By Fr. Glenn Jones:
Ah … the weekend before Christmas, and all through the house …
Well … There are probably at least a few creatures stirring—parents wrapping gifts, bored kids out of school playing video games or on their phones and tablets, links to Amazon and Etsy and other shopping portals getting slammed by late shoppers hoping that their packages might…just might…arrive at their destinations before Christmas (“I’ll pay extra shipping! Just get it there before Wednesday!!”)
But, hopefully, in all the chaos and hubbub we might remember the whole reason for the season: the birth of a baby two thousand years ago in the humblest of circumstances, who would go on to sacrifice His life and change the world … and all eternity. For no one can realistically claim that Jesus’ influence did not change the course of the world thereafter … and for the believer, changed his fate for the infinitely greater … forever. Jesus would launch a new—or rather, a renewed—faith, for “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)
Yes, we have the societal and familial pressures of cards and gifts and meals and visits and parties during Christmastime, but all of that should simply be the storm before the calm. If we look at it aright, when all our social preparations are made, over and done, we should—like Jesus urged His apostles—“… come away and rest awhile.” (Mark 6:31)
We are fortunate in New Mexico that we still have vast wide-open spaces—landscapes not unlike ancient Israel, and expanses of dark sky and stars at night. So when it is time to rest from all the activity, transport yourself to that night long ago when, in that lonely stable, that little child was born … to be a light to the world.
Even the unbeliever will recognize the moral and spiritual value of what Jesus would teach: urging peace … urging love of God and neighbor … urging charity to the lonely, the abandoned, the downtrodden. Urging forgiveness of faults—imagine or real—so that we can have reconciliation with bonds within the family of humanity. His teaching is very like the greatest of moral teachers throughout the world, and yet His is the pinnacle of all…the culmination of all good.
The problem is: it’s easy to hate, to despise, to hold grudges. It’s easy to seek self above others. After all, we have all felt that visceral anger at injustice, at mistreatment, at disregard for the misery of others. But is our reaction productive or destructive? Do we act toward the perceived violator with resentment, with anger, and maybe even with violence or retribution? Do we seek revenge, even at the cost of perpetuating animosities?
I often muse on that short excerpt attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Being criticized for leniency in his treatment toward the vanquished Southern states near the end of the Civil War, he reputedly replied: “Do I not destroy my enemy when I make him my friend?”
O Christian, have you not heard countless times: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” Why? “… so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:44-45)
We professed Christians are especially called to profess forgiveness…to practice mercy toward others. In fact, how can we call ourselves Christians otherwise, knowing that these were the kernel of the teaching of Christ Himself? For Jesus Himself said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12) Jesus time on earth as very limited, but He entrusts His disciples to continue His work and His teaching in their own spheres and throughout the world.
Yes, it can be hard; sometimes all we want to do is strike out at someone who hurts us, and even more so at those who hurt our loved ones. But being a Christian IS hard. It’s simple, but hard; that’s why it can be so difficult to excel in it—the constant war within the self between the animal and spiritual parts. Even St. Paul writes of his own such struggle (see Romans 7;13-25). But Jesus Himself warns that His Way would be difficult: “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14) Yet is this not the struggle for all who seek the good, even the unbeliever? This is why we so admire those who persevere in goodness despite struggle.
But like the river in Ezekiel which came forth from the temple (see chapter 47), the grace of Jesus’ teaching flows throughout the world, making the brackish water of the world fresh with His goodness. For, like the wood that Moses threw into the bitter pool made the water sweet to give life to the Exodus Israelites, so the wood of Christ’s cross—His teaching, His life, His sacrifice and resurrection—continues to bring life to the world. (see Exodus 16:22-25)
Remembering the blessings in our lives, may all of you and yours have a most blessed and joyful Christmas season and new year. And let us resolve this Christmas season and in the coming year to be as Dickens’ recreated old Scrooge:
“He became as good a friend… and as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset… May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”
Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.
