In today’s gospel, Jesus compares His generation to children who tried to get their playmates to come out to play, but the playmates didn’t come.
So often we are like the children that Jesus speaks about in today’s reading. Their friends piped, but they did not come to dance. At this time of Advent, when we should be preparing for Jesus, we tend to focus on other things, like those the poet Ferlinghetti said Christ ran away from when he climbed down from his bare tree, the cross. (“Christ Climbed Down”, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1985).
“rootless Christmas trees hung with candy canes, breakable stars, and electric candles and encircled by . . . electric trains.
“Creches [ordered online] complete with plastic babe in manger [delivered] by [Fed Ex] and Wise Men praising Lord Calvert Whiskey.
“A fat handshaking stranger in a red flannel suit and a fake white beard . . . passing himself off as some sort of North Pole saint crossing the desert to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in a Volkswagon sled drawn by rollicking Adirondack reindeer with German names and bearing sacks of Humble Gifts from Saks Fifth Avenue for everybody’s imagined Christ child
And “Carollers groan[ing] of a tight Christmas and . . . Radio City angels ice-skat[ing] wingless thru a winter wonderland into a jinglebell heaven.”
But coming through the din and glimmer, we hear the loud, clear drumming and singing about a poor little drummer boy who hears about a baby Jesus who is a king. He wants to do something to honor this baby Jesus. Being poor, the little boy has no gift to bring so he plays his drum for Him.
Hearing about him playing his best wakens us to the message of the poet’s satire and causes us to ask if we are using the traditions of the season to prepare to meet the Lord who is coming as we read in the Alleluia.
Does the Christmas tree speak to us of the birth and resurrection of Jesus? Do its branches speak to us of immortality and symbolize the crown of thorns worn by Jesus on the cross?
Do we think of God’s love for us when see the plastic babe in the manger of straw?
Does the fat little man in the red suit with his bag of gifts remind us of the greatest gift of all, the gift of Jesus? As we prepare for our traditional gift giving among family and friends, do we plan carefully and keep within our means? Do we think of sharing with some outside our own circle who would be happy to be included? And do we express our thanks to others for whatever gifts we receive in love from them?
And when we hear the singing of the carolers, do we join in and sing with joy that Emmanuel has come bringing joy to the world.
Are we ready to respond to the call of today’s Alleluia to go out to meet the Lord, the Prince of Peace who is coming?
.jpg "Father Pinto Paul, C.S.C.")