"Shut it!"

Readings - Judges 13:2-7,24-25 & Luke 1:5-25 

We have these readings at Advent , to tell us that it is a time to renew our hope and confidence in God’s faithfulness to the covenant he made with the people of Israel and to each and every one of us...

In preparing the way for a Savior, we see the miracle of two barren couples who both, conceive and bear sons; Samson in the Old Testament (Judges 13) and John the Baptist in the New Testament (Luke 1:5ff). Both are called, by God, to bring hope and deliverance at a time of spiritual darkness and difficulty for the people of God.

The goal Advent is to prepare us for “deliverance” as well…. 

Zechariah was a godly man. He was tuned in to the voice of God. He was born into a priestly family and it was his privilege to enter the inner court of the temple to offer sacrifice to God. 

Luke tells us that the people wondered why it was taking Zechariah so long…They new something was up… And when Zechariah finally emerges, they were all amazed that he could not speak. They were right, something was up… While in the temple, He had a very special encounter with God… God’s angelic messenger greeted Zechariah with a blessing beyond his wildest dreams; "Your prayer is heard! You will have a son! And his mission will be great for all of Israel."

 Now to Zechariah, this must have seemed like a lot to take in all at once …When he questioned;  Could God really perform this miracle for his barren wife, Elizabeth?  The angel of the Lord put him right in his place; He made Zechariah a mute until the day that John was born.

So, what does this mean? How does this relate to us, to our Advent experience...?

Here it is; When God draws us into his presence, He wants us to be still, He wants us to be quiet. He wants us shut up and to listen (and actually hear) His voice as he speaks His desires to our hearts and reveals himself to us. He doesn’t want or need our feedback.

We have one week left. We need to take what little time we have left and let ourselves be drawn into the presence of God. Take focus on the Christ child, born in utter humility, The word made flesh in the most vulnerable form possible…. 

Empty your hearts and your minds…Be still, and quietly listen to what God is saying….

Aye Yours - Neis

Where's Susan Powter when you need her...?

I keep seeing these non-scholarly, un-sported by historical fact or sources (other than private websites with un-cited source work) and of course “The great” Wikipedia, claims about Christmas being a “pagan holiday”... (In conjunction with popular films, Internet videos, and other media lists of gods who were supposedly born on the same day).

I even see/hear it from many Christians who claim the date of Christmas was intended to provide an alternative to such pagan celebrations....What?(!)

I love the telephone game of revisionist history the internet has become. It truly is The “urban legend” maker at its best.

But historical, scholarly fact tells the truth (at least for most of us....).

I KNOW IT”S LENGTHY - So please bear with me for a little history....

There are only 3 “gods” that come close making this claim creditable: Saturn (Saturnalia), Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun), and Mithras.  

Saturnalia: Saturnalia was the feast dedicated to the Roman god Saturn. It started 220 B.C. this feast was originally celebrated on December 17. Eventually the feast was extended to the feast of Sigillaria to make it last an entire week, ending on December 23. The supposed connection to Christmas is based on the proximity of the two festivals to each other.

This can be found repeatedly on the Internet. In his article Saturnalia: The Reason We Celebrate Christmas in December, columnist Mark Whittington explains: 

It has been suggested that Christians in the 4th Century assigned December 25th as Christ's birthday (and hence Christmas) because pagans already observed this day as a holiday. In this way the problem of eliminating an already popular holiday would be sidestepped, thus making the Christianizing of the population easier.

If the suggestion were correct, one would expect to find at least a single shred of evidence or reference made by early Christians to support it. Instead we find scores of quotations from Church Fathers indicating a desire to distance themselves from pagan religions. (If ya really want them, you know I’ll give them to you...)

Note: Saturnalia may sound like Christmas. However Christmas among the early Christians was not celebrated with the giving of gifts, and certainly not with the drunkenness and gluttony (of Saturnalia and modern “xmas” parties). 

Giving was more associated with the feast of St. Nicholas and perhaps with the Epiphany when the gifts of the magi to the Christ child were remembered.

Dec. 25th was Mass.

 Hence the name, Christ - Mass.  (“xmas” is a “twisted” version of;  “+ Mass”)

 

Sol Invictus and Mithras: The feast of Sol Invictus was the attempt by the Roman emperor Aurelian to reform the cult of Sol, the Roman sun god, and and reintroduce it to his people, inaugurating Sol's temple and holding games for the first time in A.D. 274.

