Month: December 2020

Today the Catholic church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family. It is an occasion to not only remember the great love and faith that was shared and witnessed by Jesus, Mary and Joseph but also an occasion to appreciate our own loving and faithful parents. Likewise, it is also an opportunity to reflect on so many families we may know who also witness that same love and faith that was modeled for us by the Holy Family. 

I was blessed to have great parents who both lived their faith and provided a home and family life modeled after Jesus’ parents. I also had the grace to spend much of my youth deeply connected to my many aunts, uncles and cousins in Ireland. Apart from recalling fantastic memories of games, good times and much laughter, each of those individual families deeply instilled great lessons of faith, prayer and love in my young soul. Memories of praying the rosary as a family, attending midnight mass on Christmas Eve and sharing a great devotion to Mary are among my favorite childhood experiences.

I am so grateful today to know many modern-day examples of similar families who exemplify the ideals and spirit of the Holy Family. Many of those same cousins of my youth and their spouses now pass on that same love and faith to their own children. Equally, the children of many of my closest friends have the good fortune to have parents who witness hope, faith and love with every breath they take.

Thanks to the efforts of our wider Marist Mission, especially our ongoing work with Refugee families, I have been graced to know numerous stories of parents and young children, who like the Holy Family had to flee their hometown for the safety of their children and who often did not find a welcome at an Inn. As this season of Christmas continues, let us remember in a special way today all those “Holy Families” who have fled their homes because of horrible dangers, violence, wars or disasters. May Jesus, Mary and Joseph look down on them and lead them to a safer place and one where they might have the opportunity to raise their children in love, peace and hope rather than in despair and anguish.

Our Marist Brothers USA Province is dedicated to the Holy Family. May we as Marist of Champagnat be worthy models and witnesses of that same family spirit that we are proud to call our own!

No matter where we are today on our planet, Christmas Eve will be drastically different from any previous celebration we have ever known in our lifetimes. Our normal local, church or family traditions will not be quite the same this year due to restrictions of larger gatherings, quarantines, travel bans and all the continued safety and health concerns around the Covid-19 pandemic that has devastated our world in 2020.

We instead continue to “wait in hope” for the implementation of vaccines and anticipation of a return to some level of normality. As we officially end the season of Advent today, we as Christians move from a period of prayer, fasting and waiting into a time of rejoicing and celebration for the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

2020 forced many in the world to embrace, like never before, some of the traditional practices of a normal Advent season. Who among us has not spent more time this year praying for the countless folks on the frontlines of this pandemic who risked their lives to help others or offer prayers for so many in our lives who have suffered or died from the coronavirus? Who has not been asked this year to fast from most of our normal activities? The practice of almsgiving may never see a greater time of need as homeless shelters and food pantries are at all time high volumes with so many in need. 

Yes, we as a people have endured a very long Advent season this year and must now again rejoice in “hope” returning to our shattered world. Tonight, we celebrate the birth of our Lord and His coming into a dark and difficult world to shine His light and love on all our lives. He came into our world to offer hope, salvation and a way forward. We must embrace His birth and His promise of new life even in the midst of our continued dark days. We must look again to find that star that will lead us home to a place where faith and hope overpower despair and sadness. Let us on this sacred night, recommit ourselves to be people of that Light and to allow Him to be reborn again this year through our actions, our love and how we continue to respond each day with our lives to the many needs around us.

Tonight, I will be sitting around the fireplace at the Marist Brothers Center in Esopus, NY and watching my favorite Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. I will be thinking how wonderful my life has been because of having so many amazing people and blessings as part of it! I wish you all a most Blessed Christmas and pray in hope that the coming New Year will not only bring a return to normality for our stricken world, but more importantly a greater appreciation by all of us of what really matters most in our lives, namely, the love of family and friends and our embracing the gospel with our lives.

Merry Christmas to you All and to all a Good Night!

Blessings today to all our Brothers and Sisters from Mexico, who will be celebrating the Marial feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. They celebrate the apparitions in 1531 of Mary to a young Mexican boy, Juan Diego. 

When the young Juan Diego explained his encounter of Mary to his local Bishop, he was not believed and told by the Bishop to ask her, if she appeared again, for a miraculous sign to prove to him her identity. 

