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Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Dec 31, 2007

The Feast of the Holy Family

The Feast of the Holy Family falls on the Sunday between Christmas and the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, January 1. The readings for the day focus on qualities that make for happy relationships between people, including members of families.

Sometimes when we focus on the Holy Family as the model for family life, we get bogged down with the perfection of Jesus and Mary, the holiness of St. Joseph, and the impossibility of actually living a perfect life ourselves. Then we write off their example as just another bit of pious nonsense that has nothing to do with the reality of crying babies, mortgage payments, difficult bosses, and all the other stresses that come with marriage and family. For those who are not married and/or don’t have children, the feast can seem irrelevant or even be a painful reminder of unfulfilled hopes.

So, I find myself wondering, what is it that makes a family, any family, “holy?” It seems to me that if the Holy Family is to be a model for the rest of us, that must mean that we are also to be “holy.” What made them holy?

Being holy does not mean having no problems or challenges in life. Holiness, it seems to me, lies in how we handle those difficulties that come in every life. After all, without the problems, difficulties, challenges, “crashes,” struggles, “hitting bottom,” or whatever we call it, we would never need to turn to God for help. We could just continue blithely on our way, assuming everything is fine, and in the best American cultural sense, be “rugged individuals” who can make it on our own.

But that isn’t what the spiritual life and journey are all about. Our spiritual lives are about learning from our mistakes, growing in wisdom, reaching out for help and community, being purified in God’s love, so that we can run joyfully to the Lord at the end of our days.

When we look at the lives of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, we find that they were filled from the beginning with many of the same challenges faced by other families. An unexpected, unplanned pregnancy, one outside the marriage; governmental demands that upset a family’s plans; taxes; inconvenient timing of a birth; the necessity to leave home and become refugees in another land; a child who feels grown up enough to go off on his own at the age of 12 without telling anyone where he’ll be; the death of a spouse or parent; a child whose life choices and career don’t meet the expectations of the family or community; the untimely death of a child. All these things were part of the lives of the Holy Family, as they can be part of our own lives. What made Joseph, Mary and Jesus holy as a family was their response to these challenges and their loving support of each other through them.

Joseph’s first recorded response to Mary’s pregnancy was compassion. He did not want to expose her to the penalties of the Law. He loved her and wanted her to be safe. When the angel told him in a dream that Mary had not been unfaithful, he accepted her as his wife. He made a home with her and supported her through the pregnancy and birth. He took her and Jesus to safety in Egypt, again following the instructions received in a dream. When it was safe, he took them back to their home in Nazareth cared for them and made a home for them.

Both Mary and Joseph must have “pondered” many things along the way. Many things did not make sense at the time. They really didn’t know what God had in mind. Jesus was a normal child. He had to learn how to be a man and how to respect and love the people around him. Mary and Joseph taught him by their actions as well as their words, just as we teach our children more by the way we act than by our words. It’s no surprise that people in families tend to share many gestures, facial expressions, attitudes and beliefs. The Holy Family would not have been different in this. The characteristics we seen recorded about Jesus were probably in great part those he learned from his parents.

In this week following the Feast of the Holy Family, as we enter a new calendar year, I hope we can take their lives as ones that exemplify the kind of relationships that result from heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love (Col 3:12-17). These qualities are not ones that stem primarily from feelings, but rather they are attitudes and behavioral choices to which we are all called.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Dec 29, 2007

Saint of the Day 12/29 – St. Thomas Becket – When Politics and Religion Don’t Mix

December 29 is the feast of St. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas Becket was born to an upper middle class family around 1118 in London. As a boy, he learned the ways of the upper class from family friends, including hunting, jousting, horsemanship, and how to behave as a gentleman. He was educated in civil and canon (Church) law in England, France, and Italy. Upon his return to England, he began working for Theobald, then Archbishop of Canterbury. Theobald was so impressed with his abilities that he gave Thomas a variety of positions, including Archdeacon of Canterbury. It should be noted, that one did not need to be a priest to serve in these positions. Theobald recommended Thomas for the position of Lord Chancellor when the position became open and Henry II agreed.

As Lord Chancellor, Thomas was one of the most powerful men in England. At the time, Henry II was actively trying to bring the Church in England under greater royal control. Thomas Becket helped in this by his collection of taxes on all landholders, including the Church. Church leaders in England rightly saw him as their adversary in the struggle.

Thomas was a friend of Henry II, to the degree that anyone could be a friend to a king in those days. They spent free time together and Thomas shared in the pleasures of the Court, including those common to courtiers. Henry sent his son to live with Thomas for a while and the young prince became very fond of Thomas.

All was well until 1162. When Theobald died, the position of Archbishop of Canterbury was given to Thomas Becket. Henry II assumed that his loyal servant, companion in pleasure, and Lord Chancellor, would continue to be “his man” as head of the church in England.

Thomas Becket, on the other hand, became more religious. He resigned as Lord Chancellor and began to consolidate the power of the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. A series of conflicts arose between Archbishop and King over governance of the Church and clergy, control of lands, and the relationship with Rome. There were trials, exiles, reconciliations, excommunications, and much upheaval in the following years. Finally, four of Henry’s men killed Thomas in the Cathedral at Canterbury, believing they were doing so on the King’s orders. Edward Grim, an eyewitness to the event, reported that Thomas’ last words were, “For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death.”

Three years later, in 1173, Thomas Becket was canonized by Pope Alexander. But the story didn’t end there. Over the centuries that followed, the story of Thomas Becket was interpreted and reinterpreted. He was seen as enemy and as hero by those who followed. The site of his tomb was a popular tourist/pilgrim destination. His remains were moved to a shrine at Trinity Chapel in 1220 and continued to attract visitors. Henry VIII destroyed the shrine of Becket’s tomb and his bones, ordering that his name no longer be mentioned in England. In more recent times, plays, movies, biographies, and operas have all been written about the tumultuous history of Thomas Becket and Henry II.

Today, as we look at the modern world, we might think that such things could never happen now. Yet their tale should be a cautionary one for all of us.

What happens when the powers of the world clash with the mission of faith? What should be the role of religious leaders in the political sphere? What role should faith play in public life, especially for those chosen to govern a nation of people from many faiths? Does it work to have religious leaders govern a modern nation? Who should be governed by religious law – everyone or just clerics? When clerics break civil law, should they be subject to civil courts?

These questions and more are seething in world politics and international relations. We see countries in which religious law is the law of the land. We see countries in which members of faith-based insurgency movements are killing those they see as breakers of religious laws or as enemies of their faith. Candidates for political office are murdered, suicide bombers kill elected officials and members of the general public alike, and voters are advised to look to their faith in deciding which candidate merits their support.

Somehow, all this does not seem consistent with the will of a power whom we believe to be Love (1 John 4:16).

Maybe the better approach would be to look at the fruits of religious belief. Are the hungry fed? Are children, even the girls, educated? How do we care for the sick? Can everyone get the care they need? Do people have shelter from the elements – homes in which they can feel safe and raise their children in peace? Can ideas be exchanged freely, without fear of murder following? How do we treat the elderly? Do we treasure new life? Can we laugh with each other rather than at each other? Do we treat our enemies with respect and justice? Is justice tinged with mercy?

The great insight of the founders of the American political system was that in order for religion to be most free, and in practice most influential, it must be unhinged from politics. And as we select the politicians who will lead us in the next 2-4 years, we need to remember that stated religious beliefs are not necessarily the best measures of what the fruits of their leadership will be.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Dec 28, 2007

Feast of the Day – 12/28 – The Holy Innocents

December 28 is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. This feast dates from the 6th century and commemorates the the slaughter of the boys under two years of age in Bethlehem as recounted in the Gospel of Matthew (2:16). The murders were occasioned by the visit of the Thee Wise Men to Herod, the Roman client king. When the Wise Men did not return to tell Herod of the boy shown to them by the Star, Herod estimated that the New King foretold by the Star would be two years old or less. As a result he ordered their wholesale murder.

Some scholars say that this event never really happened. The story in Matthew and the infancy narrative itself were attempts to show the importance of Jesus and the prophecies and wondrous events that happened at his birth. However, since Herod’s cruelty was legendary, scholars have not been able to rule it out.

The Coventry Carol brings to life the pathos of this remembrance. The first time I heard the Coventry Carol it was sung on a Christmas recording by Joan Baez as the Vietnam War was escalating. The commemoration and the carol are a timeless recollection of the victims of war, famine, and plague. People in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Fr. Raymond Brown, the scripture scholar, suggested that the narrative was written to recall the exile and return of Israel and Christ. Rachel mourning for her children recalls Jeremiah’s assurance that they would return from their capitivity in Babylon. The flight of Joseph, Mary and Jesus into Egypt to escape Herod parallels Israel’s own sojourn on the Nile. The slaughter of the children recalls the 10th plague which killed all of the first born human and animal males in Egypt and which resulted in the release of the Israelites, God’s people.

The message of hope in this time of darkness is echoed in the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John1:5)

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Dec 27, 2007

Saint of the Day – 12/27 St. John the Evangelist

December 27 is the feast day of the beloved disciple, St. John the Evangelist. St. John was one of the 12 apostles. He and his brother James had been followers of St. John the Baptist. They were fisherman who worked with their father Zebedee. Sts. Peter, James, and John have a special place in the Gospels. They are called away by Jesus to hear and witness things in which the other disciples are not included. St. John is presented in the Gospels as a young man and a very close friend of Jesus – the disciple whom he loved. As Jesus was dying on the cross and all of the other male disciples had fled, St. John was there with Mary the mother of Jesus and some other women. Jesus, in his dying words, entrusts His mother to St. John.

