PASTOR’S MEANDERINGS
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT GAUDATE SUNDAY
10 – 11 DECEMBER 2016
STEWARDSHIP: Each of us has his or her own role to play in the coming of the kingdom of
God. John the Baptist was called to be the herald of the Messiah, preparing the way of the
Lord. To what is the Lord calling me?
St. Teresa of Avila
“Patient endurance attaineth to all things.”
READINGS FOR FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
18 DEC ‘16
Is. 7:10-16: King Ahaz of Judah, one of the successors to David and a king who is beset on all
sides by enemies and would-be conquerors, is challenged by the prophet Isaiah who holds out a
word of hope: ‘The maiden is with child and will give birth to a son… Immanuel, a name which
means “god-is-with-us’. That prophecy finds it eventual fulfilment at Bethlehem.
Rom. 1:1-7: Paul is writing to relatively new Christians without much background in the
Jewish scriptures, trying to introduce them to the character of Jesus as one who has long been
predicted to come as the ‘Son of God.’
Mt. 1:18-25: Matthew takes Isaiah’s words about the Lord’s sign to the people that God
would always be with them – a child named Immanuel – and applies them to the coming birth
of Jesus.
St. Athanasius of Alexandria
“He became what we are that He might make us what He is.”
ICON AT ENTRANCE TO THE CHURCH
THE VIRGIN OF THE SIGN
Figures with hand raised in prayer, the “Orans” pose, date from earliest Christian art and even
before. Icons of Mary in this pose were first painted sometime in the 4th cent. An example,
including the Savior on her breast but without a surrounding medallion, may be found in the
Roman catacomb of ”Cimitero Majore.” The medallion of Christ Immanuel as we see it here
dates from the 9th cent., inspired by a custom of the Byzantine imperial court. Empresses and
other court dignitaries wore embroidered emblems of the emperor on their chests as signs of
his supreme authority. The particular source that our iconographer used for this pattern is a
famous Russian icon from the city of Yaroslavl now preserved in the Tretyakov Gallery in
Moscow. It is variously called “The Virgin of the Sign of Yaroslavl” or “The Great Panaghia” (all
holy). It was commissioned by Constantine the Wise for the cathedral in Yaroslavl sometime
around the time of its dedication in 1215.
Theology and Symbolism
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall
bear a son, and shall name Him Immanuel.” This icon is the visualization of this familiar passage
from Isaiah chapter 7 which is the first reading on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, next week.
Gold leaf is used on her halo and that of Jesus to express unearthly light, the divine origin of
sanctity. Greek letters are inscribed on the background. “ICXC” is an abbreviation for Jesus
Christ, Iesous Khristos. “MPOY” is an abbreviation for Mother of God, Meter Theou.
Jesus is present to us as Christ Immanuel, portrayed as a youth rather than as a baby. His halo
is inscribed with a cross and the Greek letters omicron, omega, nu, spelling “HO ON.” In
English, this becomes “Who Am,” the name used for God in Exodus 3:14. His forehead is very
broad, symbolic of great spiritual strength. He is wearing a cloak called in Greek a himation.
The cloth is woven with gold thread, symbolic of His divine dignity and royalty. The
embroidered yoke on His tunic is a Russian touch. Jesus is surrounded by a circle called a
mandorla.
Mary wears a homophorion, or a combined veil and mantle over her dress. The dress features
nice Russian embroidered cuffs. The homophorion is adorned with three stars on the head and
shoulders. These are symbolic of Mary’s perpetual virginity; before, during, and after her Son’s
birth. In 431 AD, the Council of Ephesus officially declared that Mary is the Theotokos, or “God
Bearer,” she who provides the vital link between the divinity of God and humanity.
Two angels carrying the Holy Eucharist marked with a cross complete the design: “Behold the
Lamb of God! Behold Him who comes to take away the sins of the world!”
