Epiphany Prayer

Like the magi, we want to bring Jesus gifts.  But what gifts should we bring?  We should bring him what he wants the most.

Lord Jesus, I lay before you the gold of my sins and weaknesses, the incense of my painful memories and relationships, and the myrrh of my fears and anxieties.  These do not seem like gifts fit for a King, but I offer them to you from the treasure-chest of my heart, knowing that you wish to transform and redeem them.  I come to you open, empty and vulnerable; be a quiet, loving, saving presence in me.  Amen.

Anne Koken, color linocut.  Courtesy Sacred Art Pilgrim.

Anne Koken, color linocut.  Courtesy Sacred Art Pilgrim.

Guest Blogger: Something We Can Do for Families in Syria

Merry Christmas!  I hope you all enjoyed a peaceful and meaningful Christmas Day.  This year my six-year-old’s “second favorite” Christmas song (trumping “Rudolph” is no easy feat) is “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”  We are in full swing! 

Today I offer you a different kind of Christmas reflection.  The post below was originally published on the blog of my friend Jillian Ciriello (www.momingrace.wordpress.com).  Jillian is a thoughtful young woman, the mother of a lively toddler, a nurse by trade, a faithful disciple of Jesus, and a compassionate human being. 

Jillian’s post is a timely reflection on the conflict in Syria.  She helps us understand how near Syria is to Bethlehem (“less than the mileage I will log in the car while visiting family this Christmas”).  She explains the anxiety and needs of many Syrian families, expresses our own angst and uncertainty as we watch the suffering from afar, and offers a concrete way we can help.

"Underwear for Christmas"

As my heart turns to Bethlehem, I find it pulled closer to Syria this Christmas.  Amid a complex civil war, babies are killed and millions of widows and orphans flee trying to find safety. In this painful conflict I hear the words of Jeremiah 31:15:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted
because her children are no more.”

This Old Testament image of grieving mothers is too accurate for many in Syria today.  As I read about the birth of Jesus, this passage is quoted by Matthew 2:18 speaking ofHerod’s massacre of all baby boys two-years-old and under. A futile attempt to try and stop Jesus from changing the world.  I think of my two-year-old son and cannot fathom the anguish of those mothers. But evil did not triumph then, and it will not triumph now.

I hold my sona little tighter and thank God for all we have, but often feel paralyzed to do much more.  Paralyzed by images of wounded children, by my own disbelief and fear, by a struggle to comprehend what is happening and what I could possibly do that would make any difference.  It is overwhelming.  It is confusing.  It is too far away.

Far Away: But this week more than ever my heart is in Bethlehem, which is so very near to this conflict.  The distance between Bethlehem and Syria is difficult to measure because of unclear borders and shifting country lines, but the city of Damascus in southern Syria is just 129 miles, less than the mileage I will log in the car while visiting family this Christmas.  Aleppo, the site of greatest violence and tragedy at present is about 340 miles away.

Confusing: In this region violence seeks to overtake the holiest of lands where Jesus walked during his time on Earth.  We can become numb to the long complex history with many nations and groups fighting one another. But my focus in this present conflict involves the city of Aleppo where innocent civilians, women and children have been trapped for months with no way in or out surrounded by violence and death.  Evacuation efforts are in place but danger remains and the refugees have no where to go once they escape.

Overwhelming: This problem is clearly too big for me, or for any one person, group, or nation to resolve.  But I have been inspired by Nadia Alawa, a mom in New Hampshire who decided to stop waiting and start acting in 2011 to help these mothers and children in Syria and those living as refugees in neighboring Turkey.  She started an organization called NuDay Syria that built grassroots partnerships with people in Syria to get supplies and aid to the most dangerous of places.  Remarkably this is one of the few organizations still working on the ground in the war-torn nation.  They are meeting the most basic and important needs: getting diapers and milk to babies, undergarments and sanitary pads to mothers, not to mention food, clean water, tents, and warm blankets.

Now this is an idea I can wrap my head around.  A local mom, packing up supplies, shipping them oversees in giant 40 foot crates and getting them into the hands of suffering people within 6 weeks.  And I can donate via Amazon gift registry, super easy!

I wish I learned more sooner. I wish I understood more now. But at least I can Amazon up some supplies and know that a mom experiencing unfathomable pain will at least have milk for her starving child and some undergarments to wear.  One mom.  I can do that.

So this year the most important gift I am buying is underwear.  It is not gold, frankincense, or myrrh, but I do think its the gift that Jesus asks me to lay at his feet this year. It may be delivered by a wise woman instead of a wise man.  It will be given to a mother who is caring for her child, in a land that has no place for them, who would humbly welcome the shelter of a manger. It is a far away place and struggle that I am much removed from but Jesus understands it in a very real way.  He is present in this time of suffering as much today as when he lay in a stable just 300 miles away wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Where to go from here:

NuDay Syria
www.nudaysyria.net
Amazon registry

Excellent 5 Min Video Summarizing Syrian Conflict
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKb9GVU8bHE

Thank you to all my friends who posted on social media about the Syrian refugee crisis, until I finally took the time to listen and understand.

