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1st Sunday of Advent

This Sunday we begin the season of Advent and we begin another church year as we start our preparation for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. This year all we do at this time in preparation for and celebration of Christmas will be tempered by the reality that COVID19 is with us as a real and present danger lurking in the background. Christmas when we get to it will be very different for all of us as we struggle to make sense of everything that has happened since last year.

Advent like Lent is a time of spiritual preparation and there are many opportunities for doing this between now and Christmas Eve. Amongst all the razzmatazz of the Christmas preparations and the madness of the shoppers on our town and city streets including Black Friday we need to stop and ask ourselves what are we waiting for this Advent.  We are waiting for Jesus who is coming to help us awaken from sleep so we can put aside all that is false in our lives and our world and rebuild our house on rock, that is the rock of faith. St. Paul’s words “God is faithful” will accompany us through any change or adjustment we need to make in our lives . This is the God Isaiah evokes as he imagines us as clay to be formed by our God, “the potter,” and reminds us, “we are all the work of god’s hands.  The Father will transform both humanity and nature to the way he intended them to be from the first moment of creation free from sin, sickness, and death- free from the consequences of evil. In our anticipation for the Lord’s coming, we hope that our faith will help reveal the Kingdom and prepare others as well as ourselves for eternity. Our efforts alone will not bring about the Kingdom, as if we humans can progress or evolve to a higher plane by ourselves. But, God, acting through us, will reveal and realise the Kingdom. Then, when we act according to his will; we add our contribution to his activity.       CCC 1042-1050

Blessed John Henry Newman in his time reminded us in a homily for the Advent Season: “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 but it is also a time of commitment because it motivates us to live the present as a time of responsibility and vigilance. This ‘vigilance’ means the necessity, the urgency of an industrious, living ‘wait’. For all this to happen we need to wake up, as we are warned in the  reading to the Romans: ‘Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed” (Rm 13:11).As we begin this advent we ask ourselves what are we waiting for ? Are we waiting for the razzmatazz of Christmas Day or are we preparing as we should be for the greatest gift of God, Jesus his Son, Christ the Son of God the light in the darkness for a broken world. A world that needs something to hold on to this Christmas especially during the Covid 19 Pandemic.

ADVENT REFLECTION

As we begin the Churches new year it is a good opportunity to stop and reflect on what has happened over the last year and as we all know such a lot has happened. In particular we have the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic in which many have lost their lives and many more have given their all in terms of caring for and sharing with other people. We pray for them all. It has been a time of uncertainty as well as fear of the unknown for all of us. We have come through all the upheaval of the last 8 months and now we are moving towards Christmas.

Advent is the time of preparation for Christmas and Christmas this year will be very different for all of us for so many reasons especially COVID 19. Sadly, for so many who live in our secular world, Advent has no meaning.  It is so easy to pass the whole of December in the frantic secular preparation for Christmas.  With all of this going on the Church invites us to spend these 4 weeks in a spirit of hope filled anticipation. Advent from the Latin, Adventus means `coming’. God wants to be with us that is why he sent his Son Jesus into the world. As we think about the deeper meaning of Advent we cannot forget those who are in any kind of need especially as a result of the COVID Pandemic.  Over these days  of preparation we are asked to go beyond our own personal comfort zones and to take note of the places and people in this world most easily overlooked by everyone especially where we live.  

That is why the money we give to those organisations such as saint Vincent DePaul and the Salvation Army are so important at this time of the year as they help so many more people at Christmas and this year there will be so many people who will need their assistance due to the current circumstances. There are a number of steps for all of us to take to enter into the Advent season. All of us should slow down and as a result of covid19 this should be the case as we go about the daily toil that this time of year brings. Then, when we slow down we can begin to quietly pray, “Come, Lord, Jesus.”  Advent is about letting God come to live in us as we go about our everyday lives. For all of us, the Christmas we will celebrate this year with COVID19 around us  will be very different in comparison to wonderful Christmases of our past perhaps because we were younger perhaps because some of our loved ones who were central to our Christmas celebrations are no longer living perhaps because the burdens and struggles of life or the changes in our world robbed this Christmas of something or someone that was there before.

