have found that some (though not all) of the faithful are shocked or offended by daring images, humor about divine or sacred things, or the discussion of the flaws of saints and biblical figures. An old Latin phrase speaks of certain things that are offensiva pii aurium (offensive to pious ears). There are surely limits that should not be transgressed, but reasonable people differ on the exact location of those lines.

I call this image provided by St. Maximum daring because bait is a lowly and even gruesome image: a worm or fly on a hook, bloody chum cast on the water to attract fish, or a piece of meat thrown on the ground to attract a predator. This is not my first way of thinking of the sacred humanity of Christ on the cross: the cross as the hook and Jesus as the bait?

How bold and yet how true. Perhaps it should offend our sensibilities. For what is more offensive than the Son of God nailed by us to a piece of wood, bloody and dying outside the city gates of Jerusalem, the Holy City?

St. Maximus takes up this bloody, horrible theme and reminds us that God has always been in control. He was baiting and luring Satan all the while, defeating him through his own lust for blood and death. No sooner did Satan draw near and lay hold of this prey than the Lord defeated him. By dying He destroyed our death and in rising He restored our life.

It is bold, daring, and true.

A reading in the breviary this week from the preaching of St. Augustine offers sound advice on what theologians often call “the order of love.”

It is a general obligation that that we must love all our fellow human beings. It is also true that we must love God with our whole heart and mind, above all people and things. Loving all humanity presents problems, though, because we have not met most other people on the planet, nor have we met those who lived and died before we were born. Loving God fully also presents problems because we cannot possibly return Him the love that He is due. Due to our wounded hearts, we also struggle to love Him above all people and things.

These difficulties speak to the practical need for an ordered love that helps us to deepen and perfect the love to which we are called.

The word “order” refers to putting or doing things in a proper sequence. It also means directing something or someone to the proper end or purpose.

In both these ways, love must be ordered. We learn to love greater things by properly loving lesser things. And thus there is a sequence to love and also a goal for love. We often love certain things too much and other things not enough. Spending our love on foolish or inappropriate things dissipates it. Focusing our love on what is good and proper for us enriches us and makes our love grow higher and broader.

While we are obliged to love all others, our capacity to do that requires a proper order. We are first and foremost obliged to love people we know and to whom we have natural obligations. As we learn to love our family members, benefactors, friends, and neighbors, our love can grow outward to include an ever-wider number. Charity begins at home, but it does not end there. The growing love of neighbor also equips us to love God more deeply.

Some of these insights are taken up by St. Augustine in a short, practical treatise on love:

The Lord, the teacher of love, full of love, came in person with summary judgment on the two commandments of love. … Love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

Love of God is the first to be commanded, but love of neighbor is the first to be put into practice. … Since you do not yet see God, you merit the vision of God by loving your neighbor. By loving your neighbor, you prepare your eye to see God. Saint John says clearly: “If you do not love your brother whom you see, how will you love God whom you do not see!”

In loving your neighbor and caring for him you are on a journey. Where are you traveling if not to the Lord God, to him whom we should love with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind? We have not yet reached his presence, but we have our neighbor at our side. Support, then, this companion of your pilgrimage if you want to come into the presence of the one with whom you desire to remain forever.

Begin, then, to love your neighbor…. What will you gain by doing this? Your light will then burst forth like the dawn. Your light is your God; he is your dawn, for he will come to you when the night of time is over. He does not rise or set but remains forever (from a treatise on John by Saint Augustine, bishop (Tract 17, 7-9, CCL 36, 174-175)).

Thus, we see how our love is to be increasingly set in order, to be ordered to an ever wider and higher goal. Paradoxically, if we are to love God with our whole heart (the first commandment), we do so more fully by better observing the second commandment (loving our neighbor as our self). We go to the highest love by mastering (through grace) the lesser or secondary love. The highest things are mastered through the humbler things.

In loving our neighbor, who has great dignity but is still a fellow creature, we enlarge our hearts to love God, who is the creator of all. St. Augustine teaches elsewhere, Quod minimum, minimum est. Sed in minimo fidelem esse, magnum est (De Doctrina Christiana, IV,35). (What is a little thing, is (just) a little thing. But to be faithful in a little thing is a great thing.) The lesser prepares us for the greater.

St. Augustine alludes to a text from Isaiah. Here it is in context:

Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, “Here I am” (Isaiah 58:7-9).

