Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Reflection based on Luke 1: 39-45
When I was in grade school we used to have an annual "living rosary." Sixty students would stand in as beads and speak the Hail Marys and Our Fathers in their turn. If this was a nod toward child psychology, I for my part always felt a little cheated. To the imagination of a child, a "living rosary" suggests something considerable more interesting. Where were the costumes? Why no animals? I expected more of a blend between Oberammergau, human chess and the Society for Creative Reenactment. This need to live the mysteries of Christ's life doesn't go away with childhood (at least it shouldn't); and at Christmas the desire to step inside the reality of the incarnation touches us in a special way. No other feast so revels in the tactile, so delights in anything quite like the Christmas creche (living or not).
As we approach ever closer to the birth of Christ, the daily Gospels lead us, bead-by bead as it were, through those joyful mysteries of Mary's nine months. From Gabriel's greeting to Elizabeth's blessing on the very brink, passing from the Second to the Third Joyful Mystery. The unborn John, already leaping for Christmas joy, will soon precede his Lord. Then the Dawn from on high can break upon us. O Oriens......
Father Anthony Giambrone, O.P.
Like Children on Christmas Morning.
When I was in grade school we used to have an annual "living rosary." Sixty students would stand in as beads and speak the Hail Marys and Our Fathers in their turn. If this was a nod toward child psychology, I for my part always felt a little cheated. To the imagination of a child, a "living rosary" suggests something considerable more interesting. Where were the costumes? Why no animals? I expected more of a blend between Oberammergau, human chess and the Society for Creative Reenactment. This need to live the mysteries of Christ's life doesn't go away with childhood (at least it shouldn't); and at Christmas the desire to step inside the reality of the incarnation touches us in a special way. No other feast so revels in the tactile, so delights in anything quite like the Christmas creche (living or not).
As we approach ever closer to the birth of Christ, the daily Gospels lead us, bead-by bead as it were, through those joyful mysteries of Mary's nine months. From Gabriel's greeting to Elizabeth's blessing on the very brink, passing from the Second to the Third Joyful Mystery. The unborn John, already leaping for Christmas joy, will soon precede his Lord. Then the Dawn from on high can break upon us. O Oriens......
Father Anthony Giambrone, O.P.
Father in heaven, give me a child-like joy at the coming of Christ. Brighten everything dark in my life with the radiance of your Son.
posted by See Tho Zhang Jacob at
12:28 PM
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