O WISDOM

These nine days are the days of what we call the O antiphons. And the one today starts O Wisdom. These are the antiphons for evening prayer of the Church.

I remember when I first realized this pattern. It filled me with joy somehow. So I want to talk about the joy of Christmas. We have all these lights because we are celebrating Jesus the Light of the world. People may not know that anymore but that is the real reason for all the light. Divine light is more penetrating than laser, more vast that the light of the sun. God’s Light, Jesus, Light of the world, goes through and overcomes all darkness – prejudice, hypocrisy, deceit, pernicious ideas.

The Light of Christmas brings peace to disturbed hearts, overcomes all our tendencies to get even, to retaliate, to unforgiveness. AS Jesus said “My peace I give you, not as the world gives, I give peace.” Christmas is a good time to remember that Jesus really said that whole sentence that included “not as the world gives peace.” I am sorry we say only say half of the sentence at Mass. Some days I feel like petitioning Rome to put them together! And think of Paul writing: “See now if the day of salvation”2 Co 6.2.

Christmas is a gift to us, - God giving himself. Yet Christmas Is also an invitation to open our hearts to each other, for that is how we open to God.

In Christian Meditation or Centering Prayer we say our prayer word and let go of all our inner monologues and images. We entrust our whole being to God. We are opening our hearts to the Light of Christ, to the light of Christmas. We kept our prayer word going so that we do not drift into a sort of dreamy state that we might think of as holy. What we seek is to be open to the light of God. To let God lead us, and teach us in the depths of our hearts where we never really can go on our own.

None of us have real physical poverty like the millions of people who are on the edge of starvation today. And yet, when the Light of Christ shines in our hearts at Christmas we are invited to recognize that all is gift. That Jesus told us the truth when He said: without me you can do nothing. Christmas can be a time to rejoice. The flip side of the gift of Christmas is our own total need of Jesus. And so we can be filled with joy because the light of Christ shines upon us. And within us when we open our hearts. Let us take time each day, against the demands of business this season, to sit in silence to pray. Let us pray now.