Instead of today’s 4-week observance, Advent USED to be a period of 40 days on our liturgical calendar. It was a counterpoint to Easter’s Lenten season. This 3rd week of Advent is called “Gaudete” (“Rejoice”) Sunday. It refers to us ALMOST being at Christmas—and so we should rejoice in realizing once again that Jesus was born. During this season, we are called to reflect on Jesus coming to us 3 times: 1) at Bethlehem, 2) in our lives by the way we live, 3) at the “2nd Coming.”
It was a stroke of genius (“inspiration?”) for the Church to highlight our call to rejoice—for reasons unrelated to the theology just summarized. The medical community refers to this time of year as having an increase of what they call “Seasonal Affective Disorder” (“SAD”). This is a type of depression that “happens usually during fall or winter. It is thought that shorter days and less daylight may set off a chemical change in the brain leading to symptoms of depression. Light therapy and antidepressants can help treat SAD.” It sure is therapeutic for us to focus on the “Light of the world” being born at this time of year, and bringing “new life” to us when we might be in the throes of experiencing darkness and depression.
From a less scientific perspective and more associated with folk beliefs is the belief that a full moon affects our moods or behavior. Anecdotally, people who work in hospitals or care facilities often report that residents are emotionally not centered when a full moon occurs. Individuals might note an inability to sleep or feel emotions more strongly during this period. However, studies have not confirmed the reality of a full moon having such an effect on people. However, as with SAD, it is consoling for people to feel the full moon’s effect on them. They can be consoled in realizing via “Gaudete”/Rejoice Sunday that God is alive and bringing them new life at a time when they especially feel the need for it.
This week had some important feasts for us to consider during Advent. One was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception—the dogma declared in 1854 that tells of Mary being conceived “free from “original sin.” That is, since Jesus was like us in all things but sin, we have to account for his not inheriting it from his parents. If God was his father, great. No sin there. But what about Mary? With Augustine influencing Church teaching that asserted we all inherited original sin—Jesus would have inherited it through Mary. But that can’t be since Church teaching also said that Jesus was “like us in all things but sin.” Voila—the solution was for the Church to declare in 1854 that God had made an exception in Mary’s case. God saw to it that she was spared original sin. Problem solved.
As you might suspect, not all Christians thought this perspective was well grounded. It leaned too heavily on thinking of God as a puppeteer—injecting Himself into human affairs and pulling strings when strings needed pulling. However, one angle on this dogma that HAS earned broad support is that it calls attention not just to Mary’s conception—but to ours, too. That is, when God created Mary, you, and me—God did not create just another organism who was of no consequence. Nope!! Just the opposite. God made each of us for a reason, for a purpose, for a special role to perform and life to lead. As Mary’s conception would one day bear the Savior, so our conception would one day see us bear——-What?
The answer to that question can only be discovered by us in prayer—by conversing with God about why we were made who we are. This topic is certainly worth pondering at Mass–and justice to ourselves and the world is that we be OBLIGATED to reflect on this reality. That’s why this is a “holy day of obligation.” God doesn’t benefit from our taking the time to discern why we were created—but we benefit from putting in the time—in order to discover our God-given identity.
This week of Advent also gave us the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe—who is associated with an apparition of Mary seen by a 50-year-old peasant named Juan Diego near what is now Mexico City in the 1500s. Once again, scholars look at the Guadalupe tradition and are divided. Nay-sayers look upon the devotion as void of historical facts and largely a myth promoted by Catholics to help convert Native people. Others point to what was experienced as Mary greeting an ordinary person and revealing Jesus through Mary. This debate aside, the historical reality that is NOT contested is the faith of millions who have benefited from the Guadalupe story. As Gabriel came to a peasant girl to reveal the greatness her life would bring to the world, so are each of us reminded of the special vocation we have from a God who made us and threw away the mold of our unique beauty. The people of Mexico and the Americas learned of Mary’s embrace of New World populations—a reality that is denied by those who characterize refugees as animalistic pests who should be sent back from where they came.
The Church deemed it important to canonize Juan Diego and place his feast day in the same week as that of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As with all the saints, his life is a beacon for us “ordinary people” who are called to do extraordinary things. Receiving a message just as Mary had received one, he served the God who called upon him on an ordinary day near Mexico City. His example reminds us to be on the lookout for God tapping us for some special role.
