Feast of Saint Adelaide

Good morning. Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky, little lamb, do you see what I see? A star, a star dancing in the night… Do you know what I know? A Child, a Child shivers in the cold…. In just a few days we will be celebrating the birth of this Child born into poverty, in a God forsaken place, at a time of great political turmoil. We find ourselves returning to a manger in a cave not far from a field where shepherds are watching over their flock under the night sky. As we view the crèche and we sing the hymns we find ourselves kneeling before a manger in the town of David and like the people of that day we are looking for Jesus and waiting for him to unveil his salvation. But it doesn’t and shouldn’t end there.

Jesus in today’s Gospel notes that John the Baptist “was a burning and shining lamp” and the people of the day had numerous writings of the old covenant which directed them to the Christ Who was present among them—yet, they failed to believe. Like the contemporaries of John the Baptist we find ourselves seeking His coming, we look to the manger, to choirs of angels, and to images of dromedaries, yet it cannot end there. For if our seeking ends there, we will fail in seeing that Jesus has something to say to us in our world today. Like those questioning, those listening and those wondering, and trying to determine if Jesus was the One, we too seek the Truth and sometimes we fail to see it amongst the hurt and pain we cause one another. Sometimes we fail to see the Truth amongst the greed and selfishness of “Black Friday’s”, primetime sex at the rate of nine scenes per hour, the sexually charged and degrading gangsta rap jive, and the socially disengaged climate of our current day society. We recognize ourselves amongst the shepherds filled with awe and wonder, we recognize ourselves amongst those listening to John on the banks of the River Jordan, and we likewise wait and hope for His Second Coming, we await a time in the words of Isaiah when the “calf and the young lion shall browse together” and “his dwelling shall be glorious.”

At least for a moment this time of year we can and we typically do recognize ourselves kneeling before that manger in that far away place and time, yet we cannot allow it to end there but we need to continue to seek Him in our actions here and now, in our marital relationship and in our interactions with our children, and amongst those we meet in our day to day lives. In the example given by our Saint for today, Queen Adelaide, we are sinners by nature, yet by the grace of God we can make His presence known here and now in our actions with one another today. “Sinner by nature and Empress by the grace of God.”   O come, Lord Jesus. Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and works of Saint Adelaide.