WHITE HOUSE JESUIT RETREAT

St. Louis, MO 63129

1-800-643-1003

Jesuit retreat center high on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, MO.  Since 1922, thousands of people from around the world make annual three-day silent, guided retreats here to relax, reconnect with God and strengthen their spirituality.  A true gem in the Midwest!  Call 314-416-6400 or 1-800-643-1003.  Email reservations@whretreat.org  7400 Christopher Rd.  St. Louis, MO 63129

Both men's and women's retreats are offered as well as recovery retreats.

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Weekend Reflections for 12/18/20

December 17, 2020  /  Joe Parisi

Fourth Week of Advent

The readings for this week complete our preparations for the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. The word made flesh has fully come into our world.  As far as Mary and Joseph were concerned the circumstances of his birth were certainly not what they wanted nor expected. They may have wondered what they had done wrong to have this baby born in this manner, in this place and so abandoned. It’s noteworthy that Scripture records no complaints or regrets.

This is the manner, the place and the circumstances that God has chosen for his son to fully enter the human scene.

This scenario reminds us of what St. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians chapter 2, most likely quoting from a very ancient Christian hymn:  "Although he [the eternal Logos] was in the form of God, he did not think being equivalent to God was anything to be held onto, so he emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant and becoming like all other human beings."

Michael Himes, a renowned professor of theology at Boston College, suggests ”That this “is unquestionably the most radical statement of the dignity of the human person that has ever been made.” 

Himes goes on to explain that “the Christian tradition does not say human beings are of such immense dignity that God really loves them. It does not say that human beings are of such dignity that God has a magnificent destiny in store for them. Nor does it say alone that human beings are of such dignity that they have been fashioned in the image and likeness of God. No, the Christian tradition says something far more radical: human beings are of such dignity that God has chosen to be one. God does not think being God is anything to be grasped; God empties himself and becomes human like all other human beings.” [Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education. Fall 1995: 21-27]

Our existence as a human being is a gift of the ever creating God.  In the humanity of Jesus Christ we can begin to grasp and realize what an incredible and precious gift we have received.

A blessed Christmas to you and yours!

-Jim Blumeyer, S.J.