To read my latest blog "Taking Christ's love to India's blind children", go to:

http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com/

Thank you.

Mark Pickup

The Reason for the Incarnation

Never think that God takes pleasure in the damnation of any person. He does not! We read in the book of Ezekiel that God does not want wicked people to die in their sin:

“As I live, says the Lord GOD, I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man’s conversion, that he may live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!” (11:33).

He restated it later in Ezekiel 18:32. Saint Peter tells us that God does not want anybody to perish but that everybody would come to repentance (cf. 2Peter 3.9). In Saint Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he said God wants “everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.” (1Timothy 2.4. Also see Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), No. 74).

God does not take pleasure in judgment. He does not! God loves humanity. He wants everyone to turn from sin and spend eternity with Him. That is why God sent His Son to earth! He is merciful – but he is also a perfect and holy God. He can not accept sin. To do so would make Him less than a perfect and Holy God.

In a degenerate age of relative truths, such as this one, someone will no doubt ask, “What is the truth?” Ah, yes—Pilate’s ancient question (John 18.38): He posed it while he was looking into the battered and abused face of truth: Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the second member of the triune God and God is truth itself (CCC: No 215-17, John 14.6). He is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12.2). Saint Peter emphatically proclaimed that there is no other name under the sun than Jesus Christ by which man can be saved (Acts 12.4). Know Jesus and you will know truth.

The perfect and Holy God requires perfection and holiness from his creation, but He also knows none of us can attain that state by our own efforts. It’s a quandary, isn’t it? God loves us with a perfect love and wants us to love Him back. Unfortunately, it is impossible for sinful man to love God. The Catechism teaches us -

“We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: “He who does not love remains in death.”

This is the dilemma of humanity. We cannot meet God’s perfect standard no matter how we try. There is a gulf between humanity and God. This is the tragic predicament of the ages, beginning with the Fall. The bridge across that great chasm is made by the outstretched arms of Christ on the cross.

God loved the world so much that he made provision to cross the gulf separating man from God in the salvific accomplishment of Jesus Christ at Calvary. You can read it for yourself in the third Chapter of John. All we must do is believe in Jesus: His outstretched arms are sufficient to carry us to reconciliation with the Father.

Fulton Sheen said, “The two greatest dramas of life are the soul in pursuit of God and God in pursuit of the soul.” Jesus makes the connection. In some ways God’s pursuit of humanity is more like wooing.

Love lies at the foundation of bridging the gap between God and man. For God so loved the world ….

Love begs a response. We must respond by choosing to love God, through Christ, even though our attempts may prove pale and uncertain. He is our mediator with God the Father.

Now maybe someone will say, “If it’s all about love then why won’t that perfect and Holy God just forget our sins as though they never happened?” He will. That’s what Calvary is all about. That is the provision God made to separate us from our sins and present us to Himself. Far be it from sinful humanity to find fault with God’s provision. It’s the free gift of salvation!

It may be free to you and me but it cost something as Christ’s Passion clearly illustrated.

That’s what Easter calls us to recognize. Through Christ’s Passion, death and resurrection he makes the spirit connection that would be impossible otherwise. He was sent with a mission because God the Father does not want humanity to die lost in their sins.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17)

That is the reason for the Incarnation. Merry Christmas!

Mark Pickup

(I'm taking a break for Christmas. Next blog will be 29 December.)

Planned Parenthood’s “Choice on Earth” cards

WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Planned Parenthood’s ‘Choice on Earth’ holiday cards are its latest assault on Christianity,” said Jim Sedlak, vice president of American life League. “By changing the word ‘peace’ to ‘choice’, Planned Parenthood is effectively implying that Mary should have considered aborting Jesus.”

American Life League’s latest video report exposes Planned Parenthood’s continued assault on Christianity. The report goes from ‘Choice on Earth’ holiday cards to Planned Parenthood’s involvement in a 1973 comic book that depicts a sacrilegious rendition of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman posing as the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“King Herod sent soldiers out to slaughter babies because he wanted to kill Jesus,” said Sedlak. “Two thousand years later, Planned Parenthood is still doing all it can to kill babies. That is what their motto ‘Choice on Earth’ really means.”

“Planned Parenthood continues to flaunt its anti-God, secular humanist agenda in its products and in our schools,” Sedlak concluded. “It is time for all Americans to stay away from this organization.”

The truth and immensity of the Incarnation

In C.S. Lewis’ wonderful children’s’ book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a mythical little Faun named Tumnus introduces the reader to a strange country (Narnia) where it is always winter but never Christmas. How dreadful that would be!

Long cold winters are endurable precisely because Christmas brightens them. I am not referring to the lights, garland, tinsel and Christmas baking – although they are all very nice, especially the baking. I am referring to that sense of Joy that lies beneath all the trimmings and traditions we hold so dear. It’s cold and frosty outside but inside it’s warm and welcoming (or it should be). In a corner or in front of a window, a brightly decorated Christmas tree twinkles. Winter’s dreary dormancy is broken by carols heralding the light and life of Christ.