Not only was this festival not annual, it also cannot be historically documented as having been established on December 25 by Aurelian (cf. Steven HijMans, Sol Invictus, The Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas, Mouseion, Series III, vol. 3, pp. 377-398).

According to inscriptions on candle votives and other ancient works of art, there is a link between Mithras and Sol Invictus. In some cases it appears the Mithraists believed that Mithras and Sol were two different manifestations of the same god. In others they appear to be two gods united as one. These connections are difficult to understand given our limited knowledge of the Mithraic belief system, but they are important because they help to explain why skeptics claim the birthday of Mithras was celebrated on December 25.

A manuscript known as the Chronography of 354 shows the birth of Sol Invictus being celebrated on December 25. Given the fact that the Mithraists equated their god with Sol in one way or another, it is understandable that they may have appropriated the date as their own. The problem for the skeptic is that no evidence exists to suggest that Aurelian was a Mithraist, or that he even had Mithraism in mind when he instituted the feast of Sol Invictus. The connection of Mithra to December 25 is only coincidental.

The deathblow to both the Mithras and Sol Invictus parallels is that the Chronography of 354 is the earliest mention of any pagan god being celebrated on December 25. The celebration of the birth of Christ by Christians is also mentioned on that very calendar as having been celebrated on that day, which diminishes the likelihood that the pagan feast came first. At the very least, it negates the claim that it can be proved from the historical record that any December 25 pagan festival predates the Christian tradition.  

So why December 25?

Although the date of Christ’s birth is not given to us in Scripture (non does it have to be), there is documented however evidence that December 25 was already of some significance to early Christians.

One example can be found in the writings of Hyppolytus of Rome, who explains in his Commentary on the book of Daniel (c. A.D. 204) that the Lord’s birth was believed (by tradition) to have occurred on the 25th of December;

For the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, was December 25th, Wednesday, while Augustus was in his forty-second year, but from Adam, five thousand and five hundred years. He suffered in the thirty-third year, March 25th, Friday, the eighteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, while Rufus and Roubellion were Consuls.

The reference to Adam can be understood in light of another of Hyppolytus’ writings, the Chronicon, where he explains that Jesus was born nine months after the anniversary of Creation. According to his calculations, the world was created on the vernal equinox, March 25, which would mean Jesus was born nine months later, on December 25.

Nineteenth-century liturgical scholar Louis Duchesne explains that “towards the end of the third century the custom of celebrating the birthday of Christ had spread throughout the whole Church, but that it was not observed everywhere on the same day” (Christian Worship, Its Origin and Evolution: a study of the Latin liturgy up to the time of Charlemagne, p. 260).

In the West, the birth of Christ was celebrated on December 25, and in the East on January 6.

Duchesne writes “one is inclined to believe that the Roman Church made choice of the 25th of December in order to enter into rivalry with Mithraism. This reason, however, leaves unexplained the choice of the 6th of January” (ibid., p. 261).

His solution, therefore, was that the date of Christ’s birth was decided by using as a starting point the same day on which he was believed to have died. This would explain the discrepancies between the celebrations in the East and West.

Given the great aversion on the part of some Christians to anything pagan, the logical conclusion here is that one celebration has nothing to do with the other. In his book, Spirit of the Liturgy, Pope Benedict XVI explains:

The claim used to be made that December 25 developed in opposition to the Mithras myth, or as a Christian response to the cult of the unconquered sun promoted by Roman emperors in the third century in their efforts to establish a new imperial religion. However, these old theories can no longer be sustained. The decisive factor was the connection of creation and Cross, of creation and Christ’s conception (p. 105-107).

While these explanations of how December 25 came to be the date of Christmas are all plausible, we know one thing for sure: The evidence that this day held a special significance to Christians predates the proof of a supposed celebration of Sol Invictus or other pagan deities on that day.

That the Christians chose a date so close to the winter solstice is also not proof that this was done to mimic pagan festivals. The various pagan religions all had festivals spanning the calendar. Whatever month the early Christians might have otherwise chosen would still place Christmas near some pagan celebration, and oppositional theorists would still be making the same claims.

