Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Holy Family, Albrecht Durer

Between Joseph and Mary there existed a holy affection, a spirit of service, and a mutual desire for each others' happiness. This is Jesus' family: sacred, holy, exemplary, a model of human virtues, ready to carry out God's will exactly. A Christian home must be an imitation of the house of Nazareth; a place where there is plenty of room for God so that He can be right at the centre of the love that members of the family have for one another.

In Conversation with God: Advent and Christmastide

This feast day falls on the first Sunday after Christmas. When a Sunday does not occur between December 25 and January 1, this feast is celebrated on December 30. (The Church — they understand schedule conflicts!)

I have a special fondness for this feast, engendered largely because of my fervent prayers to the Holy Family in a very trying time, after which Tom and I were given a miraculous sign. Life in the Holy Family is one of my favorite subjects of contemplation, whether when formally in prayer or in little flashes as our family goes through the weeks and years with good and bad times alike.

Christmas with Washington Irving

 

It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling--the season for kindling, not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart.

Washington Irving, Old Christmas

Fourth Day of Christmas: Massacre of the Holy Innocents

Duccio di Buoninsegna. Maesta (front, predella): The Massacre of the Innocents
via Wikipedia.

Nor must we forget that our greatest happiness and our most authentic good are not always those which we dream of and long for. It is difficult for us to see things in their true perspective: we can only take in a very small part of complete reality. We only see the tiny piece of reality that is here, in front of us. We are inclined to feel that earthly existence is the only real one and often consider our time on earth to be the period in which all our longings for perfect happiness ought to be fulfilled.

There is anguish for us, twenty centuries later, in thinking of the slain babies and their parents. for the babies the agony was soon over; in the next world they would come to know whom they had died to save and for all eternity would have that glory. For the parents, the pain would have lasted longer; but at death they too must have found that there was a special sense in which God was in their debt, as he had never been indebted to any. They and their children were the only ones who ever agonized in order to save God's life ... (F. J. Sheed, To Know Christ Jesus)

In Conversation with God: Advent and Christmastide

Read more about the Holy Innocents here.

Christmas - Our hearts grow tender

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Third Day of Christmas: St. John the Evangelist

Piero della Francesca. St. John the Evangelist. c. 1465.

In his extreme old age he continued to visit the churches of Asia. St. Jerome relates that when age and weakness grew upon him so that he was no longer able to preach to the people, he would be carried to the assembly of the faithful by his disciples, with great difficulty; and every time said to his flock only these words: "My dear children, love one another."

This makes me think of John Paul II in his last years. Read more about St. John here.

The Keepsakes and Customs of Christmas

It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart.

Marjorie Holmes

Second Day of Christmas: St. Stephen, The First Martyr

Byzantine icon, 11th century

We have only just celebrated the birth of our Lord and already the liturgy presents us with the feast of the first person to give his life for this Baby who has been born. Yesterday we wrapped Christ in swaddling clothes; today, he clothes Stephen with the garment of immortality. Yesterday, a narrow manger cradled the baby Christ; today, the infinite heaven has received Stephen in triumph. (St. Fulgentius, Sermon 3)

The Church wants to make us realize that the Cross is always very close to Jesus and his followers. As he struggles for perfect righteousness - sanctity - in this world, the Christian will meet perfect situations and attacks by the enemies of God. Our Lord has warned us: If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you ... Remember the word that I said to you; a servant is not greater than his master: If they persecuted me they will persecute you. (John 15:18-20) Since the very beginning of the Church this prophecy has been fulfilled. And in our days too, if we really follow Our Lord, we are going to suffer difficulties and persecutions in one way or another and of different kinds. Every age is an age of martyrdom, St. Augustine tells us. Don't say that Christians are not suffering persecution; the Apostle's words are always true ...: All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Tim 3:12) All, he says, with no one being excluded or exempted. If you want to test the truth of this saying, you have only to begin to lead a pious life and you will see what good reason he had for saying this. (St. Augustine, Sermon 6, 2)

In Conversation with God: Advent and Christmastide

Glorious Mess

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly.

Andy Rooney

And we never do.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas by Viggo Johansen, 1891

 

Welcome Lord Jesus Into Our Midst

BRONZINO, Agnolo
1535-40, Adoration of the Shepherds

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as people make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder,
and the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
from David’s throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
by judgment and justice,
both now and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!

Isaiah 9:1-6

Thanks be to God!

