Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15th Mt. 21: 28-32 “A man had two sons.”
- This is the parable of the two sons. The father asked each one to go out and work in the vineyard. The first son said, “I will not,” but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The second son said, “Yes, sir,” but did not go. Which of the two did the will of the father?
- Which one are we when it comes to obeying the Will of God expressed in the teachings of the Church and the changing circumstances of our daily lives?
- As we pray with the powerful meditation by Fr. Ed Broom, let us keep the wisdom of Saint John of the Cross in mind: “Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing.”
WAYS THAT CHRISTMAS SPEAKS TO US… by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
Rushing frenetically, buying and consuming, having and possessing, eating and enjoying, singing and feasting, wining and dining—all of these words characterize what we call The Christmas Season. Not that all of the above are wrong, however, it is all too easy to leap over the primary Reason for the Season!
THE REASON FOR THE SEASON is not so much things that can be bought, given and possessed. Rather, the real reason for the season is a Person. It is His Birthday that we celebrate and the purpose for His coming. That Person is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity—JESUS!!! His name signifies His purpose for coming into this world.
“JESUS” MEANS SAVIOR! The Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that the name of the Child she would conceive would be Jesus. Why? Because He would save the people from their sins. The primary purpose for the coming of Jesus was to save the world at large and all of us individually from the reality of sin, which leads to eternal death and total ruin.
AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE. For this reason, we should all cultivate an attitude of gratitude towards Jesus, Mary, and Good Saint Joseph. With great faith and trust we have a firm hope that Heaven will one day be ours for all eternity! With hearts overflowing with love, joy, and gratitude, we thank the Lord Jesus for coming into the world to save us. We thank the Blessed Virgin Mary for accepting the will of God to bring Jesus the Savior into the world! We thank Good Saint Joseph for being the protector and provider for Mary and the child Jesus.
In this meditation/contemplation for Christmas and the Christmas Season we would like to present some of the key persons, places, circumstances and things with a Symbolic Interpretation for the purpose and intention of fostering within your heart a greater love and gratitude for the immense love that Jesus, the Savior in the arms of Mary, and good Saint Joseph have for you now and always!
SYMBOLIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CHRISTMAS EVENT
1. THE SHEPHERDS. One of the most common images in all of Sacred Scripture is that of the shepherd, the sheep, the pastures, and the enemies that surround both the sheep and the shepherd. What can we learn from the shepherds? Much indeed! Silence, simplicity, steadfastness, serenity, security in God. You might call it the 5 S’s. Jesus will eventually become the Good Shepherd of the flock (Jn. 10: 1-21).
- Meditation: We too are called to be good shepherds to the sheep of our flock! The secret? Very simply, for us to be good shepherds to our sheep, we must be good sheep of the Good Shepherd, Jesus the Lord!
2. ANGELS. The word Angel from Greek actually means Messenger. The angels sing out with joy: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to people of good will.” (Lk. 2:14)
- Meditation: We are called to be like angels in the sense that we are called to announce the Good News of Salvation in Jesus the Lord by our words and example.
3. JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM. Long, perilous, cold, windy, exhausting and draining—all of these are just a few words that describe the long journey from Nazareth to the city of Bethlehem that Joseph and Mary undertook under obedience to the law decreed by Caesar. Imagine and contemplate a young woman nine months’ pregnant traveling miles upon miles on a donkey!
- Meditation: We are pilgrim-people traveling on a journey to our eternal homeland, which is heaven. To arrive demands on our part hard work—blood, sweat and tears, strength and courage, stamina and perseverance. However, of greatest importance in our travel and journey to heaven is the dire need to stay close to Jesus, Mary and Saint Joseph the whole way until entrance into heaven is a reality.
4. THE INN-KEEPERS AND THEIR NO!!! When we travel and arrive at our final destination, we hope to receive a warm and loving greeting from relatives and friends. This is common courtesy! Saint Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus within her womb received nothing of the sort, to say the least! Quite the contrary: they met with rejection! Among the saddest words in the Infancy Narratives are: “There was no place for Him in the Inn!” The reasons for the rejection are open for speculation. Possibly the Inn-keepers did not want poor people entering who might not be able pay the bill. Perhaps the Inn-keepers, seeing Mary with child, feared the commotion of giving birth and a squalling baby. Or the Inn-keepers had their doors open to relatives only—which Joseph, Mary and Jesus were not!
