December 2007
(First Sunday of Advent to seventh day in Octave of Christmas)
Morning Offering:
O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the
prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions
of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I
offer them especially for the Holy
Father's intentions:
Son of God, which the Church celebrates
solemnly at Christmas, may help the peoples of the Asiatic Continent to
recognize God's Envoy, the only Saviour of the world, in Jesus."
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First
Sunday of Advent A
Prayers this week:
To you, my God, I
lift my soul, I trust in you; let me never come to shame. Do not let my
enemies laugh at me. No one who waits for you is ever put to shame. (Psalm 24:1-3)
All-powerful
God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find
an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom
of heaven where he lives and reigns.We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God.
(December 2) Blessed Rafal Chylinski
(1694-1741)
Born near Buk in the Poznan region of Poland, Melchior showed early
signs of religious devotion; family members nicknamed him "the little
monk." After completing his studies at the Jesuit college in Poznan,
Melchior joined the cavalry and was promoted to the rank of officer
within three years. Against the urgings of his military comrades, in
1715 Melchior joined the Conventual Franciscans in Kraków, receiving
the name Rafal, and was ordained two years later. After pastoral
assignments in nine cities, he came to Lagiewniki (central Poland),
where he spent the last 13 years of his life, except for 20 months
ministering to flood and epidemic victims in Warsaw. In all these
places, Rafal was known for his simple and candid sermons, for his
generosity as well as his ministry in the confessional. People of all
levels of society were drawn to the self-sacrificing way he lived out
his religious profession and priestly ministry. Rafal played the harp,
lute and mandolin to accompany liturgical hymns. In Lagiewniki he
distributed food, supplies and clothing to the poor. After his death,
the Conventual church in that city became a place of pilgrimage for
people throughout Poland. He was beatified in Warsaw in
1991.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122: 1-9; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44
Jesus
said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also
be when the Son of man comes. In the days before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, right up till the
day Noah entered the ark. They did not know till the flood came and
took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of man be. Then
two shall be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left. Two
women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one left.
Watch therefore because you do not know not at what hour your Lord will
come. But know this that if the master of the house knew at what hour
the thief would come, he would certainly watch and would not allow his
house to be broken open. So you also be ready, because you do not know
at what hour the Son of man will come.”
(Matthew 24:37-44)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J76BVRzXxCY
It is very striking
the number of times in the Gospels that our Lord either directly or
indirectly refers to his coming to judge mankind. He stresses time and
again that each person must prepare himself for this judgment. As he
says at the end of our Gospel passage today, “you also must be
prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of 
Man will
come.” He refers to the days of Noah, saying that in like manner will
it be at the coming of the Son of Man. “In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to
the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood
came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the
Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37-44) Our
Lord in drawing on Old Testament temporal events to illustrate what
will happen in the fullness of time, intimates also that we can draw on
patterns of events in life to help us realize what is certainly to
come. A hurricane suddenly arises and catches whole towns or even a
great city entirely unprepared. It could be a massive earthquake, or a
great fire, or a sudden epidemic. For the individual it could be a
sudden heart attack, or a robbery. Sudden catastrophes for which people
are unprepared are a reminder of the “coming of the Son of Man” which
may happen “at an hour you do not expect.” So too the numerous
situations in life when a person is called to account are a reminder of
the great reckoning that faces every person who has lived or will live.
A student knows he will face exams at the end of his semester or year
and yet becomes distracted and lethargic. The exams come upon him and
he is caught unprepared. So, our Lord says, “Stay awake!” That Christ
will come to judge the living and the dead is absolutely certain. What
is entirely uncertain are the time and the circumstances of his coming
either to the individual or to the human race.
Warnings such as
these prompt us to remember and meditate on Christian and Catholic
teaching on the judgment of God. At death each person is judged by
Christ who is constituted by the Father to be the judge of the living
and the dead. There are two points here. Firstly, each individual will
be judged after he dies on all that he did during life. One’s own
responsibility for being the person one is, and one’s own
responsibility for all that one chose to do or not to do, will not be
able to be evaded. Nothing will be passed over, and the sentence will
come. The person will then enter into the happiness of heaven
immediately or after an appropriate purification in Purgatory, or
alternatively will enter into the eternal damnation of hell. Ultimately
what faces every single person who has enjoyed the gift of life is
either heaven or hell. There will be no alternative to this. There will
be no escape into the oblivion of nothingness or an eternal sleep. It
will be either unending happiness or unending misery and either way it
will be the retribution for the way one has chosen to live. Secondly,
it is Jesus Christ who will judge all. So Hindus, Buddhists, atheists,
agnostics, those who have never heard of Christ or who have scarcely
given him a thought, will be judged by him. All will appear before the
judgment seat of Jesus Christ. Mahomet has come before him, as has
Buddha, Confucius, the Caesars, the popes and kings of history and all
the great and unknown people who have come and gone. Jesus Christ is
the judge of the living and the dead. This is Christian dogma.
Moreover, this individual judgment by God of each person’s freely
chosen thoughts, words and deeds will be confirmed eventually by a
second general judgment on the whole human race when Christ comes
again. So Christ will come as judge at the death of each person, and he
will come again at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, or
to confirm the judgment already made. The point of our Gospel passage
today, though, is that we must all live in such a way as to be always
ready.
The most important
event in the future is the divine judgment on each person at his death
and on the whole human race at the very end. The Judge will be none
other than Jesus Christ. What we must do then is to live as his
friends, showing our love for him by keeping his commandments. This is
the key to life. When he will come we do not know. As he himself says,
it could be sudden. So let us be prepared.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1020-1022
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That is a painful wound. But it is well on its way to being healed.
Stick to your resolutions. And the pain will soon turn into Joyful
peace.
(The Way, no.256)
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Why pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?
The will of the Father is that “all men be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). For
this Jesus came: to perfectly fulfill the saving will of his Father. We
pray God our Father to unite our will to that of his Son after the
example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints. We ask that this
loving plan be fully realized on earth as it is already in heaven. It
is through prayer that we can discern “what is the will of God” (Romans
12:2) and have the “steadfastness to do it” (Hebrews 10:36). (CCC
2822-2827, 2860)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.591)
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Monday of
the first week in Advent A
(December 3) St.
Francis Xavier (1506-1552)
Jesus asked, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole
world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:26a). The words were repeated
to a young teacher of philosophy who had a highly promising career in
academics, with success and a life of prestige and honour before him.
Francis Xavier, 24 at the time, and living and teaching in Paris, did
not heed these words at once. They came from a good friend, Ignatius of
Loyola, whose tireless persuasion finally won the young man to Christ.
Francis then made the spiritual exercises under the direction of
Ignatius, and in 1534 joined his little community (the infant Society
of Jesus). Together at Montmartre they vowed poverty, chastity and
apostolic service according to the directions of the pope. From Venice,
where he was ordained priest in 1537, Francis Xavier went on to Lisbon
and from there sailed to the East Indies, landing at Goa, on the west
coast of India. For the next 10 years he laboured to bring the faith to
such widely scattered peoples as the Hindus, the Malayans and the
Japanese. He spent much of that time in India, and served as provincial
of the newly established Jesuit province of India. Wherever he went, he
lived with the poorest people, sharing their food and rough
accommodations. He spent countless hours ministering to the sick and
the poor, particularly to lepers. Very often he had no time to sleep or
even to say his breviary but, as we know from his letters, he was
filled always with joy. Francis went through the islands of Malaysia,
then up to Japan. He learned enough Japanese to preach to simple folk,
to instruct and to baptize, and to establish missions for those who
were to follow him. From Japan he had dreams of going to China, but
this plan was never realized. Before reaching the mainland he died. His
remains are enshrined in the Church of Good Jesus in Goa.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah
4:2-6; Psalm 122:1-9; Matthew 8:5-11
When
Jesus entered Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion asking, “Lord,
my servant lies at home sick of the palsy and is grievously tormented.”
And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion
answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof, but
only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man
subject to authority having under me soldiers; and I say to this, Go,
and he goes, and to another, Come, and he comes, and to my servant, Do
this, and he does it.” Jesus hearing this, marvelled. He said to those
who followed him, “Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith
in Israel. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west
and will sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven.” (Matthew 8:5-11)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Fri22woQk
We find our Lord
holding up for emulation by his disciples various figures he comes
across. For instance, we remember how he was seated in the Temple and
he saw a poor unnoticed widow approach the treasury and place in two
small coins, whereas the well-off people put in a great deal. Our Lord
called his disciples to 
him and pointed to her
saying that she had put in more than all the others because she had put
in all she had to live on whereas they had put in what they did not
need anyway. On another occasion he was in the home of Martha and Mary
and Martha was distracted and anxious about the serving. She came to
our Lord to complain about her sister who was spending all her time
simply listening to him and not helping at all. Our Lord gently
corrected Martha and held up before her the example of her sister Mary
who in that particular point of time was doing the one thing necessary,
which was to give her whole attention to the word of Christ. On another
occasion he was dining in the house of a Pharisee and a woman who had a
bad reputation came in and wiped his feet with her repentant tears. Our
Lord held her up before the Pharisee as an example of love and
repentance. The Pharisee compared poorly with her. In his stories our
Lord at times held up surprising persons for imitation. There is the
story of the Good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite failed badly in
charity while the Samaritan, a foreigner and a heretic, was admirable.
Our Lord’s questioner (he had posed a question to our Lord to test him)
was told to go and do the same himself. In our Gospel passage today
(Matthew 8:5-11) our Lord holds up
a pagan as an example of faith. There is no suggestion in the text that
the Roman centurion adhered to the Jewish religion, even though his
very approach to our Lord indicates his sympathy with it. But more than
anything, what is admirable is the quality of his prayer. It is
distinguished by its faith and its humility. He certainly believed that
our Lord could do what he was asking of him and he regarded himself
humbly. He considered himself unworthy of having Christ grace the door
of his house.
So excellent was
the prayer of the centurion that our Lord, the Son of God made man and
the Saviour of the world, was amazed. He turned and declared that he
had not found faith like this in all Israel. Of course our Lord was
expressing his admiration in these terms so as to praise the
centurion’s faith and to point to him as an example to the crowd that
was following him. It goes without saying that the faith of the
centurion could not compare with, say, the faith of Christ’s own mother
of whom Elizabeth had declared that she was blessed for having believed
what was told her by the Lord. Other examples of magnificent faith
could be given, such as Joseph the foster-father of Christ, Simeon and
Anna, and our Lord’s own first disciples. But the centurion showed a
striking faith nevertheless, and that it was so we know on the word of
Christ. So just as we learn from the example of the widow in the
Temple, so too we can learn much from this centurion. Indeed, the
Church has taken his prayer and uses it every time Mass is celebrated.
Just before the Body and Blood of Christ is given to the people at Mass
the priest holds up the Eucharistic Jesus and together with the entire
congregation repeats the prayer of our centurion. “Lord, I am not
worthy that you should come under my roof. Say but the word and my soul
will be healed.” A very good practice would be really to mean this when
we say it in union with the priest at Mass. Let it become a frequent
prayer in our life. We ought often be asking Christ to come and make us
what we should be, healing us of our spiritual infirmities and our
sinful condition. That is to say, we ought often be making what we
might call spiritual communions, uniting ourselves with the risen and
living Jesus, especially the eucharistic Jesus who resides constantly
in the Tabernacle of the Catholic Church. We should invite Christ into
our hearts and a good prayer to do so would be the prayer of the
centurion, but prayed with real faith and humility.
Our Lord tells us
elsewhere in the Gospel that we ought pray always and never lose heart.
He has given us the Lord’s Prayer as the model and summary of our
prayer, and in today’s Gospel we learn from him that faith and humility
ought distinguish our entire approach to him. Let us strive to be like
the centurion in all our requests of Christ. Christ our Lord will be
well pleased with our prayer.
(E.J.Tyler)
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You drag along like a dead-weight, as if you had no part to play. No
wonder you are beginning to feel the symptoms of lukewarmness. Wake up!
(The Way, no.257)
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What is the sense of the petition “Give us this day our daily bread”?
Asking God with the filial trust of children for the daily nourishment
which is necessary for us all we recognize how good God is, beyond all
goodness. We ask also for the grace to know how to act so that justice
and solidarity may allow the abundance of some to remedy the needs of
others. (CCC 2828-2834, 2861)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.592)
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Tuesday
of the First Week of Advent
(December 4) St.
John Damascene (676?-749)
John spent most of his life in the monastery of St. Sabas, near
Jerusalem, and all of his life under Muslim rule, indeed, protected by
it. He was born in Damascus, received a classical and theological
education, and followed his father in a government position under the
Arabs. After a few years he resigned and went to the monastery of St.
Sabas. He is famous in three areas. First, he is known for his writings
against the iconoclasts, who opposed the veneration of images.
Paradoxically, it was the Eastern Christian emperor Leo who forbade the
practice, and it was because John lived in Muslim territory that his
enemies could not silence him. Second, he is famous for his treatise,
Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of the Greek Fathers (of
which he became the last). It is said that this book is to Eastern
schools what the Summa of Aquinas became to the West. Thirdly, he is
known as a poet, one of the two greatest of the Eastern Church, the
other being Romanus the Melodist. His devotion to the Blessed Mother
and his sermons on her feasts are well known.
John defended the Church’s understanding of the veneration of images
and explained the faith of the Church in several other controversies.
For over 30 years he combined a life of prayer with these defences and
his other writings. His holiness expressed itself in putting his
literary and preaching talents at the service of the Lord. “The saints
must be honoured as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as
John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him,
he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully
observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and
just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their
faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and
perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of
glory” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm
72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17; Luke 10:21-24
In that same
hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said: “I praise you, O
Father, Lord of heaven and
earth,
because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and
have revealed them to little ones. Yes Father, for so it has seemed
good in your sight. All things have been entrusted to me by my Father;
and no one knows who the Son is but the Father; and who the Father is
but the Son, and those to whom the Son will reveal him.” Turning to his
disciples he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I
say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things
that you see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you
hear, and have not heard them.” (Luke
10:21-24)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=octa9lhrq4s
If I remember
correctly, the Dalai Lama once said something to the effect that Christ
was an instance in history of the Buddha, or an incarnation of him. I
forget the exact way he put it, but the gist of it was that Christ was
one case (among many) in history of all that the Buddha was and
represented. I suppose his idea is
that the spirit of the Buddha pervades and is manifested in the great
religious founders of history. I remember reading too that one of the
Roman Emperors had statues of various religious figures including Moses
and Christ. They were all gods, as far as he was concerned. When our
Lord asked his disciples who people were saying the Son of Man is, he
got various answers. Some, his disciples reported, said that he was
Elijah, others that he was John the Baptist come back again, others
that he was one of the prophets of old. Our Lord knew what people were
saying of him but he really wanted from his disciples the right answer.
Simon Peter spoke up. “You are the Christ,” he said, “the Son of the
living God.” Our Lord immediately declared Simon to be blessed and to
have been greatly favoured. Simon’s awareness that Jesus was the
Messiah, and more than this, that he was the very Son of God was a
grace given to him from above. Christ was no ordinary prophet, nor was
he simply the greatest of them. He was the long promised Messiah, the
one whom God would give to the world to establish his Kingdom. There is
no one greater in God’s sight than the Messiah. He is the King of kings
who brings the blessings of heaven to the earth. Jesus is this Messiah,
and more still, he is God the Son. In our Gospel passage today our Lord
exults that the Father has revealed this to the humble ones, and
praises his heavenly Father for revealing the Son to them. “No one
knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except
the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” (Luke 10:21-24)
The constant
tendency will be to regard Christ as simply one among many, and his
doctrine as simply one among many, carrying little more value than the
many others that are on offer in human history. Our passage today is
one among several in which our Lord speaks of his uniqueness. He is
supremely the Lord and King and no one else shares with him his supreme
status. God has handed to him the lordship over everything. “All things
have been handed over to me by my Father.” In the intimacy of his
circle of disciples our Lord calmly claimed this universal lordship
over all. Then when he had risen from the dead he stated explicitly
again that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him.
They, his disciples, were to go to the whole world, then, and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and teaching them to
observe all he had commanded. The whole world is called by God to
accept Jesus as the Lord and King. It is an extraordinary and wonderful
thing that the world has a Lord and King, but this fact has to be
heard, learnt and accepted. He is the world’s Saviour and the source of
its renewal and its hope. I remember watching a television debate many
years ago between a Jewish Rabbi and a Protestant theologian. The Rabbi
(understandably) attacked her over the Christian teaching that Christ
is the only way to God. Sadly, the theologian retreated from the
Christian claim, and yet that is exactly what our Lord claims. No one
can come to the Father except through me, he told his disciples at the
Last Supper. He is the only name by which men can be saved, Peter told
the Sanhedrin in the Acts of the Apostles. Just how this is to be
understood is a further matter and it certainly does not mean that only
Christians can be saved, but it does mean that whoever is saved is
saved only through Christ, and Christ is present and active through the
Church which he founded on Peter and the Apostles. Our Gospel today
speaks of the one Lordship of Christ, and of how it is the Father who
reveals this to the men and women of each generation.
Jesus is the
Messiah, the Son of God, the one and only Saviour of the world, the
only way to the Father. All things have been entrusted to him by the
Father. In his hands has been placed all authority in heaven and on
earth. As our Lord says in today’s Gospel, “Blessed are the eyes that
see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to
see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but
did not hear it.” Let us accept Christ as our all.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Get rid of those scruples that deprive you of peace. — What takes away
your peace of soul cannot come from God.
When God comes to you, you will feel the truth of those greetings: My
peace I give to you..., peace I leave you..., peace be with you..., and
you will feel it even in the midst of troubles.
(The Way, no.258)
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What is the specifically Christian sense of this petition?
Since “man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4), this petition equally applies to
hunger for the Word of God and for the Body of Christ received in the
Eucharist as well as hunger for the Holy Spirit. We ask this with
complete confidence for this day – God’s “today” – and this is given to
us above all in the Eucharist which anticipates the banquet of the
Kingdom to come. (CCC 2835-2837, 2861)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.593)
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Wednesday
of the First Week of Advent A
(December 5) St.
Sabas (b. 439) Born in Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey),
Sabas is one of the most highly regarded patriarchs among the monks of
Palestine and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism.
After an unhappy childhood in which he was abused and ran away several
times, Sabas finally sought refuge in a monastery. While family members
tried to persuade him to return home, the young boy felt drawn to
monastic life. Although the youngest monk in the house, he excelled in
virtue. At age 18 he travelled to Jerusalem, seeking to learn more
about living in solitude. Soon he asked to be accepted as a disciple of
a well-known local solitary, though initially he was regarded as too
young to live completely as a hermit. Initially, Sabas lived in a
monastery, where he worked during the day and spent much of the night
in prayer. At the age of 30 he was given permission to spend five days
each week in a nearby remote cave, engaging in prayer and manual labor
in the form of weaving baskets. Following the death of his mentor, St.
Euthymius, Sabas moved farther into the desert near Jericho. There he
lived for several years in a cave near the brook Cedron. A rope was his
means of access. Wild herbs among the rocks were his food. Occasionally
men brought him other food and items, while he had to go a distance for
his water. Some of these men came to him desiring to join him in his
solitude. At first he refused. But not long after relenting, his
followers swelled to more than 150, all of them living in individual
huts grouped around a church, called a laura. The bishop persuaded a
reluctant Sabas, then in his early 50s, to prepare for the priesthood
so that he could better serve his monastic community in leadership.
While functioning as abbot among a large community of monks, he felt
ever called to live the life of a hermit. Throughout each year
—consistently in Lent—he left his monks for long periods of time, often
to their distress. A group of 60 men left the monastery, settling at a
nearby ruined facility. When Sabas learned of the difficulties they
were facing, he generously gave them supplies and assisted in the
repair of their church. Over the years Sabas travelled throughout
Palestine, preaching the true faith and successfully bringing back many
to the Church. At the age of 91, in response to a plea from the
Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sabas undertook a journey to Constantinople in
conjunction with the Samaritan revolt and its violent repression. He
fell ill and, soon after his return, died at the monastery at Mar Saba.
Today the monastery is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox
Church, and St. Sabas is regarded as one of the most noteworthy figures
of early
monasticism.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 25:6-10a; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Matthew
15:29-37
When Jesus had
passed on from there, he came near the sea of Galilee. And going up
into a mountain, he sat there. And there
came to him great multitudes, having with them the dumb, the blind, the
lame, the maimed, and many others. They placed them at his feet and he
healed them. The multitudes marvelled seeing the dumb speak, the lame
walk, and the blind see, and they glorified the God of Israel. And
Jesus called together his disciples, and said "I have compassion on the
multitudes, because they have continued with me now three days, and
have nothing to eat. I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint
on the way." And the disciples said to him, "How could we have enough
loaves in the desert to feed so great a multitude?" And Jesus said to
them, "How many loaves have you?" But they said, "Seven, and a few
fish." And he directed the multitude to sit on the ground. And taking
the seven loaves and the fish, and giving thanks, he broke, and gave to
his disciples, and the disciples to the people. They ate and had their
fill, and they took up seven baskets full of what remained of the
fragments. (Matthew 15:29-37)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOKYxWgzHsY
Our Gospel scene
presents us with a picture of Christ amid a very suffering world. “At
that time: Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain,
and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the
lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others.” Christ walks
by the Sea of Galilee and goes up
on the mountain, as if at a spot near to God. There he sits down as if
making himself accessible to the world coming to him from below and as
if about to dispense divine blessings to those who choose to approach
him. The crowds brought those who were afflicted and they placed them
at his feet “and he cured them.” Perhaps in them we remember Moses
going up the mountain to meet Yahweh God. On that occasion Moses and
the people encountered One of great majesty and awe, full of power and
one who, while rich in compassion and mercy for his chosen people,
nevertheless is threatening to the sinner. What was the image of Yahweh
in the minds of those “great crowds” who followed our Lord up the
mountain bearing with them their sick and afflicted? We cannot know but
here in our Gospel scene today they encountered God on the mountain, a
God of power while overflowing with compassion. There was no doubt in
their minds that God was at work in the words and actions of Jesus.
There was nothing he could not do for them and he was taking very many
of them out of a condition of physical and emotional slavery into a new
state of light and hope. Just as Moses led his people out of oppression
by the power of God, so Jesus by the power of God - which is to say, by
his own power - was leading those who came to him out of the oppression
of their fallen condition. The distinctive form of this almighty power
he was exercising was kindliness and compassion. Christ’s heart was
overflowing with kindness and concern for the afflicted. Indeed and in
fact, he was the Yahweh God who had appeared to Moses at the Burning
Bush to tell him his name and that he felt sorry for his people and was
about to lead them out of their oppression.
Now incarnate in
Jesus, Yahweh’s love was being fully revealed. Having cured “the lame,
the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others”, Christ still felt
compassion for the people. “Jesus summoned his disciples and said, ‘My
heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now
for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away
hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way’.” He proceeded forthwith
to feed them with virtually nothing and he fed them abundantly. The
disciples said to him, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this
deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” Jesus said to them, “How many
loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.” He
ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven
loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to
the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and
were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets
full.
(Matthew 15:29-37) The wonderful thing is that all this
was a foretaste of much greater things to come. Jesus was born into
this world to free the world from the profound calamity which had no
natural means of cure. The world had suffered a radical fall out of
which it could not be taken by any natural means. The world, and man in
particular, was doomed if left to itself. How terrible that man should
have placed himself in this impossible predicament! But here was the
Saviour among fallen and pitiful men, curing them of their afflictions
and in so doing showing that he had the power and the compassion to
break the power of the root cause, which is their sin. He was pointing
to a far greater work which he was soon to do and at unimaginable cost
to himself. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world
by bearing all of those sins on his own shoulders unto death. He
expiated for the sin of the world and led mankind out of the slavery of
sin to the true promised land of heaven.
Let us like the
crowds go up to him where he is found. He is found most especially and
in all his fullness in the Church he founded on the Apostles, with
Peter at their head. He is the Head and Bridegroom of the Church and by
means of his body the Church he draws into his own divine life all
those who come to him to be with him. Let us then come to him and
accept his offer of friendship and divine life. It is through him and
only through him that this life will be ours.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Those scruples still! Speak simply and clearly to your Director.
