Everyone wants to transform, but nobody wants to change

“Unless you are prepared to give up something valuable you will never be able to truly change at all”

Gospel text (Jn 1,1-18):
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man's decision
but of God.

And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father's only-begotten Son,
full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, saying,
"This was he of whom I said,
'The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.'"
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father's side,
has revealed him.

Three hundred and sixty-five days this year, Jesus offered Himself to you in the Eucharist. The Word became flesh (Jn 1:14) and made Himself lovingly available in case you wanted Him. To you, who are "His own, He came" (Jn 1:11). Three hundred and sixty-five days this year, Jesus, "the Word" (Jn 1:1), made His holy word available to you. His love letters to you, the Bible, were constantly present to you in case you wanted to listen to Him. Three hundred and sixty-five days this year, Jesus made sure that your lungs kept breathing, your heart kept beating, your body kept functioning. Jesus was always thinking of you this year, staying faithfully with you (Mt 28:20), constantly loving you.

This year, 2011, has now come to "the final hour" (1 Jn 2:18). At the end of the year, Jesus, "the End" (Rv 22:13), stands waiting for you.

Feast of the Holy Family: Learning to Love, Pray and Live in the School of Nazareth

"The Holy Family is an icon of the domestic Church, which is called to pray together. The family is the first school of prayer where, from their infancy, children learn to perceive God thanks to the teaching and example of their parents. An authentically Christian education cannot neglect the experience of prayer. If we do not learn to pray in the family, it will be difficult to fill this gap later. I would, then, like to invite people to rediscover the beauty of praying together as a family, following the school of the Holy Family of Nazareth". - Pope Benedict XVI

(Col 3:12-21)
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they may not become discouraged.

Jesus spent 30 of his 33 earthly years in Nazareth. Some spiritual writers have called these the 'hidden years', because there is so little written about them in the Gospel narratives. However, they reveal the holiness of ordinary life and show us how it becomes extraordinary for those baptized into Christ. From antiquity the Christian family has rightly been called a domestic church. In our own Christian family we can learn the way of selfless love in the School of Nazareth.

The challenge lies in the choices we make, daily, hourly, and even moment-by-moment. Two trees still grow in the garden of domestic life. They invite the exercise of our freedom, which is the core of the Image of God within us. There is the tree in Eden where the first Eve said, "No I will not serve." Then, there is the Tree on Calvary where Mary, the "second Eve" stood with the beloved disciple John and, along with him, again proclaimed her "yes".

In this life of responding to the Lord's invitations we are gradually transformed into an image, a living icon, of Jesus Christ, as Pope Benedict XVI reminded the faithful. This way of holiness is not easy, as anyone who has lived the vocation can attest, but make no mistake; it is a very real path to holiness. It is also a wonderful one.

“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”

All knowledge is sterile which does not lead to action and end in charity

“Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.” - St Anthony of Padua

(1 John 2:3-11) Beloved:
The way we may be sure that we know Jesus
is to keep his commandments.
Whoever says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:
whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.

Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you
but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
And yet I do write a new commandment to you,
which holds true in him and among you,
for the darkness is passing away,
and the true light is already shining.
Whoever says he is in the light,
yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves his brother remains in the light,
and there is nothing in him to cause a fall.
Whoever hates his brother is in darkness;
he walks in darkness
and does not know where he is going
because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

The purpose of the Christmas season is to grow greatly in love for Jesus. To grow in love requires God's grace, our willingness to accept His grace, and a process by which we are transformed and made more capable of loving. We go through this process of transformation by taking step after step in obedience. "By obedience to the truth" we purify ourselves "for a genuine love" (1 Pt 1:22). "The way we can be sure of our knowledge of Him is to keep His commandments" (1 Jn 2:3).

By obedience, Mary conceived Christ and loved Him more deeply than anyone has ever loved Him. By obedience, Joseph became the foster-father of Jesus and grew from love to love. By obedience, the shepherds and wise men saw the infant Jesus and began a new life of love forever. By obedience, Simeon "came to the temple" (Lk 2:27) where he met Jesus, the Light to the Gentiles, the Glory of Israel (Lk 2:32), and the God Who is Love (1 Jn 4:16).

