Amanda Gorman’s Encouraging Poem for the New Year
In case you haven’t seen this yet: A poem for the New Year by Amanda Gorman, who writes: “This is such a unique New Year’s Day, because even as we toast our glasses to the future, we still have our heads bowed for what has been lost. I think one of the most important things the new year reminds us is of that old adage: This too shall pass. You can’t relive the same day twice — meaning every dawn is a new one, and every year an opportunity to step into the light.”
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“New Day’s Lyric”
May this be the day
We come together.
Mourning, we come to mend,
Withered, we come to weather,
Torn, we come to tend,
Battered, we come to better.
Tethered by this year of yearning,
We are learning
That though we weren’t ready for this,
We have been readied by it.
Steadily we vow that no matter
How we are weighed down,
We must always pave a way forward.
This hope is our door, our portal.
Even if we never get back to normal,
Someday we can venture beyond it,
To leave the known and take the first steps.
So let us not return to what was normal,
But reach toward what is next.
What was cursed, we will cure.
What was plagued, we will prove pure.
Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,
Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,
Where we weren’t aware, we’re now awake;
Those moments we missed
Are now these moments we make,
The moments we meet,
And our hearts, once all together beaten,
Now all together beat.
Come, look up with kindness yet,
For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.
We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,
But to take on tomorrow.
We heed this old spirit,
In a new day’s lyric,
In our hearts, we hear it:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
Be bold, sang Time this year,
Be bold, sang Time,
For when you honor yesterday,
Tomorrow ye will find.
Know what we’ve fought
Need not be forgot nor for none.
It defines us, binds us as one,
Come over, join this day just begun.
For wherever we come together,
We will forever overcome.
• How long do you think you will keep your new year’s resolutions? Good luck!
St. John’s Many Hats
St. John’s feast day is a mere two days after Jesus’s birthday. This is appropriate, for John was exceptionally close to him. In fact, I use John as a model when I give my talk “Intimacy with Jesus.” Many churches are named in his honor. The cathedral church of Rome is the basilica known as St. John Lateran. Its full name includes the Savior, John the Baptist, and John the apostle. Why does John the apostle deserve such attention? He was a unique in several ways as he carried out his diverse roles.
When we first meet John, he is a fisherman, a brother to James and a son to Zebedee and Salome. When Jesus invites John to follow him, he becomes one of the first apostles. We think he was the youngest, about nineteen. Jesus favors John as a special friend, making him one of a trio of privileged apostles along with Peter and James. The three apostles in this inner circle were selected to witness the raising of the daughter of Jairus and the transfiguration. They were also called to be with Jesus during his agony in the garden.
Like us, John is a flawed human being. He and his brother boldly request places of honor to the right and left of God. (To protect their reputations, Matthew in his Gospel has their mother ask for them!) The brothers argue about who will be greatest in God’s kingdom, which prompts Jesus to deliver his lesson on humbly serving others.
At the last supper John is granted a place of honor after all: He reclines right beside Jesus. That is why Peter motions to him to ask Jesus who will betray him.
Afterwards, John shows himself a loyal disciple. Out of the twelve apostles, he alone bravely follows Jesus to Calvary and stands at the cross. There John becomes a son and caretaker when Jesus bequeaths to him a most previous gift: his own mother, Mary.
On Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene breaks the news to Peter and John that the body of Jesus was missing from the tomb. John outruns Peter but graciously waits for the older apostle to catch up and then allows him to enter the tomb first.
After the resurrection, John and six other apostles are fishing with no success. At dawn a man on the shore tells them to cast their nets to the right, and doing so, they haul in a boatload of fish. It is John who recognizes the stranger and calls out, “It is the Lord!”
Years later, John became an evangelist, one who shares the good news. He wrote his memories of Jesus (what he had seen and heard) in what is known as the fourth Gospel. It opens with the soul-stirring words evoking the creation of light as he described the dawn of the new creation: “In the beginning was the Word…and the Word became flesh and lived among us….[He was] the true light which enlightens everyone.” This Gospel that was written last is more deeply theological than the other three. Because its thoughts soar high up to God, John’s symbol as an evangelist is the eagle.
