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| Beyond the Biography of Jesus: The Journey of Quadratos | |
Book I Book I Study Guide |
Book II Winter 2007 |
There is a gift you may give back to Quadratos
Please forward this email to all, and ask them to sign up for the e-Newsletter and to forward this request to those they know.
I hope you believe as I believe - our Christian traditions need Quadratos as one more voice helping us return to spiritual practice.
From all here at Quadratos - thank you.
Dr. Shaia to Keynote Liturgy Conference
"Nourished by The Word"
Liturgy Conference of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento
Saturday January 27th at Sts. Peter & Paul Parish, Rocklin, CA
Next Issue
The February issue of the e-Newsletter will reflect on the Gospel texts for this coming Lent - Gospel of Luke with John.
A Christmas Wish
May the lowliness of the shepherds and the height of the angels meet in our hearts and bring certain serenity - as we seek a better world for all.
A Joyous Christ's
Sending Forth
- to your hearth
- to your family
- and to your heart
Alexander
December 2006: Christmas
Dear Friends of Quadratos,
This small issue of the newsletter has a bit of everything - trivia, humor, a reflection on Luke's Christmas and a wish for your heart.
13 Days of Christmas?
But the song says twelve. Count the days from December 25th until January 6th. You counted thirteen, right? What is meant by the song? Well, Christmas Day or The Feast of Christmas stands alone, and is followed by the Twelve Days of Christmas (Dec. 26 - Jan. 6). The First Day of Christmas is Dec. 26th or Boxing Day. This name comes from the practice of boxing or delivering gifts to the poor.
Why 13 Days?
Christianity assumed the Celtic world's thirteen-day celebration of the Winter Solstice. The Celts believed the number thirteen was sacred to The Mother and the experience of giving birth. While we changed the content of the festival, we continued its form.
Merry Christ Mass?
This beautiful word - Christmas - is shorthand for Christ's Mass. The term, however, does not refer to Catholic ritual. Mass comes from the latin word missa, "to be sent." "Merry Christmas" holds a profound greeting -
"Send Forth the Christ with a Joyous Heart."
When is Christmas Eve?
The original meaning of the term is Christmas Evening - that commences just past sunset on December 24th. Roughly from 1600 to 1970, Christendom began its feasts by the use of a clock (the strike of midnight), rather than by the setting sun. Catholics will remember staying up for "midnight mass" to begin the feast. However, since 1970, many Christian traditions have returned to the ancient way - beginning each and every church day at sundown. In sacred tradition, Christmas Eve does not mean "the day before" the feast - but rather the first hours of the feast.
Christmas begins at sunset, moves through the night to dawn, and culminates in the full light of day. (Okay, okay - Santa is not with the program - yet. Any ideas of how to bring the two back together?)
If you follow the lectionary cycle of gospel readings, - see below - note The Feast of Christmas has a sequence of four gospel texts. Each passage is paired with an hour of the night or day.
How could it be otherwise? The Feast of the Incarnation is told in our hearts, in the gospel scriptures and in the rhythm of night to day and throughout the heavens and on earth. The Word made Flesh!
The Christmas Gospel Sequence
I. Sunset on the 24th
The Genealogy of the Messiah (Gospel of Matthew)
(see reflection on this Genealogy in Quadratos, Book I -
pgs. 48 - 53)
II. Christmas Evening
Announcement to the Shepherds (Gospel of Luke)
III. Christmas Dawn
Shepherds at the Manger (Gospel of Luke)
IV. Christmas Day - Full Daylight
The Prologue (Gospel of John)
(reflections on the passages from Luke and John are in Book II)
As we celebrate the "Birth of Jesus the Christ," John's Prologue is the culminating text of the Feast because it profoundly reminds us that The Christ has always been and will always be.
A Reflection on Luke's Christmas
Quadratos is helping us move The Gospels from "history" to spiritual practice.
As we move beyond understanding the Gospels - and Christian Feasts - as biography, we are able to appreciate that each of the Three Christian Years focuses our church communities and us on particular questions and actions.
Luke's Advent and Christmas moves us to reflect on how Jesus the Christ is born within us as we live our lives in service.
This can be a far more meaningful reflection than a yearly proclamation that Christ was born.
In the light of The Prologue (John) - the final gospel of Christmas Day - it is not appropriate for us to solely focus on the birth in time, because The Word - The Christ - has always been and will always be. The Internal-Eternal Christ is the deepest proclamation of Christmas. (It's hard to picture this reality in a nativity set - so we have this text as the final gospel - teaching us to begin at the nativity set and then go beyond it.)
Spiritual Practice for the Final Days of Advent
Pray and read the four gospels of Christmas as found in the lectionary sequence. Reflect on the mystery of Christ within us calling, supporting, urging us to serve each other and all others.
In that light, notice that Luke's text of the nativity is the only one that brings together Shepherd and Angel. Consider how our lowest selves (Shepherd nature) and highest selves (Angelic nature) must meet if we are going to truly serve.
For those who have seen the movie, The Nativity, remind yourself that it mixes the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The result is a compelling story yet one that confuses biography with spiritual practice. However, the historical picture it tells of village and Semitic life is true and valuable.
Remember that the two distinct nativities (Matthew and Luke) expound on the different ways Jesus the Christ is born within us - not as a video cam of days in Nazareth or Bethlehem.
Next November, the newsletter will reflect on Matthew's Advent and Christmas as we move back to the beginning of the Three Year Cycle and its question about the nature of how we wake up and change.
Luke's Spirit in Contemporary Life
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke these words the night before he was killed. They hold the sweet fruit of Luke's spiritual practice. I offer them with my prayer that in The Year of Christ ahead, we may enflesh the Spirit of Luke - the content warrior - one who knows the bright future and is willing to bear the cost of birthing with fearless equanimity and steadfast joy.
"I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But, it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would love to have a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy tonight, I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
