This Advent, I was blessed to speak to parish members about Mary - who she is as icon and tabernacle... I'd like to share my thoughts with you in a very edited version - edited for content since it is no longer Advent, and for length, since I already will need to put the talk in 2 parts. While we are moving on in the Church's year to the new year, we are on the cusp of celebrating the Solemnity of Mary on Jan. 1st - so it is, as ever, a pertinent time to reflect on what it means to be Marian.Thank you for reading, and I encourage you to share your thoughts and reflections!
(Part 2 of 2)
Art is very important to our understanding of iconic things. I want so much to share with you one of my favorite pieces; a somewhat unusual painting by
William Kurelek, who converted to Catholicism in the mid 1950s. The Donkey Carrying God The picture is Mary’s journey to Bethlehem, although instead of the human person of Mary, we see a tabernacle, veil pulled aside to reveal Christ within. Again, this is an artist’s imagination, and hopefully it will make us think. It reveals a truth about Mary – that in a very real sense, she is the First Tabernacle, since her womb was the first home to the Christ child; she "tabernacled" Christ (Sheen).
This is a fascinating prospect for us about the goodness of the body. God asked Mary to make a home for Him in her body, and she said yes. For all those months, she nurtured Him from her very own self, and protected Him under her heart. In stark contrast to the Christmas story, where no one had room for Mary and her family, Mary made room in her very body so Christ could live and grow in her.
This also points us back again to the Old Testament, to the Ark of the Covenant, where God dwelled within. In Exodus we read that “”the cloud of the Lord came upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (ex. 40:34-35) This should sound familiar from the New Testament. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Lord will overshadow you.” (Lk. 1) And so Mary becomes the Ark of the NEW Covenant, which is for us, the Tabernacle, that place where Christ resides.
So we come back to the idea of Mary as an icon of Church, who represents God’s people from all time. She acts as a representative of each of us, and a model of the new covenant between God and humankind. Therefore we, too, are called to be, in a certain sense, living tabernacles. We too receive Christ into our very bodies. This of course tells us something about our own bodies, and how good they are that Christ comes to dwell in us!
We too, are called to nurture our relationship with Him, to let Him grow in our hearts. And in a very real way, we are called to Prepare Him Room.
Perhaps this analogy of pregnancy is a good one for us, even for the men in the room. If we can imagine, just for a moment, that we have received the Holy Spirit – which we have in the Sacraments – if we can think about Christ coming into our lives and our bodies – as He does in the Eucharist – and if we can then imagine what comes next. If we nurture Christ, he will grow in us. If He grows in us, others will see Him in us. If others see Him in us, they will also want to come, like the shepherds and the wise men, to worship Him.
When a woman is pregnant- very pregnant- you can’t really ignore it. Everyone can see the shape of her form, and everyone knows, just by looking, that she is nurturing someone within her, that she is waiting with hope and expectation for that life to grow in her, and enter the world.
This becomes a shared experience for anyone who knows her, and everyone who sees her. Mary is an example to us of that shared experience as well. The first thing she does after finding herself with child is go to visit her cousin Elizabeth to share the good news. This social act blesses not only Elizabeth, but also the unborn baby John the Baptist. And Elizabeth looks at Mary, feels John’s bodily response, and acknowledges Mary’s relationship to Christ Himself, saying “who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
We can live our faith in the same way in our lives, and Advent is the time to consider this.
• How do I make room in my life for Christ?
• How do I nurture Him, and my relationship with Him?
• How do I live so that others see Him growing inside me?
• In what way is my life with Christ shared as a social act, in communion?
• Do I try to hide, or do I glow with that Life?
And make no mistake- whether you’re a mother carrying a baby or a father waiting for the birth, a sibling getting ready to share your home… making space can be hard. A mother’s body has to stretch and change. A father has to prepare for sleepless nights and feedings and diapers. A sibling has to share the space that was always only theirs. It’s a challenge, living this call, but it is one that ends in salvation.
If Mary is the model, the icon for us of who we are meant to be, then how do we model her yes?
If Mary is a Tabernacle, ready to make her life a home for Christ, how do we also become a living Tabernacle?
