“The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Neh.8:10)
“Rejoice,” says St. Paul in today’s Epistle, “For the Lord is near” (Phil.4:4;5b). In the Gospel St. John the Baptist is joyful because of the presence of the Savior. Dom Gueranger comments: “St. John is full of joy because the Savior has come, but the men around him are as indifferent as though they neither expected nor wanted a Savior. This is the third week of Advent; and are all hearts excited by the great tidings told them by the Church, that the Messias is near at hand? They that love Him not as their Savior, do they fear Him as their Judge? Are the crooked ways being made straight, and the hills being brought low? Are Christians seriously engaged in removing from their hearts the love of riches and the love of sensual pleasures? There is no time to lose: The Lord is nigh!” (Dom Prosper Gueranger, The Liturgical Year).
“The Lord is nigh,” but the world does not know him, like the priests and Levites in today’s Gospel (Jn.1:19-28) who question John the Baptist, “Who are you?” John was only “the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” but he says to his unbelieving questioners, “In the midst of you there has stood One Whom you do not know.”
The Baptist would have to say the same to this generation. Jesus Christ, the long awaited Messiah and Savior of the world, is in the midst of us, but the world refuses to recognize Him, taking up as a refrain the words of the Prophet Jeremiah, “let his name be remembered no more” (Jer. 11:19). Let there be no more Christmas Carols, no more “Merry Christmas,” no more Nativity scenes to remind us of the birth of the God-Man. The Vatican, together with the White House will see to that.
If “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting,” (Jn.3:16), our joy and our gratitude must be profound. His Holy Name must be in our hearts and reverently on our lips. His likeness should be always near, especially at Christmastide, in paintings, statues and Nativity scenes. We should be, as St. Paul says, “filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father” (Eph.5:18-20).
Pray for those "monkeying around" in the Vatican
The recent Vatican Light Show on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, “Fiat Lux,” was projected onto the façade and the cupola of St. Peter’s. It tells us that Bergoglio and his Vatican cronies are not concerned with being “filled with the Spirit, but with turning our spirits into a jungle – tigers, lizards, and grinning monkeys. The Vatican Light Show is being widely criticized around the world, as in Lifesite News (December 8, 2015):
“Robert Royal, president of the Washington based Faith and Reason Institute… called it ‘seriously wrong’ to have a ‘radical environmental message’ projected onto St. Peter’s. ‘This is the kind of thing ideological politicians do, like President Obama’s rainbow projection onto the White House after the Supreme Court approved gay ‘marriage.’ The White House is the people’s house, all the American people’s. St. Peter’s is even far more universal than that…’
“The Vatican show included artwork and computer-generated designs by (Andrew) Jones… Jones, one of the world’s foremost digital painters and projection artists, specializes in portraying terrifying images of Greek, Roman and Eastern pagan deities. He said in an interview last month that he turns to these gods and goddesses by means of ‘psychedelic substances’ (mind altering drugs) so that he can portray them accurately. He said the ‘deities’ are ‘actively involved’ in guiding his hand as he makes the work.”
Lifesite also reports that Fr. John Zuhlsdorf quotes the Catholic Dictionary on Sacrilege as the “irreverent treatment of sacred things, persons or places, i.e., those dedicated by God or the Church to sacred purposes. It is a sin against the virtue of religion, of its nature grave, but admitting smallness of matter.” This, of course, could not be called smallness of matter.
And it’s only days to Christmas. Francis thinks little of it. He calls Christmas a charade. We should not be concerned with Christmas trees, decorations, and gifts, or with the singing of joyous Christmas carols. Think of those poor monkeys and lizards that are threatened by climate change. It’s a cryin’ shame! Have a gloomy Christmas!
But our joy is in the Lord, the Orient from on High, heralded by St. John the Baptist, as prophesied by his father, Zachary: “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give to his people knowledge of salvation through forgiveness of their sins, because of the loving-kindness of our God, wherewith the Orient from on high has visited us, to shine on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk.1:76-79).
Jesus Christ is our true Light. Though the darkness of unbelief covers the earth, we rejoice in the light of Christ. We quote from the Prophet Isaiah:
“Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thy eyes round about and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee. Thy sons shall come from afar and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side… Thy sun shall go down no more and thy moon shall not decrease. For the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light: and the days of thy mourning shall be ended” (Is.60:1-4;20).
The Gospel of St. Luke is the Gospel of joy: “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior’” (Lk.1:46,47); “And the angel said to them (the shepherds), ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which shall be to all the people” (Lk.2:10).
We who also believe in the Son have confidence that through our repentance, and humility like that of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, and St. John the Baptist, we may also rejoice in the Lord’s coming, for “The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Neh.8:10).