Recorded at Holy
Spirit Catholic Church, Mustang, Oklahoma
You may be wondering what happened to the traditional
Christmas story
from Luke’s Gospel. Where are the shepherds and the child wrapped in
swaddling clothes in the manger?
I chose the account of Christ’s birth in Matthew’s
Gospel for this Christmas Mass because it has a powerful lesson to teach us
about the mystery of the Incarnation. In other words, why did 2nd Person of the
Holy Trinity take our flesh? Why did the Son of God empty himself of all divine
privilege in order to become flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone? Merciful
love is the reason---for God is mercy, and mercy shows its face in the act of self-giving love, especially where such a great
gift is not warranted or deserved. Matthew’s Infancy Narrative, in its stark simplicity,
reveals this saving attribute in God---MERCY!
Mercy is different than forgiveness. Mercy grants new life.
Forgiveness means choosing not to be filled with
resentment and bitterness
for the rest of our life because of something done
unto us. Forgiveness means letting go of the hurtful deed or
hateful words and surrendering it, and the person who did it, into the hands of God. Forgiveness is more for the sake of the one forgiving
than the one being forgiven—it is medicine which we gladly take to heal our
hurting heart.
Mercy is something much, much more. Mercy grants new life where it is undeserved. Mercy brings new life where
it is not merited. Joseph the Just becomes the instrument of such saving
mercy to Mary.
Joseph, a man of faith who knows the God of Mercy, shows there is something greater than following the
letter of the Law. To be righteous meant to follow the letter of the Law, but Joseph re-defines righteousness as shaped by
mercy.
For the Law demands that Joseph deliver Mary to the
religious authorities for becoming pregnant by another man. Since Mary is betrothed to Joseph, in the eyes of the
Law she is married to him, so she has committed adultery. The consequence of adultery---stoning to death. So by deciding to divorce her quietly, Joseph not
only “forgives” Mary, but also grants her new life where death is
warranted.
Because Joseph lives by a deeper reality than the
Law, because his actions are informed by mercy, he is open
to receive God’s messenger. Because he chooses in faith to take the path of
mercy, Joseph hears God’s message about the mysterious working of God in the life of
his beloved Mary. Joseph goes beyond protecting Mary from death---he
takes her into his home as his wife, to protect her and support her and her
child, a child not his own. This is what mercy looks like—it is generous and life
giving, resulting in surprising sacrifices of love.
Surely Mary later shared with her Son this story of
God’s saving mercy at work
in her beloved Joseph. Jesus learns from his foster-father the law of mercy
and would later proclaim as one of his Beatitudes in this same Gospel of
Matthew: “Blessed
are the merciful….”
God’s mercy takes flesh in Jesus, born of the Virgin
Mary, born as the adopted son of Joseph, born to save us
from our sins. The Son of God is born for us, not because of
our goodness or good works, but because of the merciful love of God for us who are lost in our sins and lost as well in the pain we carry because of the
sins of others. God is not going to allow us to remain lost in our
sin nor walk forever in the darkness of death but is going to come and find us
and bring us home to new life.
Mercy takes flesh in Jesus Christ: undeserved,
unmerited, sheer gift to us. The Son of God seeks out sinners, healing them by the
balm of his merciful love. The self-righteous, those who think they have it all
together, who are self-sufficient and dare not admit their
weaknesses and frailties, close themselves off to the mercy of God in Jesus. They are not open to the great gift of His mercy,
because they are unwilling to share it. By what Jesus teaches and by the way he interacts
with other, Jesus reveals you can only receive mercy if you are
willing to give it away.
St. Paul, a fanatical Pharisee and
devout follower of the Law, discovers on the road to Damascus the merciful love
of the Risen Jesus for him. He finds out there is something more than simply
keeping the letter of the law. Something more is required, and it is the divine law
of Mercy. What Paul called it is “agape”---a special kind of
love, a godly kind of love, that is shared even when others do not deserve such a
gift. He sings of the beauty of such merciful love in his
famous hymn to agape love in the 13th Chapter of Corinthians, describing
how this kind of merciful love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This is the saving mercy of which Pope Francis, preaches and lives by --- God’s merciful love for the sinner. Pope Francis challenges us to share this merciful
love of God by reaching out beyond the safe confines of our church buildings to
those who are lost, who are broken-hearted, who despair, who are crushed
by poverty, who hunger for the great gift of God’s merciful love.
For the Son of God is born to die for us, so that we might lay down our lives in love of
others. This is what mercy looks like --- a just person laying down their life to save others
who are not worthy of such a gift.
We cry out for this godly gift before we come forward
for Holy Communion. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us. Even to the last little prayer we speak before
allowing the Son of God
to come and dwell within us: “Lord,
I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” What is the word that the Lord Jesus says? MERCY!
The mercy that flows out of our Savior into our lives
is a glorious, life-giving gift.
By it, we carry him, the Merciful One, into a world which
desperately needs such a gift. He is born in us and through us by our words and
deeds of mercy, as we transform a world of violence, retribution and
revenge into His kingdom of peace, justice, and self-giving
love.
Fr. Joseph A. Jacobi
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.