So we continue this new year in Hope and Expectation. Hopeful that we may bring Christ to others, Expectant with the life and love of the Child who redeems and loves us.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Musings on Mary Part 1: Icon
This Advent, I was blessed to speak to parish members about Mary - who she is as icon and tabernacle... I'd like to share my thoughts with you in a very edited version - edited for content since it is no longer Advent, and for length, since I already will need to put the talk in 2 parts. While we are moving on in the Church's year to the new year, we are on the cusp of celebrating the Solemnity of Mary on Jan. 1st - so it is, as ever, a pertinent time to reflect on what it means to be Marian.Thank you for reading, and I encourage you to share your thoughts and reflections!
(Part 1 of 2)
I’d like for us, in the broadest sense, to consider Mary as ICON. What does this mean?
For those of you who are a little older perhaps, have an artistic sense or a background in the Eastern Church, you will recognize the image of Our Lady of Czestocheowa as an icon. This is from my trip to Poland many years ago. These kinds of icons are considered not to be “just a painting” but rather a window of sorts to Heaven. They are something small and tangible that communicates something much bigger. We don’t see all of Heaven here. We don’t see much more than Mary with baby Jesus. But we are meant to see this picture as something that points beyond itself. The robes signify the Queenship of Mary, the small star on her brow is the reference to the woman with a crown of stars, this shows the relationship between the Creator and Creation, to the nurturing nature of Mary, and Christ’s intimacy with her. That’s a lot from one picture.
For those of you who are more technically inclined, who don’t really care about art, or who maybe are a little younger and don’t have much interest in that kind of icon, we have another one. You all recognize the little white bird on a blue square. It’s usually a tiny image on your ipad or smartphone. But it also is an ICON. It also points to something much, much bigger. In this case, the tiny white bird on the small blue square means an endless network of people communicating. It means connecting globally, sharing thoughts and feelings, and what you just ate for dinner. It’s a way for people to sell things, interact on blogs, get world news. It points beyond itself to something much, much greater.
Mary is also an icon. She is the small but recognizable woman, who points us directly to Christ. She is the creature who we know is in Heaven, with a human body and a human soul. She is the one who stands for us all, as Church. Mary is the icon of Church because she is the first one of us to meet Christ, and devote her life to Him. In this way she points us to him.
Her motherhood brings Christ to birth again and again, as we are all called.
And she offers all of us a new dimension of how to live as one of Christ’s followers. She shares with all of us her motherhood.
In his letter on Mary as Mother of the Redeemer, Blessed John Paul II reminds us of the reading we read tonight: Mary in her visit to her cousin Elizabeth. When Elizabeth sees her, she says: “Blessed is she who believed”. This is key to understanding how Mary represents us.
First of all, this places Mary in a long list of believers who have handed us the legacy of faith, such as Abraham. John Paul II says that while Abraham’s faith is the beginning of the Old covenant, it is Mary’s faith that is the beginning of the New Covenant. While Abraham is an icon of the Jewish faith, in his fatherhood of the nations, Mary is the icon of our Christian church, in her motherhood.
Second of all, we too are blessed to believe. As Christ said to Thomas “blessed are they who have not seen, and still believe.” We encounter in ourselves these ties to Mary who leads us in our belief. She journeyed to Bethlehem to bring Christ into the world. We join her in our own journey of faith, to realize Christ more tangibly, because as Christians, we journey – not alone- but in community. This is our legacy as Church, as we also join in communion with those who have believed, will believe, and believe still.
(Part 1 of 2)
I’d like for us, in the broadest sense, to consider Mary as ICON. What does this mean?
For those of you who are a little older perhaps, have an artistic sense or a background in the Eastern Church, you will recognize the image of Our Lady of Czestocheowa as an icon. This is from my trip to Poland many years ago. These kinds of icons are considered not to be “just a painting” but rather a window of sorts to Heaven. They are something small and tangible that communicates something much bigger. We don’t see all of Heaven here. We don’t see much more than Mary with baby Jesus. But we are meant to see this picture as something that points beyond itself. The robes signify the Queenship of Mary, the small star on her brow is the reference to the woman with a crown of stars, this shows the relationship between the Creator and Creation, to the nurturing nature of Mary, and Christ’s intimacy with her. That’s a lot from one picture.
For those of you who are more technically inclined, who don’t really care about art, or who maybe are a little younger and don’t have much interest in that kind of icon, we have another one. You all recognize the little white bird on a blue square. It’s usually a tiny image on your ipad or smartphone. But it also is an ICON. It also points to something much, much bigger. In this case, the tiny white bird on the small blue square means an endless network of people communicating. It means connecting globally, sharing thoughts and feelings, and what you just ate for dinner. It’s a way for people to sell things, interact on blogs, get world news. It points beyond itself to something much, much greater.