To this I would only add that today the corporal works of mercy are fairly well accepted as important, but we ought not to forget the spiritual works of mercy; we have to care for the spiritually poor of our times with similar intensity. We must instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, admonish the sinner, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offenses, console the afflicted, and pray for the living and the dead.

Love has many aspects: physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual. May our love for one another grow in abundance and overflow in great love for God each day. Grant us the graces, Lord!

Here’s another New Year’s resolution: Remember that the world has only trinkets; God has treasure. It’s amazing how much effort we put into pursuing things that are like sand running through our fingers. In the end they cannot satisfy or last. In this new year, resolve to remember that world we know cannot satisfy us and it is passing away. Teach this to your children as well.

The video below is good for teaching both children and adults. It is a humorous depiction of the utter frustration of seeking fulfillment in or from this world. The video features a pig, Ormie, who goes to ridiculous lengths to obtain some cookies that are just beyond his reach.

Many people are like this, sparing no expense in search of illusory happiness. Some practically self-destruct in their quest to fill the God-sized hole in their heart.

But it never works, because our desires are infinite; a finite world will always leave us unsatisfied. Complete fulfillment can only be found with God. For now, we walk by faith toward Him of whom our heart says, “Seek His face. Seek always the face of the Lord!”

Seeking the Lord does several things for us. It helps us to stop thinking that finite things can really satisfy us. It increasingly ends our frustrating, futile, intense pursuit of those things. As our prayerful union with God deepens, our satisfaction with Him also increases and He becomes more desirable than the things of this world. More and more we can say that God really does satisfy us.

In the video, Ormie is a very unhappy pig because no matter how hard he tries, he can’t get what he wants. And the world seems to taunt him as he tries again and again. Frankly, even if he did get the cookies, they would probably only satisfy him for about twenty minutes.

Allow the cookies to represent happiness. Ormie expends all his effort on pursuing something that this world can’t give him. An awful lot of people live like Ormie, forever chasing butterflies. Somehow they think that if they can just get the thing they seek, then they will be happy. They will not—at least not in the infinite sense their heart really desires. Wealth brings comfort, not happiness. The finite world just can’t provide what many want it to provide.

Enjoy this amusing video. Often humor registers in us because it contains an element of truth that we recognize in our own self. Laugh and learn with Ormie the Pig!

Most of us have those handheld “devices.” The antiquated cell phone has become a multifunction unit. It’s an internet portal, camera, computer, emailer, texting device, music and game center, GPS unit, and advisor (“Hey Siri!”). You might even use it to make a phone call! Devices, can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

But we can learn to set proper boundaries and avoid the rudeness that can accompany their use. Too often, we allow the virtual to eclipse the actual and we pay insufficient attention to those physically present with us.

The word “device” comes from the Old French word, devis, meaning division or separation. Without doubt, our hand-held devices divide our attention, separating us from the people with whom we should be interacting.

In a typical meeting, many in attendance are gazing down frequently at their little units. Soon enough, thumbs are typing away and attention is waning. The same is often the case during conversations, walks, meals, movies, and car rides. We are often divided from those with whom we should be present and unified.

Our devices also drive a sense of urgency, a feeling that information has to be shared at once. This is especially true with texting. There is a general expectation that a text will elicit a quick reply. When this doesn’t happen we’re often either irritated or anxious: “I hope he’s all right; I texted him and he didn’t answer!” Never mind that the person might be busy; there’s still the expectation that he’ll reply quickly regardless of what he’s doing.

Do you remember the old “busy signal”? If you called someone who was on the phone with someone else you got the busy signal, which in effect said, “I can’t talk to you right now, I’m busy talking to someone else.” Imagine that!

Then came “call waiting,” that irritating clicking sound indicating that someone is trying to reach you. This created distraction, stress, and even the expectation that you should interrupt your current conversation and multitask or break away from the current caller entirely in order to talk to someone more deserving of your attention.

Today it seems that nothing can or should wait. Everyone needs your immediate attention, or such is the prevailing expectation. Resentment can follow quickly when expectations are not met.

In addition, many people have developed a kind of obsession with staying informed and connected. Not only are there the personal messages, but also the constant alerts indicating “breaking news” or something else of which you must be immediately aware.

Group text messages can be especially obnoxious, with dozens of replies and replies to replies back and forth between all the recipients. In short order, the text message queue is filled with long threads of often extraneous commentary.

The demand for instant information and quick response can cause a number of other problems such as impatience, imprudence, rash judgment, and becoming gossips and busybodies.