The other important date this week is December 11th, my ordination anniversary. I say that with a sense of humor. Were it not for parishioner Tom Mayan emailing anniversary blessings, the date would have gone by unnoticed. However, an article I read did bring to mind the reality of a priest shortage. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is closing two-thirds of its parishes. This brings to mind the prophetic voice of Vatican 2 that brought to our consciousness a concept that needed expression 50 years ago. That concept is “the priesthood of the laity.”
Just as the early Christians relied on one another to sustain a practicing community of believers, so today our faith communities rely on the people in the pews to step up and give of their time, treasure, and talent more than ever before. Fortunately, St. John’s DOES have people actively serving “the people of God.” But there is always a need for more ministers of communion to visit the homebound or distribute at Mass, more lectors, choir members, social justice committee members, and social committee folk. Other roles await your stepping up.
At this weekend’s masses, Russ Milan, chair of the finance committee, informed us that the parish was overall operating in the black and that special collections for those in need have always been supported well.
In the week ahead, I volunteered to homilize at the vicariate reconciliation service. My role is to remind people that they take to heart what Jesus is quoted as saying in Matthew’s Gospel: I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. Jesus was reminding his listeners that our challenge is to help those in need. If you hear people debate issues and aren’t sure WHAT to think, His words are what should guide our attitudes and behavior. If what someone argues will primarily benefit that person—go to the light and away from their darkness. If your positions benefit have the wealthy make decisions that negatively impact those in need, go to the light—where those in need huddle for your help.
In the recent election, as with so many others, people often vote for candidates whose election will actually HURT those who vote for them. This is due to the electorate being seduced by Madison Avenue campaign advertisers who know what “buttons to push” to get people’s attention (and vote). Moreover, some candidates are “slick” salesmen who can lie to your face and have you believe them. According to neutral campaign observers, Mr. Trump presented a steady stream of lies at his rallies, and this misinformation persuaded many to vote for him.
Misinforming the public seems more successful than educational institutions! For example, Fox News draws 42% of the viewing public for the information it offers. However, studies reveal that its viewers are the most MIS-informed of television audiences. This is why the network was sued for 1 billion dollars for KNOWINGLY telling its audiences that the 2020 election was “stolen” when it knew full well that what it was telling viewers was a lie. Even though people who watch the other networks are better informed than Fox viewers, those other networks attract fewer viewers. Since most Americans are considered “low information” voters, their lack of information ends up putting people into office who will not represent those who voted for them.
MANY issues are beyond the grasp of us Americans. This has often humorously and depressingly been shown in the past by Johnny Carson and Jay Leno in their “Person on the street” interviews.
When estimating the size of different social groups, Americans rarely get it right. Here are some samples of what people think and what the reality is (drawn from solid sources of information such as union membership rolls, census data, insurance companies, social security, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and polls by YouGov and other polling firms.
People THINK about 26% of the population earn 500k or more a year, but the actual percentage is 1%. People THINK 36% of workers belong to unions but the actual % is 4%. People THINK 30% are vegetarian but it is 5% . People think 34% are left-handed but the actual figure is 11%. What people THINK and what is TRUE are often enough not the same. Americans tend to vastly overestimate the size of minority groups. This holds for sexual minorities, including the proportion of gays and lesbians (estimate: 30%, true: 3%), bisexuals (estimate: 29%, true: 4%), and people who are transgender (estimate: 21%, true: 0.6%).
It also applies to religious minorities, such as Muslim Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%) and Jewish Americans (estimate: 30%, true: 2%). And we find the same sorts of overestimates for racial and ethnic minorities, such as Native Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%), Asian Americans (estimate: 29%, true: 6%), and Black Americans (estimate: 41%, true: 12%).
Surprisingly, except for Indians, all Americans come from outside North America. However, as a nation, we carry biases or prejudices against “foreigners” when, at some point in the past, OUR ANCESTORS were “foreigners.” Children of immigrants are not born with a “foreign” gene, but instead adapt immediately to the country their parents adopted. The message of the Gospel is, as you know, that we are all brothers and sisters—spiritually AND biologically. Advent is a time when we try to internalize this reality.