THY Kingdom come…
An Ox and an Ass
“The Nativity”, Lorenzo Monaco; 1409
First published December 27th, 2006
Why lies he in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding? —What Child Is This?, Christmas Carol
NO retinue of guards. No legion of angels. Not even the welcome mat of the High Priests. God, incarnate in the flesh, is greeted into the world by an ox and ass.
While the early Fathers interpreted these two creatures as symbolic of the Jews and pagans, and thus all of humanity, a further interpretation came to mind at Midnight Mass.
Christmas Myrrh
IMAGINE it’s Christmas morning, your spouse leans over with a smile and says, “Here. This is for you.” You unwrap the gift and find a small wooden box. You open it and a waft of perfume rises from little resin chunks.
“What is it?” you ask.
“It’s myrrh. It was used in ancient times for embalming a corpse and burning as an incense at funerals. I thought it would be great at your wake someday.”
“Uh… thanks… thanks, dear.”
Christ in You
First Published December 22nd, 2005
I HAD many little things to do today in preparation for Christmas. As I passed people—the cashier at the till, the guy filling up with gas, the courier at the bus stop—I felt drawn to their presence. I smiled, I said hello, I chatted with strangers. As I did, something marvelous began to happen.
Christ was looking back at me.
An Interview on the End Times
ARE we truly living in the "end times"? This is the question Salt + Light Television host Pedro Guevara Mann puts to EHTV’s Mark Mallett in a blunt and compelling interview from a Catholic viewpoint. Mark answers the questions many of us are asking, putting the question of the "end times" into perspective without overlooking the dramatic signs of our day. This is the interview that took place in Toronto for the October 15th edition of S + L’s Perspectives.
To watch An Interview on the End Times,
go to www.embracinghope.tv
The Second Coming
FROM a reader:
There is so much confusion regarding the “second coming” of Jesus. Some call it the “Eucharistic reign”, namely His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Others, the actual physical presence of Jesus reigning in the flesh. What is your opinion on this? I am confused…
What is Truth?
Christ In Front Of Pontius Pilate by Henry Coller
Recently, I was attending an event where a young man with a baby in his arms approached me. “Are you Mark Mallett?” The young father went on to explain that, several years ago, he came across my writings. “They woke up me up,” he said. “I realized I had to get my life together and stay focused. Your writings have been helping me ever since.”
Those familiar with this website know that the writings here seem to dance between both encouragement and the “warning”; hope and reality; the need to stay grounded and yet focused, as a Great Storm begins to swirl around us. “Stay sober” Peter and Paul wrote. “Watch and pray” Our Lord said. But not in a spirit of morose. Not in spirit of fear, rather, joyful anticipation of all that God can and will do, no matter how dark the night becomes. I confess, it’s a real balancing act for somedays as I weigh which “word” is more important. In truth, I could often write you every day. The problem is that most of you have a difficult enough time keeping up as it is! That’s why I’m praying about re-introducing a short webcast format…. more on that later.
So, today was no different as I sat in front of my computer with several words on my mind: “Pontius Pilate… What is Truth?… Revolution… the Passion of the Church…” and so on. So I searched my own blog and found this writing of mine from 2010. It summarizes all of these thoughts together! So I have republished it today with a few comments here and there to update it. I send it in hopes that perhaps one more soul who is asleep will awaken.
First published December 2nd, 2010…
“WHAT is truth?” That was Pontius Pilate’s rhetorical response to Jesus’ words:
For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. (John 18:37)
Pilate’s question is the turning point, the hinge on which the door to Christ’s final Passion was to be opened. Until then, Pilate resisted handing Jesus over to death. But after Jesus identifies Himself as the source of truth, Pilate caves into the pressure, caves into relativism, and decides to leave the fate of Truth in the hands of the people. Yes, Pilate washes his hands of Truth itself.
If the body of Christ is to follow its Head into its own Passion— what the Catechism calls “a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers,” [1]CCC 675 — then I believe we too will see the time when our persecutors will dismiss the natural moral law saying, “What is truth?”; a time when the world will also wash its hands of the “sacrament of truth,”[2]CCC 776, 780 the Church herself.
Tell me brothers and sisters, has this not already begun?