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Last week we marked an epiphany. Again, this Sunday is another theophany. It is the baptism of the Lord. How can we better appreciate this event and the Sacrament?
Perhaps we can approach it from the perspective of birthdays. Celebrating birthdays is such a central feature in modern living. Life is precious and we ought to celebrate the day we were born. But there are other birthdays too. For example, do you remember the day of your baptism? For the majority amongst us, it is truly a non-event. We can be sure that babies, in general, have no memory of the rite. So much so that the Anabaptists and some of their offshoots have a tradition that only adult baptisms are valid. For them, the criterion for the sacrament’s validity is being able to make a conscious decision to accept and ask for baptism.
In a way, the belief of the Anabaptists mirrors the experience of some of our RCIA candidates who are to be envied for if they had undergone a genuinely life-altering baptism, they will generally make better Catholics than some of us cradle-baptised.
A little anecdote of how insignificant baptism is for some of us. I was ordained a deacon in AD1999 and then a priest at the turn of the millennium. Went back to complete my licentiate after the sacerdotal ordination and then returned to full service in AD2001. After conducting many prenuptial enquiries, I thought it might be a good idea to obtain a fresh copy of my baptism certificate since we were always demanding for their latest copy. One day, I was passing through Malacca and so decided to step into St Theresa’s Church, the family’s parish, to request an extract. A couple of months later, I was in Malacca again and went to parish office to enquire but still, there could not locate my baptismal record. Long story short, this terrible “harassment” of the parish office staff took 3 years. Finally, they managed to obtain an extract for me. They traced through the Confirmation record they had kept to the Church of the Seven Sorrows, Macalister Road in Penang. It was embarrassing but more importantly, it simply highlighted how insignificant “baptism” can be for some of us.
Jesus today was baptised as an adult. Firstly, He had no need of it because John’s baptism was a rite of repentance which was a symbolic and outward expression of an interior desire for change. Precisely Jesus was sinless and yet He submitted Himself to the rite to show His solidarity with humanity. Yet, John pointed to Him as the Lamb of God who takes the sins of the world—Jesus.
Secondly, as Luke detailed, coming out of the water, He prayed and heaven was opened. That was an important milestone in His life. It was the confirmation of His Father’s love and also signalled the start of His public ministry.
Perhaps we could also rethink the ways we could celebrate our baptismal anniversary. So far, our focus is on birthdays. They are tangible milestones but do you know that there is a tradition in some countries, where the predominant Church is either Catholic or Orthodox, to celebrate a person’s name day.
Every day of the calendar has a name associated with it and it is usually that of a Saint. Thus people should celebrate the day that they took on a new name which happened to be the day of their baptism. But with a heavy emphasis on originality and individuality, we tend to accentuate the uniqueness of a person as reflected in the most “fantabulous” names parents can conjure.
A name day is coming from another angle and it is based on imitation and it is also exemplary. Moreover, assuming a new name represents a change in one’s life direction. Like Simon becoming Peter and Saul transforming into Paul, their names changed signalled their newfound purpose to be missionaries of Christ. Likewise, it is for us. When we take on a patron saint’s name at baptism, we indicate that we are part of that mission to be apostles of Christ and that our patron saint is a concrete model to emulate.
This is borne out by our liturgy too. When a drop of water is added to the wine, the priest says sotto voce, “May we come to share the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share our humanity”. He came to be one of us and through the grace of our baptism, we should strive to be like Him. The pantheon of saints are shining beacons that beckon us to follow their examples.
In other words, baptism is such an important event in our life, that not even our birthdays rank as high. There is a rule for celebrating a saint’s feast day. The day we commemorate a saint is usually associated with the day he or she died. The day they died is called “dies natalis”, the day that they are born into heaven.
Our baptism is both a death and a birth. The waters of baptism mortify as well as vivify. We die because of our sins but at baptism we also die to our sins. But what feels like death is actually a rebirth, like for example, a child in the womb who needs to “die” in order to be born. Thus the death to sins is a birth in the Spirit. Baptism, our second birth initiates our journey on earth that must end with our birth into the fullness of life in heaven. Let us live for that final birthday, the “dies natalis”, when we will be counted amongst the saints and friends of the Lord in eternity.