The solstice was important to everyone for agricultural reasons in the same way water is important to the survival of human beings, and so we see rituals involving water showing up in various religions. That doesn't prove that one borrowed the idea or theme from another.

NO CHRIST, NO MASS….NO CHRISTMAS!

Real quickly!

1.)  SANTA

For my “Odinist” friends who claim “Santaclaus” [Say it fast! Whooooo…. ST. NICHOLAS!] was inspired by “Odin”, I have say “What you talking about Willis?”

St. Nick predates Odin by 400 years! The earliest historical reference to an “Odin” is related to jewelry inscriptions noting the name dated from about 200-300 A.D. This historic “Odin” however, was a man and great Germanic warrior king. His life and legend are believed to be the inspiration for the god Odin of the Saga’s.

Modern “Santa” is a product of the Saturday Evening Post and CoCa Cola…..

For pretty accurate dope on St. Nick;   http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/origin-of-santa/

2.)  TREES

As for the Christmas tree being again “Pagan” (True, tied to the conversion of Pagans – Just like Thors Mjölnir was)….. (Oh Arnold…?)

Sorry again kids. I’ll spare you. Read about another saint inspired tradition here:

http://www.catholic.com/blog/steve-weidenkopf/st-boniface-and-the-christmas-tree

 

(Gotta love Weidenkopf!)

 

 

What was that? An exhibition?

Gospel Reading: Luke 21:25-28,34-36

25 "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

34 "But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; 35 for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. 36 But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man."

This is our last Gospel of ordinary time. Today, Advent begins.

Each year, in order to prepare our hearts for the birth the Christ Child, we go through this 4-week season of preparation in anticipation of that day.

If you look around, the secular world, once again, has indulgently jumped right into Christmas. We go from “Thank you” to “I want” in the blink of an eye…. Advent? What’s that…? No, I’m afraid the world “out there” can’t be bothered with a “holiday season” dedicated to reflection, repentance, penance and prayer. 

I think the Church gives us Luke's apocalyptic scripture now because they know what happens at this time of year.

In today’s Gospel we are given a stern warning, a call to repentance… Luke tells us to take heed to ourselves so we are not weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the cares of this life. He warns us to keep watch at all times….

It’s our fallen human nature that we tend to immerse ourselves in the worldly experiences of life. The upcoming season of Advent and the “Christmas Season” are no different. We tend to get carried away in the “drunkenness” of the holiday spirit and with “the cares of our everyday life”. We tend to allow the wonder of what we are truly preparing for, get lost in the shuffle. And rather than keeping watch over ourselves, we are distracted by silver bells and twinkling lights.

I’m a big martial arts movie fan. In the famous Bruce Lee movie (“Enter The Dragon”), Bruce is teaching a young man Kung Fu. After a poor effort on the student’s behalf, Bruce tells the young man that his training “lacks emotional content”. So, to help the young man understand why he’s not progressing, Bruce uses a bit of philosophy that demonstrates not only what his student is lacking, but what we tend to lack in preparation as well. Bruce tells the foolish student  “think of it as a finger pointing to the moon, (he smacks the “smart-aleck” on head and says) but don’t concentrate on the finger, or you’ll miss all the heavenly glory…”

Sometime it’s hard to avoid but, we are often filled by the pre-occupations of the “Holiday Season” and caught up in the snares of worldly things. Like Bruce’s Kung Fu student, we tend focus on the finger when it’s really a time to have our eyes firmly fixed on that Heavenly glory.

So in the next four weeks, we need to set aside time for the coming of Christ. We need to prepare room in our hearts for the divine babe of Bethlehem’s birth to take place. Between the shopping, the gift giving (and getting), the parties and the indulgence of “Holiday spirits”. Take the time to stop and ponder the wonderment of Jesus in the form of the Christ child. Take the time to reflect on the humility in which he came into this world (for us). Pray that we may have strength to escape all these things, these “seasonal distractions” that will take place, so that when the son of man comes, we are prepared to stand before Him in mind, body and spirit.

Peace-Neis

You'll cut your foot off kid.....

Well....

A few years back, with Christmas only days away, I decided to take some time to ponder a question posed to me by my wife. That question; “What do you want for Christmas?”

I thought about it… What do I want for Christmas? Hmmmm….Well, very much in keeping with the movie A Christmas Story, there was one item in particular that I had  wanted for some time.