Rather than naming John, the Gospel of John refers to “the one Jesus loved” or “the Beloved disciple.”
Three letters in the Bible are named for John, but their authorship is disputed.
Tradition holds that John was also the seer who was granted the visions recounted in the Book of Revelation.
It is believed that John was the sole apostle to die a natural death instead of being martyred. It’s said that he died in Ephesus around 98 A.D.
Today John is a Saint, reunited with both Jesus and Mary. During this Christmas season you might take up your Bible and read his powerful Gospel.
- Do you remember when every Mass concluded with praying the opening of John’s Gospel? Are there churches near you named for St. John?
Gifts and Givers
A very merry Christmas! May you celebrate Christmas heartily despite Covid!
As we exchange presents this year, let’s remember that the best gift we’ve received is the gift found in the manger in Bethlehem. And as Fr. Tom Fanta once pointed out to the children of St. Dominic School, God wrapped his gift in a beautiful way: Mary, the holy and sinless young woman from Nazareth.
This is a good week to resurrect an old reflection that I used with students. The original author is unknown.
Persons Are Gifts
Persons are gifts which the Father sends me wrapped. Some are wrapped very beautifully; they are very attractive when I first see them. Some come in ordinary wrapping paper. Others have been mishandled in the mail. Once in a while there is a ‘Special Delivery!’ Some persons are gifts which are loosely wrapped; others very tightly.
But the wrapping is not the gift. It is so easy to make this mistake. Sometimes the gift is very easy to open. Sometimes I need others to help. Is it because they are afraid? Is it because we are afraid? Does it hurt? Maybe they have been opened up before and thrown away.
Could it be that the gift is not for me?
I am a person; therefore I am a gift too. A gift to myself first of all. The Father gave myself to me. Have I ever really looked inside the wrappings? Am I afraid to? Perhaps I have never accepted the gift that I am… Could it be that there is something else inside the wrappings than what I think there is?
Maybe I have never seen the wonderful gift that I am. Could the Father’s gifts be anything but beautiful? I love the gifts which those who love me give to me. Why not this gift from the Father?
And I am a gift to other persons. Am I willing to be given by the Father to others? A person for others? Do others have to be content with the wrappings…never permitted to enjoy the gift? Every meeting of persons is an exchange of gifts. But a gift without a giver is not a gift; it is a thing, devoid of relationship to a giver or givee,
The best friendship is a relationship between persons who see themselves as they truly are: gifts of the Father to each other, for others…brothers, sisters. A friend is a gift not just to me but to others through me. When I keep my friend and possess him, I destroy his ‘giftedness.’ If I save his life for me, I lose it; if I lose it for others, I save it.
Persons are gifts, gifts received and given . . . like the Son! Friendship is the response of person–gifts to the Father – Giver.
The Christmas season is time to ponder the incredible gifts of God: salvation, Eucharist, creation.
• What can you give God in return?
A Fly’s Lesson on Prayer
This is an odd sort of blog post, but the Spirit moves me to write it. At liturgies in our Notre Dame chapel, I sit in the front row, where I can hear better. This past week before Mass a fly was on the white cloth on the altar. Then he lit on the lectionary. The reader got up and brushed him off. Later, during Mass he was strolling along the floor next to the altar. I could not take my eyes off him. I watched as he jumped into the shadow of the altar. Then he vaulted about a foot and a half into the air and flew smack into the lectern stand, knocking himself out. He lay immobile on the floor.
St. Therese, the Little Flower, on finding a spider in the convent, would respectfully carry it outside. A Buddhist would spare a pesky fly. But I’m no St. Therese. Neither am I a Buddhist. Besides, I realized that the fly might return to the altar and bother the priest, or worse. Should I dare to sprint from my seat to the fly and get rid of him? No, that solution would be a spectacle and distract the congregation.
