A Story for Advent (5)

Deck the malls with boughs of holly!...... so wrote a friend on her Facebook page a few days ago.

That was a couple of days after we as a family had dutifully did the rounds of seasonal shopping at a couple of shopping malls on both the mainland and island. This is what we found:

Mall No. 1 had decorated its main entrance with "A Tinkerbell and Peter Pan Christmas" theme, complete with a flying Peter Pan and gently hovering Tinkerbell all decked out in their fairy costumes! My 7 year old was suitably impressed and immediately began making plans to make it for the official "launching" of a fairy tale Christmas!

While, Mall No. 2 had come up with - wait for it - "A Power Rangers Christmas!". No kidding! - all 5 super heroes in their colorful costumes were going to make an official appearance at the mall beginning in a few days' time and for I can't remember how long! The setting was striking - complete with an impressive stage and backdrop. This was even more thrilling for my young fellow, especially that he's just got into this Power Rangers craze.....

Now, that's just 2 malls in Penang! How many malls are there in the country? The mind began to boggle!

Now, before we start emailing newspaper editors and other "powers that be" and begin other non-violent mass demonstrations at these and other places of interest, I'd like to recall that
something similar happened in a forgotten town in an old Roman outpost some 2000 years ago .

The Jews couldn't fathom the fact that the Messiah whom they had been waiting - albeit alternatively patiently and otherwise, for so long, wasn't really the "superhero" type. Rather, unlike the typical king/hero they were expecting and contrary to popular opinion, this Messiah was born in a manger, to a virgin who was married to a carpenter, among a variety of barn animals and with a rather dubious crowd of shepherds and mysterious men from equally mysterious places as his witnesses. To top it off, there was a whole choir of angels present too, in all their glory!!!

I don't know but I'd like to think that even the most creative marketing guru would find it a tad difficult to transform that scenario into a profitable shopping opportunity. Maybe that's why during these gloomy economic times, retailers have had to resort to these assorted superheroes to "save" their businesses!

So how can we respond then? Maybe the following heart warming story of how one ordinary man has gone about educating people on the real meaning of Christmas can help us. Not just for one or two years mind you, but for a staggering 63 years! And he has gone about doing it in a very creative way too - by playing the role of Santa Claus in a rather pro-active way!

Thanks to CNA (Catholic News Agency), the story begins here like this:

It’s a sight to see: a real, live Santa Claus on his knees, hands folded, inclining his head reverently toward statues of the Holy Family. This is how one Virginia man celebrates Christmas. For 63 years he has devoted himself to teaching children about the true meaning of the holiday season.

and continues here.

Maybe if we could all take a leaf out of his book and each one tried to make it our business to tell others of the real meaning of Christmas. If we could keep our small acts of witnessing going faithfully over the years just like our friend in the story above, maybe in due time, we will have less such "superheroes" in our malls while at the same time, enabling others to see indeed that it's Jesus who's the real reason for the season.

O Come Let Us Adore Him!

A Story for Advent (4)

This is an excerpt from "Advent Reflections: Come Lord Jesus", by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan from December 2007. I found his insights on the 3 comings of Jesus - His coming in History, His coming in Mystery and His coming in Majesty something really to think about as we approach the last week in Advent.

His article begins here:

Our Lord Jesus Christ came in history. This is, of course, the coming that drove the dreams of the faithful people of Israel, who had waited so eagerly and so long for the coming of the Messiah. What we try to do as the Church in Advent, in a small way, is to consolidate those centuries of waiting into four short weeks. And we’re reminded — guess what? — that God takes His sweet old time in fulfilling His promises.

God may have promised a Savior in the Garden of Eden. You bet He did. But He was slow in following through on that sacred promise. So that’s why we hear words such as “yearning,” “waiting,” “hoping,” “watching,” “longing,” “looking,” and “preparing” throughout this holy season. These words all become part of our Advent vocabulary at the sacred liturgy. But all that yearning, waiting, hoping, watching, longing, looking, and preparing — was it ever worth it when He finally did come, for as St. John the Evangelist records: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). There is His coming in history.

And continues here.

The Rev. Dolan was named Archbishop of Milwaukee in 2002 by Pope John Paul II.
For more about him, go here.

A Story for Advent (3)

This is a short story titled "The Gift of The Magi" by O. Henry (1862-1910).

During this time of economic gloom and uncertainty, when many have lost their jobs, and countless others facing the same fate as the new year looms, here's a heart rending story of two individuals bound together totally in love - one that reflects the same love that came down from heaven and dwelt among us some 2000 years ago.

Read The Gift of The Magi here.

For a comprehensive background of O. Henry, go here.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Today is the Feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas.

Ten years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1521, an Indian peasant named Juan Diego saw a beautiful lady standing on the barren hill of Tepeyac. The lady was dressed like an Indian woman, she had Indian features and she spoke to Juan in his own language. She gave him a message for Bishop Zumarangga. Juan Diego's story was doubted: he was illiterate and naive. The bishop asked for a sign. Three days later, Juan returned, his arms full of roses gathered from the barren hill, his cloak imprinted with the Lady's image. The significance of the story reaches beyond place and time: God has used the poor and powerless to act as social critics of their time. Juan Diego not only helped reverse attitudes of political and church authorities toward native people, but he also initiated an experience of faith that has survived over four centuries" - so goes the blurb on the movie Our Lady of Guadalupe directed by Bruce Baker.

