Breaking the Word

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Christmas Vigil (Childrens’ Pageant)
Scratch & Win

Readings: Isaiah 9:2-4, 6-7; Luke 2:1-14 (Childrens’ Lectionary)

Sisters and brothers, all you who are very young, young and young at heart, how are you feeling this evening? Tonight, the baby Jesus finally arrives in our crib. As we stand with Mary and Joseph before the manger, surrounded by angels and animals, shepherds and wise men, as we gaze in awe upon the little baby Jesus’ face shining as if with the quiet radiance of reflected starlight, how do we feel?

Like many of you, probably, there is a nice warm glow in my heart and a sigh of contentment just waiting to escape through my lips. The baby is so cute... The shepherds look so sincere... The wise men so piously sober... The sheep are so… well… so woolly. The scene is just perfect… Except that there are three little words that keep crisscrossing my mind, words that have nothing to do with the crib, words that come from another part of my brain, distracting me from my cozy contentment: Scratch & Win…, they say, Scratch & Win… Scratch & Win…

The words are familiar but sound very strange on this night of wonder. They recall the world of marketing and of advertising. I think of those little cards with a little silver-colored box on them. They look nice and neat, but you can’t leave them that way. You have to mess them up a bit. You have to scratch that metallic surface and look under it, because that’s what they’re for. The cards are important only for the prize that might be lying beneath. Scratch & Win…

Disturbed from my reverie, I ponder again the scene before me. What am I looking at here? Why am I so happy and contented, apart from the fact that I usually feel this way around cute and chubby little babies? Scratch & Win…

I recall our readings for tonight. And I’m almost shocked by what I hear. The reason for my joy is explained quite clearly in them. This bouncy baby, this chubby child, whose cheeks I’m so tempted to pinch, He is the promised One sent to save us. He is the One who has broken the power of those who oppressed and enslaved God’s people. And his power will never end. Wow! No wonder I’m happy.

But wait a minute! Could this really be true? How can this helpless baby also be a powerful savior? Is it really possible? Do I really believe it? How can it be so? When I think of powerful saviors coming to the rescue, I think of Superman or Spiderman, or perhaps even Jacky Chan, but a baby in a manger?

Yes, I’m scratching the surface of my contentment. And already it’s starting to look messy. Helpless babe, powerful savior – the two ideas don’t go together. And the gospel doesn’t help either. A savior is born for you… You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying in a manger. Powerful savior, baby clothes, manger… No, they don’t fit. I’m beginning to regret scratching the surface after all.

But then another memory enters my mind. It’s a story I heard a long time ago, the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes. You know it too. Remember how the two cheats tricked the Emperor into believing that they could make him a special garment that only intelligent people could see? Remember how the Emperor paraded through the streets in his birthday suit and nobody dared to say a thing? Who was the powerful savior who came to his rescue? An innocent little child. He saw the truth clearly and shouted out bravely, The Emperor is naked! And, because of that little child, both Emperor and his people were saved from the evil trickery that was holding them hostage.

Could this be what this baby is doing for me? For us? I know that this baby will grow up to do just that. He will see through the false pretences that people put up to hide their insecurities and sinfulness. He will courageously scratch the surface of their hypocrisy and invite them to do the same. And he will pay the price for it with his life.

But even now, as a baby, isn’t he doing the same thing for me? As I gaze upon his helpless little body, as I peer into his searching eyes, isn’t he teaching me to look more deeply at my own life, at the activities that fill my days, the things with which I surround myself? Isn’t he challenging me to see more clearly the times when, even though I may think I’ve clothed my life with very beautiful and stylish designer garments, I’m really quite naked? Just by lying there in that manger that is not his own, and wrapped in borrowed clothes, isn’t he wordlessly encouraging me to scratch the surface of my own life, and of our own collective life as a people, to see if there’s anything truly enduring lying beneath?

And isn’t this what we need to do to experience the grace that this baby brings us at Christmas? We need to scratch the surface of our habitual romantic Christmasy feelings in order to allow ourselves to be washed over anew by the deep joy that comes from standing before the babe in the manger and having him teach us the things that are truly important.

Sisters and brothers, I wish you all a truly blessed and joyful Christmas!

Are you ready to scratch and win?

2 comments:

UnknownMon Dec 25, 06:45:00 pm GMT+8
Hi Chris,

Andrew and I wish you too a very blessed Christmas and the Happiest New Year 2007! May you experience the deep joy of our baby Jesus always... :)

Blessings,
frances
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AnonymousWed Dec 27, 08:27:00 am GMT+8
Thanks for the awesome reflection, Chris. Honest. I enjoy reading your blog because it stands many things on their heads and forces me to view my world differently.

The next time I get one of those Scratch-and-Win cards, I won't toss it away without first recalling your reflection. You see, my problem is not mistaking the prize for the means to get it (the card). My problem is that I am just not interested. Bah!

This indifference sometimes costs me dearly. I miss the incarnation of the holy in the events of my life and indeed my very life. And sometime after the Three Wise Men crossed my path en route home (and I realise they know where the Infant King can be found), it's too late to run after them for directions.