Obey... and don't underestimate the most loving Heart of our Lord.
(The Way, no.259)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why say “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us”?
By asking God the Father to pardon us, we acknowledge before him that
we are sinners. At the same time we proclaim his mercy because in his
Son and through the sacraments “we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins” (Colossians 1:14). Still our petition will be answered only if we
for our part have forgiven first. (2838-2839, 2862)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.594)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the First Week of Advent A
(December 6) St.
Nicholas (d. 350?) The absence of the “hard facts” of
history is not necessarily an obstacle to the popularity of saints, as
the devotion to St. Nicholas shows. Both the Eastern and Western
Churches honour him, and it is claimed that, after the Blessed Virgin,
he is the saint most pictured by Christian artists. And yet,
historically, we can pinpoint only the fact that Nicholas was the
fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia
Minor. As with many of the saints, however, we are able to capture the
relationship which Nicholas had with God through the admiration which
Christians have had for him—an admiration expressed in the colourful
stories which have been told and retold through the centuries. Perhaps
the best-known story about Nicholas concerns his charity toward a poor
man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of
marriageable age. Rather than see them forced into prostitution,
Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on
three separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married.
Over the centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of
gift-giving on the saint’s feast. In the English-speaking countries,
St. Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further
expanding the example of generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.
“In order to be able to consult more suitably the welfare of the
faithful according to the condition of each one, a bishop should strive
to become duly acquainted with their needs in the social circumstances
in which they live.... He should manifest his concern for all, no
matter what their age, condition, or nationality, be they natives,
strangers, or foreigners” (Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office,
16).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 26:1-6; Psalm
118:1 and 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a; Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Jesus
said to his disciples, “Not every one who says to me, Lord! Lord! will
enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he who does the will of my
heavenly Father, he it is who will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many
will say to me on that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in your
name, and cast out devils in your name, and worked many miracles in
your name? And then I will say to them, I do not know you. Depart from
me, you wicked people. Every one therefore who hears these words of
mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
When the rain fell and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on
that house it did not fall for it was founded on rock. And every one
who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice will
be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and
it fell, and great was the fall thereof. (Matthew
7:21, 24-27)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrxafDsba5E
When we consider
the religious life of much of human history we can see a pattern. Man
is religious, so much so that there are scholars who, while allowing
that man is a rational animal, prefer to describe and even define him
primarily as a religious animal. That is to say they regard his
distinguishing feature as lying in religion. They observe how - with
the exception of the modern anomaly of Western secular culture and
those cultures influenced by Western secularism - in society after
society and culture after culture
religion is the all-pervading fabric. Religious sacrifices and ritual
and religious myth (“myth” used in the sense of story) seem to be
present wherever there is man. But in observing that we can see a
pattern in the religion of man I would also observe that there is an
associated pattern. That associated pattern is that religion tends to
be separated from daily morality. By that I mean that the gods are
placated or appealed to with sacrifices and ritual but religion tends
to be regarded as being simply that. I remember attending an informal
lecture at the University of Sydney given by a scholar of
Zoroastrianism. He defined religion as being a technology, a way of
gaining various benefits and blessings from the powers above. Even
though anthropologists point out that in most cultures religion
pervades life, my impression is that all too frequently religion as
lived is not accompanied by a notably good and moral life. What I am
saying here is a personal conjecture and one that is meant to be
illustrative of my main point. My real point derives from what our Lord
tells us in today’s Gospel. Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone
who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but
only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” It is not
enough often to pray, indeed to pray a lot - even though prayer is
absolutely essential to religion and for any true relationship with
God. It is not enough to offer sacrifices and engage in ritual. What
God wants of us also is that we be good. Be holy, we read in the Old
Testament, for I am holy.
The revealed
religion of the Old and New Testaments is distinguished precisely by
this that the worship and love of God must include a very moral life.
God’s commandments for everyday life must be observed if God is to be
well pleased, and whenever this is not the case God is displeased with
the sacrifices and observances of religion. Time and again the prophets
inveigh against the people for their sacrifices because they oppress
and disregard the poor, they are immoral in their everyday lives, and
in general they do not observe the commandments of God that relate to
one’s neighbour. So called “religion” is separated from personal and
social morality. Of the Ten Commandments seven relate to right dealings
with one’s neighbour. They require that we be good and moral in
relation to others. Our Lord said to his disciples that if they love
him they will keep his commandments. In his description of the Last and
General Judgment our Lord makes it clear that a great deal will hinge
on having lived a good and moral life: which is to say, being just and
charitable and helping those in need. All this is to say that religion
means doing the will of God, not only when fulfilling one’s “religious
duties” at prayer or worship, but constantly in everyday life. The man
of religion is such in his work office, at his work bench, in his
profession or trade, among his friends and acquaintances, wherever he
happens to be each day of his life. We are called to worship God day by
day and indeed moment by moment precisely by endeavouring to do his
will, which is the God-given duty before us. Yes, God is the one and
only God whom we are called to worship and love and pray to ceaselessly
with all our hearts, but he is also the God of our moral obligations.
The God of religion is the God of morality and of the right conscience.
God is the God of one’s duties of state. God is the God of one’s daily
work in life. He is to be wholeheartedly served there too. He awaits us
in the moral obligations of life. Indeed, as the Church teaches, it is
his voice that can be heard in the fundamental dictate of conscience.
For this reason our Lord tells us that those who will enter the Kingdom
of heaven are not those who merely say to him, Lord, Lord, but those
who do the will of his heavenly Father.
The famous
programme of St Benedict for the Christian life was work and prayer,
prayer and work. We must pray if we are ever to grow in the love of
God. It is the fundamental condition of holiness. But this prayer must
pervade our work so that in all we do, in all our work in life, we are
striving to do the will of God. Our religion must not be separated from
morality, but must be manifested in and nourished by a truly good life
lived in accord with the will of God our heavenly Father. Christ gives
us the grace to do this.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gloominess, depression. I am not surprised: it is the cloud of dust
raised by your fall. But... that's enough! Can't you see that the cloud
has been borne far away by the breath of grace?
Moreover, your gloominess, if you don't fight it, could very well be
the cloak of your pride. — Did you really think yourself perfect and
incapable of sinning?
(The Way, no.260)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How is forgiveness possible?
Mercy can penetrate our hearts only if we ourselves learn how to
forgive – even our enemies. Now even if it seems impossible for us to
satisfy this requirement, the heart that offers itself to the Holy
Spirit can, like Christ, love even to love’s extreme; it can turn
injury into compassion and transform hurt into intercession.
Forgiveness participates in the divine mercy and is a high-point of
Christian prayer. (CCC 2840-2845, 2862)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.595)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday of
the first week in Advent A
(December 7) St.
Ambrose (340?-397)
One of Ambrose’s biographers observed that at the
Last Judgment people would still be divided between those who admired
Ambrose and those who heartily disliked him. He emerges as the man of
action who cut a furrow through the lives of his contemporaries. Even
royal personages were numbered among those who were to suffer crushing
divine punishments for standing in Ambrose’s way. When the Empress
Justina attempted to wrest two basilicas from Ambrose’s Catholics and
give them to the Arians, he dared the eunuchs of the court to execute
him. His own people rallied behind him in the face of imperial troops.
In the midst of riots he both spurred and calmed his people with
bewitching new hymns set to exciting Eastern melodies. In his disputes
with the Emperor Auxentius, he coined the principle: “The emperor is in
the Church, not above the Church.” He publicly admonished Emperor
Theodosius for the massacre of 7,000 innocent people. The emperor did
public penance for his crime. This was Ambrose, the fighter, sent to
Milan as Roman governor and chosen while yet a catechumen to be the
people’s bishop. There is yet another side of Ambrose—one which
influenced Augustine, whom Ambrose converted. Ambrose was a passionate
little man with a high forehead, a long melancholy face and great eyes.
We can picture him as a frail figure clasping the codex of sacred
Scripture. This was the Ambrose of aristocratic heritage and learning.
Augustine found the oratory of Ambrose less soothing and entertaining
but far more learned than that of other contemporaries. Ambrose’s
sermons were often modelled on Cicero and his ideas betrayed the
influence of contemporary thinkers and philosophers. He had no scruples
in borrowing at length from pagan authors. He gloried in the pulpit in
his ability to parade his spoils—“gold of the Egyptians”—taken over
from the pagan philosophers. His sermons, his writings and his personal
life reveal him as an otherworldly man involved in the great issues of
his day. Humanity, for Ambrose, was, above all, spirit. In order to
think rightly of God and the human soul, the closest thing to God, no
material reality at all was to be dwelt upon. He was an enthusiastic
champion of consecrated virginity. The influence of Ambrose on
Augustine will always be open for discussion. The Confessions
reveal some manly, brusque encounters between Ambrose and Augustine,
but there can be no doubt of Augustine’s profound esteem for the
learned bishop. Neither is there any doubt that Monica loved Ambrose as
an angel of God who uprooted her son from his former ways and led him
to his convictions about Christ. It was Ambrose, after all, who placed
his hands on the shoulders of the naked Augustine as he descended into
the baptismal fountain to put on Christ.
Ambrose exemplifies for us the
truly catholic character of Christianity. He is a man steeped in the
learning, law and culture of the ancients and of his contemporaries.
Yet, in the midst of active involvement in this world, this thought
runs through Ambrose’s life and preaching: The hidden meaning of the
Scriptures calls our spirit to rise to another world.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 29:17-24; Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14; Matthew
9:27-31
As Jesus
passed from there, there followed him two blind men crying out, “Have
mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had arrived at the house the blind
men came to him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe, that I can do
this for you?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their
eyes saying, “According to your faith, be it done to you.” Their eyes
were opened and Jesus strictly charged them, saying, “See that no one
learns of this.” But going out they spread his fame throughout that
country.
(Matthew 9:27-31)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjRk5suhCpQ
One of the signs of
a great photographer is his ability to capture in a photographic shot
something with a meaning far larger than the mere subject of his photo.
A great and famous photo could be of a Vietnamese child running from a
scene of fire and mayhem during the Vietnamese war, with terror and
tears etched on her
face. In the eyes of the world somehow the photo sums up the tragedy of
war, setting aside any discussion of blame. Similarly, an artist may
paint a picture that captures the spirit of an era or the legend of a
person, such as a famous painting of a woman leading a mob action
during the French Revolution, or a romantic painting of Napoleon on
horseback. I would suggest that similarly the opening scene of our
Gospel passage today carries a resonance far beyond the mere scene. We
read that “As Jesus passed from there, two blind men followed him
crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” Two blind men following
along in their hopeless darkness, perhaps helping one another, perhaps
depending on this or that person who was willing to guide them - what a
picture this is of much of human life in all its struggle! Consider
what might have been their history. Perhaps they lost their sight,
perhaps they never had it. Perhaps they had been friends over a long
time, perhaps over a short time. Perhaps they lacked family or friends
to help them and in any case here they clearly needed one another.
Mankind is fallen as a result of the rebellion against God of our first
parents and the story of so much of human history is one of difficulty,
struggle and misery while containing so many achievements nevertheless.
Much blindness and darkness hangs over the story of man and he cries
out for pity and mercy. It is this need which fuels so much of religion
and which all too often, sadly, is not dispelled by religion. We might
think of the religion of the Aztecs or the Incas and some of the
appalling ceremonies which it entailed. It represented a cry for help
amid a profound and sin-sodden darkness.
Yes, the cry for mercy
and pity - “have mercy on us!” - is the cry that rises continually and
inexorably from the heart of mankind. It leads man to look heavenwards
and beyond the clouds. He searches the heavens, as it were, trying to
see or hear an answer and depending on his era or locality he thinks he
hears this or that voice or sees this or that figure. All too often
much of what he hears is basically a projection of his yearnings and
his experience of man and life. But an answer has indeed come from the
heavens and it is a magnificently clear and definite answer, one that
has come from the very highest, from the Lord God himself. God has
visited his people, and through his chosen people he has visited
mankind and has chosen to dwell with man. God so loved the world that
he sent his only begotten Son not to condemn the world for its wilful
and sad blindness and sins, but to save what was lost. Jesus is God’s
answer to the prayer of man for pity and mercy. Thus it is to Jesus
that the two blind men cry out for mercy. He is the object of their
petition. There is now a great light shining in the darkness and that
light is Christ. He is the light of the world, and to the extent that
he is absent from the life of an individual or a people, to that extent
does darkness prevail there. The greatest darkness is that which
derives from sin and modern man all too often lacks the sense of sin.
His cry for pity and mercy does not touch the root of his blindness,
which is his inherited and chosen sinfulness. Furthermore, he must
learn where the remedy is found. It is found in the person of Jesus. It
is to Jesus, the Son of David, that the blind men directed their
heartfelt appeal. So must we, and we ought do it every day of our
lives. Our fundamental call is to holiness of life and the overcoming
of sin. Apart from Christ this is impossible. With him the darkness of
sin is dispelled and the way to holiness in him is opened up. Let us
place ourselves in the company of the blind men and appeal to Christ.
Christ can be
found. He can be pointed to and approached. He lives now and is very
accessible. Where is he? He is to be found above all in his Church, the
Church he founded on the Apostles with Peter at their head. He dwells
in his body the Church and through the word and sacraments of the
Church he ministers to us who so greatly need him, just as he
ministered to the two blind men. Let us resolve to live in him, for if
we live in him we shall rise and reign with him.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I forbid you to think any more about it. — Instead, bless God, who has
given back life to your soul.
(The Way, no.261)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What does “Lead us not into temptation” mean?
We ask God our Father not to leave us alone and in the power of
temptation. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us know how to discern, on
the one hand, between a trial that makes us grow in goodness and a
temptation that leads to sin and death and, on the other hand, between
being tempted and consenting to temptation. This petition unites us to
Jesus who overcame temptation by his prayer. It requests the grace of
vigilance and of final perseverance. (CCC 2846-2849, 2863)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.596)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Dec.8)
(Saturday of the first week in Advent A)
(December 8) Feast
of the Immaculate Conception
A feast called the Conception of Mary arose in the Eastern Church in
the seventh century. It came to the West in the eighth century. In the
eleventh century it received its present name, the Immaculate
Conception. In the eighteenth century it became a feast of the
universal Church. In 1854 Pius IX gave the infallible statement: “The
most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a
singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the
merits of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the human race, was preserved
free from all stain of original sin.” It took a long time for this
doctrine to develop. While many Fathers and Doctors of the Church
considered Mary the greatest and holiest of the saints, they often had
difficulty in seeing Mary as sinless—either at her conception or
throughout her life. This is one of the Church teachings that arose
more from the piety of the faithful than from the insights of brilliant
theologians. Even such champions of Mary as Bernard and Thomas Aquinas
could not see theological justification for this teaching. Two
Franciscans, William of Ware and Blessed John Duns Scotus, helped
develop the theology. They point out that Mary’s Immaculate Conception
enhances Jesus’ redemptive work. Other members of the human race are
cleansed from original sin after birth. In Mary, Jesus’ work was so
powerful as to prevent original sin at the
outset.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Genesis 3:9-15, 20;
Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4; Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month,
the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called
Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David; and the virgin's
name was Mary. The angel entered and said to her: "Hail, full of grace,
the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women." When she heard this
she was troubled at his words, and considered within herself what
manner of salutation this was. And the angel said to her: "Fear not,
Mary, for you have found grace with God. Behold you will conceive in
thy womb and will bring forth a son; and you will call his name Jesus.
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the most High; and the
Lord God will give to him the throne of David his father. He will reign
in the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end." Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I do not know
man?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you
and the power of the most High will overshadow you. And so the Holy One
who will be born of you will be called the Son of God. Behold your
cousin Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age and she who
has been called barren in now in her sixth month, because nothing is
impossible with God." Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be
it done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
(Luke 1:26-38)
Most religious
people have heard of Lourdes in France to which every year vast numbers
make a pilgrimage. People go to visit the waters of Lourdes and many
scientifically verified cures have occurred there. It is the place
where in 1858 Mary the mother of Christ appeared on several occasions
to the young Bernadette Soubirous who
because of her very holy life subsequent to those appearances has since
been canonized. At one point during those appearances Bernadette asked
the Lady who she was. The Lady replied in the dialect of Bernadette, "I
am the Immaculate Conception." When questioned by the parish priest
about the alleged Lady and who she was, Bernadette gave that answer and
the parish priest was amazed because he knew Bernadette did not know of
this title, nor what it meant. In fact, four years before in 1854 Pope
Pius IX after consulting widely among the bishops as to the faith of
the Church, had defined it to be a Christian dogma and an inseparable
part of Revelation that the Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved from
original sin at her conception. She was conceived free from our common
sinful condition which is the direct result of the original sin of our
first parents. This meant that her natural inclinations were not
warring against her calling to obey God totally. Love of self did not
instinctively and with persistence in her attempt to supplant love of
God. Just as Adam and Eve came into this world from the hand of God
oriented to him by nature and abundant grace, so too did Mary. Adam and
Eve fell through deliberate sin. Mary flowered in prodigious grace
through her faith and obedience. Never did she turn back in any sense
at all. The sanctuary of God which was her conscience was kept as God’s
dwelling place and a pure echo of his voice. God dwelt in her
conscience as the Lord and King thereof, and the upshot was that she
was full of grace and the Lord was constantly with her to the very end.
She was born, lived and died full of grace.
It is because the
Church formally teaches it that we know what has been revealed and what
is truly and clearly taught in the Scriptures, and indeed which books
are inspired and so make up the Scriptures. So too we know for certain
that the virgin Mary was immaculately conceived because of the solemn
word of the Church. The Church is endowed with the gift of the Holy
Spirit to guide her in remembering all that Christ taught us and in
coming to see with certainty the implications of this teaching. It
takes time for the full implications of Revelation to be explicitly
developed, just as it takes time for the human being to be fully
developed or indeed any living thing. Accordingly, prior to the
Church’s defining the matter, theologians had differed as to its truth
and certainty even though it was widely accepted and celebrated. But
then finally the Church speaks and resolves the matter for those still
uncertain. This the Church has done in the case of certain great
prerogatives of the Virgin Mary. By the future merits of her divine Son
and Saviour she was conceived free from original sin, and indeed so
holy did she become by the power of grace that the wages of sin - the
corruption of death - did not touch her. Pope Pius XII in 1950 defined
it as a dogma of revelation that she was taken body and soul glorious
into heaven at the end of her mortal life (whether or not she actually
died). These extraordinary privileges of grace were bestowed on Mary
because she was the mother of the Son of God made man, the Redeemer of
mankind and therefore her Redeemer too. She was preserved free from
original sin by the grace of Christ her future son and Saviour.
Furthermore, through the grace merited by his sacrifice she was enabled
to be faithful to God’s will in all its details during her all holy
life. With good reason the Angel in our Gospel scene (Luke 1:26-38) addresses her as the one
full of grace, and that the Lord was with her. All of this we think of
on the feast of her Immaculate Conception.
The wonderful thing
is that Christ the Son of God has given his mother to be our mother
too. She is the mother of the Saviour! How he must love her! With pride
and love he would have introduced her to his growing band of disciples
during his public ministry . She became and is now and always will be
the mother and the model of the Church and all the Church’s faithful.
Let us cultivate a true devotion to holy Mary, the Mother of God and
let us ask her to pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stop thinking of your fall. That thought, besides overwhelming and
crushing you under its weight, may easily be an occasion of further
temptations. Christ has forgiven you: forget the 'old self'.
(The Way, no.262)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why do we conclude by asking “But deliver us from evil”?
“Evil” indicates the person of Satan who opposes God and is “the
deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). Victory over the devil
has already been won by Christ. We pray, however, that the human family
be freed from Satan and his works. We also ask for the precious gift of
peace and the grace of perseverance as we wait for the coming of Christ
who will free us definitively from the Evil One. (CCC 2850-2854, 2864)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.597)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Second Sunday
of Advent A
Prayers this week:
People of Zion, the
Lord will come to save all nations, and your hearts will exult to hear
his majestic voice. (Isaiah 30:19.30)
God
of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that
hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, so that we may share his
wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(December 9) St. Juan Diego (1474-1548)
Thousands of people gathered in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
July 31, 2002, for the canonization of Juan Diego, to whom the Blessed
Mother appeared in the 16th century. Pope John Paul II celebrated the
ceremony at which the poor Indian peasant became the Church’s first
saint indigenous to the Americas. The Holy Father called the new saint
“a simple, humble Indian” who accepted Christianity without giving up
his identity as an Indian. “In praising the Indian Juan Diego, I want
to express to all of you the closeness of the church and the pope,
embracing you with love and encouraging you to overcome with hope the
difficult times you are going through,” John Paul said. Among the
thousands present for the event were members of Mexico’s 64 indigenous
groups. First called Cuauhtlatohuac (“The eagle who speaks”), Juan
Diego’s name is forever linked with Our Lady of Guadalupe because it
was to him that she first appeared at Tepeyac hill on December 9, 1531.
The most famous part of his story is told in connection with the Feast
of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). After the roses gathered in his
tilma were transformed into the miraculous image of Our Lady of
Guadalupe, however, little more is said about Juan Diego. In time he
lived near the shrine constructed at Tepeyac, revered as a holy,
unselfish and compassionate catechist who taught by word and especially
by example.
During his 1990 pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II confirmed
the long-standing liturgical cult in honour of Juan Diego, beatifying
him. Twelve years later he was proclaimed a saint. God counted on Juan
Diego to play a humble yet huge role in bringing the Good News to the
peoples of Mexico. Overcoming his own fear and the doubts of Bishop
Juan de Zumarraga, Juan Diego cooperated with God’s grace in showing
his people that the Good News of Jesus is for everyone. Pope John Paul
II used the occasion of this beatification to urge Mexican lay men and
women to assume their responsibilities for passing on the Good News and
witnessing to it.
“Similar to ancient biblical personages who were collective
representations of all the people, we could say that Juan Diego
represents all the indigenous peoples who accepted the Gospel of Jesus,
thanks to the maternal aid of Mary, who is always inseparable from the
manifestation of her Son and the spread of the Church, as was her
presence among the Apostles on the day of Pentecost” (Pope John Paul
II, beatification
homily).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17;
Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12
In those days
John the Baptist came preaching in the desert of Judea, saying: Do
penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this was he who was
spoken of by Isaiah the prophet,
saying: A voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare the way of the
Lord, make straight his paths. And the same John wore a garment of
camels' hair and a leathern girdle about his loins. His food was
locusts and wild honey. Then there went out to him Jerusalem and all
Judea, and all the country about Jordan. They were baptized by him in
the Jordan, confessing their sins. And seeing many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: brood of vipers, who
has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore
fruit worthy of penance. And think not within yourselves, We have
Abraham for our father. For I tell you that God is able of these stones
to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of
the trees. Every tree therefore that does not yield good fruit, shall
be cut down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in the water
for penance, but he that shall come after me is mightier than I, whose
shoes I am not worthy to bear. He will baptize you in the Holy Ghost
and fire. His fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his
floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn
with unquenchable fire.
(Matthew 3:1-12)
It has always been
intriguing to me to follow the vagaries of philosophical thought as it
has unfolded during the course of history. The history of philosophy
provides plenty of material for the study of common sense, and of how
far from common sense the thinking of some talented thinkers can stray.
Descartes attempted to prove by demonstration that he
existed and had recourse to the mere fact that he thought. This, he
decided, proved that he existed: I think, therefore I am. Apart from
the very dangerous philosophical step of beginning not with external
reality (as does, say, Aquinas) but with internal impressions, it
ignores the common sense intuition of one’s own existence being
involved with the existence of other things. One has an immediate and
certain perception of external reality and of oneself as involved with
this reality. That is a matter of common sense, a fact shared commonly
among all. Of course we all admit that this or that person can be
deluded in his perception of reality, but an exception does not make a
rule. Another philosophical area of doubt for some relates to the
matter of personal conscience. I have, some have claimed, a perfect
right to follow my conscience. But one does not. One has a limited
right to this, but it must be balanced by other rights and duties.