- Meditation: The rejection of the Inn-keepers has a deeper symbolic meaning: the reality of committing mortal sin. Whenever we are guilty of commission of a mortal sin, then in all truth we reject Jesus from the interior Inn of our hearts. May God save us from the reality of mortal sin, and if we do fall, may we repent through penance and the Sacrament of Confession as soon as possible!
5. THE CAVE / STABLE OF BETHLEHEM. Damp, cold, foul-smelling, hard, dim and dark—these provide a limited description of the humble cave of Bethlehem.
- Meditation: The cave/stable of Bethlehem can symbolize the human heart and its response to the immense love of God. One of the greatest sufferings of the Heart of the Infant Lord Jesus is the widespread and pervasive presence of indifference and coldness towards His Infinite love. Too many people are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. As to these, God wants to spit them out of His mouth. “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:16) For this reason, Jesus said: “I have come to cast fire on the earth and I am not at peace until that fire be enkindled.” May our hearts become flaming conflagrations of love for Jesus and all that He has done for us! May Our Lady help us!
6. THE MAGI: THE WISEMEN. Traditionally the Church has believed that there were three Magi or Wise-men from the East who traveled following the star. Much can be said of these three Kings.
- Meditation: We will offer one simple point for reflection: their desire to encounter God!!! May all of us have an ardent desire to encounter God often and powerfully in our daily lives! Ways to encounter God are many. Here are a few: prayer, meditation, contemplation, spiritual-reading, the Sacraments—especially Mass and Holy Communion, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Confession, Spiritual Direction, service to the poor, and last but not least, and perhaps the most challenging—willing and cheerful service to those with whom we live every day. May the example of the wise-men make us more wise in cultivating a daily pursuit and longing to encounter God in our everyday lives. May this verse from one of the Psalms motivate us: “As the deer yearns for the running streams, so my souls yearns for you, O God.” (Ps. 42:1)
7. THE STAR. It was by means of the star that the Magi eventually encountered the Holy Family—Jesus in the arms of Mary, with Saint Joseph at their side. This star led the Magi to Jesus, the Son of God made man.
- Meditation: God has placed many “stars” in the firmament of our personal universe, for God loves and provides for each one of us uniquely! Those persons, places, and events that God in His loving and divine Providence has placed in our path to lead us to Him. For these stars, we should be eternally grateful! Rewind the film of your life and you will become aware of the many stars that God placed in your path to draw you away from evil, prevent you from falling into a deep moral pit, help you to persevere in the challenging and sometimes grueling task of following the Lord in all His commands for your eternal salvation and growth in holiness! Examine your life and point out the stars in the firmament of your own personal universe and render abundant thanks for them to the Lord and His Holy Mother!
8. THREE GIFTS TO JESUS FROM THE MAGI: GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH. Advent is a time when we should think about what we can give Jesus as a special gift for Christmas. The Magi offered Jesus three special gifts charged with deep symbolism.
GOLD—This Gift is given to Jesus as King. Jesus rejoices in generosity from the heart.
- Meditation: Let us give to Jesus, but through others, our almsgiving with a truly generous heart. Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He wants to reign in the world, but first He wants to reign in our hearts.
FRANKINCENSE—This Gift symbolizes Jesus as God. Our incense rises as a fragrant aroma to God.
- Meditation: Let us increase and intensify our personal prayer life. Let us plumb the depths of the Love of God for us and our response to His love through meditation, contemplation, and deep prayer!
MYRH—This Gift symbolizes the Humanity of Jesus destined to suffer and die on the cross for the eternal salvation of souls.
- Meditation: Let us offer sacrifices to Jesus for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls, as Our Lady of Fatima asked the children and all of us to do.
In conclusion, Gold for the Royalty of Jesus the King; Incense for Prayer to Jesus who is truly God; and Myrrh for the Humanity of Jesus who died on the cross to give us an abundance of life here and eternal life to come!