Probably the best way to understand the meaning of Guadalupe is to go back to the year 1531 and those days in December when Mary revealed herself and God’s love to a simple Indian peasant called Juan Diego.

Read the rest of the story here.

In the article, the writer Virgilio P. Elizondo, talks about Mary and the New Evangelization and how John Paul II was inspired in his maiden papal trip to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in America. There, he begged that she would teach us the true path of evangelization.

Catholic Online tells of the two lessons that we can draw from Guadalupe - one of faith and another of understanding. Read the whole article here.

While here in Malaysia, we have our own OLOG parish in Puchong, Selangor. Wikimapia has this location map. It's a very strange place to have a church - right smack in the middle of commercial and industrial buildings! And there have been rumblings about the heirachy of the Church being shortchanged by certain parties on the exact location and size of the plot of land alloted to build the present chuch. All "fertile" ground for evangelization, perhaps?

They have an excellent website, with plenty of information and even downloadable pdf forms! It's an example of how the "church in the modern world" can evangelize - by using effective modern methods of communication and resources. The pictures above were taken at the church sometime in early November 2008.

Which can lead us to ask ourselves especially during this Advent, of waiting for the Christ - how can we best understand and live this message of Guadalupe here today?

For me, it's very simply this:

Lately in Malaysia, we have witnessed the increasing use of intimidatory tactics by the very institutions that are supposed to protect citizens - the police, the use of immoral laws, the sheer arrogance of government, the complete and utter failure to acknowledge that we are in the midst of a recession, etc, etc.

I think each one of us, like Mary and Juan Diego - can avail ourselves to God by saying "Yes" - that most difficult and yet almost surreal surrender to His will to use us in every aspect of our ordinary lives - to bring about His kingdom of peace and justice here in Malaysia by:

• Striving to understand all those around us, especially people of other faiths and creeds;
• Continuing to build bridges that unite and tear down the walls that separate us;
• Discovering new ways to reach out to all those around us.
  

The following Opening prayer of the memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe may help us mouth our own prayer to the Virgin:

God of power and mercy,
you blessed the Americas at Tepeyac
with the presence of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe.
May her prayers help all men and women
to accept each other as brothers and sisters.
Through your justice present in our hearts
may Your peace reign in the world.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

Amen.

Advent Resources

I've always been fascinated by Advent Calendars. Maybe it's because I find a certain kind of "magic meets mystery" theme running through them. An Advent Calendar is simply a special calendar that is used to celebrate the days of Advent and count down the days to Christmas. Some are strictly religious while others are secular in their content. And, over the years, it has become a seasonal fixation for me - especially after reading Jostein Gaarder's "The Christmas Mystery".

It is a delightful little story, told through an advent calendar, of a girl named Elisabet who chases a lamb through a department store and across country. On her travels, she meets various figures from the nativity scene and discovers that they are all travelling across time to Bethlehem and the birth of Christ.

Here are a couple of links to some great online Advent calendar resources:

1. The EWTN Advent Calendar; and,

2. My choice for this year, is a rather unique one from Xt3 - the official social networking website of the 2008 WYD - where you may actually bump into Pope Benedict XVI online! This particular one has lots of little things that helps us get the best out of the Advent season. Fun for the whole family!

For information about purchasing one, click on the Amazon banners on the right.

Happy Advent-uring!

A Story for Advent (2)

Is it just me or has this past 12 months been a catalogue of one disaster after another - rising consumer prices, shrinking pockets, rising crime rates, waning civil liberties, increasing violence, worsening inter-religious relations, etc. etc.?

So much so that as Advent arrives quietly, marking the beginning of the Christmas season, I find myself torn between the devil and the deep blue sea. The usual suspects run through my head: "Is there anything to celebrate at all?" "How indeed to celebrate?", etc. etc. The "answer" came in this seemingly absurd phrase: "Behold, I make all things new" (Revelations, chapter 21 verse 5). Which didn't really help matters.

Until I found this poem by Ann Weems, who poignantly describes what Christmas really is and the greatest and most important reason why we should all celebrate it - no matter how miserable our lives may be. Indeed it's to such wretched ones that the message of Christmas is most directed to:

Not Celebrate?

Not celebrate?
Your burden is too great to bear?
Your loneliness is intensified during this Christmas season?
Your tears have no end?
Not celebrate?

You should lead the celebration!
You should run through the streets
to ring the bells and sing the loudest!
You should fling the tinsel on the tree,
and open your house to your neighbors,
and call them in to dance!

For it is you above all others who know the joy of Advent.
It is unto you that a Savior is born this day,
One who comes to lift your burden from your shoulders,
One who comes to wipe the tears from your eyes.
You are not alone,
for He is born this day to you.

Maranatha!
Come Lord Jesus!


Note: Ann Weems is the wife of a Prebyterian minister whose son Todd died less than an hour after his 21st birthday. She has in the following years voiced out her pain in a series of beautiful poems. Her books can be found here and here.