SAINT OF THE WEEK OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
12 DEC
As I was writing this week’s Meanderings I began to consider the importance of the coinciding
of two significant Marian feasts with the mid-point of this Advent Season; it sometimes takes a
while for the quarter to drop. Thursday we celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Conception,
the patroness of the U.S. and Monday we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe the
patroness of the Americas. In both cases, these two aspects, images of Mary, and in the
prayers woven through the liturgies celebrated we are called to celebrate the joy associated
with Gaudete Sunday. Not because we are half way through Advent and closer to Christmas;
but, because we are called to share in the joy that permeated Mary’s acceptance of her role in
bringing God’s Son into the world, providing His divinity with her humanity, her flesh so that He
could share our life and brings the Father’s revelation to its fullness. In both aspects of who she
is Mary continually points the way to Jesus Christ and in the process challenges us to model her
total commitment to her Son through our own dedication.
This title refers to the apparition and icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, considered as the
empress, patron saint, and mother of the Americas. The first apparitions took place between
December 9 and 12 of 1531 in Tepeyac, a poor area on the periphery of Mexico City. She
appeared to the Amerindian Juan Diego, then to his dying uncle Juan Bernardino (whom she
healed), and finally, miraculously printed on the mantle (tilma) of Juan Diego, to the bishop and
others present. The icon remains in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Tepeyac; where
millions from the Americas and around the world go on pilgrimage every year. Scientific
investigations have attested to the authenticity of the cloth and to the unexplainable nature of
the painting. Many miracles continue to be attributed to the Virgin, yet the greatest is the
ongoing response of the people. In order to appreciate the full religious impact of Guadalupe,
it is necessary to situate it historically and anthropologically.
Historical Background: The devastating and unequal encounter in the early sixteenth century
between the European and native American world was a violent and devastating clash between
two vastly different cultures represented by the empire of Christian Spain and the Aztec
Nahuatls of Central America. The culture of the former was based on the anthropology of
reason, individual struggle, and conquest while that of the latter was based on the
anthropology of ritual, cosmic communion, and submission to the gods. Both relied on violence
to achieve their aims; the Spanish in order to conquer and suppress the native population to
acquire the land and to reap profits from the natural resources; the Aztecs performed human
sacrifice for the sake of cosmic harmony.
Militarily, the Spanish proved to be more advanced in technology and power than the
Amerindians and no compromise between the two worlds seemed possible or desirable. With
the bloody defeat of the Aztec Empire in 1521, the entire native population of Central America
was in effect was dominated. The conquered had no option but to submit or die and their
population due to introduced disease was drastically decreasing. At this moment of collective
death the totally unsuspected event of Guadalupe took place at Tepeyac. For the defeated
peoples of the Americas, it functioned as a resurrection event - no longer victory7 or defeat but
the birth of a new people. Some may argue about what really happened at Tepeyac in 1531,
but there is no doubt about its phenomenal effects: the Mestizo Church of the Americas was
born.
The Apparition: Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke to Juan Diego in Nahuatl, with its rich religious
imagery, but her message was new both to the native population as well as to the Spanish. The
Aztecs had demanded human sacrifice and the missioners had spoken of judgment,
punishment, and eternal damnation, but she spoke to Juan Diego of love, compassion, and
hospitality. She presented herself to Juan Diego as the Mother of God, but Juan Diego in turn
presented her to the bishop as the mother of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.
In the depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe, based on Juan Diego’s report of the apparition, she
is neither a native goddess nor a European Madonna, but combines both in a new way. Her
dress is European while the decorations on the dress are indigenous and her face is Mestizo.
She appears very human but her whole self-radiates divinity.
