A BADLY NEEDED CHRISTMAS

      Christmas, of course celebrates the birth of Jesus.  More particularly, Christmas celebrates the coming of  Infinite, Eternal Divinity to earth in  the form of a Hebrew baby who was named Jesus. 

     Little wonder that the Angels sang, "Glory to God  in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests." (Lk. 3:14)
Glory to God!!"

    Jesus, who is Divinity in human form, is  the perfect link  between God and all of humanity.  John (4: 6)    His birth calls for us to be the blessed representatives of God-in-Human-Form in and for today's society.

    So Christmas is a special time for us to receive the gift that is God, and to be re-inspired to do whatever we can to help our society grow and evolve in ever greater and deeper peace and love for everyone without exception.  As Vatican II said, we are called in the Spirit of Christ to work to make the world more human.  This means that we are gifted and called to be ever more loving and self-giving of service to others for the sake of  order, jusrtice, peace and love in our society.   

    This Christmas, given the condition of America,  we need the presence and influence of Divinity very badly.  We need a life renewing Christmas, a rebirth of Christ, who is the very meaning and presence of unity in love for one another without exception.                                                                                                

   Our "One Nation under God, with liberty and justice for all," is fast becoming five separate nations, White, Brown,  Black, red and Yellow, within a Godless land of social and political collapse.  

     Very importantly, we have become a nation in which a frightening number of us are giving  pagan-like allegience to a hopelessly self-serving man who had deeply infected our political system with his personal sickness.  

    Under his evil spell, one half of our government has  collapsed into a frightened heap of political cowards who are endangering our democracy in order to placate his sickness.  Those of his followers who should protect our democracy do nothing to move our country forward so they can be reelected and then continue to do nothing to move our country forward.  

   In this season of the birth of Him who is the Light of the World, many of us live in political and moral darkness.  In order to truly celebrate this Chrtmas, we will have to find a way through our self-imposed darkness of mindless prejudice and stupid, brutal, politics.  Unhappily, this Christmas, the prognosis is poor.       

   This year, we should celebrate Christmas with special spiritual intensity.  We should cry out.  "Come, Lord Jesus" from the very  depts of our hearts and souls.  .  "Dear Jesus, our society, our Constitution and our nation itself are in serious danger of collapsing because of our own inability to live and work togeter in mutual love and caring for one another and for our national unity.  

     You who are Divine Love and Unity in human form, open our hearts and minds to appreciate the miracle of your presence in our world, in our country and in every country.  You came to give us fullness of life in the form of the gift of love for one another witout exception.  

     In your Spirit of Divine Love, help us celebrate a Christmas that is a reneweal of our love for everyone, without exception.  Thus we pray with all our hearts, "Come, Lord Jesus!" 

    

   

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I GREET THE DIVINITY IN YOU

   When members of the Hindu faith greet one another,  they say,  "Namaste", which means, "I greet, (bow to) the Divinity in you."  They recognize the presence of Divinity in one another.

   In our own way, we Christians can understand the meaning of this custom.  When Moses asked Divinity's name, Divinity answered, "Yahweh."  "I am that I am."  In today's language. God said, "I am Living, Divine Existence."  

     Everyone and everything that exists is a created image of Divine  Existence.  And thus everyone and everything is a created, space/time image of the Universal Christ, who is Divinity in the Universe and World.  .  This is is why St. Paul proclaimed, "Christ is all in all."  (Col. 3:11)  So we can truly say to one another, "I bow to the Divinity in you."  

    As we look at ourselves and one another, we should be conscious of the fact that we are looking at a created expression of Christ, who is God in human form.  St. Paul said, "Ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what He has made."  (Rom. 1:20)     

   In today's society, in fact especially in today's society, we should take some time to remind ourselves that Divinity is present in everyone we meet and in every part of the world around us.  We must learn to see and appreciate that everyone and everything s a blessed image of Jesus Christ, who is the true presence of Divinity on earth. 

    Omnipresent Divinity shows itself as the omnipresence of Love.  As I have mentioned before, Thomas Merton told us of the time he and a fellow monk went to town for some shopping.  When his brother Trappist went into a store, he stayed outside and looked around and realized that we was totally in love with every person he saw.  He was seeing Divinity present in everyone, making everyone a living image of Jesus, who is the True Christ, the true presence of Divinity in our humanity.  

 

   Our Christ consciousness  enables us to see the presence of the Divine in everyone.  Unhappily we can also see those in whom Christ is being crucified.  So it is very important that our love should  know no exceptions.  Christ gives us all the insight, the strength of soul to love everyone without exception.

        

   In Christ we have eyes to see the presence of Divinity's grace in everyone, in ourselves, our families, communities, corporations, political leaders,  et al.  We all have the ability to create a truly graced society.  We are all called and enabled to work to work toward building a truly human society in which we can see and bow to, God's universal, saving Love.          

      

   Our keen awareness of Divine Existence in ourselves, one another and in the world is called our Christ consciousness, our ever present awareness of Divinity in human form here on earth.  Moreover, our Catholic faith is universal.  We can see the equivalent consciousness of Divine presence in people who are not Christians, e.g., Jews, Hindus, Native Americans, and all people of good will. 

   We who live in the Catholic faith believe that we have access to the fullness of faith.  At the same time we should not believe that we are superior to any others.  In some of us, our faith can be poorly informed, even prejudicial.  The simplest soul in the world can be a great beacon of faith compared to some of us.

   Our faith is not some abstraction floating in the air.  It needs a compatible culture in which to live, grow and thrive.  That is why Church teaching, especially the almost forgotten teachings of Vatican II, leads us to be fully involved in the everyday world so we can live our faith to the best advantage for today's society.  A faith disconnected from the everyday world is a useless faith.  Even Trappist monks and cloistered nuns pray for us in our everyday world.  "Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven."

  The prayer does not mean that we should wait for God to straighten out our failings.   God has already given us the grace and strength to correct our own failures.  we Americans do not need to have the truly collapsed national culture we have created. Pope Francis is calling  a synod of bishops to develop contemporary ways to get the laity involved in today's society.  I pray that the bishops are capable of leading such a very badly needed effort.   

   Let us keep in mind:  God is with us.  God is within us!.   we are living, acting images of Christ, who has given us His Spirit. When we see a person let us be away that we are looking at an image of Christ.  And let us greet that person accordingly.  Let us remember that we are living in a fallen culture of e.g., fallen politicians, polluting and greedy corporations, failing urban schools, lingering rancid racism, , etc.  In all these example and more, people are being cheated of the opportunity to thrive.  In them, Jesus is being crucified anew.  

   We have eyes to see Christ in everyone, without exception.  From within everyone, Christ will look at us.  As long as we are doing whatever we can to alleviate his suffering and make Him more honored and obeyed, he will greet us with the great blessings, "Well done, good and faithful servant."