Match Girls And Boys

Today is Gaudete Sunday.  We wear rose vestments, and we lit the rose candle. The rose-color symbolizes joy.

Pope Francis called Gaudete Sunday the "Sunday of joy.”  He said instead of fretting about all we still haven't done to prepare for Christmas, we should think of all the good things life has given us. In other words, we should be thankful, but of great importance, we must remember that many people still wait for those good things.  Perhaps that long wait has been caused by poverty, illness, loneliness, abandonment, or guilt. They are joyless.

For many people the second reading from James rings hollow.  It reads: “Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient.  Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

Yes, patience is a virtue, but what if patience leads to nothing more than frustration when prayers just don’t seem to be answered for those in need, especially those in dire need of help – even if that need is just to be remembered and, hopefully, loved. That can be any of us.  It can be very painful for us.

So, James means for us to wait patiently.  We might think he means for the coming of the Lord that we symbolically anticipate on December 25 – Christmas, the selected date for Jesus’ birth.  However, James wasn’t thinking about Jesus’ birth.  He was talking about Jesus’ second coming – when he would come again – the so-called last day and final judgement.

Remember the sheep and the goats.  At judgment time, sheep on the right and goats on the left.   According to Matthew 25 those to the left of Jesus must depart for they are accursed and destined for eternal punishment.  Those to the right of Jesus will have righteous eternal life.  Quite graphic and a bit black and white, do you think – either or.  Whatever happened to shades of gray?  There doesn’t seem to be any.

Being a dog owner, I’d rather be a dog.  I wonder where I’d sit.  Probably on my rear end and begging for mercy.

Do we have any clues today on Gaudete Sunday about how to joyfully prepare for Jesus coming whether at Christmas as an infant, or at the last day, whenever that might be?   Our first reading from Isaiah provides some answers about preparation.

Our feeble hands must be made strong; our weak knees must be made firm; our hearts must no longer be frightened; we must not fear; we must be strong.  When we allow this to happen, our blind eyes are opened; our deaf ears are cleared; we will leap like stags; our mute tongues will sing – with joy.  

In other words, we wake up from our sleep caused by ambivalence, a don’t-both-me, I-don’t-care attitude.  Let somebody else do it.   I cannot be bothered.   When we say these things, we are asleep.

Jesus says, “Be awake!” And, Jesus says this every day because Jesus comes every day – not just at Christmas or on the last day.

Therefore, he expects us to be ready and to prepare for him.  As stated by Matthew, at an hour we do not expect, the Son of Man will come.   We will never know the hour.  How also must we prepare? Let’s check out our psalm.

We are told to be like the LORD God who secures justice for the oppressed; gives food to the hungry; sets captives free; gives sight to the blind; raises up those who are bowed down; loves the just; protects strangers; sustains the fatherless and the widow; thwarts the way of the wicked.  Now that’s quite a demanding set of qualifications.

As one example, how do we raise up those who are bowed down.  Two ways: first, by forgiving those who have trespassed against us.  Second, by removing the load from their shoulders through charity – through giving while expecting nothing in return.

I end with a famous story written in 1845 by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen entitled “The Little Match Girl.”  I’ve abbreviated the story in the interest of time.

It was dreadfully cold; it was snowing fast and was almost dark, as evening came on.  In the cold and darkness, there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded and with naked feet.

When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but they were much too large for her feet, and she lost them in running across the street.  Onwards the little girl went with her bare feet red and blue with cold.

In an old apron that she wore were bundles of matches, and she carried one bundle in her hand.  No one had bought so much as a bunch all the long day, and no one had given her even a penny.  She dared not go home, for she had sold no matches and could not bring a penny of money.

Her little hands were nearly frozen with cold.  A single match might do her good if she might only draw it from the bundle, rub it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it. So at last she drew one out.  How it blazed and burned!

It gave out a warm, bright flame like a little Christmas candle, as she held her hands over it.  It really seemed to the little girl as if she sat before a great iron stove, with polished brass feet and brass shovel and tongs.

So blessedly did it burn that the little maiden stretched out her feet to warm them also.  How comfortable she was!  But lo! the flame went out, the stove vanished, and nothing remained but the little burned match in her hand.

She rubbed another match against the wall. It burned brightly, and where the light fell upon the wall it became transparent like a veil, so she could see through it into the room.   A snow-white cloth was spread upon the table, on which was a beautiful china dinner service, while a roast goose, stuffed with apples and prunes, steamed famously, and sent forth a most savory smell.  But the match went out then, and nothing was left to her but the thick, damp wall.

She lit another match. And now she was under a most beautiful Christmas tree, larger and far more prettily trimmed than the one she had seen through the glass doors at the rich merchant's store. Hundreds of wax tapers were burning on the green branches, and gay figures, such as she had seen in the shop windows, looked down upon her.  The child stretched out her hands to them; then the match went out.

Still the lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and higher.  She saw them as stars in heaven, and one of them fell, forming a long trail of fire.  "Now someone is dying," murmured the child softly; her grandmother – the  only person who had loved her and who was now dead – had told her that whenever a star falls, a soul mounts up to God.

She struck yet another match against the wall, and again it was light; and in the brightness there appeared her dear old grandmother, bright and radiant, yet sweet and mild, and happy as she had never looked on earth. "Oh, grandmother," cried the child, "take me with you. I know you will go away when the match burns out. You, too, will vanish, like the warm stove, the splendid New Year's feast, the beautiful Christmas Tree."

And lest her grandmother should disappear, she rubbed the whole bundle of matches against the wall. And the matches burned with such a brilliant light that it became brighter than noonday.  Her grandmother had never looked so grand and beautiful.  She took the little girl in her arms, and both flew together, joyously and gloriously, mounting higher and higher, far above the earth; and for them there was neither hunger, nor cold, nor care—they were with God.

But in the corner, at the dawn of day, sat the poor girl, leaning against the wall, with red cheeks and smiling mouth—frozen to death.  Stiff and cold she sat, with the matches, one bundle of which was burned.

"She wanted to warm herself, poor little thing," people said.  No one imagined what sweet visions she had had, or how gloriously she had gone with her grandmother to enter upon the joys of a new year.

The message of this story is simple. We all need to be books of matches for the poor little match girls, and boys, this Christmas. We must provide

joy and light in their lives, even if for a short period of time. We must hear our psalm.  We must listen to Isaiah. The messages are clear.   It’s up to all of us to bring joy to the world making it clear that the Lord has come.

Deacon David Pierce