Fullerton T

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

After the arrival of the Wise Men on the feast of the Epiphany on Monday  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 that means Christ like.

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.

New Year 2020

Some 20 years ago at the end of 1999 many people foretold that the turn of the new millennium would mean the end of the world. As we all know here we are at the end of 2019 looking forward to all the adventures that 2020 might bring to us and the end of the world has not happened though many things in our daily lives have changed with many people gone from our lives and the lives of those around us. We remember with thanks all that has been as we look forward to all that will be in the year that lies ahead

On the 1^st of January  we celebrate two  things the feast of Mary the Mother of God  as well as world day of prayer for peace in the world. While we exchange the new year greetings with each other we should try to lend a Christian understanding to this custom making of these greetings an expression faith in that regard there is no better teacher of faith than Mary the Mother of Jesus.

Mary teaches us that being a disciple of Jesus is a matter of the heart: contemplating Jesus and allowing his presence to transform the thoughts, words and actions of our lives.  There is a mosaic in the Rosary Basilica in Lourdes which tells us through Mary to Jesus and that is what Mary is all about pointing all of us in the right direction towards Jesus her Son .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! 

Also we continue to pray for peace in our own lives in our countries and in the world. We live in a world where so many people are at war and we ask god to bless his people with peace of heart mind and soul during 2020. As We thank God for all that has been over the last year we pray  through the intercession of Mary mother of the Church that God  will be present with us in the good bad, happy and sad times we might encounter in the year that is ahead and give us the strength to continue our faith journeys wherever they may lead us.

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 Christian Family. We commemorate a family in deep distress because their Son is seen as a threat to a jealous king: 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 the Great 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 cruel and 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 recognise the sacrifice they made for Jesus, in the same way as we recognize the sacrifices our parents made for us  and many more parents are making for their children today in our I want I get world. The feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth is a reminder of all that the Holy Family has meant to us, and all that it continues to mean to us.   It also represents what Family means for us as people of faith, in the guidance protection, the goodness and kindness, and the love and support, of our parents!  In the friendship of other family members and of many other significant people in our lives! And in things that have happened to us good and not so good!  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.

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; we hope that they will be happy.  As we think about family we pray that the Holy Family will inspire us to recommit ourselves to our families and what they mean to all of us in our ever changing world.

CHRISTMAS 2019

Well  we are nearly at the great day itself CHRISTMAS DAY so happy Christmas wherever you are may the blessings of god be with you and your families and friends. 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 observance with all its preparation and now we celebrate with gifts and happiness all around So now  then let us rejoice in the Lord, not in the world; that is, rejoice in faithfulness and not in iniquity; rejoice in the hope of eternity and not the brief flower of vanity that is part of our  daily lives.  During these days of Christmas celebration we will often 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” in the darkness of war and strife around us, we welcome an opportunity to put aside our cares and worries, bask in the joy and generosity of the season, and sing out our “Glory to God in the highest as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  

None of us will travel to Bethlehem to behold the  newborn 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 newborn Infant in the youngster who needs companionship, the teenager who needs a listening ear, the parent who needs a helping hand, the older person who needs someone to care to name but a few there are so many others. We remember in a special way all those who have died since last Christmas and we keep their families in our thoughts and prayers. Some of our Christmas customs seem to turn away from Christ. Or do they? The giving of gifts expresses love of the other person. Festive decorations set this season apart from all others. Santa Claus was originally St. Nicholas, a bishop remembered for his generosity.

Every letter sent and received bears the stamp of this special season, tidings of good will, and a reminder that those who are far away are close to us in mind and heart. 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 of good will 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). So with Mary and Joseph with the shepherds and Angels the 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.

3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

This Sunday is known as Gaudete Sunday. The term Gaudete refers to the first word of the Entrance Antiphon, “Rejoice”. Rose vestments are worn in many churches to emphasise our joy that Christmas is near, and we also light the rose candle on the Advent wreath. In many places the Parishes celebrate Bambinelli Sunday when the Children are asked to bring the baby Jesus Crib Figure to get a special blessing and then they place the baby Jesus in the Crib on Christmas Morning.

As Christmas draws near, the Church emphasises the joy which should be in our hearts over all that the birth of our Savior means for us or all that it should mean for us especially in our world where so many have little or nothing at all. The readings for this week, particularly the Gospel, express this theme of rejoicing at the imminent coming of the Lord. John’s disciples ask Jesus if he is the one who is to come. Look around you’, they are told. ‘The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the Good News is proclaimed to the poor and happy are those who believe.’ We praise and rejoice in God on this Gaudete Sunday. We thank him for all he has done for us. We rejoice that through the coming of his Son Jesus we have been saved.

