December 18, 2014
Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
[All reflections are also available online at http://www.anselm.edu/advent]
Christmas has many traditions in our culture, and in this modern age one of the most widespread is
watching Christmas movies with family. There is a Christmas movie for every taste, from classics like
Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, and It’s a Wonderful Life, to comedies like Home Alone and
Elf, to family favorites like A Christmas Story, and The Muppet Christmas Carol. Many of these movies
hit on the important themes of family, togetherness, and goodwill towards man…but there’s more to
Christmas than that. Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch comes very close to the heart of the matter when our antihero has his eureka moment that, “Maybe Christmas, he thought...doesn't come from a store. Maybe
Christmas, perhaps... means a little bit more!” The Grinch hints that there is a ‘little bit more’, but does
not come right out and say what that ‘more’ is. To me, the one Christmas special that gets it completely
right is A Charlie Brown Christmas.
In this surely familiar story, Charlie Brown is depressed about the over-commercialization of Christmas.
His friends are focused on all the wrong things…Sally wants some money from Santa, Snoopy is caught
up in decorating his doghouse, Lucy wants a big, shiny aluminum tree… In frustration, Charlie laments
that maybe he doesn’t really know what Christmas is all about. This is when the story takes its turn that
separates it from so many other Christmas specials. Linus takes center stage and quotes directly from
Luke chapter 2:
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by
night. 9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them: and they were sore afraid. 10And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord. 12And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.”
‘That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown’. The reading today is not the same as the one quoted
in A Charlie Brown Christmas, but it clearly and unequivocally states what Christmas is all about; the
birth of our savior. Today’s Gospel passage tells this story through the eyes of Joseph. “Through the
Holy Spirit…this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.” The responsorial psalm tells us the good news that
“Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever.” This is what we’ve been waiting for; this
is the reason for the season; this is the ‘something more’ that those other Christmas movies hint at and
dance around but too often don’t come right out and say. Christmas is a time for family, togetherness,
and goodwill towards man, but there’s something more there, and that something is the entering into
the world of the one who will save us.
A Charlie Brown Christmas ends with all the Peanuts gang singing ‘Hark the Herald Angles Sing’, and I’ll
end the same way:
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Hark the herald angels sing / "Glory to the newborn King! /Peace on earth and mercy mild /God and
sinners reconciled / Joyful, all ye nations rise /Join the triumph of the skies / With angelic host proclaim:
/ "Christ is born in Bethlehem" / Hark! The herald angels sing /"Glory to the newborn King!"
~ by Andrew Fellows, Campus Minister
Today’s Readings
http://usccb.org/bible/readings/121814.cfm
Reading 1 – Jeremiah 23: 5-8
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David;
As king he shall reign and govern wisely,
he shall do what is just and right in the land.
In his days Judah shall be saved,
Israel shall dwell in security.
This is the name they give him:
“The LORD our justice.”
Therefore, the days will come, says the LORD,
when they shall no longer say, “As the LORD lives,
who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt”;
but rather, "As the LORD lives,
who brought the descendants of the house of Israel
up from the land of the north”–
and from all the lands to which I banished them;
they shall again live on their own land.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19
R. (see 7) Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous deeds.
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And blessed forever be his glorious name;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Gospel – Matthew 1:18-25
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
He had no relations with her until she bore a son,
and he named him Jesus.
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