Fullerton T

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

After the arrival of the Wise Men on the feast of the Epiphany on Friday we have come to the end of the Christmas season as we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord when Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan by John. This feast is also a reminder to us of our own baptism, most of us were baptised when we were babies and today we recommit ourselves to the promises that were made on our behalf when we renew our Baptismal Promises..

The figure of the Baptist is mysterious and captivating. He was the Precursor of Christ, not only two thousand years ago but in a sense also in our day. He is the voice, which makes us hear the Word which introduces us to the mystery of the redemption, who helps us to respond to the call to conversion, with humility and love. He helps us understand that the human person, every person in front of the Lord Jesus stands before the greatest mystery of our existence: the Mystery God made man! Our own Baptism calls us and empowers us to be Christ like that is what the word Christian means. Our humility can openly declare our trust in God the Father. The great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas whose feast day is at the end of January spoke of times of grace when God enlivens people in special ways for different tasks and this is what baptism is all about the grace of god enlivening us to live out our new beginning  living life as people who are Christians.

The Holy Spirit is the power behind all our spiritual beginnings, when we are willing to begin, God is there as the grace  behind our going out into the sea of faith. There are beginnings that we know are important like baptisms, marriages and ordinations. We like to mark these beginnings as important, so we surround them with ceremony to give a sense of occasion and there is an atmosphere of rejoicing. The new beginnings that we make in our own lives may not mark the fulfilment of anyone’s prophecy, but they probably mark the fulfilment of someone’s hope. Sometimes we are so hesitant about making a new start that we end up in no-man’s-land waiting for more weather reports wondering what to do instead of getting on with it. This weekend as we think about our baptism we stop and think about our journey of faith as we celebrate beginning of Jesus ministry, we look at our own beginnings.

And if some of them look a bit shabby now or half-hearted, we take consolation from the Gospel challenge to begin again. There probably won’t be any doves flying or voices from heaven, but as people of God we make our beginnings like Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit. We are not alone. We make them in the power of the Spirit and in the love of the Father. So let us take courage to face our own rocky roads as the new year unfolds before all of us.

MARY MOTHER OF GOD

This Sunday January 1^st we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, as well as this we also celebrate world day of prayer for peace. In the modern Roman Calendar only Christmas and Easter have an octave. This Sunday it is the turn of Our Lady as we celebrate her as the mother of God. At the Council of Ephesus (451), Mary, the mother of Jesus was proclaimed as  Mother of God or Theotokos. Under this noble title she is still honored by most Christians around the world, and today’s feast invites us to lay our hopes and plans for the new year in her motherly care. We entrust all our concerns and those of our world, with all its conflicts and injustices, to her motherly protection. on the feast of the Holy Mother of God we see Mary marveling at what has happened, treasuring the events of Christmas in her memory, and pondering them in her heart. The image is that of the contemplative woman who ponders the marvels the Almighty has done for her. Mary treasured the words of the shepherds in her heart, for they were Good News. She was the vessel of God’s providence; she conceived by the power of the Spirit. Her Son was Messiah and King. She was the first follower and a symbol for all of us, the Church. On this feast we ask a special favour of Mary our mother and intercessor:  that the love we have for Jesus her son will Grow in our hearts and lives!  As We thank God for all that has been over the last year and look forward to all that will be we pray  through the intercession of our Lady that God  will be present with us in the good bad, happy and sad times we might encounter in the year that is ahead .

CHRISTMAS 2016

As we come to our celebration of Christmas this year the world is such a different place. In the UK referendum the people unexpectedly voted for the Brexit. Then a few short months later the USA voted unexpectedly for President Trump how the world has changed and of course the world is constantly changing. We are all panicking about what might or might not happen in the places where we live and how the world events will impact on us and our families we will have to wait to see how everything turns out. Preparing for Christmas is often a very tense time with extra hours at work, standing for hours on the queues at the shops as the craziness goes on around us. For a great number of  people Christmas is not all it seems as they deal with the stresses of not being able to provide a good time for the members of their families. Or for many they may find themselves refugees in foreign countries.

As we think of our own families we also spare a thought for  the poor, the neglected, the lonely, the victims of disaster and war.  Now after all the preparations and fuss of recent days we have time to think about Christmas and what it is all about, time to ponder on the fact that the birth of the Baby Jesus is the supreme manifestation of God’s love for humanity. Our salvation came in the messiness, poverty, and the weakness of ordinary human life that is to say our ordinary often times messy lives. Jesus was born in a stable not a great palace or mansion he was welcomed by the shepherds this hardly seems like a very auspicious beginning for the dawn of salvation! Yet, we have hope because Jesus was born into the Family of humanity with all its messiness. Christ came and brought new hope and transforming joy for all. In the middle of our own dark nights of pain and anguish, God comes and transforms them into “holy” nights of his peace.