Tradition names St. John as the author of the fourth Gospel, the Book of Revelation and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd letters of John. Some scripture scholars in the last quarter of the 20th century have challenged this traditional notion of St. John as the common author of these works. Some scholars refer to the “Johannine school “- a group or a community of students of St. John – as the source of these works.

The Gospel According to John is unique. It bears very little resemblance to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These three Gospels are called the Synoptic Gospels because you can line them up side by side in three columns and see that they are parallel documents, with elements from the same source and a great similarity of phrasing and story content. The Gospel According to John sees signs and wonders in the life of Jesus and has layer upon layer of symbolism and meaning. Yes, the basic story line is the same, but there are soaring heights of poetry in sections such as the Prologue – introduction – and the prayers of Jesus after the Last Supper.

Fr. Raymond Brown – one of the great scripture scholars of the 20th century – sees a weaving of the history of the Johannine community of believers within the Gospel. The conflicts and tensions of the early church are mirrored in those of the characters in the Gospel story. This is especially true of the conflict between Jews over the message and meaning of Jesus. As a book written by Jews for Jews, the Fourth Gospel has many very negative things to say about Jews. As family fights go, this one was no exception in its bitterness. Eventually, Jewish authorities saw quite correctly that the followers of Jesus, who proclaimed his resurrection from the dead, had stepped beyond the boundaries of the Jewish religion that they were attempting to preserve after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans and the obliteration of Jewish life in Palestine.

The Second Vatican Council, in its decree on Non-Christian religions – Nostra Aetate, In Our Age – makes it clear that using this and other material to justify attacks on Jews or anti-Jewish hatred is historically incorrect and cannot be justified morally. After the destruction of the Temple and Israel in 70 AD, Rabbinic Judaism came to the fore and those groups that would later be called Christian began to develop a separate identity.

The other theme in the Fourth Gospel is the focus on the Incarnation – that Jesus is both human and divine. There was a very strong movement among some early followers of the Jesus movement who looked on him as a god masquerading as a human. Spirit would never truly be one with something so abject and base as matter in their way of thinking. Some of these early followers saw creation as a cosmic mistake by an errant creator figure. In broad terms, we can call this movement Gnosticism, based on the Greek word for knowledge. This true and secret knowledge came to the elect and enlightened them to the fact that they were spirits trapped in bodies. Granted, this is an over simplification of a very complex topic, but it is important to note that the Fourth Gospel uses many of the themes of light and darkness, of the mystical living word of God in Jesus, to convey a message and understanding of the meaning of Christ which enobled creation and our very humanity.

The letters of John, 1, 2, and 3 are exhortations to the followers of Jesus to live in love, peace, and mutual respect. Again, the theme of the human and divine reality of Jesus comes through loud and clear. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”(I John 1)

Scholars differ on whether the Apocalypse (Revelation) of John was produced by the author or authors of the Fourth Gospel. We can spend years reviewing the direct and hidden meaning of the Book of Revelation but that will have to be the topic of several other posts.

It is hard to directly link the beloved disciple of the Gospels, the man to whom Jesus entrusted his mother, to the writings which bear his name. However, the voice of tradition cannot be discounted either in the case of such a favored and remarkable young man.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Dec 23, 2007

Quote of the Day – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

I came across this quotation today from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. As we prepare to celebrate God’s love for us, in becoming one of us, this is a reminder of how we are to accept that love and pass it on.

“Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service. How do we put the love for God into action? By being faithful to our family, to the duties that God has entrusted to us.”

As we enter into the final couple of days before Christmas, let’s try to remember to cherish each other, to take the time to smile and laugh together, to give a hug to someone we love and to take the time to be together. Those are the things that will make Christmas truly memorable. They are the gifts that really matter when all is said and done. And in giving these gifts of love and time, we give the only things that will remain with our families and our children forever.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Dec 14, 2007

Saint of the Day – St. John of the Cross

December 14 is the feast day of St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), a mystic, reformer, and one of the greatest poets of Spanish literature’s Golden Age. He was born Juan de Yepes y Alvarez into a “converso” or converted Jewish family. His father died when he was young and he and his two older brothers, along with their mother, moved from village to village in Castilla, suffering from poverty and rejection by both Jews and Christians. At Medina del Campo, from 1559 to 1563, he studied humanities at the Jesuit school. In 1563, he entered the Carmelite Order and in 1564, he studied philosophy at the Colegio San Andres at the University of Salamanca. In 1567, he was ordained a priest and wanted to join the Carthusians, since he felt called to a life of silent contemplation. St. Theresa of Avila convinced him to help her reform the Carmelites instead.

