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Friday of the Third Week of Advent

Readings of the Day 
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Advent has always been a time of joy-filled anticipation for me, and I
love everything about the season: the hope-filled liturgies, the
festive decorations, and especially planning out special Christmas
gifts for loved ones.

I remember several years ago having conversations with my Catholic
Charities colleagues, who recommended that I buy my family a DNA
Ancestry Kit for Christmas, recounting the fun that their own
relatives had looking into their family histories from this
perspective. It was a process that both confirmed stories about recent
ancestors that were passed on to them orally, and also sometimes
discovered relatives from generations past who had come from very
faraway places. It was a reflection that migration has always been an
integral part of the human story from time immemorial, and that
despite our perceived linguistic, cultural and physical differences,
we are indeed all part of one human family.  

This Christmas gift suggestion of my colleagues came to mind as I read
today's Gospel, in which Saint Matthew details the genealogy of
Jesus. Saint Matthew's account - which begins with the
Patriarch Abraham - list three sets of fourteen ancestors for a total
of 42 generations between the time of Abraham and Jesus' birth.
The men and women of these 42 generations - the ancestors of
Jesus Himself who had experienced not only God's blessings and
providence, but also times of slavery, Exodus, war and exile -
lived lives and had experiences not too dissimilar to the experiences
of some of the 272 million international migrants of today - over 3.5%
of the world's population - 160,000 of whom Catholic Charities
Agencies throughout the country assisted with shelter and respite care
last year.

At Christmastime, I always find it powerful to recall that as the Son
of God, Jesus Himself could have chosen any means to enter into our
world. Yet He chose to be born into a family, one that like each of
our own is the product of generations of men and women who came before
us - through travels and triumphs and hardships - and gave
us life. The message that Jesus delivers to us at Christmas through
his humble birth is for me the greatest testament to the dignity of
every human person - and the best Christmas gift we could ever
ask for.        

 

Tom Dobbins Jr. is the Justice and Peace Coordinator of Catholic
Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, a Producer for the
"JustLove" radio broadcast on Sirius/XM's Catholic
Channel 129, and the Chair Emeritus of the Roundtable Association of
Catholic Diocesan Social Action Directors. 




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