The Best Gift to Give at Christmas

28 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Christmas, Love, Prayer, Uncategorized

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The Adoration of the Magi – Abraham Bloemaert

Merry Christmas everyone! I am blessed to have been able to enjoy the holiday with my family, especially my youngest daughter, Grace, who is home from college, and my oldest daughter, Sara, who arrived on Saturday with her husband, Andy, and our granddaughter, Elsa. I hope yours has been filled with love, too.

Even though you won’t hear Christmas music on the radio any longer; in spite of merchants tempting us to spend our money on “after – Christmas” sales; disregarding the store shelves already stocked with Valentine’s Day candy; and overlooking the Christmas decorations being taken down and stored away, for us Catholics, we are just getting into the swing of Christmas. We still have eight more days to celebrate Christmas before the Epiphany of the Lord. Thus, I have no reservations about posting and sharing my Christmas experience with you today.

My wife, Grace, my mother-in-law, and I attended Christmas Vigil Mass on Thursday night. It was a beautiful mass, the church was decorated perfectly, the choir was almost angelic – all of which provided the perfect setting for the celebration of a reverent occasion, the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Since it was already Christmas when we returned home from Mass, we took a leisurely approach in the morning by sleeping in until about half past seven. The last to rise was Grace. The difference in the level of excitement and anticipation between this child who used to not sleep at all on Christmas Eve night, and the college sophomore she is now, was obvious.

Gift opening was laid back. Gone are the days of wrapping paper and bows being flung everywhere. Our approach this year was more methodical and appreciative. When it was over, we actually remembered from whom we received each gift.

Christmas dinner was a masterpiece! My wife, Melinda, out did herself once again. I could have easily over indulged but I honored the “one-plate” rule (said rule does not restrict how high food may be piled on that one plate). Dessert, however, had to wait a couple hours. And, we were blessed with guests who accepted our invitation for dinner and to share the afternoon with us.

Since Christmas was on Friday, I excused myself for an hour and drove to church for my regularly scheduled weekly Holy hour of Adoration at four o’clock. As I knelt on the prie-dieu and gazed up at the tabernacle, the special-ness of the occasion struck me. There I was, one-on-one, with my Lord, Jesus, on His birthday.

I remembered uttering earlier in the morning when I rolled out of bed, “Good morning, Jesus, and happy birthday!”, but this was much more up close and personal. A casual, “How do you do” and, “Oh, by the way….” didn’t seem fitting.

As I do with all my prayers, I started by giving thanks for the many blessings He bestows upon me, especially the gift of my family and our love for each other. I gave thanks for His love and mercy to me, never deserved but always welcome.

I realized there was a certain amount of irony at work here. It was His birthday, but He was the one giving and I was the one receiving. Nevertheless, I wondered what gifts Jesus was hoping for on this special day.

The first which came to mind was our gratitude for all the gifts He gives to us. I think there are actually two gifts wrapped as one in our gratefulness: our realization that His blessings are indeed gifts given freely through His eternal love for us; and the thankfulness we extend to Him through our prayers.

Another fine birthday present I’m sure He appreciates is seeing our love for each other, especially to the needy and ones less fortunate than ourselves. And, I couldn’t help but think how He must wish we would extend that love throughout the year instead of reserving it for His birthday celebration.

Then, as I continued pondering, the words from the first two lyrics to one of my favorite Christmas songs, Easier (The Song of the Wisemen)¹ by Jason Gray, came to mind:

It’s easier to give a gift of gold

Than to give my heart for another to hold.

It’s easier.

It’s easier to give You the things I do

Than to open my life and let You walk through.

It’s easier.

Do I hide behind my offerings

While You’re hoping for the heart of me?

Am I the only gift

That You long for me to give?

In reflecting upon these words, I realized the most precious gift any of us can give the King of Kings is the gift of our own hearts. And, by extension, the best gift we can give to anyone – our family, friends, and fellow human beings in general – is the same: to step out from hiding behind our material gifts and give what really matters – our heart-felt love.

“Heavenly Father, please help me to be grateful for all your gifts, and to give the gift that really matters – my heart – to You, my family and to all Your children throughout the entire year. Amen.”

(The Best Gift to Give at Christmas was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)

©2015 Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reposting and sharing of material in its full and original content is permitted, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author(s) and Reflections of a Lay Catholic.

From the Archives – Sts. Joachim and Anne: The Perfect Grandparents

08 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Faith, Grace, Mary, Saints, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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Faith, Grace, HolySpirit, St. Anne, St. Joachim, the Immaculate Conception of Mary

Sts__Joachim_and_Anna_CNA_World_Catholic_News_7_6_11

Saints Joachim and Anne

Today, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I remembered this post from a year ago. In it I pondered what it may have been like to conceive, nurture and raise our Blessed Mother from the perspective of her parents, Saints Joachim and Anne.

