Feast of Saint Stephen
Reflection
I like routines and rituals. Not the kind that are constricting or lazy, the kind that absolve us from thinking about why we are doing what we are doing. Routines and rituals provide us with opportunities to go deeper into the meaning of that routine or ritual. This Christmas Week is jam-packed with holiday routines and rituals that connect us to our past and to one another. Hopefully, it is not a “here we go again” experience. Rather, these experiences allow us to slow us down so we can reflect on what is really important.
Routines and rituals express what words cannot.
One routine… a ritual, really… has been writing this monthly reflection. I began collaborating with the Passionists in October 2010. With Fr. Don, Fr. Pat, Fr. Mike, Angela, Claire, Keith and many others, we designed and executed The Passion of Christ | The Love That Compels campaign. The following August, in 2011, I was invited to join the team that writes the monthly reflections.
This is my 145th reflection, and my last. It should be my 161st, but I missed a few deadlines. Mea culpa. It became a monthly ritual for which I am deeply grateful. Once a month, I tried to reflect on the scripture readings for the 26th (my day!) through the lens of the passionate love of Jesus. The world is hurting, and far too many of us are broken, alone, abused, sick, or forgotten. Yet into this world, a Child is born in Bethlehem. He is Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph, and the Beloved of the Father.
What the Passionists offered to me was this monthly ritual to explore my own and our world’s hurts and fractures, and to see how Jesus enters into that brokenness to bring life and healing, hope and joy.
As this is the feast of St. Stephen the Martyr, maybe we can proclaim with him, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
When I read this statement of faith, I envision Jesus Christ extending his hand to us in love and welcome. The passionate love of Christ compels us to extend our healing and loving hands to others. This routine of writing these reflections has invited me…and perhaps others…“to proclaim the Passion of Jesus Christ as a message of hope, love and reconciliation for the world.”