Somehow we have to get back to a more reasonable pace in our life. Many things can wait. Most interruptions we accept as necessary are not. It really is possible to go to a meeting or to Mass with your device turned off; you don’t need to be checking your messages or emails constantly. Your presence and your undivided attention is a great gift to those you are with.

Here are some New Year’s resolutions you might want to consider:

1. Be less anxious or angry if someone doesn’t text or email you back right away. Remember, he or she might be busy.
2. Don’t feel the need to apologize so much for not getting back to someone right away. Nearly instant access to people is a fairly new concept; not so long ago we managed to survive just fine without it.
3. Turn off some or all of the sounds that signal a new text, e-mail, or the availability of some other information. Do this permanently if possible, or at least with enough frequency that you can break the obsession with always knowing what is going on.
4. Check for text and email messages a reasonable number of times each day, but not when you are in meetings, in conversations with others, at lunch with friends, etc.
5. Take out those earbuds as often as you can and just walk the old fashioned way: greet people, make eye contact, give some indication to people you pass by that you care that they exist, rediscover background noises or the sounds of nature, maybe even enjoy a little silence.
6. Designate an occasional day when you completely unplug from your device and just “chill.”
7. Make use of the “do not disturb” feature on your device. Most devices allow you to specify a limited set of people/circumstances under which the device will alert you to incoming calls or notifications. Carefully consider who belongs on the list and let the rest of the messages wait.

Sometimes less is more. We ought to consider pacing our day, having times when we gather information, times when we do our work without a lot of distraction, and times when we rest. It is too easy to allow the urgent to eclipse the important.

Consider making a resolution to do a little more triage. Many things that seem urgent or requiring immediate attention can in fact wait. Although God could solve everything all at once with the snap of His fingers, He does not do so; He has His reasons. Learn from God; let things have their time. Waiting and silence are key concepts in the spiritual life and in God’s world.

Last week at Christmas we celebrated an event that was both pivotal and hidden. The conception and birth of Jesus Christ were events that changed human history. It was a daring, hidden raid by the Kingdom of Light into the kingdom of darkness, an incursion behind enemy lines, into enemy territory. Only some shepherds in Bethlehem and a few magi from distant lands were witnesses to this event, one which began the undoing of the long reign of sin.

St. Paul hints at this drama in today’s second reading: When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman (Gal 4:4). Yes, all time meets here. The long reign of sin is ending; Our Savior stealthily emerges to begin His work of giving us a way out. The wall has been breached and will one day wholly crumble.

Even Satan, to whom we often attribute exaggerated powers, seems unaware. The later visit of the Magi makes him suspicious, but even with that, his knowledge is lacking. Through his agent, Herod, he stabs wildly, searching for the interloper, but he misses the mark. Jesus eludes him for another thirty years, preparing for a final showdown that will seal Satan’s fate as the great loser.

Something happened that quiet Christmas night, enormous in its implications but mostly hidden and unnoticed. A ray of light flashes in a darkened world, just long enough to be remembered by a few. It is like a seed that is sown; it remains hidden for a time, but later yields a harvest that will undermine the world of darkness.

I offer all of this as a prelude to a year that I think will be significant for the Church and for the world. The Year of Our Lord 2017 may seem to many to be an insignificant one; we tend to favor years that end in 0s or 5s. The year 2000 seemed to carry great weight, but it passed quietly.

Why should 2017 be significant? I offer several reasons for your consideration. I do this in all humility, reminding those who read this that official and public revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle. No Catholic is required to give any credence to the disclosures or private revelations of apparitions or to the writings and warnings of mystics and saints; you are free to accept or reject these prophecies. While the Church commends approved apparitions to our consideration, she does not command our acceptance of them.

Yet Scripture does say, Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem had long been prophesied, as were most of the central truths of His ministry and Paschal mystery. And while much of this was seen most clearly in the rear-view mirror, God does signal His people of His plans, lest we be caught off guard or think that He acts whimsically.

I would argue that we today are being called by God to special prayer. This summons is always at work, but certain prophecies indicate that 2017 will be significant. Consider, then, the following indications that 2017 will require special prayer of us.

It is the 100^th anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima. These apparitions are unique in that they have been affirmed by a miracle and by historical fulfilment.

Three young children, Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia, were visited by the Mother of Jesus six times in the region of Fatima, Portugal between May 13^th and October 13^th, 1917. At that time, the First World War was ending and the Western world was torn asunder by bloody violence.