So I prayed, “Lord, would you send the fly in front of me so I can discreetly dispose of him?” Immediately I thought, “Here I am praying an inane prayer while so many people have asked me to pray for loved ones who are seriously ill, not to mention the needs of our tortured world.” A while later, I lost track of the fly. At least he wasn’t crawling on the altar.
The Mass proceeded. While singing the final hymn, I glanced down and there sat the fly directly in front of me. Without any qualms of conscience, I took one step and dispatched him over the rainbow. I doubt anyone noticed.
Our chapel is huge. What are the chances that the fly would land right there? Seems to me that God heard my rather frivolous prayer. I shouldn’t be surprised. Loves does such little favors.
This unusual event bolstered my belief that God hears and answers our prayers. The same loving Father who sent his Son into the world to save us—a marvelous fact that we spend Advent pondering—still cares for us…and individually.
As Jesus said, “What father among you, if his son asks for bread, would give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead of the fish?” (Luke 11:11) and “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you” (Matthew 7:7).
Then again, sometimes in his wisdom God answers our prayer with No, Not yet, I have a better idea, or, as former President Jimmy Carter noted, God might say, “Are you kidding?”
• When has God answered a simple prayer for you?
Advent Overshadowing of the Holy Spirit
The three so-called Advent figures are the Blessed Virgin Mary (of course), John the Baptist (the Lord’s precursor), and the prophet Isaiah (who spoke of the Messiah and God’s kingdom). To my thinking, the predominant Person was omitted from this line up, namely, the Holy Spirit.
Yes, the Father sent the Son to save humankind, and the Son humbly agreed to this mission. But it was the Third Person who brought about the incarnation. As the Angel Gabriel predicted to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Through the divine power of the Holy Spirit, the God-Man began to take shape in the womb of the young, unmarried Mary.
The Genesis account of creation opens with the Spirit of God sweeping over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2) After that pristine creation was spoiled by sin, the same Spirit initiated the new creation with the cooperation of a Jewish teenager. Mary bears the title Spouse of the Holy Spirit. No doubt, the Spirit oversaw the development of the Savior for the nine months he grew within this blessed Mother.
Likewise, the Holy Spirit cultivates the life of God within us. At the first moments of our existence, he made us in the image and likeness of God. At Baptism the Trinity took up residence within us, filling us with grace, divine life.
Again the Holy Spirit acted in the life of Jesus by coming down on him in the form of a dove at his baptism in the Jordan River. This salient event marked the inauguration of Jesus’s mission. The Holy Spirit accompanied Jesus all through his life, inspiring him to teach, empowering him to work miracles, and strengthening him to endure the challenges, antagonism, and suffering he encountered.
Similarly, in the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Holy Spirit strengthened us to go forth proclaiming the Good News to the world. With his seven gifts aflame in us, we are equipped to live well and be a blessing to others.
At the Last Supper Jesus promised to stay with us as the Holy Spirit. As an indwelling God, he would help us when faced with a daunting task, teach us what is truly true, guide us in keeping from harm, and counsel us in making decisions. As we await the Final Coming of Jesus at the end of time, the Holy Spirit is our faithful companion. As we await the inevitable last day of our life when we are called Home, the Holy Spirit is with us. He is not just overshadowing us, but living and acting within our very being.
It was the Holy Spirit who “overshadowed” the body of Jesus in the tomb and brought him to a new, glorified existence. And as Scripture attests: “But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).
On Pentecost, known as the birthday of the Church, the Holy Spirit came down on the Mystical Body of Christ. He hasn’t left us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, common bread and wine is transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ every day.
If you are interested in learning more about this “hidden God,” you might read my book The Holy Spirit: Font of Love, Life and Power, available on Amazon as a paperback and an ebook.
• When do you think of the Holy Spirit? Pray to him?
Here is a moving hymn to the Holy Spirit for your quiet reflection:
