Daily Gospel Reflection
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December 10, 2021
Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare this generation?
It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,
we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,
‘He is possessed by a demon.’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said,
‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”
How often do we place limitations on our experiences of God? The people in today’s gospel clearly could not understand the concept of the Messiah befriending and engaging in normal social activities like eating and drinking.
As Christians, we are fortunate to expect to experience God intimately and profoundly in the Eucharist. However, especially in this season of Advent, I find it helpful to remember the challenge of St. Ignatius of Loyola to find God “in all things.”
In this month of celebration, I see God in those activities Jesus mentions—eating and drinking with good friends.
Recently I had the opportunity to return to the Notre Dame campus with several law school friends. As members of the Class of 2020, we had not seen each other since the pandemic struck last March. Talking, laughing, eating, and drinking in person with people I love at places we love brought me great peace and joy.
This may not be the type of situation where we would expect to see God, but God is very present in our loving relationships.
Jesus challenges us not to set rigid expectations of God as the people of his time did but embrace God exactly as Christ revealed: one who ate and drank and enjoyed friendship.
Every time we reach out to old friends or strive to make new friends, we encounter Christ. When we recognize this, we can create greater peace in our hearts and together make a more peaceful world.
Prayer
Lord, your enemies called you a friend of sinners. Thank God, they were correct. You reached out to sinners in those days and you reach out to sinners today. Even in the midst of our folly we know that we can count on your friendship. Give us hope when we stray from your path. Amen.
Saint of the Day
This title of Mary refers to the house in which she was born and raised, and in which the angel Gabriel visited her in the Annunciation. Tradition holds that angels miraculously transported the house from Palestine to Loreto, Italy, in the 13th century.
It is now believed that this legend came from the fact that a patron family with the name “Angelo” either had the house moved or had stones for a replica home imported from the Holy Land. The stones in the shrine in Italy match the stones of a structure that still stands in Nazareth that is believed to be another part of Mary’s home.
The history that we have for the house—legendary or factual—states that after Jesus’ ascension, the apostles had the home converted to a church. During her pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 336, the Empress Helen had a large basilica built over it. At the close of the Crusades, European forces feared that the house would be destroyed, and it was moved. Miracles attended it wherever it went, and the house finally rested in Italy. A basilica encases the home once again, and the town of Loreto has grown around the shrine.
Just before opening the Second Vatican Council in 1962, Pope John XXIII made a pilgrimage to Loreto. Fifty years later, in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI made a second pilgrimage to the site to mark the anniversary of the council and to dedicate the Year of Faith to Our Lady of Loreto.
A portion of Mary’s house is kept in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica on campus, and the campus church for St. Mary’s College is named after Our Lady of Loreto. Because of the legend of the angelic flying house, Our Lady of Loreto is patron of airplane pilots and attendants, and of those serving in the Air Force. She is also patron of construction workers.
Our Lady of Loreto, who teaches us to make a home for Jesus in the world, pray for us!