Merry Christmas!
And welcome to Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival. What is Sunday Snippets? Well, imagine a New
Year’s party with everyone taking turns swapping reminiscences of the past year,
only since we do it every Sunday (and we’re
bloggers) we’re sharing our blog posts for the past week. AND, since we’re Catholic bloggers, we’ve got a big Christmas tree with
carols playing in the background (because we know that the Christmas Season doesn’t
begin until nightfall on December 24th and doesn't end until the third
Sunday after the Feast of the Nativity). The main gathering is here, at This That and the Other Thing, home
of our hostess RAnn.
Speaking
of Christmas, today is the 11th of the 12 Days of Christmas. It is also, in much of the world, the day of
the liturgical celebration of the great Feast of Epiphany, the traditional date
of which is January 6th. In
the Western Church today this feast commemorates the visit of the Magi,
whom scripture neither crowns nor numbers, but describes simply as “wise men
from the East”. The word Epiphany means “a manifestation” or “a
revealing”, in this context the name of the Feast refers to the fact the gifts
and adoration of the Magi make manifest that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son
of God. This ancient feast (older than Christmas)
has at times also been connected to the
Nativity, the Baptism of Jesus and other manifestations of his Divinity.
It is
interesting how many epiphanies of “God With Us” that we are given : the
examples above barely scratch the surface. And still it’s so hard for us to see
(a theme of my post for the 10th day as well). Even Mary and Joseph, after visits from
Angels and what they knew full well was a Virgin Birth “marveled at what was
said about him (Luke 2:33)” when they hear the old man Simeon prophesy
over Jesus when he is presented in the Temple. A full dozen years later, they
still seem to have a hard time taking it all in:
After
three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening
to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his
understanding and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished; and
his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your
father and I have been looking for you anxiously." And he said to them,
"How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my
Father's house?" And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to
them. (Luke 2:46-50)
It’s just so hard for us to see beyond our narrow
horizons, even for the human parents of The Lord – and who could hope to have
faith equal to theirs? But here, as
always, the Blessed Mother is the model disciple: “his mother”, the Evangelist
tells us, “kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51). She doesn’t let her initial human reactions
have the last word, and one might even say that she demonstrates the classic
definition of theology: faith seeking understanding.
And now on to the snippets, as we continued our observance
of the Twelve Days of Christmas:
Monday
– A cheery little Christmas send-off to
the work week during the Octave of Christmas: “The 5th Day of Christmas – Angels We
Have Heard On High” [here]
Tuesday
– There’s a good theological reason for all those Christmas lights, there
really is: “The 6th Day of Christmas – God is Light” [here]
Wednesday
– The title says it all; added bonus, an awesome picture of the angel on top of
my Christmas tree : “ 7th Day of Christmas – What is the Christmas
Season, why does it matter?” [here]
Thursday
– Another “why does it matter” post, in this case the Motherhood of Mary: “The
8th Day of Christmas – The Solemnity Of Mary, Mother Of God” [here]
Friday
– Yes, this is another of those “best of” year-end posts, but I don’t have five
favorites from 2014; I don’t have ten; I have links to thirteen, that’s right,
THIRTEEN favorite posts. Top that! Oh, also a rousing version of a well-known
Christmas song, with music by Felix Mendelssohn: “The 9th day of Christmas – Hark
the Herald Angels & Favorites from 2014” [here]
Saturday
– Why is it so hard for us to catch on? “The
10th Day of Christmas – A God Of Surprises” [here]
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