This Christmas, the best gift I can receive is the gift of not missing opportunities to encounter the divine.
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Breaking News: Easter

The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day, or better as one "great Sunday." These above all others are the days for the singing of the Alleluia. The Sundays of this season rank as the paschal Sundays and, after Easter Sunday itself, are called the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter. The period of fifty sacred days ends on Pentecost Sunday. The first eight days of the Easter season make up the octave of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord. On the fortieth day after Easter the Ascension is celebrated, except in places where, not being a holyday of obligation, it has been transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter (see no. 7).[R4] The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, 22-26

From 36th Jesuit General Congregation

It is our union with one another in Christ that testifies to the Good News more powerfully than our competences and abilities.... In our individualistic and competitive age, we should remember that the community plays a very special role since it is a privileged place of apostolic discernment.... The Jesuit community is a concrete space in which we live as friends in the Lord. This life together is always at the service of mission, but because these fraternal bonds proclaim the Gospel, it is itself a mission. –Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice (CMRJ), nn. 7-9.

With the poor, we can learn what hope and courage mean.... In our communities and apostolates, we hear the call to rediscover hospitality to strangers, to the young, to the poor, and to those who are persecuted. Christ himself teaches us this hospitality. –CMRJ, nn. 15-16.

At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is the transforming encounter with the mercy of God in Christ that moves us to a generous personal response. The experience of the merciful gaze of God on our weakness and sinfulness humbles us and fills us with gratitude, helping us to become compassionate ministers to all.... For us Jesuits, compassion is action, an action discerned together. Yet we know that there is no authentic familiarity with God if we do not allow ourselves to be moved to compassion and action by an encounter with the Christ who is revealed in the suffering, vulnerable faces of people, indeed in the suffering of creation. –CMRJ, nn. 19-20.

(T)he Society must respond more decisively to the Church’s call for a new evangelization, giving special emphasis to ministry to and with the young and with families.... A special gift Jesuits and the Ignatian family have to offer to the Church and her mission of evangelization is Ignatian spirituality, which facilitates the experience of God and can therefore greatly help the process of personal and communal conversion. –CMRJ, nn. 22-23.

In many societies, there is an increased level of conflict and polarization, which often gives rise to violence that is all the more appalling because it is motivated and justified by distorted religious convictions. In such situations, Jesuits, along with all who seek the common good, are called to contribute from their religious-spiritual traditions towards the building of peace, on local and global levels. –CMRJ, n. 28.

Pope Francis has emphasized the fundamental connection between the environmental crisis and the social crisis in which we live today. Poverty, social exclusion, and marginalization are linked with environmental degradation. These are not separate crises but one crisis that is a symptom of something much deeper: the flawed way societies and economies are organised. The current economic system with its predatory orientation discards natural resources as well as people. For this reason, Pope Francis insists that the only adequate solution must be a radical one. The direction of development must be altered if it is to be sustainable. We Jesuits are called to help heal a broken world, promoting a new way of producing and consuming, which puts God’s creation at the center.... The multifaceted challenge of caring for our common home calls for a multifaceted response from the Society. We begin by changing our personal and community lifestyles, adopting behaviour coherent with our desire for reconciliation with creation. – CMRJ, nn. 29-30

From 35th Jesuit General Congregation

From General Congregation 35

By sending us to 'those physical and spiritual places which others do not or have difficulty reaching,' the Pope entrusts to us the task to 'build bridges of understanding and dialogue,' according to the best tradition of the Society, in the diversity of its ministries.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 6

To be missioned to this work 'at the New Frontiers of our times' always requires that one also be rooted at the very heart of the Church. This tension, specific to the Ignatian charism, opens the way to true creative fidelity.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 13

In every mission that we carry out, we seek only to be where (Christ) sends us. The grace we receive as Jesuits is to be and to go with him, looking on the world with his eyes, loving it with his heart and entering into its depths with his unending compassion.
- Decree on Identity, n. 15

For ultimately, there is no reality that is only profane for those who know how to look. We must communicate this look and provide a pedagogy inspired by the Spiritual Exercises, that carries people - especially the young - into it.
- Decree on Identity, n. 10

Our ministries of proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Life of Christ in the sacraments continue to be fundamental for our mission and our lives together as Jesuits.
- Decree on Mission, n. 19

The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we engage in building bridges between rich and poor and establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests. Our intellectual apostolate provides an inestimable help in setting up these bridges, offering us new ways of understanding in depth the mechanism and links among our present problems.
- Decree on Mission, n. 28

Jesuit community is not just for mission, it is itself mission.
- Decree on Mission, n. 41

In this global context it is important to highlight the extraordinary potential represented by our character as an international and multicultural body. Acting consistently with this character can not only enhance the apostolic effectiveness of our work but in a fragmented and divided world it can witness to the reconciliation in solidarity of all the children of God.
- Decree on Mission, n. 43

Faith in Jesus Christ teaches us that self-realization comes from self-giving and that freedom is not so much the power to choose as the power to order our choices toward love. At the same time, love for Jesus Christ and the desire to follow him call us to trusting commitment. Commitment to the Word Incarnate cannot be separated from commitment to the concrete manifestations of the Word that are at the center of our lives, the Church and the Society which exists to serve the Church.
- Decree on Obedience, n. 19