As the week began with news of the 37 foreigners killed during the Algerian gas-plant hostage-taking, I began thinking about what else is happening around the world:
Toronto: Court watches video of the death of Ashley Smith. Ashley killed herself in her prison cell while guards looked on from the outside. They say they were told by supervisors not to intervene.
Manila: A Canadian kills two in a Philippine courtroom before being fatally shot by police.
Halifax: Woman acquitted after hiring a hit-man to kill her abusive husband.
Houston: Three students wounded in Lone Star College shooting.
Montreal: 12-year old boy to be charged after he shoots and kills his 16-year-old brother.
Winnipeg: Man admits stabbing and strangling his niece after she refused to have sex with him.
Bali: A British grandmother gets sentenced to death by firing squad for smuggling cocaine.
Dallas: Man shoots estranged wife then kills himself at their daughter’s 16th birthday.
Buenos Aires: A 9-year old boy is killed in a shooting dispute between neighbours.
Toronto: woman is stabbed multiple times and then set on fire in by the father of her children.
New Mexico: a 15-year old accused of murdering his family said he planned to keep killing at local Walmart.
And in Iran, thousands show up to watch a public hanging.
Meanwhile, groups in the US are fighting to keep their high-powered rifles because “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.” And in Quebec some people think that killing the terminally ill is healthcare.
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Reflection for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord: Luke 3:15-16; 21-22
The readings for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord are Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7, or Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Acts 10:34-38, or Timothy 2:11-14; 3:4-7; and Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
Christmas is over; the shepherds have taken their sheep to other pastures; the wise men have packed their camels and gone back to their homes; our lights have come down and the trees have been taken to the curb… well, most trees. Our tree is still up because according to the Church liturgical calendar, the Christmas season ends today, with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. I’ve always found that a bit confusing because you’d think that the Christmas season is when we get to listen to all the stories about when Jesus was a child – but Jesus was baptised as an adult! Why is that part of the Christmas season? And the Presentation at the Temple, which happened when Jesus was very much a baby – 8 days old – does not happen for another three weeks, on February 2nd. Why is that not part of the Christmas season?
The reason is that the early Church didn’t celebrate Christmas. They celebrated The Feast of the Epiphany, which included 3 “manifestation” events. That’s what “epiphany” means: “manifestation.” It literally means “to pull back the curtain,” to reveal. And these three events are moments when God manifests himself or reveals something about himself.
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For the last two days I’ve been trying to imagine what our world would be like had Jesus never been born. It’s easy to say that The Church would not exist or that we would have no Pope. There would be no priests, deacons, religious sisters or brothers, nor there would be church buildings. But Christianity has permeated our culture to such degree that it’s really impossible to envision a world that is not influenced by Jesus and his life.
Imagine a singer, Madonna Louise Ciccone. Had Jesus never been born, her parents would not have named her Madonna. In fact, had Jesus not been born, there would be no references to Mary in our culture. There wouldn’t be a song by the Beatles called Let It Be, nor there be other songs such as Virgin Mary by Joan Baez, or Lady Writer by Dire Straits to mention a few.
In fact, the name Mary wouldn’t be a popular name. Nor would be Joseph, or Peter, John, or James. Had Jesus never been born, you wouldn’t have any friends named Elizabeth, Madelaine or Veronica. You wouldn’t have any friends named Gloria, Christian or Christina. Imagine a Latin America without the thousands of men born on December 25th named Jesús, or anyone named José María, or Marie-Josée. I guess they would still exist but their names would be Quetzalcoatl, Yupanqui, Eithinoha or Summer.
Yesterday I was imagining a world without Christmas. That would mean no Christmas music and no Christmas movies. But a world without Jesus would mean much more to our popular culture. I also just came from watching the screen adaptation of Les Miserables (isn’t Anne Hathaway fabulous as Fantine?). I couldn’t help but thinking that this novel would be very different had Jesus not been born. Perhaps Victor Hugo never would have written it. If so, there wouldn’t be a musical called Les Mis, and this movie would not have been made. And all those wonderful songs would not exist. But had Jesus not been born, there would be many other songs missing from your playlist:
Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode; Hey Jesus by the Indigo Girls; God is Love by Lenny Kravitz; Forgiven by Alanis Morisette; Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones; One of Us by Joan Osbourne; God or Imagine by John Lennon; I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2; Jesus by Queen. That’s just off the top of my head.
Had Jesus never been born, we would also be missing a lot of great (and not so great) films from our video libraries:
There would be no Jesus Christ Super Star, No Godspell, No Jesus of Nazareth, The Passion of the Christ, The Last Temptation, The Nativity Story, The Life of Brian, Ben Hur, The King of Kings, Salome, The Robe, Barabbas, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Jesus of Montreal, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Jesus (the mini-series) or The Miracle Maker.
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deacon pedro 