Christmas and the Meaning of Life

Christmas and the Meaning of Life

Pastor’s Column

Christmas Day 2010

          We can’t really find the meaning of Christmas -- or even the meaning of life for that matter, at Target or Nordstrom or Wal-Mart. God knows we try, though, don’t we?  But, you see, this is all the world has to offer.  It can’t give us real meaning to our lives!  The visible world gives us what it can – entertainment, comfort, pleasure; it anesthetizes us for a while – with lots of suffering mixed in -- and that’s about it.

          The world can’t offer us eternal life!  It can’t offer us answers to the deepest questions of our hearts.  Christmas is really such a great holiday.  I feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t celebrate it, because, like Thanksgiving, it really does point to what matters in our lives: the people we love and those who love us.  Most importantly, it points to our faith, the gift of eternal life.  That’s what presents and cards and the like represent.  Most of us want to be with people we love today; if they are far away, we miss them; if they have passed away, we grieve for them.  And of course, sometimes even the ones that irritate us are with us today, but that’s part of life too!  Without these people, how on earth would we learn to love?

          We have another family that we belong to!  Jesus wants to invite you into his own family and to a place at his table.  Christmas is all about Jesus inviting you into his family and, maybe even, to be a bigger part of our church family right here.  Who knows?

          There is an old saying that I think applies to Christmas: it is both an invitation and a warning:  be careful what you wish for, because you might get it!  If your Christmas is only about presents and parties, you may get what you want, but it won’t be enough, because that’s not what Christmas is all about.  But if you want a deeper relationship with Jesus, now is the time to begin again.  Now is the time to begin to pray every day again.  Now is the time to think about returning to Church if you have been away.  Now is the time to ask yourself, “What is my life about and where am I going? Who or what is the goal of my life?” 

          Jesus is like a present under the tree that often goes unopened.  It is a small package, but opening it can bring you to the real meaning of life when all the presents are long forgotten and the tree is in the dumpster.  And do be careful what you wish for in life; take care to watch where you are headed because you just may get it.

                                                                                Father Gary

Saint Joseph Gets a Surprise

Saint Joseph Gets a Surprise

Pastor’s Column

4^th Sunday of Advent

December 19, 2010

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:19

          How did it come to pass that Mary and Joseph were to be married?  We don’t know, but most likely it was an arranged marriage.  In any event, St Joseph certainly had no idea what he was getting into when he and Mary were married.  Joseph was placed in a situation that was, to say the least, delicate.  His wife was found to be pregnant, and the only thing Joseph knew was that he was not the father!  Certainly Mary knew the truth from the Angel Gabriel, but how to tell Joseph?  Perhaps she hoped God would fill him in; and he did, but not before Joseph decided to head for the divorce court.

          After the Angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph in a dream, Joseph comprehended what had happened and took Mary into his home, but look at what he was asked to do and believe!  He was told that God was the father of Mary’s child, and he believed this.  Would you?  After all, this had never happened before in the entire history of Judaism!  I’m not sure if a dream would be enough to convince me, but Joseph believed.  Already, he is amazing in his trust in God and in his spouse.  Why? He grew into his new and challenging situation, without running away! 

          Joseph was to be the foster-father of the Son of God.  He did not ask for this role.  Mysteriously, according to God’s plan, he was chosen very carefully.  What did Joseph do?  He was suddenly confronted with the will of God, being asked to raise the Son of God and the Messiah.  Scripture doesn’t say if Joseph felt inadequate; but as a carpenter, Joseph must have had a limited education, though, no doubt, skilled in his craft.  He and Mary were also very poor.

          Joseph confronted one challenge after another.  His wife had to travel a long distance while 9 months pregnant.  He had to take his family to Egypt and find work there, leaving his home and relatives behind.  He was told that his foster-son would be rejected when he grew up.  He did not know where to look for Jesus when he was lost in Jerusalem.   

          You and I face many challenges, just like St Joseph.  God’s will is that we grow into our challenges and learn from them.  No matter how extraordinary or difficult God’s will for us may be, we can be like Joseph: allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us, to allow us to grow in grace without ever running away from the crosses we are sent.

