REFLECTION 

THE STAR OF HOPE

Michael Wolfe

We all know well the tradition of Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem for the census, and that it was there that Jesus was born (Luke 2:1-7). Today, if you visit Bethlehem, you can go to the Church of the Nativity, which is built over the grotto that is traditionally held to be the place of Jesus’ birth. There in the floor is a silver star meant to mark the place where he was born.

The pious practice within the Church of the Nativity is to kneel by the star and kiss it; but in order to reach the star, one must bend down, as there is a low ceiling.  This of course lends itself to having a reverent approach to the site, but it also serves as a reminder to us who visit there that if we have to stoop down to reach the place, how more so was it for the Son to humble himself in this great way?

www.sacred-destinations.com

I have been blessed with the opportunity to visit the Church of the Nativity.  And it is certainly a powerful experience to kneel down and kiss the site that tradition has held as the place where Jesus was born for at least 1700 years.  But what struck me most when I was there was when I walked out of the church and looked out at the modern city of Bethlehem.  Social conflict is prevalent and obvious throughout the city, and is most captured by the gigantic military wall that runs withinit.  Regardless of one’s thoughts on the wall, it stands as a clear demonstration of the level of conflict that exists in the region between different cultures, societies and peoples. 

This same region in which Jesus was born has been the meeting place of very different cultures, societies and peoples since even before his time.  In many ways, it is the place where East meets West.  Such diversity was the case during Jesus’ life as well - it says a lot that the Gospel of John specifies that the sign placed on the cross was in three different languages (John 19:20). With great difference oftentimes has come great discord and violence

So it struck me that day in Bethlehem, after having bent down to venerate the silver star, that it was at this place on Earth that Jesus was born: the meeting place of peoples throughout the world.  Indeed, how fitting that this be the site where all of humanity was lifted up to new dignity through the grace of God, by the Son taking on human form.  Likewise, how fitting that this site, so full of violence throughout human history as those differences collide, be where the Prince of Peace entered into human history. 

Christmas is the day when we commemorate this event of incomparable import for all human kind.  It is good that we celebrate it with different signs of love for our families, friends and coworkers. Such signs are through food, cookies, gifts and social events. But hopefully, as we reflect on the significance of the day, we also remember the stranger, the other, those who are different from us. For that event that we celebrate, which is marked by that silver star in the floor, was for all of humanity.  Thus regardless of differences, we are called by our belief in Jesus to acknowledge the dignity of each and every human person.   

THE COMMUNITY OF SAINT PAUL WISHES YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

BEGINNING OF THE YEAR OF MERCY 

Last week on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), Pope Francis launched the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. The opening of the Holy Doors in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, and later in hundreds of cathedrals, sanctuaries and churches worldwide, aims to strengthen the testimony of the faithful throughout the world.

In the Bull of Indiction of the jubilee year we read: “Jesus is the face of the Father’s mercy, (Misericordiae Vultus 1). The same day marked the 50^th Anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, and in his bull, Pope Francis cites John XXIII from the inauguration ceremony of the Council. He said that in our time the Church “prefers to use the medicine of mercy, rather than taking up the arms of severity (…), the Church wants to show herself a loving mother to all, patient, kind, moved by compassion and goodness toward her separated children,” (from Misericordiae Vultus 4).

The celebration of this Jubilee Year will conclude with the Feast of Christ the King on November 20, 2016.  May the theme of the year “merciful like the Father” permeate our language, our gestures and deeds, offering them to Jesus such that he “pour out his mercy upon us like the morning dew, so that everyone may work together to build a brighter future,” (Misericordiae Vultus 5).

WEBSERIES: BOLIVIA FROM THE FOUNDATIONS

On the occasion of the celebration of the Universal Children's Day on November 20, we published on our Spanish blog the link to to the webseries BOLIVIA FROM THE FOUNDATIONS. Here, we continue the celebration and offer the link to the first video of the series, which features the work of the Community of Saint Paul in Cochabamba in Casa San José (St. Joseph's Home) and the rural area surrounding the city. Casa San José works hard for the reinsertion of boys and youth that have been living on the street into their families. In the rural area of Cochabamba, the Community of Saint Paul carries out agricultural, animal rearing and reforestation projects. We thank the institutions that made this series possible:  Asociación Nuevos Caminos and CreaRSA.

Please click here to view the first of the 6 part series - each video is about 5 minutes long and they have English subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUHZmUYEAe8

REFLECTION

 

An Advent Without Blindness

Martí Colom

Today we begin the Advent season, and perhaps a look at the readings of this first Sunday can help us to live in a fruitful way this time of preparation towards Christmas.