Some of us, might be looking forward to Christmas, and not be as aware as we should of the people around us who will be  struggling with Christmas,yet we  feel that, in spite of our best efforts to make Advent different there is still something missing, and we still feel that we are not -ready for Christmas when it finally arrives. For all of us, the story behind Christmas  draws us in, and invites all of us to understand the mystery of how Jesus came into this world and why.  Our best preparation for the Christmas Season  is for us to reflect upon how he came.  He came in the midst of scandal and conflict.  He came in poverty.  He was rejected before he was born.  He was born in a Manger in a Stable.  He was hunted down.  And he grew up in obscurity. He did not shun our world its poverty and conflict.   He embraced it.  And he wants to embrace us today, on this day at this time especially in this time of COVID19 with all its difficulties.  Right where we are.  Right when we are feeling most distant.  Right when  we are feeling least “religious” or “ready.” 

If we let him come into our hearts during these challenging days, we will find ourselves entering into the real meaning  of Christmas. Christmas  is all about being the people  that we are called in faith to be that is people who are caring for and sharing with our families and friends as well as those who are in need wherever they are and there are many people who have little or nothing at all.  All of our Advent preparations should lead us to  the celebration of the Christ Child Emmanuel who is God with us. So as we go forward may the Advent season help us to prepare for the birthday of Jesus at Christmas as we make our preparation this year we pray:

Come, Lord, Jesus.”  “Come into my life, it is messy in so many ways. I believe you love me.  Come and fill my heart mind and soul with the peace and the love only you can give.” “Come, Lord, Jesus, come into this house, into my family, into our struggles. Come and heal us, and give us peace in heart mind and spirit. Come into our communities and let us experience, each in our own way, the joy you are offering us at Christmas time.”

THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

This Sunday  we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. The theme of the kingship of Christ should not be misunderstood. Jesus is not king in an earthly sense of the word. The acclamations of the crowds that took place in the Gospel and the enthusiastic endorsement of the disciples that Jesus is the Messiah might mislead us. Jesus is king to the Glory of God the Father; Jesus is Messiah, because he is the anointed one of God, who comes to do the will of God.The gospel parable of the last judgment picks up on the king and shepherd themes. At the end time Jesus, the Shepherd King, will return and surrounded by his retinue of angels, will judge the nations. He will share his glory with those he finds worthy. Will he find us to be worthy of his call to be with him forever? If we are serious about our Christianity, if we are committed to the Kingdom of God, then we will be living lives of sacrificial love, the love of Jesus Christ. To take Christ as our Shepherd involves becoming a shepherd to others making Christ present to them by reaching out showing the faith and leading them along the path of faith if they aren’t already there.

The kingdom of Christ, a reign of charity and peace, is for all of us where ever we are. We remember that the Kingdom of God exists in every home where parents and children love each other. It exists in every region and country that cares for its weak and vulnerable people. It exists in every parish that reaches out to the needy with a helping hand. This very moment in our history and our lives presents us with a challenge and a choice. We can hear the Lord’s call in the presence of other’s needs. Or, we can turn away. Still there is hope in the grace God offers. Our past selfish ways can be overcome.  Now is the time for  conversion of heart and mind as we look to the season of Advent. Now is the time to give ourselves to the work God and his kingdom where all are valued and no one is left behind. These months of the pandemic have highlighted the desperate need of the poor, and those newly impoverished by loss of jobs, businesses and everything else.  Jesus directs us Christians today, even if our resources are limited, to ask ourselves: What can we share with those Jesus so powerfully identifies with in today’s parable?  May all of us take up the challenge that the feast of Christ the King gives us . That challenge is to reach out to others showing them that the ways of Jesus that is the way of caring and sharing with other people is  what we as Christians are really all about especially during the CIVID19 pandemic

33RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

This Sunday we celebrate the world day of the poor for 2020 and is has as its theme Stretch forth your hand to the poor” (Sir 7:32). This is a timely reminder to all of us who support Church Based charities to continue our support of the organisations such as the St. Vincent DePaul  and the Salvation Army especially during the run up to Christmas 2020 with all the challenges that it will bring with the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.