Common sense restricts this right in all sorts of ways. It does not
allow the terrorist conscientiously to threaten others. So too, a
considerable current of thought in the past has focussed on the
question of freedom. Some philosophers have denied that man is free.
But of course this too flies in the face of common sense. There is an
old saying that 40,000 Frenchmen can’t be wrong, and Cardinal Newman
stood firmly for the validity an argument appealing to the voice of
mankind. The institutions and laws of society predicate and presume
that in the main man is free at least to some extent, and so he is
responsible for his actions at least to some extent.
Indeed, morality
and religion depend on our being free. That we are free is evident,
even though it is not at all evident the extent to which we are free at
any one point of time. But we are free and we can become more free. It
all hinges on our choice of the good. Our choice of what is good is the
test of our freedom and it is the means to increase our freedom. The
less we chose the good and the more often we choose what is bad, the
less we shall be free and the more we shall be enslaved. These are
facts of human experience and they are also part of divine revelation.
God calls us to make choices, and the choice we must make is to love
him by keeping his commandments. What is also revealed is that we are
born into a fallen condition profoundly influenced by what the Church
calls original sin, and this sinful fallen condition seriously limits
our freedom to choose the good. We are instinctively swayed in the
direction of sin and self rather than in the direction of truth and the
good and God. We are, nevertheless free - free to fight against this
sinful and selfish tendency that we find ourselves with. We are free to
seek the holiness that is life in Christ and friendship with him. It
means, in the first instance, that we are free to turn away from sin
and accept the Good News of Christ. We are free to seek conversion, and
this is very much what our Gospel today
(Matthew 3:1-12) reminds us of. John the Baptist’s
message was, Repent! Make this choice! Turn from your sins! Many came
to him acknowledging their sins, with the exception of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. We too are called to repent not just once but
regularly and even daily all through life. One of the most fundamental
ways in which true freedom is exercised is in repentance from sin. We
are all found to be in sin, and this sin has to be renounced and
replaced by love - love for God in the first instance, and love for
one’s neighbour secondly. It will depend on repentance, and this
repentance involves the exercise and growth of freedom, a freedom led
and sustained by the grace of God.
Let us hear the
words and preaching of John the Baptist as directed to ourselves. Our
Lord would take up his baton after he was arrested and himself continue
to preach repentance. It is the sign of a truly free person that he is
able by grace to accept that he is a sinner and then to renounce those
sinful ways. The grace of God is available to the disciple of Christ
through baptism and the Sacraments. With this grace the repentant
person can become a saint. It is the crown of freedom.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1739-1742
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't lose heart. I have seen you struggle: to-day's defeat is training
for the final victory.
(The Way, no.263)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the meaning of the final Amen?
“At the end of the prayer, you say ‘Amen’ and thus you ratify by this
word that means ‘so be it’ all that is contained in this prayer that
God has taught us.” (Saint Cyril of Jerusalem) (CCC 2855-2856,
2865)
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.598)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the Second Week of Advent A
(December 10) Blessed
Adolph Kolping
(1813-1865)
The rise of the factory system in 19th-century Germany brought many
single men into cities where they faced new challenges to their faith.
Father Adolph Kolping began a ministry to them, hoping that they would
not be lost to the Catholic faith as was happening to workers elsewhere
in industrialized Europe. Born in the village of Kerpen, Adolph became
a shoemaker at an early age because of his family’s economic situation.
Ordained in 1845, he ministered to young workers in Cologne,
establishing a choir, which by 1849 had grown into the Young Workmen’s
Society. A branch of this began in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1856. Nine
years later there were over 400 Gesellenvereine (workman’s societies)
around the world. Today this group has over 400,000 members in 54
countries across the globe. More commonly called the Kolping Society,
it emphasizes the sanctification of family life and the dignity of
labor. Father Kolping worked to improve conditions for workers and
greatly assisted those in need. He and St. John Bosco in Turin had
similar interests in working with young men in big cities. He told his
followers, “The needs of the times will teach you what to do. ”Father
Kolping once said, “The first thing that a person finds in life and the
last to which he holds out his hand, and the most precious that he
possess, even if he does not realize it, is family life.” He and
Blessed John Duns Scotus are buried in Cologne’s Minoritenkirche,
served by the Conventual Franciscans. The Kolping Society’s
international headquarters is at this church. Kolping members journeyed
to Rome from Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania for Father
Kolping’s beatification in 1991, the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo
XIII’s revolutionary encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the
Social Order). Father Kolping’s personal witness and apostolate helped
prepare for that encyclical.
Some people thought that Father Kolping was wasting his time and
talents on young working men in industrialized cities. In some
countries, the Catholic Church was seen by many workers as the ally of
owners and the enemy of workers. Men like Adolph Kolping showed that
was not true. “Adolph Kolping gathered skilled workers and factory
laborers together. Thus he overcame their isolation and defeatism. A
faith society gave them the strength to go out into their everyday
lives as Christ’s witnesses before God and the world. To come together,
to become strengthened in the assembly, and thus to scatter again is
and still remains our duty today. We are not Christians for ourselves
alone, but always for others too” (Pope John Paul II, beatification
homily). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah
35:1-10; Psalm 85:9ab and 10-14; Luke 5:17-26
It came to pass on
a certain day, as he sat teaching, that there were also Pharisees and
doctors of the law sitting by, who had come from every town of Galilee,
and Judea and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal.
And behold, certain persons brought on a bed a man who had the palsy:
and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And
when they could not find a way to bring him in because of the
multitude, they went up on the roof, and let him down through the tiles
with his bed into the middle in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith
he said: Man, your sins are forgiven. And the scribes and Pharisees
began to think, saying: Who is this who utters blasphemies? Who can
forgive sins but God alone? Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them
in answer: what is it you are thinking in your hearts? Which is easier
to say, Your sins are forgiven you; or to say, Arise and walk? But that
you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins,
(he said to the one with the palsy,) I say to you, Arise, take up your
bed, and go to your house. And immediately rising up before them, he
took up the bed on which he lay; and he went away to his own house,
glorifying God. And all were astonished; and they glorified God. They
were filled with fear, saying: We have seen wonderful things today.
(Luke 5:17-26)
One of the
distinctive features of the religion of the Old Testament is the
concern for sin that pervades its pages. God is a God hostile to sin
and immorality - immorality is not just wrong but it is sinful. That is
to say, it is offensive to the holiness of God. The chosen people were
gradually educated by God as to sin and their own sinfulness, and
various rites and measures were in place and practised for the
hoped-for forgiveness of sins. While there were indeed sin offerings
and heartfelt prayers for the forgiveness of sins, no prophet or
religious figure in the Old Testament presumed to forgive the sins of
another, nor presumed to do so with effortless readiness. John the
Baptist’s baptism for repentance was clearly a rite he instituted to
express repentance and to appeal to God for his pardon. He did not
presume to forgive the sins of others - indeed, he pointed to our Lord
as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. Where is
there any parallel in the Old Testament to what we read in our Gospel
passage today? Our Lord was suddenly presented with a man paralyzed on
a stretcher, lowered from the roof by his companions. Then our Lord,
without being requested to do so and without concern for the surprise
and hostility his initiative might arouse in the hearts of the scribes
and the Pharisees who were present and observing, proceeded immediately
to forgive the sick man’s sins. There was no hesitation, no bother with
what his audience might think, no steps to prepare the minds of people
with some explanation other than the fact of his manifest authority as
it was being revealed in his works and words and person. Our Lord
obviously saw in the heart of the paralyzed man acknowledgment of his
sins and an attitude of repentance. Perhaps his physical condition had
prompted these more spiritual dispositions. In any case, our Lord who
as we read in the Gospel of St John could read the hearts of men,
forthwith forgave him his sins and thus revealed a new aspect of his
spiritual authority setting him beyond the prophets of old.
This was not the
only occasion on which our Lord did this. He forgave the sins of the
woman with a bad reputation - once again in the presence of the
Pharisees - because “she loved much.” Now, just as our Lord
unambiguously forgave the sins of others during his public ministry, so
he passed on this power to certain others. As we read in the Gospel of
St John, on the day he rose from the dead he appeared in the room
before his fearful disciples showing them that he had indeed physically
risen. Then he breathed on them the gift of the Holy Spirit,
commissioning them to go out, just as the Father had sent him. The task
he immediately gave them? It was to forgive sins. He had suffered, died
and risen from the dead as the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the
world, and now he was sending out his Apostles with the gift of the
Holy Spirit empowering them to forgive sins. Whoever’s sins you forgive
they are forgiven them, he told them. Whoever’s sins you retain, they
are retained. From the beginning by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy
Orders transmitted from bishop to bishop and from bishop to priest that
power and authority to forgive sins has been exercised by the ordained
pastors of the Church which Christ founded on Peter and the Apostles.
Every truly ordained priest has this spiritual charism of being an
instrument of the living Jesus whereby through him Christ forgives the
sins of others. That is to say, just as in our Gospel passage today
Christ forgave the sins of the sick man in full view of the scribes,
the Pharisees and the people, so too he continues to forgive sins
through his ordained priest. On the very day of his resurrection Christ
passed on this ministry that he himself had exercised. It was one of
his very first and therefore one of his most important acts as risen
from the dead. It means that one of the most fundamental and important
ministries of the Church which Christ founded and sustains is the
forgiveness of sin. It is one of the greatest gifts that the Church
offers and brings to the world, and a principal reason for membership
in the Church.
Let us think
prayerfully of Christ’s action in today’s Gospel. It shows his
consciousness of being divine and the immense importance of the
forgiveness of sins. It was the first thing Christ chose to do for the
paralyzed man. It is the first thing we ought seek from Christ with a
spirit of true repentance, and this we do both by our personal prayer
for forgiveness and by our seeking it in the Sacrament of Penance in
the ministry of the Church.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You've done well..., even though you have fallen so low.
You have done well, because you humbled yourself, because you put
things right, because you filled yourself with hope, and that hope
brought you back again to his Love. Don't look so amazed: you have done
well! You rose up from the ground: 'Surge — arise,' the mighty voice
cried anew, 'et ambula! — and walk!' Now — to work!
(The Way, no.264)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Signum Crucis
In nómine Patris
et Fílii
et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday of the
Second Week of Advent A
(December 11)
St. Damasus I (305?-384)
To his secretary St. Jerome, Damasus was “an incomparable person,
learned in the Scriptures, a virgin doctor of the virgin Church, who
loved chastity and heard its praises with pleasure.” Damasus seldom
heard such unrestrained praise. Internal political struggles, doctrinal
heresies, uneasy relations with his fellow bishops and those of the
Eastern Church marred the peace of his pontificate. The son of a Roman
priest, possibly of Spanish extraction, Damasus started as a deacon in
his father’s church, and served as a priest in what later became the
basilica of San Lorenzo in Rome. He served Pope Liberius (352-366) and
followed him into exile. When Liberius died, Damasus was elected bishop
of Rome; but a minority elected and consecrated another deacon,
Ursinus, as pope. The controversy between Damasus and the antipope
resulted in violent battles in two basilicas, scandalizing the bishops
of Italy. At the synod Damasus called on the occasion of his birthday,
he asked them to approve his actions. The bishops’ reply was curt: “We
assembled for a birthday, not to condemn a man unheard.” Supporters of
the antipope even managed to get Damasus accused of a grave
crime—probably sexual—as late as A.D. 378. He had to clear himself
before both a civil court and a Church synod. As pope his lifestyle was
simple in contrast to other ecclesiastics of Rome, and he was fierce in
his denunciation of Arianism and other heresies. A misunderstanding of
the Trinitarian terminology used by Rome threatened amicable relations
with the Eastern Church, and Damasus was only moderately successful in
dealing with the situation. During his pontificate Christianity was
declared the official religion of the Roman state (380), and Latin
became the principal liturgical language as part of the pope’s reforms.
His encouragement of St. Jerome’s biblical studies led to the Vulgate,
the Latin translation of Scripture which the Council of Trent (12
centuries later) declared to be “authentic in public readings,
disputations, preachings.”
The history of the papacy and the Church is inextricably mixed with the
personal biography of Damasus. In a troubled and pivotal period of
Church history, he stands forth as a zealous defender of the faith who
knew when to be progressive and when to entrench. Damasus makes us
aware of two qualities of good leadership: alertness to the promptings
of the Spirit and service. His struggles are a reminder that Jesus
never promised his Rock protection from hurricane winds nor his
followers immunity from difficulties. His only guarantee is final
victory.
"He who walking on the sea could calm the bitter waves, who gives life
to the dying seeds of the earth; he who was able to loose the mortal
chains of death, and after three days' darkness could bring again to
the upper world the brother for his sister Martha: he, I believe, will
make Damasus rise again from the dust" (epitaph of
Damasus). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm
96:1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13; Matthew 18:12-14
What do you think?
If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: does he
not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek the one that
has strayed? And if he finds it, amen I say to you, he rejoices more
for that one than for the ninety-nine that did not stray at all. So too
it is not the will of your heavenly Father that any one of these little
ones should perish. (Matthew 18:12-14)
There is an aspect
of our Lord’s parable of today that can be misinterpreted. Our Lord is
explaining the all-holy God’s attitude to sinners and does so by
drawing on everyday life. The one who has a flock of sheep goes after
the sheep that has strayed and when he finds it he returns rejoicing
far more than for the sheep that did not stray at all. God is like that
person in his concern for the straying sheep. But we can slip into
thinking that it is only the exception that strays. That is to say that
just as in the
parable it was one in
the hundred that strayed, so too in ordinary life it is - so to say -
one in a hundred that strays from God. So we can think. But no. Our
Lord was not meaning to give an idea of the number who strayed from the
love for and obedience to God. He was speaking of God and of the love
that God has for the one who strays. In fact, to a greater or lesser
extent it is, we might say, only one in a hundred that does not stray
at all. Without the grace of the Holy Spirit we all stray from God and
this was the very reason why the Son of God became man, because mankind
was constantly and inexorably straying from God. Christ died in order
to bring together all the scattered children of God, as St John remarks
at one point in his Gospel. All had gone astray because of sin and the
wages of sin are death. So whenever any of us reads this Gospel reading
of today in which our Lord speaks of his searching out the one sheep
that has strayed, and of how he returns rejoicing because he has found
it, we ought say to ourselves that the straying sheep is I, I myself am
the straying sheep. This parable is directed to me. God loves me and
has delivered himself up for me. With St Paul every single person ought
understand that Christ loves him and wishes to bring him back to his
friendship, in which is found eternal life. As our Lord said at the
Last Supper, eternal life is this, to know you Father and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent.
Not only does the
parable indicate to me my own situation as a straying sinner, but it
indicates to me what God is like. Yes, he is the mighty Creator and
Lord of all things visible and invisible. But what is especially
distinctive about the God of revelation is that he seeks out the
straying one and when he has reclaimed that one to his friendship he is
full of joy. God yearns for the friendship of each and every sinner.
The all-holy One does not turn away from the one who offends him but
wants there to be a reconciliation. How unlike our fallen world this
is! When one person commits an offence against another, the offended
person expects (understandably) that the one offending will take the
initiative to make up in some concrete way. With God, if we offend him
by sin, then he himself at great personal cost takes the initiative to
draw us back into his friendship. If we stray deliberately or
semi-deliberately, God seeks us out and finds us, inviting us back into
his friendship. He loves us so much that he cannot rest, as it were,
till we have returned his love. And this is the story of our lives. Our
life consists in God’s search for us sinners who have strayed. It may
take the best part of a lifetime, but the search for the stray goes on
regardless and it may yield its fruitful result only at the last days
of life. A husband abuses his wife with sharp and inconsiderate
language, neglects his responsibilities as a father, time and again
absents himself from home, and fails to practise his Faith. He has
strayed badly from the love and service of God. The long-suffering wife
is patient and loyal. God is working through her and pursuing the
stray. Finally during the last year of the husband’s hapless life he
returns to the Sacraments and to the family. He dies practising the
Christian faith once again. God has found his stray and returns
rejoicing. The wife has been his principal instrument and the whole of
their marriage is to be understood in terms of our parable in the
Gospel of today.
Moment by moment
and day by day we are in the unseen hand of the living Almighty God. We
are not just floating embers that eventually pass out. We each of us is
immortal, and we are that by the ongoing creative and sustaining action
of God. But God does more that this for us. He actively seeks us out if
we are straying, and even if we do not appear to be straying, he is
still seeking us out calling us to holiness of life. Let us place
ourselves in his gentle keeping.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Children... How they seek to behave worthily in the presence of their
parents.
And the children of kings, in the presence of their father the king,
how they seek to uphold the royal dignity!
And you? — Don't you realize that you are always in the presence of the
great King, God, your Father?
(The Way, no.265)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glory be to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning
is now, and ever shall be
world without end. Amen.
Glória Patri
et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday of
the first week in Advent A
(December 12) Our
Lady of Guadalupe
The feast in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the sixteenth
century. Chronicles of that period tell us the story. A poor Indian
named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was
a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On
Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby
barrio to attend Mass in honour of Our Lady. He was walking by a hill
called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of
birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American
maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own
language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan
de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the
lady appeared. Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady
give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became
seriously ill. This led poor Diego to try to avoid the lady. The lady
found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover and
provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.
When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses
fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s
tilma appeared an image of Mary as she had appeared at the hill of
Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531.
Mary's appearance to Juan
Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary and the God
who sent her accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude
and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was
a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for Native
Americans. While a number of them had converted before this incident,
they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler, nine
million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days
when we hear so much about God's preferential option for the poor, Our
Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God's love for and
identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the
Gospel itself. Mary to Juan Diego: “My dearest son, I am the eternal
Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and
Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my desire that a
church be built here in this place for me, where, as your most merciful
Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving clemency and
the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those who love and
seek me...” (from an ancient
chronicle).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
Isaiah 25:6-10; Psalm 32;
Matthew 15:29-37
When Jesus
left there he came to the Sea of Galilee. Going up a mountain he sat
there and there came to him great multitudes, having with them the
dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others.
They placed them at his
feet and he healed them. They marvelled at seeing the dumb speak, the
lame walk, and the blind see, and they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus called together his disciples and said: “I have compassion on the
multitudes because they have been with me now for three days and do not
have anything to eat. I will not send them away hungry lest they
collapse on the way.” The disciples said to him, “Where can we find
enough loaves in the desert as to fill so great a multitude?” Jesus
said to them, “How many loaves have you?” They said: “Seven, and a few
small fish.” Hhe commanded the multitude to sit down upon the ground,
and taking the seven loaves and the fish and giving thanks, broke, and
gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the people. They all ate
and had their fill. They took up seven baskets full of what remained of
the fragments.
(Matthew 15:29-37)
The foremost
religious thinker of nineteenth century England was John Henry Newman,
and especially was he the foremost champion of revealed dogmatic
religion. By that I mean that with his great mind and powerful writing
he stood uncompromisingly for the non-negotiability of Christian dogmas
as the basis of true
Christianity. His story has been of interest to many both during his
life and since his death, and one reason for this has been the drama of
his change of religion from tractarian High Anglicanism to Catholicism
- meaning by this his decision to pass from the Anglican Communion to
the Catholic Church. One interesting detail of his last couple of years
as an Anglican (1843-1845) was his use of the Spiritual
Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola. The
Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius is a manual to assist a
person in making a spiritual retreat and in seeking to know the will of
God. It sets forth points and schema for various meditations, as well
as points of advice and other prayers. As a manual it has received the
highest sanction by the Catholic Church, and it highlights certain key
features or aspects of the person of Christ and what it means to follow
him with the utmost generosity. As far as I am aware, Newman does not
indicate in his Letters and Diaries just what aspects or meditations of
the Spiritual Exercises moved him the most during these last days as an
Anglican. But I mention all this in order to introduce one feature of
Christ which Ignatius of Loyola especially highlights. It is that of
Christ as King. He is the greatest and most inspiring of kings and he
calls each to follow and serve him with the utmost loyalty and
dedication, and with a readiness to follow the path of suffering and
humiliation that he trod. Undoubtedly this image of the King resonated
with Ignatius because of his great military loyalty prior to his
conversion, but it is also profoundly biblical.
Take any scene of
the Gospels, any scene in our Lord’s public ministry, and place
yourself in the scene and observe what kind of a king Jesus is. He is
the Messiah-King, and what power and compassion he displays! At the
height of his public ministry the miracles he was working were truly
spectacular. If we take any other kingly figure, let us say Alexander
the Great and consider the power he exercised, what a difference there
is! Alexander spread bloodshed and mayhem everywhere he went, and
massacres flowed right and left. He was invincible in his military
prowess but it all depended on the sword. Without his armour and
weapons and troops, where would Alexander or his father Philip have
got? Then look what happened - at an early age he fell sick and died.
The Old Testament describes him as proud, which indeed he certainly
was. Now, consider Jesus Christ and especially in our Gospel passage
today. He came announcing a Kingdom, the Kingdom of God as being very
near. He was in the process of establishing and launching it. But
consider his power. We read that “There came to him great multitudes,
having with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many
others, and they placed them at his feet, and he healed them. The
multitudes marvelled seeing the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the
blind see: and they glorified the God of Israel.” Could Alexander,
Julius Caesar, or any of the great and powerful ones who imposed their
dominance by force of arms and crimes against humanity do anything of
what Christ could do? The thought is laughable. Christ proved he had
divine power and no other person in all of history could do what he did
so effortlessly. He was truly invincible but in a different sense
because as he said to Pontius Pilate, his kingdom was not of this
world. It involved the rule of God over the human heart. Our Lord
proceeded in our passage today to feed great crowds with a few loaves
and fish. This he did without uttering a word.
Let us place
ourselves in the presence of Jesus in our Gospel scene today and ask
him to admit us into his company. In fact he invites us into his
company every day of our lives. If we are baptized we are in him. The
Church is his company and he is the Church’s head. He is the King of
kings and the Lord of lords, and he is the greatest treasure of man. In
him is every heavenly blessing and he is worthy of all our love and
loyalty. Let us live for him, for he is our God and our redeemer.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never make a decision without stopping to consider the matter in the
presence of God.
(The Way, no.266)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hail Mary
Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the second
week in Advent A
(December 13) Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr
(d. 304)
Every little girl named Lucy must bite her tongue in disappointment
when she first tries to find out what there is to know about her patron
saint. The older books will have a lengthy paragraph detailing a small
number of traditions. Newer books will have a lengthy paragraph showing
that there is little basis in history for these traditions. The single
fact survives that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a
Christian and she was executed in Syracuse (Sicily) in the year 304.
But it is also true that her name is mentioned in the First Eucharistic
Prayer, geographical places are named after her, a popular song has her
name as its title and down through the centuries many thousands of
little girls have been proud of the name Lucy. One can easily imagine
what a young Christian woman had to contend with in pagan Sicily in the
year 300. If you have trouble imagining, just glance at today’s
pleasure-at-all-costs world and the barriers it presents against
leading a good Christian life. Her friends must have wondered aloud
about this hero of Lucy’s, an obscure itinerant preacher in a far-off
captive nation that had been destroyed more than 200 years before. Once
a carpenter, he had been crucified by the Roman soldiers after his own
people turned him over to the Roman authorities. Lucy believed with her
whole soul that this man had risen from the dead. Heaven had put a
stamp on all he said and did. To give witness to her faith she had made
a vow of virginity. What a hubbub this caused among her pagan friends!
The kindlier ones just thought her a little strange. To be pure before
marriage was an ancient Roman ideal, rarely found but not to be
condemned. To exclude marriage altogether, however, was too much. She
must have something sinister to hide, the tongues wagged. Lucy knew of
the heroism of earlier virgin martyrs. She remained faithful to their
example and to the example of the carpenter, whom she knew to be the
Son of God. She is the patroness of eyesight.
