December 2009

The Bulletin of the Catholic Community at The Family Foundation School

Pauca Verba (a few words)

Number 5 – December 27, 2009

Celebrating the Birth of Jesus Christ can’t be done in one day – so the Church stretches it first to eight – called an Octave. And the Sunday that falls within the Christmas Octave is called The Feast of the Holy Family. That’s today!

Baptism makes me a part of God’s family. OR we could say that each human person is already part of God’s family and that Baptism celebrates that and calls others to an awareness of it!

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God.” St. John tells us in his epistle (letter). WOW! Can you imagine what the world would be like if each of the billions of human beings on this planet knew deeply that we’re all God’s children! Well, we can’t make that awareness happen for the billions, but we can make it happen for ourselves!

So I want to spend some time with the Nativity icon on the cover of this bulletin. The donkey and the cow and the lamb seem to get it: Jesus is the reason for the season! The star has pointed him out and Joseph’s hand seems to say, This way, this way. Mary’s lap has become a throne! Oh, today is the day to take Jesus into my life and as he will grow up to SAVE us from a dark un-doing I ask him to grow me up – to make me the person God created me to be before my being contaminated with fear, egoism, pride. By the way, that’s what it is to be a saint!

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What shall we offer you, O Christ,

who for our sake has appeared

on the earth as one of us?

Every creature which you have

made offers you thanks:

the angels offer you a song,

the heavens, their star,

the wise men, their gifts,

the shepherds, their wonder,

the earth, its cave,

the wilderness, the manger.

And we offer you a Virgin Mother.

O eternal God, have mercy on us.

Prayer for the Feast of the Holy Family

Blessed be you, O God,

for through the mystery of the Incarnation

of Christ, born into a human family,

you show to the world the beautiful example

of a family united in respect and love.

Teach us the dignity and sanctity of human live,

deepen in us our appreciation of the value of family life,

and help us to live in peace with all people,

that we may be found worthy

to share in your life forever.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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*The baby in the womb (however broken/frail/disabled/conceived in poor circumstances) is part of the divine family.

*The children of Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq and throughout Africa are part of the family.

*The poor throughout the Americas are part of God’s family.

*Those spending Christmas in prison are family.

*The people whose lives are shredded by addictions are part of God’s family.

*Prostitutes and trans-gendered persons are family.

*Men and women who are estranged and ostracized are family.

*People without power and prestige are part of the family.

*People whose marriages are ruined are still part of the family.

*Rebellious teenagers who are in schools of repair haven’t forfeited membership in the divine family.

It’s not enough to piously reverence Jesus. But in Jesus Christ – God has invaded humanity in a way that lifts humanity up in love! Let’s remember that the first to hear the happy news of the baby’s birth were not temple priests or imperials but shepherds (very ‘low end” people). Heaven opened up and serenaded them with the happiest of news. It’s a good thing to be a human being! God didn’t become an angel, but a human! We must be – all of us – not some of us – very valuable to God that he would take the great risk of coming to be with us utterly – and to teach us and to heal us and even to die for love of us. Oh, what a love! If we understood this we would fall down and weep – for joy and gratitude! Then, in a kind of holy delirium we would run out to tell others and to love in creative and fresh ways.