• About The Alternate Path

The Alternate Path

~ Thoughts on Walking the Path of Christian Discipleship

The Alternate Path

Monthly Archives: December 2015

Mary’s witness: Fourth Sunday of Advent (C)

19 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by mcummins2172 in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Advent, Christian life, faith, God's promise, hope, Virgin Mary

maryTwo things struck me as I prayed over the gospel this past week. The first is when Luke tells us that Mary entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.  I found myself returning again and again to that scene in my imagination.  How joy-filled it must have been!  Mary stepping into this house which for too long had been barren of the sound of new life, the sound of children.  Elizabeth said that the child in her womb leapt for joy at the sound of Mary’s greeting – a confirmation of what the angel had promised Zechariah.  What was thought barren will now bring forth life and it will be a life that, in turn, will proclaim the coming of the Messiah!  For nothing is impossible to God.

Mary comes to Zechariah and Elizabeth not as we are, weakened and wounded by sin, rather she comes as God would have us. On December 8th we affirmed that Mary is the Immaculate Conception.  In a great mystery she is preserved from sin.  In Mary we see not the exception but in fact the true norm – the human condition as God intends.  Mary reveals our true nature and dignity where sin obscures, denigrates and denies.  The very presence of Mary reveals that sin and evil are, in fact, the exception and will always be so.  Sin and evil have no true power.  Sin and evil can destroy and tear down life but they can never bring forth new life.  God alone is the author of life.

Mary is the true missionary of hope and Mary stands as the great witness to the impotence of evil.

The second thing that struck me is when Elizabeth proclaims Mary “blessed” because she believed that what the Lord had spoken to her would be fulfilled. Someone recently asked me if Mary could have said “no” to the angel Gabriel and refuse God’s request.  Mary certainly had free will in that moment and it was a free will untainted by original sin.  Mary chose to believe.  Despite all things to the contrary – the darkness and violence of the world, the confusion of what the angel’s words meant, the scandal that would be in the eyes and thoughts of people – Mary chose to believe that what God had spoken to her would be fulfilled.

This last Sunday of Advent, standing before the celebration of Christmas, Mary witnesses to us the true impotence of evil and that God alone is the author of life. Mary also witnesses to us the choice to believe that what God has promised God will fulfill.  We need to live the hope of this season and we need to learn from Mary how to be missionaries and witnesses of hope.

Recently Archbishop Joseph Kurtz (current president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops) shared the following words in a statement regarding the violent times we find ourselves in and how we are to respond as Christians.

We must not respond in fear. We are called to be heralds of hope and prophetic voices against senseless violence, a violence which can never be justified by invoking the name of God. Watching innocent lives taken and wondering whether the violence will reach our own families rightly stirs our deepest protective emotions. We must resist the hatred and suspicion that leads to policies of discrimination. Instead, we must channel our emotions of concern and protection, born in love, into a vibrant witness to the dignity of every person. We should employ immigration laws that are humane and keep us safe, but should never target specific classes of persons based on religion. When we fail to see the difference between our enemies and people of good will, we lose a part of who we are as people of faith. Policies of fear and inflammatory rhetoric will only offer extremists fertile soil and pave the way toward a divisive, fearful future. As Pope Francis reminded us in his speech to Congress: “The yardstick by which we measure others is the yardstick by which time will measure us.”  

When we recognize the impotence of evil, we stand with Mary. When we make the choice to not give in to fear and to believe that what God has promised God will fulfill then we stand with Mary.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Advent: Return to the Beginning

05 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by mcummins2172 in Advent, hope, Uncategorized, Year of Mercy

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Advent, hope, Mass shooting, sad logic of violence, Year of Mercy

advent wreath 3The week before the first Sunday of Advent I ventured into a local craft store in search of Advent candles.  After inquiry, a sales associate led me to the candles.  We passed one, then two, then three, four and five full aisles of Christmas decorations.  Arriving at the last row she pointed to a small stack of Advent candles on the bottom corner of a shelf.  Quite sad in comparison.  I cannot help but reflect on the symbolism.  As I write this reflection there has been yet another mass shooting in our country.  I do not make this jump from searching for Advent candles to a mass shooting in order to be flippant or sensational, I share it because I believe Advent offers needed lessons for our world today but honestly I fear these lessons may fall on deaf ears because they will require work, sacrifice and even risk on our part.