Thank you to the Boston Globe for this great article From Small Town NH, A Stream of Relief to Syria, Lisa Wangsness, 31 May 2015

The Killing of the Innocents by Herod, Detail, Leon Cagniet, 1824

The Killing of the Innocents by Herod, Detail, Leon Cagniet, 1824

Christmas Gift Idea!

No, I’m not earning a commission on these Bibles, but I should be!  I was recently given a Little Rock Catholic Study Bible, and it’s the most beautiful Bible I’ve ever owned.  It’s a wonderful gift idea for Christmas for those in your life who love Scripture, or those who you want to encourage to love Scripture!  This Study Bible has all kinds of useful features like background articles, definitions, charts, informative footnotes, timelines, maps and even prayer starters. 

The photos below are of the “deluxe” edition, which is substantial but not too big, with a leather-like cover, ribbon markers, and nice-sized print.  (The Study Bible is also available as a regular hardback or paperback, or even an e-book, with all the same study features.  But the deluxe one is by far the most beautiful!)

A Study Bible can make a huge difference in your understanding of Scripture, which can then make a big impact on your spiritual and prayer life.  There are a lot of great Study Bibles out there, and this is one of them.  Several of my Scripture students have purchased this Bible, and they just love it!

Little Rock Study Bibles are available online.  On the Little Rock Scripture Study site, the deluxe edition is $64.95.  Happy shopping, sharing, reading and learning! 

Advent Retreat Online

Today I’d like to share with you several meditations from my Advent Retreat, which focused on the Infancy Narratives – the stories of the conception, birth and infancy of Jesus found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. 

If you simply want to listen to the meditations (which are about 10 minutes each), you will find them below – one based on Matthew’s Infancy Narrative (Mt. 1-2), and the other based on Luke’s (Lk. 1-2). 

If you would like a fuller retreat experience, follow the link below.  There you will find everything on one page:  a short “Introduction to the Infancy Narratives” (pdf) that will help you compare Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts (you’ll be amazed how different they are!), links to the texts of the Infancy Narratives, the audio meditations, and reflection questions to correspond with the meditations.

Feel free to share with others, especially those who may not be able to get out for a parish retreat.  We can bring a retreat to them!

CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO AND PRINT MATERIALS: ADVENT RETREAT ONLINE.

John Mosiman, courtesy of The Sacred Art Pilgrim (sacredartpilgrim.com).

John Mosiman, courtesy of The Sacred Art Pilgrim (sacredartpilgrim.com).

Sunday's Gospel: What Is a Winnowing Fork?!

The following is republished with permission from my column in Catechist Magazine.  For subscription information, visit Catechist.com.

December 4, Second Sunday in Advent, Gospel Reading:  Matthew 3:1-12

“You brood of vipers!” We always know it is the Second Sunday in Advent when John the Baptist bursts onto the scene. The colorful prophet who preceded Jesus preaches and shouts from the Judean desert, and his voice rings out just as loudly and clearly for us today.

The Gospels tell us that John viewed himself as a prophetic forerunner of the Messiah. In this Sunday’s reading, after his call for repentance and his warnings to the Pharisees and Sadducees, John speaks of Jesus, though not yet by name. He refers to “the one coming after me” and describes the imminent ministry of the Messiah with strong language. The Messiah will be “mighty” and will baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

John then describes the Messiah as a discerning judge who will separate the good from the bad: “His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

This agricultural image may be unfamiliar to modern readers. John is describing the winnowing or threshing process farmers utilized to separate husks from grains of wheat. They used winnowing fans (or forks) to toss the harvested grain into the air. The chaff (the unwanted husks) would separate from the grain and be lifted away by the breeze, while the heavier grain would settle back onto the ground. The farmer could then gather the grain and store it in his barn.

John uses this image to describe the judgment Jesus will ultimately bring. After using his winnowing fan, Jesus will “clear his threshing floor,” gathering the good grain into his barn and burning the unwanted chaff with “unquenchable fire.”

This depiction of Jesus as the one who separates good from bad, then gathers the good to himself and burns the bad, may not be our favorite image of Jesus from the Gospels. But it is one that John the Baptist and the evangelists after him wanted us to hear. We are not supposed to be afraid of Jesus or of future judgment, but we are supposed to be forewarned and aware: What we do and who we are matters to God. We cannot be with Jesus, in his warm barn full of good grain, unless we are ready.

Fortunately for us, the winnowing process has already begun. The words of Jesus and his forerunner John the Baptist have already begun threshing us, separating the worthless, husky part of us from the valuable, substantial grain.

ASK YOURSELF: How do I feel the winnowing fan of Jesus already at work in my life? Am I letting him separate the bad from the good in my heart?

ASK YOUR STUDENTS: Why do you think John the Baptist and Jesus used common images (such as the farming image John the Baptist uses in today’s reading) when they preached to the people?

PRAY: Lord Jesus, I know you will be my final judge. May you find me worthy to be gathered into your barn.

LIVE THE GOSPEL: Is there a bad habit you can “winnow” out of your life so you can be “less husk” and more “good grain”? Choose one bad habit to work on this week.