The Parish Community of St. Kevin
303 Niagara Street, Welland, ON L3C 1K5 905-735-5885 e-mail
 
Advent and Christmas 2010
 
To: All Members of the St. Kevin Parish Community
From: Father Norman Bordage, CSC Father Vijay Amirtharaj, CSC and Father James Mulligan, CSC
 
Advent Greetings! Christmas Blessings! Epiphany Hopes!
 

Christmas 2010! Let's start at the end and go back to the beginning!
 

Going backwards is the best approach to celebrating Christmas. This is the scene. It is a November Saturday, five weeks exactly before Christmas. We find ourselves at the Seaway Mall with hundreds of shoppers. More precisely we find ourselves at noon in the Food Court when a joyful surprise lasting four minutes and 35 seconds takes place. Eighty members of Chorus Niagara positioned strategically throughout the Food Court break into an absolutely wonderful rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from George Frederick Handel's Messiah! What moving moments! Shoppers and those snacking are astonished. The whole experience was captured on YouTube, and now has been viewed globally by more than two million persons.

So – what was Chorus Niagara singing? These are the words gloriously proclaimed in the Hallelujah chorus: Hallelujah – for the Lord God omnipotent, reigns. Hallelujah. The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah. King of kings and Lord of Lords! And he shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah. The Hallelujah Chorus celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. lt celebrates the power and history-changing moment of Easter Sunday!

And what were the shoppers up to in the Seaway Mall five weeks before Christmas? Getting ready! Buying gifts and stocking up everything needed for preparations for families to celebrate Christmas and the holidays. The shoppers were preparing to remember the birth of the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. They ready themselves to celebrate Christmas.

So – we have this juxtaposition of an Easter song of praise sung at Christmas time. But it is not at all out of place. ln fact it is very helpful for us to appreciate the awesome miracle of Christmas when our God became human. The story of Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and magi and Bethlehem and no room in the inn and the birth of the infant Jesus was really arrived at after the experience of the equally awesome miracle of Good Friday and Easter Sunday and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. lt was at Easter that we became aware that the kingdom of this world becomes the Kingdom of Christ – the King of kings and the Lord of Lords! Hallelujah!
ln their gospel account of the birth of Jesus St. Luke and St. Matthew really begin with the death and resurrection of Jesus and then make their way backwards to the birth of Jesus. They ask: Where did this King of kings and Lord of Lords come from? ln rewinding the gospel story from Easter Sunday to that first Christmas night it is not Jingle Bells and Frosty and Rudolph who are at centre stage but rather, a tiny fragile infant who is the King of kings and Lord of Lords; an infant born in dire poverty surrounded by farm animals and poor shepherds; an infant given to humanity by his Father into the care of Mary and Joseph; an infant who would soon be a refugee fleeing into a foreign land with his parents. The miracle is that our God has become human, that the Father has changed all of time and history in the birth of a baby in the most humble of circumstances.

Mary's holy work becomes our holy work.

 

We know from our experience as believers in Jesus and from our Scriptures that this miracle of God becoming human is not finished; it is a miracle that is intended to continue as the kingdom of this world becomes the Kingdom of Christ. Mary bore Jesus and presented Jesus to the world. This was Mary's holy work! Mary is the first believer and our model. The miracle of Easter and the miracle of Christmas compel us, too, to bear Jesus and to continue to present Jesus to the world. This is our holy work. Those joyful singers at the Seaway Mall really do question us: How does the kingdom of this world become the Kingdom of Christ? What should the Kingdom of Christ look like in our time and in our place?

 

Our Agenda for Christmas 2010:
Making the kingdom of this world into the Kingdom of Christ

Signs of the Kingdom of Christ. There are plenty of signs of the Kingdom of Christ in our Advent-Christmas experience. Inspired by Mary's example, we do much to help present Jesus to the world and to help build up the Kingdom of Christ.

  • To celebrate family and community can be an expression of deep love and caring and being cared for.
  • Gift giving can be a symbol of generosity and appreciation.
  • Providing food, suppers and gifts to the poor can remind us of Jesus' love of preference for those in great need. I was hungry and you gave me food!
  • A silent and holy night can often soften us, making us more open to God's great love for the world, helping us get in touch with our own role and part to play in God's great plan for the world.
  • Holiday hospitality can lead us to reflect on that greatest act of hospitality when Mary provided her womb as a home for the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

But at the same time, there is so much work that remains to be done. There are those oppressive dimensions of the kingdom of this world that must be changed into the Kingdom of Christ, lt is not only cold December days that chill us: it is the reality of increasing poverty and deprivation. Recentheadlines describe some of the work that needs to be done and some of what must be changed:

  • Child poverty rate on the rise in Ontario.
  • 25% spike in number of seniors in poverty.
  • More visits to Food Bank and Harvest Kitchen.
  • Most new wealth is already going to those who have more than enough.
  • The growing rich-poor gap is threatening the economic and political power of our middle class.

The work to be done, the oppressive dimensions of the kingdom of this world invite us at Christmas-time into a sharper awareness of the holy work we are called to do and a deeper commitment in presenting Jesus to the world.

And the game plan for accomplishing this holy work? For helping bring about the Kingdom of Christ? St. Francis of Assisi came up with a most excellent strategy when he translated the message of Jesus in the gospels into his prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is despair in life, let me bring hope.
Where there is injury, let me bring pardon.
Where there is darkness, let me bring light.

As the priest leaders of St. Kevin's Parish, we invite and encourage you to join us for our liturgy of reconciliation on the Monday evening before Christmas and for the beautiful Eucharistic liturgies that take place here at St. Kevin's over the Christmas season, beginning with Christmas Eve. [Please note the detailed schedule on this page.] Our community worship here is a great gift and it is always a beautiful expression of the Kingdom of Christ present among us!

As always, we assure you of the solidarity of our prayer as you go about the holy work of struggling to help change the kingdom of this world into the Kingdom of Christ!

And as we pray for you, we ask that you pray for us!

Sincerely in Our Brother Jesus,

Father Norm, CSC

Father Vijay, CSC

Father Jim, CSC