Think back.
When in the
Western
Church
we celebrated the feast of Visitation on May 31st,
a feast marked by the Eastern Church on March 30th, we considered the
greeting of two young Jewish women, cousins,
Miryam
and Elisheba.
Elisheba we know as Elizabeth, the mother of John whose baptism of Miryam’s
son, Jesus, took place in the
Jordan
, two grown men whose mothers,
cousins within the family brought them up within the Hebrew tradition.
Advent begins with the calling of John to the people, “prepare
the way of the Lord”, and the Nativity in a few weeks time celebrates
the infancy of that same Lord, one who would later often be called Jesus the
Nazarene.
Our
secular society has lost the significance of the Feast but has retained and
greatly expanded the celebration of a commercially driven event. Let’s buy
stacks of food and drink, have lots of parties, send cards and give presents all
in the name of……?
On the roads of
Europe
, still they come, families
seeking refuge, moving away from war zones, risking life and limb hoping for
something safer. And back in mid-November, the terrorist attacks in Paris
causing such great loss of life, confused their story, for some began to see
those fleeing terror to be at risk of having terrorists in their midst.
Uncalled for blame has been apportioned, not only to refugees but to
those long time residents of Muslim faith.
We
are living in dangerous and unpredictable times. Violence and famine, migration
and climate change, population growth and conflict between nations abound.
Pope
Francis told churchgoers that Christmas this year was going to be a “charade”
because “the whole world is at war.”
Francis
put this holiday season in perspective during mass at the Basilica di
Santa Maria
recently. “We are close to
Christmas. There will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even
nativity scenes-all decked out-while the world continues to wage war.”
His
speech came after a rash of notable violent incidents, including the now
infamous terrorist attacks in
Paris
.
He
continued:
“It’s
all a charade. The world has not understood the way of peace. The whole world is
at war, a war can be justified, so to speak, with many, many reasons, but when
all the world is at war, piecemeal though that war may be—a little here, a
little there—there is no justification.”
-----
