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RELIGION LITURGY AND LIFE

Archive for the month “December, 2024”

28 Dec 2024

Feast of the Holy Family

This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family our parish feast day as we begin the Holy Year of Hope in our diocese. I struggle with the disparity between the holiness of the Holy Family as reflected in many pictures and religious art compared to the reality of family life in the present day. In the First Reading we are told that respect and care for our parents brings great benefits, including answered prayers and a long life. In the Second Reading we are called to Embrace the virtues of compassion and kindness, and forgiveness so that Christ’s peace will rule our hearts.  In Luke’s gospel we listen to the story of boy Jesus stepping outside the family circle to engage elders in the temple. That had to be more exciting for Jesus than helping in the workshop or bringing in water from the well.

When Mary and Joseph find him in the temple 3 days later  they discover him talking with the teachers of the law busy with his Fathers work. The challenges for families today are as insistent and more intense than ever before in human history.  The drumbeat of consumerism focuses us on things you possess  instead of relationships with other people. Technology focuses us on how many “likes” we can collect as if those “likes” amounted to being truly loved and cared for which they really are not about.  Mobile phone technology removes the need to “listen” to one another in face to face conversations as Individuals control their contacts. We quickly learn how to “unfriend” people who annoy us. Even though voices from the past are loud and insistent, some parts of our world seems to be  moving towards authoritarian leadership fuelled by divisive rhetoric. On this day when we celebrate the Holy Family  we can only hope to find in the good news a way to transform our families. In Luke’s gospel, the return of Jesus to  his parents and in his listening to them is a model for not only children but also parents. In his rule Saint Benedict put it well when he said you should listen with the ear of your heart.

We need to listen to our children, to our spouses, to our extended families. If we listen with the ear of our hearts we learn from them, share with them, help them in their personal struggles as we share in their accomplishments hopes and dreams. Then when they look they will see that the road we are taking is the better road and join us along the way. As we think about the Holy Family we recognize the sacrifice that Joseph and Mary  made for Jesus, in the same way as we recognize the many sacrifices our own parents made for us  and many more  are making for their children today in our I want I get world.   Our families would find the disagreements, stressful relationships, and resentments that spoil the joy of family harmony so much easier to solve by trying to imitate the faith, love and trust of the Holy Family. So now as pilgrims of hope we pray for our families “Lord Jesus, you came to restore us to unity with the Father in heaven. May all our families find peace, wholeness, and unity in you, the Prince of Peace during this Holy Year of Hope.

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24 Dec 2024

CHRISTMAS 2024

This Christmas we begin the Holy Year of 2025 with the opening of the Holy Door is St Peters in Rome. The theme of the year is Pilgrims of Hope and Christmas is all about Hope and Joy. At Christmas the Christian Churches throughout the world celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ,  as we remember “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” The Son of God became man to give us a share in that divine life which is eternally His in the Blessed Trinity. Throughout the Advent season we have waited for the coming of our Savior. Now on the 25th of December we celebrate His birth with unrestrained joy.

The readings for the Nativity of the Lord emphasize the joyous celebration of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God becoming one of us. Christmas is all about  the saving grace of Jesus, and the light and salvation brought by the birth of our Savior. During the Christmas season there is an extensive exchange of greetings, gifts and good wishes among friends. These greetings are a reminder of those “good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people, for this day is born to you a Savior Who is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). They are a reminder, too, that all blessings and graces come to us from Christ. With the exchange of gifts comes the responsibility to remember those who have little or nothing at all in terms of a roof over their heads and food in the cupboard. During Christmas we are reminded  of the mystery of Mary as Mother of God, mother of the Incarnate Word, and mother of His mystical body, the Church. Christmas encourages us to contemplate Jesus together with Mary and Joseph reflecting on Jesus with ‘His mother’, as recounted many times in the Gospels.

Our faith cannot neglect a profound devotion to the Mother of God, as she shows us the easiest way to reach Jesus. Christmas reminds us of the great mystery of God’s people, the Church animated by the life giving Spirit. So, why do we celebrate Christmas? It is more than the birth of Jesus. It is a celebration of God with us. It is the realization that God’s love for us and faithfulness to us dwells among us. It is a sign that we are to carry that love and faithfulness to other people. Like the Baptist, we, too, are to witness to God’s living, breathing Word and we are called to be faithful so let us adore the Lord Jesus in the manger the reason for the season and bring his love and joy to those we meet in the days ahead as we begin the Holy Year as Pilgrims of Hope.

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20 Dec 2024

4th Sunday of Advent

This weekend we light the third purple candle on the Advent wreath as the anticipation grows to a crescendo as we  draw closer to the celebration of the Christmas mysteries. Christmas is almost upon us: yet are we ready in the true sense of the word remembering that Jesus is the reason for the season? Christmas we are told is a time for so many things  yet for many it is a time of stress and pressure with all the extra work to sort out every­thing that needs to be done.  For many it is a time when we are fearful that the children won’t be disappointed or that there will be tension in relationships or there will be a breakdown in the ceasefire with the in-laws.  

In the first reading from Micah Jerusalem was under siege and Davids dynasty was in peril. The prophet said that salvation would come from an insignificant place and that was Bethlehem from there a new leader would gather the nations together into one people.  In the second reading from Hebrews the sacrifices mosaic law were unable to purify the people from sin. Only Christ himself was able to bring the reconciliation between  god and his people. We  meet Mary and her cousin Elisabeth in our Gospel reading. Mary, who herself had been prepared for the coming of the Messiah. She has heard the angel’s greeting, and his strange news, and has accepted her role in God’s plan.  Now she hurries to her kinswoman, Elizabeth, who herself bears John the Baptist in her womb. John, alerts us to the presence of the Lord, as he leaps for joy in his mother’s womb. His joy is that God has kept his promise, and is with his people.  That two women were chosen to play such a role in the story of salvation is remarkable, as women were often marginalized in the society of their time.