(Reprinted from 14 December 2014)

I know it’s been six days since the Feast of the Immaculate Conception but I’m going to write about it anyway. That’s because I learned a few things that day and I want to share them with you. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I thought the Immaculate Conception of Mary was when Jesus was immaculately conceived in Mary. When I discovered I was wrong, I learned I wasn’t alone – many cradle Catholics don’t know that it does not commemorate the immaculate conception of Jesus in Mary, which is actually the Annunciation, but, instead, the immaculate conception of Mary herself.

After Mass last Monday evening, I had a chance to talk to our Deacon. I asked him, “If Mary needed to be immaculately conceived to be the mother of Jesus, then did Mary’s mother need to be immaculately conceived to bear Mary?” He explained the difference between the two. With Jesus, Mary was a virgin and God was the father (Luke 1:35 – And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”). But, Mary was conceived in the normal human fashion by the union of her parents, St. Joaquim (´Jō´·ə·kim) and St. Anne, but was made immaculate by God at the very moment of her conception.

On Tuesday, I happened to watch a video of the A Cappella group, Pentatonix, sing the Christmas song Mary Did You Know (written by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene, 1991). The song lyrics ask questions such as, “Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?”

Thinking about this, I took the question back one generation and wondered if Mary’s mother, Anne, had any idea when she gave birth to her beautiful and pure daughter that Mary would eventually give birth to the Son of God? Did Mary tell her mother and father about her encounter with the angel Gabriel and that she had given her fiat, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)? Did Anne and Joaquim, along with Joseph, hide pregnant Mary in the village of Nazareth to protect her from their society’s custom of stoning? What influence did Anne and Joaquim have upon Jesus as he grew from an infant into a young man?

I kind of knew that Sts. Joaquim and Anne were the parents of Mary but I wanted to find out more about them. I discovered that their names are not mentioned in the Bible and there is actually no concrete, historical evidence telling us about them. What is believed was handed down as tradition with sufficient authority that the early Church accepted it as the truth.

One document that supports that tradition is the Gospel of James. While Church scholars accept that there may be parts of this infancy gospel (a story written to satisfy the desire of the early Christians to know more about the early life of Christ) which are true, they have established that it was written in the middle of the second century (c. AD 145) and, thus, was not inspired by God and is not completely reliable, or, as we say these days, “isn’t the gospel”.

Another document that supports the legend of Sts. Joaquim and Anne being the parents of Mary is the book The Mystical City of God, written by a Spanish nun, the Venerable Mother Mary Jesus of Agreda (1602-1665). Sister Mary Jesus of Agreda received spiritual revelations from Our Lady about Herself and Jesus and then recorded them in her book. While The Mystical City of God is not biblical, and has often been disputed, it did, in 1949, receive the Imprimatur of the Church, declaring that the work is free from error in matters of Catholic doctrine and morals.

Both documents support that Mary was made immaculate by God immediately upon her conception. Because Sts. Joaquim and Anne, after being married for twenty years and unable to bear children, had their prayers answered, they raised their daughter, Mary, as a consecrated temple virgin and she remained unstained and free of sin her entire life.

As for my questions, I can only speculate. But, there was a certain spiritual satisfaction in contemplating the answers.

I doubt Sts. Anne and Joaquim had any idea when they discovered they were going to be parents that they would one day be the grandparents of the Lord. But, because they had longed for years to have a child, I’m sure they loved Mary immensely and nurtured her such that her destiny of one day being the Mother of God would be fulfilled.

I’m sure their faith in God helped them believe their daughter as she related to them her encounter with the angel Gabriel. And, I’m sure they were in wonder, if not fear, when Mary told them she had assented to bear the child who would “rule over the house of Jacob forever” (Luke 1: 33)

I imagine that in the town of Nazareth, a village of probably no more than a hundred or so people, many of whom were most likely related, it could have been difficult to hide the fact that Mary was pregnant. I’d bet there were some tense days and sleepless nights as they discussed what to do.

I imagine that Mary loved, cared for, and nurtured Jesus by following the example set for her by her own parents.

And then, finally, I’m sure that the strength, courage, and will that Mary had to have to keep believing as she watched her son being crucified had to be a result of the strong faith instilled in her by her parents and further strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

I can only imagine what might have happened. But, there’s one thing I’m sure of: God had a plan from the beginning. In it, He cherry-picked all the players, beginning with Joaquim and Anne, blessed them and filled them with His grace, and then sat back and watched them carry it out perfectly.

Today, two thousand years later, are we honoring, through thankful prayer, the execution of His wonderful plan and its ultimate, divine creation, our Lord, Jesus Christ?

“Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of Your Son, who, by the power of the Holy Spirit saved His own Mother from the stain of original sin and, thus, ensured she would join Him in Heaven, body and soul, at Your throne. I pray that, through my baptism and Your continuing grace, I may one day join Your family. Amen.”

(The post From the Archives – Saints Joachim and Anne: The Perfect Grandparents was first published on Reflections of a Lay Catholic.)

