Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Scripture Readings

Messengers and their messages are not always as straight forward as we would expect.  Often the busyness of our day and the clutter of our lives can obscure profound messages.  This seems more true in this season of preparation we call Advent.  The to-do-list for Christmas often gets higher priority than Advent.  The contrast is striking.  On one level, we are shopping, decorating, cooking cleaning and preparing for the important celebration of Christmas.  On another level we are being called to empty ourselves to make room for the Lord in our lives.

The reading from Isaiah insists we make room for the Lord by repeating this line:  “I am the Lord, and there is no other.”  The Lord sent me that same message this morning through an unlikely message and messenger.  My daughter wanted me to read a book to her.  Although this was our bedtime ritual she insisted I read it to her that morning.  The book was “The Night before, the Night before Christmas.”  Like any good story, children’s or otherwise, we are often drawn in and caught off guard by an unexpected ending.  Katie who was then six, knew the end of the story but really wanted me to experience it, so I stopped what I was doing and read the story. 

Quite simply the story is of a family who are working hard to finish their preparations for Christmas.  However, at every turn their labors did not meet their expectations for the perfect Christmas.  The whole story comes to a head when the family gets home and realizing the cat had knocked down the tree and scattered the ornaments.  While the families initial response was to think that Christmas was ruined, the father sees things differently.  He reminds them, “These things are just stuff.  Christmas is about love.”  He and the children quietly put the tree back up and began to read the night before Christmas.  That day, my daughter was the messenger and the message was that Christmas is not about stuff, it is about love.  We still read this book today years later.

Sometimes the messenger knows the power of the message; sometimes the message is what we learn by fully entering into the journey on which we have sent.  What was John the Baptist’s reasons for sending disciples to Jesus?  Did John really want his disciples to learn Jesus true identity or did he want them to discover it for themselves?  Sometimes the message is best learned by way of the process of retrieving or delivering the message.  The message itself may not have its fullest meaning unless it is arrived at in the context of the journey.

For John of the Cross, the message he was to deliver was one of reform.  This message was responded to by having John imprisoned.  It was in the message of the agony of prison that drew John in the Light of Lord.  Allowing this mystic-poet to be inspired truly understand that the cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, and darkness to light.   

Prayerfully contemplate the messages or messengers in your midst.  Is there a message that has gone unnoticed?  Are you being asked to go on a journey to discover the message?  Often, the Lord is doing miracles right in front of us.  Lord open our eyes today, so that we are no longer blind to the people and the journeys that are leading us to You!

Deacon Michael Montgomery