                                                                                          Father Gary

The Miraculous Image of Guadalupe

The Miraculous Image of Guadalupe

Pastor’s Column

3^rd Sunday of Advent

December 12, 2010

          The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most extraordinary of all signs God has ever given the world.  It is literally infused with the miraculous.  It is almost as if God opened the heavens and extended his hand so we could literally see him.  This image is truly a gift from eternity, the world of the future that we are all preparing to enter.  Here are a few interesting facts:

]The image was imprinted on the tilma of Juan Diego…a cloth made of fibers from a cactus plant called an Agave.  Fabric of this time normally deteriorates after 20-40 years.  There is no explanation as to how this cloth has endured 500 years.  No other garment like it exists from that period and no one in our own era has been able to make a similar cloth that does not rapidly deteriorate.

]The image is not painted.  No one knows how the image was created.  The cloth itself has the characteristic of burlap – rough overlapping fibers.  Each individual fiber has its own color.  From a distance, this gives the image a three-dimensional quality.

]When one sees the image in person, it appears to grow larger as one moves away from it.  It generates a kind of optical illusion that has no explanation.  I have seen this myself.

]When the tilma was examined microscopically, it was discovered that the eyes have a unique quality (see picture) shared by no other image or painting prior to the advent of photography.  When a photograph is taken of the human eye, one can see an upside-down distorted reflection on the curve of the cornea of whatever the eye is focused on.  This same phenomenon is very clearly present in the eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe and is entirely inexplicable.  One can discern several images, including the Bishop and his Indian translator reflected in Our Lady’s eye.

]The cloth is actually composed of two separate pieces, held together down the middle by one thread.  You will notice that Our Lady bows her head in the image.   In this way, her face avoids the thread that would otherwise mar the beauty of it.  The cloth itself hung for centuries unprotected, while candles burned underneath, yet there is no sign of smoke damage and that one thread held this fragile cloth together!

MIn the 1920s, a bomb was planted underneath the image in some flowers by the radically anti-Catholic government which at that time was in power in Mexico.  Their aim, of course, was to destroy this miraculous image.  When the bomb went off, it shattered the windows of the cathedral and bent a large brass crucifix on the altar under the image backwards by the force of the blast (see picture).  The glass covering the image (which was hung right over the bomb) did not even break and the tilma was completely undamaged!  Here is a picture of the crucifix which remains at the shrine as a testimony of this incident.

]Our Lady of Guadalupe speaks to us on many levels.  Each detail has meaning.  The black sash she is wearing around her waist indicates that she is with child – she is 9 months pregnant and about to give birth.  In other words, Mary is bringing Christ to us.  This is why she is the image of the pro-life position personified. 

]When the Spaniards conquered Mexico, they found converts few and far between, and yet, after this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared, 7 million Indians were converted within the span of 10 years.  Saint Juan Diego spent the remainder of his life recounting his story and tending the shrine.  So in the image, Mary was speaking without words to these conquered peoples – in pictures. What was she saying?

]Mary is wearing the color of royalty – blue – so she is a queen.  Around her neck is the cross of the conquistadors, so she comes representing the God of the conquerors.  Behind her are the rays of the sun, which she overshadows; below her is the false god Quetzalcoatl, whom she is standing on.  The message here is that the Lord whom she represents has conquered these false gods.  At the same time, she indicates clearly that she is not a god because she bows her head to another in humility.  While this may seem subtle to us, it would have been very clear to the Indians 500 years ago!

]Her garment is covered with Aztec symbols that remain mysterious to us today.  The stars on her garment are arranged in the pattern of the night sky on the night of the apparition.  The night sky was very significant to the Aztecs.

]Mary has many Indian features, yet all indications are that she is appearing not as an Aztec, but as a girl of middle-eastern origin.  Many features are the same among these separate peoples, but one can see in the hands and other areas that she is not Indian.  Therefore, we may be looking at a picture of the face of Mary as she looked 2000 years ago!

          There are so many lessons we can learn from Our Lady of Guadalupe.  God has done everything but literally open the door to indicate that he is real and eternity awaits us.  She still speaks powerfully to our often skeptical world – even today.

                                                                                                    Father Gary