Even small children can sense the joy of Christmas, beginning at an early age. Although they cannot articulate or identify the source of this joy—at a deep, subliminal level, it is Christ, not a jolly little fat man in a red suit. The Incarnation is God’s great and most extravagant gift to humanity. It is His highest expression of love.

Irony and paradox

Christmastime brings into sharp focus crucial ironies and paradoxes. It’s strange, but God uses irony and paradox to illustrate essential truths closest to His heart. You can find scores of them throughout Scripture as well as in the words and life of Jesus Christ.

- Those who are last in this world will be first in the next, those who are first now will be last then. (Matthew 18.1-4 & 19.30, Luke1.52, & 16.25)
- In weakness we find strength. In our own strength we find weakness. (See Isaiah 2.12, 2Corinthians 12.9)
- In life we find death, in death we find life. (John 12.24-25 )

Nowhere is irony more evident than the Incarnation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says this about the Incarnation:

“The coming of God’s Son to earth is an event of such immensity that God willed to prepare for it over centuries. He makes everything converge on Christ:” (No.522)

Invited into the manger

At a given moment in history, all creation, the heavens and the eternal converged at a lowly manger in Bethlehem. The Catechism puts it this way: “in this poverty heaven’s glory was made manifest.” (No. 525.) Even 2000 years later, all humanity is invited into the manger where we discover our internal poverty of spirit in light of the infant Messiah. It is in this humbled state that we can become rich.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5.3)

Trust and believe

It is this essential human state of spiritual poverty that prepares us for the kingdom of God. What is required to enter that kingdom? The Scriptures tell us that Jesus’ disciples asked him who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus responded by calling a little child to him and said,

“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18.3-4)

But “turn” from what? The commentary in my New American Catholic Study Bible expands the spiritual concept further:

“… the child is held up as a model for the disciples not because of any supposed innocence of children but because of their complete dependence on, and trust in, their parents.” God wants us to enter child-like faith and trust in him, through Christ Jesus."

It seems that only in a state of spiritual poverty is a proud humanity capable of accepting its need to utterly depend and trust God, the heavenly Father. That is when we are teachable. And so we find ourselves back in the manger amongst the smell of straw and animals, and the infant upon whom our salvation rests. But what can the child in the manger teach us? Everything that matters!

I am my brother’s keeper

Christmas calls through detestable barriers of personal autonomy (so prized in North America) and invites each individual to embrace human interdependence and step across a threshold into ‘community’ under Jesus' lordship.

Many will respond for the Season then retreat behind their treasured personal autonomy. But the Christ of the manger is also the Christ of the Passion and the Resurrection. He invites us to linger under the threshold of human community and interdependence and, perhaps, to stay throughout the year. The Christ of Christmas invites us to answer “Yes!” to that ancient question “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4.9)

O Tumnus! A place were it is always winter but never Christmas would be a terrible place indeed. Every life has its Seasons. To imagine being in the winter of life – struggling with disease, sorrow, failure or bereavement – without the hope of Christmas would be unbearable! It would be as though God had abandoned the human race.

There are people who want to take Christ out of Christmas. They do not understand what they seek. The fairytale of a jolly little fat man in a red suit may suffice for people unable to tolerate sound doctrine but is it no replacement for the truth and immensity of the Incarnation.

Mark Pickup

What my granchildren taught me on a bitterly cold day

We recently had a cold-snap in western Canada. The province was buried in drifts of snow and temperatures that hovered about minus 20 degrees Celsius. People were cooped up indoors and only ventured outside if it was absolutely necessary. Even then, many discovered their cars wouldn’t start. Back to the house they went!

It was interesting to watch how children pass the time of day when it was too cold to go outside and play. My littlest grandson, Graham, played in a simple cardboard box for the longest time.

My four year old granddaughter, Grace, was a particularly interesting study in the gentle art of passing the time of day. She dressed the family cat like a little girl of about, oh, four years old, and painted whiskers on herself and pretended she become a cat! They changed places. Gracie crawled around on her hands and knees meowing while the cat watched confused. When 'Snowflake' got tired of being a little girl he bolted -- sweater, skirt and all -- under the couch and stayed there.

Then Gracie went to her costume box, got dressed up again and became part of a circus. It was a wonderful show with all her stuffed animals doing tricks and flips off the coffee table to a sold-out audience and a cat-girl watching from under the couch. Gracie even got her Grandma to make popcorn to sell (but Gracie and her brothers ate all the inventory).

Later, they coaxed Papa (that's me) to get out of my wheelchair and onto the floor to become a dragon. Gracie became the beautiful princess caught by the dragon (Papa). It was terrible! Grace’s big brother, Carson, morphed into a super-hero and rescued her just in the nick of time time from the fire-breathing dragon!

Children don’t usually grumble about bad weather. They just make the best of being cloistered in the house. They can teach the adults in their lives a thing or two about the gentle art of passing the time of day and being content in an unfavorable situation.

To be content with our situations -- be they fair or stormy -- is an important spiritual life lesson.