At the time, the appearances of Our Lady generated both controversy and fascination. Our Lady’s message was fundamentally one of peace, but she warned of serious consequences if people did not turn more wholeheartedly to her Son, repent of their sins, and pray for peace.

She explained that war is a punishment for sin and warned that without our repentance, God would further castigate the world for its disobedience. She indicated that we would experience the wretched fruits of our sins through war, hunger, and the persecution of the Church, the Holy Father, and the Catholic faithful. The Blessed Mother prophesied that although the First World War was ending, without our repentance, a second and worse war would arise and that Russia would be God’s chosen instrument of chastisement, spreading the “errors” of atheism and materialism across the earth, fomenting wars, annihilating nations, and persecuting the faithful everywhere.

She further prophesied that a final warning would be given before the outbreak of a new war: When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes. Indeed, a large display of the Northern Lights occurred in January 1938 throughout the Northern Hemisphere and reaching into the Southern Hemisphere, making headlines internationally. Shortly thereafter, the Second World War was underway. Germany occupied Czechoslovakia in 1938 and invaded Poland in 1939.

As a verification of her appearances, Our Lady promised a miracle at the final apparition. With as many as 70,000 people in attendance, the miracle of the sun took place on October 13, 1917. Those gathered both marveled and feared as the sun danced and moved about in the sky on what had been a rainy day.

Recall that this was prophesied in 1917, long before the Second World War and Russia’s rise to power. Most could not have imagined a more devastating war than World War I, nor that Russia, a poor and largely Christian nation, could or would do such a thing. Yet all these prophecies were fulfilled.

The third prophecy of Fatima, kept secret until the year 2000, spoke of a great period of suffering for the Church, including the martyrdom of the Pope. A bishop dressed in white climbs a mountain near a ruined city toward a cross. He passes the corpses of many martyrs and many others who have suffered. At the top of the mountain, near the cross, he himself is killed by armies. In releasing this third part, the Vatican commented,

The history of an entire century can be seen represented in this image. Just as the places of the earth are synthetically described in the two images of the mountain and the city, and are directed towards the cross, so too time is presented in a compressed way. In the vision we can recognize the last century as a century of martyrs, a century of suffering and persecution for the Church, a century of World Wars and the many local wars which filled the last fifty years and have inflicted unprecedented forms of cruelty. In the “mirror” of this vision we see passing before us the witnesses of the faith decade by decade. Here it would be appropriate to mention a phrase from the letter which Sister Lucia wrote to the Holy Father on 12 May 1982: “The third part of the ‘secret’ refers to Our Lady’s words: ‘If not, [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.’”

Pope John Paul II saw his near-assassination in 1981 as the fulfillment of this prophecy and indicated that he only escaped death as a merciful intervention by Our Lady in response to prayer.

One additional aspect of the Fatima apparitions was given in 1981. Sister Lucia, the lone surviving visionary, wrote to Monsignor (now Cardinal) Carlo Caffara at the Vatican of something she heard from Our Lady: The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid … anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be fought and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. … however, Our Lady has already crushed its head. (This letter is now in the archives of the John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family.)

And here we are in modern times, desperately confused about the nature of marriage, sexuality, and the family. Many who stand up for what has always been taught and believed are called intolerant, backward, and/or bigoted.

According to the Fatima apparitions and this later addition from 1981, we are in the endgame, the final showdown, of this modern attack on the Church by Satan.

Another vision, less well-known, was said to have appeared to Pope Leo XIII on October 13, 1884 (33 years to the day before the final apparition at Fatima). It was revealed to him that a period of 100 years was coming during which the Church would be sorely tempted and tested, likely in order to purify us. Pope Leo was so troubled by this vision that he penned the well-known Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel and asked the faithful to recite it; until about 1970 it was traditionally recited after Mass.

When did that 100 years begin? It is not certain, but something tells me that it began in 1917 and thus will end in 2017. I do not think it likely that it will end suddenly, but Heaven knows. Clearly the Church has been sorely oppressed; we have lost large numbers. There has been a persecution, a pruning. There has been internal turmoil over doctrine and liturgy, a breakdown in discipline, and a great exodus of priests and religious. We have been reduced to be sure, but not destroyed. We have been prepared for something … but what?

I cannot answer all these questions, but I do know this: we are called to profound prayer this year. Although this is our perennial call, this year’s call is special.

