Fullerton T

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, and it is a  good time to stop and reflect on the meaning of the Family. As we reflect on the family with the continuing COVID19 pandemic we remember those families who are struggling at this time. We also remember those families who have lost loved ones this year for whatever reason and we say a prayer for all of them.

This Sunday, we commemorate a family in deep stress because their Son is seen as a threat to a jealous king as Joseph and Mary are running for their lives from Herod the Great. Tradition says that after three years in exile, another angel informs Joseph that Herod is dead. The Holy Family returns to their homeland, not to Bethlehem, since the new king who reigns in his father’s place is also a barbaric ruler. Joseph brings Mary and Jesus to his native town of Nazareth in Galilee. There, they lived a simple ordinary life, Joseph as a carpenter, and Mary as his wife and mother of Jesus.

Jesus grew in holiness and in knowledge of God’s will in the same ordinary ways that families do in our day. We  also remember the care that Mary and Joseph gave to Jesus. We recognize the sacrifice they made for Jesus, in the same way as we recognize the sacrifices our parents made for us  and many more  are making for their children today in our I want I get world.    For us who have come together to celebrate the Holy Family of Nazareth, the feast is a reminder of all that the Christian Family has means to us.  We remember that we have come to know Jesus  through the guidance and the love and support, of our parents!  In this Sundays  Gospel reading Simeon makes his prophecy about Christ’s destiny and as it says, ‘the child’s father and mother stood there wondering about him. Every parent wonders about their children and every parent is full of hope for their children. Over a period of time this might turn in to fear and anxiety, but the fundamental feeling of hope is still there. 

We hope that everything will turn out well for them; we hope that they will make a success of life; we hope that they will be safe and keep out of trouble; and that they will be happy.  As we think about family life and what it is now we pray that the great ideal of the Family  will continue to be cherished and that we will celebrate it in our own lives and the lives of our families especially during the COVID19 pandemic.

Christmas 2020

Little did I think that when 2020 began that I would be writing this reflection with the covid19 pandemic continuing. We remember in a particular way all those who are affected by the pandemic. Many people have lost loved ones as a result of Covid and we pray for them. We also pray for all the healthcare professionals who have been in the frontline .

For the last four weeks of advent we have been looking forward to the coming of Christ into our world with all its ups and downs. We have completed our advent spiritual preparation So now  then let us rejoice in the Lord.

At this time when we celebrate the birth of “a saviour who has been born for” us, who is “a great light” in the darkness of the world around us, we welcome an opportunity to put aside our cares and worries as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.   None of us will travel to Bethlehem to behold the  new-born infant lying in the manger in the way the shepherds and the wise men did in their time. But all of us travel the road of daily life, and we are called to see Jesus the new-born Infant in all the people we come across especially those who need a helping hand especially during the COVID pandemic. We remember in a special way all those who have died especially those who lost their lives as a result of COVID19 and we keep their families in our prayers.

The customs of this season are veiled announcements of one message: Christ is born for us. To remove the veil, to hear the good news, we gather together in our churches. There the message of Christmas speaks loud and clear. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us, “In times past, God spoke in  various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he speaks to us through his Son.” The customs of Christmas speak the message in partial ways, but God speaks the message clearly through his Son, who has come into our midst. At Christmas the whole community of heaven joins with all believers on earth in a jubilant song of praise for the good news proclaimed by the angels:  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 Saviour, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:10-11). Christmas is the annual renewal of being filled with wonder at the nearness of God. The nearer we are to our God, the nearer we come to those lowly ones who are God’s special ones. We are challenged at Christmas to do what Jesus and the angels did: bring the good news to the outcast and the lowly. The “tidings of great joy to be shared by the whole people,” and no one is to be left out.  Christmas is a great celebration of our faith in Jesus. We gather to celebrate light in the midst of darkness; we celebrate the new hope that Jesus has generated in people down the centuries. He is our light; he is our hope. When we want to know God, it is to Jesus that we turn; when we want to worship God, it is through Jesus that we sing our praises.