One of the virtues that Romano Guardini explores in his book Learning the Virtues that Lead You to God is the virtue of patience.  In the course of his reflection he offers these words:

Therefore patience, which always begins again, is a prerequisite if something is to be done.  In “The Imitation of Christ” we find the phrase “Semper incipe!” … At first sight, it is a paradox, for a beginning is a beginning and then we go on.  But that is true only in mechanical matters.  In actual life, beginning is an element that must operate constantly.  Nothing goes on if it does not at the same time begin. 

So he who wishes to advance must always begin again.  He must constantly immerse himself in the inner source of life and arise therefrom in new freedom, in initiative – the power of beginning – in order to make real what he has purposed: prudence, temperance, self-control, or whatever it may be that is to be accomplished.  

Patience with oneself – not carelessness or weakness, of course, but the sense of reality – is the foundation of all progress.  

The wisdom that Guardini offers here is a wisdom found at the heart of the season of Advent.  In Advent, we as Church, “begin again”.  We return to the beginning and we join with the saints of this season (Ss. John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph and Mary) in awaiting the coming of the Messiah.

Advent calls us to honestly acknowledge the darkness and brokenness of our world and our lives not in order to shut down in despair but in order to open a window of hope.  If approached correctly and not rushed through, the season of Advent offers profound lessons to help us learn patience with ourselves and our world.  We recognize that there is something fundamentally broken within ourselves and the human condition that is just not possible for us to heal and fix.  It is too mysterious, too deep and too painful.  Further, we recognize how all of creation stands in need.  We come to learn that the ultimate answer cannot be found in us.  Yet, we also recognize that there is a deep yearning for wholeness within and, if we sit with it long enough, we recognize that this yearning itself has been planted within us by God.  It is part of our makeup, part of the essence of who we are and Scripture tells us that God is a God who does not disappoint.  God will answer our need.  God will answer the deepest need of our world with the coming of Christ in glory in the fullness of all history.  God has answered the hope of the ages with the incarnation of the Son!

“Semper incipe!” is a spiritual truth and we learn it from the Advent saints themselves.  Zechariah and Elizabeth began again when they were reminded that nothing is impossible for God.  Joseph began again when he was reminded that God will act as God so chooses and our job is to trust.  John the Baptist began again when he went into the wilderness to meet the Lord just as the people of Israel had encountered God during their forty years of wandering in the desert.  Mary began again in her profound “Yes” to God – the heart of Israel’s history and hope.

We live in a dark time.  There is much violence, isolation, pain and fear in our world today.  In such times patience is called for all the more.  We must overcome the temptation to rush to judgment, to rush to condemnation, to rush to separation, to rush to retribution.  Patience rightly lived is a needed antidote rather than a weakness.  If we are to move beyond the darkness of these times we can neither naively try to wish it away nor pretend the darkness does not exist, rather we need to be honest about the state of things and then get to work!  And as Guardini rightly notes, patience is the foundation of all true progress.  The saints of Advent were anything but naïve.  They knew the brokenness of their world and their own need and they clearly show the willingness to begin again.

This particular Advent, this season when we as Church return to the beginning, should be different.  This celebration of Advent which marks the beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy ought to initiate a transformation in us as Church that will affect our world.  In this will Advent truly be authentic.  No longer can Advent just be my or our personal preparation for the celebration of Christmas, rather Advent must light hope and mercy for our world.  We need to live the anticipation of this Advent not for ourselves but truly for all of our sisters and brothers – especially those who are suffering and forgotten.

Our world is in a dark place.  There is work that needs to be done.  Before we rush to the work, we should return to the beginning and immerse ourselves in that inner source of life which is our faith in the work of God himself.  Patience is the foundation of all true progress.

I would suggest that in a particular way this Advent we stand with the saints of this season and we learn from them how to return to the beginning.  This lesson is too important; too critical to the times we now live in, to bypass.

When all is said and done we may very well recognize that human history was carried neither by the proud nor the arrogant nor the centers of our world’s powers but rather by the patient – the ones who learned how to continually return to the beginning in order to arise in new freedom and new awareness.

Follow The Alternate Path on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Previous Posts

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • April 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007

Popular Posts

  • mcummins2172.files.wordpr…

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • The Alternate Path
    • Join 145 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Alternate Path
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...