Msgr. Esseff was taken to the ER Thursday afternoon and then admitted to the hospital. Believe or not, he wanted to continue his series of podcasts on the Year-end retreat for his listeners. He phoned in this reflection from his hospital bed Saturday morning. He discusses frustration with God and the marvels of His goodness when we surrender. This is a very special podcast, please keep Msgr. Esseff in your prayers.
(Sermo 1, in Epiphania Domini, 1-2: PL 133,141-143)
In the fullness of time, the fullness of divinity appeared.
The kindness and love of God our saviour for mankind were revealed. Thanks be to God, through whom we receive such abundant consolation in this pilgrimage, this exile, this distress.
Before his humanity appeared, his kindness lay concealed. Of course it was already in existence, because the mercy of the Lord is from eternity, but how could men know it was so great? It was promised but not yet experienced: hence many did not believe in it. At various times and in various different ways, God spoke through the prophets, saying I know the plans I have in mind for you: plans for peace, not disaster.
What reply did man make, man who felt the affliction, and knew nothing of peace? ‘How long will you keep saying “Peace, peace” when there is no peace?’ And so the angels of peace weep bitterly saying Lord, who has believed our report?
But now at last let men believe their own eyes, because all God’s promises are to be trusted. So that it cannot escape the notice of even troubled eyes, He has set up his tabernacle in the sun.Behold, peace is no longer promised, but conferred; no longer delayed, but given; no longer predicted, but bestowed. Behold, God has sent down to earth a bag bulging with his mercy, a bag that, at the passion, is torn open so that our ransom pours out of it onto us. A small bag, perhaps, but a full one: for it was a small child that was given to us, but in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.
After the fullness of time had come, there came too the fullness of the Godhead. He came in the flesh, so that at least he might make himself manifest to our earthly minds, so that when this humanity of his appeared, his kindness might also be acknowledged. Where the humanity of God appears, his kindness can no longer be hidden. In what way, indeed, could he have better commended his kindness than by assuming my flesh? My flesh, that is, not Adam’s, as it was before the fall.
What greater proof could he have given of his mercy than by taking upon himself that very thing which needed mercy? Where is there such perfect loving-kindness as in the fact that for our sake the Word of God became perishable like the grass? Lord, what is man, that you make much of him or pay him any heed?
Let man infer from this how much God cares for him. Let him know from this what God thinks of him, what he feels about him. Man, do not ask about your own sufferings; but about what God suffered. Learn from what he was made for you, how much he makes of you, so that his kindness may show itself to you from his humanity.
The lesser he has made himself in his humanity, the greater has he shown himself in kindness. The more he humbles himself on my account, the more powerfully he engages my love. The kindness and humanity of God our Saviour appeared says St Paul. The humanity of God shows the greatness of his kindness, and he who added humanity to the name of God gave great proof of this kindness.
Are you frustrated, angry, overwhelmed, especially after the holidays? Have you been trying to do “good things,” but find yourself hitting a wall in your family, in your workplace, or in your ministry? When to say “yes” or to say “no,” when to speak and when to silent, when to stay and when to go, and so forth. Everything hinges on listening to God and discernment. Are you operating in the “Light?”
Today, Msgr. Esseff asks that you take an hour to enter into the inner self and to listen to what God wants you to do. Write down what you hear God say in Psalm 139
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me!
2Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up;
thou discernest my thoughts from afar.
3Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,
and art acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue,
lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5Thou dost beset me behind and before,
and layest thy hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high, I cannot attain it.
7Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!
9If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10even there thy hand shall lead me,
and thy right hand shall hold me.
11If I say, “Let only darkness cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12even the darkness is not dark to thee,
the night is bright as the day;
for darkness is as light with thee.
13For thou didst form my inward parts,
thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful.
Wonderful are thy works!
Thou knowest me right well;
15my frame was not hidden from thee,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.
16Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance;
in thy book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
When I awake, I am still with thee.
19O that thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God,
and that men of blood would depart from me,
20men who maliciously defy thee,
who lift themselves up against thee for evil!
21Do I not hate them that hate thee, O Lord?
And do I not loathe them that rise up against thee?
Lord Jesus Christ, when,
on a winter’s night I look up through the clear air at the stars,
I can be very close to You
and to Your native Bethlehem.
It was at night that You first came to this earth.
It was under the same stars that now gleam in this night sky
that Mary first held You in her arms.
It was by the faint light of these stars
still shining tonight that the shepherds found their way to the stable,
and discovered You,
as the angels had said they would,
lying in a manger.
Dear Lord,
it is especially at Christmas time
that I see and understand how close You are
to those who live on the land.
We have so many reminders of You!
The stars and moon at night and the sun by day,
the same stars under which You were born;
the same moon that shone that night on Bethlehem;
the same sun that brightened Your first days on earth.
The stable, and the farm animals
that shared their quarters and their warmth with You, their creator.
The sheep and the shepherds that came to adore You,
rough men, but good, truthful, honest, and sincere.
O Jesus, Son of the everlasting God,
You are so wonderfully made one of us at Christmas time!
You are our God,
but You are our Brother, too.