“The Gospel tells us of all that Jesus suffered, of the insults that
fell upon him. But, from Bethlehem to Calvary, the brilliance that
radiates from his divine purity spread more and more and won over the
crowds. So great was the austerity and the enchantment of his
conduct....So may it be with you, beloved daughters. Blessed be the
discretion, the mortifications and the renouncements with which you
seek to render this virtue more brilliant.... May your conduct prove to
all that chastity is not only a possible virtue but a social virtue,
which must be strongly defended through prayer, vigilance and the
mortification of the senses” (Pope John XXIII,
Letter to Women Religious).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 41:13-20;
Psalm 145:1 and 9-13ab; Matthew 11:11-15
Jesus
said to the crowds, “Amen I say to you, among those born of women there
has never been one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist
till now the kingdom of heaven undergoes violence, and the violent bear
it away. For all the prophets and the law prophesied till John. If you
will accept it, he is Elias that is to come. He that has ears to hear,
let him hear.”
(Matthew 11:11-15)
One of the
fascinating things in life is to observe what people enthuse over. Some
people live for sport. Some absolutely love the races - by which I mean
the horse races. A whole nation can hold its breath for days and weeks
as its team approaches the world final. Another person can love
cooking. Not only is it fascinating to see the
things people give themselves over to, but it is also fascinating to
see how one person loves what another person hates or has no interest
in. Now, whatever about this unsurprising fact there is one great Thing
which God means us all to be interested in with all our heart and soul.
It is he himself and his plan for us. God sent his Son to establish his
Kingdom and this Kingdom is meant for all. It is nothing other than the
lordship - the dominion - of God over the heart of every man and woman.
This lordship, this Kingdom, has a very definite contour and character.
It has its structure and its life. It has its regime and its officers.
It is a Kingdom and not just a vague state of existence or
relationship. It is this
which Christ came among men to announce and establish, and it was the
greatest Event of all time. But what did he encounter? St John tells us
that he came unto his own and his own did not receive him. He met with
the variety of attitudes that I referred to earlier that we see
everywhere in all sorts of contexts. Some were interested, and some
were not. Some were mildly interested, others greatly. Yet it was the
One great Thing which had long been predicted and prepared for. The
prophets had pointed to it and to the Messiah who would inaugurate it.
Something of this is referred to by our Lord in our Gospel passage
today. “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been
none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of
heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it
by force.” God is asking of every man and woman a total commitment to
his Kingdom.
The “violent are
taking it by force.” Whoever has ears ought to hear this. Yes, in every
family, in every community, indeed everywhere and in all contexts we
see men and women pursuing their various callings and interests. But
within this very diversity there should be one underlying common love
and goal. It is God and his Kingdom, the Kingdom announced and
established by Christ. This Kingdom is, as I said earlier, God’s
lordship as embodied and found in Christ. That is to say, we are all
called to serve and love God in Christ with all our heart precisely in
the diversity of our various works and interests. It is the one thing
that ought link all men and women, their being in Christ. Christ is the
light and the life of every man and woman, and being in him by faith
and baptism is the foundation and life of the Church. “The violent are
taking it by force”, our Lord tells us. One thing that this surely
means is that those who give their heart and soul to the work of living
for and in the Kingdom - in and for God in Christ, that is to say -
will bring off a great victory. The victory is the victory of holiness.
It means that in all the interests and works that make up our daily
life we must be endeavouring to love and serve God. It means
sanctifying our daily life. It means sanctifying our daily work and
making it something holy and worthy to be offered to God each day. If
we sanctify our daily work, doing it for as pure a love for God as we
can and doing it as well as we can constantly, that work will sanctify
us and others as well. We shall be advancing in the Kingdom through the
violence we are doing to our self-love and self-indulgence. It is a
holy violence that we are engaged in, a violence that will give us the
victory. The Kingdom, the lordship of God over our own hearts and the
hearts of the world around us, requires that we give ourselves fully to
the task. Christ wants warriors in everyday life, warriors of the
spirit, hidden warriors, warriors that take him for their model and who
are prepared to follow him to the cross.
What this means in
practice is the giving of ourselves totally to the doing of God’s will
in daily life. Such people as these are the violent whom our Lord says
are taking the Kingdom of heaven by force. This is the true Christian
jihad, we might say, the jihad of being nailed to the cross of
obedience to the will of God. Let us then take our stand with Christ
and fight
with him with his weapons, the weapons of humility and meekness, the
weapons of the beatitudes, the weapon of the Cross, the weapon of death
to self. Therein lies the victory. Gaining that victory means entering
the Glory.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We've got to be convinced that God is always near us. We live as though
he were far away, in the heavens high above, and we forget that he is
also continually by our side.
He is there like a loving Father. He loves each one of us
more than all the mothers in the world can love their children —
helping us, inspiring us, blessing... and forgiving.
How often we have misbehaved and then cleared the frowns from our
parents' brows, telling them: I won't do it any more! — That same day,
perhaps, we fall again... — And our father, with feigned harshness in
his voice and serious face, reprimands us, while in his heart he is
moved, realizing our weakness and thinking: poor child, how hard he
tries to behave well!
We've got to be filled, to be imbued with the idea that our Father, and
very much our Father, is God who is both near us and in heaven.
(The Way, no.267)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angel of God
Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
to whom God’s love commits me here,
ever this day be at my side,
to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.
Angele Dei (Latin)
Ángele Dei,
qui custos es mei,
me, tibi commíssum pietáte supérna,
illúmina, custódi,
rege et gubérna.
Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday of
the second week in Advent A
(December 14) St.
John of the Cross (1541-1591)
John is a saint because his life was a heroic effort to live up to his
name: “of the Cross.” The folly of the cross came to full realization
in time. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up
his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34b) is the story of John’s life. The
Paschal Mystery—through death to life—strongly marks John as reformer,
mystic-poet and theologian-priest. Ordained a Carmelite priest at 25
(1567), John met Teresa of Jesus (Avila) and like her vowed himself to
the primitive Rule of the Carmelites. As partner with Teresa and in his
own right, John engaged in the work of reform, and came to experience
the price of reform: increasing opposition, misunderstanding,
persecution, imprisonment. He came to know the cross acutely—to
experience the dying of Jesus—as he sat month after month in his dark,
damp, narrow cell with only his God! Yet, the paradox! In this dying of
imprisonment John came to life, uttering poetry. In the darkness of the
dungeon, John’s spirit came into the Light. There are many mystics,
many poets; John is unique as mystic-poet, expressing in his
prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical union with God in the Spiritual
Canticle. But as agony leads to ecstasy, so John had his Ascent to Mt.
Carmel, as he named it in his prose masterpiece. As
man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced in himself this purifying
ascent; as spiritual director, he sensed it in others; as
psychologist-theologian, he described and analyzed it in his prose
writings. His prose works are outstanding in underscoring the cost of
discipleship, the path of union with God: rigorous discipline,
abandonment, purification. Uniquely and strongly John underlines the
gospel paradox: The cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy,
darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial to self to union
with God. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. John is
truly “of the Cross.” He died at 49—a life short, but full.
Thomas Merton said of John: "Just as we can never
separate asceticism from mysticism, so in St. John of the Cross we find
darkness and light, suffering and joy, sacrifice and love united
together so closely that they seem at times to be identified." In
John's words: "Never was fount so clear, undimmed and bright; From it
alone, I know proceeds all light although 'tis night."
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 48:17-19;
Psalm 1:1-4 and 6; Matthew 11:16-19
But to
what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the
market place calling to their companions and saying: we have piped to
you, and you have not danced: we have lamented, and you have not
mourned. For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they said “He
has a devil.” The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they said:
“Behold a man that is a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of
publicans and sinners.” And wisdom is justified by her children.
(Matthew 11:16-19)
It could be claimed
that a constant prompt for religion in the heart of man and society is
the need and the cry for salvation. It could be salvation from hunger
or any one of a number of threats man faces in a threatening world. He
appeals to the powers above for salvation, and what is especially distinctive
about Christianity is that the appeal is one that God himself has
educated man to make. That appeal is for salvation primarily from sin.
Not only is sin totally disastrous for man in a way that any other
threat is not, but sin is especially offensive to God. If man wants to
be saved and if he wants to be regarded well by the One on whom he
totally depends, then he must take action against sin. But effective
action against sin is impossible for him because, of himself, he is
simply under its power. He needs the saving action of God. He needs
divine grace and that grace has been won for us and bestowed on us by
the Son of God made man, Jesus Christ. So it is that the Christian
religion involves not only man’s appeal for salvation but God’s
initiative in both educating man as to what true salvation is and
responding to this appeal with a superabundant life, a life in
abundance, a share in the divine life itself. But there is one feature
of this that ought to be remembered. All this involved a history. God
entered history and over a long period of time did his work for us and
our salvation. Our salvation entailed a salvation history starting
remotely in the past, taking definite shape and with more decisive
divine interventions leading to the greatest step imaginable: the
incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Christ our redeemer. Now,
there has been a notable characteristic of this history of salvation.
It has been divine patience and this divine patience has been
inventive. God has not given up on his people despite their inveterate
sinning. He has not given up, he has been patient, and he has tried one
thing after another.
Something of this
is referred to by our Lord in our Gospel passage today. He refers on
the one hand to his own “generation”, and on the other hand to the
“wisdom” of God in its saving action. “To what shall I compare this
generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one
another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a
dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man
came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a
drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is
vindicated by her works.” (Matthew 11:16-19)
God tries one thing, and he tries another. He sends the prophets and
John in particular and that does not gain the response he is seeking.
He sends his own Son with a very different manner and method and that
likewise gains little response. We are reminded of the cry in the book
of Isaiah the prophet, “What more could I have done for you that I have
not done?” God has tried everything, and our Lord himself in his public
ministry tries everything, as it were, but to little avail. However,
there is hope in his words in our passage today: Wisdom is vindicated
in her “children”, in her offspring, in her issue. God will most
certainly succeed in his saving work. The preaching, the cross and
resurrection and the establishment of his Church on earth will most
certainly gain the victory. And so our Lord’s lament and hope passes on
to the Church and the Church’s children. The Church generation after
generation continues to send out to the world her ministry and her
missionaries despite generation after generation of seemingly dim
prospects. The world always wants something different and is never
satisfied by the Church, nor indeed by Christ himself. But Christian
optimism never flags, just as a holy optimism never flagged in the
heart of Christ himself.
The wisdom of God
is justified by her issue. The fruits of God’s work, of his patience
and his unwearied inventiveness, will be justified in the event.
Salvation has come through the death and resurrection of Christ and is
manifest in the abundance of saints in the history of the Church. It
will attain its full flowering in the age to come. All this will be,
despite the response of so many. Let us then pray for the grace to
respond to the smallest invitations God extends to us, and let us bring
this same grace to all those immersed in the chores of everyday life.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get used to lifting your heart to God, in acts of thanksgiving, many
times a day. Because he gives you this and that. Because you have been
despised. Because you haven't what you need or because you have.
Because he made his Mother so beautiful, his Mother who is also your
Mother. Because he created the sun and the moon and this animal and
that plant. Because he made that man eloquent and you he left
tongue-tied...
Thank him for everything, because everything is good.
(The Way, no.268)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eternal Rest
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.
Requiem Æternam
Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine,
et lux perpétua lúceat eis.
Requiéscant in pace. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism
of the Catholic Church, Appendix)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the Second Week of Advent A
(December 15) Blessed
Mary
Frances Schervier (1819-1876)
This woman who once wanted to become a Trappistine nun was instead led
by God to establish a community of sisters who care for the sick and
aged in the United States and throughout the world. Born into a
distinguished family in Aachen (then ruled by Prussia but formerly
Aix-la-Chapelle, France), Frances ran the household after her mother’s
death and established a reputation for generosity to the poor. In 1844
she became a Secular Franciscan. The next year she and four companions
established a religious community devoted to caring for the poor. In
1851 the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis (a variant of the original
name) were approved by the local bishop; the community soon spread. The
first U.S. foundation was made in 1858. Mother Frances visited the
United States in 1863 and helped her sisters nurse soldiers wounded in
the Civil War. She visited the United States again in 1868. When Philip
Hoever was establishing the Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis, she
encouraged him. When Mother Frances died, there were 2,500 members of
her community worldwide. The number has kept growing. They are still
engaged in operating hospitals and homes for the aged. Mother Mary
Frances was beatified in 1974.
In 1868, Mother Frances wrote to all her sisters, reminding them of
Jesus’ words: “You are my friends if you do what I command you.... I am
giving you these commands so that you may love one another” (John
15:14,17) She continued: “If we do this faithfully and zealously, we
will experience the truth of the words of our father St. Francis who
says that love lightens all difficulties and sweetens all bitterness.
We will likewise partake of the blessing which St. Francis promised to
all his children, both present and future, after having admonished them
to love one another even as he had loved them and continues to love
them.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Sirach
48:1-4, 9-11; Psalm 80:2ac and 3b, 15-16, 18-19; Matthew 17:9a, 10-13
And as
they came down from the mountain, his disciples asked Jesus, Why then
do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? In answer he said to
them: Elijah indeed shall come, and restore all things. But I say to
you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have
did to him as they wished. So also the Son of man shall suffer from
them. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them of John
the Baptist.
(Matthew 17:9a, 10-13)
Let us consider a
detail in our Gospel passage which reports an interchange between our
Lord and his disciples as they were coming down from the mountain. They
had just seen Jesus in resplendent glory and had heard the voice of the
Father from the cloud pointing to him as his beloved Son, the one to
whom they were to listen. With him had appeared Moses and Elijah. The
disciples asked our Lord about Elijah and in particular
about the teaching of the scribes that Elijah must come first
(Matthew 17:9a, 10-13). Our Lord
confirmed this teaching of the scribes, suggesting, incidentally, that
the scribes often interpreted the Scriptures well. We have other
examples of certain scribes interpreting the Scriptures correctly. At
the arrival of the Magi from the East Herod asked where the Messiah was
to be born. The scribes told him that it was to be at Bethlehem. They
had it right. On one occasion during his public ministry a scribe
praised our Lord for one of his answers, saying that to love God with
all one’s heart is worth more than all the sacrifices. Our Lord praised
him for his perception and said he was not far from the Kingdom of God.
That point aside, our Lord goes on, however, to point out in this
conversation during the descent from the mountain that the scribes had
not recognized Elijah when he in fact came. In fact they made him
suffer, just as the Son of Man would be made to suffer at their hands.
The disciples then understood that our Lord was speaking of John the
Baptist. We are reminded that the precious revelation contained in the
Old Testament was bestowed by the Holy Spirit, and the same Holy Spirit
was the only source of its true interpretation. That Holy Spirit is the
Spirit of Christ and hence it is Christ who unlocks the true meaning of
the entire Scriptures. It did not occur to the scribes that John the
Baptist was the Elijah to come. Nor would it have occurred to us had
not it been reported in the Gospel that Christ taught this to be the
case. The Scriptures both Old and New Testaments teach us about Christ,
but as we see in the Gospels, we need Christ to understand the true
meaning of the Scriptures. He is our living Teacher. The question is,
where are Christ and his Spirit now?
Christ and his
Spirit reside in the Church he founded on his Apostles with Peter as
their visible head. He is the head of the Church and is also her
Bridegroom, and the Church is his body and his spouse. He is
inseparable from the Church and he acts and teaches and ministers in
and through the Church. The Scriptures are to be read with the mind of
Christ and with his teaching as their context. Christ continues to
teach the meaning of the Scriptures just as he did on this occasion and
just as he did on many other occasions reported in the Gospels. Now,
and this is important, he does so typically in and through the teaching
Church, which acts in his name. While there is a great deal in the
Scriptures on which the Church has not formally pronounced, even so one
should read the Scriptures within the great Tradition of the Church and
as one sharing in her mind. On several occasions over the centuries the
Church has actually pronounced on the meaning of certain Scriptural
texts. This means that the Church’s Tradition has included certain
authoritative interpretations of passages of the Scriptures. All this
is to say that the Holy Scriptures are to be read within the life and
tradition of the Church, for it is within the Church that Christ
dwells. He is our Teacher and it is there that he dwells and is to be
found. Of course if one is not a member of the Church that Christ
founded, then one does not have the inestimable advantage of the
Church’s guidance. One must then embark on a great effort accompanied
by assiduous prayer to be led to the true meaning of the Scriptures.
Hopefully it will lead, as it has in numerous other cases, to a
discovery of the Church as the bearer and true interpreter of the
Scriptures. Where in God’s plan are the Scriptures to be found? They
are to be found in the keeping of the Church. The Church is the mother
of Christ’s faithful and she carries in her hand the Holy Scriptures
and helps her children know their true meaning. She is able to do this
because she has been endowed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift
which constantly aids her in her teaching and ministry. She hands the
sacred volume to her children and in her preaching and word guides them
in its understanding.
Our Gospel scene
today allows us to listen to our Lord’s teaching on the meaning of a
particular prophecy of the Scriptures. Christ is our teacher, and he
abides in the Church of the Apostles. From within that Church he
continues to teach his faithful. Let us be nourished by the word and
sacraments of the Church as well as by the Holy Scriptures that we have
received from her.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't be so blind or so thoughtless as not to enter inside
each Tabernacle when you glimpse the walls or spires of the houses of
God. He is waiting for you.
Don't be so blind or so thoughtless as not to invoke Mary Immaculate
with an ejaculation at least, whenever you pass near those places where
you know that Christ is offended.
(The Way, no.269)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Angelus
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary.
V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray;
Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy grace into our hearts; that
we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, thy Son, was made known by the
message of an angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the
glory of his Resurrection. Through the same Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Glory be to the Father...
(Compendium
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Appendix)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Third Sunday of
Advent A
Prayers this week:
Rejoice in the Lord
always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near. (Isaiah 30:19.30)
Lord
God, may we your people who look forward to the birthday of Christ
experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and
thanksgiving. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(December 16) St.
Margaret
of Scotland (1050?-1093)
Margaret of Scotland was a truly liberated woman in the sense that she
was free to be herself. For her, that meant freedom to love God and
serve others. Margaret was not Scottish by birth. She was the daughter
of Princess Agatha of Hungary and the Anglo-Saxon Prince Edward
Atheling. She spent much of her youth in the court of her great-uncle,
the English king, Edward the Confessor. Her family fled from William
the Conqueror and was shipwrecked off the coast of Scotland. King
Malcolm befriended them and was captivated by the beautiful, gracious
Margaret. They were married at the castle of Dunfermline in 1070.
Malcolm was good-hearted, but rough and uncultured, as was his country.
Because of Malcolm’s love for Margaret, she was able to soften his
temper, polish his manners and help him become a virtuous king. He left
all domestic affairs to her and often consulted her in state matters.
Margaret tried to improve her adopted country by promoting the arts and
education. For religious reform, she instigated synods and was present
for the discussions which tried to correct religious abuses common
among priests and others, such as simony, usury and incestuous
marriages. With her husband, she founded several churches. Margaret was
not only a queen, but a mother. She and Malcolm had six sons and two
daughters. Margaret personally supervised their religious instruction
and their other studies. Although she was very much caught up in the
affairs of the household and country, she remained detached from the
world. Her private life was austere. She had certain times for prayer
and reading Scripture. She ate sparingly and slept little in order to
have time for devotions. She and Malcolm kept two Lents, one before
Easter and one before Christmas. During these times she always rose at
midnight for Mass. On the way home she would wash the feet of six poor
persons and give them alms. She was always surrounded by beggars in
public and never refused them. It is recorded that she never sat down
to eat without first feeding nine orphans and 24 adults. In 1093, King
William Rufus made a surprise attack on Alnwick castle. King Malcolm
and his oldest son, Edward, were killed. Margaret, already on her
deathbed, died four days after her husband.
"When [Margaret] spoke, her conversation was with
the salt of wisdom. When she was silent, her silence was filled with
good thoughts. So thoroughly did her outward bearing correspond with
the staidness of her character that it seemed as if she has been born
the pattern of a virtuous life" (Turgot, St. Margaret's
confessor).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10;
Psalm 146:6-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew
11:2-11
Now when John had
heard in prison the works of Christ he sent two of his disciples to ask
him, "Are you he who is to
come, or are we to look for another?" Jesus answered, "Go and relate to
John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have
the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who is not scandalized in
me." And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes
concerning John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? a reed
shaken with the wind? What did you go to see? A man clothed in soft
garments? Behold those who are clothed in soft garments are in the
houses of kings. But what went you out to see? a prophet? yes I tell
you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written:
Behold I send my angel before you, who shall prepare your way before
you. Amen I say to you, there has been born of woman a greater than
John the Baptist: yet he that is the least in the kingdom of heaven is
greater than he."
(Matthew 11:2-11)
If one were to ask
what was Zarathustra’s mission in life, the reply would be to teach the
way of goodness and to enlighten men as to the issues that are
connected with this. He was a great teacher of religion and his
teaching gave rise to a religion. The prophets of the Old Testament -
and John the Baptist who features in the New - taught the word of God
and summoned the people to live accordingly.
The followers of Mahomet claim that Mahomet is a prophet in the line of
the Old Testament prophets (and Jesus) and is indeed the greatest of
them - though, of course, the Christian would not accept this. Let us
then ask the question, what was the mission of Jesus? He certainly was
a Teacher, and indeed was the very greatest of them because his word
was not only the word of God, but his own word. The word of God was his
word because he was God. But this was not the only mission of Jesus,
and perhaps not his most important mission. Cardinal Newman in his
Anglican writings maintained that a great deal of revealed moral
teaching is accessible to the natural conscience. So Christ’s teaching
as to what the good and moral life entails is not the only, nor the
main mission that was entrusted to him. Christ came to redeem us from
sin and to reconcile us with God. He came to restore our hopelessly
broken relationship with God. He came to make us God’s friends, by
inviting us into his own friendship. This redemption from sin and entry
into the life of the holy God was Christ’s principal mission for
mankind and it is expressed well in the words uttered by John the
Baptist about him before he actually started his public work: There is
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Atonement was
Christ’s greatest work, a work no one else could possibly even begin to
do. Zoroaster never claimed to take away the sins of the world, nor did
Buddha, nor did Mahomet. Indeed, Islam denies original sin and the need
man has for God to break the power of the sin that is in him. Christ is
the only Saviour from sin.
It is as the
Saviour of the world from sin that Christ is to be regarded as the
Teacher of God’s infinite love and our model of holiness. By his death
and resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit he has made us
partakers of the divine nature. This sets Christ’s mission apart from
that of other great figures of history, such as St John the Baptist in
our Gospel passage today. By our baptism we are born again to a new
life, and all of this by the work of Jesus. It means that a most
singular gift is given to the Christian. As our Lord tells his audience
in the Gospel of today, “among those born of women there has been none
greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:2-11).
Sanctity does not come simply by our own energetic and ongoing attempt
to live the Christian life worthily - even though this is essential. It
comes from the grace of Christ and our cooperation with that grace, and
this sanctifying grace was won for us by Christ on the cross. In Islam
holiness is conceived as depending on our own efforts more or less
alone - except in that God sustains us as he sustains all creatures.
But the Christian knows that by his own persevering and self-denying
efforts alone he will never attain the goodness and holiness intended
for him by God. Holiness is God’s gift and it is given in and through
the presence and action of grace. This sanctifying and transforming
grace was won for us by Christ and it is in order to make divine grace
available to man that Christ came to die for our sins. Christ spent
close to three years teaching the people and especially his own
Apostles and disciples, but his principal work was to suffer and die on
the Cross for us and in rising from the dead to set in motion the
conferral of the Holy Spirit on us his brethren. Grace is the purpose
of Christ’s coming, and in that context he taught us to strive to be
like him.
Let us strive to be
clear in our minds as to why the Son of God became man. All too often
the popular image of Christ is a gentle do-gooder, half real and half
myth. He is thought of as a great teacher (which of course he was) but
all too often the true point is missed. Christ is the one and only
Saviour of mankind from sin and the source of man’s holiness both now
and hereafter.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.456-460
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you make your way through the familiar streets of the city, have you
never had the joy of discovering... another Tabernacle?
(The Way, no.270)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Regina Caeli
Queen of heaven,
rejoice, alleluia!
for he whom you were worthy to bear, alleluia!
has risen as he said, alleluia!
Pray for us to God, alleluia!
