By ERIC GIRTEN
THE CATHOLIC KITCHEN
My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
As we step into Advent and prepare to joyfully celebrate the birth of Jesus, I am reminded of Luke’s Gospel (23: 35-43) – proclaimed just one week before the beginning of Advent. It is on the Solemnity of Christ the King (of the universe) that we are reminded that this baby, whose birth we eagerly await, has but one final destination – to become the Lord King of the universe – and that there is no other path to this wonderful and astonishing title but by the rough wood of the criminal’s cross.
The end of our liturgical year fittingly celebrates all we have experienced throughout the year as it leads us to celebrate Jesus Christ as our King. Equally as fitting is the closeness in proximity of the wood of the cross to the wood of the manger. They are irrevocably forged together, these two scenes. One is as astonishing as the other, and each could bring one to tears of joy or sadness.
The Church does not shy away from the hard truths of reality. The salvation narrative is not spun or manipulated to make Christianity some white-washed fantasy. When it becomes that, beware. God loves and respects humanity too much to ease its uneasiness through deception or spin. The reality of life is that it is filled with joy and heartache, love and loneliness, confusion and clarity, birth and death.
The wonderment of it all is that God does not shy away in disgust or disinterest but pierces our vary nature to show us that none of us is ever beyond His grasp; His love; His hope; His mercy; His embrace. Why any people would ever choose to live outside of this reality is cause for continual prayer, deliberation, and debate.
God never will abandon, dishearten, maltreat, or neglect you. Proof of this is etched in the two woods. Remember to take a moment this Christmas season to pause and reclaim hope, for Christ pitched His tent among us; walked among us; spoke to us; and left us nothing less than His very Self in the Eucharist, so that He might be ever with us until that day when we can be ever with Him in paradise.