Mary is also an icon. She is the small but recognizable woman, who points us directly to Christ. She is the creature who we know is in Heaven, with a human body and a human soul. She is the one who stands for us all, as Church. Mary is the icon of Church because she is the first one of us to meet Christ, and devote her life to Him. In this way she points us to him.
Her motherhood brings Christ to birth again and again, as we are all called.
And she offers all of us a new dimension of how to live as one of Christ’s followers. She shares with all of us her motherhood.
In his letter on Mary as Mother of the Redeemer, Blessed John Paul II reminds us of the reading we read tonight: Mary in her visit to her cousin Elizabeth. When Elizabeth sees her, she says: “Blessed is she who believed”. This is key to understanding how Mary represents us.
First of all, this places Mary in a long list of believers who have handed us the legacy of faith, such as Abraham. John Paul II says that while Abraham’s faith is the beginning of the Old covenant, it is Mary’s faith that is the beginning of the New Covenant. While Abraham is an icon of the Jewish faith, in his fatherhood of the nations, Mary is the icon of our Christian church, in her motherhood.
Second of all, we too are blessed to believe. As Christ said to Thomas “blessed are they who have not seen, and still believe.” We encounter in ourselves these ties to Mary who leads us in our belief. She journeyed to Bethlehem to bring Christ into the world. We join her in our own journey of faith, to realize Christ more tangibly, because as Christians, we journey – not alone- but in community. This is our legacy as Church, as we also join in communion with those who have believed, will believe, and believe still.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Most Wonderful Time of the Year?
It's Christmas week, and I am finally going to have a chance to watch a few movies while finishing up wrapping. It's finally that time when I can get the "little Christmas" I have been desiring.
The television is still part of the everyday countdown to Christmas. Some of what is offered is really great - like the 24 hours of A Christmas Story, which ensures that I sit and relax with my husband every single year, after the chaos of nieces and nephews and presents. We both tear up every single year at that scene where the parents are sitting close in the bay window, watching the tree and the snow, comforted and comfortable, sharing the love and the silent night.
It's unfortunate to me that all the Christmas specials, now primarily "holiday" specials, for the sitcoms and series of the year, are already long past. And though the commercials are largely annoying with a capital A, some are clever or sweet enough to make me a little more happy. (I adore the Target commercial with Santa booking it to the store to the tune of Carol of the Bells.)
But with good and bad and indifferent, I was chilled by the advertisment that consists of 30 seconds of a young beautiful woman wracked with tears, with "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" playing throughout. The scene cuts away, and reveals it's a commercial for the new season of The Bachelor.
This is sick.
I admit, I don't watch this show, and I find the concept not just tacky but irredeemable. That is not to judge anyone else who watches. I have my own guilty pleasures... though I still don't know what the appeal of this one really is.
However, if the commercial is any indication, the audience is supposed to be scintillated in some way by shallow, broken-hearted women, who have been rejected in public for just not being good enough, sexy enough, perfect enough. Sure, these women sign up for the show, get paid, make the choice. But seriously - in this century - we are using women's broken hearts as amusement? The ad makes me angry. Angry that these hearts are exploited for ratings. Angry that it is acceptable, somehow, for women to be used and tossed aside based on some man's whim. Angry that the ad execs could pair such a cheerful song about the joy of family and holiday and love with such pathetic creatures - as if we are supposed to find joy in their suffering. How unconsionable.
I had to write about this. I had to respond, somehow, though completely inadequately. Women who think this is entertaining - please ask yourselves why this is ok. Men who think this is ok... well, let women know so they can run away. Especially you beautiful single folks out there, who desire love and commitment. Run.
In this season of joy, this time when we remember, and experience again and eternally the magnificent love of the Word made Flesh - we should begin to understand more fully the complete impossibility of God's love for us, to look at the ways that our bodies have been...far from rejected... rather, redeemed and made precious. We should be reminded of the beauty of the gift of self, the freedom of communion and community, and the intimate, committed, gentle and generous reality of human Love, that glimmers in reflection of the Father for His creation.
This IS the most wonderful time of the year. But it is because we have been Chosen. We are blessed and redeemed. We are Beloved.
So my anger is on the shelf for now. I never have to accept what is being offered on tv. And there is no better way to celebrate the season of joy than to rest in my relationship with the one who Loves me.