Let us pray;
O God, who through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
did vouchsafe to give joy to the world; grant, we beseech you, that
through his Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joys of
everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17th
December (Monday of the Third Week of Advent A 2007)
(December 17) Lazarus
Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was the
one of whom the Jews said, "See how much he loved him." In their sight
Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.
Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and
resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of
what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some
say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being
put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters and
others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving
as bishop for 30 years. A church was built in his honour in
Constantinople and some of his reputed relics were transferred there in
890. A Western legend has the oarless boat arriving in Gaul. There he
was bishop of Marseilles, was martyred after making a number of
converts and was buried in a cave. His relics were transferred to the
new cathedral in Autun in 1146. It is certain there was early devotion
to the saint. Around the year 390, the pilgrim lady Etheria talks of
the procession that took place on the Saturday before Palm Sunday at
the tomb where Lazarus had been raised from the dead. In the West,
Passion Sunday was called Dominica de Lazaro, and Augustine tells us
that in Africa the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus was read at the
office of Palm Sunday.
Many people who have had a near-death experience report losing all fear
of death. When Lazarus died a second time, perhaps he was without fear.
He must have been sure that Jesus, the friend with whom he had shared
many meals and conversations, would be waiting to raise him again. We
don’t share Lazarus’ firsthand knowledge of returning from the grave.
Nevertheless, we too have shared meals and conversations with Jesus,
who waits to raise us, too.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Genesis 49:2, 8-10;
Psalm 72:1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17; Matthew 1:1-17 (
The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. Jacob begot Judas and his
brethren. Judas begot Phares and Zara of
Thamar. Phares begot Esron. Esron begot Aram. Aram begot Aminadab.
Aminadab begot Naasson. Naasson begot Salmon. Salmon begot Booz of
Rahab. Booz begot Obed of Ruth. Obed begot Jesse. Jesse begot David the
king. David the king begot Solomon, of her that had been the wife of
Urias. Solomon begot Roboam. Roboam begot Abia. Abia begot Asa. Asa
begot Josaphat. Josaphat begot Joram. Joram begot Ozias. Ozias begot
Joatham. Joatham begot Achaz. Achaz begot Ezechias. Ezechias begot
Manasses. Manesses begot Amon. And Amon begot Josias. Josias begot
Jechonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Babylon. After the
transmigration of Babylon, Jechonias begot Salathiel. Salathiel begot
Zorobabel. Zorobabel begot Abiud. Abiud begot Eliacim. Eliacim begot
Azor. Azor begot Sadoc. Sadoc begot Achim. Achim begot Eliud. Eliud
begot Eleazar. Eleazar begot Mathan. Mathan begot Jacob. Jacob begot
Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called
Christ. So all the generations, from Abraham to David, are fourteen
generations. From David to the transmigration of Babylon, are fourteen
generations, and from the Babylonian exile to Christ are fourteen
generations. (Matthew 1:1-17)
There are a great
number of individuals and families who are interested in their family
histories. Library after library has its specialist in genealogical
investigations and many websites assist people in tracking down the
story of their ancestors. Many find their family backgrounds
fascinating and as far as they are
concerned it gives to their own lives a framework and a certain
meaning. Our Gospel passage today gives us Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus
Christ showing him to be the direct descendant of David, and through
David, of Abraham. This is not the place to compare and discuss in an
exegetical sense this genealogy with that of the Gospel of Luke, but we
can at least ask, what impression do we gain of the history that is
presented in this genealogy?
We gain many impressions, but we observe that Matthew employs a device
in presentation. Our Lord’s entire genealogy is shown as a neat set of
three blocks of fourteen generations. We can at least notice that while
Matthew presents three blocks of fourteen generations he does not
insist that there were simply and only this number. He seems to have
picked out the principal personages among the generations, while
endeavouring to give a general impression. That impression is of things
having gone to plan - God’s plan, that is. As we read the names
mentioned we think of the ups and downs of human foibles and strengths
and weaknesses over the nearly two thousand years prior to Christ. The
history of God’s people is one of God’s action and man’s very mixed
response. Holiness and sin appear in all the nooks and crannies of the
story of these generations, but it is nevertheless going to plan. The
plan is the saving plan of God that the Messiah will come at the
appointed time. The time has been determined and God has the matter in
hand. Finally the flower appears, the jewel of the race, the hero of
the ages, the King.
Not only does our
Gospel passage remind us that God has all in hand despite the chequered
nature of the flow of human history, but it reminds us of the supremacy
and centrality of the person of Jesus. He is the apex of the story of
the generations of God’s chosen people that began with the call of
Abraham. Beyond that story, Christ is the apex of human history, a
point brought out more clearly by Luke in his genealogy that takes our
Lord back to Adam. Our Gospel passage today (Matthew
1:1-17) shows that salvation is from the Jews, and that
salvation is embodied and offered in the greatest and most splendid of
the Jewish race, Jesus of Nazareth. He is the glory of the chosen
people, the greatest and most unique of the sons of Abraham. He is the
child of Abraham and the son of David par excellence, and is also their
Lord. As our Lord reminded his critics on one occasion, David said (in
one of the psalms), the Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool. He, the Messiah is both son of
David and is David’s Lord. Moreover, as the psalm insinuates, complete
victory will be his. So the record of Christ’s genealogy in our Gospel
passage today reminds us that Christ is the centre of everything and
therefore of our own personal history and life as well. So let us take
steps to acknowledge him as such. Furthermore, just as a very human and
sinful story preceded the appearance of Christ at the appointed time,
so too our own all too human story - the story of ups and downs and of
sins and failings in each of our individual lives - does not preclude
the eventual triumph of Christ in our life. God has things in hand. We
can count on the power and the grace of God to bless our faulty
struggles with the victory of Christ in our souls. The inspired
genealogy of Christ in today’s Gospel gives us hope that just as God’s
plan in Christ was fulfilled despite the flawed setting in which it all
happened, so too God’s plan for our holiness in Christ can be fulfilled
in our life.
Let us ask God for
the grace to trust in his power to bring to fruition his plan for each
one of us. He brought it to fruition in the life of his chosen people
and that fruition was the arrival of the redeemer, Jesus of Nazareth,
son of David, son of Abraham. So too by his grace God can transform us
into the image of Christ his Son, despite our unpromising material.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A saying of a soul of prayer: in intentions, may Jesus be our aim; in
affections, our Love; in conversation, our theme; in actions, our model.
(The Way, 271)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hail Holy Queen
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of
tears! Turn, then, most gracious Advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this, our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December
18, Tuesday of the third week of Advent A
(December 18) Blessed Anthony Grassi (1592-1671)
Anthony’s father died when his son was only 10 years old, but the young
lad inherited his father’s devotion to Our Lady of Loreto. As a
schoolboy he frequented the local church of the Oratorian Fathers,
joining the religious order when he was 17. Already a fine student, he
soon gained a reputation in his religious community as a "walking
dictionary" who quickly grasped Scripture and theology. For some time
he was tormented by scruples, but they reportedly left him at the very
hour he celebrated his first Mass. From that day, serenity penetrated
his very being. In 1621, at age 29, Anthony was struck by lightning
while praying in the church of the Holy House at Loreto. He was carried
paralyzed from the church, expecting to die. When he recovered in a few
days he realized that he had been cured of acute indigestion. His
scorched clothes were donated to the Loreto church as an offering of
thanks for his new gift of life. More important, Anthony now felt that
his life belonged entirely to God. Each year thereafter he made a
pilgrimage to Loreto to express his thanks. He also began hearing
confessions, and came to be regarded as an outstanding confessor.
Simple and direct, he listened carefully to penitents, said a few words
and gave a penance and absolution, frequently drawing on his gift of
reading consciences. In 1635 he was elected superior of the Fermo
Oratory. He was so well regarded that he was reelected every three
years until his death. He was a quiet person and a gentle superior who
did not know how to be severe. At the same time he kept the Oratorian
constitutions literally, encouraging the community to do likewise. He
refused social or civic commitments and instead would go out day or
night to visit the sick or dying or anyone else needing his services.
As he grew older, he had a God-given awareness of the future, a gift
which he frequently used to warn or to console. But age brought its
challenges as well. He suffered the humility of having to give up his
physical faculties one by one. First was his preaching, necessitated
after he lost his teeth. Then he could no longer hear confessions.
Finally, after a fall, he was confined to his room. The archbishop
himself came each day to give him holy Communion. One of Anthony’s
final acts was to reconcile two fiercely quarreling
brothers.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Jeremiah
23:5-8; Psalm 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19; Matthew 1:18-25
This is how the
birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to
Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child
through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her
husband,
since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son
of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For
it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in
her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will
save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what
the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with
child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means
“God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord
had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations
with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.
(Matthew 1:18-25)
It is obvious that
in our passage today from the Gospel of St Matthew the mystery of the
person of Christ is considered from the perspective of Joseph. In
Luke’s Gospel the passages that refer to the conception of Jesus are
considered primarily from the perspective of Mary. That having been
said, the first thing to be observed in our passage today is that the
focus is primarily on Christ. We are
invited
by Matthew to gaze on the person of Jesus, soon to be born. “This is
how the birth of Jesus Christ came about”, Matthew begins
(Matthew 1:18-25). So we are contemplating Jesus Christ,
and in particular the stress here is on his virginal conception, which
is to say that Matthew is stressing that Christ was conceived of the
virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph the husband of Mary
and reputed father of Jesus had nothing to do with it. Joseph was
informed by an angel from on high that the child being carried by Mary
was due to a divine intervention within her womb. God, not man, had
brought this about and so while Mary is mother to the child Joseph is
at least obscurely aware that the child is in some sense from heaven.
Furthermore, the child will be a male-child and comes with a great
preordained mission which through the angel God has now, to Joseph,
announced. The son of Mary is to save his people from their sins. Just
what this entails is not explained but the essence of the child’s work
in life is set before Joseph, whom God means to be husband and guardian
of this most singular and exalted family. Undoubtedly Joseph would have
divined that the child was none other than the Messiah and with his
arrival Israel and the world would never be the same again. A champion
had come from the Lord God himself to deal with the world’s sin.
While the focus of
the passage is on the unborn Messiah, in the process of the narrative
the person of Joseph is also highlighted. He is a “righteous man.” That
is all that Matthew considers it necessary to say concerning him. He is
one of the many humble, obscure, spiritually splendid instances of the
religion of the Old Testament, of which Mary his young betrothed is the
foremost. He was in every way “righteous”, and his response to the
Angel’s words reflected the response of Mary to the words of the Angel
Gabriel to her. She had stated that she was the servant of the Lord,
and ready for whatever he disposed: “Let it be unto me according to
your word.” So too with Joseph. Having heard the word of God he obeyed
immediately. He “did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and
took his wife into his home.” The Church’s firm and authoritative
Tradition bears constant witness to the fact that as husband and wife
they lived virginally thereafter. His wife Mary brought her divine Son
into the world and Joseph enveloped both with his loving and holy
protection. The Church’s devotion to him has grown over the centuries
and together with this devotion there has developed a great insight
into his prodigious holiness and his special heavenly role now. He has
been declared guardian of the universal Church. Consider what must have
been the holy love between Mary and Joseph, and especially the intimacy
between Jesus, Mary and Joseph over the remainder of Joseph’s life.
Imagine the profound love at work in their daily round of duties.
Imagine the Christ as a child, a youth, a young man throughout his
twenties working side by side with his foster-father at their common
trade. Contemplate Joseph falling sick and in his final moments with
Mary and Jesus by his side and the beautiful and holy departure of
Joseph from this life, a life utterly immersed in the love of Jesus and
Mary. Imagine their sentiments at his burial.
Jesus, Mary and
Joseph remain united in their love in heaven. Through our baptism we
are members of their family provided we live in grace. Christ considers
us as his brothers and sisters if we endeavour to do the will of his
heavenly Father. As we think of our Gospel passage today let us also
resolve to cultivate a devotion to Joseph. By his powerful intercession
and example he will help us to love Jesus our Lord together with his
mother Mary.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make use of those holy 'human devices' that I suggested to help you
keep presence of God: ejaculations, acts of love and reparation,
spiritual Communions, 'glances' at a picture of our Lady.
(The Way, no.272)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Magnificat
My soul glorifies the Lord,
My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
He looks on his servant in her lowliness;
Henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
The Almighty works marvels for me.
Holy his name!
His mercy is from age to age,
on those who fear him.
He puts forth his arm in strength
And scatters the proud hearted.
He casts the mighty from their thrones
And raises the lowly.
He fills the starving with good things,
Sends the rich away empty.
He protects Israel, his servant,
remembering his mercy,
the mercy promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and his sons for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without
end. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December
19, Wednesday of the third week in Advent A
(December 19) Blessed
Pope Urban V (1310-1370)
In 1362, the man elected pope declined the office. When the cardinals
could not find another person among them for that important office,
they turned to a relative stranger: the holy person we honour today.
The new Pope Urban V proved a wise choice. A Benedictine monk and canon
lawyer, he was deeply spiritual and brilliant. He lived simply and
modestly, which did not always earn him friends among clergymen who had
become used to comfort and privilege. Still, he pressed for reform and
saw to the restoration of churches and monasteries. Except for a brief
period he spent most of his eight years as pope living away from Rome
at Avignon, seat of the papacy from 1309 until shortly after his death.
He came close but was not able to achieve one of his biggest
goals—reuniting the Eastern and Western churches. As pope, Urban
continued to follow the Benedictine Rule. Shortly before his death in
1370 he asked to be moved from the papal palace to the nearby home of
his brother so he could say goodbye to the ordinary people he had so
often
helped.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a; Psalm 71:3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17;
Luke 1:5-25
There was in the
days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zachary, of
the course of Abia; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her
name Elizabeth. And they were both just before God, walking in all the
commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame. They
had no son for Elizabeth
was barren, and they both were well advanced in years. And it came to
pass, when he performed the priestly function in the order of his
course before God, according to the custom of the priestly office, it
was his lot to offer incense. He went into the temple of the Lord, and
all the multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of
incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the
right side of the alter of incense. Zachary seeing him, was troubled,
and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him: Fear not, Zachary,
for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son,
and you will call his name John: And you will have joy and gladness,
and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he will be great before the
Lord and will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with
the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And he will convert many
of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before
him in the spirit and power of Elias that he may turn the hearts of the
fathers unto the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the
just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people. And Zachary said to
the angel: How shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife is
advanced in years. And the angel answering, said to him: I am Gabriel,
who stand before God: and am sent to speak to you and to bring you
these good tidings. Behold, you will be dumb, and will not be able to
speak until the day wherein these things shall come to pass, because
you have not believed my words which will be fulfilled in their time.
And the people were waiting for Zachary; and they wondered that he
tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak
to them: and they understood that he had seen a vision in the temple.
And he made signs to them, and remained dumb. And it came to pass,
after the days of his office were accomplished, he departed to his own
house. And after those days, Elizabeth his wife conceived, and hid
herself five months, saying: Thus has the Lord dealt with me in the
days in which he has chosen to take away my reproach among men.
(Luke 1:5-25)
Today our Gospel
scene from St Luke narrates the announcement by the angel Gabriel that
Zachary is to have a son who would be a second Elijah. While the
passage extols the future child, it also invites us to contemplate the
personages who are involved. Luke begins with fulsome praise of Zachary
and his wife Elizabeth. They were excellent persons in the sight of
God: he himself was a priest “of the priestly
division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her
name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing
all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.” They were
thoroughly Hebrew, the one a priest, the other a descendant of Aaron.
They were truly obedient to God, “observing all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.” (Luke
1:5-25)
Elsewhere in his infancy narrative Luke mentions other holy Israelites.
Pre-eminent are Mary and Joseph, and we remember too Simeon and Anna.
But here our scene invites us to consider the figures of Zachary and
Elizabeth. They were profoundly observant of God’s commands, but - and
let us notice the force of that word “but” - they had no child. It
suggests that this “disgrace before others” (as they viewed it) was an
anomaly considering their praiseworthy lives. They were content in
their faith and love for God but this lack of offspring was a long
sadness and a cause for heartfelt prayer to God. But now, the angel
appeared to Zachary to announce that his prayer had been heard. That
prayer had obviously been persevering, faith-filled and pleasing to
God. His wife would bear a son and he was to name him John. Moreover,
God’s answer to Zachary’s prayer for a child was overflowing in
generosity and blessings. Yes a son, but what a son! The child would be
great in the sight of God, and would go before the Lord as another
Elijah to prepare a people ready for his coming. He would be God’s
prophet and precursor.
I would like to
suggest that this throws further light on the problem of suffering and
apparent evil. The words of the angel would seem to suggest that John
the Baptist, this gift of so great a son who would play such an
important role in the history of salvation, was God’s response to the
prayer of Zachary and Elizabeth. It was certainly profoundly connected
with that prayer, and it would seem that in the providence of God this
heartfelt petition of the holy couple played an important part in God’s
saving plan. But that petition, persevering and marked by trust, was
born and sustained by suffering. The apparent evil of being childless
fuelled their insistent prayer, and that prayer was given a spectacular
answer. The divine answer to their suffering was the great John the
Baptist about whom our Lord said that no one born of woman had been
greater. Other examples of this pattern could be mentioned. The
centuries of suffering of the descendants of Jacob in the land of Egypt
evoked the great answer from God of sending Moses to take them out of
Egypt to the promise land. Their suffering led, due to the hand of God,
to so much that was good and in Christ ultimately bore fruit for the
world. The suffering and evil borne by Zachary and Elizabeth inspired
their unceasing petition and that petition issued in the Precursor,
whose preaching and holy life proclaimed the arrival of the Messiah. My
point is that our Gospel passage today is a further indicator that in
the providence of God suffering is not just a meaningless and dark
frustration. God has his purposes and all is in his hands. If we but
trust him, if we but obey him, if we but pray always and never lose
heart, God will show his surprises. How and when, we cannot say.
Zachary showed himself to be limited and imperfect in his faith for he
questioned the reliability of the angel. We too are imperfect, but let
us persevere in faith, obedience and prayer amid our difficulties and
God will surprise us.
As our Lord says in
another part of the Gospel, pray always and never lose heart. This we
must do especially in the midst of long lasting suffering and evil. Let
us contemplate those many instances in Scripture that show that this
our broken world and flawed life is in the hands of a holy and
compassionate God who will hear our prayer and come to our aid. As St
Thomas More said as he approached the scaffold, though I lose my head,
I’ll come to no harm.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alone! You are not alone. We are keeping you close company from afar.
Besides..., the holy Spirit, living in your soul in grace — God with
you, — is giving a supernatural tone to all your thoughts, desires and
actions.
(The Way, no.273)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Under Your Protection
We fly to thy protection,
O holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions
in our necessities,
but deliver us always
from all dangers
O glorious and blessed Virgin.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December
20, Thursday of the Third Week of Advent A
(December 20) St.
Dominic of Silos (c. 1000-1073)
It’s not the founder of the Dominicans we honour today, but there’s a
poignant story that connects one Dominic with the other. Our saint
today, Dominic of Silos was born in Spain around the year 1000 into a
peasant family. As a young boy he spent time in the fields, where he
welcomed the solitude. He became a Benedictine priest and served in
numerous leadership positions. Following a dispute with the king over
property, Dominic and two other monks were exiled. They established a
new monastery in what at first seemed an unpromising location. Under
Dominic’s leadership, however, it became one of the most famous houses
in Spain. Many healings were reported there. About 100 years after
Dominic’s death, a young woman made a pilgrimage to his tomb. There
Dominic of Silos appeared to her and assured her that she would bear
another son. The woman was Joan of Aza, and the son she bore grew up to
be the "other" Dominic—the one who founded the Dominicans. For many
years thereafter, the staff used by St. Dominic of Silos was brought to
the royal palace whenever a queen of Spain was in labour. The practice
ended in 1931. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today: Isaiah
7:10-14; Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6; Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month
the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called
Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the
house of David. The virgin's name was
Mary. The
angel having arrived said to her, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is
with you!” On hearing this Mary was troubled and asked herself what
manner of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Fear not,
Mary, for you have found favour with God. Behold, you will conceive in
your womb and bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He
will be great, and will be called the Son of the most High. The Lord
God will give to him the throne of David his father, and he will reign
over the house of Jacob for ever. Of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How will this be done, because I know not
man?” The angel answering said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon
you and the power of the most High will overshadow you. Therefore the
Holy One born of you will be called the Son of God. And behold your
cousin Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is
the sixth month with her who has been called barren. For nothing is
impossible with God.” Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be
it done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)
Our Gospel passage
today contains precious and splendid words addressed to Mary by the
Angel Gabriel about the Son she is to bear. The angel was none other
than Gabriel whom Mary would have reverenced from her reading of the
Old Testament (eg., Daniel 9). As we think of the Angel’s
words
uttered with such love and veneration, let us think of Christ about
whom they are spoken. Gabriel had come to inform Mary of God’s plan and
on behalf of the Lord God to ask her consent. She was to bear a Son and
his name was already given to him by the Highest One, the Most High.
This child will be great. Let us notice that there is no qualification
to this word. He is not stated as great in the sight of the Lord (as
was John the Baptist), but as simply great - independent and
irrespective of any view of him. Indeed, he is the very Son of the
Highest One. The angel then makes it clear that this child is the
promised Messiah to whom will be given the throne of David for ever and
his Kingdom will be eternal. This is the promised King and his Kingdom
is the promised Kingdom of God. He is to be conceived of Mary the
Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit and will be therefore holy.
Twice the angel states that he is God’s Son - the Son of the Most High,
and again, the Son of God.. There is nothing like it in all the
Scriptures. What personage had received such a description of him prior
to his birth, a description coming from heaven itself? There was no
precedent, no equal to him in the entire sweep of the Scriptures. He
transcended all who went before him. The Angel’s pronouncement about
the child suggests that the child is divine and implies the fact of the
Holy Trinity. The Child is unqualifiedly great, simply holy and is the
Son of God, the Son of the Highest One. The Most High is his very
Father. The Holy Spirit is directly involved too, for it is the Holy
Spirit who overshadows with his power the Virgin and brings about the
conception of this eternal King. Mary would have contemplated for the
rest of her holy life the stunning words of the Angel, realizing more
and more deeply their significance.
But the words of
the Angel and Mary’s response to them suggest things about her too. If
the whole passage bespeaks veneration for and praise of this holy Child
who is the Messiah and Son of God, then it also manifests veneration
for the Virgin herself. The Angel addresses her with the utmost honour.
She is greeted as the one who is full of God’s grace (Luke 1:26-38). Considering the
constant restraint and moderation with which God and his Angels speak
to their chosen ones in the Old Testament, this salutation of the Angel
is most noteworthy. He speaks briefly but fulsomely, showing deep
respect for the maiden before him. As one who himself is holy, as one
who lives in the presence of the Holy One, as one who comes from heaven
wherein dwell the saints, he gives her unstinting praise. She is full
of grace and the Lord is with her. We have in those words the germ of
the future doctrines of the Immaculate Conception of the sinless Virgin
and her Assumption body and soul into heaven. She is full of grace and
the Lord is with her, and this is the case from the first moment of her
conception to the moment of her death. Never did sin touch her, and
this by the power of grace and her unfailing cooperation with the will
of God. These prerogatives of grace were clearly bestowed on her in
view of her unique vocation of being the mother of the Messiah, the Son
of the Most High God. But her greatest glory was her unceasing
acceptance of and obedience to the will of God. Once she knew what God
wished, she accepted it totally. Her simple words say it all: “Be it
done unto me according to your word.” That was the refrain of her holy
life, and I suppose these very words were repeated by her in her heart
time and time again as the salvific plan of God gradually unfolded,
with all its demanding surprises. This was what the wondrous child saw
daily during those hidden years of Nazareth and which he praised when
he had occasion to say that “blessed rather are those who hear the word
of God and keep it.”
As we think of the
Angel addressing and venerating both the Child Jesus and Mary his
virginal mother, let us take our cue from this messenger from heaven
and resolve ourselves to venerate Jesus and Mary. Jesus is the object
of the Christian life. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Mary is
our help, the help of Christians in their quest to love Christ with all
their heart and soul. Let us venerate and love her as did the Angel,
and ask her to help us be a true servant of the Lord as was she.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Father', said that big fellow, a good student at the university (I
wonder what has become of him), 'I was thinking of what you told me —
that I'm a son of God! — and I found myself walking along the street,
head up, chin out, and a proud feeling inside... a son of God!'