In 1568, he co-founded the Discalced Carmelites ,with St. Teresa of Avila. (The were called discalced because they returned to the custom of walking bare foot.) St. Teresa had a vision for restoring the Carmelite order to its original austerity and seclusion from the world. St. John founded the first Discalced Carmelite monastery at Duruelo in 1569. There was great opposition to the reform within the Carmelite Order. He was imprisoned in Toledo by his superiors for 9 months, from December 1577 to August 1578, when he managed to escape after brutal treatment and privation. His tormentors tried to sway him from his leadership of the reform movement, which had been legitimately authorized. Nevertheless, St. John of the Cross went on with the reform and produced wonderful poetry and treatises on the spiritual life.

It may seem incomprehensible to us today that there could be opposition to such a reform that would return an order to its original vision. However, many of the men and women in convents and monasteries at the time were placed there by their families, especially if they were younger sons and daughters. A position in the Church strengthened the family’s position and avoided the costs and alliances that came with marriages. Making the best of a bad situation, many of these men and women with “enforced” vocations tried to live as comfortable a life as possible. They weren’t called to live lives of austere, silent contemplation and fought the reform.

Just as he had suffered from those opposed to the reform, St. John’s latter years would be marked by suffering from those who embraced the reform but went too far in their austerity. When he opposed and corrected their excesses, they did their best to neutralize his influence. St. John of the Cross died in 1591 after he had been denied adequate medical attention and endured isolation. It seems that much of his maltreatment by both sides was not due entirely to his authorized reform activities. He was a “converso” and considered a renegade and certainly beneath the standing of so-called “pure bloods,” who resented and were shamed by his holiness and learning.

El Greco’s “View of Toledo”

St. John of the Cross was a man of great courage, without bitterness, because his suffering never conquered him. Thomas Merton reflects on the imprisonment of St. John of the Cross in Toledo as an example of the holiness of a saint coming from grappling with the problem of evil. Why do good people suffer? Why do I suffer? His response during his inhuman imprisonment was to write a major part of one of his greatest poems on union with Christ, The Spiritual Canticle. Out of great darkness and suffering came great light and peace.

Stanzas Of The Soul

One dark night,
fired with love’s urgent longings
—ah, the sheer grace!—
I went out unseen,
my house being now all stilled.

In darkness, and secure,
by the secret ladder, disguised,
—ah, the sheer grace!—
in darkness and concealment,
my house being now all stilled.

On that glad night,
in secret, for no one saw me,
nor did I look at anything,
with no other light or guide
than the one that burned in my heart.

This guided me
more surely than the light of noon
to where he was awaiting me
—him I knew so well—
there in a place where no one appeared.

O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united
the Lover with his beloved,
transforming the beloved in her Lover.

Upon my flowering breast
which I kept wholly for him alone,
there he lay sleeping,
and I caressing him
there in a breeze from the fanning cedars.

When the breeze blew from the turret,
as I parted his hair,
it wounded my neck
with its gentle hand,
suspending all my senses.

I abandoned and forgot myself,
laying my face on my Beloved;
all things ceased; I went out from myself,
leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Dec 13, 2007

Saint of the Day – St. Lucy of Syracuse: Hope for an End to Religious Violence

December 13 is the feast day of the early Christian martyr, St. Lucy of Syracuse (283-304). There is really very little that is known about her, except that she was killed under the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian. She was revered by the early church and her name has been included in the Eucharistic prayer of the Mass in Rome from the early centuries.

This lack of information did not prevent subsequent generations of Christians from creating an elaborate legend. In it a beautiful young woman decides to dedicate herself to God as a virgin, gives her dowry to the poor, and her rejected suitor denounces her as a Christian. Her beautiful eyes are gouged out, but God miraculously gives her an even more beautiful pair of eyes. This led to Medieval and later depictions of St. Lucy carrying her gouged out eyes on a plate.

In northern Europe and Scandinavia, celebration of the feast of St. Lucy adopted pre-Christian elements of worship of the goddess Freya and observances of the winter solstice. Freya’s chariot is pulled by cats across the winter sky. Distributing cat shaped rolls on St. Lucy’s day is still a popular custom. Lucy means light, so the association with the winter solstice is not surprising. Candles were lit on St. Lucy’s day and girls would sometimes wear wreaths with lighted candles in their hair. (Please do not do this at home, or anywhere else for that matter!)

While the legends associated with St. Lucy elaborate the sufferings of a martyr, what is overlooked when we separate historical fact from fantasy is the reality of violent religious persecution and the witness of Christians in the most dire of circumstances. We might have the impression from our notions of ancient history that the wholesale murder of Christians occurred only under certain Roman emperors. However, persecutions and the witness of Christians have continued to the present day. There are some estimates that 65% of Christian martyrs actually gave their lives in the 20th century and the trend is continuing in the current century.

From Palestine to India to China and North Korea, through Africa and Latin America, Christians are being oppressed and killed for their faith. The conflicts are with Moslems, Hindus, Communists, right wing dictatorships, and leftist guerillas. Certainly, Christians have oppressed and killed members of other Christian and non-Christian groups. Clearly, religious, ethnic, tribal, and political conflicts will continue to lead to oppression and death. Many times the veneration of martyrs of any group is used to move a community to violence.

