Very often it is said that religion is a private thing. However I am really glad that the Blessed Virgin Mary didn’t think that way. If she had believed that religion was a private matter we wouldn’t know the story of the Angel Gabriel coming to her. We wouldn’t have any stories to tell at Christmas. We read these stories so often, in fact they are the best known pages of the Bible, but let’s remember that if they are in the Bible it is because Mary believed that those stories didn’t belong only to her. What happened to her was a gift to the whole human race.
As we are approaching Christmas 2014 let’s ask what we have done with our very own story of meeting with God, the story of his presence in our life. If your say that you are a believer you aren’t a private person, you are a gift to others. Are you like Mary sharing with others what God did to her or do you keep your faith story private or better to say like a talent buried under many layers or secrecy and privacy?
I think that you all know that Jesus was born in a stable but actually I find it very enriching that the stable where he was born was a cave turned into a shelter for animals. I tressure this image of Our Lord being born I n a cave because a cave doesn’t have a door you can shut. It is always open. You can come in anytime. Don’t you think that it is striking thought?
A priest told once that when he did his studies in the seminary they had a custom that on the birthday of a student the others would remove and hide the door to his room. It meant that he couldn’t stay away from them on his birthday. Everybody could come in to have a cuppa or a drink with him. I guess at times it was inconvenient, especially when he needed to get changed but it had good massage. “You aren’t just a private person. You are important to us. You are a gift to us and we have right to celebrate it with you.” The priest said that although he didn’t enjoy losing his door on his birthday it was better than having nobody knocking at his door.
My Sisters and Brothers!
Mary’s life wasn’t the first Big Brother’s show where people can watch each single step of participants. Her life was telling the story of Jesus. It wasn’t about her. It was about him. That’s why her story is in the Bible because her days, months and years were like pages of a notebook filled with God’s handwriting. I am sure she was surprised to find some lines there but she didn’t erase them.
On this Last Sunday of advent I pray so that you can be a Catholic whose life is like the Bethlehem Cave, always open. If the entrance to your heart and mind is wide open you will do things you wouldn’t believe you were able to do. But you will do them because of the Holy Spirit living in you the same Holy Spirit who filled Mary in today’s Gospel.
As we are approaching Christmas 2014 let’s ask what we have done with our very own story of meeting with God, the story of his presence in our life. If your say that you are a believer you aren’t a private person, you are a gift to others. Are you like Mary sharing with others what God did to her or do you keep your faith story private or better to say like a talent buried under many layers or secrecy and privacy?
I think that you all know that Jesus was born in a stable but actually I find it very enriching that the stable where he was born was a cave turned into a shelter for animals. I tressure this image of Our Lord being born I n a cave because a cave doesn’t have a door you can shut. It is always open. You can come in anytime. Don’t you think that it is striking thought?
A priest told once that when he did his studies in the seminary they had a custom that on the birthday of a student the others would remove and hide the door to his room. It meant that he couldn’t stay away from them on his birthday. Everybody could come in to have a cuppa or a drink with him. I guess at times it was inconvenient, especially when he needed to get changed but it had good massage. “You aren’t just a private person. You are important to us. You are a gift to us and we have right to celebrate it with you.” The priest said that although he didn’t enjoy losing his door on his birthday it was better than having nobody knocking at his door.
My Sisters and Brothers!
Mary’s life wasn’t the first Big Brother’s show where people can watch each single step of participants. Her life was telling the story of Jesus. It wasn’t about her. It was about him. That’s why her story is in the Bible because her days, months and years were like pages of a notebook filled with God’s handwriting. I am sure she was surprised to find some lines there but she didn’t erase them.
On this Last Sunday of advent I pray so that you can be a Catholic whose life is like the Bethlehem Cave, always open. If the entrance to your heart and mind is wide open you will do things you wouldn’t believe you were able to do. But you will do them because of the Holy Spirit living in you the same Holy Spirit who filled Mary in today’s Gospel.
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