Our reading from the Gospel for this weekend  is about the servant and his one talent. The parable speaks first of the Master’s trust in his servants. While he goes away he leaves them with his money to use as they think best. While there were no strings attached, this was obviously a test to see if the Master’s workers would be industrious and reliable in their use of the money entrusted to them.

The master rewards those who are industrious in their work and faithful to his vision and he punishes those who sit idly by and who do nothing with his money. The essence of the parable seems to lie in the servants’ conception of responsibility. Each servant entrusted with the master’s money was faithful up to a certain point. The servant who buried the master’s money was irresponsible. One can bury seeds in the ground and expect them to become productive because they obey natural laws. Coins, however, do not obey natural laws. They obey economic laws and become productive in circulation. The master expected his servants to be productive in the use of his money. If we stop and substitute the money aspect of the parable with the word faith then we get to what the parable is really about and it tells us that faith is a real and wonderful gift from God that should be treasured. Faith is also given to us according to our ability to deal with it; each in proportion to his ability, as it says in the parable.

But the most important aspect of the Parable is that the Master will eventually return and the big question is will we be ready for his return? Paul assures us, ” The day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.” This is a wake-up call to alert us to stop relying on false security, while missing the ways that Jesus comes into our lives and they are many.  Sometimes we feel God’s blessing. Sometimes we feel he is away out there in the distance. There are even times God may feel like the enemy. We enjoy times of intimacy as graced moments. But in all the moments of our lives  we should try to realize that in times of distance and estrangement God offers us his life. The Gospel parable about the talents, and Saint Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians both tell us to be at peace with ourselves in heart and mind, for if we are doing the Lord’s work there is nothing to fear. So let us be fearless in our living out the gospel in our lives where we are and remember that even in our darkest times God is near to those who love him and do his will.

32ND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

This week we have seen the presidential election in the USA and it has been a real roller coaster for so many people. We pray for the American Nation and its people we pray for the healing of the hurt that the election process has brought as there are many people who are hurting at this time.

The theme of our readings this weekend is not marriage though the Gospel story is about the bridegroom and his attendants. Instead the readings point us towards something very different that is the gift of Wisdom. The first reading  taken from the Book of Wisdom cites watchfulness as the key to a faithful understanding of wisdom according to St. Bernard wisdom lights up the mind and instils an attraction to the divine.  The author of the Book of Wisdom reminds us that we have one unfailing presence to guide us through our lives that is Wisdom. We are told Watch for her early and you will have no trouble; you will find her sitting at your gates. She is “resplendent and unfading;” always there for those who seek her out.  So we are called in this reading to look for wisdom that comes from god and it will be given to us.

The Gospel story for this Sunday is about an oil crisis in the Middle East it tells us about the five bridesmaids who didn’t buy extra lamp oil they were foolish because they weren’t prepared for the late arrival of the bridegroom. On the other hand the story flags up the wisdom of the five wise bridesmaids who were prepared for the late arrival of the bridegroom as they went out and bought more oil for their lamps. Their wisdom wasn’t extraordinary, but eminently practical. It is true that it is difficult, or impossible, to estimate the quantity of oil necessary to keep a lamp lit as we wait for an unknown length of time! In this story the Lamp oil is really about our faith and how we live our faith. This Gospel calls us to seize the moment and direct our lives guided by the wisdom that God gives us through the life and teachings of Jesus. What we experience is the routine of work, school, and various activities, rushed family meals, television, the news on the car radio, shopping, visiting elderly parents, friends and family, church services, etc. It can feel so predictable and it is. But the routine of our daily lives  can also be shattered by the unexpected and sudden demands life puts on us and our loved ones.