A Christmas Story always pops into my mind whenever I hear this question. I guess that it’s appropriate because I can relate to so much of this movie and equate a lot of the story to my own life (both Ralphie, the main character, and myself spent some time with a bar of Lifebuoy soap sticking out of our mouths). I’m sure that if you’ve seen the film, you too can find some similarities between the lives depicted in the film and your own.

Well, much like Ralphie from the movie longs to get his hands on the “Holy Grail” of Christmas presents, a “Red Ryder” BB Gun (Young Ralphie has the advertisement for the carbine memorized verbatim and reiterates its verbiage to everyone that inquires about what he wants for Christmas, including Santa himself – those of you that have seen this masterpiece of cinematic Americana know exactly how passionate Ralphie is about attaining this gift); I too had a similar quest.

My desire and dream for the perfect Christmas gift was driven by my 20+ years in the martial arts. I have always wanted a “genuine” Samurai Sword. In fact, I had always wanted a: Paul Chen, Shinto ~ Soul of the Samurai” .39” long, 1095 Carbon Steel, cotton cord wrapped over real Stingray skin, Samurai “Katana” (sword). I love to blurt out the details contained in the ad just like Ralphie did. My desire to finally obtain this piece d’ resistance of Christmas presents for me had only been fueled by the likes of the Tom Cruise movie, “The Last Samurai,” an Akiri Kurasowa (black and white subtitled) film festival on A&E and a special that had aired on TLC about the great Samurai Warrior. I wanted that sword!

Well…..One night, as I lay awake in bed  “dreaming” about my Red Ryder…I mean my Samurai Katana,  the Holy Spirit spoke to me. "What more do you need, Kevin?”As I lay there and reflected, my mind dissected the question and a review of my “memory files” commenced. My contemplation ended with a recollection of a trip to my doctor’s office (at the time of my doctor’s appointment the only thing that I wanted for Christmas was a clean bill of health). Anyhoo….While I sat in the waiting room, I read a reality check-type article from the December issue of Smithsonian written by Barbara Sjoholm entitled, “Dear Santa.”

This article was about a small “Santa Claus Village” in the town of Rovaniemi, Finland. This little village is where the majority of the world’s “Dear Santa” letters are directed. The letter count is well into the hundreds of thousands and they come from a myriad of different countries from Afghanistan to Zambia and every other country in between. All from children looking for help from Santa Claus.

In most cases the letters are light and typical of the Dear Santa letters that we all write as children. Some include drawings or pictures of family members, friends and pets, others are in barely legible crayon. The different languages these letters come in are too many to count. These children are from every race, color and creed on the planet.

The volunteers in the Santa Village reply to over 40,000 letters (the ones that come in with return addresses) via a form letter. The volunteers also reply to about 2,000 of the inbound letters with hand-written responses. These are the letters that gave me the answer to the Holy Spirit’s question: “What more do you need Kevin?”

The topics of these roughly 2,000 letters are of a nature that truly distinguishes the difference between wants and needs. These are the letters from children asking Santa to perform the near impossible. The children ask him for a new limb to replace the one that was blown off by a landmine. They ask Santa to bring back their mom or dad that was killed on September 11th. They beg for cures for incurable diseases. The children ask Santa to stop the bombing in their village and bring rest to their country that is deep in the midst of civil conflict. They ask Santa to bring back siblings that have died or been killed. They ask that someone adopts them from a Russian orphanage. They ask Santa to keep their school open. They ask for food to come more regularly. They ask for warmer clothing. They ask for jobs for their daddy or mommy. They ask Santa to bring back grandma who was killed in a bus bombing. Their requests go on and on… What more do you need, Kevin….(Gulp!)?????

We all get caught up in a Christmas season that has become so commercialized, even though my conscience and a banner that hangs on our Knights of Columbus hall constantly remind me to “Keep Christ in Christmas”, I still get swept away with all of the holiday festivities. Every time I catch myself I think about those letters to Santa and realize that the answer to God’s question is: “Nothing.” I have so many gifts/blessing  that they are too numerous to recount.

So, in closing, I’ll have to change directions and refer to a different Christmas movie than A Christmas Story. This "new movie" is also one that is a “must see” if you haven’t seen it already. This movie drives home the answer tp both the Holy Spirit’s question and my wife’s question, and provides us with the body of what all of our “Dear Santa” letters should say.