Nevertheless, as Christians, when we commemorate martyrs such as St. Lucy, we should re-commit ourselves to the beatitudes, especially “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Our witness – the Greek word is marturia – should be to remove the social and political causes of violence and oppression for all groups. This is a naive and foolishly unrealistic goal, but so is the Kingdom of Heaven, as testified to by martyrs like St. Lucy.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Dec 11, 2007

Saint of the Day – Our Lady of Guadalupe

On December 12, 1531, a middle aged Indian convert, St. Juan Diego opened his “tilma” where he had placed the roses that the Lady on the Hill had told him to take to the bishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga. His earlier attempts to tell the bishop of the Lady’s request to build a shrine on the hill of Tepeyac in her honor had met with polite skepticism. The bishop had wanted a sign, and roses in December in the high altitude and cold temperature of Mexico City would have been enough of a sign. However, when St. Juan Diego let down the poncho-like cold weather garment, made of century plant cactus fiber, maguey, the roses tumbled down on the floor and the reluctant messenger followed the eyes of the astonished bishop as he gazed on the Indian’s tilma and fell to his knees. Unique among all of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary, this one produced a physical artifact. On the tilma was the image of the Lady who would come to symbolize a new mixed-race people, a nation, and the aspirations of Catholics throughout the Americas.

Like most Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, my earliest memories are of this miraculous image. Our Lady of Guadalupe is so much a part of the culture, and so pervasive, that the miraculous image is a symbol with multiple layers of meaning. The words of Psalm 147 in Latin “Non Fecit Taliter Omni Nationi” – “He has not done so with any other nation” – are often associated with the image. More idiomatically, they are taken to mean, “He hasn’t done this for anyone else.” While the Psalmist originally applied these words to God’s unique relationship with his chosen people, the meaning has been appropriated by Mexicans and the Latin peoples of the Americas.

From the first days of the apparition to the present, the miraculous image has symbolized a heavenly acceptance of the indigenous and mixed native and European inhabitants. The Virgin does not have blond hair and blue eyes like the Virgen de las Mercedes ( Our Lady of Mercy) of the Spanish conquerors. She is dark complected, with brown eyes and black hair, this Lady of Tepeyac. However, she does not have the pronounced Moorish features of the black Madonna of Guadalupe found in Extremadura in southern Spain.

The devotion to the Spanish Madonna of Guadalupe reached its height in Spain in the 1400s and 1500s, since she was the patroness of the global explorers who set sail from Extremadura and also the patroness of all the Spanish lands of the New World. Many years before the apparition in Mexico City, Columbus named an island in the Caribbean Guadalupe (now Guadaloupe) in her honor. Historians can probably fill us in on the details of how the Lady of Tepeyac became identified with Guadalupe. Perhaps the Spanish preferred to believe that their explorer patroness had made an appearance in the Americas. Nevertheless, the secret password of identity for Mexicans and those of Mexican descent is Tepeyac. For those who have been conquered, scorned, and rejected and yet have built a vibrant and dynamic civilization, what greater recognition could there be? Non Fecit Taliter Omni Nationi.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Dec 11, 2007

Festive Recipes – Santa Lucia Buns

The feast of St. Lucy (Santa Lucia) is coming up this week, on December 13. One of the most fun things about being Catholic, I think, is that we get so many excuses to celebrate something. And we have lots of great foods to share among our many world cultures.

The following is a recipe I received from my daughter’s Waldorf school class many years ago. Her class made these buns for the rest of the school. Of course, we had to taste them too. They are delicious.

Santa Lucia Buns

Ingredients:
2 cups of scalded milk
1 cup of warm water
2 tablespoons (packages) of yeast
8 tablespoons of honey (½ cup)
½ teaspoon of saffron (or 1 teaspoon of cardamom)
½ teaspoon of salt
1 cup of golden raisins (plus extras for decorating)
8-10 cups of sifted white flour
¼ cup butter (plus extra to grease pan and top of dough)
1 egg (for glazing dough)

Melt butter in milk, cool to lukewarm. Measure honey into warm water; mix until dissolved. Add yeast, let it sit until bubbly. Add raisins, saffron (or cardamom), and salt.

Add flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition, until dough is slightly sticky. Knead until smooth and elastic on a floured board. Grease bowl. Form dough into a ball and grease top. Let rise, covered, until double. Shape dough into little “cats” and let rise on greased, covered baking sheet until almost doubled. (They can also be rolled into logs about 7 x ½” in size and shaped into spirals or other shapes.) Glaze with egg.

Bake in preheated 425º oven until golden, about 15 minutes. Do not overbake. Brush with glaze after cool.

Glaze:
Sift ½ cup confectioner’s sugar. Add 2 teaspoons of hot milk and ¼ teaspoon of vanilla. Let dry once brushed onto buns.