With sure conscience I advised him to encourage that 'pride.'
(The Way, no.274)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Benedictus
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!
He has visited his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up for us a mighty saviour
In the house of David his servant,
As he promised by the lips of holy men,
Those who were his prophets from of old.
A saviour who would free us from our foes,
From the hands of all who hate us.
So his love for our fathers is fulfilled
And his holy covenant remembered.
He swore to Abraham our father to grant us,
that free from fear, and saved from the hands of our foes,
we might serve him in holiness and justice
all the days of our life in his presence.
As for you, little child, you shall be called a prophet of God, the
Most High.
You shall go ahead of the Lord
To prepare his ways before him.
To make known to his people their salvation
Through forgiveness of all their sins,
The loving-kindness of the heart of our God
Who visits us like the dawn from on high.
He will give light to those in darkness,
Those who dwell in the shadow of death,
And guide us into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without
end. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December
21, Friday of the Third Week of Advent A
(December 21) St.
Peter Canisius (1521-1597)
The energetic life of Peter Canisius should demolish any stereotypes we
may have of the life of a saint as dull or routine. Peter lived his 76
years at a pace which must be considered heroic, even in our time of
rapid change. A man blessed with many talents, Peter is an excellent
example of the scriptural man who develops his talents for the sake of
the Lord’s work. He was one of the most important figures in the
Catholic Counter-Reformation in Germany. His was such a key role that
he has often been called the “second apostle of Germany” in that his
life parallels the earlier work of Boniface. Although Peter once
accused himself of idleness in his youth, he could not have been idle
too long, for at the age of 19 he received a master’s degree from the
university at Cologne. Soon afterwards he met Peter Faber, the first
disciple of Ignatius Loyola, who influenced Peter so much that he
joined the recently formed Society of Jesus. At this early age Peter
had already taken up a practice he continued throughout his life—a
process of study, reflection, prayer and writing. After his ordination
in 1546, he became widely known for his editions of the writings of St.
Cyril of Alexandria and St. Leo the Great. Besides this reflective
literary bent, Peter had a zeal for the apostolate. He could often be
found visiting the sick or prisoners, even when his assigned duties in
other areas were more than enough to keep most people fully occupied.
In 1547 Peter attended several sessions of the Council of Trent, whose
decrees he was later assigned to implement. After a brief teaching
assignment at the Jesuit college at Messina, Peter was entrusted with
the mission to Germany—from that point on his life’s work. He taught in
several universities and was instrumental in establishing many colleges
and seminaries. He wrote a catechism that explained the Catholic faith
in a way which common people could understand—a great need of that age.
Renowned as a popular preacher, Peter packed churches with those eager
to hear his eloquent proclamation of the gospel. He had great
diplomatic ability, often serving as a reconciler between disputing
factions. In his letters (filling eight volumes) one finds words of
wisdom and counsel to people in all walks of life. At times he wrote
unprecedented letters of criticism to leaders of the Church—yet always
in the context of a loving, sympathetic concern. At 70 Peter suffered a
paralytic seizure, but he continued to preach and write with the aid of
a secretary until his death in his hometown (Nijmegen, Netherlands) on
December 21, 1597.
When asked if he felt
overworked, Peter replied, "If you have too much to do, with God's help
you will find time to do it all." Peter’s untiring efforts are an apt
example for those involved in the renewal of the Church or the growth
of moral consciousness in business or government. He is regarded as one
of the creators of the Catholic press, and can easily be a model for
the Christian author or journalist. Teachers can see in his life a
passion for the transmission of truth. Whether we have much to give, as
Peter Canisius did, or whether we have only a little to give, as did
the poor widow in the Gospel (see Luke 21:1–4), the important thing is
to give our all. It is in this way that Peter is so exemplary for
Christians in an age of rapid change when we are called to be in the
world but not of the
world.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture: Songs 2:8-14 or
Zephaniah 3:14-18a; Psalm 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21; Luke 1:39-45
Mary set
out in those days went with haste into the hill country to a town of
Judah. She entered the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. When
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary the infant leaped in her womb.
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she cried out with a loud
voice and said, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit
of your womb. How is it that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For behold as soon as the voice of your salutation reached my ears the
infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who have believed
because those things which were announced to you by the Lord will be
accomplished.”
(Luke 1:39-45)
The classic
Protestant position has been suspicious of honour rendered to Mary as
taking away from that due to Christ, and even in some instances as
replacing that due to Christ. This is much less the case now when some
Protestant theologians have been appreciating anew the figure of
Mary in Scripture.
Indeed, many claim that Mary will be a uniting force within ecumenism.
Years ago I was told that the great Evangelical Protestant preacher
Billy Graham reminded his audience that Mary is the mother of the
Saviour. Whatever of that, it is not hard to see in the Gospels clear
evidence of the infant Church’s veneration for Mary. Our Gospel passage
for today is a clear case in point. St Luke reports the rapture of
praise for Mary uttered by her kinswoman Elizabeth, and surely his
interest in doing so reflects the sentiment for Mary of the apostolic
Church. Indeed, in telling his readers that it was precisely when
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit that she uttered her words St
Luke was informing us that the praise of Mary came from the heart of
God. The honour given to Mary by the Church of St Luke was being
sanctioned and nourished by the precious recollections of the infancy
narratives that he was able to retrieve and preserve for the Church’s
future memory. So then, let us contemplate her who is the principal
protagonist of our passage today. Out of concern for her relative
advanced in years, Mary went in haste to the hill country of Judah and
entered the house of Zachary and Elizabeth. Consider the scene! Holy
Mary was there. So was Elizabeth who was - together with her husband
Zachary - “just before God, walking in all the commandments and
justifications of the Lord without blame.” In that house, then, there
were three excellent specimens of Old Testament religion, and one of
them (Mary) was the very best. As well as this, the unborn Messiah and
his Precursor were present in the womb. The Holy Spirit was very active
and at this instant moving Elizabeth to utter her inspired words in a
“loud voice.” Let us consider her words.
Mary is “most
blessed among women,” and “blessed” is her unborn child. Mary herself
will respond by acknowledging that all generations will call her
blessed - because of her child. So she is most blessed, suggesting her
unparalleled status among Christ’s faithful. She is the foremost
servant of the Lord, the first and greatest Christian. Elizabeth humbly
and full of gratitude asks how is it that she has been so honoured as
to receive a visit from the mother of her Lord. It was because of her
deep love and veneration for God and for her unborn Lord that she was
so appreciative of the visit to her of the Queen mother, the mother who
had arrived to assist her. The history of God’s chosen people was
reaching its crescendo and both Mary and Elizabeth knew it. Elizabeth
carried a second Elijah who would go before the Lord to prepare a
people fit for him, and in Mary the Lord himself had arrived, being
carried in the womb by her, his holy mother. So Mary is mother of the
Lord and most blessed among women. Not only did Elizabeth exult but her
child exulted too, for “at the moment the sound of your greeting
reached my ears,” she said, “the infant in my womb leaped for joy.”
Elizabeth tells us more about the blessedness of the Virgin Mary. She
was especially blessed because of her faith in the word of God.
“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.” Mary was blessed because of her calling to be the
mother of the Messiah the Son of God. She was blessed for being full of
grace and having the Lord with her, as the Angel Gabriel stated. She
was especially blessed in her faith. She believed totally “that what
was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Mary the mother of
Christ is the greatest of Christ’s disciples in her faith, and in all
that happened subsequent to these words of Elizabeth, Mary did not once
doubt that all that God had promised would be fulfilled.
Let us resolve to
share in the attitude of Elizabeth towards Mary the mother of Christ.
Let us love and venerate her as most blessed among women, blessed
especially for her faith in God and in his word. Let us understand that
just as Mary was Elizabeth’s help, so she is the help of all
Christians. She will help us be what she was so pre-eminently, a true
servant of the Lord.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you accustom yourself, even only once a week, to seek union with
Mary in order to go to Jesus, you will see how you have more presence
of God.
(The Way, no.276)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Come, Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labour, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend:
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 22,
Saturday of the Third Week of Advent
(December 22) Blessed
Jacopone da Todi (d. 1306)
Jacomo, or James, was born a noble member of the Benedetti family in
the northern Italian city of Todi. He became a successful lawyer and
married a pious, generous lady named Vanna. His young wife took it upon
herself to do penance for the worldly excesses of her husband. One day
Vanna, at the insistence of Jacomo, attended a public tournament. She
was sitting in the stands with the other noble ladies when the stands
collapsed. Vanna was killed. Her shaken husband was even more disturbed
when he realized that the penitential girdle she wore was for his
sinfulness. On the spot, he vowed to radically change his life. He
divided his possessions among the poor and entered the Third Order of
St. Francis. Often dressed in penitential rags, he was mocked as a fool
and called Jacopone, or "Crazy Jim," by his former associates. The name
became dear to him. After 10 years of such humiliation, Jacopone asked
to be a member of the Franciscan Order. Because of his reputation, his
request was initially refused. He composed a beautiful poem on the
vanities of the world, an act that eventually led to his admission into
the Order in 1278. He continued to lead a life of strict penance,
declining to be ordained a priest. Meanwhile he was writing popular
hymns in the vernacular. Jacopone suddenly found himself a leader in a
disturbing religious movement among the Franciscans. The Spirituals, as
they were called, wanted a return to the strict poverty of Francis.
They had on their side two cardinals of the Church and Pope Celestine
V. These two cardinals, though, opposed Celestine’s successor, Boniface
VIII. At the age of 68, Jacopone was excommunicated and imprisoned.
Although he acknowledged his mistake, Jacopone was not absolved and
released until Benedict XI became pope five years later. He had
accepted his imprisonment as penance. He spent the final three years of
his life more spiritual than ever, weeping "because Love is not loved."
During this time he wrote the famous Latin hymn, Stabat Mater. On
Christmas Eve in 1306 Jacopone felt that his end was near. He was in a
convent of the Poor Clares with his friend, Blessed John of La Verna.
Like Francis, Jacopone welcomed "Sister Death" with one of his favorite
songs. It is said that he finished the song and died as the priest
intoned the Gloria from the midnight Mass at Christmas. From the time
of his death, Brother Jacopone has been venerated as a
saint.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture today: 1 Samuel
1:24-28; 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd; Luke 1:46-56
Mary
said: My soul magnifies the Lord. And my spirit has rejoiced in God my
Saviour. Because he has looked on the lowliness of his handmaid; for
behold from henceforth all generations will call me blessed. Because he
that is mighty has done great things to me; and holy is his name. And
his mercy is from generation to generation to those who fear him. He
has shown the power of his arm, he has scattered the proud in the
conceit of their heart. He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and has exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich he has sent empty away. He has received Israel his
servant, being mindful of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to
Abraham and to his seed for ever. And Mary abode with her about three
months; and she returned to her own house.
(Luke 1:46-56)
The Old Testament
is a collection of writings of such variety in period, genre and
subject that one could legitimately long for some sort of authoritative
synthesis especially in respect to its revelation of God. Amid its
plethora of history, prayers and poems, philosophical ruminations,
prophecies and exhortations, what does it reveal God to be
like? Are
there any what we might call summaries that encapsulate the heart of
its revelation? There are, and I would suggest that the prayer of Mary
in our Gospel passage today is one such. It reveals the soul of Mary,
this unique Daughter of Sion, and it expresses as well the doctrine of
the Old Testament on the Almighty One. St Luke tells us that it was her
prayer and that she uttered it on entering the house of Elizabeth, so
we must assume that this fact was reported to him by Mary herself.
Perhaps it was a prayer that Mary had formed well before from her
prayerful reading of the Scriptures, a prayer drawn from various
sources in the Old Testament. Perhaps too it was a prayer that Mary
continued to pray over the years of her life. Whatever of that
speculation, it is a prayer that extols the God of her fathers, the God
of Abraham and his children of which she was by far the holiest. Her
prayer gathers up the spiritual life and belief of the Old Testament
and points us to its fulfilment in the New. God is the Almighty One who
does great things, and holy is his name. We think of the vision of the
prophet Isaiah, in which God is revealed as thrice holy. Moreover, he
acts in history displaying power and mercy towards the humble and
needy, setting aside the proud and rich and oppressive. God is almighty
and his might is manifested in his mercy. He is the Saviour. So who is
God as he reveals himself in the Old Testament? He is the Almighty,
Merciful and holy Saviour. But now, Mary utters this as the one who
carries the Messiah. He is the full revelation of this Saviour God and
this revelation is given to us supremely on the Cross.
Not only does this
prayer of Mary - which the Church has traditionally called the
Magnificat (from the Latin) - tell us of God. It also tells us of Mary.
Elizabeth has already, in the Holy Spirit, proclaimed that Mary the
mother of the Lord is blessed among women for her faith. In Mary’s own
prayer in response, she foresees that due to the greatness of God all
generations will call her blessed. She is the Blessed Virgin Mary and
till the end of time and into eternity the Church will proclaim her as
blessed. She is this because God her Saviour has done great things for
her. God is great, she proclaims. Inasmuch as Islam’s catchcry is that
God is great, Mary the mother of Jesus ought be dear to the followers
of Mahomet. Mary proclaimed God to be great long before Mahomet. But
especially we can see that Mary is filled with the thought that God
saves, and that his salvation is marked by mercy. He has mercy on those
who fear him in every generation. He “has lifted up the lowly. He has
filled the hungry with good things”. He “has come to the help of his
servant Israel for he remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he
made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.” (Luke 1:46-56). This merciful
consideration for those in need and for the lowly and the hungry,
shaped her entire soul. We see passing evidence of it in the wedding
feast of Cana when the mother of Jesus approached her Son and told him
that they had no wine. Christ knew what she was asking, and he acted.
Let us remember too that Christ described the Last Judgment in terms of
justice and mercy towards others (Matthew 25). I was hungry and you
gave me food, he will say to those on his right. What is important to
God is concern for those in need. How much, then, must this have
distinguished the heart of Mary! She is the Mother of Mercy, and we can
confidently turn to her in our prayers asking her help before God.
Let us treasure
prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the help of Christians and is
the mother of Mercy. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb,
Jesus. There we have the testimony of both the angel Gabriel and of
Mary’s kinswoman Elizabeth. Let each of us respond, “Holy Mary, mother
of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You ask me: why that wooden Cross? — And I copy from a letter: 'As I
look up from the microscope, my sight comes to rest on the cross —
black and empty. That Cross without its Crucified is a symbol. It has a
meaning which others cannot see. And though I am tired out and on the
point of abandoning the job, I once again bring my eyes to the lens and
continue: for the lonely Cross is calling for a pair of shoulders to
bear it.'
(The Way, no.277)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Te Deum
We praise you, O God:
We acclaim you as Lord.
Everlasting Father,
All the world bows down before you.
All the angels sing your praise,
The hosts of heaven and all the angelic powers,
All the cherubim and seraphim
Call out to you in unending song:
Holy, Holy, Holy,
Is the Lord God of angel hosts!
The heavens and the earth are filled
With your majesty and glory.
The glorious band of apostles,
The noble company of prophets,
The white-robed army who shed their blood for Christ,
All sing your praise.
And to the ends of the earth
Your holy Church proclaims her faith in you:
Father, whose majesty is boundless,
Your true and only son, who is to be adored,
The Holy Spirit sent to be our Advocate.
You, Christ, are the king of glory,
Son of the eternal Father.
When you took our nature to save mankind
You did not shrink from birth in the Virgin’s womb.
You overcame the power of death
Opening the Father’s kingdom to all who believe in you.
Enthroned at God’s right hand in the glory of the Father,
You will come in judgement according to your promise.
You redeemed your people by your precious blood.
Coe, we implore you, to our aid.
Grant us with the saints
a place in eternal glory.
Lord, save your people
And bless your inheritance.
Rule them and uphold them
For ever and ever.
Day by day we praise you:
We acclaim you now and to all eternity.
In your goodness, Lord, keep us free from sin.
Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
May your mercy always be with us, Lord,
For we have hoped in you.
In you, Lord, we put our trust:
We shall not be put to shame.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fourth
Sunday of Advent A
Prayers this week:
Let the clouds rain down
the just One, and the earth bring forth a Saviour (Isaiah 45:8)
Lord,
fill our hearts with your love, and as you revealed to us by an
angel the coming of your Son as man, so lead us through his suffering
and death to the glory of his resurrection. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(December 23) St.
John of Kanty (1390?-1473)
John was a country lad who made good in the big city and the big
university of Kraków, Poland. After brilliant studies he was ordained a
priest and became a professor of theology. The inevitable opposition
which saints encounter led to his being ousted by rivals and sent to be
a parish priest at Olkusz. An extremely humble man, he did his best,
but his best was not to the liking of his parishioners. Besides, he was
afraid of the responsibilities of his position. But in the end he won
his people’s hearts. After some time he returned to Kraków and taught
Scripture for the remainder of his life. He was a serious man, and
humble, but known to all the poor of Kraków for his kindness. His goods
and his money were always at their disposal, and time and again they
took advantage of him. He kept only the money and clothes absolutely
needed to support himself. He slept little, and then on the floor, ate
sparingly, and took no meat. He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, hoping
to be martyred by the Turks. He made four pilgrimages to Rome, carrying
his luggage on his back. When he was warned to look after his health,
he was quick to point out that, for all their austerity, the fathers of
the desert lived remarkably long lives.
John of Kanty is a typical saint: He was kind, humble and generous, he
suffered opposition and led an austere, penitential life. Most
Christians in an affluent society can understand all the ingredients
except the last: Anything more than mild self-discipline seems reserved
for athletes and ballet dancers. Christmas is a good time at least to
reject
self-indulgence.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture: Isaiah
7:10-14; Psalm 24:1-6; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24
This is how the birth of
Christ happened. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before
they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing
publicly to expose her, intended to put her away privately. But while
he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to
him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take to
yourself Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of
the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you will call his name JESUS.
For he will save his people from their sins.” Now all this was done so
that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled, “Behold a
virgin will be with child and will bring forth a son, and they will
call his name Emmanuel, which means, God with us.” And Joseph waking
from his sleep did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took
his wife to himself.
(Matthew 1:18-24)
It is very obvious
that during our Lord’s public ministry very many misunderstood his
mission. It is clear, in fact, that numerous people completely
misunderstood the mission of the Messiah and had no notion of his
divinely ordained methods. Very commonly, his kingship was understood
as a political and perhaps military one. Our Gospel
passage today makes it clear that St Joseph was informed from heaven in
the person of the angel just what the mission of his future foster-son
would be. It was to save his people from their sins. Mary his betrothed
“will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save
his people from their sins.” (Matthew
1:18-24)
Joseph is not told very much about the mission of his wife’s
child but the essential point is there. The burden afflicting and
bringing death to God's people are their sins, and the child will save
his people from them, from their sins. The sins of the people are to be
taken away in some way. This announcement gives us the opportunity to
think a little about sin, for sin was very much God’s preoccupation in
sending his divine Son to us. St Paul tells us that of themselves all
men are under the power of sin, and that the wages of sin are death.
The Ten Commandments spell out very clearly the ways God’s chosen
people can and do sin, but what of those who have not heard God's voice
as expressed in the Ten Commandments? Well, there is another voice. Man
has been endowed by God with a conscience commanding him to do good and
avoid evil. This is a natural law implanted in his very being. St Paul
writes in the Letter to the Romans that “I have been sold as a slave to
sin. I cannot understand my own behaviour. I fail to carry out the
things I want to do, and I find myself dong the very things I hate.
When I act against my own will, that means that I have a self that
acknowledges that the Law is good, and so the thing behaving in that
way is not my own self but sin living in me.” So St Paul states that “I
have a self that acknowledges that the Law is good.” Every man and
woman has this “self”, this voice within. All have a conscience and
whatever be the errors of people in their practical moral judgment, the
basic command of conscience is clear. The good must be done and evil
avoided. It is a basic natural law commanding that each person seek the
right thing to do and then to do it.
This natural moral
law pressed on each person by his conscience is absolute. All men know
this to be the case. When the Second World War ended various Nazis were
put on trial at Nuremburg for crimes against humanity. It was no excuse
to say that “I was told to do it” because there was (and is) a higher
law than that of the state. The natural moral law is above all and is
to be used in judging the morality of states. Knowing as he does that
the good is to be done and evil avoided, each person instinctively
knows that the life of another must be respected. It is part of the
natural law. All instinctively know that it is wrong to steal and to
rape and to kidnap and to commit adultery. Of course generally an
education in these moral prescriptions is needed and the education
should be good and correct. But the upshot of such an ethical or
religious education is that the one thus educated recognizes in his own
mind and without further appeal to authority that certain things are
wrong. If one does violate the natural moral law at least in respect to
the obvious rights of others, then irrespective of whether one has a
religion to help, the offender will be liable to being punished.
Furthermore, if one has a religious sense, one will instinctively
recognize that these dictates of one’s natural moral sense express the
will and pleasure of God. That is to say, the prudent and religious man
knows that the voice of conscience is a faint echo of the voice of God,
beginning with that “voice” from within which says that the good must
be done and evil avoided. Violations of the natural moral law are sins,
and most have a sense of this. The immoral person vaguely senses that
he is by that fact displeasing to God. I do think, incidentally, that
an important basis of harmony and cooperation among the religions of
the world and among all people of good will is the universality of the
natural moral law and its natural connection with God and therefore
with religion. All religions must conform with what is known to be
right and wrong - with the natural moral law. A religion which allows
for immorality cannot be accepted. Now, my point in mentioning
conscience and the natural law is to relate its violation to Christ and
his mission. Conscience characteristically instils a sense of sin. All
men ought therefore be conscious of having sinned, and the Good News is
that a Saviour has come. Christ our Lord came to save all men from
their sins.
Let us think of the
sins of the world when we think of the saving mission of Christ. He
came to save man from his sins, whether or not he knew or knows of the
Ten Commandments or the commands of Christ. Christ is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world. We are called to belong to him and
belonging to him means renouncing sin and embracing faith in Jesus and
all that Jesus has revealed. We are also called to bring Jesus to
others, and with him to bring the Good News of salvation from sin.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.1950-1964
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live in the presence of God and you will have supernatural life.
(The Way, no.278)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Come, Creator Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, Creator come,
From your bright heavenly throne!
Come, take possession of our souls,
And make them all your own.
You who are called the Paraclete,
Best gift of God above,
The living spring, the living fire,
Sweet unction, and true love!
You who are sevenfold in your grace,
Finger of God's right hand,
His promise, teaching little ones
To speak and understand!
O guide our minds with your blessed light,
With love our hearts inflame,
And with your strength which never decays
Confirm our mortal frame.
Far from us drive our hellish foe
True peace unto us bring,
And through all perils guide us safe
Beneath your sacred wing.
Through you may we the Father know,
Through you the eternal Son
And you the Spirit of them both
Thrice-blessed three in one.
All glory to the Father be,
And to the risen Son;
The same to you, O Paraclete,
While endless ages run. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December
24, Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent II
(December 24) Christmas
at Greccio
What better way to prepare for the arrival of the Christ Child than to
take a brief journey to Greccio, the spot in central Italy where St.
Francis of Assisi created the first Christmas crib in the year 1223.