Epiphany is a feast of manifestation. So far the shepherds were the only ones who had seen the Christ. With the Magi, He is now shown to the world and that is just the beginning. If the world were in doubt, they will no longer be for the King of the kings is here now. The event that has brought the Magi is by no means a flash in the pan because liturgically, there are two more epiphanies to come and they are the Baptism in the Jordan and the Wedding at Cana.
As a public presentation to the world, we respond. Both shepherds and Magi responded by seeking out the Child to marvel and to worship. However, Herod responded with a somewhat malignant motive. Jesus was right when He told the Apostles, “Those who are with us are for us and those who are not with us are against us”. Either you are on His side or you are not. Herod was on the opposite side of Jesus.
If we fancy ourselves on the side of Jesus, then we have things to think about.
The three Magi brought gifts befitting the King. More than the status of a King is true worship. If anything, the gifts, even with gold, were just side shows. Significantly, these men had come from the far ends of the known world to behold the Child. That is devotion and dedication. Perhaps we should ask what attitude we bear when we come before the Lord.
Our present attitude is pretty much exposed via the system of obligation. The present religious practice is that we are required to attend Mass on a Sunday or any of the designated days of obligation. If the basic attitude were simply to fulfil it, then we may have just missed out on what the Magi did. They were under no obligation to come from afar. Yet they willingly embraced the hardship of travel in order to come and behold the child. Can you imagine yourself moving heaven and earth in order to come worship the Lord? Or do you feel compelled to be here? Last Sunday, when we launched the Jubilee, as part of the rite, there was a procession into the Cathedral. We announced that those with mobility issues should remain while those who can walk should join in the procession. There were mutterings about having to “vacate” the Cathedral and to go out into the hot sun. When we chafe under such a minor inconvenience, can we endure a more rigorous demand like persecution for our beliefs? We have become worshippers of convenience.
Compulsion does not grow well in the soil of freedom. St Augustine in his famous Confessions remarked that the God who created us without our permission cannot save us without our cooperation. That is how profoundly free we are—to accept or to reject. But God is also a “mysterium tremendum et fascinans”. It means that He is both a fearful and a fascinating mystery. Whether we recognise it or not, man fears that God will punish him if he does not toe the line. Even the Psalms highlight the fear of the Lord as a virtue. Whilst its meaning is “reverence”, what we hear it as “terror” or being terrified by the Lord. In fact, dictators are powerful because they know how to exploit our weakness which is the fear of the consequence of our inability to love.
But if like the Magi, nothing is going to stop us from coming to worship the Lord, then, gifts should be unfolded. If we come here because our hearts are searching for the Lord, then our gifts will represent that. We bring our best before the Lord. Perhaps the system of tithing might be brought up. Tithe is a method of ensuring that if all else fails, at least 10% is reserved for the Lord. But that can brings us back to the compulsion of giving. True giving is not calculative. To clarify, I am not suggesting donation. Just trying to see how we can move away from having to be dutiful out of compulsion to being dedicated out of love.
The Cathedral that is rebuilt in the centre of Paris should be our model. The French decided to return to the ancient Gothic structure that represented the best of what the mediaeval artisans erected for the Lord. Those Gothic monuments soaring into the sky sprang from a foundation of love. Since that should be the case, then we should spare no effort to give God our best. It is represented by our offering to Him the best of who we are. It is quality and not just quantity.
The same qualitative principle at work is to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Again the love for the Lord is the engine that powers our love for others and not the other around. Loving others in order to “prove” that we love God is to fall into the trap of giving grudgingly at best or merely fulfilling the obligation at worst. A good example is when the collection bag comes. Everyone seems to be putting in. You will look bad if you alone do not put anything in. The giving will be grudgingly or just fulfilling the obligation. Again the point is where our heart is, there is our treasure.
Finally, after the Magi had offered their best, they also made the decision to follow the star on their way home. Having the desire to worship God, we render Him the finest gift of ourselves and we should earnestly strive to follow the north Star. This so-called “true Star” is not the same as that which is promoted by popular culture. Our “celebrity star” puts a stress on my self-fulfilment and whatever I want to do. Everyone is his or her my own star. No. The Star is Christ Himself. He is the light that shines upon our path. Once we have found Him, we must not let go, no matter what. He is the treasure which we would want to hold onto forever, even if it should cost our life.
Some Holy Doors in Rome have opened. The Jubilee Year with its theme on hope has been inaugurated by the Holy Father to encourage the faithful to strengthen their faith, repent of their sins and to renew their spiritual focus.
