Breaking the Word: Christmas as Crisis

Sunday, January 08, 2023

Christmas as Crisis

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

Readings: Isaiah 60: 1-6; Psalm 71 (72): 1-2, 7-8, 10-13; Ephesians 3: 2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2: 1-12

Picture: cc Alvaro [Ando] & Marcin Wichary on Flickr

My dear friends, do you know what luminol is? Those who’ve ever watched the old TV series, CSI, may remember this. Luminol is the chemical that crime scene investigators use to uncover traces of blood, even on surfaces that have already been cleaned. Once the liquid comes in contact with blood, it emits a blue glow that can be clearly seen in a darkened room. That’s what luminol does. It reveals hidden things.

And isn’t this also what today’s feast tells us about Christmas? Epiphany means revelation. At Christmas, the previously invisible almighty God is revealed as a visible helpless human baby. Also, unlike in past generations, this revelation is not just to a privileged few, but to all nations. For though night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples, the light of Christ now shines clearly for all to see. This is also the mystery that the second reading proclaims. The good news that, in the life, death and resurrection of Christ, even pagans (like us) now share the same inheritance.

But there’s more. In manifesting God’s merciful love for all peoples, Christmas also shines a revealing light on us, uncovering what may be hidden even from ourselves. Not just the colour of our passports, the size of our bank accounts, or the shape of our social networks, but the disposition of our hearts, what or whom it is we really worship.

Isn’t this what we see in the gospel? The birth of Jesus causes a crisis, evoking contrasting reactions. The wise men–all pagans–see the star, and make an arduous journey to a foreign land, in search of the newborn king. And, upon finding him, they fall down before him in humble worship. The whole of Jerusalem and her leaders, however, do not respond as the prophecy says they should. Not only do they fail to spot the star, instead of growing radiant, with hearts throbbing and full, news of the long-awaited messiah’s birth troubles them. And, rather than worshipping him, Herod seeks to have him killed. A clear sign of idolatry.

All of which brings to mind what Pope Francis says about crises, in the book entitled Let Us Dream, published in 2020, when the world was still engulfed in the shadows of the pandemic: In the trials of life, you reveal your heart: how solid it is, how merciful, how big or small. Normal times are like formal social situations: you never have to reveal yourself.… But when you are in a crisis, it’s the opposite. You have to choose. And in making the choice you reveal your heart…. In moments of crisis… people reveal themselves as they are. Some spend themselves in the service of those in need, and some get rich off other people’s need… If the Pope is right, then a crisis is like luminol. It brings hidden things to light. And Christmas does the same.

Sisters and brothers, even as international borders reopen, and many are understandably eager for revenge-travel, what is the light of Christ revealing to us about ourselves, as individuals, as church, and as a society today?

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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

Sunday, January 08, 2023

Christmas as Crisis

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