Catch Your Breath. (Christmas) 2022-12-25

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 2022-12-25   Christmas ● Isaiah 9:1-16   ● ● Psalm 96  ●● Titus 2:11-14  ● ● + Luke 2:1-14  ● ●    

Title:  Catch Your Breath

 [__01__]        Earlier this week, on Tuesday, I was feeling anxious about a letter I needed to write. I was also unsure how to collect and recollect my thoughts for Christmas and this reflection/homily.

Since I was making no progress on either document, I decided to clean the garage. My rationale was 2-fold.  1^st, the garage cleanup would be physically strenuous exercise à to clear my mind. I would – in a way – catch my breath.   2^nd, space was needed in a new location for ice melt for the coming storm.

The garage was really not in such bad shape, but I felt more comfortable re-arranging snow shovels rather than writing sentences.

Cleaning and organization are necessary not just as physical about also as spiritual exercises. None of us is a final finished product. We all need God's grace and mercy for sanctification and reorganization and sanity. The process of conversion requires your (my) personal effort, for your good, the good of your classmates and family, co-workers and neighbors, the good of Lourdes parish, and my own good. Your virtue and devotion inspire me.

[__02__]        In the prophet Isaiah, we read that the sovereignty (reign) of God will be vast and forever peaceful. But this is not made possible simply by good politics, but by the discipleship of you and me. It happens when we follow the commandments: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34)

This requires effort. So, in carrying out our regular way of life – whether that is the task of cleaning your room, doing your homework, making dinner, you and I can do so in thanksgiving for an praise of God, to make room for Christ and His birth not just at required “clean up” hours but as Paul writes – unceasingly – and each day. (cf., 1 Thessalonians 5:16)

In this regard, we are always catching our breath.

 [__03__]   In many traditional renditions and readings of the Christmas Gospel, it seems that the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph cannot catch a break …nor can they catch their breath.

            This is emphasized in the way we have received the Bethlehem- broadcast this sound-bite and tweet (also w/ BLUE check mark !) of long ago  “No Room at the Inn”

            I’d like to touch on what is the real meaning of “inn”,   and the “manger” especially as we consider Middle Eastern culture and hospitality.  (cf. Kenneth Bailey, ch.1  The Birth of Jesus, Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes)

 [__04__]       The biblical scholar Kenneth Bailey notes that “Joseph was returning to his home village where he could easily find shelter. Because he was a descendant of King David nearly all doors in the village were open to him.” (Bailey, p. 28)

            Also, Bailey noted: “In every culture a woman about to give birth is given special attention. Simple rural communities [worldwide] assist one of their own women in childbirth regardless of circumstances.” (Bailey, p. 26)

            The people of Bethlehem had this some honor and respect for an expectant mother and woman.

[__05_]        A few years ago, I was caught in a snowstorm and blizzard and had an experience somewhat similar to the Holy Family. That is, there were no rooms upstairs in the regular house, so I had to stay downstairs to wait out the storm.

            There was – in this sense – “no room at the inn” because there were no regular guestrooms available for me. Nevertheless, I was indoors, out of the cold.

            The Holy Family of JMJ were also indoors, but there were in a front room of the house, a lower room, and in a place where the animals themselves would have been permitted to come inside.

[__06__]      It is true – on some level – that there was “no room at the inn” – because there was no room in the upper guest room.  And, we might ask:  will there ever be room “upstairs” ?

            Do we always have to stay downstairs?

 

[__07_]  Out in the garage, I was filling up my time and day with activity rather than silence. And by the way, that's not just because I was in the garage, I have often been drawn away from God and God's word sitting in a climate controlled room with a wi-fi connected device. The garage was a reminder to give myself in love of neighbor and love of God the same

energy and enthusiasm I gave to inanimate objects like rakes and shovels.

          The birth of a child reminds us over and over again that we are not just faced with a “project” but with a person made in God’s image.

            In this regard, we are called to move “upstairs” in our thinking and intentions, not to stay “downstairs” in material concerns. But, to go upstairs, it’s sometimes requires you to catch your breath.

 

[__08__]      Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote that at prayer on Christmas, we are trying to catch our breath. (Benedict XVI, Dogma & Preaching, “Ch. 33 Three Meditations on Christmas: God has crossed over to us,” p. 335) If you have been running around prior to getting here, you can catch your breath here not just on Christmas, but every Sunday!

In the Book of Genesis, in creation in God's Word, Adam and Eve were created because God breathed on them. They caught God’s breath and the word for the Spirit that is Holy is synonymous with air and breath, “respiration” and “inspiration”

Do I turn to God when I am out of breath? Or do I draw a light and life and breath and energy from things that are simply entertaining or attractive?

In the Gospel, Jesus let us his disciples “catch His breath”. He breathed mercy on them because they had betrayed him.  Do I breathe mercy on those who have hurt me or wronged me?

Do I frequently enough really turn back to God for mercy? Or do I tried to cover up my faults by material achievement? Am I in the lower room or am I in the upper room?

For now our Lord and Savior is in a lower place. But the good news is that he's in the same low place as you and I are in. He is in our human flesh, feeling human emotions, human pain, while also demonstrating divine love. He is reminding us that we can, in the celebration of Christmas truly interrupt what we are doing. disrupt our attention to material things to focus on the gift of life we've been given the gift of life we're called to respect and nurture in others, especially for those who seem unlovable or unloved.

For we have all been at times unlovable and unloved. In the birth of Jesus Christ, we are given a hope of salvation, the hope that his spirit will be in us and the hope of catching our breath.  [__end__]