Serve warm with coffee, tea, or cocoa. Enjoy!

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Dec 8, 2007

Saint of the Day – St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin

December 9 is the feast day of St. Juan Diego (1474-1548), who was born Cuauhtlatoatzin (kwah-oot-laht-oh-ahtzin) – Talking Eagle. St. Juan Diego was declared a saint – on July 31, 2002, – by Pope John Paul II on his visit to Mexico City. The Pope declared him protector of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and reminded the thousands who gathered of their responsibility to promote social justice and equality for their oppressed and marginalized brothers and sisters.

Juan Diego was a member of the Chichimeca nation, in the Anahuac Valley, near Tenochitlán – present day Mexico City. He was a landowner, farmer and weaver of mats, and a married man. He was 47 when he witnessed the conquest of Tenochitlán by Hernán Cortez in 1521. He and his wife were baptized in 1524 or 1525 by the first missionaries, who were Franciscans. He took the baptismal name of Juan Diego and his wife’s baptismal name was María Lucía. A few years later, María Lucía became ill and died.

On Sunday, December 9, 1531, while he was walking to Mass, he saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary on the hill of Tepeyac. Our Lady of Tepeyac would become known more widely as Our Lady of Guadalupe, because of the similarity of the dark complexioned Virgins in both Tepeyac and Guadalupe in Spain.

St. Juan Diego spent the rest of his life as a hermit and caretaker of the chapel which had been built on the hill of Tepeyac after the apparition, at the request of the Lady. The Virgin Mary appeared as a Native American to a Native American Christian. The impact on the vast indigenous population and the Spanish conquerors was stunning. Not only did this apparition mark the beginning of massive conversions, it was also the beginning of the Great Mixing – El Gran Mestizaje – the creation of a new uniquely Mexican ethnic group, blending Europeans and the indigenous peoples.

While it would be nice to give this post a Hollywood ending by enlarging the camera angle from the Indian kneeling before the Virgin Mary and panning to a sweeping vista of sunrise over the great volcanoes surrounding Mexico City, we really should not. St. Juan Diego’s life was a very gritty reality. The death of his wife and millions of other native people from European conquest and disease was another layer of bitter sadness laid on top of the hardships of being subject to the Aztecs. St. Juan Diego saw everything he knew and understood swept away before his eyes – something that later generations of Mexicans would also experience more than once.

He appears to be one of the few saints who tried to avoid The Lady he knew was waiting for him, because his uncle was very ill and he needed to get a priest for his uncle before he died. Instead, she met him as he tried to get around the hill of Tepeyac. The Lady reassured him that his uncle would be okay and that he should just trust in her. He did, and as they say, the rest is history – the history of a new day for a vanquished people.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Dec 8, 2007

Feast of the Day: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

December 8 is the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, a solemnity celebrating the conception of the Virgin Mary. According to apocryphal writings, Mary’s parents were Joachim and Anna. Mary’s conception, which occurred in the natural way, was special in that Mary was spared the “stain” of original sin.

There has been a long tradition of celebrating the feast of the Virgin’s conception by her mother. There has also been a long tradition that Mary was redeemed in anticipation of the redemption of all humanity by her son Jesus. St. Thomas Aquinas and others taught that Mary’s redemption occurred sometime after her conception, to conform with the scripture that all men and women have sinned except Christ. The issue has to do with the fact that God’s becoming fully human in the mystery of the Incarnation, when Mary conceived Jesus, could only have occurred in one who was sinless and not subject to the pain and weakness of a fallen human nature. When the angel Gabriel saluted Mary, he addressed her as Full of Grace. This greeting would not have made sense – according to the long tradition of theology – if Mary were tainted by the fallen state that afflicts every other human until Baptism.

Devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus, was recorded in early feasts emphasizing her role in salvation history. Mary’s “yes” to the angel Gabriel set everything in motion when she was overshadowed by the power of the Most High. During the controversies about the nature of Christ in the early centuries, titles given to Mary became very important. If Jesus was truly human and divine, Mary became Theotokos – Mother of God. If Jesus was not truly God, Mary was called Christotokos – Mother of Christ.

Exactly how and when Mary was delivered from the sinful state all humans share was not formally defined by the Catholic Church until 1854 by Pius IX. Contrary to the theology of several prominent saints, Mary, from the first moment of her existence, was spared the blockage of grace we call original sin.

An Episcopalian priest, Fr. Matthew Moret, has produced a very short You-Tube video, “Making Sense of Sin,” which succinctly reviews previous conceptions of sin and what these conceptions say about our conception of God. The common concept of sin as a transgression sets God up as the cosmic Judge. Our relationship is not personal but juridical. God’s love becomes conditional on our surrendering our will to His. This concept can be one of a vindictive or manipulative God. Our concept of sin can alienate us from God, contrary to His Divine mercy, love, and grace, which never leave us. Fr. Moret’s short but excellent video presents Kathryn Tanner’s concept of sin as blockage. God continues to heal us, to provide for us in all ways, but we have a diminished capacity to accept or even recognize God’s continual outflowing of good and love to us. Sin is far from trivial, as demonstrated by the brief slide of an entrance to a Nazi death camp.