In this parish, I will be scheduling special times of prayer and adoration. I will provide more details in the weeks ahead (prior to Lent), but this much is certain: Beginning in March, I want to observe the First Saturday devotions that were requested by our Lady at Fatima. This includes going to confession, attending Mass, and reciting the Holy Rosary on five consecutive Saturdays. We will pray for the conversion of sinners (starting with ourselves), for peace in this world, and for special graces for unity and growth of faith in the Church. Prior to that time, I intend to provide further catechesis in order to prepare us.

What exactly will happen in 2017? Will it be like the first Christmas, a hidden event with later consequences? Or will it be a dramatic event that brings about widespread, sudden conversion and an end to the persecution? I do not know; I only know that we need to pray. 2017 will be no ordinary year.

On this feast of Our Lady, we need, like Jesus, to stay close to her. We need to hear her call to pray and to obey all that her Son Jesus taught. Pray with me this year, one that will likely be very significant.

Happy and Blessed Year of Our Lord, 2017.

O Holy night! Yes, a silent night! And it came upon a midnight clear! Christmas, it would seem, is a festival of the middle of the night. Jesus is born when it is dark, dark midnight. We are sure of it. And why shouldn’t we be?

Even though we are not told the exact hour of His birth, we are sure it must have been at night. Scripture does say that the Shepherds who heard the glad tidings were keeping watch over their flock “by night” (cf Luke 2:9). Further, the Magi sought Him by the light of a star, and stars are seen at night, deep midnight. None of this is evidence that Jesus was born at 12:00 midnight but it sets our clocks for night, deep midnight.

Add to this the fact that Christmas is celebrated at the winter solstice, the very darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere. More specifically, Christmas comes when light is just beginning its subtle return. The darkest and shortest days of the year occur around December 21^st and 22^nd. But by December 23^rd and 24^th we notice a definite but subtle trend: the days are getting longer; the light is returning! It’s time to celebrate the return of the light. It’s going to be all right!

How fitting it is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the true Light of the World, in deep and dark December. Jesus our light kindles a fire that never dies away. Indeed, in the dark hours of December, we notice a trend: the light is returning; the darkness is abating; the days are beginning to grow longer. It is subtle right now, but it will grow. And with the return of light, we celebrate our True Light: Jesus.

But light is best appreciated in contrast. We appreciate most the glory of light when the darkness assails us. There’s just something about Christmas Eve. As the time approaches through December and the darkness grows, we light lights. Yes, all through December we light Advent candles, more candles as it grows darker. Even the secular among us string up lights, in malls, on their houses, in their workplace. It’s as if to say, the darkness cannot win; the light conquers!

Lights show their true glory when contrasted with darkness. Who sees the stars in the middle of the day? Who appreciates the full beauty of light until he has experienced darkness? Yes, Christmas is a feast of the light. We confront the darkness of December and declare to it, “Your deepest days are over. The light is returning.” And we of faith say to a world in ever deeper darkness, “Your darkness cannot prevail. It will be overcome and replaced.” For although darkness has its season, it is always conquered by the light.

An atheist recently scoffed at me in the comments of this blog that our day is over; the world has rejected faith. Sorry, dear atheist friend, the light always wins. On December 22^nd, the darkness begins to recede and the light begins to return. The light returns subtly at first, but it always does; the darkness cannot last.

Light has a way of simply replacing the darkness. In three months the equinox occurs and in six months the summer solstice, when we have the most light. Then the darkness will once again seek to conquer. But it always loses! The light will return. Jesus is always born at the hour of darkness’ greatest moment. Just when the darkness is celebrating most, its hour is over; the light dawns again.

We celebrate after sundown on December 24^th, in accordance with a tradition going back to Jewish times (feasts begin at sundown the night before). Christmas morning is almost an afterthought. Most pastors know that the majority of their people come to Mass the “night before.”  In a deep and dark December, a light comes forth. A star shines in the heavens.

We gather together in and on a dark night. We smile. We are moved by the cry of a small infant, by whose voice the heavens were made. His little cry lights up the night. The darkness must go; the light has come; day is at hand.

We celebrate at night so as to bid farewell to the darkness. It cannot prevail. It is destined to be scattered by a Light far more powerful than it is, a Light it must obey, a Light that overwhelms and replaces it. Farewell to darkness; the Light of the World has come!

Jesus is the Light of the World.