We have, first of all, the optimistic and confident voice of Jeremiah: “The days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah … I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure.” On the other hand, Jesus also tells us (in agreement with the prophet) that our “our redemption is at hand.” But his message is much more nuanced, because he utters a disturbing warning before this final promise, filled with apocalyptic echoes: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay … People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world.” Jesus is more realistic and restrained than Jeremiah, and perhaps he also wants to be more honest with those who hear him.  He tells us: “peace will come and it is true that those who look for justice will not be deceived. But let us make no mistake about it, first there will be trials, conflicts, anguish and suffering.” Advent is not, in other words, a season of low intensity, free of worries, during which we are only asked to adorn our homes with trees, nativity scenes and Christmas decorations while we wait for the night of December 24, listening to carols and pretending that we live in a world without pain. The upcoming birth of the Prince of Peace does not imply the magical disappearance of all violence. In fact, the child is born every year in a wounded world.

Perhaps many will think that in this 2015 the truth contained in Jesus’ words is particularly obvious. Some will listen to the description of “people dying of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world” and will say to themselves: “he is talking about us.” The brutal terrorism seen in Paris, Beirut and Egypt in recent weeks, the wars that instead of fading away seem to increase everywhere, the terrible images of endless lines of refugees crossing Europe, the frail boats that daily reach the Greek, Italian or Spanish shores filled with immigrants, the increasing intolerance with which some respond to the suffering of those who arrive… everything seems to strongly confirm the dramatic passage of this Sunday’s Gospel. However, we cannot forget that at the end Jesus echoes Jeremiah and announces without ambiguity the victory of peace and a new dawn of freedom.

What we wished to underline here is that if we are to truly live out Advent in a profound way the season requires that we listen to the complete message that today Luke places in Jesus’ lips. Then we will have to reject both the fruitless illusion of thinking that we dwell in an idyllic garden without conflicts as well as the hopelessness (just as useless and mistaken) that comes from thinking that tragedy will have the last word.

This, then, requires two things of us, equally important. First, that those who could understand this Season as an invitation to forget about the problems of the larger world and to pretend that they are in a paradise may listen attentively to Jesus’ warning, and may open their eyes to the pain of others. And second, that those who may only heed the announcement of upcoming tragedies may hear also the conclusion of the passage: “when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”

This age of ours is not different from previous times. As it happens now, every other epoch had those who thought that their world was the culmination of human History, and that they had reached the peak of development and attained the perfect society. They deceived themselves, because they could only maintain such a fiction by ignoring the suffering of their brothers and sisters. In the same way, there were always those who on the other hand believed that their tragedies surpassed the tragedies of previous ages.  They would declare that their horror was new, more cruel or overwhelming than the crisis their grandparents had to face –and they concluded that this surely indicated that the final victory of evil over good was a fact. They also deceived themselves, for their pain was not more vicious than the pain of their ancestors (violence is always heartbreaking, whether it takes place today or a thousand years ago, and whether it happens in the streets of France or of Mosul). And they deceived themselves most of all because at the end Jeremiah and Jesus will be right. Advent is the time to wait for He who, indeed, will one day bring peace to all.

How should we, therefore, live out this Advent? By rejecting both the blindness of the naïve and the blindness of the pessimist. This is the task of the person who wants to hear, without fear and with trust, Jesus’ words.

 

 

MY FIRST DAY OF CLASSES

A week before classes officially began, the staff and teachers at Centro San José undertook many activities. They relocated classrooms, arranged furniture, painted, retouched doors, cleaned the walls and floors and afterward decorated the preschool grounds. All was done with the purpose of offering a warm welcome to the children of Jardines San Juan (in the outskirts of Mexico City) when they arrived for their first day of class. We began the new school year 2015-2016 at the Centro Comunitario de Desarrollo Infantil San José bursting with happiness. For we know that each day we work on building values to form boys and girls to better the prospects of their future.

Our program focuses on serving young families, especially those newly arrived in the poor, urban district where we have the center. Many of these families have little experience with formal education and the expectations placed on the children and the parents. The center’s goals include basic preschool education, in-school meals and nutrition information for the families and much love and attention to develop, in the children and also their families, the behavioral skills needed for success in school.

THE MONEY-BOX OF THE POOR

Carmen and Ramona are from Galindo Adentro, a small village in the province of Azua, in the Dominican Republic. Recently, they each received a piglet from the pig farming program of La Sagrada Familia Parish. One day, while we were talking about the care and maintenance of the animal, they mentioned to us that there is a typical saying in the Dominican culture that refers to pigs as “the moneybox of the poor”.

Many people from the parish territory, that comprises Sabana Yegua and its surroundings, do not have stable work that generates regular income for their family’s support. Therefore, the majority of the families cannot save for moments of crisis or scarcity. Generally, people of the region live frugally from one day to the next, earning their sustenance without being able to create any savings for the future. The idea of initiating the pig project to help families like that of Carmen and Ramona by giving them a pig was an attempt to answer to that situation. We know that for many of these families it is difficult to save and put money in a bank account for a future necessity. We also know that any family of scarce means can have a pig on their backyard that can be fed with leftovers or waste that they get from neighbors and their own home and crops.

The family receives the basic investment, which are the pigs, raises them to later sell them, thus generating a little income for the family. Thus, it fulfills the Dominican saying, and the pigs become the money box of the poor. If they don’t have an emergency that requires them to sell ahead of time, and everything goes well, the funds produce a benefit that the family knows well how to use!