The television is still part of the everyday countdown to Christmas. Some of what is offered is really great - like the 24 hours of A Christmas Story, which ensures that I sit and relax with my husband every single year, after the chaos of nieces and nephews and presents. We both tear up every single year at that scene where the parents are sitting close in the bay window, watching the tree and the snow, comforted and comfortable, sharing the love and the silent night.
It's unfortunate to me that all the Christmas specials, now primarily "holiday" specials, for the sitcoms and series of the year, are already long past. And though the commercials are largely annoying with a capital A, some are clever or sweet enough to make me a little more happy. (I adore the Target commercial with Santa booking it to the store to the tune of Carol of the Bells.)
But with good and bad and indifferent, I was chilled by the advertisment that consists of 30 seconds of a young beautiful woman wracked with tears, with "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" playing throughout. The scene cuts away, and reveals it's a commercial for the new season of The Bachelor.
This is sick.
I admit, I don't watch this show, and I find the concept not just tacky but irredeemable. That is not to judge anyone else who watches. I have my own guilty pleasures... though I still don't know what the appeal of this one really is.
However, if the commercial is any indication, the audience is supposed to be scintillated in some way by shallow, broken-hearted women, who have been rejected in public for just not being good enough, sexy enough, perfect enough. Sure, these women sign up for the show, get paid, make the choice. But seriously - in this century - we are using women's broken hearts as amusement? The ad makes me angry. Angry that these hearts are exploited for ratings. Angry that it is acceptable, somehow, for women to be used and tossed aside based on some man's whim. Angry that the ad execs could pair such a cheerful song about the joy of family and holiday and love with such pathetic creatures - as if we are supposed to find joy in their suffering. How unconsionable.
I had to write about this. I had to respond, somehow, though completely inadequately. Women who think this is entertaining - please ask yourselves why this is ok. Men who think this is ok... well, let women know so they can run away. Especially you beautiful single folks out there, who desire love and commitment. Run.
In this season of joy, this time when we remember, and experience again and eternally the magnificent love of the Word made Flesh - we should begin to understand more fully the complete impossibility of God's love for us, to look at the ways that our bodies have been...far from rejected... rather, redeemed and made precious. We should be reminded of the beauty of the gift of self, the freedom of communion and community, and the intimate, committed, gentle and generous reality of human Love, that glimmers in reflection of the Father for His creation.
This IS the most wonderful time of the year. But it is because we have been Chosen. We are blessed and redeemed. We are Beloved.
So my anger is on the shelf for now. I never have to accept what is being offered on tv. And there is no better way to celebrate the season of joy than to rest in my relationship with the one who Loves me.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Virgin, Martyr, and Female
Yesterday was the feast of one of my favorie childhood saints, Saint Lucy. I went through a phase as a girl when I actually wore the candles on my head on her feast day and made a special breakfast. I have never claimed to have had a normal childhood...
One of the honorific titles for our saints is "virgin". It often is paired, as in St. Lucy's case, with "martyr". I grew up, and if you are Catholic, so did you, hearing these words together, and really thinking nothing of them. Lucy, virgin and martyr, Ursula, virgin and martyr, Agnes, virgin and martyr. Even today, I was pointed to this chilling and courageous modern day tale. (Thank you, Nun Blog. And as an ardent Catholic feminist, I am proud and grateful that we honor those women who have stood up for themselves, and all they believe in, even accepting death rather than give in to a man's oppressions.
So I rather surprised myself yesterday when the lightbulb sputtered and lit in my brain. There are no men who have been given this title. Really. No male saints with the honor of "virgin"... or "virgin and martyr."
Clearly, this is not to remotely suggest there aren't many, perhaps thousands of Catholic saints who are male who have died as virgins, as celibates, as men committed to chaste celibacy. I do realize that many of the women who earned the title did so because of their heroic effort to resist rape, reject men who demanded they forswear the faith, or openly protect their chastity. Perhaps there are no stories at all of men put in a position to act in kind.
But I know men in the 21st century who are young, single, good looking, intelligent, faithful, chaste and virgins. Part of choosing a faith that is deep and grounded is choosing to treat women, girlfriends, fiancees with the respect they deserve and wait for sex. They fight the temptations of pornography, or cheap thrills, or one-night stands. And from what I understand, 21st century USA is pale in comparison with the excesses of 1st century Rome, where people shagged anything that moved, in the streets, without excuse or shame.
