Learning to love, laugh and live with gods and
goddesses
Matthew 1:18-23 This
is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed
to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the
Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to
expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention
when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his
people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said
through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and
they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”
I am the
world’s worst at remembering people’s birthdays. How about you? Plus, I don’t
have a wise wife who gently reminds me to pick up a gift on the way home for
so-and-so. But there’s one birthday I always remember each year, and that’s my
mom’s birthday on June 2nd. If it weren’t for my mom’s birthday – her own
coming into the world – where would I be? I wouldn’t even be a “twinkle in my
father’s eye.”
But we
should also remember the birthday of our spiritual mother, the Blessed Virgin
Mary. And her birthday is today, September 8th. Let me say a word about the
significance of our spiritual mother’s birthday. Now, when do birthdays
typically occur? They happen usually around nine months after what event? Look,
I’m a celibate Catholic priest and even I know what happens nine months before
someone is born. That’s when they are conceived. So, what date is nine months
before September 8th? It is December 8, when we celebrate the feast of the
Immaculate Conception. So, who was conceived on December 8th and then born
(nine months later) on September 8th? It was Mary! But if you ask 99% of
Catholics whose conception we celebrate on December 8, what answer will you
hear? They will say it’s Jesus’ conception. Please correct them! This
magnificent church that you’re sitting in called “Immaculate Conception”was
built in honor of Our Lady’s conception. She was the one who told the three
children at Lourdes, “Je suis l’Immaculee Conception.” (I am the Immaculate
Conception.) In other words, if you can remember who was born on September 8,
you can figure out who was conceived on December 8th. Got it?
But you
know, every conception and every birthday is important and worth remembering.
Why? Well, because every newborn baby is a child of God, created in God’s image
and likeness, and destined for heavenly glory. Let me share with you my
all-time favorite C. S. Lewis quotation from his essay called “The Weight of
Glory.” He wrote: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods
and goddesses, to remember that the dullest, most uninteresting person you can
talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be
strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now
meet, if at all, only in a nightmare…It is in the light of these overwhelming
possibilities…that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all
friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.”
Now, here
comes the best part: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked with
a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal and
their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke
with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting
splendors.” My friends, look around this church. There are no mere mortals here; there are no
ordinary people in these pews. And that,
by the way, is why we should remember their birthdays.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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