What's Your Perspective

In the Gospel reading for the first Sunday after Christmas St. Matthew tells the story of the newborn Christ-Child. He tells the story of the Holy Family's flight into Egypt at the instruction of an angel. He tells how the Wise Men deceived Herod so that he couldn't murder the newborn King. He tells of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents and of the return of the Holy Family from Egypt to a little village called Nazareth. Basically, St. Matthew tells the story of the Birth of Christ from a human perspective.

But if you were to go and read Revelation 12:1-6 you would see the same story told from a different perspective, a heavenly perspective.

St. John speaks of a woman clothed with the Sun, the Moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Obviously he is describing the Blessed Virgin Mary. The world looks at the Mother of God and they see a poor Jewish girl from a hick town. When the host of Heaven looks at her they see a woman robed in glory. When the world heard a young girl crying in the pains of labor, they felt pity. When the dragon (Satan) heard the cries of labor he felt his world reverberate in fear at the sound of the birth of the One who would defeat him. The world saw a power-crazed potentate named Herod trying to protect his meager little kingdom by attempting to murder an innocent child, but the host of Heaven saw this as a satanic plot to kill the King of Kings.

When the Child was born the world saw another peasant child born into an oppressed society with no future in front of him, but the host of Heaven saw the Ruler of all nations being born so that He could take His rightful place on His throne. When the Holy Family fled into Egypt the world saw a terrorized family running for their lives, but the host of Heaven saw a royal family resting in the safety that God had prepared for them.

What a difference perspective makes!

What perspective do you see the Birth of Christ in? Do you see it only from a human perspective or from a cosmic perspective? Do you see it as a quaint little story told and believed by a third of the world's population or do you see it as the Story of the ages - good versus evil, light versus dark, God versus Satan?

What's your perspective?

During this season between Christmas and Epiphany I encourage you to truly contemplate the great mystery of the Incarnation. I encourage you to stand in awe of the Event that the world takes so flippantly and lightly. Emmanuel - God is with us. Let us be humbled by the magnitude of this Mystery.

Fr. Rick

Waiting

Waiting. It's one of the hardest things we ever have to do. I think back to the times I've sat in a hospital waiting room with a family as they've awaited the news on the condition of their loved one. I think back to the time my wife and daughters went to Guatemala on a mission trip and I sat waiting in the airport lounge praying for their safe arrival. I also think of the many Christmases that I woke up early in the morning waiting for my parents to awake so I could tear into those beautifully wrapped packages. Waiting does not come easy for us.

Even though we have pithy little sayings like, "Good things come to those who wait," it doesn't get any easier. And yet it seems the majority of our lives are spent waiting on something else. "I can't wait until I finish school!" "I can't wait until the weekend!" "I can't wait until I retire!" But I've discovered that often times when we're focused on the object ahead of us we forget to enjoy what we have right now. We tend to wish our lives away, hoping for something better, when we should be enjoying what we have now.

Advent is about waiting. While everyone around us is focused on Christmas morning, we who celebrate Advent, are focused on the now. We, too, are waiting for Christmas but we do so by celebrating the NOW. For us Christmas is not the end, but the beginning. While everyone is scurrying around shopping we can slow down and enjoy the sights and sounds of the season. We wait expectantly, all the while enjoying the gifts that God has already given us.

While some are already reading the Christmas story we who celebrate Advent are waiting for Christmas by reading the prophecies of old. We are immersed in the stories of Isaiah and John the Baptist. We light candles to mark the time as we wait. We sing of the future while we enjoy the blessings of the present. Advent is about the future, and the past. The Birth of Christ and the return of Christ. The visions of old and the visions of the New Jerusalem. The life of darkness and the life lived in the Light.

Waiting is not a passive thing. Waiting is being actively engaged in the now while steadily looking to the future. The early believers thought that the return of Christ was eminent so they stopped doing. But the Apostles and Saints told us that we would have to wait. And while we wait we are to do the work of the Kingdom: feed the poor, heal the sick, and set the captives free. Time seems to fly when we are actively engaged in doing something while we wait.

During this Advent season learn the lesson of waiting. Learn to embrace patience and do the work of the Kingdom; pray, preach, live! Christmas is coming, but not before we have to wait.