and now this

AN ARTICLE ON A CHRISTMAS THEME FOR THE BRIDGE MAGAZINE

By James Healy

Oh precious light of the universe illumine our hearts let the peoples know you and praise you, rejoicing in the warmth of grace and true freedom which you bring.

The name of Jesus is spoken with varying pronunciations all over the world.

Italians say it as Gesu.

The Spanish pronounce it to sound like Hay-soos.

The Russians say it Ee-soos.

Arabs say it in a way that is virtually indistinguishable from old Irish, the Arab word being Esa, and the Irish being Iosa.

For a small town carpenter who lived 2000 years ago Jesus Christ has certainly become widely known.

Why?

What is it about him that makes his personhood and message so resonant even after the passing of two millennia?

And how on earth can Christians claim he is still alive and that he will soon return in glory to judge the living and the dead, and to inaugurate his kingdom of peace and love, with joy to the world and eternal life for all human beings?

Good Lord.

How could any of this be possible?

Yes, I know there’s a woman who lives in Kilcullen who says she was allowed to be mystically present for a moment at the crucifixion and that she beheld Jesus bleeding on the cross and that later she herself endured her own Calvary.

Yes, I know one of my neighbours was on the edge of death and her family prayed to Jesus through the intercession of that most valiant Christian, Saint Padre Pio, and that she returned to full health.

Yes, I know my Aunt was due in hospital for a heart operation last month and that after our prayers, when the doctors opened her up they were astonished and exclaimed: “There’s nothing wrong with her heart.”

Yes, I know that when Jesus said “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” the words had a mystic power which has lost none of its grandeur through fifty generations.

Yes, I know that the miracles of Christ then and now bring tears to the eyes.

Yes, I know people at Kilcullen prayer group who claim Jesus power has broken the chains of depression and mental suffering in a way no medication ever could.

Yes, I know that Christians say the kingdom of God is very close, and that Jesus himself said: “The kingdom of God does not admit of observation. For look! The kingdom of God is among you.”

Yes I know one of my Uncles says he saw Jesus in the form of communion bread in the sun at Medjugorje.

Yes, I know Ireland’s most successful woman editor Heather Parsons claims she saw Jesus in person in the sun at Medjugorje.

Yes, I know Father Peter Rookey was blinded by a firework in childhood and regained his eyesight a year and a half later after his mother prayed the rosary every night for that healing.

Yes, I know that in October my mother died with a gentle smile on her face as we prayed the rosary around her bed in Naas hospital.

I know more.

I know Jesus still walks among us, in glory, and light, and grace, and blessings, in his servants and in his own person and in communion at mass.

Jesus still walks.

To him authority has been given.

He has authority over every power, every energy, every nation, every philosophy, every king, every president, every dictator, every boss, every trade unionist, every mental illness, every disease, every victory, every defeat, every tragedy, every joy, every career, every unemployment, every doer of good, every doer of evil, every hopelessness, every grace, every triumph, every glory.

All must answer to him,

He is God now.

No one was born to be a slave.

Not a slave to Satan, nor a slave to human oppressors, nor a slave to money, nor a slave to poverty, nor a slave to pleasure, nor a slave to pain.

He came to put an end to that.

He will be here this Christmas as a baby in the manger.

He is here to see you.

Go to him.