CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2018
CELTIC CROSS MINISTRY
City of Laguna Woods
USA
"Behold , a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and His name shall be called
Emmanuel (which means God with us)
Matthew 1:23
To Our Most Esteemed Andrew Cardinal Manley, Patriarch Emeritus
Our Brothers and Sisters in ministry as Bishops, Priests and Deacons
Our Celtic Cross Templar Knights International - CCTK
Our Celtic Cross Templar Mining Group - CCTMG
Our Independent Order of the Benedictine Brotherhood and Sisterhood - SOSBNB & SOSSS
Our International Chaplains Association of the Celtic Cross - ICACC
Our Celtic Cross Seminary of Theology - CCSTh
Our Celtic Cross Institute of Magisterium - CCIM
Our Worldwide Ecumenical Accreditation Network - WEAN
Our Celtic Cross Global Peace Corps - CCGPC
Our Celtic Cross Media Network and Related Links - CCMN
Our Brothers and Sisters in Faith worldwide
Our Brothers and Sisters of other mainstream
Religious Traditions
Modern men and women in search of truth and God
Our Brothers and Sisters of other mainstream
Religious Traditions
Modern men and women in search of truth and God
Christmas Greetings of Peace, Salutation of Unity and Mutual Love and Wishes of Joy to all!
1. Context of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ in the world
As we celebrate Christmas this year 2018, our world continues to be in constant and dramatic tensions from East to West, from North to South. The U.S. government has been shut down. The middle east is in a state of war again. A big tsunami just hit Indonesia. Over 25,000 lives lost in the Philippines over a questionable pretext of war on drugs. Demonstrations in France continues. United Kingdom is on the brink of exiting the European Union. The list just goes on and on.
2. The situation of the world seen in the heart and mind of man
About a week ago, together with a friend of mine on a spiritual trek, we went inside the St. Nicolas Catholic Church over here in Laguna Woods, California, USA. A Holy Mass was being celebrated and the priest celebrant was doing the homily. The gospel that was read was taken from the first seventeen verses of the Gospel of St. Matthew on the genealogy of Jesus. "Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham."(Mt.1:1) One very important consideration about it is that the ancestors of Jesus himself were not perfect men and women. Not all of them are Jewish. Not all of them came from the rich and powerful. In one way or another they represented the heart and mind of an ordinary man or woman created in the likeness and image of God. The sinful, weak, defiled nature of humanity is well represented. On the other hand, the simple, devout, faithful and God fearing part is also very well seen. The context of the war, violence, catastrophe, corruption and injustice in the world is also reflected in the very deep imperfection and sinfulness in the heart and mind of everyday and ordinary humanity.
3. Human Tension and Divine Intervention
Mary, the mother of Jesus conceived her child by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary decided to divorce her quietly, so as not to put her to shame. Then God through an Angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and said to him, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."(Mt. 1:20)
In the village of Mary and Joseph, just like in our global village today, what comes around goes around. It is a great shame for a woman who already carries a baby without yet getting married and having intercourse with her husband. It is an impossible situation like many impossible and difficult situations today in the world at large and in individual and family life of our generations. My own youngest sister suffered a severe stroke and when it happened it seemed impossible for her to regain consciousness when she was brought to the hospital and confined in an Intensive Care Unit. A very good and long time friend of my wife is suffering from cancer and she has tried all medical and holistic means to recover, yet her condition still remains very precarious and fragile. The caravan of people from Central America seeking to migrate to USA and in stampede in Mexico is one of our current hopeless groups on the road. Victims of human trafficking, injustice, racism and economic exploitation abound in our world too.
The continues incidents of mass gun violence in USA and other parts of the world is also another thing which is just impossible to stop.
The Philippines becoming the killing fields of Asia and China's treacherous attempts to grab islands in the West Philippine Sea. There are many other forms of impossible situations caused by natural disasters, diseases, famine and the like around the world today. Our Christmas is no different that the first Christmas. We still have our own impossible situations and difficult circumstances in life which need God's intervention. Like Joseph, we don't need to listen to our own human thinking to resolve the conflict. We wait, listen and act according to what God will reveal to us in every situation we are in. God's way of loving each one of us is through direct or indirect intervention using all kinds of means just to convey His message and direction for our lives. Let us not be hasty in our imperfect judgments. Rather, let us be patient and open to God's direction and purpose in our lives.