This has been proved to be very true in recent months during the COVID19 pandemic and that is the main thing that 2020 will be remembered for that none of us expected or wanted, it has become a great crisis for so many people who have lost their livelihoods and more importantly lost members of their families or friends. When the crisis of life whatever they may be whenever they might happen are we be ready to respond? It depends on how well we have tended to our “oil” supply.  If we have squandered it by neglect, or missed opportunities then when we look for backup in a moment of crisis, like the bridesmaids we may be left with the sound of the slamming door being locked as the bridegroom tells us I don’t know who you are you are too late. Only those who were ready went in with the bridegroom to the wedding. When God calls us, will we be ready as we do not know the hour when the bridegroom will come.

THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS

We begin by sparing a thought for all those who lost their lives in Nice in southern  France during the week that they may rest in peace and their families find consolation from those around them at this sad time.

This weekend we have the two feasts the feast of All Saints on Sunday and the feast of All Souls on Monday. On November 1st the Church celebrates all the saints: the multitude of those who are in heaven enjoying the beatific vision that are only known to God. During the early centuries the Saints venerated by the Church were all martyrs. Later the  1^st  November was set  as the day for commemorating all the Saints. We all have this “universal call to holiness.” What must we to do in order to join the company of the saints in heaven? We “must follow in Jesus footsteps and try to practice what Jesus preached as we seek  to do  the will of the Father in all things throughout our lives.

When we try to do that the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history” Among the saints in heaven are some  people whom we have known such as Pope Saint John Paul or Padre Pio who both lived in the last 100 years.  Padre Pio died in 1968 and of course John Paul died in 2005. But there are so many ordinary people who show us how to be saints by the way they lead their lives.  After rejoicing  with the saints  on All souls Day we  pray for all those who, await the day when they will join the company of saints. None of us, I feel sure, is aspiring or expecting to be a canonised saint. We don’t think that one day the pope will tell the world what saints we were. We don’t kid ourselves that our picture is going to pop up one day on the walls of churches. Not for a moment do we imagine anyone saying prayers to us or carrying around pieces of us as relics. We don’t foresee any statues of us being carried high in processions. But in its document on the Church, the Second Vatican Council wrote a chapter called ‘The Universal Call to Holiness’ and all of us Are called to be holy as our heavenly father is Holy.

A few days ago, on October 10th, a remarkable 15-year-old Italian teenager, named Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006, was declared ‘Blessed’ in the basilica of St Francis, Assisi. Carlo once said that his life project was ‘Jesus’. Surely, his beatification and our Feast this Sunday are reminders of our deep-down longings to become better people than we are already, and the best we can be with faith in god and one another ! Surely too they remind us that Jesus Christ can and will empower us to live what we believe, to practise what he preached!

30th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Over the past week or so many people have gone back into lockdown or circuit breaker and for many people this has been hard. In terms of business, health and well being the next few weeks and even months will be hard going with many business not reopening. With all of this going on around us we stop to reflect and we remember all that we have come through over the past 6 months and we thank god that we are able to be here and talk about our experiences. We remember in a particular way those who have lost their lives, those who are working in our hospitals and health care facilities  and all those families that are not together as a result of the current regulations. We look forward to better times as we deal with our current situation.

There is a saying that “Love makes the world go ’round.”  Have you ever had the overwhelming sense you were loved? How do you know you are loved? In spite of the cynics from the board room to the court room to the news room, love does motivate people to keep going in hard times . The Pharisees in the Gospel Reading for this Sunday are all out to get Jesus because he had silenced the Sadducees. In an attempt to do this they asked him this question Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. It is hard to love someone that we have never met in person but we love God because many others have passed on their love of God to us. There is a sense in which we could say that it takes a lifetime of practice to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, to live the first commandment, putting God before all else. To direct us all our lives God has given us guidelines, the Ten Commandments and he also gives us things like the beatitudes as well many people who have given the love of god to us.