Interestingly, the Holy Father has chosen to launch the Jubilee for the Church world-wide, on the Solemnity of the Holy Family. New beginnings are signs of hope precisely because our Catholic jubilee has a Jewish past. Then, a jubilee occurred once in every 50 years. Its aim was to restore equality amongst all children of Israel. Families which have lost their property and individuals who have lost their freedom might have them restored. Celebrating a jubilee reminds society that a time would come when everyone, slaves included, will become equals. It is a hope based on God’s promise.
Thus, the jubilee was a powerful instrument of social renewal. It aimed to restore society to a balance or an equilibrium which reflected or mirrored God’s design for the human race. What exactly does it mean that society is restored? Sometimes we easily forget that society is only an abstraction or a conceptual structure because right at the heart of any social renewal, lies the family. Society is not made up of disparate or distinct individuals because everyone must come from somewhere.
The “somewhere”, which is the context, is the family. For example, when we speak of Church, which is a kind of society, it is not the sum total of all the individuals there are. Nobody here who is baptised, had walked up to baptismal font, scoop Holy Water, tilted the head and poured water over it saying to oneself, “I baptise myself in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. We are always baptised by someone. In other words, we are a web of inter-related individuals.
The densest or the most basic relationships are to be found within the family. Therefore, society is composed of a network of families. Go to a small town and you get the sense of the “society” there because it is made up of all the relationships amongst the families who are often intermarried. But when towns developed into cities, anonymity soon becomes a part of our social setting. With anonymity and larger societies, the extended family is under pressure to retreat into the nuclear family. It may be the basic building block of society but it is besieged by various anti-family ideologies. For example, in some places, the state or rather, the nanny state, will step in to dictate how a family should raise a child.
The family is crucial to our well-being. As mentioned earlier, we live in an atomised society in which we reduce everything down to the individual, measured by his or her wants and desires. I remember an incident between my elder brother and mother. He said to my mother, “Ma, I can marry again but you, I only have one”. The statement was not to relativise his marriage as if it were not important but it did bring home the point on the irreplaceability of one’s family member and how important family is to one’s well-being. I am not merely a sum total of my likes and dislikes. I am also a reflexion of my family to a certain extent, whether it be functional or dysfunctional.
We need the family because society cannot function fully without the family. According to Pope John Paul II, civilisation blossoms amongst the fields and flowers of the family. Whatever happened to the family will affect civilisation. The etymology of the word is “civis” or the citizen. Precisely being a citizen involves politics, a city (or civilisation) can thrive only because it is watered by the aqueducts of familial relationships. The health of any civilisation is dependent on the health, not of the individuals, but of the individuals who come from families. We easily forget this fact, that is, whether we like it or not, we are a web of clans and tribes. When we forget that society is family, meaning that relationships characterise us, then it becomes easy to forget those who are weak and vulnerable amongst us—the unborn, the elderly and those with no access to decent human services. Dysfunctionality in the family weakens a society’s well-being.
Every society is an aggregation of families. Therefore, when we speak of restoration, it is not merely a restoration of an individual. The Sacrament of Confession is a perfect example of what it means to be restored. “I stole”. Nobody steals from nobody. We always steal from somebody. There is no such a thing as a sin which does not hurt someone. Every sin hurts and destroys the fabric of society. Through the Sacrament of Confession, we are restored in our relationships, thus, revealing how important relationships are to our health, physical, psychological and spiritual.
As we enter into the experience of the Jubilee, maybe this year we want to give more thoughts to our family. Much of our hurts come from the family and its broken relationships. When there is no love and loyalty involved, betrayal is just that, betrayal and it is not personal. But when there is love and trust, betrayal leaves an enduring scar on some of us. We are often hurt by people we love most.
Clearly, civilisation cannot thrive when families fail and as rightly pointed out by John Paul II, the family is key to fixing the serious destruction of the environment because the family is the most important environment. In the context of Laudato si, protecting the family is key to protecting the environment.
