Ms. Jenny Cafiso, the Director of Canadian Jesuits International (CJI), wrote a wonderful Christmas appeal this year. The appeal is headed with a verse from the Gospel for the Midnight Mass for Christmas: "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."...
It's probably only in our own imaginations – I doubt that even Hollywood's special effects could do it justice – only in our own imaginations could we see that almost unbelievable scene that took place all those centuries ago and which is described in the Christmas Gospel so simply: "And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host, praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those he favours."...
The Huron Carol is attributed to the Jesuit missionary and martyr, Jean de Brébeuf, and was first heard at Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons in 1643. Brébeuf based the melody on a French folk song and wrote the words in Huron/Wendat. The original title is "Jesus Ahatonnia" and is translated as "Jesus, he is born."Here are the lyrics in both Wyandot and in English. After the lyrics is a video link to the carol sung by Heather Dale in Wyandot, English and French....
The Church to which we belong has always lived in a surrounding culture, with which it has no choice but to interact. The Church is essentially the same down through the centuries and in all parts of the world, but often its practices and observances take on different hues and feelings because the culture of the people is different. This applies to Advent and Christmas....
Women and men around the world find solace in Mary, the Mother of God. Our prayer to her cuts across cultures, lifestyle and age. I know many people who would say they do not practice faith, yet so often when someone close to them gets sick or dies, they grab a rosary and start a simple prayer. There is comfort in the simplicity and rhythmic pattern of the beads. Perhaps it gives them peace at a time when worry comes so naturally. We place great hope in Mary's intercession in our lives or in the lives of those close to us....
During Advent we are often invited to prepare for the three comings of Christ. Two of the comings are very easily detected in the liturgical texts of this season. Many texts invite us to reenact the long journey of the chosen people as they waited for the coming of the one who would save them. How often we have savoured the beautiful prophecies the Church proposes for us, especially those from Isaiah. They point to the Saviour's coming in majesty and to God's decisive intervention to set things right....
Some years ago, I was presiding at the Wednesday evening Eucharist at Ignatius Farm Community in Guelph, Ontario. It doesn't exist anymore, but the Farm Community was very much in the spirit of L'Arche, the international network of communities for the handicapped. The Farm Community had its roots in a desire to provide a safe environment for men who had come out of prison. It evolved over the years and comprised of two houses for a diversity of women and men who needed a welcoming community....
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. We hear these words from the prophet Isaiah on the Second Sunday of Advent. These scripture verses offer a good summary of the Judeo-Christian call to be with those who are in need, to comfort and show compassion. This is probably best summed up by the well-known words from Matthew 25. "When was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?"...
Yikes! It's only the first week of December and I'm already suffering from an overdose of yule. It's only the first week of December and I'm already suffering from an overdose of yule. Barely a minute goes by before someone, from Mercedes Benz to Victoria's Secret, tries to twist my Christmas goodwill into cash at the till. Santa Claus is more common than the cold, and any turkey that survived Thanksgiving is sure to be done like dinner by December 25....
The 19th century Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, has a line in Hurrahing in Harvest that resonates with me as we come to the beginning of Advent. Hopkins says: These things, these things were here and but the beholder wanting." Although it's an autumn poem, that sense of beholding is a good grace for us to pray for in these opening days of Advent."...