In today’s reading, John is very specific about being and living who we say we are. It is our actions not just empty claims of knowing Jesus that will secure us a place in the light. The actions that he writes of are actions that are based on a sincere love of our sisters and brothers. That kind of love that motivates our actions comes from a recognition of the dignity bestowed by God on each and every human being. That kind of love motivates us to treat everyone with respect , to meet their needs, soothe their pain and sorrow, and provide a witness to the love that comes from our heavenly father.

It is a love that does not allow for discrimination between the beginning of life and the end of life, the person on death row and the saintly neighbor, the rich and the poor, the mentally ill and the physically ill, the homeless man begging at the interstate exit and those who are gainfully employed, etc. It is not always an easy love; we all have prejudices that we have to work at overcoming or at least moments when it is difficult to truly find God in another. Jesus is always there to help us in finding the dignity of others as long as we are open to him.

Sure, it may be easy to follow God’s commandments when everything is peachy and those around us are not annoying us; but when things get tough, how easy is it to actually love the complaining friend, the screaming child, and the angry boss?

It is not hard to obey when we love the one whom we obey

I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible. – St Teresa of Avila.

Gospel text (Mt 2,13-18):
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.

Today is the feast day of the Holy Innocents, the infants King Herod ordered slaughtered within two years following the appearance of the star to the Wise Men (Mt 2:16). The Church holds in the highest regard these innocent children, these martyrs. "They died not only for Christ, but in his stead" (St. Augustine, "Sermon 10 on holiness").

Although many people don't want to talk about sin, especially around Christmas time, we all believe in sin. We believe that Herod, Hitler, Stalin, and other villains in history chose to do things which are objectively wrong.

However, we would like to think that sin is rare, since many people maintain that most acts are not matters of objective right or wrong but only matters of subjective values. Nevertheless, sin is not rare, but universal. Everyone is a sinner, and many people sin frequently (see Rm 3:23).

St. Joseph offers us a very clear and responsive testimony to God's call. We can, thus, identify ourselves with him when we are to make decisions, from our own faith, in difficult moments of our life: «Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left that night for Egypt» (Mt 2:14).

For every Herod, there is a Joseph. For every murderer, there is a disciple of Jesus, who will be told by the Lord how to save the lives of children. What is He telling you? You're not responsible to do everything, but you can do something. What is the Lord saying?

Can He talk to you? Are you open to surprises, sacrifices, corrections, or challenges? Are there things you refuse to hear, defenses you won't let down, sacrifices you won't make, and sin you won't admit? The first question is not: "What am I hearing?" but "What am I willing to hear?"

The Lord can save lives through you if you let Him talk to you.

"A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out. "

For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. – St Teresa of Avila

Gospel text (Jn 20,2-8):
On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
"They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him."
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.

John is traditionally identified with the Beloved Disciple (the other disciple whom Jesus loved - Jn: 20 - 4 ), on whose testimony today’s Gospel is based (Jn 21:24). John testified that he surely could not help but speak of what he had heard and seen (Acts 4:19-20). Everything within John found joy in sharing his experience of Jesus' love with others (1 Jn 1:3-4). On this third day of Christmas, Jesus gives us the opportunity to contemplate the life of St. John.

As I thought about this readings on the feast of St. John, a startling question hit me. What would it have been like to have Jesus for a best friend? A lot of people say this, especially if they are running for office but John really WAS Jesus’ best friend from what we can tell from the Scriptures.

Since Jesus was fully human, he must have needed the comfort and support of a friend he could trust and relax with just like the rest of us. Was that John’s role? Did John tease Jesus and make him laugh? Did he just listen when things were tense? Obviously they prayed together but did they relax over a glass or wine? I’m trying to envision Jesus and John as human pals instead of marble statues.

What kind of a guy was John that gave him a unique place among the Disciples? What qualities can we emulate to become friends of Jesus?