We do what we can to imitate his life, to follow his Gospel of love and that is all that faith asked of us to do our best in following Jesus. We join together to celebrate the Eucharist, sharing the bread that is his body and the wine that is his blood. ’We do all these things, yet mostly we wait. But this is not like waiting for a bus at the local bus stop or waiting for the postman to deliver a letter. We wait with hope in our hearts for the culmination of all things in Christ and the prayer that is on our lips is ‘thy kingdom come!’ As we continue our Advent journeys let us prepare the way for the Lord in our own lives remembering that in  the words of the psalm the lord keeps faith forever and he won’t let us down.

2nd Sunday of Advent

This weekend we hear about John the Baptist who was the herald of Jesus who said that there is one who is to come after me and I am not worthy to take the sandals of his feet.  John’s task was to announce the coming of Jesus and to point to him when he came. John’s work was extraordinary.  He was called to reawaken a sense of expectation among a people that had grown tired and distant from God as many have done in our present generation.  John was called to bring renewal to institutional expressions of religion which, at the time, had become fossilized into mere formulae or external ritual again for many today that is also the case.   John attracted thousands to come out into the desert to see him. Tradition sees the desert as the place where God speaks to the heart of his people. It is from this solitary place of spiritual combat, the desert bordering the Jordan, that John appears “with the spirit and the power of Elijah” (Luke 7:17).  By his word and his baptism with water, john called the children of the covenant back to the Lord their God as he calls us today to come back to the Lord our God.

The figure of John serves as a warning, to all believers, to the Church and Church organizations that we need to draw our strength from Christ alone, rather than identifying with the cultural patterns or the Fads and fashions of the time, which in any case come and go. The Church is here in the present as it has been in past times to proclaim and live out the message of Jesus in every generation in season and out of season whether people at large like it or not. A great example of this is the teaching of the Church on the issue of Abortion and life issues. The Church that is the people of god, you and I  are called to constant renewal, to tear ourselves away from conventional expectations, attitudes and superficialities and centre ourselves completely on God.  The Church in every age must become like John the Baptist, an uncomfortable reminder of how we must allow the truth of Jesus to break into our lives to enlighten the darkness that can at any moment enter into our lives or the life of the Church as the scandals have painfully shown. As the journey of Advent continues, as we prepare to celebrate the nativity of Christ, John the Baptist’s call to conversion sounds out in our communities.

 It is a pressing invitation to open our hearts and to welcome the Son of God who comes among us to make the kingdom of God manifest to all of us and to others through us. As we continue our Advent Journey let us stop and listen to the call of John the Baptist to prepare the way for the Lord and put it into action in our lives as we make our pats straight  during this Advent time.

1st SUNDAY OF ADVENT

We are now in Advent the official run up to the feast of Christmas as we begin the Spiritual preparation we light the first purple candle on the Advent Wreath and we pray that we will make good the preparations for the season of Christmas. The message of advent is clear for us, we must continually strive to work for a peaceful and just world, so that Christ may have room in our homes and our hearts. We start our journey to be illuminated by His Words of peace and to allow Him to indicate the path to tread. (cf. Is 2:1-5). Moreover, we must change our conduct abandoning the works of darkness and put on the ‘armor of light’ and to seek only to do God’s work and to abandon the deeds of the flesh. (cf. Rm 13:12-14). Jesus, through the story in the parable, outlines the Christian life style that must not be distracted and indifferent but must be vigilant and recognize even the smallest sign of the Lord’s coming because we don’t know the hour in which He will arrive. (cf. Mt 24:39-44) Saint John Henry Newman 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 urgency of an industrious, living ‘wait’ We need to take Advent seriously, for the coming of the Lord will be not just a beautiful Christmas, but the actual day of judgment. With joy, let us climb the mountain of the Lord! We believe that Advent is the time of preparation for the celebration of the Birth of Jesus.   At the beginning of each church year we are reminded that Jesus the Christ is present as a person to us.  When we think that his presence is something so exalted as to be beyond our own experience, we are reminded that he was born in the lowest of places, a common stable.  The first visitors were stinky, rough shepherds.

The tragedy of this season is that we have been programmed to believe it’s all about buying things, about gift giving, about phrenetic activity that leaves us exhausted and very happy it’s all over by Christmas night.  So then we forget the 12 days of Christmas and dump the tree and the lights and wait for Valentine’s Day. So what are we really waiting for this Advent?  is it all the presents and the comings and goings that families and friend’s bring over Christmas or is it the birthday of Jesus the Son of god our saviour who gives the true meaning to our Advent preparations and our Christmas celebrations.