©2014, 2015 Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reposting and sharing of material in its full and original content is permitted, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author(s) and Reflections of a Lay Catholic.

Receiving God’s Love

03 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Bible Reflections, Faith, Hope, Prayer, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

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Faith, God-moments, Hope, Prayer

P.Veronese, Gottvater - P.Veronese / God the Father -

-God the Father, Paolo Veronese

Prior to last week’s post, Happy Thanksgiving!, I had gone two months without writing, the longest break I’ve ever taken between posts. I thought that perhaps I was simply stumped on how to express myself through my words. Then I realized I had no words to express. No, the problem was not articulation; the problem was a lack of inspiration. On several occasions I tried to force myself to write – fingers anxiously poised on the keyboard, gently tapping the keys – but nothing flowed to them from my brain. No ideas. Nada.

A couple weeks ago I realized this lack of inspiration coincided with something else that had me concerned – a noticeable dryness in my faith, a feeling of alone-ness. I could not recollect having had a “God-moment” (an instance when I particularly feel God working in my life) since the one I wrote about two months ago. I thought I must be doing something wrong. So, in addition to more fervent prayer, I prayed for inspiration. But, nothing appeared to change.

One of the good things about being Christian is the gift of Hope given to us by Jesus Christ. We keep Hope alive in our hearts for that long-term promise of everlasting life. And, in the short-term, it helps keep wind in our sails when we might otherwise feel adrift at sea. It helps us to not give up.

On the night of Thursday, 19 November, I had plans to attend my bi-weekly men’s faith sharing group meeting. Actually, it was one of two meetings planned for that night, the other being an Ultreya meeting, and I had to choose between one or the other. I chose the men’s group because it seems I have become the de facto leader of that group. However, after my friend, at whose house we were to meet, called and said he could not host, I cancelled the meeting.

This, of course, then freed me to go to the monthly Ultreya meeting at which I would share with other Cursillo alumni my steps to keep piety in my daily life, what I have been studying to learn more about my faith, and what actions I’ve taken to bring others to Christ. I considered not going because I would have to fess up that, excepting my daily prayer and a little effort at studying, I hadn’t done much of anything with respect to action. But, that underlying feeling of Hope told me I should go, that I shouldn’t give up.

Our meetings begin with a meditation and a personal reflection. We then break into small groups of three or four for sharing. I found myself in a group with a dear friend who, along with her husband, has become more or less a spiritual mentor for me.

During our conversation, my friend asked me how God had been working in my life recently. I know I gave her a sheepish look and replied that I was in a dry spell. I said that although my study had eased somewhat and my prayer life was good, my actions were not what they ought to be and it had me bothered. I confessed I had been feeling discouraged and as though I wasn’t being the disciple that I should be. My friend told me to not worry but just remember that God loves me. I thanked her.

A couple hours later as I was getting ready to retire for the night, I prayed telling God that I know He loves me but I’d especially like for Him to help me feel His loving presence. I reiterated that prayer when I woke on Friday morning.

I have developed the habit of taking time in the mornings (well, most mornings) to read the daily scripture and to read the reflections in two daily devotionals: St. Augustine – Day by Day, and Jesus Calling – Enjoying Peace in His Presence¹. On this Friday, the 20^th (actually, my first time to read from them in a few days), I read the following from Jesus Calling:

“I am pleased with you, My child. Allow yourself to become fully aware of My pleasure shining upon you. You don’t have to perform well in order to receive My Love. In fact, a performance focus will pull you away from Me, toward some sort of Pharisaism. This can be a subtle form of idolatry: worshiping your own good works. It can also be a source of deep discouragement when your works don’t measure up to your expectations. (Underlined for emphasis).

Shift your focus from your performance to My radiant Presence. The Light of My Love shines on you continually, regardless of your feelings or behavior. Your responsibility is to be receptive to this unconditional Love. Thankfulness and trust are your primary receptors. Thank Me for everything; trust in Me at all times. These simple disciplines will keep you open to My loving Presence.” [Compiled from Ephesians 2:8-9 & 3:16-19; Psalm 62:8]

I read those two paragraphs two or three times. I read the chapters and verses from which they were gleaned. They were meant for me! I bowed my head and I prayed giving thanks to Him for making easy something which, in my disparagement, I had made so difficult. My focus was inward and on me rather than on Him. I simply needed to take time to bask in His Love, and accept that He is always there.

I had to wonder if my friend knew what I would find in Jesus Calling on Friday, 20 November. But, I knew she didn’t. What she knew, however, was that Jesus is there when you need Him and call upon Him. And, in her kind words of, “Remember, God loves you”, she gave my faith a shot in the arm that I needed to bring me back. And, when I came back, God didn’t disappoint.

“Dear Loving God, thank You for drawing me back to You and helping me to rediscover Your loving Presence. Thank You for instilling in me Your Hope and not letting me give up. And, thank You for placing loving friends in my life who, through their strong faith, encourage me to live mine. Amen.”

(The post, Receiving God’s Love, was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)