All are welcome, tonight at midnight, to join in celebrating the Shepherd’s Holy Mass at Holy Name of Jesus Parish, 1040 Pearl Street, Schenectady, NY. We will begin with a beautiful and traditional candlelight procession to the manger, there to worship the new born King. This is the place to be, in Schenectady, tonight at midnight.
Following Holy Mass we will offer our festive repast, the “cós do chelba.” In friendship, fellowship, with open doors and hearts, we will continue in the spirit of community that Jesus came to gather.
First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16
Psalm: Ps 89:2-5,27,29
Epistle: Romans 16:25-27
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
To him who can strengthen you,
according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages
but now manifested through the prophetic writings and,
according to the command of the eternal God,
made known to all nations
Secrets
This is the time of year for secrets. If you looked at the reflection I wrote in today’s bulletin, you know what I’m talking about. What am I getting? Where is it hidden? We wonder what might be under the Christmas tree or in our stockings a week from now. Children wonder where their parents might have hidden their gifts. Are they hidden in the closet, the basement, under mom and dad’s bed? As children of God, we are lot like that too. We are filled with questions and tend to see God as a mystery, as hidden.
Used to be hidden
God used to be hidden. He was certainly in contact with His people, but that contact came through burning bushes and other such occurrences. This kind of remote contact lasted for centuries. God was in the mysterious heavens. He was unknowable. Everyone knew that anyone who might happen to see God would die (Exodus 33:20). God revealed Himself to Moses in the bush and on mount Sinai, and in doing so Moses was remarkably changed. Except for Moses, who was given the opportunity to glimpse God, God was still a hidden mystery, a stashed away present.
Then comes
Mary is at home. The angel Gabriel comes to her and makes a great announcement. God is to become incarnate in humanity through her, if she agrees. As we know, she agrees, and in that moment God is incarnate. What does that mean?
It means that God is no longer a mystery. God cannot hide in heaven, or speak though burning bushes. God, in all His reality, in the fullness of His life, is now apparent and living in the world. God lives among us, and is completely joined to our humanity. God is the present that cannot be hidden. Everyone knows where it is.
Presents
Think about that present. That moment with Mary, her saying yes, and God entering our reality. Next Sunday we honor the 2011th plus 9 months anniversary of that present. The box is open, nothing is hidden anymore.
God is known
Jesus often spoke about making His Father known. He always said that if we know Him we know His Father. That was God’s desire — to be known and open with His people. He didn’t want to live in secret or apart from us. He doesn’t want to appear to us through burning bushes or in some fancy or marvelous way — some way that is way beyond belief. Last Sunday we heard that Jesus comes to rummage through our disasters, our sins with us. He is right here with us, to pick us up and to be known to us. God wants nothing else but to be with us. He stays with us, and His messages, His way of life is plain to us. We recognize Him because He even looks like us.
Paul’s message
This is what Paul is talking about. Paul’s message tells us that we need no secret code. We aren’t like the gnostics who thought that knowledge of God comes through understanding some deep, hidden meaning whose true message could only be understood through “secret wisdom.” He’s telling us that God is easily understood and in His incarnation He is fully and completely revealed. The things hidden long ago, the mysteries hidden away in the closet, in the basement, under the bed, aren’t there anymore.
Give glory
So Paul gives glory to God. He praises Him as we would praise that parent, that special someone, who found the exact right gift. It’s the kind of gift a person couldn’t even articulate. It is the gift we couldn’t even describe if we wanted to. It is the gift that the instant we see it, Wow! It fulfills all our expectations. It is everything we ever wanted all wrapped up into one.
Next Sunday that present is ours. Next Sunday the miracle of that present will be in our hands. It is God incarnate. God no longer wants to be hidden, He definitely isn’t a secret. Jesus came to us and revealed all the secrets — and none are that complex. They are simple. Our present is love and community. We know love without bounds and are to live with each other the same way. What a great present.
to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ
be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Don’t look in there… What are they hiding in there away?
St. Paul is writing to the Church at Rome. He tells them:
…the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations
Children wonder, especially at this time of the year, what might be hidden in the closet or basement; perhaps under mom and dad’s bed. We are like children, children of faith. Paul is speaking to us. He’s letting us know that nothing is hidden. God has revealed everything to us. What was once a mystery is now plain. Everything became plain in the life of Jesus.
God isn’t into mystery, or spooky miracles, or suddenly appearing saints. What He is about is clearly understood – He is about relationships founded in deep love, generosity, caring, and the deep desire that we, His people, live in community with Him and each other.
Rather than searching the closets or the basement, let’s search our hearts for the plain meaning in the Gospels. Jesus’ coming has given us all we need to know.
Armed with His gospel of love and community we join in His holy mission – making His Father’s message available to all people.
The miracle is this – there are no secrets – Jesus has opened heaven’s store of dignity and love for all people. He really loves us. Knowing that, we can say with Paul:
to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever.