4. Hope springs eternal
"She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Mt. 1:21) Our hope lies in the fact that God who holds the whole world in His hands and who watches over the histories and destinies of nations, individuals, families and societies cannot just create a concrete change without using the resources of human instruments and cooperation through humility, courage and faith. God used the virginity of Mary and the faith of Joseph to accomplish the turning point in human history - God becoming man and embracing humanity in his restless, determined and immense love. The process of change in the conditions of our human experience of powerlessness and hopelessness lies in the very roots of our God given gifts of life, will and faith. The hope we seek lies beneath the cloaks of our human powers and resources. We just need to continue to be open to His grace and intervention and like Mary to say, "I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word." (Lk. 1:38)
5. God with us
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be Emmanuel, which means, God with us." (Mt.1:23) On Christmas Night, Jesus the only begotten son of God was born in a manger and became a human being like each one of us. What a paradox of God's way of giving us the dignity of being His sons and daughters. God has a crazy love for humanity. Instead of us becoming God, as many false prophets and fanatics religious leaders claim they are, God humbly stooped down and became man, one of us, one with us and concretely becoming God with us in Jesus Christ our Lord.
6. "Be Not Afraid"(John 6:20)
On October 22, 1978, a holy man in robed with papal dignity stood in the balcony of St. Peter's Square in Rome and said these words, "Be not afraid." Those words were actually the words spoken by the risen Lord, Jesus Christ to his very fearful disciples. Pope John Paul II explained why he chose these words as the magna carta of his pontificate in the following: "At the end of the second millennium, perhaps we need more than ever these words of the risen Christ: "Be not afraid." Man needs these words because, even after the fall of communism, he has not stopped being afraid and, in reality, has many reasons to feel fear deep within. The peoples and the nations of the entire world need these words. Their consciences need to grow in the certainty that Someone exists who holds in his hands the destiny of this passing world; Someone who holds the keys of death and the netherworld: Someone who is the Alpha and the Omega of human history. And this Someone is Love. Love became man. Love crucified and risen."
Saint Pope John Paul II continued by saying, "Contemporary man finds it hard to return to faith because he is afraid of the moral demands that faith places before him. The gospel is certainly demanding. God wills man's salvation. He desires the fulfillment of humanity according to the measure he has set. Christ has the right to say that the yoke he places on us is easy and that his burden, when all is said and done, is light.....It is very important TO CROSS THE THRESHOLD OF HOPE: not to stop in front of it, but to allow ourselves to be led onward. There is every reason for the truth of the Cross to be called the Good News."
7. Towards a world of peace and moral responsibility
In 2014, the successor of the Chair of Peter in Rome, Pope Francis wrote the Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today's world. Pope Francis wrote, "Nor is peace 'simply the absence of warfare, based on a precarious balance of power; it is fashioned by efforts directed day after day towards the establishment of the ordered universe willed by God, with a more perfect justice among men.' In the end, a peace which is not the result of integral development will be doomed; it will always spawn new conflicts and various forms of violence." Then he continued, "People in every nation enhance the social dimension of their lives by acting as committed and responsible citizens, not as a mob swayed by the powers that be. Let us not forget that 'responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation.' Yet becoming a people demands something more. It is an ongoing process in which every new generation must take part: a slow and arduous effort calling for a desire for integration and a willingness to achieve this through the growth of a peaceful and multifaceted culture of encounter. Progress in building a people in peace, justice and fraternity depends on four principles related to constant tensions present in every social reality. These derive from the pillars of the Church's social doctrine, which serve as 'primary and fundamental parameters of reference for interpreting and evaluating social phenomena.'"
8. What concrete steps we can dare to make
To all Bishops, Pastors and Lay Leaders of the Church, the way to a concrete and significant change toward peace and justice in the world today is through undergoing a process of conversion. Here Pope Francis has an advice, "Conversion from our sins, from our egoism, leads us to being available to others. The mission of a pastor is to 'include' all the sheep (even those of 'other flocks,' as the Lord says (cf. John 10:16). It implies a true conversion from our egoism, so that, in the moment of truth, we are well disposed to receive everyone, and not dismissive of anyone because of differences of character or narrowness of vision.
To all people of God, the way to peace is forgiveness and seeking of justice using the democratic and legal means afforded in every country. It is seeing each neighbor with the eyes of seeing each person as a brother or a sister, as a friend and associate. It is building bridges of unity and destroying the walls of division. It is in sharing one's own bread, one's own clothes, one's own shelter with a neighbor in need. It is truly concrete action of love in the streets and byways of humanity.
