Today is the day after Christmas, “Boxing Day” as it’s called in the United Kingdom. It’s a public holiday in that country and also in Cyprus, the country where I was born, because Cyprus was a British Colony, and it chose to retain that inherited holiday on independence day. I now live in Spain , where today is a normal working day…cultural differences. But the thing I heard recently, and that I believe is worth repeating, spans all cultural difference and is universal.
It has to do with everyone, of every age and every nationality. Of every belief…or non-belief. It’s a message for every individual, in every country, living on this planet. It’s something that I heard in a Catholic church…but it’s not confined to that religion…or even to religion…it was a universal message for all of us and it spoke directly to my heart.
It was really a multiple message combined into one, because I heard it in 3 parts, on 3 separate occasions. But each part was delivered by the same person and, although each said something slightly different, the message throughout it all – the simple, over-arching message – was the same.
There is reason and purpose
in everything that happens to us,
and every one of us has a purpose,
and truly belongs.
The first part came just over a year ago on the Feast Day of The Virgin of Hope, who’s the Patron of the city where I now live. Her Feast Day is a big deal in this city. There are processions, and floral offerings, and concerts, and poetry and painting competitions and a whole host of scheduled activities that span over a whole week. They culminate in a solemn Mass presided over by the Bishop, in the Church of Santiago (because that’s where the official image of the Virgin is housed), which is also my local church.
During the Mass last year, the Bishop delivered a homily which posed the question “Why do we venerate and celebrate this day and this particular image of Mary? And why do so many other cities and churches and countries all have their own versions of Mary, with their own different names for her, and their own different customs and traditions? Isn’t it the same, simple Mary that we read about in the Bible? Why do we do this? Why do we change her?
“And if we look at the images that the children have painted of the Virgin as part of the competition, they’re all different. Why?”
And his answer was simple but profound. Because what Mary represents is universal, but is experienced in different ways by every child and adult and country and culture. Just as our relationship with God and our experience of God’s presence is different for every one of us, because that’s how it’s meant to be.
Every relationship of value is a balanced, two-way relationship, it must contain both parts of those who form it because, if it doesn’t, it’s not a living, growing, mature and intimate relationship. Just as every culture has its value, and every different individual has their value, this is the beauty and depth of true relationship. And by remaining curious and open, this is how we learn from each other, and this how we grow closer to God…in all God’s mystery and complexity.
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The second part of the message was delivered exactly one year later, again, during the ‘Misa Solemne’ on the Feast Day of the Virgin of Hope. The same Bishop (Don Santos) referred to the Mass Gospel of the day before, (Mathew 1: 1-17) which lists the geneology of Jesus from Abraham all the way down to Jesus himself; 42 generations. And he asked “Why do we read out this long list of names? What’s the point of it?” and then he shared his interpretation. He said that if we look at the list, we’ll see all kinds of characters in there. Some of them were ‘saints’, some of them were ‘sinners’, and every one of them had a purpose, that ultimately led to the realisation that God is with us…Emmanuel…but it took time…generations of time.
He said, this naming of generations that have gone before, makes us reflect on our own ancestors and family trees. It represents the Tree of Life. In fact, it represents the lives of every one of us. Because the story of the Bible IS the story of every one of us. And what it tells us is that everything that happens in our lives – the good, the bad, the shameful, the joyful- all has its purpose. All of it leads us closer to the Love that is God…but it takes time. So we must be patient, and grateful for all that has gone before – the pleasant and the painful – because these things have made us who we are. And we must look forward with hope and trust in God for all that is still to come, because there is a purpose in it.
~~~
The third part of the message came in the homily that Don Santos delivered at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, just a few weeks later…the day before yesterday. He started the Mass by asking “Why does the church call us together to celebrate Mass at this hour, on the Eve of Christmas Day? Why does it ask us to come out into the cold and the darkness, in the middle of the night, to gather together in this way?” And then he told us what he believes…because it’s during the most difficult, confusing, and challenging moments, the darkest moments…when we feel deep sadness and despair at the circumstances of our own lives, or at the state of the world as a whole…that we need to find the light within us. The light which never leaves us. The light of God’s Love that we all carry within. We come together to remind ourselves and each other of this, he said.
We come together in the knowledge that we are all children of the One Same God who is Love. We come together to share the Light that we carry within and we leave, committed to sharing that Light with the rest of the world, in the way we live our daily lives. We are a people of faith and trust, we choose light, joy, and hope over darkness, confusion, sadness and fear. And these are the things that we must share with each other and with the troubled world in which we live. This Mass and its timing, in the darkness of the night, has a very strong and meaningful message for us all, and that message is Hope.
~~~
And those three things, which came together in three separate sermons, told me something that I profoundly believe, and that I thought was worth repeating…
There is reason and purpose
in everything that happens to us,
and every one of us has a purpose,
and truly belongs.
La Casa de Paz 