One cold stare invites another. Insult is traded for insult. One punch follows another. Somewhere down the road, there’s an exchange of gunfire. Wearying cycles of violence and vengeance spiral through history, each side seeking to deliver the blow that leads to decisive victory. But there’s no victory.
Some of us were raised in authoritarian households rife with laws. One false move and you’re in trouble! Others grew up in chaos without boundaries or safeguards. Neither environment is particularly happy, and I leave it to the survivors of each to compete for which was most personally destructive.
Today I make a confession. I’ve written lectionary commentary since 1995. Since 1997, on the first Sunday of Black History Month, the National Black Catholic Congress has sponsored the National Day of Prayer for the African American Family. Mostly I’ve ignored it.
Forrest Gump. Gomer Pyle. Little Orphan Annie. Linus Van Pelt. Jane Eyre. Tiny Tim Cratchit. And every other underdog of literature or film you can name. What do they have in common? A sterling goodness that more than makes up for everything they lack, including: money, ability, stature, strength, and authority.
Sometimes we can’t hear the truth the first time it comes around. Maybe it arrives as an inconvenient fact in a scientific survey. It simply can’t be true that our favorite food or pastime is bad for us!
God knows us from the womb, scripture says. That’s a long acquaintance, and it comes with an intimate understanding of who we are and can become. No one can ever know us as God does.
The caravans of camels captivate us in Isaiah’s lovely prophecy. Those wonderful exotic animals take slow majestic steps across the desert, padding softly toward Jerusalem. They bear on their backs kings and valuable gifts.
In our traditional way of telling the story, we short-change the shepherds. The typical manger set reveals the imbalance: while Magi arrive at the Nativity bearing magnificent gifts in their arms, impoverished shepherds show up empty-handed. Well, almost.
“Merry Christmas.” We greet each other this way at this time of year, casually or with warmth, and a host of meanings attend the phrase. We say with these words: Hope you have fun on the holidays! Enjoy this gift I’ve brought you. Please sit at our table and share our feasting. Have a safe journey and a lovely time with your family.
Every Catholic church I’ve seen has two guaranteed statues: one of Mary, the other of Joseph. It’s such a commonplace that we often refer to the “Mary side” and the “Joseph side” of the sanctuary. These two people are so immense in our tradition that their historical obscurity surprises us.