101218 re: Fourth Sunday of Advent

Jack and Thom,
Good morning, I love you.
101218, 1249

There were coffee houses galore when I was in college. Unfortunately for me, most of them were also smoke-filled hang outs. And hang out I did. Played bridge. Wrote letters and diary. Read the philosophical tomes of the times. Today, there’s Starbucks and the laptop.

Which is worse – to be excoriated [albeit anonymously] as a venter and anti-foreigner, or to be ignored totally? I suppose, given your behaviors, you’d choose the latter. I suggest that the modus says more about the doer than the target of their attentions. Yes, ignoring is attention.

I noticed this morning that I hadn’t posted on the blog since the 14th, that’d be Tuesday to today’s Saturday. There was the freezing rain on Thursday which kept me indoors and away from the 277 reported accidents in that 24-hour period in GSO. There was also selecting and wrapping Christmas presents. Putting together project proposals – aka resume de jure. I haven’t been writing this week though thinking and feeling more about y’all than if I were writing.

21 and 23 and what are you doing for Christmas? 1970 I was 21. Two years later it was 1972. Lots of stories from my early BAMA post-novitiate years. That’s what Christmas is for – to experience stories, retell stories, ingrain the collective unconscious of the clan.

I found my novitiate diaries this week. I don’t remember that Bill Nolan quite as well as I thought I did. Solipsistic and a half! The boy, especially the adolescent boy, is father to the man. I had a father I hope you are not being for your manhood. That’s part of a father’s role – to help you be a better person for yourself than I was for myself. Sorry you missed a lot of that.

I was looking forward to teaching tomorrow morning. The fourth Sunday of Advent. I had a role for my assistant who’s itching to lead the class. I had a present for each child wrapped and ready to go with a story of my annual reading for Christmas. Another Christmas tradition – what I read, from the Polar Express to Luke to Velveteen Rabbit (which is more of an Easter story), the Grinch who converts, Nutcracker and Clara, O Henry’s Magi et al. (which get more attention here in GSO), the Night Before Christmas, the letter to Virginia.

And the lesson itself. Tied to the Readings of the Day. I was wound up and ready to go. Until I got unplugged by the email from our faith formation director telling us about the schedule (very tight schedule) for our Christmas party for everyone in the ‘school.’ I was only quasi-surprised. She has a focus on our being wedded to the syllabus and the schedule. The syllabus has a lesson for the day. The schedule does not mention a party (except for the first communion group). Flexibility is the word most applicable in being a volunteer. Not my forte but hey the party is a good thing. Les Bon Tons Rolles!

Personally, this week’s Gospel is one of my favorites. And Ahaz’s refusal to tempt the Lord rings more than a few bells, albeit conflicting bells. Come along through the readings….

Is 7:10-14
The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”

We are taught to petition God. To ask Him for what we need. I believe Lord, help my unbelief. So how do we recognize a sign from the Lord? Is it good news? I reflexively said “thank you, God” when I read a letter this morning that brought very good news. I ignored the envelope that I know has very bad news for me. I did not thank God for that letter. Which one, really, is a sign from the Lord? Which one is really ‘good news’ for me?

I am reluctant to ask God for what I believe, feel, think I need. And when I do, I always put the tagline caveat on it: but not my will, Father, Your will be done. I know that you give me the grace necessary. I am humble enough to ask for help from the saints and the angels and Mary and Jesus and Father and Spirit.

The Lord spoke – “ask for a sign from the Lord.” So just do it.


Then Isaiah said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.

Isaiah reminds us we do not have to ask for a sign. One has already been given. Or, as Jesus told John’s disciples in last week’s gospel when they were sent to ask Him if He were the One: “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. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.” Open your eyes. Signs aplenty for you to see. A child is born to us. A savior has been given to us – he came, he’s here, he’s coming again!



Ps 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6.

R. (7c and 10b) Let the Lord enter; he is king of glory.
Open your heart, open my heart, and let the King of Glory reside. He brings us, gives us, calls us to, shows us, the Glory which is ours as his people, his children.

