The Outdoor Nativity Scene at the Abbey of St. Walburga

In the gospel reading at Mass on Saturday in Epiphanytide, we hear that “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven” (John 3:27).  So all of those heavenly gifts that have come upon us this Christmas, we should really think of today.  We should especially give thanks for the gift of Christ, the Bridegroom.  Further on in the gospel reading from John it says, “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom” (John 3:29).  That should stop us.  That says absolutely everything.  If we just had this one sentence for the rest of our life, it would be enough—Because He has us.  Nobody can take us from Him.  Relish the fact that we belong to Him. 

On Christmas, the Bridegroom came to earth, “leaping across the hills” as the Song of Songs says, running to meet us, and peering through the lattices to make sure we’re here.  The whole imagery of the Bridegroom coming is scattered throughout the scriptures, and it makes me think that Jesus must have loved weddings so much (His first miracle was performed at a wedding in Cana!) because it reminded Him of the joy of His role as the Bridegroom for His people.  Seeing the love of a groom for his bride reminds Him of His love for His brides, and for His Bride, the Church.  No matter what, Christ never stops loving His Church as a Bride.  And we should take great joy and comfort in that.  What everybody else thinks really is so small compared to what the Bridegroom thinks and feels.  May we never despair of thinking that He loves us any less than His beloved bride.  Keep this in mind, and you can’t have a bad day: The bride has the Bridegroom.

Happy first day of Ordinary Time!  (Ordinary Time comes from the Latin word “ordinalis,” meaning, “numbered,” and constitutes the period of the Church’s liturgical year which falls outside the two great seasons of Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter.  The first day of Ordinary Time in 2024 was January 9.) 

Today, the First Tuesday in Ordinary Time, the first Mass reading is about Hannah and Samuel, and Hannah’s sorrow over not having any children.  When she goes into the Temple to pray for a child, Eli the priest calls her drunk, but do you think she pays any attention to that?  Absolutely not!  She simply explains to him that she is not drunk, but in a great deal of sorrow.  When we are in pain, and acting out a little bit, we know what’s really going on and why we are hurting.  So if anyone says something contrary, we don’t need to get worked up about it.  We know what is going on within us, and what we need to address.  That is why self-knowledge is so important, and living in the truth.  Live in what is real, because if you can do that, nothing is going to bother you.  You can pour it out before the Lord, and bring it to Him simply, as Hannah did (cf. 1 Samuel 1:9-20).  She abandoned her situation into the hands of the Lord, and was completely at peace.  And we can remember that in community life, when things are not going exactly as we planned, or we experience some jealousy or rivalry, we should give it over to the Lord.  Acknowledge what is really going on, what is hurting you, but then put it into His hands.  To live this way is to live for Christ.  When you can value His opinion more than anyone else’s, and count all the little hurts as nothing in comparison to pleasing Him, then you are truly living for Him.  And living for Him is the greatest thing you can do. 

In the Gospel for Mass today, we hear about Jesus entering the synagogue where there was a man with a bad spirit.  Christ never condemns the person, but He says to the demon, “Quiet!  Come out of him!” (Mark 1:25).  I love that.  It teaches you what to do when you find something in yourself that is not of God – anger, jealousy, etc.  Why don’t you just turn to that spirit and say, “Get out of me!  I don’t want you – you’re not my company.”  You do have authority to do that.  And you should, you should fight it head on.  Be straightforward about it, and count on the Lord to join you in your fight.  He Himself will say, “Get out of her!  Leave her alone!”  But you have to acknowledge it, and you have to want it to be gone.  Do this, and you will see how much freer you are.  

In transitioning from Christmastide to Ordinary Time, we take down all our Christmas decorations except for the trees in our chapel, which we leave up until February 2 (The Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple).

Abbey of St. Walburga Outdoor Nativity Scene

This Christmas I have for you a poem, which is not necessarily about Christmas, but I think you’ll see how it truly is. It’s called “The Dash,” by Linda Ellis (click to read full text of poem), and in it she talks about the significance of the line between the two dates on a tombstone, and how important it is that we “spend our dash” on the things that matter.

Tomorrow we celebrate the birthday of our Lord and Savior – the day His dash began.  I also see the word “dash” as “to run,” because Jesus did dash, with great joy and with great glory, to accomplish the work His Father had sent Him for.  So He dashed not only with a line, but with a roar.  And as I read the life of Christ, I am seeing more and more how in the gospels Jesus is giving great hints, insights that He knew long before.  He knew the beginnings of His life, and far beyond, before He was born.  We read in Matthew 25:5-7, that while the bridegroom was slow in coming (mind you, it really was a long time between the time of Adam and Eve and the Messiah!), they all began nodding their heads and fell asleep, but at midnight there was a shout: “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” (Matt. 25:6).  We should respond to this coming with the author of the Song of Songs: “Hark! my lover—here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills” (Song 2:8).  Yes, we do come, as the shepherds did and the magi did.  There were radiant stars and angels, and perhaps even our own guardian angels, present there at the birth of Christ, with our future lives in mind. 

Tomorrow we will celebrate His wondrous birth, showering the world with radiant beams, salvation, and healing grace.  Over the next few months in the Church’s liturgy, we shall traverse the dash of His life, and then we shall come the date of His death.  But that isn’t the end – there is the explosive power of His Resurrection.  As we make this journey, let us remember that, “What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.  So, think about this long and hard.  Are there things you’d like to change?  For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged” (excerpt from “The Dash” by Linda Ellis).

And so now here we come, and the road is the dash, the dash of our life, and how we live it will depend on how we dash.  Will you run with the light of life?  Will you run with joy to do whatever is asked?  Let us light our lamps and be ready to meet the Bridegroom when He comes.  Think of Paul and Silas singing in prison, and how at midnight there was an earthquake and they were freed – the chains dropped!  Let us all be ready to drop the chains that keep us from dashing through life, dashing along the Way that is Christ. 

There was a beam of heaven that intersected the dash of His life, making His dash a radiant cross.  Let us not let His dash pass us by, but instead intersect our own and make us one.  I wish that each one here would truly dash as He did, living to please the Father.  And let your life be written on the parchment of Mary.  She will keep it safe, and she will not let it go.  I wish you all a blessed and Merry Christmas.

Abbey of St. Walburga Outdoor Nativity Scene

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came to be through him,

and without him nothing came to be.

What came to be

through him was life,

and this life was the light of the human race;

the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it…

He was in the world,

and the world came to be through him,

but the world did not know him.

He came to what was his own,

but his own people did not accept him…

And the Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us…”

–John 1:1-5, 10-11, 14

We rejoice with you on this glorious day as we celebrate the day on which God gave us the greatest gift—His very self. May you receive Him with great joy! Many blessings on you this Christmas and always.