Word to the Wise
Monday, December 31, 2007 - Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
[1 John 2:18-21 and John 1:1-18]And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth......From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The return of the Tridentine Latin Mass includes a feature that certainly disappeared with the reform of the liturgy after the Second Vatican Council. At the end of the Mass, the celebrant went back over to "the gospel side" (the end of the altar to his left, facing away from the people) and read the passage from the Gospel of John that we read today. This happened every day (there might have been a couple of exceptions but my memory is a bit vague) at every Mass! It made this gospel scripture the one most read in the liturgy! The problem, if one may call it a problem, is that the language was Latin and all most people recalled was that they genuflected at the words, "verbum caro factum est.." and in a few seconds the priest came down to the foot of the altar for closing prayers (The "Hail Holy Queen," "Prayer to St. Michael" and the three-fold, "Most Sacred Heart of Jesus!") All of this was part of the "package." It was worship, to be sure, but the beauty of this scripture from the Gospel of John could be and was pretty much lost in the shuffle! There is no Baby Jesus in the Gospel of John, only the magnificent "Prologue." There is the Eternal Word who was in the beginning (as Genesis begins)! It is this Eternal Word that becomes flesh and dwells among us! It is this Eternal Word that reveals God. It is this Eternal Word that brings grace and truth instead of law. It is this Eternal Word that enables those who accept him to become children of God. We may put away "Baby Jesus" (mentally) when we put away the crib set for another year, but we cannot put away the Eternal Word without destroying our faith and losing grace and truth! One does not have to go to the celebration of the Tridentine rite to appreciate the incredible riches of this gospel scripture. The nearest Bible will provide it! I pray this Eternal Word will be always with every member of my beloved congregation throughout the New Year of 2008! AMEN
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