I know that in the last decade or so, the norm of men pressuring women into sex has its counterpart. Many men find themselves in the same position, where confident and insecure high school and college and young adult women manipulate sex to get the love they desire, and men who may have been well trained not to pressure them find themselves doing more than they wished for. Perhaps this is the first time in history that this behavior is commonplace. But perhaps it is just this time in history that it has light shed on it. I don't know.
Most of all, however, I feel an urge to say that this is an injustice on our part as church not to honor the chastity of unmarried men through the ages who made a concious and intentional decision to keep their bodies virginal until that time when they could be given in total self gift in holy union. And if this is a matter of conforming to the norms of the age, then shame on us for conforming once again instead of transforming the culture.
Maybe I'm totally off base here. Maybe the virginity of men isn't valuable, or honorable or a choice. Maybe virginity is only important when you have to fight someone off to protect it. But I don't think so. I think that the fight goes on, every day, even today, among our men and women who believe their bodies have dignity, that the union of men and women is holy, that there is an incomparable gift in that total gift of self which merits waiting for marriage, for sacramental love.
And I hope that someday we not only honor those women who- incredibly and courageously- defended their virginity even to death! but also those men (and women) who defended the dignity of their bodies in all the small and large choices of college and parties, in alehouses and chapels, on street corners and web surfing, until they were able to fully give themselves over in marriage, in their vows of celibacy, or in their final return to God.
One of the honorific titles for our saints is "virgin". It often is paired, as in St. Lucy's case, with "martyr". I grew up, and if you are Catholic, so did you, hearing these words together, and really thinking nothing of them. Lucy, virgin and martyr, Ursula, virgin and martyr, Agnes, virgin and martyr. Even today, I was pointed to this chilling and courageous modern day tale. (Thank you, Nun Blog. And as an ardent Catholic feminist, I am proud and grateful that we honor those women who have stood up for themselves, and all they believe in, even accepting death rather than give in to a man's oppressions.
So I rather surprised myself yesterday when the lightbulb sputtered and lit in my brain. There are no men who have been given this title. Really. No male saints with the honor of "virgin"... or "virgin and martyr."
Clearly, this is not to remotely suggest there aren't many, perhaps thousands of Catholic saints who are male who have died as virgins, as celibates, as men committed to chaste celibacy. I do realize that many of the women who earned the title did so because of their heroic effort to resist rape, reject men who demanded they forswear the faith, or openly protect their chastity. Perhaps there are no stories at all of men put in a position to act in kind.
But I know men in the 21st century who are young, single, good looking, intelligent, faithful, chaste and virgins. Part of choosing a faith that is deep and grounded is choosing to treat women, girlfriends, fiancees with the respect they deserve and wait for sex. They fight the temptations of pornography, or cheap thrills, or one-night stands. And from what I understand, 21st century USA is pale in comparison with the excesses of 1st century Rome, where people shagged anything that moved, in the streets, without excuse or shame.
I know that in the last decade or so, the norm of men pressuring women into sex has its counterpart. Many men find themselves in the same position, where confident and insecure high school and college and young adult women manipulate sex to get the love they desire, and men who may have been well trained not to pressure them find themselves doing more than they wished for. Perhaps this is the first time in history that this behavior is commonplace. But perhaps it is just this time in history that it has light shed on it. I don't know.
Most of all, however, I feel an urge to say that this is an injustice on our part as church not to honor the chastity of unmarried men through the ages who made a concious and intentional decision to keep their bodies virginal until that time when they could be given in total self gift in holy union. And if this is a matter of conforming to the norms of the age, then shame on us for conforming once again instead of transforming the culture.
Maybe I'm totally off base here. Maybe the virginity of men isn't valuable, or honorable or a choice. Maybe virginity is only important when you have to fight someone off to protect it. But I don't think so. I think that the fight goes on, every day, even today, among our men and women who believe their bodies have dignity, that the union of men and women is holy, that there is an incomparable gift in that total gift of self which merits waiting for marriage, for sacramental love.
And I hope that someday we not only honor those women who- incredibly and courageously- defended their virginity even to death! but also those men (and women) who defended the dignity of their bodies in all the small and large choices of college and parties, in alehouses and chapels, on street corners and web surfing, until they were able to fully give themselves over in marriage, in their vows of celibacy, or in their final return to God.
