Thoughts for today

     Just read an article by James V. Schall, S.J. at The Catholic Thing

    

     Today is the feast of John the Evangelist. In this upcoming year of the New Evangelization, we are reminded that the Good News still needs to be proclaimed. I particularly like this paragraph:

“We live in an era in which we want to hear of “new things” (rerum novarum). We cannot quite grasp that Christianity was not intended to evolve into something else other than what John saw, heard, and touched. The Catholic Church does not exist to come up with something “new” that no one ever thought up before. Of course, what it teaches and holds is precisely what no one ever heard before. But once we have heard it, we forget that its newness is rooted in the very being of God, ever ancient, ever new.”

     How can something old be new? How can memories from so long ago be considered an actuality in our present day? Well, James Schall puts it so well that it ‘is rooted in the very being of God’.

     God is eternal, but not in the way that means He lives in time and time has passed for Him and is moving forward. The concept is hard to think of, but God lives in ALL time. Our past is present to Him, our future is present to Him. Why? Because He created time, therefore time belongs to Him in its entirety – past, present and future.

     Time does pass for us and unfortunately we tend to forget those things that have passed some time ago. Maybe not forget the event, but forget the significance of the events.

     When Christ was born as human, He made known to us the importance of humanity and impressed upon us what He wished us to be. More than 2000 years later, many of us have assigned that miraculous moment as just a memory, or event in history and think that His story is one of many and not much different than other words printed in a book somewhere.

     We have to wake up and realize that the ink is still fresh! The miracle is still unfolding before our eyes and we only need to turn our gaze to Christ who rose from the dead and is with us always!

     How do we do that? By reading and listening to the Word with new eyes and new ears! No longer can we let the fallen world influence our thoughts and actions. Rise up and embrace Christ! Only through Him can we achieve the magnificence that God so wishes for us. That is why He is with us at all times, pouring His grace upon us and giving us the gifts we need when we need them. We only have to open and believe!

     May God bless us all this Christmas Season and bring us that newness of life!

Deacon Jimmy