Amid the noise and clamor that that are part of our lives, the voice of God speaks to us in the “silence” of our hearts. The first news of God’s coming to us does not go to the wealthy or those in high political or religious positions but to the  lowly shepherds, who had no wealth, power, or privilege by any standards they were a scruffy bunch. God to whom all riches belong wants to be sure that the poor and lowly are the first to hear about the arrival of the messiah. The shepherds used to being left alone during their long, dark nights in the fields where they watched over their flocks were terrified at the appearance of the angelic mes­senger surrounded by the glory of God.  Who told them Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).The angel’s message to the shepherds is also for us in the here and now of today It simply states the good news of the birth of the Son of God into our lives. During these days of  celebration we will have occasion to sing as the angels did long ago, “Glory to God in the highest!” At this time when we celebrate the birth of “a saviour who has been born for us”, the One who is “Wonder- Counsellor and Prince of Peace,” the One who is “a great light”  we welcome the opportunity to put aside our cares and worries for a short while in order to bask in the joy of the season, and give Glory to God as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Emanuel who is God with us. Now with Mary and Joseph with the shepherds and Angels Let us take this story and the news of great joy into our hearts and let the joy and peace flourish within us as we pass this joy on. Let us be thankful for the light that is Christ the light of the world.  Let us hold this simple story of Jesus birth in the Manger in our hearts throughout the year whatever ups and downs it may bring.

THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

This Sunday we celebrate the last Sunday of the year with the feast of Christ the King. This feast was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925, to remind us that our allegiance was to one who exercised power not by force or might, but by love and service for others. The gospel reading for this Sunday is part of the passion that we read on Palm Sunday the scene opens as Jesus hung on the cross between two condemned criminals. Jesus had uttered his famous words of forgiveness “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” and his last possession his clothes had been gambled away by the guards. Jesus had nothing to look forward to but death and the scene ends with one of the thieves asking Jesus to remember him in his kingdom. Jesus reply was the beautiful words “today you will be with me in paradise”. The “good” thief acknowledged he and the other criminal were rightly condemned for their acts by legitimate authority.

But Jesus was unjustly condemned by an authority which had no jurisdiction over him. Later when the disciples interpreted Jesus’ life and ministry they applied Isaiah’s image of the Suffering Servant to him,  the servant who was like a lamb led to slaughter; who bore our infirmities so that we could be healed and raised up. From the cross and through the power given us by the Holy Spirit, we are able to respond to hatred with love; forgive when we have been offended and serve those who cannot return the favour these are just a few of the ways Jesus gives us his power and shows us how to use it for the sake of his Kingdom and the good of all. While this gospel closes the liturgical year, it is not the end of the story. Here we are over 2000 years later thinking about the cross as well as Jesus’ promise of life given to the thief. The kingdom of God is a kingdom where everyone is valued and no one is left out. The cross is evidence that God, in the person of Jesus, really does care about each of us. God cares about both thieves in the gospel not just the one who acknowledged his sin.

God cares so much for us that he wants to share in every part of our lives. He knows our pain, the anguish that comes from living in an imperfect, often hate filled world. He embraces it as a standard, a light that demonstrates his unconditional love for each and every one of us. The kingship of Christ has nothing to do with triumphalism or lording it over other people. Jesus is no victor entering the city at the head of tanks, leading rank upon rank of infantrymen there is no fly-past with jets or other warplanes nor is there a great flotilla of warships or boats. The King we celebrate this weekend is the Son of God who walks the dusty roads of our daily lives finding the weak, the ill, the oppressed, the ones whose hearts are wounded, the ones whose minds are confused by the bright lights of materialism and the things that they see going on around them. Jesus finds all kinds of people as he journeys with us along the dusty roads, he finds ordinary folk as well as the elite, the powerful as well as the weak and he invites all of them and all of us to walk his way as we prepare to begin another Church Year with the advent season.Are we prepared to take up the challenge to start walking down the road that leads to salvation as we end this liturgical year and begin anew?

32nd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

In the course of his public ministry Jesus came across many people who had differing opinions about his message. This Sunday we hear about the Sadducees they accepted Roman rule and customs as a trade-off for retaining the power they had. The worldly influence of led them to be religiously conservative. Unlike the Pharisees, they accepted the written Law of Moses and rejected the authority of oral tradition. In our Gospel story they attempt to ridicule the resurrection of the dead by recalling the Mosaic Law on levirate marriage. The Sadducees develop an example to the point of absurdity in giving the example of seven brothers each of whom marries the same woman, but each of the brothers dies childless. None of the brothers has proved husband in terms of producing an heir: in that case, whose wife would the woman be in the resurrection?

In his reply Jesus makes it clear that there is no comparison between human life, shared by all, those who are children of God. Jesus makes the distinction between two ages and two peoples: the people of this age who live a life peculiar to this time, and those who are resurrected from the dead into a new age. The tightly wound arguments of the Sadducees and of Jesus present an interesting contrast. The Sadducees pointed to an ordinance in the Law to prove the absurdity of a popular belief. Jesus countered by refusing the key issue in their argument the afterlife was an extension of present life. Then, he proceeded to fuse the belief in the resurrection with the revelation of God to his people.Through his argument Jesus reveals something of his own image of God – a God who keeps his promise to his faithful ones even when they die. Jesus does more than argue that case he leads by example when the time comes he himself becomes the argument. He undergoes death on Good Friday and then he experiences the glory of resurrection on Easter Sunday when God the Father refused  to let death have the last word. The risen Jesus is the greatest argument against the Sadducees and their idea of religion and faith. Death has been overcome and sin need not dominate our lives. We may not have the plans for the arrangements of the next life, but what we do know is that we have the hope of God’s promise to us that He will rescue us from the darkness of the shadow of death and lead us into the light of Christ in our heavenly homeland.