O Christmas Tree!

The Christmas tree is probably the most common Christmas decoration. They are found in homes, yards, malls, restaurants and stores. Although the Christmas tree may seem to be a secular decoration, it holds a great significance hidden beneath it's branches.

We may find it difficult to see a connection between Christmas and Easter, but there is an important connection which should not be overlooked. The Christmas tree helps to bridge that gap.

At the first Christmas, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a town whose name means “House of Bread”. He was born in a stable which was most likely a stone cave and was laid in a wooden manger, which is the place where the animals eat. The shepherds, who had very little social status, came to worship Jesus in that cave and they found the Savior, who later proclaimed Himself to be the Bread of Life.

At Holy Week, Jesus gave the Apostles the Eucharist, the Bread of Life which is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Then he was nailed to a wooden cross and after he died was laid in a tomb which was actually a cave. The women, who had very little social status, came to attend to His body and found that he had resurrected.

As you can see, Christmas and Holy Week mirror each other in special and significant ways. One commemorates how Jesus came from Heaven into the world and the other commemorates how Jesus redeems humanity in order to bring us from the world into Heaven.

The Christmas tree is a wonderful, rich symbol of this connection between the Crib and the Cross. One provided a place for the Jesus to begin His earthly life and so begin His ministry of salvation and the other provided the place for his death and the fulfillment of his ministry of salvation.

When you see a Christmas Tree, remember that it gives honor to Christ in His incarnation, death, and resurrection as it stands as a symbol of the trees that became the crib and the cross.

The World Still Needs a Savior

Christmas was the central theme of the Pope's catechesis during his general audience, held this morning in the Paul VI Hall.

"In these final days of Advent," said the Holy Father, "the liturgy invites us to approach ... the stable in Bethlehem where the extraordinary event that changed the course of history took place: the birth of the Redeemer. On Christmas Eve, we will stand once again before the manger, and contemplate in wonder the 'Word made Flesh.' ... The chosen people awaited the Messiah but imagined him to be a powerful and victorious leader who would free his people from foreign oppression. Yet the Savior was born in silence and in absolute poverty."

"Does mankind in our own time still await the Savior?" the Pope asked. "It appears that many people consider God as foreign to their interests. They have no apparent need of Him, and live as if He did not exist or, worse still, as if He were an 'obstacle' to be removed in order to achieve self-fulfillment. Even among believers ... are those who let themselves be attracted by alluring mirages and distracted by misleading doctrines that propose illusory shortcuts to happiness.

"And yet," he added, "with all their contradictions, their anguish and their dramas - or perhaps precisely because of them - men and women today seek a road of renewal, of salvation, they seek a Savior and await, sometimes without knowing it, ... the coming of Christ, man's only true Redeemer."

"Of course, false prophets continue to propose 'low cost' salvation, which always ends up delivering resounding disillusionment. Indeed, the history of the last 50 years provides an example of this search for a 'low cost' Savior and highlights all the consequent disillusionment."

For this reason, the Pope concluded, Christians must, "with the testimony of their lives, propagate the truth of Christmas, which Christ brings to all men and women of good will. Born into poverty in the manger, Jesus came to offer everyone the joy and peace which alone can satisfy the needs of the human soul."

In his Italian-language greetings at the end of the audience, Benedict XVI said: "In a few days it will be Christmas, and I imagine that, in your homes, you are putting the final touches to your nativity scenes, which are such an evocative depiction of Christmas. I hope that this important element, not only of our spirituality but also of our culture and art, may endure as a simple and eloquent way to remember the One Who came 'to dwell among us'."

After the audience, the Pope was awarded the "Prize for Charity" by the "Banca Alimentare," an Italian foundation that organizes, among other initiatives, the National Day of Food Collection. The reason for granting the prize, says a communique released by the foundation, is that since the start of his pontificate, the Holy Father "has sought to present charity - the sincere giving of oneself to others - as a natural dimension of Christian life."

Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., speaking during a meeting between the Vatican Publishing House and other international publishers, highlighted the fact that the award coincides with Benedict XVI's decision to donate part of his copyright earnings to a study center founded by his former theology students.

VIS

Zenit has the fulltext of the homily.

Fr. Cantalamessa on Penance for Abuse

Speaking on December 15 to Pope Benedict XVI and the leaders of the Roman Curia, the preacher to the pontifical household called for fasting and penance throughout the Church in reparation for the “abominations” of sexual abuse.

Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, preached the first in an annual series of Advent meditations to the Pope and his aides on Friday morning in the Redemptoris Mater chapel of the apostolic palace. In a powerful call for repentance, he said that the Church should cry out to God for forgiveness because of the clerical scandals of recent years. He suggested a day of fasting and prayer as a visible sign of that repentance.

The papal preacher’s message seemed to reflect the thoughts of Pope Benedict himself. As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had jurisdiction over the discipline of priests involved in sexual abuse, and associates reported that the future Pontiff was deeply shocked by the breadth of the scandal. Shortly before his election to the papacy, in his Good Friday meditations on March 24, 2005, Cardinal Ratzinger said: “How much filth there is in the Church, even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to Him!”

Father Cantalamessa, in his Advent meditation, was especially firm in his condemnation of those who, having been caught up in the scandal, have later gained publicity by telling of their experiences, and implying that their bishops were at fault for inadequate supervision. That approach, the preacher said, demonstrates a frightening “hardness of heart.” He appeared to be referring to case such as that of Oliver O’Grady, the defrocked Irish priest and convicted child molester whose confession forms the basis for the film, Deliver Us from Evil.

The Beatitudes are the theme of this year’s Advent meditations, and the Capuchin preacher centered his first remarks on Christ’s precept: “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Pain and suffering are inevitable in this life, he said, and man can only find lasting comfort in Christ.

Father Cantalamessa said that many modern interpreters of the Bible sometimes add to their own suffering, and the suffering of those who follow them, by replacing the real Jesus with an abstract and sentimental figure.
Citing the Pope’s forthcoming book on the person of Jesus, the preacher argued that such an image of Jesus cannot inspire true faith or bring real comfort.

The Advent meditations are traditionally scheduled for each Friday during the Advent season. This year, because the feast of the Immaculate Conception superseded the first Friday of Advent, only two meditations are scheduled before Christmas, with the second and final one set for December 22.

Source: CWN

Read the fulltext of Fr. Cantalamessa's homily here.

Have a Blessed Advent

In our secular society, which prepares for Christmas before Thanksgiving, or now, even before Halloween, Advent is that beautiful, yet often overlooked season of joyful expectation during which, we prepare for the exultant joy of Christmas season.

It is a time to look forward to the future and to reflect on the past. It is a time to remember that we are called to be a "Voice crying out in the desert" as the scripture says of St. John the Baptist. Is our message good news? It definately should be.

We are called to proclaim good news; to be a light to the world if everything we do.