December 17/Third Wednesday of Advent
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. ~ Matt. 1.1
For a few years in the early 2000s, the New York Times published a popular column known as “Boldface Names,” which focused on the social scene, celebrity sightings, and news about famous or notable people in New York City’s culture, fashion, and entertainment worlds. It is safe to say that few of the nearly fifty ancestors of Jesus listed in Matthew’s extensive genealogy would have made the cut. While we recognize a handful – Abraham and Isaac, David the king, Solomon, Joseph the husband of Mary – most are obscure and unknown. Raise your hand if you can identify Nahshon or Eliakim! Most of these men and women (the inclusion of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba was unusual, to say the least, and signified the presence of non-Jews in Jesus’ ancestry) did not make headline news. Yet each of them had a role to play in the history of salvation. As George Eliot wrote in Middlemarch, “The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who led faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” There are many people in the communion of saints, both in our biological and spiritual families, who have quietly served God, loved others, and increased the amount of good in the world. A widowed young mother who supported other family members despite her own penury, a small business owner who reached out to troubled teenagers, a priest who ministered faithfully to the homeless — each of us knows men and women who led that “hidden life” of love and service. When we, too, seek to love and to serve, we become links in the great chain that God is creating, a chain whose power exceeds anything we can imagine.
O God of every living creature, Grant that I may be ever mindful of the generosity and sacrifice of those who have gone before me, and make me, like them, an instrument of your peace. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121725.cfm
To hear the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir sing “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light,” by Kathleen Thomerson, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6C7FzDN6Yc&list=RD-6C7FzDN6Yc&start_radio=1
