Is not life on earth a drudgery? Are not my days those of slaves? So I have been assigned months of misery....I shall not see happiness again.
Calvin absolutely detested having to climb aboard the school bus each weekday during the academic year, looking ahead only to another dreary, boring day of school replete with misery. Yet, as bad as each day would likely end up being, Calvin was equally zealous about the ninety days of summer vacation, absolutely convinced each and every one of those days would be “jam-packed” with exciting and unsupervised things to explore, life-altering discoveries to unearth, meetings in the tree house of the “G.R.O.S.S. Club—“Get Rid Of Slimy girlS”—and just good, old-fashioned, plain “fun” like water balloon fights...all of it accompanied by his best pal of pals, buddy of buddies, and scoundrel of scoundrels, Hobbes the Tiger.
When “Christmas crib” Catholics—whose practice of the Catholic faith is “childish”—experience drudgery, they’re like Calvin...only seeing their days filled with misery, and believing they’ll never see happiness again and pointing the finger of blame anywhere and everywhere. If only everything and everybody would only conform with their view of truth, each and every day would be all peaches and vanilla ice cream, not only for themselves but also for everyone else...just as God ordained in and from the beginning.
Or, so “Christmas crib” Catholics believe.
Perhaps “Christmas crib” Catholics should ask others if they concur. But, they surely won’t, focusing intently as they do upon themselves—their days of drudgery, months of misery, and general lack of happiness in life. “It’s all your fault!”, “Christmas crib” Catholics complain, fearful they’ll never see happiness again, all due to their far-less-than-perfect spouse, children, in-law’s, family members, bosses, co-workers, or whomever.
“Woe is me! It’s all their fault!”
Like Job, the source of their drudgery, misery, and lack of happiness isn’t “out there” but “in here.” “Christmas crib” Catholics know they’re broken-hearted and while they are fully aware of that, what they “don’t get” is they’re looking for happiness in the created things of this world—seeking the swaddling blanket of comfort and warmth all those things afford. Filling up this void with an ever-expanding number of created things, “Christmas crib” Catholics only increase their drudgery, extend the months of misery, and experience increased unhappiness because no created thing in this world can be perfect or eternal. In the end, all of it—people and things—will fall short of their standard of perfection.
Insofar as “Christmas crib” Catholics are concerned, their attitude suggests they believe December 8 each year is the Solemnity of the Church year dedicated especially to them.
More importantly, this focus makes “Christmas crib” Catholics insensitive to others, especially their needs. When it comes to providing for those needs, “Christmas crib” Catholics delegate the task to everyone else if only because they’re too busy bemoaning their fate to care one whit about anyone else. They’re on a mission to take care of themselves first before they could ever possibly take care of anyone else.
How far “Christmas crib” Catholics are from the Kingdom of God, at least insofar as Jesus embodied what it means to be of God’s Kingdom: To be near to people.
It stands to reason that none of us can be “near to people”—their drudgery, misery, and unhappiness—if we’re focused solely upon ourselves and our drudgery, misery, and unhappiness. Instead, the challenge is is not continue wrapping ourselves in the warm and comfy swaddling clothes of the Christmas crib, allowing all of that to provide excuses not to be near to others. As Jesus taught by his example in today’s gospel, reaching out to others and healing them of everything that afflicted them physically, morally, or spiritually is what’s required of those who have a “child-like” faith...trusting in God’s care for them. And, the sign of this faith was personified in Simon’s mother-in-law: Rather than bemoan her situation and remain in the swaddling clothes of her bed, she immediately got up and served others...wrapping them in the swaddling clothes of her care, concern, and yes, love!
Jesus taught not with the power of his logic and use of clever words, the way the Jewish religious leaders did. No, we were told, Jesus taught “with authority” by being close to people in their need. The way Jesus lived his days embodied for all of those people the words we heard first announced about the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in the manger on Christmas Day—he was “Emmanuel”— meaning “God [is] with us.” In contrast, for “Christmas crib” Catholics, God is not with them—God is the “Great Absent One”—and the idols they’ve chosen to fill that void in their broken hearts cannot possibly heal the wound but only make them selfish, caring only for themselves and not giving one whit for others in their real need.
The lesson?
None of us—including Jesus—lives in a perfect world. Yet, what Jesus has taught us is not to remain in the “Christmas crib”—living a childish faith—by not allowing all of that imperfection to keep us from being present to others in their need. Not allowing any of that to limit him, Jesus left it all behind to the point of embracing the crucifix of Good Friday by shedding his blood and giving his life for others. That’s a “childlike” faith, as Jesus taught, because it features trusting that God is with us, especially when all seems lost. That faith—the childlike faith of “crucifix Catholics”—is the spiritual medicine that heals the broken hearts of those who are wounded and live a childish faith. Only by embracing the Crucifix will “Christmas crib” Catholics be strengthened to live a childlike faith and experience “Emmanuel”—the God who is with us. And, as Jesus taught in today’s gospel, this way of life is nourished and strengthened through prayer. As Pope Francis has noted about the lesson Jesus taught us in today’s gospel after he healed all sorts of people of what ailed them:
[Jesus] prays, chooses the people, and is not ashamed to be close to the people. And this gives us confidence in Jesus. Let us trust in Jesus because he prays, because he has chosen us, and because he is close to us.”
No mature adult remains behind in the crib! Life naturally forces children to leave the crib behind and to undertake, push onward, and embrace exploring the world by going leaving one’s cares behind and providing for the needs of others...one’s spouse, children, friends, and, as Jesus taught, the poor, marginalized, and sinful. That requires the baptized to embrace suffering. Why? That requires being of and living in this world for the Kingdom of God…which requires suffering because no one can “have it all” in this world.
That represents this week’s challenge from Scripture: To redirect our attention away from ourselves and toward others.
The pathway this week is pretty straightforward, if we’re to clear the way for God to be present to His people. Each morning, light your baptismal candle (or turn it on, as is the case for me), recall that you’ve been baptized and are member of God’s Kingdom, and that God has given you the gift of His Holy Spirit to heal your deafness to the cries of the needy. Then, when you hear a voice crying out in the desert—and you surely will because they are legion—say “Emmanuel” silently to yourself and attend to that person’s need.
Living in and of this world but for the Kingdom of God, “crucifix” Catholics have learned from Scripture that there will always be suffering along the way. But what characterizes their “child-like” faith that doesn’t characterize the “childish” faith of “crib” Catholics is what they learned from Jesus on Good Friday: Suffering for good ends is redemptive for oneself and others, transforming drudgery, misery, and unhappiness into the joy beyond all human understanding that’s to be experienced in the Kingdom of God.
As the Psalmist reminded us, this is how God heals the brokenhearted, binds up their wounds, and calls each by name. The Lord sustains the lowly by lifting them up but the wicked who care only for themselves the Lord casts to the ground.
“Everyone is looking for you,” Simon told Jesus who responded by traveling to the nearby villages because, Jesus said, “For this purpose have I come.”
That is the same purpose for which God has sent you and me into this world...beginning each and every day this week. Go out and wrap others in the swaddling blankets your care, concern, and, yes, love for them.
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