Surprised...

Surprised...This is how the shepherds felt when the angels announced to them the birth of Christ the Saviour of Mankind. It is written in the Gospel according to St. Luke how the angel announced it ["Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!"] (Luke 2: 10-14).Christ the Lord was born in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem away from the big cities of the Roman empire. The Holy Family had to escape the cruelty and assault of Herod the tyrant king as he became jealous that a new king was born. The Holy Family escaped to Egypt where they stayed for a few years until the tyrant was dead. Throughout his life, Jesus sided with the weak and sinners. He performed miracles for the simple and showed the real face of a loving God. He surprised the priests that he went in the house of Zacchae'us the chief tax collector after he promised to give half of his money to the poor and if he defrauded anyone, he would restore it fourfold. And Jesus said "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost."  (Luke 19: 2-10). This is the message of Christ who loves all human beings "For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost."  The priests, pharisees and scribes who went by the Law of Moses were surprised that he claimed to forgive those whom he healed. When the leaders of the Jews questioned him how he dared to claim that he came from God while they were the sons of Abraham, Jesus answered them "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad." The Jews then said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." (John 8: 56-58). When arrested by the Jewish authorities for claiming that he was the Son of God, Ca'iaphas the high priest questioned him -  But he was silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" And Jesus said, "I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." And the high priest tore his garments, and said, "Why do we still need witnesses?  You have now heard his blasphemy." (Matthew 26: 57-65). Jesus was mocked by the Roman governor Pilate and his soldiers. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe upon him, and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they spat upon him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him. Under the cross his mother the most pure Virgin Mary stood crying and John the Apostle was asked by Jesus to take her into his care. When Christ rose from the dead, he first appeared to the women whose testimony was not considered equal to that of men...Naming the Virgin Mary "Batoul" was explained by Fr. Georges Farah here. In his scholarly work he expresses the ancient tradition that the virgin Mary is called "The Temple of God". In fact, most of the Apostles paid the ultimate sacrifice for their faith in Christ. The early Church grew among peasants and workers before it reached kings and eventually Constantine. In the first 300 years Decius, Valerian and Diocletian persecuted Christians.  In March this year, I wrote an essay on the development of Christianity here. This can be a useful reference for Christians seeking clarification to the long history from the Apostles to early witnesses, medieval saints and scholastics, Counter-Reformation movements, The Enlightenment and scholarly Christian responses to doubts. Against doubts today, there is much evidence to support the Resurrection of Christ. The reader may wish to read Professor Peter Kreeft here, the excerpt on the Truth of the Resurrection in the scholarly work of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) here and the work of the Jesuit scholar Fr. Gerald O'Collins here. After his Resurrection, Christ sent his disciples to the nations. [And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."] (Matthew 28: 18-20). In his Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul also encourages Christians with these words "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2: 5-11).
Today Christians face difficulties and persecution in most countries of the world. They include populations in Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia. In a recent homily dated Sunday August 12, the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri  Boulad mentioned the long and difficult way to "the mountain of the Lord" that the great Prophet Elijah had to go through, and compared it to the way Christians in Egypt face difficulties in harassment and persecution in addition to their daily lives. He gave the example of a mother who takes multiple transportation routes in order to arrive home and cook dinner for her hungry children. With inflation, the daily life of Egypt's undernourished class is hard enough to discourage and depress families. Egyptian Christians have faced persecution for a long time that their resolve was strengthened by faith. How long would it remain? (homily in French subtitled in English can be found here). In Canada, the liberal government of Justin Trudeau has put new rules to stop immigration to Canada by priests and nuns citing that they are not productive to Canada's economy. Radical Islam continues to rock populations in Europe (see report of an Islamist attack on December 11 in Strasbourg France updated by BBC here).
But there has been much development in medical and physical sciences especially with advanced technology. We need to be informed of the natural world that St. Thomas Aquinas opened up since the 13th century with his philosophical and theological inquiries (see Thomism here). Fr. Daniel Callam, CSB, continues to teach on the Sacraments, Baptism and other important spiritual realities at the University of St. Thomas in Houston (see his lecture on Baptism published on YouTube here).
This year I wrote a post titled: The Cosmos, Quantum Uncertainty, Artificial Intelligence, and Faith which can be read here. In September, Quanta Magazine published an article on new studies of machine learning here. To the surprise of scientists, on December 11 this year, CERN published an article on a brand-new beam screen to cope with high luminosity in the search of sub-particles in the universe (see it here).
In spite of disturbing news, Christians remain confident that Christ will be triumphant in the end (read me here).
This is the hope found in the Book of Revelation. Msgr. Robert Nusca, a renowned Biblical scholar and Pastor at Holy Rosary in Toronto wrote an impressive book in which he compares Apocalyptic signs to today's permissive culture - The book is titled "The Christ of the Apocalypse: Contemplating The Face of Jesus in the Book of Revelation"....Christ Shall be Victorious!