ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>St. Jude Parish Mount Olive NJ - Weekly Message</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <LINK REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="favicon.ico"> <link href="stjude.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="pop_style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="stjude.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" rightmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"> <!-- Begin Menu --> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2" src="pop_core.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2" src="pop_data.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2" src="pop_events.js"></script> <!-- End Menu --> <table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td height="20">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td><table width="770" border="0" align="center"> <tr> <td width="50%" valign="top"><p align="center"> <img src="titles/stjude.gif" width="325" height="70"> </p> <div align="center"> <div align="center"> <div align="center"> <p align="center"><img src="titles/message.gif" width="197" height="40"> <br> <b><u><img src="Pictures/frjoe.jpg" width="323" height="242"></u></b></p> <table width="60%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td class="titles"><div align="center">Every Day Is Christmas</div> </td> </tr> </table> <div align="justify"> <p> <span class="body_text"> Scrooge was introduced to the Spirit of Christmas Past. But that was just a literary ploy. There is no Christmas past  Christmas is ongoing; it is happening right now. Of course, we can remember Christmases that we celebrated in past years, but that is just a memory thing. Christmas is about God becoming human, and God has no past. Everything happens to God all at once, in the present. But when Christmas happens is not as impudent as what happens. The infinite God enters our atmosphere, the mysterious God becomes an open secret, the immortal God becomes mortal, the spiritual God becomes fleshy, meaty, God con carne. Now, to appreciate the depth of Christmas, we must appease the new thing that happens at Christmas. God and human are not simply joined together like pieces of wood and plastic. God is not molded into human form as iron is forged into a horseshoe. <br><br>God does not put on a human body the way we put on pajamas. God really, actually becomes a specific, individual human being. And when God becomes human, it is not only the human that is changed. Something also happens to God. Imagine yourself becoming your dog. The dog s life is certainly changed. The dog can now speak English and mention which brand of dog food he likes. But you have also changed: You now live a dog s life. Really. You lap water out of a bowl, scratch fleas, bark and chase your tail. In a similar way, God now laughs and cries, works and plays, loves and hates. God is henceforth and forever subject to mood swings, success and failure, stroke and PMS. If this sounds extreme, very unlikely and radically un-divine, then consider the alternative. Either God becomes totally human or Jesus is no more than God in a Brooks Brothers suit. <br><br>And what would be the point of that? But what would be the point of God becoming human? Why would God want to mix his pure spirit with messy matter? Why would God want to disturb her heavenly serenity with earthly squabbles? Why would God want to limit his infinite freedom with finite choices? Why would God want to muddle her divine wisdom with human ignorance? Why would God want to mingle his divine comedy with all kinds of human tragedies? <br><br>Why would God want to risk her assured future bliss with human uncertain fate? <br><br>No reason. <br><br>Except that God loves humans. And humans do all kinds of things for the ones we love. We hug and kiss and pinch and dance and probe and maul. Love is messy, but we insist on being as physically close as humanly possible to those we love. But there s more. We also want to think and feel as they do, yearn for and work for what they want, reject and deny anything offensive to them. We want them to be like us and us to be like them. We want to be one with them. God has those same strange tendencies. It is no fun being a know-it all if nobody understands you. It is embarrassing to live in perfect bliss while your creatures exist in misery. What is the point in being everywhere all at once if your people are stuck in the airport? And how can you experience the joy of love if there is no one to love? <br><br>In the end, it was an easy choice for God to decide to become human. Now he has the best of both worlds. And the worst she can stand, because she is still God. Nobody can take that away from him. Whatever Jesus does is what God does. Everything that Jesus says is from God s mouth to our ears. Every pain that Jesus endures bruises the heart of God. If not, then God should have left us alone. But there is more. God made every single thing from the same primary matter. Different things are simply the same basic thing in different forms. Everything is essentially connected at the core of creation. The birth of a baby and the birth of a star both burst from the same creative artistry of God. The desire of a saint and the instinct of an animal meet in the love of God. Past, present and future converge in the eternity of God. <br><br>Yes, Jesus was born in a certain place at a specific time  he was a unique combination of matter and spirit. But since matter is interchangeable, his body is physically connected with every particle of matter in the cosmos. And since nothing leaves the universe, we breathe the same air he breathed, experience the same things he experienced, live the same life he lived. The same life he is still living. The incarnation of God, the enfleshment of God, the materialization of God, the humanization of God is ongoing. <br><br> Every day is Christmas. </span></p> <p align="center" class="body_text"> In Christ's Love, <br> Fr. 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