My Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Unto you a child,
a Son is given
proclaiming
The ingress of love

Susan and I wish you a joyous and blessed Christ Mass.

For many years I have been in the habit of praying the newspaper poster placards at the side of the road as I drive along. They are material for deep meditation and introspection and lead one easily into prayer. To illustrate what I mean, from placards earlier this week: -

1. "SA'S R45 MILLION HOUSE" - That people can be building and trading in houses of such excessive extravagance in a land of poverty is simply obscene. While both the buyer and the seller may be extraordinarily generous, the fact remains that no one needs that much money, nor that level of self-indulgent pampering except for status. It highlights the inherent injustices of rampant capitalism, where those who have, greedily continue to acquire, while others are denied a chance to provide for even basic necessities. It speaks of a world where community has broken down and been replaced by a rugged individualism, that cares only for itself and its possessions and is in competition with each other. It reminds me of a saying I once read, "Man (sic) will agonize until he learns to love people and use things instead of loving things and using people."
   
   I will never own such a house, although it would be nice to be able to own one half as nice. And therein lies the rub. I may not have the means, but I have the desires. I too am a product of the consumer society, all too often possessed by my possessions and filled with longing for things that I do not really need. I too am selfish with my money, hoarding it and keeping it for myself and those I love. I might self-righteously pay my full tithe, but I all too easily forget that that is the start of giving, not the end. And I am certainly guilty of closing my eyes to the needs of those around me - the spiritual and emotional needs of my neighbours, the financial needs of the beggar and street children on every corner. What is God trying to say to me in all of this? What is God asking from me in my pilgrim walk?

2. "ANOTHER BABY RAPED" - That children can be raped (289 cases reported at one hospital in the Northern Province so far this year) in a country that professes ubuntu, is even more obscene. Ubuntu is about respect of the other; the gospel is about loving one another. And rape has nothing to do with love. It is an act of violence that reveals deep-seated angers and frustrations. I have read that rapists are inadequate people who cannot cope with their world, people filled with self-hatred and who turn it outwards and in rage lash out at those weaker than themselves. It is a lust for power and control. Some of it may be drink related, some of it is almost certainly fuelled by the myth that sleeping with a virgin is a cure for AIDS, but whatever its roots, it is an act of callous disregard for the rights or well-being of another person. It is the antitheses of ubuntu - a denial of the humanity of another that ultimately denies the humanity of the rapist.
   
   I have never raped anyone, nor even thought about it. But that does not mean that it has nothing to say to me. What kind of a society have I helped create that makes such actions possible? How have I contributed, and still contribute, to it? What deep angers and hurts in my life, colour my attitude towards others? Where, in my dealings with others, have I failed to acknowledge their God-given humanity and treated them with less than the respect they deserve? When have I used my position and power to compel someone to do what I expected or demanded? What is God saying to me - to us? What kind of a church does God want us to be?

Taken individually, each placard is food for meditation. Together, they are the silent screams of a broken, hurting world. And it is into this demented world (Merton's phrase) that Christ breaks in. As we prepare to celebrate again the incarnation of God at Christmas, our focus is not simply on the birth, but on the mystery of incarnation - that God breaks into our world, taking on human flesh, in order to be a real presence, visible and tangible. And that presence is not limited to the 33 years of Jesus' life, but continues incarnate in us - "You are the Body of Christ".

Scripture does not tell us that we, the community of faith, represent Christ's body, nor that we are the mystical body of Christ. It says simply, "You are the Body of Christ." As Christ was the visible image of the invisible God, so God today is made visible and tangible through us. As God once spoke through Christ, so now he speaks and acts through those who are conformed to the image of his Son.

But the mystery of incarnation goes even further than that. It means that, as Ronald Rolheiser puts it, "God takes on flesh that every home becomes a church, every child becomes the Christ-child, and all food and drink becomes a sacrament. God's many faces are now everywhere, in flesh, ... so that our human eyes can see him." All of life is sacred, shot-through with the presence of an incarnate God.

As every child becomes the Christ-child, so the rape of every child is nothing less than the violation of our God, and the defilement of our own body. And as God has broken into our world in the incarnation to bring healing, so we who are the visible image of that incarnation are the instruments of God's healing. Rape is a spiritual matter, involving everyone conformed to the image of the Son.

As every home becomes a church, so it ceases to be simply a place of individual sanctuary and extravagant luxury and becomes the focal point of community. As all food and drink become a sacrament, so we are called to share in that sacrament with all around in order that everyone may partake of the bread of life. All of life is sacred, our life is a sacrament, poured out by God for the healing of a broken, demented world.

May God bless you all this Advent and Christmastide. And as we prepare ourselves for the incarnation at Christmas, may God prepare us for the ongoing mystery of the incarnation in our lives.

When the song of the angel is stilled;
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the shepherds are back with the flocks;
When the shepherds are back with their flocks;
Then the work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost;
To heal the broken;
To feed the hungry;
To release the prisoner;
To rebuild the nations;
To bring peace among people;
To make music in the heart.

God bless you all.

(Do you want to see related pages, the whole site or the non-frames Sitemap?)