mary, the shepherds and the magi: a christmas meditation

Introduction:

Tonight my dear friends as we gather to celebrate together as a community the presence of the word incarnate in our world, we meditate on the mystery of the Lord’s birth.  It is said the mystery of the incarnation is greater than the mystery of the Resurrection.  For it is not that hard to believe and even imagine a God resurrecting from the dead, but it is difficult and therefore amazing to believe that a God is made man, a Spirit is made a body, the word is made flesh.

Tonight let our meditation be aided by three persons, persons who were there to see firsthand the God made man born for our salvation.  We look at the incarnation through the eyes of Mary, through the eyes of the Shepherds and through the eyes of the Magi.  The first meditation is a song which we will listen to.  The second meditation is a song which we will sing and the last mediation is a poem which we will be read for us as we follow the words with our eyes.

Mary:  Watch

Now let us look at the incarnation with the eyes of Mary as we listen with our hearts to the song, Mary, did you know....

(Video is shown)

Mary, did you know

That your baby boy will one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know

That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?

Did you know

That your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you’ve delivered

Will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know

That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?

Mary, did you know

That your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?

Did you know

That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?

And when you kiss your little baby

You’ve kissed the face of God

Mary, did you know?

The blind will see

The deaf will hear

And the dead will live again

The lame will leap

The dumb will speak

The praises of the Lamb

Mary, did you know

Did you know that this baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb

This sleeping child you’re holding

Is the great “I AM”.

Reflection:  Fr. Andy

Mary did you know?  It must have been difficult to do things without fully understanding them.  It must have been hard to accept things and saying yes without fully comprehending why and when the how is equally vague.  How can this be, how will it come about, how will it end, what do you expect from me, what do you really want, will this end well?  These questions must have crossed Mary’s mind.  If only everything comes with instructions.  If only everything is accompanied with explanations.  If only everything comes with written expectations to possible consequences.  If only I can already measure results even before I do or act on anything.  Then I won’t be left guessing or just trusting or just simply closing my eyes longing for a wonderful ending. 

This is the mystery of every vocation - the vocation of Mary, the vocation of every priest, the vocation of every religious and even that of your parents.  Many times we just have to trust.  Many times we just have to accept and embrace whatever comes.  Many times we just have to reach out our hand and permit ourselves to be guided.  This is Mary.  This too is the story of every person who offers his or her life in the service of God.

Intro Shepherds

Now let us look at the incarnation with the eyes of Shepherds as we sing together the song, Do you hear what I hear....

SHepherdS: (Sung)

Said the night wind to the little lamb,

do you see what I see

Way up in the sky, little lamb,

do you see what I see

A star, a star, dancing in the night

With a tail as big as a kite

With a tail as big as a kite

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,

do you hear what I hear

Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,

do you hear what I hear

A song, a song, high above the trees

With a voice as big as the sea

With a voice as big as the sea

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,

do you know what I know

In your palace warm, mighty king,

do you know what I know

A Child, a Child shivers in the cold

Let us bring Him silver and gold

Let us bring Him silver and gold

Said the king to the people everywhere,

listen to what I say

Pray for peace, people everywhere!

listen to what I say

The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night

He will bring us goodness and light

He will bring us goodness and light

Reflection:  Fr. Andy

The night wind asks the lamb - do you see what I see; the lamb said to the little boy, do you hear what I hear; and the little boy said to the mighty king, do you know what I know;  and the king said to the people, listen to what I say.

It is said that the incarnation is not just a fact, it is also a manner of seeing, a manner of looking.  Why is it that the first to recognize that the Lord is born are the shepherds and the wise men?  These are two extremes when things are measured in the scale of what one knows.  What does a shepherd know - nothing!  And what does a magi, a wise man know - everything!  The shepherds knowing nothing listened to the good news of the angel - the virtue of docility, the capacity to listen and learn.  The magi full of knowledge used their knowledge to read the signs, to discover the language of God, to read his message - the virtue of understanding and using the gift of understanding to discover the mysteries of God.  We need to become shepherds and wise men.  Formation is about docility, it is formability.  A shepherd listens to his spiritual director.  A shepherd submits himself to be guided. While a real philosopher uses his insight and knowledge to discover the deeper mysteries of the world and man, the deeper truths about God.

As future priests we need to become shepherds and wise men.

Intro The Magi

Now let us look at the incarnation with the eyes of Magi as we listen to a Poem composed by GK. Chesterton,

The Magi (Poetry: Listened to)

When the first Christmas presents came, the straw where Christ was rolled

Smelt sweeter than their frankincense, burnt brighter than their gold,

And a wise man said, ‘We will not give;

the thanks would be but cold’.

‘Nay’, said the next. ‘To all new gifts, to this gift or another,

Bends the high gratitude of God; even as He now, my brother,

Who had a Father for all time, yet thanks Him for a Mother.