Not only does the country or society need the family. The Church too. Without healthy and functional families, the priesthood will suffer and marriages too. The start of the Jubilee Year beckons us to celebrate forgiveness and reconciliation within the family as moments of mercy and healing. We get hurt by siblings and parents but the family is where we also learn to offer mercy and pardon and ask for forgiveness when we have hurt others. The Church holds up the Holy Family for us not because they were perfect. They are models because of their faith and their selfless love for one another. Pope Francis highlighted in Amoris Laetitia that “Jesus, who reconciled all things in himself, has restored marriage and the family to their original form. Marriage and the family have been redeemed by Christ and restored in the image of the Holy Trinity, the mystery from which all true love flows”. Our fervent hope for this Jubilee is that the same love of the Holy Family may flow in and through our families.
We have now arrived at technically what is called the Mass of the King. This is my favourite Mass for Christmas for this reason. While the Infancy Narratives of Matthew or Luke stretches back to Abraham or Adam, John skips the details surrounding Christ’s birth. Instead, he transports all the way back to the beginning of time.
There, in the beginning, we enter more deeply into the mystery of the Incarnation of the King of kings. The contemplation is profound. The Baby that lies in the manger is basically God Himself. Through Him all things came into being. Thus, the plan of salvation was already there at the beginning of creation.
Jesus is God’s profound personal love for humanity. In the example of Moses, he encountered God but only through a burning bush. On Christmas, the shepherds were able to behold the face of God Himself in Jesus Christ. The author to the Hebrews states that “in times past, He spoke through the prophets and in various diverse ways. Now He has chosen to speak to us through His Son”. The invisible has now become visible as St Paul explained to the Colossians that “He is the image of the unseen God”. Perhaps it makes sense that Catholics express this reality through sacramentals like statues and pictures of Jesus.
God has never forsaken us but it is a struggle to grasp this truth. “God-with-us” should give us pause for joy. Yet, we are not wonderstruck. Recently, the Pope came to Singapore. Imagine the number of people who went gaga over the Holy Father. A personal picture with him would be a dream. But in the case of a babe in the manger, whom are we beholding? He is someone who ranks far higher than a prince or a pope.
God speaking through His Son is a big deal. Through Him we have been given the privilege of adoption. “To those who accept Him, He gave power to become children of God”. But more than He speaking to us is the desire to be with us. According to John’s Gospel, “He pitched His tent amongst us”. The translation we are accustomed to, like “The Word became flesh” is rather pedestrian. Whereas God pitching His tent amongst us is more inspiring. Picture the Israelite having escaped from Egypt with bare necessities. Pitching His tent amongst the fleeing refugees, God shares their hardship, for He is God with us.
Modernity’s problematic with the idea of Emmanuel may spring from a fatigue which has endured wave after wave of catastrophe. Humanity has witnessed the scale of global suffering that the feeling is rather of the absence of God. Where is God? Why are we suffering?
Our materialistic blinkers are blinding. We are engrossed with pleasure that life’s purpose escapes us. God is with us in all the messiness of life even if we do not feel it. Tomorrow, we celebrate St Stephen, the proto-martyr. Two days later we commemorate the Holy Innocents. Right after Christmas, the Way of the Cross is already revealed to us. The death of innocent children offends our modern sensibility because we have lost the sense of sin and necessity of salvation. The children in Bethlehem may have suffered death in their innocence but they still need their Saviour. In other words, the King in the manger will be the suffering servant for He has come to save us from eternal damnation. God with us is not a guarantee that there will not be pain. In fact, the price of God’s presence is the death of Jesus on Calvary. The cradle becomes the Cross, the Christmas tree stands in the shadow of Calvary.
Therefore, God with us is not the same as heaven is here. When we mistake God’s presence to be heaven on earth, then we will have difficulties navigating through the problems and pains that life throws at us. Creation, though beautiful, is imperfect and it is groaning because it hungers for salvation. Prior to Christ’s coming our human race was disfigured by sin, lost and wandering in a dark world. Christ’s coming ushers in a new chapter of salvation history. He is with us makes is possible to live in a world which has been redeemed but is still on the road to final perfection.
In other words, Christmas is the already and not yet. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “Though already present in his Church, Christ’s reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled ‘with power and great glory’ by the King’s return to earth. This reign is still under attack by the evil powers, even though they have been defeated definitively by Christ’s Passover. Until everything is subject to him, ‘until there be realised new heavens and a new earth in which justice dwells, the pilgrim Church, in her sacraments and institutions, which belong to this present age, carries the mark of this world which will pass, and she herself takes her place among the creatures which groan and travail yet and await the revelation of the sons of God’” (671).