 So many people in the modern world have decided to turn away from God and from spiritual things. We as the Church have to face up to the fact that the love that god has for each of us means little or nothing for many of today’s people. Love of God. Love of neighbour is Easy to talk about and Difficult to live out especially in our own time and place. In spite of the difficulties this love in action will change us and our surroundings All we need to do is  to try and live like Jesus did. we should take one step at a time towards our creator and our fellow human beings and this will provide us with great reward.  And we should not worry where we are going even during the current  COVID19 related trouble, for God’s Spirit will lead the way and give us the courage to keep on going despite any difficulties we might encounter along the road.

MISSION SUNDAY

This Sunday we are celebrating the Missionary effort of the Church in the glare of the Covid19 and all the restrictions that it has brought to us. For all of us who live in Northern Ireland we are beginning another period of lockdown which they are calling a circuit breaker. At this time we should be asking ourselves what is our mission in regard to all that is happening around us these days and how do we support one another as well as all those out there who are bringing the faith to faraway places, places where the COVID 19 pandemic could be a lot worse than it is here.

God is always calling people to come and follow him  and share his mission. Mission is very much part of Christian tradition. Here in Ireland we have St. Patrick who was a missionary to the Irish People every  place will have examples of those who brought the faith to their own lands. Each of us are baptized into Christ’s mission to bring his  light and joy into the world where we are as well as other places. On World Mission Sunday, we renew and celebrate our calling to be missionary disciples.  We join with many people around the world to support the missionary church wherever it is being planted and taking root.

We are especially mindful of  the new churches or the little flocks of Jesus letting their light shine in remote and distant lands.  The people of god are challenged to witness to Christ in those places by their life of faith, hope and love and we in our turn are challenged to support them by our prayers and other forms of practical support. God wants all of us to  experience his saving presence in our lives will we accept the invitation to join in God’s mission? The great Irish missionary tradition is not just the fruit of great missionaries, but of humble people at home who gave and are giving generously to support the missions through the missionary Orders and other lay led organisations such as the Apostolic Work or Viatores Christi to name but a few. Christian discipleship and missionary endeavour which we celebrate today are alive and active and there is much work out there for everyone to do especially during these days of crisis in the wake of COVID19. This type of service should continue in the Church wherever we are when that happens we will be a truly missionary people bringing the presence of God to other people lives. To be servant in the way that Jesus was means that we should live in complete trust that God loves us and this will help us to pass his love on to others in an ever changing world. We pray that the Lord of the harvest will continue to inspire many people to join the missionary orders as well as the  lay missionary associations so that the  love of God will be passed on to each generation in its turn.

28th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

During last week two things happened and neither of them were COVID19 related. We had the launch last Saturday of the latest encyclical from Pope Francis Fratelli Tutti and on Wednesday of this week we had the feast of the Holy Rosary. The Letter from the Pope is about   fraternity and social friendship that focuses on the universal dimension of the notion of fraternal love and we will hear about the letter in the days ahead. Last Wednesday we celebrated the feast of the Holy Rosary Pope Francis calls the rosary a “simple contemplative prayer, accessible to all, great and small, the educated and those with little education. in the Rosary while we repeat the Hail Mary we meditate on the Mysteries, on the events of Christ’s life, so as to know and love him ever better. The Rosary is an effective means for opening ourselves to God.”Each time we pray the Rosary, he said, “we are taking a step forward, towards the great destination of life”—heaven. May we take the opportunities that are given to us to join together in saying the rosary of our lady during this month of October in our families as individuals and as Parish Communities where we live.

