Dear Friends,
We have entered the November season…snowflakes have fallen and trees are losing their leaves, we gain an hour of time and the holiday season is upon us. The days have gotten cold and we spend more time indoors. There must be a reason that the most intellectual movies of the year are released in November, and that the least intellectual movies are released in the summer. Maybe the masters of movie releases believe that in the hot summer months in America, the brain shuts off. In November, everyone covers up, but in the summer, swimsuits and tank tops come out, we head to the beach and its temptations. Maybe…November begins a time when we all start acting like monks.
If that is the case, then it is more about us then about God. For sacred things do not “happen” like common things happen. Sacred things are always happening. Sacred things do not come and go. We come and go, but sacred things always are.
Within the understanding of the Christian sacred, a thing happens only once, but in happening once, it happens always. Christ was crucified once, but that single, historical instance of crucifixion is the same crucifixion which is celebrated whenever the Eucharist is celebrated. When we say, “Jesus is risen” on Easter, we mean “Jesus is risen today” and not “Jesus was risen and is (still) risen.” We say “Jesus is risen” because the present is being drawn up into the timeless. Similarly, when we greet one another on Christmas, it is fitting to say, “Christ is born!” and not “Christ was born!” When we come into the presence of God, we are not merely coming to a place, but a time, and time works differently in heaven than on earth.
Within the infinite being of God, all things are present. In this sense, the Crucifixion is always present before God, but so is the Resurrection and the Annunciation. God is not subject to hours and days and years like we are. We human beings are time bound, God is not. We find it difficult to contemplate and dwell on the Annunciation, the birth in Bethlehem, the baptism of Christ, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, Pentecost and so forth all on the same day. The Church calendar gives space for finite, temporal human beings to be drawn into the timeless revelations of God’s love for us.
For the next few weeks, the Church will have us focus on the end of time or, in the wisdom of God, the beginning of new time. One incomplete kingdom ending and new kingdom beginning. November draws us inward, into ourselves and invites us to pray, to contemplate, to discover the divine – ever present in our midst.
Peace,
Fr. Damian
PS. Please mark November 30 in your calendars for a meal at 6 pm with the Archbishop and a town hall meeting. The Archbishop will be with us that entire weekend for a Pastoral Visit and he wants to talk with you.