Hi everyone, here's my homily for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The readings for today's Mass can be found at: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/122913.cfm. Thanks so much for reading, sharing this blog and for your feedback and comments. MERRY CHRISTMAS! God's Blessings on you and yours in the New Year! - Fr. Jim
THANKS TO ALL WHO'VE HELPED IN OUR NEWMAN CATHOLIC AT MONTCLAIR STATE CHRISTMAS APPEAL AS WE CONTINUE TO BRING CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH TO OUR STUDENTS - YOU MAKE THE DIFFERENCE: check out www.MSUNEWMAN.com FOR MORE INFORMATION. Thank You!!!
HOMILY:
In recent years,
we’ve seen with greater anger and animosity the so-called “War
on Christmas.”
There's arguments over singing religious Christmas carols in public
schools; The legality of displaying a
nativity scene on public property; debates over whether saying “Merry
Christmas” is insensitive and that instead “Happy
Holidays” is a less objectionable alternative (which covers
everything from Hanukah, Kwanza, Christmas and New Years)
All of it just
seems incredibly ridiculous. That people
argue that there’s proselytizing simply by the singing
of “Silent Night” by children or that they are
threatened by the sight of Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus in a manger scene
seems to be the very definition of ridiculous.
In a society where supposedly being “tolerant” is the noblest of virtues, we’ve
somehow become less respectful of one another and much more easily insulted at
even the mere perception of a slight towards our viewpoint, our beliefs. This is true of us Christians too, by the
way, and how we react and respond to some of these challenges.
For the most
part, I’ve tried not to allow these annual debates to bother me. But
one thing that has troubled me in the midst of this escalating “war
on Christmas” has been a somewhat new
tradition. A group of atheists who each
year purchase billboards expressing their opposition to Christmas. A few years ago there was a picture of the
nativity scene with a headline saying “YOU KNOW IT’S A
MYTH - THIS SEASON CELEBRATE REASON.”
That was followed up with the “THERE’S
PROBABLY NO GOD (love the qualification in this one) NOW STOP WORRYING AND
ENJOY YOUR LIFE.”
Which led to this year’s billboard in Times Square right in
time for the season, asking: “WHO
NEEDS CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS? NOBODY.”
When I heard
about it, and saw it, what struck me was that this wasn’t
simply advocating that one group should be sensitive to other people’s
beliefs... this wasn’t promoting a different ideology or
holiday. It quite directly demonstrates
a hatred towards God; a hatred towards Jesus Christ. Just think about it how much time or energy
do we spend on things that we don’t believe in? As I’ve said to my students at Montclair
State numerous times - I don’t believe in the Buddha - but I don’t
think about Buddha. I don’t
get angry when I go to the Chinese restaurant that I order take out from and
see a Buddha statue there and refuse to order from them again - I don’t
argue with Buddhists that they’re wasting their time. I don’t believe in the Buddha, so he doesn’t
really enter into my thoughts much other than sharing this example. And he definitely doesn’t
invoke a passionate, anger filled wrath that causes me to hire a marketing
company, a graphic designer, purchase billboard space and angrily denounce him,
his existence and mock those who do believe in him and his teachings.
Which is why
that billboard is troubling. Because it
reveals that there’s obviously people who want to
eliminate Christ. Sadly, not just from
our observance of Christmas. For some,
Jesus is troubling... threatening. To
what? To their self interests. To their pursuits of power, material
things. To their beliefs that the
accumulation of these things will somehow guarantee security in this life. To the arrogance that we are the masters of
our destinies.
Looking at the
Gospel today we see that this is nothing new.
Here we are in the midst of celebrating the season of Christ’s
Birth, we come to this Christmas feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and
Joseph and what does the Gospel recount for us?
That not long after a star leads the Magi to behold the Christ Child,
not long after the glad tidings of angels to shepherds announcing Jesus birth
by proclaiming “GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND ON
EARTH, PEACE TO PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL” - we see the lack of peace in people
of not-Good will. King Herod is so
paranoid by this newborn, so obsessed in his hatred of this royalty he has
never met, so blind in his rage and fury - that he takes no chances. He orders the slaughter of every Jewish infant
boy. As this horrendous evil is being
inflicted in the first attempt to eliminate Christ from Christmas, Joseph takes
the family and flees to Egypt.
What’s
so troubling is that the evil in Herod’s heart is so all consuming that it
inflicts evil on other innocents. And
there's a part of us that might wonder. Why would God allow this horror to
take place? Quite simply it's always
been about choice, about our greatest of gifts given to us by God - free
will. From Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden - they are given but one command... Serpent tricks and finger pointing at
one another aside - they each decided for themselves not to follow Gods law and
found themselves outside of paradise, regretting that choice for the rest of
their lives. Longing for a day to
return.
Which God so
lovingly, lavishly, generously gives us in the intimate encounter of God
becoming man in Jesus Christ. No longer
would humanity need to read signs, hear words of prophets for direction... God
becomes one with us and one of us. He
makes himself vulnerable and accessible.
What threat does an infant pose?
How much security or protection is there in these blessed and loving
people but materially poor people - Joseph and Mary. Yet we see that God becoming man, God
entering into our human story in Christ at the first Christmas evokes two
extreme responses: unspeakable evil and
horror vs the selflessness and complete abandonment of will in sacrificial love
of Mary and Joseph. That's why 20
centuries later the names Herod and Mary and Joseph immediately conjure up two
very different images. One of a ruthless
tyrant... The other as members of The Holy Family.
In This
Christmas of 2013, the choice, the stark contrast of extremes remains the
same. The impulse for us to fight back
is a very human temptation. For example
- There's been reports of vandalism done to atheist billboards. And it's a very human thing to equivocate the
different evils as a way of trying to justify our actions. We find it hard not to fall into the same
silly games Adam and Eve did - pointing fingers as to who started this all and
made us do some of the uncharitable things we do in this noble fight FOR Christ
FOR Christmas.
But it seems
that we are challenged once again by the poverty and simplicity of the Holy
Family, by the examples of Mary and Joseph.
To recognize the precious, precious gift that our Heavenly Father has entrusted to us. That he enters into our homes, our lives as
Jesus Christ. Will we prize this as the
most precious treasure we possess and are unwilling to diminish the value and
meaning of the gift. Will we let our
loving attitudes, our selfless examples, will be the ultimate witness answering
who needs Christ in Christmas? We
do... For Christmas and every other day of our lives.