What We Can Learn from Celebrating Candlemas

 This week, Cosgriff and St. Ambrose Parish Religious Education will present the students preparing for First Communion.  St. Ambrose Parish Religious Education will also recognize those students preparing for Confirmation, while Cosgriff will recognize those students next week.  It is fitting that these presentations and recognitions are occurring at this time of year, because next Tuesday, February 2nd, is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, known in the days of the early Church as Candlemas.

At his presentation, Simeon recognized Jesus as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32).  Thus, the traditional name of this feast, Candlemas, signifies the important liturgical action the Church takes on this Feast of blessing candles to be used in the upcoming year.  Our Gospel reading for today from Mark 4 points to Jesus as the Light – the lamp that is brought in to give light to the whole house.  Jesus shows us the way, and hopefully, we follow Him.

As we present and pray for our young people over the course of the next two weeks, let us pray especially that Jesus will enlighten the eyes of their hearts, and show them the way to live as true Christians and Catholics.

The Benefits of Year B

The Catholic Church has three cycles of Sunday readings:  Year A when Sunday Gospels during Ordinary Time are usually from Matthew, Year B when they are mostly from Mark with some from John, and Year C when they are mostly from Luke.  Especially in these early weeks of Ordinary Time, I think there is a distinct benefit to our Year B readings.  It is the benefit of multiple perspectives.

As an English major in college, I studied literary analysis and writing as a craft.  I have always enjoyed creative writing as a hobby, but studying it gave me a greater appreciation for what it takes to be a compelling writer.  As I read and write now, years removed from my college studies, I find that I notice and appreciate differences in writing style.  Year B gives us the opportunity to experience these differences, to “see” the events portrayed in the Gospels through the eyes of different authors.  Each evangelist had their own distinct motivation for writing the way that he did and for a specific audience.  Because we hear from both Mark and John regularly during the periods of Ordinary Time in Year B, we benefit from these differing motivations.

In the early weeks of Ordinary Time, we hear first of Jesus’ Baptism and then we hear the deeper significance of it.  We see Jesus’ apostles coming to him in a variety of ways, but always staying with him of their own free will.  We are given many examples of the healing works that Jesus performed.  And because Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, he doesn’t dither around, but gets straight to the point.  This is how it happened.  This is why it is the way it is.

In our Gospels from John, we are shown the deeper, more mystical truths of who Jesus is and the effects of his actions.  John is all about symbolism and the weight that it carries.  He writes in a much more artistic style, drawing us in to the mystery of Jesus as fully human and fully divine, in contrast to Mark’s very straightforward, almost journalistic approach.

It is good to have exposure to multiple forms and genres of writing.  It makes the act of reading much more interesting.  Hopefully, having a variety of writing styles presented to us in Year B helps us to be more attentive to the Gospels in particular and to the Mass as a whole.

When Should We "Curb Our Enthusiasm"?

 I was quite honestly disappointed by events in the news over the last few days.  First, there was the coverage of the opening of the new US Congress, touted as the “most diverse Congress.”  The US has elected the “most diverse Congress ever” for several years in a row now.  That wasn’t what was disappointing to me though.  What was disappointing was when, at the end of the invocation, Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri closed with “Amen and Awoman.”  Quite apart from being complete nonsense, this tramples on literal millennia of the use of “Amen” as an expression of belief.  It is encouraging that as “One nation, under God,” the US Congress opens with an ecumenical prayer, but leave the politics out of it, especially if, in an apparent attempt to acknowledge diversity, you do so in a way that distracts from the purpose of prayer in the first place!

The second event that had me disappointed was the actions of the protesters at the US Capitol in disrupting the acknowledgment of the count of electoral college votes and ultimately causing the evacuation of the capitol yesterday.  Whether you agree or disagree with the outcome of this election, it is no excuse to resort to senseless violence.  The US Constitution gives us the right to protest, this is true, but it is the right to peaceful protest.  Further, in it’s document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the USCCB quotes our patron, St. Ambrose:  “Prudence enables us ‘to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it.’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1806” (quoted in paragraph 19).  It goes on to say in paragraph 20, “We have a responsibility to discern carefully which public policies are morally sound.  Catholics may choose different ways to respond to compelling social problems, but we cannot differ on our moral obligation to help build a more just and peaceful world through morally acceptable means, so that the weak and vulnerable are protected and human rights and dignity are defended” (emphasis added).

Further, paragraph 52 reminds us, “We are one human family, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences.”

Obviously, emotions have been running high, discontent has been growing, and none of it has been made any easier by the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.  People are upset.  But it is important not to allow emotions to prevail over reason.

We are told repeatedly in scripture and in the writings of the Saints to trust in God.  Trust in his will.  God is so much bigger than us.  He is unknowable in his entirety to our feeble human minds.  Similarly, our human actions, while known to him, cannot influence the ultimate outcome of his plan.  As we come to the end of this Christmas Season, let us strive to say, with Mary our Mother, Thy will be done.