My mother started praying the Rosary with me as an infant everyday as she held me in her arms. With Mary, she introduced me to Jesus. She shared with me her love of Jesus. I realize now that I was already living the truth that is the core of Saint John’s First Letter that we hear these days: God is Love.
In the intimacy of family love we are to come to know God. In Him we live, we move, and we have our being. We are to begin to know Him in the love we receive from our parents. We can become conscious of His Presence in the connections, in the bonds of love in our families and then in all our wholesome loves. Christmas, the warm exchanges of friendship of this season, the sense of peace that comes over the world are all lights for us to see Him, to know Him, and to love Him!
According to the law of Moses, after 40 days Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to be presented to the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem. After 19 days, my parents presented me to the Lord for baptism in Saint Joseph Church in Medford, Massachusetts: both sets of parents were faithfully following a tradition at least 200 hundred of generations old, an apparently simple act yet one through which God is manifest, light revealed. We know who we are, and our true journey begins.
The Lord has chosen that we come to know this in family! Imagine a world in which from the beginning of life, all parents were awake to this Presence of God themselves, lived it faithfully, and carefully passed this on to their children!
So, Mary and Joseph brought their Son to the temple after 40 days, reminiscent of the 40 years the Hebrews wandered in the desert. After 7 days, reminiscent of the Creation, being circumcised the babe had received his name: Jesus, “God Who saves”. Now Jesus, Himself the New Creation, is brought to the Temple for what was normally the rite of redemption of the first-born son, reminiscent of liberation from Egypt. But this first-born of Mary is the First-Born of God. He is not redeemed. Mary and Joseph have only brought the offering for her ritual purification. He IS the Glory of Israel Who will be God’s firstborn sacrificed for our redemption, our ultimate liberation.
In our presentation to God, in our Baptism we are baptized into His death and truly rise to be sons and daughters in Him.
God is love, so much so that He deeply desires to share His divine life with us. This is His Christmas gift. We receive the gift by giving ourselves back to Him.
Merry Christmas!