Mary, Full of Grace and Mother of God. There must have been no blockage. How did that happen?

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Dec 7, 2007

St. Ambrose of Milan

December 7 is the feast day of St. Ambrose of Milan c. 338-397, who was one of the most prominent bishops in the fourth century.

Pope Benedict XVI aptly summarized the life of St. Ambrose.

On that Good Friday of 397, the open arms of the dying Ambrose expressed his mystical participation in the death and resurrection of Our Lord. This was his last catechesis: Without speaking a word, he spoke with the testimony of life.

Ambrose was not old when he died. He was not even 60, for he was born around 340 in Trier, where his father was prefect of the Gauls. The family was Christian. When his father died, and he was still a boy, his mother brought him to Rome to prepare him for a civil career, giving him a solid rhetorical and juridical education. Around 370, he was sent to govern the provinces of Emilia and Liguria, with headquarters in Milan. It was precisely there where the struggle between orthodox Christians and Arians was seething, especially after the death of Auxentius, the Arian bishop. Ambrose intervened to pacify those of both factions, and his authority was such that, despite the fact that he was nothing more than a simple catechumen, he was acclaimed by the people as bishop of Milan.

St. Ambrose had a rare combination of talents. He was a man of deep holiness, a very competent administrator, a diplomat and politician of great skill, a great theologian, and an extraordinary preacher. While his preaching garnered the the respect of his most famous convert when St. Augustine was still a pagan, it was his life that spoke most eloquently.

St. Ambrose used his many talents to combat Arianism, a heresy which taught that Christ was not eternal – that there was a time “when He was not“. It may sound like a minor point but Arianism undermined the core doctrine of Holy Trinity and converted the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit into a loose triad. Arianism not only struck at the core of the Nicene Creed, but it was widely supported by the higher clergy and the ruling class of the Empire.

St. Ambrose played a great role in the development of the Christianity we profess today. He also set a very high standard of personal and professional integrity for bishops and all Christians. His selected writings can be found online at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Dec 6, 2007

Saint of the Day – St. Nicholas

December 6 is the feast of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, in what is present day Turkey. He was born in the third century and lived through several official persecutions of Christians by the authorities. He was a participant in the Council of Nicea, where he opposed the teachings of Arius. He is one of the few saints of that time who were not martyrs.

St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, ships, fishermen, harbor towns, children, bakers, and pawnbrokers. It is said that he was a defender of the falsely accused as well. These seem an odd combination of people and things of which to be patron, but stories are told that link him to each of them.

Nicholas’ parents were relatively wealthy and it may be that they had businesses related to fishing, sailing or the sea. Some reports say that he was himself a fisherman or sailor. He served as a priest during the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, becoming a bishop sometime during the reign of Licinius (307-324). He was known for his charity and care for children and the poor. (It was his care for the poor which led to his status as patron of pawn brokers and their symbol of 3 gold balls, with which he is sometimes also depicted.)

Many stories are told of Nicholas’ care for the poor and for children, including the famous one of how he secretly provided money for the dowry of three young women who would not otherwise have been able to marry and would have been forced into prostitution. In one version of the stories, some of the coins fell into the stocking of the young woman as it hung drying on the fireplace. From this story we have developed the custom of hanging up stockings at Christmas to be filled with gifts from Santa Claus – a more recent name for the saint.

In many countries, children receive gifts for the feast of St. Nicholas. In some traditions, most of the gifts come from St. Nicholas on December 6. In others, a few gifts are received at that time and others on Christmas from the Christ Child.

In our own family, a few gifts arrive each year for the feast of St. Nicholas. When the children were small, a carrot was left for St. Nicholas’ donkey, and the children were delighted in the morning to find only a small stub of the carrot remained outside. The floor and their shoes and gifts were lightly dusted with glittery, golden “stardust” from his robes. It was all very exciting and magical. (As they got into high school and college, it became one of those things they’d never admit they liked, but I think they’d have been a bit disappointed if there hadn’t been “stardust” in the cracks of their shoes along with their gifts.)

Celebrating the feast of St. Nicholas has been a happy way for us to reduce the stress on gifts at Christmas and ease our family into the Christmas season. We celebrate this season of Advent through this and other feasts, “shortening” the time of waiting for Christmas to begin and to marking the passage of the days.

Posted by Kathleen Brewer de Pozos, PhD on Dec 3, 2007

St. Francis Xavier and Me

December 3 is the feast of St. Francis Xavier, “Apostle to the East.” Francis Xavier was born in Navarre, Spain in 1506, to a wealthy and influential family. However, his family lost their lands in 1512 when Navarre was conquered by troops from Castille and Aragon. His father died in 1515.

