Tuesday – Feast of the Holy Innocents

Gospel – Matthew2:13-18

Light And Darkness

Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth

 

I’ve pretty much gotten to the point that I dread reading the daily newspaper.  Every day more violence and bloodshed in Chicago!  Not just far from our home but right in the neighborhood, a few blocks away.  And not just a singular event but more and more frequently every week!

“A 15-year-old boy and a 19-year-old woman were wounded in a shooting in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood early Thursday morning, according to Chicago police.  The shooting took place just after midnight in the 5300 block of West Belden. Police say the boy was riding his bicycle and the woman was standing on the street when someone walked up and fired shots.”  (Chicago Tribune)

“Boy, 11, among 2 shot inside Jefferson Park apartment; man charged, Chicago police say. A Northwest Side man is facing two felony gun charges in connection with the shooting Christmas Eve night of two people, including an 11-year-old boy, in Jefferson Park. The shooting took place about 11:35 p.m. in the 5400 block of North Austin Avenue, Chicago police said.  (ABC 7 News)

In the City of Chicago alone, 409 children have been shot thus far in 2021!   57 children have been killed!  Lives abruptly ended too soon!  Young lives, full of promise and hope brought to a tragic end much too soon!  So much violence and darkness that it can be difficult to see the light and appreciate the Christmas Star!

When you consider the daily Gospel readings, it feels as if, just in the last 3 days, we have encountered the highs and lows of emotions.  Christmas, the joy and peace of the birth of the Savior!  Yesterday, on the Feast of the Holy Family, it was all bright with hope and promise. After finding Him in the Temple preaching and teaching at the age of 12, Mary and Joseph take Jesus home to Nazareth where He grows in strength and wisdom and favor with the Lord.

And today we retreat into the darkness of Herod the Great!  He is a ruler obsessed with power and greed.  He had his own sons executed to avoid any threat to his throne.  He is selfish, jealous, spiteful and arrogant; he thinks only of himself.  Like all of us, he has a choice between living in the light or succumbing to the darkness of violence and selfishness. When he is visited by the Magi, he deliberately chooses to be deceitful and dishonest, insisting that he wants to honor the newborn king.  And when he realizes that the Magi have avoided returning to him, he acts in rage and massacres all male infants under the age of two.  It is a horrible and bloody story of a cruel and vengeful ruler who had the chance to embrace the light and selfishly thought only of himself.

We face a similar choice every day – choose light or retreat further into the darkness.  Do we embrace compassion and kindness, forgiveness and selflessness?  Or do we focus only on ourselves with lies, self-pity, regret and jealousy or even violence?  Do we come into the light of the Savior?  Or do we hide in the darkness of our fears?   In the face of all this negativity and distrust, of violence in mind and action – Be The Light!

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that the faith in you which we confess with our lips may also speak through our manner of life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Sunday – 13 th Sunday in Ordinary Time   revisited Gospel – Matthew 10:37-42 The Cost/Rewards of Discipleship Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem I’m holding in my hand a simple piece of paper, barely bigger than an index card.   It’s a mini-golf scorecard and it’s 47 years old.   At the time, the game itself probably cost only about $6.   Certainly a lot less than you would pay today.   So the cost today doesn’t seem like much.   But for me all that time ago, it was a wealth of money.   So it cost me a lot.   But the rewards of the card?   Well, that is priceless.   This was one of the first dates Ginger and I went on.   And who would have guessed how that would turn out?   All the memories we have shared, painful and joyful.   All the times we have shared together and the people who have touched our lives!   Priceless! Cost and reward!   Two vastly different concepts but they play a key role in all of today’s readings.   In the first reading, a rich woman goes out of her way t
Read more
Image
  14 th Sunday in Ordinary Time   revisited Gospel – Matthew 11:25-30 The “Little Ones” Open Market, Jerusalem There’s a story about a rather eccentric teacher who was always looking for creative ways to test (torture) his students.   Sometimes it was crazy project and sometimes it was a wacky exam that tested not just their knowledge but also their experience. So one day he hands out a test, typical normal test, Q/A, except this was the last question.   What’s the name of the school janitor?   One of his students looked at the question and thought – I know he’s short, wears glasses and has light brown hair but how in the world would I know his name?   So he left it blank and turned in his paper. When class was over, he went up to the teacher and asked whether that last question would count in the test grade.   Absolutely, said the teacher.   Throughout your whole life, you will find that every person you cross paths with is important, significant.   They deserve you
Read more
Image
  16 th Sunday in Ordinary Time   revisited Gospel – Matthew 13:24-30 Be Patient, My Child Tied Up in Knots! Many years ago, I remember one summer when it was time for our daughter Jaime to learn how to ride a bicycle.   So I took off the training wheels, she climbed onto the bike and proceeded to take off.   I followed close behind, holding onto the back bumper, trying to keep the bike upright and trying to make sure she didn’t fall.   It was exhausting for both of us.   I thought I was being a good dad by doing everything I could to keep her from falling.   But it didn’t work.   We were both getting frustrated.   Finally, she had had enough and she banished me to sit on the front porch while she worked it out on her own.   It took time and it took a lot of patience, something neither one of us had much of at the start of the process. I was getting impatient with the process and she was getting impatient with me.   Patience was in short supply.   But in the end, patience w
Read more