Emmanuel gives us the strength to live this already and not yet. In the meantime, be always on the guard and watchful because we live as if we are waiting for the Son of Man to come again. In other words, our conduct should be that when we face judgement, we are confident. It is hopeful and trusting that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus (the already), we will be brought to the finality of completion in the future (not yet).
We have been freed from domination by sin and death and freed for a life in the Holy Spirit. Jesus who pitched His tent amongst us gives us the ability to stand with Him gives us the privilege to call God, Abba, Father. In this time of in-between already and not yet, we continue to pray “Thy Kingdom come”.
I read somewhere about the four stages of life. The first stage, one believes in Santa Claus. The second, one does not believe in Santa Claus. The third, one is Santa Claus. The fourth, one looks like Santa Claus. Some of you parents here may be broke because you are breathing the 3rd stage. You are Santa Claus.
Whatever stage in life, and whether or not you believe in Santa, we can agree that we are here to glorify God. The Gospel continues from last night’s birth of the Child. Closer to midnight, the first of the Christmas Masses showcased the battle between darkness and light with the focus on the announcement of the Angel. This morning after the Angel’s announcement, the Shepherds hurried to Bethlehem to behold the birth of the Child Wonder. The fruit of their encounter of the Saviour was their proclamation of what they had witnessed. According to social hierarchy, the shepherds rank right at the bottom of the ladder. They had nothing. It was their lack that allowed them to behold so great a sight.
The birth of this Child lifts earth to heaven and stoops heaven to earth. One can even say that shepherds who came to behold the Child were indeed coming to behold, like us, the Eucharist. It is like sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament and adoring Christ. He came as an insignificant Child, choosing to be born in such a humble setting so that we can all marvel at what God can accomplish. He did not come with power, not as emperor or king, MP (member of parliament) or congressman. He came as God to show us what He can accomplish just by being Himself.
In fact by His helplessness, He drew to Himself, the powerful like the Magi and the powerless like the poor shepherds. But sadly, we are afraid of nothingness. Maybe we are even afraid of our shadow. Have you noticed that our Christmas has to be filled with plenty. This is supposedly the season of emptying like Christ emptying Himself but judging by gifts galore in the shopping malls, it is the season of getting. Commercially we have been corralled to adopt a kind of bazaar behaviour. And Christmas has been reduced to nothing more than a consumer’s haven. Consumerism could be a sort of overcompensation for our fear of nothingness and it leads to an obsession with the self.
How then can we be more than consumers? How should we not overcompensate?
Perhaps the English language can help us. It is the word “present”. We have taken the reality of “present” to new heights of materialism. While giving is part of Christmas, the greatest present we have and can give is the presence of ourselves. It is personal. How present are we to one another? What is the quality of my presence to my family or friends? The beauty of the lowly shepherds is their ability to adore the Lord fully present in His humility and helplessness.
Sometimes we substitute our presence with presents thinking that sheer material pleasure is enough to take the place of the simple truth of being present—physically, psychologically and even spiritually. Many struggle to be present, let alone be still. Imagine sitting down and doing nothing? For almost all of us, that would be the definition of boredom. Visualise the motorcycles 5 or 6 abreast and the queue is one-kilometre long enduring the daily drudgery of crossing to and from Singapore. Everyone, if not all, silently gives thanks to the Lord for social media and the internet. To be able to watch a movie while waiting is not “wasted” time. For many this represents progress.
But what have we lost in this unstoppable “march of progress”? It is an ability to withdraw, to take a step back and to contemplate. The shepherds hurried away from their already quiet lives of desperation when they went to see the child. They found Him and they contemplated Him in His humble glory. The description that Mary pondered these things in her heart shines the path forward.
Christmas Mass at Dawn helps us to contemplate the event of human salvation. We are saved by the coming of the Lord. We marvel at what Christ can do and has done for us just by being Himself—God made man. In our withdrawal we gather fruits for the sharing.
However, an inability to step back and to ponder will have an impact on the world we live in. Recently, a CEO of an insurance company was shot dead in broad daylight in cold blood. Some young people have taken to social media to hail the murderer as a hero. Maybe this phenomenon suggests a normalisation of violence amongst the young but what is evident is a loneliness and emptiness in society that provides a fertile ground for a narcissistic glorification of the self and reflects a loss of the sense of the sacred.