9. KING HEROD. This wicked King—insecure, jealous and envious, bitter and hateful— hatched a plan to secure His Kingship and power over others. The plan was nothing other than to kill all the baby boys two years and younger, in and around the environs of Bethlehem! Most specifically, Herod had Jesus in mind. For Jesus was the King that the Magi brought to Herod’s attention. Therefore, this wicked King Herod sent his henchmen to brutally massacre these innocent children, ripping them from their mother’s arms, and slaughtering them in their mother’s presence. These we call the Holy Innocents!
- Meditation: Herod represents the whole ugly, diabolic reality of ABORTION—the killing, the massacre of innocent unborn babies. Since the legalization of Abortion, Roe Vs Wade Supreme Court decision 1973, close to 60 million babies have been murdered! As Catholics we are called to be Pro-Life Warriors! Which means we are to protect human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. Human life comes from God—the origin, author, and sustainer of all life. Human life starts at the very moment of conception and has more value than the whole created universe, according to Aquinas.
10. SAINT JOSEPH. It is very difficult to render sufficient homage and honor to Glorious Saint Joseph, who is the greatest of all of the saints. Why? Because of his sublime vocation and office. Saint Joseph was the spouse of Mary, Mother of God, as well as the earthly Father of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
- Meditation: Just one note of praise for the Glorious Saint Joseph taken from the great Saint Teresa of Avila. She named Glorious Saint Joseph, The Master of the Interior Life. This title means that he is the Master of prayer. In His human nature, Jesus grew in age, grace and knowledge before God and man. It was Saint Joseph who taught Jesus how to use human words to pray: Abba Father, Good Shepherd, Lord all good and merciful—words that Saint Joseph and Mary taught the Child Jesus on the pathway of prayer. May Good Saint Joseph grant us the desire and good will to grow in our own personal prayer life!
11. THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. Words cannot explain the greatness of Mary, the Mother of God. Poetic and Mystical names for Mary abound: Tower of David, Tower of Ivory, Gate of Heaven, Health of the Sick, Queen of Angels, Queen of Saints, Queen of Heaven and earth, Queen of all hearts, Star of the Morning, Star of the Sea (Stella Maris), and many, many others are the glorious titles for Mary. However, the greatest of all titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary, and especially related to Christmas, is that of MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD!!!
- Meditation: We will lay one simple idea on your hearts, taken from Saint Augustine: “If we were to gather all the love, of all the mothers, of all times and places, the love of Mary, the Mother of God, for you and me is far greater!” This thought should fill you with the greatest peace, security, and joy! However, it should also motivate you to love Mary as your Mother all the more, and bring many others to love Mary as their Mother. Our Lady said to Saint Juan Diego: “Do not worry! Am I not your Mother? I have you in the crossing of my arms, in my shadow, and in the fold of my apron.” (Our Lady of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego, Dec. 12, 1531)
12. JESUS, OUR LORD, GOD, AND SAVIOR. Of course the very center and focus of Christmas is the Person of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgen Mary in Bethlehem. We will offer one short but profound reflection on Jesus born in Bethlehem. The word Bethlehem means House of Bread. Later on during the course of His Public Ministry, in the synagogue of Capernaum, Jesus delivered one of His most powerful discourses called The Bread of Life discourse. The essence of His discourse can be summarized in these few words in His preaching: “I am the Bread of Life come down from Heaven. Whoever eats my Body and drinks my Blood will have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” How appropriate! Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the House of Bread and later on in His preaching, He would clearly teach that to attain eternal life it is essential to nourish our souls on The Bread of Life – His body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in Holy Communion.
- Meditation: Let us resolve that from this day forward, we will receive this greatest of all gifts by participating fully, actively, consciously and worthily during Mass and our reception of Jesus, truly present in Holy Communion. Therefore, one of the greatest Gifts we can offer Jesus on Christmas, in the Christmas Season, and always is to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and receive Holy Communion, the Bread of Life with faith, humility, devotion and love. If done, the Kingdom of God is within us!
In conclusion, let us lift our heart, mind, body, and soul and offer a hymn of praise and thanksgiving to Jesus, who came into this world through the Yes of Mary in order to save us, and bring us one day to our eternal rest, the Home of our Eternal Father in Heaven!!!
Copyright 2020 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