The mantle of the Lady is blue-green or turquoise. To the native people, this was the color of
the gods and of royalty. It was also the color of the natural forces of life and fecundity. In
Christian art, blue is symbolic of eternity and immortality. In Judaism, it was the color of the
rode of the high priest. The limbus or gold border of her mantle is another sign of nobility. The
color of the Madonna’s dress is rose or pale-red. Some have interpreted this as the color of
dawn symbolizing the beginning of a new era. Others point to the red as a sign of martyrdom
for the faith and divine love. And the girdle around her waist is a sign of her virginity, but it also
has several other meanings. The bow appears as a four-pettled flower. To the native Indians
this was the nahui ollin, the flower of the sun, a symbol of plenitude. The cross-shaped flower
was also connected with the cross-sticks which produce fire. For them, this was the symbol of
fecundity and new life as well as the Nahuatl symbol for the new center of the universe: Christ,
who through her will be profoundly incarnated in the soil that is the collective consciousness of
the new humanity. The high position of the bow and the slight swelling of the abdomen show
that the Lady is “with child”.
Theological Meaning: In Our Lady of Guadalupe the two anthropologies come together so as
to produce something totally different than either of the two had been able to achieve
independently: the change is from the absolute exclusion of the other as other for the sake of
ethnic/religious unity to the inclusion of otherness for the sake of new life. In the Mestizo
Mother of the Americas, irreconcilable differences are not only reconciled but a new “beyond
exclusion existence” is introduced, one that will destroy the very basis of cruel violence
produced by any exclusion-based existence. She does not demand sacrifice or victims, but only
confidence and acceptance of her universal motherhood. She say to Juan Diego: “Do not be
afraid, you have nothing to fear. Am I not here, your compassionate mother?” Through the
apparition at Guadalupe, the most original aspect of the kingdom of God as lived and
proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth was effectively introduced into the New World. It marked the
profound anthropological birth of the truly new Christian humanity of the Americas. In Latin
American Catholicism today she is both the feminine aspect of the face and heart of God, which
was absent from the Christianity of that period, and the Mother of Jesus in the Americas: the
mother of the new man or woman of the Americas.
For your general information it was reported that the Lady said to call her and her image “Santa
Maria de Guadalupe”. It’s believed that the word Guadalupe was actually a Spanish mis-translation of the local Aztec dialect. The word that Mary probably used was Coatlallope which
means “one who treads on snakes”! Within six years of this apparition, six million Aztecs had
converted to Catholicism. The tilma, which is made of cactus fibers, shows Mary as the Godbearer – she is pregnant with her Divine Son. Since the time the tilma was first impressed with
a picture of the Mother of God, it has been subject to a variety of environmental hazards
including smoke from fires and candles, water from floods and torrential downpours and, in
1921, a bomb which was planted by anti-clerical forces on an altar under it. There was also a
cast-iron cross next to the tilma and when the bomb exploded, the cross was twisted out of
shape, the marble altar rail was heavily damaged and the tilma was untouched. Indeed, no one
was injured in the Church despite the damage that occurred to a large part of the altar
structure.
In 1977, the tilma was examined using infrared photography and digital enhancement
techniques. Unlike a painting, the tilma shows no sketching or any sign of outline drawn to
permit an artist to produce a painting. Further, the very method used to create the image is
still unknown. The image is inexplicable in its longevity and method of production. It can be
seen today in a large cathedral built to house up to ten thousand worshipers. It is, by far, the
most popular religious pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere.
YEAR OF MERCY: The Holy Doors throughout the Catholic world have all been closed until
the next Jubilee Year is declared. Now what about the “mercy” that was the center of
reflections, discussions, prayer services and homilies for the past year. Does it no longer have
relevance, no longer apply to our lives or was the past year just a kick start to get us motivated
towards truly accepting God’s mercy in our own lives and expressing that mercy in our response
to those around us?
Both the spiritual and corporal works of mercy are, at their heart, acts of charity. As previously
discussed the seven spiritual works of mercy assist others in the needs of their souls. The seven
corporal works of mercy treat the physical needs of others. Combined they are concrete ways
by which we can immerse ourselves in “the ocean of mercy,” and with God’s help, defeat, or
lessen the misery increasingly present in our world. Pope Francis states in his book The Name
of God is Mercy, that “By welcoming a marginalized person whose body is wounded and by
welcoming the sinner whose soul is wounded, we put our credibility as Christians on the line”.
