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● ● ● ● ● Luke 2:16-21●
[__01__] Regarding
Luke 2:16-21 and New Year’s Day 2025.
It is a cliche and common saying to talk
about the passing of time as being rapid. We say that time not only flies, but
even accelerates, speeds up as though God or some pilot is pushing the pedal to
the metal as we go down the runway for takeoff.
In this
regard, the intention and the invention of the New Year's Eve, New York City
Times Square folks, is to show the coming of a new year by the dropping of a
ball at midnight,
I wonder
if the New York City Times Square ball drop could be improved, made to be a bit
more accurate and in line with our passing of time, because in New York City
Times Square, the ball drops at a constant speed, mechanically controlled.
It does
not drop at 9.8 m/sec2 [squared]
= 32 ft/sec2. It's mechanically controlled. The ball does not drop according
to the laws of gravity and physics.
The way
you and I experience time accelerating, and the longer we live, the faster
things seem to go. We naturally have a longing to slow down the passage of
time, to reverse the passage of time, to be time travelers, to turn back the
clock.
[__02__] Over Christmas, , at home with my siblings,
perhaps over the holidays, at home with your siblings and family, we told
stories from the past, stories we have told before, stories we insist on
repeating year after year, if not more frequently.
And if there is even just 1 person in the
room who has not heard every single detail of it before, it is a joy to retell
the entire story.
Telling
a story is one way we hold back time we time travel.
Recently,
we also found a video tape, a VHS video tape, and fortunately, we even had a
VHS video tape and DVD hooked up to the TV so we could play this VHS tape from 30+
years ago. It was my father's 50th birthday surprise party.
Few of us
had seen the tape. I had never seen the tape myself. Watching it was a way to
freeze frame some of the moments in time, and to say, Dad, I can't believe you
made all these people sit through the opening of your gifts. He couldn't
believe it either.
[__03__] In
our Catholic Church calendar and observation of time, every 25th year is
regarded as a Jubilee of Mercy.
Paste
from USCCB website: “The practice of a
jubilee year has ancient roots in the Jewish tradition and evidence for it can
be found in the Old Testament (for example, see Leviticus 25). The jubilee year was called every 50 years and was a time for forgiveness. It stood as a reminder of God's providence
and mercy. The dedication of a year for
this emphasis provided the community with a time to come back into right
relationship with one another and with God.
As the practice of the jubilee year was adopted into the Catholic
Church, these themes of mercy, forgiveness, and solidarity continued [and are
done every 25 years]” (source: https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/new-evangelization/jubilee-of-mercy/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-jubilee-of-mercy#:~:text=The%20jubilee%20year%20was%20called,one%20another%20and%20with%20God.)
[__04__] I'd like to reflect on the message of the gospel that Mary kept things told to her, reflecting on them in her heart. Prayer is a way to hold back time.
There was
a way in which time seemed to get away from the Holy Family. It seemed to get
away from Mary and Joseph, just as Jesus got away from them in her life.
Our Blessed
Mother received many messages told to her reflecting on them in our heart. But most
of these messages were not texts from school telling her how good Jesus's
grades were.
They were messages
predictive and prophetic about the danger for her son and his mission, and one
of them was in the Gospel this past Sunday, Holy Family.
Jesus was apparently
lost. He was not actually lost in the temple, but Mary and Joseph have to go
and find him. He's separated from Mary and Joseph, and they were searching with
great anxiety.
If you had
misplaced the Savior of the world, would you not also be anxious distressed?
Mary and
Joseph had to endure the separation and distance from their 12 year old son.
Jesus’ escape
to and endeavor at the temple was not just a way for Jesus to show off to or to
show the scribes and leaders how smart he was.
Rather, it
was a way for Jesus to experience being on trial and being questioned.
Mary would
have been distressed by this, having been told earlier that her son would be a
sign of contradiction and of her own heart, a sword would pierce.
Yet,
despite being told all this, Mary was a model of hope and reflection on God's
Word in her heart and in prayer, she holds back time.
[__05__] On this January 1, I suggest that one of
the ways we can hold back time is by our reflection on God's mercy and
forgiveness in our lives.
In
biblical history, it's Traditional for the Jewish people to celebrate a Jubilee
of Mercy, a jubilee of forgiveness every 50 years, every half a century.
In the
Catholic Church, we celebrate a Jubilee of Mercy every 25 years, 2025.
It’s always
a good time to reflect on God's mercy, but this is a year of mercy, a jubilee
year of hope, as the Pope Francis proclaimed
[__06__] Do
you I need to be more aware of God's mercy, of our need to repent, to seek
forgiveness for transgressions, for what might trouble our consciences, and
also to reflect on those we might be called to forgive in our lives?
We are
told, in the Gospel, “Your faith has saved you”. Yet when it comes to sin and
forgiveness, we are called to do more than simply believe.
We read in
the Gospel, “repent and believe in the gospel”
And, the
Our Father says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us”
So I
suggest taking this time of the new year, not only as a time of entertainment.
There's many entertaining things between December 31 and January 1, but also a
time of examination of our lives.
Believing
and belonging to the church are good New Year's resolutions, and they are ways
in which we come to change our lives to good, to commit to coming to church
every Sunday, every holy day of obligation.
Choosing
what is the right way is not always obvious. And sometimes come to us, comes to
us through a spirit, an experience of trial and error, of failure and feedback
for what happens.
I’d
like to reflect on this from the writings of John Henry Newman.
There
are examples of this in Jesus’ encounter with those coming to faith in Christ
in his own day. They also did not simply “believers” but they were also
“perceivers” of the need to change.
One
such example is Zacchaeus the Tax Collector. He was a wealthy man who had
profited much by cheating his own neighbors. Yet, he also was experiencing a
change of heart and heard that Jesus was coming into town. It was a sign of
faith that Zacchaeus climbed the tree to see Jesus better and sign of faith
that he talked to Jesus and was personally identified by Jesus. But there was
more, Zacchaeus also repented, promising to pay back 4 times more than what he
had taken dishonestly.
John
Henry Newman describes this as Zacchaeus “trying to turn back time” (John Henry
Newman: “he would fain [gladly] undo the
past”) (Source: https://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume4/sermon7.html)
[__07__] Of
course, it is true that Zacchaeus cannot actually turn back time or undo the
past. You and I cannot undo the past on our own.
(However,
I must also admit I really benefit from computer-based commands of the escape
key, undo, and “cancel” to back out of my errors. In these trivial examples, I
can control what is “saved”).
But,
on the more serious subject of my being saved or you being saved - for eternal
life - we are called to turn to Jesus as our Savior.
