One of the teaching tools that most middle school, high school, and adult education teachers learn to use is called an “ice breaker.” An ice breaker is an activity that helps people to share something about themselves so that other people get to know them. For me, a colorful ball of yarn served as an ice breaker that I often used on the first day of class. I tied the ball of yarn to one of my fingers and then I tossed it to one of my new students. The student who caught the ball of yarn said their name and shared something about him or herself like a favorite song, a most enjoyed food, or perhaps a favorite hobby or interest. The student then tied the yarn to a finger of the person sitting next to him or her. That person then said his or her name and something about themselves. They then took the ball of yarn and threw it to another person until the ball of yarn was completely unraveled and the end was tied to someone’s finger. While this ice breaker primarily was used to help my students learn about their classmates, I also used it to point out that during our time together we would be developing relationships with one another by being with one another. We were in a direct relationship to the person we were connected to and an indirect relationship to the person who did the connecting.
In the first reading we hear for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, King David is in direct relationship with Nathan the Prophet and in an indirect relationship with God. God is in a direct relationship with Nathan the Prophet but in an indirect relationship with David. Nathan the Prophet is in a direct relationship with both God and King David. And don’t forget that we are always in relationship to ourselves. We talk to ourselves and we answer ourselves; so God, Nathan, and David are in relationship to themselves. This means that in the first reading there are nine different relationships.
Carrying this idea a bit further, in the Annunciation reading from Luke, there are thirty-six relationships: God the Father, the Angel Gabriel, the Holy Spirit, Mary, Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s unborn son, John the Baptist. Some of these relationships are direct like God to the angel Gabriel and Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. And some of these relationships are indirect like Mary to John the Baptist and the Angel Gabriel to Elizabeth. Because the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Christmas and, as a matter of fact, all the passages in the bible are about relationships, it seems appropriate that we take the opportunity to reflect on our relationship with God and with each other.
Catholicism is a physical at much as it is a spiritual religion. It is about things that have happened, and things that are happening in and through particular human bodies, in particular places like Bethlehem and St. Paul, and at particular times such as the days of King Herod or today in 2017. Our faith is about the Word becoming flesh. It is centered on one born of a woman, born under the Jewish law, to save us not through the promise of future incarnations of our spirits but through the offering of one body once and for all.
Mary’s conversation with the Angel Gabriel is about bodies. Bodies that are pregnant with kicking fetuses, sounds reaching ears, and mouths asking questions like “How can this be?” Mary hears and believes and proclaims, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord.” Our attention is drawn to her hearing and her speaking. Why doesn’t she just say, “I am not listening to this foolishness? Find someone else!”
Mary’s direct and innocent words draw attention to her hearing and her speaking. Faith is planted in us through the physical events of hearing an angelic voice, pondering a greeting, asking and answering a question, with the Spirit working through all these things. It is a hearing and proclamation of the Gospel.
The ministry of Jesus is to poor human bodies as well. He opens eyes so that they can see, ears so that they can hear, and he loosens tongues so that they can speak. He feeds the hungry and gives encouragement to downhearted human spirits. He raises dead bodies to life.
How is the Word to be not only received and believed in but also practiced? It can only be done in the bodies and the life we have here and now and in the experiences, commitments, and relationships that are ours here and now. We do not need to hope for a future incarnation of ourselves where we might do a better job of living a human life. We do it here and we do it now through the relationships we have with others and with God.
Relationships are very important to us and during the holidays we will be renewing relationships with family and friends. We experience family and friends through our bodies. Using our five senses, we can enjoy one another through our church and family traditions like the crèche scene, our Christmas cards, our singing and singing Christmas carols, and our eating Christmas desserts. But each day we are invited to develop a stronger relationship with God by considering how what are bodies do gives meaning to the proclamation, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Fr. Bob Kelly
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