When Mary again appeared to Juan Diego, she instructed the young boy to go to the top of Tepeyac Hill and pick the roses that would be there and present them to the Bishop. Juan Diego did as Mary instructed, even though roses do not bloom in that part of the world during the month of December. The roses that Juan Diego found were not native to Mexico. Mary met the boy there and carefully arranged the flowers in his cloak. When Juan Diego opened his cloak before the Bishop on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and on the fabric was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Juan Diego’s cloak or “tilma” has become Mexico’s most popular religious and cultural symbol. It is on display in the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe which is built on the top of Tepeyac Hill, just outside of Mexico City. It is a most popular pilgrimage site and this feast day is celebrated widely in all Mexican communities.

The young Juan Diego was canonized in 2002 and became the first Catholic indigenous saint from the Americas. As we celebrate this Marial feast day, let us also remember that God is not afraid to utilize young people in deepening the faith of His people as He did with young Juan Diego. In fact, throughout history God has empowered young people to be powerful witnesses of faith. From David defeating Goliath, to a young Jewish girl named, Mary who responded “Yes”, to other children, like Juan Diego, who also witnessed Marial Apparitions at Fatima and Medjugorje. I have been graced to have known many young people who at times have been the face of God in my own life. We journey through advent in quiet anticipation of the coming birth of a child. May this season allow us to always hold sacred the lives of all children, who constantly reflect God’s image and love.

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception which celebrates the birth of Mary, our Good Mother and how she was conceived free of original sin. Although God would later grant her the freedom to choose whether she was open to bring Jesus into our world, He granted her at birth the possibility to be the sacred vessel that might one day carry the salvation of our world in her womb.

What strikes me most from this concept is that it brings to life for me other ancient words of scripture. In Jeremiah 1:5, we read, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Could God be so interested in our lives that He would know long before we are born what we are destined to become if we, like Mary, are open to accepting that call?

Although Mary played a critical role in bringing Christ into our world and probably an equally important role later in helping to establish the early church, she never looked to be in the spotlight or forefront. In the entire New Testament, Mary is only mentioned a total of 19 times. I believed she instead, preferred to allow the focus to remain on her Son and was happy to model for us how to be a perfect disciple. 

As our advent journey continues, might we be open to listening to what future plans God might have for our lives? When our Gabriel arrives, will we have the freedom, courage and willingness to respond like Mary?  What will our “Fiat” be?

Today our church celebrates the feast of St. Nicholas, a third century Bishop that lived near modern day Turkey. He is most remembered for his love and kindness to the children of his region and his habit of secretly leaving small gifts for many children. His impact and legacy continues to live on in our world today by the millions of young children who patiently await the joy and excitement of Christmas morning and the chance to open presents and toys lovingly and secretly left for them by Santa.

There are many skeptics in our world who do not believe in or embrace the magic of Christmas Eve. Sadly, they miss the beauty, innocence and faith of children who enjoy unconditional love and waking up to a world, where dreams can come true, if only one believes. While “Santa” or “Old St. Nick” may have many helpers who assist him in making those dreams come to life, his impact is no less magical. 

While we continue on our Advent journey, may the spirit of St. Nicholas come alive in each of us so that we too might bring some joy, happiness and love into the deserving hearts of children of all ages in our own lives. 

Each year on Thanksgiving night as a way to kick off the upcoming Christmas season, I watch one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies, Miracle on 34th Street (the original version). In the movie, the question of whether Santa Clause is real or just a legend unfolds in this holiday classic. One line in that movie always reminds me of the importance of this special time of the year, “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.”

I  believe in miracles, in the beauty and potential of young people, and that love and God’s grace will always allow us to overcome the many difficulties and challenges that life will throw at us at any given moment. Sometimes common sense might suggest that obstacles or problems cannot be surmounted, but that is where faith must takeover and trust in our God that we are not walking this journey alone. 

The legend and inspiration of St. Nick is also an invitation for us to somehow find simple ways to make our world and the world of those people in our lives a little brighter and more joyful by our secretly engaging in some random acts of kindness.