A traditional Italian folktale tells the story of La Befana, a somewhat grumpy old woman who travels through Italy on the eve of the Epiphany, searching for the Christ Child and leaving gifts in every home she visits. The story goes that while Befana was home attending to her daily duties of sweeping and cooking, the Three Magi stopped by on their way to find the Baby Jesus. They invited her to go with them, and she was intrigued by the idea of this Baby King, but she just couldn’t tear herself away from what she was doing. So the Three Magi went on their way, leaving Befana to her sweeping. Not long after they had gone, she had a change of heart and was filled with regret. She packed her bags and went off searching. The story goes that she is looking for the Baby Jesus still. So much in this quaint Italian folktale about the Epiphany is relevant for all of us who are looking for Christ, but don’t always know where or even how to find him.

First, we have to seize the opportunity when it presents itself. The Three Magi found Christ because they set off on their journey when they saw the star, but Befana declined the invitation because she just couldn’t bring herself to stop her sweeping, which seemed so important at the moment. Into all of our lives, God sends stars and wise people who could lead us to Jesus if we would only allow our vision to be turned from the things that usually occupy us. What is something bright and beautiful and maybe a little mysterious in your own life that might be God’s way of catching your attention and drawing you closer to him? Who are the wise people that God has sent into your life, the people who could lead you to Christ if you let them?

Second, we have to join with others if we want to find Christ. The Three Magi had one another, but they also needed help from King Herod. Following the star got them as far as Jerusalem, but then they lost sight of it and had to rely on others to guide them the rest of the way. Perhaps Befana never found the Christ Child because she went looking on her own. Somewhere along the way, I heard it said that “you can do a lot of things alone, but being Christian isn’t one of them.” We need others to search with us, to journey with us, to keep us on the right path. But sharing our journey with others takes real courage. Compared to setting out following a star into some unknown country, learning how to share our struggles and joys with others can be way more frightening. Joining in a small faith-sharing group, coming to Scripture reflection for the first time, volunteering to serve with others in a new ministry—for many people, these steps will require great courage. But we have to share our journey with others if we hope to find Christ.

Finally, finding Christ really is a journey of a lifetime. One of the great virtues of the Christian life is persistence. It seems to me that the beauty of the story of La Befana is that she never gives up—she is searching still, and brightening people’s lives along the way. To some of us, it might appear that people who practice their faith have it all figured out, that they know exactly what they’re doing and that they have somehow miraculously discovered some secret key to having faith. But I just don’t think it works that way. Faith is not about having something figured out, but about sticking with the search, and loving those we encounter along the way.

~Rachel

Take Your Next Step: Look for the stars and wise people in your life who can show you the way to Christ. Ask God to help you in your search. Try praying this short line from a prayer by St. Anselm of Canterbury: “O my God, teach my heart where and how to seek you, where and how to find you.”

Merry Christmas! How many times have you shared that greeting these days? During the frenzy of preparation and the pressure to try to actually create a Merry Christmas, it can be very difficult to find the time to ponder its meaning for our lives. It would be so easy to let the stress of gift buying, wrapping, and exchanging; decorating, cooking, and more family time than usual, cause us to allow the mystery of this great feast to pass without letting its significance penetrate our hearts and minds just a little deeper this year than last. These next few weeks provide a great opportunity for us to do this, beginning with the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph that shows us a human family taking their next steps on the journey of faith.

Luke’s gospel takes us quickly from the manger in Bethlehem to the Temple in Jerusalem as we learn more about the mystery of this One who has come to dwell among us. Fully human, Jesus must grow, just like us, not only physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. And his parents also learned and grew in their understanding of who Jesus was and how he would impact human history. How comforting for those of us who wonder if we will ever make progress on the spiritual journey. How important to recognize that growth is a process that unfolds over a lifetime.

It can be discouraging when our families or the other communities we belong to are not all that we want or hope for them to be. Conflict, arguments, immature behavior, and competition, just to name a few challenges, can make us feel that we will never become what we envision, and tempt us to give up trying. Parenting can be difficult when we think our kids will never get it, when all we experience is resistance. Sometimes this may be what we experience in our own interior life. Patience is required for anyone’s process of growth, our own included.

Can you imagine Joseph and Mary being patient with the infant Jesus as they taught him how to live a member of their family? It’s natural to imagine that this must have been an extremely happy family. Yet, like every other family, it must have had its ups and downs, its joys and sorrows, its problems and difficulties. There may have been problems about supplying the family’s needs on occasion. Surely someone got sick at one time or another and was a source of anxiety for the rest of the family. God invites us to grow in the midst of pressures and challenges. Our relationship with God, even though it is personal, is meant to be lived out in community and not just individually. Dealing with others may be trying, but others are also sources of encouragement and assistance.

In this weekend’s gospel passage, Joseph and Mary are astounded at what is being said about their child. This is their connection with us. Had they thought themselves special from birth, they would be distant from us. But we see them following the ordinary custom of presenting the child in the Temple, and their offering is the offering of the poor. The people in the temple, Simeon and Anna, share the fruit of their faith. Just as we do, Mary and Joseph needed those messages they received along the way, which helped them to understand who Jesus is.

Through this feast day, God wants us to know that our families and communities can grow toward our potential. With God’s help and by supporting one another, we can become more of a living reflection of Christ’s love and life. Your actions of giving and receiving care will actually make God’s love incarnate in this world.

~Fr. Thom

Take Your Next Step: Think about how you participate as a member of a family or a community, how you both give and receive care. If you are on the receiving end of someone’s care, thank the person who cares for you, and thank God for them. Try to pray about who in your family or community needs your care. Believe that in loving and serving others, you are serving Jesus.