Monday, December 12, 2011
More thoughts on Santa
The other day we had some family guests in to help trim the tree. Of course, in my world you can't have guests without things like cheese and crackers, some kind of meat like soppresata, maybe some hummus, grapes, an apple slice or two. So later that evening, when I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner, and he replied "that meat and cheese" it was just a natural comeback to quote the line from ELF: "You're not Santa! You smell like beef and cheese!"
How much we take for granted that children who believe in Santa have a kind of deeper recognition of all that means. I mean, in the case of the movie, the elf knows the smell of him. And the elves symbolize all that is innocent and childish in the world. Santa becomes not just a real person for our kids, but blossoms for adults into something (as Dr. Seuss says) just a bit more.
One of my other nephews is at that crucial point in his life where he wants desperately to believe in Santa, but I think his own understanding of the world, and maybe comments from kids at school, is prompting him to question.
It's a miserable place to be in, as an adult. You see how happy the concept of Santa makes him. You want him to be a child as long as he can in a world where his interactions are mostly with adults, and where society is forcing our kids to age too quickly. You hope that he has the capacity for fantasy, and belief, and imagination. But you also deeply fear that some kid- whether obnoxious or well-meaning- at school is going to burst the bubble, shatter the dream, kill the hope and the expectation of what Santa can mean to a little boy.
He wrote a letter to Santa again this year. It listed all the things he hopes to get for Christmas. Included in the list, among the video games and bey blades, is a request for "three bean bag chairs". Why three? So his two cousins can sit with him to play racing games on the xbox when they come over to visit. His sincerity and generosity warmed my heart. And then I read on.
"p.s." I was a good boy this year.
"p.p.s." Please wake me up when you get here.
This Advent, what are our hopes and expectations? Are we also looking back on the year to reflect on who we have been, on the merits of our actions, the attitudes of our hearts?
More than that. Maybe it's not really about Santa, but there's an underlying Truth even in the Santa phenomenon. In just a few weeks, Christ comes. He has come, is coming, will come again. And all I can think is that I want to be awake when He gets here too. I want to live in the expectation that -yes- he will be born again on that day. And -yes- he is coming here, to me, to us, again. And -yes- I want to be AWAKE when He comes this year... not lulled into a sense of comfortable ritual or blase gestures.
Perhaps this is a good time for us adults to check our own sense of smell, as it were. Maybe it's not a Santa, peppermint-and-eggnog kind of smell we await. But perhaps there is a smell of holiness that can awaken our senses, if we only are alert enough to recognize it, with the same longing and openness of a child. And we share this very holiness, this coming of the Christ Child, in the same spirit of generosity and love as my nephew, with hearts, as Christ told us, like children.
And, yes, I bought all three bean bag chairs. Because with a letter like that, how could you not?
How much we take for granted that children who believe in Santa have a kind of deeper recognition of all that means. I mean, in the case of the movie, the elf knows the smell of him. And the elves symbolize all that is innocent and childish in the world. Santa becomes not just a real person for our kids, but blossoms for adults into something (as Dr. Seuss says) just a bit more.
One of my other nephews is at that crucial point in his life where he wants desperately to believe in Santa, but I think his own understanding of the world, and maybe comments from kids at school, is prompting him to question.
It's a miserable place to be in, as an adult. You see how happy the concept of Santa makes him. You want him to be a child as long as he can in a world where his interactions are mostly with adults, and where society is forcing our kids to age too quickly. You hope that he has the capacity for fantasy, and belief, and imagination. But you also deeply fear that some kid- whether obnoxious or well-meaning- at school is going to burst the bubble, shatter the dream, kill the hope and the expectation of what Santa can mean to a little boy.
He wrote a letter to Santa again this year. It listed all the things he hopes to get for Christmas. Included in the list, among the video games and bey blades, is a request for "three bean bag chairs". Why three? So his two cousins can sit with him to play racing games on the xbox when they come over to visit. His sincerity and generosity warmed my heart. And then I read on.
"p.s." I was a good boy this year.
"p.p.s." Please wake me up when you get here.
This Advent, what are our hopes and expectations? Are we also looking back on the year to reflect on who we have been, on the merits of our actions, the attitudes of our hearts?
More than that. Maybe it's not really about Santa, but there's an underlying Truth even in the Santa phenomenon. In just a few weeks, Christ comes. He has come, is coming, will come again. And all I can think is that I want to be awake when He gets here too. I want to live in the expectation that -yes- he will be born again on that day. And -yes- he is coming here, to me, to us, again. And -yes- I want to be AWAKE when He comes this year... not lulled into a sense of comfortable ritual or blase gestures.
