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Thursday, December 14, 2000
C©mum©iMary
Everyday Graces
An agent of good will
T his is a season of splendor
Music, decorations,
brightly wrapped pack
ages, and delectable foods
delight the senses. Our
Christmas liturgy reflects
a glorious celebration of
our Savior’s birth.
Such beauty is an appro
priate response to God’s
majesty. Deeply touched
by the many gifts he’s bestowed on
us, we show our gratitude by shar
ing our gifts with others. Those
with beautiful voices are inspired
to sing. Those with artistic talent
create presents to share with fami
ly, friends, and the community.
Those with a flair for decorating
turn their homes into showcases.
But there’s another side to the
season, a side that’s seemed
poignant to me this year. It’s the
homely side. In a season filled with
splendor, we must also recognize as
God’s own that which is imperfect
in our eyes. Indeed, a Savior bom
among livestock, whose first visi
tors were shepherds, welcomes the
humblest of his creation.
At a Christmas gather
ing, my friends Ned and
Kay, parents of eight
grown children, shared
a story about their
daughter Carol. Every
Christmas throughout
her childhood, Carol
wanted the family to
select the ugliest tree on
the lot to take home and decorate.
Knowing that because of its
appearance the tree would be
rejected by everyone else, she
hoped to spare it the misfortune of
spending Christmas unwanted.
Recently, I attended a Christmas
concert put on by my son’s middle
school band. Among the programs,
many of which were quite accom
plished, was a performance by the
sixth graders, introduced to their
instruments only three months ago.
Their rendition of “Up on a
Housetop” was played too slowly
and a little off-key. But their per
formance was inspiring because it
was clear they were delighted to
share what they had learned, how
ever unpolished. And the audience
showed their appreciation with lots
of applause.
I experienced another instance of
beauty in the homely when I
encountered a stranger who did me
a generous favor. He was a repair
man I’d contracted to do some
_ costly work at my home. When I
first saw him, I could not help but
feel sorry for him. His nose was
grossly deformed and most of his
teeth were missing. He was a per
son others would reject solely
because of his appearance. Shortly
after setting to work, he stopped
what he was doing and came to me,
explaining I was paying too much
for the job. He then recommended
another way to do the work for
hundreds of dollars less. His hon
esty saved me a lot of money.
Before leaving, he asked if I liked
shells, then pulled from his pocket
a perfect shell and handed it to me.
He told me he’d found it earlier
that day. I thanked him and set the
shell on the kitchen counter. After
Mary Hood Hart
The Southern Cross, Page 5
he left, I was contemplating his
motives, when I glanced at the
counter and saw the shell was mov
ing. It contained a large, ugly snail,
surveying its new surroundings.
Partly repulsed and partly amused,
I took the snail outside and placed
it in the grass. I sensed a message
in this odd encounter—a Christmas
message no less. f . ^
In our brief exchange, this man
became an agent of goodwill, and
his kindness enabled me to see
beyond his physical imperfections. ,,,
His leaving me a perfect shell con
taining an ugly snail seemed sym- 4
bolic of how God’s grace is
revealed through all creation, even
the lowliest creatures. Only days
later, I happened upon a poem
titled “Snail” by Hilary Holladay. It
reads, in part: “It is winter, nearly
Christmas. I ooze a trail of joy.”
Mary Hood Hart lives with
her husband and four children
in Sunset Beach, N.C.
Catholics and Jews today
Avoid referring to the scriptural curses
By Father Michael J. Kavanaugh
void referring to the scriptural curses, or the
cry of a raging mob: “His blood be upon us
and our children,” without remembering that this
cry should not count against the infinitely more
weighty words of our Lord: “Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do.”
I, a priest, cannot stand up in a pubic hearing
on, say, the zoning of a parcel of land near my
church, and presume that my words and actions
at that hearing reflect the words and actions of
all priests in all times and places. The literary
device used by Matthew (27:25) when he wrote
the phrase “His blood be upon us and our chil
dren” should not, for the same reasons, be
understood as an indictment of all Jews in all
times and places.
No more than we can blame the Japanese or
Germans citizens bom today for what happened
in World War II can we blame the Jewish family
who lives next door to us for the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ.
Already in the time Matthew was writing his
Gospel (ca. A.D. 75-80) there were tensions
being felt between the Jews who had become
followers of the rabbi known as Jesus of
Nazareth and the Jews who had not known him.
Jesus himself, in forgiving them
on the cross, and Peter
in following suit,
both accept “the ignorance”
of the Jews of Jerusalem
and even of their leaders.
Still less can we extend
responsibility to other Jews
of different times and places,
based merely on the crowd’s cry:
“His blood be on us
and on our children!”—
a formula for ratifying a judicial
sentence.
—Catechism of the Catholic Church,
par. 397.
This Rabbi Jesus had challenged the legalism of
some of the pharisee class, reminding them that
mere observance of the law did not make a per
son righteous in God’s eyes. The pharisees who
opposed this “broader” understanding of the
relationship of the Jews to Yahweh, while trying
to maintain and strengthen the Jewish communi
ty under the oppressive occupation of the
Romans, resisted this “reformation” of Judaism.
After the death of Jesus then, and in light of this
growing animosity within the Jewish communi
ty, Matthew did not hesitate to portray the more
legalistic Jews (the pharisee party) as guilty for
the death of Jesus.
Are Catholics today personally guilty for the
massacres committed by the crusaders against
the Jews they encountered on their way to
Palestine?
No. Do we blame Queen Elizabeth II for the
judicial murder execution of Saint Thomas
More, beheaded at the order of her predecessor,
King Henry VIII? No. Receiving the redemption
offered us through the life, death, and resurrec
tion of Jesus Christ is the hallmark of
Christianity, not finding someone else to blame
for his death.
Father Michael J. Kavanaugh is diocesan
director of Ecumenism. This is the fifth in
a series of articles on Jewish-Christian
relations.
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