WRITEON FOR DECEMBER 25
feliz navidad
&
MERRY CHRISTMAS
sister alies.
In the face of understanding even a bit of the miracle of the Christmas mystery, we are silenced. We stand, or sit or kneel in awe and amazement we discover as we quietly meditate upon the fulfillment of Isaiah and the prophets. Really? There were some 700 years between the prophet and the birth of Jesus. Just imagine that something is told you today that you long for and then, what?
Wait 700 years for it to happen? In our immediate society, our gratification culture, we don’t want to wait an extra 5 seconds to boot up, let alone await something for 700 years!
But, there we are.
Our hopes and dreams are built into our hymns and songs for the season…you know this one…Verse 3 of HARK, The Herald Angels Sing… “Hail the heav’n born Prince of Peace, Hail the Sun of righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings. Mind He lays His glory by, Born that we no more may die, Born to raise us from the earth, Born to give us second birth. Hark, the herald angels sing, ‘GLORY to the newborn king.’”
Even now people await the Messiah. Our Jewish friends are celebrating Hanukkah…and many ‘nones’ are searching for something, Someone to believe in outside of themselves.
Another version of the ‘O Antiphons’ might be this: 1.” Luz verdadera. Prometido de Dios, Consejero admirable. Principe de paz. 3b. Sustento de los pobres. Liberación para los cautivos. Dia de venganza. El Ungido, Emmanuel.” (True light, promised of God. Wonder counsellor, Holy Prince of Peace. Food for those who hunger. Freedom for captives, day of vindication, anointed one, Emmanuel).
These were some of the longings we expressed during Advent…now it is Christmas, and the Messiah has come, will come again and is with us now! Go figure! What a gift. Total gift. Nothing we can earn. Nothing we can demand. Nothing we are entitled to. A pure gift.
Consider this little message my Christmas card to each of you thanking you for reading our column and paper each week! May your 12 days of Christmas (that’s till Epiphany, the coming of the magi, Jan 6) be full of joy and peace, always finding some way to serve and to surprise someone unsuspecting!
In WAKE from Your Sleep V. 3 we find: “Now shall the earth take joy in her tears. Now shall our hearts be turned from our fears. All the earth shall sing God’s praise, Jesus the Lord, is born this day.”
Stretch our your hands in prayer and gratitude.
BLESSINGS.