Perhaps this is a good time for us adults to check our own sense of smell, as it were. Maybe it's not a Santa, peppermint-and-eggnog kind of smell we await. But perhaps there is a smell of holiness that can awaken our senses, if we only are alert enough to recognize it, with the same longing and openness of a child. And we share this very holiness, this coming of the Christ Child, in the same spirit of generosity and love as my nephew, with hearts, as Christ told us, like children.
And, yes, I bought all three bean bag chairs. Because with a letter like that, how could you not?
Friday, December 2, 2011
Wisdom from a Four Year Old
Those of you who follow me have come to know my four year old nephew a little bit. He is a deeply imaginative kid, emotional, moody at times, has the best laugh in the world, a great sense of humor, and really sparkling eyes.
Not long ago, Christmas on his mind, he stumbled into his parents' bedroom early in the morning, having just dragged himself from bed. "Mom" he said " I think we're gonna be on both lists."
Who knows what prompted his meditation on Santa's naughty vs. nice, or why his brain landed in such a place? But it's food for thought, as I often find, from the mouth of a four year old.
What list are we on? I'd say I'm on both, if I'm honest, and perhaps we all are. And maybe that's actually what Advent is about. It's a season that prompts us to consider the past year, and look at the Light shining in the not-too-far distance. It's a time of growing earthly darkness as the days grow shorter - and we are forced to consider the lack of light,both actual and metaphorical, and where we really do stand.
What list am I on? Is there room for me to grow and change in this time of waiting and expectation? Is my heart in a place that has no room for the Child, or am I working to prepare Him room? And what sort of things are cluttering my life that keep Him in the cold?
What list am I on? Can I say with absolute certainty that I am going to make the "nice" list this year, (as if, spiritually, "nice" were enough...)? Can I be on both lists, actually?
What list am I on? Do my actions usher in the Light to come, or only more darkness? Am I a child of Christmas, or am I stuck in Advent, waiting, dark... with hope? or not?
I really don't want to be on both lists. I really am not sure that I can ultimately stay on both lists. And really Advent is not just dark and waiting. Truly Advent is Hope and Expectation. It is that time when grace banishes the darkness, if I am willing to accept Grace. It is the time when the Christ Child within us grows large and weighty, a sign to others that is visible and real of Promise, of Life, and of Goodness.
So this year, in this moment of new year, I want to be on the Good list. I want to be Sure. And I'm pretty sure the four year old will be there with me. Because when you know where you stand, you know to ask for grace.
Not long ago, Christmas on his mind, he stumbled into his parents' bedroom early in the morning, having just dragged himself from bed. "Mom" he said " I think we're gonna be on both lists."
Who knows what prompted his meditation on Santa's naughty vs. nice, or why his brain landed in such a place? But it's food for thought, as I often find, from the mouth of a four year old.
What list are we on? I'd say I'm on both, if I'm honest, and perhaps we all are. And maybe that's actually what Advent is about. It's a season that prompts us to consider the past year, and look at the Light shining in the not-too-far distance. It's a time of growing earthly darkness as the days grow shorter - and we are forced to consider the lack of light,both actual and metaphorical, and where we really do stand.
What list am I on? Is there room for me to grow and change in this time of waiting and expectation? Is my heart in a place that has no room for the Child, or am I working to prepare Him room? And what sort of things are cluttering my life that keep Him in the cold?
What list am I on? Can I say with absolute certainty that I am going to make the "nice" list this year, (as if, spiritually, "nice" were enough...)? Can I be on both lists, actually?
What list am I on? Do my actions usher in the Light to come, or only more darkness? Am I a child of Christmas, or am I stuck in Advent, waiting, dark... with hope? or not?
I really don't want to be on both lists. I really am not sure that I can ultimately stay on both lists. And really Advent is not just dark and waiting. Truly Advent is Hope and Expectation. It is that time when grace banishes the darkness, if I am willing to accept Grace. It is the time when the Christ Child within us grows large and weighty, a sign to others that is visible and real of Promise, of Life, and of Goodness.
So this year, in this moment of new year, I want to be on the Good list. I want to be Sure. And I'm pretty sure the four year old will be there with me. Because when you know where you stand, you know to ask for grace.
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