LUKE 2:16-21
THE FIRST DAY OF JANUARY
IS A FEAST DAY LOOKING FOR A FEAST, I GUESS. IT'S NEW YEAR'S DAY, OF
COURSE. ONCE IT WAS THE FEAST OF THE CIRCUMCISION OF JESUS. AMONG
SOME CHRISTIANS IT IS THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE, AND SOME CALL IT THE
FEAST OF THE NAMING OF JESUS. IT'S THE LAST DAY OF KWANZA. AND THIS
YEAR IT IS THE FEAST OF MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD, FOR US CATHOLICS.
POOR JANUARY FIRST! IT HAS A REAL IDENTITY PROBLEM. I GUESS THE
ONLY THING IT HAS GOING FOR IT IS THAT IT DOESN'T FALL ON A DATE
DETERMINED BY THE MOON, LIKE EASTER AND PENTECOST.
WHEN I LOOK BACK AT MY
LIFE, I CAN REMEMBER WHAT KIND OF PERSON I WAS WHEN I WAS YOUNG. I
DIDN'T KNOW IT AT THE TIME, BUT I REALLY LACKED HUMILITY. I HAD
ALWAYS GOTTEN STRAIGHT A'S IN SCHOOL, AND LEARNING CAME EASY TO ME.
MY LIFE CHANGED AFTER I GOT MARRIED. LIVING WITH SOMEONE WHO SOON
LEARNS ALL YOUR FAULTS; HAVING CHILDREN AND MAKING INEVITABLE
MISTAKES IN RAISING THEM – YOU SOON LEARN THAT YOU HAVE A LOT TO BE
HUMBLE ABOUT. SO GETTING MARRIED WAS A REAL TURNING POINT IN MY
LIFE, AND I THINK THAT IF I HADN'T GOTTEN MARRIED, I WOULD HAVE SPENT
THE REST OF MY LIFE THINKING I WAS SPECIAL, NEVER DISCOVERING THAT I
NEEDED REDEMPTION. AND I CAN LOOK BACK ON THAT AND SEE THE HAND OF
GOD IN MY LIFE, GRANTING ME A GREAT BLESSING – A WONDERFUL WIFE,
CHILDREN, A GREAT CAREER – AND AN OPPORTUNITY TO GROW SPIRITUALLY
BECAUSE OF THESE VERY THINGS.
OUR WORLD IS IN LOVE WITH
CHANCE. THE PREVAILING THEORY OF EVOLUTION IS THAT EVERY LIVING
CREATURE AROSE THROUGH SHEER CHANCE. AND WHEN SCIENTISTS DISCOVERED
THAT THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING, THAT EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE
WAS SEEMINGLY DESIGNED SO THAT LIFE, AND ESPECIALLY HUMAN BEINGS,
COULD ARISE, THEY HAD TO CHOOSE WHETHER TO BELIEVE IN A GOD, OR TO
EMBRACE ANOTHER IDEA, NAMELY THAT THERE WERE UNCOUNTABLE UNIVERSES
WHERE THINGS WERE ALL A LITTLE DIFFERENT, SO NATURALLY THERE COULD BE
ONE OR TWO WHERE THINGS JUST BY CHANCE WERE EXACTLY RIGHT FOR LIFE TO
ARISE.
WE CHRISTIANS DON'T
REALLY BELIEVE IN CHANCE. WE BELIEVE THAT SOMEHOW EVERYTHING THAT
HAPPENS IS GOD'S WILL, EVEN THOUGH HE LEAVES US WITH FREE WILL. AND
THAT MEANS THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOU OR ME IS GOD'S WILL.
AND WE CHRISTIANS BELIEVE ANOTHER THING ABOUT GOD. GOD IS A LOVING
GOD AND GUIDES OUR LIVES SO AS TO GIVE US EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME
ONE WITH HIM, WHICH IS THE ONLY GOAL WORTHY OF A HUMAN BEING.
SO TODAY WE HEAR ABOUT
MARY, KEEPING ALL THESE THINGS AND REFLECTING ON THEM IN HER HEART.
MARY IS THE PERFECT HUMAN BEING. SHE KNOWS THAT EVERYTHING THAT
HAPPENS TO HER IS WILLED BY GOD. AND IF THAT'S THE CASE, THEN SHE
INTENDS TO EXAMINE WHAT GOD HAS WILLED, SO THAT SHE CAN KNOW MORE
ABOUT GOD'S PLAN FOR HER. AND AS SHE THINKS ABOUT WHAT HAS HAPPENED
TO HER IN THE PAST, IT BECOMES EASIER FOR HER TO READ GOD'S WILL FOR
HER IN THE EVENTS OF THE PRESENT. THAT'S WHAT REFLECTING MEANS –
LOOKING FOR MEANING IN OUR LIVES, LOOKING FOR THE HAND OF GOD IN THE
TWISTS AND TURNS OF OUR OWN STORY.