Francis went to study in Paris when he was 19 and met Iñigo (Ignatius) Loyola there. To make a long story short, Francis eventually joined with Loyola as one of the founding members of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.

Francis is best known for his missionary work in India, Malacca, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Japan. From 1540, until his death on an island off the coast of China in 1552, he traveled and preached throughout the East, frequently returning to Goa in India. He left behind communities of Christians in each place he visited and pioneered the missionary style of the Jesuit order through the compromises he worked out with the existing Christian community, founded by St. Thomas the Apostle, in India.

There are many biographies and studies written about St. Francis Xavier’s life, teachings, influence in the Church, and miracles.

My family has had a close relationship with St. Francis for several generations in the Pacific Northwest. Jesuits were among the first to arrive in eastern Washington and brought with them a devotion to St. Francis. Growing up in parishes staffed by Jesuits, we shared in the tradition of the “Novena of Grace” each year in March. In fact, my parents’ first date ocurred when my father picked up my mother from her teaching assignment in northern Idaho and escorted her to the Novena in Spokane!

As a child, many of my early memories are related to the family tradition of attending Mass and the Novena from March 4-12. Each year we went, with our own prayer requests, and gathered with hundreds of other people from Spokane and the surrounding areas to praise God and ask St. Francis to intercede for us. There were people we only saw once a year – at the Novena.

Some years the prayer intentions were very practical – a job for a relative out of work, health for a sick relative, help with school work, etc. Other years the intentions were more “spiritual” – help in overcoming a bad habit, help in discerning a life path, greater understanding of the Holy Spirit – little things like that!

Important things happened during or after the Novena. Two cousins who were born during the Novena were adopted into the family – we had been praying for a child for each family that year. Other children have been born into or adopted into the family in the year following the Novena. One of my brothers survived a difficult birth on March 4 and was given an extra middle name, Francis, in thanksgiving. Relatives got jobs. People got well. An uncle returned to the Church as he lay dying during the Novena. My Great Grandmother and my Grandmother both died on First Friday during the Novena.

Sometimes funny things happened, like the year my youngest brother dropped a “steely” marble at the back of the church and it rolled all the way to the front, causing a stir as it went all the way! Mom was not amused, but we’re all still laughing about it.

The relationship with St. Francis is not limited to those nine days in March. At harvest time, when a storm threatens to ruin a crop before the field is harvested, prayers go up to “St. Frank” to protect it. When a relationship needs a boost from the Holy Spirit, prayers go to St. Francis. And when something goes really well, prayers of thanks go up too. It’s good to have a powerful big brother (saint) to help out.

A little over ten years ago, a young man from a Goan family knocked on our front door, hoping to sell a medical software program to a medical group we managed. The software was not what our group needed, but he became a close friend. We found many common threads in our educations, life experience and shared bond as Catholics. He in turn has introduced us to his family and many of his friends, including those who are the founders of Suggestica.com and who have opened this world of internet blogs and vertical discovery engines such as theologika.net to us.

It seems St. Francis Xavier is still looking out for us in this increasingly small, small world and doing his part to continue spreading the Good News.

Posted by Dcn. Randy Pozos on Nov 30, 2007

Saint of the Day – St. Andrew

November 30 is the feast day of St. Andrew, the first apostle called by Jesus. He was the brother of St. Peter and introduced Peter to Jesus. There is very little we know about his life. The Gospels show him present in the ministry of Jesus but in the background, while Peter, James, and John are out front.

The Gospel of Mark (1:16-17) tells of his call by Jesus.

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen.
17: Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

The first chapter of the Gospel of John presents the call differently:

The next day John (the Baptist) was there again with two of his disciples,
36: and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”
37: The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
38: Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?”
39: He said to them,”Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
40: Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
41: He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed).
42: Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
43: The next day he decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
44: Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.

There is a tradition that St. Andrew was crucified on an X shaped cross at Patras in Greece. We don’t really know where he went to spread the Gospel. Many countries from Greece to Russia claim him. He is the patron saint of Scotland.

These few lines from the Gospels show us a working man who heard the call of John the Baptist with his brother Peter and then followed after the Man John had called the Lamb of God. There is always a human desire to know more about such a person, but what we do know is that St. Andrew challenges us to leave our nets behind and follow too.

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Next Entries »

The Feast of the Holy Family

Feast of the Day – 12/28 – The Holy Innocents

Saint of the Day – 12/27 St. John the Evangelist

Quote of the Day – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Saint of the Day – St. John of the Cross

Saint of the Day – Our Lady of Guadalupe

Festive Recipes – Santa Lucia Buns

Feast of the Day: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

St. Ambrose of Milan

Saint of the Day – St. Nicholas

St. Francis Xavier and Me

Saint of the Day – St. Andrew

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