Francis, recalling a visit he had made years before to Bethlehem,
resolved to create the manger he had seen there. The ideal spot was a
cave in nearby Greccio. He would find a baby (we’re not sure if it was
a live infant or the carved image of a baby), hay upon which to lay
him, an ox and an ass to stand beside the manger. Word went out to the
people of the town. At the appointed time they arrived carrying torches
and candles. One of the friars began celebrating Mass. Francis himself
gave the sermon. His biographer, Thomas of Celano, recalls that Francis
“stood before the manger…overcome with love and filled with a wonderful
happiness…” For Francis, the simple celebration was meant to recall the
hardships Jesus suffered even as an infant, a saviour who chose to
become poor for our sake, a truly human Jesus. Tonight, as we pray
around the Christmas cribs in our homes, we welcome into our hearts
that same Saviour.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture today: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,
8b-12, 14a, 16; Psalm 89:2-5, 27 and 29; Luke 1:67-79
Zachary
his father was filled with the Holy Spirit; and he prophesied, saying:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he has visited and wrought
the redemption of his people. He has raised up a Saviour for us in the
house of David his servant. From the beginning he promised by his holy
prophets salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate
us. He promised mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to Abraham our father that he would grant to
us, that being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we might serve
him without fear in holiness and justice in his presence all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest. You will go
before the face of the Lord to prepare his way to give knowledge of
salvation to his people for the remission of their sins. Through the
mercy of our God, in which the dawn from on high will come to enlighten
those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct our
feet into the way of peace.” (Luke
1:67-79)
Our Gospel passage
today gives us a prophecy. The prophecy comes in the words of Zachary
the priest who, St Luke tells us, was at this moment filled with the
Holy Spirit and prophesied. Long before, Ezechiel too had been a priest
and had uttered prophecies. This is to say that this word uttered by
Zachary the father of John the Baptist was the word
of God and it spoke of the coming Messiah and the Precursor who would
go before him. Zachary’s words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, spoke of
God who was coming to his people to set them free. God was sending a
Saviour, a mighty Saviour, a Saviour of might and power born of the
House of David. He was the Messiah, the King who would liberate God’s
people from their enemies and from all who hated them. This was the
generic prophecy that sustained the hope of the people and which, as we
know, was prone to be interpreted in a crassly political, military or
economic sense, a sense too closely modelled on the great liberation
from slavery in Egypt. Too many thought that the coming Kingdom of God
would be yet another though far greater kingdom purely of this world.
But Zachary points to something purer, something far more to do with
the life of religion and the soul. The liberation which God was coming
to effect was to enable his people “to worship him without fear, holy
and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.” God was coming to
enable his people to love and worship him, to live righteously and in
holiness all the days of life. Zachary points to the liberation from
and forgiveness of sin, and his son John will be “called the prophet of
the Most High” and will “go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give
his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.” (Luke 1:67-79) The prophecy of Zachary
coming at the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New
intimates man’s redemption from sin.
Just as Zachary in
his prophecy profoundly connects John the prophet of the Most High with
the Saviour from the House of David, so too does the rest of the Gospel
account. John appears in the wilderness preaching a baptism of
repentance and calling on the people to prepare the way of the Lord and
to make his path straight. He points to Jesus as the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world. The problem of the world is the
presence and action of sin. Sin is so deeply embedded, so all pervasive
in its extent, so powerful in its influence and so devastating of man’s
prospects, that any answer to it is utterly beyond man and the world.
Who could possibly come to grips with this problem? Wherein could lie
the answer? Sin could only be answered by God. He alone could redeem
man from the sin man deliberately committed and which he continues to
commit. God’s answer was to send a Saviour, a mighty Saviour whom
nothing and no one could overcome nor resist. But there was a profound
surprise in the entire process. Not only did it turn out that the
liberation from what oppressed man was not at its root a political,
economic or military liberation - even though it had these implications
- but the might and the strength of God would be exercised in weakness.
God’s Saviour liberated man by embracing rejection, suffering and
immense cruelty. The Saviour suffered and died and seemed to be
defeated, and looked as though he left everything as it was before. But
no. By his death he expiated for the sins of man and won for him a
share in the divine life, the life of the Holy Spirit. This life is
conferred on each person at his baptism into the great family of God,
the Church. We each of us who have been baptized have been redeemed
from sin and have the opportunity to become holy. By the gift of
Christ’s Spirit we are able to renounce sin and gradually overcome it.
That is to say, we are called and empowered by grace to become like
Christ.
Let us prayerfully
immerse ourselves in the prophecy of Zachary, uttered under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It tells us of the Saviour and the
redemption be brought to each of us who accept him as Lord. It reminds
us of John who pointed to him as the Lamb who would take away the
world’s sin. Let us then in our hearts and on our lips acknowledge
Jesus as Saviour, and every day renounce the sin from which by his
death and resurrection he has expiated us.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most people have a plane-like vision, stuck to the earth, of two
dimensions. When you live a supernatural life, God will give you the
third dimension: height, and with it, perspective, weight and volume.
(The Way, no.279)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Come, Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labour, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend:
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Birth of Christ the Lord
(December 25) Christmas
Day On this day the Church focuses especially on the newborn
Child, God become human, who embodies for us all the hope and peace we 
seek. We need no other special saint today to
lead us to Christ in the manger, although his mother Mary and Joseph,
caring for his foster-Son, help round out the scene. But if we were to
select a patron for today, perhaps it might be appropriate for us to
imagine an anonymous shepherd, summoned to the birthplace by a wondrous
and even disturbing vision in the night, a summons from an angelic
choir, promising peace and goodwill. A shepherd willing to seek out
something that might just be too unbelievable to chase after, and yet
compelling enough to leave behind the flocks in the field and search
for a mystery. On the day of the Lord’s birth, let’s let an unnamed,
“un-celebrity” at the edge of the crowd model for us the way to
discover Christ in our own hearts—somewhere between skepticism and
wonder, between mystery and faith. And, like Mary and the shepherds,
let us treasure that discovery in our
hearts. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture today: Isaiah 9:1-6; Psalm
96: 1-3, 11-13; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14
It happened that in
those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that the whole
world was to be enrolled. This census was first made by Cyrinus the
governor of Syria. All went to be
enrolled, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee from
the town of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David. He was with Mary his
espoused wife who was with child. It happened that when they were
there, her time of birth came and she brought forth her firstborn son.
She wrapped him up in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger
because there was no room for them in the inn. There were in the same
neighbourhood shepherds keeping the night watches over their flock.
Behold an angel of the Lord stood by them and the brightness of God
shone round about them, and they feared greatly. The angel said to
them: “Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy for
all the people: For on this day in the city of David there is born for
you a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You
will find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a
manger.” Then suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the
heavenly hosts praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest;
and on earth peace to men of good will.” (Luke
2:1-14)
There have been
several attempts over the past century to portray Christ on film. At
times the movie in question has been devoted entirely to the figure of
Christ, and at times he has appeared only briefly to provide the
backdrop of the story. I remember when seeing the great movie “Ben Hur”
I did think that the brief appearances of Christ were very well done.
One of the most famous movies on Christ has been Mel Gibson’s “The
Passion of the Christ” which devoted the entire production to his
Passion and Death with flashbacks to
episodes in his hidden and public life. One of many notable features of
this film was the (perhaps excessively) vivid portrayal of the violence
done to Christ during his passion. My reaction to this? Well, during
the scourging of Christ, for instance, what prompted absorbing thoughts
in me was the spectacle not just of the violence of the scourging but
that here was God being thus treated. God was being scourged with
whips. Anyone who has studied the Shroud of Turin can see how horrific
must the scourging have been, and yet how noble does the figure of the
Shroud appear!. But the stunning thing in all this for me is the
thought of the Incarnation. The great God, the God of heaven and of
earth, the one through whom all things were made and sustained in
being, had become man and was being scourged. This is a wondrous
phenomenon and one of the benchmarks of any successful portrayal of
Christ on film has to be the extent to which the Incarnation is
successfully suggested. Does the man being depicted seem in harmony
with the doctrine that Jesus is also divine? Is the movie in active
harmony with the doctrine of the Incarnation? I remember years back
coming across a comic strip which pictured episodes in the life of
Christ. It was entirely inappropriate in its representation of Christ.
No one who read that comic strip could think of the man being
pictorialized there as being God, God the Son. I would like to suggest
that on Christmas Day it is especially the Incarnation that we ought
realize and appreciate anew.
Today, Christmas
Day, we think of the birth not just of the most famous man in the
history of the world. We do not contemplate simply the birth of the
founder of the world’s greatest religion. On Christmas Day we celebrate
the Incarnation. On this day, whenever it exactly was, the Son of God
made man was born into this world. By the power of the Holy Spirit God
the Son had been conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary and at the
end of his nine months of normal embryonic development was born in a
manger because there was no room for them in the inn. At a certain
point in history, in the midst of very definite historical
circumstances, in a definite locale, there was born an infant who was
man, yes, but who was literally God. This tiny babe held in the arms of
his mother and gazed on by his foster-father Joseph, this babe that was
wrapped in swaddling clothes, this child witnessed by a handful of
shepherds, this helpless and dependent little boy was God, God the Son,
the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Many have denied this and have
found it too much to accept. Our Jewish brethren do not accept it and
Islam rejects it outright. But such is the fact. God became man and the
Jesus of history who was born at Bethlehem, who grew up at Nazareth,
who preached and ministered powerfully in Judea and Galilee, the Jesus
who suffered and died and then rose from the dead, the Jesus who
ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit, this Jesus is the
Saviour God. He claimed that he was God and proved it to be the case.
On Christmas Day let us place ourselves in the scene at Bethlehem where
Christ was born
(Luke 2:1-14). Let us prayerfully marvel at the spectacle
of the boundlessly rich, almighty and eternal God immersed in the
poverty of human nature and the human condition. The poverty of
Bethlehem was all of a piece with the God of might divesting himself of
the glory of his divinity and embracing the poverty of human nature.
Indeed, he became lowlier still, even to death on a cross.
Let us continue to
gaze on the person of Jesus so as to know him better and love him the
more. He asks us to accept him totally together with the truth he has
revealed. Let us resolve to take our stand with him and his revelation,
and to follow his way. He tells us that if any one wishes to be his
disciple he must renounce himself and take up his cross and follow him.
Christ renounced himself and carried his cross to Calvary. It all began
on Christmas night at Bethlehem. Let us start there, and accompany him
to the very end. If we live with him here we shall reign with him
hereafter.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you lose the supernatural meaning of your life, your charity will be
philanthropy; your purity, decency; your mortification, stupidity; your
discipline, a whip; and all your works, fruitless.
(The Way, no.280)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Anima Christi
Soul of Christ, be my sanctification.
Body of Christ, be my salvation.
Blood of Christ, fill all my veins.
Water of Christ’s side, wash out my stains.
Passion of Christ, my comfort be.
O good Jesus, listen to me.
In Thy wounds I fain would hide,
N’er to be parted from Thy side,
Guard me, should the foe assail me.
Call me when my life shall fail me.
Bid me come to Thee above,
With Thy saints to sing Thy love,
World without end. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feast of Saint
Stephen, deacon and first martyr (Dec 26)
(December 26) St.
Stephen (d. 36 A.D.?)
All we know of
Stephen is found in Acts of the Apostles, chapters six and seven. It is
enough to tell us what kind of man he was: "At that time, as the number
of disciples continued to grow, the
Hellenist (Greek-speaking) Christians complained about the
Hebrew-speaking Christians, saying that their widows were being
neglected in the daily distribution. So the Twelve called together the
community of the disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect
the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you
seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall
appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and
to the ministry of the word.” The proposal was acceptable to the whole
community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy
Spirit...." (Acts 6:1-5)
The Acts says that Stephen was a man filled with grace and power, who
worked great wonders among the people. Certain Jews, members of the
Synagogue of Roman Freedmen, debated with Stephen but proved no match
for the wisdom and spirit with which he spoke. They persuaded others to
make the charge of blasphemy against him. He was seized and carried
before the Sanhedrin. In his speech, Stephen recalled God’s guidance
through Israel’s history, as well as Israel’s idolatry and
disobedience. He then claimed that his persecutors were showing this
same spirit. “[Y]ou always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like
your ancestors” (Acts 7:51b). His speech brought anger from the crowd.
“But [Stephen], filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to
heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of
God, and he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God....’ They threw him out of the city,
and began to stone him....As they were stoning Stephen, he called out,
‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit....Lord, do not hold this sin against
them’” (Acts 7:55-56, 58a, 59, 60b).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture: Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59; Psalm 31:3cd-4, 6 and 8ab,
16bc and 17; Matthew 10:17-22
Jesus
said to his disciples, “Beware of men. For they will deliver you up to
councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you will
be brought before governors and kings for my sake to testify before
them and the Gentiles: But when they deliver you up, take no thought as
to how or what to say, for it shall be given you in that hour what to
say. For it is not you who will speak but the Spirit of your Father who
speaks in you. Brother will deliver up brother to death and the father
the son. Children will rise up against their parents and will put them
to death. And you will be hated by all men on account of me but the one
who perseveres to the end will be saved.” (Matthew
10:17-22)
There are a few
obvious and distinctive things about Christian discipleship as
portrayed in our Lord’s words today. To begin with, being a disciple of
Christ is not just a personal and private affair. It is not just a
matter of a personal choice to follow and learn from Jesus Christ, in
the way one might have a decisive preference for the thought of a
particular philosopher. I remember when studying philosophy at one
Australian university I was told by the head of that department that
one of his colleagues was a Hegelian.
That is, he adhered to the philosophy of Hegel. Being a disciple of
Christ means also sharing in the mission of Christ, and not just
personally accepting his thought and teaching. Christ gave himself over
to bearing witness to the truth of God, and that truth was in the first
instance the truth about himself. As he stated to Pontius Pilate, for
this was he born to bear witness to the truth, and he stood before
Pontius Pilate because he had borne witness to the truth about himself
before the leaders of the Jews. Being his disciple includes as an
essential element the commitment to share in this mission in everyday
life whatever be the circumstances. The witness that is given by the
disciple is not just to a body of thought in the way an enthusiastic
adherent to Marxism might give his life over to the spread of the
thought of Karl Marx. Though the thought of Marx is dated, one still
finds on university campuses a stall manned by a few students promoting
Marxist literature. The disciple of Christ bears witness to the person
of Jesus, and of course, his teaching. But in the first instance he
endeavours to introduce people to Jesus himself as to a living person
and not just as to a system of thought. If he is to do this he himself
must have a personal acquaintance with the living though unseen Jesus
and this knowledge of Christ must be a sure and certain knowledge based
on well-grounded faith.
Many decades ago
the great Pope Pius XII insisted in his teaching that an essential
element of the Christian life is that it be apostolic and missionary.
That is to say, one is not a true disciple if one lacks the desire and
intention to bear practical witness to the living Jesus and his
revelation. Discipleship is not simply a matter of personal prayer and
private religious practice - even though personal prayer and religious
practices are essential to the Christian life. One must have and one
must exercise a sense of mission on behalf of the person of Jesus. In
one’s everyday life the Christian is an ambassador for the living
unseen Lord and King. I remember chatting with a novelist and essayist
and I was warmly encouraging him in his chosen profession. I pointed
out that his work is a very important one because through his writing
he can influence the culture of his society. He replied that in his
writing he does not think of that - he just writes, implying (I think)
that the authentic way to write is by letting it just come without any
other higher motive. But I pointed out to him that as a Christian he
shares in Christ’s mission and that in his life’s work he must exercise
his mission of bearing witness to the truth of Jesus, directly or
indirectly. This is indeed the case. What is the meaning of life?
Knowing Christ and bearing witness to him before the world of everyday
is the meaning of life. In our Gospel passage today our Lord assures
his disciples that they will face difficulties in bearing witness to
him, but that they were not to worry about their own inadequacy. They
will be helped from on high. “When they hand you over, do not worry
about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at
that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but
the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
(Matthew 10:17-22). This implies that we ought be praying to
the Holy Spirit frequently for the help and guidance we need in bearing
witness to our living Lord.
There is a famous
catchcry. It is that life is short and eternity long. How true! The
Christian has a great work to do in life. In the first instance it is
to believe in the one whom God has sent, Jesus Christ. Secondly, and as
an essential part of this life of faith, it is to bear witness to the
one in whom we believe. The salvation of the world depends on our
united witness to Jesus. Let us allow our Lord’s words to ring
constantly in our ears, “Go out to the whole world and make disciples
of all the nations. The one who believes will be saved.”
(E.J.Tyler)
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Silence is the door-keeper of the interior life.
(The Way, no.281)
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The Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help,
or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence
I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of virgins, my Mother.
To thee do I come,
before thee I stand,
sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feast of
Saint John, Apostle and evangelist (Dec 27)
(December 27) St. John the Apostle
It is God who calls; human beings answer. The vocation of John and his
brother James is stated very simply in the Gospels, along with that of
Peter and his brother Andrew: Jesus called them; they followed. The
absoluteness of their response is indicated by the account. James and
John “were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He
called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and
followed him” (Matthew 4:21b-22).
For the three former fishermen—Peter, James and John—that faith was to
be rewarded by a special friendship with Jesus. They alone were
privileged to be present at 
the Transfiguration, the raising
of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in Gethsemane. But John’s
friendship was even more special. Tradition assigns to him the Fourth
Gospel, although most modern Scripture scholars think it unlikely that
the apostle and the evangelist are the same person. John’s own Gospel
refers to him as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (see John 13:23;
19:26; 20:2), the one who reclined next to Jesus at the Last Supper,
and the one to whom he gave the exquisite honour, as he stood beneath
the cross, of caring for his mother. “Woman, behold your son....Behold,
your mother” (John 19:26b, 27b). Because of the depth of his Gospel,
John is usually thought of as the eagle of theology, soaring in high
regions that other writers did not enter. But the ever-frank Gospels
reveal some very human traits. Jesus gave James and John the nickname,
“sons of thunder.” While it is difficult to know exactly what this
meant, a clue is given in two incidents. In the first, as Matthew tells
it, their mother asked that they might sit in the places of honour in
Jesus’ kingdom—one on his right hand, one on his left. When Jesus asked
them if they could drink the cup he would drink and be baptized with
his baptism of pain, they blithely answered, “We can!” Jesus said that
they would indeed share his cup, but that sitting at his right hand was
not his to give. It was for those to whom it had been reserved by the
Father. The other apostles were indignant at the mistaken ambition of
the brothers, and Jesus took the occasion to teach them the true nature
of authority: “...Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your
slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:27-28). On
another occasion the “sons of thunder” asked Jesus if they should not
call down fire from heaven upon the inhospitable Samaritans, who would
not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. But Jesus
“turned and rebuked them”(see Luke 9:51-55). On the first Easter, Mary
Magdalene “ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom
Jesus loved, and told them, ‘They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him’” (John 20:2). John recalls,
perhaps with a smile, that he and Peter ran side by side, but then “the
other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first”
(John 20:4b). He did not enter, but waited for Peter and let him go in
first. “Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived
at the tomb first, and he saw and believed” (John 20:8). John was with
Peter when the first great miracle after the Resurrection took
place—the cure of the man crippled from birth—which led to their
spending the night in jail together. The mysterious experience of the
Resurrection is perhaps best contained in the words of Acts: “Observing
the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated,
ordinary men, they [the questioners] were amazed, and they recognized
them as the companions of Jesus” (Acts 4:13). The evangelist wrote the
great Gospel, the letters and the Book of Revelation. His Gospel is a
very personal account. He sees the glorious and divine Jesus already in
the incidents of his mortal life. At the Last Supper, John’s Jesus
speaks as if he were already in heaven. It is the Gospel of Jesus’
glory. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture today: 1 John 1:1-4; Psalm
97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12; John 20:1a and 2-8
On the
first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb when it
was still dark, and she saw the stone taken away from the tomb. So she
ran to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said
to them: They have taken the Lord away from the tomb, and we do not
know where they have laid him. Peter therefore went out, and the other
disciple, and they came to the tomb. And they both ran together, and
the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And when he
stooped down he saw the linen cloths lying but did not immediately go
in. Then Simon Peter, following him, arrived and went into the tomb. He
saw the linen cloths lying, as well as the cloth that had been about
his head not lying with the linen cloths, but apart, wrapped up into
one place. Then the other disciple who had arrived first also went in.
He saw and believed. (John 20:1a and
2-8)
It is generally
agreed among most New Testament scholars that the Gospel of St John is
the last written of the gospels, and perhaps put together in its final
form near the end of the first century. I have seen this radically
challenged by serious scholars who put it much earlier, their main
evidence being internal. Whatever of that, it is remarkable how vivid
is the impression of the person of Jesus in that Fourth Gospel and how
fresh are the details so often given. An instance of this freshness and
care in detail are the last two
chapters which narrate the discovery of the empty tomb and the
subsequent appearances of the risen Jesus. Our Gospel passage today
clearly has for its source “the other disciple whom Jesus loved”, the
companion of Simon Peter who ran ahead of Peter and reached the tomb
first. Very significantly he saw the way the linen cloths were situated
and folded, and as a result, “he saw and believed.”
(John 20:1a and 2-8) Three figures
feature in the passage: Mary Magdalene who carried the news of the
empty tomb, and Simon and the other disciple who saw the empty tomb for
themselves. But let us notice something that distinguishes each of
them: the burning love they had for Jesus. Mary Magdalene “ran” to the
two Apostles, and they in turn “both ran” to the tomb, while the
disciple Jesus loved “ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb
first.” Their running showed their love, and it is this which marks the
disciple of Christ. He does not simply appreciate and accept the
teaching of Jesus, although this of course is essential. He loves the
very person of Jesus. The Christian religion involves a personal
relationship with the person of Jesus, a relationship that is one of
profound and ardent love. The first and foremost love, the love that is
at work in the first instance is the love of Jesus for his disciple.
“You did not choose me. I chose you, and I commissioned you to go out
and to bear fruit”, our Lord said to his disciples. His love for us
inspires in us an ardent love for him.
Moreover, the one
whom the Christian loves is a very concrete person. He is not just an
idea, a thought, an image. He is a real individual. He had terrible
things happen to him and there are historical documents - the Gospels -
which describe them. He actually died, he was buried, and the tomb was
then discovered to be empty. There was a time when certain objectors to
Christianity actually denied that Jesus even lived. They denied he was
an historical personage, claiming instead that he was an invention of
scheming or deluded groups of people. The absurdity of this scarcely
needs mentioning, but even today significant groups deny basic facts
about him. As far as I am aware, officially Islam denies that Christ
actually died on the cross. Presumably this position issues from its
refusal to accept the fact of the Resurrection but it is entirely
gratuitous. There is not the slightest historical support for any
denial that Christ died on the Cross. Other persons deny that he rose
from the dead. That is to say, they deny the credibility of those who
witnessed the risen and living Jesus. There have been any number of
interpretations of the historical figure of Jesus. Our Gospel passage
today places before us the testimony of those who knew Christ
personally and intimately. He died and was buried. They found his tomb
empty except for his burial cloths, and, interestingly, even this empty
tomb contained compelling evidence of his resurrection from the dead.
Something about the very appearance and position of his burial cloths
showed that he had risen. The “disciple Jesus loved” saw this and he
believed. I remember years ago being at the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem
and an American tourist came in and wanted to know where the body of
Christ was buried. The remains of Christ will never be found. That was
where they laid him. But he is risen. He is our risen Lord, and is our
joy for all ages.
Today is the feast
of St John the evangelist, the disciple whom Jesus loved and the source
of our Gospel narrative today. He is a vivid example of undying
personal love for Jesus, a love that bore witness to the risen living
Jesus. Every Christian is called to bear witness to the fact of Jesus,
to his life and revelation, and to his death and his resurrection. Let
us show our love for Jesus by bearing this daily witness to him before
the world of our everyday life and work.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Paradox: sanctity is more attainable than learning, but it is easier to
be learned than to be a saint.
(The Way, no.282)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Rosary
The Joyful Mysteries
(recited Monday and Saturday)
The Annunciation
The Visitation
The Nativity
The Presentation
The Finding in the Temple
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feast of the
Holy Innocents, martyrs
(December 28) Feast
of the Holy Innocents
Herod “the Great,” king of Judea, was unpopular with his people because
of his connections with the Romans and his religious indifference.