In initiating the Year of Mercy Pope Francis wrote that: “It is my burning desire that, during this
jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It will be
a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the f ace of poverty. And let us
enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of
God’s mercy. Jesus introduces us to these works of mercy in His preaching so that we can know
whether or not we are living as His disciples. Let us rediscover these corporal works of mercy:
to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the
sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead.”
Claiming the title of discipleship, we can neither ignore nor escape from the Lord’s words to us,
they serve as the criteria characterizing our lives as Christian. We encounter Christ in the
people who cross our paths. Pope Francis follows in a long line of our finest spiritual leaders,
thinkers and saints in reminding us that Christ’s flesh becomes visible in the flesh of the
tortured, the crushed, the scourged, the malnourished, and the exiled.. to be acknowledged,
touched, and cared for by us. St. John of the Cross held that: “As we prepare to leave this life,
we will be judged on the basis of love”. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy can serve as
an examination of conscience in Christian living. In the next couple of week we will be looking
at each of the corporal works of mercy individual much as we did last Fall with the spiritual
works of mercy.
To feed the hungry Among the corporal works of mercy, most of us give feeding the hungry a
priority. No one wants another to be physically hungry. This desire reminds us not to waste
food and to share generously what we have. The various ways that parishes across the country
collect food on Sunday’s to stock food banks or the generous outreach at Thanksgiving and
Christmas with food baskets is evident of this. There exist so many regular opportunities to
make sandwiches for those in need. In addition, there are so many soup kitchens in our nation
which are often run by Catholic Charities and parishes in our various dioceses. And many of
you, as well as parishioners throughout the land, assist regularly at these organized efforts to
get food to those who are hungry - a real response to this first corporal work of mercy.
It is also a reminder that the important text of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes
appears in all four of the Gospel accounts – so essential in the public ministry of Jesus was
feeding those who were hungry, just as those Scripture texts foreshadow the Eucharistic food
that satisfies our ”deepest” hunger, the bread of life. When we think of hunger, we can never
forget this deeper hunger, which each of us experiences whether we have food in our homes or
not, a hunger for Christ in the Eucharist.
World hunger is another essential dimension of our present challenge to feed the hungry. The
youth of the parish have consistently over the years helped to break down dry ingredients,
packaging them into meal servings ready for preparation and distribution to the poor. Their
Mana Bags are another example of looking at creative ways to address a problem that
surrounds us. Programs in conjunction with Catholic Relief Services enable parishes and groups
to bag food for shipping to Africa, Haiti and elsewhere for the relief of hunger. Not only do
such opportunities as this heighten our sensitivity to this perduring challenge, but they give us a
practical opportunity to participate in feeding the hungry in another country, so increasing is
our globalized world.
“The lack of mystery in our modern life is our downfall and our poverty. A human
life is worth as much as the respect it holds for the mystery. We retain the child in
us to the extent that we honor the mystery. Therefore, children have open, wideawake eyes, because they know that they are surrounded by the mystery. They
are not yet finished with this world; they still don’t know how to struggle along
and avoid the mystery, as we do. We destroy the mystery because we sense that
here we reach the boundary of our being, because we want to be lord over
everything and have it at our disposal, and that’s just what we cannot do with the
mystery…. Living without mystery means knowing nothing of the mystery of our
own life, nothing of the mystery of another person, nothing of the mystery of the
world; it means passing over our own hidden qualities and those of others and
the world. It means remaining on the surface, taking the world seriously only to
the extent that it can be calculated and exploited, and not going beyond the
world of calculation and exploitation. Living without mystery means not seeing
the crucial processes of life at all and even denying them.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and
Christmas