First and probably most important, there’s loyalty. When the others deserted Jesus on the cross, John was there, taking care of Mary. Jesus must have known that he could count on John under the worst of conditions. Like John, if we want to be friends of Jesus, we must be faithful and care for others. That kind of faithfulness can take courage such as John exhibited in refusing to desert Jesus when others did.

I’m also intrigued by how John handled the jealousy that the other apostles must have felt towards him because of his friendship with Jesus. These, after all, were men that fought for position at the Last Supper. We can be pretty sure that John never had to push for his position but he already had it. Did John just ignore any heat he took from the others or did they all just recognize his role? Was John one of those seemingly perfect people that others can’t really resent despite themselves?

We get a feel for John’s wish to share his friendship with Jesus in the first reading in which he invites us into fellowship with “the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” There was nothing selfish in this friendship – rather a desire to share it with generations to come. While we can’t hang out with Jesus as John did, we can emulate his qualities that will help us find friendship with Jesus.

When one is convinced that his cause is just, he will fear nothing."

Whatever we learn to do, we learn by actually doing it; men come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players by playing the harp. In the same way, by doing just acts we come to be just; by doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled; and by doing brave acts, we become brave. - Aristotle

(Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59)
Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

When they heard this, they were infuriated,
and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven
and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and he said,
"Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God."
But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears,
and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks
at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out
"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

The story of St. Stephen in our reading today communicates a powerful and maybe uncomfortable message. Doing the right thing is hard. Sometimes it can be dangerous, and, as in the case of Stephen and other martyrs, doing the right thing and speaking with the spirit can be fatal. People do inconceivable things to each other in distant places and around the corner. Why do these things happen? Who lets that happen?

We see hateful things everyday. Perhaps we can’t do much about the world’s problems, but we can do something about our own lives. We have to stand up and do the right thing every day. When someone is being demeaned by another person, we can ask God, as Jesus says in the Gospel today at the Mass, to give us what to say, for the grace and wisdom to speak up and stop the tiny bits of hate, of people treating others as less than human. We treat people as less than human when we gossip, when we let an unkind remark go by, when we witness something cruel. While we may not be the ones doing the deed, our roles as silent bystanders help build up those little bits of hate.

We often let ourselves off the hook by thinking these small things don’t matter. I don’t want to make a scene, we say to ourselves. I worry what others might think, we say to ourselves. It’s time to change that message to ourselves. I will speak up because it’s the right thing to do. I will ask God for the grace and wisdom. As the psalm says, “Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your kindness.”

Saint Stephen was a martyr in life. Martyr means “testimony”. To put it in 21st century language, “He put his money where his mouth was”.

So too should today's Christians witnesses of Jesus Christ through eyes of faith, fearlessly proclaim him in plain language and courageous action.

He is a baby... but also, God All Mighty; He is God, but now, He is also one of us.

"But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. “

(Gospel John 1:1-18):
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man's decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father's only Son,
full of grace and truth.
John testified to him and cried out, saying,
"This was he of whom I said,
'The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.'"
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only Son, God, who is at the Father's side,
has revealed him.

Christmas invites us to live a unity of life; to become comfortable "in our skin" by being fully human, enjoying life, living and loving as Jesus lives and loves; beginning now. Sometimes, Christians live lives that are perceived as anything but fully human. Who is drawn to a man or woman whom they feel will not have empathy for their own weakness? However, they were and they are, drawn to Jesus Christ. He wants to live in us and invites us to live in Him.

Christmas reminds us that in the "fullness of time" God came among us. Heaven touched earth and earth has been elevated through this encounter! The all- powerful God who made both heaven and earth became a vulnerable baby and chose to give Himself to His creation in order to create it anew.

Let us welcome Jesus, let us seek him: we shall find salvation, and the true solution to the problems of our world, only in Him; He only is giving us the ultimate meaning of life, of our pains and setbacks. This is why, today, I am proposing you: let us read the Gospel, and let us mull over it; let us try to truly live in accordance with the teachings of Jesus, the Son of God that has come into us. Only then, we shall realize that, together, we could truly build a better world.