Hence, rather than focussing on giving material gifts perhaps we can come away with the idea of making ourselves as gifts to others by our sincerity, our caring and our love. Have you ever as a parent or an adult experienced this? Your child did something incredibly stupid and in a moment of anger you punished your child? Or your wife said something which offended you deeply and in an uncontrollable rage you land your hands on her? Later you regret and you try to make up for it by buying a gift? Can you imagine what your child or your spouse would have liked? A present or you being present?
You know the answer to that question. To be present to others in a lost and lonely world is a gift far beyond any material gain. We can become gifts of love and patience to others. You see, the shepherds were not only the first visitors, they also became the first missionaries. It is not impossible to walk their footsteps. To be the Gospel, the path forward is to move beyond an obsessive focus on the self. Contemplating a humble and helpless Child invites us to marvel that what lies in the manger is none other than the mighty Saviour of the world. O come, let us adore Him.
Some of you may have been celebrating that it feels like Christmas is over already. There has been much excitement that when the event finally arrives, we are already exhausted. Notwithstanding how we feel, the liturgy bids us to remain at the cusp of Christmas proper. It is the Vigil Mass, where we are given a sense of what is to come. Isaiah proclaims a message of consolation for those who are waiting for the Saviour to be born. For the Gospel, we had to choose the shorter version that excludes the genealogy of Jesus. The simple reason is, reading it in Mandarin, I would have murdered every single one Jesus’ ancestors, AGAIN.
History appears to be central to the event that will take place closer to midnight. For the Vigil, we stay with the genealogy of Jesus. Its genesis begins with Abraham. The entire list of names is not a Litany of the Saints. Rather it is a salad mixture of saints and sinners. An important note is that many of them may have been great leaders but even then they too had been waiting for salvation to dawn upon them. It is indeed a history of frailty where the constant remains a God who desires to save. The ancestry presents Jesus as the ultimate commitment of God to the history of salvation. Jesus Christ is the long-awaited Messiah, the anointed one, the Saviour.
At the 4th Sunday of Advent, we highlighted Mary’s pivotal role in the drama of salvation. Now we turn our attention to Joseph. Learning of Mary’s pregnancy, he wanted, as an honourable man, to spare her the indignity of being accused as an adulteress. Instead he chose to discreetly break off the marriage. But God has other plans. Through a dream, the angel directed Joseph not to forsake Mary but instead Joseph is informed that the Child of his future wife had been conceived by the Holy Spirit and given a name which means God saves. That plan requires Joseph to lend his name to the Child. In summary, up until and including the Vigil, everything has been in preparation to welcome the Saviour. In other words, the Vigil encapsulates the Advent of alert and anticipation of Christ’s coming.
According to a British writer, GK Chesterton, he mentioned something about drawing a line before Christmas itself. For him, the very essence of any festival is that it should break in rather brilliantly and abruptly, that at one moment, the great day is not and the next moment, the great day is. It explains why there is a sense of penitence which includes a kind of purification, that is, our souls are scrubbed in order for us to fully appreciate and receive Christ coming at Christmas. This penitential principle preserves us from a kind of entitlement that we are now accustomed to. For example, if each day is celebrated as if it were a birthday, after a while, when the birthday comes, it will no longer be special.
It makes a lot of sense that the Church gives us Laetare Sunday during Lent and Gaudete Sunday during Advent. There is value in anticipation because hope springs from absence of grace especially when one is surrounded by sin. Perhaps this is where Christmas becomes a challenge for so many of us. We no longer believe in sin. Or maybe this statement has to be modified. We are somewhat familiar with sin but we do not think of it as such a big deal.
If the Catechism we have been taught holds true, then the line for Holy Communion should be shorter. Why? When we miss Mass on a Sunday we generally do not receive Holy Communion the next Sunday because we have been taught that to do so, it means that we need to go for Confession first. The truth is that many of us have no problem “waiting” until the penitential service to confess the sin of missing Masses. In other words, sin is sin but yeah, they are not that crucial. It can wait. So in the meantime we get on with the reception of Holy Communion.
Ask this question, who are we waiting for? A Saviour. But why do we need a Saviour if we are sinless? Thus, we have to recover this wonder of waiting which comes from a repentant heart. For if we do not, then our attitude towards Christmas will always be of an entitlement. It is time to celebrate and so, come hell or high water, we are entitled to celebrate. And we will. In the meantime, a season pregnant with a joy that comes from an appreciation of the salvation won for us will be nothing more than just an excuse for us to have a good time.