You are our King,
but You come as a helpless little baby,
longing for our love.
Help us today and always to see You
in all those with whom we come in contact.
Let us never forget Your own instruction,
that whatever we do for the least of those around us,
we do for You.
Help us always to serve You in the generous,
selfless spirit of this season,
and we shall then be real Christians,
more and more like You.
“God’s Gift of Love” is a special reflection offered by Msgr. Esseff on this 23rd day of December 2017. What is blocking your experience of the Father’s love? Is there someone you need to reach out to? Will you let the Father love you this Christmas?
From a commentary of Luke by Venerable Bede, priest
(Lib 1, 46-55: CCL 120, 37-39)
The Magnificat
Mary said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. The Lord has exalted me by a gift so great, so unheard of, that language is useless to describe it, and the depths of love in my heart can scarcely grasp it. I offer then all the powers of my soul in praise and thanksgiving. As I contemplate his greatness, which knows no limits, I joyfully surrender my whole life, my senses, my judgment, for my spirit rejoices in the eternal Godhead of that Jesus, that Savior, whom I have conceived in this world of time.
The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
Mary looks back to the beginning of her song, where she said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. Only that soul for whom the Lord in his love does great things can proclaim his greatness with fitting praise and encourage those who share her desire and purpose, saying: Join with me in proclaiming the greatness of the Lord; let us extol his name together.
Those who know the Lord, yet refuse to proclaim his greatness and sanctify his name to the limit of their power, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. His name is called holy because in the sublimity of his unique power he surpasses every creature and is far removed from all that he had made.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy. In a beautiful phrase Mary calls Israel the servant of the Lord. The Lord came to his aid to save him. Israel is an obedient and humble servant, in the words of Hosea: Israel was a servant, and I loved him.
Those who refuse to be humble cannot be saved. They cannot say with the prophet: See, God comes to my aid; the Lord is the helper of my soul. But anyone who makes himself humble like a little child is greater in the kingdom of heaven.
The promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever. This does not refer to the physical descendants of Abraham, but to his spiritual children. These are his descendants, sprung not from the flesh only, but who, whether circumcised or not, have followed him in faith. Circumcised as he was, Abraham believed, and this was credited to him as an act of righteousness.
The coming of the Savior was promised to Abraham and to his descendants for ever. These are the children of promise, to whom it is said: If you belong to Christ, then you are descendants of Abraham, heirs in accordance with the promise.
COLLECT
O God, who, seeing the human race fallen into death,
willed to redeem it by the coming of your Only Begotten Son,
grant, we pray,
that those who confess his Incarnation with humble fervor
may merit his company as their Redeemer.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
To speak of our Lord, the son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as true and perfect man is of no value to us if we do not believe that he is descended from the line of ancestors set out in the Gospel.
Matthew’s gospel begins by setting out the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, and then traces his human descent by bringing his ancestral line down to his mother’s husband, Joseph. On the other hand, Luke traces his parentage backward step by step to the actual father of mankind, to show that both the first and the last Adam share the same nature.
No doubt the Son of God in his omnipotence could have taught and sanctified men by appearing to them in a semblance of human form as he did to the patriarchs and prophets, when for instance he engaged in a wrestling contest or entered into conversation with them, or when he accepted their hospitality and even ate the food they set before him. But these appearances were only types, signs that mysteriously foretold the coming of one who would take a true human nature from the stock of the patriarchs who had gone before him. No mere figure, then, fulfilled the mystery of our reconciliation with God, ordained from all eternity. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon the Virgin nor had the power of the Most High overshadowed her, so that within her spotless womb Wisdom might build itself a house and the Word become flesh. The divine nature and the nature of a servant were to be united in one person so that the Creator of time might be born in time, and he through whom all things were made might be brought forth in their midst.
For unless the new man, by being made in the likeness of sinful flesh, had taken on himself the nature of our first parents, unless he had stooped to be one in substance with his mother while sharing the Father’s substance and, being alone free from sin, united our nature to his, the whole human race would still be held captive under the dominion of Satan. The Conqueror’s victory would have profited us nothing if the battle had been fought outside our human condition. But through this wonderful blending the mystery of new birth shone upon us, so that through the same Spirit by whom Christ was conceived and brought forth we too might be born again in a spiritual birth; and in consequence the evangelist declares the faithful to have been born not of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Day Nine
Mother of our Savior, the conversion of your Aztec children brought an end to infant sacrifice in Mexico. Holy Mary, we implore your help to end the infant sacrifice by abortion throughout the Americas.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
Day Eight
Mary, Mother of the Church, your apparitions at Tepeyac and the miraculous image you left fostered unity between Catholic conquerors and clergy and the millions of Aztec converts. Bring unity, Mother, to the various factions within the Church and the wider public so that all may work to establish a culture of life.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
Day Seven
Mystical Rose, your miraculous signs of Castilian roses in winter and your image on the tilma of Juan Diego led to the conversion of eight million Aztec people to Catholicism in just seven years. Mary, Mother of the Americas, intercede again for your children in the Americas, and convert the hearts of all who deny the sanctity of every human life.
Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory be …
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