December 2020

In today’s Gospel, we have the arrival of the angel Gabriel, who invites Mary to rejoice that she has been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. Classical artists tend to depict Mary as a docile young woman, often kneeling in prayer as she accepts the awesome invitation. Mary is also eminently practical and asks the angel to explain how this will be possible since she has no husband. Mary is testing the wisdom of the message she has received. She is being invited to risk her reputation and perhaps even her life. She would also have known that her parents would have been disgraced in their community because of their daughter’s shame. The angel, in reply, is able to offer compelling evidence that the invitation to Mary is genuine. We know that the story of Jesus unfolded to reveal all sorts of joy and sorrow, contradictions and challenges, leading to His death on the cross of a criminal and, ultimately, His resurrection in glory.

We use all sorts if imagery for holiness and commitment. Our readings today use the imagery of the dwelling places of God. David doesn’t get to finish the work and it falls to his son, Solomon, to complete the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. God’s promise to David was to make David himself the house. His family line would be forever blessed, and this was achieved through the birth of Jesus. We use the image of the house for many aspects of our lives. Our political institutions are often named “houses.” “House of David” meant the entire chosen people of God can be both our physical place of public worship and the house of our hearts. Wat type of house can we make for God this Christmas, at the end of the year in which our own homes may have been places of refuge and safety but also places of restriction and confinement, away from family and friends? What did we learn about the things that make our houses good places to be? How can we be more fully the house of God as we go forth to love and serve the Lord this Christmas? We remember that the first house of God was a stable and that he had to rely on the shelter offered by strangers. Are we able to take this as our model for the Christian life?

There is always an element of surprise in the meetings between Jesus and new disciples. Usually they are surprised by Jesus, but sometimes it is Jesus who is surprised. Jesus is amazed at the centurion’s faith, but He is also amazed at the fact that only one of 10 lepers, a Samaritan, should come back to thank Him. Perhaps this is why Jesus didn’t come in an age of mass media. We don’t meet the Christ as these people did, but we can pray, and we can be amazed by His presence in our life. We understand that He is present in our own meetings with other people, particularly people we might not trust, people such as the Romans and Samaritans this day. If we meet anyone in faith then Christ is there, and the meetings of Christ with John the Baptist and so many other figures in the New Testament are models for our own encounters with other people. John the Baptist at this moment thinks he knows what is his encounter with the Messiah will be like. He is wrong, as the Christ asks to be baptized, showing humility rather than power. Yet there is i-one piece of wisdom that John has, even before he meets Jesus. He knows what he is not. Only Jesus says, “ I am”, in the Gospel of St. John. 

In prayer, we can begin to find out who we truly are. Who are we in the eyes of God and of humanity? To discover the answer to this question we need to be in God’s presence. It is from God that we come, it is to God that we return. The answer to a question, “Who I am?” must always include God. We are God’s children, the redeemed God. John the Baptist, therefore, can only answer in the negative to those who ask him who he is. He is still waiting for the Lord to truly come into this world. Prayer, as the 2nd reading tells us, is to make us ready to meet Jesus. Even John the Baptist, despite his lifetime of prayer, was not yet ready to meet the real Christ. We have neglected Him, we have not prayed constantly, we have not given thanks to God, yet Christ is among us; and at the end of our lives, and at the end of human history, we will meet Him. The more we pray, the more we live a life of thanksgiving, the more joyful that meeting will be.

The liturgy on this 2nd Sunday of Advent features St. John the Baptist. For many people, however, the saint who is most closely connected with Christmas, after Mary and Joseph, is not John the Baptist. It is St. Nicholas. Jolly St. Nick in his bright red suit presents a contrast with the austerity of the Baptist who was clothed in camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist. Even so, St. Nicholas can serve as part of our Advent reflections. He was the 4th century bishop of Myra in Lycia (a part of Turkey). A popular story about him revolves around a poor man who couldn’t provide dowries for his 3 daughters. As each girl reached marriageable age, Nicholas secretly left a bag of gold for the father so that he could arrange the weddings. Over the centuries Nicholas became a symbol of the gift-giving which is part of the Christmas celebration.

The bishop’s name is Greek (“Nikealos”). The first part of his name,”Nike,” means “victory”. It is the name that was given to Greek goddess of victory. Our government has employed it to designate a missile, and sporting goods company has used it for its products.

There is a second part to the name; it is “laos” which means “people”. This meaning should help us to recognize that the great victory of Christ was for the benefit of His people. The legends about the goodness and gift-giving of St. Nicholas have been symbolized in the Dutch version of his name, Santa Claus. This name represents some of the most delightful experiences of childhood, but even for adults it suggests jolliness and good-natured generosity and a man clothed in a bright red suit rather than camel’s hair.

But Santa Claus doesn’t push the Baptist aside during Advent. By his preaching John hoped to move people away from the basis of sin, which is self-centeredness. Santa Claus symbolizes unselfishness. He represents what the Baptist intended to accomplish. He is the gift giver who never receives a gift.

Behind all the legends of the good St. Nick is a yearning for a manifestation in a human person of the unselfish goodness which the eternal Son of God brought to our world. Preparing for Christmas means trying to become what Santa Claus represents, a personification of the kingdom of Christ. We are imbued with the Christmas spirit when indifference is turned into justice, when hatred is overcome by love, and when violence gives way to peace. Is there a Santa Claus? He is found in every person who shares in Christ’s victory over sin.