It’s Coming On Christmas
So it’s Christmas Eve and the stockings are hung, Christmas tree is decorated, cookies are baked, presents are wrapped, house is clean, Christmas Eve dinner is being cooked and all of the little cuties (children) are eagerly and anxiously awaiting Santa’s arrival in the morning as they contemplate the age old question: Does Santa like regular milk or chocolate milk – sugar or chocolate chip cookies? What if he is lactose in tolerate?
Let’s take a moment despite the hustle and bustle of the day to prepare our hearts and minds for the King’s birth. The birth of the One who was born into humanity so that He could then be ridiculed, spat upon, crowned with thorns, scourged, nailed to a cross and killed for our salvation.
Neither Advent nor the tomb is Christ’s final rest in the world. He rests in the midst of the world now, in the Host.
He is as silent, as secret and hidden, in the Host as He was in Advent or in the tomb. He trusts Himself to His creatures in the Host as He trusted Himself to Our Lady in Advent; only then He gave Himself into the keeping of the one human creature who was sinless and in whom He could have His will, and now He gives Himself into the keeping of sinners.
In the Host He is immobile, dependent. He rests in the priest’s hands, on the paten, in the tabernacle. He remains with us, resting in all the cities and all the lonely and unexpected places of the world, in little tin churches as well as the great cathedrals, in schools and hospitals and prisons and asylums, in concentration camps. Wherever human creatures are, He rests in their midst.
Just as His sleep in the boat that was threatened by the storm made His Apostles ask Him, “Master, art Thou unconcerned?” so there are those who are puzzled today by what looks like unconcern. It seems to them that once again Christ sleeps unconcerned in Peter’s boat, which is threatened with the danger of sinking; but again the same answer comes to us across two thousand years: “Why are you faint-hearted? Have you still no faith?”
Christ could show His power and glory; He could show that the Host is God; He could break down the pride of those who have no fear of God. He does not. While injustice and arrogance prevail, He remains silent and helpless, and seems to do nothing at all.
It has always been Christ’s way to come first in secret, to come in a hidden way, to be secret even in those in whom He abides, whose life He is, to be known first by His love, gradually becoming known by the quickening of His life within them and only afterwards by His face or by His power, by the word that commands the wind and the water. The Host is resting among us in order that Christ may work the miracle of His love in us, changing us almost imperceptibly into Himself, in order that through us His love may overcome the world. -From spiritual writer & mystic, Caryll Houselander: “Wood of the Cradle, Wood of the Cross”
Leaves you with a lot to ponder eh?
It’s Christmas Eve shout out time!!! Can I get a drun roll please…Bum, bada bum, bada bum bum. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I would like to introduce you to a good friend, the incredible, talented and holy MATT FALEY! And the crowd goes wild!!
Matt works full-time in young adult ministry and uses this platform to share the gifts and talents he has been given to re-invigorate the Gospel for college students and young adults. Matt is an experienced speaker and worship leader who has brought his energy, humor and authenticity to college students and young adults all over the Midwest.
Check out Matt’s amazing blog: When Neccessary Use Words. Matt use to serve as a FOCUS Missionary and has a really awesome facebook page as well, Matt Faley – Catholic speaker.writer.singer. Go ahead and “like” his page and share Matt’s joy for Christ with all of your friends.