The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it. For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
If there’s a reminder to never forget, these verses hit the nail on the head. Like the deacon’s column in last week’s News Herald – moral theology comes down to one apostrophe. Are we gods or God’s. The earth and all its fullness, the world and all of us who dwell in it, are HIS! Get over it. Accept it. Glory in it. What could be better for us? Since we are His, then He has responsibility for us. The perfect, infinitely loving Father.

Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD? or who may stand in his holy place? One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.
Our heart desire’s to ascend the mountain of the Lord. We crave to stand in His holy place. It is the Glory of God in our heart, put there at our conception, sealed by the Holy Spirit at Baptism and Confirmation. We see the Christ child in the manger and wonder. Seems so simple this profound mystery. We pine for a clean heart, sinless hands. This is a time for Confession. A season for returning to the practice of our childhood – weekly confessions. Less to tell and the booster shot of grace becomes more potent in this Christmas season. Be not vain.

He shall receive a blessing from the LORD, a reward from God his savior. Such is the race that seeks for him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
Those of us who seek the Lord already experience His grace, His call, His cry out to us to seek a sign, to be that sign.


Mt 1:18-24
Gospel

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When did it begin? God knew at the moment of creation that He would come to this moment of salvation history. But which moment is the beginning? Wrong question. Salvation history continues until Jesus comes again. We get the genealogy of Jesus. Did it start with Abraham? It came to a critical moment with Joseph – note, Mary’s not in the genealogy. We do not give Joseph, like we do not give Thomas, his just due! There would not have been a virgin birth without a husband and father. Mary would have been ostracized or stoned; either way, without Joseph, she and Jesus would have perished before there was a birth.

When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Imagine the horror of this statement for Mathew’s audience. Like Joseph, upon hearing that his betrothed was with child, the reaction to ‘through the Holy Spirit’ musta been some profane version of ‘yeah, right!’ This is not looking good for our salvation history to play out. First, Gabriel had to persuade a fearful, doubting maiden to become pregnant not by her husband. She knew what the news would mean to Joseph, to her community. Still, she responded, not with, ‘why me Lord’ but ‘Fiat!’

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
Joseph was a righteous man, a just man, a holy man, a good man. And, as a righteous man, upon hearing of Mary’s pregnancy, (from whom? Probably from Mary herself. Who else would have known? Did she tell Joseph before heading off to help Elizabeth? If she waited the three months after she returned, she’d be showing. No, she had to be in Joseph’s house immediately upon the news.) Joseph actually had a duty to disown her to the community. Instead, in order to maintain his righteousness and, to the extent maximally possible, Mary’s honor and the child’s potential, Joseph decided to do the best thing any man could offer Mary and her child.

Such was his intention 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.”
God steps in again to ask man to participate in his own salvation. A call to faith and courage and love and honor. Joseph is a son of David. In the necessary kingly line to fulfill the prophecies of the ages. Joseph was no schlump. He was a man’s man. A kingly man. A righteous man.

Resolved to do the best right thing, Joseph slept the sleep of angels. Into which, the messenger of the Lord spoke. Do not be afraid. Fear not what the Lord has done for you, to you, needing to do it with you. Please, pretty please. Mary is your wife. [I learn more and more each time I read one of Fr. Filias’ books about Joseph. They’re all out of print. And apparently not so many out there for sale. I have them all now. Feel free to pick any of them up.] Mary is Joseph’s wife. It’s important to understand what ‘betrothed’ meant to the Jews. Mary was Joseph’s wife although she had not yet moved into his house.

Joseph believed with all his being. He heard the message from God. He clutched onto the grace he received in order not to be afraid. Not afraid to take Mary into his home. But. What did Joseph think about becoming the father of the child who will save his people from their sins? Do not be afraid, the angel said. Joseph didn’t know what he shoulda most been afraid of. But he believed. He was righteous and good and loving.


All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”
Mathew wanted his audience to be clear that Jesus – along with Mary and Joseph – fulfill the prophecies. Church does that for us by juxtapositioning the readings.

When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
Joseph did what the Lord commanded of him. The command of Love. He could have said no; not only no, but heck no! Joseph had faith. He believed the Lord did not want him to be afraid. Do not be afraid when you do what the Lord commands. Fear not. Do you imagine you’re being asked to do anything more challenging than be the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus? Listen to God’s messenger and take into your home a wife like Mary. Good luck with that.

I love you,
Dad
1359