In the Gospel reading for this Sunday we hear about the king sending his servants out to call all those who were invited to come to his son’s wedding but none of the invited guests would come. So the king told his servants to go out and invite everyone on the road to come to the wedding feast. Jesus tells the parable because his ways were criticized by the “chief priests and elders of the people.” They rejected him so now he turns to  everyone else and he welcomes the poor, sinners, and outsiders. Matthew emphasizes, the urgent need we have to respond to God’s invitation to his feast. In the parable those who did respond to the invitation, “bad and good alike,” did so with enthusiasm. They knew a good thing when they heard it and so grasped it immediately, filling the banquet hall just as the king had wanted for his son. Today all of us who say we are Christians are also invited to the wedding feast and this is a pointer towards our participation in the life of the Church. We hold precious the image of God who calls the good and the bad to the banquet of life that leads to eternal life. The expectation is that we will prepare ourselves now by being dressed appropriately for the occasion. Perhaps the best description of the proper wardrobe for a Christian is given to us by the apostle Paul.

If we wear the clothes he describes the clothes of compassion, kindness humility, gentleness and patience we will never be thrown out of any banquet. In Colossians he tells us You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience… Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts. (Colossians 3:12-15) This weekend’s parable reminds us that God’s invitation is his gift to us, and it is given to us so that we can freely accept or ignore it. Those who were gathered in from the highways and byways had no claim on God. We, too, have no claim on God, We do not merit God’s invitation on our own. It is a grace God lovingly offers to each and every one of us. Hopefully all of us will be able to accept the invitation to come to the feast.

27 TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

I begin this week with a thought about the second reading from St Paul to the Philippians. It could have been written for us in our present situation with covid19 pandemic. St Paul tells us that we should not worry and that we should pray to god for our needs and as a result of our prayer the peace of God will come to us and guard our hearts and our thoughts in Christ Jesus. This is a very consoling reading we should not worry because god will come to us to guard us and give us his peace during these hard times. Also this week we heard the news that the president of the USA and his wife have COVID 19. I personally wouldn’t want myself or anyone else to get this virus and I hope that everyone who is stricken down by COVID19 at the present time including the trumps will get well soon.

In this Sundays Gospel reading  we learn a great deal about God, about our place in God’s plan for creation, about individual and collective meaning and purpose, and the outcomes of ill-chosen thoughts, efforts, and relationships that bring failure to our role in God’s plan. The master of the vineyard created an ideal vineyard and trusts us to maintain it and encourage its fruitfulness.

 Humanity is trusted and is talented enough to handle the work of maintenance and productivity. In his trust of humanity, God is patient. He sends messenger after messenger to collect what is due him. God repeatedly asks us to return to him what is his due. The workers in the vineyard are responsible for their denial of what is due to the landowner. They beat his messengers, stone one, kill another, and continually reject the landowner’s claims to the fruit of his vineyard. Finally, the landowner sends his own son, thinking the workers of the vineyard will respect the son. But even the son is abused and murdered because the workers think they will have the vineyard as their own with the death of the son. In the end God will provide judgment on all who work in his vineyard. Even so, there is a focus on those who work in the vineyard. They are trusted, they are privileged to work at maintenance and on production in whatever way suits them. They are free to make decisions in their work. God is no micro-manager. But in all this freedom, there is a responsibility to bear fruit. Humanity is accountable for what comes of the vineyard and giving it to the Creator. In the original context the tenants represent “the chief priests and elders of the people”. In the parable the “tenants” become angry when they are reminded that the vineyard has been leased to them and they must be accountable for what they have done or not done with it and they do not like this.

Their anger grows ever more violent as the story develops, the root of their anger is revealed – they want to own the vineyard rather than to work there. Through the parable of the vineyard Jesus reprimands the “chief priests and elders of the people” gathered around him.  He focused on the unfaithful people who, by their sin and failure to listen to the prophets, had brought God’s anger down on them. Jesus’ reference to the killing of the King’s only Son was not lost on the Pharisees. They had already decided to kill Jesus who claimed to be the Son of God. Jesus’ words enraged them, and their hearts were further hardened against Him and it all ended up as we know at the Cross of Calvary on Good Friday.  So this weekend  we are asked to reflect on our own faith and we are called to go out into the vineyard that is the world where we live and have our being. Were we  work to nourish the vines of other people’s faith by what we do and say so that as a result of our efforts all of us  will be able to give glory to God our father in heaven.