Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Winter Awe

New Year’s Resolutions

I met a boy with his family recently who told me he had some hopes and plans for the new year.  I asked him to write them down and let me put them on the web. Here they are, along with a picture of the original. I think they are great. Thanks, Steven!

Steven’s List —

1. I hope I remember that Easter is about Jesus dying on the cross.

2. I hope the poor will be safe.

3. I can’t wait to see my Webkinz grow.

4. I can’t wait for my friends to become older on their birthdays.

5. Do good deeds.

6. See more of my cousins.

Happy New Year, everyone!

The Mystery of the Incarnate God

Message of the Manger

What do we see when we look at the manger scene? We see something that may be a little startling (babies aren’t usually put in hay bins to sleep), but babies themselves are nothing odd or unusual. It would be different if the baby Jesus were floating in the air above the manger or having a conversation with Mary his mother, but the Child simply lies there on his bed of straw — an utterly “normal” scene.

For the Christian believer, however, the scene in the stable is startling, for to the eyes of faith it discloses something wholly unexpected, namely that God is more self-emptying and self-giving than we could have ever imagined and, just as amazing, that our human nature is, by God’s grace, capable of containing the divine and not being destroyed in the process. This is something we would have never guessed in our own thoughts and imaginings. No other scene in history reveals the truth about God and humanity in such an profound and unexpected way.

As you go through the days of the Christmas season — and remember, though Christmas Day ends the secular season of shopping, in the church calendar it begins a 12 day continuous celebration of Jesus’ birth  — pray that the message of the manger  will shape how you see (and treat) both God and other human beings, including yourself.

Merry Christmas!

Impatient Waiting

In Advent the Church urges us to practice longing for God’s coming. The reading from Isaiah for the first Sunday of Advent spells it out: “O that You would rend the heavens and come down!” — a plea, almost a command in clearly apocalyptic language that God tear open the sky and change us and our world. Yes, Advent asks us to cultivate passionate impatience until the kingdom of this world becomes “the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ, who shall reign for ever and ever.”

Unfortunately, Christ’s coming may not be welcome by those who enjoy having power and influence in this world and who live without regard for the often desperate needs of others. They may not be so eager to have the Lord come, at least not for a long time because, as Mary says in her prayer in the second chapter of the gospel of Luke, God will fill the lowly with good things but send the rich away empty.

The last words of the Bible are, “Come Lord Jesus! Come quickly!” That’s the prayer the church prays in Advent. It may be good for us to ask ourselves if we can honestly pray that prayer and if we are ready to welcome the new world that Christ will bring.