|
|
I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."
Psalm 122:1
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Genesis 1:1
"This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalms 118:24
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And he shall direct your paths."
Proverbs 3:5
|
|
|
|
Rector's Study
VENITE ADOREMUS
Now that the 12 Days of Christmas have begun, I'm starting to feel as jolly as a red-suited, chubby, old elf. Were I as holy as the Lord has called us each to become, I should probably feel more like a saint with whom said elf is often confused. In any case, aren't we all filled with holiday or Holy Day cheer? Ho! Ho! Oh, stop!
My attempt to manufacture cheerfulness is as false as it immediately sounds, and the One whose coming as the son of Mary we now celebrate said powerfully and clearly "The truth shall set you free." The truth is I'm worn out, exhausted, and still feeling the pressures and demands of every other day of every other season, heightened and intensified by the flurry of this season. Aren't you?
Then why don't we lighten up about Christmas? If it leaves us down and exhausted, why do we continue to go to such trouble to prepare ourselves and decorate the church and our homes and busy ourselves with gift-giving and visiting, and why don't we just relax and take a day off, maybe stay home and rest? We probably should do just that. No, not "just" that. We are called by the event of Christ's coming to do one more thing.
"O come, all ye faithful."
"Venite adoremus."
"Come, let us adore."
That's what all the trouble is for, isn't it? What we Christians are about at Christmas is adoration. All that we do, all that we are, is about love. The love is born of the Blessed Virgin, the love that comes down from the heart of the Living God, the love whose name is Jesus is too much for our emotions to bear. However we feel that we feel this season, Love is overwhelming us, and our only appropriate response is to greet that Love with love.
So we worship. We sing familiar carols with love, we decorate and feast in love, we come together to love our God and each other through love. In cheerfulness or depression, with joy or sorrow, gladly or sadly, through our smiles or our tears, we love.
|
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves
is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know
God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among
us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through
him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent
his Son...
|
1 John 4:7
Come, let us worship.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Timothy P. Perkins  , SSC
Previous Issues:
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
Summer 2006
June 2006
Lent 2006
Advent 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
Summer 2004
Easter 2004
Lent 2004
February 2004
Epiphany 2004
Advent 2003
Easter 2003
Lent 2003
February 2003
Epiphany 2003
October 2002
|
|
