Tuesday Reflection from Sr. Rosemary Finnegan, O.P.
Readings from: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011023.cfm
I hope everyone got a chance to see the 82 beautiful and varied nativity sets on display in the parish hall last weekend. Each crèche had a meaningful story of where it came from and how our parishioner’s family came to possess it.
As we view any nativity set, do we really reflect on what Jesus becoming human, which we call the incarnation, means to us? What if there was no incarnation, no babe in a manger, no Son of God becoming one of us?
- If there were no incarnation, we’d still be waiting for the Messiah. There wouldn’t be a New Testament, so we’d be reading the O.T. over and over again. As we waited, would we be faithful? Hopeful?
- If there were no incarnation, we wouldn’t have Jesus sharing the 8 beatitudes, or the parables, or the stories of forgiveness that continue to teach us about God’s love and compassion. Have we allowed these scriptures to expand our understanding of God?
- If there were no incarnation, we wouldn’t be here now as a community celebrating our greatest gift, the Eucharist, Christ’s saving presence among us, which nourishes us as Christ’s followers. Are we truly grateful for Eucharist and do we take Christ’s mission seriously?
In today’s first reading Paul is talking to some Hebrew Christians who have suffered much persecution for Christ. They are tempted to give up on their faith, but Paul is encouraging them to ‘hold on’. He points to Jesus who is both human and divine, superior to all their great religious leaders of the past, and paints a marvelous portrait of him who is worth this costly allegiance.
For us, too, the incarnation is a mystery. God, in the person of Jesus, became one of us, to love us, teach us, comfort, and save us. Today’s passage is the heart of what we believe about Jesus:
‘He who ‘for a little while’ was made lower than the angels, that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.’
As we think about this very real person of Jesus in our life, I’d like to close with something I personally like to read each Christmas which might be familiar to you. It was written in 1926 by Dr. James Allan Francis and is called: “One Solitary Life”.
He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up on another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty when public opinion turned against him
He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never travelled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself
He was only thirty-three
His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth
When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend
Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind's progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life.