A good time is just that. It satisfies temporarily but it will never fill the divine emptiness which God our Lord has put into our souls. Our hearts will remain restless until they have found Lord. A good time is great but allowing Christ to come into our hearts is best for the souls. O Emmanuel, You are our King and judge, the one whom people await and their Saviour. O come and save us, Lord our God.
The joyful meeting between mothers and sons of last Sunday is carried forward to this Sunday where attention is now shifted to Mary and her role in the work of Christ’s salvation. The Visitation can be viewed as a joyful response to the Annunciation. The event of the Incarnation, which according to the liturgical calendar took place on 25th of March, is the pivotal mystery of salvation. It is so central that we return to it every day whenever we recite the Angelus. It is a prayer that makes us relive the moment that God comes to Mary and from her Fiat, He begins to take flesh in her and from her.
The Collect of the Mass shines on Mary and it is basically the same prayer we recite at the end of the Angelus: “Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son, was made known by the message of an Angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection”.
The Kingdom sprouts from events that are insignificant to most people. The description that Christ’s Kingdom is like a mustard seed may just have its origin from the moment of Christ’s conception. Hence, in the Gospel we heard, Mary’s Magnificat goes beyond the simple and almost inconsequential encounter between the mothers and sons. Look at the 1st Reading. Bethlehem that little negligible hamlet will soon take centre stage for from there the Saviour will come. Hebrews underscores that Christ by His death has replaced the old sacrifice with the one perfect sacrifice of His Body. Once again, God is working to save us.
God works great with small things. All we need is faith. Imagine a 14-year-old girl venturing out without supervision under any male family member is almost unthinkable culturally. The fact that she dared to walk alone to another place is a testament of her faith. The Child promised her by the angel gave her the confidence that He will protect her from any danger. The cousin leaping in his mother’s womb just confirmed it for Mary.
The joyful encounter now hits us. What do we do with joy? On a personal level, if joy is a repudiation of sin, then would the joy of our preparation have seen us going for our Christmas confession?
But more on a social level. Have we brought joy to others? Evangelii gaudium, you remember that? “The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept His offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness. With Christ, joy is constantly born anew” (#1).
The joy of the Gospel challenges each Christ to be good news to those whom we meet. This sort of evangelisation is perfect in a country as diverse as ours. There is nothing spectacular to announce except that the inconsequential visit of Mary to Elizabeth signals that God is at work in every facet of our lives, no matter how negligible.
That being said, we are not talking here of a wholesale conversion. Rather we are speaking here of bringing the joy that allows others to give space to God in their lives. “Blessed are you amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb”.
Mary’s visit to Elizabeth gave voice to her benediction. Thus, can we be a blessing to others whom we encounter most especially in our daily lives. It does not have to be something grand. We can begin small and maybe even insignificant. As Christ conquers hearts one by one, so too our outreach to others is always one at a time. What we often miss out is the obvious. We often expect success in rather spectacular terms failing to appreciate the unexpected.
For example, have you ever forgiven someone who does not expect your forgiveness? Like your spouse or your child or your parent? A relationship can be so broken that one does not expect anything at all. This is where conversion takes place. Every day you interact with your spouse and you react to him or her in the usual manner, by raising your voice or ignoring him or her because in your mind he or she is like that and cannot change. Perhaps you take a different tack this time like with your aged parent is stubborn. On the other hand, you are quite certain that you hold the answer to your mom or dad’s health. Maybe you could love them where they are and not where you think they should be.
Rightfully this Sunday highlights Mary’s role as the Mother of Christ’s Body, the Church. Even though she is pivotal to Christ’s salvific mission but nowhere does the Church claims her to be saviour. Instead she is our model of faith because she allowed Christ to take flesh and gestate in her heart and wholeheartedly she shared Him with the world. She modelled for us to do the same. The little spaces which we free up by our small gestures of kindness and love can be evangelical. Start at home if we want to convert the world for Christ.
Much can be said about how sad the world is or how tough life can be for many. What can be said also is how much are we a source of sadness to the world. The Gospel is carried by the joy that permeates our soul and shines onto the world. Christmas is around the corner. You can catch a glimmer of joy in our decoration but the real joy should come from inside us, from the little spaces of our hearts where we allow Christ to take flesh, like Mary did.