Leaders in the House majority plan a vote on HR 3630—a bill that would slash federal unemployment benefits in every state and cut federal UI benefits by more than half in the 
states with the highest unemployment rates. Tell your Members of Congress and Congressional leaders to oppose these reckless and harmful cuts to unemployment insurance, and instead support swift action to fully renew the federal UI program through 2012.
Millions of hardworking Americans—nearly 2 million in January alone, and over 6 million in 2012—will be cut off from the emergency lifeline of federal unemployment insurance, unless Congress acts to fully renew the program before it expires December 31st. In the past three years, federal unemployment insurance has helped more than 17 million Americans while they’ve looked for work in the toughest job market since the Great Depression. Recent Census figures show that federal unemployment insurance helped keep more than 3 million from falling into poverty last year alone.
A January 2010 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) looked at a variety of strategies for increasing employment and raising the gross domestic product (GDP), which is the market value of all goods and services that reach the consumer. It noted that for every dollar in UI benefits, $1.90 in economic benefit is created. The CBO looked at a variety of strategies to boost the economy — or to keep things from getting worse — such as investing in infrastructure, reducing income taxes, or cutting payroll taxes for companies that hire new people. Increasing aid to the unemployed offered the biggest bang for the buck, according to its estimates. Other studies such as that by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, note similar results.
Congress has never cut back or allowed these programs to expire when unemployment was anywhere near this high for this long. Congress must act, and act now.
Tell Congress: Renew the full federal Unemployment Insurance program through 2012 Now! or call toll-free 1-888-245-3381.
Bang, bang, bang… Is that Santa on the roof, or St. Paul?
St. Paul is writing to one of the Churches he founded. He’s rattling off a whole bunch of instructions in short order at the very end of his letter:
Keep awake and be sober. Encourage one another. Build one another up. Respect those who labor among you. Be at peace among yourselves. Admonish idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. Do not repay evil for evil. Always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always. Pray constantly. Give thanks in all circumstances. Do not quench the Spirit. Test everything. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
Paul is literally banging out instructions. If he had a typewriter, we could hear him pounding the message home.
During this time of preparation we need to hear Paul’s message and to share it.
These instructions are not just wise sayings, good things to live by, or smart. They are urgent and necessary for us in our relationships with each other, our Church, and the world. They are the foundation for our journey to heaven.
Jesus’ coming changed life from a series of misfortunes and mishaps that ended in the emptiness of death to a path of holiness, righteousness, and faith that ends in eternal joy.
As we hear the doorbells ring and the guests knock, let us remember Paul banging away at these instructions. Paul ends by blessing us for following these instructions:
May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ coming is near. Let us renew ourselves so that we may be part of the joy that is forever.
May our Lord bless you and yours,
Deacon Jim
Church Tradition teaches that St. Anna, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was the youngest daughter of the priest Nathan from Bethlehem, descended from the tribe of Levi. She married St. Joachim, who was a native of Galilee. For a long time St. Anna was childless, but after twenty years, through the fervent prayer of both spouses, an angel of the Lord announced to them that they would be the parents of a daughter, who would bring blessings to the whole human race. The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Anna took place at Jerusalem.
The PNCC does not accept the teaching that the Mother of God was exempted from the consequences of ancestral sin (death, corruption, or sin) at the moment of her conception by virtue of the future merits of Her Son. Only Christ was born perfectly holy and sinless, as St. Ambrose of Milan teaches in Chapter Two of his Commentary on Luke. The Holy Virgin was like everyone else in her mortality, and in being subject to temptation, although she committed no personal sins. Mary was not a deified creature removed from the rest of humanity. If this were the case, she would not have been truly human, and the nature that Christ took from her would not have been truly human either. If Christ does not truly share our human nature, then the possibilty of our salvation is in doubt.
“Let Mary be in honor, but let worship be given to the Lord.” — Sergei Bulgakov
Warsaw 1935, a new film which provides an opportunity to view a city and discover an era. Warsaw, the metropolis called “The Paris of the North” in all its prewar glory. The film is a reconstruction in film and realized in 3D!
1935 Warsaw explores the deeper reality of our recent past. Until now we could only view the Warsaw of 1935 through old photographs, just shadows and outlines of the city. These photos only built a partial picture of the beauty, cultural richness, and sense of a Warsaw that existed 75 years ago. It is summer 1935 in Warsaw. We see a day in the life of this beautiful and proud city.
The movie, in three parts:
- Part One – The action of downtown Warsaw and Marszałkowska Street
- Part Two – The Saxon Garden and the Old Town.
- Part Three – The area that became the Warsaw ghetto in its original, natural, and life filled form.
The surprising story of one city … 75 years ago. See it, for the first time. Early 2012.
Norman Davies discusses the partitions of Poland in an interview about his new book Vanished Kingdoms The History of half-forgotten Europe.
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