Breaking the Word

Thursday, January 03, 2008

3 January
Seeing Unto Song

Readings: 1 John 2:29–3:6; Psalm 98:1, 3cd-4, 5-6; John 1:29-34

Have you ever closely followed a drama series on television? It can be highly addictive. The viewing of one episode simply makes you want to watch the next… and the next… until you reach the grand finale. Isn’t this why some people decide to buy the whole series on VCD or DVD? So that they can watch the whole series at their own pace and leisure? Indeed, I know some who find these serials so compelling that they will even have their meals and do their housework in front of the TV.

This eagerness to see more probably captures something of the disposition that our readings present to us today. What happens to people who truly experience the mystery of Christ’s coming among us? What happens, for example, to people such as Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men? Having seen the episode where the baby appears in a manger, do they simply go back to their lives as if nothing has changed? On the contrary, once they have caught sight of the love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God, they hunger for more. They are impelled to look out for further sightings of God’s love in their daily lives.

And seeing is not all that they do, for there’s another aspect to this happy addiction that parallels what happens to those who watch TV serials. If the serial is good enough, not only do you want to keep seeing it for yourself, but you are also driven to sing its praises to others, to share with others what you like about it. Isn’t this why people form appreciation clubs? They can’t keep the experience to themselves. We see something similar in the readings too. The psalmist exhorts us, for example, to sing to the Lord a new song because all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. And this too is the experience of John the Baptist in the gospel. Having seen Jesus, having baptized him and witnessed the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him, John exclaims: now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.

And where does this seeing and singing lead? How does this serial end? What will be its Grand Finale? In the words of the first reading: what we shall be has not yet been revealed… when it is revealed we shall see him as he is… This is what we can all look forward to: beholding the beauty of God as he is, and singing his praises for all eternity.

But that is in the future. For now everyone who has this hope… makes himself pure. Turning aside from every distraction, we need to keep striving to catch sight of Christ in the here and now, to see him in a way that moves us to sing of him in the sight of others.

How are we being invited to do this today?

1 comment:

AnonymousThu Jan 03, 06:21:00 pm GMT+8
Wishing all Peaceful and Blessed days ahead.

I join the rest in welcoming Fr. Chris back with his wonderful sharings. In just a few words you have shared so much with us.

What a great way to start the year with these readings of hope. We are indeed very fortunate and blessed to be called children of God. And we have John the Baptist as witness that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God who will be our eternal Judge.

The challenge for me will be living and behaving like a child of God. As Fr. has adviced and I will strive to do this starting today, is to always see the good in everyone, even those not too nice to me. And also to see the positive side of things even in moments of unpleasantness and in my failures. Dare I call this my resolution this year?????
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Breaking News: Ordinary Time

Apart from those seasons having their own distinctive character, thirty-three or thirty-four weeks remain in the yearly cycle that do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Rather, especially on the Sundays, they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects. This period is known as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time begins on Monday after the Sunday following 6 January and continues until Tuesday before Ash Wednesday inclusive. It begins again on Monday after Pentecost and ends before Evening Prayer I of the First Sunday of Advent. This is also the reason for the series of liturgical texts found in both the Roman Missal and The Liturgy of the Hours (Vol. III - IV), for Sundays and weekdays in this season. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, 43-44

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