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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. Advertising in For Mass times and locations nationwide, The Southern Cross call 1-800-Masstimes is easy and pays off. (1-800-627-7846) Call 912-238-2320. www. masstimes. org