May He bless you richly and may we recognize the blessings He sends us.
Merry Christmas!

Ghost of Christmas Present

The Ghost of Christmas Present
from the original edition of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843

More Christmas Punny Stuff

Last week I ran some Christmas jokes. Here's a second set which made me laugh just as much.

What nationality is Santa Claus?

He's North Polish!

Why does Santa Claus insist that all the elves wash their clothes in Tide?

Because at the North Pole, it's too cold to wash them OUT tide.

What did the reindeer say before launching into his comedy routine?

This will sleigh you!

Good King Wenceslas phoned Domino's for a pizza.

The salesgirl asked him: "Do you want your usual? Deep pan, crisp and even?"

And with that Irish you a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve: Considering the Incarnation

Looking through old Christmas posts, I came across this bulletin insert that I wrote a few years ago. I found it good to reread and you may also so I present it again here.

Considering the Truth of the Incarnation

No worldly mind would ever have suspected that He Who could make the sun warm the earth would one day have need of an ox and an ass to warm Him with their breath; that He Who, in the language of Scriptures, could stop the turning about of Arcturus would have His birthplace dictated by an imperial census; that He, Who clothed the fields with grass, would Himself be naked; that He, from Whose hands came planets and worlds, would one day have tiny arms that were not long enough to touch the huge heads of the cattle; that the feet which trod the everlasting hills would one day be too weak to walk; that the Eternal Word would be dumb; that Omnipotence would be wrapped in swaddling clothes; that Salvation would lie in a manger; that the bird which built the nest would be hatched therein—no one would have ever suspected that God coming to this earth would ever be so helpless. And that is precisely why so many miss Him. Divinity is always where one least expects to find it. ...

No man can love anything unless he can get his arms around it, and the cosmos is too big and too bulky. But once God became a Babe and was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, men could say, “This is Emmanuel, this is God with us.” By His reaching down to frail human nature and lifting it up to the incomparable prerogative of union with Himself, human nature became dignified. So real was this union that all of His acts and words, all of His agonies and tears, all of His thoughts and reasonings, resolves and emotions, while being properly human, were at the same time the acts and words, agonies and tears, thought and reasonings, resolves and emotions of the Eternal Son of God.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ

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PMRMaeyaert, Sint-Walburgakerk, Oudenaarde, Belgium
via Wikipedia, Creative Commons License 3.0

In our meditations upon the Incarnation we encounter many familiar images. This is natural and to be expected. It is automatic to think sentimentally and comfortably about the little babe, the adoring parents, singing angels, startled shepherds, and Magi with gifts, while traditional carols echo in our ears.

However, as Fulton Sheen reminds us, the reality of the Incarnation is not comfortable at all. It is God breaking into human time and nature and history to effect a miracle so outrageous that no one would have thought it up in their wildest dreams. The Second Person of the Trinity willingly takes on our limited human nature, purely for love of us. Shocking? Yes. Amazing? Yes. But comfortable? No.

This also is a good reminder that it is very easy to read into Scripture what we would like to see. Pulling the truth out of Scripture, also called exegesis, is considerably more difficult. That truth may prove quite a bit more surprising than we expect. God does have a habit of showing us truth in surprising ways.

To think of the Christ child at Christmas is natural. Undeniably those are the images of the season. However, the meaning of this baby for us and for all mankind is far from a sentimental picture. Jesus comes to us as a baby so we will learn something of his real nature and of the beginning of the path that he will tread and that we must follow.

Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898), The Nativity

Pope Benedict XVI helps us to consider further the layers of meaning in the Incarnation. In a Christmas homily* he said:

God’s sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty. … God’s sign is simplicity. … God’s sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendour. He comes as a baby – defenceless and in need of our help. … He asks for our love: so he makes himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into his feelings, his thoughts and his will – we learn to live with him and to practice with him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love. ...

In our meditations upon the Incarnation we encounter many familiar images. This is natural and to be expected. However, let us not settle for comfort. Let us dig deeper and discover the true nature of the Lord, he who is Love incarnate, who came to show that love for you and for me.

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* Read online Pope Benedict XVI’s entire homily from Midnight Mass 2006, Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord 

Christmas Jokes

Repeating this because these made me laugh ... again!

I love hollandaise sauce. It caused a lot of cavities. My dentist told me I would need a plate made of chrome if I wanted to continue my hollandaise habit. I said, “Really?” He said. “Oh yes. There’s no plate like chrome for the Hollandaise.”