The video below is a celebration of light. As a Christmas gift to myself I took the afternoon of December 22^nd (the darkest day of the year) off so that I could photograph the triumph of light over darkness. I went to a mausoleum, a place where thousands are buried in the walls. But also in those walls are windows, glorious windows where light breaks through and Christ shines forth. Some of the most beautiful stained glass in the city of Washington, D.C. resides in that place of death and darkness. The light breaks through and it speaks of Christ.

This video shows only some of those stained glass windows (I am putting together a video of other windows to be shown later). The text of the music in this video is from Taizé, and it says, Christe lux mundi, qui sequitur te, habebit lumen vitae, lumen vitae (Christ, Light of the World, who follows you has the light of life, the light of life).

As you view this video depicting the Life of Christ, ponder that although stained glass begins as opaque sand, when subjected to and purified by fire it radiates the glory of the light which can now shine through it. So it is for us. Born in darkness but purified by Christ and the fire of the Spirit, we begin to radiate His many splendored Light shining through us to a dark world.

The Light wins. He always wins.

As Christmas draws closer, we continue to ponder the approaching mysteries. Today we will consider some of the things St. Thomas Aquinas taught regarding the Incarnation.

Why did the Lord choose to come to us through a woman, Mary? He could have come in any manner He pleased. Yesterday, we pondered why He took true flesh and a human nature to Himself rather than just coming as a kind of ghost or simply as God. But even in becoming truly and fully man, He could have chosen to bypass conception, gestation, birth, infancy, and youth entirely. He could have appeared suddenly on earth as a grown man—but He did not. Why not?

Remember, too, that although He chose to come through an earthly mother, he bypassed the participation of an earthly father (in the physical sense). If the biological role of a human father was bypassed in His taking flesh, why was the role of a human mother not similarly bypassed?

St. Thomas pondered this question in his Summa Theologica (part III, question 31, article 4) and set forth three reasons. St. Thomas’ commentary is shown in bold italics, while my poor remarks appear in red.

[First,] Although the Son of God could have taken flesh from whatever matter He willed, it was nevertheless most becoming that He should take flesh from a woman. First because in this way the entire human nature was ennobled. Hence Augustine says (QQ. lxxxiii, qu. 11): “It was suitable that man’s liberation should be made manifest in both sexes.”

So, in this manner both sexes were ennobled. The male sex was ennobled because the Word became flesh and was male. The female sex was ennobled because it was from Mary that Christ took His humanity.

Secondly, because thus the truth of Incarnation is made evident. Wherefore Ambrose says (De Incarnation vi): “Thou shalt find in Christ many things both natural, and supernatural. In accordance with nature he was within the womb … but it was above nature that a virgin should conceive and give birth: that you may believe that He was God, who was renewing nature …”

Both the natural and the supernatural are evident in Christ’s conception and incarnation. St. Thomas emphasized the elevated need for the natural so that we might avoid the heresy of thinking that Christ’s humanity was not real due to its wholly supernatural origin.

And [as] Augustine says (Ep. ad Volus. cxxxvii): “If Almighty God had created a man formed otherwise than in a mother’s womb, and had suddenly produced him to sight … would He not have strengthened an erroneous opinion, and made it impossible for us to believe that He had become a true man? … But now, He, the mediator between God and man, has so shown Himself, that, uniting both natures in the unity of one Person, He has given a dignity to ordinary by extraordinary things, and tempered the extraordinary by the ordinary.”

So it was fitting that Christ should be born of a woman, Mary, so as not to lose the natural in the supernatural, but that both the natural (because He is true man) and the supernatural (because He is true God) should balance and complete each other.

Thirdly, … the first man was made from the “slime of the earth,” without the concurrence of man or woman: Eve was made of man but not of woman: [though since], other men are made from both man and woman. So [it] …. remained as it were proper to Christ, that He should be made of a woman without the concurrence of a man.

In other words, it seems fitting or proper that because Adam and Eve were both created outside of the usual order of things, the New Adam, Christ, would be made in a unique manner. Eve was made without the help of another woman, but was drawn by God directly from the man, Adam. In a kind of balancing parallelism, the New Adam was made by God directly from the woman, Mary, without the help of a man.

St. Thomas seems to point to a kind of poetic balance, not a necessary balance. Saying that something is fitting does not mean that it is necessary or required, only that it is well suited to the situation. On the one hand, something can be fitting because, by it, we humans can more easily understand it. On the other hand, something can be fitting because it best suits God’s own purposes.