‘Yet scarce for Him this yellow stone or prickly smells and sparse,

Who holds the gold heart of the sun that fed this timber bars,

Nor any scentless lily lives for One that smells the stars.’

Then spake the third of the Wise Men, the wisest of the three:

‘We may not with the widest lives enlarge His liberty,

Whose wings are wider than the world. It is not He, but we.

‘We say not He has more to gain, but we have more to lose.

Less gold shall go astray, we say, less gold, if thus we choose,

Go to make harlots of the Greeks and hucksters of the Jews.

‘Less clouds before colossal feet redden in the underlight,

To the blind gods from Babylon less incense burn tonight,

To the high beasts of Babylon, whose mouths make mock of right.’

Babe of the thousand birthdays, we that are young yet grey,

White with the centuries, still can find no better thing to say,

We that with sects and whims and wars have wasted Christmas Day.

Light Thou Thy censer, to Thyself, for all our fires are dim,

Stamp Thou Thine image on our coins, for Caesar’s face grows grim,

And a dumb devil of pride and greed has taken hold of him.

We bring Thee back great Christendom, churches and towns and towers,

And if our hands are glad, O God, to cast them down like flowers,

‘Tis not that they enrich Thine hands, but they are saved from ours.

Reflection:  Fr. Andy

In this third reflection we reflect on the need to be generous.  GK Chesterton is reflecting on the effects of generosity.  We often think that since we are giving we are losing something of ourselves and thus enrich the other.  We often think that since we are giving we should be thanked.  After all we lose something and the other gained something from us.  That’s the usual way of thinking - thank me, after all I am generous to you!

GK Chesterton thought otherwise as he expressed his thoughts through the third wise man.  When we are offering something to the other we are saved from greed that would have made us selfish and thus less Christian; when we have given ourselves to others if indeed we lose something, it is not for the gain of the other but for our own gain.  In other words you should thank the poor for by your giving you gain something, you have become compassionate, you have become more human.

JP, Kyle and myself had a lively debate this morning about buying gifts instead for victims of typhoon Pablo instead of buying gifts for our SP.  We even suggested to ask the SP themselves - would you rather have your gift given to Davao Oriental? 

And this is what I realized as an afterthought.  Many times it is really the ego that benefits in our giving. Christmas is giving.  Probably it might be good to ask ourselves during this season what do you really lose in giving, and what do you really seek to gain?

As you bring your gifts to the victims of typhoon Pablo under the Christmas tree think about this - what are you losing tonight, what do you seek to gain in the gift?

Offering of Gifts:

Gifts are placed under the Christmas tree, near the crib as the following song is sung:

We three kings of Orient are;

Bearing gifts we traverse afar

field and fountain, Moor and mountain,

Following yonder star:

Ref. O star of wonder, star of night,

star with royal beauty bright,

westward leading, still proceeding,

guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a king on Bethlehem plain,

Gold I bring to crown him again.

King for ever, ceasing never,

Over us all to reign:

Frankincense to offer have I;

Incense owns a Deity nigh:

Prayer and praising, all men raising,

Worship him, God most high:

Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume

Breathes a life of gathering gloom;

Sorr’wing, sighing, bleeding, dying,

Sealed in the stonecold tomb:

Glorious now, behold him arise,

King and God and sacrifice!

Heav’n sings Alleluia,

Alleluia the earth replies:

Response in Creed (Kneel)

Come now and let us kneel so that together we will come to appreciate the God made man for our salvation.  Let us renew our faith saying:

I believe in Jesus Christ

and in the beauty of the gospel begun in Bethlehem.
I believe in the one who the rulers of the earth ignored

and the proud could never understand;

whose life was among common people,

whose welcome came from persons of hungry hearts.

I believe in the one who proclaimed the love of God to be invincible!

I believe in the one whose cradle was a mother's arms,

whose modest home in Nazareth had love for its only wealth,

who looked at persons and made them see

what God's love saw in them,

who by love brought sinners back to purity,

and lifted human weakness up to meet the strength of God.

I confess my ever-lasting need of God:

The need of forgiveness for our selfishness and greed,

the need of new life for empty souls,

the need of love for hearts grown cold.

I believe in God who gives us the best of himself.

I believe in Jesus, the son of the living God,

born in Bethlehem,

for me and for the world.

Blessing:

Closing Hymn:

Adeste fideles, laeti triumphantes,

venite, venite in Bethlehem. 

Natum videte, Regem angelorum. 

Venite adoremus, venite adoremus,

venite, adoremus Dominum.

Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation,

sing all ye citizens of heav’n above! 

Glory to God all, glory in the highest. 

O come let us adore him, O Come let us adore him. 

O come let us adore him Christ the Lord.

Ergo qui natus Die hodierna. 

Jesu tibi sit Gloria,

Patris aeternae verbum caro factum. 

Venite adoremus, venite adoremus,

venite, adoremus Dominum.