The movie is A Charlie Brown Christmas. The message is, and I’ll quote Linus (Luke 2, 8:14)…:

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying….

[Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is:] “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown…..

God’s Peace and Love to all of you.

Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

Kevin Neis

p.s. “You’ll shoot your eye out kid….” (or in my case, “You’ll cut your foot off kid”)

Get me, I'm givin' out wings!

All right you Pixies....

The movie Its a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra remains as the “Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World…of Holiday movies!”. My favorite for sure!

 At the heart of the film lies the conflict between the desires of the heart and the needs of the common good. George Bailey struggles throughout the picture with an irreconcilable conflict within himself.

Throughout most of the film we see an extended flashback of George’s life, in which George’s guardian angel named Clarence Oddbody  “AS2” (Angle Second Class) is shown a review of George's life as the head of a small-town building and loan.

We (along with Clarence) are shown the key moments in George's life, moments when he had to make important choices about family, friends, and career. We soon see that in spite of his desire to escape Bedford Falls, George has chosen to stay in town so he can run the lending institution founded by his father Peter. We see his dreams of college, travel, exploration and a professional life in the big city fall by the wayside. We see George fall in love and he gets married to Mary Hatch and starts a family.

The review takes a grim turn when, on the day before Christmas, a careless mistake on the part of George’s absent-minded uncle Billy, threatens to wipe out the Building and Loan and give “Old Man Potter” complete control of the town. George is on the brink of total despair. Thoughts of scandal and incarceration fill his mind.

Believing that he has failed as a husband, father and businessman, George heads to Martini’s Bar for a drink. It’s there that his woes continue. While grasping his glass of Bourbon, George gets popped in the mouth by his child’s school teacher’s husband. George leaves the bar and heads toward the local toll bridge.

George has been pushed to his breaking point.  As he stands on the bridge and stares down at the raging waters below, you can see it in his body language that he is contemplating suicide on this Christmas Eve...

God decides to step in and send Clarence the angel to prevent George from jumping off the bridge. Clarence (“I’m the answer to your prayers”) lets George see and experience what Bedford Falls would be like without him.

George sees that without him, Bedford Falls, renamed Pottersville, becomes an urban hell of mean little people including George's embittered mother and the wife he never married. Loud music, night clubs and riots. The picturesque Bedford Falls becomes a dark, rough and tumble place.

At the end of his conversion experience, George returns to the bridge again. This time to seek forgiveness for thoughts of suicide crying out “I want to live again”.   Well, the snow begins to fall (again) and George is back to reality. Now he joyfully runs home (to face his cross) where he is met by the warmth and affection of family and friends, who will together have pooled their resources to save the Bailey Building and Loan from insolvency. The hero's wry smile at the close of the movie and his wink to the audience signify that he has seen, understood, and accepted life in all its glory and imperfection. He knows that God is there no matter how bad it gets.

Frank Capra (a Catholic) called It's a Wonderful Life the greatest film he had ever made: "A film to tell the weary, the disheartened, and the disillusioned; the wino, the junkie, the prostitute; those behind prison walls and those behind Iron Curtains that no man is a failure! To show those born slow of foot or slow of mind, those oldest sisters condemned to spinsterhood, and those oldest sons condemned to unschooled toil, that each man's life touches so many other lives. And that if he isn't around it would leave an awful hole."

During this Christmas season, know that the tiniest, planned as well as random acts of kindness and charity that we perform touches someone’s life in a profound way. You never know when you just might be the answer to someone’s prayers.

We are all familiar with the notation to George in Clarence’s copy of Tom Sawyer at the end of the movie: "Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings, Love Clarence." A true statement indeed! However, I offer you this: there is a sign that hangs under a picture of Peter Bailey in George’s office that can only be seen in the background. You only get a glimpse of it when George is in the office with Violet Bick. The sign reads, “You can’t take anything with you except what you give away.”

Dominus vobiscum!

KN

PS: In 2005 Daniel Sullivan wrote a nice piece on this wonderful film you can follow the link below to read it in its entirety. 

Sentimental Hogwash? On Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life

Daniel J. Sullivan - The Catholic University of America

http://www.nhinet.org/sullivan18-1&2.pdf