BUT MARY DID NOT JUST
REFLECT. SHE WAS FAMILIAR WITH THE STORY OF ISRAEL. SHE MAY NOT
HAVE BEEN ABLE TO QUOTE THE OLD TESTAMENT CHAPTER AND VERSE – BUT
SHE KNEW THE OUTLINES OF THE STORY AND ESPECIALLY THE PROMISES GOD
HAD MADE TO HIS PEOPLE. SO WHEN SHE REFLECTED ON THE THINGS SHE
KEPT, THE EVENTS OF HER LIFE, SHE DID SO IN LIGHT OF THE SCRIPTURES
AS SHE KNEW THEM. BECAUSE IN THE SCRIPTURES, JUST LIKE IN THE EVENTS
OF HER OWN LIFE, GOD SPOKE TO HER, AND MARY WANTED NOTHING SO MUCH
AS TO UNDERSTAND GOD'S WILL AND CARRY IT OUT. BEING WITHOUT ORIGINAL
SIN, BEING CREATED AS A PERFECT HUMAN BEING, MARY KNEW THAT THE
DESTINY OF A HUMAN BEING WAS TO BECOME ONE WITH GOD, AND THAT NOTHING
WAS AS IMPORTANT AS LIVING IN HIS WILL.
AND THE SAINTS DOWN
THROUGH THE AGES FOLLOWED MARY'S EXAMPLE, AND EXAMINED THEIR OWN
LIVES IN THE LIGHT OF SCRIPTURE TO DISCOVER THE WILL OF GOD FOR THEM.
THINK OF SAINT FRANCIS, WHO SET OUT TO IMITATE CHRIST AS WELL AS HE
COULD, HAVING CONSIDERED HOW HIS OWN LIFE UP TO THEN HAD BEEN GUIDED
BY SELFISHNESS. THINK ABOUT SAINT AUGUSTINE, WHO RECORDED IN HIS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY HOW EACH EVENT IN HIS LIFE FIT TOGETHER LIKE A PUZZLE,
TO LEAD HIM TO SURRENDER HIS LIFE TO GOD.
GOD IS ALWAYS SPEAKING TO
US. WE KNOW HE SPEAKS TO US IN THE SCRIPTURES. BUT HE ALSO
COMMUNICATES WITH US IN EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO US, IN ALL THE
EVENTS OF OUR LIVES. AND IF WE KEEP THESE THINGS AND REFLECT ON THEM
IN OUR HEARTS AS MARY DID, WE WILL LEARN HIS LANGUAGE, WE WILL BE
ABLE TO KNOW WHAT HE IS SAYING TO US.
MOST OF US PRAY. WE ASK
FOR THINGS, WE ASK FOR FORGIVENESS; SOMETIMES WE ADORE, SOMETIMES WE
THANK. BUT FOR MOST OF US, PRAYER IS A MONOLOGUE WHERE WE SPEAK TO A
SILENT GOD AND HOPE HE HEARS US. MARY SHOWS US THAT PRAYER IS
SUPPOSED TO BE A DIALOGUE, AND THIS MEANS THAT WE LISTEN TO GOD
SPEAKING TO US.
WHEN I LOOK AT MY
MARRIAGE, IT CHANGED MY WHOLE LIFE; AND LOOKING BACK IT IS CLEAR THAT
GOD WAS WORKING IN MY LIFE. AND I CAN THINK OF MANY OTHER MOMENTS
WHEN GOD SHAPED THINGS TO OFFER ME A CHANCE TO GROW CLOSER TO HIM
SPIRITUALLY. AND THERE ARE UNDOUBTEDLY MANY TIMES WHEN I MISSED WHAT
GOD WAS SAYING TO ME.
MARY SHOWS THE WAY. SHE
SHOWS US HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO KEEP THE THINGS WHICH HAPPEN TO US
AND BRING THEM OUT REGULARLY TO REFLECT UPON THEM. AND IF WE REFLECT
ON THEM IN THE LIGHT OF THE WORD OF GOD, WE LEARN GOD'S WILL FOR US,
AND ENTER INTO THAT DIALOGUE WHICH BRINGS US INTO UNION WITH GOD.
MARY KNEW, AS DID THE
GREAT PHILOSOPHER SOCRATES, THAT AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH
LIVING. SO SHE KEPT ALL THESE THINGS AND REFLECTED ON THEM IN HER
HEART. AND SO SHOULD WE.