It is very important to somebody like me with a degenerative disease. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of thirty years, and forced to retire on a modest pension at thirty-eight years. Now, at 54, I find myself envious of other men my age who are at the peak of their careers and earning capacities. They will retire comfortably and enjoy a comfortable, healthy old age. I will not. It is so easy to become fearful, bitter and covetous.

And yet I read in Hebrews 13.5-6:

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (cf. Deut. 31:6, 8; Josh. 1:5)

Elsewhere I read:

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." (1Tim.6.6-7)

I do not need to be afraid of the future or bitter about the present. God is with me.

In the Book of Isaiah I read about animals in the coming Kingdom of God that were formerly wild and dangerous, being led by a child. This imagery emphasizes an end to fear, terror and danger in the Kingdom of God. (Is. 11.6)

That is where my future is. I can rest content here regardless of the storms in my life.

This is what my grandchildren taught me anew on a bitterly cold day. My heart was warmed.

Mark Pickup

Joy To The World!

My grandchildren were decorating the Christmas tree. Between garland and tinsel my five year old grandson was overcome numerous times with excitement and sighed, “Christmas is my very, very favorite time of year!” Grandma smiled and went into the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later with a tray of hot chocolate drinks and gingerbread cookies. Our grandchildren’s eyes were aglow with delight for the Christmas Season.

When the tree was fully decorated the family turned out the lights in the living-room, leaving only the tree twinkling and the light from the fireplace flickering. A Nativity scene sat on the mantle. Everything was perfect.

Frosty windows, warm hearts

Outside the first cold spell of winter frosted the windows. Joy To the World! played quietly on the stereo. The music was only interrupted by the steady slurping of hot-chocolate and the munching of gingerbread. Yes, Grandma is a shameless traditionalist. I am too. I speak to my grandchildren of when God’s only begotten Son entered the world, taking on human form, in order to save mankind from their sins.

The Holy Scriptures tell us “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1.14) God became man. Jesus was that manifestation -- fully God, yet fully man. It is an enduring mystery to a puny-mind like mine. But I am glad Christ came to save sinners, like me. I love the great and historic treasury of Christmas music, spanning hundreds of years, celebrating Advent. Being the hopeless romantic that I am, that treasury gives me a connection to generations past; their own children eyes were aglow to anticipate the Christmas Season and the coming of the Lord.

Treasury of Christmas music
I mentioned Joy to the World! This beloved carol has been part of Christmas celebrations since the 18th Century. Sir Isaac Watts (1674-1748) wrote the Scripture based words of this great carol. The music was composed by George Frederic Handel (1685-1759). It is interesting to notice that the first four notes of Joy to the World! match the first four notes of Lift up Your Heads and Glory to God in Handel’s venerable oratorio, Messiah: This masterpiece was first performed in Dublin in 1742, and conducted by Handel himself. Since then, both Joy to The World! and Handel’s Messiah have been enjoyed by millions of people each Christmas Season. The refrain ‘And heaven and nature sing’ is the same as the opening orchestral notes of Comfort Ye found in Messiah.

In 1739, Charles Wesley (1707-88) wrote the words to Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. A hundred years later Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) put the words to the music we know today.
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear dates back to the Nineteenth Century. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel dates back to the 12th Century. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks dates back to the 17th Century with music also attributed to Handel. What Child Is This comes from an English Melody dating before 1640.

Keeping Christ in Christmas?

Like the Nazis before them, modern secularists and Neo-Pagans want to remove Christ from Christmas. Will they trash these beautiful carols celebrating Advent? The Incarnation is to be replaced by a hypertensive fat man dressed in a red suit from the North Pole. But wait! Even Santa Claus can be traced to a Fourth Century Bishop Saint Nicholas of Bari, the patron-saint of children.

It is so important that we keep Christ in Christmas. It’s called Christmas not Santamas. Without Christ’s at the center of Christmas there is no purpose to the Season -- unless one considers fluff and shameless consumption a purpose. Without Christ and the celebration of Advent, all the hot chocolate, and Ho-ho-hos will come up short and shallow. The Season will be as anti-climactic as taking down the tree on January 3rd only to face the deepest part of winter yet to come.

In the final analysis, the source of all true and complete joy for the human soul comes from knowing Christ. His joy lasts throughout the year for those who love and follow him.

It is my firm belief that the sum total of life’s purpose is to know, love and serve God through his Son, Jesus Christ. God first loved us with an everlasting love and the Incarnation shows this love. He knew the journey that began in Bethlehem would inexorably lead to the Calvary, yet He gave His Son that we might live with Him forever through faith (John 3.16).

This is the hope I want to convey to my beautiful grandchildren so eager for the Christmas Season. I want them to love God and believe in His Son, to follow His commandments, and to love their neighbors as themselves. This is the basis for true meaning and purpose; it is the basis for right living and rightness before our Creator. In short, it leads to lasting joy beyond the Christmas Season.

I want this for my family, and yours.

Mark Pickup

To read my latest blog post, "Ronald Reagan's Clarion Call to America" go to

http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com/

Mark