In all these events we see the great mission that Mary undertook as a privileged instrument in the hands of God. Mary is not only the mother of the source of grace; she is the very model of what a Christian heart should look like. We look to Mary to see our fullest Christian dig­nity. In Lumen Gentium 68, Vatican II describes our contem­plation of Mary as an act of entering our own deepest mystery, catching a glimpse of what we shall he at the end of our faith journey. Over the next few days the journey to Christmas will have many pressures for everyone especially those who are worried about so many things family and otherwise.  Mary in her calm gentle way encourages us to trust in God’s word and to believe in God’s promises as she did. The great Christmas feast is almost here. As always in Advent, what is promised in the first reading is brought to fulfilment in the Gospel reading. We began Advent with the cry, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. We will end it at Christmas with the joyful shout, ‘God is with us!’

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14 Dec 2024

3rd Sunday of Advent

On this the 3rd Sunday of advent we light the rose coloured candle on the advent wreath and the vestments at mass may be Rose as well. This Sunday is also known as Gaudete Sunday as we rejoice that the Lord is near.  Last week we heard about John’s ministry of preaching repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. The idea of repentance is about turning around and facing in a new direction. John’s call to the people was to turn away from the old ways of life and to turn towards God. The Gospel opens with the people, the tax collectors and some soldiers, having heard the call to change their lives, all asking John, ‘What must we do?” We should also be asking ourselves what must we do?

 Both John the Baptist and Paul share one belief: that the Lord is very near. God’s nearness didn’t act as a threat to them, but gave them a infectious  source of joy that no one could take away  from them. Their joy in the closeness of God gave an edge to their preaching and teaching. It gave them a vision to see the far side of disaster; it moved them to draw others into that sense of joy.  None of them was closed in his own joy they moved out going round in the hope their  inner joy would be caught by the people of their time and place and many people were caught by the joy they had to pass on to them. The picture of John the Baptist as a man of joy is not one you hear about very often. John is usually portrayed as a lonesome figure, with a weird wardrobe and weirder diet, who rants and raves at anyone with ears  to hear. But John was a character who intrigued people and as a result they would seek him out and follow him. People don’t journey into the wilderness just to get insulted; you don’t become disciples for the wardrobe and diet.Here was a man who cared nothing at all for comfort, money or fame, who could not be bought, and who would speak the truth without fear. In John people could see something of God.

John spoke in words they could grasp when he told them exactly what they should be doing.  He made such a deep impression on the crowd that word goes around that he might be the Christ. That expectant feeling is a measure of John’s effect on people around him. John did not  claim to know who the Messiah was going to be instead he tells the people that he is not that person. That role is for someone else, someone greater and more powerful than he was.  And as we know that person was Jesus the Son of the Father. We are called to be joyful witnesses to Jesus but as we know with all that is going on around us these days that is not easy. There are many things that continue to block the presence of the Lord within us. It’s time for us to answer the question what must we do and that is to  prepare the way so that we will be able to welcome Jesus  into our lives our hearts and our homes at Christmas. Let us  Rejoice in the lord always because the Lord is near.

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06 Dec 2024

2Nd Sunday of Advent

This Sunday we light the second purple candle on the Advent Wreath The sense of preparing is very strong in our readings this weekend. The Gospel highlights the role of John the Baptist as the one who prepares the way for Jesus. The first reading from the prophet Baruch is a call to do the same. It talks about taking off the dress of sorrow and distress and putting on the beauty and glory of God. It’s a call for the people to become God’s people.  In the Responsorial Psalm we hear about the  marvels the Lord worked for us! When the Lord restored Zion, they were overjoyed. Nations acknowledged God’s great deeds as they rejoiced, knowing that their sorrow would turn into joy.  

In the Second Reading  from St Pauls letter to the Philippians Paul says I joyfully pray for you, confident that God will complete His work in you. He goes on to say I pray your love grows in knowledge, so you can discern what is best and be righteous in Christ. John was  the herald of the Lord calling the people of his time and ours to  repentance John the Baptist plays a prominent role in all the gospels, but particularly in Luke. John hears the word in the desert and preaches throughout the whole region of the Jordan prepare the way for the Lord make straight his paths. The Jordan was another important place in the faith life of the Jewish believers. After their desert wanderings the people crossed over the Jordan river into the promised land. They left behind slavery, came to know God in the desert and were finally prepared by God to cross into new life.  Blessed John Henry Newman reminds us that “Advent is a time of waiting; it is a time of joy because the coming of Christ is not only a gift of grace and salvation it is also a time for commitment because it motivates us to live the present as a time of responsibility and vigilance.  

We all need help and encouragement to leave behind all the things that have become destructive in our lives. We need help in thinking about ourselves differently. We have to take time to reflect on the kind of person God wants us to be and what God’s plan is for us as we prepare the way for the Lord in 2024. This  means as we prepare the way for the Lord we prune away all that hinders us from making Jesus welcome when he comes at Christmas .  Our Advent journey is showing us how to prepare our hearts for a fresh discovery of God’s presence in our lives; how to recognise the presence of Jesus among and around us; showing us how to turn around and face towards God with faith, hope and love; and how to be the living presence of Jesus in our moment of history. As we continue our  advent  journey we ask ourselves what are we waiting for. Are we waiting for the presents and razzmatazz that the secular part of Christmas bring or are  we preparing spiritually for the greatest gift of God, his Son, Jesus the light in the darkness who John the Baptist foretold.

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