I remember quite clearly the feeling of sadness and dismay I felt as a little girl when I heard in the Gospel: “There was no room for them in the inn.”  (I wouldn’t have known the word dismay; but, I surely knew the feeling of “How can this be?”)  Really!  How could this be?  This was no ordinary traveling couple.  Clearly, Mary was expectant and due to deliver any minute.  Wasn’t there some small corner in the innkeeper’s house where Mary and Joseph could spend the night?

The feeling of dismay returned last week: when reading the Boston Globe, I learned the city of Boston leads the twenty-five largest cities in the United States in the number of homeless persons.  How can this be?

Perhaps the answer to the question is there was no room in the inn because there was no room in the innkeeper’s heart.  And, there is no room in shelters or permanent housing because there’s not enough room in my heart to work for solutions to homelessness.  It is not my intention to demonize the innkeeper or myself or anyone else; but rather, to search for the impediments that keep me and others from seeking and supporting the solutions to enormous problems that afflict our brothers and sisters.  

What gets in the way?  There are many things that impede us:

• the enormity of the problems
  
• the staggering number of affected people; mostly unknown to us; they don’t have a face
  
• the busyness of our lives
  
• the complexity of issues
  
• being overwhelmed by the tasks
  

One of the first things that we need to acknowledge is that we can’t do it all.  No one can.  But we can do something, and as the mission statement of the Social Justice Ministry states:

As disciples of Christ, we have a responsibility to respect the dignity of all people, to work to secure everyone’s rights and to work for a more just and peaceful society and world.  We undertake this mission through prayer, worship, education and action, for love of our neighbor is our love of our Lord.

As in so many things we do, prayer is a critically important dimension to our work of justice.  We might find ourselves asking God to expand our hearts to make room for the plight of our brothers and sisters.  We may ask God: What would you have me do?  We may ask for wisdom and understanding and insight as to how to proceed.

Last month, we heard the Gospel from Matthew 25:  “Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you something to eat…”  Jesus replied: “Whenever you did it for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.”  Clearly the Social Justice Ministry’s statement, “love of our neighbor is our love of our Lord,” is rooted in Matthew 25.

Advent is nearly over.  And, anticipating the Christmas readings got me thinking about making room in my heart for Christ and for the body of Christ.  That body is made up of all sorts of people: rich and poor, educated and illiterate, healthy and feeble, powerful and marginalized.  All God’s people are our neighbors and deserve to be treated with respect.   Is there room in my heart for them?  

~Sr. Kathleen

Take Your Next Step: In a time of prayerful honesty, ask yourself: Is there anyone or any group of people that I exclude from my heart?  Ask God to make room in your heart for them.

You see the word Joy everywhere you go at this time of year—on banners and flags, on coffee cups and shopping bags, as the main design element on Christmas cards, ornaments, and decorations. This one word forms a kind of bridge between the Church’s quiet, reflective season of Advent and the wider culture’s Christmas season. Joy, a beautiful, simple little word, is like an ambassador from the Church to the world. Joy is everywhere, spreading good cheer and inviting everyone to be happy. But perhaps because Joy is such a simple, beautiful little word, we fail to notice its power and underestimate what it is really asking of us.

At the deepest level, joy—not pleasure, not something fleeting, but deep, lasting, profound happiness—is God’s will and plan for each of us. It is not the result of good fortune for the lucky few. It is our birthright. But as we all know well, joy is not automatic. It is not what we all experience. Joy is also a decision. We have to make a very conscious and intentional decision, not once, but every day, to notice joy, to experience it, to feel it, and to celebrate it.

This Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent, has long been known in the Church as Gaudete(“Rejoice”) Sunday, which comes from a line from Philippians that is used as part of the opening rite for the day’s Mass: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). All through the readings for this Sunday is a command to rejoice, to experience and show our joy. The first reading invites us to rejoice in the Lord’s commitment to the poor, the brokenhearted, and the captive. The Psalm holds up the example of Mary, who rejoiced because of the great things God had done for her. The second reading tells us to rejoice always, to be joyful and grateful in all circumstances. 

If you have been in church recently, and particularly if you were able to join us at St. Joseph or St. Luke for Mass last weekend, then you have probably heard of Pope Francis’s letter, The Joy of the Gospel. This document has had a profound impact on many in the Church, including the pastoral service team, and is one of the main influences shaping what we are trying to do here in our community. It is precisely the joy of the Gospel that we are all being asked to share with others. 

But it occurs to me that this phrase--the joy of the Gospel—is also not something automatic, not something that everyone in the Church has experienced. Many Christians may never have felt joy in following Christ. Many may not know “from personal experience that it is not the same thing to have known Jesus as not to have known him, not the same thing to walk with him as to walk blindly” (The Joy of the Gospel, #266). 

And even those who have known true joy in following Christ need to decide to experience it again and again. The joy of the Gospel is a decision. We have to make the very conscious and intentional decision to nurture our relationship with Christ, to notice and celebrate and share the beauty and meaning we find in knowing him.

Whether we have known the joy of Christ, and thus are called to prepare for the coming of the Lord by renewing and deepening and sharing that joy; or whether we have yet to know the joy of Christ, and thus are called to prepare for the coming of the Lord by opening ourselves to that possibility; none of us has to achieve that movement by ourselves. We can put ourselves in a frame of mind to receive the Good News by noticing joy all around us. And then we can put our trust in God to do the rest: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it” (1 Thes. 5:24).

~Rachel

Take Your Next Step: Decide to be joyful today, even for one moment. Fill in the blank for yourself: “God has been so good to me by ______.” Share your joy with someone else.