What do you call a bunch of grandmasters of chess bragging about their games in a hotel lobby? Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer!

Why does Santa have 3 gardens?
So he can ho-ho-ho.

What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
Snowflakes.

There was once a great czar in Russia named Rudolph the Red. He stood looking out the windows of is palace one day while his wife, the Czarina Katerina, sat nearby knitting. He turned to her and said, "Look my dear, it has begun to rain!" Without even looking up from her knitting she replied, "It's too cold to rain. It must be sleeting." The Czar shook his head and said, "I am the Czar of all the Russias, and Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear!"

Why do mummies like Christmas so much?
Because of all the wrapping!

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright
By Karin Jurick

An Advent Story

Brandywine Books posted this true story  years ago. I liked it so much that I am reposting it now. Just a little something to remind us of why we are standing at that window, waiting for the light ...

When Marvin was a young teenager (around the 1930s or early ‘40s, I imagine), he asked his father if he could go with the other kids to some entertainment event (he didn’t say what kind). His father said it wouldn’t be appropriate and told him no. Marvin said he was going anyway, and headed out.

“If you go out without my approval,” his father told him as he reached the door, “this house will be locked when you get home, and you’ll have to sleep somewhere else.”

Marvin refused to back down. He left. He enjoyed the event.

That, he said, was the short part of the night.

When he got home he found the house dark, the doors locked. Even that window in the basement that the kids could sometimes work loose was locked tight.

Marvin stood in the dark, thinking about his options. It wasn’t winter, but it was fall and the night was getting cold.

He remembered a sort of loft in the chicken coop which his brother and he had appropriated as a “secret place.” It had a sort of a mattress and a ratty quilt.

He went into the chicken coop and climbed up. The “mattress” was there, but the quilt was gone.

Lacking other options, he lay down on the mattress and curled up in a fetal position. The cold wind blew in through the cracks. The coop stank of chicken droppings. There was no way to sleep. He lay there in the darkness hugging himself, shivering. The hours passed slowly. He wondered if he could make it through the night.

Then, at last, he heard a door open. He heard a creaking sound as someone climbed the board ladder to the loft. Someone put a pillow under his head, lay down and held him close, and pulled a quilt over both of them.

In the darkness, he heard his father say, “Marvin, when I said that if you disobeyed me you’d have to find another place to sleep tonight, I didn’t say that I would sleep inside.”

And so that pastor taught his son the true meaning of the Incarnation.

Wish I’d had a dad like that.

Wait. I do.

Magi

Carving of the Magi from the Romanesque Cathedral of Saint Lazare/Autun

Yes, it is too early to really think of the Magi arriving, but let's just think about the fact that they had to be on the road for a while. So we may surely think of the angel inspiring them to get underway.

A Thought for Advent

There will be those who say: "that is exactly why I don't go to Communion more often, because I realize my love is cold ..." If you are cold, do you think it sensible to move away from the fire? Precisely because you feel your heart frozen you should go "more frequently" to Holy Communion, provided you feel a sincere desire to love Jesus Christ. "Go to Holy Communion," says St. Bonaventure, "even when you feel lukewarm, leaving everything in God's hands. The more my sickness debilitates me, the more urgently do I need a doctor."

St. Alphonsus Liguori, The practice of love for Jesus, 2
Quoted in In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez
Daily Meditations Vol. 1: Advent and Christmastide

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

A former FBI hostage negotiator offers a new, field-tested approach to negotiating – effective in any situation.

After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a kidnapping negotiator brought him face-to-face with bank robbers, gang leaders, and terrorists. Never Split the Difference takes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most – when people’s lives were at stake.

Rooted in the real-life experiences of an intelligence professional at the top of his game, Never Split the Difference will give you the competitive edge in any discussion.

This isn't not the sort of book I normally would ever read. However, it was given to me by a fellow home advocate from the St. Vincent de Paul Society who told me that it would be invaluable in dealing with landlords. This is both funny and probably true. So I read it.

It immediately grabbed me with the contrast of fascinating hostage negotiations and the underlying idea of truly listening to the person you are talking to. Certainly I learned concepts that are going to be helpful in intentional listening and thoughtful communications.

My mind was blown by the last chapter - The Black Swan - as I remembered a conversation that had completely failed in a way I'd never experienced precisely because it was a Black Swan. Very enlightening and something I hope I have learned from for the future.

Collecting the Tree

Father and son with their dog collecting a tree in the forest,
painting by Franz Krüger (1797–1857)