Hence he was insecure and fearful of any threat to his throne. He was a
master politician and a tyrant capable of extreme brutality. He killed
his wife, his brother and his sister’s two husbands, to name only a
few. Matthew 2:1-18 tells this story: Herod was “greatly troubled” when
astrologers from the east came asking the whereabouts of “the newborn
king of the Jews,” whose star they had seen. They were told that the
Jewish Scriptures named Bethlehem as the place where the Messiah would
be born. Herod cunningly told them to report back to him so that he
could also “do him homage.” They found Jesus, offered him their gifts
and, warned by an angel, avoided Herod on their way home. Jesus escaped
to Egypt. Herod became furious and “ordered the massacre of all the
boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under.” The horror
of the massacre and the devastation of the mothers and fathers led
Matthew to quote Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah,/sobbing and
loud lamentation;/Rachel weeping for her children...” (Matthew 2:18).
Rachel was the wife of Jacob/Israel. She is pictured as weeping at the
place where the Israelites were herded together by the conquering
Assyrians for their march into captivity.
Twenty babies are few, in comparison to the genocide and abortion of
our day. But even if there had been only one, we recognize the greatest
treasure God put on the earth—a human person, destined for eternity and
graced by Jesus’ death and resurrection. "Lord, you give us life even
before we understand" (Prayer Over the Gifts, Feast of the Holy
Innocents).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture today: 1 John 1:5—2:2; Psalm
124:2-5, 7cd-8; Matthew 2:13-18
After the
Magi had departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream, saying: “Arise, and take the child and his mother, and flee into
Egypt: and stay there until I tell you. For Herod will seek the child
to destroy him.” Joseph arose, and took the child and his mother by
night, and went to Egypt and he was there until the death of Herod.
This took place so that what was foretold by the prophet might be
fulfilled, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” Then Herod, perceiving
that he had been tricked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry. He
arranged to destroy all the boys of two years and under in Bethlehem
and its surrounding district, according to the time when he had
carefully inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was
spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, “A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation
and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be
comforted, because they are no longer.”
(Matthew 2:13-18)
Today the Church
celebrates the unknown infants of Bethlehem who were quietly and
ruthlessly dispatched by Herod because the Christ-child had been born
in their midst at about the same time as their own birth. While the
Church invites us to think of the lesson of their brief lives, in the
first instance we are invited to think of Christ. He is at the
centre of the Gospel scene in that it was because of Herod’s response
to him that this happened. In one Gospel scene after another we see
how, as St John puts it in the prologue of his Gospel, the Word of God
came unto his own and his own did not receive him. It is the mystery of
sin, the sin that is so embedded in the world and so powerful a force
in its functioning. God became man and a major element in the world,
the world that had come from his hands, did not accept him. It did not
accept him, it opposed him, it hated him, it endeavoured to destroy
him, and in due course it did indeed destroy him. The “world” and its
Prince attacked, injured and put an end to the life of the Son of God
made man. We see this pattern appear as soon as the Son of God entered
the world. Herod heard (from pagan wise men!) that the infant King had
arrived, the One long foretold. Herod immediately planned his
destruction. Now this is a most important lesson for each of us. Long
before, the prophet Nathan had told to King David a story of a
murderer. He asked David what should be done to the murderer in the
story, and David had said that man ought be put to death. Nathan
replied: “You are that man!” For David himself was a murderer, having
arranged the death of Uriah the Hittite. Each of us has in us something
of Herod in that the sin within us rises up against the Son of God and
resists him. The sin within us and with which to a greater or lesser
extent we so often cooperate draws us into offending God. As we
contemplate the arrival of the Christ-child and Herod’s sinful response
to him, let us resolve to renounce sin and to accept Christ and his
revelation totally.
Our Gospel scene
today (Matthew 2:13-18)
also invites us to think of these innocent infants so ruthlessly done
away with. Due to the circumstance of the time and locale of their
birth they had a form of association with the Messiah, and because of
hatred for Christ they were pitilessly put to death. The suffering this
caused their parents and families and the community of Bethlehem would
have been incalculable. The Church honours them because of their
association with Christ in their death. They died because of hatred for
Christ, even though they did not realize it. The celebration of this by
the Church in her liturgy century after century surely shows forth the
immense dignity of being associated with Christ in life and in death,
whatever be one’s circumstances or age. By their death, these Innocents
bore witness to the supremacy of Christ which Herod attacked. That God
abundantly blessed the unrealizing sacrifice of these Innocents is
proven by the fact that they are celebrated in the Church’s liturgical
year as martyrs for Christ. The point we can all take from this is that
the supreme work of life is to be associated with Christ and to bear
witness to him. All are called to do this and it is within the reach of
all from the youngest to the oldest, from the greatest to the least,
from the most prominent and well-known to the most ordinary and
unknown. Let us then be among those who take their stand with Christ,
who choose to walk in his company and participate in his mission. His
mission is to manifest him to the world as the Lord of lords and the
King of kings. With the coming and presence of Christ the world is not
simply a vast ensemble of elements that roll on in their unceasing
functions. The world has an Absolute, a Centre, a High Point, a
Meaning. The world has one Reference Point on which hinges everything.
Christ is the heart and the soul of the world, transcending it while
being profoundly present in it. Let us then cling to him and moment by
moment associate with him. Our life and our death are to constitute a
grand association with Christ, a following in his footsteps to the very
end.
Our Lord said to
his disciples, you have not chosen me, no. I have chosen you, and I am
sending you out to bear fruit that will last. That lasting fruit is
discipleship. Being a disciple means living in profound association
with him who is our supreme Friend. It means bearing witness to him and
in this way winning the world for him. We are to make disciples of all
the nations. The whole world is called to belong to Christ and to bear
witness to him to the end.
(E.J.Tyler)
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A change! You say you need a change!... opening your eyes wide so as to
take in better the images of things, or almost closing them because you
are short-sighted.
Close them altogether! Have interior life, and you will see, in
undreamt-of colour and relief, the wonders of a better world, of a new
world: and you will draw close to God..., and know your weakness...,
and be deified... with a deification which, by bringing you nearer to
your Father, will make you more a brother of your fellow-men.
(The Way, no.283)
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The Mysteries of Light
(recited Thursday)
The Baptism of Jesus
The Wedding Feast of Cana
The Proclamation of the Kingdom, with the call to Conversion
The Transfiguration
The Institution of the Eucharist
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Fifth
Day in the Octave of Christmas
(December 29) St.
Thomas Becket (1118-1170)
A strong man who wavered for a moment, but then learned one cannot come
to terms with evil and so became a strong churchman, a martyr and a
saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his
cathedral on December 29, 1170. His career had been a stormy one. While
archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made chancellor of England at the age
of 36 by his friend King Henry II. When Henry felt it advantageous to
make his chancellor the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas gave him fair
warning: he might not accept all of Henry’s intrusions into Church
affairs. Nevertheless, he was made archbishop (1162), resigned his
chancellorship and reformed his whole way of life! Troubles began.
Henry insisted upon usurping Church rights. At one time, supposing some
conciliatory action possible, Thomas came close to compromise. He
momentarily approved the Constitutions of Clarendon, which would have
denied the clergy the right of trial by a Church court and prevented
them from making direct appeal to Rome. But Thomas rejected the
Constitutions, fled to France for safety and remained in exile for
seven years. When he returned to England, he suspected it would mean
certain death. Because Thomas refused to remit censures he had placed
upon bishops favoured by the king, Henry cried out in a rage, “Will no
one rid me of this troublesome priest!” Four knights, taking his words
as his wish, slew Thomas in the Canterbury cathedral. Thomas Becket
remains a hero-saint down to our own times.
No one becomes a saint without struggle, especially with himself.
Thomas knew he must stand firm in defence of truth and right, even at
the cost of his life. We also must take a stand in the face of
pressures—against dishonesty, deceit, destruction of life—at the cost
of popularity, convenience, promotion and even greater goods. In T.S.
Eliot's drama, Murder in the Cathedral, Becket faces a final temptation
to seek martyrdom for earthly glory and revenge. With real insight into
his life situation, Thomas responds: "The last temptation is the
greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong
reason."
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture today: 1 John 2:3-11; Psalm
96:1-3, 5b-6; Luke 2:22-35
When the days
of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished,
they carried him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord in accord with
the law of the
Lord,
“Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord” and also
to offer a sacrifice, in accord with the law of the Lord, of a pair of
turtledoves or two young pigeons. There was a man in Jerusalem named
Simeon, a just and devout man, waiting for the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the
Holy Spirit that he would not see death till he had seen the Christ of
the Lord. He was led by the Spirit into the temple. When the parents of
the child Jesus brought him in to do for him according to the
requirement of the law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God,
saying, “Now, O Lord, dismiss your servant in peace according to your
word, because my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared
before all the peoples: a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the
glory of your people Israel.” His father and mother were wondering at
what was said concerning him. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his
mother, “Behold this child is set for the fall and for the rising of
many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted. Your own
soul a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be
revealed. (Luke 2:22-35)
One of the things
Luke is obviously at pains to make clear is that both before and
immediately after the birth of Jesus it was revealed from on High that
the Child Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. The angel had revealed
this and other things about the Child to Mary and (in the Gospel of St
Matthew) to Joseph prior to his birth. Immediately after his birth
heaven had revealed the birth of the Messiah to the Jewish shepherds
keeping watch in the hills and to the distant pagan Magi of the East.
Now once again,
the Holy Spirit reveals
to a chosen one the identity of the Child. Mary and Joseph bring the
Child to the Temple to observe the requirements of the Law in respect
to their newly-born male child. The Holy Spirit comes upon Simeon who
dwells in Jerusalem. He was a holy man and epitomized the best of the
chosen people, awaiting with expectation and gratitude the coming of
the Messiah. Mysteriously, it had been revealed to him that he would in
fact see the Messiah with his own eyes, and now the moment has come. He
is led to the Holy Family bearing their inestimable treasure in their
arms. Simeon comes towards them, stops, and exulting with gratitude and
praise, gently takes the child in his arms. Then, inspired by the Holy
Spirit who had been leading him, he utters a prophecy. The Child is the
Saviour God has prepared. He is the Saviour of the nations and the
glory of Israel
(Luke 2:22-35). That is the
essential utterance and it revealed the joy of heaven at what was
happening. A Saviour has come, a light who will reveal God to the
world. There is no one like him. But there is a further prophecy, a
prophecy that hints at the kind of path this Saviour will tread. It
will not be a road of conquest after conquest, acclaim after acclaim.
Rather, it will be marked by contradiction and opposition, and this
will result in many rising with him and others falling because of him.
Profound sorrow and stress was coming, and his mother will share in it
in the depths of her soul. The hint is that Joseph will not see that
day.
So in our passage
today St Luke reports - obviously his ultimate source of information is
the mother of the Child - that certain things were revealed about the
Child soon after his birth. Prophecies were uttered about him and while
they celebrated the arrival of the Child, they also served to enlighten
his holy parents. Both Mary and Joseph wondered at what Simeon was
saying. They were giving it their utmost attention with hearts and
minds open to the fullest in a holy wonder. It was confirming what had
been revealed to them already before the birth of the Child, and this
provided more divine light. The Child will be a Saviour to the nations
of the world as well as being the glory of the chosen people. More
ominously - and perhaps this was a very new element in what had been
revealed to them to this point - the dark clouds of suffering for the
Child was being intimated. There will be terrible stress, sharp
contradiction and a sword that will pierce. The path of the Child will
be one of sorrow and those who are intimately involved with him -
epitomized in his holy mother - will share in this suffering. A sword
will pierce her soul. Inasmuch as during his public ministry our Lord
said that those who do the will of his Father are his mother and sister
and brother, the sword that pierces the soul of the Virgin Mother will
also pierce their souls too. It is the sword that is Christ’s Cross,
the lance that pierced his side, the crown that pierced his head.
Simeon’s prophecy reveals to Mary and Joseph that the great Servant of
Yahweh that they bear in their arms and whom they will raise during the
years ahead is a suffering Servant, the Suffering Servant spoken of by
the prophet. He would do his work by suffering, and those who are
united to him will suffer with him. In a sense Luke is telling us that
at the very beginning of Christ’s life his laborious and yet victorious
path was foretold. Not all details were revealed, of course, but enough
for the faith of Mary and Joseph to be exercised.
Let us place
ourselves in the Gospel scene today in the midst of this holy company.
How holy it is! We have before us the Child of the nations, God himself
become man in order to make all things new. He will be the Saviour of
the world, and he would save by his obedient suffering. How great the
mystery! Life was coming, and it would spring forth from death. Around
this Child are Mary, Joseph and Simeon. Let us resolve to keep close to
Christ and to tread his path.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Ambition: to be good myself, and to see everyone else better than I.
(The Way, no.284)
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The Sorrowful Mysteries
(recited Tuesday and Friday)
The Agony in the Garden
The Scourging at the Pillar
The Crowning with Thorns
The Carrying of the Cross
The Crucifixion
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
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Feast of the
Holy Family A
Second Sunday of Christmastide
Prayers this week:
The shepherds hastened
to Bethlehem, where they found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a
manger. (Luke 2:16)
Father,
help us to live as the holy family, united in respect and love. Bring
us to the joy and peace of your eternal home.We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(December 30) St.
Egwin (d. 717)
You say you’re not familiar with today’s saint? Chances are you
aren’t—unless you’re especially informed about Benedictine bishops who
established monasteries in Dark Age England. Born of royal blood in the
7th century, Egwin entered a monastery and was enthusiastically
received by royalty, clergy and the people as the bishop of Worcester,
England. As a bishop he was known as a protector of orphans and the
widowed and a fair judge. Who could argue with that? His popularity
didn’t hold up among members of the clergy, however. They saw him as
overly strict, while he felt he was simply trying to correct abuses and
impose appropriate disciplines. Bitter resentments arose, and Egwin
made his way to Rome to present his case to Pope Constantine. The case
against Egwin was examined and annulled. Upon his return to England, he
founded Evesham Abbey, which became one of the great Benedictine houses
of medieval England. It was dedicated to Mary, who had reportedly made
it known to Egwin just where a church should be built in her honour. He
died at the abbey on December 30, in the year 717. Following his burial
many miracles were attributed to him: The blind could see, the deaf
could hear, the sick were
healed.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Psalm
128:1-5; Colossians 3:12-21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
After the Magi had
departed, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying:
“Arise, and take the child and his
mother, and fly into Egypt and remain there until I tell you. Herod
will seek the child to destroy him.” Joseph arose and took the child
and his mother by night and retired into Egypt. He was there until the
death of Herod in order that it might be fulfilled what the Lord had
said by the prophet: Out of Egypt have I called my son. When Herod died
an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying:
“Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go to the land of
Israel. Those who sought the life of the child are dead.” Joseph arose
and took the child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. But
hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in place of Herod his father he
was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream he retired to Galilee.
There he dwelt in a town called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled
which was said by prophets: He shall be called a Nazarene.
(Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23)
Have you ever
noticed one feature about bees and ants? It is that they seem to be
unceasingly active. We speak of a person being “as busy as a bee.”
Action. Activity. Movement seems to be at the heart of the universe -
and indeed the consideration of movement constitutes in the
philosophical thought of St Thomas
Aquinas a Way to God. There seems to be a basic drive operating within
all the things of our experience to be in action, which is to say to be
on the march to perfection in one or other sense. The characteristic
posture of things seems not to be one of rest but of activity. When we
look at man we see a similar pattern. The human person seems to be an
acting person - that is, one who is at work - and if he is not in
action it looks as though he is in decline or will decline. His
greatest pride lies in what he manages to do and if he has the sense
that he is achieving little or nothing this constitutes a crisis for
his sense of meaning. But now, we see in vast numbers of persons in the
great stream of human history very little by way of great and striking
deeds. If action - let us call it work - is what man seems to be made
for, what is to be said of those countless numbers of persons who seem
to get so little done? By this I mean that there are so very many whose
activity is on a very small scale and who never do what an observer
might call very much. They yearn for significance and they hope that
their lives will be of value. Yet their work in life turns out to be
small-scale, humdrum, rather hidden, and only a very small element in
the gigantic action of the universe. Yes, life has its achievements and
joys, but snapping at its heels is the recurring thought that it has
all been futile and disappointing. It is marked by a lot of failure and
unrealized dreams. For very many, perhaps we could say for the average
person, there seems to be not a lot for him to be proud of and not much
that he does that will ever bring the admiration of others. In a word,
typically the life of man is characteristically very ordinary. So one
question facing everyone is, how can his or her ordinary life become
something great and beautiful?
On this question as
on every other great question we have a Light. That Light is Christ and
he is the life of every man, woman and family. Today we think of the
holy family of Nazareth, Jesus, Mary his mother, and Joseph his
foster-father and husband of Mary. Jesus, Mary and Joseph are given two
chapters in the Gospel of St Matthew and two chapters in the Gospel of
St Luke, and each of these Gospel accounts is very different. But
together they present us with the fact of the holy family of Nazareth,
a family beyond compare in the annals of holiness and from which came
forth the King of kings and Lord of lords to whom all authority in
heaven and on earth was given. What could we say is the especially
notable thing about their family life during those many years at
Nazareth? It is that their lives were very ordinary indeed. It was
small-time, small-scale, unnoticed, and if the historian were pressed
to give his verdict on it he would say it contained nothing of
significance in the main. He might even say it was a little meaningless
in view of the important work to be done, namely the salvation of the
world. So the holy family was very much part of the stream of mankind
and moved shoulder-to-shoulder with the little people of history. But
does this not tell us that there is in the divine plan a greatness to
be discovered and achieved precisely in the ordinary things? God means
the little person to be great in his sight precisely in his littleness
and ordinariness. If God became man and spent so much time doing
nothing other than what the ordinary person does - going to a
small-time school, worshipping at home and with his community in the
synagogue, doing his daily work, being part of his immediate and
extended family life - then in the main greatness is to be sought
there. The ordinary person will be great in the sight of God by doing
the ordinary things in the way the Son of God made man did them, and
indeed doing them in loving union with the Son of God made man. The
holy family teaches every man and woman and every family the grandeur
of the ordinary life if lived in imitation of this same holy family.
All this is to say
that every family ought strive to acquire and live the spirit of the
holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Every baptized person has been
granted the gift of the Holy Spirit. This same Holy Spirit animated and
guided the holy family. He is the Spirit of Jesus and he filled the
hearts of Mary and Joseph. He has been given to us at our baptism. Let
us be content in the ordinariness of our lives, but making all our
actions and all our work something very holy in the way the holy family
did. If we sanctify our activity and our work, we shall in the process
sanctify ourselves and we shall sanctify others for whom we do our work.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Conversion is the matter of a moment. Sanctification is the work of a
lifetime.
(The Way, no.285)
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The Glorious Mysteries
(recited Wednesday and Sunday)
The Resurrection
The Ascension
The Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Assumption
The Coronation of Mary Queen of Heaven and Earth
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
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The
Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas A
(December 31) St. Sylvester I (d. 335)
When you think of this pope, you think of the Edict of Milan, the
emergence of the Church from the catacombs, the building of the great
basilicas, Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter’s and others, the Council of
Nicaea and other critical events. But for the most part, these events
were planned or brought about by Emperor Constantine. A great store of
legends has grown up around the man who was pope at this most important
time, but very little can be established historically. We know for sure
that his papacy lasted from 314 until his death in 335. Reading between
the lines of history, we are assured that only a very strong and wise
man could have preserved the essential independence of the Church in
the face of the overpowering figure of the Emperor Constantine. The
bishops in general remained loyal to the Holy See and at times
expressed apologies to Sylvester for undertaking important
ecclesiastical projects at the urging of Constantine.
It takes deep humility and courage in the face of criticism for a
leader to stand aside and let events take their course, when asserting
one’s authority would only lead to useless tension and strife.
Sylvester teaches a valuable lesson for Church leaders, politicians,
parents and others in authority. To emphasize the continuity of Holy
Orders, the recent Roman breviary in its biographies of popes ends with
important statistics. On the feast of Saint Sylvester it recounts: "He
presided at seven December ordinations at which he created 42 priests,
25 deacons and 65 bishops for various sees." The Holy Father is indeed
the heart of the Church's sacramental system, an essential element of
its
unity.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click centre arrow to start video
Scripture today: 1 John 2:18-21; Psalm
96:1-2, 11-13; John 1:1-18
In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him
was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the
light of men. And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did
not
comprehend
it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came
to bear witness, to give testimony to the light that all men might
believe through him. He was not the light, but was to give testimony to
the light. That was the true light which enlightens every man who comes
into this world. He was in the world and the world was made by him and
the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him
not. But to as many as received him he gave power to become children of
God, to those who believe in his name. They are born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the
glory of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth. John
bore witness to him and cried out, saying: “This is he of whom I said,
He who comes after me, is preferred before me, because he was before
me.” And of his fullness we all have received, grace upon grace. For
the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No
man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom
of the Father, he has made him known.
(John 1:1-18)
Our Gospel passage
today is commonly called the Prologue of St John’s Gospel, an extended
passage that serves as an Introduction to the entire Gospel and a kind
of summary of it. More than do the other three Gospels - so similar to
one another that they are called the Synoptic Gospels - this Gospel of
St John and
in particular its
Prologue provides a panoramic theological vision of Christ. We are
taken back into eternity, into what St John calls “the beginning.” In
the beginning, there was the Word and the Word was with God and the
Word was God. St John does not say that the Word began at the
beginning, no. Nor is he meaning to teach about an actual beginning,
let alone a beginning of God and of his Word! Rather, he is saying this
of the Word that however one chooses to imagine the beginning, there
the Word already was. So the Word who was with God in the beginning and
who was himself God already existed at the beginning. That is to say,
God and his Word are eternal. Furthermore, St John speaks at the outset
of God’s Word as being personal. That is to say, he is a distinct
Person. “He” was in the beginning with God and all things came to be
through “him.” So the Word of God was a divine and eternal Person,
living with God who is a Person distinct from him. Yet there is but one
God, and the Word is the one God. So God and his Word are each of them
Persons and each is the one living God. Indeed, as St John says in the
same passage, he is the only-begotten Son of the Father. John is
assuming the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, though not mentioning the
Third divine Person for his focus here is on the Word who became flesh
and dwelt among us. All things were created and sustained in and
through him, and he, the Word, is the life and the light of the human
race. Wonder of wonders, the divine and eternal Word of God became man
and dwelt among us.
St John is
celebrating and proclaiming the fact of the Incarnation. God became
man. But he is also singing of his glory. In the Gospel of St Luke Mary
proclaims the glory of God. My soul proclaims the glory of the Lord,
she says, and my spirit exults in God my Saviour. The same could be
said of St John in writing his Prologue. He proclaims the glory of the
Lord. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw
his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of
grace and truth.” (John 1:1-18).
The rest of the Gospel beginning from the baptism of our Lord will be
the unfolding narrative of the revelation of his glory. St John wants
every one of his readers to come to know the glory of the only-begotten
Son of God made man. Many knew him. Many grew up with him and
associated with him in Nazareth. Many met and knew him during his
public ministry. Many saw him being rejected and abused. Many saw him
on his way to Calvary and then hanging on the Cross. Very many did not
see his glory. That is to say, “the true light, which enlightens
everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world
came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what
was his own, but his own people did not accept him.” He came to be
accepted and, we read, “to those who did accept him he gave power to
become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born
not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.” Essentially, the Christian is one who has come to see the
glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man. St John tells us that
“the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his
glory, the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace
and truth.” Jesus Christ is the glory of the human race because he is
the glory that is God. The one who draws near to Jesus and comes to
know him as his disciple will come to see his glory.
Let us resolve to
be Christ’s disciple and day by day grow in his friendship. I have not
called you servants, he said to his disciples. I have called you
friends. The more we grow in friendship with Jesus the more we will see
his glory. Our whole life ought be given over to the glory of Jesus,
and this we do by hearing his word, putting it into daily practice, and
by following him closely. Let us in this way come to see the glory of
Christ and bear witness to it in our everyday life.
(E.J.Tyler)
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There is nothing better in the world than to be in the grace of God.
(The Way, no.286)
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Prayer concluding the Rosary
Hail, Holy Queen, etc.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O God, whose only-begotten Son,
by his life, death and resurrection,
has purchased for us
the rewards of eternal life,
grant, we beseech thee,
that meditating on these mysteries
of the most holy Rosary of the
Blessed Virgin Mary,
we may imitate what they contain
and obtain what they promise,
through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Appendix)
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