We too give glory to God in the highest for revealing himself to the lowly:  So with Mary and Joseph with the shepherds the Angels and  Arch Angels and the whole company of heaven  let us adore the Christ Child the child in the manger who is the reason for the Season that we celebrate at Christmas.

4th Sunday of Advent

This week we have heard that the local covid19 lock down restrictions will be reimposed here in Northern Ireland for another 6 weeks from the 26^th December. It is very easy to be critical of these decisions and we cannot forget the fact that they will affect the livelihoods of many people as COVID-19 itself has affected all of us and continues to do so.. We also remember that the NHS could be overwhelmed with COVID19 as well as the normal pressures of this time of year and we pray for everyone that they will get the strength to keep on going despite the difficulties that might lie ahead.

This weekend we celebrate the 4^th Sunday of Advent and we hear the story of the Angel Gabriel coming to tell Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus. But as we hear this story we should stop and step aside from all the ongoing activities of this time of year to think about how Mary felt when she got this news that she was to have a child. Luke tells us, ” she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”

The angel has to reassure her, “Do not fear Mary.” – she must have been afraid. In that uneasy world of Galilee, a place of conflict and struggle, Mary’s personal response showed confusion and doubt. Still, Mary did not get a road map of the future neither do we especially these days with of COVID19.  Gabriel announced the conception and birth of royalty. Mary’s child would be “great”. He would be Son of the “Most High” (a title for the greatest God, the highest concept of divinity one could have. The title “Son of” indicated a unique, intimate relationship with this highest God and a sharing in this God’s power). He would have the Davidic throne of Israel forever. [1:32] Mary made room for God in her life. Scripture suggests God wants to enter more fully into our lives; with all the good and bad and all the happy and sad times that are part and parcel of our lives. Mary accepted, even proclaimed, God’s will in her life. She placed her future in the hands of the Father so should we.

Marys example should inspire us to stand firm as Christians in today’s world of ever-changing fads and fancies as we face up to the secular razzmatazz in the run up to Christmas. Remember, the words of others may sting, but the Spirit of God burns within. The divine fire can withstand the darts others fling toward us. This Christmas will give us many challenges as this past year has and we should place ourselves and our future in the hands of our heavenly Father as Mary did  and we wont go far wrong at all.

Gaudete Sunday 3rd Sunday of Advent

This weekend we continue our Advent Journey as we come out of another lockdown here in NI. We thank God that the Vaccine has been found and approved for use with the first doses been given ,we pray for the continuing success of all the scientists who have brought us to this point.

This Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent it is also known as Gaudete Sunday. In some places Rose vestments are used and we light the pink candle on the Advent wreath. It is a Sunday when we rejoice as we look forward to the birth of Jesus. In our parish we are celebrating Bambinelli Sunday though in a reduced way.  This  is a Roman tradition where  the priest will bless the baby Jesus from family cribs brought to Mass by the children on Gaudete Sunday.   The blessing of the Bambinelli reminds us that the crib is a school of life where we can learn the secret of true joy.

This does not consist in having many things but in feeling loved by the Lord, in giving oneself as a gift for others and in loving one another. As we prepare for the birth of Jesus we have to ask ourselves is God made real through the baby Jesus present in our own life stories especially this year with the continuing pandemic? Our Gospel story tells us about John the Baptist who was the voice crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord. John the Evangelist presented the Baptist as God’s witness, the one who spoke eternal truth in a transient world. John’s message and ministry of a repentant baptism prefigured Christ’s. John baptised in the spirit of hope and we live in the spirit of hope. The baptism of Jesus realised that hope. Those baptised by John looked forward to a life with God. Those baptised by the Christ lived in God as we live in God.

We rejoice and praise God on this Gaudete Sunday. We thank him for all he has done for us in our own lives and in the lives of all those who are near and dear to us, families and friends wherever they are especially at this time. We rejoice that through the coming of Jesus we have come to know God as our Father. We do our best to follow his Gospel of love in a spirit of joy. As we continue our Advent journey  along the road that leads us to salvation let us prepare the way for the Lord in our own lives remembering that in  the words of the Entrance Antiphon  we should rejoice in the Lord always; for the Lord is near.