9. The way of love and how far it can go
In John 15:13 Jesus said to his disciples, "No greater love man has than to lay down his life for his friends." Out there in the world or right behind or in front of our house, are strangers who are actually friends in the making. The beauty of disparity and inequality in the arena of human societies and life is that we can all encounter, help and love one another as Jesus Christ has commanded us in his new commandment of love, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12) At Christmas we go out and encounter a lot of people, some we know but most of them we just usually walk by and don't mind. The true spirit and joy of Christmas is in the art of human encounter, where kindness is sown in the hearts of others, where love is shared and joy is multiplied. Mary, our Mother too is the epitome of love. I hear Mary singing the verse from the Song of Songs, "Set me a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; For stern as death is love, relentless as the netherworld is devotion; its flames are a blazing fire. Deep waters cannot quench love, nor floods sweeps it away. Were one to offer all he owns to purchase love, he would be roundly mocked." (Songs 8:6-7)
10. The way of Mary in human transformation
Mary believed in her heart that whatever the Lord has promised her He will fulfill. So as she sang in the middle part of the Magnificat, she prayerfully proclaimed, "He has shown strength with His arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away." (Luke 1:51-53)
To all my brothers and sisters in the service of the Church and who are very much involved in the human experience of pain and suffering, in joy and celebration of the triumph of the human spirit, I sincerely and humbly urge each one of you to keep the flame of hope alive in your heart, to keep waiting for the Lord like Mary and the poor of her time, for God's coming and intervention. It is not the will of God for us to feel afraid like orphans without parents to take care of them. We are sons and daughters of the living God who holds the whole world and who keeps everything in being. God knows our needs and situation and He will have the last word: life, love, joy,... in the midst of a culture of violence, hatred and uncertainty! Merry Christmas to one and all! God bless you and keep you!
Sincerely your brother and friend in the walk of faith,
+Bishop Benito P Sagra
Interim Patriarch
Senior Bishop Primus
Celtic Cross Ministry
www.celticcrossministry.com
Laguna Woods, CA USA
To all Bishops, Pastors and Lay Leaders of the Church, the way to a concrete and significant change toward peace and justice in the world today is through undergoing a process of conversion. Here Pope Francis has an advice, "Conversion from our sins, from our egoism, leads us to being available to others. The mission of a pastor is to 'include' all the sheep (even those of 'other flocks,' as the Lord says (cf. John 10:16). It implies a true conversion from our egoism, so that, in the moment of truth, we are well disposed to receive everyone, and not dismissive of anyone because of differences of character or narrowness of vision.
To all people of God, the way to peace is forgiveness and seeking of justice using the democratic and legal means afforded in every country. It is seeing each neighbor with the eyes of seeing each person as a brother or a sister, as a friend and associate. It is building bridges of unity and destroying the walls of division. It is in sharing one's own bread, one's own clothes, one's own shelter with a neighbor in need. It is truly concrete action of love in the streets and byways of humanity.
9. The way of love and how far it can go
In John 15:13 Jesus said to his disciples, "No greater love man has than to lay down his life for his friends." Out there in the world or right behind or in front of our house, are strangers who are actually friends in the making. The beauty of disparity and inequality in the arena of human societies and life is that we can all encounter, help and love one another as Jesus Christ has commanded us in his new commandment of love, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12) At Christmas we go out and encounter a lot of people, some we know but most of them we just usually walk by and don't mind. The true spirit and joy of Christmas is in the art of human encounter, where kindness is sown in the hearts of others, where love is shared and joy is multiplied. Mary, our Mother too is the epitome of love. I hear Mary singing the verse from the Song of Songs, "Set me a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; For stern as death is love, relentless as the netherworld is devotion; its flames are a blazing fire. Deep waters cannot quench love, nor floods sweeps it away. Were one to offer all he owns to purchase love, he would be roundly mocked." (Songs 8:6-7)
10. The way of Mary in human transformation
Mary believed in her heart that whatever the Lord has promised her He will fulfill. So as she sang in the middle part of the Magnificat, she prayerfully proclaimed, "He has shown strength with His arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away." (Luke 1:51-53)
To all my brothers and sisters in the service of the Church and who are very much involved in the human experience of pain and suffering, in joy and celebration of the triumph of the human spirit, I sincerely and humbly urge each one of you to keep the flame of hope alive in your heart, to keep waiting for the Lord like Mary and the poor of her time, for God's coming and intervention. It is not the will of God for us to feel afraid like orphans without parents to take care of them. We are sons and daughters of the living God who holds the whole world and who keeps everything in being. God knows our needs and situation and He will have the last word: life, love, joy,... in the midst of a culture of violence, hatred and uncertainty! Merry Christmas to one and all! God bless you and keep you!
Sincerely your brother and friend in the walk of faith,
+Bishop Benito P Sagra
Interim Patriarch
Senior Bishop Primus
Celtic Cross Ministry
www.celticcrossministry.com
Laguna Woods, CA USA
December 25,2018
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