“The way we can be sure of our knowledge of Jesus is to keep his commandments.”
1 John 2:3
“When the day came to purify them according to the law of Moses, the couple brought Jesus up to Jerusalem [as] it is written in the law of the Lord.”
Luke 2:22
It can get discouraging to have both readings begin with laws. Rules. Regulations. Our lives are full of them and our American sensibilities caution us that we have freedoms, that we don’t have to be guided by so many laws and commandments.
Do I really have to spend so much of my life with rules? All I want is to make my life a Yes to God and everything God is asking of me. Sometimes the rules even seem to get in the way of that.
Then I look at my life and the things that mean the most to me. Certainly there are laws for protecting my children. But do I care for them because of those laws, or because I love my daughter and son so much? And don’t I love my husband and honor my marriage not only because I took a vow to him but because I want to be faithful to our commitment to each other?
Maybe these readings are not as much about the laws of God or the laws of the Church as they are about being faithful to God, a fidelity that is lived out every day. The first reading spells it out clearly. We can really know Jesus if we live as he did, love as he did, forgive as he did.
In today’s gospel we see Mary and Joseph following the laws, being faithful Jews, and taking their firstborn son to the temple. They don’t go because they have to. Perhaps they want to because following this law is just another way of being faithful to God and giving thanks for God’s faithfulness in their lives. This is how they began their lives as parents who raised a son whose whole life was a Yes to God.
Maybe we aren’t really saying Yes to Jesus every day if we are harboring deep resentments and angers against others or even against laws. Those can be barriers to our finding God in the darkness and emptiness of the stable. Somewhere in the dimly lit corner of our hearts, in that painful place we don’t want to go, we can turn to Jesus and ask for the grace to forgive someone. We can ask for patience to turn a deep suffering into a piece of the Paschal mystery that is so much a part of the Christmas story.
In these quiet days after Christmas, I ask for the ability to see clearly how I can best serve God, how I can be faithful to God. I ask for the grace to be less arrogant about what is right and wrong and more faithful to the simple obedience God asks of me.
Maureen McCann Waldron
The most important part of my life is my family – Jim my husband of 47 years and our two children. Our daughter Katy, a banker here in Omaha, and her husband John, have three wonderful children: Charlotte, Daniel and Elizabeth Grace. Our son Jack and his wife, Ellie, have added to our joy with their sons, Peter and Joseph.
I think family life is an incredible way to find God, even in (or maybe I should say, especially in) the most frustrating or mundane moments.
I am a native of the East Coast after graduating in 1971 from Archbishop John Carroll High School in suburban Philadelphia. I graduated from Creighton University in 1975 with a degree in Journalism and spent most of the next 20 years in corporate public relations in Omaha. I returned to Creighton in the 1990s and completed a master’s degree in Christian Spirituality in 1998.
As our children were growing up, my favorite times were always family dinners at home when the four of us would talk about our days. But now that our kids are gone from home, my husband and I have rediscovered how nice it is to have a quiet dinner together. I also have a special place in my heart for family vacations when the kids were little and four of us were away from home together. It’s a joy to be with my growing family.
Writing a Daily Reflection is always a graced moment, because only with God’s help could I ever write one. I know my own life is hectic, disjointed and imperfect and I know most of us have lives like that. I usually write from that point of view and I always seem to find some sentence, some word in the readings that speaks right to me, in all of my imperfection. I hope that whatever I write is in some way supportive of others.
It’s an incredibly humbling experience to hear from someone who was touched by something I wrote. Whether the note is from someone across campus or across the world, it makes me realize how connected we are all in our longing to grow closer to God.
